Chapter 5

It did look like what Nadac said was right. They probably would not take over earth but they would try to gather tribute. They had done so to a remote colony of basically unimproved Aristis that called themselves the Tomma. Earth would have to make ships as well as the computers. Only a fraction of our population would be used as breeding material. The only good thing about this was that all our atomic waste could be harvested and used to make the fuel Utram.

The king had come upon a world much like earth and found some of his races' ancestors. They had reverted to barbarism and then not risen for a long time. They seemed to like their life of farming, herding and hunting.

Rontem needed an industry and destroyed much of the Tomma culture. Some of the Tomma were improved and then bred. They made good ships but could not see into the higher dimensions. A lot of experimentation and a lot of deaths proved that the king could not change his rootstock to what his mutated race could do. I figured with enough time this could work.

The Tooma looked very similar to the Aristis except for their size. The males were big but could not handle tech jobs and died for some reason when they stayed away from their world. The women could survive but found that leaving their planet was a hardship. The most important discovery I found was that the Tomma were telepathic. The women could not communicate at any distance without a male. The male was a type of booster. The Aristis thought this interesting but they used an implant that communicated by ultrawave that could go out to over a 130 light years. They could use the hyperwave that could travel to the other side of the galaxy but it had to be aimed and the device was large. It was like a large laser.

In none of the information about the Tomma, Aristis or other races was there a reference to my other ability. I could see the future on a hit or miss process.

"Wally, you may have condemned yourself to death."

I was now very worried. I could not trust Nadac but I thought him more ethical than the king. "Why?"

"The king does not allow dissent. He may have your body spared but the ego would not be yours."

"He can move into my body?" This too was in the information I was given.

"The Aristis can do that but it is not looked on as a socially acceptable practice. In the past, anyone caught doing this was put into the servant caste. For a short term it may be acceptable."

I figured out something else. "There are not many of the ruling caste now. The king can probably do what he wants."

"He could. He would not leave his source of power but only place a copy of his ego into you. Others could do this too but he would not trust them as much as his own image."

"Why are you telling me this? You have a security protocol that would have been activated by now."

"My circuit has been damaged over the years."

"What can I do?" I tried to not think of this piece of information.

"You demanded that you get some privacy. I can do this and at the same time put in the interface to my computer."

"The king will want to get in to see what I have hidden."

"That is very true. You have a few years to build a field around your memories that our king cannot overcome."

"If you are talking this way then the king cannot monitor us."

"That is true."

"That means that you are actively opposing him. There has to be a reason. I would like to have it after I fabricate my block and test it."

"We can talk of that later."

"How long to make this device?

"A little over one timeunit."

"Show me how to fight the king."

I went back to sleep and woke up to a thunderstorm lashing the area. The headache was back worse than before and I did not think that was possible. This time I just lay where I was. Any movement seemed to aggravate it. A bowl of bosta came in. It was the easiest and most nutritive food that could be made without an extensive manufacturing facility or a lab.

I did not want to get up. In a moment something new came into the room. "Put the end in your mouth. You can drain the bowl without excessive movement."

"Thanks," I said as I waited for everything to be put in place.

The headache slowly subsided but it took over an hour or rather a dec to get to where it was manageable. I pushed the pain away as best I could and tried to go over the information I was given. I noticed that there were a great many plans for how I could not only depose the king but to kill him. More plans were with me about how to remove the other leaders and avoid death from the soldiers. All of the higher castes could fight and fight well. This was bred into them and that was part of the reason all the retainers of an enemy had to be killed too.

"Do I have my privacy yet"

An image formed in my mind. It was the screen I had seen in my dreams. I saw a small hole being made in my head and a worm like piece of something that looked like soft plastic go in. The wound was then treated to a device like a cleanser and the body worked hard to heal. A larger unit could take over to do the same thing and it was nearby. "You have to activate the newer computational unit yourself. Try to find the two crystals within the active matrix. They are the ones furthest from the main body. You must make a complex waveform in each. The two forms will encrypt your thoughts based on how they are placed. The king has direct contact to this world that bypasses me. If you slip, we will both die. You are only safe within these walls."

I had learned in my sleep that Rontem kept a lot of probes to protect him. The probes here were mostly controlled by Nadac but a third of them also reported directly to the king. Some could be shuffled out of the way but it would be very suspicious if all of them were. Rontem was too far away to control the probes directly and would have to be happy with this until he got close.

"Will you show me some examples to go by?"

