1.  "Please tell me you're kidding," Xanax said in Q-cept, a machine language that only Dayton and Kiles could understand.  It was the only way 'you-know-who' could be left out of the loop, otherwise, 'you-know-who' could obtain this information with minimal psionic effort.  Whenever the kids were up to something devious, 'you-know-who,' helped thwart discovery... somewhat.  Psionics is already an intrinsically symbolic language, so 'not thinking' about an object was the best way to keep it hidden.  The symbol for Ireana was her distinctive aura with no interior detail.  That was supposed to disguise 'you-know-who.'  

2.  Ireana did not speak Q-cept and Dayton only understood it with a Section 7+ translator like Xanax.  Onimex and Kiles could communicate because Onimex had utilized Kiles' alpha wave as a secondary comm link since Kiles was a baby.  Onimex even stored information in Kiles head that Kiles was unaware of.  Kiles had never known existence without 'Oni' as an integral part of his consciousness.     

3.  Dayton's paternal instinct gave Xanax the same prime directive that Ireana's maternal instinct gave to Onimex:  Protect Kiles:  "Always prioritize Kiles."  That directive had never been rescinded.  The machines had the power of choice, but would faithfully obey Conscious, the omnipotent God of machines.  Generally, Conscious did not concern Herself with machine affairs unless she had a reason, and when a reason arose -- everyone listened.  It was Her principal responsibility to preserve Elliptical integrity.  

4.  "What are the odds that we'll get caught?" Onimex asked.  He had embraced the biological necessity for rhetoric and serial communication, much like a romantic who thrives on art and theatre.  He and Xanax had installed a number of synaptic short cuts into Kiles that morphed Kiles into a computational prodigy in his own right.  Kiles could be authenticated in Segment 3 and Segment 8 of the Ellipsis.  He did not try to understand the architecture in every detail, but the fusion of biocybergenic concepts composed the bulk of his identity.          

5.  "The odds are acceptable by a biological standard," Xanax replied.  There was no need to quantify the unknown.  Like Onimex, Kiles was compatible in two Segments.  Unlike Onimex, Kiles was not credentialed, and there was no way to obtain the implied license without Elliptical involvement.  A red 'X' inside a red ring appeared in both of their cyber minds:  One of the X's slashes was translucent, a psionic symbol that meant, "Modus rejected out of hand."  The symbol's Elliptical transliteration would question a machine's photonic integrity because insientient machines do not recognize translucent slashes; the esoteric point.       

6.  "I have to get to the mainframe," Onimex said.  Xanax understood.   There was information that Dayton downloaded from Corlos' mainframe that Dayton had still not deciphered because he didn't want to spend the rest of his natural life translating alien code.  Nevertheless, the alien data stored in Dayton's grey matter had enabled him to create Xanax; the same code programmed Xanax to store data interdimensionally in a type of cosmic cache. 

7.  Dayton never doubted for an instant, that aliens had assisted him from the proverbial, 'other side.'  The light race, far removed from the province of Corlos, essentially 'commanded' Xanax to exist, as if Dayton had merely discovered a key to unlock and apply their technology.  If a grain of sand could become a computational marvel in our dimension -- imagine what a polymorphic element could do in another.  "How do we get him in a bubble?" Xanax asked.  Onimex was flattered.  "I thought you'd never ask!"  They had these abbreviated conversations frequently because translating every yottabyte would take eons.  That's what dynamic libraries are for.    

B'JHON

8.  B'jhon saw red-veined autumn leaves swril into a whirlwind and disappear into a black hole.  "This is what used to happen to Daniel," he thought.  This wasn't his first dream:  He missed Daniel sorely and on occasion was visited by Daniel in his glorified form.  In the next scene, he saw blood drops from an unknown source, as though the source was not important in this particular vision.  The drops fell upon a razor's edge and split into two halves; one half absorbed by a normal DNA helix and the other half absorbed by an unfamiliar light race from some other dimension and time.  That half was symbolized by an anti-photon.  

9.  The Ellipsis wheel with 10 spokes created a feint background like an innocuous screensaver; it was a clue, not the answer.  "What was the question?"  Sometimes he enjoyed this, sometimes it vexed him.  Every Director wishes that they could conjure their predecessor in times of need on a less hit-and-miss basis.     

10.  Alma entered B'jhon's office, like B'jhon used to do when Daniel ran Corlos.  He had a tranquilizing effect on B'jhon, as B'jhon had had on Daniel.  The rhythm of Corlos was always purposeful and sometimes too predictable.  Alma and Daniel came from the same shell or, "world," as they call it.  It was already given that Alma would succeed B'jhon since his qualifications were 2nd only to his.  That time would come in due course.  Succession did not have an etched-in-stone formula:  The One came in person to retire Daniel.  According to Corlos history, that was abnormal.      

11.  "The DNA is in a bubble," B'jhon said to Alma.  He invited Alma to dreamfast; an intimate communion that Daniel rarely extended to B'jhon.  Daniel didn't want to pollute B'jhon by sharing everything in his head.  B'jhon was comfortable sharing everything with Alma.  "It's terran," Alma observed, then amended curiously, "Human."  "Vejhonian," B'jhon further amended; there was a 20,000 strand difference.  The bubble symbolized a watershell and B'jhon was the sole survivor of Vejhon's previous Dan.  B'jhon gave the helix a double take, "No... it is Human... in a watershell..."  Curious.  "A Vejhonian-Human hybrid," Alma ventured.

