<Title=”Punishment”>

<Chapter=1 Title=”Still Single”>

“Mom, Where’s my shoes? Matt will be here any minute!” Lisa yelled.

“You left them by the vid, can’t I get a moments peace!” I repositioned baby Keith at my breast. Keith was my new son; only three months old and a real chow hound. I looked at him and smiled. They grow so fast. Lisa’s my eldest of thirteen going on twenty, and Jeremy is just ten months younger. I had them both within a year of my first marriage. I’d just turned sixteen. By the time I was twenty I was already a widow, thanks to that damned drunk driver. My husband was walking out of the grocery store, having volunteered to do my weekly shopping as a birthday present. We had no money to speak of and so we both had to work. I ran a day care center from our home. My husband worked construction. We were still crazy in love even after two kids and almost four years of marriage.

Not to say I’ve been unhappy since then. My parents took me in and helped me though the worst part, and helped me raise my two devils. I thought I was through with love; that nobody would ever take the place of my first husband, Keith, my new one’s name sake. That’s when I met Jim. I was working as a secretary for the construction firm my first worked for. Jim is an engineer, did public works designs like roads, buildings, a kind of a super architect. He landed several really lucrative design jobs just out of college and set himself up in business as an independent design house. His company took off and he eventually had over 100 people working for him, when he sold his company and retired sort of. Now he just takes on jobs he likes to keep his skills up, works the really hard jobs from his old company. I didn’t know this until much later.

We met when I was thirty. I was still a knock out even in the conservative clothes I wore at work. It was always a dance keeping on the good side of all those men at the company, the construction workers were always horny as hell and always asking me out, the engineers were only slightly more considerate. I even kept a picture of my children on my desk as kind of a shield. It only worked on the new guys though after they found out I was a widow they’d start in on me. Eventually they’d figure out I was still holding the candle for my first and would leave me be.

Jim came by to drop off a roll of prints for one of the engineers; and sat down to talk with me. He asked about my kids, and then my husband. I winced and thought of a quick dust off, but then he slapped his palm against his forehead and apologized. “Sorry Mary, I forgot about your husband, somebody told me but it didn’t sink in.” He looked really distressed so I told him it was ten years ago and I was a peace with it. He gave me an odd look then he excused himself and left.

Anyway after that he would come by maybe two or three times a week delivering drawings, papers, picking up drawings, speaking with the engineers and the workers. He’d always stop by at my desk for a chat. Usually only a few minutes though some times as much as a half hour. I kind of came to expect it. I’d forgotten what it was like to have a male friend, who wasn’t just trying to get in my pants.

This had been going on for about six months and one day just after he left I was just looking out the window feeling Ok, and my boss came out of his office and looks over at me. I was looking out the window and so I didn’t see the smile on his face. My boss is the best boss a girl could want. He is married, has two kids, and still loves his wife, a real family man from the old school. On top of that he really treats me well, gives me time off to deal with my kids, never dumps on me, gives me time to do my work, and gives me a lot of praise on the quality of my work.

Anyway he walks over trying to hide his smile and asks me. “So what do you think of Jim?”

I didn’t know how to react and for some reason I just blushed and said, “He’s really a nice guy. Not like most of the guys around here that seem to have only one thing in mind.”

My boss just chuckled, “Yea that’s kind of a hazard in the construction industry, a lot of horny men looking for relief.” Now don’t get the wrong idea. In most places a comment like that from a boss could be construed to be sexual harassment, but my boss and I had this understanding ever since he introduced me to his wife, and I got to know them. My boss was like a father to me, he only wanted the best for me, and my kids. When some of the workers couldn’t take no for an answer, he would take them aside and the problem would just go away. The workers would still talk to me and treat me with respect; they just wouldn’t press me for a piece any more. I have no idea what he’d say to them but whatever it was it worked.

Anyway I could see on his face that he wanted to ask me something but he wasn’t sure if he should. “Come on Mark, you can ask me anything.” I told him.

“Mary, I don’t know if I should it’s really not my place, but you’ve been like a daughter to me, ever since Keith was killed I’ve worried about you.” I could see he really meant what he was saying.

“What do you mean, why worry about me? I have a good job a wonderful boss, good kids who haven’t managed to drive me crazy yet.” I couldn’t tell where he was going with this.

“Well Shiela and I wondered if you’ll ever re-marry. You know life doesn’t stop at twenty. You deserve all the happiness you can find.” Shiela is my boss’s wife. I was kind of shocked. I really wasn’t expecting that question.

“Mark, you know how it was with me and Keith. It was kind of like you and Shiela.” I met him at the grocery store; he was buying some beer and other shit food. I smiled at what he had in is cart, and he caught on instantly like he could read my mind.”

It was like yesterday I could still remember. He was tall and kind of thin but with large arms and solders. He wore a tee shirt and blue jeans. Anyway, he puts out his hand and says “Hi, my names Keith can you make any suggestions on what I should buy?”

I was flattered that he’d even ask me. I was only fifteen. I was at the store doing the shopping for mom as it was my turn. I shook his hand, “I’m Mary, and sorry I didn’t mean to criticize.” I blushed.

“No that’s alright I’d really appreciate the advice.” He gave me a sunny smile which I could feel all the way to my toes.

“Well, try to stay away from processed foods and buy meat and vegetables. Like instead of potato chips buy some nuts, and raisins. Instead of the TV dinners buy some ground beef or chicken, and some spices like maybe taco mix and cook it.” I ran out of steam.

“What about the beer?” He asked with a smile.

“Beers okay. You’ve only got a six pack and that won’t hurt you unless you do it every day.” I was getting really embarrassed at this point.

“Well thanks for the advice, do you come here often?” He was smiling and trying to put me at my ease.

“Usually on Fridays I do the shopping for the family.” I was still a little unsure but something about him made me feel easy with him.

“Well thanks again.” He got out of the checkout line and went back toward the meat counter. I was flattered he acted like he was going to try my suggestion.

“Mary?” My boss was looking at me. I came back to earth. “Sorry you reminded me of the day I met Keith.”

“Listen Mary, this is a bad time to talk about this. It’s Friday why don’t you get the kids and come over for dinner. Shiela has been bugging me to ask you over anyway. Bring Cindy too.” Mark looked kind of concerned.

“If Shiela is cooking I’m for that, she’s the best cook I know, thanks for the invite.” It was true Shiela is a gourmet cook with a talent for whipping up a tasty meal from the most prosaic starting ingredients. “The kids will be thrilled.”

“Tell the kids to bring their suits the pools open.” My boss had a beautiful garden with a pool to die for, as Lisa says.

I looked at the clock it was quarter to five. “Mary, you can go now, fifteen minutes aren’t going to matter.” What I’d tell you a boss to die for.

I picked up my purse and sweater and went out to the car; all the way thinking about the odd question he’d asked.

I called home and spoke to my live in baby sitter. “Cindy; get the kids cleaned up and their suits together we’ll be going to the bosses for super.” “Yes mam.” Cindy is my best friend she has two kids of her own, and she takes care of mine and four other kids during the day. She lives in my house; the one Keith bought after saving for two years for a down payment, insurance paid for the rest. Cindy liked to mess with me and would play the black servant game. She was tall and black from Nigeria, and was no body’s servant. She looked like a Zulu princesses, six feet tall and built. She came over with her boyfriend who worked construction with Keith. Her boyfriend got her pregnant and then just disappeared one day. Anyway one thing led to another and she moved in with me and did day care while I worked at the construction company. “Quit it, get your brood together too your coming with us.” “Yes, master”. She read about slavery in a book and liked to pick on me. I’ve asked her about her life in Africa and she would never give me a straight answer, I don’t think her name was really Cindy it’s just the name she gave when she came to the USA.

I drove up in the battered old station wagon, it had been converted to hydrogen fuel by Keith but was probably two hundred years old, and she got in on the passenger side and the kids piled into the back. “You sure it’s okay to bring us along?” Cindy asked, “I mean were a real troupe where your boss might be expecting only you and yours.”

“Cindy my boss is not an idiot you’ve met him. Don’t worry he’s expecting you.” I patted her knee, kind of a payback for the ‘mam’ and the ‘master’. She slapped my hand away. “Keep your hands to yourself. You white folk think you can have your way with us, but I’m here to tell you no.” See, it was the same game. I looked hurt.

I looked in the back. “Belt up you lot we’re about to go. I want to hear four snaps toot sweet.” Cindy’s kids were already belting mine were close behind. We blew out the drive toward the high town.

About ten minutes down the road, Cindy looks at me and says, “Sorry”. She was apologizing for the slap. “Accepted.” I smiled at her. It was a game and she knew she’d gone too far.

We turned off the main drag and into the road that led up to were my bosses house was. My boss lives in a gated community of about 30 houses, ranging from big to absolutely extravagant. When I got to the gate the guard waved to me and opened to gate. We got onto the twisty roads that are so popular in these places; the roads setup the houses so you can’t see the driveway of one from another. I followed it around until I came to my boss’s house. His was kind of half way between big and extravagant, but he had more land than most of the other houses. His driveway is longer than the street my house is on.

We pulled up to the house and bailed out, Shiela was waiting near the entry way waving us in. “Welcome, Mary and Cindy I hope you like artichokes I got some this morning.” I wondered if Cindy even knew what an artichoke was. Do they eat weeds in Africa? That’s what artichokes look like big weeds.

It was about six when we got there and the kids all ran out to the pool, stripping off their clothes and putting on their suits. Shiela just laughed and said, “Dinner will be at seven on the patio just put on a shirt. “ Cindy handed me my suit and I looked for a place to change. They didn’t have a pool house their pool was designed to look like a big natural pond with volcanic stone boarders, nestled in the trees. I didn’t know it at the time but it was designed by Jim as a present to Mark and Shiela. It looked so natural but it was nature amplified everywhere you looked there was something special. At the shallow end of the pool there were flat rocks you could sit on and dip your feet in the water, then as the water got deeper the flat rocks got father apart giving room to swim. At the deep end there was a big water fall, a wide stream of water which fell about eight feet. You couldn’t see it but behind the water fall was a cave. The water in the cave ran about 5 degrees hotter than the pool, and there were large flat rocks smoothed out for lying in the humid air. Hidden steam generators made the cave almost a sauna. Next to the eight foot water fall is a water slide, built of some kind of polished black stone. Somehow water was pumped into the stone coating it providing lubrication as you slid down the slide. At the very end of the slide it was straight and then it stopped with about a three foot drop to the deepest part of the pool. When you slid down the slide you hit the water like a skipping stone it was really a trip.

The kids were already sliding down and screaming in delight. I didn’t see any place to change so I just followed the kid’s example and stripped and donned my suit. Cindy had picked out one of my bikinis which are not a lot different from just being naked anyway. Cindy wore a bright blue bikini bottom and no top. That’s Cindy for you; always throwing down the gauntlet. Our kids were used to her and took no notice. Mark and Shiella’s two sons got wide eyes and both jumped into the pool.

Cindy headed for the slide, signaling that I was to come with her. That’s Cindy the unquenchable extrovert. I shook my head and followed. At the top of the slide are these water jets that coat the walls of the slide you just sit push forward and the water would propel you down the slide and shoot you out into the center of the pool. Cindy went first. Somehow the slide was designed so each rider was deposited in a different part of the pool; there is a kind of sloshing action in the water. It keeps from bashing guests together. I sat down and started to go down but I was a little careless and ended up laying down feet first. When I was deposited in the pool rather than skipping over the surface I was driven like a diver into the deep. It was quite a surprise.

I popped up to the surface and Cindy was about ten feet away and laughing at me. I was about to give her the finger when I noticed the kids all clapping so I turned it into a wave. That’s when I noticed my bikini top was history. Shiela and Marks boys were even more goggle eyed but they were laughing too apparently this sort of thing happened a lot. I looked around and spied my top under water and then I noticed another top. I looked over at my daughter Lisa and she had lost her top as well. She didn’t care and hadn’t bothered to retrieve it. I dove down and snagged both of them. I popped up and tossed them over onto the rocks.

Cindy called out to me, “I told you those damn tops were a waste of time.”

I looked for Jeremy, my boy, and he was sliding down head first with his hands in front of him. He hit the water and dove under. The force of the impact stripped his suit right off him as he shot by me. I dove down and snagged it. He hadn’t bothered to tie the string. When I came up I tossed him his suit and said, “Tie it up tight if you’re going to try that again.” Everybody was cracking up at this point when Lisa tried the head first trick, zip no suit just like Jeremy. I just shook my head and swam over to the shallow end of the pool and picked a rock to lie on.

Shiela came out and announced dinner, “Ok you lot its dinner time. We have a dress code, no shirt no food, so find a tee shirt or blouse, bikini tops are not acceptable.”

Cindy looked kind of disgusted at this announcement but she had come prepared and handed me a tank top and put one on. Her top was worse than none at all as her large breasts exceeded its limited capacity. Mine was the same size but I was about half the size of Cindy so it fit me Ok. Cindy just gave me a wicked smile as she knew her shirt was a rule beater. She was going to splash water on her shirt but I reach out a hand and shook my head. She raised her hands and stepped back from the pool.

We went over to the patio. “Cindy you and Mary sit near Mark, the rest sit where you like.” The table was wide enough that Shiela and Mark sat at the head of the table; I sat on the left Cindy on the right.

Shiela brought out the artichokes and put one down in front of each of us serving hers last, she sat down, picked up a knife and tapped the table top and said. “We give thanks to the presence for our food, and welcome our guests Cindy, Mary, and their children to share in this gift.” Shiela and Mark were religious though I could never figure out what religion they were.

Cindy looked surprised and then touched at the sentiment. I couldn’t tell you if Cindy had any religious experience or training. For as long as I’d known her I always got the impression that there was some kind of deep belief or sense of rightness that supported her, but when I tried to talk to her about it she’d just dust me off. I remember the first time I tried she gave me this strange look and then said I should go wash my hands and they must be dirty. I wrote it off to some kind of idiom from her home.

“Ngiyabonga (kakhulu)!” Cindy said under her breath.

Mark looked up and smiled and said “Kulungile!”

Cindy blushed it was hard to see but I knew her so well it was very apparent. “Hey what was that?” I asked. Cindy just shook her head and Mark reached over and touched her hand and smiled, and said “Be safe in my house with my family in the presence.” Then he looked at me and shook his head and said, “Mary let it go.” I looked at Cindy and I saw something I’d never seen in her before, a kind of vulnerability her expression begging me to stop. I sighed and touched her other hand, and said “Ok”.

Shiela chimed in trying to break the ice. “Cindy, have you ever eaten artichoke before? It’s really an unusual plant.”

“Yes mam we used to have them at home though not like this.” Cindy was pulling off the leaves and eating them. Shiela had stuffed them with some kind of slightly salty meat stuffing making them more than just their usual vehicle for conveying butter to the mouth.

“Artichokes have been found in ancient Egypt and are thought to have originated in northern Africa.” Mark said.

“They were brought to the US by the Spanish and French and grow well in a Mediterranean climate.” Shiela said.

“Okay lighten up I get the point.” I was getting tired of the lecture. “Shiela knows her food and as usual these are heavenly.” The really were.

“Well Mary, we can pick up our discussion from work if you like, if you don’t mind Cindy hearing it.” Mark said.

“Okay by me, I thought about your question, and I think I have an answer.” I looked at Cindy and said, “Mark asked me if I ever thought about re-marrying.” Cindy kind of got an interested look on her face. “Yea that was my reaction too, I’ve never thought too much about it, I’m kind of waiting for something to happen, I haven’t met anybody that I’d consider going out with.” Mark kind of smiled and shook his head at that. “But I can’t say I feel lonely either. The kids and my job keep me pretty busy.” I looked a Cindy, “What about you Cindy, you ever think about tying the knot?”

“You know me Mary, haven’t found a man which isn’t intimidated by my charm.” Cindy said.

“Yes, it’s kind of the same for me; I get plenty of offers to jump in the sack, but none that want much else.” I was thinking of all the construction workers and engineers.

“What about Jim?” Mark said.

“Who‘s Jim?” Cindy chimed in.

“Oh he’s some kind of engineering consultant drops off papers talks to the engineers; he likes to chat with me when he drops by the company. His nice enough I suppose.” I was feeling kind of odd embarrassed and defensive.

Mark just shook his head and looked over at Shiela. Cindy cracked a big smile, “Oh will you look at her, you could hit her with a stick and she still wouldn’t catch on.”

“What?” I didn’t get it.

“See! What’d I tell you?” Cindy was still cracking a big smile and shaking her head. “Honey you have got to introduce me to this guy.”

“Why? What’s going on?” I was really dense. I looked and Cindy, Mark and Shiela and they all just had these shit eating grins.

“He’ll be in the office tomorrow; I’ve got a meeting with him to discuss the Hansen project with him. Why don’t you and Cindy come we could use some fresh input. You can stay over here tonight and leave the kids with Shiela.” Mark offered.

“Oh momma can we stay?” Lisa chimed in, Jeremy looked interested, Shiela’s boys looked interested, and Cindy’s boys were squirming in their seats, big smiles in their dark faces.

“Okay, Okay, I still don’t see what you’re on about but we’ll do it.” I really was dense. In retrospect I can’t really explain why I was blocking so strongly but there it was. The rest of the meal was absolutely the best. As usual Shiela managed to make a feast fit for the gods. I was a little bothered by the grins , Mark and Cindy would exchange at my expense but I decided they were having me on and I’d show them by ignoring them.

After the meal Shiela was setting up the kids in their rooms, she put the boys in together in a big room they had with bunk beds, and Lisa in a room down the hall near Cindy and my room. I slipped into Lisa’s room.

“Lisa we need to talk.” I looked at her she was starting to lose her boyish figure; her breasts were starting to show and her butt was starting to broaden. She had on a pink nighty with flowers and hearts on them.

“What momma? Thanks for letting us stay over. This place is really cool.” Lisa looked at me. She was standing next to the mirror.

“Honey, you had a pretty good time today, and I want to make sure it stays that way.” I looked at her and I took her in my arms and hugged her.

“Now honey you showed a lot of skin today, and so did Cindy and I, and your brother and Matt and Kiggy are both pretty used to that, but ’s boys are not used to our easy ways and they are a bit older than your brother, Matt and Kiggy.” Matt and Kiggy are Cindy’s boys. “They will probably try to touch you even maybe try to have sex with you.” I was trying not to scare her.

“Oh mama, you’re such a cube they both have already tried to touch me and more, but I told them no. They’re both nice boys, mama, and they know that no means no.” She was growing up so fast it almost hurt me.

“Lisa, it is a fact of life, when the time is right and a boy asks, a girl is going to say yes. You might think your time is far off but there is no predicting it. So I want you to be doubly sure your protection is in place and you have your kit with you ready for that day.” When I told Lisa about the birds and the bees when she got her first period, I gave her a kit, with a diaphragm, cream, and several condoms and I explained to her how they were used and had her try on the diaphragm. She was eleven years old. I told her that now that she has her period, she can get pregnant and that to do so at her age would be risky for her and the baby. I showed her the infant mortality figures and talked to her about how her life would change if she had a baby. I told her that she can make the choice but the longer she could hold out and enjoy her life, before assuming the responsibility for a baby the better for her.

“Oh momma, I never forget. I remember our talk even today.” She hugged me back.

“Okay honey, now one more thing. It can be really nice to have a boy touch you and as long as you are both careful the world won’t come to an end. So don’t be afraid, and if you want to talk about it after you can always talk to me, remember that honey. I won’t be mad no matter what you choose. Okay? I love you.” I held her close.

“I love you mama. Some of my friends are afraid that their mother will kill them if they ever found out they let a boy touch them. You are the best mom.” Lisa hugged her mom back.

I left Lisa and walked down the hall to speak with the boys. When I got to the door I rattled the door and said, “Jeremy it’s your mom, I want to have a word with you.” Then I opened the door. They were playing a video game, Jeremy was watching.

“Mamma?” Jeremy looked at his mom.

“Come out in the hall I want to talk.” I pushed him out into the hall and closed the door.

“How’re you doing son? What did you think of the debacle at the pool?” I looked him in the eye.

“Oh mamma it was really funny when you slid down the slide and lost your top. Jimmy’s and Kevin’s eyes almost popped out. When Lisa lost hers too they both thought it was really cool. I think they both have the hots for her.” Jeremy was excited remembering to pool.

“What about you honey? Did you find it exciting too?” Like I didn’t know the answer already.

“Oh mamma, I’ve seen you, Cindy and Lisa a bunch of times, while it’s pretty exciting you know we had our talk and I still understand.” I had explained the birds and the bees to Jeremy the same day I spoke with Lisa. I told him that it was a very special thing to touch a girl and have sex. I gave him a kit of condoms and cream and explained how to use them. I explained masturbation, and what could happen if he ever got a girl pregnant and about his responsibility to the child.

“Ok, son you have a good time with the boys and if Lisa comes up in the conversation, try to keep it clean OK?” I didn’t have much hope but…

“Oh mama, you know me, Kiggy and Matt wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Lisa. Jimmy and Kevin are real nice, and they both are just gaga over Lisa, they’d do anything for her.” I hugged him.

“Ok scoot.” A slapped his ass as he went back.

I went to check on Cindy. I knocked and she said “Come on in Mary”.

I looked and Cindy was wearing a pair of cotton panties and lying on the bed looking at the ceiling.

I sat down on the chair near the vanity and she rolled over on her side to look at me. “Lisa’s going to have her hands full the next few days.”

“Yes, I talked to her about it she thinks she can say no still, we’ll see.” I shook my head. “As the saying goes when their butt starts to spread, their legs start to follow.”

“Cindy, are you Ok? I mean at dinner something happened, something out of your past I think.” I looked at her face. “You’ve never told me about your past and I won’t ask you to unless it will help to talk about it, if you can’t I understand.” She got the vulnerable look on her face again.

“Mary, I’ve wanted to tell you but somehow I just couldn’t. I don’t want your pity and I don’t want you to know about how bad the world can be. You have lived your whole life in the US and you have known only peace, and the love of a man that for some reason the gods, took away. I have known the peace your country is blessed with and I’ve lived with your love and your children for almost ten years.

My past is a joyous and painful memory to me. I grew up in a small village the seventh daughter of the chief of my tribe. I was a princess. I grew strong in the love of my father and my mothers, and my tribe.

Our tribe was different than many other tribes because we didn’t fight or raid other tribes; we lived in a hard to reach area which was thought to be desolate and empty of life. When it was found that our valley was not as desolate as was thought we began to get pressure from the surrounding tribes to give of our bounty to them.

When it became clear to the tribal elders that we would soon have to fight for our survival, it was decided to disperse the tribe, essentially abandon our ancestral home. I was given to one of the men of the tribe to be taken to the US to live. We applied for a permanent visa and it was granted and we came over. You know what happened to me here. My husband left me. He went back to fight for our ancestral home. I received news later that all of my people who hadn’t left were killed in a war between the surrounding four tribes with our valley being the prize. You and your husband Keith took me in and gave me a home, and then the gods took your husband.

I think Mark knows something of my past, though he never told me and I don’t know how he might have found out, maybe my husband told him. Anyway when Shiella thanked the presence for the gift of the food and welcomed us to their table, it was just like what we did with visitors in our tribe. I had to thank her as was customary, and Mark surprised me by understanding.

Mary, there are people who look for the members of my tribe and want to force us back into that valley. When they killed my tribe the valley returned to its normal desolate state. The prize was denied to the victors. They think we have cursed the valley because of their treachery and that if they bring us back the curse will be broken.

What they don’t understand is it was how the tribe took care of the valley that made it what it was, and without all the members of the tribe, it can’t be brought back to health. It takes many hands doing the right thing to make that valley live. Apparently Mark knows of these things and has protected me and you from these people.

Anyway, that’s the story of my life. The gods move in mysterious ways. I don’t understand why they have put me here, why they took away my husband, why they took away your husband. It has been a trial of faith but I try to stay strong for the people I love. My boys, you and your kids are part of my circle. Now I can add Shiela and Mark and their boys to my circle. I pray to the gods, the presence as Shiela calls it and listen and wait hoping for a sign.

Cindy got off of the bed and picked up her purse, opened it and extracted a large crystal from it. It was the most beautiful natural quartz crystal I’d ever seen, it was about the ten inches long. She held it up to the light and I could see small gold, green and red inclusions in the crystal. “This is from my home, it is a part of my tribe a part of me, I don’t know how to explain this but every member of my tribe can be found in this crystal, just as every member of my circle is here, you, Keith, Jeremy, Lisa, Mark, Shiella, Jimmy, Kevin, Kiggy, Matt, my husband, you are all here.” She put the crystal on the table and then picked it up touched it to her forehead and put it down again. The she looked at me, took my hand, and said, “Look into the crystal and relax I’ll try to show you my husband.”

I looked at the crystal and she started to hum some kind of tune or mantra under her breath I felt something happen, and then I could see a tall strong black man carrying a spear with a gazelle slung over his solder. “This is my husband the day I was given to him. He caught the gazelle and brought it as a gift to my father.” The image was floating in the air above the crystal, it faded.

“Cindy I don’t know what to say except I love you.” I looked at her and the crystal.

She smiled and said, “Look again Mary.” And I looked at the crystal and I could see Keith, the day I met him. Skinny, tee shirt, blue jeans, and a smile to stop my heart. I started to cry. I have never up to this day ever cried over the loss of Keith. It was like he was never gone, like I could turn my head and he would be there. That feeling of his presence was always there. I never felt alone, I never felt he was gone it was like he just wasn’t in my direct sight. I could still feel his presence even in the images from the past. Even now I wasn’t crying over his loss just at the sight of him and my love for him still strong as the day we were married. How could any man replace him?

“Mary, when I was a little girl I had a bother that I loved almost beyond life itself. My parents knew he was going to die young because he had a defective heart. When he died I cried and cried, it was like my heart had been cut from my body. A week after his death I was still crying and my parents took me to the tribe’s healer. The healer was an old woman she took me from my mother and held me close. I felt her love and her warmth and I drifted off to sleep. When I awoke she was sitting there and she gave me this crystal. She said, I was to look at the crystal and see my brother and try to remember him. I did as she asked and I was happy again, it was like he was alive. Over the next few weeks I had re-lived my bothers short life several times, from his birth to his death five years later. I went to the healer and I asked her if I could see my brother as he was today, not just the past. She smiled at my request and just told me to look. When I tried all I could get was a feeling of peace and joy, no image would form. I asked her what it meant. She said that he was with the gods and all that I could understand was peace and joy. That knowledge is what cured me, I didn’t feel sorry for him I felt happy. The healer sent for my parents and they took me home. Before I left I asked the healer if I could keep the crystal, and she said that it was mine a gift from the gods.”

“When I got back to my home, I showed the crystal to one of my mothers. She looked really surprised and she hugged me and told me I was really special and that I should keep the crystal secret. When I asked her why she said that the gods gave me the crystal and the power to use it and that it was a very special thing, a sacred trust given to very few people. See told me that I was different and that difference could frighten people, and bring me harm. She held me close and made me promise to feel in my heart that the gods have a purpose before showing the crystal to anyone. Somehow, I feel you need to see this part of me, that the gods have a purpose in showing it. Mary, I don’t know how to explain it, it just doesn’t work like that, I know it’s right to do this but I can’t tell you why.” Cindy was looking confused, frustrated even.

“Cindy, I can’t believe it almost. You’ve got super natural power or something.” I was surprised and not a little jealous.

“Don’t give me that bullshit. There is no such thing a ‘Super Natural’. There is only what we know and what we don’t know.” Cindy looked at me like I was some kind of idiot. “I’ll bet you can do it. In fact I think that’s part of what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to teach you this.” She picked up the crystal and held it out to me. “Take it and touch it to your forehead.”

I took the crystal from her and was surprised to find it was slightly warm. I touched it to my forehead and I felt a spark like from a wool sweater. I jumped.

“Ha, it does that sometimes.” Cindy laughed at my surprise. “Now you try to see Keith, the first time you met him.”

I thought back to the first time I met my other half. As I looked into the crystal I saw his face, his smile as he talked to me, his mouth moving. It was like his head was suspended in the air between me and the crystal in my hand. Cindy had a big grin and nodded her head sticking out her chin.

“Look at him, feel your memory of him, expand it see it all.” Cindy ordered.

The image expanded a bit and the view got wider. I could see him, standing behind his grocery cart. His faded blue jeans, the tee shirt with a hole over his heart, his smile, it was all there. He turned around and I could see his tight butt, his wide back, strong arms, it was him everything was there even the parts I didn’t remember. The hole in his wallet pocket, the worn out tennis shoes, no socks, things I never noticed. I followed him to the meat counter. He pointed at a steak and asked the clerk something, the clerk pointed at another part of the meat display. He picked up a packet from there. He walked over to the frozen section and put back his TV dinner. I couldn’t know this I’d never seen this part I had paid for my groceries and left, right after talking to him. I kept following him in my mind’s eye. He went over to the vegetable counter and picked up some string beans. He got back in line paid for his food and went out of the store. I followed him. He walked over to his truck. A beat up old white Ford F150 an antique over hundred years old, I could read the license number. It was the same truck he had when we got married.

I looked up and the image faded. “Cindy how is this possible? It not just memory is it? I can see things I couldn’t possibly have remembered; things I haven’t, couldn’t have seen.”

“Yes, it surprised me too, and I don’t have any explanation. I asked the healer once about what it was and she just said the gods know all and see all and can give us this sight.” Cindy looked perplexed. “I don’t know if I totally believe in the gods and all that shit, but with practice you can see any part of the life of person in your circle. I don’t understand why but you can only see people you know and have come to mean something special to you, and you have to have touched them. I have a sister, who had her daughter kidnapped when she was one year old. My sister knew about my talent. She called me and asked me to find her. I couldn’t. I’d never touched my sister’s girl she lived far away. I was able to follow my sister through the day her daughter was taken, and I found the car of the people who had taken her waiting on my sister’s street. I waited near my nice and followed her as the kidnappers took her. They had rented a house in the next block. I called my sister back and told her. She called her husband, and he got his buddies together and they rescued her. She called me back and told me that they were safe. My sister and her husband moved to another state right after that.”

I handed the crystal back to her. She looked at the crystal and held it, one hand on each end. I saw her arms flex like she was trying to break it. “NO!, don’t do that.” I thought if she broke it, then it would never work again. She let go of one end and offered the other end to me. As I took hold of the end she offered to me, she pulled back on her end, and I had one half and she had the other.

“Don’t worry Mary, it doesn’t matter how big the crystal is. You’ll find that in time you can do it without actually having the crystal in your hand. I can even do it now without the crystal.” She put her part of the crystal back in her hand bag. “Now let’s try one more thing. You remember, when I asked you what happened to Keith, you said you didn’t know. Well let’s see.”

I thought back to the last time I saw Keith alive. I could see his back, much more developed wide and strong, flannel shirt, blue jeans with a hole in the wallet pocket, old tennis shoes, as he walked out of the door. I followed in my mind’s eye. He got in the truck, and drove to the local store. I rode in the seat next to him. He got out of the truck, and got out the list I handed him. He went down the list, checking off each one with a pencil he kept in his pocket.

Keith was a carpenter, and I never caught him without a pencil in his pocket. I felt so lucky remembering his sharp mind, the way he always did everything with a smooth easy skill, he never hesitated, he just did the right thing like it was completely natural.

I remember when I asked him to vacuum the house once, he proceeded to shift the furniture around vacuumed where they were, put them back and vacuumed where they weren’t, then he vacuumed the furniture, pulled out the pillows and cushions and vacuumed them as well. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, well it seemed to him that the dust would fall on top of the furniture and get blown around under the furniture, and that if he was going to vacuum he should get as much dust as possible. I had to laugh but I couldn’t argue with his logic. I explained to him about dusting the furniture and that while dust was a problem, it’s not a big problem, and that was partly why there was this thing called spring cleaning. After that whenever I asked him to vacuum he would first dust and then vacuum.

Anyway he finished our shopping checking the last item on the list, and then he walked over to a display of roses and picked one out.

I started to cry.

He was like that he’d come home with a bashful smile; hiding the rose behind his back and walkup behind me and kiss me on the neck and call me beautiful. One time I was cleaning the oven covered in sweat, plastic gloves on, oven gunk, an old tee shirt, no bra, blue jeans, frizzy hair tied in a knot with an old wash rag bandana. I turned around and he held out the rose to me. I took it and he took me in his arms and kissed me. I hugged him back smearing oven gunk on the back of his tee shirt, I could feel him getting hard as we kissed. I came to my senses and pushed him away, put down the rose. “Skin off that shirt and rinse it before the oven gunk eats it.” I pulled off the rubber gloves and dropped them in the sink. He picked up the rose washed off the oven gunk, and put it in the vase on the kitchen table. He skinned off his tee shirt, and washed off the oven gunk and then wrung it out. I remember thinking he is such a hunk and how lucky I was. He turned back to me and said, “Your shirt is covered in gunk too you know.” He had that sly smile. He walked over grabbed the bottom of my tee shirt and pulled it off me, over my head and down my arms. He turned away and washed my shirt and then turned back. “Those jeans are also a mess.” He unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down. He was tricky and took my under pants with them. I stepped clear and he washed out my jeans. I watched his back, the muscles bunching as he wrung out the water from my jeans. He turned back to me, “More beautiful than a rose,” he took me back in his arms and kissed me hard his hands on my ass. The bulge in his pants pressed tight against my mound. I pulled his jeans down while he picked me up and put me on the kitchen table. I was dripping wet ready for him as he thrust into me. We banged for a couple of thrusts, my orgasm was strong, I felt him press deep in me, and grunting filling me. He pulled me close staying inside me kissing me. I could feel him softening. He put his mouth near my ear, “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and I love you, I want you, I am the luckiest man in the world that you share your life with me.”

He put the rose in the cart and went to the checkout line. Fourteen items or less, the rose made the fourteenth. The checkout lady looked at him, “Special Occasion?” He just smiled and said, “Always.” That was Keith. He made every day special.

He went out to his truck, and loaded the bags onto the front seat of the truck, and took the cart back into the store. I asked him about that once, why he took the cart back into the store all the time. He told me it was like putting your tools away, thanking the store for being open and allowing him to buy what he needed at a good price. As he was walking back to the truck there was a loud bash and the sound of breaking glass. A car was speeding down the parking lot straight for a little girl walking behind her mother into the store. Her mother turned and seeing her daughter started to scream, “No!” Keith dove past the mother did a roll came up on his feet, grabbed the little girl and threw her to her mother. The mother caught her daughter and fell back into the open door of the store. Keith tried to jump straight up, but the grill of the car caught his feet spinning him around slamming his head on the wind shield of the car. The car swerved and hit a pole and stopped, Keith was thrown off the hood of the car to the street. He landed face up, blood was coming out of his nose mouth and ears. A bystander leaned down and looked away. “Call 911 we need medics fast.” The man looked back at Keith. “Hold still help is on the way.” Keith whispered, “Is she OK?” The man looked at him and said, “Yes, her mother caught her she is going to be fine, she’s just scared.” Keith tried to smile, “Good, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Oh God, tell Mary I love her, I will be with her, I just wish I could have had more …” He took a deep breath and then his face went slack, and then his chest fell as his life stopped. Then man reached down and closed his eyes.

I dropped the crystal, tears streaming from my eyes. Cindy took my hand, and I looked at her. Tears were streaming down Cindy’s face too. No one ever told my about the little girl why Keith had died. I assumed he had been hit by the drunk driver.

“Mary, he gave his life for that little girl. He was such a special person; his love was deeper than anyone I have ever known. He saw a need and fulfilled it. His whole life was like that. He took me in when you couldn’t really afford it. He tried to be a father to my boys. He loved you more than life. He loved me, he loved everyone he knew, and everyone he knew loved him. He was such a special person.” Cindy pulled a hanky from her purse and wiped away her tears. “Now, pick up the crystal and try to find him.”

I picked up the crystal and I focused on him trying to feel him now. An image started to develop it showed me and Cindy in this very room. I saw me holding the crystal. “I don’t understand.” I looked at Cindy.

“Remember what he said? I will be with you. Open your mind, look, find him.” Cindy’s expression was almost unreadable, it looked … hopeful?

I looked back at the image, and I tried to feel his presence. I’d always felt like I could turn around and see him standing there. I’ve thought I felt his kiss on the back of my neck many times. I’d always written that off too wishful thinking. I looked hard feeling my mind open, demanding, begging, longing … I could see him sitting on the table his hand on my knee. “Oh Cindy, he’s here!”

“Mary I knew if anyone could do it you could. I have tried more times than I care to admit to touch his spirit. I knew he was there I just didn’t have the skill to do it. Talk to him.”

“Keith?” I could see him lift his hand to the side of my face. His bashful smile.

“Beautiful as always.” I could feel his smile to my toes just like the first day met. His voice was soft but clear. “I knew that someday we would meet again.” I felt my tears starting again.

“No Mary, no tears, even happy tears, I am here as I have always been.” I felt my mind opening wider; I put down the crystal, the image expanded to fill the room. It was like he was there in front of me. I felt myself calming the tears stopping. Cindy handed me the hanky. I dried my face.

“I’m so grateful to Cindy to give us the opportunity to meet like this. I have wanted to apologize for leaving you. I wish I could have survived the car cash and lived with you. I have come to understand that my life had to be given to save the little girl. She has a destiny, an important role to play which forces had gathered to prevent. I was placed at that spot by the presence to be given the chance to save her. But I have also come to understand that my life was not supposed to end on that day. My promise to be with you is part of my destiny, Cindy’s, and yours. We have roles to play in the plan. My love for you all has grown with each passing day. I see our children, growing, your love for them and theirs for you. I am so proud of you, what you have done. Cindy’s boys are growing strong a credit to her, and to you.”

Cindy took my hand a squeezed it.

“Mary, I need to talk to you about Jim.” I was surprised to hear this. Cindy looked surprised also.

“Mary, I am dead. I will not be coming back. I love you and you love me. But love is not something with limits; it can grow without bounds and encompass all things. I saw that within you. You love unselfishly. It was why I married you. Your parents saw this in you and they saw it in me. They understood and allowed me to marry you, a girl of only sixteen. Mark and Shiela knew this about me also, and after they got to know you they knew it about you. I know they were all pulling your chain at dinner about Jim, but I want you to think. Think about how you feel when you talk to him, when you see him walking down the hall toward your desk. Ask yourself, do you love him?”

I thought about it. “I … I don’t know.”

“Bullshit, you love him and an idiot can see it in your face.” Cindy chimed in. She looked a little pissed off. “Come on girl quit kidding around.”

“Mary, you have my blessing, though you shouldn’t need it. I do not want your love for me to stand in the way of any happiness you can find. Do you remember what I told you on our wedding day?”

I remember it like yesterday. We had just gotten to the hotel. It was our wedding night. I was sixteen and still a virgin. He sat me down, and took my hands. “Mary I want you to know something, before we start, I love you more than life, and anything that makes you happy, I want. You are very special to me and in no way do I own you, or do I demand anything from you. The wedding ceremony says you are to love honor and obey me. I think that is a bunch of crap. The only thing I want is to spend my life with you and to love you. If you want a servant, here I am. If you want an equal here I am. If you want a master, here I am. Whatever you want, anytime you want it, here I am.” He let go of my hands and sat there looking at me with that bashful smile. I jumped into his lap put my arms around his neck and kissed him. “Sure you can’t think of any demand you might want to make.” I said looking in his eyes. “You mean beyond hot steamy sex right now damn it, …” he looked in my eyes and picked me up and carried me over to the bed. He got his wish, and I got pregnant.

“It still stands. Be honest with yourself. Think how would you feel if you never saw him again?” Keith asked in earnest.

I thought about it. I would feel bad. “Okay, Okay, I get it I love him. But I love a lot of people.”

“Okay, just give him a chance for me.” Keith looked a little exasperated.

“Don’t worry buddy, she’ll toe the line, you’ll see…” Cindy was pretty sure of herself.

“You, OK?” Keith said. “I’m going to try to find out what happened to the little girl I saved. It’s somehow tied up in this.” He got up and walked to the door and then just faded from view.

Cindy picked up the crystal from the table and handed it to me. “Take it, it’s yours and remember what my mother told me. Don’t show it to anybody unless you know you can trust them. Now get back to your room and sleep girl you got any important day tomorrow.

I went back to my room and put the crystal in my purse. I stripped down to my panties and crawled into bed. I lay there thinking about Keith, and Jim. Do I love him? More importantly does he love me? I thought about all the visits. He would walk up to my desk. Sit down. I could see his fatigue. He would look at me and smile, and we’d talk. His fatigue would start to disappear. When he was done talking he looked relaxed, a smile on his face. I thought about his last visit. He was excited about something, and he seemed nervous, like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start. I tried to draw him out. He asked about my kids, he asked about my car, he asked about my marriage, every time I tried to leave him an opening to ask or say what was on his mind, he would deflect it and ask me something other than what he wanted. He talked and then he got a call, and stood up and said he’d like to see me tomorrow (Saturday) as he needed to meet with Mark about some project or another and could I come into the office so he could talk with me. That was tomorrow. I shook my head and went to sleep.

<Chapter=2 title=” Work”>

I woke up feeling kind of groggy. I had a really odd dream and was trying to remember it; something about a crystal and some ghosts trying to talk to me, a lot of them. My door rattled and I could hear Cindy.

“Get up sleepy head. Breakfast is served in five, be there or be square, as the man said.” Cindy had some really odd quirks; one of them was old video programs. She hated most of vids but every once in a while something would click. She could recite every line, every show her memory was amazing.

I jumped out of bed pulled on a cotton bra; a colorful cotton shift provided by Cindy brushed my hair real quick. I hit the bathroom on the way down, washed my face etc. and made it down stairs just in time to sit as everyone was gathered around the table. The boys and Lisa where dressed in swim suits and tee shirts. Cindy had on a tight fitting blouse, barely keeping her ample frame in check, and a dark blue skirt. Shiela wore a brown skirt white blouse, her hair tied back with a large bright gold ring. Mark was wearing a white shirt and brown slacks. I pulled out a chair and sat down. The table was laden with fruit, milk, granola, eggs, bacon, bread, a regular feast.

“How do you keep your figure with food like this?” I started with granola and bananas.

Shiela laughed, “Lots of exercise interspersed by bouts of starvation. We thought the kids could use a good meal to keep them out of the pool for a few hours.”

“HEY! What!”, the kids rang in.

“Yep, pools closed until after noon.” Shiela was a real task master, and the kids knew better than to argue. “I hope you all made your beds before rushing down here.”

“Yes mam, Jimmy showed us.” Lisa said. That’s Shiela , wonder woman, I couldn’t get my kids to make their beds on weekends to save my life. I made to get up I forgot to make my bed. Shiela reached over and touched my hand. “No Mary, its already done I did it while you were in the bathroom.” I shook my head, how does she do it.

Mark tapped the table, “We give thanks to the presence for our friends and for the food. Now eat you lot we need to get moving if we’re going to get back in time for lunch.”

“What’s on tap today?” I looked at Shiela . One thing about Shiela she always had a plan.

“Well I thought a little lesson in botany, followed by some gardening and then a pool break.” The kids cheered. “After that, a short nap followed by maybe some reading and storytelling.” Shiela was a story teller, she told me about it once, and storytelling was passed to her by her grandmother. The kids liked that. Shiela's stories were to die for, as Lisa says.

I tried to go easy on breakfast, as Mark probably wanted to get moving. Cindy woofed down some yogurt and granola with coffee. I don’t see how a woman that big could live on what she eats. She never seemed to eat enough to me. I drank my coffee, some kind of gourmet blend with vanilla flavored cream. Mark was already getting up, Cindy stood and we followed him out to the car.

Mark went out the front door and his driver pulled up in his Bentley. The driver got out and opened the doors for Cindy and me. The driver looked at Mark.

“That’s all Jack I’ll drive.” Mark got in to the driver seat.

“Try to keep the speed down sir.” Jack held the door for Mark.

Mark looked a little put out. “What did I tell you about that?” Mark gave him a stare.

“Sorry, Mark but you pay the bills so you’re stuck with it, … sir.” He cracked a big smile and started walking back down the drive way. You couldn’t see the garage it was probably back in the woods somewhere. Jack was a tall black man. He looked like a football player. He is over six and half feet tall.

Mark pulled the door shut. “I told him not to call me sir. I’m not some kind of lord.”

I patted him on the arm. “He’s just having you on Mark, I’m mean uh, …, sir.” I laughed.

“Watch what you say women or you’ll be walking home.” He looked at me and then cracked a big smile. “It’s a game we play, like you and Cindy. I let him do it if the guests are business but he’s not supposed to do that around friends and family. You and Cindy are family.”

I felt touched. “You know Jack, he a gentleman, he was putting on a show for the ladies.”

