by Darrell Bain
"If we're all that unique, what makes you think the NSA will even let us go? They may want to kidnap us again and try some other methods of persuasion." Rita shivered as if a cold wind had just blown into the room.
"All the more reason for you going. I can get you off earth now. I might not be able to in the future. I suspect once the pogroms get started that no Seconder will be allowed to leave earth. That's if they don't just eliminate us out of hand."
Put that way, Rita was easy to convince. "Are you planning on going with us?"
He looked regretful. "No, I need to stay here and try to keep the lid on the bottle. Besides, it's a four man ship, which is why I said I hoped you would all get along together. Here, let me show you." He spoke to the wall and a huge screen slid into view.
Messler's FTL ship looked much the same as any other; a cylinder, with odd-shaped antennalike devices poking from both ends. It was larger, though, judging by the human figures shown working on it.
"I've had it under construction for almost two years now. It's just about ready to go. I did have another couple picked for the crew until you two pulled off that trick of yours; they were sorely disappointed when I had to tell them they had been replaced."
The outside view flicked away and he pulled down files of the interior, showing us crew quarters, hydroponics, weapons, control room and a seemingly endless variety of other mechanisms and structures.
"So how soon do you want us to leave?" I asked. Excitement began building up inside me like the last few minutes before the kickoff of the Superbowl. Rita noticed my mental state and smiled wryly at me.
"How does two weeks sound? That should give you four enough time to see if you're compatible in close quarters, and to learn your way around the ship." He didn't say so out loud, but mentally I could tell he expected us to try living together and see how we liked it. And given his incredibly disciplined mind, he probably let me pick up that thought deliberately.
The only question was which home to go to.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
We did get along, both in bed and out. Undressed, Kellie turned out to look not at all like a little girl, and she was a natural redhead, as I soon found out. Rita teased me about my attention to so minor a detail, but it was in good fun. She liked Kellie as much as she did Trevor.
There is no use trying to describe the sex when three or four of us were together. It was overwhelming with just Rita and I; when another mind and body or two got involved, I didn't care whether I lived forever or died within the next thirty seconds. And yes, with sex together, it turned out that other Seconders could join in the melding of minds as well as bodies, and the phenomena carried over afterwards. Within a few days, I could merge my mind with Trevor or Kellie almost as easily as I could with Rita. Trevor proved to be not nearly so serious as I first thought he was, and I finally lost my last sexual inhibitions with him. Having lived as a woman for a time certainly changed my perspective. Rita teased me a bit after the first time, but I didn't care. If our former family had been close, our present one was like a single individual with multiple personalities. They even liked my Rum Whatnot.
We spent some of our time deciding on what personal articles to carry along. Our weight allowance was generous, but not unlimited. I selected carefully, discarding and adding items as if I would never again see the things I left behind, which was possible, I suppose. Besides, it might turn into a very long trip; two years or so if we needed or wanted to stay out that long. Messler's was the first ship designed for that sort of time period, though others were being built.
I brought along a good arsenal and plenty of ammunition. We might or might not land on new planets and explore a bit. Just in case, I wanted to be well-prepared.
The worst thing about the trip was having to turn Grandpa's old home over to a caretaker because the folks were still with the army. I did it that way because I wanted to think of it as a beacon to come back to, or perhaps as a talisman for good luck on the trip. I loved that old house and didn't want anyone else but those I selected to live in it. There were too many happy memories associated with living there to have it otherwise.
Messler didn't come to say good-by. He sent word he was busy stamping out a fire. I took that to mean he was already encountering problems with keeping a low profile for the Seconders. I hoped we would have a world to come back to where we would be welcome, or at least tolerated. Or maybe we would return to find that the gates had disappeared as mysteriously and suddenly as they came. It was an idle thought and I really had no idea, nor did Messler or anyone else.
Two weeks to the day after that conference in Messler's office, we took off. It was anti-climactic, nothing at all like I had imagined and fantasized about in my dreams of spaceflight. One moment, we were there in the hanger; then the next moment, the view ports showed only an inky blackness, unlit by stars or planets, blacker than black and seemingly without depth or substance. I was a spaceman now, at long, long last. Some dreams do come true.
***
We were several months on our way, going in the direction of Trevor's original flight, when we all began to feel the first faint alienism nudging our minds, though as yet, it was directionless and initially, there wasn't even a hint of anything to remind us of the sex gates. Trevor, more confident than when back on earth, assured us it would come. I chose to believe him, though even he had no idea of what, if anything, would be revealed. So did Rita. We were both still upset about Russell and Donna not making it through the gate with us, and we were both hoping with subdued desperation that we would find answers.
Kellie and Trevor helped greatly in easing the pain of losing Russell and Donna. They turned out to be not just fellow space travelers; we came to love them almost as much as we had Donna and Russell, and I knew Rita and I would invite them to come live with us at the old homestead when this trip was over.