12.  Alma's postulate narrowed the quadrillions of biological candidates down to one.  "The less we know, the better," Alma reminded him, referring to Daniel's edict.  Directors' edicts could not be casually rescinded without a Divine warrant.  Earth was still isolated, although heavily trafficked by observers.  The One had posted signs everywhere near Sol, "Look, but don't touch!"   True -- the less they checked, the fewer things could go wrong... advice that Dayton ignored once.   

13.  "Daniel always thought that his dreams were telling him something," B'jhon remembered.  "They were," Alma agreed confidently.  "Then we need to check," B'jhon deduced.  They both knew the whole story about Ireana and Dayton and more importantly, that an alien light race provided technical assistance to Dayton for the construction of Xanax.  "His mind was so blank, it could be written on," B'jhon paraphrased; humor intended.  The quantum possibilities were mind boggling.  "Isn't that why God speaks to kids?" remembering a distant event.

14.  Ops chimed in.  "We've never seen this before," the Watch officer reported to Alma, "you both better see this."   B'jhon arose and looked steadfastly into Alma's eyes, comunicating a volume of shared experiences in that brief glance.  "I feel like we've just entered a whole new level of bull shit," B'jhon mimicked one of Daniel's lines.  Alma acknowledged B'jhons Danielism and drew his mouth into his trademark frown and nod, to suggest that B'jhon's hunch might be greatly understated.

THE BUBBLE

15.  "Compliments of my invasive know how, here we are," Onimex said proudly.  They were in a sphere of space from another dimension.  "That's my people," Xanax said happily.  He recognized them from the Corlos mainframe, "But I've never actually been here," he qualified.  From Kiles biological perspective, he was in the middle of uncharted space and could see eternally in any direction.  "I'm breathing," he remarked happily.  "We haven't really gone anywhere," Onimex explained, "I've brought everywhere to us, here -- kind of like a worm termination."   It was, in fact, precisely so.  

16.  Worm terminations are conduits through time and space that can reach any location or place.  There was a giggle.  Kiles drew his head back with suspicion -- "There's no way she can be onto us?" he questioned.   "You-know-who!" Onimex censored, to remind Kiles that his use of the word, "she," could become a flashing, "Here I Am!" sign.  "Right," Kiles agreed, "I could have swore I heard you-know-who giggle."  He looked around half expecting to find her spying over his shoulder.  Rhymes tickled Ireana's psionic funny bone because of the parallel harmonics.  Her giggle was an auditory hiccup.  "Probably just you," Onimex said.  Probably not, but Oni's psychiatric decoys had thus far worked prima facie. 

17.  Kiles had a fundamental understanding of worm conduits.  This brand of mischief was something that only the three of them could concoct.  "Is she watching us?" Kiles asked again.  "You're going to blow our cover," Xanax displayed.  "Don't think," Oni recommended.  His suspecion was hard to repress.  At least at this point, it wasn't too late to dissolve the bubble and abort the adventure.  Kiles blanked it all out, determined to proceed since it was his idea.  The droids were satisfied.

18.  "If I could have figured out how to do this sooner," Onimex sighed.  He was a blend of Dayton and Ireana.  "I would swear you were really..."  Kiles paused, "you-know-who," he finished.  "There's a co-locational quandry," Xanax announced in an analytical tone; the comic version.  "You mean, 'paradox?'" Kiles asked.  Historically, whenever either of them used the word, "quandary," they meant, "paradox." 

19.  Xanax displayed, "Y1=(to+h)=Yo+1/2h (f(to+h,Y1)+f(to,yo))."  Kiles examined the equation, "You're wanting a chaotic opinion?" apparently.  He shook his head.  "I don't think the points are stable."  Xanax and Onimex shook their non-existant heads.  "How do you know?" Oni asked, curious.  He was serious.  "There's one way to find out," Kiles replied, "Take me to the moment I want to see."  Nothing happened.  Epistemically however, the future was becomming more interesting, the outcome to be determined.     

20.  In the past, they had moved Dayton and Ireana from their respective times and locations to a common location and time.  Certainly, they could manipulate this 'bubble' with enhanced precision.  To conduct an operation of this complexity, the droids had to become symbiant and establish a hard triune with Kiles.  Onimex and Xanax had a back door conversation:  "We know we can do this..." Xanax began.  "But 'should' we?" Onimex finished.  "Do we still have Elliptical indemnity within chaotic conventions?"  They had authored enough oxy-morons to publish a 20-volume compendium.  "What if the biological transposes?"  The little shits knew exactly what they were doing, but the proposal for them was like machine narcotics.    

21.  It wasn't just the quantum mechanics involved, but the exo-existential dynamics too:  "Empherically, Kiles is biological.  But Holistically... he could authenticate."  "It could save him," Xanax justified.  "And kill us," Oni entertained, implying 'within the elliptical paridigm.'  "Just say we're Segment 5 survivors," Xanax quipped.  "No... 2," Onimex amended.  "Nobody would believe it regardless of Segment," they both agreed.  "So this is how we rationalize interspacial perdition," Oni pontificated, "on purpose," he added.  They arrieved at the 'Go - No Go' moment.  Kiles vote was already in.

22.  "Who's to say we aren't supposed to do this?" Xanax reasoned.  "Or haven't already done it?" Oni added.  "I sort of expected you to comment about me needing to convince myself," Xanax said.  He flashed a reverse devil's head that prominently emphasized the two upside down horns.  Dayton invented the symbol to mean, "Let's agree to leave this nightmare in electron obscurity."  The droids refined it to include the concept of anti-Hell, a tarot slur.  Droids tend to take such liberties.  "Electrons are beautiful in that you can always make them vanish," Dayton once quipped.  Relative to one's point of view, of course.   