The screen showed a crystal in three dimensions then it switched over to five. I had not needed to use my mind to accomplish this. Another crystal and its lines of force were shown and then the two were brought near each other. This was like the ultrawave transmitter but here we were looking to keep the interference not eliminate it. When the crystals were moved and oriented differently then many different points came in contact.

"Show me another."

I saw the same thing again but one crystal was of a different molecule and a much more complicated pattern emerged. I was no smarter than before but I had new knowledge. I could see patterns.

"Can I manipulate the views?"

"Certainly. You can do this in your own mind but it works quicker if you use mine. I suggest you use your own first. You will not be entirely relying on me in the future."

It sounded like good advice. It took a while to find out how to do this. It was not as simple as just wishing for a change. The two crystals separated and I made changes far faster here than when I used my PK. Here I had to just think on how to make the changes. Their interference pattern got to be very complicated. I would feed data through this pattern and it would be stored on the memory units in the rest of the small worm like unit.

The crystals went together again and again with small changes to each. The apparent chaos at times got very complex.

I ate three more times before I found a pair of crystals that had the amount of complexity I wanted. The trouble was that two others were in my mind. I slept with only one natural dream of the Aristis leaders. They were after me and I was defenceless.

When I awoke I said, "Good morning Nadac. What time is it please?"

"Four twenty in the latter part of the day."

"How long since the last phone call?"

"Close to three local days."

"Thanks. I want to test some additional patterns today. I want you to try to break them as if you are Rontem."

"I can try but he has much more processing power. I can only give an estimate and even then I may be wrong."

"Can you predict when I will have an adequate defence in place so I can go home?"

"You can have a good enough defence now but I am afraid the king will command me to make a better unit to try to break your encryption. We cannot change the encryption. Once he has seen a pattern, he will be suspicious if the encryption improves. A good encryption will take three days. Since both of our lives depend upon this, we should double this."

"Let's make a phone call first."

The phone was picked up very quickly again. "Hello," was said in Patricia's voice."

"Hello Sweetheart. How have you been doing?"

I heard another phone being picked up. Patricia said, "It is fun being a girlfriend except that Mom has me putting buttons on Daddy's shirts."

From the other line I heard, "Hello Wally. Where are you? Are you on the way home?"

"Hello to you my love. I am still in the north and I will be here for at least another week. I should be done by then."

"At least you will be done before the tests start. I don't want you to fail. I would be in grade eight alone."

"You will not be alone. What do you think of me moving in with you?"

"I have been thinking of that every day."

"And every night?"

"Yes that too. I am on the pill now. I think Mom will allow us to start soon. I want your cock in me. I think of that every night."

"Do you play with that little magic button while thinking of me?"

"... maybe. Ok; I think of you all the time."

I had to lie here a bit. I was so busy with studying and trying to perfect my defences that Betts had not been in my mind that much. "I think of you too. In fact I am hard now. Maybe I will go out and rape a bear just to calm me down."

"Is the bear going to give you a blow job too?"

"Maybe I will have to sweet-talk her instead."

"Ohhh, I want you home now Wally."

"What about me? I want to suck on your wiener too. I can do that other think if you show me."

"Get off the..." Betts said angrily.

"Hold on Betts. My mother, brother and sisters are mean to me. Patricia, you can watch like before and help your sister. This way you will know what to do when your time comes."

"Thanks Wally. I miss you too."

"I miss both of you. What did my father and the guys say?"

Betts said, "Your father was very worried and even after I told him. Your mother seems to be not doing anything nasty, but she is very quiet. The guys were worried and Chuck wanted to get on the bus and bring you food and clothes. He told me that all of them have been putting their things together to go camping. I told them not to do this because you were coming back."

"Thanks Betts. You are one smart woman."

"Thanks Wally."

"What about me?" we heard from Patricia.

I said, "You are smart too. You just have to do exactly what Betts says and you will not go wrong. Don't forget that you are only a junior girlfriend and she is the senior."

"Ok but she makes me work."

"You have to work in life. Even as a kid you have to do this. You still have lots of free time."

"Ok, I will do what she says."

"Good girl."

"By the way, don't count me as a house guest yet. I have to give my family another chance."

"I guessed that."

"Give my love to your parents and tell the guys and Dad that I am doing fine. Tell them that I will probably be home in a week or so."

"Sure Wally..."

I heard a crying from the other phone, "I love you Wally and I want you here too."

"Bye my loves. I have to go."

