Fan Fic and More

Great update !! jejejejejejejej !!<br><br>that dinner was pretty interesting !! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :b --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... tongue.gif ALT=":b"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rollin --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rollin --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rollin --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :clap --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br> <p></p><i></i>

<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :spit --><img src=http://www.gamers-forums.com/smilies/cwm/cwm/spit.gif ALT=":spit"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Oh mu god! Gerry that was so funny! At first I had no clue as to what was happening and then it clicked the Nan-torel Turkey!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Gosh, that is one visual I wish I could have seen! Absolutely great part! good holiday read(though no holidays for me, i'm afrad<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :( --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /frown.gif ALT=":("><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> ) But great part!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :thumbsup --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... f8323d.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>

That was too funny! Can I get some of that turkey to take on my honeymoon? <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:white;font-family:verdana;font-size:small;">Knowing you'll be haunting me to the end of time? Mmmm...It's a dream come true...</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:yellow;font-family:verdana;font-size:x-small;">Angel to Spike</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></p><i></i>

The Four Faces of Rath<br><br><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:medium;">The Rescuers</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br><br>Chapter 60</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>LX <br><br><br><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:large;">E</span><!--EZCODE FONT END-->ight hours had passed since Max and the others had begun to wake up from their stupor after partaking of Jim’s unusual Thanksgiving Day Nan-Torel split-tail turkey dinner. The “turkey,” which was entirely harmless to full-Antarians and to anyone else born on Antar, had rendered the “earthlings,” including Kyle, Alex, Max, Isabel, Michael, Amy, and Tess, along with Jim and Kathleen and Dan and Diane, effectively unable to think of anything but love… then sleep. Kyle’s wife, Jeliya, and Tess’ husband, Rayylar, who were full Antarians and therefore unaffected by the turkey, had decided to just go with the flow and enjoy their mates’ affectionate “condition” while it lasted. In fact, Jeliya and Rayylar had gladly accepted leftovers to take home with them when Kathleen had offered them some. <br><br>Perhaps the most surprising thing, though, was that, unlike with drugs or alcohol, once the effects of the turkey had worn off, everyone had awakened clear-minded and feeling refreshed rather than with the expected hangover or headache. Max had been the first to awaken. He had panicked when he realized what had happened, thinking that a considerable amount of time had been lost while they were sleeping off their unusual dinner. He was relieved to learn that only a few hours had passed and they were still on schedule. After a bit of laughing and joking about what had happened, the guests had all freshened up and prepared to return to their own homes. Those going with Max and Michael to earth had said their good-byes to the others and had quickly gathered up their belongings… <br><br>Max had turned to Jim again… “Jim, you really should come with us to earth. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling you might be needed.”<br><br>Jim had smiled and shook his head. “You don’t need me, Max. You just think you do. I’m sure there’s nothing on earth that you and Michael can’t handle together. Besides, you’re going to an entirely different dimension. You know how freaky it was to me just to leave earth and come here!”<br><br>“Yeah, but you’d be going back to earth,” Michael replied. “You know earth already. It’s not an alien planet to you.”<br><br>“It’s a different dimension… that’s alien enough.”<br><br>“Suit yourself,” Max said.<br><br>Now Jim was sitting in his favorite chair reading the Antar News, and his guests were gone. He was alone with Kathleen and Danyy, his younger son, who was playing with his pawgor friends out in the yard. Jim looked up and started to say something, but then he looked back at his newspaper.<br><br>“What were you going to say, Jim?”<br><br>“Aw, it was nothing, Kath.”<br><br>“Must have been something. You seem to have something on your mind.”<br><br>Jim folded his newspaper up and laid it beside the chair.<br><br>“Do you think I should have gone with them, Kath… to earth… in that Dimension Y or whatever Varec named it?”<br><br>“That would have to be your decision,” Kathleen said. “We’d miss you here… but if you felt like they needed you…”<br><br>“Well, see, that’s just it, Kath. I don’t know what I’m feeling. It’s gnawing at me. I don’t know why they’d need me. Max and Michael are quite able to take care of themselves… They don’t need me to follow them around and change their diapers. But… something in the back of my mind keeps gnawing at me. Maybe it’s some kind of premonition, I don’t know.”<br><br>“Premonitions can be pretty powerful, Jim. I know. Usually, there’s a reason for them. Maybe it’s because we know something in our minds that we don’t want to admit, I don’t know, or maybe it’s a psychic thing or something.” She smiled. “Maybe your turkey made you psychic, Jim.”<br><br>“That turkey made me a fool,” Jim said with an embarrassed laugh.<br><br>“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Jim. It was a hit. Next year I’ll bet they’ll all be begging you to have it again.”<br><br>“And listen to me sing love songs to you again?”<br><br>Kathleen laughed. “You have a great voice, Jim. I loved it! So did they.”<br><br>“They were drunker than I thought,” Jim said with a grin. “But they did, didn’t they?”<br><br>Kathleen nodded.<br><br>“Well… we’ll see about next year next year. What do I do about this premonition?”<br><br><br><br> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center">**********</div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><br><br>Max looked over the list of supplies and the list of maintenance items that had been done and checked off each item with Varec, as the chief foreman announced that it had been done and checked out. It appeared that everything was in good shape and the new granolith was ready to fly again. Max breathed a deep sigh.<br><br>“I don’t know why, Michael… but I love this ship! With the spheres, we can go almost anywhere instantly nowadays… without much danger. I thought we might never have a chance to use the new granolith again. To tell you the truth, I’m kind of looking forward to this.”<br><br>Michael smiled. “I know. We have had a lot of good times on this baby, haven’t we?”<br><br>Max grinned, and Michael looked back at the ship, his own eyes reflecting more than a bit of admiration for the mammoth vessel that had ferried them to Antar and back to earth several times.<br><br>“You’ll have twelve days for you and Liz to enjoy the arboretum again,” Michael added with a wry grin.<br><br>Max cast Michael a sideways glance and smiled slightly. “And I suppose you and Maria were studying the stars all the time up there in the observatory… with Zorel guarding the door…”<br><br>Michael shrugged. “Something like that.”<br><br>Max smiled a knowing smile. “And that rumor about naked mermaids in the pool under the waterfall…”<br><br>“I wouldn’t know anything about that, Max.”<br><br>“Jim’s Nan-Torel turkey wiped your memory out?”<br><br>“That was probably it.”<br><br>“I thought so.”<br><br>“But, hey, Max, with Alex and Iz onboard, you know, I practically have to book the observatory several days in advance for Maria and me to get a chance to use it.”<br><br>“Well, you know how they are about the stars and all, Michael.”<br><br>“Um hm. Believe me! I know what’s going on up there. The stars aren’t the only things being studied in there, Max. There’s a lot of hands on science going on when Alex and Iz are in there together.”<br><br>“You’re a dirty old man, Michael.”<br><br>“I resent that! I’m not old! Besides, I’m right.”<br><br>“Okay, you’re a right dirty old man… or young man… whatever.”<br><br>“Ah ha! You admit it then!”<br><br>“That you’re a dirty old man? Sure.”<br><br>“No, that Alex and Iz… you know.”<br><br>“And Maria’s just tutoring you in astronomy when you guys are up there, right?”<br><br>“Could be.”<br><br>“Or could NOT be,” Max said with a grin. “Don’t play the innocent, Michael. I know you. What do you want?”<br><br>“Well… a little more time in the observatory would be nice. Maybe you could help me convince Alex and Iz that there are other places on the ship just as… cozy.”<br><br>Max smiled. “You’ll just have to get there first, Michael. Besides, you and Maria have something to fall back on if the observatory’s occupied… you’re mermaids. Well… she’s a mermaid. I guess you’d be the creature from the black lagoon.”<br><br>Michael grabbed Max by the throat and pretended to strangle him. “Well, if that’s what you want swimming around in the arboretum pool…” He grinned and turned to walk away. <br><br>Max stood for a moment, thinking about what Michael had said. Then he shook his head.<br><br>“No… No, I’m not getting into this. But that was a damn good argument, Michael!”<br><br>Max turned around to see Jim Valenti standing there.<br><br>“You still got room for one more, Max?”<br><br>Max nodded and gave Jim a friendly slap on the arm. Decided to join us, huh?”<br><br>“Yeah, I just keep having this feeling that you guys will need me.”<br><br>“Well, I told you that, Jim.”<br><br>“Yeah, I know. But you know I never listen to that kind of stuff, Max.”<br><br>“So why’d you listen now?”<br><br>“I wasn’t going to… Call it premonition or something.” <br><br>“Okay. Call it what you want, Jim. I’m just glad to have you onboard. You coming alone?”<br><br>“Yeah, Kath is staying here with Danyy. What about your kids… and Liz?”<br><br>“Liz and Maria are coming; the children aren’t. We don’t know what we might come up against. The palace staff and Kyle and Jeliya are watching them all while we’re away. Alex and Isabel are coming. Tess and Rayylar are coming, too…”<br><br>“So… you’re totally okay with Tess being around now, Max?”<br><br>Max shrugged. “Why shouldn’t I be? Those things happened a long time ago… in a timeline that doesn’t exist anymore. It took me a long time to fully realize that, but I think I do now. I have to judge people for who they are in this life. Besides, Tess has been a big help on our other trips. She probably saved all our lives that time in the mountains. And her abilities can be very useful.”<br><br>“I can’t argue with that.”<br><br>Varec waved at Max from the entrance to the ship. Max waved back. <br><br>“We’re ready to take off, Jim. Let’s go onboard. I think everyone else is onboard already.”<br><br>Max took the ascension chamber up to the control deck, where he found Michael preparing for their departure. Max sat down in the pilot’s seat and held his hand over a handprint on the control panel for a moment. It began to glow. Michael, in the co-pilot’s seat, held his hand over another handprint, and it began to glow, too. Then he inserted a crystal into a pre-formed slot on the control panel, and the huge ship began to rise. The roof of the mammoth hangar-lab had already been rolled back to allow the ship to depart, which was no small operation. The ship measured 178,403 donish, about 15,800 feet –not quite three miles- across and was seven stories high, and the hangar had to be large enough to house it. It always took the better part of an hour just to roll the roof open to allow the ship to depart. The roof opened in concentric sections, like the lens of a camera, each section retracting perfectly into its own individual compartment in the rim. <br><br>Now, with the roof fully opened, the ship floated out, rising into the sky above. As it rose, it rotated eighty degrees and began to move forward, turning out over the Golden Sea. The silvery metallic saucer glinted in the sunlight as it made its way gracefully toward the heavens… first slowly… then with a sudden burst of speed that left a beautiful converging contrail of starlight disappearing into the cosmos.<br><br>Below the contrail several large birds circled and appeared to interact with some slipstream fighters, small jets that always gave an escort to the Antarian mother ship whenever it left Antarian soil. The birds, with thirty-foot wingspans, were actually slightly larger than the small jet planes that the pilot escorts flew, but the pilots were used to seeing these birds now. The seven pilots all fell into formation, each pilot gave one final salute toward the mother ship, which by now had disappeared into space, then they pulled back on their yokes, sending their jets streaking upward, each one splitting off and falling over like the fire falling from a sparkler. Then they streaked off toward their home base. <br><br>The birds, which were once believed to be a myth in Antar, before Max befriended one, circled one final time, offering their own special good-bye to the ship… and to Max in particular. Onboard the ship, far out in space, Max smiled. He and the jah-ee communicated telepathically…<br><br>“Thank you, my friends. I will return. I promise.” <br><br><br><br>tbc<br><br>Coming: The ship attempts to break through the dimensional barriers, leading to some unexpectedly frightening moments. Onboard the new granolith, the “rescuers” wonder if they will ever get the chance to give that help… or if they’ll ever see Antar again.<br><br> <br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub129.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsr ... dbreeze</A>  <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/aim116b.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 1/2/04 3:37 am<br></i>

