Chapter 11: Oh Crap, Please don't kill me

"Is this the place?" "Is the time right?" "When are we right now?" "What is the location?" "That was asked already." "Don't be a jerk, it was not answered the first time." "Is this the right... , what is a jerk?" "A jerk; someone that does jerk like activities." "That did not answer the question." "See, now you understand what being a jerk is." "Jerk." "What time should we be there?" "Let's check it out now." We must know that the time is correct. Chronological drift must be minimized. Temporal and paratime coordinates must be precisely calculated." "Are the quantum energy signatures matching the origin reality?" "All signatures match origin, temporal and paratime coordinates have been correctly calculated. Chronological drift is set to null." "See! The place is right, the time is right, the 'when' is right and the location is bang on. We can't just sit here on our asses. Let's do something already." "Human, do you even understand what is involved?" "Listen you, I'm not an idiot, I probably understand this shit better than you all do. How many times have you all been in love? Hmmm? I've had more relationships than I care to even mention." "Human, they have all been perfect love, then?" "There isn't such a thing as prefect love." "So you have no prefect love" "Shut up... , jerk" "Perfect love exists and has been experienced." "You shut up, too." "The goal is mutual and end results benefit all, please, let us work together." "sigh alright. I'm along for the ride so I might as well pitch in and help us succeed."

A small silvery cloud sinks to the ground like a heavy mist. The small suburban house has a single light on, which draws attention from the cloud. Although there is no breeze it wafts against the glass and passes through. The room is stark and empty of all but a simple TV, couch, cradle and phone sitting on the floor. A small babe is sleeping quietly in the cradle and a petite woman sits slouched on the floor leaning against the couch. She's listening to someone on the phone and tears are streaming down her cheeks as she quietly cries. She mumbles through her tears and hangs the phone up. She collapses on the floor and cries herself to sleep.

"The mate has died."

"The mate is not supposed to die."

"Conception is today."

"How the hell is he supposed to be born if his father's dead?"

"Examination has proven that ovulation has occurred and there is no sign of sperm. Copulation has not happened in the last 24 hours."

"Impregnation needs to happen in the next 45 minutes or timeline is invalid."

"Get her pregnant then!"

"Replace the contents of the egg with the genetic material needed"

"No genetic material is available to use."

"We have the map to match, contents of ovum can be added to by surrounding material and status can be matched with map."

"Well, don't just sit there and babble, do it before it's too late!"

The silvery particles settled over the female and she became restless in her sleep.

"Lisa Freeman, age 22, Wife to recently deceased Michel Freeman, Foreman at a lumber mill. Death caused by work related accident. Daughter, Alison Freeman, age 14 months." The case worker looked up at Lisa, "Correct so far?"

Lisa Freeman, bordering on destitute, was attempting to get some sort of financial assistance from anyone that could help. She nodded at the crusty looking male, his name tag said Dwight. "You think I got a chance at some relief or assistance?"

"Well, when we look at your financials there should be a payout from the insurance. What happened to that?"

"The mill said that it was his fault, and the insurance won't cover it so they aren't paying anything. I'd get a lawyer but I don't have the money."

"Look, you're supposed to get some money for insurance, so I can't help you until you can prove you are not getting any insurance." He said.

"I can't get the damn insurance guys to take my calls! They keep telling me to get my lawyer to talk to them."

"Look, Mrs Freeman, We get all sorts of fraud artists in here to strip the public of money. I'm not going to do anything until I get proof that you're not getting anything in a few weeks." He swept the file up and closed it, "Come back and see me when you have some proof or some court documents." He dismissed her without a further look.

Lisa stood and gathered up her daughter. She couldn't even go home to mother, as she had passed away a few weeks after she had married Michel. Damn she missed her mom.

Lisa didn't see the silver cloud slip from her body and settle around the head of Dwight. He batted at it absentmindedly, then his eyes took on a glossy look for a few moments.

"Shit, what an asshole."