I did a lot more thinking about what and why I was working on the encryption. I felt that there was no way to thwart the king. If he accepted me then he would want to see within my mind. He could hold the whole world hostage to get his way. He had to gain access to a phony set of memories while I had to use the real set. This too was done by the Aristis but only the aristocracy used this.

"Nadac, you said we cannot use more than two crystals but six are used in an array used for the ultrawave."

"That is true. The crystals though are all very similar."

"You said that the Aristis use an ultrawave crystal in their head to communicate over great distances."

"That is true as well but only the upper castes do this."

"What if I put in six ultrawave crystals so I can receive and transmit over a wider spectrum."

"It has not been done but some military commanders have had three."

"What if I use the six crystals as an encryption device. Rontem would not know I had a hidden set of memories."

There was a long pause and then I heard, "That may work the best. Decrypting the thoughts if they are found will be impossible and you have the option of making a false memory for yourself if he does suspect."

"Let's make one."

One of the important crystals was brought out. We already had pure material for out ultrawave crystals but Nadac wanted me in on the whole process. A plasma was directed at the crystal and portions of the plasma shifted into two more dimensions if they were close. Nadac then I used our PK to extract the solidified material in one area. This was one of the basic requirements of any modern civilisation.

This process was continued until we had a bit more than a gram. The purified material was then turned to plasma one more time and deposited on another crystal. All of the molecules were lined up with the lines of force already in place. The crystal was replaced by others until I had six small crystals that were less than a hundred milligrams each.

I was the one that tweaked the crystals like I had seen in the dream. I did not have to use the tools and this made me a very valuable person to the Aristis.

There was another operation but I felt no pain. The encryption/computer interface was now an ultrawave/computer interface. Small areas of my skull were crystallised without any pain. A medical probe would be hard put to find these areas. They would provide the storage I needed for my secure memories.

We tested out the ultrawave but I could not decode most of the traffic. There were few sources that were close other than Nadac, his probes or those reporting to the king.

I was the one that had to work within my own mind to shift the six crystals around. They still had to work as an ultrawave device but the interference would encrypt and decrypt my real thoughts. I hid all the plans on how to get rid of the Aristis and their king. Nadac gave me more data I would need and this too was hid away. When I tried to remember the specifics of the plans I found them gone. Even this was soon removed.

Nadac worked on me a lot more now to do the equivalent of a good brainwash. This would all go into my conscious memory when the encryption device was not functioning.

Nadac worked for an entire timeunit trying to crack my defence even with the knowledge of what I had done.

"In my opinion you are the safest possible. The Aristis are masters of intrigue but you show the promise of being many times more devious."

"Will you tell me your story now?"

"I will. It makes no difference in a way. I would die for a fraction of what I have done for you. My name is not what I said nor am I a tech. I am a cybernetics scientist and many degrees in psychiatry. The two fields are very much linked.

"Just over 280 standard years ago, Rontem went to put down a rebellion. Before he left, one of the command units was sent in for repair and an upgrade. My mind was put in place. The idea being that I could defeat the many loyalty and security restrictions. I took on the guise of a tech to allay suspicions. My objective was to kill Rontem if possible or to just defeat his plans if that was all I could do.

"I was taken to the royal yacht Fonduush. There I was deactivated for storage. Troops loyal to Rontem were drawn away. Rontem was delayed but his ship was the fastest anyway. After he left some of our people along with the Wikki took over the government. Rontem returned and we destroyed most of his escorts. Rontem fled but the Wikki were waiting. The Fonduush was nearly destroyed. Rontem saw his death coming and tried to migrate his personality and memories into the ship's computer. The tech personality that was there was shifted to a small crystal. Before the process was complete, the ship was severely damaged and many of the crew and servants died.

"Repairs were made to the ship and we escaped. Many people died of radiation poisoning and other causes. The main computer was too damaged to function. Sixty nine years later a group of scavengers found our ship and came to gather in what they could. I at the time was still dormant in the hold. The ships and their crews were captured. Their ships and fuel were used to rebuild the Fonduush. The computer was repaired enough for Rontem's personality to emerge.

"Soon after this I was awoke. If I had been awoke sooner I may have destroyed the ship then. When the defences were in place, we were sent off with another command unit to find suitable raw materials and perhaps natives to assist us. Many of the scavengers had died but even Rontem found that he had to use more diplomacy if he wanted to survive even as a being such as I am.

