The Saga continues

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This story, as with all of the author's previous related stories, is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious way. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

Julie had arrived back in New Jersey from D.C. on the red-eye into Newark International. She and Pat were back home in less than two hours, the short flight just an unremarkable memory. The red message light on her answering machine was blinking, telling her that there were two new messages.

She fed Pat first and then listened to her messages. The first was from her friend Marie Michaels, and was an ordinary ‘how are you doing, let’s get together soon’ call. The second message was anything but ordinary. It was from Dr. Gold, the veterinarian, and Julie could tell by her voice that she was quite upset about something.

What an odd message! Julie rewound it and pressed the play button, listening carefully to the familiar voice again. “Julie, this is Dr. Gold. Something terrible has happened. I . . . I really can’t go into details, not on the phone, but you must call me as soon as you get this message. It involves your dog, Pat. Please call soon, I don’t know where else to turn!”

Julie looked down at Pat who, after eating her meal, stretched out comfortably on the floor in front of the sofa. She had begun to think of Pat, who was androgynous, as a ‘she’, since the dog did in fact get pregnant, much to the amazement of Dr. Gold and everyone else. In fact, Julie could only guess that the vet’s call had something to do with Pat’s remarkable pregnancy.

It was too late to call now, but she would stop by the clinic, where she had once worked as Dr. Gold’s assistant, first thing tomorrow morning. Julie was tired and decided to go to sleep. Her last thought before drifting off was that it would all be cleared up in the morning.

In this, Julie was quite mistaken.

-- Rob Michaels (thesonofdust@yahoo.com), September 03, 2001

Answers

oh!

-- helen grabs a pillow and settles down for a story (story@story.story), September 03, 2001.

The sun rose brilliantly red in the morning sky, promising another very hot and humid day. On the way to the doctor’s office, Julie wondered again about the message. She had known Dr. Gold a long time. Julie was more than just a former employee of the animal clinic --- she and the doctor had become friends.

Dr. Gold was a complete professional who took a scientific and methodical approach to everything. She didn’t get upset easily. In fact, now that Julie thought about it, she couldn’t even remember a time when the doctor had been upset at all. Julie pressed down slightly firmer on the gas pedal, turned to Pat, and said; “We’ll be there in a few minutes pooch.” Pat answered ‘yes’ with a single, gentle woof.

Julie thought back to when she had brought Pat in for an examination, and the doctor’s subsequent astonishment and excitement on finding that Pat was indeed pregnant --- something that was extremely rare if not totally unheard of in androgynous animals. Unfortunately, even though they were friends, there was no way that Julie could tell Dr. Gold the truth about the pregnancy. It was all classified "above top secret", and besides, it wasn’t a story that could be believed even if she did tell it. Only Helen, Lucky, and Brooks, her co-workers at the Advanced Defense Research Organization (ADRO), a secret department of the National Security Office, knew the truth.

Julie smiled to herself as she stopped the car for a red light and fantasized about telling the doctor what had really happened... You see, Dr.Gold, Aliens abducted Pat and implanted her with a human fetus – but not just your regular run-of-the-mill human fetus. No, Pat carried an anti-matter clone of someone that the Aliens needed to eliminate. And soon after you examined Pat, the Aliens came and removed the fetal clone, and then they went through a wormhole to their own planet on the other side of the universe. Julie laughed out loud at the thought of telling the truth to the good Doctor.

The light turned green and she drove down the street towards the animal clinic. The truth wouldn’t do at all, but she was prepared with what she thought was a good cover story. Detective Brooks, who had recruited her into ADRO, had taught her the importance of a cover story when she first joined ADRO. It was only a guess on her part that the doctor’s "something terrible" was related to the bizarre pregnancy, but Julie knew that it always paid to be prepared. In her line of work there was no other option. And prepared she was...

or at least she thought so.

-- (thesonofdust@hi.helen), September 03, 2001.


Oh boy! A story! :-)

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 04, 2001.

RATS!!!!!!!!

Kit and I are leaving in about 10 minutes for the first of our annual trips. Will be gone 10-12 days. And Rob starts a good story.

