We Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance, Charlie Boone! - 4. Part 4

"I don't know what to make of it," Max was saying, when Charlie opened his eyes again. Kippy was still against him, and stirring now, too. Charlie smiled, gave him a brief and affectionate kiss, and sat up.

"Don't know what to make of what?"

Max turned to look at him. "Well, hi, sleepy head."

Kippy sat up too. "Is it morning?"

"It's about seven hours later, by your reckoning," Max said. "But I think it's still light outside this cave right now." He held up a finger and pointed it at Charlie, as if to say, I wanna call this dump a cave, I'm calling this dump a cave!

Charlie grinned. "Still light outside, huh?"

Murcha spoke up from Max's pocket. "Mufa'alatra revolves more slowly than does your world, Charlie. A day here is about forty Earth hours long."

"Ugh," Kippy said, sitting up then. "I'll bet the kids really hate school here." He looked at Charlie. "Can you imagine a twelve hour school day?"

"You see the stone thing?" Frit asked, from where he was sitting beside Pip. Both boys were sipping from metal cups, from which tiny curls of steam were rising.

When Charlie looked questioningly at them, Pip stuck out an arm and pointed with his finger. "There."

Charlie turned back to look outside their little hollow. Standing on the stone floor about twenty feet away, was a stone in the shape of the letter 'X'. It was about two feet in height, and looked from its coloration to have been quickly hewn from a stalagmite. The base of it was still roughly round, allowing the 'X' to easily stand upright.

"Where did that come from?"

"It was there when we woke up," Max said.

Charlie frowned at that. Max had placed a shield across the opening of their hollow, so there had been no need for anyone to stand guard. But Charlie was a little surprised to learn that no other safeguard had been set up to warn them of movement close to the shield. But Max laughed when he mentioned it.

"I don't know if you've been looking, but there's all sorts of little fuzzy critters, and some lizard things, that run all around the floor of this place. If I set a watch for motion, I wouldn't have got a wink of sleep." The elf waved a hand at their invisible shield. "Nothing's coming through our defenses, Charlie. If it was a solid steel wall, ten inches thick instead, would you feel like you'd need to watch the other side?"

"Well --" The elf had him there. he grinned. "Okay, I'm done."

"Someone sneaked up and put it there, huh?" Mike said, glancing around the cavern. "Well, not even sneaked, since it's so light in here now. We'd have seen 'em coming if we'd been awake. So they must have realized we were all asleep."

"I wasn't asleep," Gort said then. "And I was standing, just as I am now, faced out, all night long."

"And you didn't see anything?" Mike asked, looking astonished.

"I didn't say that. Two forza brought this thing along about halfway through your sleep period, set it down, and ran like the devil was chasing them. I did not feel it was cause to wake anyone. You were all so tired."

Pacha waved a hand from within Mike's jacket. "It is not important how it got here. What I wish to know is what it means."

"Could be a warning," Ricky said. "An ex like that might mean, 'don't go any farther'."

Adrian stood up and approached the barrier, squinting at the object outside. "I know what it is."

Ricky's gaze followed him. "Well, don't keep it a secret."

Adrian pointed. "Did you notice the round ball between the upper arms of the ex?"

Charlie leaned forward like everyone else. Sure enough, a round ball was at the base of the valley formed by the two upper arms of the statue.

Adrian turned to Gort. "Raise your arms again, like you did yesterday."

The robot's arms went up again, held outward at a small angle, and Charlie saw it immediately.

It was a statue of Gort.

Max grinned. "Well, well, well. You made an impression on these folks, I'd say."

Pacha offered a soft chik-chik-chik. "That hopefully means they will allow us to pass through unmolested."

Charlie walked over to where Frit and Pip were sitting, and still sipping from their cups. He looked around then, and saw cups and small plates next to everybody. "What are you guys drinking?"

"Warme chocolademelk," Frit said, grinning.

"Hot chocolate," Pip translated. "Mmm!"

Charlie grinned, and looked over at Kippy. "I guess we missed breakfast."

"It's there!" Pip said, pointing.

Charlie and Kip both turned, and there were two steaming cups next to their sleeping pads, and two small plates of what looked like omelet.

"Eat," Max said, grinning. "So that we can get going."

Charlie and Kippy returned to sit on their pads to eat breakfast. The chocolate was wonderful, thick and rich, and the eggs better even than the omelets that Charlie's mom made, which was saying something.

"Wow," Kippy said, when they were through eating, gazing up at Max and patting his belly. "Best organic goop I ever tasted."

Max grinned, held up his hand, and blew on his fingers. "These boys got so much talent they're hot. Sorry, no autographs, please."

Everyone laughed, and stood to get ready to leave. Max simply made all their trash go away, and the cups and the plates and the sleeping pads. He could bring them all back later, when and where they needed them. Magic certainly was nice to have, as long as it was in the right hands to use, and had the right heart behind it.

"What should we do with this thing?" Ricky asked, after Max had dropped the barrier and they had emerged from the hollow. The boy dropped a hand on the statue of Gort, then bent and carefully tried to lift it. "Whew! I sure wouldn't want to have to carry it!"

Pacha smiled, and waved his fingers at the stone statue. A small creaking sound came from it, and then it rapidly shrank before their eyes, until it was no more then three inches tall. "Get it, Mike. We may have a use for it later."

Mike grinned, retrieved the tiny statue, and stuffed it into the pocket of his jacket. "Just don't let the size come back while I got it."

Pacha gave a little shake of his head, but his eyes held a smile. "I believe we are ready to go on."

They moved on. Three hours later, they had seen no one, and heard nothing. So they were surprised when they came around a large stone column, and there was another statue before them. It was the same size as the first one, and looked to be made from the same stone. But where the first statue had scarcely been more than an 'ex', this one was more polished, more detailed. There were accurate hands at the terminus of each arm, and feet, and the round head even had ear pads and a visor etched into it, just like the ones that Gort had on his own head.

"Amazing," Max said, his eyes moving slowly around the cavern. "Bet they started this one at the same time as the first one, and that's why it has more detail."

"We should definitely take this one along," Pacha said, waving his hands at it. "It is a true work of art."

In just a moment, it was a tiny work of art, and Mike had stuffed it into his other jacket pocket.

They continued on for two more hours, and then stopped for a rest and to eat.

"Murcha?" Max asked. "How are you and Illia doin' with figuring out how big this place is?"

"We have continued to image it as we move along," came the reply. "It is quite vast, and we are not yet halfway to the opposite end."

Max frowned. "Rats. The longer we do this, the more chance the Moth have of finding us. Their doodad-sensor-things are really good. Bet they found that cave opening near the crash site, and I wouldn't be surprised if they checked it out."

"This far away from the opening, I could not continue to shield it while also shielding us here," Pacha said. "I did shake it up a little before withdrawing the shield, causing a partial collapse at one point, which I then aged by fifty planetary years. It will seem to anyone who investigates that no one could have passed through in a very long time."

Max grinned. "Did I ever say I'm glad you're on our side?"

Pacha laughed. "And pleased to be here, too."

They went on after eating, and walked for another two hours. Max continued to walk point, with Gort just behind him, while Mike and Pacha held down the rear, and everyone else formed the middle. They were moving between a line of columns now, so evenly spaced and regular that it looked like they had been set there on purpose. But all were clearly natural in origin, and Charlie again had to smile at the sometimes precision of nature's eye. This section of the cavern was beautiful, and somewhere ahead they could hear what sounded like a waterfall.

They rounded the last columns, and Max suddenly stopped. Ahead of them, once again, was another statue. Or so Charlie thought.

So he was surprised when a pair of wings quietly spread behind the statue, making it seem larger, and one arm came up, and a clawed hand pointed at them. Pointed at Gort.

