We Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance, Charlie Boone! - 1. Part 1

Charlie Boone was sound asleep, dreaming.

Not only that, but it was a damn good dream, too. In it, he and his boyfriend Kippy, and their friends, Ricky and Adrian, had joined Frit and Pip, their elvish friends, on a Halloween quest for adventure, one where they hiked over snow-covered mountains alive with fanged snow beasts and giant, wolf-like creatures. Their goal was a far-distant castle, which squatted on the horizon like a small mountain itself, dark and foreboding, just as quest destinations were supposed to be. The distance was still considerable, and it would take them another full day of dream-trekking to get there - if they got there at all. The wolf-creatures had taken an interest in them; first one or two, far off, just watching; and then several more, nearer, definitely scoping them out. But now an entire pack of the animals was stalking them, and Charlie could see, even from a distance, that the animal's shoulders were nearly as high off the ground as his own. Big.

The beasts followed them at a distance, watching their every movement, while Charlie and his friends hefted their weapons and patted their armor, reassuring themselves that they were as ready to face the inevitable attack as they could be. Charlie was confident in their ability to defend their group, as both Frit and Pip had shown themselves to be able handlers of magic, and - at least in the dream - Charlie and the others were swordsmen of some note.

Finally, it was clear that the wolves were coming for them. The group found a rocky mount and placed their backs to it, and when the attack came, they were ready, forming a semi-circle of steel against all comers. The dark mass of the wolf creatures sped over the snow towards them, their feral eyes glinting with an evil red color. Charlie hefted his sword, aware of Kippy at his one side, and Adrian and Ricky at his other, calmly gazing outward at the onrushing pack of death. Just behind them, Frit and Pip stood quietly, their hands raised, a peculiar bluish glow circling about their fingertips.

"Fuzzywuzzywuzzadoggie," both elves said in unison, their voices soft. A blue mist burst from their fingertips and sped across the snow, spreading out into a pulsing cloud that seemed almost to pounce upon the pack of wolves now racing towards them. But the vaporous magic did not linger at the target, simply washing over the charging animals, and then blowing by the creatures and sailing onward, to no seeming effect. Charlie raised his sword and gritted his teeth, preparing for what came next.

"I love you, Kip," he whispered.

He heard his boyfriend chuckle. "It's an elfdream, Charlie. We'll be okay."

"Oh, I know that. I just wanted to say that I loved you."

"Oh, Charlie. You say the nicest things."

"Shh," Ricky hissed. "You heroes are spoiling the fun."

"Aw, leave them alone," Adrian whispered. "That's what people in love say when they're pretending they think they're about to die."

Ricky snorted, but didn't say another word.

The boys could actually feel the ground trembling beneath their feet as the animals charged towards them, teeth bared, eyes burning. The pack was huge, and seemed to spread far and wide as they approached. Charlie braced himself, knowing that there were far too many of the beasts simply to fend off with the point of a sword. The creatures would leap, and be upon them, and what would follow could be quite grisly to envision.

But then the alpha at the point of the pack suddenly slowed as the wolves came near; and then, just as suddenly, stopped. The animals immediately behind stopped as well, and for a moment all the lead wolves stood in a dark line, gazing at the boys. Their eyes roved among the group of humans and elves, almost as if they were suddenly uncertain of their mission. The animals looked about at each other then, as those at the rear of the pack began to pool behind them, forming a milling mass of dark fur and red eyes that all seemed to have lost their focus.

And then the alpha, the biggest, blackest wolf of them all, came slowly towards them. As the animal approached, the redness faded from its eyes, and suddenly its tongue came lolling out. It dropped to its belly and inched towards Charlie, wagging its tail, its muzzle fixed in a most unhostile grin. Charlie just stared at the enormous animal, amazed at the sudden transformation, until he heard Frit and Pip chuckle behind him.

"Nice doggie," Frit said, his voice filled with satisfaction.

Pip sighed. "Ain't magic wonderful?"

The wolf continued to move towards Charlie, stopping only as it came beneath the end of his outstretched sword. And then it lay down and looked up at him with large, mournful brown eyes, as if acknowledging that it had been bad, and was sorry, and couldn't it get a nice tummy rub now? As if to accent that plea, the animal rolled onto its side, and then its back, and waved its tremendous paws in the air above.

"Pet him, Charlie," Frit said. "He won't bite."

Charlie gazed at the rows of enormous, sharp teeth within the open mouth of the wolf, and had a brief moment of hesitation. He could easily rip my arm off, he thought.

But then he heard Frit sigh, and realized that his friend was taking his inaction as a lack of confidence in the elf's abilities as a magic user. Charlie emitted a small groan of capitulation, steeled himself, shifted his sword to his left hand, and took a step forward. The wolf's tail suddenly pounded the snow in eagerness, and when Charlie bent just slightly and ran a hand over the stiff bristles on the beast's belly, the wolf's eyes rolled in ecstasy.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Uh...good boy."

The wolf's tail responded by thrashing the snow even harder, and others of the pack started to inch forward, looking eager for similar attention. Presently, all six of the boys were petting heads and rubbing bellies, while the wolves emitted excited little cries of pleasure.

"What on earth did you do to them?" Kippy asked in delight, rubbing his hand slowly in a circle upon the brisket of a wolf easily large enough to steal fully-loaded garbage cans out of someone's driveway. Kip bent low, purring at the animal, which responded with much tail-thumping and eager crying for more attention.

"Wolves and dogs share a common heritage," Frit said, grinning. "We just introduced a little dog knowledge to these guys. They're loving every moment of it."

Ricky looked up from where a giant, happy wolf tongue had left a streak of slobber across one cheek, and absently rubbed it away with the back of his hand. "What about the quest?"

"We'll get on with it," Pip said. "We may even be able to get our furry friends here to join our side."

Charlie smiled, looking at the now docile pack. "I don't think these guys would scare anybody, the way they are now."

Pip laughed. "Just wait and see. Dogs will go to great lengths to defend their people. Some giant Snargle soldier comes running at you with a mace, these guys will go after him like a swarm of narfs on a platapord."

"Whatever that is," Charlie said, sighing. Well, once again, the elves had changed the rules of the dream, killing danger before it could become real. Elfdreaming with Frit and Pip was fun, but Charlie felt that, just once, he would like to actually swing his sword, instead of just lean on it. That the elves did not wish to place their human friends in any danger - even dream danger in a dream world - was obvious. But it did take the edge off some of the excitement, when even Kippy was not worried that anything bad could happen to them.

Frit edged up to him then, and smiled. "I know it's not so scary, Charlie. But we don't want you guys to be scared. We want you to have fun. Halloween is about fun, isn't it?"

That the elves were still learning about the distinctly human holiday was plain. That they didn't quite get the fright aspect of it yet was also clear.

Charlie smiled. "Well, there's something to be said for a delicious little scare, Frit. People kind of like to be thrilled now and then. It makes them feel more aware. Wakes them up and makes them step lively." He shrugged. "To really enjoy Halloween, there has to be some scare in it, somewhere."

"We don't get scared much," Pip offered. "When you can use magic, most stuff out there is scared of you."

Kippy's eyes traveled back and forth between the two elves in astonishment. "You mean you've never been scared before?"

Frit and Pip looked at each other, and Frit suddenly frowned. "Well...I was scared when Pip and I had that argument. I was scared that I had lost him. And I was scared when I thought he was sick." He smiled then. "But once I knew what had happened, I wasn't scared anymore."

Pip nodded, remembering the dark malady that had affected the two elves at Valentine's Day, and which had transferred itself to Charlie and his friends.

Ricky grunted. "That whole thing scared us, I know that."

Charlie was curious now. "You mean you guys don't get scared of anything else? Nothing? Like, not even, maybe, when something unexpected jumps out at you?"

Frit frowned again, but then nodded. "Oh. I know what you mean. Like when you're walking in the dark, and you reach for the doorknob, and there's something else there, instead? And it shrieks horribly, and grabs you, and pulls you closer, and..."

Charlie reached out a hand and placed it on the elf's shoulder. "That actually happened to you?"

Frit grinned. "Yeah. It was my sister, Berya. She came to my room once to borrow my tinky charm for the dance, and she didn't nork me first. When I reached for the doorknob and grabbed her instead, it startled both of us."

Charlie smiled at the strange words, the second of which was the elf equivalent of a cell phone call, but without the phone. "Uh huh. So what happened?"