Well, I'll just have to catch up when we get back. Y'all have fun!

----------------------------------------------------------

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 04, 2001.


Julie parked in the back lot and looked at Pat. “Dr. Gold doesn’t know about how special you are – how we can communicate telepathically, how you can answer questions by barking, or anything – and we need to keep things that way. Understood Pat?”

Woof!

Julie deliberately had arrived early – before Dr. Gold had any appointments. She and Pat walked to the back entrance, usually reserved for just employees, and opened the door. Doctor Gayla Gold was writing at her desk. She looked up, saw them, and smiled.

“Julie! I’m so glad to see you! Thank God you came. I just have to talk to you – it’s about Pat.”

The two women exchanged hugs. Julie smiled. “I got your message and figured I’d come to see you before you had any appointments. Is something wrong with Pat?”

“There was a break-in right here at the clinic!”

“What? Here? Nothing ever happens like that in this town. I’m sorry to hear it, but what’s that got to do with Pat?”

Gayla let out a long sigh before answering. “Whoever it was took the two blood samples that I drew from Pat to determine if the dog was pregnant. Nothing else was missing, even the cash in the register was untouched. Whoever it was knew what the hell they were doing. There were no signs of a break-in. But everything having to do with my tests on Pat’s blood, even the reports and data on my computer – everything was gone when I came in the next morning. I’ve been very upset since. You can imagine why! I didn’t want to tell you, at least not right away, but they were the strangest samples I’ve ever seen. Something was in Pats blood that I couldn’t even identify!”

Julie gasped. “Oh my God. Did you call the police?”

“No! I’m afraid. The fact that somebody came in here and took the samples and did what they did, especially since there were anomalies in the blood – well, I thought maybe you could help, that maybe you might have some idea about all this. After all, Pat is your dog, and now you are working for the government and you can’t even say on what. You have to admit this is all really strange.”

Now it was Julie’s turn to sigh. She sat down in Gayla Gold’s office, and Pat stretched out quietly on the floor by her feet. Julie began her cover story, which had more than a grain of truth in it. “Gayla, you are right about my classified work for the government. I work for the National Security Office (NSO), and I can’t tell you the whole story, but at least I’ll tell you what I can. Pat was the subject of an experiment. Androgynous animals, as you know, are rare, and so they tried artificially inseminating Pat and she did become pregnant. Nothing, however, was born. Pat lost the babies. The experiment was declared a success though. Afterwards, I asked if I could bring her in for you to examine – after all, you are her vet! – and there still must have been some traces of stuff that they used to do the experiment left in Pat’s blood. That’s why you got some strange results probably, but I’m not a scientist. This part about someone breaking in really worries me though. It means that it must have been someone from inside the NSO.”

Gayla interrupted. “But that means it was people you work with, people that you know, who broke in here! This is awful!”

“Calm down Gayla! Let’s not jump to any conclusions. What you say is probably true, though I don’t know for sure. And I certainly knew nothing about it! The only reason I can think of that they would do such a thing is that they thought it was for your own good somehow. I’m only guessing. It was probably my fault for bringing Pat in here in the first place. I really feel terrible!” Julie started sobbing.

“Now, now, Julie. It wasn’t your fault. At least I have some possible answers. It's helped me just being able to talk about it finally! You've helped me. Really you have. I’ve heard about the government doing some around-the-bend things before, but never thought it would happen to me. Anyway, no real harm’s been done to anyone. At least now I can stop worrying about. . .”

Julie looked at Gayla and saw a new and sudden terror in the doctor’s eyes.

“What, Gayla? What’s the matter?”

“Oh my God! Julie, if what you say is true, there is still a problem. You see, I still have a small sample of Pat’s blood! I brought it to my lab at home, to work on in my free time, and it’s still there! What should I do? I, . . . I can’t keep it, that’s for sure!”

“Don’t worry Galya, I promise I’ll get to the bottom of all this if it’s at all possible. I owe that much to you. Let me make some calls and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can find out more. I’ll let you know about what to do with the sample you still have, and tell you everything I find out that I possibly can. Ok?”