The face of the creature, not the prettiest thing Charlie had ever seen, worked in silence a moment, and then the slit of a mouth opened.

"Injit. Paolu bree. Injit."

Max patted his front pocket. "You understand him?" he asked, of Murcha.

"There is no record that these creatures speak, or have a language. T'ath has kept them classified as animals. It is a new idea for me to view them as people."

"I thought that animals were protected under your laws here," Kippy said. "I thought you guys couldn't do anything to disturb their habitats."

"Such laws existed in Arpathant space, and still do in other surrounding empires. The Moth have not seen fit to extend that rule of law to the creatures that inhabit their own worlds."

"Wow," Mike said, shaking his head. "Hard to believe that the Arpies were more decent folk in some areas than the Moth. That really drops the Moth low in my book."

"Big surprise," Charlie said, agreeing. "The Moth don't even seem to like each other much. I'm not that startled to see they don't care about anyone else."

The creature was looking back and forth at them as they spoke, but had then focused on first Mike, and then Charlie, as each spoke. "Moth?" That there was distaste in the way the word was said was apparent.

Charlie indicated their group, and shook his head. "No Moth."

The creature stared at him, then pointed at Gort. "Parva. I'la diltra pan'u."

"He speaks the Moth tongue," Murcha said then. "Havra mak'la semur Moth."

The forza started at the voice from nowhere, and backed up a step.

Max dug in his front pocket, and produced Murcha, who immediately spoke to the forza in Moth again. The creature's eyes widened, and Charlie had to smile at that. Surprise was a universal language in itself.

"I just informed him that we are not friends of the Moth. He had said that he had hoped that 'the great one' - I assume he refers to Gort - was not here on a mission for the Moth."

The forza spoke again. The language sounded odd, coming from the gargoyle's mouth, and Charlie had to marvel all over again at how different people could be.

"He wants to know why we are here, and where we are bound," Murcha translated.

Max looked at Pacha, who looked uncertain. Max shrugged. "If they are not friendly with T'ath's bunch, maybe they'll be sympathetic to our cause." He looked down at Murcha again. "Tell him we're going to the citadel to see T'ath."

The shipmind duly passed along the information. The forza looked alarmed then, and took another step away from them. This time there seemed a hostile note in its voice when it spoke once more.

"It wants to know why we go there. He says T'ath is not to be trusted."

Max laughed at that. "Tell him we're going there to settle a few things with the guy."

Again, Murcha offered a string of alien words. The forza looked uncertain, and its wings fluttered nervously as it spoke once more.

"It asks what things."

Kippy gave out a big sigh, and stepped forward. "Oh, you people." He raised a hand to the forza and pointed at it. "T'ath."

"T'ath?" The creature gazed uncertainly at Kippy's hand. Kippy nodded, raised his other hand, formed a fist, and then slapped it with a resounding smack into the first one. Then he allowed the stricken arm to slowly fall to the side, and made a sound like a body striking the floor. Then he grinned again, and pointed at the downed hand. "T'ath."

The forza blinked its eyes, and then its mouth gaped opened in a grin, revealing both upper and lower canines that certainly qualified as fangs in Charlie's book. The forza pointed at Kippy's downed hand, and made a little buzzing sound, that just had to have humor as its source. "T'ath?"

Kippy looked satisfied, and nodded. "Yes."

The forza stepped closer again and looked at Murcha. "Onda. Trebu keeli'a nobit T'ath." Then the creature raised a hand, and pointed at Kippy. "Hlla im'thi naruat con'vi mibulta."

Murcha gave out a tiny, pleased yip, which sounded just so gay to Charlie's ears, issuing forth as it did in such a powerful and normally sinister voice, that he couldn't help but to grin.

"He says that his name is Onda," Murcha translated. "He's second leader of his people - I guess that means there is more than one - and he asks how they can help the fist of Kippy to strike T'ath."

Max snorted, but it was in pleasure. "Aw, great! Tell him we need to get to the citadel, and to find a way to get inside."

Murcha sent the message over, and Onda again looked pleased. His reply this time carried a note of excitement with it, and when he turned and waved a wing as if for them to follow, his meaning seemed clear.

"He said to follow him. He says there is a way inside the citadel. He wants to help."

Max nodded. "I get a good feeling from this guy. We'll go with him." Max and the others started off after Onda.

Charlie moved over to Kippy, and put his arm around him. "Way to go, tiger."

Kippy grinned. "Come on, Charlie. We'll get left behind." But his eyes said volumes of other things, and Charlie could only sigh.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Onda led their group back to where several others of his kind were waiting, and they had a hasty conference, with much growling and wagging of wing tips. But the little forza all emerged from the huddle smiling, their fangs showing, and Charlie was certain that that meant the Onda's people were going to assist them - or eat them.

They were then led deeper into the cavern, towards the sound of the waterfall, and soon came to a small village of stone homes beside a slowly moving underground river. The falls were up and behind the village, and quite impressive in the new light within the cavern. Other forza came out to look at them, and seemed reassured by Onda's presence and his positive attitude towards the visitors.

They were introduced to an obviously older forza, named Tlithi, who turned out to be first leader of the village. The color gray seemed a universal merit badge for those advancing in age, and while Tlithi still looked as strong and able as any of the forza, it seemed apparent from the gray rim fur of his wings and the gray tufts of fur at the ends of his ears, that he was getting on in years. Onda, it turned out, was his son, and would someday be first leader when Tlithi was gone.

The forza normally moved about within the cavern using a form of echo location, just as Earthly bats did. But their eyes worked much like a human's did, although their night vision was like that of a cat. Still, they were amazed and excited by the light in the cavern, and considered it a miracle to be able to see within their underground world.

"What about that?" Max whispered to Gort, during a lull in the conversation. "How long will the light last?"

"Oh, indefinitely," Gort responded. "This universe is just full of stray, unused photons. Directing some of them here is no big deal. If these people like the illumination, we'll just leave the lights on when we go. The pipeline is self-sustaining. Probably outlast the planet."

That news, when translated by Murcha, brought a round of hissing forza cheers. Charlie has never seen so many fearsome looking fangs displayed for such a good reason in his entire life. Still, it still made him shiver, just a little.

Their next stage was to plan how to get into the citadel. The stones of the mountain contained many faults, it seemed, and there were secret crevices that led up from the cavern into the maintenance areas beneath the citadel. They could be entered only by someone that could fly. Apparently, the forza that worked for T'ath were not as loyal as he believed, and the passages that had not been discovered and sealed during the construction of the citadel had not been given away by those forza that worked for him.

There was plenty of security sensory gear in the maintenance places, as there was throughout the citadel; but as the barracks for T'aths working forza was also located there, and accessible by a tunnel that led straight up to the grounds within the citadel walls, the presence of forza within would not seem out of place. The only details that needed to be worked out was how to disguise Gort and his group while they made the passage upwards.

And that was no great problem, either. Gort and Max and Pacha had worked the magic together that had fooled Kalaf into thinking that the arriving ship contained members of his own kind; and the same magic had fooled the security scans. Doing this once again would be straightforward enough, and even easier under these conditions. T'ath's primary security was set to keep unauthorized personnel from even landing on his world. The secondary systems set to watch the citadel and T'ath's landing field were somewhat simpler in nature. That, to Max, just meant that they would be easier to fool.

"The question remains, what are we going to do once we get there?" Max asked. "How are we gonna get this guy to cough up the secret information about Earth, and how are we going to make sure he doesn't try to come and mess with us again?"

Gort turned toward him then. "As I said once before, this entire scenario has already played out in several alternate realities. In those where we were successful, we employed much the same solution in each one."

"And that was?" Kippy asked.

"What's the strongest human emotion?" Billy asked.

"Love," Kippy said immediately.

