Action, Adventure, Excitement, Part 4 Mike's story Date: Sat, 2 May 1998 22:05:41 -0700 (PDT) Subject: AAE4: Points of Departure... On Sat, 2 May 1998 23:42:30 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004238 As Molly walks through the rows of grave markers with Nemo and Jack, she addresses the assembled Callahanians, both in physical proximity and gathered through the various lens-links into the Psi-web. She absently pulls off the black armband from around the left sleeve of her brown, weather-beaten leather jacket. /There's no real easy way to say this, so I will just state it point-blank. Mike, or Knytt, or Knightshift, whatever, isn't coming back to the CAoL. He, the twins, and Pyewackett are staying in the Dreamtime to coordinate the search for his lady, my would-be stepmom, Flarn. Wait a minute, Dad just reminded me you don't know all this, let me back up.../ /First, when all hell was breaking loose, the ley line storm lashed out with a serious jolt of energy, hitting the six of us. It formed a quirky dimentional rift that separated us, so that we landed in several places throughout the multiverse. /I ended up in a seedy bar on a planet about halfway in from the edge of the galaxy. I hurt like hell and didn't feel any better after beating off half a dozen drunk aliens bare-handed. What did make me feel better, once I realized that my magic wasn't working here, no one was coming to get me, and the Jesse James pricetag on interstellar travel, was the offer of a job as bouncer at the place I landed in. After all, I had to get off-planet, I wasn't about to be stuck there, never to see my family and friends on Earth again, my Earth anyway. /After about five years, Mike, Jack, Pyewackett, and the twins showed up. I found out, Mike had landed on a similar world to mine, where magic (or whatever Mike uses) didn't work, the twins wound up floating in an asteroid belt around a binary star system, and Pyewackett and Jack landed at Mike and Flarn's place on the coast. Since the armor they were in was perhaps the only thing between them and a rather brief future, and wasn't working thanks to the energy it absorbed, Flarn had to fetch a crowbar and other items of destruction to pry Pye and Jack out. /Now, Pyewackett could feel where Mike was, he always had been able to, but the twins' mini-lens systems were shot, so they had no choice but to return to the farmhouse for repairs and hope once they were working again, they could track him. Apparently there was a temporal difference in our arrival times, I appeared in that bar 5 years earlier, Mike turned up 2 years after that, and Jack and Pyewackett showed up ten minutes before the twins wound up in orbit around those two stars. So, Pyewackett was a bit wobbly still from the magic lightning strike. /Since the cat knew Mike was alright, Flarn insisted the group get themselves fixed up first before running off to get him. They had hoped I was with him, but Jack had been worried that I might have ended up like the twins, so they decided to try and trace my path from the point we branched as soon as they got Mike back. With time travellers, there is always time to get it right. But, they were all concerned about both our fates, so they didn't wait around long. The twins didn't even make their repairs, they didn't need the mini-lens to track Mike since Pyewackett would do that and they would trace his path. After the cat and kids left, Jack waited in the barn, eating hay and carrots, while Flarn was in the house, calling a vet about her to find out what to feed her since the twins had adopted her. /About 20 minutes later, Jack guesses, the house blew up./ =========================== Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 07:34:42 -0700 (PDT) Subject: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 2) On Sun, 3 May 1998 09:04:16 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004239 (& 4240) Molly continued her tale, passing between the graves, her arms folded across her chest. /Mike, Pyewackett and the twins arrived just as the housefire was dying. Jack had stayed safe in the barn, but was quite scared. Jack called out from the barn and Pyewackett went to get her out, while Mike and the twins entered the shell of the house. /They found-/ and here Molly shudders, /-a body, nearly cremated in the fire, but the gold bracelet around the wrist was unmistakeable. Mike had given it to Flarn before he left to join you when all this started. Mike took the bracelet, slipping it around his wrist, told the children to gather the animals down at the foot of the driveway, which was at the bottom of the hill the farm house was on, then collapsed to his knees. The girls wanted to stay, but he told them he would meet them there when he was finished here. They did as they were told, getting Pyewackett and Jack, and went down the long winding driveway. They noticed at the base of the driveway, in the center of the road, some traces of an X-window, and noticed a few strands of hair caught fairly high on a small tree, maybe 6 feet off the ground. /No sooner did they get there, though, than the entire hilltop exploded. They ran up the hill screaming for Mike who walked down the driveway. They mentioned the hair and the X-window trace at the bottom of the driveway. Without a word, the X-window opened and Mike went through, being chased by the twins, Pyewackett and Jack. Now even the twins aren't entirely sure about this, but they think Mike was the center of the explosion. Personally, I know when I first saw him, there did seem to be something behind his eyes, a rage barely in check. Pyewackett had no doubts, though, that Mike was the source. As he put