"Without financial aid, mother and daughter will not survive for long."

"Index all information and extract most viable solution for financial assistance."

"Index complete, Financial Aid officer is providing false information to mother. Several options are available for financial aid, including education and retraining programs. Financial officer is considering later visit to solicit sexual gifts from mother. Probability is 80% that mother will be treated as object for personal pleasure."

"That fucker needs to die."

"Corrective alterations to brain matter will suffice ... Process complete."

"Mrs Freeman! I just thought of something that can help you!" Dwight said as he shook his head. The silver cloud rose to the ceiling and returned to Lisa once she sat again. They spoke for a while longer and when Lisa left she was ecstatic. She was going to be provided with sufficient money to pay for food and several months of rent. The agency was also able to provide legal assistance and a pro-bono lawyer to cover her case for her.

Over the next 3 months the Mill was sued and had to pay out the entire insurance claim of 2 million dollars, standard insurance for a Foreman. The upper management was arrested for several corruption charges, and a change of management caused the mills productivity to increase and costs to drop dramatically. Lisa's actions were hailed as the saving grace for a mill that was slowly dying.

Lisa retained the small law firm to manage her financial business while she returned to school, even while pregnant, to complete her education. She was able to get certain dispensations for her pregnancy so she could take several courses using tutors and home schooling, and the local college even set up a small daycare program to help, especially after she set up a bursary at the college in her name.

Lisa was happy with her son, Solomon. Alison seemed to stick to him like glue, and where ever he was, she was. He was a handsome boy with a bright smile and happy demeanour. When he was hungry he never cried, he would grunt like he was trying to tell you something. He didn't fuss or cry, even when she did what most mothers have done and cut him while clipping his fingernails. He sucked in his breath sharply but no crying. He gave Lisa a pained look and that was that. He started walking at 8 months, Lisa found that when she went to the local pool that Solomon took to water quickly, and was swimming freely by his 1^st birthday. Solomon was talking full sentences by 9 months, and seemed to listen raptly to anything anyone said. Alison, his sister, said very little, and Mother feared some sort of developmental issues. That fear was waylaid when she overheard Alison explaining something to Solomon like a grownup.

Lisa studied correspondence courses at home and only went to the college rarely. She was trying for her grade 12 after having dropped out of school at 14, she started her education once again at the grade 6 level. She discovered Alison and Solomon playing with her books, and was about to reprimand them when she realized they were reading the text books and not just playing with them. They seemed to pick up the course material quickly, so she started educating them using her correspondence material. By the time they were almost 3 they had completed grade 7 schoolwork. Lisa was amazed both with how her children were learning, and how easy it made for her to learn the subject matter also.

By the time Solomon was 14 years old he held his science degree and a degree in engineering. This was done through correspondence only, and only upon demonstrating to certain administrative types that, in fact, it was Solomon doing the work. Alison also followed along with her brother, as they were inseparable. Lisa, spending so much time with her children and teaching them, discovered a love for teaching and decided to become a teacher and private tutor. Solomon and Alison loved this part of Mom, because she always brought home children that they could play with, no matter the age.

It was during one of these tutoring sessions that the father of one of the children got a bit too forceful with Lisa, and a 16 year old Solomon stepped in.

"Common, babe, I know you've been lonely since your husband died."

"Mr. Danwright, My name is Mrs Lisa Freeman. I teach children and only teach children, I am not interested in anything else. I am certainly not interested in a married man. When you arrive from now on, you will drop Becky off at the gate and remain off the property, or you can find another private tutor."

Keith Danwright stepped up to Lisa and wrapped his arms around her. He outmassed her quite a bit and his strength was what stopped her from getting away. He didn't see the smaller teenager come up behind him, but he discovered himself on one knee in seconds after Solomon drove his thumb into a bundle of nerves by his spine. Keith couldn't catch his breath, and Solomon leaned over and whispered for only him to hear. "I could have taken your life just then, Mr Danwright, but I don't do things like that. Leave my mother alone and follow the rules she just set, or next time this will not work out so good." Solomon stepped back out of the room quietly and returned to his study. Mr Danwright stood up eventually, after catching his breath again, and embarrassingly nodded and left through the front door. He paused at the bottom of the wooden steps outside, "I'll be back later as usual to pick up Becky."