Thanks so much for the great feedback, Veca, Melisa, and Isabel! Melisa, you can certainly have some of the Nan-torel turkey for your honeymoon! I'll tell Jim and Kathleen to send you some! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> (Should be interesting!) Isabel, I hope you had better holidays than you expected, but if you didn't, I hope the next ones are much better and all that you could wish them to be! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :bunny --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/bunny.gif ALT=":bunny"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> We're here for ya! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :wave --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/wavey.gif ALT=":wave"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>Well, here's the next chapter....<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :ufo --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/ufo.gif ALT=":ufo"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Enjoy<br><br><br><br> <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/skysymb ... <!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:gold;">Gerry<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br>Hopeless Candy-Coated, Stargazing, <!--EZCODE UNDERLINE START--><span style="text-decoration:underline">Dreamer</span><!--EZCODE UNDERLINE END-->!<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>

To the rescue.....can't wait for the next part!!! <p></p><i></i>

OMG Gerry, I just spent, like forever getting caught up! I <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :love --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> this story so much! <p><center><i>It all started with a boy, a girl, and a silver handprint.</i></center><center><a href=http://pub84.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsrealm><img src=http://members.aol.com/majiklmoon/image ... a></center> </p><i></i>

OMG! I loved that scene between Michael and Max<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :spit --><img src=http://www.gamers-forums.com/smilies/cwm/cwm/spit.gif ALT=":spit"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Bad boys! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> I'm sure Max and Liz will get cozy too! I'mglad Jim decided to come with them! He's gonna be of great help even if he doesn't know it yet! <br>But the coming soon part sounded really ominous!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :eek --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/eek.gif ALT=":eek"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... f8323d.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>

Lovely , lovely update !! i can`t imagine Max and Michael talking like that !! I love it !! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :love --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :love --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>Great work, they should hurry up to reach earth !! <br><br>GO GO GO GO GO !!! <p></p><i></i>

Thanks, Melisa, Tracie, Isabel, and Veca! <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:large;">And Melisa, congrats to you and Tim!</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Woo hoo! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :thumbsup --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :clap --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :clap --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :clap --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>Here's the next chapter. There's a lot of romance involved. How appropriate, huh? <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> But this is the new granolith. Things couldn't just go smoothly could they? We'll see...<br><br> <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/skysymb ... <!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:gold;">Gerry<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br>Hopeless Candy-Coated, Stargazing, <!--EZCODE UNDERLINE START--><span style="text-decoration:underline">Dreamer</span><!--EZCODE UNDERLINE END-->!<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub129.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsr ... dbreeze</A>  <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/aim116b.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 1/17/04 2:56 pm<br></i>

