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.

“My mom worries that I might have 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 android’s 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 them.

“Chris, do you realize 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 return to our 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.”

“Crap, oh shit.” She thought.

“What, Chris?” He thought.

“Well, Mom might be Mormon, then.” She thought.

“Oh, shit.” He thought.

“You think it will be a problem?” She thought.

“Maybe not.” He thought, “All 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 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.

“Oops! A doctor is here.” He thought.

“Well?” She thought.

“Hang on.” He thought.

“Oh.” She thought

“Hi, young man. I am Doctor Rainer, and he 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 okay, so I will let you go home today. Just remember to come see me if you have any other problems.”

“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, right?”

Chris thought to himself, “Yes, it is. Part of working for the company back—well, in the future—included a class on the company’s history. Tom and Betty are Renee’s parents.”

“I have got to meet her sometime.” James thought, “Oh, that didn’t sound good.”

Chris laughed, “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 redhead?” He thought.

“That would be her.” She thought.

“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 paperwork going.”

“Good. You eat, yet.” Dale asked.

“No, but the food should be better elsewhere 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 ask you for the money for that.” James said.

Dale began laughing. “I just know this dating stuff will be expensive for me.”

June added, “Are you sure about this girl?”

He felt his mother’s jealousy. James reasoned it was just average. He hadn’t had this the last time around, and he had never dated at all the previous time around.

“Yes, Mom, would you 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’m 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, “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. He started hearing more thoughts from the people around him to the point that 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 after that.

Baha’s was a nice seafood place, 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 waited fifteen minutes before the Westons showed up.

Dale said, “It 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.

“Well, if you didn’t waste your time prosecuting innocent people, you might beat me sometimes,” Dale said.

“I just take the cases the boss gives me.” Mike said, then asked, “So what’s your secret?”