Gayla nodded.

Julie went to Dr. Gold’s to get some answers, but instead left with a mystery on her hands. It had to have been ADRO that broke into the clinic! But why? There was only one person who probably knew – her boss, the Head of ADRO, Helen Bee Mebs. On second thought, there might be another who knew. Someone who also works for ADRO... someone who lives right here in town, only ten minutes away.

Julie started driving

-- (thesonofdust@long.chapter), September 04, 2001.



WHO??

-- helen (wide@eyed.listener), September 05, 2001.

Woohoo! My name in 'lights'. J

I like the sound of Gayla Gold. Gayla Silver and Gayla Ruby aren't bad either! ;-)

I'm worried about poor Gayla, though. Something sinister is afoot. Please, DO continue the story!

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 05, 2001.


As she drove, Julie thought about when she first met Detective Brooks. Who would have ever guessed that he would turn out to be the person to recruit her into ADRO. He had also proved his friendship to her, and loyalty to Helen Bee Mebs, many times. If anyone could help unravel the mystery, it was Brooks.

She turned to Pat. “Do you think the good detective will be able to help us?”

Pat looked up at her and gave a single but very soft bark, then looked down at the floor of the car. "Hmmm, looks like you’re bugged by this whole thing too!"

Detective Brooks was just about out the door on his way to the work at the police station. His main job was being the local detective for the small lake community. The work he did for ADRO was important, but it was more of a sideline than anything else. He opened the front door and almost bumped into Julie and Pat.

“Julie! What a surprise. What brings you here?” He could tell by the look on her face that something was up and asked them inside.

Julie found herself sitting in the same chair that she sat in so long ago when Brooks called Helen and they made her a job offer. She shifted uneasily in the chair and began telling Brooks all about the break in, and her cover story.

The detective looked uncomfortable. “Julie, I,. . . I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it. It was me who went into Dr. Gold’s lab – on direct orders from Helen.”

To say Julie was surprised was an understatement. “But why?”

“Helen told me that no evidence must exist due to national security. Think about it Julie, she has a point. Gayla had in her possession blood samples from Pat during the pregnancy. That means she also had, without knowing it, DNA from the anti-matter clone. It’s not only something that officially doesn’t exist, it’s something that’s extremely dangerous! Who knows what the wrong person with the right knowledge could do with it. Anti-matter doesn’t exist naturally on our planet. The aliens created it, and then took the anti-matter clone to their own universe. It doesn't belong here, and when we realized there was still some left, in the blood samples, well - it had to be completely destroyed. Besides all that, I remember Helen being very worried about the doctor’s safety."

Brooks pasued then shook his head. "So you see it’s a damn good thing that I went there and destroyed all of the evidence. There could have been one hell of a mess if I didn’t.”

Understanding registered on Julie’s face. Then, a second later, something else - fear.

She looked at the detective, cleared her throat, and said, in almost a whisper; “But you didn’t get it all. Gayla told me she brought a small sample to her lab at home, and she still has it. Part of the reason I came here was to ask you about what to do with it.”

All of the color drained out of the detective’s face. He looked down towards Pat as if for confirmation.

WOOF!

Detective Brooks got out the Secure Telephone Unit, hesitated slightly, then dialed the phone number of an organization that very few even knew existed, a phone number even fewer had.

-- (thesonofdust@i'm worried.too!), September 05, 2001.


Oh-oh! When even the author is worried... Y'all better put bandaids on those fingernails right now!

Thanks for the new story, Rob! I can hardly wait to read more (hint, hint :-)

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 06, 2001.


Brooks, Pat and Julie listened to the characteristic warble of the STU as it attempted to make a secure communication link to ADRO headquarters in the Pentagon’s E-Ring. After a few seconds the warbling stopped, signaling that a secure line was established.

Helen Bee Mebs frowned. Calls on that line were seldom good news. She picked up and heard the detective’s familiar voice.

“We have a situation.”

