Chapter 3

"Chris, I forgot to ask this, since it could be a problem, and my mom thought about it last night." James thought.

"What's that?" Chris thought.

"Is your mom a Mormon?" He thought.

"No she is a Christian, why?" She thought.

"For some reason, my mom thinks you might be a Mormon and that worries her." He thought.

"Well, she isn't, but why would that worry her?" She thought.

"I guess my mom worries that I might end up with more than one wife." He thought.

"Oh, you!' " she laughed mentally and thought, "well if you do, you'll have to share."

"What?" He thought.

"You heard me! I do like women, you know." She thought.

"I thought you said you were a virgin?" He thought.

"With a man, and as a man, yes. Unless you count the sex dolls.' " She thought.

An image of Chris as a man, with a model one android, flashed into his mind.

"You little minx, you! But now unless you count an android as well... ' " He thought flashing her an image of his first model 1.

"Isn't that an original?" She thought.

"Yes. It was modeled after the first one. It is an Amy doll." He thought.

"Sweet! I debated getting one, but they had switched over the models, before I could afford mine, ' " Chris thought.

"Say wasn't that company created by what was his name ... Lover Boy?" He thought.

They both froze at the thought. They would need money, after all, to do their research. Chris had been employed by 'Androids Are Us', for a time, working on flash memory transfers into the androids brains. It was work that she wanted to continue, because the few experiments she had tried in reverse had only resulted in minor temporary disorientation for the human. That was, until the CIA drafted him/her.

"Chris, do you realize that we were going to school with the company's creators?." James thought.

"You think maybe we should get involved with them on the ground floor?" Chris thought.

"Well, it will become the richest company in the world. At least before we send ourselves back." He thought then added, "That is unless we didn't go back to our own dimension?"

"What do you mean?" She thought.

"One of my ideas for the micro-wormhole, was a complete transfer of matter from one point in space to another. I was not allowed to pursue it because it was impractical given the current size of the wormhole. That and some of the research data indicated that multi-dimensional forces could come into play." He thought.

"Oh, crap!" She thought, "James, are you saying we might be in a parallel universe?"

He thought, "It's one of the possibilities. Remember, we are still here. I didn't think we could be if we didn't develop the technology to do so."

"Crap, oh shit." She thought.

"What, Chris?" He thought.

"Well, Mom might actually be Mormon, then." She thought.

"Oh, shit." He thought.

"You think it will really be a problem?" She thought.

"Maybe not." He thought, , "Aall you have to do is claim to be a Christian and join us in church a few times. Then Mom will relax."

She thought "You know, I really am an atheist."

"So am I." He thought, "But remember, we are sixteen, and our parents will be what they were?"

"Shit, I forgot about that." She thought.

A doctor and nurse walked into James' room just then.

"Ooops! A doctor is here." He thought.

"Well?" She thought.

"Hang on." He thought.

"Oh." She thought

"Hi, young man. I am Doctor Rainer, and his is my wife, Nurse Betty." He said.

"Hello, how're you feeling?" Nurse Betty asked.

"Much better than yesterday." James replied.

"Well, that's good." Dr. Rainer said, "Doc Barns asked me to check on you. I am afraid he is a bit under the weather, today."

"A bit?" Betty said, "He should have retired twenty years ago."

"Well, he is still one of the best Docs around." Rainer said.

"True," she said, however she was thinking, "when he remembers that he is a doctor, that is."

James suppressed a laugh at Betty's thoughts.

The doctor began his examination of James, and asked lots of questions.

Rainer said, "I think you came out of this ok, so I am going to let you go home, today. Just remember that if you have any other problems, to come see me."

"I will, Sir," James said.

"Do we need to call your parents?" Betty asked.

James looked up at the clock and saw it was 11:30.

"No. Mom and Dad said they would be here at noon." James said.

"Ok, I will be working the floor. Just tell them to ask for me when they get here and we will get the ball rolling," Nurse Betty said.

Then he heard, "such a nice young man, I wish Renee would get interested in a boy like him."

"Renee," he thought. "No, it can't be the same person, can it?"

Chris thought to him, "Yes, it is. Part of working for the company back ... well, in the future ... included a class on the history of the company. Tom and Betty are Renee's parents."

"I have got to meet her, sometime." James thought, "Oh, shit, that didn't sound good."

Chris laughed in his head, "Oh, I wanted to meet her, too. But you might already know her?"

"Oh really?" He thought.

"Yes. Do you remember "Mouse"?" She thought.

"The red head?" He thought.

"That would be her." She nthought.

"No shit?" He thought.

"No shit." She thought, "The doctor is in here, now."

"Ok let me know how you do." He thought.

"You can count on it Mr. Nine Inches." She thought laughing.

James shook his head as his parents walked in early.

"So! All ready to go home, yet?" Dale asked.

"Yes, Dad." James answered, "Just ask for Nurse Betty. She will get the paper work going."

"Good. You eat, yet." Dale asked.

"No, but the food should be better anywhere else but here, right?" James said.

"What to try Baha's?" Dale asked, "It just opened."

"You know, that sounds like a good idea." James said, "Could we maybe ask Chris and her family along?"

"I see you are trying to get your meal paid for by me instead?" Dale said.

"No, Dad. I will just ask you for the money, for that." James said.

Dale began laughing as he said, "I just know this dating stuff is going to be expensive on me."

June added, "Are you sure about this girl?"

He felt the jealous pains in his mother. James reasoned it was just normal. He hadn't had this the last time around. Well, he had never dated at all, the last time around.

"Yes Mom, would you go ask her parents to join us?" james asked, "I think she should be getting out, too."

Dale said, "It would probably be better if it came from me."

He walked off down the hall.

"Jimmy, I am worried about you. I mean what do you know about her?" June asked.

"Isn't that what dating is all about, Mom?" James said.

"What do you mean?" June said.

"Well, dating.: James said, "I mean, isn't that what it's all about? You know, getting to know the other person."

"Oh, yes. I forgot about that part." June said, "Well, forgive me. I am just worried about you."

"That's ok, Mom. I worry about you, too." James said.

June smiled and thought, "Well! That is about the nicest thing he has ever said to me."

James heard it. In fact James was starting to hear more and more thoughts from the people around him. It was getting to the point he was worried about keeping track of them all.

James' dad came back and said, "We're all set. We will meet the Weston's at 12:30."

James was checked out of the hospital shortly thereafter.

Baha's was a nice seafood place. In fact, it was more exclusive than Boston Seafood. They didn't take reservations, for the plain fact that they would always be filled, and no one new would ever get a chance to eat there.

James and his parents were waiting for fifteen minutes before the Westons showed up.

Dale said, "Shouldn't be long now, you don't have to be in court this afternoon, do you?"

Mike said, "No. Skippy is covering for me. And there are only arraignments, this afternoon anyway."

"That's good." Dale said.

"Tell me about it. I am getting tired of losing to you." Mike replied.