it, "the explosion was made of pain, despair and rage, not fire." /The other end of the X-window let out at an abandoned building, across an intersection from the bar I was working at. As they emerged, they say they saw a figure disappear around a corner. Thinking this might be the bomber, as the hair was too high in the tree to be Flarn's, and there was nothing at the house to make an X-window, they followed, but lost him on the crowded street. They had no sooner stepped onto the street, than the building blew up behind them. Someone was definitely out to kill them and didn't seem at all concerned about how many people were taken out in the process./ =========================== Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 09:05:23 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 2) On Sun, 03 May 1998 11:02:05 -0500 Zia Said As CAoL Message # 00004241 (&4242) James uses someone to patch in, and Zia 'talks' through him to the CAoL link, as she can't send telepathically to where Molly is on her own power, apparently. /Molly, please let me know if I can do anything to help./ This offer seems strangely open and sincere, for Zia's usually tone and attitude, at least. /You all already realize it is someone who knows almost to the minute your movements and locations, I'm sure. If those hairs have not yet been analyzed, there is a lab set up here that Mike just left, relativity-wise in linear speak. Are you in any danger of paradox-collapse for your own continuum?/ =========================== Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 23:35:07 -0700 (PDT) Subject: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 3) On Mon, 4 May 1998 01:11:27 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004250 >On Sun, 03 May 1998 11:02:05 -0500 >Zia Said As CAoL Message # 00004241 > >/Molly, please let me know if I can do anything to help./ This offer >seems strangely open and sincere, for Zia's usually tone and >attitude, at least. > >/You all already realize it is someone who knows almost to the minute >your movements and locations, I'm sure. If those hairs have not yet >been analyzed, there is a lab set up here that Mike just left, >relativity-wise in linear speak. Are you in any danger of paradox- >collapse for your own continuum?/ /The party's over except for the cleaning up now, I am afraid. As for the hair, I saw the sample and knew exacty whose it was. Straight like mine, but dyed windex blue. Caught at a height that was about mine. I knew just whose hair it was. But, I had no idea why it was there. But as you will recall, there seemed to be no doubt that the person in the blast was Flarn. And you will also recall, I said there was a search out for Flarn. And, I am getting ahead of myself, because there is a lot more between those two statements than meets the eye. /As I was saying, the building blew up just after Mike and company emerged from it at a dead run. This was all caught on the handy dandy suveillence cameras the police had on every corner. Consequently, as I ran out of the bar to see what was going on, I saw the burning building, several dozen injured people, and Mike and the twins being hauled off in a police wagon. Fortunately, Jack and Pyewackett, though conspicuous, were thought to be dumb animals, a trait neither seemed willing to renounce as they both knew they would be more useful outside. My running out of the bar caught Jack's eye and he sent a telepathic call to Pyewackett to head for me. Pye told Mike I was here and we all reached an agreement that I would take them in and we would try and get Mike and the twins out. /I took the critters up to my seedy apartment, fittingly over my employer's seedy bar, and got the story from them. Including images. After I no longer felt the need to be sick, I set the animals up with dinner, got dressed in my finest clothes and went down to the local precinct as their lawyer. I had picked up a bit of law working at the bar, as we had a nasty habit of being raided every week or two for some reason or another. So, in exchange for putting me through law school, my employer would get free legal advice. /When I got to the station, I found out that an ambassador, the Skitaxi one, an insectoid race, had been inside the abandoned building. I smelled set up, obviously. It was way too unlikely that someone that important would be in an abandoned building by some fluke chance. It looked like Mike and the girls had been lured there to take the fall. I got them released on bail, taking nearly all the money I had saved for my ship offworld and the requirement that they wear tracking devices so the cops could keep tabs on them. But it did keep them from pacing a cell. /I realised if the ambassadors were involved, there was only one place to start looking. The Palace. The planet we had found ourselves on was a distant colony of Earth, founded by a corporation to mine one of the key elements needed to build FTL spacecraft engines. About a century prior, they had declared independence from earth. A sort of monarchy had been set in place, formalized by the miners themselves. At the time, most of the population figured business was good, why not? The current monarch was a 13 year old kid, who mostly left his hands off the business, letting his aides run things. Which seemed to make everyone happy. Earth had an ambassador on the planet, as did a race called the Roofasans, a race of amphibians. The Skitaxi had had an ambassador, of course, and this was the one Mike and the twins were accused of murdering. All the ambassadors were in the Palace, so if we wanted to learn the truth, that was going to have to be where we started. That is, after I took