Lisa was grateful for Solomon's interference, but needed to speak with him about the attack. She called him into the kitchen and sat him down at the table.

"Solomon, thank you for the help earlier, but I need you to understand that violence does not help. I don't exactly know what you did to Mr Danwright, but hitting him is not how you deal with things like that."

"Mom, I know violence does not solve problems, and what I did to Mr Danwright was not violence, I pinched a few nerves that caused a measured amount of pain, enough to put off his attempts to do anything more to you. I explained to him also that I would only allow him to follow your rules as you stated them." Solomon smiled at his mom.

Lisa gave her wonderful son a hug and shooed him off to play. She didn't know what to say to that. From that day forward, Solomon ensured that all visiting males were tightly observed, and he was always in the room with mother when they showed up. Lisa didn't go on dates because she was still in love with her husband. No one else ever matched him, in her mind. She just lived for her children.

It was just a few days after Solomon's 17^th birthday, Lisa was lounging on the couch reading a book and Alison and Solomon were sitting on the floor playing a game of chess, when there was a knock at the door which caused Solomon to jump.

"The time has arrived for turning point one."

"We will observe the results carefully."

"I hope you're going to do something to stop this. He blamed himself for this for the rest of his life."

"We will observe until things become too dangerous."

"Remember, this is the one you love."

"Eventually he will be. Not yet."

Solomon stood, "I'll go see who it is."

Solomon walked down the hallway and unlocked the door, "Who is it?" the door was pushed open violently and Solomon flew backwards, tumbling into the living room. Two men rushed into the living room after him, and third one closed the front door and locked it.

Man 1, "Wahoo, we got some hot ones tonight!"

Man 2 "I get the little girly, she's mine. I'm gonna eat you up little lady, cuz you look tasty!"

The third one came into the room. Lisa, having gathered Alison into her arms, shouted "Keith Danwright, what are you doing here?!"

"Getting what I deserve. This kid stopped me once, but now you're mine, bitch." Keith looked at the other two. "Nobody gets out alive tonight, and after we're done the place gets torched. Understood?"

The pure evil joy could be seen in the eyes of these men. They saw unbridled fun without consequence, while Lisa and Alison felt dread and fear. Solomon was still face down on the floor where he landed. Danwright walked by him and reached for Lisa, "You two can have the little girl, but I get this one."

A barely visible silvery cloud, looking like sparkly steam, rose out of Lisa and flowed across the room to settle on Solomon and disappear into him.

There was a secret smile that no one saw. "Hello, Maxi, my love, I've missed you for so long."

"Solomon! You ARE here! Maxi never even thought you would remember! How could you remember? How could you know? How?"

"One thing at a time, my love," Solomon stood quietly and, with blurring speed, jabbed a thumb into nerve points on all three men before they even had time to react. Danwright collapsed next to his buddies' unconscious forms on the floor.

Lisa and Alison huddled at the edge of the couch as Solomon picked up the phone and called the police. He described the situation and was told that the police were on their way. He hung up the phone and turned to Lisa, "The police are on their way and will deal with this. I'm going to go get something to bind them until they arrive." Solomon quickly found some housecoat ties and bound the three together tightly. There was no way they would wake up for a while anyway, but it didn't hurt to be sure.

The police arrived a few minutes later and arrested the three men and took statements from everyone. Months later, after all three were convicted it got out that a child was involved in their assault and attempted murder charges, the population of the jail got to them.