“Oh, I know but I’ll get even it’s part of the game, and I know just the thing.” Mark got the clever smile on his face. “I’ll run it by .Shiela ”

“What are you going to do?” I was kind of curious how do you get even with someone for being nice to you?

“Never you mind, but you are going to feel the lash too, calling me sir.” He tried to look pissed, couldn’t quite pull it off.

“You tell her Mark. White masters are always trying to get away with shit. You need my help?” Cindy chimed in from the back.

“Yea, I think I do I’ll let you know later.” Mark had his clever face on.

I felt worried now. Mark is a really smart man, and Cindy was no slouch. What those two could cook up together might turn out to be really awesome.

Mark looked at me, saw my expression. “Don’t you worry now, just be warned your days are numbered, calling me sir.” Cindy was laughing in the back.

We got to the office about ten and Mark pulled up outside the front door and jumped out and opened the doors for me and Cindy. He offered his hand to Cindy and she let him help her out of the back seat. She kissed the bald spot on the top of his head. “Thank you, you are a real gentleman.”

Mark grabbed her ass and pinched her. “Watch what you say princess, I’ll put you on my list too.”

“You white folk always think you can have your way with us. Just keep your hands off. “She strode off in a huff opened the door to the company and tried to slam it, but the door had the things on it and wouldn’t close fast.

“Mark, you don’t want to go there. There be alligators.” I tried to warn him.

“Oh, don’t be such a stick in the mud. She started it anyway. Kissing my bald spot, little shit.” Mark held out his hand to me and helped me out of the car.

I was cracking up at this point. I followed Cindy into the office. Mark parked the car.

Cindy was sitting in my guest chair next to my desk. I sat down at the desk and started up my computer. “Cindy, please try a little for me and lay off Mark, Okay.”

“Oh you’re no fun, he loves it I’m surprised he didn’t try to cop a feel or something I gave him a really good view down my blouse, when I kissed him.” She crossed her legs, and had a wicked smile on her face.

“Shit, you’ve got no shame woman.” I was almost pissed but I suppose Mark can look after himself. “I wash my hands of you both.”

“You’re just jealous of my perfect body.” She threw out her chest and gave me this big smile.

I started looking at my e-mail. Nothing of interest. Spam, file nothing. Cindy looked over and I showed her what I was doing. My phone beeped. It was Mark.

“Mary, bring Cindy Jim’s here, I want to introduce her.”

“Sure thing Mark. Come on, Cindy, Mark wants us.” I stood up and led the way down the hall to his office. I opened the door and Jim was sitting in a guest chair. He saw us and jumped up.

“Jim, this is Cindy, Mary’s friend.” Mark waved his hand toward Cindy.

Jim looked really surprised. He smiled at her and then looked at me. His smile changed got softer. “Pleased to meet you. Mark and Mary told me about you.” He offered his hand to shake hers. She took it and gave him the firm hand shake. Cindy had her big toothy smile on, the one she used when she was being charming. I crossed my fingers and hoped. Jim is only an inch taller than Cindy at six foot one.

“Pleased to meet you Jim. Mary said you were handsome.” I blushed, and looked over at Mark he was smiling enjoying my discomfort.

“She never told me what a beauty you are.” Jim said. He looked at me and saw my blush. “Have a seat both of you.” Cindy sat in the chair next to Mark, Jim sat in the chair in the middle, and I sat on the end. Jim turned his chair toward me. “Mark said we’re going to lunch at his place, and that you two could help us review the new plans. I’ve been asked to design a park for one of Mark’s customers. It supposed to have a place for kids, a pool, a meeting house, and a few apartments for guests. I have the plans here and the concept sketches, I’m looking for input. Take a look and tell me what you think. Now don’t be bashful, I’m looking for critical input not praise here.”

He unrolled his first drawing. It was a sketch of the entry way to the park. “This is the entrance to the park. I was thinking I’d try to make the park look like a natural resort kind of like Yosemite, Trees mountains hot springs that sort of thing.”

Cindy looked at the drawing. “If it’s like Yosemite, shouldn’t you have a sign in front one of those wood things proclaiming it?”

Jim gave a start and then a big smile, “That’s the spirit, just what I needed. You’re right.” he took a pencil from his pocket and quickly sketched in a sign. It was amazing how quickly he added the sign it was beautiful just like the sign at Yosemite. “What should it say?” He held his pencil above the paper waiting.

Cindy looked at the sign. “How about the company name, or maybe a few words about what to expect?”

“Okay, Hanson electric, nature preserve.” His pencil flew over the paper and you could see the letters incised in the wooden sign. “Of course the nature part will be kind of a lie we’re building this park over a tunnel full of electrical power equipment. They want to put the land back into some kind of shape so the locals don’t see a big sore spot.”

We went over about twenty concept drawings; one set was for the apartments. They were to be caves inside the mountain. Wooden walk ways and decks leading to three doors. The doors were round with flattened bottoms. When you touched a button they opened by sliding apart splitting into three sections and rotating from view. He had a series of drawings showing the door opening. It was a fairy land.

Cindy looked at the apartments. “Where are the windows?”

Jim got a faraway look and then pulled out a sheet, and began sketching windows and sky lights. The middle apartment could only have windows in the front, so it got more sky lights.

“Ladies you have been a big help. What do you think Mark?” Jim looked at Mark.

Mark didn’t say much during the presentation; just looked over the pile. “What about the cost?”

“I think I can do it for about 20% less than the offered budget. I figured you’d probably want to discuss that with the customer. It will probably take a year to finish the whole project but 80% should be done in about 6 months. The final landscaping will be tricky and will take about three months. The remaining three months will probably be eaten up by slippages.” Jim started bundling the papers up.

“What about operating costs, heating, cooling, etc.” Mark asked.

“Operating cost should be low. Heat and cooling is obtained from the bleed heat from the cooling water system already part of the electrical system. Lighting is mostly natural with supplement electrical probably use less than a single modern house. You know me; I love to find ways to make things efficient.” Jim tidied up his papers.

Mark looked at the clock it was noon. “Good timing lunch is at one. You can leave the papers here. I’ll get the car.” Mark pulled out his cell phone. “ Shiela we’re done here on our way …” he faded out as he went down the hall.

Jim picked up his brief case and said. “After you ladies”.

“Don’t you be getting any ideas; now. I’m no lady.” Cindy gave a quick shake causing her blouse to almost pop a button.

Jim laughed. “Could’ve fooled me. Thanks for the help. Your comments were very useful.”

We walked out to the car; Mark was waiting with the doors open.

“I got shot gun.” Cindy ran over to the front passenger side door.

Jim stood by my door and handed me in and closed my door and got in on the other side. Mark just shook his head and got in behind the wheel.

“Okay you all belt up we are in a hurry; got to be back before Shiela is ready.” Mark shoveled on the coal and we blasted off. He turned out of the company down the hill and onto the freeway.

“Yaa Hee, we are movin’.” Cindy had her hands on the dash, straining the shoulder strap, loving it.

“Hey man Jack said to cool it, you don’t want to get another ticket.” Jim said from the back with a big smile on his face.

“Slim chance of that I’ve bought off all the troupers between here and home.” Mark said, with a smile on his face. “I gave them a call and they’ve cleared the way for us.”

Sure enough we blew by a group of cops rollers going. They had set up a speed trap, and waved at us as we blew by. I leaned forward to take a look at the speed, hem 145 don’t think I’ve ever gone that fast in a car before. I leaned back feeling a little worried.

Jim looked over and saw my face and took my hand. “Not to worry, there may be a better driver in the world than Mark, but you won’t find two. He’s holding back some, wouldn’t want to scare you to death.” He had an apologetic smile.

We hit the front door of his housing project, the gate was wide open even had a few spectators. They were waving.

“Must have got the word out, your fans are out.” Jim said bashing the back of the driver seat.

We started through the windy streets. I was getting tossed a bit back and forth, I could hear the tires sliding through the turns. We were at the door, we came to a smooth but sudden stop. I took a deep breath. Jim patted my hand and got out.

“Shit man you are hired. You can drive me anywhere.” Cindy jumped out of her side of the car and ran over and gave Mark a big hug. Mark was kind of taken back having is face pressed into her already over stressed blouse.

Jack was standing at the side waiting. The car was popping as it cooled off. “Made it home in record time I see.” He was shaking his head. “Probably left half the tread on the road.”

“Well not a record time, I had passengers. Check the pressure in the right rear it felt a little sticky in the turns.” Mark freed himself from Cindy’s toils and slapped Jack on the back. “Check her over Jack want to be ready for the next run you know.”

“Yes sir master sir, she’ll be ready and eager for the next run as always.” Jack climbed into the driver side and drove the car away.

“Ha you pissed him off, he called you sir again.” Jim was laughing.

“He’s already on my shit list from this morning. He’ll get his and you my man are going to help.” Mark gave a glare at Jim.

“Hey keep me out of this, he’s my friend.” Jim was horrified and took a step way.

“You’ll help, my young friend, or I’ll sic Shiela on you she’s in charge this time.” Mark gave him a knowing smile.

“No shit, Okay you win I can’t possibly stand up to .Shiela ” Jim dropped his shoulders and looked at the ground. “Maybe I should start calling you sir, if I have to take my punishment I should be allowed to step out of line for it.”

“You do that and Shiela will hear about it son.” Mark threatened.

“Okay, can the condemned have a last meal at least?” Jim looked up and started moving toward the house.

Cindy had already gone in and stuck her head out of the door. “ Shiela says if you don’t get in here on the double she’ll feed it to the hogs.”

We all trotted into the lunch room.

“Where’s Jack?” Shiela said.

Jack came in by the side door. “Over here mistress, I was putting away the car mam.”

“Watch your lip son. Okay seating is as follows, Mark you’re at the head, then Mary, Jim, Cindy, and Jack. Kids catch as catch can, I’ll get the first course.” Shiela went back to the divider and started setting down plates in front of each person. Each plate contained something different. Mark got a bowl of soup. I got a bowl made out of granola with greens around it a strawberry, with what looked like yogurt mixed with fruit and grain. Jim got prosciutto and cantaloupe. Cindy got another granola bowl like mine but it was filled with a dark purple puree of what looked like beets with bits of nuts and raisins. Jack got a slab of raw tuna, with rice balls and wasabi. The kids got some kind of cottage cheese mixed with jello and grapes. Lastly Shiela set a plate of strawberries, grapes, and orange slices in front of her place as she set sat down.

Mark took Shiela ’s hand and then mine. Jim took my hand and Cindy’s. Jack took Cindy’s hand and Mark said, “We give thanks to the presence for our family and for the food we have before us, be safe in our home with our love.” Mark freed my hand. “Now eat you lot.”

Cindy looked kind of touched again but rallied and took a spoon full from here plate. “Shiela , how did you know? I haven’t had this since I was a kid, I don’t even know the recipe. It was my favorite. My mothers used to make it for my birthday.”

Shiela raised an eyebrow, “Well that would be telling but suffice to say I was told the recipe by an old friend of the family, and I think your husband mention it to me once.”

“You met my husband?” Cindy was incredulous.

“Sure, he worked for Mark and I met him. I got to talking to him once and he asked me if I knew how to make it, someone told him I was a gourmet cook. I think he wanted to give you a surprise for your birthday. Anyway I started looking into it, and it took me about a year to find out, so I never got a chance to make it tell now.” Shiela explained. “What do you think?”

“It’s perfect. Better than I remember.” Cindy was really excited; her nipples were showing through her too tight blouse. I gave a small sigh; she’d be much better looking if she’d ware clothes that fit her. Jack seemed happy with the view however.

We all ate and then brought out the main course, a plate full of skewers with all kinds of meat and vegetables, cheeses, and other chunks of unrecognizable things. I finished my yogurt ate the bowl and the leaves.

We ate the skewers I had three and felt full. Jim ate five, I think Cindy ate five, Jack ate six, and Mark ate one. The kids ate one a piece. There were about 5 left. Shiela got coffee and tea. She gave a special tea to Cindy.

“Shiela , where did you find the leaves for this tea? I thought they only grew in our home valley.” Cindy was absolutely stunned.

“Well if you remember I said your husband asked me about the puree, he also asked about the tea. My friend had a plant and gave me a cutting. I grow it now though the plant is really tough to please it takes a lot of attention to keep it happy.” Shiela shook her head.

“Can I see the plant? I used to have a plant of my own and my mother OnAn said I had a way with it. Maybe I can help.” Cindy looked almost like a little girl her face with a bashful smile. I’d never seen this side of her before. Jim took my hand and gave it a squeeze under the table. I looked at him and he had a pleased smile on his face and nodded toward Cindy. I squeezed back and smiled. Jack had an odd smile on his face too, like he knew a secret.

“Jack will show it to you, he knows where it is.” Shiela said; her face was kind of blank. I have learned over the years that, when her face did that something big was going on. I started to wonder what. Shiela is the smartest person I know, and she was women smart, not like a man. She could do things and make things happen that I could never have accomplished. One of her canvases is people. She knew how to make people happy. You never knew when her manipulations caused some really happy moment. After a time you could tell because the moment would be like a flash a surprise a kiss in the dark which left a taste of love. I knew Cindy was in for a big one.

Jim still had my hand and he gave it another squeeze, and nodded towards Shiela . I smiled and nodded back. Jim cracked a really big smile with soft edges to me…. More machinations Shiela is in rare form today.

We finished lunch, and the kids made a dash to the pool.

Jim slid my chair back and handed me up, but didn’t let go of my hand. “Mary I still want to talk come with me I want to show you something.” He pulled me along like a little boy.

We walked out of the house and toward the pool but before we got to the pool he took a stone path into a wooded area behind the pool. We came to a small clearing with an iron bench a pool with a bronze fountain, a sculpture of a wood nymph, holding a bowl, water flowing from her tits into the bowl and then out into the pool. Jim pulled me over to the bench and sat down I sat next to him.

“Mary, I see you have a locket, your husband made it didn’t he?” Jim asked.

“I don’t know if he made it, he gave it to me on my birthday.” I lifted the locket out of my cleavage and looked at it.

“I know that locket he showed it to me once. You were married to Keith, you were his wife.” Jim looked kind of surprised.

“Yes, Keith was my husband, for four blissful years.” I smiled uncertainly.

“I never knew he was married. He was like that though, never talked much about him self. God, what a loss I can’t believe you survived it. I’ve never known anyone so talented so loving, he could make things and do things nobody else could. He built this rest area. I showed him some sketches and asked him to do it. He made the bench the fountain, the path. He planted the trees, the flowers … everywhere I look I see him and the perfection of his work. No one could duplicate this.” Jim had a tear running down his face.

“When I heard he’d been killed, I went to Mark and and they we stricken as much as I was. They didn’t tell me about you. I suppose they were trying to protect you. I was married to Keith’s sister, Jolene. She was like Keith, loving, happy open; every minute with her was like a day in the sun. She …” Jim looked stricken, I took his hand, tears were running down his face.

“I never knew Keith’s family I asked him from time to time but he never would say much, just would defect me with a kiss, or pretend not to hear me.” I squeezed Jims hand in encouragement.

“Ah … Jolene and I were married the year before Keith died. She died of brain tumor, four months pregnant; the doctors couldn’t save her or the baby. Keith gave me a wedding gift a statue of her with her arms out, love beaming from her face. I would have killed myself except for that statue… She died two years after Keith; we had named the baby after him.”

I hugged him, and he sobbed and then let me go.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to break down like this. Seeing the locket brought it all back to me. How did you survive I can’t imagine your loss.” Jim’s face was full of concern, love even.

“I never felt loss, it felt to me like he was still there just out of sight. I could turn and see him. When I went to sleep at night I would tell him good night, and it was like he heard me.” I was looking a Jim, his face clearing some understanding.

“Sorry to bring up sad memories, I … let’s go back.” He started to stand but I took his hands and looked into his face.

“You said you wanted to talk to me, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t about Keith. Talk to me Jim, you’ve been trying to say something for almost a week. What’s bothering you? Speak to me.” I squeezed both hands.

He had a look of panic on his face, “How can I, you were his wife, I mean who could … How could you …”

I held his hands tight so he couldn’t get away, and closed my eyes. I felt my mind open and I could feel Jims love, his fear that he could never measure up to Keith. I called to Keith and he appeared in my mind.

“How can I help him, I love him and he loves me but he won’t tell me because I love you too.” I asked the image of Keith.

“Remember the crystal, show me to him. We can make him understand.” Keith said.

I opened my eyes, and Jim was there the panic gone but a look of determination he was going to keep his love a secret.

“Jim, I going to do something that you probably won’t believe, Cindy taught me this and she learned it from an old healer from her tribe in Africa. I don’t know what is happening I just know how to do it so don’t ask me any questions, Okay?” I looked in his face, question marks and still the determination. “Look at the statue.”

He looked at the statue and I opened my mind and expanded it to include the whole clearing. Keith stepped out of the statue. Jim’s grip tightened on my hands, he saw him too.

“Fancy meeting you here, eh Jim.” Keith was smiling. “Kind of a surprise what, me being dead and all.”

“Ah … Keith?” Jim was almost speechless.

“Yep, it’s me, and as Mary said, no explanations in stock, we don’t know the how of this, but here I am.” Keith walked closer to Jim. “Now, Mary has asked me here, to help you, and her. You know why?”

“Ah … No is it really you?” Jim was still in shock.

“You remember Jason’s truck?” Keith said.

“Yea, I dropped that load of lumber and dented his truck. He was really pissed.” Jim shook his head.

“He was going to kick the shit out of you, and I went over and fixed the dent. Remember?” Keith said.

“Yea, I still can’t see how you did that. The dent was … I mean it was a dent for heaven’s sake how did you do that?” Jim asked.

“It’s just a matter of being on good terms with the metal; I pulled out the dent and smoothed out the ripples with some special techniques I learned from my grandfather.” Keith looked kind of apologetic for the explanation.

“It’s really you, no one could have known about that.” Jims surprise was genuine.

“You’re worried that no one could ever love someone after loving me. Sorry to be blunt like this but there is no other way. Specifically, that Mary couldn’t possible love you because she’s still in love with me, right?” Keith stood with his hands on his hips.

“Ah … If you say so.” Jim was looking down at his feet.

“Damn it, look in my eyes.” Jim looked up at his face. “You’re being an idiot. Mary loves you AND me, and Mark, and Cindy, and … well the list is kind of long so I’ll stop there. Even you love more than once, you love me, you love her, you love Cindy, you love , you love Mark, you still love Jolene, … true love is like that it grows it’s not limited.” I’d never seen this side of Keith, kind of pissed off but loving.

“But how could she love me like … as … damn it I can’t say it.” Jim was frustrated.

“Mary, help me out here.” Keith begged.

“Jim, I love you like a woman loves a man. I want you like I wanted Keith. I want to feel your touch. It’s been ten years since Keith died, and as he just said, he’s dead. I still love him and I always will. If I could have him like that again I would have you both.” I squeezed his hands tightly looking in his face. His face was opening up, hope, love, desire everything I wanted to see it was all there.

“Don’t be such a stubborn fool, you ass, kiss her and ask her.” Keith had a big smile on his face still had his hands on his hips.

“It’s Okay with you?” Jim looked at Keiuth.

“You fucking idiot, I’m dead, look at her, I love her, I want her, but I’m dead, I love you and she wants you and I want you to have her, quit stalling ask her, Jees, I’m dead for heaven’s sake.” Keith was smiling waving his hands in the air exasperated.

“Mary, will you marry me?” Jim looked at me in my eyes squeezing my hands.

“As Cindy would say, hell yes, what took you so long, yes.” I kissed him. He put his arms around me and held me close. I looked at Keith he was all smiles and ran his hand across his forehead in relief. He looked at me and mouthed, Jolene, and waved his hand at me.

I pushed back from Jim and he let me go. “Jim, I have another surprise, a gift if you will. I want you to think about Jolene, feel her call her.”

He looked at me, “You can…” his face was open surprised happy.

“I don’t know but Keith thinks I might be able to.” I looked at him feeling love just flowing all directions. Jim closed his eyes and I opened my mind feeling Jim’s love his call. “Look at the statue.”

Jim opened his eyes, and Jolene stepped out of the statue. Keith embraced her and kissed her.

“Hi Jimmy.” Jolene said with a bashful smile, and a small curtsy.

“Oh Jolene, I’ve missed you so.” Jim looked stricken.

“Oh Jimmy, don’t be like that you know I love you still, I want you to be happy. Mary is just the one to do that. I love her; Keith has told me so much about her. Quit being such a dummy. Love her. She can have our baby, the one I lost.” Jolene’s face just radiated love it was like looking at the sun.

“Oh Jolene, I understand, don’t feel bad about our baby, the gods took you and our baby.” Jim looked in her face love shining.

“Jimmy, I have to go now you do as I say, always remember love is greater the more it’s shared.” Jolene grew brighter and then she was gone, and so was Keith.

“Oh Mary, thank you, you have healed me of a pain I thought I would have taken to my grave.” Jim kissed me.

Jim jumped up and pulled me to my feet. “Come on lets go tell Shiela and Mark.” He was like a little boy, so happy; I felt my love for him swell. We ran down the stone path holding hands just like you see in a corny movie.

Shiela saw them coming, and called out, “Yo, Mark …” and pointed.

Mark saw and broke out in a smile and trotted over to . “Well Hon, score one, one more to go.” Mark put his arm around her waist.

“Boy how they suffer, I think the next one should be a bit easier. With OhMa’s help Cindy is in the bag already.” Shiela had a determined look on her face.

Mark gave her a squeeze. “You’re probably right; you usually are about these things.”

We ran up to Shiela . “We’ve got something to tell you.”

Shiela raised an eyebrow, “Let me guess, you’re pregnant with Jims baby and we have to have a shotgun wedding as soon as possible to avoid a scandal.”

Mark was horrified. “Shit , how could you say that look at them.”

I was cracking up; I knew Shiela and Mark had already guessed. In fact they probably arranged the whole debacle to begin with. “No you got it backward, I’m not pregnant but we need to have a shotgun wedding so the groom won’t back out on me before I’m pregnant.”

Jim hugged me and swung me around. “Mark you better get your shotgun loaded I’m going to nail down this women before she changes her mind. How can we get married tomorrow?”

Shiela broke out in a smile, “I just happen to have a star ship captain in mind that will do the deed, and he has the papers already filled out and is ready to serve, all you need to do is sign, say I do, and it’s a done deal.”

Jim set me down and I hugged Shiela and whispered in her ear, “Thanks , I knew something was going on the moment I saw you at lunch, so you’ve had this all planned out. You got Cindy in your toils too I’ll bet, Jim saw it at lunch.”

Shiela whispered back, “Keep it under your hat, honey, the victims are still on the line being played. If we’re lucky we’ll have a double wedding tomorrow.”

I hugged her again. “Luck’s got nothing to do with it and you know that. Cindy is dead meat already.”

Shiela stepped back and tried to give me, the what do you mean I’m totally innocent look, and then cracked a big smile.

“Where is my buxom friend anyway? I want to tell her.” I asked .

Mark chimed in, “She went with Jack to see the tea bush. See I told you I’d get even with him for calling me sir, he’s going to get the ride of his life.”

“More like a ride for life I think. Cindy won’t fall easy but when she does, Oh boy.” I said laughing.

“Oh don’t worry Jack is a strong boy, he can cope.” Shiela said.

“Come on lets go wait by the pool, we’ll go get our suits on.” I went to my room with Jim in tow.

“You bring your suit?” I asked Jim. “Yep it’s in my brief case. I wonder where it ended up.”

“I’ll bet you a hundred dollars it’s in my room, our room.” I headed up the stairs.

“No bet there Shiela knows when she’s won.” Jim laughed. Sure enough his brief case was on the bed.

“Want to try me on for size?” I pinched his butt.

“No not now, I don’t want to rush, and I want to see what happens with Cindy and Jack, and they could be back any minute. So let’s wait.” I felt a little disappointed. “Let get our suits on and get back before something happens.” Jim started to undress and opened up his brief case. He got out his suit took off his shoes, and pulled down his pants. He was hung oh my and he had a hard on.

“Is that for me?” I asked while he was pulling his suit up, covering up the monster.

“You bet it is baby, but as I said, I want it to be special and now is not the time for special. Come on I showed you mine it’s your turn. Where’s your suit?” Jim was staring at me.

I shifted his brief case, and my suit was under it. Shiela master of the universe, again. “It’s right here silly, just where Shiela put it.”

“My god, that’s not a suit, it’s a table napkin.” Jim looked surprised.

“Hey, I didn’t pick it. This was Cindy’s idea.” I teased. I pulled off my top and pulled off my skirt taking my bra and panties at the same time. I stood up and threw out my chest. “Sure you don’t want a sample sailor?” I crossed my legs, struck a pose. He took me in his arms and kissed me. I felt my breasts flatten against his chest. I eased my legs and pressed my mound against him.

“I want you. I’ve wanted you for months. But I want our first time to be one of our best memories. If I do you now it will be quick and over too fast, I’m too hot for you. So please stop teasing me. I want to marry you and then on our wedding night I want to make love to you. I want to live with you and love you for the rest of my life and yours. One day we have to wait that’s all.” He kissed me again crushing me against him. A wave of pleasure broke over me. He felt me shake. “You Okay?” He stoked my back as I came down.

“Yes, lover I’m Okay.” He pulled back set me down. I could see a couple of wet spots on his swim trunks one an imprint of my mound, another small spot at the end of the bulge in his trunks.

I put on my suit such as it was. He helped me tie the strings of my top on my back, copping a big feel in the process.

“Come on Mary before I lose control and rape you.” Jim took his hands off me.

“It would hardly be rape, if the other party is willing.” I pinched his butt.

“Okay have it your way, before you rape me.” He pinched my butt back, and pushed me out the door. “Let’s go.”

We went out to the pool and found a rock near the edge a sat down with our feet in the water.

“Any news yet?” I called over to Shiella. She and Mark were laying on a rock outside of the pool taking in the sun.

“Nothing yet, give it time Hon.” Shiela sat up and looked at us. Shook her head and laid back.

Shiela whispered to Mark. “They didn’t do it.”

Mark whispered back to . “I told you he wouldn’t do it. He’s a knight in shining armor. He won’t touch her until they’re married. He won’t dishonor her that way.”

Shiela got a disgusted look on her face. “Stupid they both want it. They both need it. Honor is bullshit.”

Mark got up on one elbow and looked at her. “You don’t understand him . Jim is the most honorable man I know, he is honest, caring, loving, and he could never do anything that might reflect in a negative way on Mary. He was brought up in a family where sex was only shared by heterosexual married couples. He was a virgin on his wedding night with Jolene, I’d bet you a million dollars. He won’t have sex with her until they’re married. I know you think honor is bullshit but believe me it is a very strong force. Cindy has it. She won’t have sex with Jack until they're married.”

“It’s all bullshit. Sex is for love, it’s something you share with the people you love. If Jack asked me I have sex with him, if Jim asked, hell if Mary asked I do it.” Shiela said.

“I know how you feel. I feel the same way but believe me some people are not like us. Those kids are cut from a different cloth. I love them and I want the best for them, so I hope Cindy falls for Jack as we’ve planned, but don’t try to put them in a box they won’t fit in, it will break their hearts and we will lose them. Okay?” Mark looked at Shiela with love.

“Okay, I’ll try to understand. It must be some kind of male thing this honor.” Shiela said still a bit disgusted.

“No it’s not a male thing it’s a thing you learn from the family. Cindy’s tribe had every form of marriage, polygamy, polyandry, group marriage, temporary mating, monogamy, even eugenic mating the elders could order a couple to have a child. Sex was for procreation not a part of honor, except for the chief’s family. The daughters of the chief were given to the finest male members of the tribe. Hunters, farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, and warriors were considered equally. Yes they had warriors too they trained for battle but knew that battle was failure. They believed in the maxim that the sword in the scabbard was a prize beyond compare. The daughters of the chief were expected to be chaste, and were respected by all of the tribe. Jack was a warrior of the tribe. He had never married and was sent to the US with mother OhMa to be her protector. He is sworn to protect her until she dies or he does. Cindy’s husband was a warrior also, but he couldn’t live with the thought of his tribe giving up their home and went back and was killed. The husbands of the daughters of the chief provided the candidates for the next chief. The elders of the tribe and the current chief selected one of the daughters and her husband became the new chief. The chief’s wife could select from time to time other women of the tribe to marry the chief, or the elders could suggest candidates to be a wife of the chief. Cindy’s father had four wives. That’s why Cindy says mothers, when she refers to her mother. Children of the chief were mothered by all of his wives equally, often it was not known who birthed a particular child of the chief. Male children of the chief were trained as normal tribe members they participated in the succession the same as any other tribe member, and could be selected as the next chief if the elders preferred. Female children were also trained but they were trained as healers or warriors. Elders of the tribe came from daughters of the chiefs.” Mark explained.

“So Hon, Cindy’s culture dictates that she is honor bond to marry the man before she has sex with him. It will feel wrong to her to do anything else.” Mark looked at expecting an answer.

“You’re trying to tell me that Cindy, the one who flaunts her tits and her ass, wouldn’t jump in to bed with any man that asks?” Shiela was incredulous.

“That’s right, her culture didn’t deny sex and had a healthy appreciation for a fine looking female form, so her behavior is not outside of the norm for her culture, but if any man tried to touch her without marrying her first, he’d probably end up with a broken arm.” Mark explained.

“So you’re saying Jack won’t touch her until they are married?” Shiela still couldn’t believe it.

“No you still don’t quite follow me. Jack won’t touch her at all unless OhMa can convince him to marry her, and then he won’t touch her unless they are married. He has sworn his service to OhMa, and his honor will not allow him to give up on that oath. OhMa may be able to convince him that he can keep his oath and marry Cindy, but it will be touch and go.” Mark explained.

“I still think honor is bullshit, but I understand what you are saying.” Shiela just shook her head.

“Let’s hope for the best.” Mark looked kind of worried.

<Chapter=3 title=”Score two”>

Cindy looked over at Jack. He looked familiar somehow. “Where’re we going Jack?”

“Too look at the tea plant, as Shiella said.” Jack was trying his best not to look at Cindy it was too painful.

“How far is it?” Cindy was looking at him trying to figure out where she’d seen him before.

“Not far it’s around the bend ahead.” Jack was starting to sweat. They were walking down a path through the trees, the path was not wide enough to avoid bumping into Cindy every once in a while.

“Stop for a second.” Cindy stopped and put her hand on his solder. He stopped and got a troubled look on his face. He moved to push her hand off his shoulder, then thought better of it and stopped. Cindy caught the movement and pulled her hand back.

“What’s the matter with you? I’m not some kind of leper.” She was starting to get pissed.

“Nothing is the matter with me, you are very beautiful and well … Ah I can’t explain sorry. Can we keep going?” Jack shifted his weight back and forth between his feet like he needed to walk on.

“Something is familiar about you; you look like a brother, like my late husband somehow. How can that be? Are you from my tribe?” Cindy demanded.

“Let’s go, please.” Jack couldn’t answer he just couldn’t.

“Okay I can’t force you lead on.” Cindy smelled the hand that had touched him. Smelled like her tribe.

They rounded the corner and in the clearing was a vegetable garden, a small fenced in area with a goat, and behind it all a hut. The hut was built about one foot off the ground on a deck made of pine two by fours.

“What is this? That hut could have come from my village. I don’t believe it. Do you live here?” Cindy demanded.

“Sometimes, please come in you need to meet someone.” Jack tried to hand her up on the deck.

“There’s someone else here? Who?” Cindy stepped up on the deck ignoring his hand.

The door to the hut opened and an old woman tottered out. “Good to see you again child.”

“OhMa, is that you? I thought you died. How?” Cindy took a couple of steps and hugged her.

“SamOe brought me here or Jack as you know him. He is my protector, as are Mark and Shiela.” She pulled her into the hut; Jack followed and closed the door.

“How long have you been here?” Cindy sat on the floor holding both her hands.

“Oh I’ve been here quite some time now, maybe twelve years. I left the village before you child.” OhMa had a smile on her face. “I’ve watched over you from here, as have Mark and Shiela .”

“OhMa, I’ve been so lonely. It’s good to know some of our tribe still exists. KilTam, my husband went back and was killed.” Cindy looked down at the floor. “He couldn’t live with the knowledge that our tribe was done, that the valley was lost, his warrior spirit had to fight. I released him from his vow, and let him go back to die. It was what he wanted. He couldn’t be happy living here dying away from the valley of our ancestors. I saw his death it was glorious he killed many enemies but he knew he would fail. I cried for him and his dishonor, but he is in a better place now.” A tear ran down Cindy’s cheek as she told this. “We had a really big argument before I released him, but in the end I saw he could not stay with me and raise our boys, he would dishonor himself and leave without my permission. So I let him go. I tried to convince him to take me with him, but he wouldn’t let me. He said I was a daughter of the chief and my responsibility was to the boys he would not let us go back and die for his stupidity. He threatened to kill himself, if I didn’t promise.”

“My child I understand, you did the best you could. He was right, you could not go back. His dishonor was not for you to follow. Shiela has told me of your life since he left. You live with Mary, and your boys grow strong. SamOe tells me they are fine honorable boys. I would like to meet them some time. Shiela has asked me to give you a boon. I have thought about it a long time now and I think she is right. Mark and Shiela have protected me well on this beautiful estate and I’m getting old and will not see many more years. SamOe is a fine man worthy of a princess of the people.” OhMa smiled at Cindy’s surprise.

Jack coughed. “What! I can’t, I’m bound to your service OhMa I can’t marry.”

“Oh but you can still serve me, and marry her. Nothing says you can’t marry, am I right? Am I not an elder of our tribe? Do I not have the right to tell you what to do? What do you think child will you accept him as your husband?” OhMa looked with a smile on her face.

“Jack, what do you say? Will you accept me as your wife? A dishonored princess whose husband choose death over life.” Cindy looked at Jack.

“Princess, I have always loved you from the first day I saw you in your fathers hut. I would marry you in a heartbeat but I’m bond to the service of OhMa, the chief gave my life in the service of her life. I can’t marry you and give you my life as well.” Jack looked stricken.

“I could always kill myself and free you from your vow SamOe.” OhMa said with a quick smile. “No don’t worry I won’t do that. I have a solution and I think you will have to agree SamOe. You have given me your life, so you say you cannot give your life to another. Princess I will join my life to yours so that SamOe need not give his life to another. You and I will become one person. He will marry you and we will live together. What do you think SamOe will honor be satisfied then?”

“This is a trick? How can two lives be joined into one?” Jack looked confused.

“I am a healer, in times of trouble if a member of the tribe was wounded or sick, and would die a healer could join her life to theirs so their knowledge and skills would not be lost. I am the last healer of our tribe as far as I can tell, my knowledge should be preserved for the future, this is the best way to do that I will put my life in her and take her life in me, and we will become one person with both lives, two bodies. It is not a trick it is part of the knowledge that will be preserved. What do you say Princess would you do this for me? Give me your life and take mine in return?” OhMa squeezed her hands.

Cindy looked at Jack, “Would honor be satisfied Jack, can you marry me if I was OhMa and me?”

Jack sat back on the floor, and thought. He looked at OhMa, his charge his responsibility, and saw her love for him, he looked at Cindy and saw her interest in him, and felt his love for her he thought about saying no and what that would mean, he thought about saying yes, and what that would mean. He loved them both he could have them both. “I’m just a warrior, I can’t decide if honor would be satisfied but I know this I love you both. OhMa has been my life for over twelve years now and watching her age and become weaker every year has been killing me. Princess you are the love of my youth I would have done anything to marry you. You can join your lives and I get both the love of youth and my life’s love, how can I not agree.”

OhMa looked a Jack, “You never told me SamOe, how you felt.”

“How could I OhMa, you are not my wife I could not speak of those feelings to you.” Jack looked hurt.

“SamOe you are being foolish, love can always find a way. As it has my child. SamOe go and get my stone from the cupboard.” OhMa still held on to Cindy’s hands. “Do you agree child?”

“Yes OhMa, I want your life to go on in me.” Cindy looked at OhMa with love.

“Here’s your stone.” Jack held a large stone in his hand.

“Sit and hold the stone between us. You will be witness to this joining. You will see that no trickery is involved.” Jack sat down near them his knees touching each of them. “Touch the stone to her forehead and then mine and then hold as still as you can.” OhMa directed.

Jack touched the stone to Cindy’s forehead and felt a shock, and then OhMa’s forehead and felt a larger shock. Then an arc of light from OhMa’s forehead to the stone formed and then another arc from Cindy’s forehead. He could see pictures of OhMa as a small girl, a woman, an elder images flying feelings, pieces of thoughts, he saw himself as a little boy OhMa had been the midwife at his birth. He saw Cindy as a little girl; OhMa had been present at her birth. He saw her grow to a woman, then he saw her life from her first words, her youth, her trip to the US, the birth of her children, the pangs of loss at her husband’s death, her life with Keith and Mary, Keith’s death, her life with Mary, her meeting him, her interest in him, their walk to the hut, it was all there it flew past leaving a good feeling behind. OhMa’s life, Cindy’s life good honorable lives. Loving lives. He fainted.

Cindy picked up the crystal from the floor where Jack had dropped it. She looked at OhMa. She smiled. “I was getting old, it’s good to feel a young body again. Doesn’t the old one feel bad? Well yes but we should keep it alive for a few more years otherwise SamOe will feel cheated. I see Shiela had a big hand in this and she has arranged for our marriage. We’re going to have to figure out some things tomorrow for now let’s wake up Jack and get back to the house.” OhMa stood up and went to her bed and lay down. Cindy leaned over and pinched Jacks nose shut. He tried to breathe in and his eyes popped open and Cindy let go.

“Welcome back Jack.” Cindy smiled at him and kissed him on the lips. His eyes got really big but his hand slipped behind her back and pulled her down on top of him. “Plenty of time for that later lets head back to the house.”

“OhMa?” Jack said.

“I’m here SamOe, you saw did you understand?” Cindy looked in his eyes.

“I saw, you are both wonderful. I love you both.” His face was glowing. “What about the other body, it’s resting?”

“Yes, my other body is tired it took all of her energy to join us. She’ll be alright she is sleeping now.” Cindy pulled a blanket up over her other body. “Let’s get going I’m sure Shiela and Mark are waiting. We’ll sort out our bodies later.”

Cindy stood up and helped Jack to his feet. He stole a quick kiss. “Come on Jack we need to move.” She took his hand he put his arm around her waist and they walked out the door. When they got outside, they separated, holding hands started to run back to the house. “Let’s keep the joining under the hat for now Jack Okay?” Cindy looked at him as the started to walk hand in hand over to the pool. “Okay AhNur whatever you want you got.” She pulled him over and kissed his cheek.

“Shiela look; two for two…” Mark pointed at Cindy and Jack coming down the path as she kissed him on the cheek.

“Good, OhMa must have found a way.” Shiela looked happy.

“So I understand from OhMa that you’ve got tomorrow all set, we meet the captain and tie the knot.” Cindy said pulling Jack close her arm around his waist.

“So did he fight hard, how did you reel him in?” Shiella asked.

“Shit can’t you just be happy winning why do you have to be such a snoop?” Mark looked exasperated.

“Oh he’ll be good OhMa found a way. Isn’t that right Jack?” Cindy hugged him closer.

“Oh I’d say I got the best possible deal here, I got my cake and I get to eat it too.” Jack hugged her back.

Cindy choked and then laughed hard. “Watch yourself mister you may get more cake than you can hold.” She shook him causing her blouse to pop a button. “Shit, low quality blouse …”

Shiela laughed, “If you’d just buy one that fits you wouldn’t have to worry.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Cindy leaned over to pick up the button giving Jack a great view down her blouse.

“Can’t complain from here seems like a good fit to me.” Jack was trying his best not to crack up.

“See what’d I tell you Jack knows how a girl should fit in her blouse.” Cindy gave a wicked smile.

“Or not.” Said Mark. “So Jack are you properly rewarded for calling me sir or what?”

“Oh I’d say you and Shiela have done me up proud I’m doomed there is no doubt in my mind what so ever.” Jack was all smiles.

“Come on Jack lets go get our suits on.” Cindy pulled him over to the house and led him up the stairs to her room. “If I don’t miss my guess Shiela will have your suit in my room.” She opened the door and found both their suits on the bed.

Jack let her go and pulled off his shirt. He was all muscle no fat, you could see every blood vessel. He tossed the shirt on the bed and pulled down his pants and under ware at the same time.

Cindy was watching with hungry eyes. “That’s what I like about you warrior types no fat and big muscles. Is that big one happy to see me?”

“Are you kidding I could lose it just looking at you.” Jack stood there staring.

“Aren’t you going to put that on?” Cindy pointed at the suit in his hand.

“You first.” He said with a rough voice.

Cindy laughed and then grabbed the sides of her blouse and jerked popping off all the remaining buttons, her breast bouncing. “Junior seems to like the view.” She nodded at him.

“Oh yea.” Jack said.

Cindy turned around and pulled her pants down giving a great view from behind. She bent double and looked up at him between her legs. “Junior seems to like this view even more.”

She picked up her suit bottom, and pulled it on. She picked up the suit top draped it over her breasts and tied the solder string, did the other shoulder string, and then tried to tie the back string. “Help me out here Jack.” Jack dropped his suit and started to tie the string. “Tighter please.” He pulled it tight and then tied a big bow. She turned around her nipples showing big bumps through the thin material of the suit. “You like it?” Jack ran his hand over her nipple barely touching it.

“Shit Cindy that’s worse than naked. I don’t think I can get my suit on let alone go down stairs with Junior like this.” Jack looked like he was in pain. “How’m I going to survive till tomorrow? I’m going to burst for sure.”

“I have the solution I'll go down stairs, Junior should calm down a bit and you can put on your suit and follow me Okay.” Cindy shook her tits at him.

Jack just groaned and then grabbed his suit and made a dash to the bath room. He grabbed a towel off the rack, groaned again, then cleaned himself up and pulled on his suit. Junior was still kind of up but at least he could get his suit on now.

Cindy laughed as he dashed out the door for the bathroom. OhMa chimed in “You are one evil woman you know that princess.” She could feel her admiration. “Yes that’s me evil straight through; he is going to be a real treat I can tell already.” She was becoming impatient for tomorrow too.

She wandered down the hall and Jack caught up to her. Slipped his hand around her waist and kissed her on the ear. “I got my suit on after all you minx.”

They walked out to the pool and sat on a rock next to Jim and Mary.

“I see you got your punishment, no lasting scars I hope?” Jim said to Jack with a weak smile on his face.

“Oh don’t know about the scars, but if I don’t miss my guess, the punishment is far from over.” Jack had a worried look on his face. “Where there is Shiela , one should give up all hope of redemption.”

They all looked at each other. No telling what was going to happen.

Jim and Mary dropped into the pool and swam over to the big water fall.

Cindy hopped up and grabbed Jack’s hand and led him over to the slide. “Let’s see how the big warrior deals with death. Head first down the slide hands at your side. I dare you.” Cindy turned around grabbed her suit bottom leaned back and plunged down the slide head first on her back. She hit the water and plummeting down to the bottom. Her suit remained in place. Jack flopped face down and plummeted down the slide. He hit the water and came up his suit around his knees.

“Ha, missed the suit trick I see. You got to hold onto your suit, or have a fat butt like me or its history.” Cindy tried to grab junior as he popped up while he tried to pull his suit up.

“Leave off woman, we don’t want to shock the kids and the other ladies here.” Jack was doing his best to get his suit back in place.

“Spoil sport.” Cindy backed off and Jack got his suit back in place, and then grabbed her and tossed her over his head a prodigious show of strength and skill. She spun in the air and landed on her butt with her hands flying. Her suit top ended around her armpits and her suit bottom around her ankles.

“Hum, seems we forgot to hold on to our suit there, butt notwithstanding.” Jack swam for the waterfall, expecting some kind of retaliation.

Cindy took a moment to pull up her suit bottom and then took off after Jack. Jack jumped out of the pool and then took a step back from the edge, and got ready. Cindy came out of the pool and tried to grab his hand. He moved it and she missed the grab. She tried another grab for his arm. He let her get a grip and then spun tossing her through the air and back into the pool.

She came up fixed her top and jumped out of the pool. She made another grab for his arm but didn’t hold on this time as he spun around she grabbed his leg and tossed him into the pool.

“Didn’t see that coming did you. I’m not totally ignorant of throws. I learned a few in my youth.” She stood near the pools edge.

Jack just smiled and dove under water and burst out landing on his feet. Grabbed her around the waist and leapt back into the pool with her on his shoulder.

“My god did you see that, Mary that man must be as strong as an ox. He cleared the edge of the pool by almost a foot.” Jim and Mary were watching from the waterfall.