them back to my place and we tried to piece together what had happened from their point of view. I wanted a view from every angle. That was when the twins showed me the hair they had found. /Now, I am a firm believer in coincidence, but when I saw that hair, I knew this couldn't be so much coincidence as plan. Only my mother fit all the qualifiers, and she has a nasty habit of turning up unannounced, unexpected and unwanted in my life. It -was- surprizing to discover the Mahloy family name was one Mike knew as well. Near as we could figure, my mom, Anna, was the daughter or wife of Mahloy, though I seriously doubt Mom capable of any emotion even approaching love. /But this wasn't her style. One of the few words of wisdom Mom ever passed on to me was that 'Revenge is for Idiots.' Furthermore, if she was there, I hadn't seen her in five years of living there, which means she was hidden well. And for once, not interested in me. Which, ironicly, made me even more nervous./ =========================== Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 06:03:35 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 3) On Mon, 4 May 1998 07:51:04 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004251 >On Mon, 4 May 1998 01:11:27 -0500 >Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004250 >/Now, I am a firm believer in coincidence, but when I saw that hair, >I knew this couldn't be so much coincidence as plan. Only my mother >fit all the qualifiers, and she has a nasty habit of turning up >unannounced, unexpected and unwanted in my life. It -was- surprizing >to discover the Mahloy family name was one Mike knew as well. Near as >we could figure, my mom, Anna, was the daughter or wife of Mahloy, >[...] ...a guy who was out to kill Mike way back when, who Mike had managed to kill instead. We briefly considered Mom might have been out for revenge for killing someone she loved even... [...] >though I seriously doubt Mom capable of any emotion even approaching >love. > >/But this wasn't her style. One of the few words of wisdom Mom ever >passed on to me was that 'Revenge is for Idiots.' Furthermore, if she >was there, I hadn't seen her in five years of living there, which > means she was hidden well. And for once, not interested in me. >Which, ironicly, made me even more nervous./ =========================== Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 09:36:10 -0700 (PDT) Subject: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 4) On Fri, 8 May 1998 11:12:27 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004325 Molly moves on through the cemetary, continuing her tale. /It was very late, so we called it a night as daylight would be the best time to investigate the palace. It would also give me time to figure out how to get us inside. We settled in for the night and in the morning I got Mike and the girls cleaned up and into some less conspicuous clothes. They looked much more businesslike, which beat the revolutionary look they had sported the day before. We were about to leave to try and see if the direct approach would get us anywhere in the palace when we got a call from an aide of the earth ambassador to the court. I had a video phone, but the camera was broken. Whoever called must have known about me because we talked through the keyboard immediately instead of me having to explain about why I couldn't use voice. Turns out Franklin was his name. He said the ambassador and his wife had seen us on the news and presumed we would want to speak with him. Well, of course, we did. He had expected this and had a limo waiting out front. It was a great turn of luck. /We got in the limo and met Franklin there. I thought I had gotten us looking rather professional, but this guy looked like he was born in a suit. And an expensive one at that. I recognized him immediately from a sign-language class I had taken. I had had trouble communicating when I first arrived and had to learn the local sign language, ASL. Just in case, I had brought along a pen-based computer that could speak what I wrote, but it turned out we didn't need it. Anyway, no sooner did we get started than the twins started calling for us to stop. Franklin had the driver do so, not looking at all surprised by this strange request, Mike and the twins got out, looked down an alley near the building that blew up, talked quitetly, then got back in. Mike sent to me privately that the girls noticed traces of the same type of X-window that had led them here. It let out somewhere nearby and a -somewhen- nearby. Unfortunately, they couldn't be sure where or when. Mike had the girls tap into the security systems of the planet and reprogrammed them to look for traces that would tell them where that window let out. We were going to be there when it did. /Meanwhile we went to the palace. Passing through the halls we saw the Roofasan ambassador. Something struck me as odd. Mike seemed to try and avoid eye contact with him and the ambassador seemed to avoid eye contact with us. I asked Mike and he explained he had known the Roofasan ambassador but that it was in another life. That struck as odd as well. Mike just said it was a long time ago and he hadn't looked the same then. We were ushered into the throne room where we were left to wait. Apparently, the Earth ambassador wasn't able to meet with us in person, but that the King wanted a word with us. /Mike spotted a security camera on the wall and asked if they were everywhere, to which the answer was 'Pretty much'. 