Chapter 3

Note: When the conversation is a telepathic exchange, it is indicated by italics font.

By the time Nancy, Adam and Bob arrived in the dining room, nearly everyone else was there. Briana had already introduced Adam’s friends to Joyce and her spouses. When they saw Adam, they came right over to him. Adam could tell by their expressions that they were full of questions. At the same time he knew that they weren’t upset or dismissive of their surroundings.

“Adam,” said Todd, “we’ve noticed several things that puzzle us, and they have triggered our curiosity.” The others nodded in agreement.

“Good, I’m glad, because I am not sure I would want to be in the field with you all if you hadn’t.”

“Okay, smart ass,” said Kurt, “what gives?”

Joyce spoke before Adam could respond, saying, “Hi guys. I’m Adam’s sister.”

Todd said, “But I thought...”

“Nope. It is rather complicated story and hearing it has significant implications. We are willing to tell you everything, or we can answer only the questions you ask. Please listen to my next statement very carefully, as I lay out the choices.” She sensed their senses sharpen. “If we tell you everything about us, then we need you to limit your ability to share that knowledge when you leave here. Adam has already crossed that bridge, because, as my brother, he would do nothing to put me in danger. If you will indicate your agreement to the limitation, I will tell you why. Okay?”

The group watched Adam’s friends, as they sorted through what they had seen and sensed from their escorts. They looked around at each of Adam’s family and Joyce’s spouses, as well as their escorts. It was quite a crowd, but even so they had perhaps the most comfortable feeling they could remember. It took only moments before they all came to the same conclusion. After looking at each other, they nodded to Todd, making him their spokesperson, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

“Okay, we’re in,” said Todd, as the others nodded confirming their agreement. “We would definitely like to know all of you better, much better.”

“As you’ve noticed, we are a little different and have been blessed with some unique abilities. If our abilities were known about outside of this community, we believe it would greatly imperil our safety. To avoid that we need you to limit your ability to share what you see and learn here. While doing this is not foolproof, it should ensure that we remain unknown to rest of the world. We will likely disclose our presence sometime in the future, hopefully at a time of our choosing. Currently if you share what you learn here, you most likely won’t be believed, and if you are, you would not like the ensuing scrutiny.” Adam nodded his head in agreement with Joyce’s comment.

“Based on what we have observed so far, and what we suspect,” said Todd. “I think all of us agree with the need to not share what we see, without even going any further. We noticed that our ‘jet’ did not need a landing strip here, but used one when we left the airport. Just that alone would be hard to keep to ourselves, and not to slip up at some time and talk about it.” The others nodded their heads, in agreement with Todd.

“Guys, we are very pleased to have you here,” said Sarah. “Your agreement makes it much easier for all of us to relax while you are here and enjoy our time together.”

“To address your curiosity, while we eat we can tell you a bit about us,” said Erin. “Then after dinner, we will show you presentations we have shown others who were interested in joining us. The presentation topics cover how this started and provide details about us. They are very candid, as you will see. Afterwards, we need to correct a few statements made in the presentations, then we will answer any question you have.”

“Cool. It seems I can sense what you are telling me, or am I ready to be committed,” asked Todd.

“That is probably because you have some telepathic ability,” responded Sally and received a skeptical look. “You have probably noticed it before, and ascribed it to intuition or sixth sense.”

“Yes, we’ve noticed that about both him and Adam,” said Kurt. “It saved our as ... us in training several times.” He blushed, as he realized what he almost said. The others laughed, but nodded their heads in agreement.

“We believe all of you are capable of communicating telepathically,” said Terry. “It’s just that Adam and Todd are naturally a little stronger and are more prone to listening to it.”

“You’re kidding,” they chorused.

“Not in the least. We can talk about it some more, after you see the presentations,” said Joyce. “Briana and Cathan, we would like you and your friends to join us this evening. Besides, I think some of the guys don’t want to let either of you out of their sight.”