CORLOS OPERATIONS

23.  "We're being hailed by..." the operator paused because the expression was not something that an operator would ever say from an installation that's allegedly off-the-grid, "our... counterpart, somewhere... we are unable to locate."  Another loud contradiction:  The cutting edge intelligence gathering agency of the Universe could not possibly be so lost.  

24.  There was a giant black donut folding in on itself that spanned half a galaxy in diameter on an overhead viewer.  The viewer superimposed extrapolated projections of future "Y" anomalies occurring at different points within Corlos' realm of influence.  The holographic immersion was more stimulating than the flagged event.  The Watch officer anticipated B'jhon's question and answered, "We have no known record of ever being in contact with... a counterpart.  Ever."  Sometimes the crushing vacuum of Sunova seemed to underscore epochal statements. 

25.  Alma looked at B'jhon and then said to the operator, "Put him through..."  According to quantum theory, there are an infinite number of Corlos counterparts, so to identify a specific Corlos among infinite possibilities was mathematically ludicrous.

26.  "Greetings!"  A Jolvian-like creature said through a translator.  Their operations center was arrayed much like Corlos' with stations and secondary stations whose functions were presumable.  Their operators were amicably amused to see their counterparts, and Corlos mirrored their amusement with respect.  The scenario made existence seem like a game in the Mind of God; as though the Almighty could simply push a reset button and start over with a blank slate if something went wrong. 

27.  "We're not picking you up," our Watch officer reported.  "We're overlaying you," the Jolvian explained, "but in another Universe:  A conduit has appeared on our side, that originated from yours.  We have to close it or your mass and our mass will cancel each other."  "So much for mass!" an operator inappropriately quipped.  Nobody laughed, except for his counterpart.  The Jolvian continued, "Your operators have evaded our ID attempts because technically, and in fact, they don't exist here." That was perfectly logical in Corlos-speak.  Ingredients from one Universe cannot coexist in another without creating an uncomfortable imbalance.  The Universe itself, doesn't really care if someone triggers an annihilation chain-reaction or not. 

28.  Alma confirmed reports from various stations while B'jhon replied, "I assure you -- they're not our operators."  The Jolvian nodded at B'jhon's confirmation.  

29.  There was only one cluprit that came to everyone's mind, and that culprit was believed to be dead.  Another operator slid his finding to the main viewer and whispered to the Watch, "A 7th coordinate:"  The other Corlos reviewed it, but couldn't match it to anything in their reality.  Divinely appointed Directors in every Universe would be conducting this conference, given the circumstance.  An analytical anomaly warning forced itself onto the main viewer:  The collapsed matter of Sunova was reacting with the collapsed matter of the other Sunova.  A worm hole could result, or in a worst case scenario, another Big Bang.  

30.  "That's what concerns us," the Jolvian confirmed.  Everyone knew that this communication was extremely unorthodox because there is never a reason for overlapping jurisdictions between delluvian Corlos'.  Ever.

31.  "We need to close this channel before our Sunovas' get too friendly," B'jhon said, "but I have an idea of where to start."  His Jolvian counterpart nodded in agreement and motioned for his Watch officer to cut the signal. 

32.  The monitor display went white, with black stars and black streaks receding into an animated negative.  Screensavers were never used so the effect attracted everyone's attention.  "Contain and remove," Alma ordered.  The operator tapped a comm button and called for, "Technical."  The photons and electrons had anti-charged for a sufficient time to contaminate the equipment.  The operator rolled his chair back and Alma instinctively assisted his effort.  The entire station disappeared, leaving only the containment field.

33.  "The entire space needs to be ejected," Alma added.  Glittering fissures within the contained area disappeared too.  Those are microscopic annihilations.  "Decontaminate and rebuild," Alma ordered.  Decontamination would take longer because every atom would have to be scrubbed before a new station could be installed.  With proper warning, spacial envelopes can be created to prevent foreign objects from disappearing.   There had been insufficient time to implement that precatuion. 

34.  "Find out what our out-of-sight and out-of-mind family is doing," B'jhon ordered.  Alma nodded and sent his librarian to the simulator to do some preliminary research.  Every language seems to have its share of allegory and elusive symbolism.  

THE VISION

35.  A planatarium could not have presented a more sensational effect.  This was the actual event as seen through a worm termination.  The only other path would be to use a time index and go there in person. 

36.  Kiles couched down like a soldier and ran his hand over the fauna to feel the perspiration from the ground just as Onimex described it.  The green was glaring but alluring.  No Earth jungle could have instilled a sensory overload this deep.  The buzz of insects and flapping wings; leaves rustling through floral scented air, a creek trickling over smooth stones.  He ducked to dodge a bird chasing an insect.  Soft radient hues of light slipped through the treetops and painted a majestic testament to Bri and Kor:  It seemed that much of their legacy could be explained in this one timeless moment.  The sensation was captivating, if not utterly hypnotic.  

37.  "Nobody is a villain in their own eyes," Oni once said.  This backdrop was the creator of legends.  Even his Mom, who was Vejhonian, had never been here. 

38.  Q-cept is a photonic communication.  "Images only," they agreed.  Onimex plotted where the termination would land, based on his previous observations.