But first, we had to finish it, and even the boredom of space travel turned out to have complications, though the problem originated back on earth.
The first time Trevor brought us out of the cocoon of FTL, our instrumentation showed several other ships on our flight path, though some distance behind us.
"Military spaceships, I bet," Trevor said.
"And I'll bet they're following us," I said.
Trevor nodded. "Well, it was never any secret that Messler was building his own craft. And I guess if I had the mentality of government spooks, I'd be following us, too. At my debriefing, I did mention I thought there was an alien presence out this way other than the simple fauna we saw on a couple of worlds. I didn't say anything about whether it might be connected to the gates or not, though."
"Why not?" Rita asked, always interested in motives.
Trevor shrugged. "I guess I thought we'd be better off if civilians made contact rather than the military, assuming the aliens we're sensing are responsible for the sex gates. Hell, even if they're not, I still think civilians would be better than the military at initial contact."
"I agree," I said, "But I think the aliens we're sensing are connected with the gates." I had suddenly realized that they were. The knowledge simply popped into my head, full-blown. Were the aliens sensing the one mind among us that had spent a lifetime exploring the possibilities of alien contact through books and movies and idle speculation? I didn't know then and still don't, but it was me they were going to pick on, I knew that much.
"Are you sure?" Trevor and Rita asked at the same time.
"Yes," I said. And now I could feel an alien touch at the fringes of my mind, like a badly remembered dream, yet there all the same. There was nothing else though, no matter how hard I strained. I opened my eyes and saw the others were staring at me as if I were the alien.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"You were spaced out for over ten minutes, Lee," Rita said, putting a gentle arm around me as if trying to bring me down to a soft landing from wherever I had been.
I shook my head, trying to clear it. The alien presence wa
s still there, no stronger, but no weaker, either. "Do any of you feel anything?" I asked.
Rita and Kellie shook their heads. Trevor acted as if he were going to say something, then nodded no as well.
"I feel something out here that's not human. I think we should go back into FTL and get closer."
"Is it safe?" Kellie asked, frowning.
I shrugged. "I don't know, but we came out here for answers and I don't see any other way to get them."
Trevor turned to the controls while Rita put her other arm around me. I hugged her back.
***
We stayed in FTL mode for another week, and this time, when we came out, there was no question of whether or not we were near an alien, or aliens. I couldn't sense whether there was one or many, but the presence was concentrated-and within eyesight now, a smudge of green mist in the distance, less than a parsec away but still perfectly visible through the telescopic sight in the control room. The others could feel the presence now as well, though mind touches told me their awareness wasn't nearly as intense as mine.
"Look," Trevor said, pointing to another display on his control console. "The other ships are still with us."
"How are they managing to keep up like that?" I said.
"Easy. For all Messler's security, it was probably fairly simple to sneak a beacon somewhere into the works. And besides, it's not as if they don't know which direction we've been heading. Or they may have detected that green blob sooner than we did with more powerful scopes. Who cares, anyway?"
I did, for one. I didn't want the military ships to blow us up or attempt to capture or disable us so they could contact the aliens first. I needn't have worried; they did neither. What they did do was quickly make another jump. Hours later, the three ships appeared to come out very near the green nebulous-looking blob while we were still approaching cautiously in quick incremental jumps. I wasn't liking what I was beginning to feel. It was as if the presence of visitors was interfering with vast projects or processes beyond my comprehension. The image wasn't clear, or more likely, incomprehensible to my poor mind.
The military ships were closer and perhaps the persons in them felt the same thing, though I doubted it. I think only a Seconder could have had the mind power to grasp even a part of that vast intellect-or perhaps Seconders were a surprise to them, an unexpected side-effect of the sex gates. At any rate, something set the military off. We all saw the tiny blips separating from the two leading ships, then a few seconds later from the other one, as if it was reluctantly following suit. They were firing missiles at the aliens!
And then the ships vanished from space as if they had never been there. The missiles also disappeared without apparent effect.
"They've been destroyed," Trevor announced softly.
"Maybe not," Rita said, always the optimist. "They just disappeared, like people going through a gate. Maybe they were sent back to earth."
"Maybe, and maybe not. And maybe we ought to run for earth before they do the same to us."
Before we had a chance to decide, the decision was taken from us. The green nebula shot out an arm of lighter green in our direction, traveling immense distances almost instantaneously. It engulfed us and our ship with stunning suddenness. A brilliant green light blinded my senses, and I felt my mind beginning to fragment.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
With a reserve of power I wasn't even aware of having, I managed to hold my mind together. From what seemed like an immense distance, I sensed the others trying desperately to resist the force which was attempting to tear them apart. I reached out blindly, seeking Rita first. Our minds touched and blended together, providing a beacon for Trevor and Kellie to home in on. With a last desperate effort, they managed to hook up with our minds.
All that time, I had no sense of any material thing in reach. It was all mental and took place in an environment of a greenness so intense, I had no doubt we were in the very presence of the force responsible for the sex gates, almost like the religious idea of ascending to heaven and sitting at the right hand of God.