“They are a very pleasing sight,” quickly responded Adam’s friends. The women kissed them on the cheek, as a thank you.

“Come on, let’s eat, before there is nothing left,” said Tara. With that, they made their way to join the buffet line. Briana, Cathan and their friends made sure that each of Adam’s friends had everything they wanted. Joyce looked at her spouses, and rolled her eyes in response to the attention the men were getting. Her family was pleased to see the two groups taking good care of their visitors.

As they moved to sit down, Briana and Cass quickly moved to sit either side of Adam. “What’s this?” said Joyce, with a smile on her face. “Yeesh, I can’t even sit next to my brother.”

“You had him all afternoon,” they said. “Now it’s our turn to keep him company.”

“Well, I can’t think of anyone better to do that.”

“Come on,” said Todd, “tell us the story. I am anxious to hear more about you all and the space ship.”

“So you figured it out,” said Erin.

“Yes, I think we all did, to some extent.”

As they ate dinner, Claudette and Erin shared with them the same information they had provided those they approached with the offer to join them as crew members. When they began talking about the space ship, they had Donna place a small holographic display on the center of the table. As they spoke softly, they also projected their thoughts, so Adam’s friends heard as well as sensed their comments. None of Adam’s friends realized that this was the reason they could understand Claudette and Erin so easily.

Claudette and Erin finished their story just as they were all finishing dinner. Adam and his friends found the story intriguing. They asked several questions about the ship, and what their long-term plans were. Erin told them that they were now focusing on restoring the ship, and building a settlement on Mars. Building their Mars settlement had progressed far enough that some of the crew were living there.

“Why build a settlement on Mars? It always struck me as quite hostile,” said Leo.

Tara replied, “We don’t consider it any more hostile than space. It has the natural resources needed to refit Dóchas, and our other needs. The gravity well is not as steep. Besides, we don’t expect to be well received by the governments on Earth.”

“Oops. I didn’t considering the comparative risk of being in space.”

“I think,” said Kurt, “you have Earth’s response pegged correctly. I can think of only a handful of stories that portrayed people from other solar systems as being friendly. The two that come to mind are “ET” and “Flight of the Navigator”. It was not without considerable apprehension that I, or we, agreed to the idea of blocking our ability to share what we know of you. Now, I have absolutely no reservations. It is probably the smartest thing we have done. With regard to this visit, I suspect that if Adam knew what he would find when he saw his family, he would not have been so quick to invite us along.”

“Yes and no,” said Adam. “I would have definitely talked to my mother before extending the invitation. Now, I am really glad all of you came with me, as I will have someone with me who knows about this when we go back.”

“Let’s go see the presentations,” said Todd, his eagerness clearly apparent. They gathered up their dishes and took them to be cleaned.

As they turned to leave, Kurt saw Edana and Christina walking toward them, he stopped suddenly. The three of them saw each other at the same time, and their eyes connected. They moved slowly toward each other, as if in a trance. Reaching one another, they grasped hands and stood gazing into each other’s eyes.

“Looks like cupid has struck again,” giggled Sally, as her memories of Rusty and Sarah first meeting resurfaced. Her spouses saw her thoughts and smiled, as they agreed with her observation. They were distracted when they heard several screams. Turning toward them, they saw Darcy and Brid wrap their arms around Leo.

“Thank god,” they exclaimed, “you’re finally here.” Leo had a puzzled look on his face, until he was able to get a good look at the two women hugging him. When he did, his face lit up in a smile, before they joined in a group hug. The comfort of being together was clearly evident on their faces.

“Let me take that back. I think,” said Sally, “he has struck twice.”

“Sal, you look like you feel left out,” said Caoilinn, as she stepped up to one side of him, putting her arm around his waist. Sal turned to look at her just as Abbie stepped up to his other side, surprising him.

“I’ve wondered if I would ever meet you two,” said Sal. They gave each other a kiss and a hug. “But...”

