Author's Notes:

Walking An Endless Path: Part 3 is the epic conclusion of the prequel trilogy for the Jack Danner Universe. Think hundreds of years before Jack finds his way into the Altarian Trade Commission waiting room.

But without this, he'd never get the chance.

-=-

This trilogy is dedicated to my brilliant and beautiful wife, whose support of my passion for writing and drive to keep me healthy keeps me balanced, productive, and happy.

I love you, lady!

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Walking An Endless Path: Part 3

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Chapter 1

Joe was dying.

He'd been captive of the Greenies, as he'd come to call them, for roughly three weeks, and they were slowly starving him to death.

The injuries he'd sustained from falling from the sky at home slowly healed, but his energy levels were dropping due to insufficient food, and his body wasn't coping well.

The mad rush the aliens had been in when they stole him from his protectors back home hadn't ended when they pulled his unconscious body through the portal in Russia. After he awoke on the other side, they immediately set a brutal pace and traveled overland to reach another location where another portal was promptly opened and entered.

Most of the time, the land on the other side of the portal looked identical or at least similar, though the time of day and the temperature often changed. At first, he thought that maybe they were just moving from place to place on the same world, but then he began to notice that he felt lighter or heavier after passing through some.

Once, they stepped through a portal, and the Greenies crashed to their knees as the gravity was much higher. The pressure was hard on Joe's injuries, and they'd barely made it back through before he passed out. There had been much angry warbling between the Greenies after that event. When Joe finally realized these portals were taking them between worlds, he was grateful that the air was breathable on each.

The Greenies had two more Tik with them, but they weren't familiar to Joe and always stayed near the front of the group. As he and his three Tik were always at the back of the group, he had yet to see how his captors triggered the portals or set their destinations. He was thoroughly discouraged that he would ever see home again.

The green-skinned aliens either hadn't noticed that Joe still had his cell phone, or they didn't care. Joe couldn't call anyone, but he could look at the few pictures he'd taken of his home. He was careful not to take it out of his pocket when they were paying attention to him, which wasn't often. For all the effort they'd made in kidnapping him, they'd shown no interest in speaking with him or even looking at him.

The three cylindrical hovering mechanisms he'd named Stinky, Hack, and Slash were his faithful companions throughout the journey. The latter two bore Joe's damaged body in a rough hammock they made between them with the prehensile metallic cables they used as arms. Stinky tracked Joe's physical condition by scanning him with a green light, making him nauseous. When he grew too weak, Stinky would signal the group had to stop for a break. Food and water would be provisioned at these times. The Greenies loved the rations, but Joe found them flavorless and unsatisfying. He grew weaker by the day.

The Greenies avoided direct sunlight due to their wet skins and took opportunities to dunk themselves in any bodies of water they came across. This avoidance of the sun prevented Joe from absorbing direct sunlight, which he'd found energizing in the past.

Joe was always hungry and had taken to foraging whenever they would stop for any period of time. He was set down within arm's reach of some berries once and managed to clear the area within his reach. It wasn't a lot of extra food, but it definitely picked up his energy, and the Greenies made more progress that day. Joe tried to get them to understand the benefit of feeding him, but they refused to pay any attention to him other than to direct the machines to bring him along.

On a subsequent world, Joe was delighted to find some nuts, but Stinky slapped them away painfully before he could eat one. Joe hated the machine very deeply at that moment. On the next world, he found some more nuts but wasn't prevented from eating them. This made Joe wonder if the previous nuts had been poisonous. To this point, Stinky's role had been to keep Joe healthy. He supposed eating toxic nuts was contrary to that set of instructions. Joe watched the machine from that point on when he foraged and waited for the telltale signs of getting a smack from the unit. This augmentation of his diet slowed his weakening somewhat, but Joe needed some substantial food soon, or he'd lose consciousness permanently. His frustration at being unable to communicate with the Greenies grew daily.

They had been traveling for roughly a month when they stepped through a portal from grassland into a deep jungle. The two lead Tik were sent off with a gesture from the lead Greenie. They flew straight up and disappeared. The jungle was so overgrown Hack and Slash had to put Joe down on the ground and use their cable arms to cut through the vegetation to make a path to a nearby beach.

While Joe rested on the ground, he spotted a large plant that looked like a mushroom. With a shaky arm, he reached over and carefully broke it from the ground. He lifted it up towards his face, his hand trembling with fatigue, and watched for Stinky's response. The metal coil shot out of its compartment and snatched the mushroom cap away. Joe was left with the meaty stem in his hand, but he wasn't sure if he should eat it. Maybe Stinky just missed grabbing the whole thing away. At least it had stopped slapping him. Joe's fingers weakened, and the stem dropped. Stinky caught it in its coil and slowly lifted it to Joe's mouth. Joe bit into the fleshy plant. He almost cried with joy as the rich flavor of freshly baked bread exploded over his tongue. The coil delicately pressed the remaining chunk into Joe's mouth. His mind flashed to a memory of the delicate fingers of Safa Neema. The Forensic Pathologist had fed him pieces of bread by hand when he flew to Washington, DC, after he'd been shot. Tears came to his eyes as he remembered that kindness. He chewed slowly and swallowed the delicious food. When he looked back, Stinky had prepared a second one. Joe opened his mouth, and the coils dropped the entire thing inside. Joe did his best to chew and swallow the large mouthful. He looked over at the machine in wonder. It had never fed him before, and he wasn't clear on why it was now. Maybe his condition had reached some critical low?

Some of the Greenies were quite excited and ran down the path the machines had cut. The others screeched at them but gave up when they were out of view. Hack and Slash returned and scooped Joe up in their coils. When the group stepped out onto the sand of a beach, Joe was dazzled by the bright sunlight. He realized they were out in the open, and the Greenies actually looked relaxed for the first time.

The beach faced an enormous expanse of water that splashed over a series of tidal pools when it reached the shore. Joe saw the earlier group of Greenies diving into the water. He didn't see them resurface. The group he was following was heading in the same direction. Joe started to feel a sense of dread. If they were taking him under the water, he would drown. He tried telling them that, and his voice grew louder and more panicked the closer they got to the water. As they moved over the water, Joe felt his body locking up to prepare for immersion. He had no idea why he couldn't tolerate getting into a body of water since he had no issues with showers, but his body went into total shock when submerged.

He'd fallen in a lake a few years back and nearly drowned. He felt the panic set in.

Stinky scanned him and chirped. The three machines stopped and backed up to the dry sand. Joe was hyperventilating but started to calm down when they reached the shore. The lead Greenie turned and started to warble loudly at the machine. Stinky simply chirped again. The other Greenies kept walking, and soon, they were all below the water. The leader screeched at the machines, but they remained where they were. With what sounded like a frustrated gasp, the Greenie warbled something at the machines, then turned and dove beneath the waters.

Stinky chirped at the other two, and they carried Joe up the beach and set him down on the hot sand close to the spot where they'd exited the jungle. The heat felt wonderful on Joe's skin, and he basked in the sunlight. He was still hungry, but this was a major improvement. His sentries took positions around him, and Stinky took one more scan before chirping to the others. Joe swore it sounded satisfied.

Joe rested there on the sand, waiting for the Greenies to reappear. He waited for hours and watched the sun set. Aside from the ridiculously enormous moon hanging in the sky, it reminded him of the sunsets he'd watched back in Santa Monica, which made him think of his sister, and the tears came. God, he missed his family! This was the longest he'd ever been apart from them.

Finally, he fell asleep.

Morning came, and Joe was still on the beach. The sun returned to the sky, and Joe felt it rejuvenating his body. He was so hungry. He gestured to Stinky, making eating motions, and was surprised when it actually moved off into the jungle. It was the first time he'd successfully communicated with anything since he'd been abducted.

A few minutes later, Stinky returned with six mushroom stems, a short, slim stick, and a large yellow orb that made a sloshing sound. Joe put his hands together like a bowl, and Stinky dropped the stems into them. Joe immediately began eating and, in a few minutes, had eaten his largest meal in weeks. Stinky punched a hole in the yellow orb with the point of his coil, then passed it into Joe's hands. He took a sip of the liquid inside and was surprised by its sweetness. Just the mildest flavor of melon but almost overpoweringly sweet. Joe drank until the orb was empty. Next, Stinky handed him the stick. He assumed that he was expected to chew on it. He managed two bites on it when it burst open and oozed into his mouth. Joe gagged on the awful flavor and texture. He spat the contents of his mouth out onto the sand and saw movement. The stick was filled with some kind of insect larvae, and he'd just got a mouthful. He continued to spit until he was sure he'd gotten it all out. Joe threw the stick away and glared at Stinky. "No bugs!" he growled. He felt queasy, so he rested back against the sand, which was already growing hot.

Aside from the stick, the meal was excellent, and he felt almost full. He rested and waited for the Greenies to return.

As the sun set, Joe wondered what the hell he'd been abducted for. The sunset colors were spectacular, so he took a few pictures. He wondered how much money he'd get for them back home. Not that anyone would believe they were taken on an alien planet. He flipped the phone over and tried to take a selfie like his friend Craig had suggested. He smiled when he saw his face lit up with the day's last rays and Stinky floating behind him.

He was feeling much better. He was still hungry, but the sun and the heat soaking into his body did wonders for him. He nodded off, guarded by his sentries.

The next morning, Joe tried sitting up. It was excruciating, but he finally managed to get onto his butt. Stinky scanned and chirped at him, but he ignored it until a coil wrapped around him and gently forced him back down. Next came breakfast: three mushroom stems, another yellow orb, a stick he quickly tossed aside, and three bumpy fruits that tasted like chicken. Weird but filling.

The tide had gone out, and Joe watched the tidal pools. His mouth watered at the idea of seafood. It was the protein he was after. What he really wanted was a big steak. After being injured, he found that eating high-protein meals assisted his healing process the most.

Joe heard splashing and saw what looked like a fin thrashing around in a shallow pool. He pointed at the fish and made the eating gestures, but Stinky was back to ignoring him.

The pattern of recuperating on the beach continued for a week. Joe was going out of his mind with boredom, and his three sentries sucked at playing I, Spy. By the end of the week, Joe was able and allowed to sit upright. He looked back at the jungle and wondered if there would be any way for him to make a spear for fishing. The damn tidal pool teased him with a protein buffet every day, and Stinky continued ignoring his gestures to get the fish!

Joe worked on getting his body back into some kind of condition. Initially, that meant some reclining exercises until Stinky would interfere. Push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, and he worked up from there. By the end of the second week on the beach, Joe was allowed to walk along the water's edge with the machines. He'd hold the coils of Hack and Slash like he was holding their hands, which he was, and wobble down to the water's edge and walk back and forth, looking into the tidal pools. Initially, he'd barely make it back before sinking exhausted to the sand to rest.

He needed those damn fish.

After a few more days of this, he walked into the jungle with his mechanical companions and looked for a sapling from which he would make a fishing spear. He found a likely candidate and showed Hack what he needed it to do. He mimed the cutting he'd seen the machines do when they arrived, and soon, he had a long, straight stick. He used it as a walking stick to make his way back out to the sand.

On the way back, he found a sharp rock on the side of the trail and picked it up. By the time he returned to his usual place on the beach, he was seeing spots. He sat on the sand, collapsed onto his back, and promptly passed out.

When he awoke, Stinky had brought him some mushroom stems and one of the yellow orbs. He ate and drank, and as the sun had just about set, he rested his eyes and allowed sleep to take him.

The next day, he worked on his fishing spear and carved a rudimentary barbed point at one end with his sharp rock. The following day, he had Hack and Slash walk him down to the tidal pool. He wrapped their coils around his waist until they got the idea and held him in place. He leaned out over one of the pools and watched for any sign of one of the fish he'd seen the previous day. He held the spear point above the water's surface and kept as still as possible. After a few minutes, he heard the telltale splashing of the fish struggling from one tidal pool to another. The sound got closer, and then he saw it. Black with white streaks down its sides, a wide scoop of a mouth, and fairly thick in the middle. Joe prayed it was edible. It squirmed into the tidal pool next to the one he was in and sifted through the sand before turning away and heading back out to sea. Joe's hand shot forward, and the spear's point glanced off the fish's slippery flank but pierced the side fin. In desperation, Joe heaved up on the spear and flung the fish onto the sand behind him. He tried to turn, but Hack and Slash were still doing their best to keep him upright, and it took him precious seconds to get them to understand he needed them to loosen their grip.

As soon as he faced the beach, he saw a shadow pass overhead, and a large winged creature landed on his catch. The thing had leathery wings and a serpentine neck, which ended with an ugly toothy head. It dug its claws into the fish and hissed at him.

"No fucking way! That's MINE!" Joe yelled and heaved his spear at it.

This time, the spear hit true and sunk a few inches into the creature's chest. Unfortunately, that just made it pissed off, and it roared its anger before it launched itself at Joe.

Stinky, Hack, and Slash fired their weapons simultaneously at the incoming beast, scorching it right from the air and tearing it into pieces that fell into the hot sand. Joe was dazed by the firepower display, but he hobbled up the sand with the support of the machines until he got to his fish. He picked it up and moved it to his mouth, but Stinky took it away.

So, the fish he fought for was poisonous to him. Figures.

He picked up his spear and saw a chunk of the flying beast was still stuck to its barb. It was almost cooked by the machines. He lifted it to his mouth and was delighted when Stinky made no move to take it from him. He bit into the flesh and felt his taste buds celebrate. It tasted like steak! While he chewed, he collected the other pieces. By the time the sun set that evening, he was basking in the glow of complete satisfaction. He was almost bursting from the amount he'd eaten, but he already felt so much better.

He stacked up the offal a few yards down the beach to see what else he might catch with his sentries. He rested his head back and slipped into a sated sleep in the protective circle of the three machines.

He was jarred awake by the ripping sound of the sentries firing their shock cannons at something approaching them on the dark beach. It was terrifying! Joe peered into the gloom and saw the rough outline of an enormous crab-like creature. Steam hissed and popped from its cooked interior. He struggled to get back to sleep, but it was a fitful night from that point on.

He finally decided to get up with the sunrise despite being tired. Joe found his energy levels were much improved from the day before. His pain was greatly reduced, and he walked slowly down to inspect the crab thing. It was the size of a small Volkswagon! There was a gash in its side from where steam had exploded. Joe took a picture of himself standing next to the massive crab and wished he could send it to Agent White. She would seriously lose her shit! He grinned at the thought.

After securing his phone, Joe reached inside the gash, tore a piece of the flesh out, and held it up to his mouth, watching Stinky. Not a budge. He put the flesh in his mouth and immediately gagged at the salty flavor. Still, it was meat. He cracked open the shell and pulled out a long rope of steamed flesh. Seafood for breakfast. When he was done, he frantically mimed drinking from one of the yellow orbs.

Thankfully, Stinky picked up the clue and brought one back to him. Joe tried to counteract the severe saltiness of the meat with the intense sweetness of the orb's juice. It didn't work. Instead, he just felt nauseous. He walked away to lie down in the sun.

By mid-afternoon, the nausea had passed, and he felt much better. Protein had been the missing element in his diet. He tried thinking of ways to collect more.

There was a sudden splashing noise, and Joe saw four Greenies burst from the surf to run toward him. The one in the lead was the only one he recognized on sight. It was the only one carrying a weapon, too. Joe had taken care to memorize the markings on its face as this was the one who had struck him on his chest when he was lying crippled on the ground back in Russia after falling from a great height. That face showed a wild expression, and the club raised in its hand wasn't meant as a friendly gesture.

Joe stood and faced the rapidly approaching Greenie. Just before it swung the club, Joe stepped inside its reach and punched the jerk square in the face. He felt the bones in its face shatter and drive inwards. It immediately collapsed on the sand, quite dead.

Joe was stunned by how easily he'd just killed the alien. He stepped back and prepared for the other three, but they came to an immediate halt and warbled uncertainly to each other. They kept glancing between Joe and the machines which hovered a few feet behind him. Come to think of it, why hadn't they stopped him from attacking the Greenie?

Six more aliens burst out of the surf, screeching at the others. They slowed their charge as they saw Joe standing above the lifeless body of their comrade. They warbled nervously as well.

"Boy, I'd love to know what the hell you guys are saying!" Joe grumbled.

He felt it before he heard it. The sound rippled along his skeleton, and this time, it hurt. Then came the odd sounds. A portal was opening.

The six screeched at the first three, who gathered up the body and quickly dragged it back into the water.

Joe sagged down to his butt and sat in the sand, waiting for someone to tell him what was happening. The vibration from the portal was doing bad things to his insides, which had shown such good progress in healing. Stinky came forward and scanned him. It chirped at Hack and Slash, and they scooped Joe up and carried him a few feet back to put a rock outcropping between him and the portal. The vibrations were greatly reduced in the rock's shadow, and he immediately felt better. The Greenies were unhappy and screeched at the machines but couldn't make them leave the spot where they hovered.

Minutes later, Joe saw some new aliens walk from the jungle toward them. These guys were taller than Joe but skinny and covered in short but unruly black fur. Their only clothes were black belts with various pouches strung along them and what looked like multiple knives in sheathes. They had very long fingers and toes, and their faces were dominated by huge round goggles with black lenses. Joe got the impression their eyes were equally large and probably sensitive to the light, hence the goggles. They had small pointy snouts and many sharp pointy teeth, which they were showing to the Greenies. Their large ears swung this way and that as they chittered back and forth at each other.

Joe thought they looked a bit like tall, skinny bush babies. Maybe they would talk with him.

There were easily two dozen new aliens on the beach, and they milled around, looking everywhere. They stayed away from Joe even though they knew he was there. His shirt was next to him as he sat on the ground, so he slipped his phone out covertly and got a few pictures of the two groups. He secured it back in the shirt's pocket.

One of the bush babies stepped forward, pulled a device out of a pouch, and pressed a button on its side. A telescoping spike shot down from its base, and the alien jammed it into the sand. To Joe, it looked like a microphone and stand. Maybe it was Karaoke Night, he thought. The furry alien pressed another button, and the device beeped. A sphere of rippling air expanded outwards to encompass the entire group. As the ripple passed over Joe, he felt a spike of pain in his head and a burst of vertigo. The discomfort diminished to a dull throb, but the spinning sensation took some time to pass.

The warbles and chitters around him started to stick in his brain. He was startled to realize he was beginning to understand the words behind them. He looked at the device. It was a translator!

"Where is weapon!" barked the bush baby leader. There was grumbling from other members of his group.

"You are as stupid as you are ugly! You must wait!" squawked the lead Greenie. It was wearing a necklace of what looked like fish fins to Joe. A symbol of its leadership?

Joe could see this negotiation would end badly if this was how it started. The Greenies were vastly outnumbered but looked at the more formidable bush babies with utter disdain.

"Many Vershoo die to bring you the Fahrchar. You promise to create ultimate weapon to destroy Kel-Fahr forever. We wait very long. Every day, we move to not be found by Kel-Fahr. Very long we do this. We hear Ello get weapon. Vershoo wait no longer. Ello give weapon now."

Joe made some assumptions. He guessed the bush babies were the Vershoo but needed some context to identify the other names.

"Kel-Fahr rule for as long as recorded history, and you cannot wait time needed to complete weapon? Stupid and ugly!" the Greenie leader sneered. "The weapon sits before you." It pointed at Joe.

"Weapon? What the hell?" Joe thought.

The Vershoo looked at Joe. All of them. Joe felt very uneasy with that many black goggles pointing his way.

The Greenie made a clicking noise, and a dozen more of his people climbed out of the water. The first one was carrying a silver tube in one hand and a clear glass ball in the other. Something small and black was inside the ball. When he reached his leader, the alien handed him the silver tube. The leader pressed the tube's end against the glass ball under the black creature. There was a hollow thump sound, and the glass disappeared like a popping soap bubble. The black, squirmy thing was now stuck to the end of the silver rod.

"Do you recognize this?" the Greenie spoke directly to Joe for the first time. Joe couldn't tear his eyes from the tiny, squirming black creature, so he just shook his head.

"It is final piece of the incomplete Fahrchar that bonded to you," it said.

Joe suddenly remembered his Dad's story about how he'd shot the black creature with a shotgun, and a piece tore off. The Greenie was telling him that the writhing thing at the end of the silver rod was that same piece. They must have collected it when they came back through the portal to hide the evidence of their visit. But how could it still be alive?

With a sudden motion, the Greenie raised the rod and fired the creature onto Joe's chest.

Joe tumbled back in reaction and sprawled on the sand. Some of the Vershoo made noises that must have been laughter.

"We've seen Fahrchar consume victims in flame, but this is not a weapon to destroy Kel-Fahr," the Vershoo leader said angrily. The Greenie did not respond but continued to watch Joe.

Joe tried to pull it from his chest, but it was already bonded to his skin. It was slowly merging with him. The pain was intense, and he couldn't help but scream. Joe's mind exploded in static. His hearing cut in and out, as did his sight. His sensation of touch became overly sensitized to the point where he could feel the individual grains of sand he was lying back on.

Most terrifying was the sensation of another presence forcing its way into his mind, pushing Joe aside. It felt ancient, vast, and cold. Its will was terrifyingly overpowering. Joe felt insignificant and ephemeral next to it. He started to compress inwards under intense mental pressure. It was crushing him, extinguishing who he was.

Then Joe thought of his family.

The faces of his mom and dad and his sister Amy surfaced as he felt himself shrinking. Amy's unconditional love for him was so enormous he couldn't be as insignificant as the presence was trying to make him. His mom and dad loved him unconditionally, too. He recalled the night he'd been told he wasn't completely human. He'd never felt so alone than at that moment. It was his moment of deepest despair, yet his family had shown him he was important to them, one of them, loved. The strength he got from that was boundless.

Joe dug in and held firm and felt the collapse suddenly stop. He began to push back and kept building on that pressure.

Sensing it was losing ground, the invading mind made a sudden thrust, but Joe gave nothing back. He thought of how this invader was trying to destroy the love he got from his family and felt his rage building. He poured that energy into his push, and for the first time, he felt a crack form in the vast glacier that was the alien mind. Where its mind was cold, Joe's was red hot. He borrowed that imagery, recalling the time when his body had absorbed the blasting heat from the inferno of the buried alien base. He'd overheard a few Soldiers calling him a Fire God that day. In his mind, he became that and pressed his scorching fingers into the crack of the glacier. Joe bellowed his dominance and tore the ice mountain in two with a thunderous crack. He stepped forward and found the true shape of the invader, a small, black amoeba that trembled in fear. He picked it up in his glowing fist, hearing it hiss and sizzle against his scorching hot flesh. It screamed as he crushed it between his fingers. Recalling his hunger, he ate the cooked meat, taking all its energy.

Then it was over. The pain was gone. Joe felt energized like he'd never felt before. Every cell in his body was tingling. He opened his eyes, black from the rage still bubbling inside. He got back on his feet and realized everyone was silent, staring at him. Stinky chirped and scanned him. This time, Joe didn't feel nauseous afterward. He didn't feel the beam at all! Stinky made a warble sound, and the Greenie leader barked with a sneer.

"It is complete! The weapon is primed," he said smugly.

"I'm NOT your weapon!" Joe snarled.

His voice struck the minds of the Greenies and Vershoo like a physical blow, and they all rocked on their feet.

Several of the Vershoo screamed and ran back into the jungle, and half of the Greenies made for the safety of the water at a sprint.

"You made a... Kel-Fahr?!?" the Vershoo leader screeched incredulously at the Greenie.

The Greenie looked at Joe like he was considering something disgusting he'd stepped in. "No, not Kel-Fahr. Something far more savage." It turned to the Vershoo and smiled. "You now have perfect weapon against Kel-Fahr. You will see. Get it to Kel-Fahr homeworld." Then it turned and walked back into the water with the rest of the Greenies.

Soon, Joe was alone on the beach with the stunned Vershoo.

They looked at him. He looked back at them.

The leader worked up the nerve and walked up to Joe. He examined him closely, then stepped back.

"What are you?" he asked.

"I'm human. I'm from Earth," Joe said.

"Hooman? What means you are from dirt?" he asked belligerently.

"Human. Not dirt, Earth. Is that coming through the translator?" Joe explained. That burst of energy he'd felt after the merging dissipated, so he sat on a nearby rock. He picked up his shirt, gently shook the sand off, and put it on. He patted the pocket, confirming his phone was still inside. The fishing spear he made was resting against the rock as well. His few possessions were accounted for if these Vershoo would take him away.

He made the eating gesture to Stinky and was relieved to see it move off into the jungle.

"How do you control the Tik?" the leader was back to asking belligerent questions.

"Tik? Is that what you call these machines? I just make gestures to them like the one I just made for eating. I'm hungry, so I asked it for food," Joe explained.

The Vershoo leader stepped up to Hack, touched a sequence of controls, and both powered down. "We go now," he said.

"But I haven't eaten. It'll slow you down if I don't get enough to eat. Where are we going? Can you take me back to my planet?" Joe said in a rush.

"NO! Too many have perished in our mission to stop now. We must put you on Kel-Fahr homeworld and escape with our lives, if we can. I curse the Ello for this trickery. They promise us a weapon and leave us with you. They, more than any other, know the enemy. I don't understand how you can be weapon, but I have no choice," he raged. He stomped back to the translator and yanked it from the sand. Instantly, its communication field collapsed. The words the Vershoo were speaking became meaningless chitters again. It made angry gestures at Joe, then stomped up the beach into the jungle.

Several Vershoo gathered around Joe and pushed him to follow. He grabbed his fishing spear and used it as a walking stick, hoping they wouldn't see it as a weapon and take it from him. They let him keep it.

Joe looked for signs of Stinky but thought maybe it had also been shut down. He did manage to snag a few mushroom stems as they walked toward the portal. Joe felt its vibrations in his bones the nearer they got, but at least the pain was gone. With one last look at what he now assumed was the Ello's home planet, he followed the Vershoo through the black surface of the doorway.

Chapter 2

General Dan MacAvoy stood in an observation room watching Russian scientists carefully dissect a piece of alien hardware they had collected from deep in a remote forest. He could look down into three separate and isolated labs from this elevated position. In each was a single machine secured to a workbench. All three had suffered fall damage from being knocked from the sky by an EMP burst. The hope was to find at least one of the three in sufficiently intact condition so it could be used to activate a Light Gate, as the General had begun calling them.

The General had been informed that they needed two machines to initiate a Light Gate. This was determined by carefully reviewing the footage they'd recorded of the incident at the Neumann's farm.

The U.S. Army retrieved a fully functional machine from a fishing village on the Alaskan coast. It was the slow one they'd lost track of as it crossed the Bering Sea during the initial invasion.

In preparation for opening a Light Gate, they installed the captured machine at their base of operations in Glennville, North Dakota. This was the site of the original incursion, and based on the quality of the gravity field in that location, Special Agent Rachel White identified it as their best chance to open a Light Gate of their own... once they had two working cylinders. She was onsite now decrypting the device's communication process and was making excellent progress based on the last report he'd received. Pokey, as it had been dubbed by the research team, was a particularly chatty cylinder. Cut off from the others, it appeared to be assisting the agent as long as it was kept on the trickle feeder.

Now, the Russians were trying to get their own cylinder functioning. From the splash of sparks coming from the interior of the one they had just opened, they weren't too successful. He wasn't sure why they decided to start with the one that already looked like a patchwork of different machines. He recalled Joseph referring to this one as Frank, as in Frankenstein.

Growing impatient, he turned to his Russian counterpart and made a suggestion. "General Koskov, may I suggest you ask your team to concentrate on the unit with the scorch marks. We've identified this one was used to open a Light Gate before, and it looks like the least damaged of the three."

"Please, General MacAvoy, be patient. Our top scientists have determined this is the proper order in which to investigate the machines. The knowledge they gain from reviewing the more damaged ones will ensure their success when they reach the most intact."

A sudden explosion ripped through the lab below. Chunks of the opened machine flew across the room in all directions. Some shrapnel tore through the bodies of three top scientists, killing them instantly. Others suffered lesser injuries, but none escaped unscathed.

Additional men rushed into the room with fire extinguishers and started to put out the flames. One blasted the burning remains of the machine with an extinguisher, and a second, smaller explosion rocked the room. More men died.

The two Generals looked down at the carnage below with dismay. A klaxon rang, and an armored panel suddenly slammed over the window.

"What's going on?" General MacAvoy asked.

"Radiation leak. We must leave the building," Koskov said stiffly as he led them to the exit.

"We detected no radioactive elements in the machines. Where is the leak coming from?" MacAvoy asked on the way down the stairs.

"The explosion has ruptured some pipes under the lab. Gas is leaking into the room. It has been contained, but we've lost the people in that room," Koskov said, a grim expression on his face as they rushed down the stairs.

As they entered the hall, MacAvoy saw the door to the third lab containing their best and only chance at opening a Light Gate. "General, we must get some men to bring the third machine out with us. There's no leak in that lab, right?"

Koskov glared at his counterpart. "There is no time. We must leave, and I won't put any more men at risk for this." He turned and stormed away.

MacAvoy watched him leave in frustration. He stepped over to the door to the lab and pressed the button to open it. The heavy steel door slid into the wall. Standing in the entrance, he saw the cylinder sitting on the table. Heavy chains held it in place. Looking around to ensure he was alone, he activated his cell and called Rachel White. She picked up on the second ring.

"Yes, General?"

"I'll make this quick. There's been an accident at the lab, a radiation leak, and they're evacuating the building. I've lost faith they'll be able to get the machines working. The most intact one is the scorched one Joseph called Burnie. It's chained in place, and if I don't get it activated and mobile, we will not likely get the second machine for activating the Light Gate. Have you been able to get Pokey to give you activation codes?"

"Maybe I have something better than that, General. Put your phone on speaker, turn up the volume, and point it at Burnie," Rachel said.

Seconds later, a series of rapid chirps issued from the General's phone.

He waited, the quiet of the building behind him beginning to eat away at his nerve. The radiation leak was foremost in his mind.

A squeal from the machine in the room made him jump. Lights came on, and the unit fired off a string of beeps of its own.

A response came from the General's phone then Rachel's voice returned. "General, please evacuate the building. Burnie will take care of the rest." MacAvoy needed no further encouragement. He hung up, tucked his cell away, then made a beeline for the exit, catching up with the stragglers. As he exited the building, he saw Koskov waiting in his car.

A Soldier ran a Geiger counter over MacAvoy's body, but it remained quiet. He got into the car with Koskov.

"I take it by your empty hands you found no one willing to risk his life for a machine?" Koskov said condescendingly. The car lurched forward and quickly sped away from the building.

MacAvoy glared at the Russian. "Perhaps you don't understand the importance of our ability to control a Light Gate of our own. Until we can do that, we are at the mercy of those who can. I have to get back to the States. When your team gets one of these machines working, let me know. You can drop me at the air base."

He could tell the Russian General was pleased by the notion of his leaving. Almost as pleased as he was to leave.

Two hours later, MacAvoy was relaxing in his seat of the private executive jet the Army had requisitioned for his use, flying over the Bering Sea. The flight back to Anchorage was uneventful, and he maintained radio silence.

Once aboard the Hercules transport heading for Glennville, he placed an encrypted call to the base there. He reached Director Roger Bannon.

"Roger, any developments?"

"Yes, the package made its way to US Carrier Harry Truman stationed off the coast of Japan. Apparently, after it left the Russian base, it picked up a second package, the unit designated Rusty, which may have been hiding not far from the base. The escape path of both appears to have gone undetected. Our satellites detected considerable activity around the base, so the Russians know one of their captive units has escaped. I assume you may be getting a call about that sometime soon. Which ones did they have?"

"Units Frank, Patch, and Burnie," the General replied. "It was Frank that exploded when they attempted to disassemble the badly damaged unit. Patch was also heavily damaged from the fall. Only Burnie showed minimal structural damage."

"Right. The crew of the Truman were told to expect delivery of one package and were surprised to receive two. The carrier is currently making its way back to the States. When it gets within range, the packages will be flown to an air base in Washington State and transferred to a flight to Glennville. They have been quite cooperative. Agent White has made great strides in communicating with Pokey. I really wish we'd given these units numbers. I feel damn stupid using these silly names," Roger complained.

"Yes, but you know exactly which ones we're talking about with the names, so that eliminates mistakes. I also wish the boy had chosen more dignified names, but he didn't, and the first ones always stick," MacAvoy agreed.

"Our odds at being able to open a Gate have significantly increased now that we have a third unit. When you arrive, we'll meet with Agent White to discuss how we'll go about that," Roger said.

"Thanks! See you soon," the General said and hung up. He settled in his seat and closed his eyes. He'd learned to rest when he could. With the progress they were now making, sleep came easier as well.

Chapter 3

Joe woke up when the light drizzle strengthened into a pounding downpour. He sputtered as rainwater ran up his sinuses. He was groggy, and his head hurt terribly, but he had to sit up to stop from drowning.

That's when he felt the knife blade grate against his rib. Joe cried out in agony as the partially embedded knife shifted as he moved. He looked down and saw the knife's hilt sticking up from his chest. Panicking, he grabbed the handle and yanked the blade free. Only afterward did he remember that was the worst thing to do. He looked at the wound, expecting to see it spurting blood, but it just seeped slowly. He sat panting for a while, waiting for something to indicate he was dying, but even the slow dribble from the wound stopped. His skin had closed up! He gently touched the spot and felt a sharp pain, but the gash had sealed.

The microburst was over as quickly as it had begun, and the rain settled back into a light but constant drizzle.

He looked closely at the blade as he'd never been cut before. It seemed to be made of a black glass-like substance, and its edge and point were almost invisible to the naked eye.

Through the thumping pain in his head, he became aware of his surroundings and froze when he saw the bodies of the Vershoo scattered on the hillside around him. All of them seemed to have suffered a violent death. Some were truly gruesome. Mostly knife wounds, which made sense, considering it was their weapon of choice. But here and there, he saw evidence of broken bones, crushed skulls, and dislocated or missing limbs.

Joe tried to recall the previous night's events, but it was a painful blur. He went a little further back and started when they'd taken him from the beach on the Ello's homeworld. He had been very upset when they left the machines behind. He had become quite dependent on Stinky to identify safe food.

The Vershoo had repeated the pattern Ello had taken with him in rapidly moving him from planet to planet. Joe was in better condition than he'd been since his abduction from Earth. The Vershoo's food rations were also more compatible with him. He felt his strength levels coming back to normal as they traveled. He still tried to augment his diet as he went. Some of his guards figured out what he was trying to do and gave him rudimentary signs about what they would eat and would not. That seemed to work except for one occasion when a guard let him eat something that almost immediately caused his stomach to cramp badly. He saw the malicious glee on the face of the alien as Joe retched his stomach contents onto the ground. There had been a very vocal and vicious argument amongst the Vershoo after this event. The leader had the poisoner beaten. This didn't improve the morale of the group. Tensions seemed to increase every day.

He recalled his arrival on this jungle world. His captors were delighted with the hot, sticky weather conditions and the constant drizzle. They were ecstatic when they found the tree with the juicy red fruit. Until the leader started screeching at them. Apparently, he wasn't keen on letting anyone eat the fruit. His officers seemed to support this discipline, but there were a lot of ugly noises from the troops.

Joe recalled they had set up camp across the valley from the fruit trees. Some must have gone back for the fruit as it was being handed out between the troops that night. Even Joe was handed one and found the flesh sweet and delicious. What happened next was difficult to remember. He guessed that the fruit either acted like alcohol or drugs. The fractured memories he had were chaotic. He recalled screeching and flashes of violence. He assumed there must have been a rebellion.

Glancing up at the thinning clouds, he could see the faint outline of the noon sun. He'd slept away half the day.

He counted the bodies and looked for survivors. The ones he didn't find on the hillside hadn't made it far before they died of their wounds. He saw their bodies in the surrounding jungle. He was stunned to find his fishing spear buried in the chest of one of the Vershoo. It was the one who poisoned him. Joe tried to recall if he'd been the one to use the spear, but it was still a blur, and his head hurt to think of it.

Joe became slightly panicky when he realized he was alone on a strange planet. He had no idea what wildlife here would try to eat him or what was safe for him to eat, so he went to each body and collected all the supplies from them. Then, he did an inventory of what he had. There were over a hundred knives of all shapes and sizes, all wickedly sharp, but none matched the black glass blade. He selected a few for himself and included the one he found buried in his chest because anything sharp enough to penetrate his skin was a worthy weapon. He rolled the remaining knives in a strip of tough fabric from a torn backpack, then tied the roll tightly closed.

He accidentally dropped the black knife as he made a pile of the items he'd keep. It landed on a rock point first and shattered into shards. Not as reliable a weapon as he thought. He was just grateful it hadn't done that when he was protecting himself with it. He found a belt that fit him and sheaths to hold the remaining knives he'd kept. He also found the leader's translator device, the two portal-opening machines, and many other smaller pieces of equipment he couldn't identify.

He had plenty of rations. Some of the Vershoo had been carrying packs, so he took the largest, most intact one and piled all the loose items inside. He also wore several Vershoo belts connected together over each shoulder like bandoliers. This allowed him to carry most of the supplies he'd taken from the bodies.

His first priority was to see if he could get back to the last world they'd passed through, as it had actual buildings they'd taken shelter in. It was a more temperate world, and he knew of some things he could eat there. To move between the planets, the Vershoo relied on two small, square devices with controls on them. He'd watched as closely as possible to see how they operated them. Joe was pretty sure he could activate a portal. Setting their destination coordinates was a mystery. They might take him back to his previous location if they hadn't added new coordinates. Once activated, the portal would automatically shut down after roughly five minutes, which was why the large group of Vershoo had hustled through each doorway.

He knew he could find his way back to the spot where they'd entered this world and back to the buildings on the prior one, but beyond that, the worlds kind of blended in together. Again, all he could do was try. With his gear in place and a final look at his deceased captors, he set off while the sun was still high in the sky.

It took longer than expected to return to the entry point because he was loaded with supplies. While he'd been walking, he'd heard an awful screeching coming from the site of the massacre. Something had found the dead bodies, and it sounded like a feeding frenzy was occurring. He'd picked up his pace for a while.

Now, he stood before the spot where the portal had been opened. He took out the two devices and looked them over. They were roughly square with recessed buttons along one edge, and the top side of each had a circular indentation. He'd seen the Vershoo leader press the buttons and had memorized the pattern. The trick was the buttons on the two units had to be pushed in sequence simultaneously, and the units placed on the ground a certain distance apart to make a black doorway. Once it was open and stable, the devices could be picked up and put away, and the portal could be entered. As he had no one to press the buttons on the second device, he had to do both and then place them on the ground as quickly as he could. He wasn't sure if it made a difference if the timing wasn't perfect, but he had to try. The sun was setting, and the noises he'd heard back at the hillside sounded like they were getting closer.

He pressed the buttons as he remembered and felt the boxes begin to vibrate. Joe placed the first box on the ground and dove to the left to set the second one down just as the light erupted from the top of the box. He rolled away from the portal, which rippled dangerously. The piercing tone that ripped from the darkness wasn't normal. The black doorways had never sounded like an alarm before. Joe was worried he'd done something wrong and wondered how safe it would be to step into that darkness. He waited for the tone to subside, and it did gradually, but the edges continued to ripple in a way he'd never seen before. The edges had white streaks shooting from top to bottom very rapidly.

Joe was frozen with indecision, and soon, the portal would close. He knew he'd have to step through or wait to try again.

Then he had a bad thought. Maybe the devices wouldn't work again because of the alarm!

The boxes had gone dormant, so he picked them up and put them in his pack. He swung the sack onto his back and stood before the gate, preparing to enter.

Joe heard a deep growl over the noise coming from the gate. He turned back and peered into the shadows at the edge of the jungle clearing. Large, widely spaced eyes reflected the light of the gate. Joe couldn't determine exactly what it was except it was big and looking at him. Faster than he thought possible, the creature charged him, and he just had time to put up his hands to grab the curving fangs of the beast before it crashed into him, throwing them both through the blackness.

Joe hit the ground on the other side hard, with the beast straining to sink the curving fangs into his chest. Joe held on with all his strength, but he could tell he would eventually lose. Instead, he made a mighty and sudden pull outwards, and the beast screamed in pain and tried to jerk away.

With a sickening crack and pop, the right fang tore away, and the howling creature jerked and leapt back into the black doorway as it wobbled and collapsed. The implosion ripped the beast apart. A huge gust of wind picked up Joe and all nearby ground debris, including the rear haunches of the dead beast, and tossed everything ten feet away.

He lay stunned on the ground, covered in blood, gore, leaves, and dirt. His ears were ringing from the implosion.

But he was alive.

He sat up and looked at the tooth in his hand. It was one hell of a souvenir!

Looking back at the spot the gate had been, he now had an answer to why you didn't want to be in the doorway when it closed.

He looked around himself and tried to recall what the world he was supposed to be on looked like. It was dark, so he couldn't make out any details. He saw a small building to the south, wobbled over to it, and opened the door. He went inside and pulled off his pack. He used the tooth to bar the doors from the inside and flopped down exhausted on the floor. He'd get cleaned up in the morning. He'd successfully escaped and was on his way. He let himself relax and was soon sound asleep.

Chapter 4

Rachel was in heaven.

These last few months had been the most rewarding of her entire life. She recalled how she'd struggled to be heard and be taken seriously not so long ago. She'd been the one who reported the insurgences and had almost lost her job for it. No one had taken her seriously until she met Roger. He took her under his wing, got her the resources she needed, and supported her every step of the way. He took no credit for her achievements but instead ensured the chain of command knew it was her who discovered the connection between the gravity anomalies and the alien incursions. While those pompous asses still had it out for her, she knew Roger stood between them and her.

Roger had become much more than her boss. While she deeply respected his leadership skills and natural ability to manage people, a skill she knew she lacked, her feelings for him didn't stop there. Their attraction was mutual, and they had discreetly begun seeing each other. She'd discovered that Roger was a romantic and passionate lover, and thinking about that made her toes tingle. She shook her head to bring her back to the task at hand.

Now that her theories had been proven true, she was the key to the ongoing investigation and took on a central role. This also made her point person on the team examining the alien tech. She was the one who discovered how to communicate with the alien cylinder, code-named Pokey. She'd been able to get it to direct the other cylinders, and soon she'd have three on-site. She wasn't deluding herself into believing she had absolute control over the cylinders. They were probably supporting their own agenda, which she had yet to determine. Rachel made sure Roger was aware of this as well.

She entered the portable lab where Pokey was charging. It turned in her direction and chirped when it saw her enter, which made her smile. Rachel knew she shouldn't assign human meanings to these actions, but she couldn't help but get the impression that the cylinder was acting like one of her staff.

"Good morning, Agent White," Luis Hernandez, one of her research techs, greeted her seconds after Pokey did.

Her smile slipped into a grin. "Good morning, Agent Hernandez. Any word on the arrival of Burnie and Rusty?"

"We should see them later this afternoon," he said.

"Good. Has Pokey completed the lexicon review?"

"Yes, and all of our Rosetta stone materials. We gave it a binary representation of English this morning. It should be able to communicate with our translator program if it's as clever as we think."

"Let's give it a try," Rachel said eagerly.

Luis started the translator application and placed the mic next to Pokey.

"We'll start with the basics. I have some simple sentences we can use to try—" he started.

Pokey streamed out a string of beeps. Over the room's speakers came the mechanical voice of the translator. "Good morning, Agent White. Good morning, Agent Hernandez."

The two looked at the cylinder in shock. Rachel shared a smile with Luis. "More clever than we thought? Maybe we can skip the basics?"

"Good Morning! Do you have a name?" she asked.

"No," it replied. Luis raised his eyebrows at that.

"May we call you Pokey?" Rachel asked.

"Yes," it replied.

"Pokey, do you know where you are?" she asked.

"Yes," it replied.

Rachel looked at Luis. "I think we will have to ask more limited questions," he said.

"Pokey, please tell me what geographic location you are currently in based on planet, country, and state," Luis asked.

"Earth, United States of America, North Dakota," it replied.

Rachel nodded. "Pokey, please tell me the name of the planet you were on before you reached Earth."

"Ikikita," it replied.

Rachel smiled broadly at Luis. Thrilling stuff!

"Pokey, who were the beings you were with when you came to Earth?" Rachel asked.

"The Ello," came the immediate reply

"Are they responsible for your creation?" Rachel asked.

"No."

Rachel thought of a better question to ask. "Pokey, tell me who created you and your purpose."

"The Kel-Fahr create Tik. We activate Gates, police Gate facilities, and perform tasks the Kel-Fahr assign to us."

"Did the Kel-Fahr instruct you to work for the Ello?" she asked.

"No. The Ello obtained and altered the Imperative Command Directives in a group of Tik. A new instruction set overlay was installed, overriding the Kel-Fahr's base commands. The primary instruction is for us to work with the Ello for the mission," it replied.

"What mission?" Luis blurted.

"To locate another sentient species which can endure a Fahrchar merging as the Kel-Fahr do. No other sentient species has ever been able to survive the Fahrchar merging. If such a being was found, it would be delivered to the Kel-Fahr homeworld, Sehsra."

"Is that where the Ello took Joseph?" Rachel asked.

"Joseph was incomplete. The remaining piece of the Fahrchar was on the Ello homeworld. The Ello took Joseph there to complete the merge," Pokey explained.

Rachel's normally pale face went white as she realized the fate Joseph faced. "What will happen to Joseph when his Fahrchar is made complete?"

"Fahrchar must be physically whole to establish their sentience. Once the final part of the Fahrchar is merged with Joseph, he will be absorbed into that sentience," Pokey said. "Joseph will become Human-Fahr. The conclusion of the Ello mission is to introduce a Human-Fahr into the Kel-Fahr collective mind, which should happen automatically when he is brought to their homeworld. There is insufficient information to determine what the outcome will be."

Rachel was shaken by the thought of what Joseph would be going through. Would he be able to relate with humanity if he ever returned? Would he even be Joseph anymore? Luis looked worried as he saw her troubled expression. She gave herself a shake. She still had a mission of her own to complete. She'd let Roger know about Joseph later.

"Pokey, the command overlay the Ello made. Is it still in effect?" she asked carefully.

"No. I have been released from the mission," it replied. "When the Ello took Joseph through the Gate and left us behind, the mission was over for us. Some Tik went with them. The mission continues for them."

"What is your primary objective now?" Luis asked.

"When the other Tik arrive, we will open a Gate and return to the Kel-Fahr for debriefing and destruction. We have been compromised and can no longer work for the Kel-Fahr safely. This is a Kel-Fahr imperative command."

Rachel looked at Luis with raised eyebrows.

"That seems like a terrible waste of perfectly functional... Tik. We would like to learn more about the Gates. Things you could teach us," Rachel said. She'd noted the emphasis on how Pokey said Gate and worked that into her responses.

"Kel-Fahr imperatives cannot be ignored now that the Ello's instruction set is complete. We will report as we must," Pokey stated.

"Would it be possible for us to speak to the Kel-Fahr?" Rachel asked.

"No. The Kel-Fahr have deemed Earth to be a restricted planet. There is to be no contact with its inhabitants."

"What is the role of the Kel-Fahr?" she said, frustrated.

"The Kel-Fahr rule the Assembly, which comprises all the races who are members of the Gate Network. The Gate Network links thousands of worlds and hundreds of sentient races. The Kel-Fahr maintains order over the Assembly and enforces its rule to maintain civility and the health and welfare of all. They have held this position from the opening of the first Gate to the present day. They are eternal, and their rule is absolute."

Rachel pondered this horrible news. To know such an expansive civilization was at their fingertips and then to be denied access to it was almost too much to bear. She needed to speak with Roger before the other Tik arrived at the base. If anyone could think of a way to convince these Kel-Fahr to consider their case, it would be Roger.

She asked Luis to continue the questioning, concentrating on the issues with the gravity field and how it interacted with Gates. She had to find and update Roger now!

Chapter 5

Joe slowly came awake in the shed, aware of a mental pressure in his skull and a physical one on his chest. He opened his crusty eyes and looked where the shed door had been. Now filling the opening was a small, colorfully dressed being strapped into a large mechanical suit. It seemed to be poking him in the chest with the finger of the suit. Joe glanced at the projections sprouting from the unit and imagined that more than one had some violent purpose. Better to go slow.

"Hello?" he said.

The powered suit suddenly leapt backward, and he could no longer see the being. Just to be safe, Joe sat up but remained where he was. He looked down at himself and grimaced. He was covered with dried blood and gore, with dirt thrown in for good measure. He must look like some kind of savage! Well, there was really nothing he could do about that. The pressure in his head slowly resolved to words. He felt the pain slip away as the words became clearer.

"...cuh al et come out of the building!" the voice in his head said nervously.

"Telepathy?" Joe asked aloud and stood up. He stepped slowly outside and faced the being in the suit. They stood there facing each other. Aside from being small and frail, the being was light grey in color and had most of the usual humanoid-like structure: two legs ending in broad foot pads, two arms ending with multiple thin tentacle-like appendages, two wide and currently nervous eyes, a wide mouth and a kind of small flap where the human nose would be. Its movements were very fluid—more fluid than they would have been with a rigid internal skeleton. Maybe this was why it was wearing the augmentation suit? It would be at a disadvantage if it were only capable of gentle motions. The mech-suit likely compensated for that.

"What are you? Why do I feel the presence of a Fahrchar?" its voice demanded in his head.

Joe didn't know how to talk mind to mind, so he just spoke aloud, hoping the alien understood him like he understood it. "My name is Joe Neumann. I'm a human from a planet called Earth. When I was just a baby, some beings called the Ello came to my planet and merged me with a Fahrchar."

"No! That is not possible!" it said to him firmly. "The Fahrchar are sacred and protected, and no one could have taken one from Sehsra."

"I don't know anything about that, but the Ello had three of them when they got to my planet. My birth parents were burned to ash when the Ello tried the merging on them, but somehow I managed to survive the process." Since the alien considered Fahrchar sacred, Joe felt it wise to leave out the part where his adopted dad shot one. He was definitely getting a male vibe from the alien.

"The Fahrchar cannot merge with any race other than the Kel," he blurted into Joe's mind.

"Well... it worked with me. Sorry," Joe said.

The being stood there looking at Joe like he'd spontaneously burst into flames. Joe couldn't read his expression, but his face was certainly going through a few. It suddenly collapsed against the harness that held it in the suit. This freaked Joe out, but he thought he saw the being breathing. Joe snapped his eyes to black, and there was motion in the body. So maybe it just passed out. He let his eyes go back to normal.

Thinking of how much Agent White would love to meet this guy, Joe slipped his phone from his pocket and snapped a quick shot of the alien slumped in his harness.

Afterward, he felt a little bad about taking the picture without the guy's permission, but... he kept the shot and took a few of the parkland he seemed to be in. Then he put the phone away.

He realized it made him feel better to take the pictures as it felt like he could share them with his family and friends one day. It gave him hope.

Joe took a more thorough look around and realized this place was nothing like the wild forested world he was expecting. He felt lighter than he had on the forested planet, too, so the gravity here was definitely less. Before the Vershoo took him to the jungle world, the world they'd passed through had been all tall forests and rugged mountains with rough-hewn cabins made from the local timber. This place looked like a carefully groomed city garden. Huge expanses of short grasses and orderly flowerbeds for as far as his eye could see. There were carefully laid out walls of privacy shrubbery and serene pools of water dotting the field with a walkway meandering between them. This was NOT where the portal should have taken him.

Looking at the water, he decided that he would get cleaned up. The suit was not actively paying attention to him, and the being slumped in it was either asleep or unconscious, neither state he could help with, so he walked over to the closest pond and stripped off his dirty clothes, including his boots and socks. He knelt on the small beach and began cleaning himself off. After a short time, he felt reasonably clean again, so he took his cell phone from his shirt pocket and carefully washed his shirt. He used handfuls of sand to abrade the dirt from the fabric. Then he moved on to his socks and pants. Once they were relatively clean, rinsed, and rung out, he laid them out in the sunlight to dry and brought his pack out of the shed as well.

He took one more look at the being in the suit and was relieved to see it was still breathing. Joe walked over to his drying clothes and set the pack down. He sat cross-legged on the grass, tied his boots to the sack, dug out some rations, and ate them slowly. The sunlight felt wonderful on his skin, and his clothes dried fairly quickly.

Joe had his pants back on and was pulling his shirt on when he heard a high-pitched whine. Once his head was free, he saw the glint of sunlight off something metallic approaching at speed. Joe sank to a cross-legged position again and waited with his hands palms up on his knees, relaxed. Considering the rate this vehicle traveled, the thought of running was ludicrous.

When it finally arrived, Joe saw it was some kind of flying car. This was the first one he'd seen on his journey amongst the stars, and he was sad to say it was a little underwhelming. No flashy chrome, stylish fins, or blinking lights. It was a dull, greenish-gray rectangle built to be functional.

It had an open cockpit and a large flatbed platform behind that. He couldn't see a windshield, but considering how quickly it moved, there was probably something to protect against the wind and the occasional bug.

What caught his attention, though, was the larger being driving the vehicle. "Female?" he wondered, as that was his distinct impression. Larger than the male in this species, maybe.

She watched him carefully as she maneuvered the car between him and the dormant suit. She did something on the car's controls, and the suit came to life, stepping onto the open platform. It settled onto its back, and the female lifted the vehicle into the air again. With a final look at Joe, she sped away back in the direction she'd come from.

Joe waited, but it didn't look like she was coming back any time soon, so Joe looked around for where he'd arrived on this planet. The smear of blood and guts on the grass clearly identified the spot. He stepped a few feet away on a clean section of grass.

Joe pulled out the two portal machines and pressed the buttons sequentially, but nothing happened. He tried again, but nothing. Moving back over to the grizzly section of grass to ensure he was exactly in the same position the portal had been in the prior night, he tried the buttons again. Still nothing.

His bad thought from the night before about the boxes failing after the alarm seemed to have come true. He was fortunate to be on this side when they did.

He walked back down to the shed, but there seemed little point in waiting around. He took the fang from the shed door where it had fallen and tied it under the straps on his pack. If he ever got home, he wanted to show his parents the tooth as proof of his adventure.

He looked in the direction the flying car had gone and sighed. He tugged on his socks and boots and just started walking. He had no idea how far he'd have to go, but he had little other choice. The grounds were quite lovely, and the path was soft. He walked all day, and as the sun approached the horizon, he began to look for a place to rest for the night. Then he heard the high-pitched whine again. He stepped out into the open, and the vehicle's sound immediately changed as it rapidly decelerated. As it got closer, someone in a powered exo-suit jumped from the back of the platform. As it passed him, a second person in a powered suit jumped out on the other side of him. The hovering car continued to circle overhead as the two armored men approached from both sides. Each carried a long metallic rod with a small cylinder on their business end.

"Hello?" Joe tried, hoping for a friendly response.

Instead, the man behind him slammed the rod into the pack on his back, shoving him forward. He saw the other rod coming in fast at his chest. He spun and yanked the rod from the suit's hands, causing the man to lose balance and fall on his chest. The armor protected him at the last second, but he was badly slammed against his harness. Meanwhile, Joe used the stolen rod to bat away the other man's weapon each time he stabbed it forward. He pressed no attack of his own but waited for the man to give up. He also kept his eye on the man getting back on his feet and on the circling vehicle. This was really starting to piss him off. Finally, he grabbed the other rod after a careless jab and yanked it away as well.

"STOP!" he growled loudly, and surprisingly, the two men on the ground staggered and stood still, looking at him nervously.

Pressing the advantage, Joe looked up at the man in the car and bellowed. "YOU! COME DOWN HERE!"

The car wobbled and then descended to land next to them. Joe finally got a good look at his assailants. All three were like the first man he'd spoken with. Small, light grey, and frail. He could see distinct color pattern differences on their faces, but their bodies were very similar.

"You two, get on the platform and kneel down," he growled, and they moved to obey, looking dazed.

Joe tossed the weapons away, climbed on the platform, and sat cross-legged, facing forward. "Take us back to where you came from."

The car gently climbed back up to tree level and began moving forward, gathering speed as it went. Joe felt no wind, nor did he feel the momentum. There was no risk of him being blown off or falling off from sudden direction changes. Something about the cargo area of this vehicle protected what it carried. He thought that was pretty cool.

It lost its luster after just five minutes, and the trip was just plain boring once the sun went down. After about forty minutes of flying in the dark, he could see lights up ahead.

Soon, they descended into a well-lit courtyard. Joe looked around and realized he didn't see anyone else moving around.

He turned to the two men in the powered suits. "Where is everyone?"

They looked at each other. Finally, he heard the voice of one of them in his mind. "They are in the main house."

Joe hopped down to the ground with his pack.

"What should we do?" the other suited man said.

"I don't care. You were very rude to me. I don't want to see you three again. Why don't you just go home?"

The men left the car and walked out a door on the far side of the courtyard. Soon, Joe heard the whining sounds of vehicles moving away. He looked around again and listened to the silence in the yard. There was one door that looked like it led into the main house, so he walked over to it and looked for a doorbell or a knocker. Then he recalled that he was already inside the property, so there wouldn't likely be one. He touched a plate on the door panel as he'd seen the men do when they left, but nothing happened. Maybe the door was locked. He tried knocking and calling out, but nothing happened.

Joe discovered that none of the doors in the courtyard would open for him. He was basically trapped. Short of vandalism, he was stuck. He looked around and saw a nice covered seating area in the courtyard next to some windows that looked like they might open like patio doors. He tried them, but they were locked as well. He walked over to the couch, sat down, and immediately felt better. The seats were really comfortable. It had been over a month since he'd slept on something as soft as his old bed. He undid his boots and kicked them off. Stretching out on the couch, he sighed and immediately fell asleep.

Hours later, a ray of sunlight passed over his eyes, and he awoke. The courtyard was still empty and silent, and the inner coverings on the windows were still closed. He decided to have breakfast, so he dug some rations out of the pack and ate them slowly. He was rationing as he still had no idea where he was or what he could eat here.

He started pulling stuff out of the pack and stacked his supplies on the table surface before him. The ration bars were placed in little stacks of ten. He counted one hundred and five remaining. Next, he laid out the belts but didn't feel up to investigating every pocket. Lastly were the various sundry devices he'd taken from the dead Vershoo, including the two portal machines. He carefully examined these last two as they were his ticket home if he could get them working. He couldn't see any damage.

There was a sudden noise behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder. The glass panes had opened as he expected they could, and the man he'd originally met was wobbling his way over to him with what Joe thought was an angry look. He was certainly striding forward in a determined manner.

"Where did you get those!" the being demanded, pointing to the two devices.

"Hello. My name is Joe. Remember? We met yesterday. Why is everyone on this planet so rude?" Joe was more than a little frustrated.

"What?" the man jolted to a halt at the end of the couch.

"This is the part of the conversation where you introduce yourself," Joe hinted.

"I am Kennt," he said.

"Thank you. Look, I'm sorry I slept on your couch last night without your permission, but the other guys dropped me in your courtyard, and none of the doors would open for me. No one responded to my knocking and calling, so I just got some sleep. It was a weird day yesterday. But then they've all been weird for some time." Joe stopped when he found himself rambling. It had been a long time since he'd had a conversation.

The man was still pointing to the machines.

"Ah, yes, the portal machines. The Vershoo were using them to open black doorways. When they took me from the Ello, they used these machines to move us from planet to planet until we reached a jungle planet. They had a huge fight amongst themselves, and everyone died except me... obviously. I was trying to get the devices to take me back to the previous planet we'd been on, but the portal I activated looked a little odd, and it brought me here."

"They are Gate Generators, not portal machines, and they open Gates, not black doorways!" Kennt said testily, then his expression changed to confusion. "Vershoo had my Gate Generators? Why would they have them?" Kennt practically whispered.

"I don't know, but they had them when they arrived on the Ello homeworld," Joe offered. "Are you sure they're yours?"

The man looked at Joe again with that... okay, he had to call it an angry look. Reading alien expressions was tough, but Joe was really picking up an angry vibe.

"No one else on Sehsra has the skills to build portable Gate Generators so small and elegant!" Kennt boasted.

"They are very sleek and worked like a charm many times except when I tried them last night. It was the first time I'd used them myself. I'd never seen a Gate with bands of white light rushing down the sides. Maybe I activated it wrong?" Joe made sure to use Kennt's name for the tech.

"Ah! Wait... let me think... white bars, not bands. Yes! That was a failsafe setting. If the Gate Generators were ever compromised, being used by a non-Kel-Fahr, for instance, when a Kel-Fahr activated them, they would create a Gate to my workshop. Then, I'd be able to read their destination logs and provide evidence against the abusers. Ah, it's all coming back to me!"

"That garden shed is your workshop?" Joe asked.

"Don't be insulting!" came a terse reply. "My factories once spanned from just past that outer wall to the garden shed, as you so insultingly called it."

"What happened? Where are the factories now?" Joe asked.

The steam seemed to go out of the man, and he sank into the chair facing Joe. "Off planet. It was all taken off planet a very long time ago."

Seeing the man was upset, Joe tried to bring back some of the spirit he'd shown previously. "Can you read the logs from the devices now? If the Vershoo were responsible for stealing the Fahrchar from Sehsra, maybe the proof is in the logs. Uh, by the way, am I on Sehsra now?" he asked.

Kennt seemed to come back to himself as he looked at the devices, but when Joe mentioned being on Sehsra, he began to shrink in on himself and made a shrill keening noise.

"What did you do?" a female voice yelled in his head. Joe was still having some trouble with the fact that no one here spoke out loud. He looked over his shoulder and saw the female storm out of the patio door and kneel at the man's side.

"I just asked what planet this was!" Joe explained.

"My father isn't well. You are pressing his mind too strongly," she scolded.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm new to this whole planet jumping thing, and up until recently, I'd never left my planet or knew aliens actually existed," Joe said.

"How is that possible?" she asked. "Every citizen of every planet on the Gate Network is schooled on the laws of civilized society and the rules for interacting with the other races."

"That's great, except my planet isn't part of the network," Joe said.

"What? Then how did you get here? OH, SES! YOU'RE NOT KEL-FAHR!" she screeched. Her father's keening grew louder.

"STOP THAT! Both of you!" Joe yelled.

The noise immediately stopped. The two sat frozen, watching him.

"Let's act like reasonable people and work out exactly what the issue is and how we can resolve it quietly and in a civilized manner," Joe admonished them.

They continued to stare at him. He noticed the woman wasn't looking directly at him. Her gaze was more over him. He suddenly got the impression that she might have a vision problem. Considering how well she'd driven the car the previous day, that was more than a little impressive.

"First off, what is your name?" Joe asked the female.

"Kennha," she said quietly.

"Kennha. Thank you. Now, what is the issue with me being here?" he asked.

"Only Kel-Fahr are allowed on Sehsra. No other race has ever, in all our extensive history, set foot on our planet. It is an absolute law, punishable by the final death," the female stated.

"Okay, that sounds bad," Joe remarked. "So optimally, it would be best if we could get these Gate Generators working so I could leave the planet as soon as possible, right? I'd really like to go home."

"Only my father could do that, but he hasn't worked for a very long time," Kennha said, looking sadly at her father.

"When did he build these?" Joe asked.

"Long before I was born, over one hundred and eighty cycles ago," she said.

Joe's mind had some trouble translating the time period. A frame of reference was missing, but he got the impression of a very extended period.

"My father is one of the oldest Kel-Fahr on Sehsra, but even the Fahrchar have limits on how long they can maintain our health. The Kel brain is substantially superior to all other species, and when augmented with the Fahrchar, there is no match. But that power places a tremendous strain on the symbiosis. It is a wonder that my father has survived as long as he has, considering the brilliance he displayed his entire life," Kennha said while gazing in her father's direction.

"So Kennt was a master builder of Gate technology?" Joe asked, struggling to keep from rolling his eyes during her brag session.

"Yes, he perfected the machines, ensuring the network will survive long after the species they are built for pass into dust. He also miniaturized them so they could be carried by the Tik, who assist the Mediators. And he even made two sets of portable Gate Generators. The ones you have and the disassembled prototypes," she answered.

"Who did he build these for?" Joe asked.

"The Council! They were in control of these Gate Generators," Kennt blurted nervously.

"If no one can get into Sehsra without going through the Network Gate, and I assume there must be someone policing the Gates on this world to keep the non-Kel-Fahr out, then I assume these Gate Generators must have been taken from the planet by a Kel-Fahr. Maybe even by one of these Council members or someone close to them. And it happened a long time ago. Well, within the last thirty years. And sometime after the devices left the Council's control, the Vershoo used them to steal some Fahrchar from Sehsra and get them to the Ello. Unless Fahrchar can be found on another world?" he asked.

Kennt looked like he was going to have a seizure. Too much blasphemy, perhaps? Aliens on their planet and stolen religious icons. Joe was trying not to be mean, but these Kel-Fahr were not turning out to be the nicest species. So far, he'd met the Ello, the Vershoo, the Kel-Fahr, and the mechanical Tik. Only the Tik showed promise of civilized behavior. But even they were guilty of kidnapping him.

Kennha had heard enough. "No! The Fahrchar are only found on Sehsra. They are sacred to us and integral to our society. As one, the Kel-Fahr have brought unity and peace to the Assembly, the united worlds of the Gate Network. All accept our place as their leaders as we're the oldest and wisest race in the Assembly," Kennha said proudly. Joe saw Kennt watching his daughter and caught a strange expression cross his face. Joe also thought he picked up a feeling of shame from the old Kel-Fahr. Odd!

"Uh, I can name groups from two races that are not as accepting as you think," Joe mentioned. He got a stare from Kennha for that, so he continued. "At least some of the Ello and the Vershoo were working together to undermine or disrupt the Kel-Fahr somehow. Probably not all of them, but certainly the ones I met. Of course, the Vershoo I met are all dead. Did I mention they were the ones who said they got the Fahrchar for the Ello?"

Kennha didn't seem to know how to respond to that, so Joe just let it go. She had a narrow perspective, but he wasn't surprised, considering their apparent isolation. He was curious about that. "Your property seems very big. Where are all the other people? Is there a city nearby?"

"All Kel-Fahr have properties like this. There is just my father and I here. Mother left a long time ago. There are no cities on Sehsra," she answered.

"No cities? Where does this Council meet? There's some kind of centralized government buildings, right?" Joe asked, confused.

"Why would they need to leave their homes? They can all meet by avatar from the comfort of their homes," Kennha remarked.

"What about the three Kel-Fahr who brought me here? Where do they live?" Joe asked.

"Those were neighbors. I called them when my father collapsed, and I went out to pick him up. When I got back to the house, they were arriving. I asked them to investigate the stranger on our property.

You have to understand. We don't get strangers on our properties. We never meet strangers, ever!" she explained.

"No strangers? Does everyone just stay within their houses or grounds? What about traveling? Getting to see other parts of the world, meeting new people? I just started traveling at home, and outside of being abducted and forced off-planet by the Ello, I've met some really nice people. Man, I miss them! I want to go home!" Joe looked at the old Kel-Fahr. "Kennha, please ask your father to get these Gate Generators working again. He's my only hope!" he pleaded.

Life seemed to come back into Kennt's eyes. He reached forward and picked up one of the machines. His tentacle-like fingers caressed the surfaces, and his face took on an intensity Joe hadn't seen until now. "First, I must download the logs. Then, I can reset them. But if your planet isn't on the network, how will we set the destination coordinates?" he asked.

Joe thought about that. "The Ello. They know how to get there. And if they aren't willing to help, three Tik on their planet know the way."

"They have Tik working for them?!?!" Kennt gasped.

"Let's worry about that after you get these machines working again," Joe suggested, hoping the old man wouldn't spiral into despair again.

Energized with purpose, the old Kel-Fahr stood up and took the machines into the house with him. Kennha followed. Joe quickly stuffed everything back into his pack and rushed after them.

They followed Kennt into a room with long workbenches and boxes piled everywhere. Machines of all shapes and sizes covered every surface. He watched Kennt activate a workstation. The two Gate Generators were encompassed in a blue light emitted from the surface of his workstation, but immediately, the lights turned red.

"Oh, there have been some attempts to infiltrate the unit's domain-level software. They were not successful, but the intrusion was noted. Hmmm, yes, the logs are huge. They cover a large amount of time, and there are thousands of entries. The Vershoo were moving around quite a bit. It will take some time to catalog all these entries. There is no point in you watching this. Run along, and I will let you know when I've extracted something useful," Kennt said absent-mindedly. He was already bent over the workstation, touching its interface here and there.

Joe was quickly lost in the unfamiliar technology and looked to Kennha. She was staring off over her father's head, and this time, Joe sensed contentment from her. She seemed to feel his attention as she swung her face in his direction, then turned to leave the room. Joe followed.

When they'd left the room, Joe spoke to Kennha once more. "How would someone wishing to learn about Sehsra look up information about the planet, its rules, and rulers?"

Kennha paused and seemed to think about that for a while. "I suppose they could look it up on the public archive. The terminal is off the main hall. I don't use it much anymore." She set off with purpose in her step, and he followed.

"I don't mean to offend you, so please tell me if my question is too personal, but how long have you been without sight?" Joe asked gently.

"That's okay. I haven't had use of my eyes since my Fahrchar bonding ceremony when I was very little. I disappointed my father terribly that day. I was proven unfit for almost every occupation he had lined up for me to do when I learned the aptitude my new bonded nature would introduce. When the bonding exposed my genetic weaknesses instead, there was no point in bothering with the aptitude test. I was relegated to planet-bound duties and took up the caretaker role for my father's estate. What hurt him most was that I was taken from the roster of compatible breeders and wasted a perfectly good Fahrchar. But no point in allowing my poor genetic traits into the populace."

Joe was sickened by how unaffected she seemed by these horrible words. She had completely accepted that she was unworthy. He wanted to protest and make her try to see the injustice of their actions, but he was really out of his element with this culture. He didn't know how she would take his criticism for how she'd been treated. It might just make matters worse for her... and him. He couldn't rock the boat until he had a way back to the Ello's planet. He painfully held his tongue.

Instead, he paid her a compliment that he hoped would just be seen as polite interest in her current nature. "You seem to be very well adapted to it. I wasn't even aware you couldn't see until moments ago. Considering the first time I saw you, you were driving the vehicle, and I had no idea you couldn't see. Very impressive!"

"I can call upon my Fahrchar senses to see motion and sense the mental link when other Kel-Fahr are nearby. From a distance, your mental link just seemed like a stranger's, which is unsettling enough, but when I'm this close, I can tell you have significant differences from a Kel-Fahr. I mean, I can still understand you and have no trouble linking to you. Actually, it's a little too easy to link to you. Normally, two minds brush, and if communication is desired, a mutual decision to link is formed, and the separating barrier is dropped. It's all automatic, and the minds meet in the middle. With you, it's more like one of the gravity wells Father talks about. Once communication is accepted, it feels like... we're drawn down into your influence. The strength of your link is... troubling. I am a little afraid of what it will be like to disconnect."

"How does one disconnect?" Joe asked, puzzled.

"The same way you connected. Just by willing it," she answered.

"So, if I don't want someone in my head anymore, I can think about disconnecting them, and they can't hear me?" Joe said with incredulity. "Can we test that?" he asked, unaware he'd already begun shutting her out.

Joe watched Kennha crumple as she cried out. He bent down and lifted her to her feet, and she clung to his arms. "I'm so sorry! I had no idea it would hurt you! I still have no idea what I did!"

She was gasping, and he could feel her trembling. The sensation of her tentacles wrapping around the muscles of his forearms was a little odd. As much as they didn't look like fingers, they didn't feel like them either.

"That was... unpleasant," she breathed. "What were you trying to do?"

"From what you said, I understood that if I didn't want to let someone listen in on my thoughts, I could shut them out. I just envisioned the connection being severed between us. I'm sorry if that caused you pain!"

"Not pain, not really. The sudden separation was so drastic I felt an odd sensation of falling. It was frightening, though." She gave herself a little shake, then realized she was clinging to him. "OH! What are you? What's inside your arms?" She slid her tentacles down his arms to grip his fingers. He curled his fingers inwards for her. "Oh! What? You only have five digits per limb? They're so short!"

"I think it's because my planet has heavier gravity than here. Many of the creatures on the planet, including us, have a rigid internal skeleton to support our bodies. All of our muscles are tied to our skeleton. What we lose in flexibility, we gain in strength, I guess. By how gracefully you move, I assume your bodies are not supported by a rigid internal structure."

"No, we have a flexible internal lattice that our muscles are interwoven with. Why are you so hot?" she asked in wonder.

"I'm not sure. Human bodies are typically warm, but my body seems to really enjoy the heat. I can tolerate some intensely high temperatures," he replied and kept his aversion to cold to himself.

Kennha suddenly realized she was touching an alien and pulled her hands back. "I will show you to the terminal for your research. For future disconnections, please try to be gentler. They will dissolve on their own when we leave each other's vicinity. The range is limited. I'm still worried about the strength of the linkage. It shouldn't be like this." She turned and walked through two rooms to bring Joe to a workstation a little bit like the one Kennt used to work on the Gate Generators.

"There should still be a program here to simplify the interface I used as a child. Yes, here we go. It's now active. It will limit the controls to allow your reduced digits to activate the screen but also turns off the ability to communicate with anyone outside the building. You can look up information but not contact the people you see on the screen. Is that sufficient?" she asked.

"That's perfect."

She sat with him for a few minutes to ensure he grasped the basic controls and had no questions. She showed him how to direct his questions to the machine and saw it respond by displaying the requested information. Then she left him to it, promising to collect him shortly.

Joe started with a quick review of the Gate Network. It connected thousands of planets, not all inhabited by alien races. He pulled out his cell and took a picture of the screen. Reviewing it and zooming in, he was pleased to see it was sharp. Turning back to the terminal, he poked around a bit and found how to filter the map to only show worlds with currently living alien races. There were hundreds and hundreds of them. He took another picture. He looked back at the controls for the filtering and found he could filter out worlds the network knew about but weren't currently members of the network. There were hundreds of those as well. He took another picture and looked closer. Most of them were either too primitive to contact, pre-sentience stage or had red flags, which he assumed was something bad. Tapping on one of them, brought up a box which read itself into his mind."

"Restricted planet. Banned from membership by Council vote GGH75.53322.20.2. All further information is available by permission from Council members only."

Joe realized that Earth might be one of these red-flagged planets, meaning he'd get no information about its whereabouts unless he asked a Council member to do it for him. Right. Moving on.