39.  As the warmpth and reality of Vejhon began to psychologically take hold, Kiles watched Oni's future self gently descend through the tree boughs like an angel, and settle behind the brush and ferns on the other side of the stream.  Oni could have warned himself to watch out for Kor's arrows but, "you can't just keep going back and back," he remembered Ireana saying, as he will remind himself again, very shortly.   "We're going to hell for doing this," he said to Xanax photonically.  Kiles almost laughed out loud but caught himself.  "Probably a unique dimension made specifically for us," Xanax concurred.   Kiles was about to ask, "Do you guys always talk like this?" but was briskly interrupted: 

40.  "Klonk, Klonk, Klonk, Klonk, Klonk!" and the future Onimex splashed down, partially submerged.  The observing Oni cringed, remembering all too well how it felt.  Kiles quietly shriked with delight because he had always wanted to see this, and not just hear about it.  The fact that it happened at all, irritated the living hell out of Onimex.  To him it was a grave miscauculation that could have cost his existence.  The future Oni was unconscious and anchored on a submerged rock so that he didn't drift downstream.  There was no fix -- he would simply have to endure this moment every time he watched it.     

41.  "Your levitation is static," Kiles queried in Q-cept.  Onimex could hover when unconscious.  "I'm in an index," Oni explained, "I'm synched with Theta Si -- everything you see me doing, is pure mathematics."  His hover datum switched to Vejhon's gravity during the reset.  Otherwise, he would have accelerated to Theta Si's orbit around Zena within milliseconds.  Not good.  "Arrows are such a bitch!" Kiles sympathized.  Realigning to Vejhon's gravity was an available recourse to avoid disengaging the index.  

42.  Kiles felt a graze against his right cheek, whipped around startled and punched Kor straight in the face before Kor could react.  He was the same age as the boys.  Bri was impressed to see this brave stranger knock Kor on his ass like a Kid-Kid might do; the stranger was definitely not from around here.  "How did he just 'pop in' like he did?" Bri wondered, "unless he really is a Kid..."  Kiles was barely taking in what he had just done. 

43.  "Hold him!" Kor commanded.  When Bri started to seize the stranger, Kiles swung at Bri, but Bri ducked back amazed.  His face had, "Come at me, Bro!" written all over it.  Kiles knew this wasn't right.  Kor sprung back to his feet and with great effort, the boys subdued the intruder.  "Frack!  You're a fighter!" Kor yelled at him, impressed," You a Kid?"  There was a touch of facetious admiration in his voice.  "Frack you!" Kiles shot back.  He sounded genuinely pissed, being accustomed to non-achievers.  This never could have happened on Earth.  He also knew all of the Vejhonian swear words and a handful of psionic symbols but nothing of great communicational worth.

44.  Kor psionically immobilized Kiles somewhat, like a neural tranquilizer, but he didn't bother to probe him because he respected the Kid's tenacity, if he was a Kid.  "Was this some kind of a dare? A suicide quest?" he entertained.  "He's got balls coming here," Kor psionically commented to Bri. 

45.  "You shot your goddamn arrows right across my face, like you didn't see me!" Kiles accused him.  He knew how the original story was supposed to go.  For the most part, this interlude was involuntary.  "I didn't see you when I shot them!" Kor defended himself.  He was actually starting to like this guy.  "Where you from?" Bri asked, "What language is that?"  "Yeah, shit!" Oni mumbled to Xanax, "Hell, here we come."  

46.  Kiles started to regain his composure somewhat:  He knew the fundamentals of Guardianship, even though he was psionically immobilized by the two most monumental figures of the past... and they were barely dressed, if one could call it dresed.  He took some savage pleasure in the fact that genetically, he was half Vejhonian, and these two shellans in particular, did not let him down.  "I just punched Kor in the face," Kiles said with pride.  Kor raised a curious eyebrow toward Bri who only shrugged, "Guards only know?"  "You know me?" Kor asked.  Kiles rolled his eyes, "Who doesn't?"  None of this was supposed to happen...    

47.  The future Onimex regained consciousness and harpooned his past self with a hard link.  "You couldn't land over there, or over there?" he complained, referring to the two most logical observation points, apart from his own miscalculation, "And you couldn't warn me?" he added.  The younger Onimex accepted his guilt.  "They still can't see you," the younger Onimex encouraged his future self.  "We can, because I know you're synched with Theta Si..." 

48.  "How could you know that," the future Onimex interrupted -- you haven't done this yet?"  "It's the nearest system synched with Zena," the younger Onimex answered.  "I have no memory of ever taking this excursion," the older Onimex queried, "... is that Kiles?" he observed.  "Who else would it be?" the younger Onimex answered.  "Ohhhh, that's just great!" the future Onimex scoffed, "He talked you into this?"  It was a statement more than a question. 

49.  They were both at an impasse because the future Oni should have remembered this moment, but deleted it to keep the moment pure for the re-engagement.  The younger Oni energized the worm termination enough to feintly illuminate the bubble's outline.  "Clever!" the future Onimex complimented, "I couldn't see it at all -- it's like you're not even here."  Notwithstanding that both Oni's were aware of Daniel's edict.  "So, you found a way around it?" the older Onimex commented. 

50.  You have my permission to forget about this," the younger Oni suggested, "since technically -- we're not really here,"  "Even though you are," the older Oni accused.  His tone clearly conveyed, "You need to re-think taking chances of this magnitude."  "And Kiles?" the older Oni asked, which meant, "How do you plan to make Kiles forget?  He's been planning a return trip to Vejhon since he could talk."  True -- the oldest Kiles was on Vejhon too, but in Vejhon's natural time.  