Billy laughed, and Will joined him. "Okay, the second strongest emotion?"

Kippy frowned, and looked at Charlie.

"Fear, probably," Charlie said. "Fear will drive people to do things they would never normally do."

Adrian shook his head. "Isn't it an individual thing, which is the strongest?"

Billy/Will laughed. "Exactly. For humans and many other races, love and compassion for others are among the strongest emotions. But that does not seem to be true of the Moth. Their most powerful emotions seems to be...what?"

"Greed," Kippy said. "They seem to want to own everything."

"Ambition," said Ricky. He smiled at Kippy. "Your guy's cousin."

"They're paranoid," Frit said. "They don't even trust each other."

"They're scared," Pip decided. "They're scared they won't always be on top. That leads to all the other bad emotions."

Charlie nodded. "Something to that, I think."

Gort offered a joint sigh. "It's so nice working with bright people. Yes, all of those emotions are at play among the Moth. But fear is the base, the primary motivator of the Moth. So that's the one we're going to use against T'ath."

"What if he ain't the scarin' kind?" Max asked.

"He is," Gort said, assuredly. "His greatest fear is lack of control. Of not knowing everything that's going on. Of not being one step ahead of everyone else. So we're going to use that fear against him. We're going to scare T'ath like he's never been scared before."

Frit and Pip grinned at each other. "It's Halloween!"

"Trick or treat!" Pip responded.

"How are we doing this?" Ricky asked. "We don't even know what scares a Moth guy."

Max smiled, reached into his pocket, and drew forth Murcha. "Actually, we have an expert."

"Two experts," came Illia's voice, from his other pocket. "Get me out of here! I know more legends and scary things from around the galaxy than any ten other shipminds."

"I'll vouch for that," Mike said drily. "She scares the crap out of me all the time!"

Max pulled the little blue orb out of his pocket, which leapt out of his hand and flew straight at Mike. He blinked in surprise, but opened a hand and caught it.

"Aren't you a sweetie, Michael! Holding me like that so that I can work with everyone. A little higher...turn that way...there. You are an angel, dear."

Mike rolled his eyes, curled his lip, and the sigh he gave was anything but a happy one. But he held the orb up, and put a look on his face that said there would be a payback at some later date.

Their brainstorming session lasted two hours, and then they told Onda that they were ready to go.

It took two forza to lift each of them, and to carry them up through the often narrow cracks in the bedrock stone beneath the citadel. The way was tortuous and twisting, and would have been impossible to negotiate without wings. Finally, they were all gathered in a small chamber with a crack in one side, that Onda assured them led up into the lowermost regions of the citadel itself.

Kippy combed his fingers through his hair, and patted at his clothing. "That was the most insane, wild, and fun ride I have ever had."

Charlie nodded, fully agreeing. It had been a mini-adventure all its own, no doubt about it.

Kippy finished straightening his clothing, and looked around the smooth-walled chamber. "I can see that water made this. The walls look like they've been polished."

Charlie grinned. "And I know you know about polishing things."

Kippy blinked, and then laughed. "Charlie, you get horny in the strangest of places."

Charlie sighed, and pulled Kippy closer, and gently rubbed his hands down his boyfriend's backside. "It isn't where I am, Kip. It's who I'm with."

"You're with six of your mates, a giant robot, two shipminds, and a Kifta that looks like a koala," Mike said, as he passed them. "But who's counting?"

Charlie sighed, and offered Kippy a kiss, which was happily accepted.

"Don't listen to him, Charlie. He's a party pooper." Kippy smiled. "And I think he's jealous, too."

Charlie laughed. "Jealous? Of me, or of you?"

Kippy winked. "He's jealous of you, of course. You have me, right?"

Charlie nodded, and kissed Kip again. "Yep. You're right, as always."

Max waved at them, and Kippy sighed. "Let's go, Charlie. It's time to rock 'n roll."

 

* * * * * * *

 

T'ath'O'Malbas - or just T'ath to those who dealt with him - stood upon the balcony that overlooked the western valley bordering his great citadel, and watched the sun sink behind the distant mountains. The view always inspired him, the soft reddish eye of the sun taking its time to fall into the last valley between the far peaks, there to spawn a sea blood red in color, which bathed the horizon until the stars came out overhead.

Those stars were brilliant this night, winking and twinkling in the air currents that moved far above the citadel. T'ath stared at them, wondering at their secrets. Many were nearby, suns that gave life to worlds now a part of the Moth empire, and peopled with his kind, going about their business, making the universe a better place for Mothkind.

Other stars watched over worlds inhabited by lesser breeds, subject races, which the Moth demanded allegiance from, but rarely needed for anything important. Those breeds had neither the intelligence nor the technology to compete with the Moth, and that made them of no concern at all. They remained solely because there was no profit to be had in eradicating them. The worlds they inhabited were overcrowded and depleted, and the galaxy too overflowing with pristine worlds untouched by civilization of any kind to ever make the worlds of lesser breeds into tempting conquests.

Still farther away, in several directions, and beyond the expanse that was the Moth empire, were the stars of neighboring empires - peoples possessing technology that was near to what the Moth enjoyed themselves. Had those people been met when they were still expanding, still building their empires, the Moth would have considered it profitable to eliminate them. But, alas, those others had become too large by the time they were encountered, and, powerful as Moth technology happened to be, the race's numbers were insufficient to support the large-scale conflict that would now be needed to dispense with competing empires.

T'ath's eyes drifted to another area of the sky. And then, there were these stars, the stars that had once hosted the worlds of the Arpathant, another lesser breed, but one simply teeming with numbers, and who possessed a technology at a level that simply could not be discounted in the affairs of empire. The Arpathant were a self-centered breed, all of whom seemed to possess an extreme need to somehow outwit all the others. That this mentality was related to the one that the Moth operated by themselves was lost on T'ath; the motivations of the two races were worlds apart, even if the way they approached things was often similar.

And, there was now a major difference between the two species that could not be overlooked, for it was so obviously apparent to all: the Moth still inhabited their stellar empire, while the Arpathant had disappeared from theirs. The stars he could observe within the space of the former competitor's empire still hosted the very same worlds they always had; but now, all were vacant, bereft of even the tiniest reminder of their former Arpathant masters. The race, their cities, their fleet, and all their works, everywhere, had vanished as if they had never been.

A slight shudder of apprehension coursed throughout T'ath's body as he considered this. What power could have done this? What force could have so completely erased the Arpathant from existence?

There were clues, some of which T'ath had been following. It now seemed that one, in particular, had borne fruit; regarding a small world circling a star of no importance deep within the former Arpathant space, from which the desperate call of an Arpathant battlecruiser commander for a fleet to deal with a new breed discovered there had been one of the final communications sent within Arpathant space before the disappearance of the entire species.

A Moth ship sent to investigate had been handled in an unheard of manner by the inhabitants of this world, and physically evicted from orbit under penalty of destruction had they not complied. This was simply impossible to believe. The cruiser had returned, but the scout ship in which the initial contact team had landed to procure witnesses to the Arpathant incident had been lost. The crew of the cruiser had very little to report, save that the two Moth who had gone to ground had somehow been seized, and then had suddenly reappeared aboard the cruiser even as plans to rescue them were being drawn up. The cruiser had then been subjected to an incredible gravitational compression, which had only ceased when the vessel had fled and left the system

The two Moth that had landed had reported encountering power users superior in strength to themselves. Since all Moth had basically the same level of control over the forces of power management, and no other races had ever been encountered that possessed the same abilities, it had always been thought that the Moth race was unique in this respect, graced somehow by evolution to one day be masters of all the galaxy. To learn that there might be other power users around, and especially those with superior gifts, was a horrifying prospect, one that ran counter to the underlying theme of Moth culture that they would one day be masters.