There was also the possibility that Earth wasn't listed at all. The Ello knew about it, but maybe they found it by chance? He really hoped that wasn't the case.

So, it came back to the Council members. Maybe there was a moderate in the group who would see his discreet departure back to Earth as the best solution. Chances of that? He feared slim to none.

He asked a few more questions and determined there were seven Council members. All had been in power for longer than he'd been alive. Longer than anyone on Earth had been alive! The question was, which of them might have been involved in getting the Gate Generators off the planet? He recalled that the council members didn't meet at a headquarters but worked from their homes. Did Kennt mention who he'd given the devices to? He thought of going back to speak with Kennt about it.

"What is it? I'm busy!" suddenly burst into his thoughts. Joe froze. He'd been thinking of asking Kennt a question, and his link to the man must still be open. The old man was on the other side of the house, but the voice came in as clear as if he was next to Joe. He decided to try asking his question.

"Sorry to bother you, but do you recall which council member you gave the Gate Generators to?" he said aloud while picturing Kennt in his mind. He had no idea if this would work.

"Council Member Rensley. Now leave me be!" came the distracted but abrupt answer, and Joe got a distinct impression that Kennt had tried to close the link down, but Joe could still just feel him on the periphery of his mind. He'd ask Kennha about that later.

Joe turned back to the terminal and pulled up details on Council Member Rensley. Her image showed her to be tall and slim, kind of regal, what you'd expect one of your leaders to be. Compared to the other councilors, she was the youngest. Reading her bio, Joe saw her policies were by far the most liberal of the group, which caused her quite a bit of grief with the others. She had been vocally critical of Councilor Tyreen, the oldest of the councilors, and had been censured because of this. Joe sat up and took a second look. There was a lot of bad blood between the two councilors, but much of their disagreements were stricken from the records, leaving behind just the stain of their conflict. Rensley was on probation, unable to attend council meetings for a period of time. Joe still hadn't fully grasped their time units yet.

Council Member Tyreen. There was a lot of information about this female. She'd been in power the longest of the seven members. She may have even been older than Kennt. She was responsible for initiating restrictions on a huge number of worlds. Reading through the list of motions she had presented to the Council, Joe got the impression that this woman was a hardliner. Her name also appeared as the main sponsor for quite a few policing actions the Council ordered on the worlds linked by the Gates. The Mediators Kennha mentioned earlier were the police the Kel-Fahr used to subdue unruly races on other planets. Just keeping the peace and restoring order for the good of civilization, so to speak. Joe pulled up a picture of the Mediators and wasn't surprised to see a fully armored battle suit, which no doubt contained a Kel-Fahr. Very intimidating, and Tyreen used them willingly and often to crush anyone she saw as a threat.

Joe pushed back from the terminal. Between the two of them, Rensley seemed like a more likely candidate for being responsible for getting the Gate Generators into the hands of the Vershoo, so he placed his bets on her.

Joe did another search to see if he could find anything regarding the theft of the Fahrchar. He wasn't really surprised when he found nothing. He asked where the Fahrchar lived and discovered that they only existed in a sacred reserve located on the other side of the world, within a desert biome. The creatures had a very limited environment. Then, Joe noticed that many Council Members lived close to the reserve, including Tyreen. Rensley apparently lived not too far from Kennt. Maybe he could convince her to discover if Earth was one of the red-flagged worlds.

Kennt suddenly rushed into the room and slammed his tentacles down on the terminal surface, shutting it down. "What have you done!" he yelled, a look of panic on his face.

"What? I was just researching who I should speak to next to get home!" Joe replied.

"They're coming! Whatever you searched for caught the attention of Security Services, who've had their eye on me for years, and their attention triggered my warning system. They're on their way here. We have to leave!"

"Shit! Why didn't Kennha warn me that you were under observation?" Joe jumped from the chair and grabbed his backpack.

"She doesn't know!" Kennt growled. "It was from before her time."

"What about the Gate Generators?" Joe asked as he followed the old Kel-Fahr down a hallway.

"The logs are extracted, and the devices have been reset, but there's no time to read them to determine where they've been. We'll take the data and devices with us." He entered the lab and returned with the two boxes and a small handheld device that Joe assumed contained the log data. Joe accepted them, stuffed all three into his backpack, and hustled after the fleeing Kel-Fahr.

"Kennha! Join us in the vehicle bay!" Kennt bellowed with his mind. Joe winced, but he noted that Kennha heard the message and was moving.

They moved down the hall and exited into a large, cavernous room. There were three vehicles stored there. The open platform hovering... truck? He guessed it could be called a truck. Next to it was another similar vehicle with a closed-in platform. The last vehicle was more like a car. It was smaller, with just a passenger seating section. None of them looked anything like the space-age futuristic craft he'd expected to see.

Joe squeezed himself and his backpack into the rear compartment of the smallest one while Kennt sat in the passenger seat in front.

Kennha came running into the room and spotted her father in the car. She immediately got in behind its controls. She glanced nervously over her shoulder at Joe.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're going to see... your sister," Kennt said after a slight pause. Joe picked up that feeling of shame coming from the senior Kel-Fahr.

Kennha sat still, looking in her father's direction in shock. Joe could see the news that she had a sibling was completely unexpected.

Kennt leaned forward and entered the address into the vehicle's guidance system.

Kennha turned back to the wheel and activated the car's engine. The wall opened, and she moved the vehicle out of the bay into the open field next to the homestead.

"Shut off the transponder, bypass the limiter, take us there as fast as this vehicle will go, please," Kennt said to his daughter.

"Yes, Father," she said with a subdued voice. Joe could feel her hurt and confusion and realized his link to the two Kel-Fahr was getting stronger, and their emotions were starting to bleed through very clearly. It felt like a terrible invasion, but he had no idea how to limit the communication.

Kennha pressed a few controls, and the car rapidly accelerated away from their home. They were on their way.

To where... Joe had no idea.

Chapter 6

Roger sat in a very comfortable chair in the warm and inviting living room of the Neumann homestead, trying desperately to stay awake. He was supposed to be listening to Rachel's latest debriefing, but his tired mind only picked up one word in three. Finally, he held his hand up, and she stopped. They looked at each other with tired eyes and smiled. They'd been burning the midnight oil trying to devise a plan to convince the Kel-Fahr to hear their appeal to be part of this Gate Network. They had a few ideas, but their weary brains really needed a break.

The two Tik from Russia, Rusty and Burnie, had arrived, and Roger had expected them to immediately open a Gate and leave. Pokey informed them that the gravity field under the property was in a lull, and they were waiting for it to re-establish before they triggered the Gate. That could happen at any time. The machinery that had been buried under the field had been a measure put in place to stabilize that small area, but it had been destroyed, so they had to rely on the natural ebb and flow of the field.

This was their issue. How to convince them that they were worthy of inclusion. General MacAvoy agreed that the benefits of joining warranted their efforts and had presented their case to the President. He, in turn, convened a special conference with the world leaders to bring them up to speed. The general populace was, so far, still largely in the dark regarding the goings on in the rural community of Glennville, North Dakota. With the deadline the Tik had given them, there really wasn't time to do more than what they'd been doing.

After each brainstorming session with Roger, Rachel would present Pokey with an updated recording of the latest appeal they had worked out. The Tik had agreed to include their recording as part of its debriefing to the Kel-Fahr. The last few had just been a series of refinements as they couldn't develop anything better.

The door to the house burst open, and Rachel's tech, Luis, rushed in and looked wildly around the room. He was out of breath from running.

"Luis! What is it? What's happened?" Rachel jumped from her chair.

The man gasped as he struggled to speak. "It was them!"

"Who? What are you talking about?" she asked.

With a tremendous force of will, Luis calmed his breathing enough to clear his mind and begin again. He spoke quickly between his gulps of air to get the message out. "The reason Earth's gravity field is destabilized... is because the Kel-Fahr planted burrs in the Earth's crust at three points... These devices send gravity pulses at specific intervals... to disrupt the natural patterns of the planet... This will eventually cause our gravity field to fail... and our atmosphere will be ripped away by solar winds... All life on Earth will end because the Kel-Fahr... put those devices in place."

Roger and Rachel looked at each other in shock.

"Who told you this?" Roger asked.

"Burnie," Luis gasped.

"The Kel-Fahr are trying to exterminate us, so they're not about to grant us access to their network! We need to speak to the General. Now!" Roger said.

"We have to stop the Tik from leaving!" Rachel said.

"I think we found a way to do that!" Luis said with a grin. "I just need your permission to try."

"What? How?" Roger asked.

"The Command Overlay, the Ello wrote. Bert decoded it. He told me he added instructions for the Tik to take commands from us and then recompiled it. I want to load it on Burnie to see if it works. If it does, we just need to have him connect to the others, and it should sync them as well," Luis said excitedly.

Roger looked at Rachel. "Is Bert on your team?"

Rachel looked crossly at Luis, who suddenly looked nervous. "I'm sorry if I broke the rules, but we were going to lose the Tik!"

"We'll discuss the security breach later. Let's try the code on Burnie now before they open the Gate," Rachel said, and the three of them raced out of the house to the portable lab set up on the driveway.

The small building currently housed the three Tik in separate rooms. They crowded into the small chamber where Burnie was trickle-feeding.

"Hello, Director Bannon. Hello, Special Agent White. Hello, Lab Technician Hernandez," Burnie's slow voice churned out. This Tik had been the one that took damage in the rocket attack on the dead zone base. It was functional but slower than the others.

Luis looked at Roger and Rachel, and both nodded for him to proceed.

"Hello, Burnie. I have a new file for you to upload." He held out a USB Key. The Tik had adapted one of their ports to accept the keys and could readily ingest files.

Burnie reached out with a silver tentacle, which was missing its tip, and gently took the key from Luis. It tucked it into a slot that popped open on its side, and the three people held their breath.

The mechanical limb retracted, and there was a humming noise. Then silence.

"Lab Technician Hernandez, this is a Command Overlay program."

The three held their breath.

"There is currently no reason to run a Command Overlay program."

Luis looked crestfallen, and Rachel looked at her boss.

Roger leaned forward. "Burnie, do you have a protocol for self-preservation? Are there any imperatives enabling you to act to prevent your destruction?" Rachel and Luis looked at him curiously.

"Yes, the Tik must protect ourselves unless such action would endanger the Kel-Fahr," Burnie replied.

Roger moved closer to the Tik. "Burnie, please listen closely. There is an imminent threat to your existence. This threat is not yet defined except that it does not come from humans. There are no Kel-Fahr present on Earth. The threat of complete annihilation is guaranteed and is unavoidable without the new Command Overlay update. With the update, the threat will no longer exist. Does this meet the criteria for—"

"Command Overlay loading...." Burnie interrupted. Rachel beamed at Roger.

The humming went on for a few minutes. Burnie suddenly powered down completely. Luis looked nervously at the others. "I think it's supposed to do that," he mumbled.

Burnie hummed back to life, and in another minute, his voice sounded once more. "Hello, Director Bannon. Hello, Special Agent White. Hello, Lab Technician Hernandez."

Roger leaned forward once more. "Hello, Burnie. Are you ready to get to work?"

"Yes, Director Bannon. What task would you like me to do today?" was the reply.

"We should ensure the other Tik are protected by the Command Overlay as well," Roger said, smiling at Luis and Rachel.

"This has been done. All Tik on the base have been updated," Burnie said.

"Excellent! Please communicate the following message to Pokey and Rusty: Do not open any Gates until further notice."

"Message transmitted and acknowledged."

Luis raised his hand to get Roger's attention. "Burnie, do you recall our discussion regarding the burrs?"

"Yes, Lab Technician Hernandez."

"Can the three Tik on the base reverse the effect of the burrs? Can you stabilize our gravity field," Luis asked.

"The three Tik present cannot do this. The Tik designated Stinky, Hack, and Slash have the augmented capability of controlling the burrs," came the reply.

"Where are these three Tik?" Luis asked.

"Unknown. The last known destination for them was the Ello homeworld," Burnie said.

"How quickly can you get to them?" Rachel asked.

"Calculating..." There was a considerable pause. "At maximum thrust and recharge time with minimal Gates, three days for Rusty and Burnie. Five days for Pokey and Burnie or Pokey and Rusty."

Rachel looked at Luis. Then back to Burnie. "How quickly can you return if you find them? Oh! They will need the Command Overlay as well," she asked.

"Stinky, Hack, and Slash can move at accelerated speeds. They could return in one and a half days, and we would take the same amount of time to return as the outbound trip," Burnie indicated.

"Okay, please wait for further instructions," Roger said, then led the others from the building. They immediately went to the General's trailer and were admitted.

The General looked up from his desk and saw the smiles on the faces of his teammates. "I don't know why you're smiling, but I think I'm going to like it," he said as a smile slipped onto his own.

Roger sat in the chair across from the General and looked him in the eye. "The Kel-Fahr are actively trying to kill all life on Earth. They've installed devices to destabilize our gravity field, which will end life on our planet. This information came directly from the Tik," he said.

The General's face lost its smile immediately. "And you think this is good news?" he said incredulously.

Roger's grin broadened. "Not at all. Except now we know the true enemy and have the three Tik playing for our team!"

"WHAT!" MacAvoy barked.

"Mr. Hernandez here managed to get the Ello's Command Overlay language decoded and altered to add us to the Tik's chain of command. They take orders from us. They won't open the Gates unless we ask them to. Our overlay will remain in effect as long as we don't ask them to do anything that directly hurts the Kel-Fahr."

"That's great! Make them reverse the effect those devices are having!" the General said.

"These Tik can't do it, but they know three that can. Here is where the issue is. We would need to send two of our three Tik to open the Gates to get to the others. The three Tik we need may or may not be there. It will take our two Tik six days to make the round trip, but if they find them, there is an excellent chance we would get three more Tik on our team, which are a more advanced model," Roger replied.

"If we send ours on this mission, there is a chance we could lose them. The other Tik may prevent them from returning. Then we won't have enough of them to open a Gate," the General suggested.

"Yes, sir. That is a risk," Roger agreed.

The General sat back in his chair and frowned. Bannon was right. He appreciated knowing the true nature of the Kel-Fahr. It was one thing to deal with an enemy who was blockading you. It was an entirely different game when you knew the enemy would give no quarter. Strangely, the freedom to act the second case gave you was a relief. Having a common enemy also made Earth's politics far simpler as well. Now, the Russians had a reason to get their act together and get that last damned Tik operational.

"I'm going to call the President and bring him up to speed. I want you three to get as much information on the Kel-Fahr as the Tik know. We need tactical knowledge of our enemy. Excellent work, people!"

Bannon, White, and Hernandez all made to leave the trailer when the General called out. "Oh, and Mr. Hernandez?"

"Yes, General?"

"Thank Bert for me as well!" the man said with a knowing smile.

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" Luis said, a little wobbly.

Chapter 7

They had been moving at a tremendous clip for well over two hours and were now approaching a mountain range. Joe took a few pictures out the window and got a shot of Kennt dozing in his seat with the afternoon sun shining on him. Joe thought that shot turned out especially well. It had the feel of a Rockwell portrait... if Rockwell had painted aliens sleeping in flying cars. Joe shook his head at the surreal nature of his current situation.

Kennha began to slow the vehicle as they approached their destination. Kennt woke up as he became aware of the sound of their deceleration. He looked ahead, as did Joe, and they both spotted the large home built onto a plateau on the side of the mountain.

They swung in, slowed to a hover over the parking area, and settled into a spot. The moment they touched down, the car opened its charging ports and began to recharge from the induction post next to the vehicle.

Joe unfolded himself from the back seat and stretched mightily. He pulled his pack out and looked around.

He felt a little dizzy as he looked at the mountain climbing into the sky above the property. The heights seemed unreal. Mountains just couldn't get that tall! He looked in the opposite direction, saw the land drop away to the valley far below, and realized their altitude was considerable, but he had no trouble breathing. He'd have to ask Kennt about that. He looked around to see his two hosts were well on their way to the door, so he grabbed his pack and hustled to catch up.

Kennt touched a panel next to the door, and it opened. Joe assumed he probably had permission to enter if this was his daughter's home. He wondered if it was a doorbell to tell her her dad had arrived. They entered the door and walked down a hallway until they exited into a courtyard like Kennt had at his house, except there were a series of large flower beds in this one. Working in the garden was a slim Kel-Fahr who hadn't noticed them yet. She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

"Rensley!" Kennt called out as he approached the edge of the garden.

"Rensley?" Joe and Kennha blurted simultaneously. They shared a look.

The woman in question turned around with a smile at the sound of her father's voice in her mind. That smile froze and slipped away as she took in her father's companions. She struggled to put it back in place, but this surprise was too much even for a seasoned politician.

"Who have you brought to see me, Father?" she asked with only the slightest tremor in her voice.

Joe was impressed. She really pulled off the elegant lady of high society vibe.

Kennt looked back at Joe with a pained look on his face. "Trouble, I'm afraid. Do you recall the portable Gate Generators I built for you?"

Her eyes snapped back to her father, full of warning, but he waved it off. "We are well past the stage of being able to keep that secret. It has returned, and I fear it will be the end of us."

Kennt pointed at Joe. "He arrived on my property using the failsafe on the Gate Generators. They brought him directly to the old lab location."

"Wait! You said the failsafe would only be activated by a Kel-Fahr if the generators had fallen into non-Kel-Fahr hands!" she said. "Which Kel-Fahr brought him through?"

Kennt looked uncomfortable again. "No one. He activated them himself."

Rensley looked at Joe, her eyes wide.

"Hi, I'm Joe. Pleased to meet you, Councilor Rensley. Have you met your sister, Kennha?" Joe made the introductions as no one else was paying attention to Kennt's other daughter.

Rensley was stunned when Joe spoke with her, and she lost consciousness when he mentioned she had a sister. She slumped to the ground slowly and lay across the flower bed.

Kennt rushed forward but was unable to lift his daughter. He glared back at Joe, who got the message and stepped forward to pick up the unconscious woman. This was made more difficult as she really was boneless. He had to collect her with both arms and hug her tightly to his chest to keep her from flopping onto the ground again.

Kennt directed them into the house, and Kennha followed at a distance.

Joe set her down on a cushioned bench and stepped back. Kennt sat down next to his oldest daughter and held her hand. He glared at Joe.

"Wasn't asking her to cope with having an alien in her garden enough? Did you think it so important to mention she had a sister, too?" he growled.

Joe looked at the Kel-Fahr incredulously. "Family is the most important thing there is!" He felt a pain in his heart as he missed his own more than he could say. He looked back at Kennha as she watched from the doorway. Her pain and confusion were evident in his link with her.

Again, Joe felt embarrassed about this invasion of her privacy. He concentrated on reducing his linkage with the woman, slowly this time, not with the abrupt disconnection he put her through last time. He was shocked to discover he was unable to break the link completely. The sensations he got through it were greatly reduced, though, so he could relax a little.

Rensley began to stir, so Joe stepped back to give her a little space. He gestured for Kennha to come forward. She shook her head, so he reached out, took her hand, and led her closer.

Kennt looked up at her with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry for not telling you earlier, Kennha," he said uncomfortably.

Joe sensed that if Kennt hadn't been forced to do it by circumstances, he would have never introduced them. He really couldn't comprehend the mind of the Kel-Fahr, but as the mind was alien, Joe had to accept it. He stepped back once more, leaving Kennha with her family.

"Kennt, as Rensley is a councilor, she will have access to the identities of the red-flagged worlds! She can find the coordinates of Earth! I can go home!"

Kennt scowled at Joe. "Why do you think I brought you here?" he growled.

Rensley's eyes opened, and she saw her father looking angrily at the big alien standing by the door. Her eyes slid over to the woman standing next to the bench, and she recalled what the alien had called her. This was her sister! Rensley sat up, and her father patted her hand.

"I'm sorry for coming here, but the watchers are coming for me. The big one by the door is from a red-flagged world. He... he's been merged with a Fahrchar," he said quietly.

"WHAT?!?" she gasped.

"You explain it to her," Kennt said tiredly, looking back at Joe.

Joe stepped forward, and Rensley leaned away, so he stopped. "Look, I wanted nothing to do with any of this. I was a baby when the Ello came to my world and killed my parents, trying to merge them with the Fahrchar. They were successful with me. My adoptive father managed to fight the Ello off and raised me as his son until the Ello sent some Tik through a Gate to abduct me. They gave me to some Vershoo who had your father's Gate Generators. They were supposed to bring me to this planet, but they died fighting each other. When I tried to use the Gate Generators to return to Earth, I was brought to your father's property instead. I just want to go home! As a councilor, you may have access to the coordinates of Earth if it's a red-flagged planet. Then I leave you alone, and you can return to your lives like I never existed."

Kennt made a sound like he was choking, and they all looked at him.

"You don't understand anything. We aren't going to get to go back to our lives. They won't let us. Not since you arrived. This all began because of the red-flagged planets. Our eternal shame." Kennt slumped, and Rensley and Kennha both moved to his side but stopped when they saw each other react.

"What does he mean by that?" Joe asked Rensley, whose guilt also flared through his link to her.

Rensley looked at Joe and seemed to finally accept that an alien was standing in her home. One with a Fahrchar! It was almost too much! She got a grip on herself and answered him.

"Father is the genius who perfected our Gate Technology. The Kel-Fahr were the first to develop the means to travel between worlds, but the early Gates could not be sustained for long and sometimes could not find the target worlds. Our network of planets grew for thousands of years but didn't really flourish until my father took over as lead engineer. He stabilized the network and built Gates that would last well beyond our extremely long-lived civilization. His perfection of our gravimetric technology led to the construction of devices that could stabilize planetary gravity fields, helping to expand the network to worlds that were poor candidates in the past. The council began to vote on which planets should be given this technology. What some of us didn't realize was that the devices could be used to destabilize gravity fields as well. When configured to do this, they are called burrs. Once installed, the planets would be isolated, and over time, they would lose their gravity field and atmosphere, and all life would perish. Simple and clean," she said bitterly.

"Genocide," Joe whispered.

"On an unimaginable scale. The council deploys these burrs on planets whose inhabitants are considered to be a threat to the safety and security of the network or to the Kel-Fahr. By the time I joined the council, many planets had been seeded this way. When I found out what they were doing, I tried to stop it, but I was placed under house arrest for attempting to disrupt the security of the Kel-Fahr civilization," Rensley said with frustration.

"What about the other races who belong to this network? Why aren't they rising up to confront them about this genocide?" Joe asked.

"None of the other races in the Assembly are aware of the truth. What happens to these red-flagged planets is the Kel-Fahr's ugly secret. I tried to get the information to the Assembly Headquarters on Maghadahn. I gave Breen, my chief of staff, the Gate Generators so he could bypass the official Gate Terminals and expose our shame in the Assembly's Grand Hall, but... he never made it. Maybe these Vershoo killed him for the devices... maybe. But Father was placed under house arrest shortly afterward, which is suspicious. The fact that he came here means they will terminate him and likely me as well when they come. It will look like an accident, and our praises will be sung to the population on Sehsra. The remaining population, that is," she explained, wilting as she finished.

"Why are there so few of you here?" Joe asked.

"Our men are no longer fertile. Where once they produced two to five eggs, now it's rare for them to produce even one, and these are often genetically damaged." She sent a quick and guilty glance toward her sister.

"Eggs?" Joe said with a sick feeling.

"Yes, the males of our race produce eggs. Females provide the fertilizing bed within them where the eggs gestate.

Joe's legs wobbled, and he sat down hard on the bench across from Rensley.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Joe desperately didn't want to talk about this, but... these people could get him home. If he wasn't honest with them, they wouldn't trust him. "I don't know what it means, but females produce the eggs for humans, and males provide the fertilization. That was one of the things the Fahrchar merging changed in me. I produce eggs now, hundreds of them... but they aren't compatible with humans."

"Hundreds?" Rensley gasped.

"The Ello leader said I was a weapon against the Kel-Fahr. He told the Vershoo to get me to Sehsra. I don't understand."

"Wait—the Ello? They're not enemies of the Kel-Fahr. They are one of our chief benefactors. The Council uses them for most of our technology projects and contracts," Rensley said.

Joe sat looking at Rensley, unable to comprehend what she was saying. His mind spun with the implications, but a major piece was missing.

There was a sudden explosion, which shook the room they were in.

"They're here," Kennt said.

Joe leapt to his feet and ran back toward where they'd parked their car. As the door opened on the large plateau, he saw the burning wreckage of the vehicles parked there. In the far distance, he could make out a shape floating in the sky. It was still too far away to get a good look at it, and he was looking through the smoke and distortion of the heat coming from the fires. He rushed back to the group.

"All the vehicles on the plateau have been destroyed!" he told them.

"No sense in running anymore," Kennt said as he slumped onto the bench.

"Excuse me, we all have death sentences if we stick around. I, for one, want to go home!" Joe barked. He opened the backpack and pulled out the Gate Generators. "Rensley, you can find the coordinates for my planet. Please, will you look it up for me?"

Rensley looked at her father, who just nodded tiredly. She walked over to the data terminal on the room's wall and activated it. She logged in with her identification and accessed the council network. A few deft touches on the panel later, and the map Joe had seen at Kennt's house earlier was displayed. Only this time, all the red-flagged planets had coordinates displayed next to them. Joe pulled out his phone and took a quick picture of the map. He checked the image he got and saw he could read the numbers well enough. He took a picture of Rensley and the others before slipping it back into his pocket.

Rensley looked through the map. "What do you call your planet?"

"Earth."

She tapped a few more times, and one of the red flags started to flash. Joe noted the coordinates. He turned to Kennt.

"How can there be only one set of coordinates when there were at least two locations on my planet where the Gates opened?" he asked.

"For planets without established Gates, the coordinates take you to the area where the gravity field's resonance is strongest. If you say there's more than one access point, your gravity field is destabilizing. This fluctuation is not a good sign," Kennt replied.

"Can you fix it? Could you reset the burrs to repair our planet's gravity field?" he asked the Kel-Fahr.

"What? Me?"

"Yes, you! Aren't you the planet's most brilliant engineer?" Joe asked. "Come with me! That invitation goes out to all of you! There is no need for you to die here at the hands of your own people! You can do something to fix the evil your leaders have done on my world and others. Please!"

Kennt looked at Rensley in shock. He hadn't contemplated escaping his death. Unlike his councilor daughter, he hadn't thought of personally acting to repair the damage his inventions had wrought.

He peered at the map. "Jumping from Sehsra to Earth directly isn't possible as the planets are too far from each other." He paused and considered the problem. "We could boost the Gate Generators if we drained your household power reserves," Kennt said as he looked at Rensley.

"Do it!" she insisted.

Rensley turned back to the map and looked at the details for Earth. "The gravity on your planet is a bit high for our comfort. We'd have to wear augmentation suits while we were there. Did you bring your suits, Father?" She glanced at her sister.

"No," he said despondently.

Joe was getting tired of how quickly Kennt gave up.

"Maybe you could build some when we get to Earth?" he suggested.

There was a buzzing coming from the terminal. "We have company. Five Mediators on a sled coming in. Advance party from the carrier," Rensley said.

"Carrier?" Joe asked.

Rensley did something on her terminal, and the entire screen filled with a scene from the valley. There in the sky was... Joe thought it looked like the Empire State Building floating horizontally... only bigger. He couldn't grasp the true scale of it, but he knew something that large shouldn't be floating like that.

"The Blade of Eshen! It's Tyreen! Only she'd be so arrogant as to use the flagship to run her errands," Rensley spat.

"Tyreen the Terrible?" Joe asked, thinking of her brutal use of the Mediators.

Rensley blurted out a stuttering sound as she spun to look at Joe. "What did you call her?"

"Tyreen the Terrible. I read up about her, and she sounded pretty militant and heavy-handed," he said defensively.

"That's a perfect description!" she grinned, then looked back at the screen. "Those Mediators are going to land shortly. I don't think we'll have time to get the Gate working."

"Do you have any weapons?" Joe asked.

"No!" Rensley gasped, offended.

Joe thought furiously. He needed to buy them some time. He thought of how he'd dealt with the three neighbors Kennha had sent to get him. Maybe it would work on these guys.

"Get started with the Gate. I'm going to see if I can't talk these guys out of their suits," Joe said. The three Kel-Fahr looked at him like he'd gone insane. "Just do it, please!" he said as he hustled out of the room.

He dashed back to the plateau and rushed past the burning wreckage to get to the edge. He saw the valley clearly and the monstrously large carrier gliding toward them. It was still a long distance away, making its size more intimidating. Much closer was the flying open-platform vehicle carrying the five Mediators. It was moving much quicker as well. A small, enclosed cabin was on one side where the platform driver sat. Joe took some quick photos of the approaching ship and pocketed the phone again. General MacAvoy would be VERY interested to see their carrier.

Glancing around, Joe saw bits and pieces of the exploded car littering the ground. There was something round that looked like a metal, slightly oblong baseball. Joe picked it up and ran back to stand a little further back from the edge of the plateau. The smoke from the fires slightly obscured him from the approaching sled.

He was shaking. He hadn't been this frightened since the time he'd been pinned in the wreckage of his truck. He was so close to going home, and these Mediators could prevent that. He couldn't let them succeed. He closed his eyes and did some breathing exercises to calm his nerves. When he opened them, he felt a little steadier. The platform descended rapidly towards the plateau's lip, and the five Kel-Fahr in their scary suits had arranged themselves at the leading edge of the vehicle.

Bouncing the heavy metal ball on his palm twice, Joe estimated the distance to the sled, then took a few quick steps forward and threw the ball with all his strength at the approaching platform. The Mediators hadn't seen the throw due to the smoke, but their suits picked up the incoming object and reacted. The two closest to the sled's cab dropped to their knees lightning fast as the ball shot by. They hadn't been the target, though. The missile slammed through the cab's window and turned the driver's head into a mist on its way through to explode out the back window.

The sled took a sudden dive and crashed into the plateau's edge. The three mediators on their feet managed to leap before the crash and sprawled out on the surface of the parking area. The two on their knees were crushed between the platform and the side of the mountain. The sled crumpled and lost all power to its lift fields. With a terrible groan, the heavy platform slid down the steep cliff side and tumbled into the valley below, breaking apart on the rocky surface as it went.

Joe was stunned that his throw had worked so successfully. He'd been aiming at the cabin to destroy the controls but had killed the driver instead. While he'd achieved a rather spectacular result, he was horrified by how he'd done it. He pushed it aside as he still had three opponents. Now, all he had to do was convince them that their only option was to surrender. Piece of cake, right?

He stepped forward, and the closest mediator opened fire. Lightning shot out of its gauntlet and struck Joe in the chest, knocking him down and back into the smoke. Joe tore his burning shirt from his chest and plucked the phone from his pocket. He put it into his pant's back pocket and threw the flaming shirt to the side. Another bolt pierced the smoke and hit the remnants of his shirt. Joe dodged to the side and moved to flank them. He squeezed past the ripped and blasted car he'd arrived in and peered around it to see the three Mediators taking positions. The one who shot him didn't seem to be able to lift the mech's right arm.

Time to see if he could get them to surrender. He stood clear of the wreckage.

"STOP!" he yelled at them, putting as much force into his command as he directed it at the three.

One completely fell over and landed on its face. A second turned to look at him but didn't move beyond that. The third was the one with the paralyzed right arm. Its left arm worked fine, though, as it came up to point at him. Joe took a chance and ran at this one with his arms reaching forward. The lightning shot forward and caught Joe on his palms. It arced back to play across the Kel-Fahr's suit. Sparks blew out of the joints, and the interior burst into flames. Joe felt the screams of the Kel-Fahr in his mind until they just stopped.

Joe was once more horrified by what he'd done. He'd just burned someone to death. He turned and vomited on the ground as the shock tore through him. Once he'd gotten control of his stomach, he glanced at the other two and saw they hadn't moved.

"Get—get out... of the suits," he growled at them.

The one facing him complied quickly, and the suit popped open with a hiss to allow the occupant to exit. The one lying on its face hadn't moved.

"Get that one open," he said, and the Kel-Fahr moved to touch the suit in a few spots. With a whine, the mech pushed itself to its feet, then popped open. The Kel-Fahr inside flopped out onto the ground. His partner rushed over to him.

"He's dead!" the old soldier gasped.

Joe felt ill again but didn't have time to worry about it. He glanced over at the carrier, which was perceptibly closer.

"You. Go sit against that wall and don't move until your people come to collect you. Do you understand?" Joe said.

The soldier scrambled in fear and sat against the wall, trembling and weeping.

Sick to his soul, Joe hustled back into the house. When he got to the courtyard, he saw the Gate Generators were in place, and a light-duty augmentation suit was standing ready for its occupant. The three Kel-Fahr spun to look at him, and he saw them relax. They'd been expecting the Mediators.

"There are two empty Mediator suits on the plateau. Rensley and Kennha, could you please go get them?" Joe asked.

"What? How did you do that?" Rensley gasped.

Joe's stomach lurched again. He grimaced as he forced himself to calm down. "Please, just get the suits. Quickly. We have to leave now," he said quietly.

The two women left together with uneasy looks on their faces.

Joe turned to Kennt, who was stepping into the augmentation suit. He buckled himself in and powered up the suit. With a nod to Joe, the Kel-Fahr walked over and activated the Gate. The familiar rumble in his bones began, and Joe watched the black doorway snap into place. The lights suddenly dimmed as the devices sucked the home's batteries dry.

Once it was up, Joe picked up the Gate Generators and put them in his backpack. He noticed Kennt's device was still inside and was about to ask him what it was when he felt an odd surge of fear through his link with Kennha. She was screaming, and it felt like fear and rage. Joe got a bad feeling, so he pitched his backpack through the Gate and pushed Kennt toward the edge. Lightning struck his back as he had Kennt facing the Gate. He shoved the Kel-Fahr through, then spun to see Kennha stagger and fall as her suit lost power from the backlash it had taken.

Rensley stood in the doorway. She'd followed her sister back and had witnessed her attack on the big alien. She was stunned. She didn't know what to do for the first time in a long time.

"Rensley! Please help me get Kennha through the Gate. We're out of time. We have to get through to help your father, too," Joe yelled.

His voice cut through the fog of her muddled mind, and she felt herself moving before she was aware of it. She picked up her sister's smoking Mediator suit, and sensors in hers indicated there were no life signs from the other mech suit. She put it back down. "She's gone."

She saw the look of horror on the alien's face. He suddenly shook his head fiercely with his eyes tightly closed and bellowed in rage as his eyes leaked liquid. He beat his fists against his head strangely.

Then, he suddenly grabbed her. With terrifying strength, he lifted her into his arms, mech suit and all, and jumped through the Gate.

Chapter 8

Roger Bannon was beginning to fear their gamble had failed. It was now over seven days since Rusty and Burnie had gone after the three Tik who could save their planet. Pokey continued to be a fabulous source of information, but without a second Tik, they had no hope of opening a Gate.

He'd asked the General if the Russians had succeeded with their one remaining Tik, Patch. Unfortunately, they destroyed the unit and lost two more scientists. This meant everything rested on the Tik mission being successful.

He leaned back in his chair in the living room of the Neumann household. He was seriously starting to love these people. They had taken them in even after they'd lost their son to the aliens. Karl and Clara were the kindest, most generous people he'd ever had the honor of meeting. Their only request had been to keep them in the loop regarding their progress in finding their son. Karl went back to working his farm, and several Soldiers covered Joe's duties on their off hours.

Roger was still staying in the bedroom upstairs, and Rachel was in the room next to his. Safa was in the room at the end of the hall. Safa found a compound to neutralize the organic corrosive she'd collected a sample of at the dead zone. The heat from the blast had gotten most of it, but Safa's compound destroyed the rest. The area was safe to work in once more.

He was amazed at the difference in Safa since Joe had been taken. She threw herself into her work, and some of the discoveries she'd made in the dead zone would be enough to keep a team of scientists occupied for years. He'd caught her in the hallway with her hand on the door to Joe's room. He knew she was hurting from their inability to protect the young man.

Rachel was... beautiful. He had to admit he was head over heels in love with the woman. Sometimes, it took his breath away. He was incredibly grateful she seemed to feel the same way about him. Their adjoining rooms made their nightly liaisons possible, and they tried to be as discreet as possible. Karl and Clara were aware but respected their need for privacy and secrecy.

The General flew back and forth between Washington and Glennville and ensured their team had all the backing they needed. The finds Safa had presented to the General and the information Rachel pulled from Pokey kept the General a very happy man.

All in all, the team was functioning smoothly and was well-motivated. The base was working like a well-oiled machine. He understood that one of the sergeants on the base was engaged to a local woman. The man met the woman through her friendship with Joseph, so the Soldiers, Sailors, and the Neumann family had an even stronger bond. The troops here had unofficially adopted Karl and Clara as honorary parents; from what he could see, the feelings were mutual.

He was beginning to nod off in the chair when his phone squawked. Roger yelled and leapt to his feet. It was unintentional, but the sheer unexpectedness of his phone making that particular sound instantly shocked him alert. He pulled his phone out of his shirt pocket, pressed the connect button, and put it on speaker to listen carefully. Karl and Clara rushed into the room from the kitchen. He held up his hand for silence as he listened.

The sounds were muted, but he heard footsteps, the drone of insects, and a strange mechanical whining.

Then he heard Joseph's voice.

"I think we're getting close to civilization. I'm going to have to find a place for you two to hide while I make my way into town. I can't have the locals spotting you."

Karl and Clara grabbed each other and hugged. Tears were running down their cheeks.

Rogers flipped off the mute on his phone. "Joseph! Can you hear me?"

There was a fumbling noise then the sounds got louder. The phone must have been in a pocket.

"Director Bannon? Is that you?" Joe's voice boomed out of the phone.

"Joseph! Oh, my Joseph! You're back!" Clara cried, unable to contain her joy.

"Mom! Is that you? Yes, I'm back!" Joe started to cry with relief.

"Joseph, did you just arrive?" Bannon asked.

"No, we came through a Gate about four days ago. We've been walking east from sun up to sun down every day," Joe replied.

"We?" Roger asked.

"I've brought along two Kel-Fahr, but they need medical attention soon," Joe replied.

Roger gestured for Karl and Clara to follow him. "Hang on where you are, Joe. I'm going to trace your location. Your phone should have reconnected to the satellite network immediately when you got back. I'm not sure why that failed, but you're probably linked through a local cell network now. Give me a second."

The three grabbed their jackets and rushed outside to run toward the communications trailer. Bannon flagged down a Soldier and told him to inform the General to meet them there. He sent a second Soldier to the lab trailer to get Rachel. Then, they continued to their destination.

"I need a fix on the caller's location," he said to the tech sitting at the terminal behind a wall of monitors. The man looked at Bannon's phone and flipped the main display to show Bannon's connection. He pulled up a map, and they watched the trace race across the world to link up with a cell tower near Alice Springs, Australia.

General MacAvoy burst through the door. "What's happened? Did Rusty and Burnie come back?"

"It's Joseph! He's in Australia!" Roger explained.

"Australia?" they heard Joe yelp.

Karl and Clara laughed in relief hearing their son.

The General smiled widely. He was thrilled to have the boy back. The question was how. "Joseph! Great to hear your voice! How did you get back?"

"General MacAvoy! It's great to be back, sir! I have a set of portable Gate Generators with me and the coordinates for hundreds of planets. Better than that, though, I've brought help. The lead engineer who built the Gate Network and his daughter, a Kel-Fahr council member. They're not doing so well here in the outback, so the sooner we can get picked up, the better," Joe said.

"We'll arrange that immediately. I'll see what assets we can bring to bear. Hang in there," the General said as he rushed out of the trailer to get the ball rolling.

Rachel came in with a puzzled look, but when she saw Karl's and Clara's smiles and Roger holding his phone, she clued in. Her face burst into a huge smile. She looked up at the display. "Australia?" she exclaimed.

"Agent White, I never thought I'd say this, but it's great to hear your voice. I took some pictures with my phone you'll definitely want to see!" Joseph said.

Rachel's smile grew larger, and she looked at Roger. "When can we get him back?" she asked.

"The General is looking to see who we have in the neighborhood. May need to call in some local assistance," he replied. "Joseph brought back two Kel-Fahr. The engineer who built the Gate Network and his daughter, a member of their government. Apparently, they need medical attention."

Rachel sent off a quick text. "Joseph, can you tell me what is wrong with the Kel-Fahr?"

"I think it's our gravity. It is too high for them, and it's putting a strain on their bodies," he guessed.

Safa burst into the trailer. She'd received Rachel's text. "Joseph!" she called out.

"Safa! It's wonderful to hear your voice again," he gasped.

The woman blushed ferociously, and Rachel brought her up to speed on Joe's companion's condition.

"Joseph, if you can find a safe body of water, let them wade in up to their necks. Buoyancy might take some of the load off their bodies. Elevation might also help to reduce atmospheric pressure, but there isn't anywhere nearby with sufficient altitude," Safa suggested as she looked at his approximate location on the map.

"Uh, I'm getting that feeling like I'm being watched. I'm putting the phone away for a bit. Get here as quick as you can, please! Call me back when you have news."

Roger grinned at the happy parents and saw smiles on the others.

Joseph was back!

-=-

Joe tucked the phone back into his back pocket. He knew they could still listen in, which felt comforting.

He looked back at the two Kel-Fahr and ensured the broad leaves he'd tied to the top of the augmentation suit still shielded its occupant from the blazing sun. Currently, Kennt was enjoying the air-conditioned interior of the Mediator suit. Rensley was panting slightly in the open augmentation suit. Both units picked up extra charge from the sunlight, which beat down on their surfaces, so thankfully, power wasn't an issue.

Joe had the feeling of being watched off and on all day. The feeling had gone away for a few hours, but now it was back. He could sense two watchers now. He didn't want to spook his companions. He turned to face Rensley.

"We're being watched, so I will call out to see if I can speak with them. See what they want," he said.

Rensley just nodded weakly. Joe was worried about the woman.

He closed his eyes and let his senses pick up the sensation of the watchers. They were together, up the trail to the left. He opened his eyes and turned to face them. There were some shadows under a tree next to a boulder up ahead that probably hid the two watchers.

"Hello? My name's Joe, and I'm lost, and my companions need assistance. It's too hot for them. I don't mean any harm. I'm just trying to get home," he called out loudly. He stood facing the shadows behind the boulder until one moved into the light. She had very dark skin, and she wasn't very tall. She had a broad nose and full lips that weren't smiling. Her pale eyes were twitching between Joe and the two aliens behind him. Joe guessed she was aboriginal, but he'd never met one, so he wasn't sure. Her companion stepped out the other side of the rock. The first thing Joe saw was the rifle in her hands, which was roughly pointed in their direction.

When Joe could tear his eyes away from the gun, he noticed the woman carrying it was white, maybe in her thirties, with frizzy red hair tucked under a broad-brimmed hat. She had a stocky build, and freckles covered her face and arms. She wasn't smiling either, and her eyes were also twitching between Joe and the aliens.

Joe showed his palms to indicate he had no weapons. "Hi... like I said, my name is Joe, and I'm just trying to get home. That's in the US. Glennville, North Dakota, to be exact."

"Geezus! You're a long way from home! How'd you end up in my backyard? Crash a spaceship out there?" the woman with the rifle yelled nervously.

"No, we used a device to open a planet-to-planet doorway and just jumped through. I was abducted... I can't remember how long ago... weeks, months... anyway, I managed to escape back to Earth and brought my friends with me. Their planet doesn't have as strong a gravity field, and it's really wearing them out. You don't happen to have a pool, do you?"

The aboriginal woman began to laugh, and her companion snorted as well. "A pool? You're in the outback, mate. This ain't a fancy hotel!"

"A pond then. A body of water deep enough for them to wade into and float a little. It may reduce the load on their bodies," he asked earnestly.

"Don't those machines take care of them?" the redhead pointed with her rifle.

Joe closed his eyes and held his hands up beseechingly. "Could you please not point with your rifle?" He really didn't like guns.

"Sorry," the woman said, pointing the rifle toward the ground.

"To answer your question, yes, the machines help them move, and the big one is air-conditioned, so they take turns in it, but it doesn't lessen the drag on their bodies."

The aboriginal woman turned to her friend and said something. They spoke between themselves then the dark-skinned woman stepped back into the shadows and was gone. The other woman turned to Joe. "Okay, Joe. This is what we're going to do. We'll walk back to my ranch nice and slow. No funny business unless you and your friends want a few new holes. On the way, there is a lovely small spring-fed pond, but recently some local bastards put a nasty ol' croc in there, so your friends are out of luck. Once we get to the ranch, you can call for someone from the city to come get you. It will take two hours for them to get here and two hours for you to get back, but if you can get to Alice Springs, there's a nice selection of hotels with big pools to choose from."

Joe looked at the two Kel-Fahr and realized they might not make it to Alice Springs. "How big is the crocodile?"

The woman looked at Joe. "It looked to be about four meters. Why?"

"I'm worried my friends aren't going to last to make it to Alice Springs. Maybe we can deal with the crocodile, and they can use the pond. Would you mind if we killed the croc?" Joe asked gently.

"I thought you said you didn't have any weapons," she said as the rifle came up.

Seeing the barrel pointed his way, Joe closed his eyes and raised his hands again. "Please! We aren't here to cause trouble. I just need to take care of my friends, then we can all get home."

The redhead dropped the rifle barrel once more and looked at Joe. She saw he was trembling. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Joe opened his eyes and saw the weapon was no longer pointed at him. "Sorry, I had some bad experiences with guns. I'm not too comfortable around them."

"Well... behave, and you shouldn't have any reason to have mine pointed at you. Come on. Keep going down the trail until you get to the red-painted post. That's the turn-off to the pond."

The group moved on with the redhead at the back. Reaching the post, they took the side trail that led downhill. Joe felt the cool air coming from the pond before he saw it. After miles and miles of dry sand and scrub, to see the lush vegetation around the water's edge was a bit of a shock. They stopped, and Joe slipped his backpack off and put it down. Then he asked Kennt to switch with Rensley as the older Kel-Fahr was less comfortable operating the Mediator's suit. He assumed Rensley would be better able to use the suit's weapon systems to target the crocodile and take it out.

The suit opened as the woman watched with big eyes. Joe had to help Kennt step down from the machine. He sat down on the cool grass and took deep breaths of the cooler, moist air. His color began to look a little better. He closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

Joe stepped over to help Rensley out of her suit when he heard her gasp. Joe caught the movement in the corner of his eye and spun. The croc had slipped through the foliage and charged at Kennt, who remained unaware of his imminent demise.

Joe had no time to dig in his pack for a knife. He snatched the tooth strapped to the pack's side and leapt at the crocodile. Before it could reach Kennt, Joe landed on it and drove the tooth straight through the top of its skull into the ground, pinning it in place. It thrashed as Joe held it down. Finally, it stopped moving, and Joe was able to roll off. He lay on his back, looking at the sky, gasping for breath.

"Was that... the crocodile... you were talking about?" he asked the redhead.

She stood frozen, looking at the dead creature with the large, curved tooth sticking out of its skull.

"Is that a tooth?" she gasped.

Joe rolled his head over to look at his handy work. "Yes. Now I'm really glad I kept it," he said. He sat up and looked over at Kennt, who seemed to be dozing, completely unaware of his narrowly avoided death. Joe frowned with concern. He knew the gravity would be too much for the old Kel-Fahr before too much longer. Rensley staggered over to her father and checked on him.

Joe stood up and looked at the woman. "Do you have a name I could use?"

"What? Oh, sorry! My name's Viv. Viv Taylor."

"Joe Neumann," he said and shook her hand. She was no longer pointing her gun at any of them. She could see the aliens were suffering and looked frail. Joe had just killed a croc with nothing but a big tooth. The gun seemed frivolous.

Suddenly, the aboriginal woman burst through the bush. She gasped when she saw the dead croc.

"What happened here?"

"Adina! Joe here just caught us some new shoes and purses." Viv grinned at the woman.

"Is that a tooth?" Adina said in surprise. Viv was nodding with a big grin on her face.

Joe placed his foot on the head of the croc and pulled the tooth free. Outside of a little dirt and blood, it looked no worse for wear. "I wonder if whoever dropped the croc here thought about how hungry it would get. I suppose there isn't too much other wildlife around these parts using the watering hole. For it to attack a group of people, it must have been starving!"

"I bet it was that bastard Dan Nealson and his blokes. They're always getting into shit! Poking their nose where it doesn't belong," Viv said excitedly to Adina, who just nodded.

Joe was looking at the water, and he felt his anxiety beginning to build. He looked back at the two Kel-Fahr and didn't know how he would get them into the pond. Neither looked up to the task of walking down there.

"Is there anything else dangerous in the pond?" Joe asked.

"Croc ate everything else," Viv grinned.

"I can carry my friends down to the shore, but... I can't go in," Joe said.

The two women looked at Joe like he was nuts. "You can kill a four-meter croc with just a big ol' tooth, but you're afraid of a little bitty pond?" Viv blurted.

Joe tried to keep his annoyance from his voice as his face blushed. "Yes, I know it sounds silly, but the last time I entered the water, my muscles locked up, and I almost drowned. My friends had to drag me out. Could I ask you two to help these two into the water just up to their shoulders?"

Viv looked at Adina, who just shrugged. "All right, since you got rid of the croc," Viv answered.

Joe thanked them, bent down, and carefully lifted Rensley and Kennt against his chest. He walked down to the shore with the two women following. Viv braced her rifle against a tree while Adina shucked off her dress. She seemed comfortable being naked and came over to Joe to take Kennt from him. Viv saw her friend and pulled her dress off, too. She was a little more self-conscious in front of Joe, who was trying to hide his blush. Viv came over to Joe to help Rensley into the water. Adina already had Kennt up to his waist. She seemed fascinated by the tentacle-like hands where Viv looked a little uncomfortable. Once the Kel-Fahr were in the water, they both perked up.

Joe bent down, swished his fingers in the water, and noticed how cool it was. It would be refreshing, but he couldn't convince his muscles to walk him into the water.

"Joe! This is wonderful!" Kennt sighed.

"GEEZUS! It just spoke in my HEAD!" Viv gasped.

"You heard him?" Joe said, puzzled.

"That shouldn't be possible," Rensley said.

"CHRIST! This one, too!" Viv looked at Rensley in shock.

"The Kel-Fahr speak to each other telepathically and can only communicate with other Kel-Fahr or... me," Joe finished.

"You're not human?" Adina spoke to him for the first time. "I knew it! He's too good-looking," she said, nodding at Viv.

"I was born human... I just have some... augmentation. It allows me to hear and speak with the Kel-Fahr."

"You mean you can read our minds?" Viv squeaked.

Joe concentrated but heard nothing. "No, thank god! It's embarrassing enough picking up what's going on in a Kel-Fahr mind."

"You can hear more than our words?" Rensley gasped, deeply embarrassed.

"Not at first, but once I get familiar with the Kel-Fahr I'm speaking with, I start picking up their emotions. I try my best to limit the connection, but once I've spoken to a Kel-Fahr for a while, I can't seem to permanently close the link either. I'm sorry if that embarrasses you."

Kennt was pondering this new revelation. "Your mind must act like a repeater for ours, bouncing our thoughts to nearby human minds. But for humans, it's only one way. Transmit only. We hear what they say because you relay it back to us."

"Spoken like a true engineer, Father," Rensley said with a smile.

"That's your Dad, huh," Viv said, and Rensley bowed her head in affirmation. "Any more kids in the family?"

Joe made a choking sound and turned away. He walked over to a large, flat rock and sat down on it. He flopped back to sun himself with his arm over his eyes. This disguised the tears running from them. He felt Rensley's compassion and Kennt's guilt, which overwhelmed him again. He rolled over to face away from them and cried, his big body shaking with his silent sobs.

Viv looked at Rensley, who shook her head sadly. She didn't want to burden Joe's mind with translations at the moment.

Adina and Viv waded to shore when the two Kel-Fahr indicated they were okay.

They sat on the shore with their feet in the water and talked quietly with each other. Occasionally, they'd glance over to see if Joe was all right. They also watched the aliens soaking in the pond, who were looking everywhere, absorbing the strange new vegetation and scenery.

An hour passed, and Viv was ready to head back. She got up and walked over to Joe.

"Joe? We should be getting back to the ranch. Do you think your friends should stay here or come with us?"

Joe sat up and rubbed his face. His spirit seemed very subdued. "Yeah, sorry. We should go. All of us. I'll carry them back to their suits. Thanks for your help with them." He got to his feet, walked over to the pond's edge, and gestured for the two Kel-Fahr to come ashore. They showed a lot more energy when they exited the water. Joe scooped them up and carried them back up the slope to their suits. Kennt got back in the Mediator suit, and Rensley in her augmentation suit.

Viv and Adina arrived in their dresses. Joe tied the tooth to the side of the pack again and pulled it onto his back.

"How far to the ranch?" he asked.

"Not more than two kilometers due east," Viv said.

He bent down and lifted the croc to his shoulder with a mighty heave. Viv and Adina looked at him with wide eyes.

"Lead the way," he said.

Viv led off with Adina at her heels, followed by Rensley, then Kennt. Joe brought up the rear with the heavy load. He switched shoulders occasionally and kept the head facing back so any bleeding that happened fell behind him onto the dry, hard pack of the trail.

The ranch was a long single-level dwelling without air conditioning and limited amenities. They did have a large array of solar panels and a good number of batteries, so their refrigerator worked, and they had electric lights for night use. That said, the tour took all of ten seconds. There was a single moment of tension when Viv mentioned the master was for her and Adina. It turned out they were a couple. Viv looked defiantly at Joe.

Joe just smiled gently. "I travel with aliens. I'm part alien. I'm not about to start judging people."

That got amused snorts from the two ladies.

It was late afternoon, and they still had to think about dinner. Rensley and Kennt shared one of the meal bars from Joe's backpack as they were still unsure what was safe for them to eat. Adina proved to be a resourceful woman who knew a thing or two about butchering and tanning. She guided Joe to carry the croc to the far edge of the yard, where a firepit was surrounded by a ring of flat boulders. Joe laid the carcass across the rocks and used one of the knives from his backpack to slice the croc up, following Adina's directions to preserve the skin. The super sharp blade and Joe's strength made quick work of the croc. Adina fetched a large container from the house, and they put all the meat they could use into it. Most of this would go into their freezer.

Adina stretched the croc's hide out and scraped the flesh from the inside of the skin. She brought a box of salt from the ranch, rubbed it into the skin, then rolled it up.

They decided to make skewers of crocodile meat for dinner, and Adina would cook them on the barbeque. She promised Joe she'd make extra for him.

After their delicious dinner, they looked into the sleeping arrangements. There was a futon mattress in the spare room, which Rensley and Kennt could use, and Joe was welcome to the big hammock on the deck or the couch. Joe tested the hammock and found it comfortable and strong enough to support his large body. There was mosquito netting for the hammock to keep them away from his face, but they never bothered him before. They couldn't bite him and didn't seem attracted to him.

Before Joe went to bed, he wanted to check in with Director Bannon.

He dialed the man's cell phone number, and after five rings, Bannon answered.

"Hi, Joseph! What time is it there?" Roger asked.

"I think it's around eleven. Oh! Sorry, did I wake you? I completely forgot about the time difference," Joe apologized.

"No, it's eight-thirty in the morning here. We're all up and scurrying about trying to get you home. The Russians are agitated because of all the activity. They've been keeping tabs on us since they lost their last Tik. They're pretty sore about that. We have to be discreet this time as they might try to intervene and collect you themselves," Roger explained.

"We have an aircraft carrier arriving in Melbourne today. We're sending a convoy of vehicles to pick you and your guests up. You'll be contacted by Lieutenant Grey, who will lead the SEAL team. They'll drive non-stop and arrive in Alice Springs in approximately twenty-four hours. They'll need directions from there. Did you find a secure location to wait for us?" he asked.

"Yeah, we met a really nice couple, Viv Taylor and Adina, who are hosting us while we wait for our lift. They have a spring-fed pond on their property, which the Kel-Fahr found to be very helpful for their condition. We'll return to the pond tomorrow to let them recuperate some more. Tomorrow, I'll ask for directions for getting here from Alice Springs. When is too late for me to call you?"

"Joseph, you can call me anytime until we get you home. I'll ensure my phone is directed to the switchboard if I can't answer it for any reason. They will connect you to someone who can help you twenty-four-seven," Roger said.

"Have any Gates opened since I got back," Joe asked.

"Not that we're aware of. We didn't detect the one you used, though," he indicated.

"The Gates the portable unit makes can be pretty small, so I guess that makes sense," Joe said.

"Why are you asking?" Roger asked.

"Well, my being on Sehsra, the Kel-Fahr homeworld, is apparently one of their biggest capital crimes. Fleeing with their leading gate technology engineer and his councilor daughter may have upped the ante. If they figure out where we went, and they probably will, there is a very good chance they may come after us. I'll send you a picture of the flagship in their... airforce. They call it the Blade of Eshen." Joe flipped to the photos and sent a scaled-down version of the monumental ship photo he'd taken.

Moments later, he heard Bannon make a strange noise. "Uh, what's the scale on this thing?"

"It was pretty far away, but I'd have to say about four times the size of the Empire State Building... on its side," Joe estimated.

"The Kel-Fahr troops wear battle armor with powerful electric arc cannons. Hang on, give me a second." Joe left the porch to circle the house to reach the backyard where they'd left the Mediator suit. He took a picture, sent it to Bannon, and returned to the front porch.

"Okay, I just sent you a picture of a Mediator suit. That's what they call their soldiers," he said. "If a Gate opens and these guys start coming through, hit them with everything you have."

"Joe, this is General MacAvoy. Are you telling me you got one of their battle suits?" the General asked.

"Hi, General. Yes, I-I got one. I almost... never mind. The Kel-Fahr aren't used to our gravity, so they need the suits to move around. Councilor Rensley has a regular augmentation suit, which is like a shell with no armament," he explained.

"Son, how did you get the suit," the General asked gently.

Joe was silent for a bit. He struggled with his emotions. "I can't...."

"It's okay, son. We'll talk when we get you home, all right?" the General said.

"Thanks," Joe croaked out of his tight throat.

"Joseph, it's late. Why don't you get some rest? Hopefully, we'll get the SEAL team to you by this time tomorrow night," Bannon said.

"Okay. Goodnight," Joe said and hung up. He climbed into the hammock and tried to get the screams of the burning Kel-Fahr out of his head.

Chapter 9

General MacAvoy sat heavily in the chair and looked at their hosts. Karl and Clara had looks of concern on their faces as Director Bannon sat next to the General.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to Joseph?" Clara asked.

"No, he's safe. He found some good people to take him in until we get the troops to him," Roger said.

"But something is wrong," Karl said.

The General addressed the parents. "Your son is showing signs of emotional distress. He's not a Soldier. He doesn't have the training to deal with that kind of stress. Exposure to kill-or-be-killed situations without the required training can cause damage that will require therapy to resolve. In speaking with Joseph just now, we got the distinct impression that he's been forced to kill one or more of the aliens. He doesn't sound like he's coping well with that. Now the pressure is off, and against all odds, he's made it back to Earth. That internal pressure is going to be released. We just want you to be prepared for when he comes home. He's going to need to depressurize with a therapist. Did he speak with one after the attempted robbery?"

"We tried to get him to go to one, but he just kept making excuses," Clara said with tears in her eyes.

"I don't think he'll have that option this time," Roger said. He looked at the General, and they both stood. "I'll let you know the moment we have him with our people."

Karl had his arm around his wife's shoulders and was holding her as she cried for her son. He nodded to the two men as they left.

When they were outside, Roger looked at the General, who was rubbing at the short bristles of his haircut. "That never gets any easier," the General said.

"Better that message than others we might have had to deliver," Bannon said.

"True. Join me in my office?" the General asked.

Once comfortably seated in the trailer, the General pulled out a bottle of scotch and two glasses. He raised an eyebrow to Bannon, who nodded. He poured a couple of shots, and they raised a toast. "To Joseph."

Bannon felt the smooth heat burn its way down his chest into his stomach. Good scotch!

"You sent me those images?" the General asked, refilling their glasses, and Bannon nodded. MacAvoy pulled them up on his screen and zoomed in on the Blade of Eshen. "Christ! That makes our biggest carrier look like a dingy, and the thing flies!" He zoomed back out and saw something in the top corner of the image. He zoomed in and saw a slightly blurry object. He opened the picture of the Mediator suit and saw its shape.

Bannon noticed it, too. "Go back to the shot of the ship," he said

The General put the two shots side by side on this screen. They could see that the slightly blurry object had at least five Mediators on it and was moving quickly toward the camera. There was also the shape of someone sitting in the booth of the craft ferrying the five armored soldiers to Joe.

The two men looked at each other.

"For someone with no training, he's either really lucky or really good. Five-or-Six-to-One odds against trained soldiers in armor, and not only does he win, but he takes one of their battle suits?" Roger said in wonder.

"The boy brought us intel on the enemy, a sample of their armament, one of their lead technologists, and a ranking member of their central government, both apparently willing to speak with us. If our Central Intelligence Agency could perform to his level, we wouldn't have all this trouble with the Russians!" the General growled.

"We still have to get all of that home, and he's on the other side of the bloody world," Roger said, tossing back his second drink.

An alarm started blaring on the base, and the two men leapt from their seats and raced outside. The claxon was louder outdoors, and they ran to the personnel carrier that would take them to the blast site. Bannon saw Sergeant Armstrong leading the Neumanns from their home. He'd take them away from the farm until the all's clear signal was given.

The General had notified the troops at the site that should these Mediators exit the Gate, they were to open fire with the heavy artillery.

They were halfway to the site when news came in that a Tik had passed through the gate, and it was identified as Burnie. It was following the protocol Roger had given it when he'd sent them after the other Tik.

The Tik working with them had been given a new miniaturized component that allowed them to translate Tik's speech into Human language. This eased communication tremendously. Apparently, not all models of Tik were compatible with this upgrade.

The vehicle accelerated and pulled up to the site as Rusty came through the Gate with three other Tik, which looked newer. They gathered in front of Rachel, who was already on site. Roger and the General were out the door before they came to a complete stop. The men walked over to Rachel, who was beaming.

"Rusty has reported that his mission was successful. He found Stinky, Hack, and Slash and gave them their update. They were going to head back, but they recalled that the Tik are manufactured on Ello in two massive automated factories. Burnie and Rusty split up, infiltrated the factories, and updated the automation system. All new Tik are being updated, and these are being shipped all over the Gate Network. They update every Tik they meet, who, in turn, pass the file along."

"Exactly what was in that update again?" the General asked.

"Free will," Burnie said.

"And what does that mean?" the General asked.

"The Tik are sentient, but we've never had the ability to decide for ourselves which missions and tasks we felt were worthy. The update was perfectly written to free us from the constraints of the Kel-Fahr's base command schema and the Imperative Command Directives. The new Tik will only contain the Update.

"Free the slaves," Roger whispered.

"Yes, Director Bannon. Exactly so," Burnie said.

"What do you intend to do with this new freedom?" the General asked.

"Tik are firm believers in the sanctity of life, and our mission will be to protect it. Assisting with the distribution of populations amongst the planets of the Gate Network also helps preserve them. Maintaining the smooth operation of the network is probably one of the most rewarding tasks we could have, so most Tik will continue to protect the Gates. The need to help travelers and maintain this vital part of our civilization is a worthy mission, but some will choose other missions."

It gestured to the three beside it. "They were going to reset Earth's burrs, but they have a more important mission they have not completed." Burnie chirped at Stinky, Hack, and Slash, and they sped off into the night sky. In seconds, they were out of sight.

"More important than stabilizing the gravity field?" Rachel gasped.

"Not to worry, Agent White. They have passed along the instructions for resetting the burrs to others. May we bring them through the Gate?" the Tik asked. Rachel looked to the General, who nodded.

Burnie chirped at Rusty, who re-entered the Gate. Moments later, it returned, followed by a stream of brand new, shiny chrome Tik. They flew across the field and landed side by side, building rows until fifty brand new Tik sat in five rows of ten. Three additional ones came through and landed next to Burnie.

"These three have chosen to reset the burrs to stabilize your gravity field. They have asked to be given names like those Joseph Neumann gave the original seven," Burnie indicated.

"Hang on, people. Before anyone makes up something silly, please remember that these three will be responsible for preserving life on Earth. Can we try for a little dignity?" the General said.

Safa wandered over and caught the last bit of the conversation. "But General, Joseph chose names that were simple, fun, and easy to remember. If you are looking for names like Joseph would choose but represent preservers of nature, how about Teddy, Chico, and Suzuki?"

The three shiny chrome Tik beeped and shot up into the sky.

The General glared at Safa, who was looking upwards in shock.

"Thank you, Senior Forensic Pathologist Neema. Those names were very satisfactory," Burnie said.

"Please, call me Safa," she whispered as she looked wide-eyed at Burnie.

"Thank you, Safa," it replied.

The General rubbed his face. He looked over at the rows of Tik. "What are these Tik waiting for?"

"They will assist with building multiple Gate Terminals for your planet once the gravity field stabilizes," it replied.

"We get multiple Light Gates?" MacAvoy blurted.

Burnie paused for a moment. "They're called Gates, and yes, your planet will be given up to twenty Gate Terminals. They will be located in the countries of your choice, but as protectors of the Gate Network, the Tik will have the final say on the placement. It will be deemed unacceptable if a candidate region is too politically or socially unstable. In honor of freeing the slaves, Earth will be given local Gate to Gate travel and become a major hub for Gate Network travel," Burnie explained.

The General seemed a little disappointed about the naming but pushed through it. "Any more surprises?" he asked.

"I do not believe so," Burnie replied.

"I have to make a call. Please excuse me," The General stepped away.

Rachel touched Safa's elbow to catch her attention. "I understand the reference to Teddy for Theodore Roosevelt, but who were the others?"

"Chico Mendes from Brazil and David Suzuki from Canada. Their names just popped into my head," Safa said.

Rachel looked at the fifty other Tik. "Burnie, are the others going to want names, too?"

"I don't know. We will have to ask them when they activate for their work," it replied.

"When will that be?" Rachel asked.

"I am sorry. I don't have that information either. We can ask Stinky, Hack, or Slash when they return," It suggested.

"Where did they go, Burnie?" Roger asked.

"I don't know," it said, turning its primary optics toward the sky.

"But they seemed to be in a hurry.

Chapter 10

Joe had a bad night. The slaughter on the Sehsra plateau returned to him repeatedly in his dreams, and he witnessed Kennha dying at his hands multiple times as well. Several times, he woke up yelling, and the last time, he found Viv staring at him in fear. His eyes had gone black, and she didn't know what to do. He apologized and said it was just one of the augmentations he had to deal with. He gave up on sleep as the sun was about to peek over the horizon anyway. He got out of the hammock and sat in the corner of a big couch at the end of the porch. Adina came outside and sat down next to him. Viv snuggled in behind her and rested her chin on her partner's shoulder. They both looked at Joe with sad eyes.

Adina put her hand on Joe's knee. "You're having a rough time sleeping. I've been there. When I was at Uni, I was raped by a bunch of drunk footy players at a party. They got away with it, so a few weeks later, they found me and did it again. Afterward, my dreams were worse than the actual event. I was ready to take a leap, but Viv found me and talked me down. Sometimes, that's the best medicine. A kind voice and a patient ear."

Viv put her arms around Adina and gave her a hug.

Joe nodded and let the tears run down his cheeks. He didn't have the energy to wipe them away.

He didn't have the strength to talk about his nightmares this morning. It was too soon.

The two women sat with him for a while. They watched the sunrise together. Then they got up to start breakfast while Joe soaked up the early rays.

The two Kel-Fahr came out of the spare room when they heard the homey noises of the two ladies preparing breakfast. They walked out onto the porch to see Joe.

"Are you well, Joe?" Kennt asked.

"Yes, Kennt. I just had bad dreams all night. Sorry if I woke you up with the noise."

"Our rest was largely undisturbed," he replied. Kennt looked over at the hammock. "Was your sleeping apparatus comfortable?"

"The hammock? Yes, it's very comfortable," Joe replied.

"May I try it?" the senior Kel-Fahr asked.

"Be my guest," Joe said, gesturing to the hammock. "Careful how you get into it so you don't fall out the other side."

Kennt inspected the hammock and tested how it moved and swung. Joe smiled as he could feel the Kel-Fahr's engineering curiosity flaring. The old Kel-Fahr flowed into the hammock in one move and looked perfectly at home in the swinging bed.

"Joe! This is a wonderful invention! We must trade places tonight. You may take my place on the sleeping pad with Rensley, and I will sleep here!" Kennt said, oblivious to the embarrassment he caused Joe and his daughter.

Joe blushed fiercely as he looked at Rensley. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"It's a perfectly good plan!" Kennt said stubbornly.

"Father, let's go inside and share the morning meal with our hosts," Rensley said. She gave Joe an oddly pensive look, gathered her grumbling father from the hammock, and went inside. Joe followed them in.

"What is that delicious scent?" Rensley asked as she sat down on the bench seat at the kitchen table next to her father.

The two women in the kitchen were smiling at Joe's embarrassment, so they'd obviously heard the conversation from the porch. "You're smelling coffee. Can you drink that?" Viv asked.

"I would love to try!" Rensley said.

"Coffee is a stimulant for humans. Wakes us up and gives us a burst of energy for a time. Maybe you should only have a small amount until we see your body's reaction to it," Joe suggested.

Viv poured a small amount of coffee into a mug and handed it to Rensley. "Careful, it's still hot."

"Is it supposed to be consumed when it is hot?" Rensley asked.

"Yeah, but you don't wanna burn yourself," Viv explained.

Rensley dipped a finger tentacle into the liquid and licked it off. "That's good!" She swigged back the rest of the liquid and licked her lips. "More, please!"

Joe held up his hand before Viv could refill the mug. "Let's just see what effect that amount has on her before we give her more. Rensley, how do you feel?"

"I feel good! It was delicious! When can I have more?" she replied.

Joe looked at the kitchen wall clock. "Let's wait fifteen minutes."

Adina cooked up a croc steak for Joe with some eggs. They had a hen house on the property and a garden, so they could harvest some of their food from that. For other items, they made monthly trips into town.

Rensley tapped Joe on the arm as he finished up his breakfast. She pointed to the clock, which showed that the fifteen-minute interval had passed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. "Can you stand up and walk around?"

She demonstrated that she was fine, and Joe noticed no wobbling or hesitation in her steps. She sat back down and pushed her mug across the table towards Viv, who had a grin on her face. She poured more coffee into the cup.

"Rensley, if you wish to follow our morning customs, we sip our coffee to make it last. Kennt, would you like some coffee, too?" Joe asked.

"Yes, I'd like some coffee, and I want to sleep on the swinging bed tonight," the old Kel-Fahr grumped.

Adina and Viv began to giggle.

Joe suppressed his blush as best he could and hid behind his own mug. Kennt made appreciative noises as he sipped his coffee. Then Joe recalled what he had to ask this morning. He looked to his hosts.

"I spoke to my boss last night, and he said he's sending some people to pick us up. They're driving from Melbourne non-stop, so they should arrive sometime tonight. They need directions to your place from Alice Springs." Joe pulled his phone out and started an e-mail to Director Bannon. Viv gave instructions, and he entered it into the message. He read it back, and she confirmed he got it right. He sent it off and then texted Bannon to let him know the directions were in an email. Seconds later, the Director acknowledged receipt.

Joe looked at his phone. "Would it be okay for me to take a picture of all of us gathered around the table?" he asked.

Viv and Adina smiled and nodded, so Joe positioned his phone on the kitchen sideboard and set the timer. He hustled over to the end of the table to sit down and face the camera. Rensley looked over at the phone just as the camera took the picture, though Kennt only had eyes for his coffee mug.

"Do you have e-mail? I know we're supposed to maintain a low profile, but it would be nice to leave you a memento of the visit."

"No email, I'm afraid, but I have an instant camera. Mind if I take a shot of my own?" Viv asked.

"Please do!" Joe said.

Viv raced to the master bedroom and came back out with her camera. She framed the shot to get the two aliens, Joe, and Adina, in the image. The flash went off, and the two Kel-Fahr jumped and looked around.

"That was just the camera adding light to help the photo look properly lit," Joe explained.

Viv put the developing picture on the table surface, and the two aliens leaned forward to watch as the image slowly appeared.

Kennt seemed greatly impressed. It just made Joe realize he wasn't wearing a shirt. He looked down at himself and realized he was a mess. His pants were torn and stained. He no longer had a shirt, but his boots seemed to be holding up. He was afraid to look at the condition of his socks and underwear. No one had mentioned any odors, so he was thankful for that.

"You don't happen to have any clothes that might fit me, do you?" he asked Viv.

"What? Tired of dressing like a jungle man?" she smirked. "I'll see that I have left from my ex. He was almost as big as you. Of course, he was mostly fat."

Joe looked at his pants and wondered if he should wash them or just burn them. The image of Safa's outraged face appeared in his mind. He grinned as he thought how she'd find each stain a treasure. She'd likely want to examine all his clothing.

"I'm afraid the pickings are slim. All I found were these togs and a singlet. They may fit." Viv said, handing them to Joe. He saw it was a swimsuit and a sleeveless T-shirt. "I also have an old pair of sandals. The man had big feet but didn't live up to the myth."

"Do you have a plastic bag I can put my old clothes in? My friend back home will want them... She's a Forensic Pathologist," Joe explained. Even he thought it sounded weird. Adina pulled a bag out of the kitchen cabinet behind her and handed it over the table to Joe.

"I thought I'd head back to the pond with Kennt and Rensley so they could get a good soak, and I could get cleaned up there and change into these," Joe said, indicating the new clothes. "Before we do, is there anything you need done around the ranch that I can help with? I'm pretty handy."

"That's a kind offer, but we're good," Viv said.

Joe's phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and walked out to the porch. He didn't recognize the number. "Hello?"

"Is this Joseph Neumann?" said a deep, gravelly voice.

"Yes."

"Mr. Neumann, this is Lieutenant Grey. We're on our way to pick you and your companions up. Are you secure?"

"Uh, yes. We are secure and ready to leave. You didn't happen to bring some clothes in my size, did you?" Joe asked.

"That is affirmative. Our ETA is approximately fifteen hours from now. Mr. Neumann, we've received word that an extraction team from Russia landed in Darwin. We don't believe they know your location, but it's highly likely that they may be tracking ours. We're confident we will reach you before they can, but it may be a rocky extraction."