Meanwhile Cindy got free as they hit the water and came up and started trying to duck Jack, to hold him under. He threw her again. She managed to hit the water without losing her suit. Then she dove under and caught his leg and tossed him. He kipped in the air and turned the landing into a dive. She was ready for him and started splashing water as fast as she could at him. He took a step toward her and grabbed one hand as it swept a big wall of water in his face. She started doing double time with her other hand. He nabbed that one too. He held her arms up and she wrapped her legs around his waist and threw her weight from side to side. He lifted her up and she leaned in and kissed him. He let go of her hands and hugged her to him and started to get into the kiss.

“Mary, I’d hate to meet those two in a dark alley. Did you see that dive?” Jim was shaking his head.

“Jim, Cindy and I left a store in a bad part of town once, when we got to the car there was a guy with a gun in an alley. He ordered us to come into the alley. Cindy stepped in front of me and stepped into the alley and broke the guys arm and took his gun, and the cold cocked him with the heal of her hand. She pulled out her cell phone, and called the cops. The police officer took the gun and the paramedics took the guy, he was still out cold. The police officer said he’d robbed ten women in the area over the last few months, shot one man dead and that we were very lucky. Cindy said she should have castrated the bastard. I didn’t think it was luck the guy didn’t have a chance I’ve never seen anyone move that fast. I think Cindy has some kind of martial arts training. It clear Jack is an expert in martial arts. I think they both were just playing around.” Mary took Jim’s hand and gave it a tug.

“Come on Mary; let me show you the cave. Keith built part of this too.” Jim led Mary through the waterfall into the cave.

Mary looked around the cave looked like a volcanic lava tube, all craggy and irregular. It opened into a large area. Part of the pool was being aerated to give a Jacuzzi effect. The light was subdued but bright enough to see clearly. There were several large slightly concave rocks with mottled surfaces near the walls, similar to the sunning rocks near the pool. Jim guided her over to one of the rocks.

“Keith figured out how to make this work. I had an idea that you could make a platform, force water up through the surface and suspend someone in a kind of vertical Jacuzzi. Problem with my design was the effect was kind of like getting hit by several fire hoses at the same time. Very unpleasant. Keith figured that it was the water pressure that caused the problem and that my design needed many more nozzles, lower pressure and higher flow rates. He and I fiddled around with it and this is the final result. Climb up.”

Mary pushed up out of the pool onto the slab and Jim got up next to her. He put his arm around her and indicated she should do the same with him. “Ready? It’s kind of surprising at first so hold on tight.” Mary nodded and Jim touched three rocks along the edge of the platform, left, right middle. Water came welling out of the rock from multiple directions lifting them up and centering them over the platform. It was like swimming in a vertical waterfall. The water was heated slightly and she could feel the jets changing keeping them centered. They could move around separate,or hold on to each other. Jim started rubbing her. The water and his hands were giving her a very pleasant massage. She felt relaxed he kissed her on the back of her neck, his hands messaging her shoulders. The water pressure was messaging her breasts and tummy. She spread her legs and the pressure messaged her mound. She closed her eyes and Jim came around in front of her and kissed her. She felt wonderful. She started to rub against Jim and he started messaging her back, all the time the water was messaging her mound. She gave a sigh. A sharp up welling of pleasure her skin tingling. She pressed against Jim and he held her as she shook. Again she felt it. She wrapped he legs around him and the water pressure started to drop and they fell slowly back to the platform.

“I thought you’d like it.” Jim had a big smile on his face. She opened her eyes and kissed him.

“Hey what’s going on here!” Cindy and Jack were wading into the cavern.

Jim untangled himself and said. “Just showing Mary one of the features of the cave.” His face was red with embarrassment.

“Hot and cold running men no doubt.” Cindy said sarcastically.

Mary whispered in his ear. “Show them Jim they won’t believe it.” She had a big smile on her face.

“No really, let me show you I’m kind of proud how this turned out. Climb up on the platform both of you. Now put your arm around each other’s waist. Hold on while I activate it.” Jim touched the rocks and then fell back so he wouldn’t get inundated by falling water.

They were lifted up and Cindy squealed in delight. Jack started feeling her and running his hands around her. She returned the favor they were spinning and squirming and kissing. Cindy arched her back and shook as her as pleasure washed over her. Jack had his hand on her breast and ass and was hugging her tight to him. The water pressure faded and they fell back to the platform.

“Just what I said, hot and cold running men.” Cindy was out of breath but still irrepressible. She lay with Jack partly on top of her. She rolled off into the pool taking Jack with her, they kissed for almost a minute under water.

As they surfaced, Jim said. “I was almost going to send in a rescue party there.” Jim was laughing.

“He was getting out of breath so I let him go.” Cindy said.

Mark and Shiela waded into the cavern. “I see Jim has demonstrated the water massager.” She had a big smile on her face. “It has some rather unexpected features doesn’t it? Anyway I want to have a talk with you four.”

“Shiela , don’t …” Mark had a worried look on his face. “I tried to explain …”

“Mark, keep to your knitting I know what I’m about.” gave Mark a stern look, and Mark just looked down and shook his head.

“Listen kids, I know you love each other and want each other, and that you can’t wait to be married to show each other how much.” Jim put his arm around Mary, and Jack slipped his hand inside Cindy’s suit bottom and grabbed her ass. “I’ve decided as the empress of my tribe which contains all the people in my family, which includes you children, that I will marry you now. That way you won’t have to wait until tomorrow, and I get out of having to clean another two sets of sheets.” The all laughed. Mark looked up and had a hopeful smile on his face. “What do you think Jack and Cindy? As the elder of my tribe do I have the right to marry you before god and this party or not?”

Cindy looked up, and OhMa spoke though her. “Mistress Shiela , you have the right. You are the elder of your clan and we are honor bound to obey you.”

“What do you say Jack? Do I have the right?” demanded.

Jack looked at Cindy, and she nodded. “Mistress , OhMa told me long ago that you were the elder of this tribe, and I was honor bound to obey you and Mark in all things. You say it and I’ll do it.” Jack squeezed Cindy’s ass.

“What do you say Mary?” said.

“Shit I’m happy to shack up with him and damn the neighbors, but if you can marry us now I’m all for it.” Mary kissed Jim on the shoulder.

“Not good enough. Do I have the right to marry you before god and this tribe?” Shiela had a stern look on her face.

Mary got the point. “You do. OhMa said it you got it.”

“What about you Jim? Do I have the right to marry you before god and this tribe?” Shiela looked at Jim her face rock hard staring.

Jim looked at Mark, Jack, Cindy and finally Mary. Jack had said that OhMa said she had the right. OhMa is an elder of her tribe, and a priestess of their religion. Mark and Shiela believed they had the right he could see it in their faces. Damn it and he believed it too she had the right. “Shiela , you and Mark are the best people I know, god smiles on you and the works you perform, you have the right to marry me and Mary before god and this tribe.”

“Happy you understand, the service while be after supper. Supper will be at six. Be properly dressed.” Shiela started to go.

“Mistress Shiela , what is proper dress? “ Jack looked concerned.

“Same as usual son, Shirt and shoes, topless is not permitted. I’ll provide Cindy with a new blouse as hers failed stress tests this morning. Will that serve Jack?” said.

“Yes mam, thank you.” Jack looked relieved. Cindy whispered in his ear, “Spoil sport.”

Shiela waded out of the cavern with Mark in tow. They got out of the cave and out of the pool. Mark took her hand and tilted her face up.

“Honey, you pulled it off, I’m proud of you, and I apologize for doubting you.” Mark had a loving smile on his face.

Shiela leaned in and kissed him hard. “It was a close thing. Lucky I talked to OhMa last week about this. She must have primed Jack for me.” She allowed Mark to hug her close. She was shaking. “I hope I never have to cut it that close again. Just one more problem. What do we wear for the ceremony? Cindy and Mary don’t have any cloths here. Jim could wear some of Jacks clothes if he had to. The kids have only their swim suits and casual clothes. I was thinking of doing it in the glass room, the stain glass windows give a kind of churchy feel.

Mark hugged her close. “Hon, did you ever talk to OhMa about how they did their marriages?”

“I talked to her about the ceremony but it never occurred to me to ask about clothes, what do they ware?” looked into Marks eyes.

Mark started to laugh, and turned her loose. “Oh I need to savor this moment. Think Hon we’re talking about an African tribe where it’s hot most of the time, clothes are minimal at best. What do you think they ware for a wedding?”

“Well I suppose the wear necklaces, maybe a breach clout, a bra what?” Shiela looked confused.

“Wrong. We talking marriage here, her tribe were not afraid of skin the reveled in the beauty of the human form, and their youth are at the height of their beauty. You’ve seen the way Cindy acts, and Jack is not afraid of skin either, he was looking down Cindy’s blouse every chance he got and copping feels all day. What do you think they ware? How could you be sure a couple is compatible?” Mark was almost ready to crack out laughing.

“Nothing, they went naked?” asked.

“Bingo. Naked I’m sure the grooms had many an embarrassing moment or maybe it was expected of them who knows, but they get married naked. Even the children are naked.” Mark explained.

“Humm, I think I’m warming to the idea, but how do we handle the young ones? I suppose I’ll have to talk with them, explain how god is there and sees us as we are. Yes I think it will work if we can convince Jim. Mary would trot around bare ass on Park Avenue as long as Jim was there, and Cindy and Jack are already inured to it.” rubbed her breasts on Mark’s chest and kissed him. “Thanks Hun you’re a prince. Will you go get OhMa? She’ll want to be there.”

“Sure Hon right away, she can have dinner with us.” Mark let her go and started back toward the forest.

Mark walked up to the hut and tip toed onto the deck and got ready to knock, but before he could touch the door. “Come in Mark you know you’re always welcome here.” Mark shook his head and went in.

“How do you know it me all the time?” Mark asked. He’d always wondered this. She always knew it was him.

“I’m not sure you will believe me if I tell you.” OhMa was sitting on the floor, she had on her beaded necklace, her hair was done up with flowers and gem stones, she had on her gold bracelets. She wore a white home spun robe tied with a woven hair belt. Her legs were folded under her.

“Try me, I really want to know.” Mark said.

“Well, when you direct your thoughts to the hut and you walk down the path I can feel a shift in the presence, as you step on the path near the hut I feel my goat welcome you, I hear the stones crunch under your feet, I feel the deck bend as it bears your weight. I feel your muscles stretch as you raise your arm to knock, and I feel your heart as it smiles your hellos.” She had a smile on her face as she explained.

“You already know why I’m here.” Mark said.

“A rock could feel the waves of happiness coming from the house. You and are sent by the gods a blessing to all you know and touch. You have succeeded in your endeavors to join the souls of the children, as planned and the gods intended. I’m happy that I have lived to this day a joy for them and for me.” OhMa unfolded and Mark jumped to help her stand.

“Dutiful as always my son, but I’m not so weak yet that I can’t stand. Shall we walk to the house?” OhMa seemed to float to the door. She stepped outside and her goat bleated at her. “Take my hand and tell me about your day let me see it through your eyes.” She gave Mark her hand and then leaned softly on his arm as they walked down the path to the house.

“Well I took Cindy and Mary to my office to meet Jim.” Mark started.

“The boy who’s heart was sad with the loss of his wife, Jolene, the one who has love in his heart for Mary.” OhMa said.

“Yes that’s him. Cindy, and Mary went over the plans for the Hanson Project.” Mark explained.

“That’s the firm who wants to give back to the land what was taken by the electrical power plant.” OhMa said.

“OhMa, you never cease to amaze me. How do you know about the Hanson Electric company?” Mark asked.

“Cindy must have told me. Or maybe SamOe I can’t remember.” OhMa said with a soft smile. “You looked over the plans and came back here in your race car.”

“Yea, we made pretty good time, Cindy loved the ride. She’s a girl after my own heart. She even hired me as her driver!” Mark had a big smile.

“That’s my princess she has always been a thrill seeker. Fearless.” OhMa smiled at Mark and squeezed his hand.

“Mary was a little troubled by our trip but Jim made her feel safe and we arrived in one piece.” Mark explained.

“Yes I heard the cheering at the gate and the tire squeals as you drove up.” OhMa smiled at Mark and shook her head. “You know something could break on that fancy car of yours and you would be in trouble. Ever think about that?”

“Sure, but Jack is the best car mechanic I have ever had. He’s so in tune with the car that if something was going to break he’d have fixed weeks before. Anyway, you already know what Shiela had planned for the children, so we had lunch and Cindy fell for the tea trick, and Jim took Mary out to see the wood nymph.” Mark explained.

“Yes, I know about Mary and Jim. They talked and got help from Keith and Jolene. I could feel the love flare from here. Mary is a very gifted healer; Jim is in good hands with her.” OhMa said.

“Keith and Jolene?” Make asked.

“Keith made the rest area and Jolene was the model for the wood nymph, you know that.” OhMa looked at him with an innocent smile.

“Well Mary must have gentled him through it somehow. Jim’s such a noble bastard I was afraid he wouldn’t tell her his feelings when he found out about Keith. I think he figured it out at lunch when he saw Mary’s locket.” Mark was shaking his head.

“Yes, it was a close thing as you say. Jim is a very honorable man, and very hurt after Jolene’s death. Mary healed him and now he can fulfill his role in the plan before the presence.” OhMa squeezed his hand.

“Anyway, Jack and Cindy came to see you and somehow you manage to convince Jack he could marry Cindy. What’d you tell him? Did you have to order him to marry her?” Mark asked.

“No I couldn’t order him; he would have resisted that and would never have let his love take him. Cindy and I found a way. He has given his life to her and to me. Honor is satisfied or at least mollified. In the end he realized he couldn’t fight me, his love, and Cindy’s love and win. I suppose you can say he was defeated by the only thing that could defeat a warrior, by himself.” OhMa said.

“Truer words have never been spoken. That’s only thing that ever defeats anyone.” Mark commented.

“Yes, but it’s still kind of sad that he had to be defeated to win.” OhMa said.

“Isn’t that the way of the warrior from your clan? If a warrior wins he is defeated, why couldn’t it also be that he wins, in defeat?” Mark looked at OhMa.

“Ah, you understand us well Mark. You are a very wise man. Thank you for seeing that I feel better about SamOe.” OhMa squeezed his hand and smiled at him.

“Well, Shiela has plans to marry them tonight after supper. She thought you’d want to be there. OhMa, I’m worried about Shiela , something is bothering her and she won’t tell me what it is. Has she confided in you?” Mark asked with a begging expression on his face.

“Ah son, Shiela is so dedicated to her clan and its happiness that she has lost sight of her own happiness. Each time she gives of herself she holds herself in check, deferring her happiness for the sake of others. I have tried to talk to her about this but she won’t listen, she falls back on her scheming to the exclusion of everything else. Perhaps we can do something at the wedding. I have spoken to SamOe about it. He thinks he understands what the problem is. You may play a part we shall see.” OhMa said looking sad.

“But you have helped her with her schemes. Should we do that? She is hurting herself. I know her efforts are a part of the plan of the presence, but should we allow her to suffer, that can’t be part of the plan. Are her efforts really even necessary? Wouldn’t the plan go forward without her?” Mark asked.

“Ah, son you see a part of the dilemma we face. When should we act and when should we not? Was Keith’s death necessary? Why did Jolene have to die? Is Shiela’s pain part of the plan or could it be prevented? We can only look into our hearts and decide from moment to moment. Keith could have stood by and let the little girl die, yet he saved her and died in her place. Was he wrong? Did the death of Jolene serve some purpose we aren’t aware of? For myself I choose to act in the service of love. To my mind Keith made the right choice. He gave himself in an act of love. We will try to find the love to help Shiela as well.” OhMa squeezed Mark’s hand and kissed him on the cheek.

“Well I hope Jack has the answer it’s tearing me up seeing her like this.” Mark sighed.

“Yes, I understand. Let’s go in.” They had reached the house and went into the dining room.

<Chapter=4 Title=”Hoist”>

“Oh you’re here now good. OhMa you sit at the head of the table, Mark sit next to her, I’ll sit on the other side. Couples sit next to each other. We are having stuffed beef, with mushrooms, in a wine sauce, polenta, with raspberry walnut cranberry salad, with balsamic vinaigrette, and red wine followed by a desert of lemon sorbet with champagne and sweet cakes. Children will be drinking milk. I hope you find it to your liking. You all sit down so I can serve.” Shiela said stepping back into the kitchen. Mary followed her into the kitchen.

“Oh that sounds good, I’m really starving.” Cindy chimed in, sitting down. Everyone else took the cue and sat down. “Children get your butts in here and sit.” Cindy yelled. The children trotted in like a heard and set down with a lot of shuffling and noise. OhMa was smiling as they figured out their seats.

Mary looked at Shiela and said, “Tell me how I can help.”

“Oh, Hon you’re a peach. You place the plates after I load them up. Here are the big pieces for Jack and Jim.” She handed her two plates, the plates were warmed to keep the food warm. Leave it to Shiela she thought of everything. When she came back two more plates for Cindy and her, smaller piece of meat more salad, and so on, each serving matching the guest. The kids got meat and salad with Jell-O bits and tatter tots. Mary placed the last plate and sat down.

Shiela sat down and OhMa took her hand and Marks hand and so on. “Kids too OhMa said.” The circle was completed around the table. “We thank the presence for our love, for our family and for the food prepared by Shiela for her love ones.”Shiela looked touched.

Cindy chimed in. “How do you find the time to do this ? It must take hours to prepare all this.”

“Actually it all has been prepared since this morning when I knew we were going to have this meal. Cooking it is just a matter of having enough stove space, and mine is huge.” Shiela said between bites.

“Absolutely wonderful as usual,” Mark said, and Jim and Jack nodded in agreement.

“But still it must take time to do this. We should help.” Mary said.

“Oh, weekday meals you will be conscripted into helping if you stay during the week. Week end meals I get to experiment on you. I fiddle with the recipes trying to find the best combinations the right serving sizes, guest preferences. I kind of enjoy trying to give the best meal possible within the limitations of the material at hand. Come; eat its best while it’s warm.” Shiela took a cut of meat, her piece half the size of Mary and Cindy.

“How do you judge the success of the meal?” Jim asked.

“I watch how you eat it. Do you eat a portion all at once? Do you switch back a forth? Do you leave any uneaten? Do you lick the plates?” Shiela laughed.

Jack had finished his, and took her up on the suggestion and licked the plate clean. “Ha, there’s always a clown.” Shiela said.

Desert was served; OhMa took a sip of Champagne but didn’t finish her glass, but handed it to Cindy. “A taste is all I want. You can enjoy this more.” OhMa said. Cindy quaffed it and shipped hers.

“Now that we’ve reached the end of our meal I want to talk to you all about the ceremony. I thought we would have a traditional ceremony, honoring Cindy, Jack, and OhMa.” said.

Jack look startled, Cindy looked passive, Jim and Mary looked interested but had question marks on their faces, OhMa looked passive like Cindy, Mark cracked a smile.

“The children will participate. Mark, OhMa, our kids will stand in front with me. Cindy’s boys will stand behind Cindy; Mary’s kids will stand behind Mary. Jack and Jim will stand on the outside left and right. OhMa will speak first and I will do the joining. We will hold the ceremony in the glass room. Dress will be none, that is, as is traditional in Jack, Cindy and OhMa’s tribe we will stand as god made us without clothes before the presence. Kids we will be standing in the presence before god during this service so no giggling or cutting up. You will have a part to play so be ready.” had a stern face on.

“Oh Auntie we wouldn’t do that.” Lisa said with a serious look on her face.

Cindy started to get a smile on her face. Jack looked a little worried but looked at Mark who was smiling and shrugged and sat back in his chair. Jim looked really worried, but Mary took his hand and he calmed down. “Service is in half hour, go get ready.” said, and stood up and started up stairs.

Jim and Mary went up to their room. Mary stripped off her clothes and was standing naked while Jim was slowly unbuttoning his shirt. “Problems Hun?” Mary asked.

“Well naked in front of the kids, I can just about handle that but I’m a bit worried about kissing the bride without becoming, shall we say a bit too excited.” Jim said as he took off his shirt and looked over at Mary. “In fact I’m not sure I can look at you or even stand close to you without getting excited.” Jim has making a show of taking off his shorts. He got them off and it was clear that he was pleased with what he saw. Mary had to agree.

“Don’t worry Hon, everybody will understand. I’m sure Jack will be putting on a good show too.” Mary was trying her best not to crack up.

“You women have all the luck. All you got to worry about is your nipples popping up every now and then and a little wetness. I wonder what they do in nudist colonies. Do the men go around with their penises preceding them everywhere? Do ladies take offence to a man getting hard when he sees them?” Jim was trying to manage.

“Or do they take offence when they don’t?” Mary said and punched him on the shoulder. “Come on lets go for a short walk and maybe you can get down a few sizes before the ceremony. Mary took his arm and walked him down the hall. As they passed Cindy and Jack’s room they came out arm in arm Jack, junior at half-mast.

“Hey Jim, hope you’re up for this Shiela is not playing straight with you here.” Jack said, and Cindy pinched him.

“What do you mean?” Jim said, his worry was having the desired effect.

“Well, a traditional marriage in our tribe involves pretty much what you’d expect, up until you get to the kiss the bride point.” Jack said. “Our people expect a couple to demonstrate their compatibility and ah, … consummate the marriage before the tribe in the presence.” Cindy had huge smile on her face.

Jim looked at Mary with shock. “You knew this? You know about this?” Jack asked.

“Well, no but I kind of guessed, being what she is, a snoopy over sexed bitch from hell, if she could arrange to watch as it were, she would. I figured we were headed this way I just didn’t quite know how we’d get there.” Mary said hugging Jims arm.

“Shit, I feel used almost.” Jim said. “But in a way I’m not unhappy, I getting a fine reward.” He kissed Mary on the ear.

“Well, there’s more my purblind friend.” Jack said. “Cindy and Mary have been living together for ten years now, I’ve got to think they’re pretty much in sync, right girls?”

“You bet your bippy bud. We are primed and ready to go.” Cindy said.

“What do you mean?” Jim asked concerned.

“Well, Jim I’m willing to bet you, whatever you care to name, that our blushing brides are fertile and that when we throw the pitch, the girls here will make the catch.” Jack punched him lightly on the shoulder. “How about it Cindy? You ever miss catching when you got pitched at this point?”

“Nope, two for two. I got Kiggy on my wedding day and Matt ten months later. Then my man went and got himself killed.” Cindy said.

“What about you Mary?” Jack asked.

“Pretty much the same for me, I got Lisa on my wedding night, Jerry ten months later. I went on the pill because we couldn’t afford more kids. Then Keith …, well it didn’t matter anymore so I quit the pills.” Mary said.

“Shiela knows this and probably picked today for just that reason.” Jack said. “Shiela set me up; she went behind my back and talked to OhMa. OhMa probably told her about how I felt about Cindy. She knew she couldn’t order me to marry Cindy, as I was honor bond to be her protector and a protector’s life is given to his charge. I couldn’t give my life to Cindy because it belonged to OhMa. OhMa found a way and joined her life to Cindy and so I could marry Cindy.”

“What do you mean, joined her life?” Mary asked.

“Hon, OhMa and I are the same person now. She is me and I am her. It’s kind of like we have two bodies, I can be in either place or both, we try to act like we are who we are originally so as not to let on but there really isn’t two anymore. We can kind of talk to each other right now but I’m thinking that will fade away as we merge.” Cindy’s face changed, kind of relaxed. “Yes she’s right children I will merge with her eventually there will only be one. When my old aged body dies, I will live on as part of Cindy.”

“Anyway, the upside for me is I love them both and now they are both of my loves. The down side is in a sense I’ll be breaking my oath to the chief when I marry Cindy, but to have them both I couldn’t say no.” Jack said looking down.

“Hey, I thought that we beat that by the whole merger thing silly.” Cindy was back. She pinched his butt.

“Sorry Hon, I’m not an idiot. Two or one, my responsibility still exists. The honorable thing to do is to wait until OhMa dies, and then marry you. But she said she would kill herself and I love her, so I had to choose dishonor, I couldn’t let her do that. If I did the honorable thing I would have to let her die, and then I would be dishonored. In a way it’s like our warriors code. To win is to be defeated. In this case I had to be defeated in order to win.” Jack said.

“SamOe, Mark saw that too. I’m sorry I forced that on you but love demands what love can give.” Cindy kissed him on the cheek.

“Yes, he would see that. Does he know about the joining?” Jack asked.

“No SamOe, he saw it anyway. He said the only way you could possibly agree was to accept dishonor and do what love demands.” Cindy hugged his arm.

“He is a wise man. Cindy told me about teaching the healer skill to Mary, about Keith and about Jolene. So Shiela won again, but not because of her machinations but because of the presence and the plan. Cindy told me that she was sent to teach Mary the healer skill and that Mary will be a powerful healer one day.” Jack said.

“She healed me, I tell you.” Jim rubbed Mary’s ass. Mary cuddled up against him.

“Anyway, another reason I stopped you is about Shiela .” Jack said. “ Shiela is in some kind of pain, I can’t tell you what it is. Mark talked to me and asked if I could find a way to help. It is somehow tied up with Marks problem I think. Mark likes to drive fast as you know. I kept warning him to watch out but I might as well have gone pissing in the wind for all it mattered. He finally had an accident. He was driving at about 150 miles per hour, on the freeway which had been cleared by the police as he usually arranges, but someone had spilled a bunch of nails on the road. He hit the nails and had four flats and lost control of the car. The car rolled he was thrown clear or somehow jumped out of the car right before it hit a wall. He hit the ground kind of hard, and woke up in the hospital. He was banged up pretty bad, but recovered, except for one thing, his testicles and taken a hard knock, and both of his vas deferens were torn. Vasectomy by auto accident. He’s sterile. Thing is Shiela is still fertile, but she’s too proud to ask for help and she won’t tell Mark what her problem is, if she even realizes it. I’m thinking the root of her pain is that she wants kids. What do you think OhMa?”

“Yes, I think you may have hit on it SamOe. She manipulates you and Jim to marry and have babies so by some indirect measure she has, made these babies.” Cindy’s face showed the calm face of OhMa, and then switched to her animated face. “But we have plenty, of studs here, I mean, you or Jim could stand in for Mark, problem solved. What’s the big deal?” Cindy didn’t get it.

“Cindy, in our tribe this would never be a problem. A woman can always find a man to serve in this way. But our tribe doesn’t have her culture. She can’t ask me because I’m her child, a member of her tribe. One for whom she is responsible. See calls me son, you’ve seen it. I think she feels the same way about Jim. Mary is her daughter since Keith died. Mary’s husband is her son.” Jack said. “What I want to do at the end of the ceremony is call her on this. OhMa will help. She will marry us before the presence and the tribe, and we will join our bodies as the ceremony requires.” Cindy pinched his butt. Mary hugged Jim’s arm. “But after she accepts us as married, I’ll pipe in that now that Cindy and Mary are carrying her babies as it were, that she has to own up to her responsibility and make a contribution to the tribe as well. OhMa will then chime in and tell her she has been delinquent.” Jack nodded at Cindy.

“Damn straight I’ll fry her ass.” Cindy said.

“That way we can hoist her on her own petard as it were.” Jack said with a wicked smile on his face. “Thing is I’m going to need you to agree on this because, if we get her she’s going to want a baby from both of us, I can guarantee it. What do you say are you up for it? I know where you grew up this kind of thing would cause a terrible roué. But I know you love her as much as I do and this really what she wants. As OhMa says love demands what love can give. I’m willing to try, but I don’t think I can pull this off without you.” Jack asked.

“Mary?” Jim looked at her.

“Shit Jim, if I could, do it I’d do it in a heartbeat. I love her, and so do you. When I’ve got yours, then you and Jack can put one in her, it’s the right thing to do.” Mary pinched his ass.

“What about Mark?” Jim asked.

“You kidding me, he’ll probably try to pay us or something, when I explain it to him I’ll bet you he’ll break down and cry, and then he’ll laugh at catching her out at the ceremony. Let’s go find him we got about fifteen minutes to show time.” Jack and Cindy turned down the hall looking for Mark.

“Hon, how do you feel about this?” Mary asked turning toward Jim.

“You’re kidding me? I owe Mark and Shiela more than I can possible every repay. Mark introduced me to Jolene. Mark and Shiela kept me from killing myself when she died. Mark introduced me to you and you healed me. Shit, I’d do anything for Shiela . I’ll probably even enjoy it.” Jim got a wicked look on his face. “Also, I just can’t possibly pass up the chance Jack is offering to hoist her on her own petard. This kind of chance will probably never happen again.”

“I’ll bet you will enjoy it, stud. You’re going to have to put on a good show you know to make it convincing, she got radar and will detect any kind of doubts.” Mary stole a kiss.

“No problem there I think.” Jim pinched her ass. “Let’s go find Mark.” They left and went over to the glass room. Mark was over by the light controls fiddling with them. Cindy and Jack were standing by.

“Good here you are, come on let’s hit him with our plan.” Jack said.

“Mark, you got a minute?” Jack said.

“What you need? Jim are you Ok with this? I’m mean Shiela can get pretty heavy handed sometimes.” Mark said.

“Mark, no problem Jack gave me the lowdown. I was a little pissed when he explained the whole thing but I’ll play along. You’ll see why let Jack explain.” While Jim was talking OhMa wandered over. She was dressed in her flowers and beads carrying herself regally. The kids had collected over by the fish tank and were poking at each other and giggling.

“Mark, you remember asking me about Shiela this afternoon?” OhMa started.

“Yes you think you know what’s wrong?” Mark had a hopeful look on his face.

“Jack has hit on it I think listen to him.” OhMa said.

“Mark, you know Shiela ’s been manipulating us all along to get us to the point where I’d knock up Cindy and Jim would plant one on Mary right?” Jack explained. “Well I think she’s doing it for a lot of really good reasons, but underneath it all I think it because she sees this as the only way she can make a baby.”

Mark looked thoughtful and then hurt. “You may be right son. I can’t give her one and she’s too proud to ask for help.”

“Sorry Mark, but you can’t call me son now. I’m your friend and so is Jim. We understand your pain and hers. I don’t think she even realizes what the problem is. I think her subconscious is using the pretext of a traditional wedding to be a part of the conception of two babies, sort of like she’s making the babies happen. What I propose is Jim and I deliver and impregnate Cindy and Mary, which is the almost certain outcome of the ceremony. Then I call her bluff at the end with OhMa’s help. Then Jim and I do the same for her. What do you think?”

Mark looked shocked and then thoughtful. Then he started to cry. “You’d do that for me, for her? Jack, Jim? That’s my one regret that I had that damn accident and can’t serve her in this way. She says it doesn’t matter but I’ve never been sure. I think her love for me has suppressed her need because she thinks it would hurt me if she got help.”

Jack embraced him and hugged him close. “Mark, I’d die for you and Shiela . Jim feels the same way. Also man can you imagine how this will go down. She’ll be up on that stage having witnessed her victory as it were, and then we hoist her on her own petard. Also I think we can have a little fun with this it will take many tries I’m sure to deliver on our promise. Not to mention that Jim and I both have the hots for her.”

Mark started to laugh really hard. Jack let him go. He started to whoop with tears streaming down his face. OhMa had a really big smile, Cindy had a wicked smile, Jim and Mary hugged each other.

“Oh you have made me so happy I could kiss you both.” Mark started toward Jim.

Shiela walked up. “What’s going on here? What’s all the commotion?”

Mark turned his back to Shiela and wiped the tears from his face, and turned back. “I’ll explain later we got some really good news I think, but it will take some time to explain it. Let’s get started.”

Shiela got a puzzled look on her face, and took a sharp look at Mark, Cindy, Jack, Jim, Mary and OhMa. Cindy had soothed out her face, Jack was smiling figuring she’d never figure it out, Mary and Jim were hugging each other, and OhMa had her inscrutable smile on her face.

“Well the hall has been rented, the orchestra is engaged, I guess it’s time to see if we know how to dance.” Shiela said. Mark gave a whoop, Cindy snorted, Jack’s smile widened to a toothy grin. Jim and Mary both had embarrassed smiles. “Places every one. Children line up behind your moms. Jim you and Mary on the right, Jack and Cindy on the left. Girls in the middle.” master of the universe spoke, they had but to obey.

Shiela went up on the stage which was about six inches high. She had put flowers in her hair and wore a diamond necklace, and she had put sparkles on her breasts and in her hair. She looked like an angle.

“OhMa?” Shiela said.

“We are gathered in the presence before the members of the tribe to join these two couples in marriage. By the joining of their lives and through the joining of their bodies they will give of their lives to the tribe and for the presence in the furtherance of the plan.” OhMa said.

“SamOe, and AhNur, do you consent to the joining of your lives and the joining of your bodies as witness before the tribe, in furtherance of the plan before the presence?” asked.

“We do.” Cindy and Jack spoke.

“Jim, and Mary do you consent to the joining of your lives and the joining of your bodies as witness before the tribe, in furtherance of the plan before the presence?” asked.

“We do.” Mary and Jack said.

“Then by the proof they are about to give, they are joined life to life, body to body as witness before the tribe in the furtherance of the plan before the presence.” lifted her hands giving her benediction.

Jack pulled Cindy close and started a kiss rubbing her back. Cindy put her arms around his neck and pressed her body to him as he lifted her up. She guided him into her as he lowered her down; she wrapped her legs around him and leaned back arching her back. Jack made a couple of thrusts and then gave a grunt as he gave his seed to her, Cindy arched her back as pleasure swept over her shaking her breasts she hissed, “Yesssss”. She lowered her legs and Jack pulling her tight against him as they kissed. Their kiss lasted about a minute and they broke their lip lock and said. “Be witness to the joining of our bodies and the joining of our lives for the furtherance of the plan.” They started to kiss again.

Jim pulled his eyes away from Jack and Cindy and looked at Mary. He pulled Mary to him and kissed her then he lifted her up and lowered her down holding her by her waist. Mary rocked her pelvis stroking him as he pushed into her. She wrapped her legs around him and humped him stroking him pressing down against him. He gave her his seed and she moved faster leaning to him pressing her breasts against him as pleasure waves crashing over her. She gave a soft whimper. He pulled her to him pressing deeper into her, stretching her, lower his hands to her ass. She lifted her legs and forced him deeper into to her and then kissed him. Their kiss went on while she shook waves breaking over her. When she had calmed down some she pulled back and said “Be witness to the joining of our bodies, and the joining of our lives for the furtherance of the plan.” She lowered her legs and went back to kissing. Jim lowered her down.

“By our witness we pronounce these two couples married before the presence and the tribe.” lowered her hands a big smile on her face. Mark gave a whoop.

Jack and Cindy separated and stood next to each other.

“Jack and Jim kneel and face your children. Kiggy hug your father. Do you acknowledge that Jack is joined to your mother?” Kiggy said “Yes Auntie ”. “Matt hug your father. Do you acknowledge him?” “Yes Auntie ”. Jack kissed them both right after they said yes.

“Jeremy hug your father. Jeremy do you acknowledge that Jack has joined your mother?” Jeremy said, “Oh yes I do.” Jim hugged him close and said “Thank you son.” “Lisa you hug your father now. Do you acknowledge him?” “Oh yes daddy!” Lisa kissed him as she danced in his arms. “Thank you princess.” Jim kissed her back.

“Kids off to bed now.” Shiela ordered. They ran out when they got in the hall there was some giggles and the sound of little feet trumping up the stairs.

“Mistress , I have a point of order.” Jack said.

“What is it son?” said.

“I’m sorry , but for this you will have to call me Jack.” Jack insisted.

“Huh? Okay what is your point of order, Jack?” Shiela asked Mark was standing behind her and started pantomiming lowering the noose over her head. Cindy snorted and Jim and Mary started smiling.

“Shiela , you have had your fun these last few days wangling us around and manipulating us into conceiving our children before you. Now I believe you need to also make your contribution to the strength of the tribe and the continuance of the plan before the presence.” Jack stated.

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.” Shiela said.

“Do you acknowledge that through your efforts Cindy and Mary are both pregnant?” Jack asked.

“Well it’s hardly certain but I grant you that.” Shiela said.

“I beg to differ with you . You’ve been feeding us fertility potions for the last few days at every chance. You got the recipes from OhMa, and you’ve been doing your best to make sure that this last pitch of Jim and I was caught. Though it was hardly necessary as our blushing brides haven’t ever missed a catch. They are surely pregnant.” Jack said. Cindy chimed in, “I don’t blush.”

Shiela glared at OhMa. “You told him?”

“No I didn’t, but you have to get up pretty earlier in the morning to catch SamOe out. He probably recognized some of the ingredients in the food.” OhMa said with a slight smile on her face.

“Shiela , Mark and OhMa have both asked for my help in figuring out what is bothering you. You have been moody. When Jim and I finished our demonstration that was the first time I seen your sunny smile in weeks. I think I know what is bothering you.” Jack said. Mark crept up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist putting his hands on her tummy. She tried to push them away but he wouldn’t let her.

“So what’s wrong with me? I give you that I haven’t been feeling my best recently.” said.

“You thought marrying us would help didn’t you?” Jack asked. “But, it hasn’t helped as much as you hoped am I right?”

“Sadly, I think you are right.” said her eyes tearing up. Mark pressed himself against her back.

“Hon, listen to him he loves you, we all do, open your heart.” Mark whispered into her ear.

“I don’t know what’s wrong. I have a loving husband, loving children, loving friends I should feel better, but something is missing.” Shiela was crying openly now tears streaming down her face.

“Shiela when Mark had his accident and you found out he was sterile how did you feel?” Jack said. OhMa went over to and took her hand.

“I felt relieved that he had survived and would not be a cripple for life.” said.

“Yes, but what about the sterility? How did you feel?” Jack asked.

“I thought I had two beautiful children and I’d have to accept that I wasn’t going to have anymore.” Shiela said, and she started to sob.

“Shiela , do you want more children?” Jack asked gently.

“… No …” said softly looking at the floor, sobbing.

“Shiela look at me, do you want more children?” Jack yelled at her, and walked up to her and put his hand under her chin, while Jim walked up and stood next to him and took her hand.

Shiela glanced at Jim and looked at Jack, Mark hugged her from behind.

“Answer me woman.” Jack yelled.

“Shiela …” Cindy started to speak.

Jack said, “AhNur do not speak, she must come to this on her own.” Jack spoke softly, “Shiela , my love, do you want more children?” He stroked her cheek with his other hand while he looked into her eyes.

“Yes.” She said softly.

“Shiela ,” Mark whispered into her ear, “I love you and it breaks my heart that I can’t give you the children you want, but you are being an idiot. Didn’t you tell me that you’d have Jack, or Jim in your bed all they had to do is ask? They love you and they are asking you to ask them to help you and I want you to ask them. We all understand your need, and this is what Jack meant about not living up to your responsibilities, you have a responsibility to the tribe and for the plan to give as much life as you are capable of giving.”

Jack let go of her chin. Jim spoke up. “Shiela , you and Mark mean more to me than I think I can tell you. You introduced me to Jolene. You kept me from dying when she died, and now you have given me Mary, and our unborn child, the child Jolene and I lost when she died. I love you, I want to give this gift to you, it’s the least I can do for all you have done for me. Plus I’ve got to think it will be kind of fun.” Jim said. Cindy snorted, Mary laughed tears running down her face.

Jack said softly. “Shiela you and Mark saved me and OhMa, from death at the hands of our enemies and you gave us a home. You have given me AhNur, and you have given me a child, something I thought I’d never have, because OhMa was too old for children. I have loved her, you and Mark for many years now. You talked OhMa into trapping me into marrying AhNur, my childhood sweet heart, and they joined their lives so I could marry the love of my manhood. I love you and now that I’m married I can give you what you want, and what I want; right after you have Jims. As Jim said it’s the least I can do for you. Plus I’ve seen you and Mark and I know it will be a real treat.” Cindy dug her knuckle into Jacks rib causing him to wince.

“Shiela what do you say will you accept?” Mark said. Shiella's face was open shining tears running down.

“Shiella, Will you accept me?” Jack said.

“Shiella, my love, Will you accept me?” Jim said.

“Oh, I love you all yes I accept. But we will let the gods figure out whose first.” Mark released her and jumped into Jacks embrace. Jack began to rub her back and then lifted her up and kissed her on the mouth. He raised her up and the lowered her down filling her. Jack held her tight as he gave short thrusts, as the pleasure shook her. He lengthened his thrusts stretching her as he went deeper, she continued to shake. He increased his speed and shortened his strokes. Jack grunted as he shot his hot seed into her shaking frame. She fainted and Jack held her close stroking her back. She opened her eyes and kissed him. Mark had tears streaming down his face. Jim was stroking her neck. Jack put her down and she turned and put her arms around Mark placed her head on his solder and said, “I love you, my husband.”

Cindy went over to Jack put her arm around him and said a little loud, “Good, I think you hit the spot.” Jack snorted, Mark gave a whoop, Mary looked embarrassed.

Jim chimed in. “, I just want to go on record here, by saying; I hope you enjoyed being hoist on your own petard. After you and Mark have rested up a bit, I’d be happy to provide my contribution to your imminent mother hood. If we’re lucky you’ll have yours at the same time as us.”

Shiella started laughing, and Mark whooped again. “Don’t tell your mother how to suck eggs. I will get even mark my words.”

“Jack I think we have created a monster.” Jim said.

“No Jim, we just let it out of the bag. It would have broken out eventually.” Jack said.

“No truer words were every spoken,” Mark said. Shiella pinched him.

-o-

Jim and Mary lay on the bed next to each other, after taking care of their urgent business, talking.

“Hon, I’m proud of you and Jack. Shiella’s a tough customer, in spite of what Mark said I’m not sure she would have given you a chance,” Mary ran her finger up and down Jims arm.

“Oh, I think Jack’s right, she would have eventually have tumbled, it just would have taken her twisted mind some time to rationalize it.” Jim tweaked Mary’s nipple. “I can’t wait to get a sample from this, you are so beautiful.” He wiggled down and took her nipple in his mouth, and began licking it. Mary wrapped her arms around his head and hugged him close. He had to turn his head to breath. “Man suffocated by wife’s breast on his wedding night, news at noon.” He started to tickle her.

Mary started to squirm. “Hey, stop that. Want to go find Shiella and give her a thrill?” Mary pulled his ear.

“I’m game, let’s go.” Jim rolled off the bed and helped her up. They snuck down the hall to the master bedroom. Jim quietly opened the door, and they tipped toed into the room. Mark and Shiella were asleep in the middle of their large bed. “You distract Mark and I’ll take care of Shiella.” Jim whispered. Jim lifted the sheet and slid over and started rubbing Shiella’s lower back. Mary pulled the sheet off and lay down next to Mark, and started nibbling his ear. Marks eyes popped open and he saw Jim and then turned to Mary and kissed her. Shiella opened her eyes and spied Mark kissing Mary, while Jim pulled her close and kissed her. “Hi beautiful, time for my contribution. Mary will distract your husband while I cuckold him.”

Mark gave a laugh with Mary’s mouth on his, her hand stoking him. “Well, turnabout is fair play I always say, don’t mind us.” Mark pulled Mary on top of him and she took him pressing against him. She leaned forward starting to stoke him and he took her nipple into his mouth and started to lick.

Meanwhile Jim pulled Shiella’s leg up and slipped into her from behind. He started pumping her, while he flattened her breasts with his hand and stroked her face with his other hand. She started to squirm. Jim kept a tight grip making sure to stroke her deeply. She started to shake and squirmed as waves of pleasure washed over her. Jim felt her clamping and her shaking, so he pushed deep into her and spewed his seed filling her. She was gasping for air as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over her. Jim held her as she shook. She stopped shaking a bright red flush covering her shoulders and breasts.

Mary gave a little cry, dropped down on top of Mark. Mark rolled them over and began pumping her on top and Mary wrapped her legs around him and scratched his back. He pushed forward and arched his back shooting deep inside her. He rolled off toward .

Jim loosened his hold on Shiela and she smiled at Mark and shifted over to kiss him.

Jim said. “Always knew you were a hotty .”

Shiella laughed. “I thought I’d get some peace it being your wedding night and all.”

<Chapter=5 Title=”Legal”>

Mary woke up in Jims arms she could feel his breath on her neck. She lifted her head and kissed him and his eyes opened and he smiled and ran his hand down her back and felt her ass. He got a little smile on his face, “Hi beautiful, sorry but I was too drunk last night, I can’t remember your name.”

“Oh, that’s Okay sailor, I’m the captain’s daughter. This will be your last piece before they execute you in a couple of hours. It’s not smart to boff the captain’s wife, and then rape his daughter you know.” Mary jumped out of bed and grabbed a robe and ran to pee.