T'ath's first notion had been that the two Moth that had landed on the world had been fooled in some fashion. But the eviction of the cruiser from orbit could only have been managed by a superior force...and there weren't any, that T'ath was aware of. That basic idea had forced his thinking into a new area: that perhaps the Moth had been wrong, and there were those in the galaxy with superior talents, after all. The notion was frightening, for it threatened everything that T'ath knew and believed in. Yet the disappearance of the Arpathant after a bad experience with this very same world, and then the summary handling of his own mission to investigate, suggested a new race with considerable ability.

And yet, they had no empire of their own, but had apparently been content with being a backwater world within the Arpathant domain? T'ath did not think so. The alternative was clear.: while these others might be superior power users, their level of technological proficiency was apparently too low to provide for interstellar travel as yet. The fact that they had tried to return to Mufa'alatra in T'ath's own ship seemed to prove that they had none of their own for the task.

And, still, that very act - the return of the scout ship - was frightening in itself. It could have only happened if the shipmind and every security system within the vessel was somehow compromised, which should have been flatly impossible. Unless...unless the abilities of these new power users were so much superior to the Moth's own that they reached even beyond the ability of the Moth to imagine defenses for. And that made them far too dangerous to be allowed to exist. The disappearance of the Arpathant suggested a willingness to use that power, and that meant the danger to the Moth was extreme.

T'ath had warred with himself over what to do with the knowledge he possessed. On one side, such a threat to the empire needed dealing with, and T'ath had no assurance that one man with a small fleet of ships was up to the job. Sharing the information with other powers within the empire would ensure a much larger response to the threat...but it would also mean that T'ath would lose sole possession of any profits to come from the campaign, and the idea that a competitor might in some way come to possess knowledge that he himself did not was simply unthinkable. The other half of his mind told him he must keep this information close for now, and see if the profits to come from it could be made his alone.

Whatever force had been used to erase the Arpathant was valuable beyond all measure. If T'ath could acquire that knowledge, and use it to eliminate the star empires around their own, his power and prestige would be second to none. The crew of the cruiser that had returned from that far world had been placed into information quarantine, and their families informed that they were alive and well, but nothing else. That crew would remain confined until this matter was dealt with, one way or the other. The cruiser's information storage had been cloned and then eliminated, and that meant that the knowledge of this distant world and the mysterious power users that inhabited it was his, and his alone.

He had been confident in his plans, and assured as only a Moth could be that they would bear fruit.

Until that very day, that is, when the missing scout ship had returned, apparently crewed by two of the same Moth that had previously returned on the cruiser! And that fool on the watch, Kalaf, had let it come close enough to make a dash for the surface. Fortunately, T'ath's defenses had worked as they were intended, and the craft had been destroyed. A team had been sent to inspect the remains, and T'ath had given strict orders that no report be made until some real facts were available. Incomplete or incorrect information was the bane of T'ath's existence, and he forbade its generation by those in his own employ. There was no room for supposition or conjecture within the world of facts.

Some time now had passed since the ship had plummeted to ground somewhere downrange of the citadel, and the inspection team had arrived, and still no report was forthcoming. T'ath took that to mean that the team on-site was making a thorough job of it. As they had better.

He was drawing up plans to revisit that faraway world, but this time in greater strength. Such a move needed to be handled carefully, for pulling even one quarter of his personal fleet from their regular trade runs could be dangerously significant to those who watched his movements. He could not afford to have others' take notice, and grow suspicious of his actions.

Finally, he tired of watching the stars, and went inside. His offices were located within the highest tower of the citadel, making them the last place the sun touched each evening, and the nearest place to the stars that he could be. For while he owned but one world - its government shipping compound notwithstanding - he hoped to add others to his realm someday. Being close to the stars was encouraging, for the nearer he was to them, the closer they were to his grasp.

His private office was a great hall, in the very peak of the tower, and filling its expanse from wall to wall. The view from every quarter was extraordinary, and the lights of both his own landing field and those of the government field on the far horizon were visible. Everywhere else was darkness, for no others lived anywhere else upon Mufa'alatra. Having an entire world as his personal space was a significant achievement within the Moth realm - enough so that those of the council kept a worried eye upon his movements and actions. T'ath was pleased by the idea of that, which he equated with respect.

He paced across the room and then back, and then paused, wondering why he felt so unsettled. It was the lack of knowledge on the recent ship incident that was bothering him, he decided. He looked over at his desk, which was also the communications center of his own personal empire. Perhaps an inquiry was in order.

He went there, and made himself comfortable against the pylon, and sent out the mental security code that would unlock the com. The room darkened, and a large sphere appeared in the air in the center of the room. T'ath quickly checked for updates, found only the same initial report, with location of the crash site, video of the wreckage, and a brief survey of the surrounding area. He had viewed it twice already. He waved a hand at a control, and the update faded. For a moment a swirl of color danced within the sphere; and then the image sharpened, and became the face of Kil, his personal assistant. The man briefly bowed his head, and then gave a brief nod. "Your request?"

"Kil, it has been too long on the report on the ship downed earlier today. I still have only the update. Can you explain?"

"I was just in contact with the team leader. He informed me that there is conflicting evidence, which they have not been able to resolve. In keeping with your desire only for facts, they are still working to explain the discrepancy."

T'ath nodded. "I am concerned enough to view even incomplete data. Will you forward to me what you have?"

"Yes."

Kil disappeared, and was replaced by the face of a Moth that T'ath did not know. He was standing before the vast hole in the ground where the scout ship had come to rest. The man began his report, stating the time of day the grounding had occurred, the distance from the citadel, and included a brief description of the surrounding terrain. He then recounted the events leading up to the crash, gave an overview of the energies involved in bringing the ship down, and stated which batteries had scored hits on the craft. He then launched into a discussion on the speed of the scout ship on impact, listed the physical forces involved in the event, and discussed the expected state of the remains, given the type of ground it had impacted with.

T'ath grew impatient, waved his hand again, and quickly viewed the index to the preliminary report that popped up. He found the marker for 'conclusions', and went directly to that point.

There was a detectable level of frustration in the man's voice at this point: "Given the state of the hull after the defense barrage, the speed of the vessel at impact, and the terrain in which the vessel embedded itself, it is concluded that the central command cabin should have been completely destroyed by the impact of the rear wall of the chamber with the leading wall of the vessel. Yet that has not happened, and a void approximately twelve omnit by eight omnit remains, just inside the rent in the outer hull through which we entered. This void cannot be accounted for, and ongoing testing of the hull and the ground at the impact site have failed to reveal an answer to this apparent paradox. Additionally, no remains of the crew have been found, even under molecular and genetic scanning. No shipmind has been found in the area of the central console, which was pulverized, and tracers have not been able to identify any remains of the shipmind capsule. The only conclusion that can be drawn at this point is that there was never any crew aboard, and that no shipmind was in place at the time of impact..."

T'ath had stopped listening by then. Was he surrounded by idiots? Did this team leader feel that he should not report these incredible facts, just because he could not yet explain them?

No crew? No shipmind? It seemed obvious what had happened. The scout had been a diversion, something for the security systems to focus upon while some other vessel tried to slip through. But...where was the second ship? It had not been detected, and no scat field known, not even one of Moth manufacture, could hide a vessel from T'ath's scanners...

A chilling thought came to him then. Could there actually be a scat field out there - someone else's - that could allow a vessel to slip through T'ath's defenses, and make it to ground? Could that already have happened? And what of the void inside the crashed vessel, almost as if something had been inside, and left after the crash? But...that was impossible...wasn't it?

Suddenly, T'ath could see now why the inspection team leader had not reported. He had no factual answers as yet. The information he had learned was contradictory with the known facts of the incident. There were either facts as yet undiscovered, or they were dealing with an enemy that was far more capable than even T'ath had imagined.

