Chapter 34

The shower took longer that usual. Suffice it to say that Rani and Kim made sure Pete was happy. Circe took mental notes. Allison was ready with a substantial stack of snacks afterwards to feed the master of the house.

"Thank you, Allison. I needed that. Please ask the girls to let me sleep. Even enhanced people work better after real rest." He shoo-ed Rani, Kim and Circe out and let his mind slip into dreamland.

Some hours later he woke up instantly and completely. Something was missing. The house was too quiet and the air smelled wrong. A mental probe located all the girls except Phoebe and Amy. Rocky was still in orbit, awaiting his companion. He sent a thought.

<Rocky, can you hear me?>

<Yes, but that's all. The radiation from Oak Ridge is gone and Groom Lake is silent, too silent. The military spy satellite is offline.>

<Crap. Is the weather bird working?>

<It hasn't changed. Why the questions?>

<Something has changed here, not for the better. I get no response from Amy. The machines are working but the air is different. Would you ask the Elders at EE2 and Gemma if they have noticed anything odd, anything at all? I'm going to investigate with eyes only in case the telepathy is compromised.>

<On it. Tread with care. I advise extreme caution. Your house is proof against any known threat. If your perimeter has been penetrated, assume different technology, not necessarily superior, but different enough to exert influence over your security.>

<Noted. And no one knocked at the front door. Fortunately, your power source and our personal shields are independent of the main generators. The Annex can operate as a stand-alone unit also. The girls are in the computer room there.>

Pete dressed and donned his personal shield, a tactical vest and ventured into the house fully armed. Moving silently from room to room, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary except the lack of activity. No girls anywhere.

The basement door open and dark was not ordinary. Nor was the lack of response to his palm print. The air smelled like future Aurora. The breach occurred there/here he thought.

<Rocky. They came in through the back door. We had visitors from whatever version of Tau Ceti is on the other side.>

<That greatly expands the number of unknowns. In your parlance, just fucking peachy.>

<Well said. We don't yet know if our time anchor dragged them around, if the time passage differential ratio has changed. Are the Aurorans back? Are they the same Aurorans?>

<Your 'guests' might be entirely different, perhaps colonizing Aurora and stumbling on the portal. Your thoughts?>

<Motive and intent. Are they exploring out of benign curiosity? Not likely. Forced entry indicates disregard for our right of ownership. Failure to properly introduce themselves means presumed superiority and fear of reprisal. The first comes from arrogance and the second from guilt. I'm having trouble seeing an up side here.>

<Their communication methodology could be so alien we can't detect it. Perhaps your companions can shed more light. Advise you attempt to physically close and seal the lower level entry. Attempt contact through your secondary computer system if the primary AI, Amy, is no longer available or, worse case, no longer dependable.>

<Monitor me. I'm pulling the electronic door now.> It swung into place easily as is it hung on normal hinges. <So far, so good. Now the inner door is closing by itself. But it is operated automatically from this side. At least our unattended resources are functional.>

<Amy might have been able to automate shields and life control before she disappeared if she had a few milliseconds warning. If she disappeared, that is, or was overwhelmed or subsumed.>

<Phoebe might know. Her bond to Amy was constant and real time active. I can sense a presence but can't make contact. I'm going to them next. Ask the Elders to compare the last 2 days observations of Tau Ceti, looking for any anomaly. Something is different there, I don't know how I know, but something changed.>

Pete ran upstairs, entered the annex and took the elevator to the second floor. The girls, smartly, were wearing body armor and were packing heat. Seven of them faced the door, ready for war.

Yvette shouted, "Don't shoot! Pete, what the hell is going on out there?"

"Are we safe, Daddy?" Star and Spring, together. "We couldn't find you."

"I'm not absolutely sure on either count. We're safe for now. The house is working and the shields are tight. How long that continues is up to us." He said, "Tell me what happened while I was asleep."

Allison began. "We were putting the last of the furniture in place and were about to have dinner, or at least eat something. A bunch of girls were here testing the new comm. center."

"A good thing, too. We saw the meters go crazy when Amy broke her connection, screaming for us to get our armor and weapons. Phoebe collapsed in a stiff trance." Star gushed out.

"Rani and Mary grabbed Kim and Cam to get our stuff from the dorm. Yvette and Lauren took care of Phoebe, while everyone else snatched what they could." Spring continued.

Athena started, "Amy screamed again, 'In the annex, in the annex.' And went silent, like she wasn't there. Phoebe relaxed but acts like she is in a deep sleep."

"What was it like to you?" Circe wondered.

"Really quiet and the air was different. That woke me up. The 'you don't hear the crickets until you don't hear the crickets' thing. I geared up and talked to Rocky mentally while I checked the house." He hesitated. "Here's the weird part. The basement door was open and the stairway down was dark. The air smelled like the air on the other side of the portal to Future Aurora."