The Four Faces of Rath<br><br><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:medium;">Romance On The Dimensional Rift</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br><br>Chapter 61</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>LXI <br><br><br><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:large;">M</span><!--EZCODE FONT END-->ax set the controls on automatic and sat back to relax for awhile with Liz at his side. The fact is, Varec had preprogrammed the ship to traverse the dimensions and find earth in the dimension that he had named the “Y Dimension” automatically. However, Max still preferred to be at the controls… if for no other reason than to monitor the ship’s progress and make sure that everything was on track and running smoothly. <br><br>There was a time to monitor the ship’s progress, though… and there was a time for more personal pursuits. With everything on track and running like a Swiss watch, Max leaned back and smiled at Liz.<br><br>“Everything okay?” Liz asked.<br><br>Max nodded. “With the ship it is.”<br><br>Liz sat down on Max’s lap and kissed him.<br><br>“How about now?”<br><br>Max gave Liz a half smile, “Yeah… I think some additional systems just came on line. You want to try again?”<br><br>Liz put her lips against Max’s and opened her mouth slightly, savoring his lips and mouth as though they were her favorite candy… which, as a matter of fact, they probably were. At the same time, she unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hand over his chest. She placed the other hand behind his head, enjoying the feel of Max’s hair between her fingers as she allowed herself to be lost in the passion of their kiss. After several minutes, Liz stopped and looked at Max again with a smile…<br><br>“How about now?”<br><br>Max nodded and caught his breath. “Oh Yeah! Now everything is up and running! All systems are now… definitely operational! You can count on it! Whew!”<br><br>Liz smiled and put her arms around Max’s neck then pressed her lips to his again. Outside their window, the stars flew by in the darkness of space, as Liz pulled Max out of his seat onto the floor with her.<br><br>“How about the warp drive, Max? Shall we test it out, too… just to be sure?”<br><br>In other parts of the ship, things were also going well… perhaps monotonously well. Michael had finished playing a game of Jaht Roo with Jim and had beat Jim handily… again. Jim was actually getting pretty good at playing Jaht Roo and was able to give Michael a real run for his money these days. It was a tribute to Jim’s expertise that Michael would play him at all. Still, Jim had never been able to beat Michael at the game. Only Max… and occasionally Varec… had ever been able to beat Michael at Jaht Roo. <br><br>Michael had taken to the strategic elements of Jaht Roo like a fish to water. It was his game. But in spite of this, he still could only beat Max or Varec about half the time. Max had a sharpness of concentration and ability to make fast mental computations that made him hard to beat, and Varec had a scientific mind that lent itself to complex computations and unusual gambits… ways to win that no one else had ever thought of before and that were therefore hard to defend against. Michael had spent a lot of hours dissecting and analyzing Varec’s unusual “moves.” More often than not, though, Varec himself did not remember exactly what he had done. He simply responded to each move as a new challenge, coming up with radical and new responses each time. It was this fact that made him so hard to beat.<br><br>“Looks like I’m gonna need to change my clothes,” Jim said, standing up and wiping some of the light sugary dough off his shirt. <br><br>In the game of Jaht Roo, the players make strategic moves with small “space ship” playing pieces made of sugar dough. If a player miscalculates and lands on a claimed or mined space, his ship might be blown up by a puff of air from beneath the table, usually resulting in someone… or everyone… getting candy-cottony jaht roo strands on themselves.<br><br>Michael smiled a satisfied smile. “Yeah, you got kind of blasted when I blew those last ships up. But if you don’t want to have those clothes washed, you could probably just eat ‘em now… They’re sugar coated.”<br><br>Jim stuck his finger in his mouth and nodded. “Yeah, maybe I’ll do that. Good idea!” <br><br>Michael grinned. He knew Jim was kidding, but the image of Jim eating his shirt made him smile anyway.<br><br>Walking in the door just as Michael and Jim were finishing their game, Maria sat down in Michael’s lap and kissed him.<br><br>“How’d your game go?”<br><br>Michael gave her that patented half grin that meant, “What do you think?”<br><br>“I take it you won.”<br><br>Michael nodded. “Was there ever any other possibility?”<br><br>“You might lose someday.”<br><br>“To Jim? No way! He’s good… but he’ll never be as good as me. D’you see his clothes,” Michael asked with a chuckle.<br><br>Maria reached over and plucked a small stray sugar strand from Michael’s face then stuck it in her mouth and closed her lips slowly over her finger. “Mmmmmm. Too bad you didn’t lose. I could have helped you get some of that sugar off.”<br><br>Michael’s smile disappeared. “Well… you know… yeah… now that you mention it, I think I did get some on me.” Michael quickly dropped some strands of the cotton-candyish sugar dough on himself, hoping Maria wouldn’t notice…<br><br>“See… right here… and here… and…”<br><br>“Maybe we’d better go clean that off somewhere more… private,” Maria said.<br><br>Michael nodded and swallowed. “Yeah… yeah, I was thinking the same thing, too.”<br><br><br><br> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center">**********</div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><br><br>Michael knocked once on the observatory door then grinned. “Looks like we’re in luck! Alex and Isabel haven’t got here yet. It’s all ours.”<br><br>Maria smiled, as Michael quickly scrawled, “Observatory closed for temporary repairs” on a piece of paper and stuck it on the door. Then he picked Maria up and carried her inside, laying her down on the oversized Antarian sofa by the back wall. The observatory had long been a favorite “make-out” place for several of the couples, but especially for Alex and Isabel and for Michael and Maria, because the huge dome gave a feeling of oneness with the universe. From inside the observatory, one could watch the bright stars go by in the darkness of space with no visible roof overhead.<br><br>Michael laid himself down on the sofa beside Maria and kissed her, enjoying the moist, soft warmth of her lips on his and the soft feel of her hair as it caressed his face.