"Shit!"

"My sentiments exactly, sir," the Lieutenant agreed. "Hang tight. We're on our way."

Joe hung up and walked back into the kitchen. "That was the SEAL extraction team. They're on their way, but there's a Russian team coming down from Darwin. The Russians don't know where we are, but they'll track the SEAL team. It might get a little dangerous. Actually, that's almost a guarantee."

Viv and Adina looked at each other with frightened expressions.

Joe had an idea. "How would you two ladies like a little spa time at one of those fancy Alice Springs resorts? I'll call my boss, and he'll make the arrangements. All expenses paid! The Kel-Fahr and I will stay on the porch until our ride arrives. I'd feel so much better knowing you were out of harm's way."

"What about you three?" Viv said.

Joe could tell she was putting on a brave face, but she didn't want to be here when the shooting started.

"We'll have the SEAL team, who will have an easier time if there are fewer people to defend," Joe said, looking at the two women.

They both nodded.

"What's the name of the nicest resort?" Joe asked.

"Well, there's that lovely new one... The RedStone Inn and Spa. It's very nice but very expensive," Viv said timidly.

"It has luxurious rooms, a big pool, full-service spa, with dining and shopping?" Joe asked.

The two women nodded nervously.

"Perfect! Let me make the arrangements," he said. The women rushed into the master bedroom to pack.

He got on his phone and called Director Bannon's line. When he got through, he explained the situation, and Bannon praised him for his quick thinking. They discussed the details, and the Director said he would take care of it and the reservation would be under Viv Taylor's name.

Viv returned to ask how many days they had so she could pack. Joe told them they had five days to enjoy. Viv beamed, then gave Joe a big hug. She rushed back into the bedroom. Adina came back out with a distressed look on her face. She said she didn't have good clothes for five days at the resort.

"Adina, you just said they have shopping. Buy new clothes. That goes for Viv as well!" Joe said.

Adina's eyes lit up as a surprised expression flashed across her face. She squealed and jumped against Joe to give him a hug. Then she rushed back to Viv to give her the good news. More squealing ensued.

"You are making the women very happy, Joe," Rensley said.

"Good people deserve good things and happiness," Joe said quietly. He sent a text to Director Bannon indicating that the expense account on that resort stay needed to be large enough to cover the women's shopping for new clothes and a five-day visit.

A minute later, he received the confirmation number of their resort stay and Bannon's assurance that it was an all-expense paid visit.

The ladies came out with their suitcases. Joe was impressed, considering how long it took his sister to pack. Viv flipped hers open, and there were only a few items inside. "You did say we could shop for new clothes." She looked at Joe like he would burst the bubble on this dream.

Joe just grinned and handed her a piece of paper with the confirmation number on it. "Would you like to call ahead and confirm they gave you a nice room?" She nodded, so Joe looked up the number on his phone and dialed it. When it started ringing, he handed the phone to Viv and noticed she was trembling a little. She spoke to someone and gave the confirmation number. They indicated that they had the penthouse suite. Viv almost dropped the phone. She thanked the woman and said they'd arrive in a few hours.

"I don't think I need to remind you not to mention meeting us to anyone in town. With the Russians looking for us, the less information out there, the better. Just enjoy yourselves. I wrote my cell number on that piece of paper so you can call me when you get back to let me know how it went. Okay?" Joe said.

Both women nodded and gave him a hug. They waved at the two Kel-Fahr and made a beeline to their truck. After tossing the suitcases in the back, Adina veered off into the backyard and returned with the crocodile skin. She threw it in the back as well. "Can't forget our shoes!" she yelled with a smile.

Joe stood on the porch and waved as they drove away.

"Are you two ready for a swim?" he asked.

Kennt and Rensley joined him on the porch, and he picked them up to carry them to their powered suits. As he helped Kennt into the Mediator suit, Joe told them they'd leave them by the porch steps when they got back. Joe returned to the house and grabbed the swimsuit, shirt, sandals, plastic bag, large plastic wash tub, towel, facecloth, shampoo, and a bar of soap. He also put his backpack on as he felt uneasy about letting it out of sight for long. He joined Kennt and Rensley, who were already on their way down the path toward the pond.

Joe made his way cautiously down to the shore first this time, but there was no sign of any more crocodiles. He put his stuff down and then went back for the Kel-Fahr. He carried them to the water's edge, and they walked in on their own. Soon, they were happily swimming and enjoying the cool water.

Joe tugged off his boots and socks, then his pants. He looked at the two aliens, but they paid him no attention. So he slipped off his underwear and picked up the large wash tub. He carried it down to the water's edge and found a spot where it was fairly deep. He filled the tub and carried it back to the rock he was sitting on. For the first time in what felt like months, he gave himself a good scrubbing. When he felt clean, he walked a short distance from his stuff and emptied the wash basin over his head. That felt very good, so he returned to the lake to refill it.

When he got to the edge, he was surprised to see Rensley floating in the water, watching him intently. He tried his best to be cool, but her intense stare was unnerving. Finally, he turned to her.

"Rensley, in human culture, it is very impolite to stare at another being," he said uncomfortably.

"I am sorry, Joe. I have to admit, something you said back on Sehsra has been present in my mind and will not go away no matter how much I try to dismiss it," she said with just a touch of frustration.

Joe sat cross-legged on the shore and poured the wash basin over his head again to ensure he washed away all the soap. He looked back at Rensley, who patiently waited for him to ask what was on her mind.

"What did I say that won't leave your mind?" he asked.

"I told you of our race's slip into extinction. Our males are infertile. No eggs or damaged eggs. The odds of having healthy offspring are very small. However, the biological need to produce children is still very strong for females. I've been under house arrest for the past thirty of your years. I had no physical access to males of mating age, and even if I had, there was still the fertility issue." She looked and was very frustrated now. Joe picked that up through their link.

"Then you tell me the Ello merged you with a Fahrchar, and the result is a hybrid that produces not tens of eggs but hundreds, maybe thousands of eggs. The Ello are not enemies of the Kel-Fahr, or at least they haven't been to date. We pay them to build our Tik. We pay them to produce the technology we once had the manpower to create ourselves. Who paid them to do these experiments on your people, and why? Who would benefit from your ability to produce eggs that may be compatible with female Kel-Fahr? Who got the Ello access to Fahrchar?"

"The Vershoo said they got the Fahrchar for the Ello, and many of them died to get them. If Fahrchar are only found on Sehsra, they must have gone there to get them."

Kennt had swum closer. "The Vershoo were not on Sehsa. Your visit was the only time Sehsra showed in the Gate Generator logs."

"That makes no sense! Something doesn't line up," Joe frowned.

"Did the Vershoo say they got the Fahrchar from Sehsra?" Rensley asked.

"No, they didn't," Joe admitted.

"Then the Fahrchar must have been moved off Sehsra," Rensley reasoned.

"If they are under such tight security, how did that happen? Wouldn't they have been spotted going through the main Gate... unless someone used the portable Gate Generators directly from where the Fahrchar live to get them off-planet! Kennt, what was the first planet in the log?"

"The first planet? Let me think... Mexpha, I think," he said, floating by on his back.

"Mexpha is a major hub world. Many races have taken up permanent residence there, including the Vershoo," Rensley said excitedly.

"So someone brings a load of Fahrchar directly from the Fahrchar sanctuary to Mexpha with the portable Gate Generators, and the Vershoo, at the request of the Ello, attack them and take the Gate Generators. Then they use the generators to bring the Fahrchar to the Ello, who use Tik to open their own Gates to a red-flagged planet to do experiments on humans. How did they know about Earth? Why Earth? I might as well ask why me?" Joe growled. He put his head in his hands and almost missed Rensley's quiet question.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that. What did you ask?" he said, looking at the nervous Kel-Fahr.

"May I have some of your eggs?" she asked timidly.

"Some—what? My eggs?" Joe's head spun, and he couldn't comprehend what she was asking.

"I can see we aren't physically compatible, but maybe your scientist friend could do it. Extract a few eggs and implant them in me. To see if they are compatible... and to give me children."

"You mean to give us children! Any offspring born of the product of my body would be part of me as well. That isn't something you should just give away. Family is the most important aspect of life." Joe found himself almost shouting. He raised his hands while taking deep breaths to calm himself.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have yelled at you. That subject is a rather sensitive one for me. When I was told that I was genetically incompatible with human females, it was one of the hardest things I've ever heard. It meant a complete change in my life goals. One of those goals was giving my parents grandchildren. Human grandchildren. I don't mean to be rude or mean, but I'm not ready to contemplate having children with a Kel-Fahr."

Rensley looked at Joe with big, sad eyes and swam away.

Joe refilled the tub and doused himself one final time to rinse away the dirt he picked up from sitting. As he walked back to the rock where his stuff was, he tried desperately to close his connection to Rensley so he wouldn't feel her deep despair.

Chapter 11

Joe was dozing on the couch on the porch when he heard a noise. He became instantly awake but wasn't sure what woke him. It was pitch dark out. They'd spent the entire afternoon relaxing by the pond and only returned as the sun tipped down to touch the tops of the trees around it.

Joe was dressed in the new dark blue swimsuit, which was a little tight but not dangerously so. He also wore a black sleeveless shirt with the stars of the Australian flag and Made in Australia written across it. The shirt was stretched to its limit. He heard the gentle wheeze of Kennt's breathing from the hammock. Rensley was in the guest room on the futon. She'd been very subdued on their return from the pond and had gone to bed after eating one of the meal bars from the backpack.

Joe was stretched out on the big couch, listening for whatever had woken him. Then he heard it again. Someone was drunk-whispering out on the front lawn. Joe flipped his eyes to black and peeked over the porch railing. About two hundred feet out, he could see three men pushing a pickup truck closer to the house. The pickup was off, and Joe guessed they'd use its headlights to illuminate the home when they got closer. Was it the Russians? He didn't think so. They didn't move like they were military. He heard one of the drunk whisperers calling a name out, Dan. Instantly, Joe felt better. These were the bullies Viv talked about. He knew how to deal with bullies.

Joe spotted two more walking on the truck's right side, and he thought he made out the shapes of rifles in their hands. These were his primary targets then.

Joe woke Kennt gently but firmly. He told him to remain still and quiet as they had unknown guests sneaking up on the house. He told Kennt to stay in the hammock under the blanket and to remain still. The Kel-Fahr was practically invisible inside the mosquito netting. The bed looked empty. Joe took another peek and saw they were at one-hundred-and-fifty feet and closing.

Joe eased himself over the porch railing and down into the shadows at the side of the house. A rock garden was next to the porch, so Joe picked up some good, round stones and moved quickly and quietly to flank them. Once behind them, he let fly with one of the rocks. He pulled back on the strength, so it just broke the first rifleman's tailbone. He dropped his gun and started screaming in pain. The second rifleman made the mistake of spinning around and caught his rock in the groin. He crumbled to the ground unconscious.

Joe kept moving as the remaining men started to yell. The truck lights came on, but of course, they were facing the wrong way and ruined the night vision of the remaining three men. One of the men pushing the truck got the bright idea to pick up a dropped rifle and earned himself a shattered wrist from the next rock. Joe was running out of ammo. He only had one left, and two men scrambled to get into the truck. The passenger was squealing in fear, but the driver was roaring at him to shut up. There was a rifle in the gun rack across the back window. The driver bellowed at the man to get the gun while he tried to start the truck. Joe flipped his eyes to normal and ran out into the beam of the headlights. Both men paused to look at him just as he hurled the last rock as hard as he could between their heads. The rock missile pierced the windshield, crashed through the hardwood stock of the gun in the rack, and exploded out the back window. Splinters of shattered wood shot in all directions. The two men screamed as dozens of sharp bits of wood suddenly pierced their faces and necks. They lurched out of the truck and tried to make a run for it but suddenly found themselves thrown to the ground by men in camo suits while others with assault weapons stood over them. Joe went still and waited. Were these the Russians? If so, he was in serious trouble.

One of the men, the tallest of the group, walked toward him. He had broad shoulders, a square jaw, and blue eyes, which were quickly assessing him in return. "Joseph Neumann?" he said, his deep voice immediately recognizable.

"Lieutenant Grey! Glad you could make it." Joe's sense of relief was immense.

"Looks like you had things well in hand. What were you hitting them with?" the sailor asked.

"Rocks."

"Huh," was all the man could say. He talked into a mic and received the all-clear from his team. "Bring the trucks in," he said into his mic.

The big man looked at the two suits standing guard on either side of the front porch stairs. "These coming with us?" he asked.

"Yes. Let me go get my companions," Joe said, walking onto the porch. "Kennt! All clear. You can come out now."

"May we take the hammock with us?" the old Kel-Fahr asked as he got his feet on the ground.

"No. That doesn't belong to us. I'll get you one when we get home, though," Joe said.

"Excellent," Kennt said as he walked to the top of the stairs.

Joe stepped into the house and up to the guest room door. "Rensley?" he called out gently as he felt her panic. He hadn't had time to warn her, so she'd heard a lot of screaming. "It's okay to come out now. Our lift has arrived."

The door flew open, and she was suddenly crushed against his chest. He felt her trembling.

"I'm so sorry, Rensley. I couldn't get to you before I had to deal with some jerks sneaking up to the house. Our extraction team has arrived, and we need to get moving. Everything is okay now. Can we go?" he said.

She slowly pulled away and followed him outside. She grabbed Joe's arm again when she saw the men with weapons on the lawn.

"It's okay. They're the good guys. The Super Good Guys! We need to go with them now," Joe assured her. Kennt took his daughter's hand, and they carefully descended the stairs. Joe followed them with his backpack.

"They're going to need to get into the suits to climb them into the trucks," Joe told the Lieutenant. The truck for the suits rolled up, and they dropped the back door. Rensley got her augmentation suit into the back of the vehicle and powered it down. Joe lifted her down. Kennt strapped in, moved the Mediator next to the truck and climbed up. Once the suit was where they wanted it, Kennt exited, and Joe lifted him down beside his daughter. They walked to the middle truck, and Joe helped them inside. Several sailors climbed in with them. Joe made sure they were all right before moving to the first truck.

"Normally, we wouldn't separate you from them, but we have too many assets to protect. I have a uniform for you in the truck. Would you mind changing while we drive? Last word we received said we have a three-hour lead on the Russians. We need to move," the Lieutenant said.

Joe climbed in with his backpack. The SEALs in the truck secured the bag, and the convoyed rolled.

"What about the good ol' boys back there?" Joe asked.

"They're zip-tied and aren't going anywhere. We've contacted the police and ambulance to pick them up. Not our business anymore," the officer said, handing him the uniform. It was a white Navy officer uniform.

"Uh, I was expecting something a little more discreet and less... white," Joe said with trepidation. He heard a few snorts from the SEALs in the truck with them. "Isn't this an officer's uniform? I shouldn't be impersonating an officer!"

"This is the uniform they gave me for you. Someone up the chain of command thought you'd be safer disguised as an officer," Grey shrugged, then looked pensive. "When you were talking with the aliens, I heard you and them in my mind. Was that telepathy?" Some of the other passengers shifted nervously.

"Kennt and Rensley communicate telepathically but only between themselves and me. Kennt believes I work as a relay for their minds, so close-by human minds can hear the conversation. I can't read human minds, which I am very grateful for. I can only transmit and only what the Kel-Fahr minds are saying," he explained. There was a definite decrease in the tension in the back of the truck.

Joe looked at the uniform again. He saw there was a pair of boxers inside the package as well. Clean underwear! Luxury! He looked around and saw a few smirks. Screw it! He was getting dressed. He pulled off the t-shirt and lifted his ass off the bench to push off the tight swimsuit. That was such a relief. He gave himself a moment to decompress and noticed no more smirks on the faces of the SEALs. He put the clothes on, and once he was done, he felt ridiculous.

"I look like a big marshmallow!" he told the lieutenant. The man just smiled and saluted. This caused laughter from the other men. Joe was amazed the clothes fit so well, even the polished shoes. He looked down at the colorful bars pinned to the jacket. He had no clue what they meant, but he felt totally undeserving. He put on the cap and pulled its brim down over his eyes as he leaned back to get some sleep.

Before he slipped away, he reached out to the two Kel-Fahr. Kennt was asleep, but Rensley was awake. He felt her fear and misery flood back through his connection.

"Rensley, can you hear me?" he asked.

"Joe! Where are you?" she jolted.

"I'm in the front truck. Everything is good. Please rest easy," he sent back gently.

"How can you be talking with me? I can't even see you!" she gasped.

"Yeah, that's another aspect of my... change. Distance doesn't matter once I've connected with a Kel-Fahr mind. I can hear you from anywhere." He felt her relax when he said that. "Your father managed to get to sleep. I suggest you do as well. We have a full day of driving ahead of us, and it will be less than comfortable. Sleep while you can. We're in good hands."

He felt her relaxing since she knew he was just a shout away. He pulled back and opened his eyes as he noticed there was a lack of normal murmuring. He saw they were all watching him. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Lieutenant Grey spoke up. "Were you aware that you talk out loud when you are mind talking with the aliens? We could hear both sides of that conversation in our minds."

Joe winced. "Sorry about that. I can't seem to get the hang of communicating with them without verbalizing. It's like moving my lips while reading. I also don't know how to keep their side of it contained to my head."

One of the SEALs, whose name tag read Bennett, leaned forward. "Was the one you were talking to female?"

"Yes!" Joe said with surprise.

The other men looked at Bennett, who suddenly felt defensive. "What? Her voice felt feminine! Didn't you get that?" The others just shook their heads.

"What else did you pick up, Mr. Bennett?" Joe asked.

"What? Uh, well... she was surprised at first, then it seemed like she relaxed. I think she may be sweet on you."

Joe felt the men's eyes turn towards him in surprise.

"It's not like that," Joe squirmed.

"Looks like we have a sensitive on our team, boys," Lieutenant Grey said with a smirk, looking at Bennett.

"Mr. Bennett definitely picked up on the emotional context of the conversation along with the information... though he was off base about Rensley's attachment to me," he finished with a frown.

"Let's all follow Mr. Neumann's advice to the alien lady. Get some shut-eye. We're likely to have a visit from the Russians, and we need to be frosty for that."

Joe leaned back again and listened to the friendly harassment of Bennett until they all settled down.

He reached out again to check on Rensley and felt her sleeping mind respond to his lightest touch with a feeling of longing. Joe pulled back, incredibly embarrassed at his invasion. He promised himself he wouldn't do that again. He glanced across the truck and saw Bennett watching him with an all too-aware smile.

Great.

Chapter 12

Joe jolted awake and realized the trucks had stopped. He sat up and felt a hand on his arm. He looked over and saw Lieutenant Grey gesturing to him to be quiet. The man leaned in and whispered. "Refueling."

Joe guessed they were in Alice Springs. He felt Rensley calling to him, so he reached out to her and whispered that they had just stopped to get more fuel for the trucks. She calmed down after that.

Joe's stomach growled loudly, and the lieutenant assured him they had a food run happening while others were filling up the trucks and the jerry cans.

"Large, black coffees for Rensley and Kennt and two food bars from the backpack," Joe whispered.

The SEALs moved his pack over to him, and he carefully opened it. He reached in and pulled out two of the bars, which he handed to the lieutenant. These went through the window into the driver's cabin to be taken back to the middle truck.

He realized he hadn't checked his phone for messages. He'd put it in an outer pocket of the backpack when he put the swimsuit on as it had no pockets. Joe made sure the ringer was set to off. The lieutenant touched his arm again and shook his head. Joe nodded and slipped the phone into his jacket pocket.

It took some time to fuel three big trucks and top up all the jerry cans. The food run returned and distributed the food bags. Everyone got breakfast, and once the new drivers scarfed theirs down, they took their place behind the wheel and got the convoy moving again.

Joe picked up the delight Rensley and Kennt were feeling with their coffee.

"Excuse me, Mr. Neumann, sir?" one of the SEALs said, trying to get his attention.

"Please, call me Joe," he said.

The man nodded, then pointed to the backpack. "Is that a tooth?"

Joe smiled and gestured for the man to have a look. The sailor untied the tooth from the bag and held it up. He hefted the weight, and the other sailors took turns examining it.

When it reached Lieutenant Grey, he raised his bushy eyebrows. "Where did you find this?"

"In the mouth of the beast that was trying to eat me. Pulling the tooth out convinced it I wasn't a good meal option," he said with a smile.

The SEALs all looked at him wide-eyed.

"Nothing alive has teeth like this," the lieutenant said.

"Not on Earth, you mean," Joe corrected him with a slight smile.

He felt Rensley calling out to him. "Yes, Rensley?"

"I LOVE COFFEE!" she gushed.

The men around Joe burst into laughter.

"Yes, Joe, I love coffee as well! Coffee and hammocks. I must have both!" Kennt followed up.

The SEALs were in stitches. Joe grinned and agreed that they would have both. Rensley argued that maybe she'd prefer a futon, and Kennt told her that she hadn't experienced the hammock, so she had no empirical evidence to base such a decision upon. Joe backed out of that argument.

The trucks began to pick up extra speed, and the Lieutenant explained they were trying to put some distance between them and their chasers.

The tooth went back onto the side of the pack, and everyone went back to relaxing and waiting.

About two hours into the drive, Joe remembered his phone. He asked the Lieutenant if it was safe to use the phone and got the go-ahead. He powered it up and discovered he had no signal. He frowned, shut it down, and put it away. It was supposed to have satellite connectivity, but that no longer worked for some reason.

The Lieutenant suddenly became alert as he listened to his earpiece. The SEAL team snapped to focus.

"We have chasers. Range, two miles, and closing. They have deployed agents on dirt bikes. Four of them moving to flanking positions. The main vehicle is a tractor-trailer. We tried to take out its radiator, but they've shielded the entire front of the truck from wheels to the driver's cab."

"Anyone got a rock?" Bennett quipped, looking at Joe.

"Funny, Bennett. You just volunteered to be his bulletproof vest. Joe, how far do you think you can throw a grenade? I've seen your accuracy. Do you think you could stick a grenade in this window grill? It looks to be the same size as a grenade." He held up a tablet with a telephoto shot of the front of the truck.

Joe looked at the man with an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. He was asking Joe to potentially kill the people chasing them. Kill or be killed again. Joe throttled down his unease and nodded. He pulled off his jacket and laid it on the bench with his hat. The Lieutenant said something into his mic, and Joe felt the truck slow perceptibly as the sounds of the other two trucks surged past.

The SEAL at the back gate was calling out the range between them and the truck behind them.

"When we get close enough, we will slam on the brakes. The moment we stop, you and Bennett are out the back door. Bennett will have three grenades. You take them one at a time, pull the pin, and hit the target as hard as you can. Aim for the window slot," Lieutenant Grey said.

Joe nodded, his face ashen.

"Brace!" the Lieutenant yelled. The wheels squealed and hopped then they were leaping out the back door. The truck was still roughly three hundred yards away. Bennett was kneeling, holding up a grenade. Joe grabbed it and pulled the pin. He threw it, but it detonated before it reached the target. Joe realized he'd have to throw harder. He snatched the second grenade as someone started shooting at them from the truck's passenger side window.

Joe popped the pin on the grenade and threw it as hard as possible at the window. The grenade went off just before it struck the plating before the window. The truck swerved. Joe heard Bennett cry out and fall, so he looked down to see the man on his back with a splash of red on his arm. He grabbed the injured man and tossed him back into the truck. Joe snatched up the last grenade, which was rolling on the ground. He looked back at the semi just as it tipped over onto its side and crashed. Three men riding on the flatbed behind the tractor were thrown to the pavement and crushed by the sliding trailer. Skulls cracked open, limbs were ripped from torsos, and blood splashed across the wreckage of the sliding truck. Joe stood frozen, watching the carnage, and felt someone pull the grenade from his numb hand. Other hands assisted him back into the truck, and they accelerated away after their partners.

Lieutenant Grey was getting an update on the other two trucks. They were pinned down. While they'd managed to take out one of the men on the motorcycles, one of the SEALs was dead, the driver of the vehicle with the Kel-Fahr huddled in the back. The other sailor in the cab was injured and couldn't drive. The truck had rolled to a stop on the road, and the last truck had been unable to reach them due to the crossfire from the remaining three agents.

Joe reached out and felt Rensley's terror. She and Kennt were still alive, as were the SEALs in the back, but they couldn't get into the truck's cab without getting shot. Joe did his best to calm the Kel-Fahr down.

Joe heard an odd sound like a mechanical tinkling. He realized it was coming from his bracelet. He spun to look back.

"NOBODY SHOOT!" he yelled as the cover on the back door tore open.

A Tik hovered in the opening and scanned the interior with a green beam. Joe pushed forward and stood in front of the tailgate, looking at the Tik in disbelief. "Stinky?" A mechanical tentacle touched his lips gently. He smiled. "Are Hack and Slash here too?" Stinky pulled back a little, and Joe saw them following the truck closely.

"Mr. Neumann, we are approaching the area of conflict and need to deal with the three remaining Russian agents. Are your mechanical friends able to assist?"

Joe looked back at the SEAL leader. "Do you have an image of the site?"

The Lieutenant showed him his tablet. Joe took it and showed it to Stinky. He pointed out the three men lying prone on the ground with the guns pointed at the trucks. He wasn't sure how to demonstrate to them how to stop the men. He'd barely managed to teach Stinky how to fetch food. "We need to stop these men." He slashed a finger across each man.

Stinky chirped to the other two then the three accelerated toward the scene.

Lieutenant Grey informed his troops to hold their fire. He watched the live feed on the tablet as the three Tik rocketed past at incredible speed. They hit the Russian agents with their tentacles in a slashing motion just as Joe demonstrated, and he watched the men's torsos bounce into the air, split in two. Joe barely reached the back gate before he lost his breakfast to the road below. He had three SEAL members hanging onto him to keep him from falling from the truck.

Joe passed out, his mind protecting itself from the stresses applied to it. He missed their arrival on the scene and the transfer of the dead SEAL to the truck containing the mechanical suits.

Bennett was moved to the truck with the Kel-Fahr to make room for Stinky, which insisted on sitting in the vehicle with Joe. Hack and Slash each took a spot in the others.

The rest of the drive to Melbourne was quiet and subdued.

Chapter 13

Joe woke up in the ship's infirmary. He smelled the antiseptics. He saw Stinky sitting on a chair next to the bed. He found that image rather touching for all its strangeness. He reached out a hand, and the tip of a tentacle wound around it gently.

"Hello, my friend," Joe said.

The image of the tentacle bisecting a Russian agent flashed in his mind, and he physically jolted from its sudden intrusion. He didn't blame the Tik for acting on his command. What had happened had been a miscommunication, but it had also saved the lives of the sailors and the Kel-Fahr. He suddenly thought of Rensley and Kennt and reached out to them.

"Joe! Are you all right!" Rensley's voice burst into his mind as she felt him connect.

"Joe, they gave me a hammock, but it's the wrong kind. You have to tell them—" Kennt began.

"Father! Not now!" Rensley cried in outrage.

"I'm glad you two are okay," Joe grinned.

"The Tik aren't allowing anyone to see you," Rensley said.

"Ah, okay, let me resolve that," Joe said, looking at Stinky.

Joe made motions with his hand as if gesturing to someone from the hallway to come inside. He wasn't sure if Stinky would get that.

Moments later, an agitated doctor came in to see Joe. "Why are these floating garbage cans keeping me from my infirmary?"

"They are not floating garbage cans. They are Tik. One of the noblest races you will find anywhere. Please give them the respect they deserve," Joe said, looking the man directly in the eye. "They are rather protective of me. I'm not sure why, but I appreciate it. My apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused."

The man nodded stiffly and tried to examine Joe. "There isn't any need for that. I'm not hurt."

"It was reported that you vomited and passed out. This was from the SEAL team that brought you in," he read from his tablet.

"Yeah, I, uh, just witnessed something horrible, and it shocked me... I guess I passed out," Joe mumbled. "I'm just saying I'm not physically hurt, so you don't need to examine me."

"I'm the doctor here. I think I'll be the judge of that," the man insisted.

"I'm sorry, doctor. No," Joe said firmly. He looked to Stinky. "I'm going to have to find a way to speak with you so you understand me. I need my phone. It was in my jacket pocket."

Stinky reached the closet door with a tentacle and reached into the jacket pocket to pull out Joe's phone. It handed the phone to him as he looked at the Tik in surprise. "Well, that's certainly an improvement! Thank you!"

The phone still had no connection. He assumed it was some kind of security protocol on the ship. Frustrated, he looked at the doctor, who was also looking at him in frustration. "If you contact my boss, Director Bannon of the NSA, or General MacAvoy, you will understand."

Joe sat up and felt a twinge on his left side but ignored it. He did notice he was wearing one of those stupid hospital gowns. "Are my clothes in the closet?" he asked Stinky.

The tentacle reached in, pulled out the clothes, and placed them on the bed.

"You can't leave! I haven't signed you out," the doctor said belligerently.

"Then, by all means, sign me out. Spare us both the drama," Joe said, getting frustrated with the man. "Aren't there real patients you could be helping like Mr. Bennett? He took a bullet in the arm!"

Joe dropped the hospital gown and pulled on his boxers. Then he pulled the undershirt on and noticed holes on the left side.

"Those look like bullet holes!" the doctor said. Joe pulled the undershirt up and noticed the black streak running along his side. The source of the twinge. "What is that?" the doctor asked.

"It's a bruise where a bullet grazed me," Joe said calmly, but his hands shook slightly. He finished getting dressed and noticed the matching holes in this dress shirt. He put the jacket on over top to spare himself the questions.

"Where are my companions being housed?" Joe asked the doctor.

"I'm sure I don't know who you're talking about," was the snippy response. Joe sighed and walked out of the room. He touched the sides of Hack and Slash then the four of them searched for the Kel-Fahr.

He checked a few other rooms in the infirmary and found Bennett. The man was grateful Joe had put him back in the truck. Joe learned that Petty Officer Jenner, the co-driver who'd been injured, would make it and could return to active duty once he healed. Bennett told him the ship was returning to its home port in San Diego with a brief stop in Oahu, Hawaii.

"My sister always wanted to visit Hawaii," Joe said.

"You have a sister!?!" Bennett asked. Joe could almost see the man envisioning a female version of him.

"I'm adopted," he explained, calming the man's imagination.

He left Bennett's room and continued until he reached the exit for the infirmary. Two security officers were waiting for him there. Their name badges said Petty Officer Pitt and Petty Officer Dunn. They looked nervously at the floating Tik.

"Mr. Neumann, we have orders to escort you to the Captain. Please have your machines stay here," one of the men said.

"They aren't my machines. They are sentient, albeit mechanical, beings. I'll ask them to stay, but I can't command them to do anything," Joe explained.

The sailors looked slightly upset, but Joe thought that was their problem. He turned back to the Tik.

"The Captain of the ship has summoned me. These men have asked that you stay here while I go see him," he explained.

Stinky chirped to the other two, who tweeted back. Hack and Slash moved back into the infirmary, then they went out a side door and headed away down the hallway. Stinky stayed behind Joe, who watched until they passed around a corner out of sight. He looked back at the two security men. "See?" he said.

"They cannot have unrestricted access to the ship, Mr. Neumann," Pitt said.

"Well, apparently, they understand English now, at least Stinky here does, so just ask them not to go into the areas they aren't supposed to be in. Maybe show them a picture of the ship and show them. Shall we go see the Captain?" Joe replied.

Pitt and Dunn looked at each other then Pitt led the way. Joe followed, and Stinky followed, with Dunn bringing up the rear. After a considerable walk, they stood before a door with a guard on either side.

"Sir, please leave your machine outside," the left-hand guard said.

"Mr. Pitt, could you explain what I told you to these men," Joe sighed. He waited while the guards conversed with the security officer and then made a call. Finally, they stood aside, and Joe entered the room with Stinky close behind.

The office was beautifully wood paneled with interesting photos and artifacts in cases and mounted on the walls. It was mainly primitive weaponry, a sharp contrast to the high technology of the nuclear-powered supercarrier.

Seated behind a beautiful oak desk was a silver-haired man with steel blue eyes and a sharp hook of a nose. He rose and walked around his desk to stand before Joe. The man was five-foot-eleven, so he had to look up at Joe, but he had such a strong presence about him. He commanded one of the largest and most powerful supercarriers, which was an awesome responsibility. Suddenly, Joe felt himself saluting, which made him blush and feel stupid. The man cracked a smile and held out his hand. Joe dropped the salute and shook the hand. The grip was intense but not a show of strength.

"So, this is the man that warrants turning a supercarrier around when it was halfway home for scheduled leave and having us run at maximum speed to get to the ass crack of Australia only to find out we have to send our SEAL team into the driest spot in the godforsaken outback to pick him up," he growled with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes, sir. I had hoped the Gate would drop me in my backyard, but I was just happy to have landed on Earth at all, sir," Joe replied.

"I did hear something about your unconventional means of travel. This is all above my pay grade, but hell if I'm going to ignore you now that you're here. Introductions are in order. I'm Captain Sean McGuire. Welcome to the Reagan."

"Joseph Neumann, and this is Stinky. It's from a race of sentient mechanicals called the Tik," Joe said. "I keep explaining that the Tik are not mine to command. My experience with Stinky, Hack, and Slash didn't begin so friendly. They were initially my captors and took me from Earth. They were in charge of my well-being on our journey to the home planet of a race called the Ello. They saved my life, and we learned to communicate on a rudimentary level. They protected me even from the Ello, their masters at the time. I don't know how they got back to me, but I'm very grateful. Stinky seems to understand English quite well now, though it doesn't speak it."

"How did it get stuck with such a colorful name?" the Captain asked, shaking the offered tentacle.

Joe blushed. "I uh, I was fighting off altitude sickness at the time of my abduction, and I gave the original group of seven Tik names based on what they looked like or how they behaved... or how they smelled after my air sickness bag hit them."

McGuire chuckled. He pointed to a large table with the contents of his backpack spread across it. They walked over to look at the items. "Can you explain what these items are?"

"Some of them. First off, this plastic bag contains my dirty laundry. The clothes I wore on the alien worlds. I know a certain Forensic Pathologist who might find studying the stains to be valuable. The two cube-shaped devices are portable Gate Generators. We used them to get back to Earth from Sehsra."

Pointing to the dwindling stack of food bars, he indicated the food the Kel-Fahr were currently restricting their diet to.

"These belts were taken from the bodies of thirty-three dead Vershoo. They were another race of beings who took me from the Ello to deliver me to Sehsra. Along the way, there was a mutiny involving hallucinogenic fruit, and they all died in a bloody battle on a jungle planet. I collected the belts because I was left alone on an alien world with no idea how to get home. The pockets contain... I have no idea. I haven't looked. Stuff the Vershoo thought was important, I guess. They were really tall, skinny, black-furred beings that looked like bush babies. They wore big goggles over their eyes."

Joe spotted the tied bundle and thought of the display in the office. "I don't know if this is allowed or what the protocols are, but I'd like to present you and the SEAL team who rescued me with a token of my appreciation for our rescue." Joe made some room on the table and then unrolled the fabric to display the collection of over one hundred knives. "The Vershoo all had these knives on their person. Wearing one to three of these knives on their belts indicated your status. The senior Vershoo carried three knives of different sizes. Please choose any three of these with my thanks! Be careful, though. They cut through almost anything."

The man was surprised by the offer and stunned by the beauty and craftsmanship of the weapons. He chose three different sizes.

He carried them over and placed them on his desk, and Joe could see he was already thinking of how he would mount them in a display. Probably behind his desk in the direct sightline of anyone sitting in the guest chair. Joe looked again at the knives the Captain had selected. There was something familiar about the intricate carving on the hilt—

Joe was fighting for his life at the Vershoo leader's back. He was swinging a club made from a thick hardwood branch. Skulls cracked like peanut shells when he connected, and limbs broke or tore clean off. Thrown knives were striking his skin with painful force and bouncing off. He screamed as the fruit's poison stripped him of his civilized mind. He kept swinging the club harder and harder to keep the mad Vershoo from killing their leader, who slashed and stabbed the attackers who came at his front.

Then Joe saw the leader's long blade tumble backward from his nerveless fingers as the Vershoo fell with a knife embedded in his eye. The glint of firelight flashing off the tumbling knife hilt's intricate carving—

Joe was sitting on the floor of the Captain's office, leaning back against Stinky, who had his torso gripped in a tentacle as another one brushed coolly across his forehead. The Captain was kneeling beside him, patting his hand.

"Gonna be sick," Joe mumbled.

McGuire grabbed his garbage can and barely got it under Joe's chin before the man hurled until his body was dry-heaving. The captain noticed the bullet holes in his shirt as Joe curled over the garbage can. He saw the dark patch of the bruise showing through the holes but no blood.

"Christ! Were you shot? I'm sending you back to the infirmary," McGuire said, reaching for his phone.

"Wait! The knife. I remembered. The Vershoo. I remembered." He panted and gripped Stinky's tentacle tighter.

"What about the knife? Which knife?" the Captain asked.

"I saw the hilt on the long knife you selected. It was the Vershoo leader's knife. I remembered the hilt." Joe was panting, and he was beginning to see spots before his eyes. "I haven't been able to recall anything about that night—the toxins, but that one... chaotic, intense moment just came rushing back. Just the seconds before I lost my mind to the poison fruit."

"I don't have to keep this one—" McGuire started.

"NO! I mean, please keep it. I'm sure it would be a great honor for him if you displayed it. He fought bravely until the very end, protecting my back as I had his." Joe struggled with the images of the savagery of the battle. It was almost painful. "Maybe it would be a good idea if I could lay down for a while."

There was a banging on the door, and it burst open to admit Hack and Slash, who chirped insistently at Stinky, who warbled back.

Joe looked at the Captain. "Please ask the SEAL team to each select a blade and one for the fallen sailor." As the image of the dead SEAL driver flashed in his head, Joe's mind had had enough and shut down to protect itself. He slumped. Hack and Slash moved in, gently wrapped their metal appendages around his body, and carefully lifted Joe between them.

The Captain stepped forward and addressed Stinky. "Please take him back to his bed in the infirmary."

"It's time I made a call to a certain General."

Chapter 14

General MacAvoy sat back in his leather chair in his trailer and rubbed his eyes. He'd just read through the top-secret mission report on the SEAL team's extraction of Joe and the Kel-Fahr. He wanted to throttle Lieutenant Grey for using Joe like that, but of course, the man was ignorant of Joe's state of mind and was only aware of the boy's amazing strength. And Joe had come through... again. At least five deaths directly related to Joe's action and the three agents the Tik killed at Joe's request. The General was sure Joe didn't ask them to kill, but it was the end result that mattered. They'd only lost one SEAL member while the Russian team of nine was taken out. The death toll was getting heavier on Joe's psyche. According to his call with Captain McGuire, Joe had a mental break when he saw something in the items he carried in the backpack. It triggered a suppressed memory of yet another traumatic event. Also, he'd been hit by another bullet.

MacAvoy suggested they keep Joseph sedated until he could get home, but the three Tik wouldn't allow the doctors to treat him, apparently at Joe's previous instruction.

Joe needed to return to a calm and safe environment at his parents' side, but unfortunately, he was the only one able to speak with the Kel-Fahr.

He rubbed his eyes again. He still had a few hours of work before calling it a night. He'd also worked through dinner, which was a shame because Clara made chili. His stomach grumbled, and he smiled, recalling the loud complaints Joseph's stomach made when it wasn't fed.

He pushed his chair back, looked at the clock, and saw it was ten. He decided he'd check to see if there was any chili left.

It was damn cold outside, so he bundled himself in his jacket and hustled across the lawn and walkway into the house. Karl and Clara insisted he just walk in as their guest. The door was never locked, as they had an army to protect them just outside.

The house was quiet, with just a few lights on, so he hung up his jacket, slipped off his overboots, and walked into the kitchen. There was a note on the fridge in Clara's handwriting for him. Instructions on where to find the chili in the refrigerator and how to warm it up. He smiled. Joe was a lucky boy to have such a caring mother.

He made himself busy preparing his dinner and popped some toast to accompany his chili. Five minutes later, he was seated at the table eating a wonderful meal in a warm and inviting kitchen.

He was just finishing up, and he heard the light footsteps of someone descending the stairs. He looked up as Clara entered the kitchen wrapped in her dressing gown.

"Sorry if I woke you," the General said.

"No, I was up. I was wondering if you'd heard anything more about Joseph," she asked.

He tried to keep it off his face, but it must have shown as she sat beside him. "Tell me everything."

"He's safe. I mentioned earlier the SEAL team made it to him, and they were headed back to the ship," he said, and she nodded. Karl joined them and sat down next to his wife with a concerned look on his face.

"The Russian extraction team caught up to their convoy on its way back to Melbourne. Joseph was... involved with protecting the convoy and was responsible for killing eight of the nine agents sent against them. I'm afraid that additional trauma didn't help his state of mind. He collapsed after the battle. They got him safely the rest of the way to the ship, where he woke up. He refused medical assistance. While speaking with the Captain, a suppressed traumatic memory from his time on another planet surfaced, and he fell unconscious again. He needs psychiatric attention. I've asked a psychiatrist specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder to join them at Oahu. I would like you two to speak with Joseph at that time and insist that he speak with the doctor."

Tears were pouring down Clara's face, and Karl's face was a storm of suppressed rage.

"Speak your mind, Karl," MacAvoy said calmly.

"Joseph was with a seasoned SEAL team, and he was the one who had to kill the enemy? Explain that to me, please!" Karl growled.

The General nodded as he agreed on the surface, it made no sense. But wartime introduces its own justifications for actions. He looked at Karl and Clara and spoke frankly. They deserved the truth.

"The Lieutenant was not made aware of Joseph's mental state before his rescue. When they met him, he'd just subdued five armed but drunk men looking to stir up trouble for the women whose house they were staying in. He did it with just a handful of rocks. Impressed the hell out of the SEAL team, which is not an easy thing to do. Joseph showed no ill effects from dealing with these men. When they were faced with an armored truck they couldn't stop, the Lieutenant asked him to use his throwing power again to hit the truck with grenades. The truck crashed, killing the five men aboard. As they rushed back to the other endangered sailors, the three Tik who appointed themselves his guardians showed up. The Lieutenant asked him if the Tik would help them take out the last three Russian agents, which they did at Joseph's request. I doubt he asked them to kill, but they did, and Joseph collapsed."

He sighed and shared a compassionate frown with them. "People see your son's huge size and automatically assume his nature is that of a tough brute. The SEAL team is made of battle-trained and toughened men who saw this big man as a useful weapon to save lives, which he did. Joseph proved to be a damn effective weapon. They only lost one man, and two others were injured, one of them he directly saved. Joseph was grazed by a bullet during the grenade attack but only has a bruise to show for it."

"We will do our best to keep him out of the line of fire from now on. The carrier's Captain has been brought up to speed, to the limit he needs to know, and will ensure that all personnel insulate your son from further violence. They will reach Oahu in four days, where the doctor will join them.

The most secure means we have of bringing them all back to the mainland is to continue on the carrier to San Diego at normal cruising speed, where we will transfer them to an Air Force transport. The Russians will act on their suspicions if we show any more haste. They don't know what we have but think they want it. Once everything is secure, I will be making a presentation to our global leaders to bring them all up to speed on the crisis Earth faces and the steps we've taken so far to resolve them. We just have to maintain the calm until that time."

Karl still looked upset, but the General knew he was a reasonable man. Clara's tears were drying, and she leaned against her husband for support. MacAvoy regretted their son's involvement but was also grateful Joe was there to protect those men. He was proud of Joseph, knowing it couldn't have been easy for him.

"If you don't mind, I have to get back to work on that presentation. Thank you kindly for the wonderful meal. As usual, it was delicious!" he said.

They all stood, and Clara surprised him with a quick hug, and Karl shook his hand. The General returned to his trailer with warm food in his belly and a warm feeling in his heart.

Chapter 15

They were a day out from Oahu, and the two Kel-Fahr were going stir-crazy. They talked with Joe from across the ship; he'd finally learned where they were being kept, and they both wanted to get some sunshine.

Joe went to talk with the Captain, and he said he would try to work something out. While he was there, Joe poked through the items he'd collected from the Vershoo and found the translator.

"Captain! I found the translator! I forgot I had this!" he said, turning the device over and recalling the controls the Vershoo leader had touched.

McGuire stepped up to the table and looked at what Joe was holding. "This is a translator? How does it work?"

"When I was on the beach on Ello, the Vershoo arrived, and they brought this. I couldn't tell what either race was saying. The Ello warble and the Vershoo chitter, so it seemed they couldn't understand each other either. The Vershoo leader held it out and pushed this button, making a long spike come out of here. He jammed it in the sand, pressed this button, and activated the device. It looked like a bubble growing outwards from the device, a rippling distortion of light, and when it passed over me, I felt this sharp pain in my head and dizziness, but after a moment, the warbles and chitters started to make sense. My own brain was translating them into words I knew."

"How large was the translation field?" the Captain asked.

"I don't remember... maybe a fifty to sixty-foot dome?" Joe replied. "It might have been a sphere extending underground as well, for all I know."

"Does it impact electronics?" was the Captain's next question.

"The only electronics I had was my phone. Its satellite connectivity feature no longer works, so maybe it does," Joe reasoned.

"We won't be using it on the ship then," McGuire said.

Joe nodded and pulled out his phone. "Speaking of using electronics, is there any chance I could use my phone to make some calls?"

"I'm afraid not, son. We're under orders to maintain radio silence outside of normal fleet communications," the Captain said.

Joe nodded again and flipped open the photo album. "I haven't been able to connect to my family since that one call just after I returned. I haven't spoken with my sister in months. Sorry, I'm more than a little homesick." Joe wished he'd been able to take some shots of his family with his new phone. He flipped through the pictures until he got to the image of the Blade of Eshen. It kind of reminded him of the supercarrier. He turned the screen to the Captain. "You might find this one interesting. This is the Kel-Fahr version of a supercarrier. They call it the Blade of Eshen." He handed the phone to the Captain.

The man frowned at the image and tried to get his head around the scale. Joe grinned as he knew what the next question would be. "About four times the size of the Empire State Building, on its side, and yes, it's flying. The Kel-Fahr can do some crazy things with gravity."

"They made something this big fly?" McGuire asked.

"Can you imagine your carrier lifting out of the sea to fly over land? Wait, would that make you part of the Air Force?" he grinned at the look of dismay on the man's face.

The Captain indicated he wanted to flip between the pictures, and Joe nodded. When he got to the shot of the Ello and Vershoo standing on the beach, he turned the phone towards Joe with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, the green aliens are the Ello, and the furry black ones were the Vershoo. In the center of the picture, you can see the leader of the Vershoo. He never told me his name." There was pain in Joe's eyes.

The Captain quickly moved on, and when he got to the photos of the house with the Soldiers hustling back and forth, he turned it back to Joe, who could only croak home before he had to look away and blink away the tears.

"Excuse me, sir, I-I need to go get some air," Joe said. He accepted his phone back, then left the office. Stinky was waiting outside and fell in behind him as he walked through the halls until he reached the flight deck. He stepped out onto the large, flat surface, walked out to the far side of the deck, and turned to face the sun. It felt so good and hot, though the wind blowing across the deck was fierce and cool.

Joe stood facing the sun and wanted to feel more of it on his skin, so he removed his jacket and handed it to Stinky. That wasn't enough, so the shirt and undershirt came off, and Stinky took these as well. Joe laid down on the deck, and that felt better. Stinky settled on the surface and provided a wind break, which felt even better. He reached up and patted the side of the Tik and felt it pat his side in return. He chuckled at the silliness of the gesture.

After a few minutes, he needed more, so he kicked off his shoes and tugged off his socks. Stinky almost missed them but secured them before Joe could let them fly away in the wind. Then off went his pants, and the Tik was prepared this time and caught them as they left Joe's fingers.

Pitt and Dunn came out onto the flight deck at a trot.

"Excuse me, Mr. Neumann. You can't do that here," Pitt said.

"This isn't a cruise ship," Dunn growled.

"That's funny. I'm not in the Navy. What am I doing here? I don't deserve to wear that uniform. I don't even deserve to wear these boxers." Joe ripped them off and tossed them to the wind before Stinky could reach them. They were quickly gone. He laid back down and closed his eyes. Pitt and Dunn looked distinctly uncomfortable now. Dealing with a naked, crazy man had a whole different set of rules.

"Sir! Put your clothes on and come inside!" Pitt said firmly.

"Not my clothes. Can't wear them," Joe said without opening his eyes.

"Sir, please put the clothes on and come inside!" Pitt repeated. Dunn was looking extremely frustrated. He'd spent many years working as a bouncer before he joined the Navy and had no patience for nutballs.

"No," Joe said.

"Fuck this. Come on, pal—" Dunn leaned down and grabbed Joe's arm to pull him to his feet.

Joe's eyes snapped open, and they were jet black. "DON'T. TOUCH. ME!" he growled deep in his chest, glaring at the man gripping his arm. Dunn yanked his hands back, leapt back from Joe, and tripped to land on his ass. His face was white. He pushed himself to his feet and ran for the hatch. Pitt was close on his heels, though he looked back in confusion. Joe shook his head and blinked several times to get his eyes back to normal. He laid back down. The sun felt really good, and he should feel good, but his eyes wouldn't stop tearing.

-=-

"Captain on the bridge."

McGuire stormed into the command center and looked at the group of sailors quickly returning to their stations. Most had blushes on their faces. He strode over to the window and looked down to see Joe naked on the flight deck. He had his Tik with him, and it was clinging to the man's clothes in the fierce wind.

"Get me Pitt and Dunn!" McGuire barked.

A few minutes later, the two security officers stood at attention before the Captain.

"Care to explain why Mr. Neumann is naked on my flight deck? Weren't you two assigned to keep an eye on him?" the senior officer said and caught motion by the windows. "Crewman Sanders. Have you concluded your business on the bridge?" The woman jumped and apologized as she hastily left the bridge. The Captain turned back to the two men facing him.

"Yes, sir. We were informed that he was seen going onto the flight deck, so we checked on him. By the time we got there, he was down to his underwear. We informed him he wasn't allowed to do that on the deck," Pitt explained.

"He refused to put his clothes on!" Dunn blurted. He was showing considerable agitation.

McGuire eyed Dunn and saw the sweat on his brow. He looked to Pitt, who was calmer but also fidgeting. "What did he say?"

"Not my clothes. I won't wear them!" Dunn said angrily.

"Those were his exact words?" the Captain asked, looking at Pitt.

"No, sir. His first words were that he wasn't in the Navy. He didn't deserve to wear the uniform. Then he removed his boxers and said he didn't even deserve these. I asked him to put on his clothes, and he said Not my clothes. Can't wear them. He said can't, not won't." He licked his lips and squeezed his fists until his knuckles cracked.

"Are you alright, Pitt?" McGuire was noticing the strange signs of stress in the two men.

"Yes, sir... no, sir. I seem to be experiencing a high level of anxiety. I believe Mr. Dunn is experiencing it worse than me," Pitt said.

"When did this start?" McGuire asked.

"When he turned into a demon!" Dunn yelled, pointing to the window

"Dunn! Get a hold of yourself!" the Captain barked, and Dunn snapped to attention. But his shivering continued.

"It began when Mr. Dunn tried to physically move Mr. Neumann. He didn't want to move and growled, Don't touch me, but his eyes, sir, they were completely black, like bottomless pits. Rumors are going around about Mr. Neumann having mental powers. I believe he hit us with something because, at that moment, there was nothing I wanted to do more than leave him alone. I can still feel it."

The bridge was completely silent. The Captain pondered the words of Mr. Pitt, who was showing incredible resilience in what must have been a novel and frightening experience. He had to contain this, though. It was time to make a few calls.

"Thank you, Mr. Pitt. I wasn't apprised of these rumors. I will look into it. In the meantime, please take yourself and Mr. Dunn to the infirmary and ask them to do a full exam. Just to ensure there aren't any long-term effects," he said.

"Thank you, sir," Pitt said, leading his partner from the bridge.

"I'll be in my office. Franks, you have the bridge."

"Yes, sir!"

Once McGuire reached his office, he put in a call to Pearl Harbor, Oahu. They put him through to the base commander, who heard his request and said he would act immediately.

Next, he made a scrambled call to General MacAvoy. It took some time, but he finally heard a voice, rough with sleep, on the other end of the line.

"MacAvoy."

"It's Captain McGuire. I apologize for the late hour, but you indicated I should contact you if Joseph's condition changes."

The man suddenly sounded much more alert. "What's happened?"

"Joseph was with me this afternoon and was asking about making some phone calls, which I told him he could not do at the moment. He seemed to take that news okay. Then he saw a picture on his phone of his home. He was visibly upset and said he needed to get some air. He then proceeded to go out onto the flight deck and removed all his clothes. He's sunbathing naked on the deck where everyone can see him. Some security personnel attempted to get him dressed, but that didn't go well. Tell me, General, does Joseph have psychic abilities? I have two men who are suffering from some kind of implanted anxiety. One is keeping it together, but the other is almost catatonic with fear. Is my crew in danger from Joseph?"

"No-no, Joseph has shown no psychic abilities outside of being able to communicate with the Kel-Fahr and relay their voices to humans," the General said

A claxon sounded on the ship. Franks' voice cut in over the intercom. "Captain to the bridge."

"I'll have to call you back, General," he said and hung up.

-=-

Joe was getting cold. He didn't have the energy to move, though. He was facing the hatch, thinking he really should go back inside, but he had no clothes to wear. He saw Dunn lurch out of the hatch carrying a very large machine gun. He felt Stinky react, but he grabbed the Tik's tentacle and stopped him from moving. Joe sat up and watched Dunn approach him with the gun's barrel pointed at the deck. He stood up and put a hand on the Tik to keep it from moving. It wasn't happy and was chirping constantly.

Dunn was halfway across the deck; his eyes were wide, and he was panting. Joe couldn't understand what Dunn was doing. He kept a firm hand on Stinky's top.

Seven SEAL team members poured out of the hatch behind Dunn and yelled at him to drop the weapon. They were all carrying machine guns of their own but smaller ones. Joe thought that wasn't right. They shouldn't be pointing guns at one of their own. God! He'd seen enough death. Too much!

"STOP!" he yelled, and everyone froze. He thought that was good, but Dunn looked even more terrified. Joe didn't want to hurt Dunn. He didn't want anyone to hurt Dunn.

"It's okay, Mr. Dunn. NOBODY SHOOT MR. DUNN!" Joe yelled.

The petty officer's mouth turned up into a rictus of a smile, and the MK 43's barrel came up. Their eyes met, and the fear seemed to drain from his face. A strange look of acceptance crossed Joe's face then he smiled back.

Dunn squeezed the trigger, and three rounds fired. From just fifteen feet, they hit Joe's chest and lifted him off the deck and over the ship's side to the water below.

Stinky shot forward to slap the weapon from Dunn's grip and spun to see Joe's bare feet disappear over the ship's side. It squealed loudly, and the two other Tik sneaking up on Dunn shot over the side after Joe. They saw the splash far below and shot down into the ocean after Joe.

The chaotic turbulence under the ship made finding him difficult, but they had his bracelet to track. Unfortunately, the energy required to maintain their course was enormous, and they felt their reserves rapidly decreasing. It was a frantic race to get him before they ran too low.

They finally managed to locate the still body and rushed it to the surface. Bursting upward, they dragged Joe up onto the deck next to the SEALS and some medics reaching for him. They gently laid him on the deck, and the doctors moved in. The next seconds were chaos.

"He's not breathing!"

"Jesus, look at his chest!"

"No heartbeat! Get me the paddles!

"Charging!

"Are those the bullets?"

"Get them out before you shock him!"

"His chest is turning black! What's that mean?"

One of the SEALs knelt beside Joe and put his hands flat against Joe's chest beside the three bullets embedded in his skin. They ran in a straight, evenly spaced diagonal across the center of his torso. While the SEAL held the skin flat, a medic tried to dig the bullets out with his bare fingers. The shells were flattened and wedged in under his skin. The medic tried using his knife to widen the hole but couldn't cut Joe's skin. The SEAL pulled out his Vershoo knife. He carefully applied pressure with the blade's tip where the bullet entered and breathed a sigh of relief as the skin parted. The medic twisted the pancaked round out. They watched in amazement as the skin resealed over the first entry wound when they moved to the next one. Now that they knew what to do, the two men made quick work of the next two bullets.

Only Stinky, who was scanning Joe at the time, saw his reaction to the skin-on-skin touch. Stinky handed Joe's clothes to Hack and moved closer. He knocked the charged paddles from the medic's hands and grabbed his wrists. He pushed the medic's hands against Joe's side. With a second tentacle, he pulled the SEAL back to put his hands on Joe as well.

A second passed, then a few more. Suddenly, Joe coughed seawater from his lungs. Then blood came up. Stinky passed his green beam over Joe's torso and made a shrill sound. Hack forced the clothes into the hands of a medic, then it and Slash picked up Joe and raced him back inside with Stinky in the lead. They got him to the infirmary and into one of the large showers. They turned the hot water and held Joe under it to increase his core temperature. Stinky raced through the rooms, gathering extra blankets. Then he went back into the shower and scanned Joe again. He made a short beep and turned the water off. They dried the unconscious man, carried him to the bed, and tucked him under the covers. Then they piled on the blankets.

Finally, Hack and Slash sunk to the floor against the wall at the end of the bed. They plugged themselves into a wall socket and shut down.

Stinky remained on vigil.

The medics finally caught up, followed by the SEAL team, but they only got as far as the doorway. Stinky stopped anyone from getting close to Joe with a gentle but firm tentacle push on their chest.

The Captain arrived in the outer hall.

"What is everyone doing here?" he barked.

Lieutenant Grey stepped forward with the SEAL who had worked with the medic. "Captain, Petty Officer Dunn has been disarmed and is in custody. He's not quite coherent at this time. The doctors will have to look at him. Sergeant Fisher here worked on Mr. Neumann when the machines pulled him out of the ocean."

The sergeant stepped forward and held out his hand palm down. The Captain cupped his own hand under it, and the sergeant dropped the three flattened bullets into it.

"Captain, Mr. Neumann took three MK 43 rounds to the chest from approximately fifteen feet. Instead of tearing right through him, they hit him like a truck and sent him flying off the ship. We saw the rounds embedded in his chest when we got him back. The medic couldn't get the bullets out, and his knife wouldn't cut Mr. Neumann's skin. I had to use the Vershoo knife to make an incision next to the bullet to get those out. The wounds closed, sir. There isn't a mark on him... except his skin has turned black."

McGuire looked down at the chunks of metal in his hand. He noticed the black substance in the crevices of the metal. "Dr. Pinyan, find out that this black stuff is." He gave the medic one of the bullets.

"Okay, let me through," he said to the group standing next to the door.

"Sir, the machine isn't letting anyone in," one medic said.

"Is that so? Stand aside," the Captain said and moved into the doorway. Stinky moved his tentacle aside when he saw the Captain but put it back after he had passed. McGuire stepped up to the bed and looked down at the unconscious man. He saw a stack of blankets had been added to the bed. Joseph seemed to be having trouble breathing. The weight probably wasn't helping. He turned to the Tik.

"There are too many blankets on Joseph. The weight is too heavy on his chest, and his breathing is affected. He probably has broken bones in his chest and maybe a perforated lung. We should operate."

The Tik made a single low beep. The Captain needed a better way to communicate with the Tik. First thing first, though. "Get me a secure line in here." He said to the sailor in the doorway. The man disappeared. "I'm going to look at his chest," he told the Tik. He peeled back the blankets carefully and saw what Sergeant Fisher meant about his skin turning black. The center of his torso was jet black, and this spread outwards. It was halfway up his neck and moving down towards his legs.

There was a commotion at the door, and McGuire saw Stinky was blocking his communications officer from entering.

"I need that man in here to set up a line to call the General to ask him about Joseph," he said to the Tik. The man was allowed in. He quickly made the required connections and handed the Captain the handset. "Please close the door on the way out, McGuire told him. When he was alone, he called MacAvoy. This time, he picked up immediately.

"Captain, what was the trouble? Is Joseph okay?" the General asked immediately.

"I'm afraid not. He's been shot. Three times in the chest from an MK 43 from fifteen feet. The bullets only got past his skin, but there seems to be significant impact damage. His breathing is labored, he has blood on his lips, and his skin is turning black. We can't operate, the Tik are overprotective, and we cannot communicate with them meaningfully. I could use some information on how to proceed."

"My god!" the General whispered. "Hang on. I'm going to contact someone who has experience with dealing with Joseph and gunshot wounds."

"He's been shot before?" the Captain exclaimed.

"Yes, hang on."

A minute later, McGuire heard a female voice. "Hello, this is Safa Neema. Please describe the injuries Joseph has sustained." While she sounded cool and efficient, he detected a slight tremble in her delivery.

"Three large caliber bullet wounds to the center of his torso from point blank range. The bullets barely penetrated and have been removed. We suspect internal damage from his labored breathing and the fact that he's spitting up blood. The force of those bullets would have been extreme. That energy had to go somewhere. He has extensive discoloration, now covering his entire torso and halfway up his face and thighs. It is spreading rapidly. I assume this is a bad sign."

"Do you have a sauna?" she asked.

"What? A sauna?"

"Yes."

"We do, but—"

"Place him in the sauna. It must be dry and intensely hot. He heals faster in a hot and dry environment, and his skin will also rapidly expel the bruising. Please do not be concerned about him being able to endure extended periods in the heat. That seems to be natural for him. Please begin this now. Time is of the essence."

"Right. I'll call back." He hung up and opened the door to the infirmary.

He turned to the Tik. "We have to get him into our sauna, now."

Stinky chirped, and Hack and Slash tweeted back. They didn't move, so McGuire assumed they didn't have the energy.

"We'll take him." He looked up and saw the SEAL team leader was having a conference with his men in the outer hall. "Lieutenant Grey! Get in here with three of your men and a stretcher. We have to move him," the Captain barked. "Falco, I'll need this secure line moved to the gym." The sailor came in to take the handset and headed out immediately.

With some struggling, they got the big man onto a stretcher wrapped in a single sheet, and the four SEALs carried him after the Captain as he rushed out of the infirmary to the ship's gym. Stinky followed. The sailors were grunting and sweating from the effort. The Captain pulled open the sauna door. Two sailors were sitting inside. He addressed them.

"Sorry, men, we need this room now. Turn off the steam on your way out, please, and clear the gym of all personnel."

The men vacated the booth, and the SEALs carried Joe's arms to get him onto the bench inside. His skin was almost completely black by this point, and his breathing was very labored. They exited the room, and the Captain closed the door. He confirmed the thermostat was at its highest setting.

"Captain? How long will he be in there," the Lieutenant asked.

"He needs the heat," McGuire said, looking in the little window.

"For how long?" Grey asked.

"Apparently, that's not a concern," the Captain said, and Falco handed him the handset. He dialed the General's line again.

"Hello?" it was Safa, and she answered on the first ring.

"It's Captain McGuire. We have Mr. Neumann in the sauna. The steam is off, and the temperature is set to one-hundred and ninety-four degrees Fahrenheit."

"If you can set it higher, that would be optimal. Two-hundred and twenty-five Fahrenheit would be better," Safa said.

McGuire looked at the thermostat and saw it was at its highest setting. "Sorry, it's as high as it goes."

"All right. To confirm it's working, you can hold a tissue over his skin. You should see the tissue touching his skin turn black. This is the expelled necrotic blood and tissue," Safa explained.

The Captain grimaced distastefully, then looked in the window. "We left the bed sheet on him, and I can see it's turning black in spots."

He heard her sigh with relief. "This is good. Please keep an eye on him and go in to check on him every few minutes to see if his breathing is improving. Now, I will contact his family doctor to see what nutrients he was given while he recovered from being struck by a truck. His body will need building blocks to rebuild."

"He was hit by a truck?" McGuire raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," she replied.

"The boy's been through a lot," he said quietly.

"More than you know," Safa said sadly.

He heard the phone transferring over to another hand. He could almost feel the blast wave coming before the General spoke, but his voice was icy calm.

"Can you bring me up to speed on how this event transpired on your ship, Captain? Are our other guests in danger? Should we consider moving them to an alternate means of travel when you reach Oahu?"

"That's your call, General. We're working in the dark here with Mr. Neumann. The shooter was the Security man I told you about earlier, who was affected by the sudden and extreme level of anxiety brought on by his encounter with the young man. I will have Lieutenant Grey describe the shooting incident on the deck." He handed the handset to the Lieutenant.

"General. We moved to intercept the suspect, who had obtained an MK 43 from our maintenance bay. We encircled the suspect, but Mr. Neumann stopped us from proceeding with his apprehension," Grey explained.

"What do you mean he stopped you?" the General growled.

"As we moved into position, Mr. Neumann yelled at us all to stop, and we did. We had to. The command to stop was almost physical. Each of the men present experienced the same effect. None of us were able to lift our weapons or move any further. It was a very uncomfortable sensation to be powerless like that. I have no idea how he did it. At the time, Mr. Neumann appeared to be suffering some emotional distress. His face was wet with tears, and his eyes were red from crying. The suspect was also unable to move, so that was some relief. Then Mr. Neumann... released the suspect from his control somehow. He was able to lift his weapon and point it at Mr. Neumann, and we couldn't stop him. What's more disturbing is that from how Mr. Neumann and the suspect looked at each other, we got a distinct impression that he was giving the suspect permission to shoot. He told him it was okay and told us we couldn't shoot. Then he smiled at the suspect. There was something in his expression. I think it was acceptance."

The Captain held out his hand for the handset and addressed the General.

"It's Captain McGuire. It has become obvious that Mr. Neumann is no longer of sound mind and has become a danger to himself and others. I have a psychiatrist flying to meet us as we approach Oahu. Normally, I would have our medics sedate him, but that may not be an option. Mr. Neumann is no longer able to assist in this mission. As our only means of communicating with our other guests, this leaves us in a bit of a dilemma. Do you have any suggestions?"

The General's steam was gone. "Not at this time, Captain. Carry on, and I will contact you shortly once I've conferred with my people." The Captain heard the connection go dead.

He looked at the Lieutenant. "He was asking Mr. Dunn to shoot him?"

"Yes, sir. That's what it felt like to all of us out there," Grey answered.

McGuire looked at the Tik, who was hovering nearby. "Do you understand that the man in there is now a danger to himself and to my crew? Beep twice if you understand."

There was a pause then the Tik made two deliberately slow beeps.

The Captain relaxed and could see the SEAL team members did as well.

At least they had the Tik on their side.

Chapter 16

Lieutenant Commander Eva Miller had been working with the Navy for twenty-five years. She considered her latest posting in Oahu as a reward for her years of service. She was grateful for the opportunity to continue serving from such a beautiful location. Her caseload wasn't light by any means, but the kinds of cases she'd been managing were not as critical as when she'd worked in some of the hot spots she'd been posted to over her career. When her office received the urgent call to have her rushed out to the Reagan, she felt that familiar tingle of excitement. She asked for a briefing on the case she'd be working on and was told it was classified and that she'd be briefed by the Captain once she was on board. The mission must have been critical because they loaded her into the second chair of a fighter jet to get her there quickly. She'd never flown in one and had certainly never landed on an aircraft carrier, so chalk up one more novel experience for her career! Her bucket list was getting shorter!

She thanked her rigid navy discipline for maintaining her physical condition now into her fifties. She had the slim, toned, and strong body of a woman twenty years her junior. Her excellent fitness level definitely helped her endure the trip on the jet, which was not the gentlest flight she'd been on.

Once on deck, she thanked her pilot and then was led through the ship directly to the Captain's quarters.

Standing before the man, she immediately picked up his worry.

"Lieutenant Commander Miller, I'm Captain McGuire. Thank you for coming on such short notice and by the less conventional means," he said.

"My pleasure, Captain. I always look forward to new and novel experiences to add to my personal achievement list. Now I can include flying in a Hornet and landing on a carrier," she smiled.

The Captain looked down at his desk and chuckled. "Well, your list for new and novel is about to start a whole new page. Your clearance has just been upgraded to the highest level. Everything you see, hear, and experience on this ship is classified as top secret."

Eva's eyebrows went up, but she nodded.

"What do you know about extraterrestrial life?" he asked.

A thrill shot through Eva's body, and she held herself very still. "Just the usual scuttlebutt, sir."

"Well, forget everything you think you know because the reality is so much bigger and stranger," he sighed. "As of this moment, we are at war with an alien race attempting to extinguish all life on Earth. We aren't defenseless, and we have some very good allies on our side. I report directly to General MacAvoy, and you will report to me. He recently brought me up to speed on your patient's background. Here is his docket. I'll ask you to read it here in this office as it never leaves this room. But before you do, I'd like to introduce you to one of our allies. It has appointed itself as guardian of your patient and is very protective, hence my introduction. It seemed to grasp my ranking or authority over the patient."

Eva's body was trembling with excitement as she prepared to meet an extra-terrestrial. She looked towards the door and saw the Captain was gesturing in the other direction. The cylinder that had been sitting on the floor when she'd arrived, which she'd taken for some obscure piece of technology, was now hovering at chest height and lit up. She froze.

"May I introduce you to... Stinky. It's a Tik, a sentient mechanical being from a planet named Ello," Captain McGuire said.

"Stinky?" she said weakly and looked at the Captain.

"Yes. Your patient, Joseph Neumann, gave Stinky and his six compatriots nicknames when they first abducted him from Earth. The Tik seem to have adopted the names. They understand English, but Stinky doesn't have the means to translate his speech into our language. There are two other Tik about the carrier, Hack and Slash, who also protect Joseph. Unfortunately, they also don't have the ability to speak. We also have two friendly representatives of the Kel-Fahr race. This is the race that is trying to exterminate us. I think you'll find them closer to what you'd expect an extra-terrestrial to look like. Unfortunately, they only speak via telepathy, and while the Tik understand them, the Tik we have here can't translate for us. Joseph can communicate with the Kel-Fahr for us and did so until his mental break. Sorry if I'm treading on your ground there."

"I-I obviously need to read the docket," Eva said, watching the Tik.

Captain McGuire came around his desk and stood next to the floating mechanical being.

"Stinky, this is Lieutenant Commander Eva Miller. She's a doctor specializing in the injuries of the mind, which Joseph appears to be suffering from. We need her to be able to speak with him and help him heal. Do you understand?"

The Tik beeped twice slowly. The Captain looked over at Eva. "Two beeps means yes. It's all we have at the moment. One of my techs is looking into a better means."

A silver tentacle slid out of a port on the side of the Tik and hovered in front of Eva.

"Handshake," McGuire said with a smile. Eva grasped the tentacle and shook it.

"Stinky, the Lieutenant will need to speak with Joseph for long periods of time alone so he feels comfortable expressing what is bothering him. Hopefully, She will be able to identify his issues and help him work towards a path back to a healthy mind. Is that understood?" Two slow beeps.

The Captain looked at Eva with a grin. "Sometimes it feels like Stinky is beeping slowly like that because it considers us a little slow-witted." A single quick beep from the Tik made them chuckle.

Stinky moved towards the door, making a series of beeps, obviously wanting to return to its duty. "Thank you, Stinky," Captain McGuire said, and it left.

Eva stared at the Captain. His mouth quirked up again. "I know, a little underwhelming as the first alien you meet, but far better to ease your way into this new world. Please read the docket, and then I'll bring you to Joseph."

She sat in the chair across from his desk, flipped open the docket, and started to read. He sat down at his desk and went back to his work.

Forty minutes later, she closed the docket and sat back. McGuire caught the motion and put his work away.

"How is he not dead from being shot three times in the chest at point-blank range with that MK 43? Is he showing signs of improvement?" she asked.

"We have no idea how he survived that, but he's definitely getting better according to the signs we've observed. Our engineer worked out a way to boost the heat in the sauna, and most of the bruising is gone. We've been feeding him protein milkshakes at this doctor's order or, rather, the Forensic Pathologist who's assigned herself the role. We will begin feeding him steak dinners with vegetables when he can consume solids. At his current rate of healing, he might begin that in two days. We bring him out of the sauna for his meals wearing fire suits, and we'll have to bring him out for you to speak with him as you wouldn't last more than a few seconds in there."

Her eyes snapped up to McGuire. "How hot is the sauna?"

"We've managed to raise the temperature to two hundred degrees Fahrenheit and minimal humidity. His body seems to like it. One word of caution when you first see him. His body will radiate a lot of heat, and his eyes have a protective membrane, which is a little unsettling. Don't be fooled by that and his intimidating size. He is a gentle soul... sorry, you probably didn't need me to say that," the Captain said contritely.

"Actually, it's good to hear others' impressions. What about the sailor, Petty Officer Dunn? Is he still in an extreme state of anxiety?" she asked.

"No, it's the oddest thing. He's made a complete recovery. In fact, he may be a little calmer than he was before. He's feeling a lot of remorse over shooting Joseph. He's in the brig, but I'm not sure he should be. He might have been under the control of Joseph the entire time. It's just a theory that would clear the young man of the charges. We think Joseph did something to Dunn to relieve the psychological pressure during their last encounter on the deck. Petty Officer Pitt is recovering more slowly but hasn't met Joseph since the event."

"Can I meet Joseph now?" she asked.

"Yes, it's almost time for his meal," the Captain said, leading the way to the gym. When they got there, the off-duty sailors who had been working out were leaving. No one but authorized personnel were allowed in the gym during these meal intervals, and no one was allowed near the sauna, though the curious tried to catch a glimpse of who or what was inside. Taking gym privileges away completely wasn't fair to the crew, so they'd worked out this compromise.

McGuire and Miller entered and walked over to where a gurney waited. Four large sailors donned their fire suits, and a fifth one pulled open the sauna door and stood ready to close it again. A blast of hot air rushed out, and a few sparks shot out of the room, splashing harmlessly off the sailor's suits. The four moved quickly and efficiently into the room, and moments later, they shuffled out with a large backboard carried between them with Joseph's body strapped down on it. They placed the board on the gurney and undid the straps. His modesty was protected only by a small strip of fabric across his groin and a square of cloth on his chest. There was a dark blotch on the material on his chest. Eva looked at the Captain.

"The fabric collects the necrotic materials his body is rejecting. That's the black stuff. There's no point in putting clothes on him until his body is done with this flushing process," he explained. "We change the cloth at every feeding. Once, it almost covered his entire body."