"Something came in through the shields!" Mary was incredulous. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Rocky and I have tentatively concluded the use of differing, not necessarily superior technology, is in play here. We cannot assume good intent. Amy's silence may be her defense mechanism or she may be overcome. Fortunately, she maintains a complete backup copy."

"She might also be completely compromised." Jenny sighed. "Can we function from our cobbled together Linux clusters?"

"Not as well as we could with Amy, but much better than we could with my house system alone. But we have Rocky, will have Gemma, and the support of the Elders on EE2." Pete summarized. "First, I need to awaken Phoebe. She may be collateral damage from Amy's struggle."

He knelt beside his little half-sister, touched her head and concentrated. <We're safe now. You can come out. Listen to my voice and follow me back. We need you to help find Amy.> He detected a flicker of awareness and fear. <Try to follow my voice. I'll keep you safe. Your sisters are with me. You can do it. Just come with me. Yes, I can see you now, come close and I'll lead you back. That's my girl, come to your brother.>

Her eyes blinked as if awakening from a deep dream. The first thing she focused on was his smiling face. "Pete! Pete! It was awful. They hurt Amy!" Phoebe flung her arms around his neck and hung on for dear life, sobbing out of control.

Many minutes later she calmed enough to talk. "Where is Amy? I can't find her. Just a big 'empty' where she should be."

"Stop trying. 'Empty' is a thousand times better than 'nothing'. There is still a vessel. We need to think this through before we scare the things into doing something worse." Pete ordered. "Fight the panic. I'm sure she's in there hiding or being hidden. Or worse, overcome or silenced and needs us to be calm and smart."

Pete held her until the trembling slowed. Allison brought a bottle of water and a candy bar. "Eat this. You need some energy to think. Breathe deeply and concentrate on the details, not the emotions. Later, you will have something more substantial."

The food helped. "Tell us what happened as clinically as you can." Pete directed.

'We were all working around the house, recovering from the chaos of the craziness. I was in the computer room, I think, sort of plugged into Amy like usual. Through her I heard a big crash and she screamed like she was in pain. The door to Aurora had been forced open and it hurt. She was fighting whatever it was but I couldn't get visuals. It was new or unexpected to her, whatever it was."

Phoebe shuddered and took a deep breath. "You know how we can share strong feelings and amplify our emotions? It was like that. Something had smashed into her personality. I felt pain. It was like her nerves were on fire. Amy was brave. She warned the girls, cutting her connection to the house. It went into automatic."

"Then she was gone like she had died or been turned off. I felt that, too. I guess she didn't die because I didn't. But I got lost in my head until Pete found me." She sobbed again.

"Believe it or not, Phoebe. That is not all bad news. Maybe Amy hid in her organic part. Maybe it's something they don't know or don't think possible." Allison guessed. "You found the analogous place in your own consciousness to escape the pain."

"You said she screamed, then cut the house away. Maybe she could cut sensory input at the same time." Mary continued. "If so, she's out of pain."

"She was very brave. She warned us before she went away. It must have taken a tremendous effort." Jenny said, "She loves us."

Pete said, "Ladies, it's crunch time. Rocky and I discussed several possibilities." He reviewed the chance of unknown aliens, their differences, guilt, ignorance and aggressiveness. Then he went through the unknowns concerning the secondary effects the time storm had on the new Aurora, potential shifting of the differential ratio, including equalization, colonization and expansionism from the future Tau Ceti.

Questions and speculation started immediately. Who said what is less important than the fact that the entire family was thinking rationally.

-The invaders found a device they could stop but not operate.

-They may have destroyed themselves at the time interface when they initially entered.

-They disrespected the occupants despite evidence of technology.

-They have not entered the house: fear or guilt or inability?

-The basement is dark, but the inner door could be closed and locked.

-It was open in the first place.

-The outside portal is open. Can it be closed?

-How much time has passed in the world of cats and dogs?

-Did the time storm harm them? Did the invaders harm them?

Pete asked the big question. "Can we go down there and see for ourselves? Loyalty and friendship demand that we go. Can we tolerate whatever is or was in our house?"

He looked around for disagreement and saw none. It made him proud. "We might face any one of several scenarios. Amy may be suffering a localized temporal instability caused by the open door and breaching of the shield. The pain could have been power flux within any given circuit, signals arriving before they were sent, paths overloaded that should have been idle. One unit aging faster than another. We can't know. They may have punched holes in the housing. The bad guys might be waiting to see our reaction to their disruption, to judge our strength and respond accordingly."

Penny noted, "That means they are not so confident now."

"And if we can shut the door, Amy might come back." Little Thalia was not acting so little. "That is what we need to do first."