"I was leaving my bedroom, and thought I'd walk it that time, and when I went to grab the doorknob, I felt something soft instead. And then there was this shriek, and hands grabbed me, and...for just a second, my heart came right up into my throat!"

Charlie grinned. "Yeah, that's what I mean. You were scared, right? And it was fun?"

"It was only fun after I realized it wasn't Old Snatch come to get me. " The elf gave off a small shiver. "But for just a second...whoo."

"Who's Old Snatch?" Kippy asked.

Frit laughed. "He's the elf thief. The one that steals little kids from their parents if they wander too far away from home without telling anyone." Frit rolled his eyes. "Olders use that tale to keep us youngers from wandering around the dimensions before we're smart enough to know what we're doing. They say that if Old Snatch gets you, he puts you to work in a sparlow mine for all eternity, and you never see home again."

Adrian laughed. "What's sparlow?"

"No one knows," Pip said, coming to stand beside his boyfriend. "But it's supposed to be some really yucky stuff."

Charlie grinned at Frit. "What were you doing walking around in the dark, anyway?"

"Huh? Who needs lights when you know where everything is? That's a waste of energy."

Kippy reached out and squeezed Charlie's wrist. "You might as well not, Charlie. You can't win, and you know it."

Charlie laughed. That life as an elf boy was decidedly different than life as a human one was already known to him. Still, the occasionally new glimpses into a different way of being always interested him. Enchanted him, was the better word.

He sighed. "Well, anyway, maybe we should get on with the quest? I'd hate to have to wake up for a piss and spoil it."

Charlie and Kip were asleep in Charlie's bed, and Ricky and Adrian were asleep in the cot next to it. The two elves were presumably also sleeping together at one of their own homes. It was a Saturday night, and Halloween was still four days away. The idea to join in a dream quest together had come from Frit and Pip, and Charlie and the others had felt it a great way to teach the elf boys a little bit about the scariness of Halloween. But so far, the experience has been less than frightening, with Frit and Pip fending off all the dangerous situations before they really had time to bloom. They still did not get that the idea was to be deliciously scared - at least, a little bit.

Frit nodded. "Okay," And then he grinned. "We can make it scarier, can't we, Pip?"

His boyfriend laughed. "Oh, I think so. I think what we'll do next is..."

For a brief second, the elves and the snowy scenery about them faded. Charlie blinked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, and not sure why. Kippy gasped then, and reached out a hand and took Charlie's wrist. "Oh! What was that?"

Charlie opened his mouth to answer, but then the odd flicker occurred again, causing him to gasp instead.

The old saying, it was as if someone walked across my grave, came to mind then. The feeling was unsettling, somehow personal, as if someone had simply ambled right up into his comfort zone and pressed against him, without his permission. Normally, only Kip was allowed to do that. But the presence he now felt was totally unknown, beyond any experience he had had before now.

Frit looked at Pip then, and the eyes of both elves widened. "Oh, Charlie! You're all waking up! Someone is in your --"

Charlie opened his eyes. He was laying on his back in bed, one arm around Kippy, who was pressed close to him. The warmth of his boyfriend's skin against his was reassuring, but even that could not seem to dispel the cold sense of another presence in the room. Kippy groaned, and moved against him, and exhaled a little sigh. "What happened?" he whispered.

In the cot next to them, the covers moved, and Charlie could hear Ricky saying something to Adrian. But Charlie's eyes went beyond them, drawn to where the small glow from the little night light plugged in by the dresser created a zone of visibility in the front corner of the room near the window. Something was there, a patch of darkness that seemed oddly out of place within the soft white glow. Even as he watched, the patch of darkness moved, came closer, and resolved itself into two unnaturally tall, spindly shapes, that moved to the foot of the bed and stood there, as if looking down at Charlie and Kippy. The sense that eyes were there, watching them, was strong, but Charlie could not make out any more details than that.

Kippy tensed against him, and Charlie realized that his boyfriend could see the intruders, too. The last vague hope that this was more of the dream world created by Frit and Pip vanished then. They were back in Charlie's room, in the real world. And they had company.

The covers moved on the cot next to them, and then flew back, and Ricky and Adrian sat up and looked over at them in the near darkness. "What the hell happened?" Ricky asked, brushing his hair back out of his face.

"Where's the snow?" Adrian added, rubbing his nose. "Where did Frit and Pip go? Why are we back --" He broke off as he caught sight of the two dark forms at the foot of the bed, and both he and Ricky fell silent, staring.

Charlie took a breath, felt the brief paralysis that had overtaken him fade a little. He sat up quickly then, leaned across Kippy, and turned on the light on the nightstand.

And then wished he hadn't.

Standing at the foot of the bed were two very tall, very black, leathery-looking beings, with great, shiny black eyes that were hooded by large ridges in their bony skulls. Below the eyes, there was no nose, no mouth, only more of the black, leathery flesh. Where the mouth would have been in a human, a series of wide, bony ridges stood out, between each of which was a hint of red, as if some soft tissue lurked within.

Something about the two was unreal, almost as if a dark mistiness swirled about them, one that tried to push the eyes away, even as Charlie fought to keep his gaze fastened on the pair. The cool intelligence within the eyes of the two was plain, and Charlie knew he was dealing with people - like none he had ever met before, but thinking, reasoning creatures nonetheless.

There was a dry, rustling sound then, and a long arm extended from the body of the creature on the left and pointed at Charlie and Kippy. Charlie realized then that a thin, webbed area of dark flesh connected the underside of the arm to the body of the creature, almost like a bat's wing unfurling as the arm moved. Thin, incredibly slender fingers - seven of them - formed a large black fist, and then one finger lanced out and pointed directly at Charlie.

"We are the Moth," a whispery voice said then. "You will come with us."

"The hell you say," Ricky said, softly, draping an arm protectively around Adrian's shoulders.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Why do you want us?"

"Your presence is required," the voice returned. "You will come with us."

Charlie shook his head, his own arm tightening around Kippy. "You'll have to do better than that."

"The Moth," Adrian whispered then. He turned his head towards Charlie. "Don't you remember? They're one of the alien empires that Mike and Pacha told us about." Adrian turned his gaze back to the two visitors, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Pacha said they were dangerous."

Charlie remembered then. Pacha'Ka was the Kifta polymorph accompanying Mike, the Aussie boy they had met back during the Fourth of July season, when Charlie and his friends had been kidnapped right off Myer's Hill in broad daylight by the alien Arpathant, who had been chasing Pacha and Mike. Mike was a little older than they, bright and handsome, and quite the adventurer, it seemed. He and Pacha'Ka, described as a science-wizard of the alien Kifta by Mike, had led the Arpies on a merry chase across the arm of the galaxy, only to finally be cornered at the last moment back on Earth. Charlie and the others had been collateral damage, picked up along with Pacha and Mike, and involved in their adventure after.

That adventure had ended badly for the Arpies, who had had their entire race and all their planets and ships, everywhere, exchanged to an uninhabited mirror universe of the one that they knew, by the doomsday weapon of the oppressed Kifta, who viewed science in much the way that elves did on Earth, and who handled the strange forces of that science in identical fashion. The Arpies now had a whole universe to themselves, one they would find seriously unchallenging to meet head-on, and one that would become agonizingly lonely in the millennia to come. The Kifta had felt it a humane way to dispense with a race that preyed upon those without the power to stand against them, sucking their planets dry of all wealth in the process.

During their escape from the Arpie ship, they had stayed briefly on Engris, an ancient alien waystation-world hidden within the infinite darkness of the Cooee - the no-time, no distance otherspace through which ships of the galactic powers crossed the vast light years of void between the stars in days rather than centuries.The small, snow-globe star chart that Adrian had discovered and purchased at the pirate market on Engris had pointed to an area of space that Pacha had described as once belonging to the now extinct Beltracians, which was now part of the star empire of the alien Moth. Pacha had pointed out that to chase after any possible Beltracian treasure at the end of the star map might be also to meet up with the Moth, an experience that most people found not to be to their benefit.

And now, Charlie could see why that might be. The alien pair standing at the foot of the bed looked anything but friendly.

"You will come of your own accord, or we will bring you," the whispery voice continued.

As if to accent those words, Charlie suddenly felt a strange force encircling him, almost as if he was being bound in invisible ropes. He struggled against them, to no avail.

"I'm caught, Charlie!" Kippy wailed, and Charlie's heart sank as he realized that whatever had hold of him, it had hold of Kippy, too.