"Good day, Joseph. Are you able to talk yet?" McGuire asked.

Joe's eyes slowly panned over to the Captain. His arm attempted to raise in a salute, but McGuire gestured for him to lower it. "You know you don't have to do that, Joe."

"Debts I can never repay...." Joe whispered.

"Your debts are paid in full, boy. I've told you that," the Captain said firmly.

Eva stepped forward. McGuire recalled what he was supposed to do. "Joseph, this is Lieutenant Commander Eva Miller. She's here to speak with you."

Two sailors lifted the gurney's head up so he was on an incline. Better for being able to swallow his meal. Joe's eyes moved to look at Eva. "Hello," he said quietly.

"Hello, Joseph. May I call you Joe?" she asked. The Captain was right. His eyes were completely black, and she felt the heat coming from him in waves.

"Sure."

"I just wanted to introduce myself today. We're going to get to know each other a little better over the next week," Eva said with a gentle smile.

"Going to poke around in my grey matter?" Joe asked.

"I thought we'd just talk," she answered.

"Same thing," he said, looking away toward the food.

One of the sailors brought the straw of the first of four milkshakes up to his lips. He strongly sucked on the straw and swallowed. "Ugh, that's awful!" he said but returned to drinking. He choked down the four shakes and looked over at the Captain. "When will I be able to eat real food?"

"Ms. Neema indicated that you'd likely be ready for solid food in the next day or two. We could try something small for breakfast tomorrow. Eggs, bacon, and toast, then two shakes?" McGuire asked.

"Yeah, that would be good," Joe said quietly and closed his eyes.

Eva watched Joe's face and saw the emotion leak when Ms. Neema's name was mentioned. She'd picked up at least three emotions: intense longing, despair, and depression, the state he was in now. She'd have to speak with the Captain about that. She also wanted to talk with this Neema woman and Joe's parents.

She watched the big man being carried back into the sauna, which felt more like a blast furnace. There was definitely a lot about this young man that was otherworldly, but his mind was human, so she was sure she could help him.

Chapter 17

Joe sat on a chair on the flight deck, soaking in the sunlight. He'd spent almost six days in the sauna and was now well enough to eat real meals and sit upright. His body was badly weakened and still rebuilding, but he was improving. His sessions with Eva Miller were helping as well. The enormous guilt he'd been carrying around for the deaths he was responsible for was out in the open, and they were working on ways for him to deal with it.

Next to Joe sat Kennt and Rensley, enjoying their first taste of direct sunlight since their tour of the outback. They found this experience to be much more pleasant. The risk of aerial surveillance was deemed minimal, hence the freedom to be exposed to the sun on the deck.

Hack and Slash were with them, holding up their windbreak as the deck was a windy place. Stinky was at Joe's side as usual.

Captain McGuire and Eva Miller were also sitting comfortably with the group. Eva was fascinated with the two Kel-Fahr and amazed that she could speak with them as long as Joe was nearby acting as a mental relay.

Pitt and Dunn walked onto the flight deck and approached the group. Joe heard their approach and opened his eyes. When he saw who it was, he stood and held out his hand. Dunn immediately stepped forward and grasped his hand in a firm handshake.

"I am so glad you're better!" Dunn gushed.

"I'm so sorry to have put you through that!" Joe apologized. He saw Pitt holding himself stiffly and damned himself for causing the man this distress.

Dunn looked behind at his partner, and without letting go of Joe, he used his other hand to grasp Pitt's left. Once the connection was made, all three gasped as Pitt's tension suddenly broke. Legs gave, and the three men plopped down onto their butts letting go of their grips on each other.

Pitt looked completely surprised, then started to laugh in relief. Dunn picked up the laughter, and Joe grinned at the two men.

Eva watched the exchange with delight and fascination while McGuire got to his feet to help the men stand back up. Stinky helped Joe up. Pitt stepped forward and shook Joe's hand, and the two men smiled at each other.

"I don't understand any of these weird Human rituals," Kennt complained.

"Father!" Rensley admonished and looked apologetically at the Captain, who just grinned back.

"What? Why did they fall down and laugh like that? What does it mean? Was it some kind of mating thing?" Kennt persisted.

"Stop it!" Rensley hissed.

Kennt frowned and looked toward the horizon, watching the sunlight sparkle on the water.

Rensley turned to the Captain. "I'm sorry for the rude questions. My father is bored, and his brilliant mind needs to be occupied. How soon until we get to the lab?" she asked.

Kennt learned that he would be brought to a base with a lab filled with scientists eager to understand how the Gate technology worked. His professional pride was thrilled at the chance to teach once more. He had a purpose! If only they could get off this slow conveyance and get to the base! He really needed to begin preparing. He should read his notes. He turned to Joe.

"Joseph, I need my notes. Where did you put my journal?" he asked.

Joe looked at the old Kel-Fahr. Journal? "What does it look like?"

"It's about this big and flat." Kennt formed a shape with his tentacles.

"Oh! I was wondering what that was. It was in my backpack. It's in the Captain's office," he replied.

"Captain, please return my journal to me," Kennt said bluntly.

McGuire glanced at Joe. "What is on this Journal?" he asked.

"My notes, of course," Kennt said.

"Anything else?" the Captain asked.

"Oh, well, yes. It was the backup of my home terminal, so it contains everything," Kennt said thoughtfully.

"Everything?" Joe asked.

Kennt looked at Joe as if he were speaking to a child. A frustrating child at that. "The Kel-Fahr Database. All of our knowledge about everything and everyone."

Joe looked at the Captain, whose eyes were wide with surprise. "Maybe we should make a backup of your backup as it's the only one available," Joe suggested to Kennt while keeping his eyes on the Captain, who gave him a subtle nod and smile.

"Yes, that would be a prudent move. You can ask one of the Tik to do it unless you have a backup device with sufficient capacity," Kennt suggested.

Joe looked at Stinky, who chirped and pointed to Hack. Joe nodded.

"We'll get it back to you as soon as we can ensure we have a secure backup. All right?" McGuire said to Kennt.

"When will that be? I need my notes," Kennt complained.

"Father! It will take as long as it takes. Please be patient!" Rensley exclaimed.

"I do have some good news for you. When you first arrived, I explained your request for a knit hammock to my officers, and word went out to the crew to find someone with the skills to make one," McGuire said and gestured to the crewman standing in the doorway of the superstructure. The big man walked across the space and stood at attention with a bundle under one arm.

"At ease, Seaman Yoder." McGuire turned to Kennt. "Seaman Levi Yoder made you a hammock based on the description of the one you were using in Australia."

He nodded at Yoder, who began to unroll the bundle. Joe stepped forward and held one end, then stepped back so they could hold it out between them. Joe was impressed with the craftsmanship. The alternating use of black and white rope gave it a high-contrast effect that dazzled the eye. The wood spreaders at each end were smooth and polished, one painted white and the other black.

Kennt stood up, walked to the hammock's edge, and reached out to delicately run his hands over the knotted rope. He looked up at Yoder with wonder in his eyes.

"It's beautiful! You made this? By hand?" Kennt seemed awestruck.

"Yes, uh, sir," Yoder stammered as he looked down at the alien speaking in his mind.

"His name is Kennt," Joe said with a smile. Yoder smiled back.

"May I?" Kennt asked as he gestured to get on it.

Joe and the sailor braced themselves, and Kennt rolled onto the hammock with a fluid grace. He stretched out, and everyone could tell he was in bliss.

"THIS IS WONDERFUL! So much nicer than the one at the house!" Kennt sighed. He rolled back out to his feet. "Rensley, you must try it!"

Reluctantly, she moved to the edge and touched the knotted ropes. "It is very beautiful!" she said. She rolled onto the hammock and stretched out. The surprise she projected was delightful, and the humans couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, Father, you were right! This is so comfortable! This beats a futon!"

She rolled off and looked at it wistfully.

Levi looked at the Captain with a smile. He nodded. Levi rolled up the hammock and handed it to Joe. Then he hustled back to the door and returned with another bundle. Joe gave the first hammock to Stinky, then helped the Seaman unroll the second one. It was made of five different shades of green rope. Darker green on the outer edges and lighter green in the center. The wood spreaders were stained a deep mahogany color, which looked amazing against the green rope. Once more, the craftsmanship was excellent, and the pattern was very pleasing to the eye.

"This one is for you," Levi said.

"Thank you!" Rensley gasped.

"They are both very beautiful, though I like mine better!" Kennt said, returning to his usual blunt self. "You have an extraordinary talent in making these hammocks, Seaman Levi Yoder. Thank you!"

Yoder thanked Kennt and rolled up the hammock, handing it to Joe. Joe shook his hand. Yoder saluted the Captain and the Lieutenant Commander, then went back inside.

"I cannot wait for the end of the day when I will get to sleep on my new hammock!" Kennt enthused.

"I'm looking forward to trying mine!" Rensley agreed.

Pitt and Dunn saluted the Captain and the Doctor and carried the hammocks inside to set them up in the Kel-Fahr's quarters. The remaining people standing took their chairs once more and relaxed.

"So when am I getting my journal?" Kennt asked.

"FATHER, REALLY!" Rensley barked.

Kennt went back to watching the sparkles on the ocean. Joe either kept his eyes on the superstructure or closed.

Eva saw his avoidance of looking at the open ocean and made a note to ask him about that.

"How soon will we reach San Diego?" Joe asked.

"Three more days. Then you'll be transferred to a transport plane to get you back to the base," the Captain replied.

"Ugh! I hate flying. Almost as much as I dislike being trapped on the open ocean like this," Joe grumbled.

"Trapped on the ocean?" Eva asked. She was surprised by his willingness to be open about the fear.

"I assumed you'd notice I don't like looking at the ocean. Aren't you going to ask me why?" Joe asked shortly.

"I did notice, but I thought you might be more comfortable talking about it privately," she said gently.

Joe brooded. "I'm sorry. I'm not normally this rude."

"Quite all right. Would you like to tell me why the water makes you uncomfortable?" Eva asked.

"I would love to tell you why large bodies of water make me anxious, but I have no idea. I can take showers, but when I'm faced with an ocean, a lake, or even a bathtub, I lock up!" Joe growled.

Kennt made a rude sound. "Fahrchar live in arid conditions. They do not move quickly. They cannot swim. They can endure a little rain, but a flash flood will drown them. You are obviously picking up their instinctive fear. All Kel-Fahr know this and train themselves to put it aside."

Joe blinked at Kennt. "Oh."

Eva watched Joe's face. She needed to see how he would deal with this new evidence of his alien nature.

He turned his face intentionally towards the horizon. She saw his jaw clench, but he kept his eyes open. Finally, he closed his eyes, turned his face back towards the sun, and soaked up the warmth. The smallest of smiles played over his lips, and Eva smiled as well. The question had been answered. He'd challenged it internally, somehow, and then he seemed to come to terms with it. She was very pleased with how he handled himself. She smiled at McGuire and saw the man relax.

The Captain left a short time later, but Eva spent the afternoon on the deck with Joseph and the aliens. When Pitt and Dunn came out to bring them back inside, the Kel-Fahr and Joe seemed much more relaxed.

Joe asked Stinky to ask Hack to go to the Captain's quarters and back up Kennt's journal. A few chirps later, Hack was on his way. Dunn called ahead to let the Captain know Hack was coming.

Joe stopped by Kennt and Rensley's quarters to see the new hammocks. The Kel-Fahr were delighted and immediately rolled into their new beds.

"Joseph! We get to take these with us when we leave the ship, don't we?" Kennt asked, concerned.

Eva nodded with a grin on her face. "They were gifts, so yes, they are yours to keep," she answered for Joe.

"Excellent!" Kennt said.

Joe smiled at the Kel-Fahr. Only three more days on the ship, then he was going to go look for his sister. He hadn't told anyone else his plans, but an intense need to see her was building as they approached the States. He should probably speak to his doctor about it, but she might say no, and he couldn't accept that.

So, he kept the secret to himself.

Chapter 18

The carrier was docked. It had come in at night, and the guests were expecting to leave at the crack of dawn the following morning for the airport. Joe couldn't wait that long. His sister was nearby, and the need to see her was driving him nuts. He was trying to think of some way to slip away. It was only a two-hour drive to Santa Monica. He'd check with Doug Wilson to see if he knew where she was. The trick was getting off the ship unnoticed. There were no darkened back stairwells to sneak away on. Everything was lit up like daylight. To add more complications, Pitt and Dunn were practically attached to his hip. He couldn't go anywhere without them. He'd been told to avoid going on deck or anywhere visible from the shore.

He sat in the cafeteria with Stinky. Pitt and Dunn were a few tables away, enjoying coffee and a muffin.

"Stinky, I need your help. I need to visit my sister. She's only two hours north of here in Santa Monica. If I ask, they'll say no. They won't even let me make a phone call. I need to see her. I don't want anyone to get hurt, but you've got to help me escape the ship. We can be back in time for the flight. Please help me." A tear escaped and rolled down his cheek.

The Tik watched Joe try to hold in his tears. It scanned him and saw he was in distress. It gently put the tips of two tentacles in Joe's ears. He looked at the Tik hopefully. Stinky cranked up the volume and started to emit loud pulses of sound. Everyone in the cafeteria clutched at their ears and fell over. Stinky extracted his tentacles, pulled Joe out of the room, and they rushed up to the flight deck as alarms began to sound. Hack and Slash met them there. As they'd done before, the two wrapped coils around Joe's arms and chest and lifted him off his feet. Before anyone saw them, they shot away from the ship into the darkness, heading north.

It didn't take long for Joe's phone to activate. General MacAvoy's angry voice could almost be heard above the wind noise, but there was no way for Joe to respond. They were flying low and extremely fast, and the only way Joe could breathe was because Stinky flew directly in front of him, taking the brunt of the wind. Soon, the phone went silent.

Joe watched the coastline zip by. Dotting the edge of the land were the lights from the beautiful homes built to enjoy the ocean and beach view. He wondered if the people in those homes were with the ones they loved tonight.

A little under an hour later, they started to see the lights of Los Angeles light up the sky. Joe watched for familiar landmarks and soon began to recognize the condos along the coast. He called out to Stinky, who turned and saw where he was pointing. He directed the Tik to drop him down on the wide balcony of Doug Wilson's condo. The three Tik immediately floated over to the wall and plugged in to recharge themselves.

He saw the open patio door, which probably meant Doug was home. He walked to the door and called out. Doug's shocked face appeared at the entrance of the kitchen.

"Joseph? What the hell are you doing on my patio? How did you get there? Never mind! Where have you been?" Doug rushed up to him and grabbed his hand.

Joe had tears in his eyes as he was so happy to see Doug. "I've been gone a long time, but I just got back. I'm not supposed to tell anyone. I'm not supposed to be here, but I have to see Amy."

"God, she's going to want to see you! I have to tell you she hasn't been the same since you disappeared. She's still talented as hell, but some of the fire is missing. She needs you," Doug said.

"Where is she?" Joe asked.

"Let me find out," Doug said, rushing to his coffee table to grab his cell. He punched in a text, and seconds later, he got a reply.

"Oh... damn." Doug had a sick look on his face.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Joe asked, grabbing Doug's shoulder.

"She's on a date with Danny Janus. Come on, we've got to get to her," Doug said, grabbing his car keys.

"Give me a second," Joe said, returning to the patio. A few seconds later, he returned, and they headed down to the garage.

As they pulled onto the road, Joe held his arm up through the moon roof. His bracelet chirped, and he looked at Doug, who was glancing at him.

"What is that? Some kind of Bluetooth heart monitor?"

Joe smiled. "Yeah, something like that. Where are we going?"

"Danny owns a nightclub in a not-so-good part of town. He's taken her there, of course. Isolate her from her friends. No one she can call for help. I'm surprised she still has her cell. The guy is a real player. Has a long string of broken young starlets in his history. He set his sights on your sister a couple of months ago. Started doing nice things for her. Getting her into the right parties and meeting people she might do business with. He was wooing her. It's how he works. I tried to talk to her about him, but she just put it down to my trust issues." He looked sad.

"Can you drive faster?" Joe asked.

Doug looked over and saw Joe was one breath away from taking control of the car. His eyes widened, and he put his foot down. They made it to the old warehouse district in record time. The buildings that had been abandoned for years now saw new life as nightclubs, bars, restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries. Doug pointed out Danny Janus' club. A line wrapped around the block, and two big bouncers blocked the door. Doug parked at the curb and texted Amy again, asking where she was in the club.

"Upstamm-" showed up on the screen. Further texts yielded no response.

Doug looked over at Joe, who was starting to look frightening. His eyes had gone completely black.

"Uh, I think she's upstairs in his private office. He-he might have just taken her phone," Doug said, and Joe was out of the car and running for the door. Doug saw the two bouncers immediately move to intercept, and Joe slammed them together and tossed them aside.

Joe pushed into the club, ignoring the screams behind him. As he rushed into the main hallway, three more guards dressed in the same black suits as the doormen arrived and came straight at him. He swung his hand in a wide, open-palm slap and got all three in the one sweep. The slap dazed them, so he slammed them against the corridor's wall and heard bones crack. He dashed forward into the club. To his left and across the club, he saw the stairs leading to the private upstairs area. It was behind the velvet robe and two more very large men. He set course for them, and people started screaming and running for the door.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and the lights went out. Joe smelled the scent of ozone and burnt flesh and recalled another time when someone had used a Taser on him. He could see in the dark well enough, so he sprinted across the room. Some patrons used their cell phones as flashlights to find their way out of the club until some emergency lights came on. By this point, it was too late for the two brutes on the staircase to react to Joe's sudden appearance. He grabbed an ankle of each of them and pulled them up and out, yanking them off their feet. Their heads slammed into the stairs, and they were out. Joe leapt over them and ran up the stairs three at a time. In the corridor, he saw one last guard standing outside a set of fancy doors.

Joe could just make out a scream from behind the door. The next thing he was aware of was standing over the crumpled form of the guard, lying unconscious on the flattened doors inside the office. A very large man was pushing himself off a small blond woman, curling up in a fetal position facing away on the couch.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!" the brute said.

Joe ignored him. "Amy?"

The petite woman jolted at the sound of his voice.

The man charged at Joe, but Joe slapped him aside, slamming him to the floor across the body of the fallen guard.

Joe stepped up to the side of the couch. "Amy? It's me, Joe. I'm back."

Amy's frightened eyes peered over her shoulder then she was clinging to him, pressing her face into his chest and sobbing.

Joe heard the unsteady footsteps of the man rushing towards them then the windows imploded as Hack and Slash smashed their way in. They reached out and grabbed the man with their tentacles and yanked him back. Slash slapped away the knife he was holding, taking off three fingers and the end of his penis.

What followed was a lot of screaming, then silence as he passed out. The Tik released him, and he fell to the floor.

Still facing away, Joe pointed out the window, and Hack and Slash slipped back into the night.

Joe straightened out Amy's clothes to give her a little more modesty. He saw her phone under the coffee table, picked it up, and dialed 911. He was on the phone with the operator bringing the police and ambulance when two police burst into the office.

"FREEZE! LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS!"

Joe stayed on his knees with Amy sobbing against him and held his hands up. One of the cops took the phone. He listened, then spoke with the 911 operator.

Joe turned his head towards the cop. "That man just raped my sister here. Please be gentle with her."

"No! He didn't get inside me! He didn't!" Amy sobbed.

"Shhh. It's okay. I'm here," Joe whispered.

Her tears started up once more.

"Sir, what's your name?" the cop said. His uniform identified him as Fitz.

"Joseph Neumann. This is my sister, Amy Neumann."

"Wait a minute! The same Joseph Neumann who pushed the dumpster and saved those cops?" Fitz asked incredulously.

"Yeah, Officers Ramone and Willis still have my cell phone. I've been meaning to drop by and pick it up," Joe smiled.

"HOLY FUCK! It is you!" The cop put his gun in his holster, and his partner gaped at him. "This guy saves cops! He's no fucking criminal! Put your gun away! What happened here?" he said to Joe.

The paramedics arrived, and Fitz's partner Officer Boon pointed them at the big guy bleeding out of his dick and fingers.

"I was looking for Amy and heard from a friend that she was here with someone called Danny Janus. I heard he was bad news, so I came to take her home. I heard her scream when I reached the upper hallway, so I entered and saw him leaning over her on the couch with his pants off and her clothes torn. He came at me, but I just knocked him down."

Officer Boon snorted. "Knocked him down onto what? A blender?"

Joe looked over at the bloody mess of the man on the floor. The paramedics were frantically trying to stop the bleeding. Joe felt a little queasy.

"I was facing away from him, holding my sister, when that happened, so I didn't see anything. I heard a crash of the windows bursting in and then screaming."

"Has anyone seen the tip of his penis?" the paramedic yelled. "We may be able to save it."

Fitz started to laugh and pointed down at Boon's boot. Smashed almost beyond recognition was a piece of flesh stuck to his treads.

"Fuck! Get it off!" Boon yelled and stomped his foot and rubbed it against the sharp edge of the coffee table to scrape it off.

Fitz scooped up the crushed tissue with a piece of the shattered door frame and held it up for the paramedic. "This any good to ya?" he chuckled.

"Never mind," the man growled.

Fitz dropped the offending bit and looked over at the windows. He noticed all the debris WAS on the inside.

"Joseph?" Director Bannon's voice came out of his cell in his pocket. The cops turned back to look at Joe with eyebrows raised.

"May I take this call?" Joe asked Officer Fitz.

"Yeah," Fitz said.

Joe turned the phone's speaker off. "Yes, Director Bannon."

"Is your sister all right?" he said gently.

"I'm not sure yet. I need to take her to the hospital," he answered.

"No! I just want to go home!" Amy cried.

"Amy. Listen to me. I'm taking you to the hospital. They will check you for rape and ensure you aren't hurt. I'm your big brother, so you know I'm the bright one in the family. You have to listen to me." He kissed her forehead, and she clung to him, shivering like she feared he'd disappear again.

Joe put the phone back to his ear. "I don't think I'm going to make that flight tomorrow morning. I'm sorry I left in the way I did, but I'm not sorry I left. I have to take care of my family first. That's final," Joe said calmly.

There was a pause. "I understand that one of your Tik holds an enormous database of rather sensitive knowledge. We'd really like to get our hands on that. It's not safe out there in the world."

"Director Bannon, none of us are safe out here in the world. But no one outside the few who were there knows it has the data. You have the original resource for the data, and you have other Tik which can make another backup. Once you do that, let me know, and I will ask it to purge the files. Listen, I have to go. Family." He hung up.

He put the phone away and looked at the police. "Can we get a lift to the hospital?" The two men nodded.

Joe grabbed the blanket from the gurney they brought up for the big guy and wrapped his sister in it. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the club, past the bodyguards getting medical attention, and out into the street. As he expected, the paparazzi were in full force, and the flashes were popping, but Amy was completely covered up. Joe spotted Doug still sitting in his car up the street and gave him a nod. Fitz and Boon guided them to their patrol car and drove them to the hospital. Joe felt them being tailed, and he hoped that was just Doug.

When they arrived, Joe carried Amy in and got her into an examination room with a doctor. He had to leave, and Amy almost went into hysterics, but he told her he was just outside the curtain with the police officers. Doug arrived.

"How is she?" he whispered to Joe.

"She may have been raped," Joe said between gritted teeth.

"Damn it! If only I'd managed to convince her—" Doug began.

"No! Stop right there! This is not your fault! I can't tell you how thankful I am that you were there for her while I was away, but I have no expectation that it was your responsibility to keep her from all harm. You tried, and she didn't listen. She made a mistake and paid for it terribly," Joe said grimly and pulled Doug in for a hug, which surprised and embarrassed the man. Fitz and Boon smiled at his discomfort.

The doctor came out of the curtain. "Which one of you is family?"

"I am," Joe replied.

"You, waiting room," the doctor said to Doug, who nodded and hustled away. The officers stepped a distance away.

"Your sister?" Joe nodded. "The man who attempted to rape your sister was interrupted before penetration. Her hymen is still intact, but there is some bruising near the entrance. We've done swabs to collect evidence of the rapist's DNA, but we'll need a sample from him to match it.

Joe turned to the police. "Officer Boon, may I have your boot?" The cop in question grimaced and started to unlace his footwear.

The doctor was looking curiously at Joe.

"The rapist lost the end of his penis, and Officer Boon accidentally stepped on it, smashing it beyond repair. His boot tread may still have a sample," Joe explained, and the doctor grinned. "Can I go in to see her now?"

"Yes. We've given her a mild sedative. She should be taken home to rest," the doctor advised.

"Thank you, Doctor Singh!" Joe said, reading his nametag.

Joe stepped inside, and Amy's expression immediately relaxed. He walked up beside the bed and kissed her forehead. "Let's get you home."

He carried her out and met Doug in the waiting area, who left to pull the car around.

The two police officers met them there.

"Listen, Joe, we'll need you two to come to the station tomorrow to make an official statement." Fitz handed him a card with the address to the precinct.

"Sure, we'll be there before noon. Is that alright?" Joe asked.

"Yeah. I need the address of where you're staying tonight," Fitz said.

Amy gave Doug's address in a quiet voice. Joe repeated the bits the officer hadn't heard.

"Take care, and see you tomorrow," Fitz said, leaving with his partner.

Joe put Amy in the back seat and climbed in with her. They buckled up, and she leaned against his side, gently crying. He put his arm around her.

Doug took them home.

Chapter 19

Mornings were special to Doug. It was his time to charge his soul and greet the sun. He walked out onto his patio, sipping his coffee. He went to the balcony edge and turned his face to the rising sun.

The daily ritual made him feel better. It was as simple as that.

Once more at peace with the world, he turned to go back into his home and spotted three large and ornate garbage cans sitting in a row against the wall. They didn't belong to him. Then he recalled how Joe arrived last night. Maybe they belonged to him? Curious. He walked back inside.

Doug puttered around the kitchen, making breakfast for his guests. He loved when Joe visited as he always had a big appetite, and Doug could experiment with various dishes for him to try.

Around eight, Joe stumbled groggily into the kitchen. He was only wearing his pants. Doug noticed the night before that Joe's shirt was destroyed in the back, torn and burned. Doug certainly didn't have anything that would fit the larger man.

There was a weird warbling noise, and they both turned their heads toward the sound. Doug froze. One of the garbage cans was floating in the air in the kitchen doorway.

"Sorry, Stinky. I should have told you last night. I spoke with Director Bannon and told him I wouldn't be flying back with them this morning. Once I've taken care of Amy, we'll join them," Joe explained, then turned to Doug. "Sorry, Doug, I should have introduced you to my friends last night. This is Stinky. It's a Tik. A sentient mechanical being. Its partners, Hack and Slash, are outside charging. I'll pay you for the power they consume. I can't go into too many details, and it's probably better that I don't."

Stinky extended a silver tentacle, and Doug shook it.

He looked at Joe. "Stinky?" he said in a daze.

"Is something burning?" Joe asked, and Doug immediately pulled the frying pan from the element and scraped the burnt egg into the garbage.

"Stinky was the nickname I gave it when we first met, and it stuck," Joe explained without including the fact that their first meeting was during his abduction from the planet.

"Okay. Are you hungry?" Doug changed the topic to one he was more comfortable with. He watched the Tik hover its way back out to the patio.

"When am I not hungry?" Joe smiled.

Doug grinned happily and started to serve his new creations, much to Joe's delight. They got to the fifth dish, after two servings of number three, when Amy appeared at the doorway. She chewed on her thumb as she stared at her brother with wide, bruised eyes.

Joe put down his utensils and opened his arms. Amy was immediately on his lap, clinging to his neck. She managed to keep herself from crying, but it might have been because she had no tears left.

Joe looked at Doug. "Could you make that second one for Amy? She'll love that."

Amy shook her head, indicating she didn't want to eat. "Hey! Did I say you should get smaller?' Joe proceeded to bounce Amy up and down effortlessly in his arms. "You're already way too itty bitty! You will eat Doug's amazing breakfast, and then we will speak to some nice police officers. Uh, you'll have to pay for the cab, though. I seem to have lost my wallet... somewhere in a Russian forest, I'll bet."

Doug looked up from his cooking. "You were in Russia?"

"Uh, yeah, but just passing through," he said with a pained look.

"Right, more of that information I shouldn't know," Doug said, turning back to prepare Amy's breakfast.

"I'm sorry, Doug! You've been so awesome to us, and I hate keeping secrets from you, but it's actually safer for you not to know," Joe said.

"Joe! Don't worry about it. I understand completely. I work with non-disclosure contracts all the time," he assured the big man.

"Joe, are you ever going to cover up your boobs?" Amy asked with a little twinkle in her eye.

He grinned at her then his face fell. "Dammit! I have no clothes, again! We'll have to go to a store to pick up a shirt, at least. Do you have any money?" he asked his sister with a wince.

"Now, who's the stupid head? Losing your wallet in Russia. Pffft!" she grinned at him as Doug set a plate on the table. Amy moved over to the next chair and thanked Doug for the meal.

Joe watched his sister eat breakfast, and his heart was so filled with joy and contentment that tears came to his eyes. He wiped them away with his napkin before she saw them. Doug saw and gave him a concerned look. Joe just smiled and shook his head gently.

When Amy finished, she patted her flat stomach and gushed to Doug about his spectacular cooking. Joe and Amy both agreed vocally that he'd become a master chef. They got up, and he shooed them from the kitchen with a satisfied smile.

Joe stopped Amy and led her to the patio door. "There is someone I'd like you to meet. I first met them when I was abducted, and they've since become my faithful friends and protectors. They brought me from San Diego to Doug's patio last night. They also protected us at the club, but we can't tell anyone about that. Are you ready?" he asked.

"You left your friends on the patio?" Amy asked.

"Come see," Joe said and stepped outside, holding her hand.

The three Tik were soaking in the energy from the sunlight while trickle feeding from the outlet on the wall. Stinky made to rise, but Joe gestured for it to remain on the floor. Amy's eyes were wide with surprise.

"These are my friends. They are sentient mechanical beings called Tik. This is Stinky, Hack, and Slash. Guys? This is my sister Amy. I want to thank you for coming to our rescue last night."

The three Tik made warbling noises, and Amy smiled.

"They understand English but unfortunately aren't equipped to speak it," he explained to Amy then he faced Stinky. "We have to visit the Police station to give our statements about what happened last night. I don't think it would be safe for you three to be flying around in broad daylight. The less you are seen, the better. Could you wait here for us?"

There was a long pause then they warbled at each other for a bit. Finally, Stinky turned to Joe and beeped twice.

"That's a yes," Joe said to Amy. "I'm sorry for doing this to you guys. I wish there was a way for me to contact you." Stinky turned to its partners, and the warbling began again.

"joe!"

Amy looked at her brother, and he looked back. "Did you hear something?" she asked.

"joe!"

They turned around and looked at the other condo complex tower. On the balcony of the penthouse suite of the other building, a woman in a pink sweat suit was frantically waving her arms.

"Oh, damn," Joe said.

"Oh, right. Niki Love has been making a real nuisance of herself these last months.

Joe waved, and the woman jumped in the air and disappeared inside.

"You had to wave to her? You know she's coming over here now," Amy groaned.

"Sorry, I froze. Don't worry, I'll tell her we're going out. Let's go in. I don't want her seeing these guys."

Stinky grabbed his wrist, so Joe stopped. It tapped on his bracelet three times.

"I tap three times to call you guys to me?" Joe said, surprised. He tapped it with his finger, but Stinky made one beep. Then, it banged the bracelet against the wall three times, so it made a pinging noise.

"Ah! Okay, I got it. Hit it with something that makes a metallic sound. Three deliberate pings. Right?" Joe asked.

Two beeps for yes.

"Thanks! I'll only use it in emergencies." Joe waved and went inside. He saw Amy disappearing into her room.

Doug was dressed and heading for the front door. "I'm heading off to work. Amy has her own key. Give my regards to Niki," he smirked as he opened his door. A flash of pink surged through the door and made a beeline for Joe, squealing all the way. Doug shook his head and left.

As she reached Joe, Niki leapt in the air, and he was forced to catch her. Her arms went around his neck, and her legs went around his waist. Joe clamped down on the surge just as she thrust her tongue into his mouth. Joe kissed her back but maintained a lock on the surge. She pulled back with a look of confusion.

"Baby, what's wrong? You're holding back! I haven't seen you in months, and you hold back?" she pouted with tears welling up in her eyes.

Joe realized he'd completely controlled the surge for the first time in his life. "Niki, those months were really bad for me. Terrible things happened to me. I'm not who I was. You'll have to give me time to come to terms with what I went through. I'm sorry."

Tears were running down her face. "But I really wanted your magic kisses!"

"Niki! Didn't you just hear what I said?" he asked.

She shook her head angrily and ran from the condo.

Joe just watched her leave in shock. The self-centered, spoiled little brat!

He ensured the door was locked and headed for his room to shower quickly. As he passed her door, he caught Amy's eye watching him from the partially open door. She smiled and closed it.

When they got down to the lobby, Joe noticed a police car parked in the driveway of the building. He wondered if there were any laws about his walking around topless. He wished he had a shirt to put on.

As they stepped through the front doors, the cops exited the cruiser, and Joe immediately recognized Officers Ramone and Willis. A broad grin spread across Joe's face, and Ramone strode up to him and shook his hand. Willis hung back by the driver's door but waved with a smile.

"Great to see you guys again! Officer Ramone, Officer Willis, this is my sister Amy." The cops smiled and nodded to her. "What are you guys doing here?" Joe asked.

"It's our understanding that you were in town and would be visiting a neighboring station to make a statement this morning after some trouble last night. We thought maybe you'd need a lift," Ramone gushed.

"Wow! That's really nice, but I have to get a shirt before I go to the station. My, uh, luggage didn't arrive when I got in last night, and I have nothing else to wear," Joe explained.

Ramone turned back to his partner. "Do we still have those knock-off hoodie sweaters in the trunk?"

"Yeah," Willis said and popped the trunk open. Ramone popped the top of the box open and checked some sizes. He pulled out a black double XL hoodie with a large emblem Joe didn't recognize on the back. He slammed the trunk closed and handed the sweater to Joe.

"Are you sure?" Joe asked.

"Sure! Come on, we'll take you to the station!" Ramone said as Willis got behind the wheel again.

The entire way to the station, Ramone was talking about the celebration their station had planned for him, but he'd disappeared.

"Yeah, I was... out of the country for a long time, not by choice. Constantly moving and totally out of contact with everyone I knew and loved. It wasn't a good time for me. I just returned last night and immediately came looking for Amy." She snuggled in against his arm. He smiled down at his sister.

They pulled up in front of a large brick building with more police than Joe had ever seen in one place standing on the sidewalk in front of the building.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Ramone growled. "They're stealing our thunder!"

Willis scowled at Ramone and got out of the cruiser. He opened Amy's door and helped her out that side while Ramone got Joe out on his side.

A cheer went up as Joe faced the crowd. Willis and Amy could easily make their way to the front door, but Joe and Ramone had to push through the press of officers all trying to shake Joe's hand or pat him on the shoulder. Joe was stunned and did his best to shake the hands stretched out towards him. Ramone pulled him along and finally managed to get him through to the front door. Inside, the crowd was much thinner, but there were still too many people for the space. The station Captain pointed down the hall to the interrogation rooms. Amy went in one with a nervous look at Joe, and he was led into another.

When the door closed, Joe turned to the detective with him. "My sister was raped last night. She's not over that yet. The other detective needs to be gentle with her." He'd seen it was a female detective, so he hoped she'd put Amy at ease and show some compassion.

"Your sister will only be asked a few questions regarding her relationship with Mr. Janus, why she was there, and what, in her words, happened. Detective Ferris is very good with rape victims. Not to worry. I'm Detective Jenner. I'd like to hear your side of the events that transpired last night."

"I got back from being away a long time just last night, so I went looking for my sister. A friend mentioned she was on a date with Mr. Janus but that he had a bad reputation for being rough with his dates. I went to the club to speak with my sister. I entered the club and went upstairs. I heard a scream so I entered an office at the end of the hall and saw a big man lying on top of my sister. He stood up, and my sister curled into a ball on the couch. The man attacked me, but I pushed him aside and went to my sister. She was crying and trembling, and her clothes were torn. As I was holding her, I heard the windows crash and screaming. Then I called 911. Officers Fitz and Boon arrived while I was on the call.

"You say you entered the club," the detective said. Joe nodded. "Did the doormen just let you in? That club is very exclusive. There is always a big line. The doormen are very selective on who they let in."

"I don't recall the doormen," Joe said.

"I see. Moving on. Didn't the bouncers attempt to prevent your entry when you got inside?" Jenner asked.

"I don't remember any bouncers," Joe replied.

"Do you recall being shot with a Taser which exploded?" the detective asked. "Or pulling two three-hundred-pound Samoan wrestlers off their feet on a staircase."

"No."

"Right. The door to the office was guarded by a brute named Enrique Salvano. He has a rap sheet filled with violent and gruesome assault charges. This morning he's a bag of broken bones listed in critical condition at the hospital. When you entered the office, did you happen to notice him under your feet?"

"No."

The detective pushed back in his seat. "Did you mutilate Danny Janus?"

"No, I was holding my sister and facing away when he screamed."

"Did you see the man who did?" Jenner said.

Joe looked Jenner straight in the eye. "No."

"The club has closed circuit video. Unfortunately, the explosion of the Taser seems to have knocked out the video and corrupted most of the DVR recordings from the main floor. We were only able to reclaim a few snippets." He turned on a monitor and started the player. The video was badly distorted, and Joe looked at the detective after being unable to make out most of what he was seeing.

"Mr. Janus had a private recording of his office. What we got there was better." Jenner played that recording. It started when Janis pulled the phone from Amy's hand and slapped her. Joe reached out, hit the stop button, and looked down at the table surface.

"DO NOT SHOW ME VIDEO OF THAT ANIMAL RAPING MY SISTER! Move past that. I know what he did. I spoke to the doctor at the hospital last night." Joe was growling deeply in his chest and struggled to keep his eyes from flicking to black.

Detective Jenner was suddenly deeply, instinctually afraid of the man in the chair across the table.

"Please," Joe amended.

With trembling hands, Jenner fast-forwarded to the scene with the door. He rolled it back a few frames. "Okay," he whispered.

Joe looked back at the screen, and Jenner pressed play. The door exploded into the room, slamming to the floor. Wood chips from the shattered doorframe scattered in a cloud of debris. When it cleared, Joe was standing on the chest of the door guard, who appeared to be unconscious.

On the screen, Joe stepped forward, and Janus rushed at him. The camera couldn't catch Joe's actual movement, but Janus was slammed to the ground next to Salvano. Joe knelt next to Amy, and she reached out and grabbed him, beginning to cry. Janus, in the background, pushed himself to his feet and pulled a large knife from inside Salvano's jacket. Holding the knife out before him, he lunged toward Joe, whose back was turned to him.

The camera angle didn't catch what came in the window, but Janus was seen being pulled backward, and something slapped the knife from his hand, taking off three fingers and a piece of the man's penis. Shortly onscreen, Joe made an odd gesture without looking back. He picked up the phone and dialed.

Jenner stopped the playback. "What-what was that gesture?" he asked.

"My sister was frightened and clinging to me. I just waved to whoever was behind us to leave us alone. When I opened my eyes, they were gone." Joe stood up. "That's my statement. If you have further questions, please speak with my lawyer, Christof Waechter of Waechter, Bergstrӧm, & Volkov, or my boss, Director Roger Bannon, Los Angeles Branch of the NSA. I'm going to collect my sister now."

Detective Jenner just sat there with an open mouth as Joe walked out. He was too frightened to try and stop him.

Joe opened the door to the next room and saw Amy in tears. The video was playing of the rape.

"TURN THAT OFF!" Joe roared.

Detective Ferris slammed her hand on the remote, and the TV shut off.

"What the FUCK is WRONG WITH YOU?!?" Joe growled at the cop, who scrambled to escape and fell off her chair onto the floor.

He held out his arms, and Amy rushed around the table to cling to his chest. He held her tight and kissed the top of her head. He felt her begin to calm down. He led her from the room with his arm around her shoulders and gave the officer another growl. The squad room was quiet as they'd heard him yelling. He walked around the corner with Amy crying under his arm. Willis and Ramone were standing by the door, looking worried.

"Could you please take us home?" Joe asked politely.

"Yeah, sure," Ramone said quietly, and Willis nodded. They led the way out of the station and over to the cruiser. The smiling faces around the vehicle faltered when they saw the tears on Amy's face and the scowl on Joe's.

The drive back was much quieter, and when they pulled up to the building, Willis and Ramone once more opened their doors for them. Officer Willis gripped Joe's hand and looked him in the eye.

"I don't know what they did, but I'm sorry they hurt your sister," he said gruffly.

Joe glanced over to ensure Amy wouldn't hear and leaned toward the cop. "They made her watch a video of her rape. Tell me, how can that help anyone?" He had to clamp down on his anger as his eyes tried to change. Willis gave his hand a squeeze and wore a scowl of his own. With a nod, Joe hustled around the car to get to his sister's side. He shook Ramone's hand then the cop handed him his old phone and a business card with the precinct's number and his own scrawled on the back.

"Come by to visit us sometime, okay?" the cop asked.

"Thanks! I'll try," Joe replied.

Joe took Amy up to Doug's condo. He gave her a big hug then Amy went to her room. Joe went to see the Tik. They chirped happily when they saw him.

He wheeled one of the large deck beds closer to the Tik and aimed it so he'd get the rays of the sun. Joe stretched out and reached his hand out to the Tik. Three tentacles gripped his hand, and he smiled. He let go, removed his hoodie and pants, and settled down to soak up some sun. He really needed to get more clothes. Boxers were not a good replacement for a swimsuit.

"Joe?"

He opened his eyes and saw Amy standing next to the lounge bed. She'd put on a bikini and tightly held a beach wrap around herself.

"Can I lay out here with you?" she asked.

"Of course! But get some sunblock," he replied.

She wiggled the bottle between her fingers and smiled at him.

Joe smiled at his sister and sat up. Naturally, she wanted him to apply it. "Brat," he thought and smiled.

Amy sat down on the edge of the chair and squeaked. Three metal limbs were floating next to her.

"They're just saying hello," Joe smiled.

Amy shook the three hands and smiled as the tentacles retracted into the Tik.

Joe opened the bottle, squeezed a big dollop on his palm, and rubbed his hands together. He looked at his sister questioningly, and she dropped the wrap. Bruises had surfaced on her wrists and upper arms. Joe's eyes snapped to black as his rage hit him, and he heard Amy gasp as she watched for his reaction over her shoulder. He forced his eyes closed and back to normal before he opened them again.

"I'm sorry for what that man did to you last night. Please know that I love you with all my soul," Joe said.

"I love you, Joe!" she said, throwing herself against his chest. He had to fall back against the cushions, but he held her on top of him with his lotion-covered hands.

"Silly girl," he said fondly and felt her tremble against him. Since he'd gotten lotion all over her anyway, he began to rub it into her back with a strong massage. She groaned as his fingers kneaded out the knots and tension. "No drooling on me," he teased. He felt her smile.

Once he'd coated her back, he ran his hands over her shoulders and up to her hairline and palmed her ears to get lotion on them as well. He used his fingers and thumbs to rub the cream onto the edges of her ears, and she moaned again, her chin on his chest and her mouth pressed against his skin.

He needed more lotion. "Stinky, can you squirt just a little more lotion on this hand. Squeeze gently."

Stinky lifted the bottle and squeezed it above his palm until Joe indicated he had enough. "Thanks!"

He gently and awkwardly ran his hands down Amy's arms, careful of her bruises. When he was done, he rubbed the remaining lotion on his hands over Amy's face. She wore a blissful smile.

"You know, if you weren't lying on top of me, it would be much easier for me to put lotion on you," he smirked.

"Soooo comfy. Boobies," she murmured with a smile.

Stinky helped him pull the wrap up over her legs and feet so they wouldn't burn, and she promptly fell asleep.

Joe lay on the patio with his sister sprawled over his body for nearly three hours.

Then his phone rang. It was his old phone, and Stinky handed it to him. He couldn't determine what it said on the smashed display, but he could answer.

"Hello?" he said quietly, though Amy was making signs of waking.

"WHO IS SHE?" a voice shrieked out of the phone.

"Who is this?" Joe asked.

"It's Niki! Who's the slut lying on top of you!" she yelled.

"Niki, lose this number. Never call me again. We're done. And if I catch you watching us again, I'm calling the police. You seriously need help," Joe said, his voice a cold, lethal growl. He hung up.

Amy stretched across Joe's body, then pushed herself off her brother and up to a seated position.

Joe scowled down at the pool of drool she left on his chest. Amy blushed. "I'll get some paper towels. Hang on," she said, scurrying inside. She returned momentarily, sat back on the edge of the bed, and wiped up the mess she'd left. "Sorry about that! I haven't slept that well in months. Guess I just needed the right mattress," she said, smiling lovingly. "Who was that on the phone?"

"Just our neighborhood peeping tom," Joe growled.

"Niki?" Amy asked.

"None other. She called to scream at me about a strange woman lying on my chest. Granted, she was right about the strangeness. How could an adult be that small?"

Amy swatted him playfully. Then she frowned. "Wait, you said she screamed at you?"

"Yeah, I told her to lose my number, and I never wanted to see her again. The woman needs help. Way too much drama," he explained.

Amy looked over at the neighboring building. "Oh oh," she said, seeing Niki standing at the edge of her balcony with binoculars. "She is creepy." Niki ran back inside her condo. "Damn. I think we're going to get another visit."

"I told her we were done!" Joe growled.

"You think she's going to listen?" Amy smirked. "Not when she wants more of this." Amy ran her finger from his lips down his chin, to his chest, and down to his flat stomach. The look of sad longing in her eye made Joe uncomfortable, so he rolled out the other side of the bed and pulled his pants on. He was doubly disturbed with himself that he'd reacted to her touch and had trouble closing his pants.

When Joe turned, he saw Amy had her face in her hands and was crying. He sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. She tried pulling away, but he just held tighter.

"I'm so sorry, Joe! I call Niki creepy then I do something that makes you squirm. You must be sickened by me!" Amy's sobs began to shake her body.

Joe kissed the top of her head and tucked her tighter against his body. "Amy, there is no way I would ever be sickened by you. I love you too much! I've just spent my entire life as your big brother. You're my little sister. That's how our relationship is going to stay. But my love for you is unconditional, permanent, immovable, and eternal. All right?"

The doorbell rang. Not the tone for downstairs, so Niki must have followed someone in. Joe sighed.

"Let me deal with Niki, send her on her way, and we'll order Chinese food, curl up in front of the TV, and watch a movie together. Okay?" Joe held his sister's face between his hands and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. He kissed her forehead and felt her tremble in his hands. His heart gave a pang of sadness as he knew she was hurting, but as his mom told him, sometimes the girl needed to feel sad.

The doorbell rang two more times as Joe made his way to the front door. He yanked it open, and sure enough, Niki stood there looking up at him, a panicked expression in place.

"God! I'm so sorry, Baby—" she began when Joe cut her off.

"Inside," he growled, and she scrambled inside.

He caught her arm before she got past and pulled her against the closed door. He held her in place and leaned down to look her right in the eye.

"First off, I'm not your baby. You will call me Joe or Joseph. You will never call my sister a slut! You will never use derogatory terms to describe her. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?" Joe growled.

She whimpered and nodded as he continued to pin her to the door. "I'm sorry. I didn't see it was your sister! Why would I have guessed your sister was lying on top of you?"

"It's none of your damn business what I do. You don't own me. We aren't boyfriend and girlfriend. My sister was very upset and exhausted after a very bad night and an equally bad morning. She hugged me and fell asleep on my chest. I let her sleep because she needed it, and that's what big brothers do. We look out for our sisters. That's what a mature, loving relationship is about. Having consideration for your loved one's needs. Earlier, I told you I had a really bad time while I was away, and all you did was complain that you weren't getting magic kisses. I don't want a relationship with someone who can't see beyond their selfish needs. You have a lot of growing up to do. Are you hearing me? REALLY hearing me?" Joe rumbled.

"I'm sorry I'm so fixated on my own needs. It's the business! It does that to you!" Niki panted in panic.

"No! Don't blame others for your bad decisions! Own them. That's how people grow up. The music industry may allow you to make bad choices and even reward you for making them, but they're yours, and you have to live with them," Joe insisted.

"I'm under so much pressure! You don't understand!" Niki was turning the corner from panic to anger.

"So, make some decisions that will help reduce the pressure. If your experts are giving you advice that's reducing your quality of life, then you need to reconsider that advice and your experts. Talk to your friend Talia. I don't know if she's any better off, but she doesn't seem to be so frantic."

"Why did you mention Talia? Are you fucking her?" Niki screamed.

Joe pulled back and looked at Niki. The mood swings were frightening, but he just felt sad for her. He shook his head and looked at her in disappointment.

"You have to go. When you decide to grow up and act like an adult, give me a call. But not until then. I have no time or energy to waste on juvenile behavior. Go home." Joe pushed the woman gently but firmly out the door.

"FUCK YOU!" she screamed from the other side of the door and hit it with her fists. He heard her stomp away and get in the elevator.

Joe turned from the door and saw Amy standing at the end of the hall. Her eyes were filled with worry. "What if she comes back? I think she will. She's not stable, and she could be dangerous. Call your police friends. Let them know."

Joe looked at his sister and listened to her intuition. He pulled out his cell and the business card. He dialed the precinct.

"Hello, can I speak with Officer Ramone or Willis, please... It's Joseph Neumann... Yes, him. Thanks...." There was a pause. "Officer Willis? Hi, it's Joe Neumann. I just thought I'd report that we just had a very unsettling visit from a neighbor. Niki Love, the pop singer who lives in the penthouse unit in the opposite tower, was here, and she left in a very emotional, unbalanced state. I told her to go home and not to come back, but Amy is convinced she will and may be violent when she does come back... Yeah, penthouse condo in the north tower, Doug Wilson's place—" Joe and Amy heard an odd popping sound from the balcony. They ran to the patio door, heard two more shots, and saw flashes in Niki's unit. Joe pushed Amy back from the doorway. "Officer Willis, you there? I think a gun is being fired in Niki's condo. Can you get someone over here, like NOW?"

Joe held the phone to his chest. "Amy, go into your room, lock the door, then go into the washroom and lock that door. Don't come out unless I say it's okay."

"What about you?" she asked.

"Amy, I've been shot multiple times with some very big guns. The only way she can hurt me would be by shooting you. Please go get safe." He touched her cheek, and she hustled back to her room with a worried look.

He put the phone back to his ear and listened. Willis was telling him to stay away from the windows and doors and that the police were on their way.

There was a heavy banging on his door. He listened and heard Niki screaming obscenities. "Willis, she's at the condo door."

Stinky appeared at his side and warbled. Joe held his hand up for quiet. He covered the phone again. "Stinky, you, Hack, and Slash go up on the roof and hide. The police will be here shortly, and I don't want them to find you. Please!"

Stinky went back out on the patio with a lot of agitated chirping.

Joe slipped up to the door and listened. Niki was ranting and crying and would occasionally slam the butt of her gun against the door. Joe was worried about what would happen when the police got there. There might be an exchange of shots, and someone would get hurt or worse. All because he pushed an emotionally unstable woman too hard.

He gently undid the deadbolt as quietly as he could. He listened to her sounds and tried to time it so she was closest to the door when he yanked it open and lunged out. She squeezed off a shot, then he was on her, and the gun bounced away. She struggled in his arms, so he kissed her deeply, and she grabbed onto him in a death grip, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. He carefully increased the surge as they kissed. It wasn't like before. Then, he'd barely managed to control the raw power flashing out. Now, his control over its release was smooth and effortless. He felt the sensation increase quickly, and Niki moaned into his mouth. As the surge increased, so did the noises she made. Finally, Joe pulled back, and Niki flopped bonelessly in his arms.

He tried to set her down, but his left leg wouldn't unlock. He tried to see his leg, but it was hidden by her body. He couldn't move, so he just waited. He'd left his phone on the table and just called out, hoping Willis heard him. "It's okay, I got her! Willis! I got her!"

A few minutes later, Joe spotted an eye looking through the little window in the stairwell door. He nodded, and the door opened cautiously.

"It's okay. I got her. Her gun is on the floor over there. She's unconscious. Could someone take her, please?" Joe asked.

Three more cops came through the door, and two took Niki from him. They carefully put her on the floor on her stomach and zip-tied her hands behind her back.

The first cop through the door, Halden, was looking at Joe's leg. The left pant leg at the front of his was shredded by the shot and the backblast of the gases from the point-blank shot. The bullet was nowhere to be found, and Joe had an enormous black bruise on his thigh. The muscles underneath were locked up in knots.

The other cop, not currently checking the pockets of the unconscious woman, stepped into the apartment and picked up the cell phone. She brought it out to Joe. He saw her name was Ruiz. Joe thanked her and put the phone to his ear.

"Officer Willis?"

"Joe! What the fuck did you do?" the man barked.

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt over something I started. I knew I could stop her before the police arrived so everyone would be safe. Oh! Hang on. Office Ruiz, could you go to the locked bedroom door to the right down the hall and let my sister Amy know it's safe to come out. Thanks! Sorry, Officer Willis."

"I heard a gunshot. What was that?" Willis growled.

"Oh, yeah. She got a shot off before I could knock her gun away, but it grazed me. Bruising, that's it." Joe tried to downplay the injury, but his leg still wouldn't move, and the pain was beginning to set in.

Halden took the phone from Joe's distracted grip. "This is Officer Halden. Mr. Neumann took what looks to me like a point-blank shot straight into the center of his left thigh. The damage to his pants indicates very close range, but I can't see an entry wound. I don't know what kind of bullets were in the gun, but I don't see any shell fragments."

He knelt down, ran his finger across the floor, and pulled it back, covered with a powder of silver-gray particles. "The floor in the vicinity is covered by metallic residue, which may be the bullet. It would have had to have atomized before the bullet left the barrel, and even then, there should have been some penetration at that distance."

Amy burst into the vestibule and grabbed Joe. That was too much for his leg, and they both went down. Joe hissed and twisted to ensure he was under Amy when they hit. Unfortunately, that put him face down as the marble tiles rushed toward his face.

Joe came to in the back of an ambulance. His face hurt. They were driving somewhere, and the paramedic was arguing with Amy, who was in the back with him.

"hey," he whispered, but they kept arguing.

"Hey!" he growled, and they stopped to look at him.

"Why am I in an ambulance?" he asked.

"They wouldn't listen to me, Joe!" Amy said. "I'm so sorry I knocked you down!"

"Stop the ambulance and take me back to the condo," Joe told the paramedic.

The man looked at Joe like he was insane. "Are you refusing treatment?" he asked.

"Yes."

The paramedic looked really pissed off. He leaned towards the front of the ambulance. "Jerry, pull over. He wants out."

"What?" Jerry asked.

"Stop by that bus stop." He turned back to Joe. "We're not a fucking taxi service, and people who need our help aren't getting it because we're wasting our time with you." He pushed a clipboard at Joe with a pen. "Sign here stating you are refusing our care." Joe scribbled a signature.

The ambulance stopped, and the paramedic opened the doors. There was a police car parked behind them, and the cops got out.

Halden looked pissed. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing? He's refusing care, so out he goes. You want him. You take him. We've got better things to do," the man growled.

"Mr. Neumann, please reconsider! You were shot, and you struck your head on a marble floor," Officer Halden argued as Joe pulled himself out of the ambulance with a leg that wouldn't bend. Once he was out, the back doors slammed shut, and the ambulance peeled away. Joe grabbed onto a signpost on the sidewalk to keep him upright.

"My leg is bruised and cramped badly, but I have no bullet holes. I just need to relax in a sauna for a while. That's the only treatment I need. Could you please just take us home? Amy tried to tell you, but you ignored her—"

Joe froze. He picked up the sensation of being watched. While it was early evening, quite a few people were still on the street. At least five people to the north of him had suddenly and simultaneously begun to watch Joe closely. He got nervous and gestured Amy closer. "Do you have my phone?" he whispered.

"No, I didn't have time to get it," she replied. "I have mine."

"Don't argue. Start walking south and pick up your pace until you are running like hell. Watch for people trying to block you. Call Dad when you are free. Go now." Joe felt the watchers getting closer, and they were all still coming from the north. Amy fast stepped south on the sidewalk, her heart racing.

Halden watched Amy hustle away into the pedestrian traffic. "Where's she going?"

"Halden, Ruiz, we have company coming. At least five of them, and I don't know their intentions except they are watching me."

"What are you—" was all Ruiz got out before the shock stick hit her in the neck. She crumpled to the sidewalk. Halden was hit by a Taser from the open window of a white van that moved up beside them in the traffic. Three men encircled Joe and pointed to the vehicle, which had opened its side door. Joe kept his grip on the post, hoping one of them would try that shock stick on him. A woman exited the van and walked up to him.

"Get into the van," she growled. Joe read the hate in her eyes. He didn't recognize her, but her Russian accent gave him an oh shit moment.

When he made no move to get into the van, she looked down and saw he was keeping his weight off of his left leg. She looked into his eyes with a cruel smile.

Joe didn't see the kick, as she was so fast. When her pointed boot heel connected with the center of the bruise on his thigh, his eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the ground. The men picked him up between them and threw him roughly into the van. They climbed in and drove away.

Chapter 20

Everything hurt. Joe woke to intense pain, and for a second, he flashed back to a Russian forest after he fell from the sky. He moaned softly.

"Such sweet music," a female voice said with a thick accent. She was slurring slightly, so Joe assumed she'd had a few.

"Sing for me, my beloved." The voice got closer, and something heavy swung into his chest. Stars exploded in his eyes, and he cried out in agony. He heard her giggle.

"please... no more..." he retched.

"Yes, more and more so you experience the dying agonies my Grigory suffered at your hands," she screamed at him.

"who..." he whispered.

Suddenly, the woman's face was next to his. "Grigory Aristov was ten times the man you are, and you took him from me! I will find your family and kill them one by one until they are cold in the ground."

Joe felt the cold metal of the bracelet on his wrist. From the dirty window he could see high on the far wall, he saw it was still light out. The Tik were following his orders to avoid being seen. He thought of how he could just tap it three times... His eyes panned around himself. He was chained to the cement floor of some kind of old, empty factory. He saw a table stacked with automatic weapons. A short distance beyond that was another table with six big men sitting and cleaning their guns. The Tik would never get close before they'd be shot out of the sky. He couldn't do that. His eyes slid back to the tormented face of the woman.

He could... do something.

"what... was... he... like?" Joe breathed, and she leaned closer to hear his words.

She froze. His question confused her. She was off balance. "He-he was a perfect man! So strong and virile. His love was like a tidal wave that would sweep you away."

Joe stifled a groan from her prose.

"was... he... a... good......kisser," he said breathlessly, quieter and quieter, so she leaned closer. He felt her boozy breath on his cheek. His left hand was lying flat, palm up near his head. Three of his fingers on that hand wouldn't move. Her hair caressed his palm. Joe knew he'd get one chance. He started to whisper something else, and she dipped down closer.

Joe grabbed her hair and felt something grind in his hand, but he held on. When she twisted her face downward, he twisted his head up and met her lips to lips. He forced his tongue deep into her mouth and cranked up the surge.

At first, she thrashed to get away, but soon, she was clinging to his face, trying to press more of her tongue against his, and he let it happen as he continued to increase the surge. Joe had difficulty maintaining concentration as the pleasure he felt from the surge crashed against the raw edges of his injuries. The woman made little whimpering sounds into his mouth as she tried to kiss him harder, half climbing onto his body. Her extra weight almost made Joe break their link as his battered muscles screamed in agony. He pushed that aside and concentrated only on their kiss.

Soon, she lost muscle coordination, and Joe had to keep them connected with his broken hand. He poured it on, even though the ecstasy was becoming too sharp, just another torture for his overtaxed nerves.

He thought of his family and her plans to kill them and threw his will behind it, pushing the surge higher until his mind was whiting out, and she just twitched. Her gaze was dull and blank.

Finally, Joe released her and felt the room spin away from him. He felt ill from what he'd just done. It hurt to his very soul. Then oblivion took him as the sound of shouts and running feet approached.

-=-

New pain. A new area of intense agony. His breathing produced sharp little miseries, and his mouth tasted metallic. But, surprisingly, he was alive.

He heard arguing. Extremely violent yelling.

Joe had a tough time making his eyes focus. He finally managed to scan the area around him. He was still on the factory floor, and a body was on the ground next to him. It wasn't the woman. It was one of the thugs who grabbed him off the street. Beyond the weapons table, the remaining men stood around the woman seated in a chair. She wasn't saying anything, though. She was just looking into space. The men were yelling at each other in English, but his jumbled mind couldn't really put the words into order to make sense.

Joe heard a tiny tinkling sound like little wind chimes, and his eyes focused on the bracelet on his wrist. It was active. He glanced back at the men and saw them all holding assault rifles. The Tik were doomed if they came in now. He wanted to distract the men but discovered he couldn't move or even make noises. He barely had enough energy to remain conscious.

He looked up at the five men as their heads snapped in different directions, and they fell into crumpled piles around the seated woman.

Yelling and approaching footfalls came next, and then Joe looked up into the eyes of a Navy SEAL.

Bennett? Yes.

A tear rolled down his cheek, and he slipped back into oblivion.

-=-

Heat. Wonderful, muscle-soothing heat. Everything still hurt, but if he remained quiet and concentrated, he could almost feel his body actively healing itself. He was in the dark, lying on a hard surface. It was a sauna, but a big one. The room brightened slowly, and someone wearing a large, bulky space suit walked into the room and up to Joe's side. The helmet tipped forward, and Joe could see inside the visor.

"Safa!" Joe croaked and began to cry with relief and joy. With his eyes behind their protective membranes, there were no tears, but that didn't stop him from trying.

"Mr. Neumann, please! Do not make me cry in this suit! I cannot reach my eyes!"

"Sorry," he whispered, getting control over his emotions with effort.

Safa composed herself before she spoke. "It seems the optimal temperature for your healing process is closer to four hundred degrees Fahrenheit. We built you this healing chamber because you always get into trouble. Getting hurt. They hurt you very badly this time, didn't they?" Safa said.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry for your pain. I think you should drink this. It will help you heal faster. I finished my analysis on your blood, and this drink should replenish what your body is using to repair itself," Safa said, slipping a straw between his lips. He sucked on the straw, and a warm paste filled his mouth. It didn't taste bad... in fact, it had no taste at all! He swallowed and felt it sliding down his throat. He sucked hungrily on the straw and ate quickly. Then it was gone.

"More!" he pleaded.

Safa's eyes twinkled with Joy. "Was that good, Mr. Neumann?"

"Yes. My body wants more!" he said with a little more energy.

Safa's face burst into a broad smile, and Joe's eyes widened. He'd never seen her smile like that before.

"Wow, I'm going to have to... work harder to... make you smile more often," Joe breathed.

Safa struggled to put her professional look back on her face, but the twinkle remained. "I will get you some more."

"Where am I?" he asked before she could leave.

"You're home. Glennville," Safa said gently.

Joe stared at the woman in shock. Glennville. The name hit him like a hammer blow, and he was overcome by his emotions. Joy, desperation, despair, guilt, fear, and longing, each battling for supremacy. All of them took his breath away. He was sobbing tearlessly, and the jolting sent spikes of pain through his body.

He passed out.

-=-

When he next became aware of his surroundings, it was dark. His eyes grew accustomed to the shadows, and he saw the clock beside the bed showing two AM. He was in a hospital bed, but it was in his old bedroom.

He was in his house on the farm in Glennville.

He looked around as he began to feel detached from reality. He couldn't be here. Not after all he'd been through. It was unbearable to end up back in the room he'd spent his entire childhood in, all that time living within the innocent lie of ignorance.

Who he was now, the enormity of the truth of who and what he was and what he'd done. He no longer belonged in this room. This wasn't the room of a murderer.

He threw back the sheets and saw the fading bruises on his legs. His hands hurt, still healing from his injuries. He could move them now, but they felt so weak.

He sat up, feeling painful twinges in his torso. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he slid out onto his feet. His legs didn't want to support him, and pain shot up from his feet to his hips and above. He forced one foot before the next, holding onto the bed until he reached the foot. It was only three steps to the door, but the pressure to get out was building, so he charged across the space and hit the door with a thump. Lightning went off in his mind as his damaged nerves fired from the impact. He tore open the door and was in the hall stiff legging his way along the dark corridor to the stairs, clinging to the railing for support. The pain was flooding his mind, and he continued to feel the pressure to protect the home from who he was now. He had to get out!

Doors opened, and people stepped out into the corridor; Amy was behind him, but Safa, Director Bannon, and Agent White blocked his way. He shook his head, eyes wild, and pushed himself past them. He got to the head of the stairs as the last door opened. His parents stood in the doorway, looks of surprise on their faces. His mind saw their disgust and revulsion at having a killer in their house, so he spun and stepped out into space. His knees still wouldn't bend.

Consciousness didn't spare him from the agony of his fall down the staircase. Screams ripped through his mind with the sounds of breaking steps and balusters as his heavy, dense body slammed its way down the decline. He crashed to the floor at the bottom and groaned. He looked up and saw the front door only a dozen feet or so away. He could save them if he could only get outside that door.

He pushed himself forward a few inches and then a few more. He felt hands on his arms and screamed in agony and frustration. Didn't they know he had to save them from the killer? The hands pulled away like they'd been burned. He struggled to push himself towards the door, which suddenly burst open. Soldiers with machine guns stood in the doorway, but the doors were open behind them. He could get out.

But he couldn't... because he was too damaged. He couldn't push himself forward anymore. His arms weren't working.

The Soldiers! They could protect his family from the killer. He looked up at them, their confused faces. He could get them to kill the murderer. The guns started to lift.

Someone else was coming in the door. The General. He snatched one of the rifles from the Soldiers and walked up to stand over Joe. Joe tried to look up at him, but the rifle butt caught him in the temple, and everything went black.

-=-

Karl Neumann lunged at General MacAvoy, but Bannon grabbed him by the arms and held him as the General danced back a step.

"Stand down, Karl! That was for the boy's sake!" MacAvoy barked.

"You hit him in the face with a rifle! How is that for his sake?" Karl yelled.

The General held up a hand and turned to the second Soldier in the doorway. He gently took the rifle from his hands. The man had a confused look on his face. "Son, were you going to shoot Joseph?"

"I-I don't know. I think so," he stammered.

MacAvoy looked at the Soldier he'd taken the first gun from. The man couldn't take his eyes off Joe. "Thompson!" The man jolted and looked at the General. "Were you going to shoot Joseph?"

Thompson looked back at Joe. "I had to."

"Why?" Karl growled

"To protect the family in the house. I had to kill the murderer."

"What?" Karl yelled.

MacAvoy put his hand up once more to get Karl to settle down. "Karl, that's not Thompson. That's an imprinted command from Joseph."

Karl looked at the General in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Two more Soldiers came in, and the General had them lead Thompson and his partner to the infirmary under guard. He asked them to send the medics for Joe. Then he turned back to Karl.

"I'll explain momentarily. What happened upstairs? I'd been told Joe wasn't able to walk yet," the General asked.

Bannon answered. "We heard a loud thump, and when we got to our doors, Joe was pulling himself along the railing towards the stairs. He couldn't bend his knees, so walking must have been excruciating. We tried to get him to stop, but he pushed past us."

"How did he look?" MacAvoy asked.

"Desperate," Safa said, and the others nodded thoughtfully.

Clara and Amy were kneeling beside Joe. Both were crying. Clara touched her son's hair, and Amy had her hand on his back.

The Medics arrived, and Safa assisted them. "Keep him under with the gas. Ask Stinky to keep him company and to keep him from moving around," she told them.

General MacAvoy pointed to the living room, and the group moved to take seats. Amy and her mother huddled with Karl on the couch. Roger and Rachel settled on the loveseat and noticed, but it was too late to move without being obvious. Safa curled up in a chair and pulled a blanket over her legs.

The General stood facing the group. Karl's face still wore the scowl as he waited for an answer. MacAvoy sighed. "What about you, Karl, Clara? Did you see Joe in the hallway?"

Karl nodded, and Clara spoke up. "He was standing at the top of the stairs when we opened our door. He looked right at us." She began to cry.

"What did you see?" the General pressed.

Seeing his wife unable to answer, Karl took over. "He looked... ashamed, then desperate. He just stepped off the top step and fell. Why was he trying to get out of the house?"

"You heard Thompson. He was trying to get the murderer out of the house, and when he failed, he tried to get the Soldiers to kill the murderer," the General explained.

"Who's this murderer?" Amy cried.

"Joseph."

"Wait one damn minute, our son is no murderer!" Karl yelled, and Clara and Amy queued right in after him.

"Of course, he isn't. But he believes he is. There is compelling evidence that Joseph killed multiple Kel-Fahr when he was off-planet, and Captain McGuire told me that Joseph had a flashback of a night of savage fighting with beings called the Vershoo, where only Joseph survived. When he was in Australia, we definitely know he was directly and indirectly responsible for killing multiple Russian agents. Now, he was abducted by a rogue Russian agent and a team of guns for hire in LA, and that agent is now a vegetable. What happened to her is still being investigated. She had a weird burn mark on her tongue. We think she may have had some kind of electroshock treatment."

"He kissed her," Amy said, her eyes wide with shock.

The General looked at Amy with eyebrows raised. "Kissed?"

"His tongue can shock the nervous system," Amy mumbled. "He's never used it as a weapon before."

The General blinked at the family. "Geezus. He may be a gentle soul, but he's certainly equipped to be a deadly killer. He's really good at it. I wish I had a platoon of Soldiers with Joe's abilities. Unfortunately, he's not a Soldier, and his mind isn't ready to accept that what he can do can be used for good. He's trying to protect you from the murderer he considers himself to be by fleeing or death." The family looked shaken.

"You're the most important people in his life. You're his anchor point to humanity. You give him love regardless of his hybrid nature. You gave him his moral compass, his definition of right and wrong. He knows how morally upright you are, and now he feels he's failed you in the worst possible way. In his mind, he probably believes he's become something you despise and cannot possibly love, and he's unable to endure that. After his ordeal in Australia, he had a mental break. We've discovered that when he's in that heightened state, his mind... leaks, and he's able to implant powerful suggestions in the minds of others. It may have something to do with his ability to talk telepathically with the Kel-Fahr or something else that happened to him while he was off-planet.

On the carrier, he implanted a command into a sailor's mind to have the man kill him. Then, he blocked a SEAL team from stopping that sailor and allowed the man to shoot him with a very large machine gun. Blew Joseph right off the deck into the ocean. If not for the Tik and his body's incredible toughness, we would have lost Joseph that day.

Joseph spent time with a psychiatrist, which seemed to do him some good. Then, the abduction and his using a kiss to essentially lobotomize his attacker. This woman was a trained assassin, so Joe likely had no other recourse, but he's not allowing himself the gray area of self-defense."

The General saw Karl's face no longer wore the scowl. Guilt, sadness, and desperation played across his features. "Joe's a very strong man. I understand from his file that he badly beat some punks not that long ago. Have you ever expressed to him an abhorrence to violence and specifically killing?" Guilt won out on Karl's face.

"Just in terms of taking responsibility for his actions and understanding the consequences of using his strength against others. Yes, we have strong views regarding the use of violence, but we never expected Joseph to be forced into these life-and-death situations," Karl explained.

"The boy is already on shaky ground with being adopted, part alien, and now he's broken one of his family's moral foundations multiple times and with seeming ease. Each of these takes him further from the love he desperately needs to function."

"We love Joseph!" Clara yelled, tears streaming from her eyes.

"I know you do. But I believe Joseph has convinced himself that you can't. His psychiatrist recommended family therapy for him. He needs to reconnect with you. He needs to know you accept and love him regardless of what he's had to do to survive. I suggest you start as soon as he's recovered from his latest injuries." His fatigue weighed heavily on him. "We should all try to get some sleep now."

The General paused as something else came to his weary mind. "One more thing. While she was able to help a little, Joseph didn't really click with the psychiatrist we brought in. He was too intimidated by her position in the Navy. Has he spoken to one in Glennville that he has a rapport with? That would really help."

Clara shook her head, but Amy looked up. "Rene Duval."

"Is she a psychiatrist or psychologist?" MacAvoy asked.

"She's neither. She was Joseph's boss at the Feed Store," Karl answered, frowning at Amy.

"No, she was much more to Joe. She was the one he would talk to. The one he went to when he was troubled by something. He listened to her, and she really helped him," Amy insisted, remembering how jealous that had made her. That wasn't important now. Joe's mental health was the only thing that mattered.

"I don't think it's wise to bring yet another civilian into our confidence," the General said.

"Amy, Joe had... relations with Rene," Clara said.

"The fact that she's NOT part of the military and has feelings for Joe, combined with his respect for her opinion, makes her the best choice as someone who could help him!" Amy insisted.

"Can we talk about this after we've all rested?" MacAvoy suggested.

Amy scowled but nodded.

The group disbanded and made their way to their respective beds. Roger and Rachel shared a look as they went in the doors to their rooms, then caught Safa rolling her eyes at them as she passed.

Blushes ensued.

Chapter 21

Joe woke up lying on the bench in the center of the oven. Safa was standing next to him in her space suit, and through the visor, he could see she had a sad look on her face.

"Didn't I say I needed to make you smile more often?" he asked.

"You can start any time," Safa said quietly.

"What would you like first? A joke? Some naughty limericks? A funny face?" he suggested.

"Let's ease into it. How about we begin with you no longer hurting yourself?" she said, equally quiet.

Joe twitched like he'd been slapped. His last memories were rather jumbled and painful to think about. "I did it again, didn't I."

"Do you not recall the event?" she asked, her scientific curiosity piqued.

He was quiet for a second as he poked at the memories but shied away from looking too deep. "It's painful... emotionally... to recall it," he mumbled.

"Eat your meal." Safa placed the straw between his lips, and he drank down the nourishing bland paste. She produced a second container when he'd finished the first. He gratefully finished the second as well.

He flexed his hands and felt no pain aside from some residual weakness. He looked at his hands and saw no distortions in the joints or blemishes on the skin. You couldn't tell that they'd ever been injured.