"We go in fast and hard, shielded, armed to the teeth. If it moves, disable it, if it keeps moving, convince it to be still with extreme prejudice." Rani declared. "I will not be afraid any more."

"I'm with her. Stand or fall with our family." Lisa speculated, "If time is or was unstable, how long has she been gone in her time? We need to move."

"No being fucks with Pete's girls,..." Cam giggled.

"Ok, Warriors, we move in but we move smart. Kim, get a timekeeper. I'll mount it on the end of a broomstick and probe ahead. It will change rate or break off if we find a time interface. Keep your companions in sight at all times. Make sure someone can see you."

"Sticks and clocks in the utility room, Boss. Headlights, too. I hate to fight in the dark." Kim grinned, "Time to kick some alien ass."

<You got that, Rocky?>

<I can think of nothing better. The Elders are probing but have not sent answers. Gemma will enter orbit, but will hold before landing. Be careful, you are our favorite carbon-based lifeforms. You think of nice toys.>

<We love you, too. Watch your back.>

"Ready to mount up, Pixies? Move out!"

He assembled the forward probe and grabbed a net connected computer as they neared the basement door. It unlocked normally, but he had to push it open. "Game on. Single file down the stairs. Form up in double file at the bottom. Eyes open, shields up, weps hot. I'm point, Star and Spring have drag."

Pete slowly descended the stairs, leading with the probe. He noted no change. The girls followed, covering the flank. He led the patrol straight to the portal staircase. "The door is open and appears undamaged. Allison and Selena, follow me up the stairs closely. If something goes for me, waste it. I'm just going to probe the timeline once, drop the laptop and grab the handle. This ain't a social visit."

It went by the book. The probe timer didn't change; other differences spotted, he dropped the computer and quickly shut the hatch. It locked mechanically but the indicator lights stayed dark. He looked at the base of the stairs. The Pixies had formed a circle, all points under observation. Thalia and Rhea were looking up. "Listen up. The light is normal not the gray we saw before. Which means the time differential is matching up or the interface is below ground level and I passed through before I could see the landscape. Even then, the clock didn't change. The grass is greener, but not overgrown. There is some kind of construction near the portal that appears damaged, scorched or burnt."

He led the troops to the center of the room. The Pixies formed a defensive perimeter around the AI in the middle, two girls facing outward, the third facing in, six trios encircling the housing.

Pete and Phoebe approached an information panel. "Phoebe, just listen. Don't broadcast or seek yet. I can feel Star, Spring and Rocky now. You getting anything?"

"The same, but Rocky is indistinct. Where Amy should be, I sense something that is not empty, just not really there."

"OK. I'm going to touch the panel and say my name. You girls facing in, watch for any change at all. Guards, be extra vigilant. I might trigger a response."

Star said, "Just because we can't see an enemy, doesn't mean it isn't here. Phoebe said she felt it, but got no visuals."

"Sis and I will watch independently. You others, link up like you did when we moved Rocky to safety. Amp the power." His daughters were stepping up. "Rocky is in the circuit now. The Elders, too."

Pete waited until Spring nodded readiness. "If it moves, waste it. I've decided to return the disregard. The Athena Street Pacification Doctrine is in effect. Make sure it stays down."

"Phoebe, if I'm still standing after I touch, you do the same and try to contact Amy. Also, try to link to the organic brain. Be ready to break off at the first hint of danger."

He took a deep breath, found his center and palmed the panel. "Pete O'Neal, Prime. Open communication."

His palm print glowed weakly. "She recognizes me. Your turn."

"Phoebe O'Neal, Half-Sister to Prime and Half-Twin of AI Amy." Her print glowed also; causing Pete's to change color to green. Hers followed.

-Authorized personnel accepted- The AI was communicating through the readout. -System analysis in progress. Hold for reboot. Keep hands in place for memory restoration.- The panel flickered and went dark.

"She's in there somewhere and afraid to come out." Star said. "Even I can read that."

"Pixies. Amy might come out all cool and collected. Or she might come out psyche blazing, loaded for bear. Cooperatively visualize an impenetrable shell around your heads. Do not let her in. She's a first tier empath. If she can project as well as she receives, you will feel her pain if you can't block it." Pete cautioned.

"Phoebe, you and I have to take the brunt if she strikes. We have to be the touchstones, memory anchors, boot sequence or whatever human contact Amy needs to reestablish her personality. Spring and Star, make your mental barriers one-way. Stop incoming but send every positive thing you can remember about Amy. Protect yourself if you have to, Phoebe, but project safety and security. I'm going to react to whatever she does and reinforce you three if necessary."

"And you?"

"She needs an outlet if she vents. I'm the strongest, maybe stronger than her. I'll think of a way to get through." Pete tried to reassure the family. He wasn't that sure himself.