The moment the silver cloud touched me I was free. I had connected with my body again, and instantly I was home again. It felt good, and just at the right time, also. It felt like seconds had gone by but I'm sure it was longer. The last thing I remember was fixing Maxi so she could achieve ascension like her Mom. I tucked a dormant copy of myself deep into her structure, and the reason I did this is because it was important. Nobody was going to know until it was time. When I settled into this body I melded with the person that was here. A different me that was still me. We were one and the same, but with different experiences. We became a greater one than the original. When Maxi settled into me again I felt complete. I think I might have startled her a bit, she wasn't expecting me to be here already.

"Maxi needs to know how... , what... , Maxi needs to know everything."

I was helping settle everything down after the police left. "Everything? Well, let's see ... in the beginning there was nothing ... then something happened and..."

"Solomon! Maxi needs to know!"

I chuckled as I wandered my bedroom. I finally threw myself on the bed. "Maxi, I made an exact duplicate of myself and placed it inside of you for safe keeping when I helped you ascend." It was to be dormant until certain criteria were met. I felt I knew you well enough that you would pursue that criteria."

"But Solomon, What would have happened if Maxi had not decided to come here?"

"Maxi, I would not exist." I said with a smile.

"Maxi is glad then that Solomon exists." she said with warmth. "Maxi has had a long life and the best part was with Solomon."

"I love you too, Maxi." I said, and I felt a joyful feeling from her.

My sister Alison entered the room and looked at me. "You're different, Solomon." she said. I had good rapport with my sister. I always loved her and especially enjoyed the time we'd spent together. I had just about been destroyed the first time, when I watched her being murdered along with my Mom. This time I was able to save her and Mom. "Different? How so?" I asked

"You seem older than before." She walked up to me and bent over looking deeply in my eyes. She was so close I could smell her, soap and sandalwood. "You've gained something from that incident."

I gave her the raised eyebrow look. "That would be most logical" I said, using my best Spock imitation.

She flicked me in the forehead, "Smartass." she said and sat down next to me. "You're not the same Solomon I used to know. What happened?"

"I have to face it, Alison, you're too smart for me. I'm actually a Solomon from the distant future that has come back in time to avoid a terrible evil." I said with a big smile.

"Fine, but what do you plan on doing about the terrible evil, then?"

"Maxi is thinking she will find out the truth from you sooner than later."

"Much sooner than you think, Maxi" I said to her. "I did just tell her the truth."

"Better tell Maxi the whole story, Solomon, she deserves that much from someone she loves." Alison said with a straight face.

I guess my eyes bugged a bit. Alison knew more than she should have. "Excuse me?" I asked in a simplistic way.

"I can hear you two talking almost all the way down the hallway." she replied with a smile.

"What exactly did you think you heard?" I wanted to know if she was yanking my chain, so I didn't give anything away to her. She proceeded to repeat everything Maxi and I said to each other in the last few minutes. "OK, OK, so you heard an imaginary conversation between me and someone else?"

"Don't be a simpleton, Solomon, it's beneath you and it's insulting to Me." she responded a bit angry.

"Exactly how're you hearing this conversation, then?"

"I've heard it since before you took out the trash that attacked us a bit earlier. I also saw when Maxi connected with you. She was that silvery cloud that left Mom. Look, I'm not stupid and you know that, I'm observant enough to see things most people miss, and I certainly know you well enough to notice when things change, anyway, did you know your eye color is different?"

I walked over to the dresser mirror and looked at myself. Sure enough, my eyes had changed from brown to silvery brown. "Maxi has not integrated into your skeletal structure completely, so a percentage of Maxi occupies soft tissue and sub-surface tissue." she explained.

"See, she needs to integrate faster, or people who know you, namely Mom, will notice the difference."

"Maxi will be completely integrated after 48 hours, Alison, please try to redirect you Mother's attention until then." Maxi replied, even though it was only in my mind.

"I'll do what I can, Maxi, but she is quite observant when it comes to her family."

I looked at my sister and my face paled, "Do I need to be here?" I said from behind my hand.

"Of course, Solomon, someone's got to hold and cherish Maxi, and you do it so well." Alison replied with a smile.