Jim rolled out of bed and looked for his clothes finding them neatly folded on top of his brief case. He pulled on his boxer shorts and followed Mary to the bathroom. Mary had finished her business and was brushing out her hair and wrapping it in a towel getting ready for her shower. Jim peed, and then walked up behind her wrapped his arms around her and palmed both of her breasts. “I could use a shower too, want me to wash your back?” he massaged her breasts and kissed her on the neck.

“Sure thing Hon, but just that, breakfast is in a half hour we got to get moving to the space port to sign those papers.” Mary said wiggled her ass against him.

“Jees, can’t a sailor get a proper piece around here.” He let go of her and turned on the shower set the temperature and stepped in. Mary dropped her robe and walked in after him. She was careful not to get her hair wet, while Jim finished washing himself he turned to her and began running the soap over her and washing her back and front. He knelt and did her legs and worked his way up till he got to her middle then applied the soap and began to finger her.

“Watch it there boy, we don’t want to be late for breakfast.” She trembled as he stroked her.

“Just making sure it’s properly cleaned mam. It might have gotten a little soiled last night after all.” He rubbed her with his knuckles. She shook as he stroked her. She grabbed the hand sprayer and began washing off the soap. Jim stood and took it from her and washed to soap off her back, then started rubbing himself against her back.

Mary took the hand sprayer and flipped the water to cold and hosed him off. “Back. Back. You’ll not have my cherry foul cur.” The cold water had the desired effect. He made a grab for the sprayer, so she dropped it and ran out of the shower.

Jim turned off the water and then followed her. She was drying off her arms with a large towel. He took the towel and began rubbing her down vigorously drying her all over, then started to work over himself. Mary unwrapped her hair and gave it a few more passes of the brush. Jim hung the towel on the rack and went back to their room to get dressed. Mary came back into their room and took off her robe pulled on her panties, slipped on her bra and Jim did the back of her bra copping a feel while he made sure it was properly positioned.

“Shit, I should have hired you a long time ago Jeeves, I hate those pesky bra clasps.” Mary said.

“Just all part of the service mam. Jim picked up her shift and held it up. “Hands up mam, here comes the dress.” He lowered it down and made double sure there weren’t any wrinkles. He stepped back and put on his clothes. She finished doing her hair, and makeup and then she turned to face him.

Jim gave her the once over, “Mam I must say you sure know how to fill out a dress.” He tried to keep a straight face and then gave her a sunny smile. “Mary, you take my breath away, you’re so beautiful.”

“You’re not too hard on the eyes either sailor, but let’s get moving before I rape you again.” Mary pushed him to the door.

They made it down stairs just as Shiella was placing the last bowl of food on the table. “Nice to see you could make it, dears. Our appointment is at ten so let’s get this show on the road. It was eight thirty.” They all sat down. Shiella tapped the table and said “We give thanks for the food provided by the presence. Eat up kids auntie OhMa will be in charge, while we are gone."

“Oh Auntie OhMa, can you tell us the story about princess CuNu again?” Lisa said.

OhMa smiled, “Yes child I’ll be more than happy to tell you all about princess CuNu and her warrior NamKo again.” The boys liked the part about NamKo. “Then we’ll go out to Auntie ’s garden and help her plants grow.”

Shiela smiled, then said, “Kids we should be back after lunch then uncle Jack can start teaching you about being a warrior, would you like that?”

“Me too Auntie ?” Lisa asked.

Cindy chimed in, “Lisa, women are warriors too ask Auntie OhMa to tell you about FaNu.”

OhMa smiled and said, “Yes Lisa, FaNu saved the tribe from a wicked band of slavers.”

Jack spoke up, “Lisa, women make excellent warriors; they are strong, fast and brave. Women are naturally braver then men.”

“Really Uncle Jack? For sure?” Lisa said. She thought that was just wonderful that girls were better than boys at something.

“We’ll save it for later kids for now let’s eat we need to get moving.” Shiella said.

They finished breakfast and made it out to the driveway. A long black limousine was parked there. Jack hit a button in his pocket and the sides of the limo slid open the door collapsing into the frame. “All aboard we’ve got a bit of a ride to the space port, everybody belt in tight as most of the trip will be air borne.”

“Air borne?” Mary asked.

“Yep, this one has AGRAV and thrusters, it can fly.” Jack said.

Mary got in and looked in the front of the limo, there was a bewildering array of lights levers switches holographic displays, it looked like a space ship. Jim took the left side seat in the front, pulled out his seat webbing and shoulder webbing and started pre-flight. She sat down and searched for the belt. Jack leaned over and pulled out some webbing from the back of the seat pulled it over her lap and lower body. “This will keep you safe should we have a problem. It won’t hamper your movement. If you want to get up press this button here and it will release and retract. When we go airborne a helmet will lower down and shoulders straps will deploy don’t be alarmed. The helmet won’t disturb your hair it’s just contains the micro field generators that will protect you in the event of a crash. It also contains the holo projectors should you want to watch the trip; just hit this button here and you’ll be able to see outside.

Jack went over to Cindy and saw to her needs. She was fascinated she’d never been in one either. Shiella and Mark had already belted up and were lowering down the holo helmets. “If you lower your helmet we can talk, I’ll give you a running commentary if you like.” Mark said. Cindy reached up and triggered her helmet, Mary followed suit.

“As you know most cities haven’t made the investments in modern technology and remain about one hundred years back technologically from our most modern cities. The cost is too high and the need is not great enough. As we head to the space port we will be essentially traveling forward a hundred years technologically. Our town sits at about the twenty second century, we still have cars, roads you know. Modern cities like New York, have no roads, and are practically single gigantic buildings. People travel by AGRAV shuttle through complex tubes throughout the body of the building. The space port is where the old JFK airport used to be. We will be passing through New York to get there.” Mark said.

Jack had finished his pre-flight and called back. “We’re off folks enjoy the view.” The limo door slid closed and the limo rolled out. Jack drove through the housing complex. “Airborne travel is forbidden in this city so we’ll be taking the freeway to a launch ramp.” Jack spoke and Mary could hear him on the helmet audio. “We’ll keep the flight audio off your seats so you won’t be distracted by the chatter.”

Mary could see all around the limo. It took some getting used to as her view point was controlled by trackers in the helmet. Small movements of her head and eyes resulted in larger shifts in her view point.

“Shit Mary, this is better than the best video game I’ve ever played.” Cindy said. Jack said from up front, “We got video games if you want them.”

“Maybe later, I want to watch the blast off. This is too cool.” Cindy loved it.

“You’ll be disappointed Hun, we’re just going to drive off the end of a road.” Jack said.

“Shit, you’d think with all this tech you could at least provide a good blast off now and then.” Cindy sounded disappointed.

“Not to worry Hun, when we reach New York you’ll get a good thrill.” Jack laughed. “There’s nothing like doing 300 clicks and threading into an AGRAV tunnel to wake you up.”

While they were talking they had reached the freeway launch point. It was just like Jack said they drove off into the air. Jack cut in the flight audio, “This is flight 344 we’d like to make a rapid ascent to 040, we have guests that would like to see what this craft can do. Permission granted 344 turn to course 022 climb to forty thousand, then increase speed to 900 clicks. Thank you flight control.” Jack spun the limo and blasted up to 040, the maneuver took about a minute.

“All right!” Cindy yelled.

“Anything for you Hun.” Jack said. He cut the flight audio out.

They came rushing up to New York, it looked like a mountain made of metal sitting over the whole peninsula. At various places on the side were rectangular openings with lights flashing around them. Black spots were moving in and out of them. Jack executed a quick decent before they reached the border of New Jersey. They slowed to 300 as they flashed up to one of the openings. It looked like they were going to hit the side of the mountain.

“Holy shit, this is terrific.” Cindy was loving it.

They flashed into the hole and Jack leaned back and looked over his shoulder. “We’re on traffic control now so not much left to do. I thought you’d like the transition Hun.”

Jim leaned back, “How you doing Mary?”

“Okay, I just imagine I’m watching a vid and not actually doing these wild things, it’s okay.” Mary said.

“Good for you. It’s kind of a shock for most people who haven’t left their home town.” Jim said.

“Cindy, how’d you get from Africa? You had to fly right?” Mary asked.

“Yea, we took a commercial flight from Lagos, but you just walk on the plane and in a few hours you walk off. You don’t get to see much.” Cindy said. “We took a train from the airport to our town, same kind of deal; you walk on and walk off. Jack, where’d you learn all this shit?”

“Mark sent me to flight school, and then to fighter training. This brick is not much like a modern fighter much easier to fly.” Jack said.

“He did rather well in fighter training, several companies and the military tried to hire him away.” Mark said. “Highest number of simulation kills of any student ever I understand.”

“Well they couldn’t hire me away I was already taken as you know.” Jack said.

“Wouldn’t let me give him a raise either, surly bastard.” Mark said. “He threatened to donate it to some charity or something if I gave it to him.”

“What would I do with money boss? I got room and board, hot and cold running wenches who needs money?” Jack said.

“I’m no wench.” Cindy said.

“Tell that to junior, he’s going to go into hiding after last night.” Jack laughed.

“Hey I can’t help it if males are the inferior sex. We’re just too smart to run the world. Let the men do all the work.” Cindy snorted. “When do we get there lover boy? You better be kidding about junior.”

“We’re already there Hun. We’ve been in a holding pattern while we talked.” Jack said.

“Shit man; let’s get this show on the road.” Cindy was eager for more.

Jack turned back to his controls. He cut in the traffic audio. “Traffic this is 344 requesting a berth at dock 37 the Poseidon. Acknowledged 344, transit time three minutes.” They pulled up to their berth and the limo settled down on its wheels again. The side slid open and the webbing and helmets retracted. Jack and Jim bailed out and handed out the ladies. They walked across the plaza to a round door which had two uniformed guards. Holographic displays projected in front of their left eyes. One of the guards saluted.”

“You are expected mam. Please take this it will direct you to the captain’s office.” He held out a small pen like object. Shiella took it and thanked him. “Thanks officer.”

“No mam, I’m no officer but your welcome all the same. We’re always glad to have visitors.” The guard saluted again.

The door opened and they walked into the lift. As the door closed, they heard “Man, I think I’m in love. Did you see that? Watch what you say idiot that’s the captain’s sister. Yea, that big one probably break me in half, but the other one, oh man …”

Jim got a big grin on his face and took Mary’s hand. “See I told you, you’re beautiful.”

Jack leaned over and kissed Cindy. “He doesn’t know the half of it. You’d probably fracture every bone in his body.”

“Well at least it’s good to be appreciated for something.” Cindy pouted. “Your brother’s captain?” Cindy asked.

“Yes, Nikos has been captain of the Poseidon for ten years now. He’s got all the papers so we can make it legal. You’ll like him.” said. The lift door opened and a holographic arrow popped out of the pen indicating the direction to go. They walked down the hall way passing a few guards who saluted as they passed, some would say “Pleased to see you again mam, sir.” Mark had a happy look on his face and greeted some of the guards by name. “I love this place. If I ever quit construction I’m going to join up. Shiella could get her own command in less than a couple of years I’ll bet.”

“We got responsibilities Hun.” said.

“Yea but a man can dream can’t he?” Mark said.

They came to a door with two guards. “Go in mam, he’s expecting you. Nice to see you sir.”

The door opened. A tall thin man sat behind the desk and stood up and came over to Shiella. He picked her up and kissed her. “Been too long sis.” He set her back down, and shook hands with Mark. “Still working for a living Mark? The offer still stands, you know, we can always use a man of your talents.” He shook Jacks hand, “Same to you son, you’ve got a standing offer name your pay.” He turned to look at Cindy and Mary. “So introduce me to the beauty sis.”

“Nikos, the big one is Cindy she Jacks intended, the smaller one is Mary, she’s Jims intended, Jim’s the one holding her hand.” Shiella said.

Nikos shook hands with Cindy, Mary then Jim. “Sit we’ll talk about the papers.” Nikos went back behind the desk and touched a button, and spoke “Tea and Coffee”. A door opened and a man came in with a tray. He was tall nearly seven feet tall, and built like Conan the barbarian. It looked like he could flex his muscles and rip his shirt to shreds. “I see I’ve been anticipated again. Tell Mister Johnson he has my thanks, Peter.”

“Yes, sir”, the man said, “he said to remind you that lunch is at 1300 and can be served here or in the mess if you like.” The guard set down the tray, and looked at Cindy. “Coffee or tea mam?”

“Tea sir.” Cindy said.

“Call me Peter please.” He set down a china cup with tea and a small plate of cakes. “Cream, sugar?” He asked.

“No as is. Thank you Peter.” Cindy’s eyes were getting larger.

“Ah as god intended. Sweet girl like you shouldn’t need any extra sweeting anyway, if you’ll pardon me mam.”

He served the other ladies and gave each a special complement.

“Coffee Jack, good to see you again, congratulations sir, you’re a lucky man.” Pete set a cup done before Jack and some cakes. He already knew what he wanted.

“Coffee Mark, good to see you again.” Peter served Mark.

“Coffee for you Jim, congratulations you sure know how to pick’em sir, if you’ll pardon me.” Peter set down his cup and then served the captain tea and cakes saluted. “If you’ll need me sir I’ll be across the hall in the ward room. Lunch sir?”

“Thank you Peter. We’ll be having lunch in the mess. I can’t deny the men a show, they’d probably mutiny. Won’t get a lick of work out of the single ones today anyway.” Nikos said and saluted back.

“Yes sir, you’re probably right sir, I’ll pass the word.” Peter saluted again and walked out.

“Sorry about Peter, ladies he such a flirt.” Nikos shook his head. “So to the matter at hand, we got the papers here to sign, we’ll make a quick trip down to medical, then come back and sign.”

“Medical Sir?” Jim asked.

“Just a formality, we need to have a scan on file before we can sign the papers. So, when you’re through with the refreshments, we head down to medical.” Nikos said. “If you’ll follow me.” They walked out into the corridor the guards saluted. They entered an elevator. “Medical” Nikos said. “Acknowledged Captain.” the elevator said, the door snapped shut and they took off. Shortly the door snapped open. A man in a white uniform walked over.

“Good morning captain, these are they?” He saluted.

“Yes Jason, these are the ones.” Nikos said.

“Hello, Shiella, Mark good to see you. Would you want a quick scan as well?” Jason asked.

“Sure why not.” Mark said. “I love this high tech stuff. They can tell you in seconds what takes my doctor days.”

“If you’ll step over here.” Jason indicated a small alcove near a big machine. “You first Mark.”

Mark stepped into the alcove, a brief red glow enveloped him. “Thank you Mark, Now Shiella if you will.” They all took their turn. “Thank you all, if you’ll take a seat at the desk I’ll just review the results with you.” Jason said. Jason walked over to the big machine and started reviewing the results. He spent several minutes and then signaled the captain. “Sir, I see no impediment to them marrying. In fact they are all in excellent health including Mark and Shiella. Jim is in better health then his last scan. Jack is still off the chart on most figures of merit. Mark is in good health and shows no additional trauma sense his accident. Micro surgery is still not an option in his case. Cindy is off the chart as well very similar profile to Jack. Genetic indicators are they are from the same extended family and will have healthy if not outstanding issue. Jim and Mary are also quite compatible genetically and should produce exceptional children. I hesitate to tell you this last item sir as they are not members of the crew all three women are pregnant. Presuming the morulas progress and implant successfully they should deliver normal children. They likely don’t know they are pregnant.”

“Thank you Jason, go ahead and tell them what you think is prudent.” Nikos said.

“Sorry about the wait. You all pass nothing negative to report. I’d like to review some of the findings with you one on one if you don’t mind. I’ll start with you Shiella if you’ll come over to the scanner.” Jason stood and walked over to the scanner, in tow.

“What’s up doctor?” Shiella asked.

“Nothing bad I just wanted to let you know that you’re pregnant. In fact you will be having twins. You should be scanned again in the next three weeks, to make sure there are no complications. Do you wish to know their genders?” Jason asked.

“Yes, please.” Shiella was starting to smile.

“You will have a boy and a girl. I see by your expression you are pleased.” Jason smiled at her.

“Oh thank you doctor this is the best news I’ve had in months.” Shiella was tempted to kiss him. “Ah, this is kind of awkward, but can you tell who the father is?” Shiella looked a little embarrassed.

“No need to be embarrassed, it’s a common question. Normally on a ship this size this kind of thing happens from time to time. As you are not part of the crew it would normally be difficult to tell, because the proper genetic information wouldn’t be on file for the father. But in this case both Jack and Jim have just been scanned so we are able to find a match. Jack fathered the boy, and Jim the girl. If you don’t mind send over Mary.” Jason said.

Shiella floated over to the table and sat down after telling Mary to go over. Mark took her hand, “Okay Hun?” Mark asked. Shiella patted his hand, “Tell you later.”

“Mary thanks for talking with me. Just wanted to let you know you are pregnant. Do you want to know the gender?” Jason asked. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“Yes girl or boy? Pretty much what we expected.” Mary looked pleased.

“It’s a boy. You should have another scan within the next three weeks.” Jason said. “Could you send over Cindy?”

Mary went back, “You’re up Cindy.” She sat down and whispered in Jim’s ear. “It’s a boy.” Jim leaned over and kissed her.

“Cindy thanks for talking with me.” Jason said.

“So what’d I get doc? Girl or Boy?” Cindy chimed in.

“Ah you expected this. You got two girls.” Jason said.

“No shit, two? What a stud.” Cindy said.

“Well you played the biggest part here. Anyway you should get another scan in three weeks, just to make sure everything is proceeding as it should. Come let’s go back.” Jason walked back.

“Hey stud, I got two girls.” Cindy said as she sat down. Jack startled then leaned over and kissed her sliding his hand between her knees. “Good on you sweet meat.” Jack said. The others had a quick laugh.

“Always nice to deal with happy parents.” Jason said. “Captain, if there is nothing else.”

“Thank you Jason. If you’ll pardon me I need to speak to Dr. Kincaid and then we’ll head back.” Nikos and Jason walked back to the big scanner. “So Jason, what did you find? Was it a false reading?”

“No sir, the entry scanners were correct. The weak ES field is coming from Jack. As you know we have been remotely monitoring him ever since he left fighter school, though romote monitoring an ES talent is a tricky proposition. You already know about Shiella and Mark. The interesting thing however is that they all show ES talent. Cindy is intermittently radiating an ES field, Jim and Mary show strong intra-cranial ES fields. We should begin monitoring all of them. Anyway way can convince them to stay for testing?”

“Sorry Jason, the predictors in tactical say we can’t intervene. There some big event heading their way and the outcome won’t be good unless we stand back and let it happen.” Nikos said.

“Sorry to hear that captain. Would it be alright if we get some help from them? We’re out of options for Mrs. Nogales. Scans indicate that Mary is a strong latent healer. Much stronger than any we have here. If we could excite a response from her, maybe we could save little Susan.” Jason said.

“Let’s check.” Nikos touched his ear and spoke, “Tactical”.

“Acknowledged captain”, a voice spoke in Jason’s and Nikos’s ear.

“What does probability say about testing Mary?” Nikos says.

“Hold on sir, here’s Mr. Olson.” The voice said. “Olson here captain. Predictors say it’s okay sir, in fact it improves their chances in the coming event some.”

“Thank you Olson.” Nikos lowered his hand. “You may proceed Dr. Kinkaid.”

“Oh thanks captain.” Jason walked back to the table. "Before you go I’d really appreciate it if Mary, could take a look at one of our patients. She is a child, who was exposed to radiation before she was born. Her mother had a normal delivery, and all tests indicate the child is normal, but she is comatose. Electrical activity in the brain is abnormally quiet. “

“Me, sir?” Mary said. “I’m not a doctor.”

Cindy leaned over and whispered to Mary. “OhMa says you should try. She says try to see like you did with the crystal.”

“If you’d just indulge me. We are out of ideas, and we have reason to believe you might be able to make a suggestion. Please follow me, all of you.” Jason stood up and walked over to an alcove in the medical bay and pulled aside the curtain.

“This is Linda Nogales. Her baby Susan is the one we were talking about. Hello Linda, this is Mary. She would like to take a look at your baby, if you will permit it.” Jason, put a hand on Linda’s solder. Linda looked up and her face was etched with pain. Mary knelt in front of her and placed her hand on the side of her head. “I will do my best for you Linda.”

Linda stood and pulled back the cover on the small crib next to her. “Dr. Kinkaid explained to me that it was a long shot, but …”

Mary walked over to the crib and placed her hand on the baby’s head. She relaxed and opened herself to the baby. She looked and could see the bright spots and lines flowing around and around. Rhythmical repeating round and round. Cindy walked up and whispered. “What do you see?”

“It goes around and around.” Mary said.

“Ohma says, it should sparkle and burn, like a bush on fire.” Cindy whispered.

Mary reached out and took Shiella’s hand and Cindy put her hand on Mary’s shoulder. “What do I do, OhMa?” Mary looked at Cindy.

“You must break it child, shatter the pattern explode it. Hit it.” Cindy tightened her hand on Mary’s shoulder.

Mary gathered herself tightening her grip on Shiella’s hand she imagined an explosion of sparks and streamers in place of the round and round. A flash of light like lightning jumped from Shiella and Cindy and struck Mary and then exploded in sparks and streams under her hand where it rested on the baby’s head. Mary staggered back and Cindy caught her. The baby doubled up and started crying a strong healthy bawling. Mary stood and looked and saw that the round and round had changed to sparks crisscrossing and jumping and fading branching like lightning from a bright spot.

Jason stepped up holding a portable scanner. “That looked like an electrical discharge. Are you alright?” He pointed the scanner at Mary. Cindy helped her to a chair. “Your ATP levels are significantly depleted; your brain electrical activity went off the chart there for a second. Neural transmitters are depleted throughout the frontal part off your brain. Your visual system is showing abnormally high levels of activity. What did you do?” Throughout this the baby was screaming, Her mother picked her up and tried to calm her down.

Jason pointed the scanner at the baby. “Hyperventilating, blood oxygen levels elevated CO2 levels decreased. Neural activity elevated, complex she is frightened. She's hungry. Excellent this is just what we hoped for.” Linda raised her shirt and pressed the baby to her breast. Susan dug her hands into her mother’s breast and starting sucking.

Jason went to a cabinet pushed some bottles around picked one out opened it and poured it into a plastic cup. He stepped over to Mary, handed her the cup. “Glucose, drink this.” He stepped over to a green cylinder pulled off the mask spun the knob. “Here, breath through this, it should help.” Mary put down the empty cup and breathed through the mask. He held up the scanner. “Visual center quieting down, blood sugar climbing, oxygen levels climbing, good. Sit still here while I go scan the baby.” He walked back over to Linda and Susan. Linda was smiling as her baby suckled. “Doctor, she’s going to be Okay, she did it didn’t she?”

“Looks that way Linda; keep feeding her while I scan her.” He pushed some buttons on his portable scanner and a weak red fan of light swept over the baby while the scanner beeped and popped. The fan stopped and he took the scanner over to the big machine and plugged it into a slot, and then started flipping through displays. Jim sat down next to Mary and took her hand. She lowered the mask and Jim kissed her. “No don’t stop. Keep breathing through the mask”, Jason called from over by the big machine.

Mary picked it up and kept breathing through it. Jim smiled at her when she made a face.

Jason walked back from the machine and took the mask from Mary. Linda walked over to Mary carrying Susan in her arms she was sleeping, she extended her to Mary and Mary took her in her arms. She opened her eyes then sighed and closed them again. On her forehead was a jaggy round red welt.

“Your visual center was working overtime. What did you see? What did you do?” Jason pulled a pen like device from his shirt turned its top and pointed it at her. “If you don’t mind I’ll record your answer.”

“I saw a pattern of sparks going round and round in loops maybe about a second per loop. It looked very ordered simple. I asked OhMa, … I mean Cindy what to do and she said it was wrong and I should break it. So I gathered my strength pulling on Cindy and Shiella , and I tried to explode the pattern. Cindy said it should be like a bush on fire, putting out sparks streamers, which reminded me of sparklers and electric shocks so when I threw myself at her I tried to make an explosion to break the round and round. After the explosion I saw the pattern was like lightning bolts coming out of a bright center, with lines crisscrossing between the lightning bolts and sparks falling. Then I felt tired and Cindy helped me sit down.” Mary said.

“Well that’s very interesting, it appears that you shocked the baby’s brain and rebooted it in some sense. All scans indicate Susan should fully recover. There is a low grade burn on her forehead from the discharge but that will heal in a day or so.” Mary gave Susan back to Linda. Linda leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you so much, I thought she was going to die, you saved her.”

Linda walked back to the alcove and wrapped Susan up in a blanket and put her in the baby crib. She sat down and began rolling it back a forth.

“Well I want to thank you on behalf of the staff here. Little Susan was breaking all our hearts; we would have been forced, eventually, to let her die. I hope we can analyze our scans of the event and learn something to help future patients in similar states. We had ruled out electro shock as it is almost certainly fatal in a child of her age. Also it’s not totally clear if what happened was electrical. You should not be able to develops a potential large enough to cause an electric event of that magnitude.” Jason shook his head. “The more we learn about the human body the less we know it seems. I personally want to thank you, with the information you’ve provided I’ll be able to publish a very nice controversial paper stir up some good arguments, put some of my old cronies in their places. Captain?” Jason looked over at Nikos.

“Is she fit to travel Dr. Kinkaid?” Nikos nodded at Mary.

“Oh yes sir, she should be fine. Mary, just promise me you’ll eat two deserts at lunch.” Jason said. Mary stood up and hugged him. “I promise.” She said. Jason looked surprised and a little touched by the hug.

Cindy caught the expression on his face, “Go Girl!” she said.

“If you’ll follow me we’ll head back to the office.” Nikos said.

After they were all seated around his office desk, Nikos picked up the papers. “Now to the signing. Just one more thing and we can all sign.” Nikos looked at Jack and Cindy, they were holding hands. “Jack, you love her?” Nikos looked at Jack expectantly.

“Yes sir I do.” Jack said. They could all hear his certainty.

Nikos looked at Cindy. “What about you Cindy, you love Jack?”

“Hey, man look at him what’s not to love? What a hunk.” Cindy joked.

Nikos shook his head. “I’ve been captain of this ship for over ten years now and I’ve come to be a pretty good judge of character. Also that was not a straight answer. Think before you answer.” Nikos raised his voice slightly, “I will hear the truth of it.”

Cindy sat back and let go of Jacks hand and looked down at the floor. Jack’s face showed his uncertainty and his love for her. She thought about KilTam her husband. She thought about Jack, his open heart, his love for OhMa, his love for her. She thought about her boys and the Jacks girls. She looked at Jack and saw his love and his uncertainty. “SamOe, she said softly. I love you. I never loved my husband KilTam, and I think that is why he left me to die. When OhMa suggested our joining, I could see your love for her, and I understood how you were trapped by your vow, just as I was trapped. I thought I could release you and give you this gift and give my boys the father they never had. After the joining I felt OhMa love for you and came to understand the kind of man you are. You said you fell in love with me when you saw me in my father’s hut. I never saw you. When the tribe disbanded my father gave me to KilTam, and I vowed to be his wife as befits a princess of our tribe. The captain was right to ask me. He saw my doubts. But those are gone now.” Cindy’s face was filled with love. She looked back at the captain. “I love him sir.” She got a wicked look on her face. “And I still think he’s a hunk, and a stud, and I’m proud to be carrying his daughters.”

Jacks face cleared and he said, “Oh AnNur …”, then his face cracked and he said, “That’s my girl, give’em hell.”

Shiella looked at Nikos, a proud look on her face. “Nikos, you are the best.”

“Well, be that as it may. She just needed a little push.” Nikos had a big smile on his face.

“Now Jim, you love her?” Nikos looked at Jim.

“Forever and always.” Jim said.

“Mary?” Nikos asked.

“Forever and always.” Mary said.

“Great now we can sign.” He pushed a paper to Jack and Cindy, and another to Jim and Mary. They signed. “Okay now the witnesses,” Mark and Shiella signed. “And finally me.” He signed. “As captain of this ship, before these witnesses and in the presence I say you are legally married.” He looked up and smiled. “May god have mercy on your souls. It’s time for lunch. Follow me.” Nikos stood up and gave copies of the papers to Jack and Jim. “Can’t keep the crew waiting.”

The mess hall was large with long tables, the captain’s table sat to one side. Nikos went to the center seat facing the mess tables. The men and women of the crew were standing facing him at attention. “It is my great pleasure to announce the marriage of Jack and Cindy,” Nikos waved his hand to his right, “and Jim and Mary,” he waved his hand to the left. “Crew, what do we say?”

“Poseidon bless you, as he has blessed us.” They said in unison, and saluted, then they all started clapping, cheering, and whistling.

“You may be seated. Mr. Johnson lets have it.” Nikos said, over the ruckus. A lot of waiters came out and began serving the food. After some time as they were finishing a couple of waiters pushed out a cart with a huge wedding cake on it with two couples on the top. The crew saw this and started clapping and cheering again.

Nikos stood up and raised his hand. There was dead silence. “Mister Johnson, front and center.”

A man came out from the kitchen wearing a stained smock and a wilted chef’s hat. He stood in front of the captain, and saluted.

“At ease, Johnson, you have out done yourself. I see that there’s been a leak in my staff. Where’d you find the time to make that cake?” Nikos asked with a stern face.

“Well you see sir, when your exec got the refreshments; he managed to see the papers, sir and gave us a heads up. Me and the boys got right on it sir.” He saluted again.

“I see, well you and your staff are commended on your efforts, and you all are awarded a 100 dollar bonus, and a commendation in your file.” There was a big cheer by the crew. “You may proceed, Mr. Johnson.”

“Captain, if I may prevail on the ladies,” He produced a couple of cake knives from behind his back, “It is a tradition that they make the first cut.” Nikos signaled to Cindy and Mary. They walked around the table and Mr. Johnson handed them each a cake knife. “Ladies if you will one on each end, cut off a piece.” Cindy went to one end and cut off a big piece, Mary cut off a smaller piece. Two waiters were ready with plates and put the pieces expertly on the plates, and followed Mary and Cindy back to their seats. The waiters expertly placed the plates in front of them.

“If you will take a bite, and give your approval ladies.” Mr. Johnson spoke.

Cindy took a big bite and smiled. Mary took a small bite and said, “It’s perfect.”

The crew gave a big cheer and the waiters started cutting and passing out pieces of the cake to the rest of the crew, after first serving the captain’s table. Mr. Johnson cut a large piece of cake and put it on a plate and went over to Mary. “Dr. Kincaid sends his greetings, mam and says you are to eat it all begging your pardon mam.” He bowed and saluted the captain and went back into the kitchen. When he got into the kitchen, there was a big cheer from the kitchen, and then everyone at the tables started clapping.

Mary made a big effort to eat all her cake, but had to get help from Jim at the end. Cindy and Jack started stealing bites from each other’s plates. Soon the cake was history.

Nikos stood up and said. “You are dismissed, the watch may stand down. We’ll depend on automatics for the rest of the day.” There was a cheer. As the crew left, some came by and saluted the captain and then offer congratulations to the newlyweds. Some were married couples arm in arm.

Nikos signaled , “A word sis.” Nikos and Shiella went over to a corner away from the Captains table. He pulled out a pen and handed it to her. “Sis, keep this with you for the next couple of days will you?”

looked it over couldn’t see anything unusual. “What’s up Nikos? What is this?” She waved it at him.

“Shiella, I can’t say. Just do it please.” Nikos had a begging expression on his face.

“Tell me!” Shiella had a stubborn frown on her face.

“Shiella, remember when I gave you my mark, and I told you that you could spend it on anything, all you had to do is ask?” Nikos said. “And you gave it back and said that I had your mark as well?” Nikos produced a gold coin from his pocket. It was a coin with Poseidon on it and an engraving of the ship on the other side. He handed it to her. “I’m asking you to do it. No questions.”

She took the coin and looked at him, and her face softened and she said. “I’ll let you off the hook, but you’ll have to explain it in a week Okay? I’ll keep it near me.”

“Thanks, sis you don’t know what this means to me.” Nikos said. He took the pen and clipped it to her blouse. “Keep it near you. On your person for the next few days, and I promise I’ll explain everything.” They walked back to the group. “Well you all have trashed all my schedules for the week but I was happy to serve. You may stay as long as you like, but I’d recommend you make it home before the dog watch. If you’ll pardon me I have duties to perform.” He saluted and walked off.

Mary leaned over and whispered to Jim, “Dog watch?”

“He means 1600 hours, the start of the first dog watch.” Jim said.

Cindy and Jack were holding hands looking at each other kind of stunned. and Mark were smiling. Shiella leaned over and snapped her fingers between them. “Wake up you two it’s time to go back and rescue OhMa before the kids wear her out.”

Cindy startled and the said, “OhMa’s doing fine the kids are working in the garden pulling weeds, well mostly weeds, there have been a few mishaps, and re-plantings. But you’re right she agrees we need to get back.”

Shiella signaled them to follow, and went over to Peter who was standing near the door. “Peter, how do we get back to our car?”

“Ah the captain thought you’d be leaving now. He directed me to escort you to the lift. If you still have the directional on you? Shiella handed him the pen the guard gave her. He touched it to his ear and said, “Deck two exit.” He pulled it away and a holographic arrow was floating near its end. “Just follow this when you get off the elevator leave it with the guard at the exit. Nice to have met you all. He shook hands with everyone, when he got to Cindy she shook his hand and then grabbed him and kissed him. Peter cooperated.

“Don’t see handsome men like you too often. Have to catch’em while you can. I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I didn’t do that, beg’in your pardon Peter.” Cindy said with a wicked smile on her face.

Jack said, “That’s my girl.” and laughed.

Peter looked please if a little rumpled. One of the guards gave her a wink and saluted. “I’ll be thanking you for that miss, and I must say Jack your life will not be dull.” Peter saluted and marched off.

When Peter was out of ear shot, the guard said, “Miss, you’re the first one I’ve ever seen cut through his starch, keep up the good work.” He gave her a big smile and saluted.

Shiella signaled them, “Let’s go you lot.” So they went.

<Chapter=6 Title=“Evil Lurks”>

When they got home OhMa had the kids in the dining area with milk and cookies. She was telling them the end of the story of princess CuNu and her warrior NamKo.

“But, auntie OhMa, they died?” Lisa asked disappointed with the ending.

“Yes child, the evil men had used poison on their swords, and even though CuNu and NamKo destroyed them, they succeeded in killing the princess and her warrior. The healers of the tribe could not save them.” OhMa said.

The boys looked crest fallen. But then Matt said, “But they won and the tribe was saved.”

“That right Matt, and we remember them and honor them for the sacrifice.” OhMa said. OhMa looked up and saw Jack standing there and smiled at him. “Uncle Jack is back and he can start teaching you about being a warrior.” All the kids look at him expectantly.

“Oh, Uncle Jack can we learn how to be like CuNu and NamKo?” Lisa demanded.

“Oh I think we can get you all started down that road if you want.” Jack smiled at their enthusiasm. “Come on lets go outside near the pool.” The kids followed him out.

Mary looked at Jim and said, “I’m kind of curious let’s go watch.” Jim and Mary followed them out.

Jack told the kids to sit down on the grass and wait while he went and got some things, “Now while I’m gone talk and try to figure out what a warrior is. See if you can answer me when I come back.” Jack went off. The kids started arguing about what a warrior is. Jack came back; he had some pieces of bamboo. He stuck them in the ground about five feet apart one for each child. Then he put one in the ground in front of all the others, and walked over to the kids. “Ok let’s get started. You start Kiggy, what is a warrior?”

Kiggy said, “A warrior is a fighter for the tribe.”

Jack smiled and said, “That’s a good first answer, but what if there isn’t any battles to fight, is he still a warrior? What do you think, Jimmy”

Jimmy said, “A warrior is someone who knows how to fight.”

Jack nodded and said, “That’s a better answer, but what about the evil men who killed CuNu and NamKo they knew how to fight, were they warriors? What do you think, Kevin?”

Kevin said, “Yes I think they were warriors, just evil ones.”

Jack nodded and said, “So a warrior is someone who knows how to fight, and can be good or evil, is that what you mean? What do you think Matt? Do you think the evil men were warriors?”

Matt looked up and said, “No I don’t. They didn’t deserve to be called warriors, they were scum. I think warriors have honor, and fight for what they believe in.”

Jack looked at Lisa, “What do you think Lisa?”

Lisa said, “I think warriors are people who fight for love. CuNu and NamKo were in love and they loved their tribe. They died defending their tribe from the evil men. But they didn’t lose they won and that’s why we honor them.”

Jack said “That’s a very good answer. Now let me suggest an answer to you to think about. A warrior is a person who fights his self, so he can fight for the ones he loves. Now don’t talk about this think about it and be ready to tell me tomorrow what you think about it. For now, let see if we can start to learn how to fight. Now I want you to try your best at this and not to be disappointed. This is a very hard thing to learn, what I’m going to show you, so just practice and keep trying. Now each of you stand behind one of the bamboo poles, stand far enough back so you can’t touch it.” The kids lined up behind their poles. Jack stood out in front near his pole. “Now wave your arms around and make sure you can’t touch the poles. Here like this.” Jack showed them how he couldn’t touch his pole. “Now watch me I’ll do this real slow look how I hold my hands where my feet are how my body twists when I strike at the pole.” Jack stood with his right arm pulled back and his left arm pushed out, then he twisted toward the pole extending his right arm palm forward hand up, so that if he’d been close enough to the pole the heal of his hand would have hit the pole. “Okay now you try and I’ll help you.” Jack went around and helped the kids, moving their arms, their hands their feet, showing them how to twist and strike the pole, except not hitting it. He looked at Lisa and moved her feet slightly but otherwise, didn’t do much. He asked her to strike at the pole, and then again.

“Okay now I’ll show you how it looks at higher speed, and I’ll show you your goal. Now keep in mind this is a hard lession to learn and it might take you weeks to learn how to do it correctly so don’t be discouraged.”

Jack struck at the pole it was clear that he didn’t touch it with his hand but the pole broke and the top section fell to the ground. The kids gasped, so did Mary and Jim. Jack smiled at them, and said, “Now you try to break the pole. I’ll help you as much as I can, but remember what I told you about the warrior fighting his self. You must fight yourself and learn how to do this. A warrior does not accept defeat.”

The kids started striking at the poles. The boys were trying to speed up and tightened their arms and in general tiring themselves out. Lisa tried a few times, and then stopped. Jack went over to her. “What’s wrong Lisa?” Jack asked her.

“It must not be the strike that broke the pole, you didn’t touch it. You did something else.” Lisa said.

“That’s right Lisa, but the strike helps you focus the something else and that’s why we learn the movement. Try again but think about seeing the pole break visualize it falling over.” The boys listened and slowed down trying to visualize the pole breaking. Lisa went through the motions but slowly and each time she reached the end she imagined the pole breaking. She heard it break, she imagined it falling she demanded it to break. Jack moved around helping the boys, and pausing every few seconds to watch Lisa, but not interfering with her. Matt looked at her and starting trying to copy her movements while concentrating on his pole, seeing it break. Kevin, Kiggy, Jeremy and Jimmy kept trying to break the poles by some action of their hands. Jack was getting ready to call a stop when Lisa’s pole broke and fell to the ground, Matt’s pole bent double and the bamboo splintered but it didn’t fall. Matt stepped over to Lisa and hugged her. “Lisa you did it!” she was surprised and looked at the pole the bottom half still stuck in the ground, the top half several feet away on the ground.

Jack put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “So did you to Matt.”

Matt looked and saw his pole was broken over but not separated. “Well almost but Lisa did it she’s amazing.” Kevin, Kiggy, Jeremy and Jimmy stood there astounded.

Mary and Jim couldn’t believe it either the walked over to her, she jumped up and down and then hugged Jim. “I did it daddy, I did it!”

Jack said, “come on kids lets go back and have some juice and we can talk about it”.

They all trooped back into the house and sat down at the table. Jack spoke to Shiella and she passed out some grape juice.

“So Lisa, tell us what do you think how did you break the pole?” Jack asked.

“I just saw it broken and it happened. I don’t how I did it.” Lisa said.

“What about you Matt, your pole broke too, how did you do it?” Jack asked.

“I was looking at my pole trying to see it break thinking about how it would look as it bent and cracked, and finally broke. Then I heard Lisa’s pole break, and as the sound came I saw my pole fold over and crack. It’s like Lisa said I saw it and it happened.” Matt said looking with admiration at Lisa.

“You all drink up your juice and we can practice some more tomorrow.” Jack said.

The kids all drank up. “Now run along upstairs.” The kids tromped away, with Lisa and Matt following talking.

Jack looked at OhMa. “OhMa, it took me over a month of practice and many blows from my teachers before I could break the stick. She is going to make a fine warrior. We must name her soon.”

OhMa looked at Jack. “You are right SamOe, but we have run out of time.”

Shiella and Mary looked startled. Jim looked concerned but not surprised. Jim spoke up “You feel it too don’t you?”

OhMa looked at Jim. “Yes son they are coming, the evil ones have found us. AhNur we need to prepare. Go get the children. SamOe go get your swords.” Cindy and Jack ran off.

Mark and Shiella were looking at her. “Are you sure OhMa?” Mark asked.

“Yes Mark, they are coming two big cars full, I think maybe 20 men.” OhMa said.

“Jim you feel this too?” Shiella said.

“No I can’t feel the cars and men, to me it feels like a large dark wave is headed toward us. What about you Mary? Can you see them?” Jim asked.

Mary closed her eyes and opened her mind pushing out; she touched the first car, then the second. “Yes, I see them two cars like the limo but bigger longer.” Mary said. “The men are wearing what looks like armor, but its grey, like it’s made from plastic.”

“Ceramic Armor. Do you see guns?” Jim asked.

“Yes they have short guns like the guards had at the ship. Some have longer ones with telescopes on them.” Mary said.

“Laser rifles and neuronic stunners. Do you see any with burned barrels? A little bit bigger than the small guns?” Jim asked.

“Yes they all have those on their belts.” Mary said.

“Blasters.” Mark said.

Jack ran up carrying three blasters, and laser rifle. He had a long curved sword and a shorter curved sword in their scabbards attached to his belt. He handed a blaster to Mark and Jim, and slung the laser rifle across his back. “Where’s AhNur?”

Cindy ran up with the kids trooping behind her. Jack handed her a blaster.

“How long till they’re here?” Jack asked.

Jim spoke, “Five minutes the wave will be here.”

Mary spoke, “I can’t tell they seem far away but they’re moving fast.”

OhMa spoke, “Jim is right, he sees the future coming, and Mary sees the present. Matt and Lisa stay here, Mark and Shiella, take the other children to the pool cave.”

Mark ran off came back and handed out headsets. “Tight beam communicators. I’ve activated them everyone put them on.” All of them donned a headset even the kids. “Don’t speak if you don’t have to otherwise it will be harder to hear. let’s go.” Mark got up and started herding the children out.

“Wait what are we going to do?” asked.

“We are going to fight them, you need to go.” Jack said.

“But what about Matt and Lisa?” said, Mark was pulling her arm. “Shiella we have to go trust OhMa and Jack we can ask questions later.” Shiella glanced around, and then helped Mark heard the boys out to the pool cave.

OhMa looked at Matt and Lisa. “Children we are going to have to stop the evil men, like in the story, and you two are going to help.” Cindy and Jack looked startled.

“OhMa no, use us. SamOe and I can do this.” Cindy said.

“No children you need these two as well. They will have to serve as we cannot fight so many, with only two.” OhMa said.

“What are you going to do?” Jim asked taking Lisa’s hand.

“We’re going to fight like CuNu and NamKo aren’t we Auntie OhMa.” Lisa said.

“Yes children but you have not had time to learn the way of the warrior so we are going to have to join you to CuNu and NamKo, you will learn their skills and be able to help fight the evil men.” OhMa said.

“What aren’t you telling us?” Jim said.

“Their bodies are too young, and so are their minds. They will survive the joining and the coming battle but they will be changed. They have already joined their lives to each other, haven’t you children?” OhMa asked.

Matt and Lisa looked at each other. Lisa took Matts hand. “Yes OhMa, Matt and I love each other.” Lisa looked at Mary, “Moma, we were sitting, talking and Matt held my hand, and he touched my face, I smiled at him, that’s all but we both know.”

“Yes children, and this is why CuNu and NamKo are our hope here. The change will be partly physical and mostly mental. Their bodies will grow, their minds will join and merge with CuNu and NamKo and they will be like AhNur and I part of each. Oh children I’m so sorry I have to do this, you will lose your childhood, but there is no other way. SomOe and AhNur cannot defeat twenty men alone. Sit SomOe and AhNur take their hands. I will call the spirits of CuNu and NamKo, and we will begin.” OhMa sat down and took Matts hand on her right and Lisa’s hand on her left. Cindy had Lisa’s other hand while Jack had Matt’s other hand. Two bright lines joined OhMa and Matt and Lisa, and then a very broad bright line appeared between Matt and Lisa and they closed their eyes after about ten seconds they opened their eyes. OhMa let go of their hands, as did Jack and Cindy. The bright line remained joining Matt to Lisa and then it faded.