<br><br>Maria looked up at the stars rushing by overhead and sighed.<br><br>“I’ve missed this place. You know, Michael, sometimes I wish no one had ever found those spheres. With them, we never get to go anywhere in the ship anymore. I really love this ship!”<br><br>“Yeah, me too…” Michael said, running his hand gently over Maria’s face and up into her hair. “It’s like the Love Boat of the cosmos or something… it’s a vacation just being onboard.”<br><br>Maria smiled and pressed her face against Michael’s hand, enjoying his gentle touch. “Yeah… I guess that’s it. It’s relaxing.” She kissed Michael again. “And it’s romantic.”<br><br>“Well… you’ve gotta have the perfect partner, of course,” Michael said with a grin.<br><br>“Of course,” Maria agreed, smiling. “That’s why it’s so perfect for us.”<br><br>Michael grinned and kissed Maria again.<br><br>“Now where were those strands of jaht roo sugar you got on you,” Maria asked playfully. “I’m feeling like some candy… and I’ve got a real sweet-tooth coming on. I’m afraid there might not be much left of you after I get through, Michael.”<br><br>“It’s a price I’m willing to pay,” Michael said breathlessly, “to keep you satisfied, Darling.”<br><br>Maria placed her lips over one of the strands of sugar dough that Michael had dropped on his clothes and ran her tongue in slow circles over it, removing the sugary substance; and Michael closed his eyes and ran his hands down Maria’s back, locating and releasing the most immediate impediment to his desires. Then he took the matter of Maria’s happiness into his own capable hands, as he caressed her body with kisses.<br><br><br><br> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center">**********</div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><br><br>Alex and Isabel arrived at the observatory to find a hand-scrawled note stuck on the door. Isabel pulled it off and read it.<br><br>“Oh, great!”<br><br>“Well, if it’s out of order, we can go somewhere else,” Alex said.<br><br>“It’s not out of order. That’s Michael’s writing. He’s in there with Maria.”<br><br>“Well, let’s go to the arboretum then… or the gardens,” Alex suggested. “Let Michael and Maria use the observatory for awhile.”<br><br>“Oh! You don’t understand, Alex.”<br><br>“What’s to understand, Iz? It’s a public place. Anybody can use it.”<br><br>“Yeah but… it’s our place, Alex… That’s always been our personal love retreat… Michael’s turning it into a… a… a Nookie nook!”<br><br>Alex laughed. “What’s that?”<br><br>“You know…” Isabel said… “He’s just in there for… a little nookie.”<br><br>“Yeah… so?”<br><br>“We come here to enjoy our love together, Alex. It’s totally different. If they’re gonna use it all the time, we might as well put a sign on the door that says, ‘Guerin’s Nookie Nook! Enter at your own risk!’”<br><br>Alex nodded. “Well, I’ll tell you what, Iz… There’s a deep, warm pond up in the gardens with a nice waterfall… and I think it has Alex and Isabel written all over it.”<br><br>Isabel smiled. “Yeah… Yeah! It does, doesn’t it!” Then her smile disappeared again.<br><br>“Wait a minute, that’s the pond Michael and Maria were swimming in… naked.”<br><br>“That was on the last trip, Iz… It was a long time ago. They changed the water since then.”<br><br>Isabel smiled again. “Yeah! Okay! Let’s go there then.” Isabel and Alex got back into the glass ascension chamber and headed for the gardens.<br><br><br><br> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center">**********</div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><br><br>Isabel stood on the rocks above the waterfall and dropped her skirt seductively behind her, watching Alex, as he watched her from below. Then, wearing nothing but the smile on her face, she dove over the falls into the pond. <br><br>The garden pond was at least half again as long as an Olympic swimming pool and easily twice as wide. It had a sandy bottom that tapered off naturally to a depth of about thirty feet near the falls. The falls themselves had been created by directing the flow of water over some large rocks from a height of around fifteen feet. Behind the falls, Michael had discovered a sandy nook, like a small cave, that provided privacy and shelter from prying eyes, in case anyone came in unexpectedly. Isabel and Alex, however, were unaware of this niche, and Michael had not mentioned it to anyone else, preferring to keep it as his and Maria’s little secret.<br><br>Isabel swam beneath the water to the rocks where Alex was sitting. One moment, Alex was relaxing with his feet dangling in the warm water… the next moment he was being pulled in with a hand around his ankle. Alex sputtered and made his way back to the surface.<br><br>“I still have my clothes on, Iz! Now they’re soaked.”<br><br>“I guess you’ll have to take ‘em off and let ‘em dry then,” Isabel said with a twinkle in her eye. She helped Alex strip out of his shirt, then his pants, tossing them onto the rocks where Alex had, until a moment ago, been sitting. Then she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips to his. Still holding the kiss, Alex wrapped his arms around Isabel in turn, as they sank slowly together to the sandy bottom below.<br><br><br><br> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center">**********</div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><br><br>Meanwhile, on the ship’s bridge, Max and Liz were still “testing the warp drive” (just to be sure). Liz never knew why she opened her eyes at that particular moment… maybe she perceived a shadow… maybe it was a feeling she had… maybe it was merely coincidence. But what she saw was not what she ever expected to see. The room was filled with stars. Well… not real stars… Real stars would have been much too large to fit inside the room. But something was floating all around the room with them, rushing in through the walls from the front of the ship and out through the back.<br><br>Liz tried to get Max’s attention, which was a bit of a challenge, as his mind was running full speed on one track at the moment. Persistence paid off, though, in the end.<br><br>“What? Is something wrong?”<br><br>“Max, I’m seeing stars.”<br><br>Max smiled. “Yeah? Me, too.”<br><br>“No, Max, I mean like real stars… or something. Not real stars, but… there’s something in the air in here.”<br><br>“Did Jim bring some of that turkey onboard?”<br><br>“Get real, Max. Look! See for yourself!”<br><br>Max turned over and looked around the room. At first, he almost wasn’t sure where he was. The room seemed to be full of little bright stars flying by… and the walls seemed to be… dissolving.