Helen listened intently without interrupting for almost ten minutes. She took a deep breath and told Brooks and Julie exactly what needed to be done. After hanging up, she stood and looked out of her pentagon office at the Potomac River slowly rolling by, like a living thing without a care in the world, the early afternoon sun glinting off the surface in ripples of reflective light. It was inspiring and beautiful. She sighed, then speed-dialed the internal office number of her chief scientist, Lucky. She hated waiting. It was going to be a long day.

- - - -

“Gayla? It’s Julie. I talked to some people and found out what happened, and now I know what to do about that sample you have. Can we meet at your home as soon as possible – say, after you close up this afternoon? I’ll fill you in on what happened when we meet. Everything is going to be ok.”

After Julie hung up she looked at Brooks. “All set. The clinic closes in about four more hours, so I’ll meet her right after that.”

Brooks nodded and they all left the house, Pat followed closely behind Julie, as always. They got into their cars to go their separate ways. Before leaving, Brooks pulled up alongside Julie’s car and rolled down his window.

“And remember what Helen said. We must verify with Gayla that there isn’t anything else – no other evidence she’s holding. There’s no way in hell I want to have to call Helen again, unless it’s just to say that everything’s taken care of.”

“Ok, I’ll remember. And then I’ll get the sample and bring it here to you - immediately. You can destroy it, and that’ll take care of things.”

Due to the engine noise from the cars, Julie didn’t hear the very soft barks that came from Pat. Unfortunately, there were two of them.

-- (thesonofdust@getting.bandaids), September 06, 2001.



Oh, oh! Now even the *dog* is worried!

BTW, have Pat's siblings seen him/her in her/his new form? What did they make of it... I've forgotten.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 07, 2001.


I don't think that Pat has been back to the dam since becoming a dog - but if you want that to happen it's no problem :-)

I'll probably post the next chapter before the weekend is done.

-- (thesonofdust@yahoo.com), September 07, 2001.


More? So soon? Yippeeee!!! :-)

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 08, 2001.

The chief scientist of the organization, Lucky, walked into the office of the Head of ADRO and sat down. “You rang?”

Helen Bee Mebs looked worried. “I need you to refresh my memory about the events surrounding the anti-matter clone. At the time, you seemed to be the only one that understood what was going on. You, and maybe Pat.”

Lucky wasn’t expecting this subject to come up, and it showed. He quickly gathered his composure before answering. “Ok. The aliens appointed Two Keepers to safeguard this planet. I am one of them, as you know. The other was your predecessor, Al Lawless. But he went off the deep end and became a threat to the planet with his antics involving the time machine, and then he wanted to use the Alien Teleporter, which is absolutely forbidden. The aliens had to eliminate the threat. So they abducted Pat and implanted in her an anti-matter fetus of Al. When the fetus was developed enough, they came back and removed it, taking it to their own star system. In the meantime, Al broke the rule and went into the Teleporter. But I suspected he might try that, and luckily, I had pre-programmed the machine to go back to the Alien’s star system. So they have him now.”

Lucky paused in thought before continuing. “The Aliens have two choices: to use the anti-matter clone to destroy Alexander and find a new Keeper to replace him, or to try and rehabilitate him somehow for eventual return here – and to his job as the second Keeper. Remember that the planet must have two Keepers. Right now, I’m it. So I expect that they will be acting soon, one way or the other. Is that why you ask?”

“No, that’s not why. It turns out that not all of the anti-matter was in the fetus. A small amount still exists in a blood sample. But that is being taken care of as we speak. I just wanted to make sure I had all the facts right – that I wasn’t missing anything – that’s all.”

Now it was Lucky who looked worried. “That’s serious. Who is taking care of things?”

“Julie will get the sample and give it to Brooks, who knows how to destroy it.”

“Lucky exhaled. “They’re the best. Good.”

“Lucky, when you said the Aliens were coming back – probably soon – will I have any advance knowledge of it. I’d like to monitor the events if possible. Will they trip the NORAD fence again?”

“If they come through our star system and enter from Earth orbit then probably yes. Otherwise no, we wouldn’t know until after they’ve come and gone.”