“Old one we are here. Command us.” Matt said.

“Children the evil men are almost upon us, we must defend the tribe. Elders have taken the young ones to the caves, we must remain and fight. You must fight. Jim and Mary, you will be their eyes and divine their paths. You four will be our arms, and break their lives that the tribe may continue.”

“Old one what of you?” Matt said.

“I will kill the leader, as he must die to save us from future harm.” OhMa said.

Cindy looked at her. “No OhMa there must be another way.”

“What do you mean?” Jim asked.

“She’s going to destroy the car that contains the leader, but she will die too.” Cindy said.

“AhNur, you have my life, all we lose is this old body it is a good trade.” OhMa said. Matt and Lisa nodded.

“I thought you said they would change physically?” Jim said.

“Daddy we will change when we kill two of the evil men we will use their bodies to fuel our growth. We are still here, Matt and I, we’ll just be gown up some more.” Lisa said.

“What of CuNu and NamKo?” Jim said.

“Honored one we are here as well it is as your daughter says, she does not have the knowledge but we will grow to be about the size we would be in six more years. Like we had lived nineteen years.” Matt said.

Jim’s expression hardened and he said, “It is time they are here.”

Mary spoke, “One car has landed in the woods. The men are in the woods are moving toward the house, one car is in the air, the leader is in that car.”

“Children lets go.” OhMa stood up. “AhNur you stay here and protect Jim and Mary. SamOe, Matt, Lisa and I will deal with the others. Mary and Jim will feed us information about the enemy.”

They went out the back door, “SamOe, go into the woods toward the Hut you will be able to flank them. Matt and Lisa walk around the house when you come out near the pool you will find your first opponents. I will walk out by the pool and take care of the car in the air.” Matt and Lisa ran off behind the house. Jack looked at OhMa, and then hugged her.

“OhMa, I love you.” He whispered in her ear.

She hugged him and said, “We have AhNur my SomOe, our love will not die with this old body. You have always been my love from the first day I delivered you from your mother’s body. Fight well my son, and live on for our children.” She let him go and he ran down the path toward the hut without a sound.

OhMa walked slowly out into the open area around the pool, a search light came down from the airborne car and illuminated her as she stood looking down at the ground. She looked up and raised her arms, her body burned turning from flesh to light striking into the sky. The airborne car exploded flaming bits falling to the ground. It was dark again.

Back in the house, Mary and Jim gave a small cry, “OhMa”.

Cindy looked up, “I am here children do not morn what you have not lost.”

Mary looked and said, “Cindy, one of the men has entered the house he is coming this way.”

Jim spoke, “Cindy the armor they wear is ceramic, it will stop the blaster for several seconds, you need to aim for the face. He will be coming from the kitchen if you go over by the stage you will get a clear shot before he sees you.

“Mr. Nogales report.” Nikos spoke, back in the situation room on the Poseidon.

“One of the enemy has been neutralized, ground forces are advancing. Request permission to assist.” Steve replied.

“Permission denied, remain on station. Steve probability has not released us to intervene yet, don’t make things worse by trying to be a hero, you’ll only reduce their survival chances.” Nikos said.

“Understood sir.” Steve said. “Sir detecting subsonic bogies, heading into the mission area, I think they called in re-enforcements. Permission to intercept.”

“Probability gives you the go-ahead Mr. Nogales. Intercept, you may use lethal force, if attacked.” Nikos saw the situation display update, showing two ships inbound. Their predicted trajectories, converging on his sister’s house. One of the trajectories bent and pointed to Steve’s location.”

“Mr. Nogales, one of the bogies may have detected you be prepared for live fire.” Nikos said.

“Eye, Eye, sir.” Steve said. “Yep, I’ve been ranged by laser cannon, going to evasive, shifting to super. I’m cutting in burners.” His audio got choppy as the vibration increased.

The situation display showed Steve ship, moving in at 900 knots, corks screwing through the sky. One of the observers spoke softly. “Both can that man fly.” His ship closed within firing range of the first bogie.

“He’s firing on me.” Steve’s voice came through chopped by the vibration of his maneuvers. “I’m returning fire.” The first bogie, flashed in the situation display with a red cross around it. “Bogie destroyed, going for number two.” The trajectory in the situation display diverted toward the second bogie, speed indicators indicated 1200 knots and closing.

“Seven Gs, look at that turn.” One of the observers said.

“Take it easy Steve, no hurry.” Nikos said.

“Closing captain, they are firing on me. I’ve been hit.” The trajectory diverted than realigned with the bogie. “Returning fire.” A missile launch showed in the situation display, as Steve’s ship diverted away from the bogie, the missile trajectory turned and followed the bogie when it went to evasive. A bright red cross flashed over the bogie.

“Damage report.” Nikos spoke. “Steve, are you Okay?”

“Ship’s Ok captain the laser couldn’t hurt her. Bad luck they hit me in the eye sir. I’ve lost vision in my right eye. The polarizers didn’t catch it sir.” Vibration was still coloring his audio. “Request permission to assist the ground action sir.” Steve trajectory was angling back to his sister’s house.

“Scramble Jenkins,” Nikos said, “Sending backup Steve, assist is a no go still.”

“Tell Jenkins to get the lead out.” Steve said.

“Copy that Steve.” Jenkins audio came up. “Proceeding at maximum.” A trajectory departed the Poseidon at 2200 knots. “ETA one minute.” A loud hiss almost masked out his voice.

Matt and Lisa came around the house. Mary spoke, “They are ahead of you 20 meters, behind those two trees.”

The two soldiers looked at the two kids as they walked toward them. “It looks like two kids out for a night time stroll; let’s wait for them to get closer.” Matt and Lisa walked between the two trees. Matt rolled left Lisa right. Matt struck first hitting the solder in the middle of his chest plate. His armor shattered as his chest caved in. Lisa kicked the feet out from under the other soldier, and then hit his forehead, crushing his skull. A diffuse glow encompassed Matt and the body and his body grew ripping his pants and shirt. “Stupid” Matt mumbled. He pulled off his torn clothes and started uncasing the remains of the soldier. He stripped off the soldier’s shirt and pants, and put them on.

Lisa pulled off her sweater and pants and stood naked. She touched the other soldier, and grew. She started stripping the armor off the other soldier, took off his shirt, and used his belt to make a quick dress. “We should have thought of that” she said to Matt. She picked up the blaster and the stunner. “Think we should bring these?”

Matt picked up the laser rifle and pulled out the charge and threw it into the pool. He did the same for the blaster and the stunner. “No they probably will detect them we should use stealth rather than force.”

Lisa pulled the charges from the two weapons and threw them into the pool.

“Ten meters to your right, are the next two.” Mary said.

Meanwhile Cindy fired on the soldier coming from the kitchen, fusing his face plate, blinding him and then she made a dash and bashed him in the chest caving in his armor. “Three down seven to go she mumbled.”

Cindy walked back to Jim and Mary. “What about the men in the car?”

“They tried calling in reinforcements but have lost contact. They know something is wrong. Three of the life monitors have gone dark. There are five left in the woods. Two in the car.”

“We need to keep the car on the ground. Where is it?” Cindy asked.

“It’s near the hut, Jack is closing on it.” Mary said. “He’s hard to see something is masking him.”

“Stealth, he’s blocking his presence.” Cindy said.

“The two in the car are not aware he is approaching.” Jim said.

“Good. What about Shiella and Mark.” Cindy said.

“All quiet here Cindy" Shiella whispered. “We’re hidden in the back in the pool mechanical room the lights are off. How are Matt and Lisa doing?”

“Matt and Lisa are closing on two more soldiers, the soldiers have been moving slowly toward the house.” Mary said. “Matt and Lisa are hard to see also. Wait, Matt and Lisa have taken out two more. Three left in the wood now.

“They’re going to try the front door, and the other will break a window and come in through a bedroom.” Jim said.

“Jack just disabled the car. He put his sword through the engine.” Mary said. The two inside are in a panic, they’ve sealed the doors. Jack is unslinging the laser rifle. He’s cutting a hole through the armor of the back door. The two in the front haven’t detected him. His through they’re dead.”

“That leaves three. Where are the children?” Cindy said.

“I can’t see them very well but they are closing on the soldier trying to come in through the window. Also Jack is moving fast back to the house he should reach the front door before they do.” Mary said.

“We need to move. Let’s go out the back door.” Cindy motioned them ahead of her. She walked backwards looking toward the front door. There was a loud crash from the bedroom area.

“Matt and Lisa just took out their target.” Mary said.

“Jack is behind the two at the front door. One is working on the door. The other is guarding him”, Mary said.

“Matt and Lisa”, Jack whispered. “Make it to the front door and punch at four feet up and a bit to the right of the door handle. The noise will distract the guard, and I’ll have them.”

“You got it Uncle Jack,” Lisa spoke. Matt and Lisa got to the front door. Lisa looked at Matt and they got ready. “Three, two, one, NOW!” Lisa said they struck. The door splintered and knocked the soldier down. The guard turned to look and his head fell off his shoulders. The remaining soldier tried to get up. Jack leapt and drove his sword through the back of his head and out of his forehead.

“They got them there none left.” Mary said.

“All quiet on the horizon, I don’t feel anything bad coming our way.” Jim said.

“Captain, all ground forces are eliminated as far as I can see.” Steve said. I see only six adults no children on scanners.

“Good she took my advice.” Nikos said. “You can’t see the others because they’re masked. Tactical deactivate my scrambler on my authority.”

“Executing Captain. It’s done.” a man in the corner spoke.

“This is Steve, eight adults four children. Two adults and four children are outside the house near the pool, the remaining six adults are in the house moving toward the pool. That’s not what we expected sir.”

“Troupe one you are cleared to land. Tactical, open a channel to my scrambler.” Nikos said.

“Shiella, can you hear me? This is Nikos.” Nikos touched his ear.

“Nikos?” unhooked the pen from her blouse.

“Shiella, we’ve got a troupe carrier headed your way, can you let everyone know? We don’t want to surprise anyone.” Shiella spoke into her head set. “Nikos sent a troupe ship, it’s going to land near the pool everyone. Come on kids let’s get out there.” Shiella waded out into the cave making for the entrance. “Mark kill the water fall.”

“Already done .” Mark said. “Coming out.”

They all collected near the pool. Mark had turned on the patio lights.

Jack and Cindy met and hugged. Jim and Mary stood holding hands. Jeremy, Kevin, Kiggy and Jimmy stood over by Mark. Shiella was in the middle looking for Matt and Lisa.

“Mary where are the children?” asked. They came out the back door.

“We’re here Auntie ,” Lisa said.

Shiella looked and saw a young woman a bit taller than her, with Lisa’s features but older. Narrow waist largish breasts like her mother. She was wearing a man’s shirt with a leather belt. Matt stood next to her wearing battle fatigues with a large stain on the chest. He was tall almost as tall as Jim.

“OhMa was right then you’ve changed.” Shiella said.

“Yes auntie, I’m almost all grown up now.” She hugged Matts arm.

Shiella looked at Matt, he was a strong looking young man, sort of light coffee colored, but he looked like Matt. “Matt you look different.”

“Yea Auntie , I’m not as black as I used to be, but that will change.” Matt said.

Shiella looked at Lisa “I think I may have some cloths that will fit you Hun, let’s go.” She took Lisa by the arm, and went back into the house.

“Watch out for the body here auntie, Cindy got one just past the door here.” Lisa said.

“Here you go Hun, and here are some panties, and you can wear my slippers. Sorry Hun, I don’t have a bra that will fit you.” Shiella handed her a cotton dress it was a little tight on the top but otherwise fit well. “Let’s go back and wait for Uncle Nikos troupe carrier Hun.” They went back out.

Matt saw her and smiled and came over took her hand. “You look wonderful Lisa.” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He was surprised but started cooperating.

Jack laughed and Cindy said, “Go for it Girl.”

Mary and Jim just looked on kind of confused but happy.

Mark looked a Shiella’s face and said, “Shiella you lay off those two you hear me!”

Shiella looked over at Mark got a sheepish look, and said “Ok, Ok I’ll be good.”

A bright spot light focused down on the group and then defused softening. “Troupe one off the Poseidon, permission to land?” The pilot’s voice boomed down.

Shiella waved her hand and signaled for them to land on the grass near the pool. The troupe carrier landed, the door on the back popped open and six solders jumped out carrying laser rifles wearing night vision helmets. They spread out. The pilot came out and walked over to Shiella. “Captain sends his regards mam and extends to you the hospitality of the ship. He suggests we depart as soon as possible; we’ll take care of cleanup mam. Glad to see you’re all Ok. We were expecting seven adults and six children, mam.” The Pilot said.

“It’s a long story son we’re ready to go.” Shiella clipped the pen Nikos gave her back on her blouse.

“Well if you’ll all get aboard we can depart.” Every one trouped into the carrier. The pilot followed them in. He touched his ear. “All aboard sir, by count we’re short one but I can’t say which one sir.”

“Understood troupe one, return to base soonest.” Nikos back in the situation room said. “Attack one and two return to base. Troupe two you may land.”

“Nogales here, on my way sir.” Steve turned and goosed his ship up to 900.

“Jenkins here, on my way sir.” Jenkins did a wing over and pulled beside Steve. “Steve you going to be able to land OK?”

“I’ll do an instrument landing Jenkins, no sweat.” Steve said.

<Chapter=7 Title=”Home Again”>

The troupe carrier landed on the flight deck, the door opened and everyone got out. The pilot came out last and Peter walked up.

“Good to see you all again. The captain sends his complements, and asks you to proceed to medical.” Peter said.

“Medical?” Jim asked.

“Dr. Kincaid insists you all get a scan after the nights work; beg ‘in your pardon sir.” Peter said.

Shiella looked a little worried. Mark came over and whispered. “You could just tell him the truth, Hun. I’ll bet he knows more than he’s letting on anyway.”

Shiella smiled then shrugged. “You’re probably right the truth it is.”

They all trouped into medical. They got their scans, when Dr. Kincaid got to Lisa. He looked at her and asked. “What’s your name miss?”

“Lisa” said Lisa and smiled innocently.

“Lisa? Our records say you should be twelve years old.” Jason said.

“That’s right sir.” Lisa said she nodded like it was obvious.

“If you’ll just step into the scanner then.” Jason said.

He looked at Matt. “And you must be Matt. Our records say you should be thirteen years old.”

“That’s right sir,” Matt said with a big smile on his face.

“If you’ll step into the scanner son.” Jason said.

“Okay, that will do it. Peter, you can take them to the captain, I’ll be along shortly.” Jason started flipping through screens on the scanner.

Peter spoke up. “If you’ll all follow me.”

They all trouped into the ward room as sat down around the big table.

“Mr. Johnsons sends his complements, and would like to know if you’d like some food sent up along with refreshments?” Peter said.

Shiella spoke up, “That would be wonderful we missed dinner.”

The captain came in looked around and said. “Peter, get the quarter master going on clothes for this lot and setup quarters if you will.”

“Already in works sir, Dr. Kincaid anticipated the need. Food is on the way, as ordered by the good doctor sir.” Peter said.

“Ah good, then you are dismissed Peter.” Nikos said.

“I’ll be across the hall in your office sir.” Peters left.

Nikos touched the table and said “Privacy”. The ward room door locked. A green light came on, “All tight sir.” The table said.

“Okay, we start this out informally and off the record. You are free to speak. Anything you say will not leave this room.” Nikos said. “Now I want the truth, but I’ll start just so you understand I’m being straight with you. Shiella when you called to setup the visit for the marriages, I checked with our tactical group to see what they thought about it. You all have to understand that we, that being the military we, have known about ES and PK powers for many years now. We had scans of Jack, Jim, Mark and you and we knew you all have latent talents.”

“ES? PK?” said.

“ES means extra sensory, PK means psychokinetic.” Nikos said.” We have already been monitoring Jack and Jim for quite some time because of their flight school scans. You and Mark are being monitored because you are my sister, and so it was expected you would have some talent, and Mark because typically a person with talent, will marry one with talent.”

“When you showed up this morning, Jack triggered the entry way scanner with his ES field.” Nikos said.

“Me sir?” Jack said.

“Yes Jack, tactical decided to consult probability about your visit, this is routine when we get an ES hit. Probability did a scan and found a major event nexus was headed your way. They did a long range scan of your house and found the event nexus would potentiate at your house. We detected six children and an elderly lady at your home. When you got to medical in the morning we did a complete scan of all of you. Probability indicated we couldn’t intervene in the coming event or the outcome would be bad, likely resulting in the death, of many of your family . They also found that if we stood back the chances were very good all would survive. I asked probability if I could pass you my scrambler and they said it was OK, that it would improve your chances slightly. That’s why I forced my pen on you .” Nikos said.

“So we stood back, I had two troupe carriers scrambled, and one attack ship on station with one at the ready, when you left for home. The attack ship monitored the progress of the event. We saw one of the invaders crafts destroyed by some kind of energy burst, and then we monitored your progress as you took care of the ground forces. We took care of the re-enforcements the enemy tried to bring up; one of my pilots took a laser hit in the process, so we know they were probably going to wipe you out. We believe their original intent was kidnapping. Probability released us to send in the troupe ship and my two attack ships on site indicated that the ground action was complete, and the enemy was eliminated. The troupe carrier picked up your family and brought you back here. Except for the body count on your family, some anomalies in your medical scans, and the bodies at your home, we think we understand what happened. So that’s where we stand right now I’d really appreciate hearing your side of what happened after you left today.” Nikos sat down.

Shiella looked surprised and relieved. “Nikos I want to say I really miss judged you and I’ll give you the truth as best I can.”

First about the ES and PK stuff I had no idea, but I did know that OhMa, the elderly lady your scans detected, and Jack probably had some kind of talent they inherited from their tribe. I have seen them do things I would swear just couldn’t be done. When I met Cindy I knew that she had something too.” Shiella said. “As to Mark, Mary, Jim and I, I knew nothing about any kind of talent, until OhMa started talking when we got home. OhMa said the evil men were coming and Jim said he felt a black wave heading our way. Cindy asked Mary to locate the invaders, and she did it somehow. OhMa said that Matt and Lisa had to be joined with the spirits of NamKo and CuNu, two warriors of legend from her tribe. She told us to gather together the remaining children Jeremy, Jimmy, Kiggy, and Kevin and hide in the pool cave. We went to the cave and Mark took us back into the machine room, turned up the water fall, and turned off the lights. Mark had provided us all with com headsets so we could hear the progress of the battle.

At this point about all that I can do is give you a body count. OhMa destroyed one of the invaders and herself at the same time. I understand from Mary she converted herself to light and blew the invader’s craft from the sky. Matt and Lisa took care of five of the ground forces. Jack took care of the second craft and the two enemies in it and then took care of two more who were trying to get through the front door. Cindy took care of one that got into the house. When I met back up everyone at the pool I saw that Matt and Lisa had changed as OhMa predicted. Then your troupe carrier landed and we came back here.

Nikos looked at and the others. “Hmm; I have a few questions. Let’s start with the easy one, Jack we found thermal imaging hardware on many of the bodies and we found the craft on the ground had been disabled by a sword strike through the engine compartment. The two in the craft should have detected your approach and gunned you down with the laser cannon. Explain please?”

Jack looked at Cindy and Cindy said. “SamOe, you are permitted to be truthful. Nikos is our protector as well; also it’s pretty clear he already suspects the truth anyway.”

“As you say OhMa.” Jack said. “The warriors of our tribe can mask their presence, but you may understand this better then I. I’ll demonstrate.” Jack disappeared from his chair all that you could see was a small ripple like looking at some hot air or dust falling. He re-appeared.

A red light started flashing on the table and it spoke, “Captain we just got a PK spike of enormous magnitude is everything OK?”

Nikos touched the table, “Stand down, Jack was just demonstrating something. We’ll be though soon. Captain out.”

“Dr. Kincaid requested to speak to you as soon as possible sir.” The red light stopped flashing.

“Proceed Jack.” Nikos said.

“Anyway I approached the craft, put my sword through the engine and then killed the occupants with a laser rifle. Then I quickly returned to the front door and killed the two breaking into the front door.” Jack finished up quickly.

“Ok that takes care of part of the mystery. We found a body in the house his face shield was seared by a baster, and his chest was caved in. His ceramic armor was shattered. My onsite people believe he was struck by a very powerful impact killing him instantly. You say Cindy did this?”

“Captain it is as you said. I hit him in the chest and killed him. I can hit pretty hard if need be.” Cindy looked a little embarrassed.

“Verily” The captain said. “We also found two bodies in the forest, well partial bodies; it looked like they had been eaten by some sort of chemical process. Can anyone of you explain this?” Nikos.

Matt spoke up. “Captain it was Lisa and I. We needed to grow so that our bodies could support the warrior powers granted us by NamKo and CuNu. Without that we would not have been able to take out the remaining three soldiers.”

“Humm, you say you have been joined to these two warrior spirits, are they with you now?” Nikos said.

“Honored one, we are here, I am NamKo. I remember my life and my death for the tribe, and now I am a part of Matt, the son of Cindy, and KilTam. I cannot explain more than that.” Matt spoke.

“It is as NamKo says, I remember CuNu, and now I am a part of Lisa, the daughter of Mary and Keith.” Lisa said.

“Well, I suppose for now I’ll just have to accept that. So presumably your warrior powers allowed you to close on the remaining enemy and dispatch them.” Nikos said. “What of you, Mary and Jim? Do you have anything to add?”

“As Shiella said I felt the back wave of the event nexus as you called it, and I supported Mary with, I suppose you would say, probability estimates. Mary provided ES support to our warriors during the attack.” Jim took Mary’s hand as he spoke.

“Well that seems to wrap up most of the questions. Let’s speak with Dr. Kincaid and see what he has to add.” Nikos touched the desk and said, “Kincaid”.

“Captain is that you, I’m not getting visual on my end?” Dr. Kincaid’s voice sounded from the table.

“I’m on a secure channel, Jason. What did you want to talk to me about?” Nikos said.

“Sir, those two youngsters I scanned are, by every method I know twelve and thirteen years old physically, but their bodies are developed to about age 20. Matt skin show signs of reduced melanin and both of them show signs of a rapid growth. I’d say they have been artificially grown to their current developed stage, but I have no idea how this could be accomplished. Finally all of the family show signs of extreme ES and PK ability far beyond what readings showed on the scans we have this morning. Sir, I’ll leave it to you to imagine my interest in explaining all this.” Dr. Kincaid said.

“Yes Jason. I will endeavor to explain this to you later. That’s all Jason.” Nikos pulled his finger off the table. He looked down at the desk table for about a minute, then looked at Cindy. “OhMa, I believe you are called, or at least part of you. Do you know of any other survivors of your tribe?”

Cindy’s face softened as OhMa spoke, “Sorry Nikos, AhNur and I don’t, how about you SamOe?”

“AhNur?” Nikos said.

“That’s me captian,” Cindy’s face became more animated. “OhMa and I are joined, my name in the tribe is AhNur.”

“I see well SamOe, or Jack if you prefer, what about you?” Nikos said.

Jack spoke, “Call me Jack Captain, I don’t know of any. I think it might be possible to track some down if they’re still alive. What do you think OhMa?”

Cindy shifted to OhMa, “Yes it could be done, but captain it’s getting late and we haven’t eaten and the children need to sleep, can we pick this up later?”

“Oh yes you are right of course, please all of you don’t speak of what we have discussed here, I need to think about how to handle all this.” Nikos touched the desk. “Privacy end.” The door unlocked and Nikos touched his ear. “Peter, send in the food.”

<Chapter=8 Title=”Cindy Flips a Few”>

Cindy woke up, feeling warm where she lay against Jack. She snugged closer and kissed his neck. Jack open is eyes smiled and grabbed her ass.

“Good morning sweet meat.” Jack said. “I’m relieved it wasn’t all a dream.”

Cindy pressed against his thigh and said, “I’m better than anything you could dream up. Want me to prove it?”

The end table near the bed beeped, “0730, please be advised there is a meeting scheduled at 0800 in the captain’s office.”

Jack jumped out of bed, “Shit princess we need to get rolling.”

Cindy gave a sensuous squirm on the bed, “Hey we got time, you won’t last ten minutes with my perfect body, junior looks willing.”

Jack slapped her ass, grabbed her leg, and pulled her off the bed taking the blankets and the sheets with her. “Junior needs a short rest. Come on I’m interested is seeing what Nikos is going to do about this mess.” Jack stepped into the small bath room and turned on the shower. Cindy got up and followed. He took the soap and started washing her back while she tried her best to rub her ass against him. He spun her around and started washing her front, she tried to rub her tits against him while grabbing junior. He reached around her and turned off the hot water, she squealed and Jack made a quick dash out of the shower.

“Shit, how’s a princess supposed to get laid around here anyway?” Cindy yelled.

Jack was waiting for her with a big towel. Started rubbing her dry holding her arms pinned to her sides. He kissed her quickly on the neck and goosed her tit, and threw the towel into the shower stall. “Get moving or do I have to dress you too?”

“Brute, maybe I’ll just go as I am. I’m sure there are plenty of men here that could help a princess in need.” Cindy said.

Jim was already dressed, and came over grabbed her and kissed her hard. “I love you, I want you, but we’ve got 5 minutes, I’m not going to rush, and you’re not going to get the quality you deserve in that short of time. Okay?”

Cindy relented. “Okay you’re right.” She threw on her clothes and they made it out the door.

They made it to the meeting with one second to spare. Jim, Mary, and Mark were already seated.

Nikos walked in and sat down.

“Well I gave it a lot of thought and I’ve decided that the first order of business is to do some tests.” Nikos said. “We are looking into various leads on the enemy trying to determine who attacked you and why. While we are investigating we strongly recommend you stay here. We have a squad back at your home ready to capture any agents that show up there.”

“Shiella and I spoke earlier and she agreed that the boys, Matt and Lisa should not return to their schools back home until we’ve determined that it safe. In addition Matt and Lisa pose a problem returning at all. So they are in school here being tested so we can put together educational programs for them.”

“To make it clear why the tests I need to explain a little about how knowledge of ES and PK is being handled. The military has been studying ES and PK talents for many years now, but the results of our studies are not common knowledge. We have discovered that individuals with these talents tend to be at the top of their chosen fields. Most of the time a particular individual is unaware that he has ES and PK talents. In fact in most cases that awareness is detrimental. The reasons are complex but can roughly be explained by three factors. One is that by enlarge when a person is discovered to be different from his peer group, that person is ostracized, persecuted or in extreme cases killed. The second is that when unstable individuals discover that they have some sort of ‘super-natural’ power they become obsessed with it. They turn on themselves or others and end up most of the time getting killed. Third is the fact that in general we have found that common knowledge of these talents results in significant increases in the first two problems. We have thus instituted a need to know program concerning these talents. We have gone to great pains to make sure that those that do not have a need to know conclude that these ‘super-natural’ occurrences have normal explanations. So by testing you I will be able to present hard evidence to my staff, most of whom do not have a need to know, that the events you told me about, have normal explanations.”

“You’re saying that the tests will convince them that we are telling the truth is that it?” Jim asked.

“Yes, that’s it.” Nikos said. “I think you can understand that in the presence of these talents the military needs to be able to at a minimum detect them, and then hopefully protect against them. We have instrumentation that can detect the presence of these talents, and in some cases protect against them. PK talents in general are less troublesome. ES talents can be devastating. You saw this in your recent encounter. Mary’s, OhMa’s and Jim’s perception allowed you to apply your limited force to defeat a dangerous enemy,”

“So if you’ll all follow me to the training floor we can start the first test.” Nikos lead them out to the elevator and said “Training” the doors snapped shut and after several seconds snapped open. They were in a larger darkened room. Over to one side was an instrumentation bay with several instructors sitting. In the darkened area stood a solder with a laser target gun, at the ready. Several small holographic targets were weaving around. Every once in a while, one would break formation and dash toward him. His gun would snap back and he would fire causing the target to blink green and fade out. One of the instructors noticed the captain hit the kill switch, the lights came up and he spoke. “Attention, Captain on deck.” The trainee and the trainers all stood at attention and saluted.

“Ah Mr. Nogales, getting back in shape I see. Steve lost an eye to a laser hit during the action last night. Dr. Kinkaid’s staff managed to regenerate his eye, and now he’s training so he can re-qualify for his fighter group. How are you doing Steve?” Nikos asked.

“Hit 90% sir. I should be ready for next week, sir.” He saluted. One of the trainers spoke up. “He should qualify tomorrow sir.”

Cindy walked over to him and looked at his face as he stood at attention. His left eye was green his right eye gray. She reached out and put her hand over his grey eye closed her eyes. He looked toward the captain. “Stand still son, she’s a healer let her examine you.” Her dark hand started to glow weakly red and then she pulled back her hand. His grey eye was now green and matched his other eye.

“That ought to do the trick. Why don’t you try it again?” Cindy stepped back.

“Captain?” one of the instructors said.

“Let’s step back. Do as she says.” Nikos waved everyone over to the control area.

Cindy walked over. “Increase the difficulty by 20% he’s up to it.”

“Sir?” The instructor said. “That’s 10% over standard, that’s 5% better than his best score before the injury, all of our pilots would fail at this setting.”

“Do as she said.” Nikos ordered.

The targets popped up and began their sweeps. One attacked and was dispatched. Then another. Then two at a time. Then two from different directions. Then a whole sequence of targets trailing each other. Then all the remaining targets attacked from random directions. None were left.

Steve gave a loud whoop and flipped the gun in the air and caught it.

“Very good, Mr. Nogales. I believe you have qualified. In fact I believe you are now the fleet record holder.” Nikos looked at the instructor.

“Yes sir, he beat the best time by 2 seconds. I believe this record will stand for quite some time.” The instructor said.

“You are dismissed Mr. Nogales. “ Nikos said.

Steve walked over to the training control room. “Miss?” put his hand out. “Thank you. Whatever you did I feel great. I haven’t seen this clearly since, well forever.” Cindy looked at him and then grabbed him and kissed him on the lips. He was totally surprised when she let him go he practically fell over. “You’re welcome Steve.”

Nikos almost laughed out loud but instead said. “Pick your jaw off the floor son. Congratulations, you are dismissed.”

“Yes sir”, he saluted and ran out the door and made his escape. Right before the door closed they heard a big, “I am the man!” The instructors were all trying the best to keep straight faces.

Jack piped up, “You almost gave him a heart attack sweet cheeks.”

One of the instructors stepped up to Cindy. “Miss, can you do that for our other pilots?”

“I don’t think so. He is an exceptional pilot and had more damage than his eye. He has taken more hits then he’s let on over the years he’s been flying. I just cleared up everything I could find. I suggest you check your other pilots for low grade laser damage, I’ll bet you’ll get a new record sooner than you think. Though, I wouldn’t mind kissing a few more of your pilots if you’d like to trot them along.” Cindy said with a wicked smile.

“You are an evil woman Cindy. I can’t have you breaking the hearts of all my pilots. You’ll cripple my ship.” Nikos laughed. “Anyway we don’t have time enough for that. I think we will start with your test. I think Shiella told me you have had some hand to hand training in addition to your healer training am I right?”

“Yes I know a few throws but I’m not as well trained as Jack.” Cindy said.

“Shit Hon, I never thought I’d hear you admit that.” Jack said.

“Oh come on Jack. All the times we kidded around you held back, some of my best moves you countered with almost no effort. I’m not an infant. Anyway I got you by the short hairs; you are mine even if I can’t kick your ass.” Cindy put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“You are so right, AhNur.” Jack was blushing.

“So captain what do you want to try?” Cindy said.

“Well I’d like to see how you’d stand up to our simulator. You put on the tactile suit and the simulator will provide a visual. It will feel like you’re fighting actual people. We’ll present you with opponents that will try their moves on you and we’ll see how well our instructors have programmed their hand to hand Sims. What do you say?” Nikos said.

“You’d get a better test on Jack, but I’m game. Where’s the suit?” Cindy said.

“Captain, there are safeties right? She won’t get hurt?” Jack asked.

“Yes there are safeties and this is a sim so it’s a scoring trial. She throws an opponent she scores, they throw her she loses points. The suit will provide tactile, and protect her if she is thrown. After a throw the sim will stall and she will be allowed to prepare for the next opponent.” Nikos explained. “First opponent will be practice so you can acclimate to the suit. Bring up a tactile Mr. Edwards.”

“Aye, aye sir”, said one of the instructors. He pressed some buttons and two poles popped up in the center of the room.

“Cindy go stand between the poles and the tactile suit will deploy. Stand with your legs apart, your hands down angled away from your body. The suit will wrap around you and conform to your body. When the poles retract then you can move. We’ll bring up the test opponent and you can see how the system works. Got it?” Nikos said.

“Sure sounds simple enough. Wish me luck.” Cindy said.

“You don’t need luck princess you’ve got the power.” Jack said.

“And don’t you forget it mister.” Cindy walked over and stood between the poles. “Hit me, I’m ready.”

“Activate the tactile Mr. Edwards.” Nikos said.

“Aye, aye captain.” He pressed a button and Cindy was instantly encased in a fine mesh. The poles retracted. A holographic opponent appeared.

“All set Cindy?” Nikos said.

“Yep, sure the suits working I can’t feel it.” Cindy said.

“Give her some drag.” Nikos said. “How about now?”

“Yep feels like I’m swimming in mud.” Cindy said.

“Release her and start the practice. Here we go Cindy on guard. Activate the sim.” Nikos said.

The first opponent approached her with hands out and tried to grab her waist. She did a quick turn and threw him over her hip. He hit the ground and froze.

“I see pretty realistic but that was a pretty easy throw.” Cindy said.

“Just a practice so you can get started. Now the game works as follows, the opponents will get better each time you throw one. Three falls by you ends the sim and we read your score. We monitor your vitals to make sure you aren’t over stressed, and to match the opponents to you. You can rest between throws if you want, but most find that blunts their awareness and reduces their end score. As you are ready for your next opponent? You call for it by saying next. When you’ve called the next opponent you have one second before it will attack. You may begin.” Nikos looked at the instructor. “Start her on level five Mr. Edwards.”

“Sir? Level 5?” the instructor said.

“Yes Mr. Edwards, make sure the recorders are going, and bring up her vitals on the monitor.” Nikos pointed at a monitor.

“Next.” Cindy called.

An opponent popped up and dashed at her she pulled his hands down spun and pushed him to the floor. “Ah that’s better.” Cindy said. “Next” Her heart rate was 120. The next opponent duplicated the last opponents move but when she grabbed for his hands he side stepped, she swept his feet out from under him and he fell. “Next” Her next opponent attacked from behind, she rolled away and swept his feet from under him. Heart rate 130. “Next” Her next opponent dove to the right and tried to sweep her legs. She jump up and landed on his back. Heart rate 140. “Next, now were pumping.” Her next opponent made a grab for her hand she moved it and the grab missed she grabbed his arm and jerked him past her she struck his back and he fell. Heart rate 160. “Next” the next opponent made a grab for her hand she moved her hand away, he pulled back spun left and she hit him with her elbow knocking him flat. Heart rate 185. Next. She was sweating profusely now.

“Sir? We are at level 15 now and her vitals are entering the danger zone.” The instructor said.

“Continue Mr. Edwards she knows her limits.” Nikos said.

Two opponents appeared. “Oh ho, you brought a friend.” Cindy feinted toward one and grabbed the other and kneed him and bashed the heal of her hand into the other. “Next”, “Next” … her heart rate dropped back to 160. She was moving faster.

“Sir, her reaction time just improved 20 percent. She’s getting faster.” The instructor said.

“Next, Next,…”

She was fighting four opponents now. Her opponents were starting to trip each other up. Her heart rate dropped to 140.

“Sir, she just sped up another 40%.” The instructor put his hand on the kill switch.

Cindy was standing in the center of the room as seven opponents circled her. Her gazed directed down her hands extended slightly away from her body. Two opponents attacked from two different directions she shifted out of the way and they hit each other, her hands striking them on the back at the same time the opponent that was behind her made a move to strike her she kicked her leg back striking him in the knee. The remaining opponents attacked at the same time she dove and rolled spun and struck two down. One opponent grabbed her foot as she made a kick to his head. She twisted and kicked him in the head with her other foot, rotating her body in midair. The remaining opponent made a move to slap her head she folded then jumped up wrapped her legs around him and bashed her forehead against his face. She landed.

“That’s enough Mr. Edwards.” The instructor hit the kill switch. The lights came up and the tactile suit disappeared. Cindy stood looking down breathing hard; her clothes dripping.

She trembled and looked up. “Hey what happened? I was just hitting my stride.”

“That’s enough for now Cindy; an impressive demonstration. Mr. Edwards have the quarter master send up a uniform in her size with all the accoutrements.”

“Aye, Aye sir, it will be in the women’s jakes in one minute sir.” The instructor said. They started bringing up graphs and discussing various points. One of them said “Look at this blow it would have caved in a man’s skull killing him instantly, and look here her heart rate is only 150 …” the instructors were absolutely amazed.

“Jack, will you see to her, women’s dressing room is to the left.” Jack went out. She was trembling in reaction coming down.

Jack walked over to Cindy who was still looking at the floor, “Quite a show, Hon. You Okay?” he took her arm and held her up.

“This simulator is terrific; I’ve never had such a work out. You can’t fight sparing partners like that.” Jack was directing her to the women’s dressing room taking short steps. She missed a step and Jack picked her up and carried her into the women’s dressing room. “Take a shower Hun and change into these clothes.” Jack helped her out of her clothes, and helped her into the shower setting the temperature. She was starting to rally.

“Hey big boy want to come in and help?” Cindy said.

“Hun they’re waiting for us. Hurry it up the captain wants to talk to you.” Jack stood holding a towel when she stepped out he started to dry her off. She let him and tried to slip her hand in his pants.

He stepped back and threw the towel at her. “Spoil sport she said.”

“AhNur, I’m never getting on your bad side. That was awesome. You should have been a warrior instead of a healer. I’ve never seen a women fighter like you.” Jack was leaning against the lockers while she dried her hair.

Cindy looked at the uniform, “What is this getup? It fits me. Where’s the fun in that.” She put it on; leaving most of the buttons of the top blouse unfastened her bra showed. Jack came over and copped a feel and then buttoned up most of them and then spun her around, to the mirror wall.

“AhNur, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Look at you done up like a soldier. While I love your wild ways, your beauty shines in clothes like this. I love you. When I saw you in your father’s hut dressed in all your fine clothes a chaste princess my heart almost burst you were so beautiful. Don’t change a bit but if you’d dress up like this once in a while you will make me the happiest man on earth.” He took her hand and kissed it.

“Oh SomOe, you say the nicest things some times. I’m sorry I’m such a tart. It’s just I’ve been so lonely and seeing a man’s head snap has been the most fun I could have over the last ten years. Now I’ve got your daughters, and my figure is going to go to shit, so I’ll give you a thrill now and then and dress up. ” She had a soft smile on her face.

“That’s my girl.” Jack said big smile on his face. “Let’s go see the captain.”

The walked back hand in hand.

Nikos saw them coming and got a smile on his face. The instructors were still engrossed in the tapes and graphs. Jim and Mary were holding hands, “Think they had a quickie?” Jim whispered to Mary. Mary dug her knuckle into is rib. “Don’t be silly. Look at her she’s absolutely radiant, and she’s got all the buttons done on her blouse, she’s not acting the tart she’s Jack wife. I could cry.” Mary sniffed.

“Well Cindy, you look good in that uniform. If you ever want to join up I’m sure we can find you a place. What do you think men?” Nikos said.

One of the instructors looked up from the graphs. “Sorry Sir what did you say?”

Mr. Edwards looked up. “Sir, if she could teach anyone to do what she just did, I’d be happy to give her my job, and go work in the kitchen.”

“You ain’t seen noth’n yet. Wait till you see my hubby in action.” Cindy kissed him on the cheek.

<Chapter=9 Title=”Jack Takes a Slash”>

“Well sir, what’s on the plate?” Jack said.

“I think we try you next Jack, Jims test is in engineering. You’ve handled a sword before, I think, am I right?” Nikos said.

“I’ve seen a few in my day; we practiced with a wide variety of weapons in our tribe.” Jack said. “Do you have any particular kind in mind?”

“What do you prefer?” Nikos asked.

“My preference is the paired swords of the Daisho; A Katana and a Wakizashi.” Jack said.

“Ah, you’re a man after my own heart.” Nikos touched his ear. “Peter, bring my swords down to training. Oh and bring a liter of fruit juice.”

“I think you’ll like my swords son. Haven’t aired them out for almost a year it will please me for you to try them.” Nikos said. “I got them from a master sword maker friend of mine back when I was a noncom. He taught me as much as he could and I helped him with the forge. Those were some of the best years of my life. He made these for my officer’s commission.”

Peter came into the training room carrying a rose wood case which he handed to Nikos. “Glad to see them used again sir, they’ve been packed away too long.” Peter saluted and went over to Cindy “Drink some of this miss” He handed her a bottle. Nikos opened the case unwrapped two swords and handed them to Jack.

Jack pulled the Katana from its casing and looked up at Nikos. “Juyo Mukei Bunkazai?” Jack asked.

“Yes, he is Jack he still lives and has trained two apprentices both are also Juyo Mukei Bunkazai.” Nikos said.

“Sir I’m not worthy to use blades such as these. The chief of our tribe had a blade such as this. This is a treasure.” Jack looked down the blade flipping it over and back. He slid the blade back into its casing. He made to hand it back to Nikos.

“Son, these blades are meant to be used not hidden. My teacher made me promise that they would be used at least once a year. Please indulge me. These fine blades will be complemented by your skills as a warrior, if I don’t miss my guess. Put them on and we will begin.” Nikos said, and walked back into the control area. “Mr. Edwards bring up the tactile suit.” Two poles popped up in the center of the practice floor. “Jack hold the blades and step between the poles.” Jack crossed his arms drew the blades from their scabbards on his belt and stood between the poles. “Mr. Edwards if you please.” The instructor pushed a button and the tactile suit deployed.

“Jack this test is slightly different from Cindy’s. You will be fighting a single opponent. Your opponent will freeze for 5 seconds each time you strike him, and then his skills will improve and he will start again. If he strikes you the simulation will end. The simulations will begin when you say begin. You may stop the simulation by saying end. The simulator will provide sounds as well as visuals so you can hear your opponent. Mr. Edwards bring up a samurai warrior level 10 please.”

The instructor pushed a few buttons and a samurai warrior appeared in traditional armor.

Jack stood with the swords crossed behind him. He said “Begin”.

The samurai warrior bowed to Jack, and Jack bowed to the warrior and then brought the blades up in front of him. The sim struck and the Jack blocked. Jack drove his blade into the sims face. The sim froze and then bowed and started again. Jack blocked the first blow drove the sims blade down by strength and pierced his heart.

One of the trainers looked up. His heart rate is steady at 100. He is fighting with strength right now overcoming the sim with power. This won’t work for much longer as the sim gets stronger.

The sim froze as Jacks blade sliced through its neck. It bowed and started again.

His heart rate steady at 130. He is speeding up. The sim is following. Do you hear that sir? The sword tips are breaking the sound barrier. You could hear the little snaps when Jack made a cut at the sim. His strength is amazing. Heart rate steady at 140.

The sim made a series of faints and strikes sword snaps and clangors coming faster than once a second.

His speed just went up 40% heart rate holding at 150. How is he doing this? He should be oxygen starved and sweating. It’s like he’s taking a slow jog through the park. We are at 2 cuts per second now. He’s fighting with skill now deflecting the blades out of the danger zone, until the sim leaves an opening and then killing it.

Three cuts per second his starting to shift back and forth moving the kill zone. Four cuts per second. His speed just doubled. Heart rate 160. Eight cuts per second, the sim is lagging. He’s finessing the sim now drawing it out with bad cuts and then killing it as it tries to take advantage. Cut rate is dropping back down the sim is trying to catch him out of position. He’s drawing it out and cutting it down when it attempts to strike him. He’s not attacking just reacting to the sim now. Heart rate had dropped to 140. We’re at level 100 now. The sim is executing over a thousand moves when it probes his defenses. When its blade is less than a millimeter out of position he kills it. Sir we are at level 120 now. The computer is at capacity it can’t improve anymore. He is continuing to kill the sim. Speed increases are ineffective, complex blows are ineffective, foot work ineffective. The sim has even tried throwing its sword at him. No effect. Many of his strikes would shatter a typical sword. Heart rate is holding at 150. It is not clear how he even sees some of the blows. He is moving the sword faster than we’ve ever recorded. There is no point in continuing, eventually he will tire but that would be a hollow victory. He has beaten the computer sir.”