'That'll be handy for the girls,' he replied. After about fifteen minutes of standing and waiting, we finally saw the King, who told us that the Earth ambassador had asked we be allowed to look around all we like. The king had agreed. Our mysterious benefactor was predicting our every request. Needless to say, this put him on the top of our list of people to investigate, if for no other reason than he seemed to be one step ahead of us at every turn. /But first we wanted to see the Skitaxi ambassador's offices. Franklin escorted us and I asked him why we were having such an easy time of things. Franklin said because our group's investigative credentials are as long as his arm, and he should know, he wrote most of them himself from whole cloth. When we asked why, he said the ambassador asked him to and he doesn't need any further answers than that. The guy was loyal as hell. A rare commodity. I got the impression that Franklin would give his life for the man and got the distinct impression that if he did, it would be for all the right reasons. The guy didn't worship the ground the ambassador walked on, but definitely felt the man wouldn't ask anything of him that wasn't for the greatest good. I definitely had to meet this guy. /We went through the Skitaxi ambassador's offices. The twins went through the files, Mike took the desk, Franklin turned out to be an excellent hacker and was into the computer system in no time, and I searched the waste baskets. Sometimes the best clues are tossed out. Turns out it worked in this case. There was a note in the basket asking the Skitaxi to meet someone at the building across from the bar. The time on the note was just before the building blew up. /Franklin found some old e-mail indicating that the ambassador had been in contact with someone who had military information on a new weapon being built by the Roofasans. It mentioned a messenger would deliver the time and place to meet.. This was getting more fun by the minute. Mike decided to slip out and check out the Earth ambassador's offices, and hopefully the Earth ambassador, but telling us aloud he would be right back as he was looking for the Men's room. Franklin gave him instructions, mentioning that the Men's rooms were near the Earth ambassador's offices and that if you found the latter you had gone too far, and went back to work. We began to wonder if the guy was psychic. /After fifteen minutes, with Mike not back, the girls looked worried. Franklin pulled out a small pen-sized phone and called the palace security office. He explained that Mike was to be given whatever assistance was needed at the request of the Earth ambassador and His Majesty. After that, Franklin didn't give it another thought, suggesting Mike probably got lost, though we were getting worried. He suggested we go on to the Earth ambassador's offices and that the public restrooms were on the way there so we could look as we went. /No luck, of course, I consoled myself that the 'getting lost' explanation would explain his presence at the office, and in my concern nearly missed the fact that, in Franklin's call, he had given Mike free reign of the palace. This was getting too weird. And what was weirder, was Mike wasn't at our destination either. Franklin idly remarked that we seemed to have reached a dead end in our search until we could find out where those e-mail messages were coming from. He said it looked like a local company, and he suggested that we investigate it after lunch. We mentioned Mike and he said the palace guard would be ready to assist him if need be and we could leave a message for him and arrange for transportation for him to catch up with us later. Which he arranged. It sounded perfectly reasonable so we had to go along. I tried reaching Mike but couldn't get through. Which didn't mean much, my telepathy wasn't that strong. And as I said earlier, the twin's minilenses were shot. As we left the palace, one of the guards asked about Mike, to which Framklin replied that he believed he was still talking with the Earth ambassador. /When we got in the limo, in Terminator 2 style, the twins nearly ran Franklin through./ =========================== Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 09:11:19 -0700 (PDT) Subject: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 5) On Mon, 11 May 1998 10:31:25 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004354 Molly smirked, /Needless to say, I was surprised at the girls. Franklin was, too, but he was under control even then. The girls demanded to know where their father was. I was a bit curious how he seemed ahead of us as well. Franklin ran his hand through his hair, he was a blonde, and adjusted a pair of thin-rimmed glasses and said he was just going by what he would do in similar circumstances. He had no idea where Mike was, but he figured that would avoid any questions from the guards. I replied that Mike and the ambassador don't know any of this story. Franklin replied the guards had their orders and it didn't matter if they thought something was odd. It was none of their business what odd politics went on inside the palace, just to make sure people who didn't have carte blanc didn't get carte blanc. Mike had carte blanc, so he was safe. /We had lunch and tracked down the e-mail address. They wouldn't give us the owner info, but the twims managed to slip it out of the system while Franklin and I chatted with the owner. We tracked that address down and found the guy's apartment. Since he wasn't home, the twins tracked his banking records and tried a visual search with the security cameras around the city while Franklin and I went through the apartment. Well, after a quick pooling of information, we saw that the guy had skipped town with a large chunk of credits. We needed to catch up with him, so the twins expanded the search and