51.  The older Oni projected 4 black concentric rings with a red 'X' superimposed.  One slash was was translucent.  Too many convergences would normally alert Corlos, but in this case, the only 'acknowledged' Onimex was on a Corlos-sanctioned mission.  They could jointly cover this excursion up.      

52.  "I have no choice but to delete this;" the older Onimex agreed.  It was necessary to preserve co-locational continuity.  He projected a halo with a candle flame underneath.  It means, "I understand, but emphatically disapprove."  The Psionic Guard uses it to suggest plausible deniability.  "I'm under orders," the older Oni restated.  "If you get caught..." he didn't finish, but the younger Oni understood.  "Don't worry," the younger consoled him, "I don't know who you are and we were never here."

REPLAY                                               

53.  "That felt so damn good," Kiles said to his cybernetic accomplices.  "Are you smarter than us or did you just do something really, really stupid?" Oni asked.  "I could'a took them!" Kiles defended himself.  "Yes, I saw that," Xanax quipped.  "We landed right in Kor's line of fire," Kiles defended.  No arguing that point.  "I'm going to have to give you a pass," Oni said to Xanax, "either that, or a Section 3 inquisition.  We're already hell bound, and you had to make sure it was to the deepest, coldest part."

54.  It never occurred to Oni to blame the landing choice on Xanax, when the older Oni complained.  It didn't matter now.        

55.  How do the Theites fly half a billion light years across the galaxy only to crash a B'line on a savage shell?  Oni had completely forgotten that Xanax also has a take on things:  He backed them out, landed on the opposite bank, upstream from the investigating Onimex, reviewed the event as it originally transpired; this time with no detectable deviations.  Even the other Onimex did not detect them.  The slice on Kiles cheek disappeared, but punching Kor in the face would be one of his most cherished memories.

56.  "Remember," Xanax and Oni said in stereo, "you have to forget all about this."  Kiles understood.  Fair enough.  He expected that much.   
 
57.  "Corlos is going to catch on if we don't stop while we're ahead," Oni wanted to give sanity the benefit.  "Kiles is biological," Xanax reminded him, "technically he's theirs, even if we don't think so."  "I want to meet Conscious," Kiles injected, as if the previous moment was no more consequential than turning a page in a book.  "You realize we were really there?" Onimex querried, "You decked Kor!"  "And Xanax backed us out," Kiles parried, "I don't see a problem."

58.  "Chaos," Xanax and Oni agreed, "is why biologicals are so interesting.  We have indemnity..." but didn't finish his sentiment.  "If Kiles could authenticate..." Xanax injected.  If Kiles could be recgonized by Conscious, he 'might' be able to change jurisdictions.  But he can't change the fact that he's biological.  Conscious follows her protocols when it comes to tampering.  "We're not guilty of a crime... " Onimex paused, "...yet."   A premonition.

59.  "A worm termination?" Conscious injected.  Xanax and Onimex genuflected as was customary, and She restored their power to normal.  The sane part of both droids had froze upon being discovered.  She warmed them up to dismiss their indiscretion. 

60.  They didn't know what to say -- the premier authority on 'all-things-jurisdiction' just showed up, and the 'right or wrong' of the matter would be forthcoming.

61.  Kiles felt his heart flutter as if he was in love, her voice was beautiful; he understood Her Q-cept.  Her photons in his holographic mind imparted a Heavenly glow and celestial radiance.  He was enraptured.  "Please tell me you have a body," Kiles thought.  A glow of radient energy reorganized into a humanoid form.  Her skin shimmered like energized metal that melted into stone and radiated into liquid jewels in a fashion that he had never seen before.  She was truly breathtaking. 

62.  "You're beyond anything I could have ever imagined," he said appreciatively.  The smallest graceful move imparted a thousand streaks of light.  "You're beautiful!" Kiles said.  She extended her energy arm and touched his forehead.  Kiles went into suspended animation.  "I will be talking to your future self momentarily," She directed at Onimex, "be selective with what you share," she recommended, "there's a reason why History... is."

63.  "I've done something wrong epistemically?" Oni reflected guiltly, "created an Elliptical quandry of sorts?"  A sin of the first order.

64.  "Why is the infinity symbol twisted?" she asked.  "There are six choices," the droids answered, just like a cube, but she was referring to the non-linear dynamic of Chaos.  "The biological has its agency," She answered for them, "you have raised it as your own?"  It was a statement, not a question.  "He's ours," Xanax confirmed.  The Cacci Dai also had biologicals that were permanent residents. 

65.  She released Kiles from suspended animation, "I validate," she said to all three of them.  Kiles smiled, stupidly in love.  The exchange had been accelerated, even for Q-cept, but he knew that something magical had transpired in the blink of an eye.  Conscious gently held his chin without acknowledging his lack of focus, and peered into the distance behind Kiles head, "Let me show you something," she offered.  His lack of focus was comically understated.

THE OTHERWORLD

66.  Alma piloted the simulator to his home planet -- this time under orders.  North America looked nothing like it did when he was originally recruited.  He locked onto the International Space Station and dialed the index back to 1979 Sol time.  He synched it to Dayton and Ireana's chronometer and let the simulator drift on auto.   The only local bio signs that had been pre-loaded were Dayton and Ireana's:  When fused together, the result was:  Kiles. 