“End the simulation Mr. Edwards.” Nikos said. The sim bowed and then disappeared. The tactile suit disappeared.

Jack did a back flip and sheathed the swords, both at the same time in one motion. He walked up to the training control room, his skin shining with a coating of sweat, dark circles under his arm pits.

“Very impressive demonstration Jack. You beat the simulation computer.” Nikos was shaking his head.

“Well sir we start training when we are six in our tribe. I graduated at 18 after I had mastered the sword of no sword as my teachers called it. We expand our awareness to the point that our actions are no longer mediated by conscious choice. The enemy attacks and his energy is returned to him. Eventually he commits too much to his attack and he kills himself. When I realized that the computer could be depended on to attack, I just relaxed and opened myself to its energy always returning it. I probably could do that for another hour or so before I ran out of strength to lift the sword.” Jack said.

“I can’t explain how I do it. Many times a teacher would do something that I’d think was impossible. Then they would demand that I do it. I would try and fail, and try again. My teachers would encourage me, or they’d beat me depending on if they saw something that indicated progress. Eventually something about me changed, the teachers called it holding the sword of no sword. They could show me something and I could do it. They would attack me, and I would not get beaten. I wonder even today what could have changed about me.” Jack was looking at the floor smiling; he looked up at the instructor. “I was wondering if you could tell me how I do it. Don’t your scans show anything?”

“Our scans indicate that beyond being abnormally healthy, if one can even say such a thing, your brain activity started out high but appeared to decrease as the test progressed. In fact the better the sim got the less stress you appeared to be under. I for one don’t understand how you could do that.” The instructor setting beside Mr. Edwards said.

“Jack, why don’t you go change while I discussed the results with the instructors. The men’s locker room is to the right.” Jack handed the swords back to Peter and left to change.

Nikos took Mr. Edwards aside and said. “Did the scans show anything you haven’t mentioned? I believe I saw a few displays you were looking at that showed something.”

“Captain, ES scans indicate he is the most developed talent we have ever scanned. While his brain activity decreased, his ES field expanded to encompass the whole room. At the end his reactions were totally mediated by his talent. His reaction time approached zero, in fact he might have been anticipating the sims movements at the end. If we had been using real weapons they would have shattered. His PK field is extremely strong, we have records of only one field as strong, and it was created by the cooperative efforts of three people. I believe if we had managed to stress him to higher levels it would have increased beyond what we have on file. While he said he probably couldn’t keep up the fight for more than an hour, I think if we had allowed the sim to continue he would have been able to continue indefinitely. Also I believe if we had thrown a grenade at him, or shot him with a blaster, his PK field would have prevented any injury. Finally, his statements to the contrary notwithstanding, he was attacking. I think his conscious mind releases control, probably as a result of his training, and his subconscious takes over. He is a formidable warrior, if as you say his tribe was destroyed, it is a great loss. Oh and one other thing, he’s telling the truth, he is not aware of his talent, and least not consciously. We are very lucky his tribe had such a well-developed sense of honor.” Mr. Edwards looked worried. “I sequestered the test results and scans as you suggested. The other instructors don’t have access to the ES equipment and are unaware of all this.”

Jack came out of the men’s dressing room and took Cindy’s hand. Cindy put her arm though his and pulled him close, “Well captain I think you said our next task was in engineering right?”

“Yes shall we go? Peter put the swords in my office if you will.” Nikos ordered.

“Sir, if I may, and Mark are needed at the school.” Peter said.

“Ok, and Mark, if you’ll follow Peter, he’ll take you to the school.” Nikos signaled the rest to follow him.

They walked out of the hall and entered the elevator. “Engineering” Nikos stated.

<Chapter=10 Title=”Jim Blows a bubble”>

After about thirty seconds the doors opened to a room with a large silver ball in the middle. The silver ball was enveloped in a mist that extended about half of a meter away from its surface. At various points along its base large pipes came out and went into the deck. There was a small railing around its base. Many consoles and screens were arrayed along the walls and in the open area near the ball. A holographic projector generated an image of the ship and engineers where discussing the various aspects of the activity visible in the holographic display.

“We are here ground side getting an engine refit. An improvement in engine tech was released to the field last month and we’re getting our upgrade.” Nikos walked over to a grey haired woman setting before a large display showing engine schematics. “This is chief engineer Amy Shepard. She will explain the test we have in mind for you Jim.”

Amy walked over to Jim and shook his hand. “Hello Jim I’ve always wanted to meet you. Your design of the walkways for the Olympics was inspired.”

“Thanks, I was happy with how that turned out. The power transfer from the falling walkways to the rising walkways was very tricky. It took months to get it aligned and tested.” Jim said.

“Well our little test here is in some ways similar to that. We are attempting to align the drive field of our new engines but we can’t seem to get the sequencing of the particle streams adjusted to provide the enhancements predicted by the scientists. The scientists have proved it is possible, but their proof has been of little use in developing a practical implementation. Here let me show you our best solution to date; you’ll be able to see our problem.” Amy touched a sequence of buttons on her workstation. A complex display of particle trajectories twisting and turning looping creating flashes of stable field interspersed with random particle cascades. “We’ve only been able to generate a stable field for about ten milliseconds, before some kind of random event desynchronizes the streams. We’ve constructed this simulation so an operator can make adjustments in real time by grabbing the particle streams, twisting then, and repositioning them. Have a seat give it a try.”

Jim sat down and reached into the holographic image and touched a few streams, causing the pattern to fall apart and generate continuous randomly twisting particle path ways. “Anyway to shut down a stream so I can build it up one stream at a time?” Jim asked.

“Sure, if you touch the source of the stream it will shut off, leaving a small disk, which you can touch again to re-enable it.” Amy said, and then took two steps back so she wasn’t in his field of view.

Jim ran his hand over the banks of stream generators turning them all off. He touched one and a straight stream came out. He touched another and adjusted it so they made a twisting rod. Another; the rod bent. His hands started flying over the sources, twisting the particle pathways. Each change made radical changes in the simulation. He began to move faster adding streams. Every modification creating a larger more complex pattern, while each one seeming to be totally unrelated to the previous one. Every few seconds a broad glow would appear indicating a drive field. With each passing second the drive fields lasted longer and longer. After about twenty minutes, he had a stable drive field. He sat back and just stared at it.

While Jim was doing this engineers would glance at what he was doing and then close down their workstations and walk around behind him and just watch.

Amy took a step toward Jim, thinking he was finished. Nikos put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. “Let him be, he isn’t finished I think.”

Jim began touching particle streams here and there, apparently at random. The field shape changed it got brighter. He continued the field shape changing becoming more compact, smoother. Bright and dark bands in the field raced around becoming wider. The bright bands got brighter merging making the whole field brighter. He continued to manipulate the streams, and the field shrank, becoming brighter.

He stopped again and sat back. “Can I add more sources? It seems to me I can make some additional improvements with more streams.”

Amy walked up and touched a few buttons, a whole array of sources appeared in space below the simulation. “Touch a source below in this area, and then touch where you want it. You can move it around by touching it and then dragging it to where you want it.” Amy stepped back.

Jim added more sources the field got brighter, smoother, and more compact. He sat back staring at it. “Somehow this seems wrong. There’s just too many. Like, I should be able to do this with fewer streams.” He began turning off streams, and repositioning the remaining ones and then adjusting them. He would turn off a stream and then drag it out of the simulation. As he made the changes the field grew bigger, then brighter, than shrank. Each time he had fewer sources and a brighter, smoother, more compact field. After he had reduced the number of sources down to about three quarters the original number he sat back, and just stared at it. “Can we save this? I’d like to try something and then come back to this.” Jim said.

Amy touched an area below the simulation and touched a button and dropped a sequence of squares. “Touch anywhere in the sim, and then touch the square it will save your current configuration. Touch the square and then the sim and it will restore the saved setting.”

Jim saved his current setting and then began manipulating the sim, the field flattened became brighter in the middle darker at the edges he removed additional stream sources, the field became egg shaped, brighter on the fat end.

He stopped and stared at it. By this time all the engineers in the room were watching. “I think this shape would work best for traveling in one direction, while the spherical solution would work best for maneuvering.”

Amy quickly touched the sim and one of the save locations. Jim stood up and the staggered like he was going to faint. Jack stepped up and grabbed his arm. “You Okay? You look a little woozy.”

Amy was flipping through screens on the workstation. “This is phenomenal, a twenty five percent reduction in the number of stream generators, 170% improvement in maneuverability on the spherical solution, a 280% percent improvement in top speed on the prolate solution. Field uniformity is better than one part per one hundred thousand. Energy requirements cut by 70%, which I believe is your trademark Jim. This is an enormous break through. The scientists are going to have a field day with this.”

The engineers started clapping.

“How long until we can test it, Amy?” Nikos said.

“It will take a few days to reposition the emitters, and then we can give it a try. The two solutions can be overlaid so we should be able to try both by the end of the week.” Amy looked a little troubled.

“What’s wrong; you don’t look happy?” Nikos said.

“The scientists will give us hell if we try this, it hasn’t gone through channels. They’ll stop us if they find out.” Amy said. Then her face cleared. “I know we’ll call it a live simulation of the settings, to improve calibration. We won’t let on we’re junking their solution.” She looked at the engineers, “You hear that you lot, this is a calibration run and not an experiment. First one of you that call it an experiment is going to spend a month cleaning weapon systems.” The engineers liked the idea. They were all pretty sick of the snooty scientists. “There will be hell to pay when this works captain you know that right?”

“You’re sure it will work?” Nikos asked.

“Oh, it will work. We’re using the scientists’ simulator. They spent years making this sim reflect the real thing. Plus they won’t be able to explain how this solution works for at least a couple of years. You know Jim and I could publish a paper, call it something inconspicuous like, ‘A particular solution to field emitter alignment for drive field generation’ I could submit it through a scientist friend of mine and we’d be able to point at the paper and feign total innocence. Most people wouldn’t catch on that the paper came after the test run and not before.” Amy was starting to like the idea.

“Ha, I like it.” Nikos said. “What will it cost you with your friend?”

“Oh, nothing much she’ll want to be listed as an author, and she can load it up with a bunch of analysis trying to explain why it works. Someone really in the know will appreciate the joke. The stuffed shirts will be livid with envy.” Amy was really smiling now. “Hey captain we can list you as fourth author we’ll probably all get the Nobel Prize.”

“If it goes that far Jim gets the prize alone, he deserves it. Make sure your friend understands.” Nikos said.

“Oh no problem there, just being a part of this is going to be a total blast.” Amy said. “You’re going to hire him right? With him down here we can make this bucket sing, sir.”

“I’m planning to try, but he might not want to quit his current Job.” Nikos looked hopeful.

“Shit draft his ass, or tell him he has to work on the ship and he can keep his day job.” Amy said.

“Hum, maybe we can make an arrangement.” Nikos said.

Amy looked around and the signaled the captain to follow her into her office. Nikos followed her. She closed the door, and they could see the engineers shaking hands with Jim as they congratulated him. “Captain, I can smell a setup a mile away. Be straight with me, how the hell did he do that? I don’t think he’s even seen a drive field generator before. I know about the ES and PK research but this is in a totally different league. He some kind of super talent isn’t he. You brought him down here to prove a point to somebody didn’t you.” Amy stared at him.

“I didn’t think I’d fool you. You’re right; top brass has been giving me a ration about helping my sister’s family. They say I shouldn’t have gotten involved. They think the scans we took yesterday morning were faked, or done with poorly calibrated instruments. You know Kincaid; if his medical scanners were out of calibration he’d probably have an aneurism. So I figure a couple demonstrations of how good they really are will drive a foot up the right channel, and get me some help solving a bigger problem. That being why they were attacked to begin with.” Nikos said.

“I heard about the test up in training. That was more of your sister’s family then. Captain we need to hire her too, if she can collect talent like that, she needs to have her own ship and the resources to back her up. Anything you need from me captain you got it. I’ll keep my staff in line on the ES and PK angle. I’ll give them some razzle dazzle that will make them think he’s just a normal kind of Joe. ” Amy went back out, and started yelling to her engineers, “Okay you lot let’s get moving on those emitters. I want a team on the mountings and another on the placement and calibration; you know what you do best so get to work on it.”

Jim was standing next to Mary holding her hand. Jack was standing next to Jim watching him. Cindy was sitting at a workstation with one of the engineers; while he showed her his latest video game. She was blasting aliens and yelling. “Eat shit and die you alien crap.”

Nikos walked over to Jack, Mary and Jim. “Well if Cindy is done kaking aliens we can go back up to medical and talk with Dr. Kinkaid.”

Jack walked over to Cindy and blew lightly in her ear. She cringed and the workstation screen flashed as her avatar was blasted. “Time to go Hun.” Jack said.

She looked up a little pissed, and then touched the screen and the controls disappeared. “You could have waited; I almost beat his best score.”

“Cindy,” the engineer said, “If you can come down here after dog watch a bunch of us will be having a death match, winner gets to compete in the fleet games at the end of the month. You could be our ace in the hole; we could really kick some fleet ass.” He looked real hopeful.

“Sure, maybe Jack will play too? What do you say?” Cindy looked at Jack.

“Sounds like fun, what’s a death match?” Jack asked.

“We setup a sim environment; tonight it’s going to be jungle action, trees various buildings etc. We all wear goggles and tactile gloves. Death match is last team standing, wins. You can play as an individual also. We use standard simulated infantry weapons and armor, anything you can carry. Your avatar can carry up to 150 pounds. In the fleet games we get to have a team of four, so the best four in our matches will compete in the fleet match. Everyone’s heard about your training room tests earlier we’d really appreciate if you’d give us a hand.” He was almost begging.

“You can bring in a ringer like this?” Jack asked. “I mean we’re not part of the crew.”

“Normally we couldn’t, but I looked it up and you’re listed as part of the captain’s family, and the rules say any family member present on the ship at the time of the games can compete. What do you say?” Jack looked at Cindy, she nodded, and Jack put out his hand and shook the engineer’s hand.

“Ok we’ll play.” Jack said. “Come on Cindy we got to go up to medical again.” Cindy stood and high fived the engineer. Then they followed the captain out to medical.

Dr. Kinkaid met them at the door and gave Jim, Cindy and Jack another scan. Then they went back up to the captains ward room, with Dr. Kinkaid and the captain.

The captain touched the table and said “Privacy”, the door locked and Dr. Kinkaid raised an eyebrow and looked at the captain. Nikos spoke to Jason, “As you have probably surmised we have a bit of a problem with my sister’s family. Shiella and Mark are over at the school taking care of the getting the kids setup. I’m sure you have some questions. But first what did your scans tell you? ”

“Captain, may I speak freely some of this material is …” Jason started.

“Yes, while normally we wouldn’t speak about this openly all the parties are aware of their talents now so you may speak freely, Jason.” Nikos said.

“Okay, well I’ll spare you the details then.

Cindy scans show an over 70% increase in ES and PK activity since this morning. She shows some signs of fatigue about what we’d see in a runner after completing five mile run. I’d say the result is from her test in the sim. She seems to be recovering a bit faster than normal.

Jack showed an over 300% increase in ES and PK activity during the test, and currently has returned to the level we saw in his morning scans. He shows no signs of fatigue which is a bit unusual as we can usually detect the effects of training up to a day later. I suspect his training allows him better control of his talents which probably explains his return to morning levels. His lack of fatigue could be a result of training but we’ve never seen such a rapid recovery.

Jim shows around a 280% increase over the morning scans in ES and to a lesser degree PK activity. During his test ES and PK activity were over 1000% higher than his morning scans. His fatigue levels are high but he should be back to normal around dinner time. He also appears to be recovering faster than normal.

“Finally while Mary was not directly tested she showed a nearly 300% increase during Cindy’s test and remains elevated even now. We believe she is actively healing the fatigue symptoms in Cindy and Jim, and had some part in Jacks quick recovery. During Jims test we saw an elevation in Mary’s neural activity which paralleled Jim’s, and at the same time as the engineers broke away from their workstations and watched Jim their neural activity increased. We believe Mary was recruiting the other engineers to help Jim solve the drive field problem, augmenting Jim. As each engineer was recruited we detected an increase in Jims ES and PK output with a parallel increase in neural activity and rate at which he made adjustments to the simulation. All the engineers showed minor fatigue symptoms, after the test was complete, which was rapidly reduced with a parallel increase in Mary’s fatigue symptoms. How do you feel now Mary?” Jason asked.

Mary was looking a bit surprised after all this. She took Jims hand and he smiled at her and nodded. “I feel a little tired I guess, and a little light headed.”

“How did you feel during the tests?” Jason asked.

“Well when I saw Cindy starting her test I felt that she must be getting really tired especially when the vital monitor showed her elevated heart rate. I looked at her, and I saw these little sparkles. I tried to help them radiate outward as it seemed to me they needed to reach her feet and hands. At first it was kind of hard to help them but then it got better and her heart rate started to come down.” Mary said.

“During Jacks test, I tried to see him as well. But in his case the sparkles were flowing out to his hands and feet already, so I tried to help them get fatter, and make some links side to side. When his heart rate started to fall I didn’t have to do anything and then I started to have trouble seeing him like he went into a cloud, but at the same time the sparkles had kind of merged and he looked overall bright. I felt like I didn’t need to help anymore.” Mary sat with her eyes closed, remembering, and with a slight smile on her face.

“During Jims test, I saw little lines radiating from his hands into the sim and throughout his body. When one of the engineers looked at him, I could see a line form between me and them. It seemed to me I should extend this line to Jim so I helped it stretch and touch Jim. There were a lot of lines forming as Jim worked between all of the engineers and between Amy and Jim. I could feel Jim getting tired so I tried to push my strength into him. When he stopped to look, all the lines would relax, and get dimmer, and then when he started working again they would tighten up and get brighter. Finally when he stood up and the engineers started clapping most of the lines disappeared except for weak lines between me and all the engineers and Amy. When I looked at Jim I could see all the lines had turned into circles and were kind of rotating and dancing around, and then they started to fade. When he took my hand all the lines had faded away, but I could still felt the need to push my energy to him so I hugged his arm. I looked at Jack and I could see a bunch of lines connected from Jack to Jim like he was trying to put his strength into Jim. Then Amy came out and started yelling at her engineers and I stopped seeing the lines everything looked normal.” Mary opened her eyes and looked at Jim. Jim was smiling and gave her hand a slight squeeze.

“So it seems your talent is focused by visual cues.” Jason looked at Mary and started thinking about all the possibilities. He looked at the captain, “Nikos, I can think of several things I’d like to try with all of them, but maybe we should lay low for a while as it seems to me the more we stimulate them the greater their response and the harder it’s going to be for us to control knowledge that something unusual is going on here. All of the senior staff already know that something big is going on I’ve spoken to most of them and they understand the problem we face with command on this. If we release too much to the top brass, we’ll likely have a full investigation launched and then they will place it all under tight security, I leave it to you to imagine where all that will go. So I suggest that we get Amy to setup a secure storage location and we move all of our information about your sister’s family into it. I further suggest that Amy cover up any test results they may have when she completes testing the new engine settings. Any further testing should be restricted. Only sensor staff should attend. If you don’t mind captain I’ll go get the ball rolling and speak with Amy and the others.” Jason stood up and looked at Nikos. Nikos touched the table and said “release one” the door unlocked and relocked when Jason left.

Nikos sat drumming his hand on the table. Looking at the others and considering his options. “Well I suppose Jason has it right, we are heading into some interesting times. Please all of you don’t feel threatened or under any pressure, while I can hardly call these events normal, the politics are quite normal. Just be yourself and try to get over the attack. Be comfortable on my ship, my crew can be trusted, those that figure it out will be very supportive and know how to keep their mouths shut. I’ve spoken to probability and they don’t see any major complications heading our way over the next several months. How do you feel about all this Jim, any storms on the horizon?” Nikos looked at Jim.

“Captain, I can’t say I feel any storms heading our way, but I feel like there’s a crazy time coming.” Jim was looking inward and his expression was kind of puzzled. “It’s hard to explain its like I feel good about what’s going to happen but I also feel confused, like I can’t understand what is going to happen.” He shook his head. “That’s not right it’s … when I look it like I can see something but, like somehow I’m … too limited to understand it?”

“Well it was kind of dull getting this refit. What is that old blessing? May you live in interesting times? I suppose I should feel blessed. Good to hear that nothing bad is heading our way. Well I need to speak to Shiella, why don’t you all speak to Peter and get a tour of the ship, wander around, or head back to your rooms.” Nikos pulled out several pens from a drawer in the table, and handed them out. “These are wireless terminals to the ship systems, they have a lot of functions and can project maps, workstations, answer questions, and work as communicators. Kind of like your cell phones you had back home. They also contain special scramblers; if you say privacy to them they will emit a scrambler screen which will encompass about a 10 meter distance. You can speak freely inside these screens and ships systems will not record any activities within a privacy region, you turn off the privacy mode by saying “end privacy”. If you lose them just go to any terminal and ask the ships systems to locate them, or pick up another from the quartermaster. Any terminal in the ship can be used similar to these, and the information associated with your terminal is automatically downloaded by ship systems when you activate a terminal. Any information specific to you is keyed to you and is not accessible by anyone except you. So if there are no questions I’ll see you all later.”

Jack spoke up, “Captain, one of the engineers asked us to participate in something called a death match. While I have some experience with this sort of thing from flight school and Cindy will probably do pretty good as she’s a wiz at video games, is our participation going to create problems? The engineer said something about kicking some fleet ass.” Jim looked up and seemed interested.

“Ah yes, the big game. Yes it’s okay for you to participate. We use these games as training exercises. I think the competition will do my staff some good, and kicking a little fleet ass will boost moral so have at it. Don’t feel you should hold back, the brass pretty much ignores this as kind of a necessary evil. If we didn’t make it an exercise it would be done ad hoc anyway. So have fun.”

Nikos touched the table and said “End privacy” the door unlocked and he left.

Jim looked at Jack, “Death match, haven’t done that for a while, you in Mary? We can try out your talent in the sim and maybe form a team with Jack, Cindy, some of the engineers.”

Mary looked a little unsure. “I’ve never played many video games, sounds kind of intriguing but I’d probably be a handicap in a real competition.”

Cindy piped up, “Shit Mary, you do real well playing zombie death with me and your talents will be a real plus. Come on girl lets kick some ass and show the boys how it’s done.”

“Ok it sounds fun.” Mary was catching Cindy’s enthusiasm.

<Chapter=11 Title=”Get a Room”>

Shiella and Mark arrived in the training center and were escorted to the director’s office.

“Shiella, Mark, thank you for coming to talk to me about the children. I’m Doctor Anderson, but please call me Nigel. I’m in charge of dependent training on the Poseidon. Part of my job is the management of testing and the development of educational programs for the dependents of crew members. As your family will be sending some time here, we thought it prudent to develop educational programs for your dependents. We have been testing your six children for part of the day and I would like to discuss their developmental status with you in an effort to understand their needs.”

Shiella and Mark shook hands with Nigel and sat down at his desk. asked, “Are they to attend school while we are here?”

“While it is common practice to provide schooling in the public sector, we find on ship that it is better for the crew members and the children to participate in a more informal teaching methodology. We make extensive use of automated teaching technologies using the various workstations and simulation systems in ship. Each student is given a mentor program, which provides a role model and helps guide their development. The mentor program is an artificial intelligence which is controlled and supported by me and my staff. The students come to think of their mentors as people, they can see them via terminal screens and in real ‘life’ in the sims at various locations in the ship. But this is not important to understand in detail at this time, suffice it to say that we essentially provide a unique teacher for each of our students. My purpose here is to discuss the specifics of the six children from your family that we will provide for.”

“All of your children are highly gifted and pose unique challenges to my staff.

Jeremy is uniquely gifted in his ability to understand spatial relationships. He shows signs of becoming an exceptional engineer, craftsmen or scientist.

Kevin is uniquely gifted in with abstract concepts, and show signs of becoming an exceptional mathematician or physicist.

Jimmy is well on the way to becoming a gifted botanist, medical doctor or biologist. Anything related to life is his domain.

Kiggy’s gift is physical, and strength of character. He is developing it to quite an athlete, with an indomitable will to succeed. He destined to be a leader.

These four boys are well adjusted, socially advanced and happy children.

Matt and Lisa pose special problems. Both Matt and Lisa show astonishing physical development. Their strength, reaction time, and coordination are exceptional. We have only two comparable individuals on record, those being Jack and Cindy. We take their age to be around twenty years. Their language skills are oddly skewed. Both have subnormal English language skills, and supernormal skills in an archaic African dialect, which used to be prevalent in central Africa. Both are highly advanced in social skills, with a highly developed moral code. They both show exceptional curiosity, and a need to understand their environment which we find more prevalent in preteens. In addition they are deeply in love, and show an understanding of each other we only see in couples who have been married many years. Finally we have the issue of their age. Tissue studies indicate their ages are 13 and 12 years. Somatic studies peg their age at around twenty years. On the one hand they qualify as adults, tissue age notwithstanding, and as such could be considered outside the domain of my department. On the other hand Lisa shows signs of exceptional gifts in the life sciences much like Jimmy, while Matt is very good with abstract concepts like Kevin. Both show an ability to learn we only see in preteens. So it seems to us that they should both be provided educational support.

Now we come to the children’s paranormal talents. We are in the infancy of characterizing these short of talents, and can offer only limited advice on how they should be developed. All the children are exceptional ES talents. Matt, and Lisa are exceptional PK talents outside of our ability to classify again like Jack and Cindy. Kiggy is an exceptional PK talent but undeveloped. Jeremy, Kevin, and Jimmy have PK talents to a lesser degree. We believe these talents are inherited from their parents. We don’t have records on Keith and KilTam but we expect they had exceptional ES and PK talents, and we already know that the adults of your family have exceptional talents.

All of the children have been given portable terminals, much like your cell phones, which they can use to access their mentors. Here are some terminals for you,” Nigel handed terminals to Shiella and to Mark.

The status of your children is available on your terminals at any time, and you can consult with their mentors or us directly should you require anything.

We understand that Jack had starting training them as warriors as Kiggy explained to us, we were hoping he would continue that training and allow us to study it. If you would speak to him we have several other children we would like to add to his class if possible. We understand so little about these talents and anything we can learn from Jack would be greatly appreciated.

Mark spoke up, “What about adult education?”

Nigel looked pleased, “Oh we can provide you and and the other adults in your family with mentors as well, and they can provide many training programs. Our scope is pretty wide, all the traditional subjects, music, writing, painting, just about everything. You and your wife can access the mentors via your terminals and select an avatar. Alternatively you have access to ship information systems and can pursue any line of research you wish.”

“Also Shiella, while you are here I’d appreciate your help managing some of our difficult cases. The captain has exceptional judgment when it comes to managing people, and has suggested that you have similar talents. The captain is pretty busy but from time to time he helps us out, but we can’t get enough of his time. If you’d be willing I’d like to consult with you. Please?” Nigel looked like he was really hoping for a yes.

“Sure Nigel, I’m kind of intrigued actually, I can’t imagine what you might need my help with.” looked interested.

“Let’s just say that we have reason to believe your leadership talents will be a real benefit.” Nigel was pleased.

“Leadership me?” Shiela was incredulous.

Mark piped in, “Shiella, you know you are a master manipulator of people. That’s all leadership is, being able to get people to do what you want, or what is good for them. Think about Nikos he’s been captain of his ship for ten years, these people are his extended family, he’s is their leader. You can see it in their eyes, you can see it when they salute, when they talk to him. They respect him even love him. Hun, Nigel’s offering you to be a part of that, and if I don’t miss my guess the captain put him up to it right Nigel?”

“Quite so Mark, it was the captain’s idea, and I have learned that the captain’s judgment when it comes to people is flawless.” Nigel said. “I’m sure the captain will speak to you some more about this. In fact the captain sent notice that when you’re done here he’d like to see you in his office. Unless you have any other questions I’ll start collecting some case studies and place some ticks in your in box for review. Thanks for seeing me.” Nigel stood up and shook their hands.

Shiella and Mark walked out of his office.

Shiella looked at Mark, “Me?” she asked him.

Mark just shook his head. “ you. It was one of the reasons I married you. I could see how everyone around you just loves you and how you gave of yourself to make them happy. You are an angel, maybe some times a devil, but you have a good heart, and you have an amazing way with people. When I fell under your spell, I just had to be with you forever. So I started pursuing you. You were a hard nut to crack. You were so tied up in making people happy that you left nothing for yourself. What I finally understood was I could win you by forcing you to take time for yourself. At first you were kind of oblivious but you played along to make me happy. I’d spend weeks trying to find out something you’d like or like to do. I’d buy it and give you a gift, or I’d have to convince you to do it. Sometimes I’d have to drag you, and sometimes I’d have to get help from your friends or family. After a while I started to see you get happier, and for a time I was content with that. Then I saw that you actually had come to like my company that you got happier when I was near you. I don’t know if you realized you were falling for me, and I was so happy that you were. So then I asked you to marry me, and you said no. I was heartbroken the first time, but still determined. So I went back to doing my best to make you happy. I think you were starting to catch on, and the thought of getting married sort of percolated around in your mind. Around that time I started my business and it took me away from you for extended times. I’d come back and give you a call, and come see you. You’d be in the dumps but happy to see me, and so I’d have to start working on you again. I’d work on building you up, taking you out, buying you gifts, and calling you in the middle of the night. I’d piss you off sometimes, just so we could make up. Finally I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was going to ask you to marry me, and I wasn’t taking no for an answer. I sure you remember that night. I made sure that all of your extended family knew what was going on and got them all to cooperate. They all went on vacations and left me alone with you. Then I took you to that cabin. You remember?”

was getting teary eyed. “Yes, we had a really big argument, and you locked me in the cabin and wouldn’t let me go.”

Mark took her hand. “I couldn’t let it go on, you mean so much to me, and I couldn’t let you continue living only for the others. They saw it too. That’s why they helped. So we had our big fight and then you said you’d marry me, to make me happy. I was really pissed off when you said that and not a little hurt. I thought about giving up but I just couldn’t. You were breaking my heart and I knew yours was breaking too. So I called up Nikos and told him, I failed I couldn’t break through. He came out, drove up, kicked in the door, and started screaming at you. At first you were kind of scared, and then you tried to tell him it was Ok. Then he called up your mom, and she yelled at you, then your dad told you he was disappointed in your behavior. I could see how much this was starting to hurt you, you were crying and I started to ask Nikos to leave, and he started yelling at me. You remember?”

was openly crying now. “Yes, that’s when it hit me. I finally understood you were right. I loved you and I wanted to marry you. So I stood up and put my face into Nikos’s and started yelling back. At first he thought I was just trying to manipulate him so he didn’t back down. He started screaming at me and at you for giving up. It took me almost an hour to convince him you’d won. That I finally realized it was Ok to marry you and that it was what I wanted. Finally at the end he looked me in the eye and said, ‘, I love you and Mark, you both will only be truly happy when you’re married. You want to see me again, then call me when you’re married.’ Then he stomped over to the door tried to put it back in place, said he was sorry about the door and got into the car and drove off. Then you came over to me and apologized for all the yelling, and you kissed me. That was the best kiss of my life. I let go and felt loved and loving. When you stopped we sat down and cried for a half hour holding hands.”

“Then you called your mom and dad, and apologized for being such a hard head, and they said they knew it was going to be hard to get through to you. Then your mom started joking about grandchildren.” Mark said.

was laughing now. “Yep, that’s mom she was relentless. Every time I’d call, every time I’d see her she’d give me a look, and I know she’d been checking me for babies. She’d shake her head. Sometimes she wouldn’t even say anything.”

stopped Mark in the hallway and looked him in the eyes, “Thanks for not giving up on me.”

Mark took her in his arms, and kissed her.

A solder walked by and they didn’t even notice him as he saluted with a big grin on his face. As he rounded the corner he gave the loudest wolf whistle, “hey get a room you two.”

Mark got a silly grin, “Been there done that.”

just let him go and put her arm through his and they walked down the hall to Nikos office.

<Chapter=12 Title=”Hired”>

The guard at the door saluted and said, “He’s waiting for you go in.”

“Ah,Shiella , Mark, thanks for coming.” Nikos got up and offered them chairs near his desk. “I wanted to talk to you about your family, and about the future.”

Shiella got a quizzical look on her face, “The future Nikos, what do you mean?”

“Well, my staff and I would really like you and your family to join us here on the Poseidon, on a more permanent basis. I would be happy to offer you all jobs, and I need a new second officer. My previous second officer was promoted away from me got his own ship and I’ve been looking for a replacement. You’d have to study up some , but I think you’ll be teaching me things quite soon; you always had a good head on your shoulders. When you think you’re ready you can be tested, when you pass you’ll get your officers commission, and you can become officially my second officer. Mr. Edwards is hot to get his hands on Jack and Cindy, Dr. Kinkaid wants Cindy and Mary, and Dr. Shepard in engineering wants Mark and Jim, and tactical is looking for Jim as well, the fighter group is after Mark, Jim and Jack. So I’d say you all can pick and choose what you like to do. You probably are going to have to stay here a couple of months anyway while we sort out the attack on your house. You don’t have to decide today, but it would help me a lot if I could tell my staff you’re thinking about it. What do you say?” Nikos was looking hopefully at Shiella.

Shiella looked at Mark, “Hon, what do you think?”

Mark looked at Shiella a big smile on his face, “Hon, I’ve been itching to do this. I can hand the business over to Edwards, he said he buy me out anytime. Look at this place it’s like heaven. Nikos needs the help and you will be in your element. We can keep the house for vacations and such, but now that we got Jack, Cindy, Jim and Mary sorted out, we can do this.”

Shiella looked at Nikos, “What about your crew? Is bringing me in as your second going to cause problems?”

Nikos got a big smile on his face, “ my crew has been in love with you for years, this is not the first time my staff has pushed this. I’ve never asked you because of your special situation at your home with OhMa and Jack. Now that we’ve had this attack I can’t see any reason to postpone it, and now that my second has bailed I could really use the help.”

“What about top brass?” Shiella asked.

“Well, they don’t have much say in who I hire. As I’m captain of the ship, staffing is my responsibility. Also there are plenty of precedents for this kind of thing. Frankly, they don’t really care; if I get results they’re happy. Also the ES and PK angles will be easier to handle. I don’t want to pressure you about this but top brass will probably try to take some action if I don’t get you under my wing. It’s hard to say what they’d do because most of them consider it a big head ache they’d rather not have. If you come I can give you a free hand, while they might try to impose on you. Sorry sis, but that’s just the way the wind blows. If you’re here, when you get your officers commission you can start getting to know the enemy as it were, and start building up your defenses. I have a personal friend in Admiral Jackson; he’s the one who convinced me to join, and helped me get my ship. He’s been running interference for me on this but we need to offer the brass something to show we’ve got things under control. We might be able to make other arrangements but this seems like the simplest solution to us.” Nikos had a kind of bemused look on his face.

“Anyway sis, you could step into my second’s shoes right away while you’re studying for your exams. Please sis, I’ll owe you big time for this.” Nikos was almost begging.

looked at Mark and he said, “Shit Hon, I’m not too proud to beg. PLEASE!!!”

gave him a big smile, “Ok Hon, I was convinced after the first few seconds. I can see the way the wind is blowing as Nikos said. This is the only way we can keep protecting our family.”

Nikos jumped up and grabbed her, hugged her and swung her around. “Oh sis, I love you. This will be perfect; the whole fleet will be green with envy when they get to know you.”

Shiella was having a hard time breathing he was hugging her so hard. “Nikos put me down! Don’t jump the gun; I haven’t convinced the others yet.”

“Shiella, nobody can say no to you, I’ve never been able to and I’m sure your family is no different.” Nikos waved her objection aside. “Let me call the Admiral he’ll want to hear about this.” Nikos touched his desk. “Admiral Jackson?”

A holo popped up over his desk, “Hello Nikos, the Admiral will be right with you. Here he is.” The holo switched to another officer. “Nikos, good to hear from you. Did you take care of that matter we discussed?”

“Yes Admiral she’s agreed. Let me widen the field you can speak to her.” Nikos touched his desk. “Admiral this is my sister.”

“Pleased to finally meet you . I hope to meet you in person soon. I want to thank you for considering our offer. We are in your debt, you will be a great asset to the fleet I’m sure. If half of what Nikos tells me about you is true, you’ll probably be the youngest Admiral ever commissioned before we know it. I look forward to working with you.” The admiral said.

“Good to meet you sir. I’ll do my best.” Shiella was touched.

“Nikos, you take care of her now son, and keep me apprised on the project we mentioned. Jackson out.” The Admirals holo vanished.

“Project?” Shiella asked.

“He’s talking about the whole mess associated with the attack on your family. Also he’s kind of hot to see where we can go with the talents of your family and my crew. He’s hoping we can learn more about ES and PK talents and improve the fleet’s readiness to deal with them. After I showed him your scans and test results, and some of the projections of my staff, he’s real worried that we are wide open to any enemy that might have a better understanding of these things. He’s particularly concerned about the attack on your family as our investigation has hit a brick wall. We can’t find where they came from nor why they attacked you.” Nikos had a troubled look on his face, but then he brightened up. “But with you on board we’ll beat this thing. Why don’t you go talk to your family and see what they think. You can start any time you like, take your time get to know the crew and the ship.”

Nikos grabbed Mark’s hand and shook it, “Glad to have you Mark, I’ve been waiting a long time for this!” Nikos trotted around behind his desk. “Go, take care of them I’ve got to speak to the others.”

Shiella and Mark left his office.

Nikos touched his desk and a workstation popped up. “Amy, is everybody on line?”

An image of Amy on the screen spoke up, “Yes captain we’re all here”.

Nikos looked at the screen, “She agreed; they’re going to stay.” All the images on the screen started talking. “Hold on one at a time I can’t hear you all at the same time.”

“Captain this is great news.” Amy said. “I think I speak for all the others, we are going to kick some real fleet ass now.” All the other images on the screen starting cheering and talking, and then they all quieted down.

“Now you all try to lay off them for a while let them get to know the ship. I know you’re all hot to get going but they need to get their feet on deck. No fighting over them either, they’ll be spread kind of thin initially so keep your cool. If I catch you undercutting each other I’ll have your ass.” Nikos looked sternly at the screen. Everyone on the screen was trying to look innocent, Nikos wasn’t buying it. “I’m serious I know you lot and I won’t have you fighting over this. There’s not a one of you that is willing to try mess with me, but I’m a piker compared to Shiella. If she catches on to you screwing around you will regret the day you were born, mark my words. So stay on her good side no matter what. And that’s an order you all hear me!” Nikos said. All the images saluted, “Aye, Aye captain” they all said together. Nikos cracked a big smile, “We are going to kick ass. This is going to be great! You are all dismissed go do whatever it is you do.” The little images all started disappearing they all had big smiles.

Nikos rubbed his hands together and started in on his pile of reports while whistling off tune.

Shiella made it back to their room and pulled out her terminal, and spoke to it, “I’d like to speak with Jack, Jim, Cindy and Mary.” As she spoke their names little screens popped up showing a still image of each one of them. As the connection was made they went live. “Can you all come to our suite’s common room; I need to discuss something with you.” Each of the little images spoke up agreeing to meet there in a few minutes.

Shiella and Mark were sitting on the couch when Jack, Cindy, Mary, and Jim came in and took their seats in the other chairs in the common room. started in, “Nikos wants us to move to the ship permanently, and hire us. What do you say?”

Jack looked at Cindy and just smiled. Cindy leaned forward, “No shit , you’re joking right? You’re not joking? You said yes right this place is heaven, tell me you said yes!”

Shiella smiled. “What about you Jack?”

Jack just looked at Cindy, “Shiella, you know me; where ever Cindy wants to go I’m there. I can see a lot of advantages to it.”

Shiella looked at Jim, “How about you Jim?”

Jim looked at Mary, and she took his hand. Jim spoke, “I’ve got a few projects to finish but I can do that here as well as anywhere else. We all get to stay together and it seems to me the kids just love it here.”

Shiella looked at Mary, “How about you Mary?”

Mary just smiled, “I’m with Jim, not much else matters. Lisa and Jeremy would kill to stay here. Also I’m pretty sure this is about the only place we’ll be safe.”

Jack piped in, “Not to mention AhNur would probably kill anyone who didn’t agree!”

Cindy punched his shoulder, “Damn straight, you said yes right?”

Mark relented, “We agreed to stay if you all agreed. So I guess it’s settled we’re staying.”

Cindy got a big smile on her face, “This is going to be great. Mary, what about your house?”

Mary looked a Jim, “Marks got an agent selling it when Jim asked me to marry him I asked Mark to take care of it for me. There is not much in it I want. His agent will pack up our stuff and deliver it to us here. What about you Jim I never asked if you had a house or something.”

Jim just smiled, “I’ve been living in a hotel for years now, nothing much there a few personal items, Marks agent can go recover those and send them to me. What about your house and business Mark?”

Mark waved that aside, “I’ve got the agent clearing out the stuff I want to bring here, I’ve contacted my partners, and they will buy me out next week, though I’m going to take a bit on the nose for bailing out on them like this, so the business is history. I’ll have my agent shut down the house until we want to go back for a visit or vacation. No problems there. You need anything from home Jack?”

Jack smiled and pinched Cindy’s butt, “I got my swords, and AhNur, I don’t need much else. In a pinch I could probably do without the swords. What about you OhMa?”

Cindy’s face softened and she smiled at him, “You warrior types and your swords. There’s a few things I’d like mostly beads and my healers stone, but that’s about all. Oh Mark your agent can find a good home for my goat right?”

Mark smiled, “Sure OhMa, I think the farm we got him from would take him back.”

looked pleased, “So it’s settled we stay. Where are the kids?” got here terminal and said, “Matt, Lisa, Jeremy, Kevin, Kiggy, and Jimmy can you all make it back to our rooms we want to talk.” Little pictures popped up saying, “Yes Auntie or Yes Mom” as they got the message. Shortly the herd showed up and set down on the floor. “So kids, Uncle Nikos has invited us to move onto the ship permanently and we’ve agreed. So if you have anything back at the house you want let Mark know and he’ll have it sent. Okay?”

They all looked really happy. Then Kiggy piped in, “Dad your still going to teach us to be warriors right?”

Jack smiled, “Yes son, anyone of you that wants, NamKo and CuNu can help too right?”

NamKo looked at Jack, “SamOe it will be an honor to help, CuNu and I need to train these young bodies as well, though it will be interesting to adapt to this strange place it’s nothing like the home valley.” Matt face shifted as he spoke, “We can learn more about the sword too right dad? NamKo says you’re the best when it comes to the sword.”

Jack looked pleased, “That’s real praise from a legend like NamKo, I’ll see if I can give you some pointers.”

<Chapter=13 Title=”Death Match”>

Cindy, Jack, Jim and Mary made it down to engineering and met up with a collection of engineers who we donning holo-goggles and tactile gloves. Cindy’s friend walk over. “Hi Cindy, Jack. My names Fritz you brought some friends I see.”

“Glad to meet you Fritz,” Jim shook hands with him, “This is my wife Mary, she’s new to this sort of thing so can you explain a bit about how the game works?”

Fritz shook hands with Mary, “Glad to have you. We will be playing Jungle Death match in this session. The environment was designed by some of the engineers on the Agamemnon and we picked up a copy to use in our trials. It’s pretty simple to play. You start by selecting an avatar. You can use a scan of your own body or pick one from the library. You then select the attributes of your avatar, strength, engineering skills, medical skills, weapon skills, stamina, visual acuity, and so on. You’re given fifty points to allocate on the various skill categories. Then you are given a choice of weapons, armor, and tech compatible with your skill choices, and finally you select the team you want to join. Teams are limited to six or less in this trial. Scoring is based on kills, and how long you last without getting killed. As this is a trial we don’t operate in hardcore mode, when you are killed you re-spawn at your home base or you can elect to re-spawn near a specific team member. The game lasts one hour.”

Fritz presented the girl standing next to him, “This is my friend Rosalyn, she’s a fighter pilot she’ll be the sixth in our team.”

“Call me Ros, I hope we’ll have a good time kicking some of this engineering ass. Expect for you Fritz,” Ros smiled at Fritz. “Fritz talked me into joining and becoming a fighter pilot. I met Fritz in engineering school but I never had a good rapport with all this tech.”

“Ros, is a witch in a fighter, and fast, she’s way up in the simulated kill ratings, and her skill with a laser rifle is second to none.” Fritz looked kind of taken with Ros.