“I am Caoilinn and this is Abbie. I think we have shared many dreams that included a few others.”

“I believe we have,” he responded with a smile.

“Mind if we join you for the presentations?” asked Caoilinn.

“Not at all. Afterwards, could we spend some time together?”

“Certainly.”

After a few moments, the three men turned toward the others with their new, but old, friends tightly at their sides. “I presume there is no problem with Edana and Christina joining us,” said Kurt.

“Definitely not,” said Rusty. “Ladies, you may want to ask the rest of your groups to join you as well.”

“Oh, they are already on their way,” chorused the women. “We think they knew as soon as we saw these three.” The six giggled, as they realized they were speaking together.

“Donna, would you make sure the conference room will handle this growing group?” said Erin.

“Not a problem, as I have been watching it develop,” she responded. “By the time you get there, the bots will have everything in place. The others should be here shortly.”

“Sarah’s Clan, don’t forget the conference you’ve scheduled for tonight with Madeline’s and Ursula’s groups.”

“Thanks, Donna,” replied Joyce. “I know it slipped my mind. We could have Cathan and Briana take the lead for the presentations.”

“They are a good choice,” responded Sarah and several others.

Sarah then added, “Do you want me to excuse ourselves?”

“You can, but I don’t mind doing it,” replied Joyce.

As they arrived at the conference room, the other women from Dóchas joined them, along with Maureen and Siobhan. It took several minutes for everyone to be introduced. Adam, Todd, Leo, Kurt and Sal were quickly surrounded by the respective groups of women, as they found places to sit.

“Gentlemen,” said Sarah, “on the way over here we were reminded of a commitment we have this evening. So rather than being the moderators for the presentations, we thought we would hand that task over to Briana and Cathan. Our apologies for bowing out at the last minute, but we know we are leaving you in good hands.”

Todd just barely beat Adam in saying, “We are not offended, nor do we feel slighted.”

“Yes,” added Adam, “we will have plenty of time over the next few weeks to be together.”

Briana said, “I am not sure we are the best choice for this.”

“You’ll do great,” responded Joyce. “Besides there are several others here in the room who can assist, as well as Donna. We expect to be on Dóchas until Saturday morning.”

After giving everyone a hug, they headed for the shuttle. “I am surprised this slipped up on us.”

Joyce said, “I think it is due to the addition of Adam’s friends. The presentations this evening weren’t initially a part of our plans. One complication may be that Cathan and Briana are with two of our key Security Teams tomorrow.”

“It will work out,” responded Aoife.

Several of those around the swimming pool noticed Sarah’s Clan hurrying to their shuttle. They were surprised as they had expected they would stay overnight due to Adam’s arrival.

As the shuttle headed for Dóchas Erin said, “I’m glad we decided to move Dóchas to Earth orbit on Wednesday.”

“Well it made sense for a lot of reasons,” responded Tara.

“Yea,” laughed Sarah, “it didn’t take nearly as much energy as we were expecting to use when eSarah went through those two buildings. So now we know distance is a factor to consider.”

“Muireann,” said Sarah, “are you ready to update us?”

“Yes, Ma’am. On the database side, we’ve verified that the code to thwart marking records with the corrupt flag works. It has run twice with no issues. Adding this routine directly to their customers’ systems is being done slowly. It resides on the customer’s hardware and is triggered by the maintenance script execution, but only if a list is present.”

They reviewed the latest information on the institutional and government databases that were being manipulated to make selected people invisible. One question was what to do about the records where the flag was already set. They decided to revisit the subject after they had a better understanding of the situation.

As they were wrapping up this topic Rusty said, “As far as I am concerned I am surprised you have learned this much so quickly without triggering an intrusion alert.”

Several chuckled before Shannon said, “It’s all because of the tools we have now, along with the resources. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be anywhere near as close to doing this or perhaps even knowing what needed to be done.”