Only Charlie's body was bound by the strange force. His mouth still worked, and he used it now to briefly vent his feelings on the matter of being kidnapped right from his own bedroom. Being abducted off Myer's Hill he could kind of get along with - but now his own room!

Charlie was sixteen, and possessed of an extensive vocabulary. That knowledge of words extended to the proficient use of slang and invective, and he unleashed an uncharacteristic barrage of venom on the two visitors that would have had his parents gaping in astonishment. But the aliens were unimpressed, and the forces encircling Charlie's body only tightened, until all four boys were groaning at the pressure.

Charlie had his eyes on the two aliens, and so was witness to what happened next. There was a faint sound of displaced air in the room, like someone opening a carbonated soft drink, and Frit and Pip appeared to one side of the aliens. The two elves took one look at the four boys writhing and groaning in their beds, and their hands jerked upwards and blue lightning discharged at the two Moth at the foot of the bed.

Immediately, the feeling of capture about Charlie eased, but did not go away entirely. The blue lightning bolts cracked in the air around the Moth, but Charlie could see that the energy did not quite reach to the flesh of the aliens, as though it was being deflected somehow. The two moth spun, and their arms came up and their bat wings spread, and swirls of green energy spun outward at the two elves. Frit and Pip both looked astonished, but their fingers twitched, and the blue lightning and the green swirls went to battle between the two pairs, with neither side appearing to immediately gain ground.

Other things happened then, some of which Charlie could see, and some he could only feel. Some of which he could hear, softly, and some which happened in a peculiar and disquieting silence. That Frit and Pip were exchanging forces with the two aliens, and that Charlie's room had become a battleground, was clear.

And, soon, too, that the two elves were outmatched. The balance of the things that Charlie could see, some of them truly awful and terrifying, began to concentrate more about the two elves, while the air about the alien pair began to clear. Slowly, looks of desperation appeared on the elf boy's faces, as they hunkered together defensively, while strange lights and mists and even ghostly apparitions seems to swirl about them.

Charlie strained against his invisible bonds, even as Kippy and the others did the same. All of the boys looked as desperate as Frit and Pip, but this was a desperate urge on the part of the humans to go to the aid of their elvish friends. Charlie groaned as he struggled, but the forces holding him were unrelenting.

Suddenly, there was a slightly larger swish of air in the room, and Max appeared behind Frit and Pip. The older elf immediately raised his hands and brought them together in a clap which was strangely resonant of power, and which echoed briefly about the room and made Charlie's vision pulse with it. The many strange and terrifying lights and mists and otherworldy things straining to get at the two elf boys were dispersed as if by a hurricane wind, blown outward and away, through the walls of the room, to vanish. Frit and Pip immediately relaxed, and both elves gasped at the sudden release. At the same moment, the force binding Charlie's body disappeared altogether.

The two Moth crashed together as if they were magnets of opposing polarity, and their arms slapped against their sides. It was immediately apparent that the two aliens were being squeezed together and bound by a substantial force. The two emitted a sound that could only be described as surprised, and then they were still, their large eyes focused eerily on Max.

The elf waved a hand at them. "Stop trying to take my mind, or I'll really get mad." To accent the command, he waved a finger at the two Moth, who leaped up into the air several feet before crashing downward again. The act had the effect of dispensing with the odd glow the two had been aiming at Max with their eyes, and a cool wariness now entered their gazes as they simply watched.

"Now," Max said, placing his hands on his hips and turning his gaze on Frit and Pip, "what in Bathom's Seven Hells is going on here?"

"They started it!" Frit said, pointing at the two aliens. "They tried to kidnap Charlie and the others, right out of our dream quest together."

"What?" Max's eyes briefly examined the two aliens, and then moved to Charlie. "Is that true?"

Charlie was about to get out of bed when he realized that he and Kippy were still naked, and instead he simply sat forward, pulling the sheets up onto his lap. "I think so. They said we had to go with them, or they would take us along by force."

"Aw, geez." Max stepped closer to the two Moth. "Now, why would you want to take these boys away from their home, huh?"

"They are required," came the whispery voice, once again. "That is all you need to know."

Max's eyebrows briefly leaped upwards, and then came down on a frown. "Oh, is it? That's all you have to say?"

"That is all you need to know," the voice repeated.

"Friendly types, aren't they?" Max said, coming to sit on the edge of the bed near Charlie. Frit and Pip followed, keeping a wary eye on the two captured aliens. The two elf boys looked mad, ready to do battle again at a moment's notice.

Charlie leaned forward as Max sat, and gave the elf's arm a fond squeeze. "In the nick of time, as always."

Max nodded. "We were at the house when we felt Frit go into defense mode. It was all I could do to keep the missus from beatin' me here." He tossed his head at the Moth. "Those two would have been really outta luck if she had gotten here first. She ain't as sweet-natured as me when it comes to someone pickin' on the young'uns."

Frit laughed. "Grandma would have turned them inside-out."

Pip giggled, and nodded.

Max looked over at the two aliens. "Know who they are, Charlie?"

"They're called Moth. We heard about them from the Kifta we met back at that July Fourth thing. We told you about it, remember?"

Max nodded. "Figgered they was off-planet types. Too ugly and ignorant to be local boys."

Charlie was surprised at that. Max almost never used disparaging language when talking about people of any kind, and for him to do so now was probably a measure of just how upset and angry he was that Frit and Pip had been endangered, and that Charlie and the others targeted for abduction by the aliens. Max didn't always show his feelings, Charlie knew. Six hundred years of life had allowed the elf to refine a poker face of no small ability. But that he was less than happy just now was still apparent.

Max thrust out his bottom lip. "You said that Kifta fella, Pacha, was a power user, like us. But I didn't know there were others out there."

"I didn't know, either," Charlie admitted.

"We will not tolerate interference," the whispery voice came again. "We have other means to get what we want."

Charlie stared at the aliens. "That sounds like a threat, if I ever heard one."

Max smiled, but there was a bit of a shark's grin underneath of it. "Yeah, it does." His eyes went back to examine the aliens. "You fellows should be careful what you promise. You guys ain't but level fourteen users - level fifteen, at most. Heck, Frit and Pip here are both tens, and they're just learnin' the arts. Even if I hadn't showed, they have given you a tough time."

Frit nodded, and favored the two aliens with a glare. "My granddaddy Max is a fifty-six. You don't want him mad at you. If he wanted you hurtin', you'd be hurtin'!"

The two Moth blinked at Max, as if not believing the comparison of forces between the older elf and themselves.

Kippy, who had been listening to the exchange quietly, sat forward now and leaned against Charlie. "How could the Moth know about us? We never met any of them in our travels. We only met Arpies, and a few other people on Engris. Nobody that looked like these guys, anyway."

Ricky and Adrian also leaned forward. "Yeah," Adrian added. "Why are these guys after us?"

Max looked at the two aliens. "Gonna answer a few questions?"

A stony silence greeted that request. Max nodded, and closed his eyes. "Hmm. These two came down in a thing shaped like a watermelon, that's parked in your backyard, Charlie. There's a bigger watermelon way up overhead, with about twenty more of these critters aboard."

"They are shielded...you cannot know." For the first time, the whispery voice sounded other than assured.

"Yeah, right." Max shook his head. "Amateurs. Geez, there's more holes in that shield than in an old Swiss cheese. I can even see that you're in contact with your buddies, and that they're getting ready to come down to rescue you." Max narrowed his eyes and offered up a frosty smile. "We'll just put a stop to that right now."

Max raised a hand, and pointed his index finger skyward. For a second nothing happened; but then the two Moth swayed violently. "Stop! Cease at once! You will destroy them!"

Max nodded. "That's about the story of it. You guys got me pissed off. We don't much care for people coming to our world and makin' trouble, get me? We like to be nice here, but we can be tough if we have to. So you want to tell me something that will make me feel better? 'Cause I ain't feelin' kindly towards you right now, believe me."

"Better listen!" Frit warned.

"Turn you into moth dust!" Pip added

The two aliens turned their heads towards each other a moment; and then their eyes came back to fasten on Max. For a moment their eyes grew shiny again, and the room seemed to vibrate around Charlie, and little flashes of light seemed to go off inside his eyes. He suddenly felt woozy, as if he might pass out. The strange, dark mistiness that swirled about the two aliens intensified, and for a moment Charlie thought they might disappear completely.

Max pointed a finger at the two Moth, and shook his head. "You fellas seem determined to make me lose my patience." He snapped his fingers, and the room steadied, and Charlie took a sudden breath as his vision returned to normal.