The second idea was more frightening. Could it be that these unknowns, these people that had disposed of the Arpathant, were even more powerful than he had supposed? Could they have actually decided to trace the scout ship back to its base? Could they even now, in some incredible, unfathomable way, already be here?

The lights in the room softened, and then went out. The comm died at the same moment, and the central sphere vanished. It happened so suddenly that T'ath froze at his pylon. He waved his hand, and issued several mental commands, but nothing happened at all. The office was completely dead. He turned his head, looked about, and realized that he could just barely see. Starlight, coming in through the tower windows.

A brief and uncharacteristic sense of panic struck him then, at the timing of this incident, and its unprecedented nature. Power outages did not occur in modern systems, and there was no way that anyone could have turned them off from afar. Failure of Moth electronic systems was simply unheard of. He waited a moment longer - the failure should have brought Kil and a handpicked defensive force on the run.

Nothing.

He pushed away from his pylon and moved towards the center of the room...

"T'ath..."

It was just a whisper, barely audible. His name, as if spoken by the wind. T'ath froze in mid-step.

A light came on above him, a soft cone of radiance, creating a circle of light on the floor of the room, in which he was at the center.

T'ath gave the full set of commands that should have activated every defense system on the planet, and caused everyone in the tower to come to his aid.

But nothing happened...nothing at all happened. T'ath was frozen at the plain impossibility of that.

"T'ath..."

His name again, a little louder this time. He moved to the edge of the circle of light, but when he made to step out of it, it was if he had hit an invisible wall. He bounced back a step and stopped, stunned. Outside the circle, he could still see the furnishings of his office, and the dimly-lit windows in the walls. Nothing moved out there, no one was coming to his aid.

He started around the circle, pushing with his hands against the invisible wall. It gave only slightly, but showed no sign of giving in. He made a full circle, and came back to where he had started. He was trapped.

"T'ath..."

This time, his name had weight when spoken. Outside the circle of light, in the air above him, a soft point of light became visible, and then another, and another...and soon an entire circle of them, stretching completely around the cone of light. He counted nine of them. They pulsed, and slowly grew, larger and larger, until they were at least his own height. And then they began to sharpen, develop features...

...and then they became faces.

T'ath froze in horror. Eight of the faces were obviously those of living beings. They were barely visible, cloaked by hoods, which formed pools of darkness within; but T'ath could see their eyes. They were bright, recessed beneath bony ridges on which fur appeared! And there were other strange features below the eyes, that did not resemble any race with which T'ath was familiar. The enormity of the hovering faces gave their exaggerated features a terrifying alien quality, and the fact that their flesh was light instead of dark gave an impression of death.

But it was the ninth face that had him rooted in place. It was a great, silvery ball, featureless save for a long covering over where the eyes should have been. Even as he watched, the covering slowly lifted, and a malevolent red light sprang into being - a line of luminescence upon which a slightly greater orb of light slowly wandered back and forth, side to side.

"T'ath." It was one of the hooded figures that had spoken. T'ath jerked his eyes around until he saw one of the enormous faces leaned forward, looking down at him.

T'ath was not a coward, by any means. He was startled, and he was at a loss for how this could be happening in what should have been the safest place he could be. The sense of unease that had overtaken him was unlike anything he had every experienced. It was, literally, the closest he had ever come to raw, wretched fear.

"Who are you?"

"We are the Terrans."

T'ath drew a complete blank. He was familiar with all the registered races of the five empires, but of these he had never once heard.

"I do not know you."

"No. You do not. But you will."

There was something ominous about that, and again T'ath felt the sense of unease, a creeping sensation at his back that was totally new to him. He was afraid!

Not just at the deathly appearances of these newcomers, but that they could so easily project their influence into the most tightly controlled security environment he had been able to conceive for himself. In a lifetime of knowing superiority over every other race, he was feeling, for the very first time...insignificant.

The horror of that realization added a bravado to his voice that he did not actually feel. "What do you want? How dare you invade my private offices!"

The words sounded thin, even to himself.

The great face made a sound that caused T'ath to cringe just slightly.

"How do I dare? How do you dare to send your people to our world, there to kidnap our citizens?"

For a second, T'ath's mind refused to work; and then he knew. "You are the unknown ones. You are responsible for the destruction of the Arpathant."

Again came that strange, unsettling noise. "They have not been destroyed. They were an annoyance to us, so we simply moved them."

Not destroyed?

"Moved them? Moved them to where?"

"To an adjacent reality. A mirror universe of this one, but one empty of life. The Arpthant now occupy the same worlds there that they once did here. But in that reality, they are alone."

For moment, T'ath could not even move. The idea of what the alien was telling him slowly unfolded within his mind, followed immediately by a sense of genuine disbelief. That someone could possess this sort of science - this sort of power - was unimaginable. There was no reason to believe them - other than the fact that the Arpathant were indeed vanished. That, and the apparent ease with which these aliens had traced his mission to their world back to T'ath's own world, and invaded even his inner sanctorum - it was reason to accept the cold and clear truth of the situation.

That he was overmatched was immediately apparent. T'ath was strict, and often regimented in his planning, but he was no fool, and now he could see that he had been overambitious in his reach. The disappearance of the Arpathant should have been enough of a loss factor to clearly delineate the risks of pursuing this matter - and yet, he had ignored them, and forged ahead. And now - this.

"You are here, so you must want something."

"Yes. You have retained the location of our world. We wish that information destroyed."

"Yes? Do you not have the power to destroy it yourselves?"

Another of the great faces spoke now. "I told you he would not be reasonable. Let us vaporize this planet and go home."

"No, no," said another face. "I say we throw it into its sun. Burning is such a fitting end for this one."

There was a brief roar of flame, and the sensation of fire at his back caused T'ath to jump. He turned to look behind him, but nothing was there. But he had felt real heat!

"No, no! Wait!"

A great face lowered towards him. "You wish to say something?"

"What kind of beings are you?" he asked, without thinking.

"Tolerant ones," said another head. "We have lived long on our world, minding our own business. What others do in the galaxy is no concern to us, just so long as we are left alone. That is the only thing we demand of you, and others out in the galaxy. Stay away from our world, or pay the consequences."

"If I destroy this information, as you ask...you will leave?"

"We will leave."

It seemed too easy a bargain to T'ath. "What of the former worlds of the Arpathant?"

"Take them," said the original great face. "But stay away from our system, and our world. Or, you will follow the Arpathant into oblivion."

The weight of those words settled heavily upon T'ath's shoulders. He was quaking now, much as he tried to control it. That he and all the Moth might be standing at the door to a fate similar to that of the Arpathant was simply too much to ignore.

A lesser being might have tried to bargain with these Terrans, or even to refuse to cooperate entirely. But T'ath had not risen to his station in life without understanding and reason at his back, and the facts as he could see them now were undeniable. Moth science and technology was the finest there was. No one heretofore known was capable of breaching the security of his world, and definitely not as easily as these aliens had done. They were, therefore, on a level of understanding beyond his experience, and therefore beyond his ability to cope with. To defy them was to beg the destruction of everything he had worked for, and everything his people hoped to accomplish.

And, in all actuality, what they asked for was entirely reasonable. They simply wished to be left alone. T'ath wondered then if their mission to his planet was entirely as they said. It seemed that anyone capable of what they seemed capable of doing would also be able to reach their goals without a direct confrontation. So maybe there was another reason they had come in person...and then he had it. Of course. A warning, hand delivered.

Leave us alone!

He was decided. "I agree. I will do as you wish."

Outside the cone of light, a section of the room grew light. The great faces spaced around him watched him carefully now, their gazes upon him carrying an almost physical pressure against his flesh.