<br><br>Max jumped up quickly, his mind suddenly returning to full duty as the adrenaline began to pump.<br><br>“Call Varec up here, Liz… on the com. Something weird’s going on… This doesn’t look right. Varec never said anything about the ship disintegrating around us on this trip.”<br><br>For a moment, Liz stood there, eyes wide, watching the stars float around her; and to Max, for just a moment, it appeared that Liz was outside the ship, in the vacuum of space. But then Liz suddenly jumped and ran for the com.<br><br>“What the galaxies is happening, Liz? The ship is just disappearing! Liz?”<br><br>Max looked back. Liz was gone. So was that entire side of the ship where Liz had been. Max was staring into open space, as tiny starry lights rushed by him. It might have been beautiful… if he could have thought of beauty at this moment.<br><br>In the gardens, Isabel pushed away from the rocks at the side of the pool and swam back towards Alex under the water. For a moment, she had a feeling that the water was rushing by her, escaping to somewhere, and that she was being carried with it to wherever it was going. Looking through the haze of the water, Isabel would have sworn she saw Liz reaching for Max, then that she saw Jim Valenti, with a look on his face that strongly suggested that he was seeing something totally unexpected, too. As the stream continued to carry Isabel along, she thought she saw Michael and Maria in the observatory. But she couldn’t be sure, because the water distorted her vision. After almost a full minute, the stream began to subside, and Isabel swam to the surface. To her great relief, Alex was there on the rocks looking for her.<br><br>In the observatory, Maria opened her eyes to find Michael lying beside her, his eyes wide, looking like he was in shock.<br><br>“Michael? Michael! Snap out of it! Hey, I know I give mind-boggling love, lover boy, but wake up here!”<br><br>Michael shook his head and blinked his eyes several times.<br><br>“Michael, what’s the matter with you?”<br><br>Michael pointed upward, still in shock. <br><br>“I just saw Isabel swim by… naked.”<br><br>Maria’s mouth dropped open. “You were thinking about her while you were doing it with me!? OH! God, Michael! That is just so… Oh! That’s like… incest or something! For God’s sake, Michael, she’s almost your sister!” <br><br>Maria was whacking Michael, but he didn’t seem to be noticing.<br><br>“No, Maria! GEEZ! Get real, Maria! ISABEL? No! No way! No! I wasn’t, like, thinking about her. I saw her! She swam by right over us… and she was naked as a bab…”<br><br>“Oh!” Maria jumped up from the sofa and threw one of the pillows at Michael. “You can’t even make up a good story, Michael! If I was too much for you, you didn’t have to make something up to get out of it!”<br><br>Michael was shaking his head emphatically. “No, really, Maria! I love you! I didn’t want to stop. I just lost my concentration. If you’d seen what I saw, you would have, too. Believe me, Maria, I love you… just you… always.” Michael wrapped his arms around Maria. “You’re everything to me, Maria. I could never get tired of you.” Michael kissed Maria lovingly, and in spite of her misgivings, she found herself melting into his arms again. <br><br>“Dammit! Isabel! She must have put that image in my mind somehow… with some kind of dreamwalk or something!”<br><br>“Why would Isabel do that?”<br><br>“Because we got the observatory before they did maybe. I don’t know! I just saw her swimming over us, and… and… I lost it.”<br><br>Maria gave Michael a pouty look. “Well, I can help you find it again.”<br><br>Michael laid himself back down beside Maria. “Yeah… yeah… She’s gone now… Hell, maybe I did imagine it all. Am I going crazy, Maria?”<br><br>“My love has been known to do that to men,” Maria said with a pouty smile.<br><br>Michael smiled, too, knowing that Maria was teasing him. “Oh? And how many men would that be?”<br><br>“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t count anymore…”<br><br>Michael pounced on top of Maria. “Well, I’ll have to make sure you don’t forget ME then, huh? You won’t, you know!”<br><br>“Prove it,” Maria said, smiling again. <br><br><br><br> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center">**********</div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><br><br>The anomalies on the ship had by now subsided, and everything quickly returned to some semblance of normality. Max and Liz immediately consulted with Varec about what had happened, but for the most part, life on the new granolith returned to its usual pace. That evening, everyone gathered in the dining room for dinner as usual, and it was almost as though nothing had ever happened. Almost…<br><br>“Did anybody else experience anything… unusual about four hours ago,” Max asked. “Liz and I saw little stars all around us.”<br><br>Alex smiled knowingly. “What were you doing at the time, Max?”<br><br>“Don’t get ahead of me, Alex. It wasn’t like that.” Max looked over at Liz. “Well… maybe it was, but that wasn’t… I mean… there was something else going on. The walls seemed to dissolve and disappear all around us, and Liz looked like she was floating away in space.”<br><br>“Do you know what caused it,” Michael asked.<br><br>“We think we do… We’re not sure. Varec said it was the result of passing through a dimensional rift into a new dimension at an improper angle. He’s doing some recalculations.”<br><br>Varec nodded.<br><br>“Did, uh, did anybody else see anything… unusual…” Isabel asked cautiously.<br><br>“Like what?” Michael asked.<br><br>Isabel smiled. “Oh, nothing. If you didn’t see it, I guess there was nothing else to see.”<br><br>“I guess not,” Michael agreed. “Did you see anything, Jim?”<br><br>“Me? No, I didn’t see anything… unusual.”<br><br>Michael looked at Varec. Varec shook his head. “No… No, I didn’t see anything.”<br><br>Isabel breathed a sigh of relief and smiled then picked up her spoon and took a sip of her Grelligo soup.<br><br>“I’m curious, though,” Varec said to Isabel. “Are many earth girls born with a picture of a little rose right here?” Varec pointed at his rear.<br><br>Michael snickered. “Is that what it was? I thought it was a birth mark.”<br><br>“Naw, it was a rose,” Jim said. “a little, tiny tattoo… Couldn’t you tell?” <br><br>Isabel’s head sank slowly down onto the table. Well, maybe it wasn’t so bad. She could always kill everybody. And failing that… she could probably still eject herself from one of the air locks.<br><br><br><br>tbc<br><br><br>Coming up: A message from earth <br><br> <br> <br> <p></p><i></i>