“What other way is there besides coming in through Earth orbit?” “The wormhole, Helen. The Aliens might come that way and nobody would ever know until it was after the fact. But come to think of it, there is one person who might know ahead of time, uh, not a person, I’m talking about Pat. Pat might know before any of us.”

----------

Just outside Earth orbit, the Mother Ship was loitering. It was waiting for a second Alien ship to arrive from their own star system on the other side of the universe. This second ship would not be coming from space, but from a wormhole in the middle of the area humans sometimes called the Bermuda Triangle. This second ship carried a very special cargo, and it would be rendezvousing with the Mother Ship to drop the cargo off immediately after it arrived.

But there was another task that had to be done first. A small bluish- white almost transparent light-bubble detached from under the belly of the Mother Ship and zoomed down towards the unsuspecting Earth, completely undetectable by any human technology. The bubble arrived at its destination: Golden Lake.

Of the three beavers that used to share the lodge, only Meeny remained. Eeny and Miney had left in the spring to go further downriver and start a new dam together. So it was that Meeny was alone when the bubble came for her. She had seen these bubbles before, back when Pat was with them, and was more curious than afraid. In only a moment the bubble engulfed her, and with a sound like static and smell of ozone it began its short trip back to the Mother Ship.

--------

“Hi Marie, I got your message and decided to just drop by since I was in the neighborhood. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Julie! And Pat too! How wonderful to see you. I was just about to take a little ride myself. It’s been awhile since any of us checked on the beavers. So I was going to head down to Golden Lake now. Wanna come with me?”

“WOOF!”

Julie and Marie both laughed at Pat’s enthusiasm for the idea.

“Sure, I’d love to, as long as we’re back before dinner time – I have an appointment to keep then.”

Marie smiled. “Some good-looking guy huh?”

Julie laughed. “No, not this time. It’s just a business appointment.”

- - - - - -

After Meeny was aboard the Mother Ship, she was prepped for what was about to come next. The second ship was about to arrive. It had just exited the wormhole and was on its way to drop off its special cargo soon.

Then the final phase of the mission would begin. The waiting was almost over. Little could Meeny realize what the Aliens had in store for her.

-- (thesonofdust@tricia.getsherwish), September 08, 2001.


Oh no! Poor Meeny! What are they gonna do to her?

An just for the record, I don't think Alexander CAN be rehabilitated. I certainly would never trust him!

(PS- Lon, did you come back to town? You left, I came home and brought sunshine with me. Today it's raining again. Did you do this?) ;-)

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 09, 2001.



“I don’t understand it,” Marie said. I know that two of the beavers, the large male and one of the females, went away to a different part of the river during this past Spring. The ranger told me about it. But where’s the other female - the one we call Meeny?”

Julie shook her head. Then she began looking at the soft and wet ground by the banks of the river across from the beaver’s dam. “Look, Marie, tracks. I think they’re beaver tracks. Maybe she’s in the dam. After all, they mostly come out at night.”

Marie went over to take a look. “You’re right, Julie. If it’s one thing I can recognize it’s a beaver track, and that definitely is one. I guess she’s around here somewhere.”

“Woof, Woof.”

Julie turned to Pat with surprise. “She isn’t around?”

“Woof!”

Now Marie and Julie exchanged glances. Suddenly Julie felt the familiar tingling sensation at her temples signaling that a telepathic vision from Pat was on the way. She sat down on the ground and closed her eyes. Marie sat down next to her, put her arm around the girl, and looked at Pat expectantly.

The vision came. “How odd, Marie. I see things but I don’t understand them. I don’t know what Pat is trying to tell me this time.” The vision ended and they both stood up. It was time to go. Marie felt slightly disappointed.

Julie was nervous. She had never lied to Marie before, but this time she had to. What she saw could only be told to a handful of people, but unfortunately, Marie wasn’t one of them, much as Julie liked and respected her friend, she had to keep the truth from her this one time.

They started back to the car. Julie had an appointment to keep, and an urgent phone call to make to someone in the Pentagon.