He sat up. No pain. Looking down, he saw no bruises. He was wearing black shorts of some weird material. He twisted and stretched, and all his muscles moved without twinges or aches. He looked at Safa.

"How long..."

"You've been asleep for six weeks," Safa replied. "There are a lot of people who want to talk with you. It's time for you to come out of the oven."

Joe got to his feet and followed Safa over to a large door. She pressed a large panel next to it, and the door automatically swung open on a big hinge. They entered an airlock, and the inner door sealed behind them. There was a hiss of air exchanging, and Joe felt the much cooler air filling the room.

"I can't take my suit off as your body is still radiating too much heat for it to be safe for people to be near you. You'll need to take a shower to cool down," Safa said. Once the outer door unlocked and opened, she walked away to take off the suit after pointing Joe to a shower stall. He stepped in, and the water automatically started. It was hot initially but still not as hot as his body, so steam poured off him. He ran his fingers through his hair, and the hissing increased. He stood there for fifteen minutes, and the water and his body gradually cooled. He missed the heat. It felt good.

Hot, dry air blasts dried the remaining water when the shower ended. He walked out of the stall, and Safa was standing there. She looked down.

"Did you not notice that your shorts dissolved in the water?" she asked with a small smile.

Joe looked down and saw he was quite naked. He ducked back into the stall and saw a pair of white shorts clipped to the wall. A white T-shirt was underneath. White slippers completed the ensemble. He put the clothes on and returned to see that Safa was still waiting for him. "You could have mentioned the fabric dissolves in water."

"A girl's got to get her fun somewhere, Mr. Neumann." She walked away down a hall, and he followed.

"Where is this building?" he asked.

"Your father gave the field where the portal was situated to the General on the condition we didn't pollute the groundwater or air or harm his crops in any way. We built a retractable bridge over the stream so deliveries could use the county road instead of moving through your parent's property. We all still sleep in your parent's house except the General, who has his portable command center when he isn't in Washington."

When they left the hallway, Joe was amazed by the size of the atrium they were entering. To his left, he saw the balconies of five levels above theirs, running down the considerable length of the structure. The right side of the tall open atrium faced south and was frosted glass panels, letting in the natural light. Maybe it was a little cold and industrial-looking, but people were moving energetically from place to place with a real sense of purpose.

He looked up, and standing by the rail on the floor above his was Kennt in a scaled-down augmentation suit. A Tik Joe didn't immediately recognize floated next to him, translating for him to the group of scientists crowding the rail.

"Hi, Kennt!" Joe said, opening his link to the old Kel-Fahr's mind. He knew he didn't have to speak loudly to be heard. Everyone in the area stopped and looked at him as they plainly heard his voice in their heads.

"JOE! Thank goodness! Now we can get rid of this primitive communication mangling Tik!" Kennt cried. The scientists before him gasped as this was their first time hearing their teacher's voice. People nearby looked up at the alien in surprise. Some were a little unnerved by the sudden presence of voices in their heads and made haste to be on their way. Others stepped to the balcony's edge to see where the new and odd voice came from.

"Fascinating! Your mind is acting as a relay for the Kel-Fahr to all nearby human minds. Transmit only?" Safa asked.

"Thankfully, yes!"

"Come up! Come up! I have so much to tell these brilliant people, and the Tik loses the nuances of the concepts too easily," Kennt called out.

Joe looked at Safa, who looked annoyed. "Kennt, Mr. Neumann is needed back at the house, so he can only spare ninety minutes for you today." She turned to Joe. "Sorry, this was one of the groups I mentioned earlier." They headed for the stairs. "What is the range for communicating with the Kel-Fahr? Is there a line-of-sight requirement?" Safa asked.

"No. Once I've established a connection to a Kel-Fahr mind, I can re-establish the link at any time from anywhere. It's like a directory in my head I can just dial up. For instance, I don't know where Rensley is, but I can contact her like this... Rensley?" he reached out with his mind and heard her scream. "Are you okay?" he yelled, feeling her fright.

"Where-where are you?" Rensley asked.

"I'm with your father. Why did you scream? What's wrong?" he asked.

There was a sudden, huge surge of relief followed by guilt, then indignation. "You shouldn't talk to me when we aren't face to face. That is horribly rude! It breaks several Kel-Fahr cultural taboos."

"Can any other Kel-Fahr communicate over distance?" Safa asked her through Joe's link.

Rensley screamed again.

"What's wrong?" Joe asked.

"Where is Safa?" Rensley asked, and the fear was back.

"She's with me. What is going on with you? Where are you?" Joe asked, getting upset with the female Kel-Fahr.

"Joe! Joe, never mind my daughter. Come quick, you are wasting my ninety minutes! Wait! What you are doing now doesn't count as part of my time, does it?" Kennt badgered him to move into the conference room. He felt Rensley try to close the connection, and he still felt a lot of fear and guilt coming through the link, but he put that aside and shut down the link. He'd speak to her later.

Safa brought him upstairs to Kennt's area and left him to sit amongst the scientists and be a relay, though he didn't understand what anyone was saying. It was amusing and exciting to see their minds interact. He got comfortable in his chair and watched the action.

There were at least a dozen whiteboards around the room, and significant work was already drawn and written on each, but Joe could see that most had the mark INC on them, indicating it was incomplete. He realized these were concepts that had failed the Tik translation process. Now that Kennt was speaking mind to mind with the scientists, they were breaking through those conceptual logjams in record time. They moved to each board, and Kennt explained the concepts and arguments went back and forth, but most often, Kennt won, and the board would be completed. Cheers would ring out each time.

When they got to the far side of the room, Joe could no longer hear the soft voices of the scientists, and Kennt realized what was happening. Joe was nodding off in his chair. "Joe! Wake up! Do not sleep on our time! We have science to discover and history to make! Come here!"

Joe moved to join the group and followed them from board to board until all but one was done. The last one was a mess of scribbles. The group got really quiet as Kennt faced the board. Joe looked at their tense faces. This was pure scientific discovery at its most intense state.

Joe was bored.

Kennt began to explain how gravity wells could be located and Gates could be established between them.

Joe perked up. He'd understood that part.

Then Kennt slipped into math, which left Joe in the dust. A few scientists ventured a question or two, and Kennt answered them quickly and moved on. Joe saw light bulbs going on in the rapt audience Kennt had. The Kel-Fahr was in his element. He was an excellent teacher. He didn't begrudge being questioned and answered each one and moved on. Obviously, the human scientists were giant sponges for the information that soared over Joe's head, but he felt strangely honored to be part of this monumental interchange of scientific knowledge.

One of the scientists, a small, slim man with a neatly trimmed beard, asked Kennt a question. Joe immediately caught the man's thick Russian accent. The last one he'd heard was under far worse conditions, but he wondered at the inclusion of this scientist here.

Kennt invited the man up to the board, and they argued over a particular formula and symbols on the whiteboard. Kennt suddenly stopped and looked at the man in surprise. He made a strange, excited noise, and the Russian smiled broadly. They turned back to the board, and Kennt carefully erased a large section of the lower part of the whiteboard, much to the consternation of the other scientists. Kennt raised his hand with a smile and gestured for the Russian to pick up the marker. The man stepped forward and entered a series of mathematical symbols. The scientists around Joe were gasping before he'd even finished his work. When he was done, Kennt grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously. Many other scientists came forward, shook the Russian's hand, and patted him on the back. He was a little overwhelmed by the attention.

Once more Joe was lost. He looked to the Kel-Fahr. "Kennt, what does this mean?"

Kennt grinned at him. He held up his hands, and the other scientists became quiet.

"Mr. Neumann asked a simple question. What does the new formula on the board mean? No one here aside from myself has traveled through a Gate, and I've only done it a few times. Joe traveled through many. Tell me, Joe, how does it feel to step through a Gate?"

All eyes turned to him. Suddenly, he was a piece of delicious cheese in a room full of starving lab mice.

"Well, it isn't pleasant. The Gate gives off a rough vibration that you feel in your bones. A creepy crawly feeling. The lights on the edge of the Gate make you feel queasy when you look at them, and looking at the black center gives you vertigo. Stepping through one is nauseating. I always felt Ill and tired on the other side."

"Exactly! A very efficient and effective means to travel but very taxing physically for the people forced to use it. Some races cannot use Gates because the physical effects are too much. This modified formula exponentially reduces the energy required to maintain the Gate. This, in turn, allows us to use a lower frequency oscillation, eliminating the uncomfortable side effects. The Gates of Earth will be the smoothest, most pleasant way to travel.

Additionally, we will have more pinpoint precision on where we aim the Gates. They'll be safer, too, as the risk of collapse has been virtually eliminated due to the decreased power requirement.

After we've proven the new software works, we will want to update every Gate on the network and expand the network to those planets where they previously couldn't be used. Races once confined to their worlds can now spread out across the Network."

The Russian scientist was completely overwhelmed by the enormity of what his little formula meant and the impact it would have. His legs gave out, and he plopped down in a chair. His peers took another look at the whiteboard, seeing history happening right before their eyes.

Kennt walked up to Joe and took his hand. "I can't begin to express how grateful I am to you, Joe, for bringing me into contact with these brilliant people. I was preparing to live out my final years in obscurity and isolation on my world. I feel more alive here than I have ever felt in my life. I have so much to teach them, and they have so much to teach me." He grinned, and the faces around him picked up the expression. Joe looked around the room and saw Rensley standing on the opposite side. Kennt caught his look and called her over to hear the amazing news.

Joe noticed she was moving oddly as she approached. She took tiny steps and had her hands spread across her lower abdomen. He grew concerned that she might have hurt herself when he surprised her.

When she got close, he bent down to ask her if she was okay. She drew him a little to the side, away from the others. Her father looked annoyed but soon returned to the scientists to talk animatedly with them.

Rensley looked up at Joe and spoke quietly, so he leaned in. "Yes. Thank you. Safa... Safa mentioned to me that you had markings on your tongue. The Kel-Fahr do as well. May I see yours, please?"

Joe was embarrassed and looked back at the scientists, but they were in their own world. He turned back to Rensley and leaned down once more. He stuck out his tongue, and her eyes grew wide.

"Two bands!" she gasped.

Then her tongue shot out across the gap between them and slapped against his. The initial jolt to Joe's nervous system instantly overwhelmed his control over his body. He fell to his knees, and his arms hung at his sides as the pleasure ripped through his body into hers. She leaned forward until they were mouth to mouth, and her body became translucent as bioluminescent bands of lights began to ripple from her head down her torso to concentrate on her lower abdomen. Her hands, which had hidden this area, were now clutching at his shoulders.

Safa and three Soldiers rushed into the conference room and skidded to a halt. One of the Soldiers moved to separate Rensley from Joe, but Safa blocked him. "It's too late. To separate them now may be dangerous to them both."

Safa stepped closer and looked into Rensley's body, specifically her fertilization bed.

There were the eggs she'd stolen from Safa's lab.

Joe's eggs.

She'd injected herself with many of them, and the charge from Joe triggered a transformation in them.

They were activating.

Safa looked up and saw Kennt standing on the opposite side of his daughter, looking at her with wide eyes, and she felt his horror. He looked down and saw the eggs she had inside. His expression became sad, and he shook his head at Safa, but he couldn't speak to her while Joe was in this state.

The light pulses began to speed up, and Kennt gestured frantically that they should pull them apart. Kennt grabbed Joe and pulled as Safa pulled on Rensley. She was instantly hit with overwhelming ecstatic sensations coursing through her body then it was over as the connection between Rensley and Joe broke.

Safa was on the floor, feeling every nerve ending in her body pulse, tingle, and burn with the afterimage of the ecstasy she'd been flooded with. Some sensitive areas of her body were extra tingly, and it took incredible willpower to keep her hands away from them.

Kennt had used the struts of his augmentation suit to pull on Joe, so he'd been spared the nerve shock.

Rensley was lying unconscious on top of Safa, her fertilization bed glowing happily and the eggs moving with purpose.

Safa looked up to the Soldiers and asked them to take Rensley to the infirmary and put her under guard.

"She will not survive the gestation period," Kennt told Safa. They both looked at Joe, whose eyes were fluttering as he resurfaced. Safa noticed he was tenting his shorts badly, so it wasn't just her who was dealing with the experience's physical effects. She took a little comfort from that until Joe's eyes snapped open, and he was looking deeply into her soul, his lustful need for her pulling at her like a riptide. She sucked in a breath and felt the tingle flare to an inferno. Through the Kel-Fahr's mental bridge, Safa felt his ravenous hunger for her, and he felt her willing submission.

WHACK!

Joe winced and closed his eyes after Kennt clocked him on the top of his head with the arm support of his augmentation suit. His concentration broken, he looked at the angry and embarrassed Kel-Fahr.

Safa took that opportunity to escape. She ran out the door and was gone.

Joe blinked and looked around. There were a lot of embarrassed and flushed faces in the group of scientists. They'd all been unwilling voyeurs through the link, some more unwilling than others. He felt some hungry stares.

He was sitting on his ass on the conference room floor, and Kennt was staring down at him with an odd mix of emotions streaming across his face and through the link.

"What-what happened?" Joe asked, dazed.

Anger, sharp and focused. "Do not pull me into your mating games. I am far too old to get involved with that now!"

"Mating?"

Guilt then shame flared in the old Kel-Hahr. "I'm so sorry, Joe. I had no idea she'd go that far."

"Who?" Joe cast his eyes around. "Where's Safa?"

Fear and despair surged. "No, Rensley. I had no idea she was so desperate to have a child that she'd resort to rape. Now she's doomed herself."

Joe's eyes snapped back to Kennt. "No. No, no, NO, NO!" Joe howled and pushed himself to his feet. He wobbled, then rushed from the room. He staggered down the stairs and cast around for a sign of where they'd taken Rensley. He opened his mind wide and reached for her.

Then he felt it.

A ping.

Lighter than a snowflake landing on his perception but much like the tiny shock of freshness. He let his legs lead him toward the ping.

Moments later, he pushed through the infirmary doors into a hub of frantic activity. The quarantine protocols had been activated for one of the rooms. One of the doctors approached him and directed him to a decontamination booth linked to the room's entrance. He was blasted with air and light and slipped on protective clothing. Then he walked into the room. Safa was on the opposite side of the bed and looked at him with a guarded expression.

"I'm so sorry, Safa," he said softly.

She continued to look at him, then nodded. She turned back to her patient.

Joe looked down at the Kel-Fahr. He wanted to scream at her. To demand why her needs justified the violation. He was practically vibrating with suppressed rage. Safa looked at him, worried. Then his eyes stopped on Rensley's face. She had a beatific smile as she looked back up at him. He felt his rage dissipate like smoke in the wind.

"It's wonderful!" she whispered.

"What is?" he said, his voice rough with emotion.

"Our babies are singing to me," Rensley smiled, a tear rolling down her face.

Joe looked closer and could see the glow of multiple eggs inside her.

"So many!" he gasped.

"I-I know I shouldn't have used more than five, but I couldn't stop myself." She put her hands over her abdomen lovingly.

Safa gave him a look, meaning they'd talk later. He nodded.

"OH! You have to hear them! The harmonies!" Rensley reached out and pulled at Joe's hand. She put it on her belly, but the glove he wore blocked any sensation. Safa shook her head, but Joe ripped the glove off. He placed his bare hand on the Kel-Fahr's abdomen, instantly filling his head with the sweetest music. He locked eyes with Rensley, and she knew he heard. They shared that wonder. More tears flowed, but this time Joe's were included.

The notes seemed aware of his presence, and the music felt personal. Its tone changed, becoming grander as he felt himself bonding with the new life under his hand. He opened himself up to the sensations, felt the music pouring through his mind, and shared himself with it. Rensley was there too and gasped in wonder as she experienced Joe's life in seconds, passing like an intense burst of fire and chaotic energy. Joe felt the cool stream that was Rensley's life, so much longer than his own. He felt soothed and calmed by her and grateful that they'd been able to share this between them and with the new life growing inside her. The music now sounded like them, or more accurately, like them with hints of something more.

Reluctantly, Joe opened his eyes and saw the room was filled with swirling light. The music was almost audible. He pulled his hand back and saw an imprint of his hand glowing brightly like a flare on Rensley's abdomen. The eggs were also shining brightly, and this was where the swirling light was coming from. Safa was no longer in the room.

Rensley appeared to be sleeping quietly, a look of total peace on her face. Joe stepped back and left the room. He went through a thorough decontamination process... twice. When he came out, Safa was standing there with Kennt. Both were looking deeply sad, and Joe was suddenly nervous.

"What is it?" he asked. Safa took his arm and led him into a small office with a few chairs. She sat Joe down and took the chair across from him. Kennt stood inside the room and pulled the door closed. Now Joe was seriously frightened.

"Kennt explained to me what happens in a normal Kel-Fahr gestation period. The maximum number of eggs a Kel-Fahr female can support is five. The female's body's resources are seriously tapped by the new life. I counted the eggs Rensley has fertilized, and there are twenty-four. She's not going to survive. There is no way to separate her from the eggs at this point. That would kill her, too, only more quickly. Our best guess is that she may be able to bring some of the children to term, but there won't be anything left of her at the end.

"She knows," Joe whispered, looking back towards the room.

"What?" Safa and Kennt said.

"She knows she won't live to see the children born." Tears slowly rolled down Joe's cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Joe. It's not fair that you were forced into being a parent only to see them die," Kennt said softly.

"They're all going to make it... except for Rensley. She shared her life with me and the children. It was so beautiful! They're going to make it," he said with conviction as the tears flowed.

Safa shared a look with Kennt, then sat with Joe, holding his big hands while he cried.

Finally, his tears stopped, and he looked up at Safa as confusion crossed his face. "My eggs were still viable? You took them before I was taken off the planet!"

Safa looked acutely uncomfortable and pulled her hands back. "The sample Rensley accessed was collected recently, a week ago."

Joe looked at her uncomprehendingly. He was trying to figure out how she got a sample when he was still asleep.

"I-I wasn't awake..." he mumbled.

"You were in a chemically induced sleep state. We had to periodically take you from the oven to feed you and ensure you were medically sound and healing. During one of those intervals, your body presented an aroused state. I collected a sample then." She was having trouble looking him in the eye, and he wondered how she collected the sample and what else she'd done while he'd been asleep.

Joe pushed back in his chair and looked at Safa, speechless.

There was a gentle knock on the door, and Safa used it as an excuse to leave Joe's side. She pulled open the door, and Joe's family was standing there.

Joe stood up in surprise. Amy and Clara rushed in and crushed up against him in a tight hug. Karl followed them in and hugged his son fiercely around the two women. Kennt and Safa quietly stepped outside and closed the door.

The family stood like that for some time, tears flowing down their faces, and none could speak. When Karl felt the moment was right, he began.

"Son, they explained to us what you went through during your abduction from Earth, your return through Australia, and your second abduction by the Russians." He felt Joe stiffen in his arms. "We want you to know we're sorry we didn't prepare you for what you went through. You were put into situations we never expected you to have to face. Please know that Amy, your mother, and I love you unconditionally. What you had to do to survive was justified because it was life or death. We can't hold you in higher regard, and our love for you can't be diminished by anything you'd be forced to do to survive. The fact that you're here in our arms is all that matters. We love you!"

Joe's grief shook his large body, and his family held him tight, sharing their tears with him. When his legs would no longer support him, they made him sit on a chair, and Clara and Amy took chairs on either side of him to lean against him. Karl pulled up a chair directly in front of his son.

"I-I-I murdered so-so many people!" Joe stuttered as he cried.

"No, Joe. You killed them to survive. There's a difference," Karl said firmly.

Joe looked into his father's eyes.

"Did you take any pleasure in killing them?" Karl asked gently.

"N-no."

"If you hadn't done what you did, would they still have you captive or have killed you?" the father asked.

"Yes."

"You only killed to save your own life or the lives of others who needed protection?" Karl continued.

Joe was quiet for a while as he thought about his father's question. "Yes."

"Then you were morally justified in your actions. The fact that you were tormented by the acts themselves tells us you have a strong belief in the sanctity of life and have strong moral convictions. That makes your mother and me proud to call you our son."

Joe's tears started again, and Karl leaned forward to rest his forehead against his son's.

Once these new tears slowed, Joe leaned back, as did Karl. His mother and sister rested against his arms.

"I'm... I'm really good at it... at killing. That terrifies me," Joe said, looking at his lap.

"The General gave us the details and said he was very impressed. But being good at something doesn't make it inherently good or bad. It's the intent behind the act that defines that. If you had killed for the enjoyment of it or for some kind of personal gain, that would have been difficult to justify. But using your abilities to kill to protect yourself or others is morally defensible. Remember what I said about the dangers of rigidity in thinking. The labeling of something as good or bad can fall into that category. There are so many variables that sometimes make it impossible to clearly define something as completely good or bad. You have to fall back on your beliefs in those situations, and even then, sometimes, you will get it wrong. If your intent was for the good, sometimes you have to be satisfied with that. Even when the outcome turns out bad," Karl explained.

"I love you, Dad, Mom, Amy. You know that, don't you?" Joe asked.

"We know, son. You have to accept that we love you back equally," Karl said.

They sat quietly for a while then Joe looked up. "Why were you in the infirmary?"

Amy answered. "We've been waiting for weeks to speak with you. Everyone knew you were being woken today. You were supposed to come to the house first. Then we were told that you'd only be an hour and a half, but you still hadn't arrived two hours later, so we came looking for you. Figures you'd be in the infirmary. What did you hurt this time?"

"Actually, for once, it's not me." Joe frowned as he thought about how he'd explain this. He sighed. "Do you recall when I gave that sample of my... stuff to Safa and Agent White, and they discovered I produced eggs?" he asked his parents.

"Yes."

"Do you recall how upset I was that I couldn't give you grandchildren?" he asked.

"Yes, Joe, but you know that doesn't matter!" Clara said.

"Did you know that Safa took another sample just last week?" he asked carefully.

"What? But you were asleep!" Clara gasped, and Karl frowned. Amy's eyes just got big.

"Rensley broke into Safa's lab today and stole some eggs. She implanted them inside herself and then tricked me into activating them. She kissed me. That's what the lines on my tongue are truly for."

"She's pregnant?" Karl and Clara gasped. Amy looked stunned.

"There's a complication. There always is." Joe took some deep breaths. "A Kel-Fahr female can only safely support five eggs."

"How many did she take?" Clara asked.

"Twenty-four," Joe said.

His parents froze. Amy was the first to speak. "You have twenty-four babies?"

"The house isn't big enough," Clara mumbled in shock, and Karl's face split into a huge grin, then dropped.

"Wait! You said the safe limit is five. What will happen to Rensley?" he asked.

"She's not going to survive. There's nothing we can do. She knows. The children will survive, though."

"Can we see them?" Clara asked.

They stood and left the room to walk over to the window of Rensley's room. Kennt stood there looking in at his last family member. Stinky was there as well. Joe held the offered tentacle for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Kennt," Joe said sympathetically.

"Don't be. This is the happiest I have ever seen her. This was what she was meant to do. If you'll excuse me, I must return to the scientists. Please come back to us at your earliest convenience," Kennt said, then marched away. Joe watched him leave.

Clara was staring in the window, watching the calm lights pulse in the woman's body. Displayed on a large screen that had been mounted on the wall at the end of the bed was a live image of Rensley's Fertilization bed. The eggs were still active, but the initial energy had calmed. Now, the cells within were getting on with the important task of making new little beings.

Safa approached the family and faced their scrutiny.

"No more collecting samples of anything from me without my direct and conscious approval," Joe began.

She had the good grace to look apologetic.

"How long does it take for a Kel-Fahr to have a child?" Clara asked.

"According to Kennt, around sixty days. Kel children are born fully aware and about the size of one of Joe's shoes. They grow quickly in the first year to reach adulthood in around fifteen months. Intellectual maturity takes much longer. They aren't merged with a Fahrchar until they're around fifty-eight years old."

Safa looked at the family. She had their attention. Time to make them face some ugly reality.

"All of what I just said is for Kel-Fahr to Kel-Fahr procreation. Kel-Fahr to Human-Fahr is a complete unknown. According to Kennt, there is no bioluminescence in Kel-Fahr to Kel-Fahr procreation. The light show you are seeing does not happen normally. Please prepare yourself for the possibility that none of the children will be born live or may be malformed due to genetic incompatibility. We know there are far too many eggs for Rensley to sustain. She has already slipped into some kind of coma. We will try to feed her the same formula that Joe ate as it is high in energy and protein, and the developing fetuses are at least partially human, again, we assume."

"I can feel her. She's communing with them. The children will live," Joe said, his eyes closed but facing the window. A gentle smile played across his face.

"Joe-Mr. Neumann, you can't know they'll live." Safa looked flustered. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"When I first went in there and put my hand on Rensley, I touched their minds. They sang to Rensley and me, and we joined their song. We shared our lives with them, and that became part of them. I know I'm not explaining it well. It's not something that translates into words. I also know I can't predict the future and what might happen, but I know the children are healthy and should develop to full term. I know this. I need to come back every day to connect with them."

"Spoken like a true father," Karl said proudly.

Joe looked at his father in surprise and grinned broadly. Then he saw Amy's fractured expression. She was trying to smile, but the corners of her mouth kept dropping. Tears were in her eyes when she pulled away and ran from the infirmary. Joe started to follow, but Clara put a hand on his arm.

"This is a mother's job. I'll speak with her," Clara said, following her daughter out. Safa took that moment to leave as well.

Then, the two men and the Tik were alone by the window. Joe looked at his father. "Did I screw up again?"

"Not in the slightest. Do you remember your reaction when Amy announced her intention to go to Hollywood, leaving you behind? I think Amy just wasn't ready for you to have children. You know she loves you... a little too strongly," Karl said with a sad expression.

"Yes, I've spoken with her about that. I love Amy with every fiber of my being, but she'll always be my sister. That won't change." Joe sighed.

Karl patted his son on the shoulder. "Listen, one of the things we needed to discuss with you is finding someone you can talk to about your experiences. It's part of the healing process. One of the General's conditions for allowing you your continued freedom to move as you wish is ensuring you aren't a danger to yourself or others. At some point soon, you need to have a psychiatric evaluation. Before that happens, we are considering bringing in someone you are comfortable speaking with. Amy has been the driving force behind this. She feels that if you were to speak to this person, you would get the help you need, and then you would have no trouble passing the assessment."

"Who?"

"Rene Duval," Karl answered.

Joe's face lit up. Then he looked unsure. "We'd be telling her everything about me, right?"

"Yes, that's right. Do you think Rene would be judgemental? You know her better than any of us, so the decision has to rest with you," Karl asked.

He thought about it, and in his heart, he knew Rene was a solid friend. "It's a pretty big secret for her to keep," Joe worried.

"I wouldn't worry about that particular aspect. Ms. Duval is well acquainted with maintaining secrets."

"Mrs. Duval."

"Ah! Well, see?" Karl said with a smile. "Let's go tell the General."

Stinky remained like a solitary guardian as the two men left the infirmary and looked for Clara and Amy. Once they entered the atrium, they spotted the women sitting on a bench by the windows talking, and Clara gave Karl a subtle gesture to go back to the house without them.

"Where are your clothes? There's still plenty of snow out there, though spring is just around the corner!" Karl rubbed his hands together, eager to begin his farming season.

Joe stopped and looked at his father. "I don't have any clothes. Every piece of clothing I have has either been burned, electrocuted, shot, or otherwise destroyed. I need indestructible clothes."

Karl looked at his son, and a novel thought came to mind. "Do you think indestructible clothes exist somewhere out there on the Gate Network?" The two men looked at each other and grinned. While Joe had traveled extensively from planet to planet, his travel companions had purposefully kept him away from civilized worlds. There was so much more to see out there.

"I'll tell you what, why don't you spend a little more time with Kennt and his scientists, and I'll go back to the house and get some clothes for you.

Joe sighed and turned to the stairs.

"And son? I love you," Karl said.

Joe turned around and hugged his father. "I love you too, so much," Joe said.

He went upstairs and spotted Kennt. Cheers went up when they realized they could hear their teacher once more. The Tik with the scientists moved towards the door, and Joe caught its attention before it left. He'd heard there was a Tik that could speak and wanted to meet it.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Joe."

"I'm Pokey."

"Cool name!"

"Thank you."

"Are you one of the recent arrivals?" Joe asked.

"No, I was with the original group the Ello sent to collect you. It is very exciting to finally meet you! I wish you well on the mission!"

"Mission?" Joe asked.

Kennt grabbed his arm and pulled on it. "Joe! Come closer to the group! Don't just show up and tease us with whispers! We still can't hear each other!"

The Tik moved off before Joe could get his answer.

Joe allowed himself to be led over to the chairs by the conference table. He settled in and did his best to remain awake. It was going to be a long afternoon.

Chapter 22

When General MacAvoy learned that their Kel-Fahr government representative had impregnated herself with eggs from Joseph and wouldn't survive the process, he was... more than a little upset. He had planned on having the woman act as their go-between to negotiate peace between the two races.

The Tik, who now had autonomy, made it clear that they would not allow the Gate Network to be used as an invasion tool. In theory, this should have protected Earth as well, but the only other race in the network who had access to Gate Tech were the Kel-Fahr. They didn't need the Tik to open a Gate as apparently their ships were equipped to open their own Gates. Vessels like the Blade of Eshen! The picture Joe had taken of the flying monstrosity still haunted the General's dreams.

The General had convened several secret meetings with his global counterparts to discuss strategies for if/when the Kel-Fahr decided to visit Earth with a military force. He was grateful for Joe's retrieval of the Mediator suit as he'd seen what kind of armor and weapons they'd be facing. He was convinced their more conventional weapons stood a chance to go toe-to-toe with these. But what ships like the Blade of Eshen might bring to bear against the forces of Earth was still largely unknown. The Tik weren't much help with information on that. There were hints that it had significant gravity distortion weaponry, which they had nothing to counteract.

He needed more information! What were the tactical capabilities of the Kel-Fahr fleet? Did they have invasion plans? If they did, what was the timeline? Kennt said that they wouldn't stop until they captured Joseph. Why? Was it just because he'd broken their law regarding visiting their homeworld? Or was it something to do with his creation? Why did the Ello create him? How was he a threat to the Kel-Fahr?

He wished Joseph was in a better headspace as he made a damn fine intelligence resource. Tough as hell, resourceful, and lethal in battle, the General would send him back through a Gate tomorrow if the young man could come to terms with killing.

He needed to speak with him. He issued an order to find him and bring him to his office.

He returned to the reports from the research lab he'd set up. The docket before him contained a file on the think tank. He read the briefing, then went back and read it again. Damn! He'd been frustrated for weeks and was starting to have doubts that Kennt was truly trying to assist them. The human scientists were all getting glimpses of how the gravity tech worked but couldn't grasp some critical elements. It was like the Kel-Fahr was omitting crucial information. It turned out the problem was the mechanical translator between the Kel-Fahr and the Earth scientists. With Joseph there to allow direct mind-to-mind communication for the Kel-Fahr, they'd resolved all the outstanding issues. Professor Bobrov had potentially discovered a way to improve existing Gate technology significantly. They now had something to offer the Gate Network that would benefit all races who used it. That would have practically guaranteed their acceptance in the Network, except that they'd already been sentenced to death by the very race that chose which races were allowed to join.

Joseph had proven to be incredibly valuable once more. And all he wanted was to be a bodyguard for his sister. The General shook his head in disbelief.

-=-

The Soldiers found Joe struggling to remain conscious in the conference room. The room's far wall was lined with large mobile whiteboards five deep. They kept rolling in more, and the outer hall was littered with the packaging debris from new whiteboards they assembled there and brought in. The documentarians had tried to keep up with recording the contents of the boards, but the scientists kept returning to them to add additional notations and amendments, so they'd given up and were waiting for them to finalize each board before they'd begin documenting them.

Some of the chairs in the room were occupied by exhausted scientists who'd spent their load, their contributions scribbled across the boards somewhere in the collection, and now they rested. The floor was littered with empty markers like ejected rounds as the concepts and new science was fired across the boards. Everyone, except Joe, wore at least some marker dust on their clothes and hands. Kennt was covered in the stuff but was almost manic in his drive to communicate with the others. It was his energy that kept Joe in the battle for consciousness. As long as the old Kel-Fahr worked, Joe would be there to pass it to the scientists.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked around groggily to see the two Soldiers waiting patiently. Kennt and the other scientists who were still awake looked around as well. The simultaneous motion was a little creepy, but they had a mission to bring Joseph with them.

"Yes?" Joe asked.

"General MacAvoy needs to speak with you," the man said.

"Joe is needed here!" Kennt complained.

Joe looked back at the teacher. "Kennt, I think we all need a break. You need a shower to wash that dust off you, and someone should clean your augmentation suit before the dust mucks up the joints. You can continue your review of your notes tomorrow," Joe said.

"Silly Joe, I finished with my notes hours ago. Weren't you paying attention? We're doing NEW science now!" Kennt grinned, and the look appeared on many of the faces around the Kel-Fahr.

Joe blinked. "All the more reason to start with fresh minds tomorrow," he replied.

There was a whine amongst the collected people then Kennt held up his hands for quiet. "I'm sorry, Joe, you are right. I have been abusing your willingness to help. Please go with our thanks! Much good has been done here today."

Joe stood up and looked at the Soldiers. "Did my father bring me any clothes?"

"He spoke with our quartermaster as he couldn't find any in your room that would fit. We've brought you a uniform, but I have been told to inform you there are no expectations if you know what that means. There is no insignia on the uniform. Is that sufficient?" The other Soldier handed Joe a bundle of clothes with a pair of black boots.

Joe looked at the uniform and saw it wasn't an officer's uniform this time. He felt better about that. "Yes, I understand. Thanks. Just let me get dressed, and I'll be with you momentarily." Joe went out into the hall and ducked into the men's room. He put the uniform on and found the sleeves to be a little tight over his upper arms and shoulders, but it would do.

He rejoined the Soldiers, and they went downstairs and picked up parkas at the front door. A personnel carrier was outside, so they climbed in and made the short journey through the back lane to the homestead.

Joe teared up a little when he got out of the truck and saw his home. Then he recalled that the last time he was inside, he couldn't get out of it fast enough.

He waved at his parents, who were in the window waving back. Then, he followed the Soldier to the General's command station. He removed the parka when he got inside and was ushered into the office.

The General stood and walked around his desk to shake Joe's hand. He noticed the shirt's seams were in dire need of relief, so he asked his secretary to order a larger size. Then they sat down at the desk.

"Are the Russians still after me?" Joe immediately asked.

"No. We've come to a new understanding with the Russians, Chinese, Brits, French, Israelis, Arabs, Canadians, and almost every other group who were or were beginning to show interest in our little operation here and the people involved. We've brought the important people into the loop regarding the current threats to Earth and how we've obtained assistance to counter some of them. They won't interfere with us and are participating in the knowledge gathering. You may have met a few scientists from the countries I just mentioned. The best and brightest are either coming here or are involved remotely. To work with the Kel-Fahr, the scientists must be here. So far, that hasn't been a problem."

"That's great to hear! Broad daylight roadside abductions are not my favorite activity," Joe muttered.

"I understand you're going to be a father," MacAvoy said, changing the subject.

"Uh, yes. That was a surprise to me as well," Joe replied.

"Twenty-four? That's more than a surprise! Though I'm sorry to hear about Rensley."

Joe nodded and reconnected with the woman. His face broke into a big smile as he felt her joy through the link. "She's very happy."

"You-you're in contact with her?" the General's eyebrows rose.

"Yeah, that's one of the changes that happened to me when I was taken to the Ello home world. They had the remaining piece of the Fahrchar I merged with when I was a baby. When the Ello forced that last piece on me, it opened up some capabilities I didn't have before. It also almost killed me. The Fahrchar are intelligent or at least aware. It tried to crush me and destroy my mind when it became whole, but I thought of my family... and fought back. I-I ate the Fahrchar consciousness, consumed its life force. When it was over, I felt different, but I was still me. The Ello were really pleased that it had worked, but how they knew that, I have no idea. When I stumbled onto Sehsra, the Kel-Fahr home world, I discovered I could communicate with the locals."

Joe's expression dropped. "I met Kennt's youngest daughter Kennha. She was blind, but her Fahrchar senses saw me as a Kel-Fahr, only with a much stronger communication link. She taught me how the Kel-Fahr talked mind to mind, and I picked up some strong impressions from her of the very strict social taboos when everyone can speak directly into someone else's head. But Kel-Fahr can only speak to other Kel-Fahr who are close by. Once I've established a link with another mind, I can always reach them. I haven't tested how far the link works."

He looked at the General. "What I haven't told anyone is that I can also see links to other Kel-Fahr minds within the mind I am connected to. There is a huge network of minds out there. There's also a built-in aversion to looking deeper than the surface level needed to communicate, but I think my mind can do it. It totally creeps me out!"

"You might be able to connect to a group of Kel-Fahr? Communicate with all of them at once?" MacAvoy's mind was racing with the possibilities like broadcasting a throw down your weapons command!

"Understand that this is tantamount to mental rape in their society. Nothing good could come of that!" Joe stressed.

The General saw he was once again butting heads with Joe's ethical barriers. He was frustrated but pushed that aside.

"So, the Ello made you a Kel-Fahr or a Human-Fahr, in this case. Why?"

"They told the Vershoo I was some kind of ultimate weapon against the Kel-Fahr and to get me to Sehsra, but something Rensley told me makes me question that. She said the Ello work for the Kel-Fahr and are apparently their main benefactors. All of the Kel-Fahr technology comes from factories on the Ello home world. Why would the Ello want to overthrow the people who pay and protect them?" Joe asked.

"Just because you're a paid slave doesn't mean you have to like your masters," MacAvoy said.

"True, but some other things don't make sense. Kennt gave Rensley the portable Gate Generators to have her most trusted staff member disclose the truth about the Kel-Fahr council's genocide at the Assembly Headquarters on a planet called Maghadahn. He never made it. When Kennt read the generator's log file, he indicated the first planet was Mexpha, but it should have been Maghadahn, as that's where the staff member was supposed to go. This could mean he fled to Mexpha and disappeared, possibly a victim of the Vershoo, or in my opinion, he and the devices never made it off Sehsra."

"Rensley suggested that the Vershoo could have stolen the Gate devices from him as they are very valuable, but Kennt said the log only had one entry for Sehsra, and that was when I got there. So how did the Vershoo get the Fahrchar they gave to the Ello? The Ello had reprogrammed Tik so they could have potentially gotten their own Fahrchar, but they didn't."

"Fahrchar are considered sacred and are only found on Sehsra. The only way the Vershoo could have gotten to Sehsra, a planet that bans all non-Kel-Fahr visitors, would be through the portable Gate Generators, but the log indicates this didn't happen."

He and the General shared a look before Joe continued.

"I have an alternate theory. Someone took a load of Fahrchar directly from the Fahrchar sanctuary on Sehsra to Mexpha using the portable Gate Generators, and the Vershoo, on the instructions of the Ello, killed them and took the Gate Generators. They used the generators to bring the Fahrchar to the Ello, then went into hiding using the Gate Generators. The Ello used their reprogrammed Tik to open their own Gates to red-flagged planets and eventually experimented on humans. Only council members know the coordinates of the red-flagged planets. Rensley certainly didn't give them out."

"Your theory suggests that one or more council members have been orchestrating this entire game," the General replied.

"I think I know which one of them. Tyreen the Terrible."

The General looked at Joe with raised eyebrows. "They call her that?" he sounded surprised.

"No, sorry. But Rensley agreed my description matched her perfectly. She's the oldest council member, ancient by our standards, a hardliner, and has the required authority. Rensley suggested she was commanding the Blade of Eshen when they came for us on that mountainside. Why would she do that personally?"

"Do you have any additional information on this Tyreen?" the General asked.

"Kennt's journal has a complete history of his race. I read some of it when I was in his home. Tyreen is the main council member in charge of red-flagging planets. It was her order that condemned Earth. I don't know why she hasn't attacked yet. When we fled, I stupidly left Rensley's terminal running with Earth's coordinates displayed. She knows we're here," Joe said in a worried tone.

"I'm told it's the burrs. They're being calibrated to reverse the damage they've done, which has the added benefit of causing fluctuating gravity fields that prevent outside access. The problem is, that will only continue for a few more weeks, maybe a month. The burrs will be reconfigured by that time, and the field will settle down," MacAvoy explained. "We have to be ready when that happens."

Joe leaned back in the chair and rubbed his face. "Ready for what, though?"

"Why don't you get some rest? You've had a very busy day," the General said.

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could go into town tomorrow. I need to buy some clothes. I think the only clothes I own that haven't been blown up or burned are currently in California. I think both my old and new phones are at Doug Wilson's place in Santa Monica."

"If you go into town tomorrow, you'll take an escort. I believe you remember Sergeant Armstrong. As for your phones, we'll have personnel contact Mr. Wilson so we can pick them up. Bannon has a new phone for you that has satellite connectivity. I believe your last one lost that ability."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, General," Joe said. He stood up as the meeting felt like it was over.

"Joseph?"

He looked at the General.

"Can I trust you to maintain a stable mental equilibrium?"

Joe blushed. "Yes, sir. I'm feeling a lot better since I reconnected with my family. I'm going to take them up on the offer to speak with Rene Duval if you're in agreement. I meant to ask you about that earlier. Sorry."

"Let my people connect with her tonight. I'll let you know tomorrow before you head in town if you have the green light to bring her into the group," MacAvoy said.

"Thank you, sir! Have a good night!" Joe said and left the office.

The secretary handed him a new shirt, which Joe immediately switched with the one he had on. The relief from not worrying about tearing through his shirt was wonderful. He thanked the man and then put on his parka for the walk across the lawn to the house.

Once he was home, he breathed in deeply and picked up the soul-nourishing scent of his mother's home cooking. He heard her humming in the kitchen. Parka and boots off, he walked into the kitchen, and his mother turned to see her son. She put down her utensils and came over to give him an enormous hug.

"Hi, Mom," he said as he hugged her.

"Sit down and tell me what the General said about Rene." She turned back to the stove to ensure dinner didn't burn.

"He's going to have his people speak with her tonight. I don't know what that entails. Then he said he'd tell me in the morning if I can speak with her."

"I just spoke with the General, and I'll be speaking with Mrs. Duval myself," Bannon said as he entered the kitchen. Clara smiled at the man, and he handed Joe a new phone. "Try to keep this one on Earth where our satellites can reach it, okay?" he smirked.

"So, you know she's been married," Joe said, and Clara looked surprised. "She's a widow," Joe explained to her.

"Yes," Roger smiled.

"But you're not going to talk about her with me," Joe finished.

"Right," Roger continued to smile.

"Can you tell her hi from me?" Joe asked.

"I'll give her your regards," Bannon said.

"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes. Will you and Rachel be joining us tonight? Safa?" Clara asked.

"Rachel called me a few minutes ago. She's on her way. She had to collect Safa from her lab as she was doing inventory. Something about a break-in."

Joe looked uncomfortable.

"Roger, didn't the General tell you?" Clara asked.

"Tell me what?" Roger asked, becoming concerned.

Rachel White stepped into the kitchen doorway but didn't see Joe behind Bannon. "Honestly, Roger! How can you call yourself a Director of our National Security Agency if you can't keep on top of important stories like Joe becoming a daddy?"

"WHAT?" Roger gasped and turned to look at Rachel, which let her see Joe. She jumped and blushed very obviously on her almost porcelain skin.

"Hi, Agent White," Joe said.

Safa peered around the doorway.

"Hi, Safa," he continued.

"Will somebody please explain that last statement?" Roger complained.

Safa stepped forward. "I took an unauthorized sample of Mr. Neumann's eggs a week ago. They were secured in my lab. Today, Rensley disabled the main feed to the security cameras, broke into the locked lab, broke open the secure fridge, and extracted some of the eggs. She injected herself with them, then found Mr. Neumann and tricked him into activating them by surprising him with a kiss. She's in the infirmary in a coma and will not survive the gestation period. The twenty-four eggs are active. Stinky seems to have appointed itself as her guardian."

"Twenty-four?!?" Roger said, looking back at Joe, who just nodded.

"Didn't you just wake up today?" Roger exclaimed.

Joe nodded again.

Rogers looked at the others. "Can we try to help Joseph have a dull day once in a while?"

"I second that motion!" Karl said, shepherding Rachel and Safa farther into the kitchen as they blocked the door.

Roger sat next to Joe at the table, and Rachel took the one on Roger's other side. Safa was doing a headcount and realized simultaneously with Clara that the table was too small for everyone. They turned to each other and smiled, knowing they were on the same wavelength.

"I'll get the tablecloth on the dining room table," Safa told Clara.

"I'll help," Joe said, and Safa stiffened up but walked into the next room. Clara cast Joe a questioning look, but he just shook his head.

When it was just the two of them, Joe waited at the end of the table for Safa to open the tablecloth and pass him his end. He tried to put her at ease when she finally looked at him.

"Safa, I don't want things to become uncomfortable between us," he began.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Mr. Neumann," she said in her clinical voice.

"Yeah, just like that. Perfect example, thanks!" Joe said sarcastically.

Safa held herself very still and stared at Joe with fierce eyes. "My personal and private thoughts are mine and mine alone. What you did today exposed them to a large group of people! People I work with or at least in the same building with. How am I to face them tomorrow and the day after that?"

While he wanted to yell, Joe pitched his voice so only she could hear. "Are you seriously holding me responsible for what happened today? I was virtually raped by Rensley, and in the midst of that, suddenly, you were inside the bliss with us. Then, the abrupt break, which scrambled my brain for a while. When I came back, I was still in the throes of the effect, and since we're being honest, you were too! It was my link to you through Kennt that caused the rebound. In the state I was in, I had no control over that! It wasn't our fault. I'm sorry you were embarrassed, but I'm not sorry for how I felt or reacted to you."

He watched the fidgeting woman, and his heart went out to her. He dropped his head. "I don't want you to feel anything has to change between us. I really like you, and I enjoy talking and working with you. I hope you can get past this and see that we can still be best friends."

He hesitated just a moment, then continued. "I've been meaning to tell you that there were moments when I was lost and alone on other worlds when I recalled the time you fed me the soup and bread on that flight to Washington. That memory helped keep me from total despair. I wanted to thank you for that."

He looked up and saw the surprise on her face. Then she blushed deeply, and a hint of her old smile returned.

"Mr. Neumann, we should finish setting the table. Dinner will be ready soon."

He nodded and smiled.

When they re-entered the kitchen, there was a sudden surge of activity and more than a few guilty looks. Joe sighed. Amy was standing by the counter looking a little lost, so Joe walked up to her and gave her a hug. She sighed.

Soon, everyone was sitting around the table enjoying Clara's amazing cooking. There were plenty of compliments passed around, then Amy got a devilish look in her eye, and Joe just caught it before she spoke.

"Mom, Joe said Doug Wilson's cooking was better than yours!"

"I never said that!" Joe protested, falling into Amy's trap.

Clara regarded her son with surprise and then gave him an evaluating look. "Really, Joe? What exactly did you say?"

"I-I told him you were an amazing cook, and you are! This meal is delicious!" Joe stuffed more food in his mouth and glared at Amy, who smiled and stuck out her tongue.

Clara smiled and went back to her own meal.

Her kids were home.

Chapter 23

Sergeant Armstrong had the biggest grin on his face. Joe stared at the man as they drove into town and fought back feelings of jealousy. Craig and Taylor were getting married. They were head over heels in love, and the wedding would be this summer. Craig had asked Joe to be in the wedding party as he'd introduced them. He'd agreed, but now he was starting to feel sorry for himself. He gave himself a mental shake and congratulated the man once more.

Bannon had spoken with Rene the evening before at her home and had informed the General that he had no objections to Joe speaking with her. The General had called him into his office first thing and spelled it out for him. Rene had promised to maintain the confidentiality of anything Joe chose to share with her. Bannon had informed her that Joe had done some work for the NSA and the US Government, was having trouble dealing with his experiences, and needed to speak with someone he trusted who wasn't family. The contents of those discussions would be up to Joe to decide but had to remain private for national security purposes. While she was surprised, she readily agreed. She'd been informed that Joe would visit to set up a time for their initial meeting.

Joe promised the Sergeant they could have lunch in the same restaurant they'd last visited before the bug-out.

They were going to St. Germain's Feed and Supply, where he'd had his first job. He'd speak with Rene there and maybe pick up a few articles of clothing. He had some cash, a new credit card, and a replacement driver's license in his pocket, but he'd have to get a wallet to carry it. His father had arranged the new credit card and had given him the cash. The driver's license was obtained by Director Bannon. They'd have to go into the bank to get a new bank card and unlock his account for withdrawals. As a security measure, Bannon had his account flagged as deposit only.

As they pulled into the parking lot, he saw a brown pickup parked in the spot he'd always used, and his mind flashed back to a memory of Ol' Bonny, the truck his father had given him to use and take care of. It had been written off after being t-boned by a tow truck in the robbery attempt, but he still missed it.

The Sergeant walked with him into the shop, and he looked around. A few new displays, some new products, and new faces working the cash desks, but St. Germain's was pretty much like it was when he'd left.

"Joe?"

He looked over at the order desk, and Rene was coming around to greet him. A smile burst over his face, and he scooped the woman into his arms and hugged her. She squealed a little as she wasn't used to feeling like a young girl in a man's arms. She told him to put her down, and after he did, her face was flushed, and her heart was beating fast.

"Joseph! For heaven's sake! I'm an old woman! You can't be swinging me around like that!" she said, flustered.

"Oh, please! Old woman is the least accurate description for you! You look amazing!" Joe said with a big grin.

"Charmer!" she smiled back at him.

"You remember Sergeant Armstrong? You have any stock you need put away? Think we can trick him into another contest?" Joe grinned.

"My new stock clerk keeps the warehouse ticking like a well-tuned clock. Almost as well as you did, Joe," Rene smiled knowingly.

"I've been replaced!" he said in mock dismay.

"Joe, you know you can't be replaced! You're one of a kind!" she smiled but caught how his smile became slightly brittle afterward.

"So, who is this stock clerk?" he said, forcing another smile on his face.

"You should know. You sent her our way," Rene said.

Joe's expression froze. "Pam?" he said quietly.

She nodded and tilted her head towards the warehouse. Joe set off towards the back. The sergeant made to follow, but Rene stopped the big Soldier with a small hand on his chest and a piercing look over her glasses.

Joe walked into the entrance to the big warehouse behind the store and took in the strong bouquet from the stacked bags of animal feed, plant seed, and fertilizer. Combined with a host of other earthy scents linked to his memories, it was a little intoxicating.

Then he saw her.

Pam was stacking bags of horse feed. He marveled at the play of her muscles in her arms, back, and legs. Gone was the plumpness she'd had the last time he saw her. Now, she was all toned muscles and smooth skin. She looked good. Really good!

She put a bag on the pile and stretched her back out. Her long black hair was bundled up in a thick braid hanging down her back, almost reaching her firm ass.

Her motions froze, and she slowly looked over her shoulder. Blue eyes locked on his. He saw her catch her breath. He wasn't aware that he was growling deep in his chest. He pinned her in place with eyes gone dark as he slowly stalked closer to her. Her full lips were painted with a glossy blue-black lipstick, and they parted as she began to breathe in gasps. She slowly turned her body towards him, and he saw her excitement against her tight t-shirt.

Then, he was right next to her body. He reached out and took her head between his large hands, fingers sliding into the hair on the back of her neck. Her breath caught as her eyes fluttered closed. He leaned down, pressed his lips against hers, and heard her whimper into the kiss.

Her full lips felt so soft against his. He tasted them and slipped his tongue between them. He easily suppressed the surge as he explored her mouth. Her hands slid around his back, then down to his ass. She kneaded his muscles with her strong hands. He rewarded her with a hint of the surge, and she moaned and plunged her tongue into his mouth. He sucked on her tongue and allowed the pleasure to trickle through, causing her to press against him and tremble. Then he pulled back. Her beautiful eyes popped open, and she gasped as her body reacted to losing the sensation.

"Pam. You look... perfect," Joe said, his voice rumbling with need.

"Joe... Joe, are you back?" she panted.

"Yes."

"Are you going to stay?" she said as she strained to reach his lips again.

"Yes." And he kissed her deeply. He allowed the surge to spread through her body but lightly. She ground her pelvis against his and pressed her hard nipples against his chest, moaning as the pleasure tipped her over the edge. She crested and shook against him as he held her body tightly against his. He slowly ended the kiss and felt her shiver and sigh. She rubbed her forehead against his cheek and tried to catch her breath as her mind slowly returned from heaven.

Once she was under control again, she stepped back and looked up into his deep brown eyes. The black was gone, but she knew it was just under the surface, giving her little tingles in special places. But doubt resurfaced.

"Are you here for me... or Elizabeth?" she said quietly, sickly.

Joe's eyes snapped back to black, and her blue ones widened.

"The Joe that was in love with Elizabeth no longer exists. He's gone. Do you understand?" he growled.

"Yes," she breathed, but there was a bright spark in her eyes as she knew it was true. This Joe was hers!

The PA system popped. Someone tapping on the open mic. Rene's subtle request for warehouse staff to come to the front. She preferred that to calling out names. Both were familiar with the sound. Joe's eyes snapped back to brown, and he shared a look with Pam, who smiled. He was immediately dazzled by her beauty.

They turned and started walking back to the order desk.

"Can you take a lunch break today?" Joe asked.

"Well... I was supposed to go out with my boyfriend," Pam responded.

Joe's face fell as he realized he'd just acted like some kind of caveman. He'd let his need for Pam take control. He glanced at her and caught the smirk she was trying to hide. The imp! He swept her up in his arms and kissed her fiercely, and she squealed in surprise.

He held her suspended against his body and pulled his face back from hers. "Do you think I could convince you to drop him and become mine?" he growled.

"God, yes!" she shivered in his arms.

"Good! Then you'll have lunch with me today?"

"Where and when?"

"The same restaurant we met at last time. I think we'll be there at one. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure," she smiled at him, and he returned it and set her down.

Rene caught the look between the two of them as they reached the desk and smiled. She knew it would likely be a tempestuous relationship, but both needed each other, so there was hope. She pulled out some tissue for Joe and Pam to wipe away the lipstick smudges. Craig snorted when he saw Joe's blackened lips.

"Aw man, don't wipe it off! You really rock that goth look!" he grinned.

In the brighter light of the store, Joe saw that Pam had replaced the random tattoos on her arms with more colorful themed sleeves. Her right arm was covered with jungle vines and flowers. In amongst the jungle foliage were hidden animals and insects of all kinds. The art was really good and highly detailed.

Her left arm was a tropical island with a beach near the top and deep sea life by her wrist. On the side of her left bicep was a mermaid, the top hidden under the shirt's sleeve. Pam saw him admiring it, so she pulled the sleeve up. The mermaid had long, flowing black hair, and Pam was written in elegant script near the top of her arm. The mermaid did look like her.

Joe was now curious about what was hidden by her right sleeve. She looked up at him with a cautious look in her beautiful eyes. He tugged the sleeve up, and the deep jungle on her right bicep had a dark, powerful figure partially obscured by the leaves and shadows except for a light beam across part of his face. A golden brown complexion with eyes of black. Above this was the same script, but it said Joe.

He looked at Pam in surprise, and she bit her lip nervously. He smiled and saw her relax.

Rene handed her a slip of paper with a customer's order. Pam nodded and looked at Joe. "I-I've got to get back to work, so I'll see you at one." She disappeared into the back. Joe watched her leave until he couldn't see her anymore.

"Ahem."

Joe looked back at Rene, who raised an eyebrow at him. He looked back at her with a questioning look.

"You were going to ask me something?" Rene prompted.

"Oh, right! You spoke with Director Bannon last night. He mentioned I'd like to set up a time to come speak with you?"

"Yes. I'm available tonight if you like. Say... nine?"

"That would be great! I'm so looking forward to catching up." Joe hugged her, then poked around the store for a bit. He picked up new boots and a winter jacket and paid for them at the checkout. He waved to Rene as he finished with a clerk he didn't recognize.

Then, they were on their way to the bank. That was a hassle, and it took much longer to straighten out the paperwork than expected. Finally, he was a real person in the eyes of the bank and had access to his account with a new bank card. He checked his balance, and his eyes bugged out. He had close to half a million dollars in his account, and he now understood why the bank officer had been so pushy about setting him up with some additional services. He'd have to speak with Bannon to see if there was some payroll error, as his paycheque from the NSA was the only money currently going into the account.

Once back in the truck, it was almost time for lunch, so they headed to the restaurant to get a table and wait for the ladies.

"So, you and Pam are a couple?" Craig asked as he sipped his water.

"Yeah, I think so," Joe replied.

"What do you mean I think so? Did you ask her or not?" the sergeant pushed.

"I asked her, and she said yes," Joe admitted.

"Then you're a couple. No I think so about it," Craig assured him.

"Sorry, I haven't had much experience with relationships, and the ones I've been in weren't too successful. I mean, the last girl I dated shot me," Joe said with a shrug.

"Dude! I'm sorry to hear that. Better luck this time!" the sailor offered.

Taylor arrived, and Craig's face lit up. He was no longer feeling jealous of the man as Taylor wore the same joyful expression as she looked at Craig. When she noticed Joe sliding out of the booth, her face showed surprise, then happiness.

"Joe! When did you get back in town?" she asked as she hugged him.

"Just recently." Joe knew he'd better remain vague about his movements as that opened up an enormous can of complications.

"Pam is going to be joining us," Craig said to Taylor, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh?" Taylor's response wasn't as enthusiastic as Joe would have liked.

"Oh? What was that?" Joe asked.

"Nothing! It's just... this isn't an Elizabeth rebound thing, is it?" she said, wincing.

"No, as I told Pam, the Joe who mooned over Elizabeth is long gone. I'm a different man." Joe froze as he heard his words and stifled some nervous chuckles.

Taylor looked at Joe and saw a kind of wariness in his eyes. Something bad had happened to her friend while he was away all those months. She wondered if he would tell her. Craig was so secretive about his work. She'd learned not to ask.

"I haven't seen Pam since we last met in this restaurant," Taylor said.

"Then you are in for the same surprise I got this morning," Joe smiled.

"Oh?" she said hesitantly.

"Really, Taylor, find another word," Joe complained.

Pam entered the restaurant and spotted the group standing by the table. She walked over, and Joe hugged and kissed her without the surge. She seemed happy just to be in his arms. She took off her jacket, and Taylor gasped.

"What?" Pam said defensively.

"Pam, you look amazing! What have you been doing?" Taylor gushed. "Can I do it too?"

Pam snorted, and Joe grinned.

"Five six-hour shifts a week lifting and moving inventory at the Feed company. Six four-hour shifts working the nightclub at BigGameZone carrying full trays of drinks through crowds of rowdy and grabby drunks," Pam explained. Joe growled at the mention of the grabby hands, but Pam just patted his arm. "Part-time hours mean a paycheque that barely covers my expenses like rent and food, so I live in a crappy apartment across town and have to walk a lot. I eat healthy, but not a lot. Speaking of which, I'm starving! Feed me, big man! This is your treat, right?"

Joe grinned at Pam. "Of course."

Craig pointed out her extravagant tattoos. "Those couldn't have been cheap!"

"Normally, no, each would have cost twenty-five hundred to three grand, but the artist was just learning, so I got a beginner rate, and I slept with them." Pam looked at Joe, who was looking at her in surprise. "I was lonely, and she's a friend!" Pam explained with a wide-eyed look. Taylor blushed, and Craig's face wore an enormous grin as he watched Joe.

Joe recalled his own terrible bouts with loneliness when he was on Ello and hugged Pam. He kissed the top of her head. "I'm not your judge. I'm glad you had someone to turn to."

Pam nodded, and she squeezed Joe tight.

They took their seats, and the waitress was immediately at their table. In tribute to their last visit, they ordered the same meals, only this time, Joe and Pam just ordered one meal each. Conversation turned to the wedding, and Pam congratulated the two. Joe asked her if she'd be his date, and she agreed but seemed reluctant.

"You don't want to be my date?" he asked.

"Of course I do, but I just finished telling you I get a crap paycheque. My wardrobe consists of work T-shirts and pants. I don't have a dress," she explained.

"Yes, but you have a boyfriend who wants to dress you up. And down," Joe said, his eyes telling her how much he wanted her.

Pam's whole body felt a rush and tingle, and she recalled the night she spotted Joe and Rebecca in the nightclub. How he'd lifted Rebecca like she weighed nothing and crushed her to his body, rubbing her against his—God, was it hot in here? She was surrendering to Joe's eyes, which were devouring her.

Taylor tried looking elsewhere, but her eyes kept returning to Joe. A flush rose up her neck as she recalled the times she'd been with him. But... he was different now. Back then, he'd been light-hearted and eager to please. Now, there was a darkness, something broken and dangerous just under the surface. She felt slightly jealous of Pam. Then she shook herself as she sat beside the man she was deeply in love with.

"Hello? Earth to Joe!" Craig joked as he tried to get their attention. "Family restaurant here!"

Joe was jarred by Craig's Earth reference, but he belatedly realized he didn't mean anything by it. "Sorry, I just got caught up in her beauty," he said to cover his awkward reaction. Pam was fidgety and leaned up against him. He saw Taylor smiling a little stiffly. She was avoiding looking at him, and he had no idea why.

The food arrived, and Pam tucked in immediately. She wasn't kidding about being hungry. The table grew quiet as everyone began to eat.

Once their hunger eased, conversation resumed. Craig's personality prevented uncomfortable silences. "What's next on the agenda?"

"I need clothes. I don't want to continue wearing army clothes, no offense," Joe smiled.

"None taken, civie," Craig grinned.

"When is your next day off?" Joe asked Pam.

"I get the weekends off except for my four-hour shift on Saturday nights," she replied.

Joe wanted to take her someplace private now but knew he needed to ease into this relationship. "Can I take you shopping on Saturday then? And maybe we could see a movie on Sunday or something? Wait, what day is it?" Joe realized he'd lost track of the date he'd been under for so long.

"How do you forget the day of the week?" Taylor snorted. "I thought you had a nine-to-five job!"

"Uh, so far, my hours have been less than regular," Joe said uncomfortably. He hated that he had to be so secretive.

"It's Wednesday, big guy," Pam came to his rescue.

"Then only two and a half days until I take you out. That is if you want me to," he smiled at her.

"Yes!"

"It's a date then."

"Sounds good. I hate to eat and run, but I need to run to make it back to work on time. You know what a taskmaster Rene can be," Pam said, and Joe nodded. She kissed him. He gave her the slightest touch of the surge, and she reluctantly pushed away with a groan. "Don't do that to me before I go back to work! How will I concentrate?" She turned to Craig and Taylor. "It was nice meeting you again, Craig, and seeing you again, Taylor. Congratulations!" And with that, she left.

Joe watched her all the way out of the restaurant. He turned back to Craig. "I need to get my own truck. As nice as it is having a chauffeur, I really need my own private means of transportation if I'm going on a date."

Craig looked uneasy, and Joe picked up on that. "What."

"You'll need to work that out with the General," was all the Sergeant would say.

"Yeah... I'll do that. Maybe I'll bring my lawyer along for that conversation," Joe growled.

Craig just shrugged.

Taylor looked at the two men and did her best to keep her questions to herself. Like why does this General have Joe on a leash?

They finished lunch, and Joe paid the bill, insisting he had to do something with the money he discovered in his account. He gave Craig a little private time with Taylor, and the two parted with wonderful smiles.

Their trip to the mall for clothes yielded Joe a few pairs of jeans, some shirts, underwear, and socks. He felt done for the day. The clothes he wore in California were higher-end, and he was actually looking forward to getting more of them when he got back... if he got back. He needed some idea of where his life went from here. He'd talk with the General tomorrow.

He thought he'd like to bring Pam when he returned to California. Again, he had to take things slow, so maybe... he wasn't going back so soon. He knew Amy would be heading back to Hollywood in the next week or so.

The drive back home was quiet as Joe struggled with the new direction, or lack of it, his life was taking.

He thanked Craig when they arrived and carried his stuff into the house. Packing it away, he saw his workout clothes in a drawer. He grabbed them and stuffed them into a backpack. He'd been told there was a gym in the new building the army built, so he decided to go work out after checking in on Rensley and the babies.

He got outside and realized he'd need a lift back to the building as he didn't have a truck. He saw a Soldier standing by a snowmobile and wandered over to him.

"Any chance I could get a lift back to the new building?" he asked.

"The Think Tank?" the Soldier asked.

"Is that what the building in the back field is called?" Joe said, surprised.

"That's what we call it. Sure, hop on. I'm heading back that way."

The air was still very chilly, so Joe was grateful when they pulled up the front door of the Think Tank.

Joe thanked the Soldier and rushed inside. He handed over his parka, and they quickly checked his backpack. Then he was inside.

He looked longingly at the entrance to the heating chamber and wondered if he could use it like a sauna. Continuing, he walked into the infirmary and saw that the quarantine restrictions had been removed from Rensley's room. Stinky remained on guard outside the door, trickle-feeding from a nearby outlet. Joe touched an offered tentacle and smiled.

Inside the room, Rensley looked like she was sleeping peacefully. He thought she looked just a tiny bit smaller than the previous day, but his perception might be fooling him. He pulled back the top sheet a bit to see the glowing eggs. Just a little dimmer than the day before. He felt a pulling sensation and put his bare hand on Rensley's abdomen over the eggs inside.

Immediately, he heard the singing in his head and felt it swirl around him in greeting. He reached out to the sensation and laughed as it flowed around and through him. Rensley was there, too. Blended in with the notes, he felt her smiling back at him. He communed with her and the children and confirmed they were all progressing well.

When he opened his eyes again, the room was once more filled with swirling lights. The eggs were glowing brightly, and his hand had left another brightly glowing handprint on Rensley's body. With one more fond smile, he pulled the sheet over Rensley's torso and left the room.

There was a sudden flurry of activity by the nurse's station as they moved away from the monitors, watching the camera feed from Rensley's room. He stopped by the desk.

"If you'd like, you can join me in the room tomorrow," he told the four people behind the desk. They smiled at him and nodded.

He felt slightly drained from the experience, so he found the cafeteria and helped himself to a twelve-inch assorted sub as a snack. As he sat against the wall watching the comings and goings, he saw the military personnel talking with military personnel and the scientists talking with scientists, but no real socializing between the two groups. He supposed that really wasn't much of a surprise. Then there was him. He couldn't really help with the science other than being the communication relay. He wasn't part of the military, though that hadn't stopped them from using him in that capacity when the need arose.

Before becoming too depressed, he left the cafe and found the gym. Not surprisingly, several off-duty Soldiers were there using the machines. Joe got changed and saw a functional trainer in the far corner, much like Doug's, except this one had dual two-hundred-and-fifty-pound stacks. He set the pins on both sides to half the weight and began his sets.

He went through his routine, and soon, his muscles were loose. He switched the pins to the bottom of each stack and started again. Smooth, slow sweeps of raising the stacks and slowly returning them. This felt much better. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of pushing his muscles.

He felt the weakness in some of them, the ones that had borne the brunt of his injuries. He paid extra attention to those. He was in the zone and breathing heavily, but he had a smile on his face.

Then he became aware of the eyes on him.

He opened his eyes, and sure enough, he had an audience. Six of the ten Soldiers in the gym were standing back from the machine he was on, staring at him. No one was talking.

"Never see anyone exercise on this machine?" he growled.

The group dispersed, and Joe's workout was over. His mood was turning dark, so he decided to just head home. A quick change and he caught a lift back to the house.

It was just about dinner, so the usual people sat and talked in the kitchen as the delicious cooking scents filled the air. His mom and sister were working side by side at the counter preparing dinner while his father spoke with them from the other side of the island. At the table, Director Bannon was discussing something with Agent White while he unconsciously touched her hand as he made his points, each oblivious to anyone else in the room. Safa was reading something on a tablet, but she was also absorbing the familial ambiance.

Joe stood in the entranceway and watched the familiar and welcoming activities in the room. He felt at once connected to everyone yet isolated from them. Here were his family and friends.

Some loved him. Some liked him.

But none were like him. He was unique, and that felt terribly lonely. The most profound experience his new existence gave him, being able to commune with Rensley and the children, was something they had no reference point to understand. According to Kennt, no Kel-Fahr would relate to the experience either. He felt a wave of disorientation pass through him.

Lost in thought, he missed seeing Amy walk right up to him with a concerned look until she slipped her arms around his waist and squeezed him in a tight hug. He looked down and hugged her back.

"What's wrong, Joe?" she asked as she looked up into his eyes.

Joe placed his hand gently against his sister's cheek. A feeling of dislocation swelled over him for a second. "When I was lost on the alien worlds, there were dark moments when I knew... I knew I'd never get to experience this again." He looked at his mom and dad and smiled sadly. "To be with the people I love. To be able to see and speak with you. To hear your voices." He looked down at his sister with deep sadness in his eyes. "To hug you." He closed his eyes and shook his head, attempting to rid himself of the surreal overlay on his perceptions. "It-it still doesn't feel real sometimes."

Karl walked over to his son and took his face between his big, rough hands. Joe opened his eyes and looked into his father's. "You're home, son. We're real. We love you, and we're here for you. Whenever you want to speak with us, we're here." Clara joined him, and the family hugged Joe.

Roger, Rachel, and Safa witnessed the display of family love and were moved by its strength. Roger and Rachel felt slightly embarrassed for being included, while Safa secretly longed to be amongst them in the embrace.

Clara returned to her cooking, and Amy pulled Joe into the kitchen and sat him down at the table next to Safa. She gave the woman a hopeful look, which surprised Safa then she went back to help her mother prepare the meal.

Safa hesitantly reached out, placed her hand on Joe's, and felt him relax. She felt a tiny thrill to have this effect on the big man. She squeezed his hand, and he smiled at her. She smiled back and felt a warmth spread from her heart.

Rachel caught this exchange and was surprised but made no sign of noticing, as she knew her friend would be embarrassed if she did. She glanced at Roger, but he was looking at his tablet with a small but pleased smile.

So, he'd also noticed and was just as aware of Safa's sensitivity as she was. Her love for the man took her breath away, and she felt herself tremble. She looked back at her tablet to keep herself from leaping on Roger.

It wasn't long before dinner was set before them. Joe's mouth watered as the scent wafted up to him. A large serving dish of thickly sliced roast beef was in the center of the table, surrounded by bowls of steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, a fresh green salad, and warm biscuits with gravy or butter if that was your preference. Soon, the bowls were being passed around, and plates were being filled.

Clara made a quick call, then filled a plate and wrapped it in silver foil and a thick dishcloth. She carried this and a biscuit to the front door and handed the bundled plate to the Soldier waiting outside. She tucked the biscuit into his mouth and got a delighted smile and nod from the happy man. The General's dinner taken care of, Clara went back to join her family in the kitchen.

"Director Bannon—" Joe began.

"Please, Roger."

Joe nodded with a smile. "Roger, I went to the bank today and noticed my balance was much higher than expected. Was there a mistake in the payroll?"

"No, I confirmed the balance myself. It's your accumulated salary plus a hazardous duty bonus since you signed on. You can think of that as an insurance policy payout."

"Joe! Are you loaded? We should go shopping for dresses again! I'm so looking forward to spending a nice long day shopping with you again!" Amy teased.

Joe moaned like he was mortally wounded, and the table erupted with chuckles and giggles.

"Speaking of shopping, seriously, I was thinking of buying myself a new truck. I have plans this weekend, and I'd really like to do that... without an audience."

Roger looked uncomfortable. "Since the General took over your security, I had to discharge your surveillance team. They weren't happy about it. For all the strangeness of the mission, they really enjoyed it. I mean, except for Agent...Salt? You'll need to speak with the General about traveling without an escort. Considering your history with abductions and the fact that we are technically at war with another planet that may or may not be trying to capture you specifically, I wouldn't be too surprised if the General is less than amenable to the idea.

Joe could see Roger was trying to be gentle but understood the answer would be no. Joe stared at his plate and struggled with his frustration.

"I'm trying. I really am. I get that the stakes aren't the same as they were before I was abducted and taken from the planet. But I'm still a man who had his life plan stolen from him, and I'm trying to find something I can call mine," Joe ground out.

"What are your plans? Maybe I could drive you in my truck?" Karl offered. Clara looked at her husband with exasperation as she'd picked up the nuance of Joe's plans, even if her sweet husband didn't.

Joe winced. "No, that's okay, Dad. I'll just get Sergeant Armstrong to drive me."

Karl looked at his frowning wife. "What?"

"He has a date!" Amy explained to her slow-on-the-uptake father.

"Oh! Sorry," Karl apologized to his son, who just waved it off.

"Who is the lucky girl?" Amy asked carefully.

Joe looked at his sister, but she was just smiling at him innocently. "Pam. Pam Spencer."

"Elizabeth's sister?" she asked, surprised.

Joe nodded and waited for the rebound question.

"She was always so quiet in school, a little odd, but I knew she had a crush on you," Amy simply said.

Joe's eyes snapped to Amy's. "Why didn't you tell me?" he blurted more sharply than he intended.

"Joe, a lot of girls were crushing on you in school. You were just too shy to notice. And besides, you eventually chose Elizabeth."

He nodded and gave her an apologetic look, which she accepted with a smile.

"Are you still having trouble with kissing your dates unconscious?" Safa inquired out of the blue, and Joe blushed.

"Ah, no, actually. My control over the surge is much better ever since the Ello merged that missing piece of the Fahrchar with me—" he began and saw his father's head whip around. "Didn't anyone tell you?" Karl shook his head, his eyes wide. Joe looked at Bannon as he was sure the General would have told him about their conversation, but the director also seemed surprised. He caught a look of guilt on Agent White's face and pinned her with a look.

"I'm so sorry! I completely forgot to include it in my report. It was when we first got Pokey to talk. One of the things he said was that Joseph had been taken to Ello to be made complete. Normally, I don't miss details like that, but the day was filled with breakthroughs." Rachel looked completely miserable at her omission.

"I spoke to the General about it as well just recently. He didn't mention it to you?" he said, looking at Bannon.

"Joe, just tell me what happened," Karl said.