Now that's what I call romance! Stars, ponds and visions!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> That last part was pretty funny! I'll bet Isabel just wanted to die! I think those three better wtach out cuz she's gonna get them back and good! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> I loved Maria's reaction to Michael seeing Isabel naked! It was soooo Maria! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br>But what was the rift anyway? Was it dangerous? <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... f8323d.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>

Another incredible update Gerry. How do you do it. You are so prolific, and it's all good! <p><center><i>It all started with a boy, a girl, and a silver handprint.</i></center><center><a href=http://pub84.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsrealm><img src=http://members.aol.com/majiklmoon/image ... a></center> </p><i></i>

Thanks for the great feedbacks, Isabel and Tracie! The rift is the area where they actually pass from one dimension into another (Heck, what do I know? That's how I'm using it here, though! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> ) As to whether or not it's dangerous, I'm not sure that question has been answered yet. The "anomaly" that they went through before turned out okay (If one doesn't count embarrassment) <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> , but who knows what lies ahead. This is uncharted territory. We're nearing the big showdown on earth, though, so read on! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :ufo --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/ufo.gif ALT=":ufo"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br><br><br> <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/skysymb ... <!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:gold;">Gerry<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br>Hopeless Candy-Coated, Stargazing, <!--EZCODE UNDERLINE START--><span style="text-decoration:underline">Dreamer</span><!--EZCODE UNDERLINE END-->!<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>