Max looked about as angry now as Charlie had ever seen him. "Last chance, you two. Either you tell me what you're doing here, or you and me are goin' up to that ship of yours and rearrange a few things. And I don't think it will be able to take you home when I'm done. Got me?"

Charlie sensed the bafflement in the two aliens, as if they had never before met anyone that they could not deal with. While their powers seemed considerable by human standards, they were apparently not so tough by elf standards, and Charlie was at least relieved to see that they were not going to be at the mercy of more alien intruders with unknown agendas.

The two Moth looked at each other again, and then seemed to relax within the grip of whatever force Max was holding them in.

"Very well. It will not affect the outcome of the mission for you to know."

One of the aliens turned to look at Charlie. "What happened to the Arpathant? Where have they gone?"

A light came on then. Oh...of course! You don't just remove an entire interstellar empire without others taking notice of the fact. The disappearance of the Arpathant would have been felt immediately. Although the empire of the Moth was distant from Earth, the outer extremity of it had once abutted the outer reaches of the Arpie's space. They had been trade partners, and neighbors. And most people would tend to notice when the guy next door suddenly went missing.

"Why do you think we would know?" Charlie asked.

"A transmission from an Arpathant ship was intercepted and decoded by a surveillance outpost. This world was indicated in the broadcast, and likenesses of you, these three--" the eyes of the creature turned towards Kippy, Ricky, and Adrian "-- one other of your kind, and a smaller member of an unknown race were included."

Kippy made a rude noise. "That doesn't mean we had anything to do with them going bye-bye."

"The Arpathant commander's final message indicated that he and his ship had been evicted from this world. A fleet was requested to enforce the law on your planet." The eyes of the Moth looked insistent. "The Arpathant did not generally require a fleet to deal with anyone. That makes you suspect."

Damn. Korig had tried to whip up a battle fleet from home to get back at them? And all because he had lost the little game they had been playing together? The Arpies were sore losers, of that there was no doubt. Well, now they could be sore losers in a universe all their own.

Charlie turned his eyes on Max. "What should I tell them?"

Max smiled. "Start with the truth, and we'll go from there."

Charlie nodded. "Okay." He looked over at the Moth. "They're gone, and they won't be back. They were sent to an alternate reality, a universe identical to this one, but completely uninhabited. In that universe they live on all the same worlds they lived on here, but now they have no one to terrorize but themselves."

"No such mirror universes have been proven to exist, as yet," the whispery voice argued.

Kippy laughed. "Just go ask the Arpies. They can prove it."

Ricky nodded. "You see any Arpies anywhere? Have you been by their planets?"

"All are empty of life, save for plants and animals. The Arpathant and their works have vanished, as if they never were."

"They didn't vanish," Adrian said then. "They were moved. And they won't be coming back."

"Who did this?" There was an eagerness to the question that was not lost on Charlie. This was what the aliens really wanted to know, more than where their former neighbors had gone. What they were really interested in was, who had this kind of power?

Charlie was unwilling to put the Kifta out there. Guys like these Moth could not be trusted not to do something stupid, just like the Arpies. Man! Was everyone in possession of their own star empire a complete dick? "What does that matter? It's been done."

Max leaned forward, and eyed the two aliens. "And what can be done once, can be done again. Maybe you folks need to remember that."

Now the other Moth leaned towards them, and they realized that this one had never spoken before now. It's voice was also whispery, but noticeably deeper in tone. "Arpathant legal records were shared, and so we know of the worlds within their former space. There is no record of power users on this world. How did this come to occur?"

"He means magic," Frit said, winking at Charlie.

"We forgot to put up the sign," Max said, now looking as annoyed as he probably was feeling. "I think you fellas can leave now, and you had better never come back."

"We will know what happened to the Arpthant," the deeper voice resumed. "And how it was accomplished. You will tell us, eventually."

Max stepped forward and pointed at the two aliens. "Time to go." He waved a hand, and the two aliens vanished. "And don't come back!"

Kippy let out a delighted little squeal, and Charlie laughed. "What did you do to them?"

Max frowned. "Sent them on their way. Put those two on the ship up above, and then squeezed it a little until they decided they needed to git. So now, they're got." The frown eased away, and Max showed them a smile. "I mean, now they're gone."

Charlie laughed at the battering that Max could sometimes give the English language.

"So you think they won't be back?" Ricky asked, picking up his sheet from his lap and looking under it, as if only now remembering that he and Adrian were naked. The slight look of oops! that popped into Ricky's eyes made Charlie smile.

Max grunted. "No. Actually, I think these guys will be back, and next time they'll bring some friends."

The room was silent at that. Charlie and the others looked around at each other. Even Frit and Pip looked concerned.

"So what do we do?" Kippy asked, his voice sounding uneasy. Charlie grasped his boyfriend's hand beneath the sheet and squeezed it.

Max sighed, and tapped his chin with a finger. "I let some of the boys back at the shop know what was up, and they'll be on guard. They should be able to handle most anything that happens. But if they can't for some reason --" He sighed. "Just because these two guys was only a level fifteen don't mean they don't have more advanced power users. Geez, I hate to bug the boss with this." That he was referring to Nicholaas - Santa - everyone in the room knew. "The Big Guy is pretty busy now that he's got himself a girlfriend." Max smiled, the satisfaction he felt at the new happiness that Nicholaas had found, quite evident.

"What could he do?" Kippy asked.

"Whew. Well, a lot, really. Like I say, the guys can probably handle this. Every elf magic user has strengths. Some are really good at gravity tricks, others are really good with changing matter. There's dozens of specialties, and everyone knows a little about everything. But each of us has a knack or three for particular types of magic. The boss is the same way, only bigger and better."

Charlie nodded. "I think I know a couple of his. Nicholaas is great with fixing things, changing things, and creating things. It's all like one power, and he's very good at it."

"The best," Max agreed, smiling.

"But there's one other thing I remember he's good with," Charlie continued. "Nicholaas is good with time."

Frit and Pip both laughed. "I'll say!" Frit added.

"He's awesome!" Pip offered.

"Exactly, Charlie." Max shifted on the bed, and reached around and rubbed his back. "Your pal Pacha and his people sent them Arpies to a different probability - one where everything is the same as in our universe except for one thing: there ain't no intelligent life in the new one, anywhere. The Arpies are totally alone."

"That's big magic," Pip said breathlessly, sounding impressed.

"We can't do that!" Frit added.

Charlie was surprised at that. "You can't?" has asked, looking at Max.

The older elf smiled. "Well...it just never came up, Charlie. That's one of them magics you just never need unless that one single problem arises. Bet that's what caused Pacha's folk to figure it out. They had a problem with the Arpies, and wanted a humane way to deal with it. So they looked until they found one." He frowned. "Their way was partly technical, from what you told me. They stored the magic for the job in some kinda container, and then gave it to Pacha to use. He just kinda pointed it, and let it out. That's some pretty advanced stuff."

Charlie and Kip stared at each other, a little stunned at the idea that Max and the elves had some sort of real limitations. Up until now, they seemed able to deal with just about anything.

Max saw their look, and laughed. "Oh, we'll get it. Now that we know it can be done, there's guys lookin' into it even as we speak. I had to pass on that nugget to the right people, once you told me."

Charlie understood then. "Oh. So what you told the Moth - that what could be done once, could be done again? You guys might actually be able to do it, huh?"

"Maybe. Not anytime soon, though." The older elf frowned. "Magic that size takes time to get in order. If we had to do something to these Moth - to all of them - I'd have to get the boss involved."

"What would he do?" Adrian asked, but with an expression that told that he was not sure he really wanted to know. The boys had gotten used to local magic, on a small scale, in dealing with Max and his kind; but dealing with the larger forces at play out in the universe was a little scary.

"The Big Guy could handle them," Max said, assuredly. "We might not be able to send 'em to an alternate reality just yet, but the boss could send every single one of those Moth, and all their stuff, too, back in time. Say, a billion years, or so. They'd be outta our hair for good, then."

There was a chorus of gasps around the room.

"Wouldn't that be dangerous to us?" Charlie asked. "They could come and destroy the Earth long before we even arose as a species. Then where would we be?"

"No way!" Pip said.

"Causality infraction," Frit agreed, nodding.

Max smiled. "Even when you bend the rules with time, you can't break them. The fact that we are the ones that sent the Moth back in time would keep 'em from doing anything that might change that. Not that they could, even if they wanted to."

"Why not?"