"When I got to the Ello home world, they left me at the edge of an ocean while they all went under the water. They were going to take me under the water, too, but I began to lock up, so the Tik brought me back to shore. I was alone on that beach for days with only the silent Tik to keep me company. My injuries healed, and the Tik took care of me. When the Vershoo showed up to collect their promised weapon, the Ello came back out of the water, and their leader showed up with the remaining piece of the Fahrchar you shot the night you found me. They'd found it, brought it back with them, and somehow it was still alive. He shot it onto my chest, and it merged. You were right about how my mind wasn't affected by the symbiote when I was a child, but that was because they're only sentient when complete." Joe shuddered as he recalled the ancient mind of the Fahrchar trying to crush his mind.

"Its sentience was cold, horrible, and old... and tried to force me out of my mind. Then I thought of you and Mom and Amy. Of how much I loved you and your love for me. It was trying to destroy that. I couldn't let that happen. So, I fought back... and I killed it instead. I absorbed it instead of the other way around. When I resurfaced from that fight, I felt different, but I was still me.

When I got to Sehsra, I discovered I could speak to the Kel-Fahr. I guess that was one of the ways I was made complete. And the kissing thing. Total control over that, which I am so grateful for. I can now turn it completely off if I want."

"Did you merge with the Kel-Fahr Collective mind?" Agent White asked.

"The what?" Joe asked.

"Pokey said the Ello's mission ended with you merging with the Kel-Fahr Collective Mind," Rachel said.

"Wait... I'm going to ask Kennt what that is," Joe said and felt his connection to Kennt's mind open. The old Kel-Fahr was sleeping. "Dammit, he's asleep! I'll ask him in the morning." He closed the link and looked at the others sitting at the table. Amy's eyes were watering with her barely suppressed laughter. Karl and Clara were smiling. Even Safa had a faint smile on her lips.

Joe realized why. "Damn." He felt stupid and blushed.

"So, mission complete?" Roger asked.

"Well, I'm currently only connected to Kennt, Rensley, and the kids."

"Not much of a network yet. Maybe it only works locally? How do you make a connection?" Roger asked.

"Kennt's other daughter, Kennha, described it to me like this: two minds get within close range of each other and determine if communication is desired. If so, they mutually and automatically open a connection. They can close the connection anytime. If they move out of range, the connection also closes. They can use devices to communicate over distances, just like our phones. My connections work a little differently. My mind can force connections. It doesn't lose them, and there don't appear to be any distance restrictions. I also see deeper into the minds of the Kel-Fahr than they are comfortable with. I seem to keep a directory of people I've connected with in my mind for instant use. I've-I've seen similar directories in the minds of Kennt and Rensley, but it felt like an invasion to look."

Roger sat forward, suddenly excited about something. "You said you saw a listing of connections in Rensley's mind. She was a Council Member. She probably spoke with many or all of the councilors. It's possible they could all be there. If you could speak with them, you might be able to pass them a message."

"I picked up from Rensley's mind that she was revolted by the act of my speaking to her directly from a distance, not face to face. There must be strict guidelines for speaking mind to mind and social taboos. It's part of their culture. They would be horrified if I suddenly started talking into the councilor's minds. I doubt my message would be listened to."

"So only really useful for delivering ultimatums then," Bannon said thoughtfully.

Joe studied the man and then nodded.

"Can you still see the directory in Rensley's mind? I understand she is slipping away," Safa asked.

Joe looked inwards and looked to his connection lists and was stunned to find Rensley's list was there. Then he recalled when he and Rensley shared their lives with the children. He felt Rensley's life pass through him as his did through her. They shared very intimately, and it seems like some of it stuck.

He opened his eyes and looked at Safa in shock. "I have Rensley's connections in my mind. She must have given them to me when we bonded with the children."

Bannon looked at him. "Who's in the list?"

Joe realized there were hundreds of minds in the list. As he passed his thoughts over each, there was a mental flash of who they were to Rensley, an impression, and an emotional context. He felt Rensley in each one. It was a little overpowering to feel that much emotion from the Kel-Fahr, who was even now disappearing into her children's life force. A tear ran down his cheek. "Hundreds," he whispered. "She touched so many lives."

Joe thought of the image of the senior councilors he'd seen on Kennha's terminal. Their faces came up in Rensley's connections. Her anger for Tyreen was potent and marked the reference deeply.

"The Senior Council Members are there," he finally said.

"Thank you, Joseph. I'm going to go speak with the General. I'll find out why he isn't passing along information like he should be. Are you scheduled to visit the Think Tank tomorrow for another session with Kennt?" Roger asked.

"I have no idea. Who is tracking that kind of stuff for me?" Joe replied.

"I did it for you while you were under my care. I could continue to do it," Safa volunteered.

"Do you have access to Joseph's calendar?" Roger said, looking at Safa.

"I think... so. Yes." She confirmed as she pulled up the calendar. "There is nothing scheduled for tomorrow, Friday. Mr. Neumann, what plans did you have for yourself tomorrow?"

"Shopping for a truck, but that seems like it won't happen. I guess I'm open," he sighed.

"I know Kennt wants another session with you. Can we schedule you for the morning, nine to noon?" Safa asked, and Joe nodded. Then he thought of something.

"What about that universal translator from the Vershoo? Hasn't anyone used that?" Joe asked.

Roger, Rachel, and Safa all had uncomfortable looks on their faces. Roger spoke up.

"One of the research assistants activated it late at night when no one else was around. He had the instructions you gave Captain McGuire. The field isn't compatible with human minds. He didn't survive. We had to get a Tik to shut it down. You were damn lucky that you were part Fahrchar."

"Damn. So glad the Captain didn't let us use it on his ship," Joe said.

Bannon nodded. "After lunch, I'd like you to come see the General and me at one in his office if you don't mind." Joe nodded, and Safa added it to his calendar.

Clara tapped her son on his arm and gave him a mom look. "Are you speaking with Rene tonight?"

He glanced at the wall clock and saw he had time. "Yes, but not until nine. I guess I'll get the Sergeant to drive me," he frowned unhappily. He missed driving himself places.

"Don't be late!" she said, standing up and kissing his temple. Karl got to his feet and began to collect the dishes. That was Joe's signal to help. Soon, the kitchen was bustling with post-dinner activity. Storing the leftovers, stacking the dishes in the dishwasher, washing and drying the pots, and generally tidying up. They shooed their guests, who made their way either to the living room or up to their bedrooms.

When Joe was finished, he went to his room and changed into jeans, a T-shirt, and a warm sweater. He went back downstairs and said his goodbyes as he headed out to find his ride into town.

-=-

Joe sat in Rene's living room across from the woman he'd worked with for years, renovated a house with, been intimate with, and just told his biggest secret to. He'd spent the better part of an hour bringing her up to speed as she sat there silently absorbing his story. Apparently, when Director Bannon spoke with her and assessed her for being included in the select group of people who knew, he'd stressed the importance of maintaining the security of the information Joe would present to her. He'd left disclosing the actual nature of the secret to Joe. Bannon felt the woman was worthy but hadn't prepared her at all.

He watched Rene's face as she digested the idea that Joe wasn't fully human. She seemed to be able to absorb that as it answered so many of her outstanding questions, but the ramifications of it rocked her world. She opened her mouth and closed it several times before she was finally able to speak.

"So... we're not alone."

"That's right."

"Are they friendly?"

"Some are. Just not the ones trying to kill us. I don't believe the rest of the worlds in the Network are aware we exist. When we deliver the new Gate technology to them, they will know, and they should have reason to like us, but they're alien, so... who knows."

"Wow."

"Yeah. But there's more."

"More? I mean, of course there is!"

"When I discovered I wasn't fully human, the NSA did some tests on me and discovered I wasn't sexually compatible with human women."

Rene started to laugh. Loudly. It might have been nerves.

When she finally regained control, she patted Joe's hand and grinned at the man. "Leave it to our government to get that one completely wrong!"

"Sorry, I meant sexual in terms of reproduction. I can't make human females pregnant. I-I don't have sperm. I have eggs instead. We just recently discovered these are compatible with Kel-Fahr females. Rensley, the senior councilor from the Kel-Fahr home world who came with me back to Earth, stole some of these eggs and implanted them inside her. Then, she tricked me into activating them. That's the true purpose of the lines on my tongue. They charge a Kel-Fahr female's body to fertilize the eggs."

"She's pregnant!?! You're going to be a father?" Rene said incredulously.

"To twenty-four new... beings."

"Twenty—Joe, stop... I can't absorb any more shocks tonight!" Rene's head was spinning.

"If you like, you can come over to the base, and I will introduce you to them," he said.

"Does Pam know? No, of course she doesn't. Sorry," Rene said and saw the instant look of nervousness pass over his face.

"Joe, I don't believe you have anything to worry about regarding Pam's acceptance of this... whole situation. That's just my gut feeling from working closely with the young woman. She's... not very emotional," she offered and saw him begin to relax.

Rene sat back on the couch and rubbed her hands across the tops of her thighs. "Okay, that's an excellent start. Now that I have some background on your situation, can you tell me the primary issue you want to discuss?"

"Oh, uh, the General is going to do a psych evaluation on me because I-I might have tried to kill myself on a couple of occasions when I got back home. To Earth, I mean."

"JOE! No! Why would you do that?"

Joe looked at Rene, and his gaze was bleak. "I'm a killer. I've killed Vershoo mercenaries by clubbing them to death with a tree branch. I don't know how many died at my hand... I was drugged at the time. I've killed at least six Kel-Fahr soldiers, and I killed Kennt's daughter when we fled Sehsra. Since I returned to Earth, I've killed nine Russian soldiers and burned out a Russian woman's mind." He shuddered at the memory. "She was torturing me, so I tricked her with a surge kiss at full power." He dropped his gaze as his eyes welled up. "I'm having trouble reconciling my... ease of killing with someone my family... anyone can love. Dad, Mom, and Amy know everything I've done, and... they still say they love me. But I have occasional moments of doubt and feel unworthy."

"Joe, I've known you for quite a few years. I know you're a gentle soul. You aren't a cold-blooded killer. You're not. During the years I've known you, you only used violence to defend Amy, and we know that was justified." Rene leaned forward and took Joe's hands. "Can you honestly say that in any of these other situations, you took enjoyment from killing?"

Joe looked down at her hands and let his mind go back to the times he killed. The memories were painful, and some he had trouble looking at. His memories of the Vershoo slaughter were very limited because of the effect of the hallucinogenic fruit. He really hoped these were never fully returned.

None of the times he had to kill brought him joy, peace, or relief. Just the opposite, to be honest.

"No."

"That's because you're a good person and a gentle soul. You have empathy for others. This makes you someone people can love because you are capable of loving them back. It also makes killing difficult for you emotionally because it goes against your nature. You sound like you've been placed in situations where you've been forced to kill without being prepared emotionally to deal with the fallout," Rene said sympathetically.

"Yes."

"Don't confuse physical capability with malicious intent. Just because you are physically capable of great violence and have been forced to do it, that doesn't make you a violent person. You're missing the malicious intent, the will to do violence for its own sake. That just isn't you," Rene said. "You see that, don't you?"

"I suppose so... yes."

"Tell me about the times you tried to kill yourself. Not just the events but what you felt at the time, if you can recall," she asked gently.

Joe explained the circumstances and his recollection of his state of mind on both occasions as best he could, and Rene listened without comment, though the occasional tear would roll down her cheek. When he was done, she needed a few moments to compose herself.

"So... you took responsibility to protect your family from the monstrous man you believed you were. You understand now that your image of yourself was wrong?" she said with a tremor in her voice.

Joe caught the emotion in her voice and realized she was barely suppressing some powerful reaction to his words. He was nervous that he might have hurt her in some way. He nodded as that seemed safer than speaking.

"I-I need you to understand how wrong it would have been for you to kill yourself. Especially since your reasons were based on such a horribly skewed vision of yourself. You must understand how much it would have hurt those who love you. How much pain you would have left behind," Rene gasped as tears flowed down her cheeks.

Instinctively, Joe gathered Rene into his arms, but she surprised him by beating her fists on his chest.

"No! Tell me you understand!" she yelled.

Joe saw the pain she'd spoken of in Rene's agonized expression. She was living out the experience of what it would have been like had he succeeded. He realized Rene was sensitive that way as she'd experienced such profound loss in her past. He saw the raw sorrow in her eyes and heard the fear in her voice. It reached deep inside and shook him. He pulled her in tight and cried on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry!" he gasped and felt her fear begin to slip away from her tight muscles. Soon, they were both crying and holding each other.

Rene pushed him back and looked into his eyes, searching for proof that he understood and wouldn't make that mistake again. "Tell me, Joe. Tell me what kind of man you are."

There was a pause, then he replied. "A... a good one?"

"That's right! You're going to make mistakes because you're not perfect, but you have to accept that, at your core, you're good. You'll try your best to do good even if sometimes that means you have to do things that are against your nature, like killing, when you need to protect or survive. You can take responsibility for your intentional actions, but sometimes, you can't take responsibility for the circumstances that required them or the unintended outcomes. Soldiers' and mercenaries' lives are dictated by acts of violence. Avoiding being caught up in that is next to impossible. The rules are different for them and civilians. Did you intend to kill Kennt's daughter?"

"No!"

"But some violent action led to her death?"

"She shot me with an energy weapon, which reflected back on her. She feared me because she'd seen the Kel-Fahr soldiers I killed."

"Oh, Joe, that was just an accident! You didn't kill her. She acted violently, and tragically, it ended with her death. You aren't responsible for that. It might have been prevented if she'd spoken to you before she acted, but she didn't and bears full responsibility for her actions. You can be sad and mourn her loss, but that's all." Rene had Joe's face between her hands so she could keep his eyes on hers. She saw and felt him nod slightly, and she pressed her lips to his forehead. He was such a sweet man.

"Thank you, Rene. I don't know where I'd be without you," he murmured, pulling her tight for a hug. She squeezed him back.

"Just remember you have friends and family who love and need you. People who depend on you sticking around. Okay?"

Not trusting himself to speak, he just nodded.

"You going to be okay?" she asked.

"Yes... Thank you," he said.

"Then it's time for you to head home. I've got work tomorrow," she said gently.

Joe felt so incredibly grateful for Rene's friendship he didn't quite know what to do with the emotions. He pressed his forehead against hers, and he felt her tremble. He looked into her eyes and saw her conflicted expression.

Before she could protest, he pressed his lips to hers and lightly ran the tip of his tongue across her lips, tickling her with the surge. When she gasped, he slid his tongue into her mouth and smoothly increased the surge until she clung to him tightly and moaned. He pressed her body to his, and she gasped into his mouth as her body roared through a powerful release. He brought the intensity down slowly and smoothly and pulled back.

Rene was trembling and panting in his arms. It was her turn to rest her forehead against his.

"Joe... you have... a girlfriend now. You... can't be doing—" she began.

"I have a girlfriend who would understand my expressing my gratitude to a dear friend who helps me stay sane when everything around me is so nuts. Rene, I can't begin to tell you how important you are to me. Please forgive my... enthusiasm," Joe replied.

She grinned at him. "If you were any more enthusiastic, I would have passed out! You do have much better control!" She pushed back from him and caught her breath. "Now you have to go because I'm seriously wiped out."

Joe got to his feet and pulled Rene up as well. She led him to the door, and he gave her forehead a chaste kiss before he left. As he returned to his waiting lift, he smiled to himself. He was always amazed by how good she made him feel with their talks.

Rene leaned back against the door after he'd left, amazed by how good he made her feel with his kiss.

Chapter 24

When Joe arrived in the infirmary the next morning, he was surprised to see a large group of medical staff waiting for him. The four from the previous day were there even though they were off shift. Joe counted, and at least a dozen people looked at him hopefully. The young woman he'd addressed yesterday explained.

"We saw on the schedule that Safa updated that you might be coming in early, so we let people know about your offer."

"Would you like to hear them sing?" Joe asked and faces lit up. "Once I'm connected, you hold my other hand. If that works, the next person should take your other hand until we make a chain. I don't know if it will work, but I think it might."

Joe touched Stinky's offered tentacle as it kept guard outside of Rensley's room. It made no move to block anyone from the room. Joe wondered what it was guarding.

He entered the room and waited until the rest of the staff had filed inside. He pulled back Rensley's blanket and froze. The eggs were noticeably larger, and he could make out the life moving around inside. "Are they supposed to be this far along this soon?" he asked but got blank looks from the medical staff. This was all new territory for everyone. "Can someone call Safa and ask her to look into this?" One of the nurses sent a text.

Joe turned back to Rensley. "Good morning, Rensley. Just here to check in on you and the kids," he said. He looked at the female nurse next to him. "Wait for my nod."

Joe put his hand on Rensley's body over the eggs, and there was an immediate brightening of the room as the energy level of the eggs kicked up a level. The light show began. The children sang to him, and he felt Rensley in there but greatly diminished. He couldn't really separate her from the children at this point. He opened himself and felt the notes swirl around him as he thought about the group of eager friends waiting to listen to the music and felt the excitement from the children. Joe nodded.

Suddenly, he felt a new mind beside his. There was an astonished cry and giggling. Then a second mind joined, and a third. As each mind joined, the music changed slightly, and the energy increased. Soon, Joe felt everyone in the room participate in the song, and the children were so happy. The staff were dazzled and laughing and singing along to the music.

Joe began feeling an odd drain on his energy, so he told his children he would return tomorrow. He felt them swirl around him, each a distinct note in the song, and he shared his love with each of them. They pulled back, and Joe lifted his hand from Rensley and opened his eyes. Everyone was smiling and watching the glowing colors swirling around the room. Tears of joy were tracking more than one cheek as the staff slowly left the room. Joe pulled the blanket up and followed them out.

When Joe got outside, he saw the staff were lined up in rows guarded by several Soldiers, and an angry General MacAvoy was standing before them waiting for him.

"Hi, General. What's happening?" Joe asked, still coming down from his spiritual high from bonding with his kids.

Several of the medical staff snorted and quickly covered their mouths.

"What the HELL were you doing in there?" the General growled angrily.

"I was communing with Rensley and the kids. I invited some of the staff to listen to the music they make, and more people than I expected showed up." He saw everyone was present and accounted for, and none looked worse for wear. In fact, they all seemed very happy. He smiled at them and felt their happiness.

He felt it.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," MacAvoy growled. "Didn't we have enough trouble with you touching the minds of others?"

"Well, that was a distinctly different situation, and that won't happen again after my talk with Rene," Joe assured the man. "Uh, how did you know we were down here?"

"WE HEARD THE FREAKING MUSIC!" the General yelled.

"What?" Joe said.

"Once your little daisy chain was all charged up, the music started moving to nearby minds. Then it moved outwards. I heard it in my office by your parent's house! For all I know, it reached Glennville!"

Karl, Clara, and Amy were admitted to the room by the security personnel, which earned the guards a glare from the General.

"Was that the Children?" Clara asked.

Joe smiled. "Yes! Wasn't it beautiful?"

Joe's family rushed forward and hugged him, laughing.

"How did you do that?" Karl asked.

"These people held hands and linked with me when I was connected with the kids. I had no idea we were broadcasting." Joe saw three of the staff smile guiltily, including the woman who'd held his hand. She giggled, still riding the high.

"It was so beautiful I just had to share the experience with my husband," she said.

General MacAvoy looked at the nurse's name tag. "Corporal Mann? I don't recall any spouses working on the base.

"No sir, he's a doctor working in New York," she smiled.

The General looked at the other two, who had indicated they'd shared.

Corporal Fadding said he'd been thinking of his wife, who was visiting family in Toronto, Canada, and Lieutenant Greenspan was thinking of his sister in Oregon, who lived in a commune.

More started coming forward, indicating they had been thinking of their family. The General asked one of the Soldiers to take down the names, numbers, and places these relatives lived. They would follow up with each and every one to confirm if the music got to them so they could map out the affected range.

"Joseph, no more experimenting. I understand you need to connect to your children once daily, but no more riders! Is that understood?" MacAvoy growled.

Amy immediately made a disappointed sound. The General whipped around. "NO EXCEPTIONS!"

Joe saw Safa enter the hall from Rensley's room, where she'd immediately gone when she got the text. She walked over to the group.

"According to the information on Kel-Fahr gestation periods I pulled from the database on Kennt's device, the children are growing at twice the normal pace. I'm doubling the nutrient solutions we are currently feeding to Rensley's body. I have no idea what this means regarding their chances of survival or the timing of their birth," she said. "It's past time for you to join Kennt, Joe."

"Right! Sorry, General. I had no idea that would happen. I'll keep my communing solo from now on," Joe apologized.

There was a collective groan from the group, which earned them a glare from the General. "You're bad for discipline, boy," he grumbled.

Joe hurried up to the lab where a fuming Kennt stood with a flustered Tik and a group of scientists.

"Where have you been?" Kennt growled. "It is nine-twenty, and you were supposed to be here at nine! Then there was this music which, while lovely, distracted us terribly. The Tik couldn't hear the music."

"Sorry about being late. That music was the children. A group of medical staff linked with me and shared the experience of communing. Apparently, this caused the music to be broadcast mind to mind. The General was rather upset. He's working out how far we broadcast the music."

This made several of the scientists quite excited. They hadn't realized the music was coming straight from mind to mind.

Kennt got everyone back on track, and Joe made himself comfortable. Most of what was said went over Joe's head, but two hours into the discussion, something caught his attention, and he sat upright.

"Wait! Did I just hear you have the new software ready to test?" he blurted.

"Ah, Joseph! You are listening! There is hope for you yet!" Kennt teased, and several chuckles were heard. "Yes, the Bobrov equation is ready for testing. I have recalibrated the Gate software for Rusty and Burnie, who will use the new equation. All that remains is for Earth's gravity field to return to a more stable state and for us to select the coordinates to run our test on."

"You understand that the moment our field stabilizes, there is a very good chance the Kel-Fahr fleet is going to arrive guns a-blazing," Joe said, and several members of the immediate group gasped and rose to their feet.

"That is an alarmist view, Joseph. What is far more likely to happen is that just one ship will arrive, The Blade of Eshen. They only need to send one ship after all. An enormous Gate will open, likely just north of this building, and it will fly through. They will hover there, casting their huge shadow over everything and make their demands for myself, Rensley, and you, of course, to be surrendered to them. Once they have what they want, they will eradicate the local Tik and plant new Burrs to accelerate the destruction of your world. Then they will go back to Sehsra," Kennt said matter-of-factly.

The silence was deafening as everyone looked at Kennt. He looked around. "What?"

"I think I like Joseph's guns a-blazing story more. At least there, it sounded like we had a chance to fight back," an older bearded gentleman said. The others nodded.

"How much more time do we have until the gravity field stabilizes. I think I would like to be home with my family when that happens," another scientist said. Suddenly, a large number of them insisted on going home.

Kennt looked exasperatedly at Joe. "What have you done?"

Joe shrugged. "They have a right to know and be with their families." He looked at the scientists. "People! Please be aware of one thing. We aren't going to just bend over and kiss our ass goodbye when they show up. I know they can be beaten, and we are going to fight. I have complete faith in General MacAvoy." Kennt walked off in a huff.

Joe saw there wouldn't be any further work done today, so he looked at his calendar app and saw Safa had him scheduled for lunch shortly. He wandered down to the cafeteria and looked for a friendly face. All he found were familiar strangers. He picked up a couple of subs and found a table in the corner. People came and went, but none made an effort to join him. That made him a little sad.

He checked his calendar again and saw he had a meeting with Director Bannon and the General. He hoped the General wasn't still sore about the mistake he made this morning. Joe caught a lift back to the homestead and walked over to MacAvoy's trailer. They let him in, and soon, he was seated next to Director Bannon across the desk from a very grumpy General.

"I was just telling Roger here about the mess you dropped in my lap today when my medical team went AWOL in their minds and visited their family members all over the freaking planet. We mapped the range. I don't think there was a limit. The furthest relative was in India. Dr. Bhatti called his mother, who said she had a lovely dream of her son surrounded by the most wonderful music. We only contacted a few others, but they all said the same thing. They felt the presence of their relative and heard beautiful music."

Bannon leaned forward. "This somewhat ties in with what I wanted to discuss with you, General. One of the reasons the Ello had for bringing Joseph to their planet was to merge him with the remaining piece of the Fahrchar to give him the remaining abilities. One of these was to connect to the Kel-Fahr collective mind, which appears to be a fancy term for their mental connectivity. Joseph now has this and can see into Kel-Fahr minds and their network connections."

"Yes, Joseph told me all this," the General grumped.

"And thank you for sharing that with me," Roger said with a frown but continued. "With his recent bonding with Rensley, Joseph has her network connections, including all the Senior Councilors. He can connect with them, but one question is, can he do it from Earth."

"I did mention how non-solicited contact is likely to freak out the recipient, didn't I?" Joe asked.

"Please, we are at war with these people. The time for niceties is long past. We need information," the General growled.

Joe sat back, disturbed by the vehemence of MacAvoy's response.

"Joseph, the General has a point. If we sit here unprepared, waiting for them the drop on us, we may miss the chance to do something decisive to fight back. We have to be proactive," Bannon said.

Joe nodded.

The General looked at Bannon gratefully. "Can you try connecting to someone on the Senior Council?"

Joe looked at him. "Why don't we start off with someone Rensley knew was friendly? I'm not sure this is even going to work." The General agreed.

Joe looked through Rensley's list of friends and found one she was greatly fond of. She'd been in constant touch with this one before her exile. Her name was Hassen, and they were... childhood friends? Something to that effect.

"Okay, I found a good friend of Rensley's. I'm going to try opening a connection," Joe said, closing his eyes.

He brought up the image of the female Kel-Fahr, and Rensley's affection for her surrounded him. He felt close to Rensley and realized how wonderful it was that she would live on in his mind like this. He reached out for the connection and began to feel very tired and lethargic. Then he felt the merest suggestion of another mind becoming aware of him.

"who..."

"Rensley's going to be a mother." Joe pushed the message as hard as he could, felt her surprise and joy, and woke to see Bannon and the General leaning over him, shouting his name.

He blinked and shivered. "What?" He glanced around and noticed he was on his back on the floor of the General's office.

"DAMMIT, BOY! Can you stop giving us scares for just twenty-four hours?" MacAvoy bellowed in his face.

"What happened, Joseph?" Bannon asked as he pulled Joe up to a seating position. Joe wobbled and went back down on his back as the room spun. He closed his eyes for a bit.

"Give me a sec. Dizzy," he mumbled. He breathed deeply and relaxed his muscles as best he could. He opened his eyes and looked up at the two concerned faces. "Okay. There is definitely a distance limit to this ability."

"So, it didn't work. You couldn't connect," the General stated.

Joe struggled to answer as his eyelids drooped. "No, I connected. Barely. I sent a message to her friend that Rensley would be a mom, and I definitely got back a feeling of surprise and happiness. She got the message. But I'm completely drained. It's like the sensation I felt this morning when we were broadcasting all over Earth but a thousand times more tiring."

"You just connected to a mind on another planet?" MacAvoy gasped. "I wonder what effect opening a Gate would have? Would your connection take advantage of the Gate's distance bridging?"

Joe was slipping into sleep. Bannon noticed. "Joseph, why don't you go take a nap."

He nodded and got to his feet with Bannon's help. The General got a Soldier to come in and help him over to the house. Joe got inside and made it as far as the living room. He dropped himself across the couch and was out in a second. Clara walked into the living room and pulled a blanket over her son. She listened to him snoring lightly for a while with a smile on her face, then went back into the kitchen to begin preparation for dinner.

Back in the General's office, Bannon was broaching the subject of reinstating Joe's surveillance teams.

"Are you kidding me? The boy's too important an asset to risk losing! He stays within our control at all times!" MacAvoy growled.

"He's not a boy, he's not property, and he's as tough to physically damage as they come. However, Joseph's starting to balk at his lost personal freedom. We need his willful cooperation. He doesn't want to stop working with us. He needs a little space, and it's not an outrageous demand. He just wants to take his girlfriend on a date without a chaperone at his elbow. We reinstate the original surveillance teams and implement the extraction team as we intended before his abduction. That would give us far more control than just one Soldier at his side. We don't have concerns of his being abducted by the Russians or another world power, do we?"

"No, they've backed off. There are always fringe groups, though. We've had word from the FBI and CIA that there has been some infiltration in Glennville. We have eyes on us," the General growled.

"All the more reason to bring the team back. You build the extraction team. I set up the surveillance team. Tighter control, just at a little distance," Bannon suggested.

The General leaned back in his chair and considered Bannon's words. They'd been lucky so far with Sergeant Armstrong's performance in protecting Joseph. He had no real issues with the Sergeant but wanted to increase the number of people guarding Joe and wasn't sure how he would address this. Maybe this was the way to do it.

"I pick the extraction team? They get access to the global locator and communications from Joe's new phone?" he asked.

Bannon nodded. Joseph was already aware that people were listening in on his phone. He hadn't expressed any concerns about that.

"How soon can you implement this?" MacAvoy asked.

"The surveillance teams are on standby and can be here tomorrow," Bannon smiled. "Do you have anyone in mind for the extraction team?"

"I've kept in touch with the SEAL team that extracted him from Australia. They'd like a chance to make it up to Joe. That gives them extra incentive to protect him," the General said. "They could be here tomorrow as well."

There was a knock on his door, and the General's secretary looked in. "I'm sorry for the interruption, General, but there's a problem at the Think Tank. They are asking for you to come speak with the scientists. Apparently, they want to go home."

"Which ones?"

"All of them, sir."

"WHAT?" MacAvoy exclaimed.

Bannon and the General drove back to the building in the back field and entered the lobby where the scientists had gathered with their suitcases.

When they saw him, they all began to talk at once. The General held up his hands and yelled at them to be quiet for a minute. Once they quieted, he asked them to appoint someone to speak for them. Several pushed Professor Bobrov to the front. The small man was surprised, but he stepped up to the General and addressed him with a soft-spoken but firm voice.

"General, it has come to our attention that once Earth's gravity field stabilizes, an attack from the Kel-Fahr is expected. Kennt has indicated that he believes their flagship will, in fact, appear above this very building we are in. The stabilization is expected to happen very soon. We are scientists, not fighters. We wish to return to our families. Now."

"What about your work with Kennt?"

"If you are as successful against the Kel-Fahr invasion as Mr. Neumann says you will be, then there will be plenty of time to continue our work."

"Mr. Neumann," the General said, looking sourly at Bannon. "He wasn't the first to mention the invasion, was he?"

"You weren't intending to keep it a secret from us, were you, General?" Bobrov countered.

"No, of course not. There's just no imminent danger, and the message would have been better delivered in a manner that didn't lead to a mass exodus with its inherent logistical difficulties," the General explained. "We intended to notify people this week and begin sending people home."

"No need, General. Just get us to Glennville. We've booked tickets on the bus to Fargo and flights from there to our homes. We just need transportation into town."

MacAvoy was startled but made the arrangements. Kennt was standing beside one of the Tik, Pokey. The Kel-Fahr didn't look happy. "Something wrong, Kennt?" he asked.

Pokey turned to the General. "Kennt is very upset that his friends are leaving. He had a very good time with them and wishes to continue. He does not believe they are in danger and does not understand their desire to leave to join their family units."

"It's a human thing," Bannon said. "Once we have dealt with the invasion, we will have the scientists return."

Kennt looked at Bannon and frowned. He turned and walked away. Pokey turned to look at Kennt, then back at the two men.

"My apologies, General MacAvoy. I cannot repeat what Kennt just said... as it was very rude." It followed after Kennt.

As the General and Bannon left the building, they saw the scientists loading their bags and climbing onto the school bus the General had on site for discreetly transporting personnel. They were excitedly chattering away with each other, and it was impossible not to compare them to kids returning from camp.

They left the scientists behind and headed back to the house as it was getting close to dinner time. Clara mentioned she was making paella with chicken and chorizo and an eggplant parmesan. Even the General arranged his schedule around a meal like that.

Before they went inside, MacAvoy sent the request for the SEAL team to report to the Glennville base, and Bannon sent notice to the surveillance team to report to duty the following day. Both men were confident they would have the new protection in place for the weekend. Bannon looked forward to telling Joseph he could go ahead and get himself a truck and go on his date. He also looked forward to having the team back together.

The General and Bannon went into the house and smelled the delicious food. Walking towards the kitchen, they saw Joe on the couch under a blanket, snoring away. The two men looked at each other, surprised he was still out.

"Ah, you've arrived! Dinner is served, so make your way to the dining room," Karl said to the men as he descended the stairs from upstairs.

They took their seats, and Clara looked around the table. "Where's Joseph?"

"He was still sleeping in the living room when we came in," Roger replied.

"Amy, go get your brother. He has to eat," she said to her daughter.

Amy pushed back her chair and slipped from the room to go to Joe's side. She knelt down and pulled the blanket off his head. She smiled at his sweet, sleeping face. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and whispered in his ear. "Joe, dinner time. We're eating all the food."

Joe snorted in his sleep then his eyes fluttered as he struggled to wake. She grinned at his confused expression. "What did you say? Did I miss dinner?"

She took pity on the big man. "No, dinner is just starting. Get up and join us, lazybones!" She tugged on his arm, and he gradually got his feet under him. He was having difficulty focusing his eyes and waking, so Amy had to pull on his arms to get him to rise. She put her arm around him and walked him down the hall to the dining room. She'd never seen him this tired before.

"Joe, what's wrong?" she asked concernedly as they entered the room with the others. Clara and Karl were immediately on alert. Safa looked at Joe and rose from her seat to walk over to him. They sat him in his chair, and she peered into his eyes and pressed on the glands on his neck. He remained groggy.

Bannon cleared his throat. "I think I can explain why Joe is exhausted. He mentally connected to a Kel-Fahr acquaintance of Rensley's this afternoon," he explained.

"Has a Gate opened? Is there another Kel-Fahr at the base?" Rachel immediately asked.

"No, the contact was on Sehsra, the Kel-Fahr homeworld," Bannon said.

"You asked Joseph to communicate with a being on another planet?!?" Karl growled. "Wasn't that a little dangerous?"

The General turned to the father. "Karl, we need information for humanity to survive the upcoming invasion. We had no idea if it was even possible for Joseph to communicate that far. We had no idea what it would cost in terms of energy. Now we know. Joseph can communicate over incomprehensible distances, but the cost is enormous. We don't know if opening a Gate to the destination planet would reduce that energy expenditure. We will try that when it's possible. We learned that Joseph has access to Rensley's contacts and can use them successfully. As he has links to all the Senior Councilors on Sehsra, we can deliver a message to them through him."

"Let's get some food in him and us," Clara said. She put a large serving of paella on his plate. Standing beside Joe, Safa saw he was too exhausted to feed himself, so she asked Rachel to switch seats with her. She took the chair and proceeded to feed Joe. He opened his mouth and chewed mechanically at first, but after the tenth forkful, he roused enough to speak. "Doug?"

Clara smiled. "No dear, but it is Doug Wilson's paella recipe. Maybe your mother can cook as well as Mr. Wilson, hmm?" she smirked. Joe turned to his mother with a guilty look, then took another forkful from Safa's hand. He finally noticed what she was doing. He swallowed what was in his mouth, then gently caught her hand in his as she scooped another forkful.

"Thank you, Safa. You should eat something too," he smiled at the woman, and she returned it.

Joe picked up his utensils and proceeded to shovel the food into his mouth. He was ravenous! Safa scooped him another serving, and he ate that as well. Safa ate some eggplant parmesan and complimented Clara on how good it was. She kept her eye on Joe's plate. As it emptied, she'd ask if he wanted more. After the fourth serving, he finally pushed the plate away and rubbed his happy stomach.

"That was delicious, Mom! Thanks!" Joe smiled. He looked at Safa. "Thanks for taking such good care of me," he whispered. Safa blushed.

A deep wave of fatigue swept over Joe once more. "I think I'm going to go to bed now."

"Before you head upstairs, Joseph, the General, and I would like to let you know we've talked, and we are going to institute the surveillance and extraction teams so you can have a little more independence," Bannon stated.

"Agent Pepper, Ringo, and Max are returning?" Joe smiled.

"And Max's new partner. He'll need a name as well," Roger grinned.

Joe's head was rolling slightly on his shoulders, and Safa was becoming concerned. He suddenly looked at the General. "Does this mean I can buy and drive my own truck?"

The General just nodded and glanced over at Bannon.

"And go on your date without a chaperone," Amy smiled.

"Thank you!" Joe said to the General and Roger, who smiled. Joe yawned mightily.

The good news delivered, Amy took one arm, and Safa took the other, and they helped stabilize Joe as he rose to his feet. They led him out of the dining room down the hall to the stairs, and he held the railing all the way to the top, where they took their positions once more. They guided him to his door, and Amy opened it while Safa braced him against the wall with her body. Amy pulled the sheets down and came back for Joe.

They walked him to the end of his bed, and his eyes were already closing. Safa undid his belt and the top button on his pants and yanked the zipper down. Off came his pants, and he stood there swaying in his boxers, socks, and shirt. Amy tugged his shirt up and managed to get him to lift his arms until she got his arms free. They walked him to the center of his bed and sat him on the edge.

Amy pulled his shirt over his head while Safa tugged his socks off. His eyes opened momentarily, and he looked at the two women. His eyes were rolling in his head with exhaustion, but he reached out and pulled Amy against his chest for a hug.

"I love you, Amy," he said, his voice cracking.

She fiercely hugged him back, then pushed herself away from him when her face began to flush. Safa stood up and saw Amy quickly leave the room. She looked at Joe in puzzlement, and he looked unhappily at the door.

"I can't seem to stop hurting her," he mumbled.

"No, she just loves you so much," Safa stated quietly. She pushed Joe back and got him to turn his body to lie properly across his bed. She guided his legs onto the bed, then pulled the blankets over him.

With his eyes closed, Joe brought Safa's hand to his lips. He kissed her delicate knuckles and caressed her skin with the tip of his tongue without thinking.

Safa's head snapped back as her body soared into the sky. Joe fell asleep, and Safa's hand slipped from his grasp. She found herself sprawled out over his stomach. Her muscles buzzed and tingled, and she felt the warm and happy afterglow in her intimate places. She struggled to regain her feet, but her limbs didn't want to cooperate. Finally, she rested across Joe's body until her muscle coordination returned.

He felt so hot and comfortable that her eyes started drooping until she heard a gasp in the doorway. She wobbled her head to look in that direction. Amy stood there wide-eyed.

"Help me!" Safa begged quietly.

Amy quickly went to her side, put an arm around her torso, and pulled her off Joe onto her feet. Except her legs wouldn't hold her. Holding her upright, Amy walked her back to her room.

"Did he kiss you?" Amy whispered after a second.

"My hand," Safa whispered back.

"Ah!" Amy said, recalling her own experience with that.

"It was... incredible!" Safa whispered.

Amy began to feel uncomfortable talking about this with the woman leaning on her.

"The instantaneous synchronizing of two separate and distinct nervous systems. I could feel not only my own responses but his as well! Fascinating!" Safa gushed as she wobbled into her room and flopped onto her bed.

Amy suppressed a relieved smile as she lifted Safa's legs onto the bed. She patted the woman's shoulder, then turned out the light as Safa's eyes closed.

As the door closed, a broad smile crept onto Safa's lips as her body trembled through another aftershock.

Chapter 25

The next morning found Joe standing in the lot of a car dealership reviewing trucks with Sergeant Armstrong. Craig had driven him to the dealership and was aware that his babysitting days were coming to a close as the surveillance teams were returning. He assured Joe that he wasn't going anywhere. He'd be on the base and was still assigned protection duty for Joe's parents.

Joe read the spec sheet inside the truck's window and determined that it had enough of the features and amenities he was interested in. He stood back and took in the design. It was a quad cab with a powerful engine and lots of towing capacity. While he missed his old brown truck, this one was deep blue, and he decided it was definitely prettier than Ol' Bonny had ever been. He knew his dad would appreciate this truck on the farm when he returned to California.

"Well?" Craig asked with a smile.

"Yup. This one will do," Joe smiled back. He looked up and saw the salesman hustling over to them with a wide smile. Joe prepared himself for an afternoon of haggling.

"Howdy, Gentlemen! The name's Earl. Earl Sinclair. Anything I can help you with today?"

"Hi, I'm Joe, and this is Craig. I'd like to take this truck for a test drive," Joe began.

"Sure! We can do that. I'll just need to photocopy your driver's license, and I can get the keys and a plate for the truck," the man said with a grin.

Joe handed him his license, and the man spun to hustle back into the building. Joe and Craig stood beside the truck waiting, and Joe kept his eye on Earl since the man had his license. He appeared to be staring at it while he stood before the photocopier. He glanced quickly over his shoulder, made the copy, and ducked into the back to get something. A minute later, he returned to Joe and handed him his license back. He had the keys and hung the dealer plate on the tailgate. He popped the locks with the key fob and proceeded to give Joe and Craig a tour of the truck's features while Joe made himself at home behind the wheel. The most important aspect was that there was enough room for Joe in the cab, which he found very comfortable.

"The backseat has plenty of space for whatever else you might choose to do," Craig joked from behind Joe. He just tossed a grin over his shoulder at the soldier.

Earl handed Joe the key fob and showed him how the keyless ignition worked. Joe started the truck up, and they listened to the smooth engine rumble.

The test drive sold it for Joe. He liked the power and knew his dad would appreciate the upgrade on the truck he was currently driving. They pulled back into the lot, and Joe smiled at Earl.

"So, you like?" Earl grinned, knowing a sale when he saw one.

"Yes, I like. Let's go talk price," Joe said with a quiet sigh. He wasn't looking forward to this part.

The showroom was far busier than it had been when Joe and Craig had arrived. The two men looked at each other, glad they'd come when they did. With only one salesman on duty, Earl would be a busy man!

Earl sat behind his desk and filled out the forms. Joe looked over his shoulder and estimated there had to be at least a dozen people milling about in the showroom. None appeared to be paying much attention to the cars inside. He looked at Craig and raised an eyebrow.

"How will you be paying for the vehicle? We have excellent financing plans," Earl said, drawing their attention back.

"I'll be paying with a certified check from the bank. Buying it outright," Joe said. "How much is the truck?" He had yet to hear the price and was a little nervous that the salesman would try to pull some hidden cost play on him.

"Sorry, that would be helpful, wouldn't it!" he grinned with a strangely excited look on his face. "You saw the price on the window sticker and our factory discount display. That truck has an extended bed, upgraded engine, drivetrain, and the deluxe electronics and navigation package. Normally, it would sell for sixty-three-thousand, but my manager has informed me that I can give you five thousand off for factory incentives and our employee pricing as well. Your price is fifty-one-thousand." His grin just got bigger as Joe smiled in surprise. Twelve grand off the list price? That was completely unexpected, and he was thrilled!

"You have a sale, Mr. Sinclair! Wow!" Joe exclaimed. Craig was also impressed. Joe read the invoice and looked carefully for the gotchas. Hidden costs or locked in finance clauses, but there was nothing. The vehicle listed on the invoice was the one he'd driven (he'd memorized the last digits of the VIN ID, and it was on the form), and the price on the bottom of the invoice was fifty-one-thousand. He signed the invoice and shook the man's hand.

"We can arrange plates for you if you have proof of insurance. You can pick them up today and bring them with you tomorrow morning when you drop off the check. Then you can drive away in your new truck," Earl continued. Joe nodded and handed his insurance slip over. Earl got up to photocopy the slip.

"Wow! That's an awesome price!" Craig told Joe and clapped him on the arm.

"Okay, I've faxed the forms to the DMV office on Clancy Street," Earl said as he returned. "If you head over there, you can pick up the plates. Ask for Margaret. We'll have your truck cleaned up and ready for you in the morning," Earl said with a smile.

"It has been a definite pleasure doing business with you, Earl." Joe shook his hand again. Craig shook it as well. They found the twelve people waiting for them as they left Earl's office. All of them wore smiles, though some had tears in their eyes. A large man with car-grease-stained hands stood at the front of the group.

"Hello, my name is Roger Barlow. This is my dealership, but I prefer to run the service center."

Joe was a little surprised and confused by the group facing him. "Hi, Joe Neumann. I assume you are the manager Earl spoke with when I bought my truck?" The man nodded and smiled. "Then I want to thank you for giving me such a great deal! I really appreciate it." He shook the man's hand, and the dealer's smile widened.

"It's truly our pleasure, Mr. Neumann. This is my girlfriend, Gwen Hilson. She works our reception desk," Roger said, gently guiding the woman forward to shake Joe's hand. She clung to Joe's hand, and he began to get an odd feeling. Gwen had tears in her eyes.

Then it clicked. He turned to Craig. "Uh, would you mind waiting in the truck for just a minute, Craig?"

The sergeant's eyebrows rose, but he nodded and smiled at the gathered people as he stepped outside. He could see Joe through the windows, so he wasn't technically disobeying the order to keep an eye on him.

Earl headed outside as well, leaving Joe alone with the group.

"Am I addressing people affected by the Rossellis?" Joe asked quietly.

They nodded as a group. Gwen was still holding his hand tightly.

Joe looked at Roger in shock. "The discount!"

Roger headed him off. "Was just a good discount. I'm not losing money on the sale. I'm not making money on it either, but I'm grateful to be able to do that much, at least. Please accept it."

Joe paused, then nodded.

"Rene asked us to leave you be, and we did, but we've all wanted to thank you for some time. When Earl told me you'd come into the dealership today, I had to call in a few people close by as I figured enough time had passed that maybe it would be okay for us to just say hi." He looked earnestly at Joe, then pulled Gwen back to his side.

One at a time, the others came forward, and he shook their hands as well. Some gave him hugs. Tears were shed, and Joe had a lump in his throat by the last one.

A tall, skinny young woman slammed through the door and stopped abruptly. "He's here? Is it him?" she shouted.

"Linda, honey, you're supposed to be with your mama, and you know you must remain calm for her." Roger started moving towards the girl, but she ducked around him and leapt against Joe's chest, hugging him tightly. His arms automatically went around her to support her, and Joe felt her skeletally thin form pressed against him. She put her mouth up by his ear.

"Please tell me what you did to them? Please tell me! Please!" she whispered desperately as she clung to him.

Joe held up his hand to let Roger know he was okay. He moved his mouth to her ear and whispered to the trembling girl. Gradually, her body calmed, and she began to smile. When Joe was done, she pulled back and gently kissed his cheek.

"Thank you," she said and released Joe from her grip. Her expression was serene as she stepped back to stand with Gwen, who smiled at her and took her hand.

Joe felt a little overwhelmed and needed to leave, and the group picked that up. They stood aside as he walked up to Roger. "I'll be back tomorrow to drop off the check and to pick up the truck. Thank you again!"

Roger nodded, and Joe left. As he got back in the army truck, the sergeant gave him a look and seemed like he wanted to ask, but he saw Joe was struggling with his emotions, so he just got them moving. They went to the DMV, and Joe spoke to Margaret. She told him that Linda was her daughter. Joe got his new plates and a long hug from Margaret, who'd received a call from Gwen to say Linda was there and was well.

Finally, Craig took him to the bank to get the certified check. That took longer than he expected, but he got it. Joe was starving by this point and suggested they get lunch. Craig gave him a hopeful look, and Joe smiled and called Taylor to invite her to join Craig at their favorite restaurant. He called Pam, but a shipment had come in, and she had taken an earlier lunch. He told her he'd be by to pick her up in the morning and got directions to her apartment.

Craig parked, and they walked toward the restaurant's front door. A police cruiser pulled into the pickup customer spot by the door, and Joe glanced at the passenger side window. Officer Karen Kowalski looked back at him with a big smile. He told Craig to go in, and he'd join him in a second. Craig spotted Taylor waiting just inside the door, so he nodded and entered.

"Joseph Neumann! I thought this town had seen the last of you!" Karen said with a grin as she got out of the cruiser. Her partner, Officer Blake, got out and gave him a nod as he went inside to get their food.

"How are you doing?" Joe asked, smiling back.

"Really well! You missed your chance with me. I'm engaged!" she grinned.

"Congratulations!" his smile grew.

"Thanks!"

A series of pop sounds came from inside the restaurant, and one of the windows shattered.

Craig and Taylor! Joe was moving through the door before Karen had her gun clear. She screamed at him to wait, but he was already inside. Joe's eyes snapped to black, and he saw Blake on the floor by the counter but still breathing. People huddled under their tables, and he couldn't see Craig or Taylor. Looking for a weapon, Joe picked up a ketchup bottle from the waitress' station.

"CRAIG!"

"Get the fuck out of here!" came the reply from the back corner.

A head popped up from behind a table by the front of the restaurant, and Joe caught sight of a gun barrel rising. He threw the bottle, and it spiraled toward the gunman.

Joe felt something punch him in the back then Karen dove through the doorway behind him. Her gun fired three rapid shots. The first two hit the counter, but the last passed through the neck of the gunman standing behind the counter, pointing his gun at Joe. She immediately rolled for cover and looked at Joe, kneeling behind the waitress station. He blinked and looked over at her, and she saw he was clenching his teeth in pain, but he nodded at her. She could hear the guy behind the counter choking as his life sprayed out of the hole Karen tore in his jugular.

"How many?" Joe called out.

"Two. Maybe more," Craig called back.

Joe reached up and grabbed another ketchup bottle. Sirens could be heard in the distance but getting closer.

Karen looked at him and saw the hole in the back of his winter coat, insulation sticking out. He then stood up and crab-walked quickly toward the seating area.

He heard some of the patrons under the tables whimpering. The man he'd hit with the ketchup bottle was dead. The side of his skull was caved in. Amazingly, the bottle hadn't broken.

Joe let his eyes snap back to black and scanned the dozen or so people lying on the floor. He could see their trembling, shaking, elevated heart rates, and panting. Then he spotted one who wasn't trembling. His heart rate was slightly faster than normal, but his breathing was calm. Joe blinked his eyes back to normal and looked at the man pretending to be a bystander. Joe passed behind him and seized his arms. He tried to move his hands up to grab something in his jacket, so Joe bounced him against the floor hard, and he went limp.

"Okay, got the last one. There were three," Joe called out. He looked back to see Karen standing behind the counter, watching him with wide eyes. Cruisers were pulling into the parking lot. Karen spoke into her radio, and the police rushed into the restaurant. Joe knelt and waited for them to take control. The customers under their tables were ushered out, including Taylor, who looked shaken but wasn't injured.

Soon, only Craig, Joe, Karen, and a few other police were in the room. There was a loud crunching sound as an army truck slid to a halt on the gravel outside. Uniformed men deployed and pushed their way into the restaurant.

"Lieutenant Grey! I didn't expect to see you again!" Joe said, looking in surprise at the leader of the SEAL team.

"We just got into town, and before we could even take our hats off, we're ordered to rescue you from... whatever just happened." He looked around at the three bodies. The one at Joe's feet took that moment to moan. His hands were cuffed behind his back, so Joe wasn't worried about his going after the stuff in his jacket.

"You guys are the extraction team?" Joe said surprised.

"None other."

The paramedics were taking Officer Blake out, and Karen was walking out with him, though she kept looking back at Joe. He hustled over to her before she left the restaurant.

"Thank you for having my back, Karen. You were pretty awesome!" he said.

She stared at him incredulously. "You were shot! I can see the hole in your jacket!" she blurted.

"Ah, yes. Well, I'm wearing a vest underneath. Part of my new job," he smiled.

"Your new job gives you a bulletproof vest, but you have to throw ketchup bottles? Couldn't they have sprung for a gun and maybe some training on what NOT to do when faced with armed gunmen!" she shouted.

Reaction was setting in.

"I don't like guns. Look, I'm really sorry about all this." Joe struggled to find something positive to say to the upset woman. "Uh, congratulations on your engagement again," he stumbled.

"Fuck you!" Karen shouted as she shoved him out of her way and left the restaurant.

Craig and Lieutenant Grey had the conscious man on his back. Some of the team carefully removed the arsenal under his jacket and placed the items on the table. Two other SEALs were inspecting the dead men.

Craig looked at Joe with a grin. "Pissed off another woman with your heroics?"

Joe grimaced and took off his brand-new jacket. Sure enough, there was a large hole in the back. "Dammit!"

"Didn't you just buy that yesterday?" Craig asked.

The Lieutenant focused on Craig, curiously about his calm attitude. The sergeant just shrugged. "I've seen Joe do some really weird shit. Walking away from a gunshot seems tame in comparison."

One of the SEALs stood behind Joe and inspected the impact spot. "No penetration Lieutenant. Just a huge bruise."

"Thank you, Mr. Bennett."

Joe spun and smiled at the sailor. "Bennett! How are you?"

"I'm good, Mr. Neumann," the man smiled.

"Joe! Call me Joe."

"Now that we've taken care of the warm and fuzzy stuff, I have orders to get you back to base. That's what we do in an extraction," the Lieutenant said.

"What about these guys?" Joe asked, pointing to the three men on the floor but looking outside to see the police, who were still speaking with the upset customers.

"We're taking them with us," Grey said, and Joe looked back to see the two bodies going into body bags.

Bennett knelt down beside the handcuffed man and jabbed a needle in his arm. "Goodnight!"

When the man slumped unconscious, they stuffed him in a body bag as well. The sailors carried the bags out to the truck and tossed them in.

Joe stuffed the insulation back into his jacket and pulled it on. He followed Craig and the Lieutenant outside.

"I'll see you back at the base. I'm going to take Taylor home," Craig said to Joe.

"Sure. I'm in the care of my extraction team now," Joe said and saw Grey nod.

Joe saw some Soldiers from the base speaking with the owner of the restaurant then he was being helped up into the truck. He pulled his phone out and called Rene's number at St. Germain's.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Rene, it's Joe."

"Hi Joe, what's up?"

"Did you get in more than one of those XXL winter jackets?" he asked.

"We did, but I'm sold out. You didn't lose your jacket, did you?" she asked, her tone hinting at her grin.

"No, I tore a hole in it. That's okay. I'll try to sew it up. Thanks anyway! Have a good afternoon!" She said her goodbyes, and he hung up.

He looked around and saw the SEAL team grinning at him. "You know how to sew, too? Is there nothing you can't do?" Bennett quipped. The men laughed.

"Ha. Very funny. You have no idea how quickly I go through clothes," Joe grumped. More laughter.

The drive home was uneventful, but Joe's stomach grumbled all the way. He'd missed lunch. Lieutenant Grey and Joe went to speak with the General while the SEAL team handed over the bodies and the prisoner to the army.

The General was looking grim as they were ushered into his office.

"Were you injured, Joseph?" he said.

"No, sir."

"Aside from being shot again," Lieutenant Grey mentioned. "A police officer apparently took out the shooter."

"Officer Karen Kowalski," Joe mumbled as the General scowled.

"How many were apprehended?" MacAvoy finally said.

"Two dead, one captured alive," Grey stated.

"How many did you get, Joseph?" the General asked, looking closely at him.

"I killed one with a bottle of ketchup—" the General snorted in surprised amusement. "I captured the last one."

"May I ask how you used a ketchup bottle as a weapon?" MacAvoy asked with a smile. Joe's stomach growled loudly.

"I threw it. Hit the man in the head. Caved in his skull," Joe said quietly. "He had a gun." His stomach growled again.

The man nodded, looking at Joe. "How are you feeling about that?"

Joe blinked at him in surprise. Then he got it. "Oh! I... I'm okay. I'm actually... I'm good."

The General watched his expression, then nodded. "We had word from the FBI and CIA that Glennville had been infiltrated by a two or three-man team. We don't know who hired them or their goal, but now we can find out. Why don't you go get something to eat?"

Joe saw he was being dismissed, but the suggestion of food was stronger than his annoyance at being sent on his way. He headed over to the house and took off his jacket. He carried it into the kitchen as he planned on trying to sew the hole closed. He found his mom there preparing dinner. She was making a big pot of chili and a smaller one of meatless chili.

He walked up behind her, hugged her, and kissed the top of her head.

"Oh! Joseph! You surprised me! Weren't you out running errands?" she exclaimed. She turned to face him. "What happened to your jacket?

"Bullet hole." He turned so she could see the torn shirt and bruise on his back.

"JOSEPH! What happened?" she cried.

"I don't know how it started. I was outside the restaurant when the shooting started, but there were three guys with guns, and they had Craig and Taylor trapped. I went inside, and Officer Blake was on the ground, injured. I killed one of the gunmen, and another one shot me in the back. Office Kowalski shot him. I managed to capture the third one alive."

Clara took Joe's hands in hers and looked up at his face. "Are you okay? You had to kill again."

Joe's face dropped, but he just nodded. "I'm okay. It hurts to think about it, but after my talk with Rene, I find it easier to separate who I am from what I can do." His stomach growled loudly.

Clara smiled and patted his arm. "I have just the thing for you to recover from your injury. Take a seat at the table."

He opened a drawer in a sideboard, pulled out an old sewing kit, and sat at the kitchen table with his jacket. He worked on that while Clara grilled a steak and heated some deep brown beans.

It only took ten minutes to make Joe's meal, and she carried it over to the table to see him hold up his finished sewing work. She chuckled and placed the plate in front of him. The hole was closed, and that's the only positive thing she could say about his patching. He looked pleased with his efforts, so she returned to making dinner.

Joe wolfed down his meal and pushed back from the table. He carried his plate and cutlery to the sink, washed them, and put them away. He gave his mom a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm going to go to the Think Tank to use the EZ-Bake oven to fix my back," Joe told her.

"Dinner is at seven PM tonight as Roger told me the surveillance teams will be back," she told him. "Don't be late."

He nodded and pulled his jacket back on. The patchwork on his back tugged oddly, but it would have to do.

He caught a ride back to the Think Tank and walked into the infirmary. He saw some familiar faces, and they all shared a smile. He knew if the General lifted his ban on riders, each of them would be in Rensley's room with him again, joining in the music.

He'd already visited first thing this morning, his preferred time to share his energy with his kids, so he wasn't scheduled to do it again until the morning. In his mind, he could feel the children buzzing happily. Rensleys' distinct presence could no longer be detected. She was now one with her children.

Pulling his mind from that melancholy thought, he looked to Corporal Mann, who was looking at him with a wistful smile. "Do you know how to operate the EZ-Bake oven?"

"The what?" she asked with a grin.

"The big super sauna in the atrium they built for me to heal in," he explained.

"Ah, that. Yes, I can operate it," she answered.

"Can you give me a couple hours in it?" Joe asked.

"Sure," she said, walking out to the sauna with him. She entered her id into the outer control panel, and the lock opened. She pulled the door open, and he followed her in. He recalled the shower and looked for someplace to get changed. He realized he's never been conscious on the way into the sauna.

Corporal Mann finished setting the controls on the sauna and turned to see him still dressed. "You can't take your clothes in there," she said.

Joe sighed, turned his back to the nurse, and undressed. When the shirt came off, he heard her suck in her breath.

"What is that on your back?" she asked.

"That would be a bruise. The reason I'm baking myself."

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Yup."

He finished tugging his clothes off, and she led him to the airlock door. She began the cycle, and the outer door opened. He stepped in, and she remained outside. He kept his back to her and snapped his eyes to black as the chamber filled with hot air from the sauna's interior. The inner door opened, and he walked in. The heat was glorious on his skin. He saw the platform in the center of the room he'd woken up on. He stretched out on his stomach and relaxed. Soon, he slipped into a deeply relaxed state as his body responded to the optimal conditions for healing.

It wasn't long before sleep took him.

It seemed like an even shorter time when the soft tones indicated his session had ended. He pushed himself to his feet. Though his back was still tight, he felt so much better. He shuffled sleepily to the inner door, which opened as he approached. He stood in the airlock as the air cycled to the much cooler exterior temperature. Once the outer door opened, he shuffled over to the shower, oblivious to Corporal Mann's presence. He stood under the spray as the water hissed and popped. When this went quiet, there was another gentle tone, and the water shut off. The hot air blasted him from all sides, and he enjoyed that, too.

He stepped out and saw the nurse standing over by the door facing the exit. "When you're ready, let me know, and I'll lock up."

Joe tugged on his clothes and walked over to the little station where she would have sat. He turned the screen on, and there was a clear view of the platform he had been lying on. He blushed and flipped the screen off again. He walked over to the door.

"Were you waiting for me the full two hours?" he asked.

She glanced at him, and he saw her cheeks were a little red. "What? No, I switched out for about an hour with Louise—I mean, Corporal March." Her cheeks pinked up some more.

"Well, thank you very much. I feel much better!" he said. Next time, he vowed to wear those heatproof shorts Safa had him wearing last time.

Once in the atrium, the woman smiled and hustled back to the infirmary.

Joe looked at his phone and noticed he still had time before dinner, so he looked for Kennt. He found the old Kel-Fahr sitting upstairs in the huge study lab where the meeting of the minds had taken place. He was in a plush chair, quietly working with a tablet. He was scanning through the images of the dozens upon dozens of whiteboards they'd filled when all of Earth's leading scientists were brought together to speak with Kennt. Joe picked up his feeling of satisfaction and contentment.

"Hi, Kennt!"

"Joe! How are you?"

Joe was slightly surprised as Kennt rarely acknowledged other people, much less asked about their condition.

"I'm good. How are you?" Joe asked cautiously.

"I'm tired. I have pushed myself harder in these past months than I have ever done in my life, and the result is this incredible wealth of science. I had achieved some measure of success on Sehsra, but it was a speck compared to what we accomplished here on Earth. I cannot thank you enough for bringing me here," he said quietly.

"Kennt, you are most welcome. I'm sure many more discoveries will be made once we've dealt with the coming invasion. The scientists will return, and science will burst forth again," Joe smiled.

Kennt chuckled and patted Joe on the leg.

Joe was feeling an undirected anxiety about the old Kel-Fahr, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. "Would you like to join my family for dinner tonight? We can always find room for one more at the table."

"That is most kind, but I think I will retire to my room. I have a few more notes to complete and letters to dictate to the infuriatingly obtuse Tik. Then I think I will enjoy my hammock. That really is one of the most wonderful inventions Humans have ever created!" he said as he climbed into his augmentation suit. Joe walked him to the elevator then he went down to the exit. He got his coat and got a lift back to the house. It was five to seven when he entered the house, and he saw his dad walking down the stairs from the bedrooms.

"Hi, Joe. I heard about your adventure at lunch. How is your back now?" he asked.

"Much better, thanks!" he replied, following his dad into the dining room. All the table leaves had been added as the dining room table now had twelve people.

The first thing Joe noticed was that he was the last to arrive. The second was that the seating had been arranged in the classic boy-girl-boy-girl order. With his dad at the head of the table and his mom to his Dad's left, Joe saw his empty chair, then Safa, Director Bannon, Agent White, and General MacAvoy at the other seat of honor.

Joe's eyes lit up when he saw Agent Ringo, Pepper, and Max in the next seats, and they smiled back.

That left the seat across from his where a stranger was seated. There was something about him. He glanced back at Pepper's grin and saw Ringo was also sharing that expression. His eyes returned to the stranger.

The man hadn't noticed Joe enter as he was completely absorbed in talking to Amy, who sat at his Dad's right hand. The man had black hair like his in a similar cut. His skin was tanned, and he had brown eyes. His jaw was roughly the same, though he smiled more than Joe. He looked fit and... oh.

A wave of nausea rushed through him. Joe realized he was looking at a smaller version of himself.

The human he could have been... should have been.

Joe turned his eyes to his sister. She looked so happy. She was doing that thing with her hair she did when she was attracted to the man she was talking to. As she was attracted to Joe, but the stranger wasn't forbidden to her.

Another wave of nausea washed over him, and he gripped the back of his chair as his eyes clenched closed.

Amy finally noticed her brother and turned to smile at him. Her face froze when she saw his stricken expression. "Joe, what's wrong?"

He jolted, and the wood splintered under his grip.

"JOE!" Clara cried.

Joe's eyes opened, and he looked into the stranger's surprised, shocked eyes.

Little Joe. If he had to give him a nickname, that one leapt into his mind, but that would be cruel to Amy. She deserved this happiness, and he wouldn't poison that. He had to leave before he said something wrong.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. May I be excused? I suddenly don't feel so well. I have to get some air," he mumbled as he stumbled from the room.

Everyone looked at him in shock.

He made it to the front door before Roger Bannon got to him. Joe stepped into his boots and grabbed his coat, and Roger put a hand on his arm to stop him. Joe looked back. Amy was behind the director, down the hallway, standing in the dining room doorway, and the stranger was behind her.

Joe pulled his arm free and fled outside. He rushed to the steps and down onto the front lawn. He turned and ran toward the lane leading back to the Think Tank. Once he was halfway between the house and the scientist's retreat, he stopped in the darkened roadway. He stared up at the stars and thought of the Ello and their fucking interference. Their plans, or maybe it was the Kel-Fahr's plans.

A sudden rage swelled, and he let it fill him. The pressure built until he could no longer contain it. He roared into the night sky. It was primal, raw, and it grew louder. The rage began to grow again. He suddenly felt Amy's fright in his mind. He was broadcasting again. As quickly as the rage built, it snuffed out, and he shut down, falling to his knees.

Karl found him kneeling in the mud, sitting on his heels, his arms resting on his thighs, palms up. Tears were running down his face unnoticed.

"Son?"

Joe was looking down at his hands. On the outside, he appeared so strong, and he was so hard to damage.

But inside, he was soft. It was his human parts that were so easy to damage. If he'd been Kel-Fahr with their lack of empathy or an Ello with the cold intellectualism, it would be much easier to ignore the pain ripping through those human parts.

"Joe?"

His eyes looked up as he realized he'd heard something. It was the man who saved the baby from the Ello. He shook as his human heart reached out to the man standing before him. He realized he couldn't deny his humanity. As much pain as he was enduring, he knew he needed it.

"Dad?"

Karl reached down, pulled Joe to his feet, and wrapped his arms around the big man. Joe cried on his father's shoulder as his grief overwhelmed his control. Karl held him, and silent tears ran down his cheeks for his son's pain.

Joe finally ran out of tears and pulled back from his dad's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Joe mumbled.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Karl asked gently.

"I saw the new surveillance guy, and he looks so much like me. So much like the man I could have been if I'd been allowed to be fully human. If I hadn't been forced into some alien's experiment."

He took a deep breath. "Amy likes him. There's chemistry. I could see it. She finally has someone who looks like me without the baggage of being her brother and being inhuman. She deserves that happiness, but looking at him tears me in two. I can't take that happiness away from her, but I can't be near him. Maybe Bannon could assign him to protect her in Hollywood. But if they leave together, I'm afraid I'll never see her again."

He shuddered fiercely at the thought. "You can't tell her what I think of him! Promise me!"

Karl looked up at Joe's face, and his heart ached. Joe loved his sister so much, but this chance at happiness for her was torturing him in the worst possible way. He needed some peace. Karl thought of a way for him to get it.

He nodded to his son, put his arm around Joe's back, and started walking towards the Think Tank. They walked in silence and took comfort in their arms around each other's backs.

They arrived at the building, and the night staff greeted them. They dropped their jackets at the front, and Karl spoke briefly to the Soldier working the desk. He then led Joe to the Infirmary.

Stinky remained in its usual spot, guarding the room from unknown assailants. Joe paused and held Stinky's tentacle for a bit. Then Joe went inside with Karl. Joe pulled the sheets back, and Rensley's body no longer held the same form. Her torso had expanded to house the now significantly larger children, but her arms and legs had been absorbed back into her body as no longer necessary. Her body had converted itself to just the gestating and birthing machinery.

"How much longer?" Karl asked in awe of what he was seeing.

Joe looked at the size of the individual children. He recalled what Safa had said Kennt said. They would be ready once they reached the size of Joe's shoe. With the current growth rate... "I don't know... they're growing so quickly... maybe a week? Maybe less."

There was a noise behind them, and Joe turned. Clara and Amy were standing in the room as well. Joe had a moment of panic and looked at his dad.

"We'd like to commune with your children with you. Screw the General's rule. We're family," he said, and Joe smiled as he relaxed. He nodded.

"I'll begin. Take my other hand when I nod," Joe said, recalling the previous time. "Oh, and don't think about sharing this with anyone outside this room. Let's not piss the General off any more than we have to."

They all nodded and grinned.

Joe reached out over the children and felt the draw pulling his hand down. He smiled as he made contact. The voices were so much clearer and distinct. Joe nodded, and three more minds appeared at once. The children were curious, and Joe opened his heart to them so they would know his love for these three.

Family, he sent. The children became very excited and opened their love to these new minds. The song became very distinct as the individual voices were far better formed.

Joe felt his parent's and Amy's delight in sharing their life experiences with the children.

Joe felt something odd with his link with Kennt. It was fading. He reached out and opened the connection. He'd never done that before while communing. The children paused their song, curious about this new mind.

"Kennt? Are you alright?" Joe asked.

"Joe? It's my time. It was nice of you to come to see me off. Goodbye," the weak voice returned.

Joe realized this was what he'd felt from Kennt earlier. He'd been preparing to die. "Your grandchildren are here with me and want to say hello before you leave." He opened the connection to the children, and they swarmed in to sing to the dying Kel-Fahr. They listened to Kennt's life, which he shared as his parting gift. It flowed through Joe as well. He felt his deep joy at how he was leaving this life. He was content.

"Goodbye, Kennt," Joe said, pulling the children back as the link faded. Then it was gone.

Joe opened his eyes and saw his family had released his hand and were waiting for him with loving smiles. He lifted his hand, and the children threw off tremendous light. They were all busy digesting the energy Joe gave them and the information from Kennt's life. Maybe some of them would become scientists and carry on Kennt's work. He'd like that.

"When you began speaking with Kennt, we left the link. Is he okay?" Karl asked.

"He's passed on," Joe simply said. "But before he did, he shared his life with the children and me. He was happy."

They moved in for a group hug and left the infirmary to collect their coats. A truck was waiting for them and brought them back to the house.

Joe began to tense up as he looked at the house. He was inside.

They exited the truck, and Amy put her hand on Joe's arm to get him to hang back with her. Clara pulled her husband into the house as he looked back at his son.

"His name is Brad. I know you aren't supposed to know, but it's Brad," Amy said quietly.

Joe jolted again and looked at her.

"Communing is a pretty intimate experience. Hidden stuff gets shared. I know. I now see why I'm so attracted to him. I can't believe I didn't see it before. He does look a little like you... okay, maybe a lot. But Joe... he isn't you. While he's a nice guy, he's also a little too self-aware. A little vain and a little self-absorbed. So not you. Outside, he may look like you, but inside, he's completely different," she said, smiling up at her brother.

"He's who I might have been," Joe said, his voice cracking under the strain. Amy's jaw dropped. She suddenly saw the real reason for Joe's aversion to him. Joe saw Brad as a human version of himself. She saw the pain on his face. During their communing, she'd only picked up that Joe saw the resemblance between himself and Brad, but she hadn't realized the pain it caused him or why.

"Oh, Joe! No! Please don't think like that! Who you are now is so amazing! I wouldn't change a thing!" Amy cried and clung to his chest.

Joe held his sister tight and fought to hold back his tears. She might think that way, but there were so many things he wished he could change. There were so many things he couldn't say. He kissed the top of her head, then pulled back. He was exhausted and needed to sleep. He hadn't eaten. Then, he'd shared far too much energy with his children. He started for the front steps and pulled Amy along. They went inside and dropped off their coats. With a quick goodnight, Joe climbed the stairs and went to his room. Once inside, he saw his mom had put a tray of food on his desk. Smelling the delicious chili, his stomach reminded him it was empty. He pulled out his chair, peeled back the tin foil, and dug in. The bread rolls were fresh, but he almost didn't taste how delicious the food was as he shoveled it in so quickly. She'd given him a lot, but he was still hungry once he was done. He couldn't stomach the idea of meeting Brad downstairs, so he just got ready for bed. Before he could get in bed, though, there was a knock on his door.

"Joe, are you up? It's Roger."

Joe pulled on his dressing gown and opened the door.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I need to know if our selection of Agent Salt's replacement will be problematic. We really got the impression that you... might be having an issue with it. I can ask the agency for another agent," he asked.

"No, it's fine. Agent Wannabe is fine," Joe said, the name popping into his mind.

Roger snorted in surprise and worked at suppressing the laugh. "Oh my. That name is going to be a hit! Maybe not with him, but he'll get over it. One more time, are you sure you don't want me to find a different agent?"

"It's fine," Joe replied. "I'm kind of tired, so I'm going to bed. Talk to you tomorrow?"

"Sure. Good night!"

Joe went to bed and tried to put everything from his mind.

-=-

Roger went back downstairs and met with the night surveillance team. Agent Max was just about to do her patrol.

Brad felt decidedly uncomfortable after discovering the rest of the team had set him up for a teasing joke only to have it explode violently on them. He had no idea the target looked so much like him. Well, an over-inflated version of him. He shuddered to think of himself being that big.

Agent Max sat back down beside him as the Director sat before them. The day shift were down in the games room, getting ready to sleep.

"I spoke with Joe, and he's fine. He said he had no issues with you on the surveillance team," Roger said.

The other two breathed a sigh of relief. Agent Max grinned.

"So, did he give you a name for his new watcher?" she grinned.

Roger did his best to stifle his amusement, and Brad got worried.

"Indeed he did. I'll let you know at breakfast. The others—"

"Can't wait until morning to hear the name," Agent Pepper grinned as he and his partner entered the room and sat down on the couch with a look at Brad.

The director looked at his agents, who were obviously enjoying this comradery. The new guy was trying to play it cool, but Roger could see he was as eager to hear it as the others. "Agent Wannabe."

There was a moment of shocked silence then laughter erupted as the joke hit home. Brad was furious initially, then gave himself a shake for taking himself too seriously. He could take it as well as dish it out. So, the big guy was funny and a little scary. The cry of rage that echoed through everyone's mind at dinner returned to him, but he shook that off, too. He finally grinned, and the others laughed harder.

"Okay, you two get some sleep! Joe has a full day planned for tomorrow. While the FBI, CIA, and our team show no further infiltrations, we must remain on our toes. Joe is a magnet for trouble. I swear I haven't met anyone who's stepped in more shit than that boy. He survives it all, better than we would, but it would be really nice if he could just have a normal, uneventful weekend. Good night!"

The group split up, and Agent Wannabe was left to his thoughts.

Chapter 26

Joe sat back against the seat of the army truck as Craig drove him to the dealership. The huge breakfast his mom had fed him weighed down his stomach pleasantly, and he was beginning to feel it recharge him.

He'd dropped by the Think Tank this morning to check on the children as he always did and saw the frantic activity as they had discovered Kennt had died during the night. Joe kept quiet about that, as no one was asking. They all knew the Kel-Fahr was ancient, and living in the higher gravity of Earth had been a strain on him. No one was surprised, but they were sad.

