Alex must keep the clones' existence a secret from an alien race that defeated the telepathic Keytans, and who can cross the void between star systems. What technology do they possess? The Triplets admit Lai is on a secret mission to infiltrate a Xygden spaceship. All seems lost. Does their resistance have hope?
The library door creaked open, I looked up. The Triplets, Blondie, Lulu, and Sam were standing at the door, looking at me... waiting. They expected me to tell them what to do. I didn’t know. I had to say something, and dug deep. “We must stay hidden until we know what we’re up against. The various world governments will supply humanities’ initial offensive wave. Let’s see what missiles with atomic warheads can do. Triplets, if we can’t communicate telepathically, what are our options? We must have a method of talking to the other safe havens. Separated, we’re doomed to failure. What happened to your experiments... the ones that punched holes in reality?”
“Mother, we don’t know what to tell you... ”
“Come on now children, I know you’re keeping secrets from us adults. I think it’s past time. The Xygden invasion fleet has arrived, and it’s parked at our doorstep. Whatever deep game you’re playing, spill the beans. We have eight safe havens scattered around the globe, each seeded with enough of humanity to be self-sustaining. But those pocket bubbles are small, and eons behind the Xygden in technology. We’ve bought time at best, but that’s all. If we can coordinate our efforts, and if Atlantis and Asgard support us, we have a chance to eventually prevail. What if we punch a hole in reality from inside a pocket universe, where does it go? Have you reverse-engineered how the Keytyans can fold Cartesian space? If we could somehow fold our three-dimension space to butt the portals together so they occupied the same location in normal space, we could communicate, and the Xygden wouldn’t know. We’d just step from one bubble to another. I want options. Go and work on them. At the moment, we’re safe here in our bubble. I’ll continue to try and evacuate as many people from Los Angeles as possible without alerting the Xygden. We have to stay hidden—that’s priority number one.”
Terri was the Triplets’ mouthpiece this time—they were three bodies with one mind—and answered, “Mother, we do have options. One issue is power. Punching holes in reality or bending space itself consume massive amounts of energy, which at present we don’t have. The issue that concerns us most are the Xygden themselves. Are they vulnerable to us? What technology did they develop in their war against the telepathic Keytyan race? Is it now more advanced? What did they learn from Rosa while she was a captive? We need to examine a number of live Xygdens. We’re hoping Lai will be able to help. We also expect the aliens to visit Cusco. Can we set a trap?”
“We’re back to the communication issue. Find a way so we can talk to each other again. That’s our prime concern. Do we agree?” They all nodded. “I’m the only adult left here. Everyone else, Milos, Rosa and Peter, are all at different locations. They, in the absence of communication, will start to plan actions based on their own resources. If they act prematurely, the element of surprise is lost. Coordination is vital. Milos is my major concern. I know he’ll act alone. We need the ability to confer ASAP. What if we tap into Ra’s power bubble? With all of you linked together acting as one huge battery or capacitor, you may have enough energy for a short massive energy pulse. Oh, and tap into all the human communication channels. We need a war room to know exactly what’s going on, in real-time.”
The Triplets smiled as one. This time, Syd answered, “Your last task is already done. You’re correct, we have been keeping secrets. We must admit, using ourselves as one big power battery or capacitor, that’s novel. We’ll see what we can do with a huge energy pulse. There would be a recharge lag, but nothing we couldn’t work through.”
I’ve got to do something. The need for action was overpowering. I’ll return to Los Angeles. They’re still people I care about and love who are at risk. Sylvia’s name popped into my mind. We can easily absorb another ten thousand people. “Go to it, you’ve plenty to think about. I’m going back to Beverly Hills proper to supervise all the evacuations we can. Then we must close up shop.”
I stepped through the portal and looked up into the sky. Thank god, there isn’t an alien spacecraft hovering... yet. Above was the typically perfect deep blue sky and sunshine. It was warm for April, in the upper seventies. Is the alien threat real? Sadly, it was. I crossed the ruined lawn, slipped in the back door, and walked into my favorite room, the library. It’s time for a few phone calls. I picked up the phone. There’s still dial-tone, good. I phoned Sylvia, who’d moved in with her millionaire sailor, Dave Robinson, and was staying on his yacht in the Marina. She actually answered on the second ring.
“Yes, who is it?”
“Sylvia, it’s Alex. Remember, I said I would invite you over to dinner. This is it, and no excuses.”