Terry of Sarah’s Clan asked, “Have you considered restoring the identities of those we know about? In particular, those who’ve joined us, as the risk to them would be low.”

“We’ve asked a few of them about this. Current thoughts are to restore some but not others.”

“Why?”

“If the people behind this do any checking, the reappearance of these records in the databases could create ripples within their operation. By only restoring some, it will hopefully cause a significant amount of uncertainty about their ability to make people vanish.”

“We don’t see any downside. Next item,” said Rusty.

“The Security teams are set to go active at 0600 hours tomorrow. Two will be based at Comrie and one at each of the four locations. Is that soon enough?”

“Yes,” responded the Command Staff. “Let’s wait to notify them until after our conference. With the currently expected time line, that will give them more than enough time.”

“You all seem a bit edgy. Has something changed?” asked Sarah.

Muireann responded with, “We don’t think so, but we are concerned that we’ve missed a critical piece.”

“That is very understandable. It would be nice to know more about the two homes and their plans.”

“For their homes, we are now getting some data from the spiders. This will likely improve once the drones are inside the buildings with a C&C drone to support them. Getting the drones inside is the difficulty, so feed from the spiders is sporadic.”

Rusty asked, “Are you sensing any RF emissions from the house?”

“On the ground, they are unusually low while overhead they are in the normal range. The downside is that we haven’t found any openings like the commercial buildings had.”

“Two places you can try are the ridge vent or a gable vent. The ridge vent typically has a foam insert in the end. The gable vent is usually on the exterior wall just under the peak and likely has a screen behind it.”

“Okay we will look for those.”

Sally said, “You mentioned communication problems with the spiders. Why not cycle them between inside and outside?”

“Okay,” replied Jason. “We will try some of these tonight and tomorrow. Thanks for the ideas. We’ll let you know how we solve this, which should be tomorrow.”

“What else?”

Shannon said, “As we planned earlier this week, we pushed dreams to the journalist covering the lodge incident for the Grand View papers. They spent quite a bit of time checking out the names they saw in their dreams. These are for the people that we think disappeared from the companies. They found traces of people with those names who previously lived in the area. Once they were fairly certain they had the correct individuals, they arranged to meet Clarence at his office in the Federal Building this afternoon. After hearing the names and how they came up with them, he teased them about opening a fortune telling business. He said that there were several fairly easy ways he could verify whether the people were really missing. If there was a clear link to the lodge incident then it would be easier to use of his limited manpower to thoroughly check the names. The journalists agreed, while indicating that they felt the need to share this information with him. After the journalist left, he gave the information to Kendra, a paralegal, to follow up.

“Are we set to meet with the women this evening?”

“Yes. Cliona and Eavan have told them that their old friends will visit this evening. It is scheduled to start in an hour, when members of your clan go to meet them.”

“Are you all ready?”

“We believe so.”

“Good. We are entering Dóchas now. When the call starts we will connect from the bridge.”

“Talk to you then.”

The shuttle entered the hangar and settled into its cradle. As soon as the door opened, Sarah’s Clan hurried toward the bridge. Although they acknowledged those they passed, several key crew members noticed them hurrying directly for the bridge at a brisk pace and wondered what was up.

On entering the bridge, Sarah’s Clan, Siobhan and Maureen went to check their consoles. After the checks Erin said, “Do you think our rush up here has some of the crew wondering what is up?”

Star said, “It has. Security has modified Muireann’s request and increased the number of drones. Dale and Larry are at their homes.”

Command Staff said, “Star, raise the readiness level to 3. A schedule needs to be established for trips to and from the Mars settlement. Star Fighters should continue flying routine sorties.”

“Aye. Messages sent.”

“Thank you.” They stepped to the pillar, grasped the ring then placed an arm around the person on their left. Once their circle closed they were on the platform.