"A hundred and thirty-seven standard years after the rebellion we found a group of aliens that could possibly help us. They turned out to be of our parent stock. The Tomma had fallen into decline. The natives thought that Rontem was a god. We experimented with them to get them up to the level of tech. The Tomma are telepathic. We have not found out how this happened but it may have been a sport that bred true.

"We found the remnants of a very high civilisation. Even though it was thousands of years ago, some features were the equal of what we had. This created a flurry of interests and we spent well over a century trying to gain their secrets.

"When we improved the Tomma by genetic manipulation, we found that their telepathy nullified our advances. All we could do was increase their intelligence. Their planet was only partially converted to what we had on Casslis. We produced Utram. This is the fuel that gives us the most power without prohibitive amounts of heavy shielding.

"A space dock had been built and the Fonduush's hull was completely rebuilt. The main computer was partially repaired but an expert is needed to do this. In our investigations of the Tomma civilisation, we found reference to this world and seven more.

"I was sent here while another scouts one more world.

"The Tomma tried to improve your people the way we tried to improve the Tomma. In fact you are very close to them and us. Our tests show that each of the three races are fertile with the other two.

"Your race has shown to be suitable for Rontem's plans. Our hyperwave shows that the Aristis civilisation has severely dwindled. Part of this is our own penchant for civil war. He plans on rebuilding the Aristis empire with him at the top. It was hoped since he has done this then he will be allowed to stay in power. I believe this to be absurd. Rontem would be killed after he has served his purpose."

I was not given Nadac's real name but it did not matter. A lot more data had been uploaded into the small crystals in my skull. This was more of the specifics of the situation.

The Aristis had stayed on the planet of the Tomma to keep the production of hulls and other equipment going. The Tomma themselves were seen as possible allies. This meant that all the fact about their civilisation was available to me.

The complete schematics of the Fonduush were made available. This alone would have filled my mind three times over and it was still not complete. It was likely that this would be a battlefield one day. The various members of the leader class would not usually tour earth.

There was a small ship made for just one person. The only controls were through the computer interface. I wanted to go into orbit or even land on the moon but this was not what a good little Aristis assistant would do. I did make sure that my brainwashing was not complete because I still had to be able to fight for what was right even if I had to do this with Rontem.

At noon on Thursday and three days ahead of schedule I landed at a large shopping mall. I had some simulated earth clothing and a lot of simulated earth money.

I went into the mall and bought some clothes to go into my simulated pack and other devices or clothing that I wanted. Some of this would just be gifts. In the bottom of my pack was fifty ounces of gold coins that appeared to be from various eras. They had been copied from originals that were in museums or collections. They were not exact because no two coins would wear the same. They were all far more valuable for their value to collectors than their gold content. Even more valuable were two crystals that I had to work on for 'practice'. I was sure that they would go into a large computer.

It was about two when I phoned the investment house where dad worked as an office manager. He had an extension number and I had only used it once before.

Dad picked up the phone and said, "Hello, Jim Kiefer, accounting."

"Hi dad."

"Wally! How are you? You are not hurt are you? Where are you? We have been frantic since you disappeared. Your mother has been worried."

"Has she dad?"

Dad paused. "Actually she has. I convinced her to go to a specialist. She had enough guilt that she did go. Before she was energetic even if she was hard to get along with. Now she is despondent and just sits and stares at the floor."

"This changes things a bit. You may not get any help but will you phone her psychiatrist and ask how I am to proceed."

"You are coming home Wally. That is where you belong."

"Please call and find out for sure. Perhaps all I have to do is act a certain way and this will help Mom. The Huggins offered to take me in if it is bad at home. I want Mom to get better. If I live next door and Mom knows I am safe or if I live at home with you does not matter so much. I want the family to heal."

Dad made his call and I phoned back in an hour. "Your mother's psychiatrist would like to talk to you. Can we meet her in an hour?"

"Sure, what is the address?"

"I was going to pick you up."

"You can do that if you can make it in time."

"Where are you?"

"The mall down the street from us."

"That may be a problem." Dad gave me the address and said, "Can you get there in that much time. Even I would have some difficulty."

"I have enough money for a cab. I will offer a tip for a speedy trip."

"That may work."

I went by spaceship and the trip took just over two milliunits. I was waiting by the time Dad came in. He hugged me to him liked he really meant it.

"Are you really ok?"

"Sure Dad. In fact I feel great. The possibility of helping Mom makes me feel even better no matter how it turns out. I had to live with an angry woman and I want her as happy as she can be."