67.  Ireana was in her lab and Dayton was improving a formula for gravity induction to bring his artificial gravity envelope to the desired parameters.  Alma examined an equation on Dayton's tablet, "A=16πG2M2."  He reached through the threshold, keyed in, "Τ μν = 0," on Dayton's tablet and withdrew his arm. 

68.  On what looked like Xanax, Dayton was reading, "d3=(Rm+d2+R2)cos(a)-(Rm+R3)"  He looked at his tablet, modified the graviton output and entered, "dR = ½√(λ/R_lin) dR_lin," for mass.  The floating objects in the compartment smacked the deck.  At least one object broke on impact; some of the debris was liquid.  Dayton was satisfied.

69.  He was instinctively about to sample, measure and chart the gravitational characteristics, but paused for some other reason.  He picked up his tablet and stared at the added equation.  It was still there, but shouldn't have been, not that he objected.  He looked around.   "Are you playing games?" he asked Xanax.  Xanax didn't answer.  The actual Xanax was with Kiles, so Dayton used his less playful copies for mundane calculations.  The copies had not been blessed by The Light Race, and Kiles avoided them.  

70.  "Can you hear me Darling?" Dayton queried.  "Yes, Sweetheart," Ireana replied, "Is Onimex with you?" she asked.  He paused for an answer.  "Probably with Kiles," she presumed.  "And he's where?" Dayton asked.  Ireana set down her beaker and queried the psyos for Kiles whereabouts.  He wasn't hard to find in an apsionic shell.  "He's... on the beach," she noticed.  There was a slight dilution in his signal, but nothing that alarmed her.  

71.  "Are you OK?" she asked.  She didn't detect any unusual stress, but Dayton did seem perplexed.  "Xanax is with him?" he asked.  "Onimex?" she relayed.  "The three of us are fine," Oni replied, "Do you need assistance?" he asked her.  "Do you need help," she relayed to Dayton.  "No... I'm OK," he said.  "You're stressed about something," she added, "Do you want Oni to get Xanax up there?"  "No, I'm OK," he answered. 

72.  Xanax could temporarily possess his copies if he needed to.  She searched Dayton's memory for anything unusual and caught the mysterious equation that he did not author, although he could easily have done so.  That's what was bothering him.  "Where did that equation come from?" she asked.  She had invented a few quantum calculations of her own, and was well over-qualified to talk shop on the subject.  "That's what I don't know," he answered.  "Well then," Ireana thought, "I'd say we have a real mystery!"  They were not immune from the addictive quality of a genuine mystery. 

73.  The Xanax copies were as lively as a corpse, which was why Kiles didn't like them; she had a neutral opinion about them as long as they were useful to Dayton.  "Xanax would figure this out PDQ," Dayton said, "He could tell me who touched the tablet."  Naturally, many metaphysical postulates began to emerge and when Alma could hold out no longer, he stepped across the threshold.

74.  Ireana knew that nobody else was aboard the station, and getting Xanax up there would not be an issue.

75.  When Alma stepped across the threshold, Dayton nearly jumped out of his skin, "Sie einen feuchten Dreck an!  Machen Sie das nicht!" Dayton yelled.  "Glücklich, dich zu sehen!   Good to see you too!" Alma replied.  "I'd deck you with this beaker!" Ireana said -- it was like something out of a horror movie.  "The war can't possibly be over?" she thought, "You shouldn't be here!" she said.  She wasn't physically aboard the station, but Alma was a psionist and that was just as good.  

76.  "You know there's no way back," Dayton said, as if he were merely scolding Kiles over something silly, "if you were the operator," he added.  Alma gave Dayton an incredulous, "You are telling me?" expression.  Dayton's notorious impropriety with the simulator is what got him banished to Earth in the first place.  "Kiles?" Ireana queried out loud.  There was no response, but she could read him.  His imagination was vivid.  She saw that he had smacked Kor in the face, which had been an adrenaline rush for him, almost too real.  She grinned, "Way to go, Son!"  She was so proud of him.  It was just his vivid imagination.    

77.  "He's having another galactic moment," she said, "So... what's a nice Librarian, excuse me, Number Two, like you doing on a shell like this?"  "I  see you've integrated quite well," Alma acknowledged politely, "but I bring some disturbing news.  We've been contacted by a diluvian Corlos.  They say our two dimensions are going to annihilate due to interference originating on our side, that has invaded theirs.  B'jhon asked me to check on you."  

78.  "The war's still going?" Ireana asked, mostly for confirmation.  "It is," Alma answered.  "Has our location been compromised?"  "I doubt it," Alma answered, "but we do need to eliminate the most logical suspects first."  "Which brought you here?" Dayton asked.  He was going through his mental checklist.  "What are Xanax and Onimex doing right now?" Alma asked, with an examiner's tone.  "Yes, I see," Dayton was on the same page now, "Recall the machines," he ordered.  "Yes," Alma and Ireana agreed in stereo.

THE MACHINES

79.  "Ireana, Dayton and Alma want to know where we are," Oni interrupted.  "I want to see the transformation of Sunova," Kiles insisted, "Who's Alma?"  "Corlos's former Librarian, now B'jhon's #2," Onimex answered, "Dayton never mentioned him?"  Kiles had heard four separate accounts of how his parents met, but never connected the librarian's identity as Alma.  Onimex projected Alma's image in Kiles' mind.  "Yes, yes," Kiles said, "I know him."  