The Four Faces of Rath<br><br><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:medium;">The Message</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br><br>Chapter 62</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>LXII <br><br><br><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:large;">T</span><!--EZCODE FONT END-->hree days had passed since the unusual visual and physical disturbances that had shaken up the ship. After determining that the anomalies had been the result of the ship’s passing through a dimensional rift at an improper angle, Varec recalculated their trajectory and compensated for the differences that the new trajectory would make in their voyage. So far, there had been no new anomalies that were of any major consequence, but there had been several “unusual” smaller occurrences.<br><br>It might be unfair, really, to call them “unusual.” Traveling through dimensions was anything BUT “normal and usual” for Max and his fellow Antarian travelers, so everything about this trip could be deemed unusual… or nothing could be… No one could really be sure which. <br><br>Space itself was a good example. Though generally dark except for the light reflected from planetoids or given off by distant stars, space at the edge of a dimensional rift was often brilliant, exploding with lights and images that reminded the travelers of the Northern Lights seen on earth near the Arctic Circle. In fact, traveling through these “Northern Lights” of space often bordered on being a psychedelic experience. Varec had at first conjectured that the lights were the result of visual and brain disturbances caused by the magnetic and ionizing fields of the dimensional rifts themselves and did not actually exist at all; but after significant study on the effect, he had determined that the lights were indeed real. <br><br>Another “odd” phenomenon that they had discovered was something that Varec aptly named the “Speed-Trajectory Ratio to Size factor.” Only Varec -and Liz, once he explained it to her- actually seemed to understand it. Everyone else could see its effect, but the factors that caused it were simply beyond their comprehension. The STR-S factor, or “STARS factor,” as Max and Michael started calling it euphemistically, had an unusual and initially disconcerting effect. Altering the speed and/or trajectory of the ship, especially as they traveled through a dimensional rift, seemed to increase or decrease the actual physical size of the ship… and with it, of course, everyone in it. This had been hard to actually prove, since there was nothing to hold up beside the ship for size comparison, but Varec had confirmed it mathematically. The others had already noticed a difference in the relative look of space at different times. At one point, the nearby stars and planets would look normal… but with a slight alteration of the ship’s speed or trajectory, these same stars and planets could be made to appear either vastly smaller or vastly larger in comparison to their ship. As it was unlikely that the stars and planets were growing and shrinking, even the “non-scientific minds” onboard had to admit that the alternative was the only likely answer… as disconcerting as it might be.<br><br>The STR-S factor did have a practical application, though. Making the ship significantly larger resulted in the ship passing more quickly through a dimension. Conversely, a smaller ship took longer to pass through a dimension. Speed was, of course, a factor, but even the non-scientists onboard could see that there was an appreciable difference in how long it took them to pass through a dimension when they altered the speed-trajectory ratio. <br><br>Varec calculated that, at different speed-trajectory ratios already tested, the ship had at one time been as small as a kyrin - about the size of a dime - and the individuals on board had been the size of amoebas… and at another time, the ship had been as large as a planet, with everyone onboard standing over a hundred feet high… but since everything was relative, no one could tell if this was so or not. Small or large, no one felt any difference, having nothing to compare themselves to and no gravity except the ship’s artificial gravity pulling on them. They would have to take Varec and Liz’s word for it. One thing was certain, though… a ship the size of a kyrin took a lot longer to pass through a dimension than a ship the size of Jupiter, and this knowledge could be useful.<br><br>Varec had already begun to put together a chart that would plot the STR-S differential. If he was successful, they would know, by following the chart, what trajectory and speed to use to reduce their actual travel time or to make the ship larger or smaller. In fact, Michael was already thinking of this latter possibility as a potential advantage…<br><br>“You know, Max… this could be pretty cool, actually! Too bad it doesn’t work in regular space… only in dimensional space. Can you imagine, back when the Ghors attacked us, if we’d been able to make the ship suddenly the size of a small planet and we were like a hundred feet tall. No Ghor problem!”<br><br>Max grinned and nodded. “Yeah.”<br><br>“But if they were traveling at the same STR-S as we were, they’d be just as big as we were… relatively,” Liz reminded them.<br><br>“Well, yeah…” Michael said, thinking quickly, “but let’s say we were normal-sized and we were being attacked. We suddenly change our STARS factor, and Bingo! We’re as big as a planet before they know what happened and can change theirs. That would work… wouldn’t it?”<br><br>Liz shrugged and smiled. “Seems logical, Mr. Spock, sir.”<br><br>“Well, I think it would work,” Michael said. “Don’t you, Max?”<br><br>“I’d try it,” Max admitted. “It sounds reasonable. But who knows what’s reasonable out here when no one’s ever done it before. I guess we’ll only know for sure if it ever happens.”<br><br>“Yeah… yeah, it would work,” Michael said.<br><br>“Well, that STR-S thing would explain why I’m hungry again,” Alex mused. “I ate for an amoeba, and now I’m a human… or am I? Are we human-sized right now or what?”<br><br>Liz smiled. “It doesn’t work like that, Alex. “Whatever you ate would all be relative, too.”<br><br>“Well, I like my theory anyway,” Alex said. “And I’m getting hungry again.”<br><br>Liz smiled. “It’s the excitement of the voyage. You burn the calories faster, because your mind and body are all revved up.”<br><br>“Shrinking and expanding always does that to me,” Alex said with a wry grin.<br><br>“How do we know that we even are the size we think we are… I mean… ever,” Maria asked.<br><br>“What do you mean,” Alex asked.<br><br>“Well, maybe the universe and everything in it is expanding and contracting all the time and we expand and contract with it. If everything is relative, how would we even know?”<br><br>“That’s like the old question of if a tree fell in the forest and no one was there to hear it did it really make a sound,” Alex said.<br><br>“Well did it?” Liz asked, raising her eyebrows.<br><br>“Of course it did,” Alex replied. “What difference does it make if anyone heard it or not? It fell, and it made sound waves in the air, didn’t it?”<br><br>Liz smiled. “Yeah, but what are sound waves? …just disturbances in the air. Is it really sound if nothing is there to interpret those waves and make something out of them?”<br><br>“Of course it’s sound,” Alex said. “What else would it be? That’s like saying that there’s no music on this CD.”