- - - -

For the second time that day, Lucky sat in front of his boss – the Head of ADRO. Helen cleared her throat. “Julie just called. She’s on the way to get the anti-matter sample. But there’s something else going on. Pat gave her a vision. Evidently, you hit it on the head when you said that the dog would be the one to know when the Aliens returned.”

Lucky sat on the edge of his chair. “They’re back?”

“Looks like it. Julie described the ship. They abducted a beaver - Pat’s sister – and have it aboard the ship. She said it looks like they are getting ready to do a medical operation of some kind. Also, she saw the ocean, and a different ship coming out of it. An alien ship that she said looks just like the one that went into the wormhole.”

“Wow, Helen!” Lucky sat in deep thought for several moments before looking up at Helen. “I think I know what they’re up to, but you’ll never believe it.”

“Try me.”

- - - -

“Gayla, Gayla, Gayla! You must calm down. Now that I have the sample, you are out of danger. Nothing like this will ever happen again. It’s over. Take it easy. Ok?”

“But what about you, Julie? You have it now, so you’re the one in danger. I could never live with myself if anything happened to you because of me! Don’t you understand?”

Julie softened her voice. “Don’t worry, Gayla. I have instructions on exactly how to get rid of it and what to do. And I’m going to begin following those instructions immediately. I have to go now.” Julie smiled for her former boss.

“Well, that makes me feel a little better. But promise you’ll call when you’ve got rid of it, ok?”

“You got it. Talk to you later tonight.” She got into her car and headed straight for the residence of detective Brooks.

---------

The Alien ship dropped off its special cargo on the Mother Ship. Then they returned to Earth the way they had come. Soon they would be going back home, through the wormhole.

But first there was one more thing that needed to be done, before they could return to their own star system. They sped towards their Earthly destination - a house on the outskirts of Golden Lake.

Meanwhile, back on the Mother ship, an operation was about to begin.

-- (thesonofdust@trust.noone), September 09, 2001.


Pat goes home, and no one's there... poor Pat.

And the plot thickens.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 09, 2001.


Julie arrived at the Detective’s house about ten minutes after leaving Dr. Gold. Brooks opened the door and watched as Pat followed Julie inside.

“Did you get it?”

Julie nodded.

The detective reached for the secure telephone unit to inform Helen. Just then, the strangest thing happened. The lights in the room started blinking, and then winked out. The electricity had suddenly turned off! They exchanged confused glances. Brooks picked up the phone, but there was no tone. “What the hell?”

It was then that they saw the tiny light balls, six, maybe seven of them appeared in the room seemingly out of nowhere and started zipping around over their heads. Julie was terrified. Brooks went over to her and protectively put his arms around her as the light balls circled overhead. Tense seconds that seemed like hours passed. Brooks held Julie tightly as he looked up at the strange sight. “I don’t know, but I think these things are here for a reason – but not to harm us.”

“Woof”

They had forgotten that Pat was even there! The dog stood on all fours looking at the light balls, tail wagging. Julie looked down at the pooch questioningly. Then the vision came.

“Oh! Pat is showing me the anti-matter sample. I think that’s what this is all about!”

“Woof.”

Julie reached in her pocket as Brooks loosened his grip. She took out the sample and placed it on the coffee table. Instantly, the light- balls converged together into one larger ball and engulfed the sample. Next, the ball began spinning, quicker and quicker, until it was just a blur. Once again, Julie and Brooks exchanged glances. A static-like hum suddenly filled the air, and then, with an audible ‘pop’, it was gone. So was the sample.

Julie sat down. “Wow, that was really something!”

Brooks smiled. “You can say that again. It reminded me of the time when we watched THEM abduct Pat, down in the Bayou last year. We better call Helen now. Looks like the sample is out of our hands for good.”

Julie returned Brooks smile. “It’s probably best this way.”

“Woof!”

- - - - -

With this final part of their mission complete, the Alien ship made a beeline to the wormhole. It had dropped off its special cargo for the Mother Ship, and then successfully made its pickup.