"Proceed."

T'ath walked to the edge of the cone of light, extended a hand - the barrier was no longer present. He strode through, went to his desk. "I will need my system running."

Lights appeared on the console, and the globular display formed in the air above the desk.

T'ath stored his most valuable information in a Turan bubble, a quantum safe that, when locked, could not be definitely located in any one place within the universe. Only when the proper quantum encryption key was entered, would the safe appear. He entered that key now, waited for the bubble of dictated space/time to appear, and then used the bridge to access its storage. The data pertaining to the planet he had sent his investigative team to had a special marker, and he found it quickly. But he did not open it, had no desire to add any information to his mind that he might later regret having there.

He turned back to the floating faces. "Once I delete this, the information folder will attain a state of absolute randomness, and will be unrecoverable."

"He speaks the truth," said a great, deep voice, that made T'ath start. He was not sure which head it had come from, or even if it had come from one of the heads at all. It had a whispery quality to it that was somehow very familiar, and if he did not know better, he would have suspected it to be the voice of another Moth.

The original great head nodded. "Proceed."

T'ath turned back to his system, entered the code for deletion...and paused. The destruction of unique and valuable information appalled him. This would be the first time he had done it, and he was suddenly aware that he had entered a new phase of his life. I can scarcely believe I am doing this, he thought, as he gave the final order. The information folder on the distant world of the aliens became transparent, swirled a moment in memory of its former organization, and then dispersed.

"It is done."

He quickly closed the bridge, and sent the quantum safe back to its non-location, lest something happen to any of his other valuable data. It was all irreplaceable, for security had always dictated that the copies kept in the safe be the only ones he had. The idea of what he had just done still haunted him; yet the newness of it also intrigued him. He was changed now, in some way he could not name, and that it was for the better was both a startling idea and a pleasant one.

"Return to the circle, T'ath."

He did as he was instructed, and the office dimmed to darkness again behind him.

The original head leaned down again, and the lower portion of its face spread in a frightening manner. "You are a reasonable man, T'ath, and so we will be reasonable as well. We will leave you now, never to return. I do offer one word of caution, however."

"Yes?"

"Ours is not the only species in that area of the galaxy that you need to avoid. I tell you this so you do not run afoul of others with less tolerance than we. It would be safest for your kind to take only the three quarters of the former Arpathant empire closest to you, and leave the rest be. Do you understand me?"

"Yes. That sort of expansion will not occur in my lifetime, nor even in the following generation. I can perhaps manage to leave a warning, but whether or not it will be heeded - I cannot say."

That seemed to satisfy the great head. It bobbed at him once more. "We leave you now."

A sense of relief filled T'ath. On some level he thought he might have been killed after performing the duty the aliens had demanded of him. But it seemed not to be the case.

But then the head leaned down at him, and the eyes grew bright. "One further thing."

T'ath felt one last shiver of fear. "Yes?"

The entire circle of heads tilted down at him now, and the suddenness of the act made him shrink down into himself. All the heads spoke at once then, and the volume was deafening.

"Happy Halloween!"

And then they vanished. The lights came on, his desk started up, and an insistent beeping sought his attention. T'ath looked once more about his office, and then returned to his desk and activated the viewer. "What is it, Kil?"

"The investigative team has learned that you were inquiring, and has filed an amended report. You will not like it, but it is all we have at the moment."

T'ath felt strangely at peace with himself, now that this matter had been concluded. He was free to move on to other projects now. There was profit to be made in the former Arpathant empire, and laggers would be losers.

"Never mind, Kil. Send the team a 'well done' from me, and recall them. Get a clean up crew out to recover that ship. No use trashing up my nice, clean landscape."

If Kil was startled by the sudden turn in events, he did not show it. "Very well. And the crew in information quarantine?"

That was another matter. The knowledge that they carried on the alien's home world must also be deleted somehow. It was the only safe thing to do.

"Hold them for now. Make certain they are comfortable. I will make a decision later."

"Very well."

The display darkened, and T'ath leaned back into the comfortable embrace of his pylon. Only then did he recall the final words of the aliens.

What in the Morben's name was Halloween?

 

* * * * * * *

 

They said their goodbyes to Onda and his people, and thanked them for their help. It was clear that the small aliens did not quite understand how the fist of Kippy had been made to impact against T'ath, but Max assured them that it had happened, and that another people, far away, had been made safer by the act. That - and the wonderful new light that filled their cabin - seemed to satisfy Onda, and he wished them well on their journey home.

It was almost as simple a matter to steal a ship from the government field as it had been to commandeer the one left in Charlie's backyard. Once they found out that some of the trade vessels were sent on their routes without living crews, solely under the control of the shipmind, it was easy enough for Max to remove the restraints from the mind of a ship identical to their lost one, and then for them to secrete themselves aboard it without being detected by port personnel. Once the vessel was in space and had entered the Cooee, they simply changed the direction they wished to go, aiming the craft back to Earth, while everyone aboard was asked to think about making a stop at Engris.

The Moth would list the vessel as lost when it did not arrive with its cargo at the intended destination. Even in the high-tech world of the Moth, these things had happened. The Cooee was mostly a mystery, still.

This vessel's mind was called Onglet, and seemed just as pleased to be released from servitude as Murcha had been. Murcha and Illia were placed into the storage drawer next to the new mind, and very soon all three of them were fast friends. Mike was glad to have the shipmind from Pacha's vessel occupied, as Illia seemed to take some delight in making life for Mike a little bit hard to bear. At least out in public, anyway.

In due course they located Engris, and landed at the port. Pacha returned Illia to his ship, although he knew know that she now shared a link with Murcha and Onglet. Those two shipminds remained aboard the Moth vessel as everyone else debarked.

"We want to thank you guys for your help," Charlie told Gort, as they headed back to Sefton's. "We could not have done this without you."

"I'll say," Max added. "The way you guys can knit my magic together with Pacha's - it was amazing the things we got done."

"We just facilitated things, Max. It was you and Pacha that did the actual work."

"It was a most fascinating experience," Pacha said. "I accomplished tasks with you and Max that I never thought possible. We made a wonderful threesome...or foursome. I don't think that the Ka has ever been wielded quite so well."

Max looked over at Pacha. "I'd love to work with ya some more."

"I would enjoy that, too. Can you...?"

"Oh, sure. We call it norking. Just gimme a call, anytime. We'll talk, and trade some ideas."

"I would enjoy that."

Mike came over and draped his arms around Charlie's and Kippy's shoulders as they walked along. "I felt like a fifth wheel on this one."

Kippy smiled. "We all did. The true work was done by Max and Pacha, and Billy and Will."

"Oh, I don't know," Charlie said. "We were all pretty good as talking heads looming over T'ath."

"That was just a blast," Adrian said, as he and Ricky joined them. "We all got to play parts there."

"Did you see the look on that guy's face when we appeared?" Ricky asked, grinning. "First time I ever saw a Moth turn green!"

"I think he handled it pretty well," Charlie said. "He was a lot more reasonable than I expected him to be. I wound up kind of liking the guy at the end."

Kippy's jaw dropped, but then he laughed. "Oh, Charlie, you always stick up for the bad guys!"

"I do not. I just appreciate reason when I see it."

Frit and Pip hustled by them just then, chasing after a vendor walking along with odd-looking, floppy hats in a small cart. Max sighed as they caught up to the alien seller, and immediately launched into discussions with him. "Them two! If they buy one more thing, I'll make them walk home with it."

The elf boys returned a few moments later, without any of the hats.

"Too big," Frit said, sadly. "We could both wear them at the same time."

Pip nodded. "Great colors, though. We'll look more on the way back. Souvenirs!"