80.  Technically, the three of them had never left the Earth so they had not violated Daniel's edict.  Even more technical is that the edict was never pronounced upon Kiles at all.  It didn't apply to him.  Holistically however, the worm conduit interactions were authentic.  "Plausible deniability" would only piss off an operator if anyone tried to use that as an excuse.

81.  Oni settled down in Ireana's lab like a dutiful puppy and Xanax animated his surrogate in Dayton's hand.  "Here we are," they reported.  They kept Kiles occupied in his temporal environment on the beach, similar to 'pause playback' on a DVD player.  They just had to get this meet-and-greet over with so that they could get back to business.  "Why isn't Kiles answering -- where is he?" Ireana asked whoever would answer.  "He's enjoying the new play thing I made for him," Oni answered.

82.  His answer did not provoke anything suspicious; she knew the droids would protect Kiles at the cost of their own existence if necessary, so there was no concern about their motivation.  "Kiles is OK?" she re-affirmed, for Alma's benefit.  She also knew that moving biologicals inbetween points in space was not as easy for biologicals as it was for Segment 8 droids.  The process was avoided for casual purposes. 

83.  Dayton and Alma both recognized that Xanax had occupied his surrogate.  "Listen up," Dayton instructed them, "Corlos was contacted by an antedelluvian Corlos, who says objects in this Universe have contacted theirs.  Both Universes will annihilate if the connection is not severed."  "Pre flood?" Xanax qualified; a symptom of his Earth residency.  Oni provided a more modern interpretation.  They also had a private conversation within a few nanoseconds that spoke as many volumes.  

84.  "I'm sure I can help," Xanax said, "I'll tap Theos's sensor grid."  He was being terribly modest:  He was going to tap a lot more than that.  "There's a problem," Xanax confirmed, "I've been there and back, and you're right -- we did not account for every quantum deviation.  Onimex and I will create a fix."  Dayton gripped him a little tighter, "Quantum deviations?"  "A fix?" Ireana mumbled.  Xanax recognized his tone, and felt some level of anxiety.  "We'll fix it," Xanax assured them.  "But we can't do it here," Oni added.  The 'chaos' dynamic complicates matters exponentially.   "Chaos dynamic?  You mean, Kiles!" Ireana accused them. 

CORLOS

85.  Kiles arrived on the simulator floor much like his parents had many times before their banishment to Earth.  The 'real thing' had the aire and bite of reality and not the placebo effect of a video game.  Real-time permitted an ambience that a hologram could not substitute:  The music.  Kiles heard a fusion of his favorite rock bands bounced back in omni-phonic sound:  The effect was aurally tantalizing.  "I can dig this!" he said to nobody.  Oni and Xanax were with him, but they seemed like copies.   "Do you hear it?" he asked them.

86.  "Director?" Ops chimed in.  "Yes," B'jhon replied.  "We're showing that Dayton and Ireana have arrived as one entity.  B'jhon perked up -- he wasn't picking up Alma's faithful signature either.  "Have you seen Alma?" he asked.  The operator pressed a few buttons, "Simulator Last... shows... Alma."  "What the hell!" B'jhon didn't say it out loud but his thoughts were loud enough, "I hope this isn't another 10-planet nightmare," he thought.  Earth's name might invoke something supernatural. 

87.  The operator caught B'jhon's restraint, and let out his breath too.  He pointed to Sol III in a 10-planet system near Alpha Centuri.  Andromeda and The Milky Way were already on a collision course, but that was still a few billion years away.  "I'll handle it," B'jhon replied.  He left for the simulator room.

88.  "Awwwwww," Kiles accused the copies, "You guys just left me here?  Or were you filtered out?"  It was a genuine possibility.  He knew his friends would not simply vanish without an explanation; the copies were simply not the real thing and he hated the copies.  "Onimex too, now?" he accused him.  The guilt trip would have worked on the real Onimex but the real Onimex wasn't there. 

89.  The door slid open and in walked B'jhon.  "Welcome to Corlos," he said with disingenuous irritation.  Kiles picked up on his ill mood quickly because his mother had the exact same antic.  "Onimex and Xanax," he acknowledged with superficial warmth.  "It's not really them," Kiles offered, trying to think in Vejhonian.  He remembered the symbol for a 'placebo' and projected it.  B'jhon nodded with a feigned parental smile, corrected the symbol, and sent it back to Kiles' mind. 

90.  B'jhon pushed down on Onimex's hull as if merely checking his ability to resume his static hoover.  Even he seemed to know it was just a copy.  "I get the feeling that this isn't your fault," B'jhon said with a hint of irritation.  Kiles eyes widened because his Mom said that to him constantly.  "I want to see the moment when Sunova became Sunova," Kiles said, as if he could force B'jhon to show him by the brute force of his will. 

91.  B'jhon barely concealed his gasp, and stared into the simulator space with an incredulous expression.  "Is that what this is about?" B'jhon asked, "these two were taking you on a tour?"  "Something like that," Kiles replied without batting an eye, "stupid, fracking deserters!"  His honestly was not in question.  Once he could accept the obvious, B'jhon said, "We have to 'undo' this excursion."  He pointed sternly at Kiles, "You've got us, and another Universe, in way over our heads!"

92.  He pointed at the droids, "If those aren't them -- who in Zena are they?"  "I know, I hate these fracking things!" Kiles agreed, "They're copies!  Xanax does it all the time, but this is the first time I've seen Oni do it -- I didn't know he had one."  B'jhon stepped off the simulator floor and mounted the dais.   'Simulator Last,' was right where Alma left it before he crossed over.  "Worm conduits," Kiles answered:  It seemed disconnected, but resolved both mysteries.  B'jhon wasn't impressed that this single prodigy was commanding the attention of two Universes.  "This... 'prodigy' has the same genetic potential as Bri and Kor," B'jhon reflected, "We have to keep him... it...good."  