managed to track the guy down in a small burg on the outskirts of the city. They couldn't teleport themselves without giving themselves away to the cops, so they simply tracked him with the security cameras. /The cops burst in about that time. I recognized the detective in charge, busted the bar on a regular basis. He wanted to know what we were doing in a small-time con man's apartment. I told him we were the maid's service. That got us hauled downtown. /Odd thing was, they never bothered to charge us. That meant they got us for 48 hours max. I knew it, they knew it, but they were hoping they could sweat it out of the twins. Of course, the twins not only knew it, but knew the history of it, and could quote it back. I had let them look at my bookshelves while they were there. They don't sleep, but you would hardly be disturbed by their nocturnal explorations. I was only aware because I sleep lightly in strange places or with guests under my roof. /As for Franklin, well, diplomatic immunity has its advantages. But they hauled him downtown anyway, until they could confirm that with his office. Franklin had expected this and warned them that he was the whole office and that the Earth ambassador was at the opera that night. So, while Franklin, Grep and I waited in one room, the cops were questioning Melissa next door. Turned out, the girls got more information out of the cops than they did Melissa. /Somehow Mike had knocked out a guard from behind, gotten out of his ankle tracking bracelet and had attached it to the guard. We, of course, had no idea about any of this. The twins thought it was totally out of character for Mike. Considering what brought them here, I figured it might be another set-up. So, while we sat in stir, the twins ran through bank accounts and tried to trace the large sum of credits that had been given to our con man friend. Not surprisingly, it led back to the palace, but through, the twins tell me, a rather difficult route. They were impressed that someone, hased on the available technology, could make such a difficult path to launder the money. /Once they had the transfer figured out, it was simple for them to find the log of the security footage of the culprit, who used a public terminal to make the transfers. They disguised themselves pretty well, but the camera caught a reflection that revealed the face. Human, but something struck the twins as odd. With a bit of checking, they discovered that the skull was a bit too wide for a human. But it was identical to a Roofasan skull. The only Roofasan in the palace was the ambassador, according to Franklin. His staff were on vacation at the moment. Things began to make sense. At least until Mike and the twins got involved. /The twins also located the last place Mike was. He ducked into an alcove on his way to the Earth Ambassador's offices A few minutes later, a guard walked down the same corridor and was pulled by somebody into the alcove. He woke up there about 5 minutes later. But Mike wasn't there, and Mike never came out. And since they couldn't figure out any secret doors or detect any equipment failures, they were desperate for leads. /That got the girls anxious to get out. But the police held us overnight. We were released early the next morning, and the first thing we did was head for the palace and that alcove. Just as the police said, there were no trick ways out of the alcove. I suggested to the twins that it might be my mother's handiwork, and started to explain what a TARDIS was, when they replied they knew and that Mike had had one once. They agreed, but weren't sure how to track one. Franklin asked what we were talking about, and when we explained, he said there was no need, he knew where my mother was, but she didn't look old enough to have a daughter my age. Of course, Mom has looked about my age for as long as I knew her. But the twins looked concerned about something. /We ran to the rooms where my mother was staying. As we approached the room, we heard shouting. The twins didn't bother to knock, busting down the steel door on the first kick. Inside, Mike was standing face to face with my mother, blasters pointed in each other's faces./ =========================== Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 15:05:14 -0700 (PDT) Subject: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 6) On Mon, 11 May 1998 16:29:46 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004360 Molly looks around. /Now the story gets odd. Well, odder. The twins immediately shouted "Father, STOP!" And I sent out telepathicly as I signed, "Mother, Don't!" They both looked at us, their guns never wavering. Mom looked at me. "Who are you? Why are you wearing my face?" she asked, "I don't have any kids." *You had me 25 years ago,* I sent. "Bullsh-t, I'm only 25." She looked at me closer, then she looked at Mike, suddenly horrified. "Ohmigod, this is -your- fault!" Mike looked confused, "What? My fault? What are you up to, Mahloy?" "Look at her, you moron! The eyes, the hair color, the mouth, the eyebrows. I didn't hit you on the head that hard." "Yes, but you did kill my beloved! You knocked me out, drugged me, which gave me that damned amnesia, then got me to work on that contraption inside your TARDIS and to work out psyche profiles on my friends, by feeding me some line about -our- being allies." "More than allies, you idiot, unless you always do what we did last night with your allies!" Franklin arched an eyebrow, the twins went 'Ewwwww' and Mike looked at me closely. His jaw dropped. "Oh dear lord." I was in shock, this was all too weird. Mom went on, "You got me pregnant you stupid-" Then what she was saying hit her full