Kippy grinned. "Visit lovely Engris, world of the dead. Turn left at the Crab Nebula, first dark world on your right!"

The boys laughed.

"Has anyone decided what we're gonna do with Murcha and Onglet?" Max asked. "They said that, after they drop us off, they'd like to stay around."

Charlie grunted. "I am not parking a Moth scout ship in my backyard, even an invisible one."

"They could come back here," Ricky suggested. "Can't we keep some way to talk to them, and we can just send for them if we want to go tooling around space?"

"I am sure we can arrange something," Pacha said. "Communicators of that type are inexpensive, and can be purchased here at the market. You would just need to settle on an encryption code, and you'd be set."

"While we're at it, we'd like to be able to call you, too," Kippy said. "Even if just to say hello."

Mike grinned. "I'll help you guys get what you need. We'll stop at the market on the way back to the ship."

Sefton was in his shop, and readily agreed to fly them back to the city. "That was quick," the big man said. "You just there earlier today."

Charlie stared at him. "Today?" He turned to look at Max. "Today?"

Max came over beside him. "I told you when we started that I'd fix all that, Charlie. I ain't hung around the Big Guy all these years without learnin' a few tricks about time. You'll get home the same night that you left."

Kippy shook his head. "All this time stuff is enough to give me a headache."

Max sighed. "Time is pretty steady when left on its own, fellas. But if you can stretch it a little, or compress it, or even fold it in half, why not, I say? It can make a lot of things in life a lot easier."

Adrian grinned at Ricky. "Home in time for Halloween, anyway. What are we doing this year?"

Charlie shrugged. "You guys can come over, and we'll just hang out. My folks are going to a party --"

"Your parents, Charlie?" Ricky interrupted, laughing.

Charlie smiled. "My mom and dad are fun people, I'll have you know. Besides, it's just a small party for people at my dad's office. They won't be late, but I kinda promised to be home to hand out the candy to the little goblins that come to the door."

Kippy tsked. "Oh, Charlie, no self-respecting ten year-old wants to be a goblin anymore. They want to be superheroes and dinosaurs and stuff like that."

Charlie sighed. "Whatever. I said I'd be there to do it."

Kippy rubbed up against him. "I'll be there to help."

Ricky and Adrian looked at each other, and Adrian grinned and nodded.

"Sure, we'll be by," Ricky said. "Maybe we can get a pizza or something."

Charlie and Kippy both laughed. Like they never had pizza!

The climbed into Sefton's tour saucer, and soon were crossing the dark forest once again.

Kippy sat next to Gort, and reached out and touched the robot. "We'll sure miss you guys."

The great round head turned to face him. "We had fun visiting with you, Kip. All of you. Now that we know we can do it, there is no reason we can't do it again another time."

Kippy looked delighted. "Great! I don't like it when my friends get too far away."

"We couldn't have done this without you two," Charlie said.

For a moment, Gort was quiet. Then: "Actually, you could have. In several alternate realities, this mission was accomplished without our assistance. But...not so easily."

Charlie blinked at the sound of that. "Uh, how not so easily do you mean?"

"There were casualties, Charlie."

Charlie felt a sudden sense of fright at that, and scooted over closer to Kippy. "Don't say one word more, okay?"

"What's going on?" Ricky asked, looking over at them.

"Nothing. I had a sudden cramp. I'm okay."

Ricky and Adrian went back to talking together, and Charlie leaned closer to Gort. "Please...don't ever mention this again, okay? I...we don't want to now the details."

"I know," Billy's voice alone said then. "It's why we came along, Charlie. We could not bear the idea of any of you being hurt."

"It was a simple choice," Will said. "We talked to some people, and we found a way that, with Max's and Pacha's help, we could go with you. So, we did."

"Thank you," Charlie said. He put an arm around Kippy, and pulled him close. Kippy didn't say anything, just closed his eyes and laid his head against Charlie's.

They were still together when they reached the dead city.

 

* * * * * * *

 

The great dome was as dark and as empty as it had been when they had last left it. Again, Sefton waited with the saucer while the others accompanied Gort to the pathway at the center of the dome. The reached the great, dark hole in the floor, and gathered into a group.

"I know one thing," Charlie said. "I want a hug while we can still touch you. Come on, Kip...guys."

Charlie and Kippy closed in on the great robot form, and Ricky and Adrian joined them. The four of them wrapped their arms about the robot, and Charlie closed his eyes and simply hugged.

"Us, too!" Frit said, as he and Pip squirmed into the group and wrapped their arms around everyone else. Charlie looked over his shoulder at Mike, standing there, watching, Pacha cradled in his arms.

"Room for one more."

Mike laughed, and shook his head; but then he was handing Pacha to Max, and coming towards them.

"Right here, next to me," Kippy said, sweetly.

"No! Here! Between us!" Pip and Frit called, in unison.

Mike rolled his eyes, and came forward and managed to get his arms around all three of them.

"Dreamy," Frit breathed, sounding happy.

"Mmm!" Pip agreed.

They all squeezed each other and Gort for a full minute, and then broke up, laughing.

"Now, that's what I call a group hug!" Adrian said.

They waited a moment while Max and Pacha had their turn, and then they all stepped back, and Gort went to stand by the hole in the floor. Once more, Billy and Will worked with Max and Pacha, and soon Gort had dissolved into a column of light and slowly dissipated, leaving the ghostly figures of Billy and Will by themselves again.

Billy sighed. "I got to be Gort for Halloween. Finally."

Will smiled at him. "Yeah. And it was fun, after all."

Billy laughed. "Told ya."

Then both spirits turned to look at the others. "Time to go now," they said as one. "But we'll see you again, you can be sure of that."

"So long!" Frit and Pip said, in unison. Their faces looked sad, and they were holding onto each other for comfort.

Kippy smiled at them, and moved closer to Charlie. Charlie put his arm around him, and nodded at the two spirits "Bye, guys. Be careful out there."

Kippy nodded. "Yeah. Have fun."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Ricky called, giving a small wave, and then giving his nose a single rub.

Adrian nodded. "We'll see you again. Soon, huh?" He pulled himself closer to Ricky.

Max gave a soft sigh, and stepped forward. "Stay outta trouble, fellas," he offered, smiling. "Bet you can give more than you get, though."

Pacha raised a small hand, and waved. "It was a truly wonderful experience."

"Bon voyage," Mike said simply, waving.

Billy and Will joined hands, and raised the other two in a last wave. The light around them intensified, and they became one, flowing together into a mist filled with sparkles. The glowing mist moved to the edge of the hole, and disappeared below.

Kippy sighed. "I feel like crying, but I'm too happy. And, I know now that we'll see them again."

Charlie nodded, and looked up at the great dome. "This is an amazing place. It seems so lifeless...until the dead arrive."

Max laughed, and clapped him on the shoulder. "You learn fast, Charlie. We'll make an elf outta you yet."

Kippy turned and looked into Charlie's eyes. "I think I'm ready to go home."

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

They returned to the saucer, and again, Sefton seemed unperturbed by the absence of Gort. He simply took his seat at the controls, and notified Max that the fee would be reduced, since they were now one rider short.

 

* * * * * * *

 

They stopped at the port and bought tiny transmitters that could be used to talk to both Pacha's ship and the shipminds of the Moth vessel. Pip and Frit managed to find outlandish capes and hats after all, and sauntered about, trying to look rakish and bold. Charlie and the other boys looked at the market for any other things that might interest them, but this time came away empty handed.

"Not every visit is a treasure hunt," Pacha told them, amiably. "There's always next time."

"I didn't get a chance to check my map against anything," Adrian said, as they boarded the ship for the voyage home.

"Yeah, well, I didn't get to draw my dagger even once," Ricky complained.