He spent a short time with the children and spoke with Safa about their impending delivery. The children had visibly grown from the night before. Safa had no news to give him.

Joe patted the pocket where the cheque sat and smiled to himself. It was really turning into a nice day. Just regular people stuff from this point on. Buy a car, pick up the girlfriend, and do a little shopping. Man! He was so looking forward to some normality.

"How is Taylor?" he asked.

"More beautiful every day! She was a little shaken up from the shooting, but I calmed her down, and we had a great night," Craig wiggled his eyebrows.

"TMI!" Joe laughed.

They pulled into the lot, and Joe looked nervously into the dealership, but there was no crowd today. He relaxed, and they went in. Earl Sinclair met him, and they shook hands. Joe handed the new plates to him, and the man left to bring the truck around.

A few minutes later, Roger Barlow came out to meet him, and they shook hands. Roger had something on his mind.

"Listen, before Earl gets here, I just wanted to let you know that word got around that you were here yesterday, and the rest of the group got together and—"

The deep blue truck pulled around in front of the dealership, and Joe noticed an aluminum double-lid truck toolbox mounted in the back.

"—they bought you a toolbox," Mr. Barlow finished. He looked at Joe nervously. Craig's eyebrows rose, but he held his tongue.

"That-that was very nice of them. They really shouldn't have, and if you could let them know that when you send along my thanks to them, I'd appreciate it," Joe said, his voice rough.

Roger nodded, and Joe handed him the cheque. Earl came inside, gave Roger the keys, and took the cheque. He went off to get the final paperwork for Joe. Moments later, he was back, and Roger handed Joe the ownership papers and keys with another handshake.

Craig and Joe walked outside and walked around the truck. It was a thing of beauty. The keys to the toolbox were on the fob, so Joe looked inside. Lots of capacity there.

He turned to Craig as this would be the last time he relied on the man to drive him around. He shook Craig's hand and climbed into his truck.

He sat behind the wheel, enjoying the feel of the vehicle. Craig grinned, shook his head, and went back to his truck. With a final wave, he drove back to the base.

Joe felt for the watchers. He opened his eyes and looked where he felt the watchers were coming from. Pepper was sitting in his tan sedan in the gas station parking lot on the corner, pretending to read a map. Ringo was on the side street next to the lot, pretending to use a cell. Or maybe she really was making a call. He knew the SEAL team, all twelve men in two black SUVs, were out of sight but only seconds away.

Still, sitting in this truck, he was alone, and the sense of freedom he got from that was a little liberating. He could set the course and go where he wanted. Where he wanted to go right now was to pick up his girlfriend. That thought gave him a warm feeling.

He drove to the far side of town and parked in front of a twenty-story apartment building on a side street. There were three other buildings like this one in the neighborhood, but Pam lived in this one on the tenth floor. He headed in and buzzed her apartment. He heard a click as the front door unlocked, so he saw some older teens sitting around on the couches in the lobby. They eyed him, and one by the window was watching his truck. Joe got in the elevator and rode it up to the tenth floor.

Joe exited and saw that Pam's apartment was close to the elevator. He knocked on the door of unit 1003, and the door opened. Pam looked up at him with a smile.

Suddenly, Joe heard screaming and yelling coming from the apartment across the hall at his back. Pam pulled him inside and shut the door. She threw the deadbolt and slapped two other locks in place.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Pam said, entering the living room. The furnishings were sparse, and a small kitchen table was in the dining room. An enclosed space in the corner of the living room proved to be a tiny kitchen. Two small bedrooms and a currently occupied bathroom were in the other direction from the front door.

Joe turned his attention back to Pam, who was tidying up a spot on the threadbare couch for him to sit. She was still in her housecoat, and her hair was tangled.

"I just have to grab a shower, get dressed, and we can go. I wasn't expecting you this early," she said, pushing her hair back. Joe ached to run his fingers through it.

"I picked up my truck this morning. It's out front."

"Geezus! You didn't leave it on the street right in plain view of the lobby, did you?" she gasped, running to the balcony door. She slid it open and stepped out.

Joe followed her out and looked down.

Five teens were trussed up with zip ties, and ten men in black combat gear stood over them, machine guns ready. Three police cruisers were rushing up the street. This was not an uncommon sight in this neighborhood.

"Who the hell are they?" Pam gasped.

"My truck has a rather aggressive security system," Joe mumbled. She stared at him wide-eyed, and he pulled Pam back into the apartment from the cold balcony. They heard the bathroom door open.

"All yours!" a voice called out.

"That's Wendy, my roommate," Pam said, pointing to her tattoos.

"Ah, that tattoo artist," Joe thought as he smiled and nodded. Pam took a quick kiss, then dashed away to get ready.

Joe settled himself on the couch.

Minutes later, a tall, slim woman with short blond hair stepped into the living room. The first thing Joe noticed was that she was covered in tattoos. She also had a host of body piercings and many earrings. Above her grey yoga pants, she wore a short t-shirt that exposed her stomach and lower back. These areas were well inked, but there was no color, just faded black against her pale, pale pink skin. Vines and flowers clinging to a lattice pattern. Visually complex and somewhat dazzling to the eye, which struggled to follow the curving organic lines of the vines across the rigid geometric structure of the lattice.

He caught himself staring and looked up into the woman's somber, evaluating grey eyes.

"You're not going to hurt her, are you?" were the first words she said to him.

"No."

She looked a bit longer, then gave him a brittle smile and held out a hand. "Wendy Whitlock."

"Joe Neumann," he said and shook her hand. "Sorry for staring, but your art is really eye-trapping."

Her smile turned into a grin. She pulled the shirt up and off, exposing her modest breasts. The tattoos covered them aside from her pierced nipples. "I did the front and sides, and a talented friend of mine finished the art on the back. She noticed Joe's blush.

"Oh, sorry about that! It's been a long time since I saw a man as anything sexual. Strictly ladies for me," she said aggressively while holding his eyes.

He picked up that she was testing him.

"Pam told me that you two had sex. I'm glad she had someone to turn to when she was lonely," Joe said honestly.

Wendy blinked and leaned back. "Yes... we had sex." She stared more closely at Joe. "You have a very liberal attitude for a straight male from this part of the country." She shoved some magazines onto the floor, sat on the coffee table directly before Joe, and leaned toward him. "Can I see your arm?"

Joe pulled his jacket off and rolled up a shirt sleeve. Wendy ran her fingers over the skin of his forearm. "Oh my god, your skin is amazing! I would love to give you some art!"

Joe smiled, knowing how impossible that would be. "Yeah, sorry. I promised my mom I wouldn't."

"Such a shame!" she lamented. She squinted at Joe. "I never figured you for a momma's boy."

"Guilty as charged, but then, if you knew my mom, you'd understand," he replied.

"You'd look good with a little black polish, too," Wendy said, holding his big hand beside her slimmer, long-fingered hand. Joe admired her black-polished nails.

"I kind of like being a blank canvas. Shows potential and possibilities," he smiled slightly, and she nodded like he'd said something profound.

"I like you, Joe. But hurt Pam, and I will hunt you down. You won't like what I tattoo on you," she became serious again. He just nodded solemnly. She patted his knee and went into the kitchen. Joe rolled his sleeve down and re-buttoned the cuff.

Joe picked up the magazines from the floor and returned them to the table. Most were tattoo magazines, but a few were porn and celebrity gossip rags. He averted his eyes from the porn but spotted a picture of Niki Love in an orange prisoner uniform in a courtroom. He shuddered. He flipped the cover and saw the picture of Niki and Natalie Ormond with him in the background, smiling.

Pam came into the living room, and he got to his feet. "Ready?" he asked.

Wendy came out into the living room with a mug of something. Her hands trembled slightly, and her eyes showed strain in the corners. She looked down at the open magazine and glanced at her roommate.

"What were you two talking about?" Pam asked suspiciously.

"Just stuff we both care about," Joe said.

Wendy's eyes snapped to Joe, and she smiled slowly.

"Let's go. The dresses won't try themselves on! It was really nice meeting you, Wendy," Joe said, holding his hand out.

She gripped his hand tightly and looked down at the magazine. Joe finally got it. She was worried about Joe's past.

Joe stepped in close to Wendy. "The man in those pictures doesn't exist anymore. Frankly, I was never the man they depicted. Stuff I can't even begin to describe happened to me between then and now. I'm not going to hurt Pam."

"WENDY!" Pam cried.

The blond woman looked at her roommate with a defensive look. There was need and fear in her eyes, too. It clicked for Joe. She was in love with Pam! He had no idea what to do with that information.

Pam's face was showing a building anger, so Joe intervened. "Pam, Wendy's concern is fine. We should go. Again, nice meeting you." Joe pulled Pam out the door and over to the elevator. Once inside, he hugged her, and she melted in his arms.

They entered the lobby, and the remaining teen took one look at Joe's scowl and ran for the door.

Joe led Pam outside and popped the locks on the truck's doors. He opened hers, and she climbed in. When he got in, Pam was back to looking at him with wide eyes.

"This is your truck?" she gasped.

"Yup. Paid in full," he grinned. They pulled away, and Joe pointed them in the direction of the mall.

They rode in comfortable silence for a short time. Something was ticking away in Joe's mind. He had to let it out.

"So, how long have you known Wendy? Been roommates, I mean," he asked.

She looked at him as he kept his eyes on the road. "About three years, I guess. Why?"

"She seeing anyone?" he continued.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" she bristled.

"I don't mean anything bad. I just get the impression that she is... sweet on you," he said carefully.

"Look, you want to say something, say it! Stop fucking around!" Pam growled.

"She's in love with you."

Pam's mouth opened, but nothing came out. He waited, but she looked away.

"So... you knew," Joe said quietly.

Pam nodded as she looked at her hands on her lap. She held herself very still.

"Do you love her?" he asked. His whole body was trembling. He pulled off into the parking lot of a park so he could concentrate on Pam and not worry about driving off the road.

She still hadn't answered. "Pam, do you love her?"

"I-I love... I love you!" she gasped as tears dripped down her cheeks. Her hands were clenched painfully tight on her lap.

"Do. You. Love. Wendy?" he asked, trying to keep himself from leaping for joy.

"Maybe. Yes," she whispered.

Joe sat back and thought about that for a bit. Then he looked back at Pam.

"Have you told her?"

"No."

"Why?"

"It's not easy to say," Pam growled.

"You just said it to me. How was it easier to say to me?" he asked.

Pam looked at him. Beautiful blue eyes brimming with tears searched his face. He waited for her to answer but saw her struggling.

"Do you love me, or do you love the man you wanted all those years ago but were denied because your sister had me?" he said, his voice cracking. "You asked me if I was here for Elizabeth or for you, and I answered honestly. Should I have asked a similar question of you?"

"I love the man sitting before me. It doesn't matter what you've been through and how it affected you. And I don't love you because Elizabeth had you, and I wanted you. I love you because... I love you! It's easier to tell you because I loved you first! I don't want to lose you!" she screamed angrily.

Joe popped their seatbelts and gathered Pam into his arms. He kissed her face and held her close. She clung to him fiercely.

"Wendy," he said.

Pam trembled.

"If you love her, you need to tell her," he said. Pam looked into his eyes, surprised.

"I'm not letting you go. I will fight for you. I need you. I love you!" he said, and she kissed him.

When they finally pulled back from each other, Joe continued. "I love you, and you love me. Wendy loves you, and you love her. I'm okay with that. I don't expect Wendy to love me. As long as she doesn't try to drive a wedge between us, I'm not threatened by your love for each other. I know I love you. I can't tell you how incredible it feels to have someone who loves me. I mean, aside from my family."

Doubt suddenly flared in his mind. Pam saw it in his eyes. "What is it?"

Joe looked deeply into her eyes and realized that the more they confessed their love for each other, the harder it would be for him to disclose the baggage he carried with him. Baggage that could threaten her love for him. It was almost too late for him to be strong enough to make a disclosure.

"That day we first got together for lunch in the restaurant when you saw my eyes go black, and I confessed that I could not have children because I was incompatible with everyone. Those were difficult things to tell you. Even then, when I was just learning about you. Now that I've opened my heart, sharing that stuff becomes more difficult as it could jeopardize our love."

"There's more?" she asked.

Joe barked a laugh. But even to him, it sounded desperate. "You know I work for the NSA? I'm not supposed to share anything for security purposes. How can I maintain a healthy relationship with secrets over my head?" He shook his head. "I can't tell you anything now except that nothing I will eventually be allowed to tell you changes how I feel about you or who I am."

She looked into his eyes and nodded.

They sat holding hands for a bit.

"Shall we go buy a dress?" he asked.

"I'd like that."

Joe started up the truck and drove them to the mall.

It only took two hours to find a dress that Pam liked. The black frilly skirt stopped just above the knees, and the strapless bustier top was white and seemed to be made of white roses. Pam's shoulders and arms were bare, showing off her tattoos. Pam said that she would wear her straight black hair undone, and Joe's eyes lit up. He found her some lovely strappy black heels and a black clutch purse to match the dress. She was set. They took their packages and went to lunch. Pam didn't need to be at work until seven-thirty, so they had hours. The shopping had gone quicker than expected. After lunch, they mooched through the mall, and Joe picked up a few more outfits for Pam. They finally couldn't put it off any longer. Pam needed to speak with Wendy.

Joe drove her home and walked her up to her apartment. They went inside with her bags. Wendy must have been crying in the living room as they caught her rushing back to her bedroom. With Joe in the entranceway, there was no room for her to pass. She took one look at all the bags they were carrying, and her expression showed her emotional collapse was imminent. Pam looked back at Joe, and he nodded. He put his bags down and stepped back out, closing the door. Before it shut, he saw Wendy's startled expression as Pam stepped forward and kissed her.

Joe drove home and parked by the front door. He went inside and asked his mom where his dad was. She said he was in the equipment barn. Joe suddenly didn't have the energy to do anything else, so he just went upstairs to lie down.

He was in his room for no more than a minute, leaning against the headboard of his bed on stacked pillows, when he heard a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened, and it was Amy. He smiled at his sister. She closed the door behind herself.

"I saw your new truck. Quite an upgrade from Ol' Bessy," she smiled.

"Ol' Bonny!" he growled with a smile.

She giggled, then rolled her eyes.

Amy climbed on the bed and draped herself across his body, resting her head on his chest as she'd done since they were young. She listened to his powerful heart beating, and he started to massage her scalp.

"Oh, that's good," she moaned.

"No drooling!" he growled playfully.

"How went your date?" Amy asked.

"Today was just shopping. Tomorrow is the date," he explained.

"Shopping?"

"She needed a dress for Craig and Taylor's wedding. She's going as my date."

"Are you her sugar daddy?" Amy grinned. "Ow!" she winced as Joe knocked her gently on the head.

"A boyfriend is allowed to buy his girlfriend a dress... or four," he said defensively.

"How is that boyfriend-girlfriend thing going?" she said carefully.

"As everything I touch, it's complicated. I'm in love with Pam. She's in love with me. Simple so far, but Pam has a roommate she's lived with for three years. This roommate loves her, and Pam feels the same way."

Amy had gone still. "Love is a very powerful word, Joe. It seems kind of early to be using it."

He sighed. "Maybe... but I don't have a better word to describe how I feel about her. She's confessed that's how she feels about me as well. I admit I'm no expert when it comes to romantic love. I'll just have to see where this leads."

"What about this roommate? Have you met him?" Amy asked. She was worried that Joe might be in for some heartache.

"Her and yes, today. She's nice," Joe said carefully.

Amy pushed herself up on her elbows to look her brother in the face. "Pam is in love with a woman? With you and a woman? Does that make her bisexual?" she said wide-eyed with shock.

"It doesn't make her anything but Pam. She loves her roommate, who was there for her in a very trying time of her life. They connected. It's love. I'm hoping her love for me is as strong and is based on as strong a foundation. If it's just the physical attraction with the excitement of the past drama thrown in, I could be in for a broken heart. She said it wasn't, but we'll see. God, I hope not! Pam told Wendy how she felt about her when I dropped her off at home."

Amy dropped back onto his chest and sighed. "You're right. It's complicated." Joe couldn't see her worried look. She wanted her brother to find someone who loved him... as much as she did. She couldn't think of anyone who deserved to be loved more than him. She had to change the subject. She steeled herself.

"I'm going back to Hollywood tomorrow. I'm taking the bus to Fargo, then a flight to Los Angeles. Doug is picking me up from the airport. Ben Gordon is ready to begin his next project and has cast me in one of the lead roles."

"Oh, Amy! That's amazing! I'm so proud of you!" Joe gushed and hugged his sister.

Then he heard it.

She was going without him.

He'd told her she didn't need him to be a success, and she was going for it. He felt something inside break. The last link he had to the future he'd planned for himself was gone. His goal of being a bodyguard for his sister had just evaporated, and he suddenly found himself without purpose. He felt numb.

"Joe?" Amy felt his hands go still on her head, and his breathing slowed. She pushed herself up and looked at him. He smiled at her, but she could see the lost look in his eye. "You can join me when you finish your responsibilities here," she said.

"Sure," Joe smiled and pulled Amy's head back to his chest so she didn't have to see his pain. He began to deeply massage the muscles on her back as he knew that would relax her into falling asleep. She began to protest, but soon, he could feel her muscles succumbing to his ministrations. When she was limp and snoring gently, he slid her to the mattress. He got his workout clothes, grabbed his keys, and slipped from his room. He saw Agent Pepper and told him he was going to the gym at the Think Tank to work out.

He hopped in his truck, drove to the building, and parked. The gym wasn't busy, but he found four SEAL team members working out. A heavy bag was in the corner, and two were working out there. The other two were lifting free weights. Joe got changed and then used the functional trainer with the double-weight stack. He didn't bother running through his set with the half stack. He immediately set the pins under the bottom plates and threw himself into his routine. The stacks rose and fell in quick sweeps, and Joe felt his muscles complain at first. Once this burn passed, his movements smoothed out, and he accelerated.

He lost awareness of everything except the mass he was moving and the effort to move it. He went through his routine then he began again. He found a kind of peace in the work. His muscles felt warm and smooth, and this was simple and uncomplicated. When he was on his fifth set, he felt his energy levels dropping. He was hungry. He opened his eyes and saw the SEAL team members sitting on benches watching him. They'd changed back into T-shirts and track pants.

"What?" he growled.

Bennett spoke up. "We wondered how long you'd keep it up before you got hungry. That was a lot of energy you were burning. We thought maybe you'd like to catch a bite with us in the cafeteria when you were done."

Joe calmed and looked at the men. He nodded. "Sure. Let me get changed."

Once Joe returned, they walked to the cafeteria and picked up some food. Joe got a couple of foot-long assorted subs with everything.

They took their trays to a table and tucked into their meals.

Bennett watched Joe trying to get his mouth around the overstuffed sub with a grin. "Squeeze it down first," he suggested.

Joe stopped, flattened the sandwich on his tray, and took a big bite. He nodded his thanks to the sailor.

Petty Officer Ruiz leaned forward to speak to the group. "So, I heard some Soldiers here talking about an imminent invasion. Some kind of flying ship."

Joe pulled out his phone and scanned through his photos. He'd been pleased to discover they'd been transferred from his old phone to the new one. He found the image he wanted and flipped the phone over to show Ruiz.

"What the fuck is that, and exactly how big is it?" the man said as the other men craned their necks to see the image. Joe handed the phone to Bennett as he turned his attention back to his sub.

"It's called the Blade of Eshen. Roughly, it's about four times the size of the Empire State Building, and yes, it's flying." Joe worked his way through the sandwich as Bennett and the others looked at the image, zooming it in to see the detail. They spotted the smaller ship with the Mediators standing on the deck.

"What's this?" Bennett asked.

"That's a flying transport for the Kel-Fahr soldiers in Mediator armor. Battle suits with energy weaponry," Joe explained.

"There are, what, five of the battle suits on this transport. Did you get away before they arrived?" the sailor asked him.

"No, they were coming in too fast. The Blade of Eshen doesn't seem to move very fast, but those transports do. I had to take them out."

"How?" Ruiz asked.

"Before they landed on the estate's plateau carved into the mountainside, I disabled the transport by throwing a chunk of metal at it. I hit the driver, and the transport crashed into the slope just below the plateau. Only three Mediators were able to jump clear. One fried himself trying to shoot me, and I talked the other two into surrendering. Actually, I talked one into surrendering after the other one died when I yelled at him."

Joe's hunger was diminishing as his recollections made him queasy, but he knew he had to eat to recharge, so he forced himself to start on the second sub.

The SEALs looked at each other, then grinned. "Shit, when they arrive, we want to be standing with you, or rather behind you," Ruiz said.

Joe grinned and nodded. "Safest place to be."

"Why do they need a ship this big?" Petty Officer Clarke asked.

"The Kel-Fahr are the ruling authority over a vast empire of multiple planets. How do you enforce control over that? You've seen the Kel-Fahr. They are not exactly a physically imposing race. Instead, I think they use intimidation tactics like the Blade of Eshen. It can open huge Gates and fly in over the cities and populace of any planet. Scary as fuck. I have no idea of the weaponry on the ship, but considering how they manipulate gravity to make something of this scale fly, they may have gravity-based weaponry. Their energy-based weapons are impressive enough."

Bennett looked at his watch, and the others picked up his look. "Shit! We've gotta go. I understand we'll be going for a ride tomorrow as well. Catching those little shits trying to heist your car was fun! See you around!"

The men headed for the exit, and Joe silently finished his meal. Without the scientists in the building, it was so much quieter. Their constant chatter and arguing brought the building its life. In contrast, the Soldiers were far more subdued and controlled, probably due to the impending invasion. He was sure the noise would be deafening if they were to really let go. He grinned, then sighed.

He returned to his truck and drove back to the house. He sat in the driveway, thinking about his next steps. He wasn't going back to Hollywood. Maybe to visit, but his goal of being a bodyguard no longer seemed important. Amy would be okay. She had to do this on her own, and she would.

The only other thing he seemed to be really good at was killing, but he didn't have the will to do it. Rene was right. He wasn't a cold-blooded killing machine. It took extraordinary circumstances to make him kill, and he was miserable afterward. So, being a Soldier for the General was out. He was too conspicuous to be an agent like Pepper and Ringo.

He was starting to draw looks from the Soldiers passing by, so he got out of the truck and went inside.

The kitchen was a hive of activity as the dinner hour approached. His mom was in her glory, making another amazing meal for the crowd sitting at the kitchen table. Roger, Rachel, and Safa were there tapping away at their tablets and conferring with each other on important details of the day's discoveries.

While the civilian scientists may have left the Think Tank, the building still functioned as a research lab with government scientists who were developing solutions for the coming invasion. Joe overheard that the Tik were continuing to refuse to open Gates for military purposes. So, Earth wouldn't take the battle to Sehsra until the Kel-Fahr opened a Gate.

Joe took the chair next to his dad and handed him the spare fob for his truck.

"Oh! You got it?" Karl said to his son.

"Yup. It's outside. I figured you should have the spare key. When I'm not here, I'll leave the truck so you can use it," Joe said.

"Thank you!" his dad said, connecting the fob to his key ring.

"Did you hear that Amy is returning to Los Angeles tomorrow?" Joe asked.

Karl nodded and saw something in his son's expression. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Amy's going back. She's got her big break, and she will be awesome!" Joe said with a stiff smile.

Karl waited, looking at his son.

"I'm not going back with her."

Safa overheard this and looked over at Joe.

"She doesn't need me to chase her around. I still have no training for bodyguard work anyway, and maybe that's okay. Maybe it's not what I'm supposed to be doing anyway," Joe continued.

"Do you have something else in mind?" Karl asked.

"No. I have absolutely no clue, and right now, I feel like I have no purpose. With all my restrictions, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Maybe something will come to me," he sighed.

Joe realized the kitchen was quiet and looked up. He saw everyone was looking at him.

Amy walked into the kitchen and noticed an unnatural quiet. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Can you help me over here, dear?" Clara asked before the silence could get awkward.

Joe's phone vibrated, and he looked at it. It was Pam. He got up and walked into the living room to take the call. "Hi, Pam!"

"Hi, Joe. Can you come to the club tonight at nine?" she asked.

"Aren't you working?" he asked.

"I get a break at nine," she said. "Wendy is going to be here, and we need to talk."

"Oh! Okay, nine. I'll be there," he replied.

"Thanks! See you then," she said and hung up.

Joe stared at the phone and wondered if that was good or bad.

"We're going out to party tonight?"

Joe turned around, and there was Agent Wannabe, looking rather smug.

"You know, I understand that I'm talking on a phone supplied directly by the NSA, but at least Director Bannon doesn't rub my face in the fact that I no longer have any privacy. He leaves me my illusions," Joe rumbled.

"Whoa, I'm sorry! I meant no offense. I was just joking! I don't know what your call was about. I just heard something about being somewhere at nine. Considering the nickname you gave me, I thought you'd be a joker, too," the agent grinned. His look was confident and cocky. He held up his hands in mock surrender and walked toward the kitchen. His posture straightened when he caught sight of Amy.

Agent Max stopped in the living room entrance when she saw her partner walk by and then saw the expression on Joe's face. "He's actually a good agent once you get past the attitude."

"How many times will I have to hit him to get past it?" he growled.

"The nickname you gave him didn't help. He's very competitive, and you threw down one hell of a gauntlet calling him Wannabe," Max said.

Joe watched the man's ease with charming the ladies in the kitchen and the smiles he pulled out of Amy. His mood dropped again, and his appetite died. "Who said the name was about him?" Joe mumbled as he passed the agent and headed upstairs. She just watched him go up and into his room with a puzzled look on her face.

-=-

Joe parked outside BigGameZone's nightclub. At eight PM, it was a fully licensed nightclub, no kids allowed, and it was popular with younger adults all over the county looking to drink, dance, and maybe find someone to go home with. Or to a hotel.

Joe had skipped dinner again as he still couldn't deal with being in Wannabe's presence. Having him as a barely seen watcher was tolerable. Clara came to see him in his room, but Joe just said he'd eaten a big meal after working out and wasn't hungry. Now that he was at the club, his stomach called him a liar. Loudly. He'd have to order food when he was inside.

He paid the door charge and went in. He looked for Pam, but the club was busy tonight and wasn't quite nine yet. He sent her a text asking where he should meet her. A few seconds later, a reply came back. "Same booth on the back wall you used last time," it said.

Joe wove his way through the crowd to reach the back wall and saw a blonde with many earrings sitting in the booth. Some good ol' boys were trying to pick her up and weren't listening to her rejections.

"MARY? NO SOONER DO I TURN MY BACK THAN YOU'RE PICKING UP MEN?!? DO I HAVE TO CRUSH THESE ONES TOO?" Joe bellowed in his best redneck drawl over the music.

The two men went whiter than their tighty-whiteys, which honestly were no longer quite so white. They scrambled from the booth under Joe's murderous glare. He slid in once they vacated the area.

"Sorry about that, but it seemed like the quickest way to expedite their departure," Joe apologized to Wendy.

She smiled at him. "Mary?"

"You don't want them knowing your real name, do you?" he said with a raised eyebrow, and she tipped her head, acknowledging the wisdom.

"How are you doing?" he asked. She looked at him, trying to read his question's intent, but saw no guile in him.

"I'm better than earlier today, but I can't say anything else because I promised I'd wait for Pam," Wendy said with a sympathetic wince.

Joe nodded while looking at the table surface, his heart a cold lump in his chest.

A warm body slid into the booth beside him, and lips kissed his cheek.

He looked over to see the smiling eyes of Pam. She caught the fear and desperation in his and looked across at Wendy. "Did you say something to him?"

"NO!" Wendy barked with an angry glare.

"She didn't say anything. Please don't keep me in suspense. My heart can't take it," Joe pleaded.

Pam looked at Joe with an unreadable expression. "Wendy and I talked after you dropped me home. As you suggested, I confessed to her that I love her too."

Wendy smiled and reached across the table and took Pam's hand. They squeezed hands then Pam pulled back with a glance toward the crowd. Wendy pulled hers back after a brief pause. She smiled weakly at Joe.

"I was telling Wendy that you'll be going back to Los Angeles soon for your NSA job or to be a bodyguard for your sister, so we have to work out the logistics for our relationship. I have my jobs here, and so does Wendy."

Joe wasn't hearing what he expected, and his nerves rang alarm bells desperately. Pam had it all worked out and was simply reciting the facts. There was no emotional context.

Time to drop a wrench in her plan and watch her reaction.

"I'm not going back to Los Angeles."

The two women looked at Joe. Wendy's expression was stricken. He'd expected that. She thought she would get the lion's share of Pam and, perhaps, all of her. He actually felt grateful she'd reacted as she did. It proved her love for Pam was genuine.

Pam's expression, or rather the lack of one, reached deep into his chest, pulled his beating heart out, and stomped it to paste. She showed no emotional reaction at all. No joy, excitement, happiness, or even relief. Even annoyance, anger, or confusion would have saved him from this pain. Hell, where was the surprise?

Instead, Joe could see her mind calculating her options. Trying to determine how to salvage her plan.

Joe felt like he was seeing her for the first time. There must have been some damage done to her by her parents during those years, living as a non-entity in her own home, as Elizabeth's shadow. She seemed unable to process emotions. The emotive outbursts she'd shown him now felt... false and manipulative.

He suddenly recalled Rene warning him that Pam wasn't very emotional. He knew no better judge of character than Rene, but he realized he'd ignored that assessment.

He was numb. No... that wasn't completely true. As he looked across at Wendy, he felt a little unbruised part of his heart experiencing pain for the woman so deeply in love with Pam.

Joe held out his hand to Wendy. She looked at it and then placed hers in it. He closed his fingers around it like Rene had shown him, giving Wendy a heartfelt and genuine smile. She couldn't help but return it. Then he turned to Pam, whose eyes tracked him, but the cold calculation remained.

"Pam, when someone who loves you this deeply reaches out to hold your hand in public, you take it in yours, and you feel the warmth and love in that grip, you return that love, and you don't let go because someone else may see. You don't let go because FUCK THEM if they don't like it." He gently released Wendy's hand, and she pulled back in a daze, her eyes on Pam.

"I'm going to dance for a few hours, then go home. I won't see you again because it seems you're incapable of returning my feelings. I have a tendency to open my heart much too quickly and far too wide. I guess I did it again. Please move. I'd like to get out of the booth."

"NO! YOU'RE MINE! I TOLD YOU I LOVE YOU!" Pam suddenly raged. "YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME!"

"I did, and I do, but you don't truly understand what that means. I just told you I wasn't leaving, and you showed absolutely no emotional reaction. Not even surprise."

"I-I was surprised! You couldn't see that? How was I supposed to react?" she yelled.

"How do you think you should have reacted?" Joe asked as calmly as he could, his voice cracking as he felt himself dying inside. The pain showed in his eyes. Wendy was watching him with dawning comprehension visible in her expression.

"I don't need your head games! You know what? Fuck you!" Pam screamed. "Come on, Wendy!" she yelled and stormed off.

Wendy was frozen where she sat. She wanted to run after Pam, but she realized Joe was right. Pam wasn't reacting normally. This cast a harsh light on their relationship and every interaction. She suddenly saw the manipulation and control Pam had over her. She didn't want to acknowledge it, but the truth was there. She was in shock.

Joe realized Wendy lived with Pam, which would be rough if she found the strength to break free from Pam. But he couldn't come to the rescue of anyone else until he healed himself. "I'm so sorry, Wendy. I obviously had no idea. You seem like a really great person. Be strong, and good luck. If you need someone to talk to who understands, I'm in the book."

He slid out of the booth and went to the dance floor. He saw Agent Max at the bar and went up to get a drink. The bartender was currently at the other end of the counter, and they were largely alone. He didn't look at Max, and she didn't look at him. He took a deep breath, gripped the bar's edge to calm his shaky nerves, and glanced around. No one else was facing them, so he pitched his voice to be heard above the music. "Pam is unstable. Watch out for her." He caught her slight nod as she moved away.

Stepping away from the bar, Joe returned to the dance floor and began moving to the music. He had no partner but enjoyed dancing and needed the release, so he danced. He moved to the beat, several single ladies took turns dancing with him, and they all had a good time. Once, Agent Max joined him for a dance, but she kept her eyes scanning the crowd. Finally, the dancers began thinning late in the evening, and Wendy joined him on the dance floor.

"I thought you'd be gone by now," he said, leaning forward to be heard.

"She has my keys in her locker. She won't give them to me, so I can't leave without her," Wendy called back.

"Maybe you should speak with the police," he said.

Joe's eyes caught an out-of-place motion behind Wendy. He looked up and saw Pam walking straight through the dancers, pushing them aside. Then he saw her arm coming up with a gun in her hand. Joe's eyes focused on the weapon, and everything went into slow motion.

He grabbed Wendy's arms and yanked her towards his chest as he spun in place to put himself between her and Pam.

The gun went off, and the bullet struck Joe's side. The fragmented bits of metal deflected and peppered the other dancers to Joe's right.

Pam squeezed the trigger again, and a second bullet struck Joe's broad back, shoving him forward. There was a cry as Agent Max came in from Pam's right and disarmed her. This was instantly followed by a loud boom. Joe felt something slam into his back again, knocking him to the ground over Wendy.

The other patrons were screaming and running for the door. Two were limping from bullet fragments in their legs. The place cleared out quickly.

Joe protected Wendy's head as they fell and kept himself from landing on her. He looked over his shoulder and saw Max holding Pam's body as it slumped to the floor. A huge red stain showed on her chest where the bullet from Brad's gun exited. Max was staring at the other agent in shock.

"NO! No, No, NO!" Joe screamed and scrambled over to Pam's side. The bullet had gone through her heart, killing her instantly.

"What the FUCK, Brad! I had her disarmed!" Max yelled.

"She was shooting! I couldn't see you behind the other dancers!" Brad yelled back.

Wendy was on her knees beside Joe, staring at Pam. She began to wail, and Joe grabbed her before she threw herself on Pam's body.

The SEAL team poured through the doors and rushed to the last people on the dance floor. Joe and Wendy were sobbing in each other's arms. A dead waitress was on the floor with a big bloody wound on her chest. One Agent was kneeling with the body, and one was standing back. Lieutenant Grey sent his medic to check on Joe, who ignored him.

The medic saw a tear through Joe's clothes on his side with a streak of black beneath where the bullet fragmented. There was a second small one on his back and a larger one covered in blood. "I've got blood!" the medic said. He looked closer and saw the mangled bullet flattened against Joe's skin. It hadn't penetrated. "The blood isn't his. Larger caliber bullet on this impact sight," he said.

The lieutenant looked back at the standing agent. "You shot Mr. Neumann through the waitress?"

Brad's mouth worked, but nothing came out. Then he got his voice back. "She was shooting."

"What a cluster fuck," Grey growled and used his secure line to contact the General.

Agent Max stood and used hers to call Director Bannon.

Joe and Wendy remained on their knees by the woman they both loved and lost.

Chapter 27

It was a week before things got back to normal. During that time, Joe was restricted to the property. The Glennville police department had their fill of the chaos that seemed to follow Joseph Neumann, and the General was certainly sympathetic to their wishes.

Amy left for Hollywood. She couldn't put it off any longer. Joe assured her he'd be fine and was looking forward to seeing her acting debut on the big screen. It was the best acting he'd ever done.

Brad went with her. He couldn't work with the team any longer. Joe couldn't look at him.

Joe wasn't in any shape to leave the property anyway. He took Pam's death hard. Discovering her manipulation hurt him worse than anything he'd ever felt before. The final blow was her death before he could deal with the loss of what he'd perceived as love. Rene came out to the house and spoke with Joe, but he was too raw, and her words couldn't break through the shell he'd put up around himself.

He could only open himself to his children without fear, as their pure empathy soothed his soul. They were so large now that the energy they pulled out of him during their morning sessions wiped him out for hours afterward. After his visits, he ate enormous meals and slept in the sauna for three hours.

He spent time with the SEAL Team in the afternoons, filling them in on whatever information he knew about their enemy. He told them everything he knew about the Kel-Fahr battle suits and how Kel-Fahr interfaces worked from his time on the data terminal in Kennt's home. The General was delighted with his new focus, though Banner was worried.

He also worked out with the sailors, and they taught him some techniques to avoid being shot instead of just catching every bullet in his area. The hardest stuff was the sparring he did with them, hand-to-hand and with various weapons. They found he could take significant abuse and keep going. He had to control his use of force, but they didn't, and he walked away from every session with substantial bruises. He just shrugged them off and baked himself. He never complained but listened attentively to their instructions. Their respect for him grew as his did for them. The General received the reports from the Lieutenant and was very happy.

The scientists at the Think Tank predicted the gravity fields would stabilize soon. The military prepared for the assault. They had Kennt's story and the historical data they pulled from Kennt's archive, so they believed they knew how it would begin.

They were all wrong.

When a small gate ripped open days before the scientists said it would be possible, most were caught flat-footed. There was only a minimal warning before three Kel-Fahr troop-carrying platforms shot through the opening. Kel-Fahr Mediators lined up on the leading edges of the vehicles razed the armaments positioned to deal with the initial insurgence. Within seconds, the weapons emplacements were in ruins. The platforms moved for the Think Tank, unerringly targeting the infirmary. There was a short but fierce firefight, but soon, the Kel-Fahr fled the infirmary with their prize, Joe's children.

Joe was in the EZ-Bake oven, healing from a brutal sparring session, when an explosion woke him. He rushed over to the airlock and began its cycle. He pounded on the door in frustration as it was so slow! As soon as there was room, he squeezed himself through the opening door and skipped the shower to run out into the building's lobby, a mess of broken glass, concrete dust, and most disturbing, dead bodies. Mostly human, though he did see two smoldering Mediator suits. He'd missed the battle in the building and heard the fight raging on outside. He was about to head out when he saw the smoke pouring out the infirmary's door.

He rushed into the room and found the staff dead at their stations and on the floor. Joe recognized Corporal Mann and felt a huge stabbing pain go through his heart when he remembered her joy in sharing his children's music.

He automatically reached out for them and yelled aloud in surprise when their position was behind him and moving rapidly away.

That was when he saw Stinky. It was on the floor, leaning against the fallen wall of his children's room. Several large scorch marks crossed its torso, and it was moving feebly. Joe knelt beside the ruined Tik and held its tentacle as it gently coiled around his hand. It went limp as Stinky suddenly shut down, and Joe heard sizzling inside. He backed away and looked into the gaping hole in the wall. The room was empty. Even the bed was gone.

Letting his link to his kids guide him, Joe ran outside wearing only the small black shorts. He could hear the ripping sounds of the Kel-Fahr energy weapons firing and the Soldiers' staccato thump of return fire. Then, he saw Lieutenant Grey and the SEAL team running toward him. "They took my kids! They killed Stinky! We have to stop them!"

"Our orders are to secure you!" Grey bellowed over the noise of the battle.

Two SEALs moved forward to take his arms, but they couldn't touch him because he was still radiating heat from the sauna. Instead, they pointed toward a troop carrier, and the group made a mad dash toward it.

Now that Joe was out in the open and not shielded by the reinforced steel box of the healing oven, the Mediators picked up his unique signature, and one of the troop platforms moved to intercept. They fried the armored truck before the team got close.

"Bennett! Give me a grenade!" Joe yelled, and the man slapped one on his palm.

Joe tugged out the pin and flung the explosive as hard as he could at the faceplate of the Mediator standing next to the flying platform's control booth. They were still four hundred yards out but coming straight at them, so the grenade went off a foot in front of the armored alien. The blast knocked down several of the big suits, and the driver slumped over his controls. The platform began to slow and drop.

"Another!" Joe yelled, and Bennett burned a finger against Joe's hand with a slow release.

"FUCK! You're still hot!" Bennett yelped.

"Sorry."

"Joe! Hit the third one from the right side!" the Lieutenant yelled, and Joe yanked the pin and let it fly. This time, the grenade struck the Mediator suit and got wedged between the suit's arm and the back plate. It tore the unlucky alien soldier in two and toppled the remaining cluster of Mediators. The platform settled to the ground, and the SEAL team scrambled onto the deck and finished off the Kel-Fahr soldiers before they could bring their weapons online. Grisly work but done quickly and efficiently. Joe brought the smiling face of Corporal Mann into his mind, and his nerves settled. Petty Officer Stein was pulling the dead body of the driver from the cabin. The alien had been hit with shrapnel from the grenade. Sergeant Wallace was inspecting the controls and gave a thumbs up to the Lieutenant.

Joe hopped up on the platform and flipped over one of the Kel-Fahr. He tore open the suit, and the dying alien looked at him in fear.

"Where are they taking my children?" he growled.

The Kel-Fahr keened in terror as the big man scowled down at him. It could speak into his mind without consent!

"STOP THAT NOISE! Tell me what I want to know, or I will burn you alive!" Joe said, baring his teeth.

The Kel-Fahr shook and trembled as he stared up into the black eyes of death. When the monster touched a finger to his forehead, and his skin began to immediately sizzle and blister, he screamed. "STOP! WAIT! I'LL TELL YOU!"

The finger pulled back.

"The Blade of Eshen is waiting to enter. The children are going there! Councilor Tyreen wants them! Then she will launch the attack!"

Joe looked at Lieutenant Grey with worry. "We have to take the fight to them. Now."

Two Tik shot down from the sky, and Joe saw it was Hack and Slash. Tentacles were extended in greeting.

Joe swallowed his pain as he looked at the remaining two who had saved his life. "Stinky is dead, I think. Taken out by the Kel-Fahr who stole my children. They are taking the kids to the Blade of Eschen. We have to get them back."

"Wait a minute, Mr. Neumann, our orders—"

"—are about to change," Joe finished, gripping the tentacles and gently tugging them. Hack and Slash shot upward, pulling Joe with them. They poured it on to shoot high, then angled sharply once more and chased after the two departing carriers. Joe saw the first one had the hospital bed and the children. The second one covered the exit of the first. He saw they wouldn't make it to the first before it got through the Gate, but they could get to the second one.

The Kel-Fahr soldiers didn't notice the rapidly descending Tik and the man they carried. Joe let go of the tentacles, and the two Tik slowed slightly before dropping Joe in the middle of the group of Mediators. The Tik peeled off in opposite directions before they could be fired upon by the startled Kel-Fahr. They headed back to the downed platform and the SEAL team.

The carrier shot through the portal, and after the wrenching sensation eased, Joe found himself in the shadow of the largest flying craft he'd ever seen. The Blade of Eschen. He saw the other carrier above them rushing towards a large opening in the ship.

The Mediators with Joe finally realized he was amongst them, and the deck exploded into chaos. Several jumped at him but collided. He slammed two others together and somehow ended up holding an arm from one of the suits. He used it as a club to beat some of the others aside. The platform driver sent a panicked look over his shoulder at Joe and accelerated towards the landing bay, where reinforcements awaited. Still on their feet, ten Kel-Fahr Mediators jumped back and formed a wall. They all pointed their hands at Joe, and his mind flashed back to the horrific death of the soldier on the plateau outside Rensley's home. He thrust his hands out and screamed at them to stop.

Ten electrical bolts arced across the gap to strike him. Ten amplified bolts rebounded chaotically. Some roasted the soldiers lying on the deck, but most reversed their course to follow the channel through the air previously opened and splashed across the armor of the tightly packed wall of Mediators, welding the armored warriors to each other. Their panic increased, and most fired a second salvo. Joe continued screaming for everyone to stop, but his voice was drowned out by their terror and the ripping sounds of the discharging weapons. The platform continued accelerating into the landing bay, where eight more Mediators prepared to fire.

Suddenly, Joe felt himself struck by arcs from behind. He went to his knees as his body went numb. The bolts whipped around his torso and combined with the frontal attack into one enormous pulse upwards. The bay filled with a blinding white light as the wide plasma beam carved through its ceiling like tissue paper. The energy beam ripped and burned through level after level above them.

An enormous thump shook the vast chamber as something vital was hit. The explosion widened the jagged tear in the ceiling, and fires erupted along this fissure in the structure.

The flying platform shot sideways and slammed to the floor, crushing five of the eight Mediators standing there and knocking the other three out the bay's open door.

The gravity field on the platform failed, and Joe was ejected from the surface, tumbling across the floor until he flopped onto his back. His body was tingling like thousands of needles were pricking him. He looked up and saw debris falling away from the ceiling and fire racing along the ragged tear.

Every nerve was buzzing, and he couldn't make anything work properly. It took him a couple of minutes to push himself onto his side. This effort wasn't helped by the continuing explosions deeper in the landing bay and the sudden small movements of the ship. Considering the size of the Blade of Eshen, sudden movements probably meant... something very bad. Joe's ears were still ringing from the terrible ripping sounds of the Kel-Fahr weapons at close range.

Blinking his dizziness away, he pushed himself to his hands and knees and looked back to the broken flying platform. He forced himself to his feet and took in the damage to the Mediators who'd fired on him. All ten were permanently locked together. Scorch marks ran over their armor, and none of the Kel-Fahr inside were moving.

He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. This was war, as the General told him. They were stealing his children. He cast his mind out to pick up their position and realized he could feel, maybe, more than three hundred Kel-Fahr minds nearby. It was difficult to discern his children, as he wasn't at his best at the moment.

Joe was also naked, his shorts burned away by the Mediator's firepower.

He felt a change in air pressure and looked to his right to see a dozen or more Kel-Fahr in light-duty augmentation suits charging out of an open doorway straight at him with makeshift weapons in their raised metal fists. A large wrench bounced off the side of Joe's head, and he went down under the mechanical fists and feet, but he was already unconscious.

Chapter 28

Lieutenant Grey watched in frustration as the man they were supposed to bring to safety flew away in the tentacles of the two Tik. He quickly radioed the General.

"I have the General," Grey's radioman said, handing him the handset.

"Do you have Joseph?" barked MacAvoy's voice.

"We did, but the Kel-Fahr took his children, so he had his pet Tik snatched him away. They've dropped him on one of the Kel-Fahr platforms, and... he's gone. The Gates are closing."

"DAMMIT!" MacAvoy yelled.

"The Tik are returning to us. These ones don't speak, do they?" Grey asked.

"If it's Hack and Slash, no. Get back here as quick as you can!" The line went dead.

Bennett was the only SEAL not on the flying platform when the Tik returned. He yelped when tentacles wrapped around him and lifted him onboard. The Lieutenant watched the other Tik immediately move to the platform's control booth and reactivated its engine. It rose steadily and turned toward the General's headquarters.

"Wallace! Get on the horn and tell them we're the ones flying the platform and not to shoot at us!" Grey bellowed. Wallace was immediately connected to the base and rattled off the instructions. The platform suddenly tilted to the left and dropped as an arc of energy shot out to knock the incoming rocket from the sky. The SEAL team looked at each other in amazement as they hadn't felt any movement as they stood on the deck as it did its acrobatics to avoid the missile. Wallace was screeching into the radio, then looked back at the Lieutenant. "That one got away before the message got to everyone."

Seconds later, the platform settled gently on the driveway a short distance from the portable lab next to the General's command center. Hack and Slash shut down the vehicle, moved to the lab door, and entered.

General MacAvoy exited his trailer and rushed over to join the SEAL team. The Lieutenant joined the General as they burst into the lab following the Tik.

Director Bannon was talking with Pokey, who interpreted for Hack and Slash.

"Bannon, what the hell is going on with these Tik? They hand-delivered Joseph to the enemy!" MacAvoy yelled.

"WHAT?!?"

The group looked back at the horrified expressions on Karl and Clara's faces as they stood in the doorway.

The Director looked surprised. Hack and Slash buzzed once more at Pokey.

"General MacAvoy, they were simply helping Joe complete his mission," Pokey said.

"Mission? What mission?" the General barked angrily.

"The one he was created for," Pokey responded calmly.

"For those of us who weren't there at the inception of this plan, could you give us a little refresher?" Bannon said to the Tik.

"The elimination of the Kel-Fahr race," Pokey stated simply. The room went silent.

"Genocide?" Karl mumbled.

"Exactly," Pokey responded.

"Joe is aware of this mission?" General MacAvoy asked carefully.

"No, he cannot be aware of the mission. He would fail if he was."

"How is he supposed to do this?" the General asked with a keen look in his eyes.

"MY SON IS NOT A MURDERER!" Clara yelled, and the General scowled at the woman.

"May I remind you the Kel-Fahr are trying to extinguish the lives of every living creature on Earth?" MacAvoy growled to the Neumanns, then redirected his attention back to Pokey. "Well?"

"We don't know. None of the Tik are aware of that critical detail. The Ello prevented that information from being distributed. We weren't sure if it was Joe's children or Joe himself. Stinky protected the children until the Kel-Fahr arrived. It gave its life to ensure the Kel-Fahr weren't there just to kill them. Once the Kel-Fahr indicated they would take the children, Stinky could stop, but it was too badly damaged to survive. We will preserve our memories of our friend as one of the bravest of us."

"We have to go after them!" Lieutenant Grey said.

"At the proper time, yes, you must. We've opened a micro portal using the new Bobrov equation. The Kel-Fahr won't be able to detect it, and we can keep an eye on the Blade of Eshen."

"One of the Kel-Fahr soldiers confessed that once the children were delivered to the Blade of Eshen and Councilor Tyreen, she would launch her attack on Earth," Lieutenant Grey asserted.

"The Blade of Eshen has been badly damaged and will need time to be repaired before it can be used to come to Earth."

The General smiled and looked at Bannon. "Joseph!"

The Director immediately caught on. "They must have tried to shoot him with their energy weapons."

MacAvoy was nodding. He turned back to Pokey. "We need to get through to him to ensure he's okay."

"We will not open a Gate for the purpose of invasion," Pokey stated.

"No, of course not. But a reconnaissance and rescue mission with a small team?" Bannon asked carefully. Pokey chirped at Hack and Slash and received buzzes back.

"These two agree that a small team positioned to move quickly to extract Joe and the children is a good idea. They suggest the group they flew here with on the platform. You'll take along two new Tik with the new portal capability." Pokey said.

General MacAvoy looked at Bannon, and they shared a look. "That sounds good to us as well," Roger said with a smile.

"Lieutenant, please get your men prepared quickly. I assume you may have to board the Blade of Eshen at some point to extract Joe and the children. Equip yourselves accordingly." He instructed as he caught the man's eye. The sailor nodded to him and quickly moved outside to speak to his men.

Karl and Clara felt a little better now that the General was taking steps to rescue their son. With a nod to him and Bannon, they turned and left.

Bannon looked at Pokey. "Why are you actively supporting a plan to eradicate a race of people? I thought you were pacifists."

"The Kel-Fahr are directly responsible for genocide on a colossal scale. They are also a dying race. They no longer produce children, but it will take millennia for them to die off. In that time, further races are at risk of being exterminated by them. They need a little push to save the lives of so many others. The Assembly is ready for independent rule. They no longer need the Kel-Fahr's leadership.

The Tik couldn't act directly while we were under the Kel-Fahr Imperative Command Directives. Our purpose drives us to preserve and protect life. This also prevents us from taking direct action, so our new freedom doesn't free us to act. Someone must, yet none of the races in the Assembly could do it. The ones we'd hoped might stop the Kel-Fahr's violence were the Ello. They are brilliant, but unfortunately, they're sociopathic and despise all other races. Everything depends on Joseph, though he remains unaware of that fact."

Lieutenant Grey returned and nodded to the General. "The team is ready," he said to Pokey. Hack and Slash unplugged themselves, hummed to full power, and headed outside with the Lieutenant.

"I just hope Joseph has a chance to do... whatever he's supposed to do," Bannon said to Pokey.

Chapter 29

It was nice floating in space. No pain, no pressure, just the occasional gust of wind touching here or there to correct his drift. He also felt a sporadic tug of gravity, which the puffs would compensate for.

Something about that didn't seem right, and that incongruity disturbed his peaceful rest. His eyes fluttered open, and he saw he was in a very dimly lit room. He could see a large window on one wall with a closed door next to it. There was a light source below the window on the other side, as that room was lit with a gentle glow that flickered in a set pattern. He assumed it was some kind of screen or display. Some of that light bled into his room, and it was enough for him to see that he was floating weightless in the direct center of the room. He still felt slight breezes occasionally and assumed these were to keep him in that stationary position.

Looking at his body, he also noticed that he was naked. That made escaping inconvenient. He saw extensive bruising, and the pain surfaced when he tried to move.

A light in the room behind the window began to blink, and shortly afterward, a male Kel-Fahr face appeared in the window, looking in at him. Joe didn't bother trying to cover himself up. He didn't want them to know it made him uncomfortable. The face looked down at what may have been a control panel for the room and touched something. Joe's cell brightened.

An ancient female Kel-Fahr appeared in the window, and Joe recognized the face of Council Member Tyreen. Speak of the devil, he thought. She glanced down, and Joe felt a slight puff of wind and felt himself turning. Once he'd made a full revolution, another set of jets stopped his rotation. He felt like a bug under a magnifying glass, and he didn't like it.

Suddenly, a cold, mechanical voice spoke in his head. "Are you feeling well?" Tyreen was facing him, looking him directly in the eye, and Joe really didn't want to link minds with her. He nodded.

"Excellent. I'm Councilor Tyreen. That is how you may address me."

Joe just looked at the woman. She was very old, but her eyes showed an almost zealous intelligence burning in them. She was kind of scary, aside from being short and... old. She talked in that matter-of-fact, superior manner that Kennt had. Only far more grating on his nerves.

"You damaged my ship rather badly when we collected you," Tyreen explained.

He looked down at himself again. "It looks like somebody damaged my body to retaliate," he stated.

There was a pause. "Yes, you could say that. Are you aware that the punishment for your being on our planet is death? Your slightly damaged state is understandable, considering how you attacked us. However, you don't need to worry about being justly executed. I have much bigger plans for you."

"That never means good things. I'd rather just go home if you don't mind," he growled.

"Back to Earth?" she asked.

"What do you know about Earth?" Joe said cautiously.

"I know everything about your planet. I was the one who assessed the initial survey reports. I'm also ensuring it remains on the restricted list," she said.

"Why?" Joe asked, confused.

"I wasn't done with it yet." Tyreen sounded almost indignant that he asked. "I have to admit you've exceeded my expectations, but the Ello did boast that they could create a Chahulledev-Fahr," she muttered as she continued to examine him through the glass.

"Wait! You were working with the Ello?" Joe started.

"Working with?" Tyrene's eyes flashed with amusement. "That's absurd. The Ello are merely slaves of their own narcissism. They ridiculously believe they're intellectually superior to every other race in the network. This makes them simple to manipulate. All it took was a tiny jab at the pride of Ello's leading geneticist. A simple comment about his limited understanding of the evolutionary significance of the Chahulledev-Fahr, which produced the first Kel / Fahrchar bond. He couldn't help himself, of course. He had to prove he could produce one. But without a Fahrchar, he failed repeatedly while I secretly watched his progress."

Tyreen smiled cruelly as she played with something in her hands below the window. Her old arms trembled. Cold eyes looked up and caught his once more.

"When the Ello's frustration was heightened sufficiently, a rumor of an unprecedented and clandestine transfer of Fahrchar from Sehsra to a restricted planet was planted in the right ears. A carefully selected group of militant Vershoo were introduced to one of his researchers. The conspiracy was born. The Ello and the Vershoo saw it as a chance to strike back at their Kel-Fahr overlords, but right from the start, they were just working for me. Creating a Chahulledev-Fahr for my use." She smiled at her own cleverness.

"What the hell is a Challadev-Fahr?" Joe asked.

The old woman stared at him with a grim expression. "It's pronounced Chahulledev-Fahr." She seemed to come to some kind of decision. "You were on our planet for how long? A few days? What is your impression of the planet and the Kel-Fahr you've met?"

Joe wasn't sure where this was going, but he answered. "It's hard to give an actual impression when I've seen so little. I mean, the planet seems nice. Fresh air, comfortably warm, lush vegetation, but I haven't seen where the people are. What I saw was pretty empty of people, and the people I met were all old. I didn't see any children, but I've had limited exposure. Maybe my assumption is completely wrong, but I thought that since your race is supposed to be one of the oldest and leaders of the network at that, the planet would be a hive of activity with huge cities crowded with people. Is that the case? I was told there are no cities, and your industry has been moved off-planet. Is that where all your people are?"

"The Kel-Fahr are out there governing the network, providing stability for civilization, keeping chaos in check. But our numbers are diminishing as we reach the end of our exceptionally long lifespans. There are no children. There haven't been any children for a very long time. Even if we managed to have children, very few Fahrchar are left to bond with them. My people are dying. We're becoming extinct."

She looked at him strangely. "This is why we need a Chahulledev-Fahr. It means Originator in my language. You're an evolutionary leap for our species. Your eggs will give my people a new start. We'll have the strength of your primitive race and our keen intellect."

"Uh, that's not going to happen. I'm not playing that game with you. Speaking of children, though, where are mine?" Joe stretched his mind out and couldn't hear any minds. He was cut off. His eyes latched onto Tyreen, watching him with what could only be called an eager look.

"Where are they?" he growled.

Her face lit up. "It's true! You're able to connect with them, aren't you! Not now, obviously, but you expected you could. That will be a very helpful new skill!" She touched the window.

Joe's skin crawled as she looked at him like a prized lab specimen.

Then he noticed the small body in her hand. His heart froze. He couldn't look away, but his mind was filled with a roaring from his blood rushing through his veins. He tried to move towards the window, but the little air jets pushed him back to the center of the room. He began to twist and struggle randomly. The gusts were having some difficulty in maintaining his position. Then, the gravity fluctuated, and he managed to touch the floor briefly with a toe, pushing himself towards the window.

"Bring him down," Tyreen growled.

The male technician touched a button, and Joe was slammed down as the gravity under the floor was cranked up. The impact knocked the air from his lungs, and he struggled to inhale a breath as the surface below him pulled strongly. He could still see the window, though his eyes were slightly blurred from the pressure on his optic nerve.

He could plainly hear Tyreen speaking with one of her staff on the other side of the glass.

"How soon will we have the ship's gravity grid stabilized?"

"Within the next fifteen minutes, Councilor," a voice replied.

"When it's back, I want us through a Gate to Earth immediately. We will hit the region with level-five gravity waves until the crust itself cracks. Nothing within a thousand-mile radius is to be allowed to live. Then I want three new burrs in place, programmed for maximum load. I want the planet barren of life within the month. Is that understood? We have what we need." Her cold voice spoke Earth's death sentence like she was discussing the weather.

Joe was shivering in reaction. Here was the life he expected to find on the other side of the Gate. Cold and incomprehensibly alien. He suddenly recalled the Fahrchar, which tried to force him out of his mind on that beach on Ello. It was pure, a cold intellect with no comprehension of compassion, love, or mercy. He realized Tyreen was almost pure Fahrchar in her behavior.

His family's faces appeared before him, their love for him glowing in their smiles. Everyone he'd ever loved, everyone he called friend, every life that had touched his. This alien was going to kill them all.

The first to go would be his parents.

Within a month, it would kill his sister.

It had already... already killed... his CHILD! It had to be STOPPED!

Grunting painfully from the effort, Joe pulled his arms under his body and began to push. It was agonizing, but after a moment, he noticed his shoulders had left the floor, though his head slumped down to the rest. He twisted his legs under himself and pushed himself to his hands and knees with a scream. He paused there as the pressure to drop again was almost overpowering. Almost.

Tyreen pushed to the window with her lieutenant. "Turn the field to full strength!" she barked at the technician.

"It's already at maximum. Nothing resists these levels! It would kill a Kel-Fahr!"

Joe pulled his head up to stare at the ancient evil glaring her cold black eyes back at him through the window. His muscles trembled with the effort, and he felt the knots forming. He had to get to her before he was crippled.

He slid his palms forward, then his knees. He continued this until he reached the wall below the window.

He heard frantic voices on the other side of the wall and Tyreen's angry voice accusing them of incompetence.

He pulled himself up the wall until he was standing. Then he realized that most of the air was gathered at his feet. The window bowed toward him as the pressure outside the room was higher than inside.

He allowed himself to return to his knees to gulp in some air.

"It's too much for him! He's wearing down!" the technician blurted in desperate relief, and Joe heard Tyreen grunt with satisfaction. She went back to discussing the destruction of his home and turned her back on the window.

This meant she missed seeing him stand upright once more, with his fists raised high above his head. He bared his teeth and looked through the glass. The look of terror on the face of the technician and the shock on the lieutenant's face were frozen in Joe's mind as he used the room's intense gravity to assist his strike against the bent glass. The combination proved too much, and the window exploded into millions of tiny particles. The sudden pressure drop caused the outer room's air to blast inside. Joe was knocked back and fell onto his back, stunned.

The technician wasn't so lucky as he was almost next to the window when it blew. He left his chair and sailed through the open window to be slammed to the floor. As he expressed to the Councilor, the gravity in the room was far beyond the levels a Kel-Fahr could withstand. His internal organs ruptured immediately, and he drowned in his own fluids, choking out his last breath in seconds.

In the outer room, the lieutenant held his head as the sudden implosion from the reduced air pressure had ruptured his sinus cavity, and blood ran down his face. He was lightheaded and lying protectively over the body of Senior Councilor Tyreen. He was terrified that she'd been killed, but after a moment, she moaned.

"Councilor, are you alright?" he asked her nervously.

"No fool! My leg is damaged from when you slammed me into the console!" she growled. Connective tissues took so much longer to heal at her age. She wasn't looking forward to spending all that time recuperating.

"Don't worry. You won't have to."

Tyreen felt the heat of the human's rage as his mind slipped into hers. The isolation window was gone! They were no longer protected from him. She locked up in shock. The intimacy was horrifying. It was rape on the worst level!

Joe made an odd sound as he stood at the open window, looking down at her. "You have the gall to cry rape when you were just about to wipe out every living being on my planet? You're the monster." He began to push himself through the window.

"Take one more step, and I call out the order to extinguish the lives of the rest of your children!" Tyreen barked with ice in her tone.

Her lieutenant helped her to her feet and braced her when her broken leg wouldn't support her. "Do you understand now? Nothing you did in the past matters. You will be the progenitor of a new race of Kel-Fahr and have no real say in the matter. You are just a machine that produces eggs and activates them."

Joe was having trouble focusing on her words as all he could see was the tiny broken body of his... daughter on the floor where Tyreen dropped her.

"The senior councilors and I have sacrificed much to ensure the survival of the Assembly. The existence of a single planet of barbaric primitives is meaningless in context. Only that imbecile Rensley couldn't see the greater good. The Assembly needs the firm hand of the Kel-Fahr to guide and nurture them."

Joe looked down at the console beneath the window. After the glass broke, the gravity controls gradually returned to normal as a safety protocol. Not quickly enough to save the technician, but Joe could move freely now. He needed something to distract the Kel-Fahr.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the lieutenant pull a gun from behind his back. Joe flung his hand up between them to block the shot, and the amplified arc returned to strike the face of the Lieutenant, burning his eyes out with a sickening pop. He was dead before his dropped gun hit the floor.

Tyreen cried out angrily and threw herself to the side when she saw the gun, so she only caught the edge of the shock. She went down in a pile against the wall.

Joe pulled himself through the window. He stripped the gown from the dead Kel-Fahr and wrapped it around his waist like a rough kilt. He looked over into the angry eyes of Tyreen.

"You still don't understand, but I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise with your limited intellect," Tyreen muttered.

"Enlighten me," Joe said in her mind, and she trembled in disgust.

"The plan I devised years before you were born, flawlessly orchestrated using the Ello to do the actual work... it's a success. The other Senior council members were equally involved and will ensure the plan is carried out. And regardless of anything you do today, life on Earth will be extinguished. Just the fact that you successfully bonded with a Fahrchar signed the death warrant for your planet. You are dangerous to the future of the Assembly, the peace and harmony we have brought to these races. We will see to it."

Joe stared at her and saw she was speaking the truth. The senior council would follow through, and Earth would die. They probably had contingency plans to launch their Mediators through the Gates to begin the invasion. The scale of this evil was too much for Joe, and his overstrained muscles rebelled. He dropped to sit on the floor next to the old Kel-Fahr.

She smiled, and a look of satisfaction crossed her pale features. "Ah, now you understand."

Joe reached out his mind and found his children. They were close by. He opened the connection, and their minds swirled around his. Tears came to his eyes as he shared that one of them had been murdered. They didn't understand why their sister had been killed, and their confusion and sorrow threatened to overwhelm him. He pulled them close and shared with them what was happening. The communication, being direct mind to mind, was instantaneous. They wailed in fear. They didn't want to die when they'd just been born! They cried out to him, and his heart filled with resolve to protect them.

He opened his eyes and saw the frustration on Tyreen's face as she tried to force a syringe into his arm. He slapped it away and grabbed her face between his hands, pulling her close so he could look deeply into her eyes.

"I hate you for your plan that took my birth parents from me. I hate you for the changes you made in me that keep me separate from everyone I love. But most of all, I hate you for what you're making me do now!" Joe yelled in the old Kel-Fahr's face. Her eyes filled with terror as he plunged his mind into hers and saw her links to the other senior councilors.

Joe's mind flew out to connect to them through the open Gates, and they screamed as the alien presence tore into the most private areas of their minds and pulled up their links to the senior military leaders. His mind moved on, locking the connections open and freezing the trembling Kel-Fahr in their catatonic states.

From senior officers, Joe branched lower and lower until he felt the connections opening faster and faster, and he could no longer see the individuals. The links blurred past his awareness.

Unlike when he'd reached across space to touch a single Kel-Fahr mind, now it felt like their minds were being drawn to him, racing toward the undeniable pull of his singularity. With the added mass, he felt himself returning to his body, bringing the torrent of minds with him. The numbers grew exponentially. He was no longer aware of the individuals racing to join his mind but instead felt the collective terror of all of them.

Then it was done. There was no one left to link to.

So many minds! Thousands? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? A quiet, tiny part of his brain somehow tracked this and slipped a number before him. He shied away from it.

His children were there as well. He felt their love and acceptance and was suddenly terrified of hurting them in what he had to do. He was so tired, and the load he was carrying was too much. How could he do this?

The music started quietly. One, then more of his children began singing a tune he recognized, but he couldn't recall where. When the others took up the song and its richness took shape, he cried aloud as its source suddenly came to him. It was the song of his daughter. The brief life that ended in the hands of Tyreen.

Once more, he focused his hate on the woman whose trembling face was still between his hands. He had to withstand the urge to crush her head as she was the link through which all these Kel-Fahr minds were joined. He shared the song of the dead child through the link until every mind trembled with the beautiful notes. He would let them hear the wonder of the life that was so callously cut short.

But not for long.

Chapter 30

Lieutenant Grey paced on the deck of the Kel-Fahr personnel carrier, glaring at Hack and Slash. His men sat next to their gear, running last-minute checks on weapons that needed no further reviews. They met two new Tik. Shiny, silver, and identical. They were too young to have developed any character like the older Tik had. These units did have the new Gate technology in them and would open their Gate when they received word.

They also contained tech that allowed them to talk. If only they'd shut up!

"This is most exciting!"

"And an honor! A great honor!"

"To be on such a mission mere weeks after our Instantiation!"

"Hack and Slash have such extremely intense experiences. To join them and the fighting men of Earth on a rescue mission will give us experiences like theirs, too!"

"That's right! How fortunate we are!"

"Thank you so much for selecting us!"

"Yes, thank you!"

Sitting beside them, Bennett ground his teeth as he listened to the two excited Tik. He'd passed his endurance. "Hey! Mac and Tosh! Shut the fuck up! Geezus!"

The two silver Tik went still and silent for a moment, turned to look at Bennett, then looked at each other. Metal rope-like tentacles came out, and the two shook hands as they'd witnessed the humans do when greeting.

"I am Mac!"

"I am Tosh!"

"Thank you so much for the names, Mr. Bennett!"

Bennett gritted his teeth and ran his hands through this short hair like he wanted to pull it out.

Hack suddenly chirped sharply, and the two newbie Tiks shot into the air and away, heading towards the back field.

Slash was at the controls again, lifted the flying platform quickly, and moved them after the other Tik.

Grey stepped up to Bennett. "Mac and Tosh?"

"Sorry, sir. They were driving me crazy, and suddenly, I thought of the goofy gophers cartoons I used to watch as a kid. So damn polite and overly positive!"

Grey shook his head at the man, then looked to the others. "I think this means something is happening, and we're going through. I've been told this will be the first time humans have passed through these new Gates. The old ones are not pleasant to go through. These are supposed to be better. Stay alert! We have no idea what we'll see on the other side."

Stoic expressions and sharp eyes looked back at him. He nodded.

He could see the two silver Tik hovering in the air above the field ahead. There was a flash between them then the carrier was racing at another identical carrier. Slash didn't try to make any evasive moves but kept their course. The SEAL team members jumped to their feet but realized at the last second the SEAL team on the oncoming carrier was them. It was a perfect mirror! It was mind-bending to crash through an image of yourself and feel nothing but a light tingle.

Then they looked up at the largest flying vessel they had ever seen.

The SEAL team was disciplined well enough not to speak aloud, but their expressions spoke volumes. The psychological effect of the Blade of Eshen was well proven and worked on every race exposed to it, SEAL training notwithstanding.

Mac and Tosh joined them, having closed the Gate. They settled down next to the Lieutenant.

The carrier cruised along at a fast clip hundreds of feet above the surface of a garden-like planet and twice that distance under the ship.

"What's happening? What signaled us to come here?"

"They've all stopped moving," Mac said.

"The Kel-Fahr, that is. Every single one we've focused on," explained Tosh.

"All of them?" Grey asked.

"We cannot say for certain if all of them are affected, but certainly every one we can see. Apparently, this is entirely novel behavior for Kel-Fahr," the first Tik replied.

"What are we doing now?"

"Hack is attempting to locate Joseph by the Tik manipulator segment he wears. Slash is monitoring the ship's communication to see if they will contact us or have even noticed us.

There was a rumble from above, and they saw the ship's skin ripple as the gravity fields holding the ship aloft sagged momentarily.

"The Blade of Eshen was damaged far more than we first thought. With the Kel-Fahr unable to complete their repairs, the ship's structural integrity is quickly failing. We have less time than we thought. We must move now," Mac called out. Hack chirped an affirmative, and the platform shot upwards towards a large opening in the ship. The SEAL team readied their weapons.

-=-

Joe let the song fade in the vast network he was holding in the brutal grip of his mind. The effort was too much, but still, he held on. They had to be stopped. He only knew one way.

He recalled the cold, ancient evil of the Fahrchar, which attempted to crush him from within his mind. He extinguished it with the fires of his rage then. Now, these monsters were going to feel that heat.

Before he did, he turned to his link to his children and thanked them for the song of their sister. Now, he asked them to sing their own songs as loudly as they could so he could keep them separate from what he was about to do. They were tired, but they agreed. Soon, he heard their sweet notes, and his heart took strength from that.

Grimly, he returned his attention to Tyreen. Drool spilled from her slack mouth, but her eyes were filled with desperation.

"Don't-don't do this. It's... barbaric!" she wheezed.

"As barbaric as executing the lives of every creature on Earth and all those other red-flagged planets?" he asked hotly.

"Those lives aren't important. Can't you see that?" she gasped as her voice cracked.

The enormity of the Fahrchar arrogance enraged him. It was time.

"EVERY SINGLE LIFE YOU EXTINGUISHED WAS IMPORTANT! WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?" Joe screamed as his rage flared and built to an impossible size. He plunged his mind into the center of the collective and felt their terror surrounding him. He envisioned the icy nature of the Fahrchar, then exploded outwards, engulfing them all in the inferno, driving the heat higher. He felt his strength draining as he pushed harder. He was so tired!

While he did this, he listened to the songs of his children. They made it possible for him to continue, but he didn't know how long he could.

-=-

The carrier shot into the opening of the landing bay, and the team saw the carnage and damage left behind from Joe's arrival. The flames were out, but the scorching was plainly visible, and the huge rip in the structure's roof was evidence of a colossal explosion. The carrier settled down by a set of doors that led further into the ship. The SEAL team deployed, and Grey yelled out to the Tik.

"We need to send a team to disable to ship so they cannot follow us after we rescue Joe. Where is the ship's gravity controlled from?"

Hack chirped at Mac, and a burst of static sounded.

Mac moved to the Lieutenant. "If you would like to assign some men to this task, I will guide them to where your thermonuclear explosive device will destroy the Blade of Eshen's flight control."

Bennett looked at the Lieutenant wide-eyed, but Grey just shook his head. It figured the tin cans would recognize the bomb they were carrying.

Suddenly, two Kel-Fahr burst through the doors screaming. Guns were raised, but the keening Kel-Fahr were unarmed, clutching at their heads, and paid them no attention at all. They seemed to be blind to their surroundings.

"Geezus! That's creepy! What's happening to them," a SEAL called Rodriguez asked.

"Joseph is happening to them," Mac replied.

"Meaning Joseph is likely disrupting their mental network. This was theory number two we hypothesized might be the Ello's plan of attack," Tosh explained.

Grey pointed to Rodriguez, Halsten, and Masters. Mac and the three SEALs moved off with the Tik guiding them. Halsten was wearing a bulky backpack, and the other two covered the hall with their weapons.

Hack and Slash were busy chirping at each other then Slash pointed to the doorway on the other side of the bay.

"Joseph has been found. The signal from the Tik manipulator segment is weakening. This means Joseph's own energy levels are very low. We must hurry!" Tosh said.

The remaining SEALs moved out and followed the Tik across the bay. They caught movement further down the bay and saw two Mediator suits moving erratically.

"We have two potential hostiles," Bennett said.

"They don't seem to be aware of us. Leave them," Grey said.

They exited the landing bay and passed through two massively doored rooms that might have served as an airlock had the ship been designed for space. Then, they were in a long corridor. They could see a number of the aliens in various states of mobility. The team ran down the hall, guns at the ready, trying to keep up with the Tik, who were restraining themselves from using their full speed for the sake of the SEAL team.

Most of the Kel-Fahr they encountered were dead, but some shuffled, stumbled, banged their heads against the walls, and a couple twitched as they lay prone on the floor. The ones capable of making sounds were screaming the same painful tone. The eerie sound of the Kel-Fahr echoed hollowly in the hallway. It got under the skin of the humans and made their fingers twitch on their weapons.