force. "OhmigodOhmigodOhmigod..." She lowered her gun and turned and started pacing. The twins looked at me, then at Mike, then at Mom. "Dad, how long have you been gone?" "About a month," Mike said, then looked at Anna, "She's that far along?" The twins nodded. "There's no doubt, the baby is Molly." Mom turned and aimed her blaster at Mike, "This is your fault! I can't not have this kid now!" "-My- fault? You never stopped me! You even initiated it! That bionic arm of yours could have thrown me across the room any time you wanted me to stop!" Franklin coughed quietly, "Excuse me, but I believe an obvious solution is being overlooked. In this modern age, a child can be cared for in an artifical environment until it is sufficiently developed to be born. Also, I believe Molly is near fainting." Franklin caught me. I don't really remember what happened afterwards, but when I came around, I heard the twins explaining what had been happening while Mike was away. Mom swore in Gallifreyian, I muttered something about watching her mouth around the twins, she replied by swearing at me. Mike and Franklin were both hovering by me, which while flattering, was embarrassing. *I'm alright,* I sent. Mom said, "That damn frog set me up. I had caught him breaking into my room. He must have actually been leaving when I caught him." Question is why? Well, I'n going to find out." I'd seen that look in Mom's eyes, it usually meant she was going to pound the hell out of someone. We ran after her and followed to the Roofasan's quarters. The twins spoke up. The X-window they had been waiting for had just opened beyond that door. Mom kiicked the door in, this was just wood, and there he stood, wearing some sort of strange belt. Mom and Mike were still armed and aimed at the Ambassador. "Hold it, Frog-boy!" Mom shouted. Mike added, "Off with the X-windows belt. Put it on the table." He did so, then turned back, "Ms. Mahloy, Mr. Franklin, others I am not acquainted with, how may I help you?" The twins looked at the computer, which suddenly powered on, then opened some files. All on you guys. Mom looked. "You stole my files, you sonuvabitch" "Actually, those are mine, but yours did help fill some gaps. Imagine my surprize to discover you a ready-made scapegoat. You had been spying on them for quite some time. I had intended to frame you, of course, thinking you were just some toy for the king, who would probably jail anyone even daring to suggest otherwise. How you got that little pervert wrapped around your little finger amazes me, on the other hand, perhaps it is not so amazing after all." "Great," Mike muttered, "how many more people have dirt on us?" He shot the computer, which exploded quite thoroughly. "The same is going to happen to you, you murderer." "For the Skitaxi? Gladly." "FOR MY LOVER!" Mike shouted. "Oh that, a most tenacious woman. I had hired local help to subdue her, a warrior caste Minbari woman. I suppose she could have been confused for your woman, Mr. Knytt. My intentions had been to blow up your home and take her off here as a bargaining tool. Imagine my surprise when she defeated the Minbari and came running after me. The rocket launcher did destroy the home, presumably the warrior caste woman as well. It suceeded in startling your beloved Flarn long enough to make my escape, but these X-windows are slow and she grabbed me before I completely dematerialized. I managed to break her grasp, incidently from around my throat, and she vanished, presumably flung off somewhere in the multiverse. Hopefully she landed somewhere in orbit around a black hole, but I believe she actually landed on some planet. As she faded from my sight, she seemed to pick herself up and lunge for my fading form again. Ah well, can't have everything. But at least, she is lost somewhere in the multiverse, from you and her home." "Where did you get those files?" Mike asked. The ambassador looked surprized, "Now why should I name my source? Since I couldn't stop or even delay you, I can at least not name names in an attempt to fill my part of the bargain." Mike looked like he was about to pull the trigger, when Franklin reached over and stopped him. "We have his confession, it will get him convicted." "I am afraid not," the Roofasan said, "I have diplomatic immunity." A voice came from the door, "I am afraid not, Former-Ambassador Arnaska." We turned and Mom said, "Hello, Bastardson." then turned and blasted the X-windows belt Arnaska had been edging towards. Masterson, I had seen him on the news, smiled. "Ms. Mahloy, not surprising to find you here. As the King's chief advisor, I think I am safe in saying your diplomatic immunity has been revoked." The guards he had been flanked by went for Arnaska, who simply grasped his lapels and disappeared. "I made some improvements in the second model." he said as he faded out. Mike and Mom both swore, the twins said, "We couldn't track him, that X-window was much better than the first." Masterson looked at Mom, "Well, Ms. Mahloy, at least we have you." Mom put a hand on her hip. "I don't think so, Bastardson. Give my love to His Royal Octupus." She vanished, too, but I knew this trick. "Quick, back to her quarters!" We ran down the halls of the palace arriving at her quarters just in time to see her TARDIS vanish. The twins swore this time. "Now, now, girls, I am sure your father taught you better than that." A voice said behind us. We turned and Franklin and Masterson bowed slightly. "Ambassador, Mrs. Seven." they said. Mike said, "Mom? Dad? You're the ambassadors from Earth?" Mike's mom nodded, "You think anyone else would believe you didn't blow up a building you just walked out of? Especially