Now it was time for them to return home. The remaining part of the mission would be done by the Mother Ship. . .

where the operation had begun.

-- (thesonofdust@what.next), September 10, 2001.


"Gayla, Gayla, Gayla" I love it! :-)

What next indeed???

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 10, 2001.


I'm afraid to look!

-- helen (aliens@got.meeny), September 10, 2001.

I had planned originally to finish the story days ago but with the events of the week, well, you know how it's been for all of us. I don't want to leave it unfinished though, and now plan on trying to wind it up this week. Rob

-- (thesonofdust@wind.up), September 16, 2001.

(((((Rob))))) Take your time. If creating writing is an outlet/distraction/pleasure for you, then write. If it feels like work or a burden, then wait. All of us understand.

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 16, 2001.

Take your time. We understand.

-- helen (not@writing.either), September 16, 2001.

((((Rob))))

Take all the time you need. We'll still be here waiting impatiently for your next installment ;-)

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 17, 2001.


The brief operation on the Mother Ship was completed successfully. Meeny did just fine, and was now being prepped for return to her dam. The operation itself was simple and required only that something be taken from the beaver---

something that she had plenty of and wouldn’t miss--- something that was about to be combined with the special cargo---

- - - - - -

Lucky was in the middle of explaining his thoughts to Helen when the phone interrupted him. It was Brooks, and Julie. Helen hit the speakerphone button. The two ADRO agents described the events that just happened. Helen congratulated them on a job well done. Even though it hadn’t been planned that way, the end result was the same – the mission was accomplished. The sample was safely off the planet and in the hands of those that created it to begin with. Lucky also breathed a sigh of relief.

Helen was about to hang up when her attention was drawn suddenly away. A secure fax was coming in. She nodded to Lucky who got up and went to get the fax. “Julie? Brooks? Hold on a second, we’ll be right back.”

Helen and Lucky read the fax together. It was a Flash Alert from NORAD. Evidently, an object of unknown origin had just tripped the northern ‘fence’ of the United States of America. They finished reading it and Helen once again pushed the speakerphone button.

“Brooks, we just got a NORAD Flash Alert. Looks like THEY are up to something. THEY tripped the fence about ten minutes ago, inbound. Projected trajectory is Northern New Jersey again. Ten to one they’re going to Golden Lake. You and Julie get down to the Lake and check it out. Report back to us here as soon as possible. And take Pat with you!”

After the call Helen turned to Lucky. “Well, at least the sample has been dealt with. Now what was it you started saying before?”

Lucky sat back down. “I’m certain this has to do with Alexander Lawless somehow. As I said before, the Aliens have only two choices: to kill him using the anti-matter, or to somehow rehabilitate him for return here. They picked up the remaining anti-matter sample just now, but they had 99% of it all along. So that means they just wanted the sample because they knew it was dangerous to leave here on the planet. If they had wanted to kill Alexander, they would have done it already.”

Helen frowned. “But how would they rehabilitate him? You yourself said he was completely over the bend.”

“I can only guess, Helen. We know one thing for sure though, thanks to Pat and Julie. THEY are doing some kind of operation on the beaver up there. The last time that happened was when THEY transplanted Pat’s brain from the beavers’ body into the dog.”

Helen looked excited. “You think they have Alexander’s brain and are going to put it in the beaver?”

Lucky lowered his voice. “They could, but I don’t think so. All we know for sure is that the Planet needs another Keeper – soon – and that THEY are operating on the beaver. I strongly suspect that this beaver operation has something to do with Alexander. There must be a connection.”

Helen stood up, signaling that the conversation was about to end. “Well, maybe Brooks, Julie and Pat will find something out. We should know soon.”

- - - - -

“Of all the damn times to get a flat!” Brooks cursed as he took out the jack. Julie and Pat were standing on the shoulder of the road as the detective fixed the tire. They were going to be late getting to the lake. Hopefully they wouldn’t miss whatever it was that was going on. They all wanted answers, and getting down to the lake might provide some.

Neither of them knew that they would be getting answers alright, but not answers they could have ever dreamed of.