“Ohhh! Fritz! You don’t know who you’re talking to! Jack has the highest simulated kill rating of any pilot ever tested, the recordings of his trial on the trench run, are required training in flight school, now.” Ros got red in the face. “It’s an honor to meet you Jack,” she stuck her hand out palm up to Jack, and Jack touched her hand palm down. “Cindy, I’m happy to meet you too. You both are pretty terrific I saw the tapes of your match in training, you rock! When you get a chance I’d like to learn some of those moves.” Ros high fived Cindy. She held her hand out to Jim, “Nice to meet you to Jim, Fritz tells me you did a number on the old Poseidon’s drive, when you get a chance come over to the fighter bay maybe you can jazz up my A19 interceptor.” Jim shook her hand. “Mary last but not least, I heard what you did for little Susan, Linda’s my wing man Steve’s wife, he been a new man since you saved her.” Ros beamed at Mary and gave her a hug.

Fritz watched Ros in action with a soft smile. Cindy had a big grin and gave Jack a look, Jack was pretty charmed too. Fritz came down to earth and started handing out goggles and gloves. “Here’s you gear, the tactile gloves will allow you to feel your weapon, and will control your avatar. You move by looking in the direction you want to go and then flexing your hand like this. Lower you hand and you’ll stop. The goggles have an adjustable pan rate, which you set by running your finger along the right side of the goggle. You can zoom by brushing the left side. Try to find a comfortable setting, enough gain so your neck doesn’t get tired and low enough zoom to keep you informed about your surroundings. Lowest zoom settings give you wider angles of view, up to a full 360 degree view, but that can be a bit disconcerting until you get some practice. Let’s get hooked up and join the game.” Fritz sat down and lowered his goggles. Ros helped the others get seated and hooked in.

Ros started explaining the avatar interface, “Come on let’s get your avatars up. Cindy if I can suggest, you should go for light armor with a laser staff. Laser staff is like a laser rife, but you can fire out of both ends, you can deploy a shield with it, and you can use it as a conventional staff. You should go for speed, and stamina. Mary I suggest you go for light armor with a heavy shield, and then dump as many points as you can into medical tech. You can take a support role, and keep the others buffed so they can take out the enemy. Jim should go for engineering tech and provide turret fire and shield bufs with Fritz. I’ll provide covering fire for Mary, Jim and Fritz, and guard Jack and Cindy’s backs. Jack and Cindy will provide our attack. Jack I’d suggest you go for light armor like Cindy and maybe go with dual light sabers. I heard about the vids of your training test, while our simulator may not provide you with the physical skills your knowledge of the sword should make you unstoppable. Ros was getting pretty excited, shit we are going to kick some ass let’s get it on.” She lowered her goggles.

Over in her office Amy touched her ear and spoke. “Nikos, Jason? They’re getting ready to start you got the scanners running?”

“Jason here, we’re scanning. We already see Jack and Cindy’s ES fields expanding and Mary’s visual centers are starting to going hyper active. Jim’s ES field is conforming to Mary’s, while his visual centers are also going hyper active. Mary’s is pulling Ros and Fritz into sync with the whole group. It also looks like Mary and Jim are tuning into the simulator, there’s strong ES buildup is the computer hardware that’s running the sim. This should be very interesting Nikos. With the team joined through Mary and Jim predictive talents, they should be almost untouchable.”

Nikos was sitting in his office watching the sim showing the team in action.

Jack and Cindy started ranging out from their home base location in search of prey, while Ros scanned for incoming attackers. Jim and Fritz were setting up turrets, Mary was setting up shield generators and making a safe zone to fall back to. They had picked a location in a tight grouping of trees, with few overhanging branches.

Mary detected some incoming fighters and Jim spoke up, “Cindy Jack we’ve got enemies in bond they look like they are going to flank us on both sides. Suggest Cindy circle left Jack circle right. Ros you cover our rear, Fritz and I will have the turrets take care of our front line. They’re 8 seconds out and closing. Jim started counting down. Jack circled around and came up behind the right flankers, Cindy stood behind a tree waiting for the left flankers to pass. Jim spoke up, “We have their diversion in sight they are attacking our front line. Jim and Fritz triggered the turrets and hunched down behind their shields. The left flankers passed Cindy she blasted one with a laser hit and cracked the other with a staff blow. “This is great; Cindy enthused, almost like fighting in a real jungle. The wide angle view is terrific I can see them no matter which way I’m looking. Ros this staff is amazing, they have things like this in the real world?”

Ros spoke up, “Sure Cindy, we use standard infantry weapons with some sports weapons as well. Your using a variant laser rifle which is used in fighting air borne drones. You can fire both ends should you wish, don’t forget that.”

The right flank enemies were getting ready to attack but Jack came up behind them and killed them both with single slashes of his light sabers. “Ros what about these light sabers, these are movie props aren’t they?”

Ros explained, “No Jim, they are combined lasers and blasters. They emit pulsed laser energy which ionizes the air causing scattering of the visual part of the emitters. Most of the energy is infared, and comes from the blaster part of the weapon. The blaster fires when the laser detects obstructions, effectively slicing through the obstruction.”

“Very nice, but they seem a bit lite not like my swords. Also you can’t block with them, mores the pity.” Jack said.

“That’s right Jack they are not to useful to block physical things that can survive the blaster beam, but they can deflect laser fire and blaster fire, by strongly ionizing the air. If you feel the handles you find a button that will boost up the laser power and the blaster power making a plasma tube extending out of the handles. You can deflect laser fire and blaster fire with this. Also you can form a kind of shield by sweeping the area around you with the blades. The residual Ionization can deflect a large part of a laser hit and most of a blaster hit.” Ros explained.

Jack was intrigued. “Sound like a good weapon to train with. I can get a couple of these?”

Ros affirmed, “Yes the quarter master should have some or can order them. They have a training mode as well, you can cut the blaster off and use the visible laser only. The handles will ping when the detect obstructions or encounter other light sabers.”

In the meantime the remaining part of the team which was attacking the front line had fallen back, while Cindy flanked them and killed them.

Jim spoke up, “We’ve got two teams headed our way. They’ve joined up it looks like going to try to take us out. Looks like one team is going to try to overwhelm our front line while the other team is going to split up and flank us. Ros cover the front line, Fritz and I will help, Cindy and Jack get ready for the flankers. Mary boost our shield along the rear and our flanks, and boost Cindy and Jacks shields. This should happen fast in three, two, one, now.”

They all attacked at the same time. Ros began firing pulsing the laser rifle on target knocking out the first three frontal attackers, Jim took out one and Fritz took the remaining two. Cindy and Jack spun around behind the flankers. Cindy’s bashed one with the staff while blasting one with the laser from the other end, and triggered the shield, blocking the blaster fire from the center. She swept the center enemies legs from under him and spun the staff taking him out. “Shit this is too cool. I need to get one of these things.”

Jack came up behind the remaining flankers but the center one was using wide angle and detected him. He fired his baster and Jack deflected it while taking out the left attacker with his other hand. The right attacker got off a shot but it was neutralized by Jacks shield. Jack hit him with both sabers. The attackers avatars vanished shortly after they fell.

Amy touched her ear, “Captain I don’t think they’re going to be touched. There twenty minutes into it and they killed their entire competitor’s twice. Probability says Jim is operating at least one minute ahead so the chance of surprise is Nil. Mary is projecting target locations directly to their visual centers, so stealth is not going to work. Tactical says even if all four teams gang up on them they will they have less than a 1% chance of killing either Jack or Cindy. Mary, Fritz, Jim and Ros are pretty much untouchable. Jason what do you see?”

“The ES field from Mary and Jack have fully invested the simulator computer. We believe they are in direct contact with the simulation though how they are visualizing that is not clear. Neural activity in all parties is elevated including Ros and Fritz. It may be that Mary and Jim are using them to somehow render the sim environment. Jack and Cindy are almost undetectable by the other teams no doubt due to interference from Mary. PK fields are pretty much nill except in the sim computer, and most of that is originating from Jim. It is probable that Mary is manipulating the sim computer through Jim.” Jason explained.

Nikos paned the area around their base camp and couldn’t find Jack or Cindy. “You think they can do this in a fleet wide sim as well?”

“Amy here captain, I don’t see why not. During a fleet wide sim the local copy of the environment will be replicated to all the other servers. Mary’s masking will affect all the servers as well as the local copies. Jim’s predictions will not be affected much as lag will be low in the fleet wide sim. In fact she probably could mask their whole team if it occurs to her. Right now I think she doesn’t feel the need to mask Ros, Jim and Fritz. If they fell under heavy fire from say five or six teams at the same time she might feel the need to do that, or if Jim suggests it to her. She probably doesn’t know she’s doing it, it’s just her concern for her attack squad that’s causing her to cover them.” Amy was panning through the area. “Looks like the other teams have been killing each other, and are staying away from their team.”

Jack was thinking maybe they should try an offensive. “Jim you or Mary got any idea where the others might be hiding?” Mary spoke up, “We’ve got four other teams in the system as far as I can tell. Two are engaged right now, two are about to engage it looks like.”

Jim spoke up, “We can try to flank the survivors and score a few more points.” Ros spoke up, “Where are they? How are you doing this? Typically we can’t get intelligence in these sims as there’s no provision for it.”

Cindy spoke up, “Mary’s got a talent for visualization and Jims are pretty good probability operator. If I had to guess they’re getting it from the sim directly. This isn’t cheating is it?”

Ros commented, “No if you invest enough in engineering you can get scanners, but typically that weakens your team too much. If they can tap into the sim directly, by passing all the security I suppose that’s allowed. Part of the competition is preventing that kind of thing. The engineers that control the sim are supposed to guard against enemy hacking. If your team has sufficient skill to hack the sim it’s Okay. In a true battle the enemy is not going to lay off your computers out of politeness. One year the engineers of the Celeste hacked the sim servers, and made their team unkillable. There was a bit of a roué about it but the judges decided that if the other ships couldn’t protect their servers then, that was just too bad. The Celeste team won.”

Amy spoke up, “Captain Ros has a point. We run a big risk of having our systems hacked by an attack like Mary is perpetrating now in the local server. If she were an enemy agent she could plant false information, modify ship to ship data feeds, present false targets. We need to start thinking about how we might protect from an adept like her.”

Nikos spoke up, “Any ideas? What about you Jason any suggestions?”

“Jason here, captain; It might be possible to disrupt Mary’s ES field by a counter field but I don’t see how that would help for an agent outside the ship.”

“Amy here; Ship to ship coms are encrypted, but I’m willing to bet the Mary can recruit enough brain power to crack encryption, so maybe we need to start working on improved zero knowledge coding schemes ship to ship. It will mean keeping a large base of common knowledge between ships in secure storage with background updates, and it will probably lower our feed rates, but we can make it difficult to crack the system without compromising all the severs at the same time. We’d also need to have some means of detecting a ship that’s gone rogue or has been compromised by an attacker. This is tricky captain. I’ll talk to my staff. I think we can come up with a recommendation.”

“Oh Captain while I’m thinking about it, Jason what’s your scans of Fritz and Ros say do they have any ES or PK talents?” Amy asked.

“Yes they are both strong latents, that’s probably why Mary can work with them so well.” Jason said.

“Well Captain we’re probably going to have to bring them in and explain about your family, Ros is no idiot and I’m willing to bet that contact with Mary is going to trigger something in both of them. Also Captain you might want to consider testing Ros for promotion to tactical. Her analysis of the strength of her team was brilliant.” Amy suggested.

“Nikos here, Right Amy that thought had already occurred to me, and the prospects of Ros and Fritz becoming active talents will need to be considered as well. Any idea which way they will go, Jason?”

“Ros is likely going to head toward a predictor type of talent, her kills in simulated dog fights show definite signs of anticipating the enemy. Also her uncanny ability to score with a laser rifle points that direction. Fritz seems like his talent will be more along the lines of Mary’s skill with computers. He will probably develop into a good intuitive engineer able to directly perceive system information without the use of instruments. I’d say he should stay in engineering, maybe be given some really difficult diagnostic or system design problems to push him. Maybe he’d be a good choice for coming up with countermeasures to direct computer intervention like Mary’s doing.” Jason commented

‘Yea, that’s what I was thinking. He’s already one of my top diagnosticians, and he’s got a real talent with com systems. I think this countermeasure problem will be just the grist for him. Captain the games almost over, the server support engineers have detected that Jack and Cindy were invisible; they’re trying to figure out how Fritz pulled it off. I can let them struggle with that because they’ll never figure it out, but I better bring Fritz up to speed, might as well speak with Ros too. Opinions?” Amy said.

“Nikos here Amy, go ahead, and feel out Ros about promotion, she’s probably too young yet to be considering giving up her fighter, she seems like a real go getter. Maybe suggest she can work with Jim and Mary tuning up her A19. Amy, Are those two kids serious?” Nikos asked.

“Captain, when Ros settles down Fritz is going to be the one. Fritz is already sunk and he knows it.” Amy said.

“Jason here captain, Ros and Fritz are a good match captain. Genetics are a clean and they should have superior issue. I think working with Jim and Mary will push Ros the right direction, those two radiate happiness and that will get Ros thinking about settling down with Fritz. I don’t think you need to push it but you could ask Shiella if you think some fine tuning is in order.” Jason said.

“Nikos here Amy be sure to sequester the data as we discussed, I’ll get on to the Admiral about the countermeasures. Thanks for your help both of you, Nikos Out.” Nikos touched his monitor and disconnected from the sim.

Nikos tapped his desk and spoke, “Admiral Jackson”.

Shortly a holo of the Admiral popped up from Nikos desk. “Nikos, good to hear from you, results already?”

“Yes admiral, we just finished the death match sim for today sir. Jack, Cindy, Mary and Jim participated.” Nikos started.

“Sounds pretty benign, what am I missing son?” The admiral asked.

“Mary totally compromised the sim server without direct knowledge of what she was doing. She masked Jack and Cindy from the other players, and provided Jim with enough insight to predict the behavior of the other players over a minute out. Amy here thinks she might have a countermeasure and is putting her staff on it. Sir a rogue agent could compromise fleet communications, mask enemy strength, place phantom targets, and basically cripple us in a fire fight. She was unaware that she was directly interfacing the sim computer systems, but I think you can see we have a problem.” Nikos said.

“I see Nikos, do you need more resources?” Admiral asked.

“Yes, I think we need to get moving on this as deployment will be tricky if I understand what Amy was telling me. Something about zero knowledge ciphers. She also thought that Mary might be able to crack our encryption with enough people recruited into a kind of super computer with Jim at the head. So you can imagine the need for haste. I think intelligence should be informed and should get the brains going on a solution ASAP. I’ll have Amy start the ball rolling if you don’t mind, sir.” Nikos suggested.

“Good work Nikos. I’m sure glad they’re on our side, but as you say there’s always the unknown enemy lurking out there. Keep me informed, I tell intelligence to expect Amy’s call. Jackson out.” The admiral’s holo disappeared.

-o-

<Chapter=14 Title=”Ros takes a dive”>

“Ros, Fritz come into my office.” Amy signaled them after Jack, Cindy, Mary and Jim departed.

Ros and Fritz walked into Amy’s office with confused expressions on their faces.

“I see by the standings your team won hands down. How did it go?” Amy asked.

Ros looked kind of troubled; Fritz was looking at Ros, with question marks. “Yea, almost too easy. I know Jack and Cindy were really hot players, but Mary and Jim seemed to carry the day. Cindy said Mary and Jim were somehow tapping into the sim directly. I don’t see how they could do that. Chester’s group was in charge of the server, I thought it’s pretty much impossible to do that. Also while we were in the sim I always had a pretty good impression of where all my team mates were, which might be possible I suppose, but I also had a pretty clear impression where all the enemy were too, which shouldn’t have been possible. Fritz you feel the same?”

Fritz looked at Amy, “Yes, it was the same for me. Whenever Jim spoke up about the enemy I always felt certain he was correct and when I directed my turret fire, I scored every time like the enemy was standing in plain sight. In fact even now I feel like if I close my eyes I could reach out and touch Ros no matter where she was in the room. It like there some kind of connection. Let’s try it Ros, I’ll close my eyes and put my hands over my ears, you walk somewhere in the room and I bet I can point directly at you without opening my eyes.” Fritz put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes. Ros tiptoed over to the door to Amy’s office. “You tip toed over to the door.” Fritz said. “ Ros walked behind him. “Now you’re standing behind me.” Ros walked over by Amy and hid behind the desk. “Now your hiding behind the desk.” He took his hands away. “See what I mean? You try it Ros.”

Ros stood up and turned her back and put her hands over her ears. “Ok, you’re looking around now you’re walking to the office door. You opened the door. You walked out to the right. Now you’re coming back your standing behind the plant. Now you’re walking out the door again, and you’re going over to the terminal picking up my purse, and coming back into the office.” As Fritz did it, she described it perfectly. Ros lowered her hands, and turned around keeping her eyes shut, she reached out and took her purse from Fritz, and opened her eyes. “Fritz, I can see the room with my eyes closed, it’s not just a connection between us, we’ve changed somehow. Mary or Jim did something to us or they triggered something I don’t know. Dr. Shepard, do you have any idea what is happening? This is really kind of cool but also very strange.”

“Ah we thought something might happen. Why don’t you have a seat and we’ll talk about it.” Amy indicated some chairs near her desk.

“The captain and other senior staff were monitoring the game tonight because we thought Jack, Cindy, Mary and Jim might demonstrate their unusual talents again. Ros you said you talked with Mr. Nogales, did he tell you what happened when Mary examined little Susan?” Amy asked.

Ros looked kind of reluctant, “He made me swear not to talk about it, but he told me what happened, or at least a somewhat garbled version of it, apparently Linda was a little unclear when she explained it to him. From what I gather Mary held hands with Cindy and , and touched little Susan and cured her.”

Fritz looked kind of surprised, and the gave a smile, “I heard something from one of the engineers here that there was an unusual energy discharge in Medical, that he found when doing a routine review of ship monitoring reports, a couple of days ago. He said there was some kind of energy burst recorded by ships monitors, maybe electrical but definitely visual with strong RF components, around ten AM. We figured Dr. Kinkaid was messing with the equipment again.”

“Ros has it about right, except she’s leaving out the bright flash of light and the fact that little Susan immediately started bawling and then suckled normally right after the event. Mary caused some kind of discharge that started with and Cindy, passed through her and into Susan. Susan had a small burn on her forehead, but she has been normal ever sense that. Did either of you see the vids of Cindy’s test in training?”

Fritz’s face lit up, “Carol got a copy from one of the training techs, and showed it to us all. She was saying that her analysis of the movement executed by Cindy indicated forces that couldn’t have been developed by a woman of her size. That video was hot, she can kick ass.”

Ros slapped his knee, “Jeez Fritz, why didn’t you tell me I’d love to have seen that. She’s pretty hot with a laser staff too.”

Fritz continued, “Carol also got a copy of the video of Jack’s test. He is a wizard with those swords, and Carol said he was moving faster than humanly possible, she said the forces on his wrists and the strength of his hits were off the chart. She also showed me a sequence where he started moving to block a strike, over fifty milliseconds, before the sim started moving. If he’d been fighting another person we might have written that off to Jack reading the intent to move when his opponent telegraphed his intentions, but there’s no way the sim would provide those kind of clues. Plus he beat the computer, it shouldn’t be possible to do that.”

“Yes, I’d heard the vids got out to the crew. I guess I should have expected Carol to run an analysis, she’s always checking things. She’s saved us a lot of grief over the years. I can see her now sitting at her workstation with one of her dark eyebrows raised saying, ‘That didn’t look right, how did he do that?’ Right Fritz?” Amy was laughing.

“That’s exactly what happened, she started out on Cindy and came to the conclusion that she just might have been able to do what the vid showed, but when she reviewed Jack’s vid she was completely stumped. You know Carol, she doesn’t believe in the super natural, everything has an rational explanation. We had a good time poking fun at her, but we all kind of agreed with her too, Jack shouldn’t have been able to beat the computer. She even ran tests on the sim computers to make sure they were functioning at spec and didn’t find any problems. Also one of the doctors said Jack shouldn’t have been able to stand up after that demonstration, let alone execute that back flip while sheathing the swords. Ros you should have seen that, it was like shit you thought that was amazing, well how about this, then he jumps over two meters in the air, executes a back flip while sheathing two razor sharp swords into slots no larger than about 3 centimeters. The tech in training said it took him over a minute to pick up his jaw off the floor he was so surprised. Amy you think you have an explanation for all this?” Firtz asked.

Amy looked at Ros, “Ros, you ever get the feeling when you’re flying that you know exactly what the other guys going to do? Like you know he’s going to break right, so you break left, line him up and bam he’s history?”

“All the time Dr. Shepard, it’s really uncanny. Even more when my ship takes a hit, I can feel it like it hit me. My buddies think I’m a mental case, but they never question me, when I say my ships got a hit on the aft stabilizer, we land, and I’m always right, one hundred percent. I can even tell when my wing mans Steve’s been hit. I’d call him up say Steve take it easy you port side areolon’s been hit. First time he didn’t believe me, and almost crashed. Now days he’ll usually come back with, Ah how bad is it? He tells all the other jocks I’m a witch.”

Fritz got a big smile, “Ros, you are a witch, you got it all Hun.”

Ros give him a quick smile, “You, say the nicest things, but I’m a little peeved you didn’t show me those vids, Jack is a legend, all the jocks idolize him.”

Fritz looked hurt, “Ros I was going to just haven’t had time.”

“Okay, settle down now. Fritz, what about you? How’d you fix the port side laser that time it failed? I saw you walk up to a cabinet, open it, pull out a module, plug in a spare, bam fixed. You didn’t pick up a scanner, you didn’t try a few other modules before you replaced that one, didn’t even begin to execute the standard diagnostic procedure.” Amy asked.

“We’ll I thought I saw a bit of a flare on the last few bursts before it failed, it seemed to me that could be only be that module that could have caused it.” Fritz said.

“Fritz, that’s an ultra violet laser, you can’t see it’s flare.” Amy said.

“Ah, yea I thought of that after but I swear that’s what I saw. Maybe there was some kind of heterodyne effect.” Fritz looked kind of puzzled.

“You remember what Jenkins said?” Amy asked.

“Yea, he said I must have ESP or something to fix it that fast. He said if I hadn’t have fixed it so fast he would have been toast.” Fritz kind of looked uncomfortable. “Are you saying that’s what we’ve got ESP? Ros and I?”

“Bingo, that’s what I’m saying. It’s not common knowledge but we’ve, that is top brass and those of us that are in the know about this, have been studying these talents as we call them for the last twenty years. You and Ros have both been made aware of your talents in these areas by your contact with Cindy, Jack, Mary and Jim. It’s as you said Ros, they triggered something in you. Now let me warn you, as time passes now that you’ve been sensitized you’re going to notice that you’re able to do things that should not be possible, like the seeing with your eyes close trick, or being able to tell where you airframe is damaged without actually seeing it, you will even see other people doing things that must involve some sort of ES or PK talent. You must not speak about it. Do not demonstrate your skills, and most importantly don’t tell someone they’ve done something impossible or that they’ve acquired ES or PK powers. You can do yourself or the person you talk to great harm. If others find out you think you’ve got powers, they probably think you’re crazy, if you’re lucky, in the worst case they might try to kill you to prove you wrong, or start some kind of witch hunt, just let it alone. Keep it to yourself.” Amy spoke earnestly.

“Ros the captain wants you to run up to probability and let them run some tests on you. The captain thinks you should consider accepting a promotion from the fighter wing into tactical, and eventually into probability. We both think you’re too valuable to risk in a fighter, and your analysis of your team’s talents for this death match was inspired, even though Mary rated the game.” Amy looked at Ros.

“Fritz, captain and I think your talents are best applied in engineering, and we want you to start working on how we might interdict an enemy with talents like Mary. She was directly interfacing to the sim computers and offering situational data to Jim who used that information and his predictive talents to guide your attacks. Think about what would happen if our computers couldn’t trust ship to ship communication. You remember when Jim adjusted the drive sim? Well Mary had tapped into all of the engineering staff to support that break through. All of you were guiding Jim, because of Mary’s recruitment of your brains to support his efforts. We believe that she could probably break down our encryptions codes by recruiting enough brain power, I leave it to you to guess what might happen if an enemy might do that.” Amy spoke to Fritz.

“Now why don’t you kids run along I need to speak with the captain.” Amy gave them a big smile.

Ros looked kind of uncertainly at Fritz and he gave her a big smile. “Come on Ros, I’ll show you those vids.” The got up and left Amys office.

“Captain, this is Amy.” Amy touched her ear.

“Amy you speak to them?” Nikos asked.

“Yes captain, they have partial conscious control of their talents now. I spoke to Ros about accepting promotion and assigned Fritz to the counter measures problem. Also in the morning I’m going to send Fritz over to her fighter with Jim and Mary to review any enhancements they might dream up. The training vids were leaked and one of my staff analyzed them, Carol you probably met her, a harder nosed skeptic probably doesn’t exist, she pretty much proved that Jack either cheated or has super human powers. Most of my engineers can’t see the cheat angle so the consensus is super human powers. Now Jacks legendary status with the fighter jocks will probably keep the lid on it for now, but Carol is probably going to get sensitized to her talent in the near future. Once she gets her teeth into something like this she’ll probably have a detector up in running in less than a month, she’ll prove that Jack has some sort of unknown power by detecting it’s use. Then she’s going to know about our detectors, I leave it to you to predict where that will end up. “ Amy was shaking her head.

“Well Jim predicted crazy times are headed our way, I suppose this is the beginning.” Nikos said. “I’ll talk to Shiella and see if we can somehow control this wild ride. Amy I’m sure glad you got my back on this it’s going to be a wild one. I spoke to Jason he said that one hundred percent of the crew are latents. Even the guys in the kitchen. Did you know they have had some kind of knife throwing competition going on in the kitchens for the last few years? One of the cooks managed to project a knife through a bulk head, and they been working on improving on that. The lot of them just reek of PK talent. Apparently Jim turned them on to it several years ago when he was here.”

“Yes, I heard about the knife thing when one of the engineers was called down to fix the hole, and the cooks asked him to make them a target that the knives wouldn’t go through. It took my staff working off hours over a year to come up with something that could stand up to their games. Boy this is going to be a blast Nikos. Good thing we got Shiella. She's going to be overworked keeping a lid on this. Jason thinks we need to start some kind of ship wide training, and competition to focus the development in the right channels.” Amy said. “I understand Jack is going to start a martial arts class for the children, he probably should get something going for the adults too. I’ll speak to Mr. Edwards. Bye Nikos.” Amy had a whimsical smile on her face as she signed off.

Fritz and Ros walked over to one of the workstations and Fritz punched up the videos. “Did you see that Ros, seven opponents. That’s absolutely amazing, they couldn’t touch her.”

“Did you see how Jack helped her off to the dressing room. Fritz they’re so cute he really loves her. Did you show me Jacks video in real time? That looked slowed down.” Ros said.

“That was more than slowed down Ros, it was slowed down ten to one. We wouldn’t have been able to see his swords much less follow them. Look at the jump let me replay it for you.” Fritz pushed a few buttons. “Now watch his shoes, see them compress when he takes off? Anderson has a pair of shoes like his, we did a yield test, and back computed, that was a ten G lift off he performed. If you or I tried that we’d break a leg. Here sit down play around with the controls on both the vids.” Fritz got up and Ros sat down and started cycling through the videos. Fritz just watched her face with a slight smile on his face. She’d find some part of Cindy bout and gasp as her hands tossed the sim, or bashed it. Then Jacks bout she looked at the swords moving faster than the training cameras could follow, blurring. Then she cycled back and forth through the jump. She stopped the vid when Jacks head was straight down two meters off the floor.

“Fritz, you’re looking at me. Not the vid.” Ros observed.

“Ah Ros, I’ve seen the vid, I just like watching your face as you get to the amazing parts. You’re so beautiful, and when you smile or gasp, it’s like the sun coming out on a rainy day.” Fritz had kind of a dreamy look on his face. He thought to himself, I wish I could be with you like this forever.

“Fritz, what did you say?” Ros asked. She had a really surprised look on her face.

“I said your smile is like the sun coming out on a rainy day.” Fritz said.

“No after that.” Ros said. “You said you wished you could be with me like this forever.”

Fritz blushed deep red. “I didn’t say that Ros, I thought it, you heard that?”

Ros looked at him and thought, I want to be with you like this forever.

“Ros! I heard that. You heard what I thought and I heard what you thought, this is really, ah … kind of embarrassing.” Fritz looked kind of hesitant and then decided to just forge ahead. “I’ve been trying to get the nerve up to tell you how I felt for ages. I know how much you love your job and regs say that only single women are allowed to be fighter pilots. I can’t ask you to give up flying, you’re the witch of the forth fighter group, hot shit, the best fighter jock on the whole ship, and the prettiest. When I see you telling your stories about your missions, your face is like looking into the sun. Such energy joy, waving your hands describing how you out maneuvered the enemy, got a lock and turned him to toast. I wish I could be there, though I’d probably lose my lunch, just to see you screaming in for the kill. You’re so fierce elemental, witchy I just love you. When I met Cindy in engineering I thought how much alike you are. She has the same fire and enthusiasm. She wants more. Jack has it too, this fierce spirit grabbing on to life and shaking it for all it can give. Being with you is a privilege and a joy, I feel more alive just looking at you.”

Ros was getting teary eyed, she stood up and kissed Fritz. He hugged her close and just basked in her touch. “Oh Fritz, I’ve loved you for a long time. I like your smile. I like how you always know how to fix things, how you touch me, how your face lights up when I see you. You call me before my missions, you meet me when I return. You check over my ship making sure everything is perfect. You smile that happy smile when I tell my stories, which are ninety percent bullshit. You hold my hand and you’re happy. I feel loved when I’m near you. I love flying, you’re right, but I love living, it doesn’t matter what I do if I can have you, that’s all I need. You want to marry me? Shit yes I’ll marry you. I can always fly it doesn’t have to be fighters. One thing you may not know is the miss carriage rate of women fighter pilots is 100 times normal. I want kids, your kids, being a fighter pilot is nearly over for me anyway. I’ll go see the guys in tactical and take a promotion and we can get married.”

Fritz held her tight tears in his eyes, and kissed her hard. “When?”

Ros got a big smile, “Tomorrow before lunch, we’ll go see the captain. But right now we got to go see Steve and tell him.”

“Steve?” Fritz asked.

Ros patted his back, “Steve’s been after me to ask you for months. When he married Linda he just got so happy and got it in his head that I should settle down and get happy too. He’s my best friend and my wing man. When he had little Susan he was so happy, and then when she was sick he was so down, and now that she’s better, he’s been after me again. He’ll be so happy. I owe it to him to tell him first; come on.

Fritz got an odd expression on his face, kind of crafty. “Ros, I got a great idea, let’s play a little trick on Steve and Linda. Let’s go over to their cabin and to see how Susan’s doing. Linda can demo the baby, you know how it is, and then you can get all female, you know, with the baby and all, and call me over and ask me in front of him and Linda. I bet he’ll be really thrilled, well at least until he figures out he’s going to have to break in a new wing man. What do you say?”

Ros got a really big grin on her face, “Fritz you’re a genius, I get a little payback too.”

“What do you mean?” Fritz said.

“When Linda got pregnant, he’s was always teasing me about babies. You know checking me out, telling me I didn’t look pregnant yet, bringing Linda by showing her off to me. He’s been insufferably happy.” Ros said.

“Okay let’s do it.” Fritz said. “Give him a call.”

Ros touched her ear, “Steve, its Ros, me and Fritz want to come by and see little Susan, now that she’s better. You and Linda can do a little gloating you know, demo the baby. What do you say?” Ros patched Fritz in.

“Fritz, you patched in? Come on by man, Linda will be thrilled to finally meet you Fritz and I can beg you to take a look at my ship, plus a little gloating should do Linny some good. See you both in ten. Nogales out.” Steve disconnected.

They went down to deck four where the fighter wing lived, and over to the married quarters. Ros touched the door and said, “Ros and Fritz calling.” The door popped open and Steve grabbed Ros and swung her around. Good to see you Ros. He put her down and high fived Fritz. I heard you kicked ass in the death match. I knew you were going to with Ros on your team; it was a sure thing. Come on in and meet Linda and Susan. He turned into the cabin. “they’re here Linny” Steve yelled.

Fritz and Ros followed Steve into the cabin.

“Fritz, you know that mod you put in Ros’s ship, can you do that for me too, that dual targeting display kicks ass, I’m so jealous.” Steve begged.

“Sure Steve, hey man introduce me to the beauty.” Fritz waved at Linda; she had Susan in her arms.

Steve bashed is forehead, “Oh, Sorry Linny manners, Fritz, the tall one is my wife Linny the second most beautiful woman in the world,” Ros got a horrified look on her face, “The most beautfull one being the short one in her arms.” Linny blushed and smiled.

Ros heaved a sigh of relief, “Shit Steve, don’t ever do that again.”

Steve got a big smile on his face, “Sorry Ros, you’ll have to be happy with honorable mention.”

Linny spoke up, “Don’t mind him, he still kind of manic since Susan got better. Did you meet Mary? I think Steve said she was part of your team during the competition.”

Ros smiled, “Yea, I met Mary, and Jim her husband, they are just the cutest couple. I also met Cindy and Jack.”

Steve got excited, “You met Jack? Ros you just got to introduce me, I mean he’s the man Ros. Linny he’s the one that kacked over a hundred on the trench run, didn’t get hit once, nobody has ever even got close. Ros is the best pilot I know and she only got fifty. He is absolutely awesome.”

Ros smiled at Linny, “How do you put up with him?”

Linny smiled and said, “Oh he has his moments, he does love his work though, and you too.”

Ros grinned, “Yep, that’s Steve one big ball of love, Seems to me a certain wing man of mine managed to hit over 47 on the trench run if I remember correctly.”

Steve grinned, “Well I only count 46, the last one I crashed my ship into and took myself out.”

Ros waved her hand, “Still counts dude. Listen enough shop talk lets have the demo man, I want to meet the most beautiful woman in the world before you spoiler her.”

Steve wave them to the chairs, “Sit I’ll get some brews, and some milk for mommy. Linny can do the demo.”

Ros sat down and Linny gave little Susan to her. Susan gave her a really big smile and grabbed her blouse started making little noises. Ros got a smile on her face and started playing with her hands and feet.

Steve came blustering out of the other room carry three beers, and a tall glass of milk. He smiled at Linny and presented it to her. “Here’s your refill mam.”

Ros just shook her head, “Shit Steve, cool it man, you’re going to embarrass me in front of Linny.”

Steve put Ros’s beer down on the coffee table, gave one to Fritz, and threw himself in the big recliner. Firtz was smiling enjoying Ros’s smile and Linny’s smile.

Ros looked up a Fritz, “Hey Fritz, check it out look at those feet and hands, she looks like Steve, she’s got his eyes.” Fritz stood up and came over and took one of little Susan’s hands, he got a big smile and looked at Ros then at Linny, “She’s beautiful, just like her mommy.”

Ros starting trying to tickle Susans feet, and she curled her toes, “Oh look Fritz.”

Fritz looked at Ros, and got his soft smile on his face. Linny saw it and looked over at Steve smiling.

Steve got a big grin, “Hey Ros, you ought to get one of your own, then I could work on spoiling two babies .”

Linny blushed and smiled.

Ros looked at Fritz, “Fritz, what do you say? Let’s get married and make one of our own.”

Steve’s choked on his beer, and then he looked as Ros, his jaw dropped.

Fritz titled Ros’s head up and kissed her, “Sure Ros, let’s do it tomorrow, Steve can be best man, Linny and Susan can be brides maids.”

Linny caught on and got a big smile on her face.

Steve was speechless, his mouth hanging open.

Ros looked at him, “What do you say Steve, you ready to serve, best man, well second best anyway?”

Linny’s smile got bigger. “Susan and I will be proud to serve Ros. Come on Steve what do you say?”

Steve started sputtering, “Shit Ros, you joking? Fritz you’re serious?”

Ros got a big smile on her face, “Steve I’m not joking. You’ve been bugging me to ask him, and little Susan is absolutely the cutest thing.”

Fritz went over to Steve, “Hey man, I got to thank you, I’ve been scared shitless to ask her.” Fritz stuck out his hand.

Steve jumped up and gave him a big bear hug, “Hey man we all do what we got to do. This is going to be outstanding, two babies to spoil. You got to get started right away. Oh, Shit!”

Fritz had a grin on his face, “What’s wrong man?”

Steve looked crestfallen, “They’ll wash her out, I’ll have to train a new wing man, shit.” Then he shrugged his shoulders, “Oh well, there’s an upside, I’ll be the hottest jock in the fourth now if Ros retires, and I’ll get two babies to spoil.” His smile softened as he looked a Linny, “or more maybe.”

Ros really did blush then, “Okay, Steve that did it. Now I’m embarrassed.”

Steve started bubbling again, “Ros, you’re going to start right away now right? None of this waiting around for the right time shit right?”

Fritz couldn’t contain himself any more, he just sat back and started laughing, “Steve you can count on us, we are going to hold up our end of the deal, work night and day, God willing.”

Steve started planning, “Ros, you can’t get him into the women’s barracks you can use our guest room.” He looked horrified, “Sorry, Sorry, that’s a little too much, Sorry.”

Ros started laughing too, “Steve you are the man with the plan.” Little Susan giggled.

Ros got a big smile, “Oh look she agrees, you’re daddy is the man isn’t he.”

Fritz chimed in, “Not to worry man, I got my own room, we got it covered.” He fell back into his chair and started shaking he was laughing so hard.

Ros gave little Susan back to Linny, “Thanks Linny, I can’t wait to get one of my own.”

Linny smiled, “Keep that in mind, and see if you remember it in 7 months.”

Steve jumped up and grabbed Ros and hugged her. “Ros you are terrific, I’m up grading you from honorable mention to third most beautiful woman in the world.”

Fritz cleared his throat.

Steve wouldn’t back down, “He man, you’re entitled to your own opinion.”

Fritz collapsed in the chair again, laughing. “Hey dude, you going to be my best man or not?”

Steve said, “Only the best, for you man. Of course. Shit man we don’t have time for a bachelor’s party. Ah, screw that. I know we can get drunk tonight. No that won’t do, you need to be at least mostly sober to …”

Linny spoke up, “Steven, Chill out man. You can have the party tomorrow.”

Steve looked at Linny walked over and kissed her tenderly, and then kissed little Susan’s feet.

Steve smiled and said, “I’m the luckiest man in the whole world.”

Steve started bubbling again, “He man, Ros it’s nice to have you over. Uh why don’t you , Uh go back to Fritz’s cabin, and you know …” Steve blushed this time.

Ros piped in “Hey man, at least let me finish my beer, and talk with Linny.”

Fritz sat down on the couch next to Ros and took her hand, and just smiled looking in her eyes.

Steve jumped up again, “Hey man don’t mind me, just looking for something. Keep doing what you’re doing.” He found his portable terminal he fiddled with it and then looked over his shoulder to make sure the action was still on. He turned and took their picture. “Got it.”

Fritz leaned in and kissed Ros.

Steve squatted down a bit, “Even better, got it.”

Ros gave him the finger and started kissing Fritz really hard.

Linny spoke up, “That’s enough Stevey.”

“Okay I’ll be good.” Steve put his terminal down. He reached out and grabbed Ros’s beer and downed it. “Beers gone now, no reason to stay now, hup, hup.”

Ros stood up pulling Fritz up with her without breaking her kiss.

Steve started shooing them to the door. “That’s right you got the idea.”

When they got to the door, Ros let Fritz go and grabbed Steve and gave him a deep sensuous kiss. “Thanks Steve, you’re the best.” She put her arm through Fritz’s and walked out the door.

Steve was flat footed. “She kissed me.”

Linny had a big smile on her face, “Of course she did silly.”

Steve looked kind of surprised, “You know something Linny it just hit me, Ros is the best damn pilot I’ve ever known, she’s murder incarnate, the terror of the skies, and the hottest witch in the fourth fighter wing. She’s the best friend I ever had until I met you.”

Linny said, “Yes, Stevey, and …”

Steve looked in her eyes, “She’s also a beautiful, kind, loving woman, I never knew that before. I’m going to miss her.”

Linny looked surprised at Steve, “Steve you are the silliest man, and I love you, you just realized that?”

Steve looked at her, “Yep, and you’re right I’m pretty silly and I love you. She’s probably going to get promoted, so she’ll be around. She better keep up her end of the bargain I expect results. Hey, why don’t we put up the small one and see if we can’t beat her to the punch, be a first time for me I never beat her at anything.”

Linny shook her head walked over and gave him a quick kiss. “Okay hot stuff, we better hurry, Susie’s going to need a refill soon.”

Fritz was looking at Ros with a big smile on his face, Ros had a big smile too. “I hope you’re paying attention where we’re going cause I can’t stop looking at you.” Fritz said.

“Not to worry lover, I’ve got it covered.” Ros said.

“Ros, how come you and Steve never hooked up? He’s absolutely amazing.” Fritz asked.

Ros got a silly look on her face, “Fritz, you’re a peach. I could take a cheap shot at you here and say something catty, like how do you know we never did, but I’ll be honest with you. He’s the best wing man I’ve ever flown with, but he is reckless wild and crazy just like me. We would have crashed and burned if I ever hooked up with him. I need some stability, a place to relax, someone to love not someone to compete with. You’re witty, calm mostly, smart, organized, loving, attentive, and you’ve got a hot bod, and you make my toes curl when you kiss me. I feel like I can be me with you not the hot jock, the witch of the four fighter wing. It’s going to be so good being married to you, you’ve got everything I need, and I’m going to do my best to provide the same for you.

Fritz stopped her. “Ros, I don’t think you’re reckless or crazy; wildly sexy and a hot chick yes. I’ll confess something to you. You know when you went on your missions, I used to go up to flight control and listen to you on the com. I wanted to be there to be sure I could help if anything ever went wrong. I could hear your calm voice, keeping Steve focused and safe. You’d fly in execute the objective, and fly out minimum risk, the picture of professionalism. The flight controllers loved dealing with you because you always did the right thing at the right time. When you took a hit, or Steve did you’d calmly fly back home to safety. I know a lot of your stories were, let say embellished, but you always told the truth, what you said happened, it was the way you told them, like the hot witch from hell, it was so larger than life, romantic. But when I listened to you on the com, you were like steel, a warrior. When you were home, you gave your mates your confidence; you built them up, calmed them down, and saved their lives. They’d do anything for you. I feel the same I’d do anything for you.” He kissed her. “Now miss top gun, let’s guide this ship home and see if we can make good on our promise to Steve.” 

<Chapter=15 Title=”Matt and Lisa make friends”>

Mary and Jim made it back to the common room they shared with the other members of their family. When they arrived Lisa was sitting on the couch looking down. Jim sat down next to her and took her hand.

“What’s the matter princess? You look unhappy about something.” Jim asked, while Mary sat down next to her and gave her a hug.

“Oh, it just Matt and I were talking, it’s kind of hard being big like this. CuNu says I should just be happy and wait, but I don’t want to wait. The other kids don’t seem like us, and I don’t know I just can’t relate to them. They seem so childish, but then they seem like they know so much. It’s kind of hard to explain.” She was looking at the floor, and gave a big sigh.

Mary looked at her, “Lisa, tell us what happened maybe talking about it will help.”

“Well we were walking, Matt and I holding hands and we went to the mess hall to eat lunch. There were a bunch of kids in there about our age, and some younger ones. I sat down and Matt went and got the food for both of us. One of the girls made a remark about how good Matt looked, and said I’d trained him well.” She shook her head. “Well I asked her what she meant about training him well, and she said that I must keep him on a short leash or something like that I don’t know, and I told her I didn’t own him he was just being nice. Then Matt came back and gave me my lunch, greeted the other kids at the table and introduced us. He sat down and we started eating. Then the same girl said she wished a boy would treat her nice. So Matt asked if he could get her something you know he was just being nice. CuNu says he’s always trying to help people like that, I think she was talking about NamKo but Matt is like that too, he’s really kind hearted. So he takes the girls tray, she was done eating and puts it back for her and brings her back some more water, then gives her a smile. She got kind of embarrassed, and the other girls started giggling. I looked at Matt and he shrugged and I asked what so funny. The girl who Matt got the water for said, something to the other girls and they all started to laugh I couldn’t hear what it was. We tried to talk to them, get to know them, but they just kept looking at me and looking at Matt and giggling, we couldn’t really talk at all. None of the girls would talk to Matt, and everything I said they either giggled or ignored me. Eventually we finished our lunch and Matt took the trays back and brought me back a cookie and handed it to me and said, a sweet for my sweet. I liked that but all the girls started laughing again, and we tried to ask what’s so funny and they wouldn’t say. CuNu and NamKo couldn’t understand it either; they said that people were so different from their tribe.” While Lisa was talking Matt came in, and Mary shifted over and made room for him to sit next to Lisa. Matt took Lisa’s hand and smiled at her.