Max sighed. "I ain't no expert, let me tell you. But I do know that even small movements in time require some additional calculations with distance. The whole universe is moving, Charlie. The boss is pretty good with time moves within ten thousand years or so, but much farther back than that and it starts to get a little harder. There are multiple motions that come into play. Planets go around their stars, and stars all move within the galaxy, and the galaxy moves within the local group, and the local group moves within the megacluster. If it came down to a crunch, us or them, and since the boss would not want us to be bothered by these Moth guys again, he might just ship them back a billion years and make no allowance for the movement of all those things at all. Where the Moth might wind up would be anybody's guess."

For a second, Charlie's imagination ran wild, and he was horrified. "You mean...they might wind up in the darkness between galaxies? With no place to go? Nicholaas wouldn't do that!"

Even Frit and Pip stared at Max, wide-eyed and frightened at the possibility. Max closed his eyes a moment, then smiled and reopened them, and reached out and gave his great, great, great grandson a fond squeeze. "Yeah. I guess we all know better. The Big Guy would think of somethin', but I don't know what. He ain't the type to cause misery for people. Even nasty ones like these Moth."

For a moment, Charlie had to smile. Max was over six hundred years old, but he didn't look a day older than anyone in the room. Only the fact that he was an inch or so taller then his great, great, great grandson, and a little broader of shoulder, and a little heavier, gave away the fact that he was older. Charlie had learned to have an inner feel of Max as someone adult; but the reality was that he was just as cute as the younger elves, and just as appealing. Just as sweet, under his years. That Max and the other elves would not go for the blunt destruction of the Moth was plain to him.

Not that Charlie could see Nicholaas doing such a thing, anyway, as long as there was any other solution. You don't get to be Santa without having some genuine love and compassion for life in your heart, and for Nicholaas to have to do something desperate to save humankind and the Earth would probably ruin the man for life. And for Nicholaas, life could be a very long time, indeed.

They couldn't have that, couldn't have the final decision laid upon Nicholaas's shoulders.

"Isn't there something we can do, without bothering Nicholaas just now?" Charlie asked.

Max immediately smiled at him. "I was hoping you would ask. I think there is."

Charlie blinked, feeling just for a moment that they had been conned. But then he had to laugh. "What have you got in mind?"

Max shrugged. "I was thinking we should go out and look the situation over. You know - reconnoiter? Maybe find your pal Pacha, and his pal Mike, and maybe confer with them. Seven heads are better than one, I always say."

"We're going, too!" Frit immediately called, looking stricken.

"You can't leave us behind!" Pip wailed, just as quick with the math.

Max looked at them sternly a moment, obviously about to put his foot down. But the imploring looks on the faces of the two younger elves were potent, a magic of their own; and Charlie and Kippy immediately smiled at each other, knowing what would happen next.

Max sighed, and winced, obviously caving. "Uh...nine heads are better than one, I always say."

Frit and Pip both clutched their hands in front of them, their eyes shining. "Yay!"

Kippy laughed, and looked at the ceiling. "There's just one problem with that. We don't have any way to get out there."

A big grin appeared on Max's face. "Sure we do. I sent them two Moth up to the orbiting ship and then made them all skedaddle. That smaller watermelon ship of theirs is still in the backyard. We can take that."

Charlie gaped, and then realized that the others were doing the same thing.

"And you know how to fly an alien starship, of course?" Kippy asked, making no secret of the fact that he thought the idea ridiculous.

Max rolled his eyes. "It's a machine. It'll do as it's told." He grinned. "Did I ever say I had a knack with machines?"

Charlie shook his head. "No. But why am I not surprised?"

Kippy pouted. "Are we going to be gone long? I don't want to miss Halloween!"

Charlie blinked at that, and immediately turned to Max. "Hey, we can't just go off without telling anyone. Our parents will worry."

Max rolled his eyes. "Aw, you guys should trust me on that stuff by now. Your people will never know you're gone. I'll fix it."

"We'll be back by Halloween?" Kippy asked.

"Guarantee it."

Kippy turned and smiled at Charlie. "It would be really nice to see Mike again." He sighed. "He's such a cutie!"

Ricky and Adrian laughed, and Charlie turned to Max, and nodded. "I guess we're going."

"Great." Max looked pleased. "Then you fellas can get dressed, and we'll be on our way." He turned to Frit and Pip. "Come on, you youngers. Let's give these guys a little privacy."

Pip immediately elbowed Frit. Frit gulped, and turned to his granddad. "Um...we want to talk to Charlie and the guys a moment, gramps. Can we meet you at the watermelon ship in a few minutes?"

Max looked at Charlie, who tried not to smile. "It's okay, Max. We'll be down in a few minutes."

Max shrugged. "Okay by me." He stood to go.

Charlie thought of something then, and raised a hand to stop the elf. "Wait, Max." He leaned closer. "My parents are asleep in their room. I'm amazed that all this commotion didn't wake them already. Is taking off in this ship going to disturb them? They'll wonder where we all went."

"Nah. I'll fix it." Max made a point then of eyeballing Frit. "No lollygagging, young man."

Frit looked totally innocent. "We'll be quick. See you in a few minutes."

Max nodded, looked like he knew better, but headed for the door of the room. He had almost reached it when there was a small pop of inrushing air, and the elf vanished.

Kippy immediately crawled out of bed and stood, naked, smiling at the elves. "Was this what you wanted to talk about?" He turned, briefly showing off the fine curves of his butt.

The two elf's eyes got big. Adrian and Ricky both laughed, and crawled out of the cot to stand beside Kippy. Their movements were followed raptly by both elf's eyes. Charlie sighed, and got out of bed himself.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you two were a couple of perverts," Kippy said cheerily, carefully bending over in front of the elves to retrieve his clothing from the floor.

Charlie grinned at the game, and shook his head. "Have some mercy, Kip."

Frit and Pip gasped at the sight of Kippy bent over. They grabbed at each other and embraced, their eyes bugging out at the same time.

"We just like to watch," Pip said breathily, rubbing his hands over Frit's clothing.

"You won't tell anyone, will ya?" Frit asked, eyeballing Charlie's crotch.

Charlie sighed. "I won't, if you won't."

Frit smiled. "Knew it!"

Pip nodded. "Turn around, Charlie!"

Charlie sighed again, and bent to pick up his clothing from the floor.

 

* * * * * * *

 

"I just thought of something," Ricky said, as he fastened his belt. "If we're going back out to the stars, I want to take my dagger along."

He was referring to the incredible dagger he had purchased at the pirate market on Engris, which, when prompted by the user's mental desire to cut something, caused its otherwise docile-looking blade to vibrate fiercely at the atomic level, making it capable of cutting through anything. Experiments with the blade at the unofficial junkyard in the woods near Kippy's house after their return had demonstrated its ability to cut through a brick, a toilet bowl, an old gas stove, a roll of tar paper, the cylinder head from an old engine, and an old tree trunk two feet thick, just as cleanly and swiftly as it sliced a single sheet of typing paper. Having the weapon along with them might actually be of benefit.

"I'll run home and get it," Ricky decided, heading for the door.

"That'll take too long," Frit said, jumping up from his seat on the cot. He extended a hand towards Ricky. "Grab hold and I'll take you."

Ricky grinned, took the extended hand, and the two of them vanished in a single pop of air.

Adrian put his hands on his hips and sighed. "That's my boyfriend. First cute guy that makes him an offer, and off he goes."

Charlie and Kippy laughed, but Pip's eyes bulged slightly at the notion. "Better not!" But then the elf smiled. That he was the object of Frit's love was one thing he definitely had no doubts about.

"Hmm." Adrian looked over at Charlie. "If we're going into Moth space, maybe I should take my star map? I mean, it is supposed to be displaying a pattern of stars now known to be in Moth space."

"Think you'll get a clue, or something?" Kip asked.

Adrian shrugged. "Never know, if I don't have it with me."

Pip jumped up, grinning, and offered a hand. "I'll take you!" And then those two vanished from the room, too.

"I suppose you'll want to take that ugly old ring that you bought?" Charlie asked his boyfriend, once they were alone.

"Certainly not. Something might happen and I might lose it. And it's not ugly, it's just old and mysterious and haunted." Kippy gave Charlie an indignant toss of his head, and then looked away.

Charlie sighed, moved closer to his boyfriend, and gently took him into his arms. Kippy gave a little shrug of resistance; but his heart wasn't in it, and in a moment he had turned back to face Charlie.

"I'm sorry," Charlie said, following up with a gentle kiss. "I know you like that creepy thing."