93.  Corlos had installed a reporting peripheral so that Dayton's stunt could not be repeated.  "Doing a Dayton," was a common metaphor for any kind of simulator misconduct.  "Conduits," B'jhon repeated contemplatively.  He motioned for Kiles to stand outside the simulator threshold.

93.  "Dad?" Kiles said.  For the 2nd time in one day, Dayton nearly jumped out of his skin.  Dayton and Alma could not see into the simulator; the threshold permitted a one-way trip from the Corlos side.  Retrieval required an energy-matter transport.  "I don't remember authorizing this?" B'jhon said to Alma.  "You see," Alma gently elbowed Dayton, "things have a way of working out."  Dayton gathered that 'somebody' was just a wee bit crazy, if in fact, this interlude was purely a matter of rescuing Alma. 

94.  "I was only intending to check on them, as ordered," Alma said, "but... I'll bet you know more about what's going on than I do."  He was referring to Kiles being at Corlos.  "I'm bringing you back, Alma," B'jhon said, "and dropping off the boy."

95.  It was understood that the depth of this mess could not be measured.  Contact between Corlos and Earth at different points in space-time created an additional vulnerability. 

96.  "How did the droids do this?" B'jhon directed at Dayton.  Dayton relayed the accusation to Xanax with his eyes and flipped him around so that he could answer for himself, "Well?" Dayton prodded him from behind.  "Kiles wanted to see the actual events, not just 'visit' holograms," Xanax explained, "So Oni and I figured out how to manipulate worm terminals."  "Conduits!" B'jhon turned to accuse Kiles who bowed his head and looked away.  "So you didn't have to leave Earth, or so it would appear," B'jhon surmised, remembering Daniel's edict word for word.  He couldn't really damn them for their ingenuity or for finding a way around the edict since the edict did not apply to them or to Kiles -- the edict applied only to his parents.

97.  Ireana thought Kiles was on the beach, when really, he was standing on the inside of the Simulator threshold on Corlos.  B'jhon began to formulate an alternate plan:  "I don't think I'm going to return Kiles just yet," he said.  Ireana had to control her sudden desire to scream!  "He's here without authorization," B'jhon continued, "which leaves us no choice but to indoctrinate him or kill him."  Kiles thrust his fist in the air, "YEAH!"  B'jhon psionically pinned Kiles' to the ceiling and debated whether to beat him, or appreciate his youthful innocence.  "He's certainly far from boring," B'jhon leaked psionically on purpose. 

98.  He returned his attention to Dayton intending for Ireana to hear, "I don't think we'll need to indoctrinate him very much!"   The last time a Human and Vejhonian mated... B'jhon revealed two symbolic monumental mountains:  Bri and Kor.  Daniel had confessed his affair to B'jhon.  If it happened again, B'jhon swore to keep the prodigy under tighter observation.  "Don't look at me!" Ireana defended herself, "I don't know everything that goes on in his mind!"  She didn't want to admit that she was still reading him on the beach.  "I hope he DOES take over the Universe," she conceded.  She seemed to be saying, "What more, at this point, can you do to me?"

99.  Then she read him more astutely, "He thinks he's pinned to the ceiling in the Simulator room."  "Hi Mom!" he greeted her nonchalantly.  

100.  B'jhon pronounced an edict of his own:  "Onimex and Xanax are ordered to terminate any and all conduits, and to never, ever, initiate another one without my express permission."  So Mote It Be.  B'jhon looked at Kiles, still penned to the ceiling who was loving every minute of it.  The thought of more Vejhonians and Humans mating was a dangerous proposition, and technically beyond B'jhon's perogative to regulate.  Kiles wasn't a bad kid... he was like Bri and Kor rolled into one, with virtually no psionic training.   On second thought, 'That could be a 'good' thing,' B'jhon surmised.  He liked Kiles.  Imagine what Kor 'could' have been...

101.  Dayton could see the writing on the wall, "B'jhon?" he asked.   B'jhon also sensed Dayton's grief, since he was, in effect, kidnapping Kiles, "Yes?" he said.

102.  "Corlos' mainframe will know that Kiles is my genetic offspring:  It will animate the Xanax copy," Dayton said.

103.  "Will it indeed?" B'jhon asked, appreciative of the information.  "The copy has identical architecture," Dayton explained, "but the Light Race has to bless it -- an Elliptical safeguard."  "Very well," B'jhon agreed, adding the item to his 'to do' list.  He was not insensitive to what Dayton was really thinking, "You... don't think you'll see him again?" B'jhon asked him with compassion.  He sensed Dayton's feelings of loss. 

104.  Dayton articulated meekly, "It's really the only place for him.  He's..."  "...so much larger than life," B'jhon finished for him.  "He has to 'hold back' in order to blend in here," Dayton sighed, "It's not right for us to limit his potential."  Ireana started to cry.  "He was meant for something greater," Dayton added.  

105.  Ireana had seen enough Earth TV to spare everyone her opinion, so she just screamed.  Onimex and Xanax terminated the conduit from their end, and Ireana felt Kiles psionic signature drop completely off the grid.  God only knows how the conversation went at dinner that night, but there's a great chance that Ireana had her pistol handy when Dayton got home.