without a passport, travel papers, any ID at all?" Mike's dad said, "Of course, our boy's an angel. Masterson, get those cuffs off the girls' ankles please, then we would like some privacy. Melissa, Grep, you have already downloaded all the evidence pointing to Ambassador Arnaska as the murderer?" The twins nodded, but managed to slip their feet out of the bracelets simply by briefly remodeling their foot. Masterson and his guards left, looking bewildered. Apparently they had never seen Terminator 2. While Mike and his dad talked, Mike's mom came to talk with me. Forgive me if I don't go into that, suffice it to say I do take pride in calling them my grandparents. I noticed a brief flash of light out of the corner of my eye. Mike blinked a bit, said, "Yes, that was the mental breakthrough I needed. How could I have left a piece of myself on Earth?" Grandpa said something about the book came from Mike's subconscious thoughts of home. He remarked that it was like a Vorlon thing, but not quite. I asked Grandma was they were talking about and she took my hand. "It's like this. Soon after your dad left Earth, there was a great Awakening. You experienced something similar back with Nemo and everyone on that war-torn Earth. You know how that little group were all telepathic with each other? Well, take that times six billion, and take -that- times fifteen billion and you can understand what this Awakening was like. Just before this Awakening, there was what we call the first Perfect Day. It was like a dream come true, everything happened the way we wanted it to. No traffic jams, wars ended, peace reigned, then that night, everyone just went to sleep, and the next day, we Awoke. It was incredibly spiritual. As we all began to realize the implications of all this, we began to grow from being a network of single minds to a single group mind. Or that is the goal, anyway. We admit, we are still working on it. We call ourselves 'Dreamers' or 'Family' and our home 'Dreamtime', or 'the Dreaming' because our dreams have an effect on the world around us. They have a smaller effect outside our universe, but it is there none the less. You can do it a little bit, your skill with magic is a prime example. Your father is stronger, but he is only half Dreamer, a human Dreamer, we are quite human, though there are what you might call alien Dreamers as well. You are one quarter Dreamer, one half Human (from your mother), and a quarter Time Lord, thanks to a fellow named the Doctor who provided the DNA to your father. As you can guess, your father's past is complicated, and we can tell you more about it later. But, what I would really like to know now, is do you want to see this place I've been telling you about? You are quite welcome, it is part of your heritage." Well, hey, what are you going to say to an offer to see heaven?/ Molly shook her head, /I can't describe what I saw or felt on first joining the Family, I don't have thw words. But it was like I suddenly had a place in the world. I fit. It was incredible./ Molly looked around, /This was a longer story than I thought. Well, in the Dreamtime, Family First takes on a whole new meaning. Flarn is family, or she could be once we find her. We're pretty certain she is out there. But, of course, Mike couldn't continue with the CAoL when the woman he loves might be in danger. So he and the twins are organizing things. And Dad has become something of a popular figure. He is a strong voice in the Council. He grumbles about not being a politician, but the Family is more anarchy than anything, so he and the Council basicly herd cats. And despite his protestations, he enjoys it. /But he wasn't about to leave everyone in the lurch wondering what happened to us. I volunteered to 'join up', following orders unless they went against my conscience, natch, because this bunch tends to turn up in the right place at the right time. So maybe, we'll run across Flarn in our travels. But, I'm only one of over a billion searchers, scouring the multiverse for her. If she is out there, we'll find her./ Molly paused for a moment, seeming to be having an internal discussion, /One more thing Dad just reminded me of. Grandma and Grandpa were telling us about a visitor who had apparently paid a visit to them a month earlier. We found some notes on it in Mom's journals, and the twins had downloaded similar notes from Arnaska's computer before Mike shot it. We even found it in the computer at the Skitaxi ambassador's office. They all speak of a dark spidery creature, Mom called it a shadow, specificly, visiting them, asking what they want. With him was that Thorne guy. The Skitaxi, Mom and my grandparents told him to get lost, apparently Arnaska made a deal. Mike suspected it was the Shadow from Arcadia, Knightmare. He said X-windows are well outside Roofasan tech and the files Arnaska had were up to date as of Roland and Morgan's wedding, he thinks. That and the remark Arnaska made about 'delaying us' seems to jibe with Zia's idea that we are being led on a merry chase, and the threat Mike said Roland received on Quaren from Knightmare might mean it's him who is running us ragged. Too bad the only guy who would know died. If we could have caught him, who knows? But that is our suspicions on what was really going on there. NOw that I think about it, I can't believe I forgot it./ =========================== Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 23:05:24 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 6) On Mon, 11 May 1998 22:48:25 Morgan and/or Roland Said As CAoL Message # 00004369 >On Mon, 11 May 1998 16:29:46 -0500 >Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004360 > >"Now, now, girls, I am sure your father taught you better than that." >A voice said behind us. We turned and Franklin and Masterson bowed >slightly. "Ambassador, Mrs. Seven." they said. Mike said, "Mom? Dad? >You're the ambassadors from Earth?" Roland stops cold. "Wait a minute. Mike's dad is GARY SEVEN?" (OOC: COOL! 8^) >Molly looked around, /This was a longer story than I thought. Well, >in the Dreamtime, Family First takes on a whole new meaning. Flarn is >family, or she could be once we find her. We're pretty certain she is >out there. But, of course, Mike couldn't continue with the CAoL when >the woman he loves might be in danger. So he and the twins are >organizing things. And Dad has become something of a popular figure. >He is a strong voice in the Council. He grumbles about not being a >politician, but the Family is more anarchy than anything, so he and >the Council basicly herd cats. And despite his protestations, he >enjoys it. /Hey, _we're_ family,/ Roland says as lightly as he can, but the hurt is just barely noticeable to anyone listening. /I understand better than most what he's going through./ >/But he wasn't about to leave everyone in the lurch wondering what >happened to us. I volunteered to 'join up', following orders unless >they went against my conscience, natch, because this bunch tends to >turn up in the right place at the right time. So maybe, we'll run >across Flarn in our travels. But, I'm only one of over a billion >searchers, scouring the multiverse for her. If she is out there, >we'll find her./ /You got _that_ right,/ Roland replies emphatically. >That and the remark Arnaska made about 'delaying us' seems to jibe >with Zia's idea that we are being led on a merry chase, and the >threat Mike said Roland received on Quaren from Knightmare might mean >it's him who is running us ragged. Too bad the only guy who would >know died. If we could have caught him, who knows? But that is our >suspicions on what was really going on there. NOw that I think about >it, I can't believe I forgot it./ /Shard knows now,/ Roland frowns. /Morgan might be able to figure it out eventually, but a Quickening is a mess to assimilate. KnightMare's absence isn't suspicious in itself, but seeing how Mike's the one he seems to have it most in for, and that Mike's the one he hit the hardest.../ Roland turns pale. /Mother of Light. You don't think...he practically _led_ us here...if someone's trying to delay us...KnightMare and _Jadis_ working together... /Does anyone else have a _really_ bad feeling about this?/ Roland scowls. /Even given that those two would be plotting to stab each other in the back from word one, the idea's still not a pleasant one. /But what do you give the Chaos Lord who has everything? What could _it_ want?/ =========================== Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 06:35:47 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 6) On Tue, 12 May 1998 08:09:30 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004385 >On Mon, 11 May 1998 22:48:25 >Morgan and/or Roland Said As CAoL Message # 00004369 > >>On Mon, 11 May 1998 16:29:46 -0500 >>Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004360 >> > Roland stops cold. "Wait a minute. Mike's dad is GARY SEVEN?" > (OOC: COOL! 8^) Molly nods. "Yeah, his name is Gary, you know him?" > /Hey, _we're_ family,/ Roland says as lightly as he can, but the >hurt is just barely noticeable to anyone listening. /I understand >better than most what he's going through./ Molly blinks, /Oh, I didn't mean you all aren't Family. Quite the opposite, I was explaining why such a large number of people were hunting for her. When a whole universe is mentally linked even tighter than this bunch, a loss to one is a loss to all. >>/But he wasn't about to leave everyone in the lurch wondering what >>happened to us. I volunteered to 'join up', following orders unless >>they went against my conscience, natch, because this bunch tends to >>turn up in the right place at the right time. So maybe, we'll run >>across Flarn in our travels. But, I'm only one of over a billion >>searchers, scouring the multiverse for her. If she is out there, >>we'll find her./ > > /You got _that_ right,/ Roland replies emphatically. Molly smiles. > /Shard knows now,/ Roland frowns. /Morgan might be able to figure >it out eventually, but a Quickening is a mess to assimilate. >KnightMare's absence isn't suspicious in itself, but seeing how >Mike's the one he seems to have it most in for, and that Mike's the >one he hit the hardest.../ Molly nods, /Dad reckons by Knightmare's count, this'll be eight. And since Knightmare made the mistake of telling him he had stopped his plots seven times before, he is having everyone keep an eye out for that Shadow. If they can't find out where in the past Mike did this, he is going to make sure it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy./ =========================== Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 18:20:14 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: AAE4: Points of Departure... (Part 6) On Tue, 12 May 1998 17:16:03 -0500 Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004395 >On Mon, 11 May 1998 16:29:46 -0500 >Mike Said As CAoL Message # 00004360 > >Molly looks around. /Now the story gets odd. Well, odder. The twins >immediately shouted "Father, STOP!" And I sent out telepathicly as I >signed, "Mother, Don't!" They both looked at us, their guns never >wavering. Mom looked at me. > >"Who are you? Why are you wearing my face?" she asked, "I don't have >any kids." > >*You had me 25 years ago,* I sent. ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ===========================