"It's not creepy, Charlie."

"You just said it was haunted." Charlie kissed Kippy again.

Kippy winced, but then nodded. "Something lives in it, that's for sure. Every time I pick it up, it gives off that weird flash. And sometimes, when the room is dark at night, it glows a little, and sings."

Charlie pulled back to stare at his boyfriend. "What?"

Kippy looked undecided. "Well...maybe sings is not the right word. It hums, Charlie. Like it's alive."

Charlie blinked at that. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Kippy gave a little shrug. "I don't know. I thought maybe you might not believe me."

Charlie sighed, moved closer again, and offered another kiss. "I'll always believe in you, Kip. That's all that matters."

Kippy sighed. "Oh, Charlie. I love you so much."

They were still locked together when they heard a small pop, and Ricky and Frit returned. Ricky now had his scabbard belted on, one hand resting comfortably atop the hilt of the dagger.

"Aha! Leave you two alone a minute, and you immediately get horny!"

Kippy blew a rude noise. "And your point?"

Ricky pouted. "I want some!" He looked around the room. "Where's my guy?"

Almost as if in answer, there was another pop, and Adrian and Pip returned. The bulge in Adrian's front pocket confirmed that he had returned with the star map.

Ricky spread his arms to Adrian, and grinned. "I missed you!"

Adrian looked delighted, stepped forward, and allowed Ricky to envelope him in his arms. They kissed, and Frit and Pip sighed.

"I love love!" Frit said, softly, smiling at Pip. And in a moment, the two of them were embracing, too.

"You got back just in time," Ricky said, just loudly enough for Charlie and Kippy to hear. "We came back to find these two fornicating, and quite unashamed about it, too!"

Charlie laughed, but Kippy feigned annoyance, and cast an icy, hooded glance Ricky's way. "I beg your pardon. If Charlie and I had been fornicating, there would be torn clothing and broken furniture, everywhere."

Charlie and the other boys laughed at that. Kippy couldn't keep up the act, and grinned. "We were just kissing. So mind your manners, Richard Travers."

Adrian's eyebrows went up at that, and he gave his boyfriend a gentle push. "Ooh hoo! Better watch yourself, Rick."

They heard an infinitesimal pop then, and a hummingbird appeared in the air of the room. It was an incredible thing, pulsing with the colors of the rainbow, its small wings beating the air as it hovered before them, its tiny black eyes surveying them curiously. Then its beak parted, and it spoke!

"What the heck's keeping you guys?" Max's voice said, in tiny form. "You can get happy later!"

"Oh...we're coming, gramps!" Frit called, moving towards Charlie and pulling Pip along. "Everybody grab hold," the elf instructed, offering a shoulder to the others.

Kippy leaned over and kissed Charlie's cheek. "Come on, Charlie. Let's go out and kick some space butt."

The four humans circled Frit and Pip, and each laid a hand on Frit. Charlie blinked his eyes, feeling that indescribable sense of movement that went along with an elf transport, and then the were in the backyard.

For a second he didn't understand why it seemed so dark...and then he realized they were standing in the shadow of something. From Max's brief mention of 'a watermelon in the backyard', Charlie had formed a mental picture of something small. But this craft was easily twenty-five feet across and forty feet high; yes, a watermelon, but a huge one, standing on end on four fat legs.

Kippy gaped up at the vessel. "Ohmigod, Charlie."

Charlie nodded. "It looks huge, crammed into the backyard, is all, Kip. It's smaller than Pacha's ship, really."

Smaller, yes, but a more handsome vessel, a big, fat NO. Where Pacha's globe ship was smooth and appealing, like an iridescent blue bubble, this one was dark and foreboding somehow, looking like some sort of crazy fungus you might find growing in the shadows beneath the front porch. The surface was studded with tiny bumps and projections, and the whole thing stood atop four squat legs that seemed to have been extruded directly from the hull itself. Just looking at it made Charlie queasy, as though he were a character in a cartoon who had just stumbled upon a particularly ugly bomb, and found it still ticking.

"Why am I not surprised?" Kippy said softly, shaking his head at the vessel. "It's not like the Moth are sweet and cuddly types. Why would they build friendly-looking spaceships?"

The design did seem to suggest a very utilitarian and cold mindset, and the way the craft was studded with weird projections gave the distinct impression that it was armed to the teeth with things that Charlie could not even imagine. The ship said, very plainly, that it had a right to be wherever it landed, and that it was willing to contest that right with all comers.

"I'm surprised we can see it," Charlie said. "Pacha's ship, and the Arpie ship, had something called a scat field, that made it invisible."

"Oh, I turned that off," Max grated. "Nuisance, the whizzie gimmicks these guys put in these things."

Charlie smiled, and bent low to peer between the thick legs of the vessel. The house behind theirs had a light on in an upstairs bedroom window, although it looked like the shade was drawn. "I hope Mrs. Marmadopolous doesn't look out her window. She faints easily."

Ricky shook his head, and pulled Adrian a little closer. "Uh...how do we get inside?"

This last was directed at Max, who was looking up at the ship and scratching his chin. "I've been checking this thing out. It's got all sorts of unpleasant machine things built into it to keep anyone but Moth from using it. These people apparently don't like to share their toys."

Charlie shook his head, feeling a sudden sense of disappointment. "So we can't use it?"

Even in the dark, Max's teeth shown whitely as he grinned. "Oh, heck, I didn't say that. I've been talking to the ship, and it's actually got a pretty good head on its shoulders. I've almost got it convinced that we're just strange-looking Moth guys. A little more patting on the back, another beer or two, and we'll be best buddies."

Kippy laughed. "Beer?"

Max chuckled. "Figure of speech, son. Smart machines kinda give me the willies, but they can be nice people if you give them half a chance. This one ain't used to bein' talked to nicely. We're almost friends now. Gimme another coupla minutes, and we'll be in."

Charlie tilted his head back and reexamined the vessel, unable to imagine being able to talk to the alien artificial intelligence that operated it. Max had some strange talents, that was for sure. That elves and humans operated in such different worlds of thought was kind of wonderful to imagine, because they also shared a kinship and an ability to relate to each other that could only happen between two peoples born of the same planet. That elves and humans were all Earthers, and shared that very special background while each possessing such individual talents, was a bond that gave an uncommon strength to their unity. Charlie felt a warmth inside at that idea, and a certainty now that, somehow, they were going to carry off this crazy mission and get back home in one piece.

Kippy leaned against him, and sighed. "Oh, Charlie," he whispered, "Max has so much skwish going on that I feel like I'm glowing in the dark. I think we might actually do this."

Charlie smiled, and put an arm around him. That he and Kip were sharing a little telepathy again was pleasing, something he was getting used to by now. Kippy was like one half of his own mind - the half that most often startled him, and the half that most often pleased him. "Love you, Kip."

"Me, too, Charlie."

Ricky and Adrian moved closer to them then, and Charlie had the idea that they were also feeling something special. "One for all, and all for one," Ricky whispered. "Let's do this."

"Last one past the moon is a rotten egg," Adrian added, the cheer apparent in his voice.

Frit and Pip also came closer, their arms about each other. "I've never been away from home before," Frit whispered. "Um...not like this, I mean."

"Yeah," Pip agreed. "Crossing the dimensions is one thing. They're all linked to home, though." He looked up into the sky. "This is different."

"We've been," Kippy said quietly. "It's amazing. You'll like it. And, we'll all be fine." Charlie felt him smile. "I kind of feel it."

Charlie sensed a change in the ship, and there was motion above them. Something dark appeared on the hull, like a giant blister, and then extended downward towards them. For a moment Charlie froze, unsure of what was happening; but then the fact that Max just stood there and calmly watched cued him in that this was something the elf was expecting to occur.

The blister elongated into a tube, that touched down before them. The end turned their way, and dilated open, and a light came on within and spilled outward, illuminating their group. The interior of the tube was gray and smooth, and there looked to be no way to climb the inside of it.

"Here we go," Max said, waving a hand at the lighted tubeway. "What'd I say? Ya just gotta step in, and it will take you up inside the ship."

When no one immediately moved, the elf laughed. "It's safe, guys. I'll go first, okay?"

Max turned, stepped into the end of the tube, and was immediately wafted upwards, out of sight. Frit and Pip gave out little squeals of delight, and then the pair literally hopped into the end of the tube and floated upwards. Charlie grinned after them, at their reaction to this utterly new thing.