Together they reviewed the current status in the buildings. Bot32 was scheduled to return to the storage room in Larry’s company well before dawn. Bot44 would enter Dale’s storage room at the same time. The ferrets were now monitoring both companies systems and mirroring new data.

The drugs in the cabinets had been identified. The Medical department had completed preparing blocking agents for them. These would be provided to the women in the morning, presuming they decided to go to work.

Activity on the fourth floor showed the Administrative Assistants performing what appeared to be their normal tasks. Kim and Lace were entertaining two employees. Elsa was taking care of the three handicapped women. The triggering mechanisms on the bombs in the two buildings were rendered ineffective but left in place. Unfortunately, whether similar devices in the two homes were still unknown. They now knew that the women were to be taken to Dale’s estate. His house had a room setup like a theater with tiered seating in a half circle around a stage, thus they thought the activity would be in there. On the stage were numerous bondage devices and torture implements which were similar to those at his company’s dungeon.

They again considered the message that they needed to push to the journalists as dreams. This time their dreams would be very realistic, but the content would depend on what the two groups decided regarding tomorrow.

As they closed their review, they thought back over eSarah’s trip last night. While it was a very tiring effort, they felt that the information gained was well worth the effort. This was the third time they had used eSarah and the second time from Dóchas. Due to the different circumstances, they now felt they had a better idea of the energy cost versus distance when using it.

“Intelligence department, did you see our review?” they asked.

“Yes. The bots in the buildings have been very helpful. They’ve overheard some conversations the spiders missed.”

“That is a good point to remember when eavesdropping,” said Rusty. “You are never sure you’ve heard all a conversation. You may miss enough that the apparent context is wrong.”

“We are still amazed that Larry had so many duplicate DVDs in the cabinet.”

“I think it is likely that he is selling them and giving them as gifts,” said Terry. “They would be easy to sell over the Internet, and through mail order houses.”

“I am still surprised by the room being unlocked.”

“Even if you knew of them, it would be a difficult to get past his sensors. Also, he apparently thinks the building is secure enough that the convenience is an acceptable risk. Speaking of risks, were you able determine how the bombs would be tripped?”

“Not for certain.”

Together, they then decided that Sarah, Aoife, Maeve and Joyce would push the dreams to the journalists. These would be overlapping but the content was dependent on decisions yet to be made later this evening. Alison’s task was to push an idea of how records of people disappeared to the US Attorney. Sally would telepathically nudge Clarence, while the journalists were in his office, with the urge to follow up on their information, even though he would have doubts.

Command Staff returned to the bridge a few minutes before four of them had to leave for their friends’ homes. Star said, “Intelligence and Security departments are ready. Cliona and Eavan are indicating that they are nearly ready.”

Cliona said a few minutes later, “Command Staff, we are ready.” With that Aoife and Sally linked with Madeline’s group before projecting themselves into their town house.

“Wow,” said Heather when they suddenly appeared.

Cliona stepped over to them and gave each a hug. “I am sure glad to see you all.” They spent several minutes greeting each other.

When they finished Cliona said, “Let me get some refreshments.”

Madeline said, “Tomorrow is our last day at that place. After the last two weeks I am ready to leave. Considering the timing, I don’t think this is a casual visit.”

“Well as you’ve probably guessed, we have discovered some things we think you need know before tomorrow,” replied Aoife. “After we sort through that, we can party.” She started to move like she was dancing in place. Smiling as she added, “After all we are young and we have until you have to go to work.”

“What’s up?” asked Jan with a frown.

“Our Intelligence department has discovered some interesting things about the presidents of the organizations where yours and Ursula’s groups work. Our idea is to do a virtual conference with Intelligence, Security, Ursula’s group and here. Once you see what they’ve learned, you may not want to go to work tomorrow. There are some potential benefits of going to work, but there are some risks. Terry and Alison are at Ursula’s with the same proposal.”