We were lucky over the next two days, because Alison was able to redirect mother's attention with additional tutor jobs, even though Mom tried to back out of it because of the incident. Alison talked her back into work again, with just a slight change in rules. No males were tutored any more, no father drop-offs, and anyone coming to the front door needed to pass through a locked gate first. I installed an intercom at the gate so anyone entering had to communicate with us first. The top 2 feet of the fence became electrical, to the tune of 60,000 volts, strong enough to make you fly but not to kill you unless you had a pacemaker. Granted, if you had a pacemaker, you were quite unlikely to be climbing an 8 foot fence.

I began my search in the newspapers at the library for the information I was looking for. I had explained to Maxi, and without any direct purpose my sister also, that when I had accessed the Shaeed database on board the ship, I had acquired information that showed me the depth of the problem ran deeper than just our solar system, a danger to all life in a plan long in execution and that spanned the entire galaxy, probably even beyond it, eventually. The Shaeed were being controlled by something, a force that was only hinted at in the database, and only by accident. It had taken my mind a while to process the vague connection, but the final result became solidified enough for me to know I had made a mistake by showing myself at the time. All I could do was make myself cease to exist just to save my planet, and start earlier where I would not be noticed. Even then I believed it was only a slight avoidance, a delay if you will, to the real problem.

"So what do you plan on doing about this?" Alison asked.

"That's the problem. I'm not sure what to do, or if there IS anything I can do. This force has been in existence far longer that even this multiverse, so I don't know what to do. I can track back using their database to the first initial contact, but to do that I'd have to connect to their home database." I shrugged, "I'm back to square one again, because the moment I do that I'm out in the open again."

Alison looked thoughtful, "What if they'd been in contact since the beginning, though? So what do you do if they're been in contact with this group since their inception, or worse, what could be done if they'd been in contact since the first intelligent life form was born?"

"I believe if that were the case we'd have a worse problem to deal with, because at that point they would be powerful enough to wipe out all life. I'm pretty sure that it's a localized power grab."

"I sure hope so," Alison responded, "I'd hate to discover we're on our way into the dark maw of an all consuming force beyond our comprehension." She stood, "I'm going to make a snack, hungry?"

I nodded absentmindedly. She had hit on a point that bothered me. Exactly what were the goals of this darkly shrouded power player? What was its overall plan? Were we nothing more than a consumable source of matter, or was there something more complex in play?

"Maxi is not ready to let Solomon be careless. Maxi wants to make sure that Solomon is at 100% and maximum augmentation has been achieved. Maxi will be fully integrated soon, also. Please do not try to do anything crazy just yet, Solomon."

"I would never do anything crazy, Maxi, because it's not just me in this body is it." I replied with a grin. I could feel her smile to the tips of my toes.

We did the usual things we do for the next two days, and Alison hung out with me as usual. She spent all her time talking with Maxi and learned as much as she could. It was somewhat like being the third wheel on a date between two girls. I was just thankful that I didn't have to sit there and repeat everything Maxi said to her.

It was almost midnight on the second night that I suddenly felt different. Maxi piped up with an incredibly happy, "Maxi and Solomon are one now." But I had known that the moment she completed the last integration. I had full feedback and connection with her on a mental level again.

"That empty Maxi shaped hole is filled again, Maxi. I will try not to lose you again."

"Maxi wasn't lost last time. Solomon threw Maxi out..." She sounded like she was upset, and I knew that I had touched on a sore point with her.

"I am so sorry for that, Maxi, because it was the only way I could think to keep everyone safe." I said remorsefully

"Maxi understands, but remember, you promised to always be there for Maxi." It was times like this that I wished I could hug Maxi and make her feel better, but that was not possible. I resorted to something I knew would work, something that would show her my true feelings, and I opened my entire mind to Maxi along with sending her all my heartfelt feelings of love. I felt dizzying joy from Maxi and I knew I had made an impression with her.