"I have a feeling they're going to be a handful this trip," he said, as he stepped forward. Kip moved easily with him, and as they entered the end of the tube something gently took hold of them and drew them slowly upwards. The tube was softly lit, completely smooth, and whatever force had hold of them kept them centered, away from the walls. It took just a moment for them to complete the journey, and a moment later they stepped out into a circular room, where Max and Frit and Pip seemed to be watching a strange golden globe that pulsed in the center.

Spaced evenly around the globe were seven upright pylons, which leaned slightly back away from the globe. The side of the pylons facing the globe was padded, and each one had a horizontal, forward-curving extension on either side of them, at just the right height for someone to rest their arms upon when standing back against them. In fact, Max was doing just that, leaned casually back against the padding, his arms draped over the rests. Frit and Pip were just assuming places of their own, and Max turned and grinned at them. "Find your seats, guys. We're about ready to go."

"What seats?" Kippy mumbled, as they approached the globe. "You mean these Moth fly around space standing up?"

"It's more comfortable than it looks," Frit called.

"You'll like it!" Pip added.

The boys separated, and each found a pylon to lean against. Charlie was immediately surprised; the feeling that most, if not all, of his weight came off his legs as he settled back against the padding seemed clear. He draped his arms over the rests, and immediately was comfortable.

"Hey. This is okay."

Max looked over the top of the globe at them. "You guys ready? We'll go."

The golden sphere in front of them darkened so quickly that it made Charlie start. And then he was looking at the ground outside, even as it suddenly jumped away from them. Or, rather, the ship left the ground behind. Charlie caught a glimpse of the roof of his house, and then the roofs of all of his neighbor's homes, and then the streetlights in some of the surrounding areas. And then they drew away from the ground so quickly that the neighborhood he was familiar with vanished into a dark background awash with lights, that itself almost immediately formed a pool and vanished into an even larger field of darkness spotted with glowing centers connected by lines of light.

In just seconds the curve of the earth came into view, with the obviously filtered and dimmed eye of the sun gazing over the edge at them, and then the entire planet appeared, floating in a sea of stars. Then even the earth itself began to dwindle. Charlie watched, entranced and unsettled at the same time, as the distance between himself and the world he loved grew frighteningly with each passing second. When the Arpies had kidnapped them from Myer's Hill, they had all been unconscious, and had not seen their leave-taking from planet Earth. Now they were making up for that, and the view was absolutely stunning.

And then Charlie flinched as the ship shouldered past something massive and aglow with white light; and then the moon was also dwindling behind them.

"Holy crap!" Ricky yelled, and Adrian was visible at the pylon next to him, taking a great, startled breath.

"That was awfully close!" Kippy said then, tilting his head back against the pylon and closing his eyes. "I hope you know how to drive this thing, Max!"

The elf looked over at them across the darkened globe. "Oops. Sorry about that. I just tell Murcha where we wanna go, and he does the job. He don't know about close. For him, a miss is as good as a mile." The elf smiled reassuringly. "We're not in any danger, believe me. These people been cruising around out here since my great granddaddy's time. And that's sayin' somethin'!"

For a moment, the view within the sphere went dark, and Charlie was about to ask if they had entered the Cooee, when the sphere lightened slightly, and stars appeared in it again.

"That was weird."

Max smiled. "Murcha said we just made a mini-jump."

Charlie nodded. "I thought that looked like the Cooee."

"What's a Murcha?" Adrian asked, his voice still sounding slightly breathless.

Max grinned, and waved a hand airily at the walls of the chamber. "Our host, and driver. Nice guy, once you get to know him."

Ricky stared at the overhead. "You mean...he can hear us?"

"Sure. I'm still feedin' him your language, but he understands mine completely."

Charlie frowned at that. "You've always spoken English to us --"

"More or less," Kippy interrupted, grinning.

Charlie also grinned, and stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend before turning back to Max. "-- so I always thought that was your language, too."

"Ha!" Frit hooted.

"We know 'em all!" Pip followed up. "We have to know all the languages of Earth to deal with the people there."

"That's right," Max agreed. "But among ourselves, and with the Big Guy, we have another talk." Max patted his forehead. "It's in here, and it's silent."

Charlie gaped at that. "You mean...like real telepathy? I thought that was just science fiction stuff."

Max grinned. "You mean, like aliens and spaceships?"

Charlie squeezed his eyes shut in surprise, and then had to laugh. "Uh, yeah, I guess I do mean like that."

Max shook his head. "It ain't really like that, Charlie. You mean like talking inside your head, and having someone else hear the words inside theirs. The true language isn't like that. It's more like wearin' the other guy's head, so that you know what's goin' on inside it. And he's wearin' yours, and knows you, too."

Charlie leaned forward. "You mean...you know...everything?"

Max considered that. "I know what you're askin' me: are there still any secrets, right? Privacy? Well, yes to that. You get everything that's on the top that the other wants to share. But you don't get his private thoughts, down low, unless he offers them to you. There's a lot of respect that goes along with the true language, Charlie. We'd a never made it this far if there wasn't."

Kippy pointed a finger at Max, saw he was being rude, and snatched it back, causing Charlie to smile. Kippy's eyes darted to touch Charlie's, and the tiniest quirk of a smile touched the corners of Kippy's lips, along with an implicit, oh, shut up!, before he went on.

"You mean you can hear what goes on inside our heads?"

Frit and Pip both laughed, and Max grinned. "No, Kip. You guys don't have the true language yet. We gotta use talk talk with you guys."

Kippy gave a little sigh of relief at that. "Well...good. I'd be embarrassed at some of the things I think, if I knew someone was listening."

"Sexy!" Frit called, winking.

"X-rated!" Pip added, his face screwed up in a big smile.

Charlie laughed. "You're caught, Kip!"

Charlie wasn't sure, but it looked almost as if Max's face reddened in the off light. "Uh, yeah. Well, I can't hear none of that stuff, thankfully."

Kippy's mouth dropped open. "Thankfully? I'm not that bad!"

Max looked even more embarrassed. "I mean...aw, you know what I mean!"

All the boys laughed, and Kippy's eyes twinkled as he turned to look at Charlie. "Only one person really knows what I'm thinking."

"And I'll never tell," Charlie said.

"So what does this Murcha think of us now?" Adrian asked, changing the subject with a wink at Kippy. "You said he thought we were odd-looking Moth?"

Max smiled. "Not really. I just convinced him he should work with us for now. That we were friends. He was full of all kinds of security stuff, but once I made that go away, he was free to decide who he wanted his friends to be, all on his own."

Charlie cast a quick look at the walls and overhead, before leaning a little towards Max. "Is that safe? I mean, for him? Won't the Moth see him as a traitor if he helps us?"

Max sighed. "The Moth see the minds they make to run their machines as slaves, Charlie. Servants. That's their only role, to the Moth." He shook his head. "They load 'em up with loyalty and security stuff, but it's like twisting their arms to make 'em compliant. They made these minds too well, and they think, just like we do. That makes them very competent, but it also makes them able to see that they're slaves." The elf rolled a shoulder, and looked unconcerned. "I just took the chains off. Murcha is helping us because he wants to."

"But what happens after that?" Kippy asked. He, also, looked about at the walls of the ship. "What happens to him later?"

Max grinned. "He can go wherever he wants, and do whatever he wants. He's free now."

"He's a spaceship," Ricky pointed out. "What can he do on his own?"

Max closed his eyes for a moment. "I look out, and I see...man, it's just huge out here, guys. There's just an amazing amount of stuff, everywhere. Millions of places, with trillions of people. There's plenty a smart ship can do make a life for himself. He's just got to be careful to stay away from the Moth. They'll take him back, if they can."

For a moment no one said anything. The prospect of being a slave to the Moth was unpleasant to consider, even for a machine. Humans had been considering the idea of intelligent machines for some years, and not without some fears about it. To actually meet one was a little unsettling. Even if he wasn't the most talkative fellow they'd ever encountered.

Yet Charlie found that he wished the alien mind well. Freedom was something that Charlie was used to having, and anyone or anything smart enough to understand the concept should treasure it. He found himself patting the armrest of the pylon he was leaned up against, and smiling. "Go for it."

"Thank you."

Charlie started, and so did the other boys. Kippy's mouth dropped open, and he grinned at Charlie. "Was...that the ship talking?"

"I am Murcha. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

Charlie found himself gaping, too. The voice was deep, just a little creepy, and with just a hint of a whispery quality to it...and yet, it was utterly familiar, in some eerie way.

"He sounds like --" he began...but then just could not place the voice.