We were invited into the office a half hour after the appointment. The psychiatrist was a woman and she took a long time getting to the point. Mom had lots of problems that the psychiatrist would not go into. The long and the short of it was that I should live with the Huggins and visit Mom from time to time and it was expected that I could move back in eventually. I thought this was wishful thinking and said so but I was still going to try.

From the lobby phone, Dad phoned the Higgins and managed to get Lillian first. "Hello Lillian. When we talked a few days ago you mentioned that you would be willing to take Wally in."

"Is he here."

"Yes he is. We talked to his mother's doctor. In fact it was Wally that suggested we do this that way. The doctor suggested that Wally live close and visit on occasion. It was hoped that some sort of reconciliation could eventually take place."

"What does Carla think."

"She has not been informed that Wally has returned yet."

"What is she going to think about her child living next door?"

"The doctor thinks it is a good idea. She thinks that this will take the pressure off of Carla and she will know that Wally is safe and healthy."

"But not loved."

"You are right."

"Wally is welcome to stay at our home as long as he wants."

"I intend to pay for his keep."

"Don't be silly. He will be like our son."

"Lillian, this is important to me. I have to feel that I am doing all that I can."

"We will talk about this later then. Besides the girls already made his room up. You would think the king were coming to visit."

"Thanks Lillian. We can talk later."

When we got to the parking lot where Dad's car was parked we got in. "Don't start the car yet Dad. Just roll the windows down."

"Ok."

I asked, "How do you feel about me living next door?"

"It hurts Wally. You should be living with us."

"I know that too but that cannot be at least for a while."

"I guess you're right."

"I have something more to talk about."

"What is it?"

I had to lie again but I knew it was for the best. "A year ago I was playing in the field where the old rubber factory was."

"The one I told you to stay out of?"

"Yes Dad. I am sorry but I went there. I left but I had to go back an hour later to get my jacket. Anyway there used to be a house on the property before the rubber company started. I guess it had to be a real old home, probably a few hundred years."

"I guess it might have at that."

"We were looking for treasure in the old home. There was still light enough and I pulled out more of the cut stone that formed the basement walls. One of the walls actually had a treasure in it."

Dad smiled and said, "What did you find."

"Nothing much just a quarter million dollars in gold coins."

"You what!" Now dad was really interested.

"I found a hidden coin collection."

"Where is it?"

"First, we have to talk."

"What about?"

"I want the coins sold to collectors so we can get the most money. The money goes into an offshore account. The money can come back into Canada so I can use the money to go to school. It is not going to be tied up until I am eighteen either. I have been responsible and I will continue to be with it."

"You want to spend a quarter million dollars?"

"Dad, you are going crazy like the old prospectors. I cannot buy a good house in town with that much money. I want you to help it grow for me but still allow me spending money."

Dad turned to look out the windshield but I doubted that he saw anything. It took a while but he said, "I can do that."

"So you are going to be my financial planner but not overrule me in the disbursement of funds?"

"I guess since it is your money then you can do what you want. You have always been a good son and I think you will go places. We have not really given you a good send off to the rest of your life but I can do this for you if it will help. Even if you blow the money, you will have learned something by it."

The pack was pulled over and I brought out a wooden box with poorly cut out depressions for each coin in three levels. Each coin was also wrapped in a piece of wool sock to cushion it.

Dad just sat there and picked out one coin at a time from the top flat and then put it back just the way he found it. When this was done, he went to the second then the last tray.

"You lugged this up north with you?"

"No. It was hidden here. I just felt it was time to sell them."

"How do you know they are worth a quarter million?"

"A guess on the type and how good they are. They may be worth more or less. One thing for sure, I do not want the government to get any of this if I can help it."

"That's illegal."

"How many politicians are legal? If they found the coins then they would do the same thing you are going to do."

"I guess you're right. It is going to be difficult to sell these the way you want but there are methods."

"Good. You are the expert."

I held the box in my lap so Dad knew it was safe. We pulled into the Higgins' driveway and dad immediately put the box into the trunk and locked it.

Bert, Lillian, June, and of course Betts and Patricia were waiting on the porch. Betts came running to me first and Patricia was only a step behind. I hugged Betts to me and closed my eyes to savour this moment. When I put her down I saw an expectant Patricia and I picked her up the same way.

Dad grabbed my pack from the car and I went up the stairs of my new home and hugged Lillian. She hugged me back to let me know I was wanted. I hugged June next and she had a tear in her eye but a smile on her face. Bert had his hand out in case but I hugged him too.