Kippy made an indignant noise. "Consider yourself lucky, I say." He put his hands on his hips and grinned at Charlie. "Now you see I was right not to bring my ring."

Charlie just nodded. There was no use getting into any of that.

The time came to go, and again hugs were exchanged all around with Pacha and Mike.

"Where will you go from here?" Kippy asked Mike, as they made to part.

"Don't know, Kipper. Yonder somewhere, I would reckon."

Kippy smiled, gave Mike another hug, and then whispered into the Aussie boy's ear, "I told you never to call me Kipper."

He pulled back, and then laid a kiss directly on Mike's lips. Mike's eyes grew, and he tried to draw away, but Kippy held on fiercely, kissing with all his might. Mike struggled a moment more, then he suddenly shrugged, wrapped his arms around Kippy, and kissed him back.

Frit and Pip hooted, and Ricky and Adrian laughed and clapped. Charlie just smiled, knowing that Kippy was just having fun. More or less.

Kippy finally released his prey, and stepped back. Ricky and Adrian patted him on the shoulder, while Frit and Pip mooned at the both of them.

"Not bad," Kippy said, nodding. "I'd give it a seven out of ten."

Mike just laughed, and went and took Pacha from Max's arms. The two walked Charlie's group to their ship, and then said their goodbyes once more. Again Kippy sighed, and said he could cry, but that he was just too happy to be going home.

They left Engris, and the world of darkness soon vanished into the Cooee.

Their next stop was Earth, and home.

 

* * * * * * *

 

They had said their goodbyes to Murcha and Onglet, and the Moth watermelon ship had disappeared into the night sky. They were equipped now with tiny devices that could put them into contact with the shipminds anytime they desired. These same devices would allow them to contact Mike and Pacha should the need arise, and Kippy had already said that he felt a need would most definitely arise sooner than later.

They entered Charlie's house, and managed to get to Charlie's bedroom without waking his parents. It was just hard to believe that it was still the same night they had left, and when Charlie looked at the clock on his nightstand, only five hours had gone by since their departure.

"That's really a neat trick," he decided, looking at Max. "So are we only five hours older, or am I the week or so I feel?"

"You're the week or so older you feel," Max told him, grinning. "The slowdown was just on this end."

Frit and Pip demanded hugs, and the four humans offered them gladly. The elves had become as much a part of their lives as their own families, and the only good thing about seeing them go was knowing that they were only a short elf-jump away.

The last person to get a hug was Max. Charlie waited to be last, and when his turn came, he gave a good one. "We love you, Max. I hope you know that."

The elf stepped back and gave a small sniff, and nodded. "Me, too, Charlie. We've done some pretty amazin' stuff together. And...I think there will be more to come."

Charlie smiled. "I sure hope so. Life would be dull now, without all this."

Frit and Pip invited them to all go elfdreaming again some time, since their last adventure had been interrupted. Everyone agreed, saying they could use the rest.

The elves waved a last time, and then the four humans were alone in Charlie's bedroom.

Kippy immediately flopped on the bed with a sigh. "Undress me, Charlie. I'm exhausted."

Adrian and Ricky laughed, and moved to the cot to act out the same game.

Charlie sighed, and undid Kippy's shoes and pulled them off, and then his socks. Next he grasped his boyfriend's shirt, and pulled it off over his head. Kippy's jeans came next, and then he was down to his briefs. Charlie worked them carefully down Kip's legs, and then pulled them off. There was movement in Kippy's crotch, and then his dick started to stand up tall.

"I thought you were tired, Kip?"

Kippy grinned. "I'm never that tired, Charlie. Join me?"

Charlie smiled, quickly undressed himself, and climbed into bed. The clock said they still had three and a half hours until sunrise.

If they hurried, they could still sleep for three of them.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Halloween arrived. The day was damp, but the afternoon brought sun, and the world outside dried out. Two short years ago, the boys had gone all out to give the neighborhood kids a scary Halloween. This year, Charlie had carved a jack-o-lantern and put a candle in it, and set it on the front porch. They were either getting more mature, or their ideas of what was scary had changed considerably. Charlie suspected the latter.

Afternoon came, and they ordered their by now traditional holiday pizza from Irving's, and then turned on the front light as darkness approached, and settled down to hand out candy. The first trick or treaters arrived just after sunset - the smallest ones, dressed as fairies and Spidermen, and all accompanied by mom's and pop's. They quickly went through the first bowl of candy, and then the second. Charlie was amazed at how many kids there were in his neighborhood now - he hadn't been paying attention.

Ricky and Adrian went to the kitchen to refill the bowl, and Charlie leaned up against Kippy and kissed him. "Having fun?"

"Yes. A lot of it, actually." Kippy let his eyes roll up to the ceiling a moment before returning them to Charlie. "I love cruising around the cosmos with all our friends, getting into adventures and stuff...but..."

Charlie smiled, and moved a little closer. "But what?"

Kippy sighed, and pressed his lips to Charlie's. "But sometimes, just doing simple things with you is more fun than all that other stuff. This is where I want to be tonight, doing this, with you."

Charlie nodded. "I get that, believe me." He kissed Kippy, and made it count.

Kippy sighed. "Oh, Charlie. Those kisses are just so wonderful."

Charlie grinned. "Better than Mike?"

Kippy laughed, looked both ways to make sure he was not being overheard, and then put his lips to Charlie's ear. "I like Mike, and he's cute, and he's sexy. And he does well - for an older guy."

Charlie laughed. "But?"

"He still needs practice as a kisser, Charlie. No one is better than you."

"Except you." They kissed once more.

The doorbell rang again, and Kippy sighed, pulled away, and went ot get it. Charlie was to the rear of the door, and his view outside was cut off as Kippy opened it.

Charlie saw his boyfriend start, and then draw back suddenly. "Oh!"

"What's the matter?" Charlie asked, coming around the door. He stopped then, and joined Kippy in staring.

Outside, two robed, ghostlike wraiths floated above the stoop, dark in color, yet shrouded in a malevolent purple glow. Within the hoods of their robes, burning red eyes housed in twisted green faces glared at them, looking like furiously burning coals in some furnace of hell. That these were not costumes seemed apparent, and Charlie's mind whirled into action, wondering who these unexpected visitors could be.

"Here's some more candy --" Adrian said, coming up behind them. Ricky was at his heels, and both boys stopped, shocked at the apparitions at the door.

"Crap!" Ricky said, under his breath, putting his hands on Adrian's shoulders and drawing him back.

Outside, each of the wraiths raised a hand and laid it atop the hood of its robe. Kippy backed up another step, and Charlie wrapped his arms protectively around his boyfriend's shoulders.

One of the wraiths giggled. Then the other. Charlie stared harder. He knew those laughs.

The wraiths closed their hands on the material of their hoods, and suddenly jerked their arms upwards. The robes followed, and suddenly vanished, leaving Frit and Pip standing there, grinning at them.

Pip immediately jumped up and down, his face a mask of delight. "We got you!"

Frit grinned ear to ear. "Happy Halloween!"

Kippy released his breath then, and laughed. "Boy, did you!"

"Trick or treat!" Frit called, his eyes filled with laughter.

"Smell my feet!" Pip followed with, dancing in delight now.

"Give me something good to eat!" Frit finished.

The two elves dissolved into laughter, and clutched at each other, their eyes screwed closed, their faces together.

"I think we taught these guys about Halloween a little too well," Adrian said, from behind them. But he was grinning, and so was Ricky.

Charlie smiled, and pulled Kippy closer, and the two of them watched the elves as they pranced about on the front door stoop.

Kippy turned, and smiled into Charlie's eyes. "Oh, Charlie," he whispered softly, "being with you is such an adventure. What can be next?"

Charlie just laughed. "Oh, that's easy to answer, Kip. Christmas!"