The scene in the townhouse of Ursula’s group lived was very similar. Terry and Alison alerted them of their arrival just before appearing in the living room. Eavan immediately moved to greet them with hugs while the others recovered from the shock of their sudden appearance.

As they started to greet their friends Dairine said, “That was an interesting sight. What does it feel like?”

“You know, it is so sudden, I’ve never really noticed,” replied Terry as she gave Edie a hug.

Sarah said, “Good evening, everyone.”

“Good evening,” they all responded.

“We understand that you are going to have lunch tomorrow with your respective company presidents.”

“Yes,” they replied.

“Okay. Muireann will review the key points of what we’ve learned then Shannon will cover our thoughts.”

Before Muireann could begin Madeline said, “Screw the review from my perspective. I am only speaking for myself, but the fact you are here means a lot.”

“While I am not sure about skipping the review,” said Múirne of Ursula’s group, “I agree with Madeline’s proposal to start with what you think will happen tomorrow.”

Shannon said, “Okay. There is a high probability that at lunch you will be induced to sign a POA that gives the holder complete control of your life. Once you sign that document the only thing we are sure of is that you will be taken to Dale’s home tomorrow evening. They intend for you to spend the weekend there. It isn’t clear what will happen between lunch and leaving for his house, or what they intend to do once you arrive at their home.” As she spoke, they could feel the anger of both groups build.

“So they intend to enslave us,” responded Madeline.

Before she could add anything Edie said, “How many other victims?”

“What we have found indicates that the total is approaching one hundred. Currently there are four women at Larry’s company and two at Dale’s. In both cases, they live on the fourth floor. At Larry’s one of them is his assistant. At Dale’s both of them fill the role of assistants.”

“You said ‘at the company’, what does that mean?” responded Heather of Madeline’s group.

“The people they’ve enslaved work and live on the fourth floor. There their primary purpose is to entertain certain employees and customers by giving them access to their bodies. Indications are that there are few limits on what is permitted, especially at Dale’s.”

Edie of Ursula’s group said, “In light of this, I now understand some of the comments I overheard, and a couple of observations. The comments had to do with purported conquests the night before and some were made by married men. Of those I can remember, the individuals were some of the more productive. In two cases, the men were at work when we left and still there the next morning. One I kidded about working all night, but he claimed he fell sleep on his desk. However, his clothes weren’t wrinkled.”

Jan of Madeline’s group added, “I can think of a lot of overheard comments that could be interpreted differently in light of this. Some were by women.”

“So the choice is whether we show up tomorrow or not?” said Múirne of Ursula’s group. “If we go, what is the benefit?”

“From our perspective this must be an individual’s choice,” said Aoife. “There are any number of acceptable reasons you could use for missing the last day, as well as just not showing up.”

Both Ursula and Madeline spoke at the same time, “Since Larry and Dale are in this together and you’ve established that they are friends, we should both follow the same course.”

“Knowing you all as well as we do,” said Heather of Madeline’s group, “what happens if we go to work?”

“Basically, we have a plan that we think will prompt the US District Attorney to raid the companies and the presidents’ homes. While we believe there is a link between these two and those operating the lodge, what they are doing is illegal. Based on what we found in their offices, there is sufficient evidence to initiate a raid if known.

“As to tomorrow, based on what we’ve learnt, they intend for you to consume a drug during lunch. The drug will alter your perceptions, so that you will be quite agreeable to comply with any suggestion. After lunch you will sign a power of attorney giving them full control of you. Once you’ve signed the POA, we don’t know what they’ve planned except you will be taken to Dale’s at the end of the day.

“In their offices, we have found several drugs along with dosage instructions and records of the dosages given to previous victims. The drugs include stimulants, growth factors and hormones.

“Now to speculate about events after lunch, which is based on their records. You will likely give each other injections of the drugs, but it is not clear which ones or the dosage. You will spend the afternoon on the fourth floor. There you will participate in several sex films with each other. Some scenes will likely include being restrained and use the mechanical devices.”