But this was no God, and not even benevolent; it was totally alien and only our fierce desire to resist being thrown into nothingness allowed us to survive. Or perhaps they meant to contact us this way, though I doubt it. I think our Seconder abilities were the deciding factor because, even as the mental fight, if that's what it was, took place, I could sense the barest tinge of surprise, as if some experiment had produced completely unexpected results. That gave me courage to resist even more. And again, whether the entity wanted it that way, or I was able to do it on my own, I have no inkling, but I was able to gather the added force of Rita, Trevor and Kellie's abilities to augment my own. I became the focus and guide in the tangle of the alien presence, while their added mind power enabled me to converse, in some odd way that wasn't conversation at all, with the strange intellect.
What followed is almost impossible to describe. I had questions and demands which were voiced mentally. They were mostly thrown back in my face, but sometimes, with a sense of puzzlement and the faintest hint of condescension coming back with them. It wasn't a fight. It was more like a struggle to make an incredibly more advanced mind understand our desires and concerns, none of which appeared to matter much to it. It wasn't a conversation by any means, but over a period of time, time unlike how I normally thought of it, I endured, helped by the combined strength of my friends and lovers. We wanted answers and we wanted to be able to return safely to earth with them and we wanted to know what would happen in the future. This was all a tall order for four frail humans, three of them "silent", but funneling their strength through me-and this, too, seemed to be something the intellect hadn't expected, though I will never be certain. The whole adventure was as strange and bizarre as a quantum equation. It went on and on until it seemed as if years might have passed.
Eventually, it was me alone with the entity, still propped up by my friends but they were no longer a part of the interaction. It was solely me against (or with) the alien entity and at last, I began to get some answers; not many, but some-and I could hardly believe what I was finding out. I strained every fiber of my mind trying to confirm what I was being "told" about what had happened and would happen in the future by the entity. Just as I thought I might actually be understanding its mentality, the exchange ended in a sudden glare of brighter, deeper green so intense that it hurt. The glare expanded and exploded in my mind like a huge fireworks display, knocking me senseless. The last thing I remember is a sensation of falling, falling through endless depths of a green universe while a fearful uncertainty about where I would land, and whether what had been related to me could possibly be true, overwhelmed me.
***
I came back to my senses slowly, like a diver coming up from the depths toward sunlight and away from the cold darkness below. I blinked and opened my eyes, almost afraid of what I might see-or not see.
"Rita?" My vision was blurred, but I thought it was her.
"Lee! We made it, we made it. Look!"
I raised my seat from its reclining position and shook my head. My vision cleared. There, shining through the view port like a green and brown ball, was our familiar earth. God's chips, how long had I been out of my mind?
"What time is it? Is that really earth? How did we get here? How long have I been out?" Questions spilled from my lips like a three year old genius trying to learn about the world all in one day. I could have gotten answers more quickly by touching their minds, maybe, but old habits die hard. Besides, we still used speech a lot, because while mind touches worked fine for general impressions and sensory images, speech was still better for relaying factual information in a linear fashion.
Rita was in my lap and Kellie and Trevor were on each side of me.
"It's earth, all right," Trevor said, "but don't ask me how we got back here, nor how much time has passed. I'm trying to find that out now."
I waited, not really caring about the time. The meager data I had gained from
the alien was forming images in my mind. I chuckled, then laughed, then began howling hysterically. I couldn't stop. Tears streamed down my face as I brayed like an idiot donkey. It was only the concern and fear I saw in Rita's face that finally began to bring me back to normal, but it still took a long time for my laughter to taper off into chuckles and little laughs while shaking my head. God's chips, who was ever going to believe this?
"Lee, please, what is it? What happened there at the last? Did you make real contact and find out something?"
"Can I have a drink first?" I said. "In fact, let's all have a drink. What I'm going to tell you is so bizarre, we may all want to simply get blind drunk and commiserate among ourselves before relating the news to authorities."
"We can do that," Trevor assured me while Kellie began mixing a powerful blend of rum and vodka and fruit flavoring. "We're in a safe orbit and can stay here until we decide to land, though I'll be damned if I know how we got here."
With Rita still on my lap and kissing my cheek and neck and holding me as close as she could and still manage her own drink, I downed one glass of the concoction and half of another before I was ready to talk, avoiding mind contact for the moment. I watched their faces carefully to see if I was going to be believed.
I began. "Listen carefully now, because while I feel like what I learned is true, my interpretation of it may lack a lot of nuances I couldn't grasp. For one thing, I couldn't understand how the alien, or aliens, maybe, interpret the passage of time."
"If it means anything, we returned to earth in essentially nothing flat. I just got a tick from a navigation satellite."
"That's fine, but that part of it really doesn't matter right now. What does matter is how soon the gates start disappearing and releasing those who never came back after entering them."