I heard the sound of a body hitting the floor outside my door and a grunt and my door slammed open, Alison was on all fours, looking up at me with burningly intense eyes, "Stop it, Solomon... ," she growled at me, "Can't ... think ... straight." I eased up on my emotional flood, bringing it to a trickle. She collapsed to the side and sat on the floor just inside the door, back leaning against the wall. "Don't do that when I'm so close to you guys. That's too intense to take unprepared, Solomon."

"Sorry." I mumbled contritely.

I returned to my information search, and over the next few weeks Maxi and I searched anything we could find at the library while Alison went to the local archives. We didn't know what we were searching for just yet, but anything unusual was copied and brought back to the house. Mostly UFO sightings and obscure missing peoples reports, but nothing concise or suspicious enough to act on. Week after week Alison and I searched. Kamloops even came under our scrutiny after a year of nothing. Lisa spent many late evenings going through massive piles of newspapers with Alison and I, and all the while wondering what we were up to and what was so important. Maxi and I figured that whoever was leading the takeover of the solar system had already arrived and had hidden themselves so deeply into the system that nothing less than an internet search would find them.

We spent more time searching and hunting down anything we could in all sorts of scientific publications and peer review journals. We had subscriptions to any and all science magazines that we could get delivered. I made sure that every day I spent with my mother was cherished this time, and I made sure that my sister had all the freedoms she needed, while still protecting her. I once had asked her during a particularly busy evening delving through periodicals, if she wouldn't rather be out dating or meeting some nice guy instead of helping me. She ended that conversational direction with an abrupt response, "I'm happy doing this, now shut up." softened only by a warm smile and a sparkle in her eye. I made the decision not to ask that kind of question ever again.

Time passed slowly as we continued our fruitless searches for the obscure, weeks turned into months, which turned into years and still nothing.

It was the summer of 1985 that Maxi finally indicated, after reading a scientific journal, that she could access the internet via telephone and modem protocol, "It says here that most of the major North American Universities are accessible through it now." I used my personal funds to have a private line installed which allowed Maxi unhindered access. It was strange to watch the little wire filaments reach from my hand into the telephone receiver like tentacles of a metal octopus. Alison observed the whole process with fascination.

It began slowly, Maxi would access the networks for an hour each evening while I searched news papers and the newest batch of periodicals with Alison's help, and over the next year Maxi expanded that to almost 3 hours. Snippets of interesting information here and there built up over that year. An email here and a photo there and, before I could guess, Maxi had a hint.

"Solomon, the Shaeed have been here for a little over 5 months. They've connected with only a few businesses in the military industrial complex for now, but it will be just a matter of time before they insinuate themselves into the government."

"What? Where did they first show up?" I asked.

"Alison said there was a notification of some UFO sighting up at Clearwater just before then. I checked, and about two weeks after that there was an article referencing some sort of technology similar to Shaeed tech. It was authored by a Professor at a college near Kamloops." she replied.

Alison was in the bathroom at the moment, getting cleaned up after coming back from swimming, one of the few things she did without me. I shouted out to her, "Good work Alison! We got a hot one!"

I guess Mom heard and poked her head around the corner a few seconds later, just as a wet and naked Alison bolted into the room. "You got one!?"

Lisa looked at her daughter and quickly shooed her back into the bathroom again, while Alison kept shouting questions over her shoulder. Maxi attempted to giggle quietly at this. I just tried to wipe the image of her nude body from my mind. "If Maxi ever had to come back as a human, Maxi would like to look like your sister."

"You do that and I'll need therapy for a long time."

"Solomon's mother would not understand either." she added with a light laugh.

Alison hurried back half dressed, still dressing, with Lisa following her closely trying to get her all dressed. "What did you find, little man?" she said, using the rare term of affection she had for me. She didn't use it often so it must be important. "Did that piece of information I pulled help you, Maxi?"

I cringed again as she used Maxi's name with Mother in the room.