Jim spoke up, “Matt, Lisa was telling us about lunch. What do you think about what happened.”

“Well sir, I just don’t know either. We were trying to make some friends, but the guys wouldn’t talk to me with Lisa there, and the girls just kept giggling. I also noticed that they didn’t sit together, the guys were all sitting at another table and the girls were setting at the table where we sat. NamKo said he thought it was kind of odd that they didn’t sit together. When I tried to talk, I only got giggles in reply and when Lisa talked, they would say the oddest things, it didn’t make sense. When I kissed Lisa on the cheek, they all really started giggling and whispering. At one point when the girls were getting ready to leave, I stood up and told them to leave their trays that I’d take care of cleaning up, and they all giggled again and sort of ran out of the room. It was very puzzling.” Matt was looking kind of troubled.

Mary looked a little sad, and said, “Listen you two, those girls were all acting silly like that because they’d never met a boy like Matt before. You didn’t do anything wrong, just keep doing what you’re doing they will come around you’ll see. The boys will come around too it’s just going to take them time for them to get used to you. Just hold on to each other and bear with it, Ok?”

Lisa looked at her, “Okay momma.” Matt and Lisa stood up and Matt gave her a kiss.

“See you tomorrow, Lees” and he went to the room he shared with Kiggy, Kevin, Jimmy and Jeremy. Lisa went to her room.

Mary slid over next to Jim and put her head on his shoulder. “Jim, what are we going to do with them? Can you think of any way we could explain what happened to them? Even with the spirits of NamKo and KuNu, they’re so pure, and loving, I’m not sure they can understand.”

Jim stoked her arm and said, “I think they’ll be OK Hun. I think those kids are going to learn from them that meanness and jealousy just aren’t all that rewarding. Their love and purity will win the hearts of the good kids, and in time they’ll all grow up a bit. It’s too bad that they lost their childhoods, but in a way think of all the pain they missed too. All the petty crap we put up with when we were kids. The rivalry, the fights, power plays, clics, backstabbing, all that crap they’re going to miss it. Maybe that’s a good thing. They both have their warrior spirits and their honor and it will protect them.”

The next day Matt and Lisa sat an empty table for lunch. After a bit the girl Lisa talked to came over with her tray and said. “Hi, I’m Kathy; I want to apologize for my behavior yesterday.” She put out her hand, and Matt stood up and shook it.

“Nice to meet you Kathy, this is my girlfriend Lisa, we’re new here.” Matt waited for Kathy to sit down and then he sat down next to Lisa. There was a kind of awkward pause and then Kathy asked.

“Where are you from? I’ve lived on the Poseidon my whole life I don’t know what it’s like outside.” Kathy asked.

“We’re from Allentown originally but we’ve moved here. I suppose you could say we lived some in Africa as well, but that was a long time ago.” Matt said.

Kathy gave a tentative smile and asked, “Africa? That sounds really exotic what was it like?”

Lisa spoke up, “Well it’s kind of hard to describe it was very different from here. I suppose you could say we lived on a farm, in a small village. We didn’t have all these fancy things like you have here.”

Kathy was starting to settle down, “What do you mean fancy things?”

Lisa pulled out her portable terminal, “Well like this for example. We didn’t even have cell phones where we lived. These are almost magical to us. If I wanted to talk to Matt I’d have to walk over to his house and find him and talk face to face.”

Kathy couldn’t imagine how this could be, “No cell phones? No computers?”

Matt said, “Yes that’s right, most of the houses in our village didn’t have electricity. Only the, uh ... meeting house I guess you’d call it, had electrical power.”

“What did you do for fun? Wasn’t it kind of boring?” Kathy asked.

Matt looked surprised, “No we were pretty busy, I had my training to be a warrior, and uh … Lisa trained to be a healer, and also trained to be warrior.”

“You mean martial arts training? Like that? Girls could train in martial arts too?” Kathy asked.

Lisa spoke up, “Sure, girls could train to be warriors but it was not all that common. Most of my sisters trained to be healers, or artisans like weavers that sort of thing.”

“Did you two meet in warrior training?” Kathy asked, kind of shyly.

Matt looked at Lisa, “Ah … it’s kind of complicated, but I think the easiest way to say it is my mom is a friend of Lisa’s mom and that’s how we met.”

Matt had an idea, “Kathy my dad’s going to start up a martial arts class you want to come? You seem kind of brave and you look pretty fit I’ll bet you’d do real well.”

Kathy blushed, “It sounds kind of interesting, but isn’t that kind of a boys thing?”

Matt looked surprised, “Girls make fine warriors; my dad says they’re naturally braver than boys. My mom is a really fine warrior, her name is Cindy.”

Kathy looked really surprised, “You mean the Cindy in the training vid that was posted on the network? She was awesome. My girlfriend Jasmine said she’d like to learn how to do what she did. Your dad must be Jack; he was in the other vid. My brother said he beat the training computer.”

Matt looked surprised, “I didn’t know about that, you say there’s some vids on the network? How do we see them?”

Kathy pulled out her terminal, “You got your terminal? Pull it out, Okay the vids were posted on the training site, so say training vids, Cindy.”

Matt pulled out his terminal, touched it to his ear and said “Training vids, Cindy”. A hologram popped up and showed Cindy’s bout with the sim.

“If you link to training vids, Jack you’ll get your dad’s vid.” Kathy said.

Matt touched his terminal to his ear and said “Training vids Jack”. A hologram of Jack popped up showing his sword duel with the sim.

Matt watched part of it and the tapped it to his ear and put it in his pocket, “It’s like magic; I’ll watch it later.”

Lisa looked at Kathy, “Kathy can I ask you a question? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but Matt and I are kind of puzzled about something.”

Kathy looked kind of intrigued, “Sure why not, what do you want to know?”

Lisa looked at her, “Kathy, how come the girls and the boys sit at separate tables?”

Kathy looked kind of confused, “I don’t really have an answer, the girls sit together and talk about girl things, and I guess the boys do the same thing.”

Lisa looked kind of troubled, “Don’t you have any boy friends?”

Kathy looked kind of surprised, “I had a boyfriend once, but we broke up.”

“No I don’t mean that kind of boyfriend, I mean just you know a friend like a girlfriend, just a boy.” Lisa asked.

Kathy looked kind of odd, “Well, there’s my brothers, but I don’t think you mean that, and some of his friends I suppose I could call friends but not ‘boyfriends’.”

“Kathy, can me and Lisa be your friend? We kind of need a friend here to show us the ropes.” Matt said.

Kathy looked kind of pleased, “Sure Matt, I’d be happy to be you and Lisa’s friend.”

Matt looked happy and then said, “Excuse me I’m going to go introduce myself to the boys table.” Matt stood up and walked toward the boys table.

Kathy asked Lisa, “Lisa, Matts your ‘boyfriend’ right? Not just a boy friend.”

Lisa looked kind of surprised, “Yes Matt’s my ‘boyfriend’ I really love him.” She gave a soft smile.

Kathy looked kind of pleased with her observation, “I thought so. You’re so lucky, he’s really cute and so nice.”

Lisa looked at her and asked, “Kathy don’t you want to have a ‘boyfriend’?”

Kathy looked kind of wistful, “Sure, but most boys just want to, well you know, sex …”

Lisa looked troubled, “Kathy, where I come most of the time you fall in love first, isn’t it that way here?”

Kathy looked a little embarrassed, “Yes, but it doesn’t always happen that way. I suppose you could say that sometimes boys will lie or fool themselves, or maybe the girl will and they’ll have sex, or sometimes they just do it for fun.”

Lisa looked kind of surprised, “I guess I’m just inexperienced.”

Kathy looked at her kind of surprised, “You mean you and Matt haven’t …? But you seem to be really in love, ah …”

Lisa looked a little embarrassed, “Kathy, I’ve known Matt for most of my life, but he’s only been my boyfriend for maybe a couple of weeks. It’s kind of complicated, but I really love him a lot, I suppose we’ll get married someday.”

Kathy got even more surprised, “He hasn’t asked you yet?”

Lisa said, “No, well, ah … Yes, oh … I can’t explain, I’m not supposed to talk about it.”

“It’s just the way he looks at you, it’s like you’re already married.” Kathy said.

“Kathy, please don’t be offended, you’re right in a sense, we’re already married, but he hasn’t asked me yet, I really can’t explain …” Lisa said.

<Chapter=16 Title=”Matt breaks a plate”>

Matt made it over to the ‘boys’ table and said. “Hi guys, I’m Matt the new guy in town.”

The boys looked kind of surprised, but one of them spoke up and said, “Hi Matt, I’m Larry nice girl friend you got Matt.”

Matt said, “She is that. I just met Kathy, she said she had some brothers, are you one of them Larry?”

“Yep, I’m the elder, and over there on the end is my kid brother, Alex.” Alex nodded at Matt.

“So what do you do for fun around here?” Matt said.

“You mean besides girls right?” Larry laughed, “Well we play video games, sports, and you know the usual stuff. Where are you from?”

“Recently I’m from Allentown, my mom and dad came from Africa, I lived there too, sort of.” Matt said.

“Sort of?” Larry said.

“Well it’s kind of complicated, but yea sort of.” Matt said. “Anyway the reason I came over is my dad’s going to be starting up a martial arts class, and I was wondering if any of you would want to come.”

Larry looked at him, “You’re Jack’s son; aren’t you, you look kind of like him. I saw the vid on the training site; that was awesome. I’d sure like to learn how to do that. Cindy’s your mom too right? Her vid was pretty hot too.”

Matt smiled, “Yea, that’s my mom, you got to toe the line around her, she’s kind of hot.”

Larry laughed, “Very funny, I’d like to come to the class.”

Matt looked pleased, “Well it’s open to girls too, so if you’re sisters want to come let them know, or if you have a girlfriend you want to spar with bring her along.”

Larry laughed even louder, “Oh that’s rich, I think we should go talk to the girls, you know invite them, what do you say Matt?”

“I was planning to do just that. Come on Larry maybe you can introduce me.” Matt said.

Larry stood up, “He man I thought you were already taken.” He and Matt started walking to the girls table.

Matt just smiled, “Too true, but I thought I’d do you a favor and break the ice, you know, you can impress the girls with your suave manners, and introduce me.”

They made it over to the table, Larry put his hand on Matts shoulder, “Girls, this is Matt his parents are Jack and Cindy, and he wants to invite you all. Take it away Matt.”

Matt gave the girls a sunny smile, “Thanks Larry, Larry and Kathy showed me the vids of my mom and dad, I didn’t see them until today, but I’d thought you all would like to know that my dad is going to be starting a martial arts class, and it’s open to girls as well as boys, so if you want to come by and learn how to kick ass like my mom come join us. I think Kathy’s going to come; why don’t some of you as well?”

That got him a spattering of giggles, but a number of girls looked interested. One girl piped in “Hi Larry, maybe I can learn how to kick your ass.” That got a big laugh from the table.

Matt slapped Larry on the back. “Hey man you better study hard wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself sparing.”

Larry got red faced but held his ground. “I’ll tell you, you got to watch out sparing with the girls they fight dirty when it suits them.”

Matt laughed. “Well girls I hope you come, it will be a lot more fun if you do.”

Larry and Matt walked back to the boys table, on the way he signaled Kathy and Lisa to come over. They all got to the table together and Matt said, “Guys I want to introduce you to my girlfriends here, this is Lisa, she’s my girlfriend, and Kathy who you all probably already know, a new friend.” Matt signaled the girls to sit. Larry sat down and Matt stayed standing. “Kathy you’re going to come to the class right?”

Kathy smiled and said, “Sure thing Matt, I’m going to learn how to kick my brothers ass for a change.” All the guys cracked up and started laughing.

“In your dreams, sis” Larry said.

Matt was cracking up to, “Well just as kind of a teaser I thought I’d show you a trick my dad taught me.” Matt picked up a paper plate, and handed it to Larry. “Here Larry, hold the plate out and I’ll show you the trick.” Larry held the plate out by the edge. “Now I’ll give you the build up here, you all have seen guys break bricks, and boards, now I’m going to show you how I can break a paper plate, I know it sounds really difficult, I had to train for months with bricks and boards just to learn how to do this.” Matt was waving his hands around hamming it up, and the guys were starting to laugh. “Now Larry get a good grip on the plate, hold it by the edge, yea like that. Now I take the stance.” Matt took a stance like you see in Karate movies. “I know you all think I’m joking, but try this yourself and you’ll begin to appreciate the difficulty.” Matt had a big grin on his face. He jumped up and down on his toes, hamming it up and then he said “NOW” and it looked like he jerked, and there was a snap, it sounded like a rock had hit the paper plate. He moved so fast that if you blinked you would have missed it. Larry looked at him. The guys started to laugh, “Yes I know I’m totally unbelievable, no applause now just throw money.” Matt was still hamming it up. The paper plate was still in Larry’s hand, it didn’t look broken. Larry looked at it and he did a double take, there was a finger size hole in the middle of the plate.

Larry’s jaw dropped, “Man, how did you do that? If I tried to hit a paper plate like that it’d just bend.” Larry gave the plate to the guys and they all looked at it.

Matt was still hamming it up but also a bit serious, “Speed Larry, hit anything fast enough and it can’t move it breaks.”

Nikos touched his ear, “Did you get that Jason?”

“Yes captain, hold on while Amy runs the numbers. Amy?” Jason said.

“Amy here captain, very impressive trick. His index finger hit about 250 feet per second when it touched the plate. Looks like maybe 5000 Gees. He could probably put his finger through a two by four, though it would probably break his finger.” Amy said. “The more interesting part of the trick though is the reversal, after he penetrated the plate he pulled back at almost 25,000 Gees. Very finely focused PK burst there. No wonder those men that attached them were decimated. He could hit a man wearing a helmet and fracture his skull. Standard ceramic armor couldn’t possibly resist a blow like that.”

“Well, the martial arts class should be interesting. Be ready to record the demos. Thanks Amy. Nikos out.”

<Chapter=17 Title=”Kevin drops a rock”>

Kevin was sitting on his bed in the room he shared with Matt, Jimmy, Kiggy and Jeremy. He was reading a book scrolling on his terminal. His mentor popped up next to the book. His mentor was an old looking man frizzy grey hair, sort mustache, named Albert.

“Kevin, what do you think about equation 23?” Albert said.

“It looks wrong to me Al, shouldn’t you use number 8 and 22 to get something like …” Kevin tapped the screen and starting writing with his fingertip, leaving a series of symbols floating in the air.

Kiggy blew into the room and looked over at Kevin, “Yuck, squiggles again. Kev you and that math how do you stand it. Hi Al, got him hitting the books kind of early today. You want to come Kev? Jim and Mary are going down to work on the fighters Jeremy and I are going to go watch try to beg a ride off one of the pilots.”

Kevin looked up, “Hi Kiggy, me and Al were just talking and he showed me this book. I think I’ll stay here. Take some snaps will you. I’ll go next time.”

Kiggy just shook his head, “See you later man, don’t forget class is at 1500.” Kiggy ran out of the room.

Kevin turned back to his terminal screen and started writing some more. “Al this is more like what I think it should be.”

“Very interesting, but what about that fourth term, that wasn’t in the originals, where you get it?” Al asked.

“Al it seems to me that’s the only way to restore all the symmetry in the original results. When you combine 8 and 22 there’s something a little wacked with the fourth term everything looks smoother.” Kevin was looking at it with his head tilted. Kevin got up and went over to the work table and pushed some of the junk out of the way and set his terminal down on the table.

“Al let me show you something. The equation reminded me of an idea I had when talking to Lisa and Matt. You know whenever they are together I see this kind of milk white glow between them like a kind of fog. I wondered about that and I tried to see if I could make that myself. So after some time I came up with this.” Kevin put his hand out and got a kind of concentrated look on his face and a small ball of mist appeared above the table. “Now here’s what it looks like without the fourth term.” The ball became unstable spikes popped out ran around all over the surface, the ball began to writhe holes forming and disappearing. “Now I add the extra term.” The ball stabilized and shrank slightly. “Now if we combine this and equation 23 I think we can get it to do this.” Kevin got another concentrated look and then the ball shrank there was a loud pop like a fire cracker, the ball disappeared and a small lump of rock fell down onto the table and sat there smoking, frost started forming on it.

“Captain; tactical here, we just got a strong PK hit from your sisters quarters.” Nikos was at his desk reading reports. He touched his ear. “Amy, were scanners running at the location?”

“Amy here captain, they triggered when the PK field started, there’s a terminal in close proximity so we got very good resolution.” Amy touched her ear in her office. “It looks like Kevin’s terminal; he’s running his mentor program and a book on Riemannian Differential Geometry. Interesting thing is there’s a cold object sitting on the table, looks like maybe twenty degrees kelvin heating fast. Iron nickel lump. Hold on I give him a call.” Amy tapped her ear, “Kevin this is Dr. Shepard over in engineering.” Amy’s face popped up next to Albert’s on his terminal.

Kevin started and then looked a little sheepish. “Hi Dr. Shepard.”

“Hi son, we are getting readings on a small very cold lump of metal on the table.” Amy prompted him.

“I was showing Al my equations and there was a pop and that fell on the table. I hope I didn’t do anything wrong.” Kevin said.

“No its okay; it just triggered our scanners. Don’t touch it. It’s too cold it will burn you. If it’s alright can I send someone up to take a look at it?” Amy asked. Amy signaled Fritz to come over. She pulled her hand away from her ear. “Fritz, head over to heist location take a look at the metal lump.” Amy pointed at the location numbers on her display and dropped them in Fritz’s in box. “Sure thing mam, I’m on it.” Fritz left and Amy tapped her ear again. “Kevin, Fritz will be there in a couple of minutes. Any idea what happened son?”

“Well the equations we were talking about had to do with tangent manifolds and it seemed to me that you could make our location tangent with another by changing the coupling constant in the fourth term so I tried it.” Kevin tried to explain.

“Let’s wait for Fritz maybe can help us explain what happened. Albert you have been teaching Kevin about differential geometry?”

“Yes, he’s very advanced we were discussing a gedaken experiment of mine when the idea of tangent spaces came up.” Al explained. While they were talking the door beeped and Kevin let Fritz into his room.

“Fritz here; Amy. Rock’s almost at room temperature. Looks like a small asteroid. I’ve pulled a few of these from the ship’s hull when deflectors failed this one looks like it’s untouched no deflector surface melting I’d say he’d pulled in a rock from the asteroid belt. It was cold enough.” Fritz was scanning the rock with a hand scanner.

“Kevin, could you come back to engineering with Fritz? I’d like you to show me what you were showing Albert if that’s ok.” Amy tapped her ear. “Captain this is going to be a tough one to crack, trans-spatial congruence, if an enemy had that talent, they could port a bomb inside our screens.”

While Amy was speaking to the captain, Fritz and Kevin left to come down to engineering.

“Nikos here Amy, see what you can do, maybe Fritz will have some ideas. Nikos out.” The captain shook his head and went back to the reports.

Fritz and Kevin made it to engineering and Amy met them over by one of the work stations. “Hello Kevin, nice to meet you son. Have a seat.” Kevin looked around engineering at all the equipment it was really impressive. Kevin sat down.

“Kevin thanks for coming, you’re okay with this right? We want to see if we can understand what you did no pressure okay son?” Amy was trying to help him relax.

“Sure thing Dr. Shepard, mom told us that we should do our best to help now that we’re on the ship.” Kevin said. “Anyway I was showing Al my mentor the thing I learned. I could see this kind of fog connecting Matt and Lisa when they we’re helping us in martial art class. I asked mom and she said to not worry about it. But I got to wondering if I could do something like it so I tried and I found I could do it. Here I’ll show you.” Kevin help out his hand and started to concentrate. Fritz pulled out his scanner and started scanning Kevin’s hand. After a little bit Kevin relaxed and held his hand out. “There it’s ready see the fog it’s kind of round about the size of a baseball.”

Amy looked and couldn’t see anything and stepped over to Fritz, the scanner was detecting it she could see the ball in the visual reconstruction. “Fritz can you see it?” Amy asked.

Fritz looked and he could see a slight change in the air near Kevin’s hand, maybe a very slight misting. “I see something but it’s really faint. You don’t?” Fritz ask.

“No I can’t see it.” Amy looked at Kevin. “Okay Kevin, then what did you do?”

“Well I thought about changing the coupling constant of the fourth term, I was taking to Al about this equation from the book. I added a term because it seemed like it made the equation more smooth like you can adjust it so it was tangent to the other place.” Kevin was trying to explain. “Anyway when I tried adjusting it there was a pop and the rock fell on the table.”

“Well Kevin, why don’t you move the ball off you hand and put it over the table there and try again. Fritz get all the scanners running full speed while he tries this.” Amy took a step back and so did Fritz after punching a few buttons on his hand scanner.

Kevin held his hand over the table and turned it over. He could see the ball suspended above the table. He looked at it and tried to adjust it like he did in his room. After several seconds there was another loud pop and a rock fell onto the table. “See just like that.” Kevin said.

Fritz punched a few more buttons on his scanner and said, “Nickel, Iron, silicon another asteroid. It’s warming up came in at 18.2 Kelvin.” The rock was covered with frost.

Amy looked at Fritz, “Think you can block it Fritz?”

“Maybe, can we activate shields around engineering?” Fritz was punching buttons on his scanner.

“Sure Fritz, Hold one I’ll give a shout.” Any tapped her ear twice. “Shield test, we’re about to perform a shield test, acknowledge.” Amy spoke and the PA system repeated what she said about two seconds later. “Amy, this is tactical we have an all clear, you may proceed.” Amy heard.

“Fritz we’re ready; go ahead.” Amy said.

Fritz touched a button on the scanner and a spherical field about 15 meters in diameter shimmered around them. “Try it again Kevin.”

Kevin held his hand out and made another mist ball, and then put it over the table. He tried to do his adjustment, but nothing happened. He looked at it shook his head. “I can’t find a tangent now.” Kevin touched the ball with his finger and it disappeared. Fritz touched a few buttons on his scanner and the shield disappeared.

Amy looked pleased. “Thanks Kevin, that was really helpful. Do you have any other things you want to try? We’d be happy to help you anytime. Fritz and I want to look at the scans maybe we can understand what is happening. You want to stay and help?”

“No I don’t want to try anything else, I need to get to Jack’s martial arts class they’ll be starting in about an hour. If you want I can come back later and do it again.” Kevin was pretty pleased with his discovery.

“That’s okay for now Kevin, you should get going to class. I’ll let you know if we need any more help with this.” Amy patted him on the back and Kevin left for class.

“So Fritz what do we have here?” Amy asked.

“Well mam, the scans show a PK field which extended outside the ship in the form of a narrow tube less than ten microns in diameter. About one hundred meters outside the ship the tube contracted to a point where it probably exited our local manifold, forming a bridge to another location in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. My guess is that Kevin didn’t really have a lot of control where the other end of the bridge opened. I think when he adjusted the tangents, as he said; he was trying to make contact with another part of our manifold. When he made contact the gravitation attraction of the earth pulled the small asteroid into the ship. The loud pop comes from the vacuum created when the two spaces overlap. The small spherical region was equivalent to the location in the asteroid belt, and the air expanded into space. When the field collapsed the small vacuum pocket collapsed making the pop we heard. My guess was that the shields would upset his control enough that he couldn’t form the manifold bridge, probably because of the potential gradient caused by the shield, the instability of a shield and its inhomogenuities make obtaining equivalence impossible. So I think ship shields will be a good counter measure, assuming they’re turned on of course. What I don’t understand is why his tangent space was so far away. It seems to me that something more local should have been obtainable, like a few thousand meters away.” Fritz was showing Amy the computer renderings of the scan data while he discussed it with her. “As a weapon it could be devastating if he managed to bridge to the interior of the sun for instance, but I think the instabilities near the sun would prevent a stable portal from forming.”

<Chapter=18 Title=”Martial Arts Class”>

It was time for the martial arts class to start so Jack stood up and raised his voice, “Alright everybody, it’s time to begin, so please everyone set down on the mat, get comfortable as we will start our class today will be mostly talking to give you an introduction to what I plan to teach you and what you can expect from the class.” There were about thirty people present mostly children aged less than eighteen, and a few adults. “As we have a wide age range of people here we will start with some elementary things and I will speak to each of you and try to establish where you are in your physical training.”

I would like to start out by asking you all a question. You all have come to my class with some idea of what I might be able to teach or you may have seen the vids posted on the training site of Cindy and my tests. I will do my best to provide you all with the training you desire, but I ask you all to consider to what end do you seek this training? Cindy and I come from a long tradition of warrior training, based on the firm belief that when a warrior is forced to fight, he has failed. That there can be victory in defeat and the sword in the scabbard is to be preferred above all.

As you train I hope you will learn that the only person you must fight is yourself. You must fight yourself so you can be strong and give your strength in the service of life. There is no more rewarding goal then to give your life to the service of life.

I’ve heard some comments from various people and have been asked about some of the things you may have seen in the video from our tests. Some people say that what Cindy and I demonstrated where in some sense ‘super natural’ abilities, or that somehow the videos had been faked. I’d first like to tell you all that I don’t believe in the ‘super natural’. I have been trained from the age of six until my teachers graduated me at the age of eighteen in the way of the warrior as taught by my tribe. I believe that the abilities I learned are open to all and in fact looking back on my training I don’t think I was particularly gifted. It took me months to learn things others learned in days. So I say to you that as you train keep in mind that the goal is attainable, and that the only thing you need to fight is yourself. The one and only thing that makes a warrior is a warrior does not accept defeat. My teachers demonstrated over and over to me that they could do something that appeared impossible, and then they would teach me to do it by not letting me accept defeat. They used every trick they could devise to teach, some of which were pretty painful. There is one thing I know from my training, that is there no such thing as the super natural; there is what you know, and what you don’t know.

So I will start with a demonstration. This is one of the first things my teachers did which struck me as impossible. It took me months to overcome my belief that what I saw was impossible. I have seen others learn this trick in a matter of hours. While it may be a matter requiring some skill, in my experience this can be learned by anyone.

What I’m going to show you has the quaint name, of the fist of the void. It is simply this, I will break a stick without touching it with my body. Something breaks the stick, and traditionally we focus that something by striking at the stick, but at a distance that doesn’t allow you to touch it. Now you are going to ask, as everyone does, what breaks the stick? Sorry I don’t know what breaks the stick. Some people give it a name, Ki for example. I think in the modern world people call it psychokinetic force. These words are just two ways of saying you do it with your mind. But what you do or how you do it I don’t know. I had a friend who said the following, What we do is not a part of the objective but part of the subjective. I think that is a learned way of saying that we can do it, we just can’t talk about it. So that’s what I’ll do. Less talk; lets rock.

Jack stood a stick against a chair and walked ten feet away from it. “What I propose to do is break the stick from over here. Does anybody want to examine the stick? Or if you like would you like to provide your own stick or some other object to break?”

Friz spoke up from the back “Jack does it have to be wood? I can go get a piece of one inch threaded rod from the machine shop, that’s a pretty well understood piece of material, and I can bring one of the machinists to attest it hasn’t been prepared ahead of time by you.”

Jack laughed, “Well it’s traditional to use wood or bamboo here but I don’t suppose it matters. If you like go get the piece.”

Friz pulled out his terminal, “Jimmy? You got a scrap piece of one inch threaded you can bring over to sim 17? Jacks going to demonstrate breaking a stick, and he says we can provide the stick. Stainless would be fine, whatever you’ve got laying around. Sure see you.”

Friz put his terminal back, “Jimmy will be here in a few, he’s got a piece of stainless rod that he’d like you to try it on.”

About a minute later Jimmy walks in, “Hey Friz, where do you want it?”

Friz indicated the chair, “Put it over there against the chair. Jack said he could break it without touching it, want to watch? He said we could learn how to do this.”

Jack waited while Jimmy stood the rod against the chair. “Traditionally we break bamboo or wood because it’s the easiest to learn how to break, but any material can be broken this way, at least my teachers said so, so I’ll start with breaking the wooden stick, and then I’ll break the metal rod. As I’m not sure how this is actually done, I don’t know how hard it will be for you to learn to break a metal rod, but I’ve had a lot of practice so I think I’ll be able to do it. Just keep in mind I learned how to do this, this is not a trick and it certainly is not super natural. First the wooden stick.”

Jack faced the stick and held his hands out and then he clapped them together making a loud pop. The wooden stick fell over in two pieces. “I clap my hands to help focus whatever does this. It’s traditional to use your hands, and make some kind of cutting action to help focus your mind but it is not really required. When learning it helps to imagine your hands cutting the thing you are breaking. Let’s see if I can break the metal rod without the hand movements.”

Fritz spoke up, “Hold on Jack let me get a scanner going.” Fritz pulled out a hand scanner and started it up scanning the rod. “Okay Jack give it a go.”

Jack faced the metal rod and he spoke softly, “Now”. A cascade of sparks flew out of the metal rod and it fell in half. “Oh, that was interesting. I didn’t expect the sparks. It must have something to do with it being iron. Fritz what do you think?”

“Well it appears to me that the force of breaking the rod generated enough heat to oxidize the iron at the break causing the sparks.” Fritz picked up the two pieces of rod. “Smooth break very clean, doesn’t look like it was melted, more like a fracture, interesting I can see the crystalline structure of the steel isn’t deformed. Looks like whatever you did just broke the bonds along the break, they probably all oxidized creating the sparks.”

Jack smiled, “Well as I said I have no idea how I do it, and you can learn this with enough practice. It is not a trick and it certainly isn’t some kind of super natural power whatever that means. I showed you this to give you a challenge, remember what I said at the beginning of the demonstration; it was my belief that this was impossible that prevented me from learning this trick quickly. You can do this, I did it, and so you can learn it. A warrior does not accept defeat.

Jack turned to the class, “Now to show you all that there is no trick we will see if you can do it. In a class this large I’d expect a couple of students to do it before the end of the class.” Jack passed out some bamboo sticks one to each student. “Now pick a partner and one of you hold the stick out of reach while the other tries to break it. Be sure to use your hands and visualize it breaking. The better your visualization the easier it’s going to be. Imagine it cracking, see the fibers of the bamboo break, hear it crack, demand it to break.”

The students stood trying to do it but were mostly embarrassed and not giving it their best. Jack walk up to one pair, “You feel embarrassed, you don’t believe you can do it?”

It was Larry and a girl named Anis. They nodded. Jack smiled. “Yes that was my problem when I started with this. My teachers beat me when I told them I was embarrassed. We live in modern times now so I suppose a beating is not approved teaching methodology. How about this? Lets go up in front of the class and I’ll help you.” Jack herded them up to the front.

“Class attended, I suppose you all are pretty much in the same boat as these two. You feel silly doing this and you don’t really believe you can succeed. In my day my teachers would beat me when I expressed doubts like this. It was an affront to their authority, how could I have the gall to doubt that they were right, that I could do this. Should I beat you for your lack of faith?” Jack looked at Larry and Anis with his hands on his hips glaring at them. Anis shrank back and Larry bridled a bit and held his ground. Jack smiled slightly but lifted his hand getting ready to slap Larry. “You’re going to give up? You just going to fail? What did I tell you about a warrior not accepting defeat? Are you so weak? Look at the stick it’s thin imagine it breaking. Impress me. Show me you’re not a quitter.” Jack grabbed the stick from Larry and held it out to him. “Go ahead feel it break. Get mad prove me wrong. Hold up your hands imagine the stick in your grip, snap it in two. DO IT NOW.” Jack held it in front of him and started to slap his face while he yelled at him. Larry stood his ground and the stick broke, and Jacks hand touched his face, and pushed his head slightly. “See you can do it. Have a little faith in yourself.”

The others in the class gasped and a few clapped. “So Larry, how did you do it?” Jack asked as he handed half stick to him.

Larry looked at the stick and at Jack, “You’re right, I don’t know how I did it. You pissed me off calling me a quitter and I thought I’d show you, I demanded it break and I saw it happen.” Larry looked confused and then the realization hit him, “I did it didn’t I? I really did it!” Larry got a big smile on his face and held the stick up.

“So Larry, think you can teach some of the others? Here Anis, you try it. Look at Larry he did it, you can too. Give it a try. Think hard about the stick, see it break, show Larry you’re not a quitter, follow his lead.” Jack took ahold of her hands and held them up, “Imagine you have the stick in your hands. Feel it, it’s weak easy to break. Focus your mind, make it happen, do it NOW.” Jack yelled and surprised her and her stick broke. “You see! It is not impossible.”

Anis looked at the stick and Larry looked at her and grabbed her, “You did it!” Larry yelled. “Anny you did it!”

The other students in the class clapped and laughed.

Jack shook his head. “Now you see. It took me a month to do this. I’m not some super human with super natural powers, anyone can do this, all you have to do is believe. Now you all do it. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t succeed today. Remember it took me a month. Have faith.”

Jack walked around and every once in a while someone would succeed. Matt and Lisa were walking around giving encouragement. Matt walked up to Kathy and Jasmine; they were looking at their sticks trying to do it. Matt smiled “So Kathy your brother did it. Can’t let him get the upper hand here let me help you. Jasmine hold the stick.” Matt stood behind her and took ahold of Kathy’s hands he held them about an inch apart. “Make a fist, imagine you are holding the ends of the stick. Look at the stick but feel it in your hands. Flex it feel it. See it bend feel it BREAK.” Matt slapped her arms and made her fists touch together. The stick broke.

“So you see, you can do it. Help Jasmine. She can do it if you could, I mean Larry did it. Can’t let him show you up right?” Matt smiled at Kathy and Jasmine and walked off. Kathy stood behind Jasmine, “So Jas do like he said imagine …”

Jack walked up to Fritz who was still holding the metal rod scanning it with the scanner. “So Fritz, see anything interesting?”

Fritz looked up, “Yes it looks to me that whatever you did broke the rod along a plane and the sparks were caused by iron atoms oxidizing and falling off the surface of the break. Far as I can tell the surface is flat to within a few microns across the break. Very smooth, better than we can get with conventional machining techniques. I wonder … ?”

Jack smiled, “What?”

Fritz looked up kind of embarrassed, “I wonder if I could do it? Also I wonder if the break surface has to be flat?”

Jack nodded, “My teachers claimed that it was all a matter of visualization. What you could visualize you could do. Why don’t you try it? You have a good understanding of the fine structure of the metal you should be able to do some pretty amazing things.”

Fritz looked at the rod, “Well let see if I can split it vertically and with a twist.” Fritz put the rod down and got a concentrated look on his face, “Like THIS maybe…” A shower of sparks cascaded out of the rod and it fell but it didn’t split into two parts. Fritz picked it up and twisted the ends and the two parts unscrewed from each other. Two intermeshed screw like parts he held them in his hands. “Well doesn’t that beat all, perfectly smooth. We couldn’t machine a part like this.”

“Nikos here, Jason what do you make of Jack’s training. Are all the student’s latents?” Nikos was back in his office monitoring Jack’s class.

“No Nikos it’s interesting. Some of the students did not show signs of PK ability until they were assisted by Jack, Matt, or Lisa. It appears they can trigger the ability in a previously ‘normal’ brain. I wonder if they can also trigger ES abilities. I’m thinking the answer will be yes. Maybe these abilities are a matter of training as Jack says. He claims to be not particularly gifted, though currently he is the strongest PK and ES talent we have on record, excepting possibly Mary. Maybe it is as he says it can be learned. If this is so we should consider retraining the whole crew.”

“Jason, command is going to melt down if the find out about this. They consider ES and PK abilities a major headache that they wish would go away. If they find out we can create ES and PK talents they are going to clamp a lid on this so fast …” Nikos looked a bit concerned. “Is it possible that every member of our crew, have latent talents?”

“Nikos, it is possible that the whole human race is latent PK / ES talents. What is a latent after all? It’s just someone that does not have conscious control over his talent. It may be the Jack is only giving people conscious control of a normal human talent.” Jason explained.

<Chapter=19 Title = “Calming Lisa”>

“Lisa? What’s the matter princess?” Jim stopped Lisa in the common room her face red tears in her eyes.

“Oh daddy!” Lisa stopped surprised and embarrassed on her way to the bathroom.

“Go pee, and come and sit by me princess.” Jim smiled and waved her on.

He sat and thought, she’s hurting. Why? What could be wrong? Is it the kids are still treating her poorly? Lisa came out of the bathroom and sat next to her daddy and forced a smile.

Jim put his arm around her and hugged her, “What’s the matter princess? Why the long face?”

“Oh daddy, I don’t know. I feel sad, it seems like it’s getting worse every day.” She stopped forcing the smile and her eye’s started to tear again.

Jim put his arm under her legs and pulled her onto his lap and she wrapped her arms around his neck, and put her head on his shoulder. Jim stroked her face.

“Is it your friends? Are they still teasing you?” Jim asked.

“No daddy, I don’t think it’s them. Yes they still tease me but I don’t mind their just jealous.” She sighed and Jim could see her starting to calm down.

“So what do you think it is?” Jim looked at her, all traces of the little girl were gone, her new grown up body was that of a young woman, she looked like her mother. Jim’s heart skipped a beat as he felt his love for his little girl wash over him.

“Daddy I just don’t know, I feel better near you.” She snuggled up closer to him.

“Close your eyes, princess, and think when do you feel bad?” Jim stroked her arm and watched her face.

“When I’m alone in my room, or when nobody is around that’s when I feel bad.” She sighed as she felt the warmth of her daddy holding her close.

“And now?” Jim said.

“I feel better when you hold me.” She opened her eyes and smiled at her daddy and then kissed him on his cheek. “I love you daddy.”

Jim sighed and smiled at her, “I love you princess. Do you missing being little?”

Lisa wiggled and got more comfortable on his lap, “A little bit. It was nice when you held me when I was little, I felt so good, safe and protected. Now that I’m bigger I feel different, when I was little you were like a giant so big and strong, now I feel safe but you’re not so big, I don’t know it’s different somehow.”

Jim stroked her face, “Any other times you feel better? Close your eyes princess think.”

Lisa closed her eyes, and sighed. She smiled and then blushed but didn’t speak.

Jim smiled and asked, “What did you think princess? I saw your smile.”

“Oh daddy!” Lisa blushed even more.

Jim tickled her. “I know it’s with Matt. Oh princess you’re a big girl now, it’s Ok to feel good when a boy touches you. Now don’t tell me it’s a private thing between you and Matt. Princess I think you’re lonely you miss Matt when he’s not near you.”

“Oh daddy, that silly he’s just in the other room in bed, why should I be lonely?” She looked confused, like a part of her understood.

“Oh honey, I see it every night you kiss good night and then you both trudge off to bed. Then you lay in bed and you think about him. You can’t sleep. When you do sleep you dream about him. Am I right?” Jim stroked her arm and looked in her eyes.

Lisa blushed and looked down, and then spoke softly “Yes, daddy.”

Jim slipped his arm under her legs and stood up, and then laid her back down on the couch. “Wait here honey let me get Matt.” Jim went into the boy’s room and she could hear some muffled conversation and then he brought Matt with him. He was dressed in just his boxer shorts, he looked strong his muscles had grown since NamKo had started training him. When he saw Lisa in her nighty on the couch he smiled and she sat up and he sat next to her. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth. He slipped his arm around her and cooperated. Then they remembered where they were and they separated and they both blushed.

Jim chuckled. “Okay you two. Now Lisa, you feel better don’t you?”

Matt spoke up, “What’s wrong is Lisa sick?”

Jim smiled, “No Matt she’s not sick. Lisa tell him what I told you.”

Lisa blushed, “Daddy, it’s silly I can’t be lonely. He’s right here.”

Jim’s smiled broadened, “Matt how have you been sleeping lately? Been kind of difficult? Having dreams of Lisa?”

Matt blushed and looked down, “Yes sir, I …”

Jim interrupted, “Stop Matt, don’t try to explain. Lisa’s having the same problem. Listen you two you need to stop fighting it. Matt you love her, Lisa you love him.”

They looked at each other and they both smiled and sighed. “Yes daddy.” Lisa said. “Yes sir.” Matt said.

“NamKo, CuNu how long where you married?” Jim asked.

Matt’s face got older as NamKo took over, “Honored one, we were married at eighteen and I died when I was twenty three.”

Jim nodded, “Did you have children?”

NamKo continued, “No sir, we were married during a drought time in the valley. It was ruled that no new children should be born, so we couldn’t have any.”

Jim nodded again, “I thought so. You didn’t have birth control so you couldn’t have sex.”

NamKo blushed this time, “That’s partly true, we could do a lot but not that.”

Jim knodded, “CuNu, you were a princess of the tribe right? You were a virgin when you married NamKo.”

Lisa’s face changed as CuNu took over, she smiled, “That’s right honored one; I remained a virgin until I died.”

Jim nodded again, “So that’s why Lisa is still a virgin. She feels honor bound to wait until she marries Matt. Isn’t that right princess.”

Lisa’s face softened got younger she blushed and said, “Yes daddy, Matt and I talked about it and we decided to wait.”

Jim sighed and looked at them and sat thinking. Then he stood up, “Stay here.” Jim went into his bedroom and got Mary. She came out and sat next to Lisa and took her hand, and smiled at her but didn’t speak. Next Jim went into Cindy and Jack’s room and they came out and Cindy sat next to Matt and punched his shoulder lightly. “Looking good son.” Jack sat in one of the facing chairs. Jim sat in another facing chair. “Okay, now here’s the deal. Matt you and Lisa need to get married. We are going to do that right now, look at her Matt, do you join your life to hers before the presence and the tribe?”

Matt showed his surprise and then his face lit up with love and a smile, he took her hand. “Yes sir I do.”

Jim nodded, “Lisa, do you join your life to his before the presence and the tribe?”

Lisa looked at Matt and gave him a soft smile, “Yes daddy, I do.”

Jim nodded again, “Cindy you Ok with that?”

Cindy hugged Matt, “About time, no more sleepless night’s son.”

Jim smiled, “Jack?”

Jack spoke, “Jim, you’re the best. They will be much happier together.”

Jim smiled, “Mary?”

Mary kissed Lisa and put her hand on Matt’s hand that was holding Lisa’s. “Hon, you get busy now I expect grandkids ASAP.”

Cindy snorted, “Just look at them; it a sure thing.”

Lisa blushed deep red, “Oh momma!”

Jim spoke up, “Now you two go to your room, and don’t come out until noon tomorrow. Go!” Jim stood and pulled them to their feet and pushed them toward Lisa’s room. They went in and closed the door. Jim sat back down next to Mary, Jim shook his head. “Well I hope that takes care of the problem. They were killing themselves.”

Mary kissed him, and slipped her hand between his legs, “Well sailor I see you haven’t forgot about young love either.”

Cindy laughed, “Ha, never knew a man that could resist a virgin in need. Come on Jack let’s see if junior want’s to pop my cherry.”

Jack stood up and grabbed her from behind flattening her breasts with his hands and humped her from behind. Jack laughed, “Technically you’re not a virgin seeing as you just married off your son and you’ve got two girls in the oven, but I appreciate the sentiment anyway. Junior isn’t proud he’ll be happy to serve.” Jack bent down and picked her up and carried her back to their room.

Cindy was laughing, “Hey I am too a virgin. Haven’t you heard of virgin birth?”

Jim and Mary were cracking up as they kissed and Mary stroked Jim. “Come on sailor I may not be a virgin but I know how to help you with your problem.” Mary stood and pulled Jim to his feet and the retired to their room.

<Chapter=xx Title=”Keith Finds Kali”>

Spoilers follow.

These are some notes about how the story will 'finish'.

Keith saved Kali at the store from a car when she was young.

Kali grew up not knowing about Keith.

Kali got captured by the Evil Ones, and was being held against her will.

Keith finds her, and she is sensitive to him because he saved her life.

Kali has the talent of good luck, those near her have good luck, her talent placed Keith at her accident and cause her to be saved by selecting Keith because he would give his life for her.

The evil ones do not understand her talent but have learned that threatening her directly is impossible.

They control her through her mother, her mother is held captive (drugs) and so she is held captive.

Her talent holds Keith’s sprit because he is connected to ’s family through Mary, and ’s family is the means to destroy the evil ones and deliver her and her mother from captivity.

Jimmy learns the healer talent from Mary and OhMa.

Kieth get's help from the family to rescue Kali.

Kieth is absorbed into developing fetus inside of Mary.

In the process Kevin and Kali get accelerated growth.

Kali absorbs her mother spirtually and physically, with Jimmy's help.

Kiggy dies protecting Kali (steps infront of hostile fire - her luck kills him).

Kiggy is absorbed spirtually and physically by Kevin, with Jimmy's help.

Kali marries Kevin.

Cast