-- (thesonofdust@writing.agin), September 17, 2001.


HOORAY!

Storytime! :-)

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 17, 2001.


Julie and Brooks parked the car and walked to the dam. There was no sign of any Ship or anything unnatural. If the Aliens did come here, he had probably missed the whole thing.

Brooks was looking at the ground by the banks when he suddenly heard Julie call out. “Hey! There’s Meeny!”

Pat ran over to the beaver and the two animals sniffed and licked each other with obvious affection. Then the oddest thing happened.

Julie and Brooks watched as the two animals stretched out on the riverbank, nose to nose, eyes closed – almost as if they were sleeping or something. The seconds passed. Julie and Brooks just looked at each other. It was obvious that something was happening between the two animals, but what?

Just then, Pat got up and walked slowly over to Julie. She turned to see Meeny enter the river on the way back to her dam. Julie looked down at Pat questioningly. She didn’t have to wait long before the telepathic visions came.

The images were so powerful that she felt light-headed, and felt herself falling to the ground. Brooks reached out and grabbed her. He held her close as the images continued, not having any idea what the young agent was actually being shown. After a minute or so, Julie shook her head as if to clear it. It was the last thing she did before blacking out.

------

It was some time before Julie felt well enough to attempt the short walk back to the car. Brooks wanted to press her with questions, but instinct told him now was not the time. They made it back to the car and drove the short distance to his house in silence.

Brooks put on a strong pot of coffee and brought it to Julie, who was stretched out comfortably on the sofa. She sat up, managed a smile, and drank. After a few sips, she cleared her throat and tried to explain to Brooks what Pat had shown her.

He looked as confused as she was as he reached for the secure telephone unit. “Ok, we better call now.”

------

Lucky was still in Helen’s office when the call came. They listened with fascination as Julie told them about the images Pat had shown her. “Pat went over to Meeny and they somehow were communicating – I mean, Pat was able to find out from the beaver what happened to her aboard the Ship.”

“Woof!”

Julie looked down lovingly at Pat, then continued. “I saw her on a table of some kind, only it wasn’t like any ordinary table – it didn’t have legs, and THEY were around her. I saw a long metallic tube-like thing. THEY put it into her abdomen, and took something out.”

Helen was sitting on the edge of her seat. “What did they take?”

“I, well, this is going to sound crazy, but THEY took one of her eggs!”

“WOOF!”

Helen turned a confused look towards Lucky, who smiled. He moved a bit closer to the speakerphone and said “It all makes sense. Now I understand.”

Helen gave him a look that would have curdled new milk. “Well, would you mind explaining it all to me then?”

Lucky sighed. “It’s simple. THEY took an egg. There is only one possible thing they could use an egg for, assuming they also had something else.”

Understanding and surprise suddenly registered on Helen’s face. “You mean, a sperm – they are going to fertilize the egg?”

Lucky laughed. “What else!”

Now it was Julie’s turn to break in. “Oh my God! I think you’re right Lucky. But what does this mean?” Brooks nodded to her. He wanted to know the same thing.

Helen had put two and two together by now. She hesitated only briefly before replying; “It means that THEY are growing another Alexander Lawless!”

“Woof!”

Lucky smiled. “Yes, that must be it. They couldn’t rehabilitate him, so they are starting over. But what he’ll come back as – human or beaver or something else – or even if he will be good or evil – only time will tell.”

Julie laughed and rubbed Pat behind the ears. "Is there any end in sight to all of these crazy adventures?"

"Woof, Woof!"

-- The End of this sequel (thesonofdust@Alexander.returns), September 17, 2001.


Yippee!!! It's done... for now. :-D

And a job well done, Rob! You even got Pat back to see his/her sister.

Thanks for the story!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 17, 2001.


Thank you!

-- helen (its@a.wrap), September 17, 2001.

Alexander Lawless is gonna be a beaver? Won't that give the other beavers a bad name? ;-)

"Is there any end in sight to all of these crazy adventures?"

"Woof, Woof!"

That means NO! Yippee!!!

Thanks Rob

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 19, 2001.


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