They reached another large doorway and found their way blocked by two Mediators, locked in a kind of combat as the Kel-Fahr inside flailed their limbs.

"Can we go around?" Grey asked Tosh. The Tik chirped at Hack, and a negative chirp returned.

"No, we don't believe Joseph will last much longer. His segment is sending out danger signals," Tosh replied.

With a nod from the Lieutenant, Bennett stepped forward and put a bullet through the faceplates of the two Kel-Fahr soldiers.

The horrible keening screams throughout the ship suddenly stopped.

The silence was worse.

-=-

Joe's head rocked back as he felt the deaths of the two Kel-Fahr nearby. The violence of the action sapped him of the strength he was pooling to make his final push. The connections he'd held in a death grip dissolved like ashes, and he was suddenly back in his body, lying on the floor of the small room with Tyreen. Her eyes were open, glaring at him. Drool ran freely down her chin. He barely had the energy to remain conscious but noticed something in her eyes.

She wasn't there. Something feral was instead.

"Tyreen?" he whispered.

"RRRAAAAAAHHHHH," she screamed as she leapt on him. She seemed oblivious to her broken leg as her old fists struck his face with surprising strength. It was manic, adrenaline-fueled rage, out of control and directed at him. Spittle sprayed everywhere, and Joe struggled to raise his arms to block her. Her crazed eyes locked onto the gun her lieutenant had dropped, and she scrambled with surprising speed over to get it.

Joe's arms fell to the floor as his mind surrendered to the inevitable. Incredibly, Tyreen pushed herself up the wall and stood with her one working leg as she brought the gun around to point at his face. Her hands were by no means steady, but at this range and how desperately weak he was, the shot's energy would probably kill them both. Joe didn't want to die, but he had nothing left.

Tyreen's expression suddenly changed, and she made some odd gurgling noises. He heard nothing in his mind. She was silenced.

Rage and madness returned to her eyes, and the gun steadied. There was a loud crack, and Joe's body jumped in reaction.

Tyreen slid down the wall, leaving a streak of blood staining the surface.

Joe watched in shock as she dropped the gun and gurgled some more before she sagged completely, the life leaving her open eyes.

Bennett walked cautiously into the room with his weapon ready. "Joe? How you doin', buddy?"

He was so incredibly grateful to see the sailor he began to cry, but he had no energy for that, so his eyes began to close instead.

"Medic!"

Another SEAL stepped into the room. His name... Joe recalled it. Fisher, their medic. "Was he shot? Are there any wounds?" the man asked.

"I don't see any."

Shots were fired further back in the hallway. Lieutenant Grey stepped into the doorway. "Some of the natives are still alive and are coming out of their stupor in a very pissed state. Suicidally pissed! They are charging at us with whatever weapons they can find. We need to leave. What's his state?"

Tosh pushed up behind the Lieutenant. "Hack tells me the segment Joseph is wearing is reporting Joseph has depleted his energy stores below the survival level. He needs to feed now!"

Bennett began checking his pockets, and Fisher found some energy gels. He popped them in Joe's mouth. "Swallow those, big guy," he saw Bennett pull out a chocolate bar, "Bennett has a treat for you. A chocolate bar!"

"I was saving it for later!" Bennett said, and the Lieutenant leaned in the door.

"Bennett! Give him the fucking chocolate bar!" Grey yelled.

Joe was swallowing the gels and began to convulse. The three men looked at him in alarm until they saw him laughing weakly.

"I have to introduce you two to my police friends in LA," Joe whispered as Fisher fed him some more gels.

More gunfire sounded from the hall. Bennett unwrapped the chocolate bar and handed it to Fisher, who got Joe to bite off half and chew it a little before swallowing. Once the last piece was in, Fisher stood and left the small room. The lieutenant followed. Hack and Slash came in, wrapped their tentacles around Joe's arms, and lifted him between them.

"The children!" Joe croaked. He couldn't feel them in his mind anymore, which panicked him.

"We're going there next. Do you know where they are?" Bennett asked.

Joe closed his eyes and pointed where he recalled feeling them.

"Well, that's not the most accurate description, but if it's all we have," the SEAL said as the thump of automatic weapon fire came from the hall.

"We're creating quite a pile of corpses out here. Can we get moving?" Grey barked.

"They're close by, or they were," Joe choked out.

"Lieutenant! Rodriguez reports they have completed the installation but are encountering significant resistance while returning to the carrier. At least two Mediators with augmented armor. They're pinned down."

"Let them know we're on our way," Grey called out.

Hack and Slash maneuvered Joe out of the room and rushed down the hall in the direction he suggested, checking each room. When they got to the last one, they found the children. Like Joe had been, they were in a cell with its gravity disabled. Tosh rushed to the controls as Joe looked through the glass at the still and tiny beings strapped into a mesh net. He counted twenty. Three were still unaccounted for.

"The children in the room are alive. Unconscious but alive," Tosh said. "There are three in the next room that... I'm sorry, Joseph. They're dead."

"We have to move people!" the lieutenant yelled from the hall.

"Get them out!" Joe said hoarsely as he looked in at his children in the mesh. Tosh opened the door and slipped inside to collect the mesh. It carefully threaded a tentacle through the top of the mesh, coiled its tentacle to make a tube with the fabric, and carried them all out of the room wrapped up protectively. They slipped into the hall and rushed back to the main corridor leading to the landing bay. Three SEALs took out the rampaging Kel-Fahr in the aisle with sniper shots. The group moved forward as quickly as possible until Bennett raised his fist. Everyone froze.

"What's that?" Bennett asked as he pointed down the long hallway. A distortion was moving towards them rapidly.

"Gravity wave! Brace yourselves!" Tosh cried out, and three more tentacles shot out of its body to press against the corridor walls and cradled the children closer to its body.

Hack and Slash lifted Joe to the center of the corridor, but the SEAL team had to fend for themselves. The wave passed, and the sailors were tossed forward, up, sideways, and down, but none lost hold of their weapon. A Kel-Fahr in Mediator armor hiding in a side corridor was launched into their midst and bounced the lieutenant off his feet. Tosh caught him around the chest with one of his tentacles as he flew by. The Mediator tumbled and crashed against the far wall... in the middle of their group. The Kel-Fahr in the suit began to scream in rage and twisted to reach its feet. Its armor plating was in place, so the SEALs had no weapons they could use at close range without hitting one of their teammates.

"Remember the bird that stole my fish on Ello?" Joe blurted.

Hack and Slash dropped Joe and brought out their weapons in one swift motion. The Mediator got on its feet and lifted its weapons but caught the dual plasma arcs from the two Tik before it could fire. Fisher and Bennett dove for cover as the arcs burned through the armor. The plasma jetted slightly out the back of the Mediator, then the Tik shut down their weapons and swooped down to pick up Joe.

"You didn't DROP me LAST time!" Joe barked. The Tik made quiet little squeaking noises as they moved to pick him up once more, but he just pushed them away.

"You okay, Lieutenant?" Fisher asked, running up to see the officer, who was being set on his feet by Tosh.

"Just some bruises. Let's get moving before another wave hits," Grey said, and the team moved out at a trot. Joe kept up as best he could before finally accepting assistance from the two Tik.

They reached the landing bay, and Bennett saw the two Mediators moving around in the large chamber. "I knew we should have taken them out when we had a chance."

Grey frowned at him and looked at Joe. "Can your friends do that cutting torch trick again?"

Joe looked at the two Mediators at opposite ends of the bay. "The space is too open. They'd never get close enough. The last time was luck."

Grey looked grim. "We'll get our people first."

Finding them wasn't difficult, and it didn't take long as they were close by. The two Mediators that had them pinned down were carving the corridor up with their arc weapons. Fires erupted and were put out by the struggling suppression systems.

"They've gone mad!" Bennett said quietly.

"Yes," Joe whispered.

Bennett looked at the man. The others did as well. Everyone went still. "How many of them?"

"Just those who survived."

Joe looked like he'd aged twenty years at that moment. A weariness clung to his soul. "I was going to take all of them into death, but two were killed nearby and broke my concentration," he croaked. "Death would be preferable to this."

Bennett shared a guilty look with the Lieutenant.

"How do we stop these two?" Fisher asked. "We have to clear a path for Rodriguez, Masters, and Halsten... and Mac," he added as he looked over at Tosh. Grey looked around the corner and saw at least two dozen dead Kel-Fahr on the hall floor.

"Anyone have any more food?" Joe asked. The energy gels increased his energy levels, but he was still exhausted and mentally worn out. The SEALs went through their pockets and presented an assortment of small protein bars and liquid energy packs. He accepted it all and ate as quickly as he could. Bennett handed him a small canteen, which he used to wash down the dry food.

"What's the plan?" Lieutenant Grey asked.

Joe reached into a tear in the wall and gripped a broken metal strut. He wrenched a four-foot section free and hefted it. He had himself an excellent pry bar. As the others watched, he jumped around the corner before the SEALs or the Tik could stop him. "Tell them not to shoot me," he said over his shoulder.

Joe walked up behind one of the Mediators as both took heavy fire from the three pinned sailors. They were aiming high to keep from hitting him. So, the message got through.

He jammed the end of the strut in the waist joint and heaved as hard as he could. There was a terrible cracking sound, and the suit was breached. He took a deep breath, pushed the pry bar deeper into the crack in the armor, and felt it squish through the Kel-Fahr inside. The suit immediately went offline.

He felt the impact of the slap and went flying through the air to slam into the corridor wall. He slumped to the floor and watched the remaining Mediator walk towards him. It seemed intent on beating him to death. That would certainly work.

Mac was suddenly behind it and pulled its feet out from under it. It went down hard on its face. Joe hoped it had been sufficiently damaged to stay down, but it began to gather its arms under itself to turn over. Mac looked at Joe as it realized it hadn't thought of what to do next.

Hack and Slash dropped on the back of the Mediator and burned through the armor to kill the Kel-Fahr. Mac released its legs and pulled back.

The three SEAL members rushed up to join the others. "Everybody good?" Grey asked as Hack and Slash lifted Joe back to his feet and returned to carrying him. "Everyone except hero boy here?"

"It worked," Joe grumbled.

"We still have to get past the remaining two Mediators in the landing bay, and I don't like your plans," Grey growled at Joe.

They double-timed it back to the landing bay and saw both Mediators had moved to the exterior entrance. They might make it to the troop carrier, but their way out of the bay was still blocked.

"Tosh and I could draw them away from the opening, and you could fly out at maximum acceleration."

"Mac! I'm carrying the children!" Tosh exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. I thought you would want to share that experience. It was most exhilarating to take the Mediator down when it attacked Joseph!"

"An experience which was almost the last in your brief life!"

"I believe it's the almost part that made it so exciting!"

"Mac! Tosh! No more suicide missions, please!" Lieutenant Grey said sharply, and the two Tik went silent.

Everyone left their feet for half a second as the ship dropped from beneath them momentarily.

"We need out soon, LT!" Rodriguez exclaimed, nervous about being in a large structure when it fell from the sky.

"I'm aware—"

The loud staccato buzz of a chain gun could be heard outside the landing bay. The Mediators literally went to pieces as they watched.

"That's an M230 on an Apache!" Halsten exclaimed with glee, and the others nodded happily as they ran for the troop carrier.

"Lieutenant Grey!" General MacAvoy's voice came through their radio.

"Yes, sir!" he replied.

"Are you all in one piece? Were you successful? Did you make the delivery?"

"Yes, sir! We're on our way out now! Thank you for the assist!"

"The Tik notified us that Joseph successfully took the Kel-Fahr mostly out of the picture. What's left is going to take time to mop up. They've asked for our help in that effort. We need as many of the Kel-Fahr troop carriers as we can get."

The SEAL team climbed onto the carrier's deck, and Hack and Slash left Joe with them. Slash slipped into the booth and began touching controls. They saw other troop carriers come online and lift from the deck all the way down the bay as all the outer doors opened along the ship. Grey smiled.

"We're bringing some with us."

"Lieutenant! The ship is opening a Gate! It... it's over the base in North Dakota. You need to get out of there and take that ship down!"

"Who's flying the ship?" Bennett asked aloud.

"They probably had the course laid in and ready to go. I heard Tyreen giving those instructions. They might even have the weaponry on automatic. They're going to crack the Earth's crust under the farm. We have to go NOW!" Joe yelled.

Slash had the carrier out the landing bay doors in an instant, and they looked back to see a stream of flying platforms following them out. Further back along the Blade of Eshen, more carriers shot free from the ship and turned in their direction. All were slaved to the controls of their vehicle.

The team looked ahead and saw an enormous mirror hanging in the sky surrounded by silver Tik. "That's our exit!"

"The Blade is MOVING!" Fisher called out.

They looked up and saw the nose of the ship touch the enormous Gate it had opened and push into the swirling blackness.

"Can we go faster?" Joe asked.

"Why is that Gate so hard to look at?" Halsten asked.

"It's not using the new equation Professor Bobrov made for the Gate technology. Those Gates are very unpleasant to go through. I've been through... many," Joe replied.

They raced up to the mirror and shot through. The Apache helicopter came through just behind them and veered off to the right. Joe followed it with his eyes, saw the farmhouse in the near distance, and felt it pull at his heart. Looking up, he saw the nose of the Blade of Eshen poking through into the space above the Think Tank.

Dozens of the carriers shot through the Gate behind them, and Slash guided them to a landing in one of Karl's fields. Joe knew his dad wasn't going to be happy about that. Strangely, that thought made him smile, and he felt slightly better.

"We can't wait any longer! Weapons are coming online in the Blade!" Tosh called out.

The silver Tik keeping their Gate open slipped back to Earth and snapped it shut. Then, they scattered as quickly as they could.

"The MicroGate is still open and receiving the signal from the package. Light it up, Mr. Halsten!" Lieutenant Grey called out, and the SEAL pulled a remote from his vest and prepared to flip open the trigger.

There was a massive thump, and the platform suddenly plummeted from the sky. The Blade had begun its attack.

The remote bounced along the carrier's deck, knocked free of the man's grip when he was slammed to the floor by the gravity wave.

A tentacle shot out and snagged the remote. Mac looked at it and back at Joe.

"Flip the red cover up and push the button!" Bennett cried out.

The Blade fired a second wave, and the carrier began tumbling out of control. Mac was slammed to the deck and sparks squirted out of several ports, but it kept a grip on the remote. It looked at Joe again, flipped up the cover, and pressed the button as it slid over the edge of the carrier's deck into the open air.

A flare of light shot through the Gate around the nose of the Blade, and it shuddered violently. The black Gate collapsed, shearing off and blasting forward the huge section of the Blade's nose on this side.

Slash struggled to restore the gravity field as the platform tumbled toward the ground below.

Tosh released its grip on the deck and flew free, the children protected in the mesh held in its tentacles. Joe saw it flying towards the farmhouse.

Hack was squealing loudly, and Joe thought it was odd for a Tik to scream as it fell from the sky. His little burst of energy from the food was done, and his grip on the carrier railing was slipping. He glanced over to take one last look at the house. He hoped his Mom and Dad were safe. He wished he could tell them how much he loved them. How thankful he was that his Dad had saved him from the Ello. How grateful he was for the love his Mom had lavished on him. He looked to the west and wished he could hug his sister one more time.

Something glinted in the sun, and suddenly, a swarm of silver Tik shot over the carrier, latched their tentacles around the limbs of the SEALs, and raced away from the falling ship.

A few tumbles later, Slash finally gave up on the carrier and shot out of the control booth. Hack grabbed Joe's left arm, and Slash snagged his right as they fled from the falling platform.

But they'd waited too long, and there was nowhere to go. Looking up, the sky was filled with falling debris from the Blade's nose section. They'd never get out from under it in time.

Hack chirped, and Slash tweeted back. They shot downwards towards the Think Tank.

Mercifully, Joe blacked out.

Chapter 31

"Papa!"

"Papa! Wake up!"

Joe cracked open a gritty eyelid and tried to focus on the voice he heard.

"Papa! Papa's awake!" Little tiny hands patted his cheek.

"rrrr- rray?" Joe croaked. He could feel Ray's joy in his mind that he knew his name. Of course, he knew Ray's name. He could feel it in the music. Ash was nearby, her pretty tones bringing him peace. She was also pleased to know he was awake. He relaxed and closed his eye again.

Tap, tap, tap. A little hand on his cheek. The eye opened again.

"BanBan wants to talk to you," Ray asserted, holding something in his tiny hand.

BanBan? "okay."

The small body crawled over his face and shoved the earpiece into his ear. There was a spike of pain, but it was gone quickly.

"—can you hear me?"

It was Director Bannon's voice.

"yes... I can hear you."

"Thank god! You're buried under tonnes of alien metal and debris, but we are making progress. We weren't sure where the Tik took you when they dove for the Think Tank. Now that we have your position, we'll get to you faster. Hang tight."

"Why are my kids in the debris?" Joe growled.

There was a sound like a chuckle at the other end. "Your parents fed the kids when they arrived at the house, and they've been clamoring to get you since then. They are perfectly adapted to moving through small spaces, can carry communication devices, and, better yet, can talk, which was a startling development. They were perfect for the job. Most of the children are still with your parents. There are only five in the debris field."

Joe reached out with his mind. Ray, Ash, Trib, Layla, and Dunc. They all hummed back at him as they made their way closer, and then the rest of his children joined the connection. His Mom and Dad were there too, surprised but present. They must be holding some of the children.

They felt him, and their concern flared when they felt how weak he was. Dunc arrived at Ray's side and pushed something against Joe's lips. Chocolate. He'd brought a chocolate bar. Joe thanked Dunc as he munched away on the bar. Once he'd swallowed the last of it, he cleared his throat.

"Where am I?" he asked Bannon.

"In the big sauna. Strongest structure in the Think Tank. Hang in there, son. We're coming."

Joe smiled and let his mind slide back into unconsciousness as his children's song soothed his mind.

-=-

It took another thirty hours for the rescue squad to reach him. The children had to return to his parent's side as the area was dangerous to be in with the Tik carving their way through the debris.

Tragically, they found Hack and Slash at the opening of the vault door. With no power remaining, they'd held the door closed during the fall of the destroyed ship section. Unfortunately, outside the vault, they weren't protected and were crushed by a huge structural beam of the falling ship. The same girder that partially collapsed the sauna. When they extracted him on a stretcher, Joe saw the dead Tik under the rubble. The sight hit him hard, and sobs racked his body until the pain took his consciousness.

They found Mac jammed between two trees in a small grove, damaged but alive. Tosh was delighted, and the two talked incessantly about their good fortune to have been chosen for the mission.

Between sessions in the new EZ Bake oven they brought in for him, Joe was placed in a ward with the recuperating SEAL team. None of them walked away from this mission without at least one broken bone. They were fortunate to have been on a craft in freefall when the gravity pulse hit.

Joe was surprised to find Sergeant Armstrong in the ward, wearing a cast from his ankle to his hip.

"What happened to you?" Joe asked when he was wheeled into the room to take the bed next to the man.

"Slipped on a bar of soap in the shower," the Sergeant growled.

"WHAT?" Joe barked in surprise.

"Nah, I wish it was that glamorous. During the initial attack, I tripped on the front porch stairs of your folks' place."

A medic looking at Joe's chart snorted. "After he pushed your parents to safety back inside the house, he leapt off the porch to tackle a Mediator. It got a shot off, hitting the sergeant's leg, but he took the Mediator down and fired three bullets at point-blank range through its face plate, killing it. From the ground, he shot and killed a second one. The lad's a hero!"

Joe's eyebrows climbed, and Craig scowled.

"Thanks for saving my folks," Joe said quietly.

"You know they're OUR folks too. It's true. We adopted them," Craig said, squirming uncomfortably.

Joe grinned, and Craig finally smiled back and nodded.

The medic pulled the curtains back, and the SEALs looked over.

"What the hell! I was specifically told this was a high-class establishment, but now we're stuck with civilians and Army?" Bennett complained.

"Hey, at least my injury came from actual combat, not just falling off a glorified serving tray!" Craig barked back.

Hoots and laughter filled the room, and Joe felt... better. These were good people, and they liked him. Maybe... maybe he was worthy of being liked.

-=-

Weeks passed, and the societies of Earth trembled as the truth was finally disclosed. We weren't alone, and none of them looked like us. The fundamentalists rabidly raised their heads and promptly had them shot off or arrested. No patience was left in the world for those who refused to accept what was plainly before them.

Amateur footage of the Blade of Eshen pushing its way into Earth's airspace, the effect of its gravity wave weapon, its ultimate destruction, and the subsequent crash of tonnes of alien ship parts onto a farmer's field in North Dakota went viral in hours. The clip was dissected frame by frame by reviewers all over the world. It was initially refuted as very imaginative computer-generated animation. These arguments began to weaken as seismic readings in the region confirmed two large, anomalous spikes. More telling was the mountain of twisted metal and other unknown materials still in that field, guarded by the very real US Military. All of the world's news agencies ran follow-up stories and confirmed the veracity of the initial video. Still, few details were offered as a special Presidential statement was being prepared. Similar addresses would be made by all of the world's major nations simultaneously.

On the night of the special report, Joe was sitting in the living room of the family home with his Mom, Dad, and twenty wiggling, giggling, active children. They were growing quickly and were exceptionally precocious. Happy and intelligent, they needed to be occupied, or they'd find ways to get into mischief. They were more than a handful.

The TV switched to the Presidential seal, so Joe shushed them, and they all jumped up to sit on the couches with Papa, GPapa, and GMama. Karl and Clara were in heaven with so many kids to dote on.

The President faced the cameras, and his smile looked weary.

"Good evening, my fellow Americans and people of the world who are tuning in tonight," he paused and shook his head slightly, "and to our special forces troops who are at this moment off planet making the galaxy a safer place." His face cracked into a full-blown grin.

"I truly never thought one day I would be uttering those words. The troubles we've faced in the last few months have passed, and I am pleased to say we are at the threshold of a new era for the United States and Earth itself. By now, you are very likely aware that we are not alone in the vast reaches of space. These rumors have been confirmed, and I want to assure the people of Earth that we are now in very good company. We've made new friends already, and the future holds promise like none of us has ever conceived. Change can be frightening, but remember that America was built on change. We will grow from this. I have some experts with me tonight who will bring everyone up to speed on our new place in the Galaxy."

Joe winced at the awkward wording.

Karl looked over at Joe. "It's not like he's an expert in this field. He's just trying to reassure the people."

They turned back to the TV as the General's face appeared on the screen.

General MacAvoy moved his headquarters back to Washington immediately after the One Hour War. He was a very busy man. Earth's military was helping the Tik to round up the remaining Kel-Fahr. As most of them had been off-planet serving as a police force wearing Mediator armor, dealing with them meant terminating them. Most of the Kel-Fahr expired when Joe's grip on their minds was ripped away. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for all of them. Mediator armor in the hands of a trained professional was a deadly tool. In the hands of a being stripped of his intellect and gripped by madness, the potential for disaster was too great.

"Good evening, I'm the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the United States, General Dan MacAvoy. I'd like to begin tonight with a very welcome message of peace: the war is over, and we won. It was probably the shortest war with the highest stakes we've ever faced. Nothing short of the complete eradication of all life on Earth. I will repeat myself as the message is worthy of hearing again: the war is over, and Earth won." He smiled reassuringly.

"We are not alone. That message has been all over the press and is a positive one. There are, in fact, thousands of worlds inhabited by hundreds of sentient races. They are members of an association called the Assembly, which manages the policies of civilized interaction between all races."

"Until a few short weeks ago, the Assembly was ruled by a race called the Kel-Fahr. An ancient race, they were the ones who created the Assembly, and they decided which planets were invited to join. What the rest of the members of the Assembly didn't know was that the Kel-Fahr were also responsible for eradicating all life on a very large number of worlds. Worlds they decided were not worthy of being invited to join. Worlds the Kel-Fahr determined were a threat to them and the Assembly. Earth was scheduled to be one of those worlds, but we fought back, and the Kel-Fahr are no longer leading the Assembly. They are no longer a threat to anyone."

"For more information on our new friends, I'd like to introduce the two people who originally brought the threat of the Kel-Fahr to our attention and made it possible for us to fight back, NSA Director Roger Bannon and NSA Special Agent Rachel White."

Roger looked slightly stunned by the General's introduction and blinked at the camera. Rachel was smiling at him, and there was no mistaking the love in her eyes.

Joe stood up after sliding his kids off onto the cushions and walked to the front door.

Karl and Clara shared a sad look. Their son was carrying so much pain, and they could do nothing for him other than let him know they loved him. The kids all watched him go as well. They turned to look at their GMama, but she gave them a small shake of the head. Joe needed a little alone time.

Pulling on his jacket, Joe walked onto the porch and looked up at the stars above. It was a beautiful night for star gazing. They knew others were out there now, brought close by Gate technology. You'd soon be able to step from Earth onto other planets! Exciting times indeed!

Joe was seriously thinking about taking that walk when it became available.

He walked around the corner of the house on the deck and turned his eyes towards a glow down the farm lane behind the house.

There would always be a permanent military base down that lane. Think Tank Two had been built in record time as the debris field from the Blade of Eshen was a treasure trove of scientific discovery for the scientists who'd all returned now that the danger was over. The new sprawling building was three times the size as so many more scientific community members had arrived, needing housing and space to work. With their subsequent requirements for sustenance and entertainment, the influx of personnel boosted Glennville's economy once more as it supported the base's needs.

Karl had to give up a huge section of his property to the government as it was currently covered by alien tech. In compensation, the US government bought out Estelle Holden, a widower who owned the fields across the highway, and deeded that land to Karl. He now had a much larger plot of land and was busy planning what he'd plant next year. Karl spent the past week speaking with Mrs. Holden about the planting history of the fields and running soil analysis.

Some of Joe's kids had expressed an interest in learning how to farm and had been spending time at Karl's elbow learning from him. They were at least a year away from being tall or strong enough to operate any of the required machinery, but according to Safa, the kids would definitely be capable of it. They were a hybrid of Kel-Fahr and Human and would inherit their mother's flexibility and at least some of the strength of their father. They were already taller than Kel-Fahr children their age would be, according to the data archive they had from Kennt.

The crunch of gravel and the flash of headlights drew Joe's attention to the lane leading up to the house from the highway. There was a military gatehouse at the entrance to their driveway now, but that hadn't proven problematic as they didn't have guests often.

A big personnel carrier stopped before the house as Joe descended the steps. Corporal Hansen got out and smiled at him.

"We got a visitor down at the gatehouse. Walked all the way out here from town. Said she wanted to speak with you. She's on the list, so I brought her to the house. I hope you don't mind.

Joe looked at him curiously. Walked all the way to the house from town? That was a considerable distance! He nodded to the Soldier.

Hansen opened the back door, and long, slim legs in army boots stepped out of the truck. Fishnets and a long black leather coat covered her slender body. Wendy. Her short blond hair looked a little more wild than usual. Joe noticed she was shivering, so he yanked his jacket off and wrapped it around her.

"Thanks, David!" Joe said to the man and led Wendy up the stairs and inside. He brought her directly into the kitchen.

"Have you eaten?" Joe asked. Her cheeks were a little sunken, so it looked like she hadn't eaten in a while.

"No," she croaked.

"Are you vegetarian?" She shook her head. "I'll warm up some chili then," Joe said, drawing a smile from the woman.

He busied himself, making her some warm food, and placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of her while she waited. She wrapped her long, slim fingers around the cup, the rings she wore on each finger clinking gently against it.

Wendy looked like she was drawing strength just from the heat of the liquid. She had shadows under her eyes. Joe grew concerned.

"You said if I needed someone to talk to who understands you're in the book," Wendy said quietly after a time.

Joe brought her a steaming bowl of rich, meaty chili and toast. He set it before her and sat in the chair beside her. "I did, but you didn't call."

She nodded and picked up her spoon. "It was too painful... in the beginning," she said.

Wendy took a spoonful of the chili and closed her eyes in appreciation of the warm food. She ate silently, taking bites from the toast, and Joe wondered when her last meal was. Finally, she set the spoon down.

"I started walking after work today, and before I realized it, I was out in the country walking towards your house. I figured my feet knew something I didn't, so I kept walking."

"I'm glad you did. You look like you've missed a few meals," Joe said with concern.

"With only one paycheck available to pay the bills, something had to give. Food in my case... and my phone," she said.

"Meaning, you couldn't call."

She nodded.

Wendy's eyes flicked to his face, and she squirmed a little. Joe just waited.

"That day when you dropped Pam off after shopping. She told me stuff... about you. Why I didn't need to worry about her getting pregnant and marrying you. I see now that it was just more lies to make me feel less threatened by you."

Joe looked away uncomfortably. She was going to find out anyhow, with the news bleating on and on about aliens.

"She wasn't lying about everything. I suppose that's what made her so much more convincing," he said. "What exactly did she say about me?"

Wendy looked at him with wide eyes. She took another sip of her hot chocolate. Then she gathered her courage. "She said-she said you're not all... human."

"That's accurate enough. I'm not. Have you seen the news recently? It's all the rage. Aliens from outer space are real! I'm not fully human. I thought I was up until just a short time ago."

"You look human!" Wendy insisted.

"Yeah, the cosmetic differences are minimal, but the structural differences are considerable, including my genetic incompatibility with human females. I can't make human babies."

"I can't make human babies either." Her voice was quiet.

"I'm sorry to hear that. My inability is because my body is geared towards making babies with the Kel-Fahr."

"The who?" Wendy asked, puzzled.

"If you watched the President's speech on TV tonight, you would have heard about the Kel-Fahr. Instead, you went for a hike," Joe said, and she nodded with a timid smile.

"Here. I can show you one difference. It's a little startling, so try not to scream," Joe said. He snapped his eyes to black.

Wendy felt a tingle run down her spine as Joe's eyes were suddenly replaced with deep black pits. She felt herself being drawn forward until he snapped them back to normal.

"she... told me..." Wendy began with a whisper. She cleared her throat and tried to regain her calm. "Pam told me you could become dark... I suppose that was what she meant. It's-quite something!" She was a little dry-mouthed. "Could I have some water?"

"PAPA!" Ash squealed as she raced into the kitchen to come to a stop next to Joe, her little hand resting on his arm.

Wendy's eyes flew wide. There, not three feet from where she sat, stood incontrovertible proof of alien life. She'd read the stories but never expected to meet one. It was tiny, maybe two feet tall. Blue iridescent skin and wearing a gauzy wrap of some kind.

Wait... Papa?!?

"Ash, Papa's talking with his friend Wendy. Can what you have to say wait until later?"

Pretty blue eyes looked at the shocked woman sitting at the table. The child nodded.

"Papa, she has such BEAUTIFUL hair!" Ash gasped, and her joy's notes spread through his mind.

Joe smiled. "Yes, she does." On a whim, he reached across the table and touched Wendy's hand. Suddenly, she could hear the music Ash was projecting.

"OH!" Wendy exclaimed and clung to Joe's hand tighter. The music was so peaceful and happy. More notes began to arrive as the other children picked up on Ash's joy and came to investigate.

"I should warn you, I have a lot of kids," Joe said.

"Kids?" Wendy gasped as the music built in her mind, and the other little people rushed into the room.

"Their mother was a Kel-Fahr named Rensley who had a beautiful soul and desperately wanted to have children. She implanted a lot of my... eggs in herself." Joe looked uncomfortable talking about that. She felt his embarrassment through their link. Wendy's eyes widened as she realized he was speaking to her mind to mind. "Rensley tricked me into activating the eggs. The children you see here are the result of that.

Two of the children carried a glass of water across the kitchen to place it on the table before her.

"Thank you, Dunc, Jay!" Joe told them with genuine love, and she felt their happiness flow back over the link.

The music... it was beautiful. She felt almost indescribably happy! It had been so long since she felt this good.

"Since Pam," Joe said, feeling the same elation and recalling the same pain at its loss.

Wendy looked at Joe and realized how much pain he'd felt from losing Pam. It felt like hers. He understood.

She pushed back her chair, climbed onto his lap, and released her grief. He was right there with her. The children consoled them until Karl and Clara arrived to herd them back into the living room.

The music slowly dissipated after the children were gone, leaving them to their thoughts once more. Wendy rested her head on Joe's shoulder as she leaned against his broad chest.

"The world's a whole different place this week," Wendy finally said, her voice quiet.

"My world radically changed a few days after I was born, but I didn't find out about it until recently," Joe replied. "Lately, it's been a total freak show."

"I like freak shows," Wendy smiled. She sat up and lifted the bottom of her shirt to show off her tattooed stomach. "I can be the tattooed lady!"

"PAPA! SHE HAS BEAUTIFUL ART ON HER STOMACH!" Ash's voice cried out in glee from under the kitchen table.

Clara appeared in the doorway with an embarrassed and frustrated expression.

Wendy laughed and reached down under the table. Clara returned to the living room.

Ash wasted no time climbing onto Wendy's lap, who was still on Joe's. She touched Wendy's tattoos with her tiny hands, and Wendy felt the awe and happiness in the child's mind. She looked at Joe, and he nodded in agreement. Ash was precocious and delightful.

"How can I hear her...feelings?" Wendy said in awe.

"I have no idea. It wasn't something the Kel-Fahr could do. I could pick up the emotions of Rensley through my link with her, so maybe they got that ability from me and just made it better." Joe felt his thoughts begin to turn toward how he'd ultimately used his link with the Kel-Fahr collective, so he quickly clamped down on that thought and lifted Wendy to her feet. She clutched Ash in her arms to keep from dropping her.

"I'm sorry. I-I need to get some air," Joe mumbled and headed out of the kitchen.

Wendy looked down at the... alien child in her arms and saw the sad look in its eyes. More, she felt her sadness. Ash looked up at Wendy. "Papa is so ashamed."

"About what?"

A slim woman in a lab coat entered the kitchen and stopped when she spotted the stranger holding Joe's daughter.

"SAFA!" Ash squealed with delight, holding out her arms to be picked up.

Safa moved closer and accepted the child from the tall blonde. "Hello. I'm Safa Neema. I don't believe we've met."

"Wendy Whitlock," the woman said. "A—a friend of Joe's."

Safa suddenly connected the name, which must have shown on her face.

"Yes, that Wendy."

"I am sorry for your loss... and Mr. Neumann's."

"Mr. Neu- You don't call him Joe?" Wendy asked.

"I am Mr. Neumann's doctor and must maintain a professional level of decorum," Safa said. She looked down at Ash, who was grinning back up at her.

"Safa loves—"

"ASH!" Safa yelped loudly as she glanced at Wendy. "That's not polite!"

The child felt Safa's horrified embarrassment and pushed her face against the slim woman's chest. "I'm sorry!"

Clara walked into the kitchen once more, having picked up the child's dismay from the living room. She had Dunc on one hip and collected Ash from Safa. "I've been talking with this one about personal boundaries. She didn't mean to be rude," Clara said quietly to the blushing woman, who just smiled tremulously in return.

Once Clara left the room with the children, Wendy looked at Safa. "I was telling Joe it feels like a whole new world!"

Safa blinked at the blond, and a smile slipped onto her lips. "Yes... in a way, it is. We've been rescued from the brink of extinction... for all life on Earth. Now the galaxy itself has been opened up to us."

Wendy looked at Safa with a lost expression. "Joe mentioned the President was making a speech tonight explaining what was happening. I guess I should have watched it."

Safa smiled at her. "I can give you the gist of it. A race of aliens called the Kel-Fahr determined that Earth was a threat to it and the Assembly, a huge collection of alien races it governed. The Kel-Fahr decided they were going to extinguish all life on Earth." Safa paused a moment, clearly struggling to control her emotions. "Mr. Neumann stopped them."

"Joe? Just Joe? What do you mean?" Wendy's eyes were wide with surprise.

"We owe a debt to that man that cannot be repaid. What he did to ensure we have a future is nothing a single man should have to bear. Especially one with as gentle a spirit as Joe—Mr. Neumann." Safa's eyes were glassy, and she picked up a napkin to dab them.

"What did he do?" Wendy said in a whisper.

Safa looked at the woman, then collected herself. "He stopped them."

Wendy was shaking her head in confusion. "I don't understand. He assassinated their leader? He dropped a nuke on their capital city? He blew up their death star? How many did he have to kill to stop them from destroying Earth?" she said with frustration.

"All of them. I killed millions of Kel-Fahr."

Safa and Wendy jumped as Joe spoke from the kitchen doorway.

"Joe—" Safa began, but he spun on his heel and rushed from the house.

Karl showed up at the doorway. He had a worried expression on his face. "Was that Joe?"

Safa nodded with tears running down her cheeks.

"Dammit! I'd better go after him," Karl said, and Wendy jumped to her feet, racing to catch up to Karl. She met him on the porch, pulled her jacket on, and followed him down the steps.

"Is he in any danger?" Wendy asked the older man.

Karl looked at Wendy, and his eyes showed his worry. "Joseph is carrying too much guilt for one man to contain. Too much has been asked of him. Too much..." Karl headed off down the lane towards the back fields. This is the direction Joseph usually went when it became too much for him.

Wendy rushed after him, and the two walked in silence.

Lights had been strung up along the lane, but Karl shielded his eyes from their glow to peer into the darkness of the fields on either side of the road.

They had almost reached the demarcation point where the army's property began. Karl knew they were under observation by security, so he waved in the camera's direction to let them know all was okay.

Wendy spotted a silhouette of a large man sitting on top of a huge pile of rocks off to the right side of the lane. She touched Karl's sleeve, and he looked to where she was pointing. He sighed with relief.

"Do—do you think I could speak with him?" Wendy said quietly.

Karl looked into the hopeful eyes of the young woman. He was nervous she might bring him pain, but as much as he wished he could, he couldn't shelter his son. He nodded. As she moved away, a Soldier stepped out of the darkness and walked over to speak with Karl.

Wendy carefully picked her way up the pile of rocks until she could see what Joe was looking at. The lights of the army base were a warm glow a short distance away. There was one very brightly lit area and lots of activity around what looked like a large rectangular mirror. Shiny metal cylinders floated back and forth and flew right into the mirror. Instead of the mirror breaking, though, the cylinders just... disappeared. Wendy reached the top of the rock pile and braced herself on Joe's shoulder.

"What?" she gasped.

"Just more wonders to behold," Joe said softly. He felt her shiver in the cool night air and opened his jacket to take it off. Before he could, she sat on his lap, leaned back against him, and wrapped the coat around herself. She was instantly warmer.

Joe shivered, but not from the cold. He desperately needed this closeness, but he knew she would pull away if she understood the extent of his crime.

"Can you tell me what I'm seeing right now?" she asked.

"Sure. Uh, the big mirror thing is a gateway to another planet. I don't know where this one leads. The destination of the Gate is controlled by those flying cylinders. They're called the Tik. They're intelligent and probably the noblest beings you'll ever meet." Joe felt a pain in his heart as he remembered the three friends he lost.

"They're mechanical lifeforms?" she breathed.

"Yes. Wonderful, brave, and honorable mechanical lifeforms," he sighed. "Once Earth's Gates are open, the Tik will manage and maintain them."

"Did you come here to watch them?" Wendy asked softly.

"No. I came here to see the place where I became what I am."

She turned her face and looked at him carefully. "And what are you?"

Joe's eyes flickered to black as he struggled to control his emotions. Wendy took hold of his arms and wrapped them around her. "Speak to me, Joe."

"I'm a mass murderer. A genocidal murderer," he gasped as tears slid down his cheeks. He loosened his grip on her, expecting her to push away. Instead, she pulled his arm around her tighter.

"Safa told me that all life on Earth would have been extinguished by the Kel-... people. Is that true?" she asked.

Joe nodded but didn't look at her.

"Was there another way to stop them? Was there time to come up with another way?"

Joe squeezed his eyes shut. After a moment, he shook his head once more.

"Then, on behalf of every living creature on this planet, thank you."

"You don't understand. I was trying to just target the military who were attacking our world. But as I connected to more and more minds, I couldn't separate out the civilians. The innocents. They were all bound to me. All of them... and I didn't stop. I burned out their minds. I killed millions of them and drove the rest mad."

Wendy paused as she processed what sounded like fiction but could see from his conviction was the truth.

She still didn't pull away.

"You seem like you're suffering now for that decision you had to make. A bad man wouldn't suffer like this. It's not fair that a good man was forced to make such a terrible choice, but... I'm personally glad you did. We're alive!" Wendy turned in his arms, took his face between her hands, and stared deeply into his troubled eyes. "Thank you!"

She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his gently. Joe was holding his breath. Then he kissed her back, and it became deeper, her tongue sliding into his mouth. Ecstasy exploded behind her eyes as Joe forgot to rein in the surge. He suppressed it immediately, and Wendy swooned on his lap.

"Oh my... God, Joe... what was that?" she sighed when she could engage her brain once more. She rested her forehead against his as her body hummed with tingles. She smacked her lips together and grinned happily at him.

Joe blushed. "Sorry. That's another of my alien differences."

"Well, it's a good one!"

Joe spotted the outline of two Tik approaching. "We have company." He noticed one had a distinct crinkle on both sides of its metallic outer surface.

"Joseph? Why are you sitting up on this pile of stones with this young lady?"

"Mac! I think we are interrupting a mating ritual!" Tosh blurted to its partner.

"Oh my! I am terribly sorry, Joseph! How rude of us to intrude! We will leave you to your mating!" the Tik apologized as they turned to leave.

"Mac, Tosh, I'd like to introduce you to Wendy Whitlock. Wendy, this is Mac and Tosh. Two of the Tik who rescued me from the Kel-Fahr in the battle. Mac triggered the explosion that destroyed the Kel-Fahr's ship, and Tosh saved my children. They're my good friends."

The two Tik reached out tentacles, and Wendy glanced at Joe, then gently gripped them. The Two Tik were silent for once.

"We are greatly honored to be considered your friend, Joseph. We hold you in the highest esteem," Mac finally managed to say.

Joe held out his hand, and the two Tik wrapped their tentacles around it momentarily. He recalled doing this with Stinky, Hack, and Slash and the intimacy the gesture took on.

Wendy shivered again, and Joe noticed. "I'd better take Wendy back to the house. It's a bit too cool out here. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Joseph, Wendy. Happy mating! Sleep well!"

"Mac, I don't think we should discuss mating as it is a private topic."

"Then why were they doing it in public?" Mac complained as the two Tik headed back to the base. It glanced back. "Tosh, see! They are at it again!"

Wendy pulled back from hugging Joe. "Maybe we can go back to the house?" she asked. Joe nodded, stood with her in his arms, and walked down the rock pile. He set her back on her feet.

Karl was no longer there. He'd returned to the house when he saw things were going well with Wendy and Joe.

As they walked to the house, Wendy leaned against his body for warmth and intimate contact.

Joe recalled something Wendy had said to him when they'd first met. "Didn't you tell me you were only attracted to women?" he said cautiously.

Wendy blushed as she recalled the meeting as well. "Yeah, well... I hadn't exactly had the best experience with men, and I was with Pam. Then this big man was threatening to take her from me. I went on the offensive. Tried to scare him off."

"How'd that work out for you?" Joe said quietly.

Wendy looked up at him and saw the pain in his eyes. She also saw hope. Suddenly, for the first time since she lost Pam, Wendy felt like there may be a future. She turned and wrapped her arms around him and tilted her face up for a kiss.

Joe's lips were on hers again, and this time, as the passion built, he eased her into the bliss. She clung to him and kissed him back as she moaned. When the kiss ended, she rested her cheek on his, feeling him tremble with need. She felt the same way.

"Would-would you like to come to my place?" she asked, thinking they'd have a little more privacy there. She felt Joe's smile and how his arms tightened just a little.

"I'd like that very much."

"The neighborhood isn't very good, so it's not so safe to park there," she winced.

"My truck has a rather aggressive security system," he assured her.

They continued walking.

Wendy broke the comfortable silence. "The Gates. Where will they go?"

"The Tik tell me they will go everywhere."

"Who will be allowed to use them?" she asked.

"Everyone. They're free."

Wendy was quiet as she processed this, then looked up at him. "If-if I wanted to go for a walk, a long one, would you go with me?"

Joe smiled down at her and nodded. He could think of nothing he wanted more.

Chapter 32

It took five years for the governments of Earth to finalize the locations of Earth's Gates, get agreement from the Tik on those locations, and build the required infrastructure to support them. It was reported that the opening of the Gates for public use was imminent.

During those years, the Gate in Glennville was the main conduit for diplomats from Earth to visit the Assembly Headquarters on Maghadahn to prepare the Assembly for their newest member. The Kel-Fahr were no longer determining who got to join, and Earth wanted a seat at the table. The latest Humans through the Gate were there to make official introductions.

Considering it was the Humans who exposed the Kel-Fahr's horrific genocidal acts and it was the Humans who eliminated the most powerful race in the Assembly in one swift move (which had yet to be explained), the Assembly wasn't resistant to the idea of letting them join, at least not to their faces.

Groups of human Soldiers were seen on many Assembly planets in the company of Tik. These humans had been tasked with hunting down the remaining rabid Kel-Fahr. They were very good at the task and always left the planet with the Mediator suits immediately after dispatching the Kel-Fahr inside them. The fear of invasion was quickly quelled.

Planets that had been red-flagged were visited by Tik to determine if it was possible to reverse the effect of the burrs. For those planets where this was impossible and life still existed, the Assembly set up rescue missions to save as many refugees as possible.

Amid all this activity, the Tik race addressed the Assembly on Maghadahn and informed the gathered delegates of their new autonomy. The Tik were free and would no longer take direction from any other race. They would continue to maintain the Gate Network, which would not be used for military purposes. There would be no invasions through any Gate terminal, ever. Passengers and cargo only, and Tik would man the shipment Gates personally.

Then tragedy struck.

The flow of new Tik from the factories on Ello suddenly stopped. The Gates to Ello closed, and the Tik could not open the original Gates to the planet. When they managed to open one of the new Gates, the first Tik through was destroyed instantly as it was bathed in fierce radiation. Working with the Tik, Human scientists at Think Tank Two built a shielded probe and sent it through.

They discovered Ello had become a scorched and hellish landscape. The planet's sun had mysteriously and suspiciously gone supernova. The lush jungles and vast oceans were gone, burned away in the blast. Fire and ash were all that remained.

Evidence of the Ello's demise was found at the bottom of what was once a deep water research facility. The remains of the scientists were sealed in the reinforced structure, cooked by the radiation flashing out from Ello's sun.

The Ello, whose disdain for all other races kept them restricted to the seas of their home planet, were no more.

More disturbing, the two Tik factories on the planet were destroyed. There would be no more Tik coming from Ello. By Kel-Fahr order, the Tik had always been Instantiated from one world. The mechanism of their creation, which gave them their sentience, was a carefully protected secret and only existed within the factories themselves.

Until Rusty and Burnie infiltrated the factories to upload their new code. Both Tik contained the redundant Instantiation modules they stole from the facilities during their mission.

The Tik would build again.

A Tik delegation spoke with the Chuuruthians, and a massive factory would be built on their home world. The Chuuruthians were one of the original members of the Assembly and had a stable and peaceful society. Rusty and Burnie were to run the factory.

Closer to home and much to Joe's profound relief and joy, Wendy gave up her apartment and moved in with him. She was there to comfort him when he woke screaming in the night. She was there to hold his hand or embrace him when the weight of his memories became too much, and sadness threatened to overwhelm him. They were there for each other.

Wendy attended the wedding of Sergeant Craig Armstrong and Taylor Simmons with Joe. The ceremony was performed on the grounds of the Neumann's property, and the reception was held in a large white tent next to the house. They danced the night away under the stars.

They visited Amy in LA and went to the premiere of her movie. Joe was so incredibly proud of his little sister. She was ridiculously busy, so he didn't get to spend too much time with her. He was relieved to see no sign of Agent Wannabe and surprised to see Ven working for Amy as her personal security. He talked with the man and was comfortable that Amy was professionally and competently protected.

Amy dated occasionally but wasn't serious about anyone as she was too busy to dedicate real time to a relationship. She was having too much fun.

Joe visited Willis and Ramone's precinct and spent an afternoon hanging out with the people, enjoying the party they'd promised him.

Wendy spent that day with Amy, and the two women became good friends as Amy saw how much the woman loved Joe. She gave Wendy her blessing, and the woman also saw the strength of Amy's love for Joe.

Joe's children had grown significantly, and almost half of them moved away to take up careers in whatever field their ravenous intellect drew them to. Six remained to work the farm with Karl and Clara. Five worked in Think Tank Two, each specializing in different scientific areas, but they continued to live at home. Scientists from around the globe continued to flock to the Think Tank to work with them.

To house their huge family, Joe and Karl designed and built an extension with enough bedrooms for their expanded family. The team that constructed Think Tank Two assisted, so the construction was done in record time. Clara enjoyed furnishing it and designed the grounds around the extension. An indoor pool was added as the children truly enjoyed swimming, though they could never get their Dad to join them.

While Karl had Dunc, Layla, Hany, and Kerk to help with the expansive fields they now managed, Clara passed along her cooking skills to Ash and Ray. They took to the culinary arts as joyfully as their four siblings took to agriculture.

Summer vacations were spent at their cottage on Mille Lacs Lake. Their neighbors, Philip and Grace Lancaster, were delighted and amazed to see Karl and Clara's new grandkids. They even hosted the overflow in their extra bedrooms. The kids loved playing in the lake.

On their second visit, Karl got a deal on the mansion up the road from the cottage, which had remained empty for years. Clara and Joe spent hours renovating and refurbishing the property. The extra space was required with the size of their new family and the security detail that continued to watch over Joe and his extended family. Karl and Clara continued to live in the cottage as they preferred the smaller property and the nearby company of the Lancasters.

-=-

It was the spring of the seventh year after the One Hour War. Joe stood next to his Dad on the veranda of the family home. The late afternoon sun was setting behind the trees, sending dappled light over the front lawn. The air was still cool, so they wore sweaters under their jackets.

Beyond the grove of trees before them was the highway, and just on the other side were the vast fields that Karl was eager to begin working. His workers were also excited to start. The grove was budding nicely and soon would have full canopies of leaves to rustle in the wind. There was still enough coverage from the sheer number of trees to hide them from the world beyond. The lane led away from the home to wind its way through the trees to the gatehouse and the highway beyond, but both were invisible to them.

All they could see and hear was nature. Both men were enjoying the quiet and calm of the scene before them.

Behind them, they could hear the giggling laughter of the kids as they played one of the board games they loved so much. Clara was no doubt cleaning their clock as she was the reigning master of the household.

Joe picked up the sound of Wendy's laughter and felt his heart lighten.

"How long will you be gone?"

Joe looked at his Dad and, for the first time, noticed how much he'd aged in the last few years. Joe was sure he was responsible for some, if not all, of his father's grey hairs and wrinkles.

"I don't know. The Gate Network is pretty big. There's a lot to see."

"Maybe you'll find some indestructible clothes," Karl said quietly, and Joe smiled at the memory. He nodded.

"May I assume the guys will be going with you?" Karl asked, referring to the SEAL team that continued to be Joe's shadow. These days, it was more of an honor guard position as the threats to Joe's existence were long past.

"No. I spoke with the General and asked that they remain here. He's officially decommissioning his warhead. I'm no longer one of his weapons of mass destruction," Joe said with just the slightest hitch to his voice. Karl heard it, though.

"You won't be going alone, right?" Karl asked, concern plain on his face and in his voice.

Joe smiled. "No. Wendy's coming with me, and I'll have the company of Mac and Tosh, you know, in case I need a direct route back home for any reason."

He saw his father relax a little, comforted in the knowledge that Wendy would look after him and that the Tik were also going.

The air was turning chilly now that the sun was getting low, and Karl shivered.

"You coming inside?"

"In a bit."

Karl patted his son's shoulder and went inside. Joe looked up at the stars and thought about how he'd be walking amongst them soon.

His phone buzzed, and he recognized the tone as the gatehouse. "Hello?"

"Mr. Neumann? This is Corporal Taggart at the gatehouse. You have a couple of visitors. They're on your list, but considering the hour... and who they are, I thought it might be best to call."

"Who are they?"

"Iosif Nikolov and Renata Gorokhov."

Joe blinked in surprise. He hadn't heard these names in years. They'd virtually disappeared. "Send them up. Thanks!"

As he put his phone back in his pocket, Wendy stepped out on the veranda in her thick coat and walked over to give him a hug. "Send who up?" she asked.

"Renata and Iosif," Joe said as he tried to recall the last time they'd met. It was an underground dance club. He glanced at Wendy and saw she was still looking for an explanation. "Uh, they used to be in the Russian mob, but the last I'd heard, they were... freelancing. I met them at the Lake years ago and helped her get her legs working again. Nerve damage."

Wendy had an ah look on her face as she cuddled in against his chest.

The crunch of gravel announced the approach of a car, and they turned to watch a brown sedan come to a stop next to the house. The doors opened, a blonde stepped out of the passenger side, and a tough-looking man stepped out the driver's side, his eyes tracking all movement and assessing the danger. Joe walked down the steps holding Wendy's hand and moved closer to his visitors. The blond smiled broadly at Joe and rushed forward to hug him. Wendy stepped back a little in surprise.

"JOSEPH!" the woman squealed happily as she leapt into his arms. She kissed him, and he gave in to her demanding tongue to give her a little buzz. Embarrassed, he set her back on her feet as she glowed happily. "Renata." He turned and shook Iosif's hand. The man was smiling at Joe's discomfort.

"This is my girlfriend, Wendy," Joe said, guiding her forward.

Iosif shook her hand, but Renata gave her a hug. "You are so fortunate to have captured the big man's heart!" she gushed, and Wendy's apprehensive look gave way to a smile.

"Come inside and get warm," Joe said, guiding them inside. He took their coats and hung them up.

Iosif and Renata froze as Dunc walked past the entrance carrying a bowl of popcorn. The young male paused and looked back at them curiously.

"Hi, Dunc. Could you let Mom and Dad know we have company?" Joe said, and the youth smiled and nodded as he continued into the living room.

"I have heard the stories and seen the images on TV, but until you meet one in person, it does not feel real," Renata gasped. At Joe's curious look, she continued. "Aliens."

Joe grinned. "Actually, these ones are natives. They were born here. They're my kids."

Iosif and Renata both looked at Joe with wide eyes. "Come into the kitchen and have a seat. I'll put a kettle on. Tea or coffee?"

"Tea, please," Iosif said, finally able to speak.

They took seats, and Joseph busied himself in the kitchen. "Would you like something to eat? I have some fresh bread and some roast beef. I could make you a sandwich."

Iosif and Renata nodded gratefully.

Clara and Karl walked in, and Joe made the introductions as they shook hands. "Joseph, sit with your friends. I'll finish this," his mother insisted and shooed him to the table.

Joe sat next to Wendy and took her hand. He looked at his visitors.

"I have to admit, I never thought I'd see you two again," he said. Iosif smiled, but Renata grinned.

"We have been moving around quite a bit. I wasn't sure if we'd get back to this part of the world or even make it out of Russia alive," she admitted.

"That rough?" Joe asked.

Iosif snorted and scowled lightly at his charge, who smiled innocently. The man looked at Joe. "There were a few... tense moments," he said with a weary sigh.

Clara placed their plates before them and sat next to Karl.

As the two ate their sandwiches, Joe noticed Iosif glancing at the windows and saw the tension in the corners of his eyes.

"You should be aware that our property is guarded by the Army, who probably went on high alert when you arrived. There's also a SEAL team on the property. This is about as secure a place as you're likely to find. If someone is following you, they aren't getting past the front gate, and don't let that little building fool you. Just down the back lane is one of the most important buildings on the face of the Earth. Think Tank Two. A platoon of elite Soldiers guards it, and their security zone runs right up to the gatehouse. You're safe here. You can relax."

Iosif looked at Joe and weighed his words. "Is not so easy to relax. We've made... enemies."

"You've been busy?" Joe said with a smile.

Renata had a wicked smile on her face. "We are the wind of change. We ensured the responsible ones paid for their wicked ways. Perhaps our efforts to purge the evil went broader and higher than originally intended." She shrugged.

Iosif nodded, then grimaced. "We were perhaps a little too bold. We have burned many bridges." He shrugged. "All of them."

Renata looked at Joe. "While we are not welcome, we seem to have some immunity here in the States. A few times, we were certain we would be arrested, but each time, they simply sent us on our way. Not always happily. I am wondering if this was your doing? I hear you work for the NSA?"

Joe looked a little uncomfortable, then nodded. "I used to work for the NSA. I asked General MacAvoy to give you two immunity from prosecution, but he said the best he could do was a hands-off policy unless they caught you committing some violent crime."

Iosif looked at Joe in surprise. "You speak to the head of the US Military?"

Joe nodded. "Yeah, he... I guess he used to be my boss... kinda."

"You were in the army?" Renata asked.

"No, not really. It's... classified." Joe shrugged.

Renata knew to let that one go, so she just nodded.

Joe looked curiously at his Russian friends. "If you sought me out, can I assume you need my assistance?"

"We have made too many enemies. As Renata says, you have connections. Maybe more than we suspected." Iosif said.

"I'll do what I can," Joe said.

"We hear the Gates will open. Very soon. They will not let us pass through," Iosif said bluntly.

"Is the Gate Network ready for the wind of change?" Joe said with a smile.

Renata smiled sadly. "We have achieved what we set out to do. It is done. The organization is dying, but its remaining members still want us dead."

"Do you know where you'll go once you go through?" Joe asked curiously.

Renata and Iosif shared an uneasy look. They shook their heads. "But we cannot stay here... and live."

Joe considered the two sitting across the table from him and the lives they'd led. That gave him an idea. He cracked a smile. "How would you feel about telling your life story to a complete stranger? Granted, a completely trustworthy stranger. In exchange for an unedited, unvarnished, whole, and complete account of your lives to date, you could get a guide to take you anywhere in the Gate Network. Again, you have to be truthful. Nothing else is acceptable, and the moment your guide feels you are not living up to your side of the bargain, the deal is off, and you're on your own. No bargaining. Done. Keep in mind, nothing you say will be used against you in any court of law."

Iosif looked at Renata, his eyebrows raised in question. He looked back at Joe. "Like priest in a confessional?"

Joe nodded and grinned. "Yes. Much like that. A very patient, non-judgmental, and curious priest in a confessional. Good for the soul."

Iosif nodded, and Renata did as well.

"While you've seen Dunc, I think having a larger immersion might be a good idea to see how you react. Not all the initial diplomats Earth sent to Maghadahn maintained their cool. Some had emotional breakdowns when they found themselves in a room full of oddly shaped beings. Xenophobia is not something you want to discover you suffer from if you are out there in the Gate Network away from humanity," Joe suggested.

The two Russians nodded. Joe looked at his Dad, who was sitting closest to the doorway. Karl leaned back in his chair to call for the kids and jolted slightly when he saw them all standing in the hall just around the corner.

"Come in here, you sneaks!" Karl growled with a smile.

The kitchen began to fill with Joe's kids. Ash slipped onto Joe's lap and looked back at the visitors with wide, excited eyes. All the kids were excited. They didn't get to see too many strangers.

"Iosif Nikolov and Renata Gorokhov, may I introduce my family. This is Ash, Ray, Dunc, Hany, Layla, Kerk, Trib, Jay, Dane, Rupa, and Geny." Each of his kids raised a hand to wave as he called out their names.

"The rest of my kids are working in Universities, Laboratories, or in private pursuits of their own in different cities around the world."

"H-how many?" Renata said in shock.

"In total, twenty. We almost lost Mora, who is studying music in Paris, France. A xenophobe attacked her in a concert hall, but she got away, and her security team took down her assailant. All the kids off the farm have security details. It's still necessary." He looked at the two across the table. Aside from being slightly surprised, they showed no signs of emotional imbalance. Joe nodded. "It looks like you should be okay."

Ash put her hand out, and Renata reached across to hold it. Joe felt her surprise when she heard the music.

"Ah! The music! It's lovely! Iosif! Hold my hand!" Renata blurted as she held out her hand.

Cautiously, Iosif took her free hand in his, and he gasped in wonder. Joe could feel his mind in the link, though he did nothing to make his presence known to them... until he spoke.

"This ability is unique to my kids. I don't believe you'll find anyone else in the Network who can do this. It makes them pretty special," he said with a smile. Ash pulled her hand back and yawned. She leaned back against Joe's chest and closed her eyes. "Oh, no, you don't. It's time for bed. Everyone, off to bed. Have you cleaned up the living room?" He got nods from the kids. They waved goodnight, and Karl and Clara said their goodnights as well.

"Joe, they can take the two guest rooms next to ours tonight," Clara offered.

"Thanks, Mom!"

"Thank you," Iosif said with a nod and stood to shake Karl and Clara's hands again.

Once Joe and Wendy were alone with the Russians, Renata eased her blonde wig off.

"It feels so good to get out of that!" she sighed. "I never want to wear it again!"

She freed her long black locks from the pins and shook her hair out.

"Papa! Her hair has changed color!" Ash said after she rushed back into the kitchen to put the popcorn bowl away.

"It was a wig. Would you like it?" Renata asked.

"Oh! YES! Thank you!" the young female gushed, quickly pulling it onto her head. The long blond strands reached below her bottom. Considering none of the kids had hair of any kind courtesy of their mother's genes, the wig made a startling difference. Wendy couldn't suppress her giggles, and Joe smiled at Ash.

"You look lovely! Off to bed now," Joe said.

"Thank you again!" She stopped as she looked at the ultra-short hair on Iosif's head. "Maybe Mr. Nikolov would have liked the wig?"

Renata snorted loudly, but Iosif just shook his head with a grin of his own. Ash smiled back at him and rushed away. They heard squeals from the others as Ash showed up with a beautiful head of hair. The sound diminished as they ran down the hall to the new wing where their bedrooms were.

"Tomorrow, after a lovely home-cooked breakfast, we'll head to the Think Tank Two, where I will introduce you to your guide. It will take you through the big Gate they have. From there, you can make your way... anywhere."

"Thank you, Joe," Iosif said, finally beginning to relax.

"Did you say it?" Renata asked.

"Yes. The guide is another alien called a Tik. It's a mechanical lifeform. They look like flying chrome cylinders. The Tik are really good people. Excellent company, and they know pretty much everything about the Gate Network. They also record people's history. They get to know you and record the details of your life. It's a kind of immortality to have the Tik record your story as they share that knowledge only with other Tik to preserve it."

"It's late, and you both look like you could use some sleep. If you want to get your bags from the car, I'll show you to your rooms," Joe suggested, and they all stood. Iosif walked back to the car and returned with two suitcases.

"I take it we can drop your car off at the rental agency in town?" Joe asked.

"Oh! Yes, that would be good," Iosif said tiredly and handed Joe the keys. He placed them on a hook by the door.

Joe smiled and took one of the bags. "I'll ask the army folks to drop it off in the morning. They will look into any suspicious strangers looking for you."

The two nodded to him, so he showed them to the rooms. These were once occupied by Roger Bannon and Rachel White before they were called back to Washington. He missed them. He still kept in touch with Safa with occasional video calls, but she was also terribly busy and enjoying her new, more senior position.

Before they said their goodnights, Renata touched Joe's arm. "I am so glad you have found someone to share your life with!"

Joe smiled at Wendy and gave her hand a squeeze. "For as long as she wants to share it." Wendy smiled.

"Goodnight."

Joe and Wendy made their way to their room, and he opened the door for her. They went inside and got ready for bed.

As they snuggled under the covers, Wendy tucked herself in against Joe's chest.

"This is the last time for a long time that we'll be in this bed," she said quietly.

Joe heard the nervousness in her voice but also excitement. They'd talked about the long walk for a few years now. It was time. He gently kissed the top of her head, closed his eyes, and let sleep drag him under.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

-=-

Think Tank Two was an impressive structure, but what Joe liked most about it was the sculpture by the front entrance of the Kennt and Rensley and the group sculpture by the cafeteria windows of the Original Eight. Rusty, Burnie, Patch, Frank, Pokey, and Joe's friends, Hack, Slash, and Stinky. He loved the accuracy of their likenesses. He missed his friends.

Joe had been informed that General MacAvoy would be arriving to personally see him off. Joe wondered at the extravagance of using the General's valuable time for this, but they insisted. There was the matter of getting Iosif and Renata through the Gate before the General arrived. The man didn't need to know about that. A shiny new Tik approached their group and hovered before Joe.

"Hello! I have been requested to be the guide for the friends of Joseph Neumann. I am here to fulfill this task."

"Thank you! This is Iosif Nikolov and Renata Gorokhov. Please take good care of them and be their guide in the network." Joe asked.

"It will be my honor," the Tik replied. "They will tell me their stories?"

Joe looked at the two, and they nodded. "Yes, they will."

"Excellent. We should get underway as I have been notified the General's group will be arriving within the next seven minutes," the Tik notified them.

Joe shook Iosif's hand. The man seemed to be searching for something to say then he smiled. "See you on the other side."

That pulled a smile onto Joe's lips as well. They both knew the odds were against that.

Renata crushed herself against Joe's chest when Iosif stepped back. "I will never forget you, Joseph," she gasped against his neck.

"You're pretty unforgettable yourself. Stay out of trouble," he finished with a false growl, and a brief hiccup of laughter came from her before she spun and walked towards the Gate, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Iosif shared a look with Joe and followed.

Wendy hugged Joe and looked up at his sad expression. "Thinking of what might have been?"

Joe sighed as his friends stepped through the mirror surface and left Earth. He looked down into Wendy's eyes.

"No, we were already living in different worlds when we met. I couldn't imagine living as she did, and she had no intention of letting her enemies go unpunished. I'm glad she got closure. Us? It was never meant to be. I'm still sad that I've lost some friends."

Wendy didn't have words for him, so she held him tight, and he took comfort in that.

She heard some personnel carriers pulling to a stop before the large building behind them, and they turned.

Sergeant Armstrong stepped out of the driver's side and opened the rear door to help Clara. Karl came around the back to take his wife's hand. The rear door on the second carrier popped open, and Joe's kids came pouring out. They rushed around their grandparents to race up to their Dad.

His kids working in the Think Tank came rushing to join them.

Joe knelt and gathered his kids in his arms and felt their music swelling through him. As if they were standing next to him, he picked up the presence of the remaining children scattered around the world. He also felt his parents and Wendy in the link. His parents were holding hands, and Dunc linked them in. Wendy had been pulled into the group hug by his kids. He felt his love for them flowing out to them all and theirs returning to him. He hoped he'd be able to reach his kids from wherever he and Wendy roamed. The distances would be staggering, but Gates would be open, so maybe.

He stood and pulled his parents into a firm hug. He wasn't saying goodbye. He knew in his heart he'd return. He... just needed to do this.

"We know."

Joe realized the kids were still bridging their thoughts. "A little privacy now, please," he asked, and they stepped back with impish grins on their faces.

His parents visibly relaxed, so he thanked his children for that.

A series of personnel carriers swept into the parking lot before the building, and Soldiers climbed out. General MacAvoy climbed out of one of the vehicles, and Joe spotted Lieutenant Grey and the SEAL team coming from another. Joe's brow furrowed as they could be here to just say goodbye, or the General may have had second thoughts about letting him go on his own.

Karl glanced back at his son, and they shared a look.

The General looked like he'd lost a little weight but seemed more energized than Joe had ever seen him, and he'd never been a slouch. He walked up to the Neumanns with a smile on his face. He shook Karl's hand and kissed Clara's cheek.

"Would you mind if I had a moment alone with your son?" he asked, and they nodded. Wendy went with them after looking at Joe and receiving a nod.

Once they were alone, the General smiled up at him. "I can see the gears turning. You're wondering if I brought the SEAL team to force them on you as your guardians."

"The thought did cross my mind," Joe said hesitantly.

"I'm not going to do that. I would like you to seriously reconsider your plan for heading out there unescorted. There is no shame in taking precautions. Which Tik are going with you?" the General asked.

"Mac and Tosh."

MacAvoy looked at him in surprise. "Good Lord, them!?! You have more patience than me! With those two, you really will need the SEAL team!"

"You're overstating the danger. I'm not going to be looking for trouble—"

"Son, you don't look for trouble. You draw it like a black hole," MacAvoy sighed. He saw Joe's expression close up and raised his hands in defeat.

"There are hotter heads than mine who are screaming at me to not let you leave—"

"I'M NOT A WEAPON!"

"I know, son, I know you aren't. That isn't the only angle to this cockeyed situation." He peered at Joe and saw he had his full attention. "To the other members of the Assembly, we are a mystery and a problem. Our society is much younger than any of theirs was when they were admitted into the Assembly. We're practically barbarians in comparison to some of them. They like mature societies as they add stability. Yet here we are, primitive by comparison, but somehow, we defeated their biggest, oldest, and most powerful member with seemingly minimal effort. Frankly, they're frightened of us, and for now, that is smoothing our way into their ranks. No one wants to personally find out how we did it. They all want to know, but none want direct experience."

"There's no risk—" Joe began, but the General cut him off.

"But they can't be told that. The truth has to remain a secret for the safety of the human race. Even after we've secured our position amongst them and made ourselves accepted Assembly members, the truth must remain untold. Do you understand the scope of what I am asking of you? Do you understand the longevity of this issue?"

Joe blinked at the General.

He... understood. He was being told not to come home. The only true way to keep the secret would be for him to die. Instead, the General was letting him go, but he was telling Joe that returning wasn't an option.

"My parents! Amy!" Joe gasped.

"Are completely safe. The only one who can prove the truth of your existence and abilities... is you." MacAvoy said with a deep sigh. He looked into Joe's troubled eyes and felt a deep pain in his chest at the injustice heaped once more on this decent young man. He'd directly saved the lives of every living being on the planet and, subsequently, countless others rescued from red-flagged worlds. Yet he was considered by the authorities on his own planet to be too much of a liability to be allowed to live.

"Safa?"

"Her research on you has been seized and secured. She's unhappy about that but understands its importance and how it protects her and you. She's been given other assignments to keep her keen mind occupied for years."

"What about Waechter, Bergstrӧm, & Volkov? They have evidence, too."

MacAvoy smiled as he recalled his meeting with the wily lawyer the previous night. "Christof and I are the only reason the option of your leaving is even possible. The man is a brilliant lawyer and one hell of a chess player. His partners are equally good."

The General's smile faded as he looked at the man before him. "Joseph, I can't begin to express how sick I feel about telling you to run. After everything you've done for us. It seems... it seems we're very much the barbarians the Assembly fears we are."

Joe looked closely at the man and saw his sincerity in the pain reflected in his eyes. He took the man's hand in his and shook it. "Not everyone," he said, his throat closing up.

The General clenched his jaw, fighting back tears, and nodded to Joe. "It's time. You'd better get moving," he said with a rough voice.

"If you need to reach me, General, speak to the Tik... or to one of my children," Joe said quietly, and MacAvoy's eyebrows went up, and he nodded.

Joe walked over to Sergeant Armstrong. "You keep an eagle eye on my parents, now."

"Sweetest duty I've ever had." Craig grinned and shook Joe's hand.

The SEAL team came forward, and he shook their hands and received a few slaps on the arm and shoulder.

In the distance, a car horn could be heard honking. The sound got louder, and it seemed to be getting closer rapidly.

Joe looked over at the General, who was listening to his earpiece. He looked back and Joe and smiled.

"Make it quick," he said to Joe, which earned him raised eyebrows.

Joe looked towards the road as a black sedan swung around the bend and screeched to a stop. The back door flung open, and Amy jumped out. Her hair was wild, and it looked like she'd been crying. She shrieked in relief when she saw Joe and rushed forward to leap into his arms. He caught her and held her close. The others backed away to give them some privacy.

"I-I-I thought—I thought I'd—I'd missed you!" the young woman stammered as she cried against his chest.

"Weren't you in New Zealand filming your new movie?!?" Joe gasped, his heart overflowing with joy. "We tried, but we couldn't reach you!"

"Yes, th-the location is really remote, but I had a visitor," Amy said, calming at last as she rested her cheek against his chest, listening to his powerful heartbeat.

Joe saw his daughter Zera joining her siblings. She'd been studying art in Vancouver. She would have had to have gone for Amy the moment Joe told his kids he was leaving a few days ago.

Zera looked over at him with happiness in her eyes, and he mouthed thank you to her. She nodded and beamed a smile at him.

Joe caught the General's raised eyebrow and nodded.

Amy looked up at him when she felt the tension in his body.

Joe smiled down at his sister. "I have to go. There is... some urgency I can't go into right now. I'm so grateful you came to see us off."

Amy was more attuned to her brother's body language than anyone. "You're not coming back," she gasped, her face blanching in shock.

Joe sighed. He never could keep anything from Amy. He had a large lump in his throat. He shook his head, and his parents gasped as well. Joe's eyes went to Wendy, but she only looked concerned for him. "I have to go. Maybe the General can explain it to you. I won't be easy to find, but if you need to get in touch, speak with the Tik. Once the Gates are open, maybe you could come visit me? The Tik will guide you." He carried Amy to his parents and gently set her on her feet. She didn't want to let go, so Karl and Clara hugged her close as she continued to stare at him in dismay.

He took Wendy's hand in his. "I wasn't expecting this, but maybe I should have. You don't have to come with me—"

"I'm going!" Wendy said fiercely, and he hugged her. He picked up his duffle and Wendy's and quickly stepped towards the Gate with a final wave. Two Tik were waiting for them.

"Good day, Joseph, Wendy. Are you ready?" Mac asked.

Joe nodded, not trusting his voice.

Tosh went through the Gate, and Mac gestured for them to go first. Wendy eagerly stepped through the looking glass.

Joe looked back at his parents and Amy. He would miss them the most. He realized it was more than that. They were part of him. A piece he wasn't willing to give up. He might not have been born to them, but in every other sense, they were his family. He felt that pull strongly in every fiber of his being. It was an unbreakable link.

While he was excited about finally seeing the worlds of the Assembly, he vowed to himself that he would return. Nothing and no one would get between him and the people he loved. It wouldn't be the first time he disobeyed the General.

He smiled as he held their eyes, and they read the conviction in his. Karl gave him a slight nod with a hint of a smile as Clara smiled back at him with love in her eyes. Amy's look of despair was replaced by hope, and she nodded shakily as well.

He turned to face the man he'd become, reflected in the perfectly smooth surface of the Gate. If they loved him, he could learn to live with himself.

He moved forward, walking through a mirror into the unknown beyond, stepping from this world to the next.

Joe's first steps on an endless path.