<br><br>“There’s not,” Liz said. “If you want to get technical, there’s only a string of data… just a bunch of ones and zeros. They have to be interpreted by another machine and heard by you before they become music.”<br><br>Isabel took the CD from Alex and held it up to her ear. The CD began to play music. <br><br>“Okay,” Liz said… “Another machine… or Isabel Evans.”<br><br>Alex smiled. “Well… okay… but the data is there on the CD, and the sound waves produced by the falling tree are in the air just waiting to be interpreted… so it made sound. There!”<br><br>Liz nodded. “If you wish.”<br><br>“I hate to break up this interesting discussion,” Jim Valenti said, entering the room at that moment, but Max, you asked me to let you know if anything unusual happened in the control room.”<br><br>Max looked at Jim, suddenly forgetting about everything else. The words “unusual” and “happened” in the same sentence seemed to have that effect on him recently.<br><br>“What happened?”<br><br>“I think we’re intercepting some kind of message,” Jim said. “It seems to be a message anyway… I think… but it’s in some kind of code.”<br><br>Max, Michael, Liz, and Varec all rushed to the control room, followed closely by Jim and the others.<br><br>“I don’t hear anything,” Michael said.<br><br>“It’s not audible,” Jim replied. “Look at that area right between those two stars over there. What do you see?”<br><br>Max and Michael watched for a couple of minutes.<br><br>“It looks like a light is being sent out from one of those small stars… It could be a code… or it could just be a pulsing star.”<br><br>“Like a pulsar?” Michael asked.<br><br>Max nodded.<br><br>“No,” Varec said emphatically. “Jim’s right. It is a message.”<br><br>“How do you know,” Max asked.<br><br>“It’s an old code and an old trick. I haven’t seen it used since… since the pods were taken to earth. The protectors were taught it. It’s not an easy message to send.”<br><br>“What is it?” Max asked. “Can you tell what it says?”<br><br>Varec was already making notes in his head, as he watched the dim light pulse and flicker between the two stars.<br><br>“What it is is a rather sophisticated mind trick that was supposed to allow a protector of the king… and later a protector of the pods… to provide information to an Antarian ship in space even if he was unable to be near any communication device. Only a few protectors were ever able to master it, though, and the effort to teach it was so time-consuming and difficult that teaching it was abandoned after the pods were sent to earth. By producing energy waves in the brain, the protector could cause some stars that were close to each other to exchange small amounts of ion charges, and this created flickers of light in space between those stars. If the protector mastered the procedure well enough, he could control the pulses and use them to transmit a coded signal. The protector couldn’t control where the message went. It went out randomly, but wherever there was an Antarian ship in space, it was likely to spot the pulse somewhere among the stars… if it knew what to look for.<br><br>What it says is a bit difficult to read… but… it seems to be repeating one message over and over…<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>There is danger to the ones you wish to protect. Enemy forces amassing on Eluymer.</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>“That’s it?”<br><br>“That’s it.”<br><br>“Could it be an old message… you know… something left over from years ago?”<br><br>Varec shook his head. “No. This type of message can only be seen while it is being sent. Someone is sending it right now… from earth.”<br><br>“In what dimension?”<br><br>Varec shook his head. “I… I’d say the one we’re going to… Dimension Y. But I don’t know how. I don’t think there were more than five protectors who ever learned to use this code. Only two or three ever really mastered it… And I never knew anyone who could make it work through another dimension.”<br><br>“How did you know the signals wouldn’t pass through to the other dimensions,” Max asked.<br><br>“That’s a good point,” Varec admitted. “We didn’t. Nobody had ever traveled interdimensionally, so I was just assuming that it was a skill that would have to be learned, but you are correct… It is possible that the signal travels interdimensionally on its own.”<br><br>“So someone is trying to tell us… I assume it’s us… that Liz and the others are in danger on earth, and the enemy is amassing,” Michael said. “Is that it? Isn’t that the gist of it?”<br><br>“I believe that’s what someone is saying,” Varec agreed.<br><br>“Then that someone is basically telling us to get our butts in gear and hurry up and get there… or it may be too late.”<br><br>“I believe so,” Varec said, nodding again.<br><br>“How far are we from them… time-wise?”<br><br>Varec looked at the time piece on his wrist and made some mental calculations.<br><br>“We can be there in four days… at the speed/trajectory ratio we prefer… the one that seems to produce the fewest anomalies.”<br><br>“Or…” Michael coaxed.<br><br>“Or…” Varec said… “We could be there by morning… twenty-seven hours from now… by altering our STR-S factor… but we may subject ourselves to unknown anomalies like the one we had three days ago.”<br><br>“And if we don’t,” Michael said, “Liz and the others may be dead when we get there, and the whole trip will have been for nothing.”<br><br>Varec nodded.<br><br>“Well,” Max sighed, “I think we know what has to be done. There’s one good thing about this message. We know Liz and the others are still alive.”<br><br>Michael smiled. “Yeah! Let’s make sure they stay that way, Max.”<br><br>Max nodded and looked at Varec.<br><br>“I guess it’s decided then,” Varec whispered. “We take the risks. I’ll plot a new STR-S factor for the ship right away.”<br><br>Max smiled. “Thank you. We only have to get through any anomalies that may pop up for one more day. We can do that, can’t we? Let’s save Liz and Alex.”<br><br><br><br>tbc<br><br><br>Coming up: The cavalry arrives to find that they are definitely not a moment too soon. <br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

Great update <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> !!!!! as always <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> and lookie, <!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Coming up: The cavalry arrives to find that they are definitely not a moment too soon. <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> we get previews now. Of course, when I read calvery, I immediately got visions of F-Troop <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p><center><i>It all started with a boy, a girl, and a silver handprint.</i></center><center><a href=http://pub84.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsrealm><img src=http://members.aol.com/majiklmoon/image ... a></center> </p><i></i>

Great !! an update !!<br><br>That would be fan to see , all those changes due traveling between dimensions !! <br><br>Can´t wait to see them arriving on earth !!<br>Hurry !! <p></p><i></i>

What a way to get a message..but I'm glad someone was there to notice! Now get the calvary there already!!! <p></p><i></i>

Some message!!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :thumbsup --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> At least it gave them some information or inkling on the danger! <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... f8323d.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>

BUMP!! <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... f8323d.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>