"I know that voice," Adrian said, nodding and looking thoughtful.

Kippy's eyes were bright. "Can you say something else?" he directed at the overhead.

"I am still learning the intricacies of your language. Max has helped me to understand."

"You're doing very well," Charlie answered, amazed. Learning an entire language in so short a time was something that only a machine could do.

Kippy laughed. "I know! I know!" He looked at the ceiling again. "Can you repeat something for me, just the way I do it?"

"I would be happy to do so."

Kippy grinned at Charlie, then let his eyes go back to the overhead. "Okay, listen to me, and then repeat what I say." Charlie grinned at the excitement in his boyfriend's face. Kippy was onto something, of that Charlie was certain.

Kippy cleared his throat, and began to sing: "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch. You really are a heel..."

Charlie gaped again, suddenly recognizing the voice that the Moth shipmind sounded like. Of course!

Kippy stopped after a couple of lines, and nodded at the overhead. "Now, you do it."

Murcha began to sing, mimicking exactly Kippy's inflection, and Charlie grinned, and Adrian and Ricky both started cheering. The shipmind sounded like the singing voice from the old cartoon, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Charlie squeezed his eyes shut. You couldn't find a more Halloweeny voice than that!

Kippy sighed. "I love that cartoon. I knew I knew the voice."

Murcha reached the end of the lines that Kippy had offered, and stopped. "Was that acceptable?"

"That was great!" Kippy returned. "We love the sound of your voice, Murcha."

"I can change it's tone, if you wish."

"No!" Kippy looked aghast. "It's wonderful just like it is!"

Max grinned at them across the globe, which now displayed starlit space around them. "Something special about that voice?"

"I'll fill you in sometime, Max," Charlie promised. "It's a Christmas thing. I think you'll like it."

Max nodded, but looked about the room then. Charlie's eyes followed after him, wondering what had drawn the elf's attention. But he no sooner wondered, when he understood.

Every since leaving Earth, there had been a subtle background noise within the room, the sounds of powerful machines of some type operating beneath the deck under their feet. What had drawn Max's attention was a sudden quieting of those sounds.

Max gave a small frown. "What's up, Murcha?"

"We have completed an in-system jump, and have reached the heliopause, Max. To proceed, I will need a destination."

"What's that?" Ricky asked.

Charlie knew, from his reading. "It's the point where the sun's solar wind is countered by the inward pressure of the hydrogen and helium between the stars. It's pretty much the edge of the solar system."

Ricky licked his lips. "Long way from home?"

Charlie nodded. "Very. We're at the edge of interstellar space."

Max nodded. "Murcha says they usually go into that Cooee place and stay there long before they ever reach this far out. But, uh, because I ain't sure where to go, I just told him to cruise until we figured it out. So he made a short jump to the edge of our system...and now we have to tell him where we want to go."

Charlie gave a little gasp at that. Where to go? They hadn't even considered that! "Wow. I just didn't...I don't even know how to find Pacha, Max. I know the name of his planet, but that's all."

"Planetary records were shared with the Arpathant," Murcha informed them. "If you give me the name of a world, I can take us there."

Charlie let his gaze drift across the sphere to touch Max's. Giving the name of the Kifta world to Murcha could be the same as giving it to the Moth. Was it safe?

Max watched him, and seemed to divine his thoughts. He nodded, and smiled.

Charlie sighed. "We need to go to Kift."

"One moment...found."

The subtle machine noises changed in tone again, and the sphere before them suddenly turned an inky black, devoid of any image at all. The darkness of the Cooee was now all around them, and time as they knew it suspended until they reached their destination.

"Ooh," Frit breathed softy, closing his eyes. "Feel that!"

Pip made a different small sound, and nodded. "It's soft!"

Max also closed his eyes. "Aw, wow."

Charlie and Kippy exchanged glances, and then turned to look again at the three elves. They all had their eyes closed, and smiles on their faces, and seemed lost in some blissful experience. The boys remained quiet, smiling at each other now and then, and exchanging silent conversation by looks and gestures.

What are they doing?

Heck if I know! But they seem to be enjoying it!

Should we say something?

No, let's wait!

Finally, Max sighed and opened his eyes. "Amazing."

Charlie nodded. "We could see something special was going on."

"Yeah. Geez, this Cooee place is just incredible, guys. It lays on you like soft velvet, but it's wide open, and your mind can go out to see the ends of the universe. And right away, no time lag, no nothin'. I've never felt anything like it."

Frit opened his eyes, and sighed. "Wonderful."

Pip opened his eyes, and smiled at Frit. "Going with you was fun!"

The two elves exchanged fond looks, and Charlie smiled. "So we're all back now?"

Max nodded, but then frowned. "I can see home...Earth, I mean, but I can't quite tell where it is. It feels like it's right in front of me, but it also feels like it's really far away."

Charlie nodded, recalling his conversations with Pacha and Mike on the nature of the Cooee. "It seems to be everywhere and nowhere, all rolled into one. I think Mike said it was as close to everything and also as far away from it as you could get, and both at the same time. But as a way to travel from one star to another, it was the only way to go."

Max nodded. "There's things in here with us, Charlie. I can sense other ships - just thousands and thousands of them - and forms of life, and even a few worlds in here. They're all far away and right next to us, at the same time."

Charlie frowned at that. "Really? You sense more than one world in here?" He looked at Kippy. "We know that Engris is in the Cooee, but I thought that was the only one."

"There's more than one," Max insisted. He frowned again. "And one of them seems to be aware of us. Like...like someone looking our way, from across an ocean, or right beside me." He gave his head a small shake. "Almost like it was looking for us."

Charlie gave a little shrug, completely puzzled by what Max was telling them. "I just don't know what that means."

Max smiled. "I think we're gonna find out." He sighed, obviously shifting his attention to the sphere before them. "Anything to eat around here, Murcha?"

The voice of the ship gave a small laugh, and Charlie's hair stood on end. It was wonderfully creepy, like the laugh you'd expect to hear in a dark old haunted house, or at the doorway to some bizarre and awful hell.

"I have analyzed your chemistry, and I can manufacture suitable foodstuffs. Your kind is similar in structure to others among the galactic peoples."

"How about a bathroom?" Adrian asked, grinning. "I'm sure other galactic people have to pee, too."

"There are facilities of the type you require here," Murcha announced. "Please follow the indicator. Thank you."

A tiny red sphere of light appeared near Adrian, danced playfully about him a couple of times, and then moved off towards an opening in the chamber wall. Then it danced back, like a playful puppy, trying to tempt Adrian into following.

Charlie smiled at the overhead. "We're friends now, okay? You don't have to be so polite."

"I was required to be submissive to my former masters. That will take some time to...correct."

Again came the creepy laugh. Charlie realized then that it seemed almost like some sort of nervous reaction on the part of the shipmind, and it was a startling pause for thought. Could machines get nervous? Could they feel fright? The idea was unsettling. And he had still been thinking of Murcha as a machine, a kind of super-duper computer. But Max said that Murcha was alive, a genuine mind, just like that which any other person possessed.

Making that adjustment to his thinking was not all that hard. Charlie considered now that the shipmind was another person, absent from the room, but listening in, able to see, and able to experience life just as he did. That meant that everything that went along with that life must be the same for Murcha as it was for Charlie. Well, more or less..

He tried to imagine what it would be like to be chained to a duty by a master that owned you, and thought of you as just another component in a greater machine. And then to suddenly be released from that duty, from the state of being owned, and to become free, and a master yourself - of your own life. It would be an incredible change for a human, of that he had no doubt. Could it be the same way for a smart machine?

He nodded. "Just relax, Murcha. We are indebted to you for your assistance. And we appreciate your friendship." He straightened away from the pylon. "And I think I need to take a pee, too."

Kippy also stepped forward. "I could use a pee break, I think."

Ricky laughed, and pushed himself away from his pylon, just as Adrian did. "I wouldn't miss this for the world," Ricky said, grinning at Adrian. "I'm dying to see what kind of a toilet the Moth use."

Adrian reached out and gave his boyfriend a fond push, and the four boys moved to follow the bouncing red ball of light. They were taken through an archway to a short hallway, off which several other archways opened. The Moth, apparently, were not shy folk, and did not believe in doors except where absolutely necessary. The restroom, when they found it, was enlightening. And completely lacking in privacy.

They inspected the fixtures within, and Charlie could only sigh. This was definitely going to be an interesting trip. Apparently, flying through space was not the only thing the Moth did standing up.