Smoke & Mirrors

"That's no cat. What the hell is it?" Bradrid said his voice full of ire.

"It's not an it,' I retorted. "She very sensitive." So you'd better…."

"I'd better what?" He reached down as if to pick up or handle Cham and ZAP, he was thrown right across the room. He sat down flat on his ass, stunned to the bone by Cham's little jolt.

Merlina started to pull out a zapper. I threw myself across Cham to protect her and got a nasty shock from both sides. That's the last thin I remember. I woke up home in my bed. Cham was next to me quivering and trying to groom the left over ozone out of her fur.

"Good girl," I Said. "You really got us out of that one."

"I was so happy to be back in my body. I swore to whomever that I'd never stray again. I pulled Cham into my arms and hugged her hard. It was all just a dream, right?"

Meow was all Cham would say.

But the incident got me thinking and I started to do some research. I learned more history in the next month than I'd had tossed at me in school. I discovered that everything I'd learned in my "dream" made sense.

Kennedy got killed over the space race 'cause he tried to cut corners and steal some of the Russian technology. A lot of the spying in the '60s was related to the space race. I went back further in my search. There was a massive cover up about Roswell. Right about that time earth electronic technology took off at an amazing pace. We learned so much in less than ½ a century. Man had been sentient for thousands of years. Why did we learn all this in just 50 years?

And finally I had to look at the bottom line. Me. And Cham of course. We couldn't be explained away. I was truly an empath and Cham was no ordinary ally cat.

Then something truly amazing happened. I didn't make friends easily but I had a good friend at school. Robbie. We connected somehow when we first met. We were like two lonely souls that understood each other. Anyway, Robbie had been a bit withdrawn recently. I gave him space and actually I was kind of distracted doing all the research about space aliens. We caught up with each other during art class about two weeks after Cham and I left the IC Council room. Robbie asked me to come home with him. He said he ad something to show me.

Art was the last class of the day. We packed up our projects. I called home to tell my mom I was going to Robbie's for a while.

What he had to show changed everything. Robbie had sprouted wings. He was scared and thrilled. He hadn't showed them to anyone or tried them out yet. Robbie was the final proof. He was a Chrys, Just like what I'd heard from the IC meetings.

So of course I had to fill Robbie in on what I knew.

"Goddamn!" Robbie said. That explains all the weird memories I have which my folks say are pure fantasy. I'm a Chrys! I'm bad!"

He was over the top with excitement. He flapped his wings and took off for a spin around his room.

But I was worried. Now I had all the evidence. What was I going to do with it? Then I had another scary thought. What if Bradrid was looking for me? I did my research right out in the open. Anyone looking for me with a little bit of knowledge about my circumstances would be able to track me through my computer.

Hell, I said to Robbie. Someone's gonna come for me and Cham real soon. Cham popped in at the mention of her name which gave Robbie a start. I hadn't told him about Cham's unusual ability to travel through the ether. She rubbed up against me in support. Robbie flapped his wings and took another turn around the bedroom.

I wasn't worried about Bradrid or Merlina finding me through the ether. I swiped a bottle of my mom's Feel Good sleep remedy which somehow cuts out access to the dream planes. I hated taking it. What was the point of sleep it you don't dream? And Cham had stopped popping around the planes she thought they accessed. Cham was an incredibly talented astral traveler. So we were safe on the astral level.

Chapter.

Bradrid was frustrated out of his mind. He'd searched the data base and the ether for Lucinda and Cham. He had to find them to wipe their memories. Lucinda was a loaded gun and Brad didn't know what the hell Cham was.

Brad finally came to the conclusion Lucinda was an empath born from an unacknowledged tryst 15 to 17 years ago before the Rearchagee clamped down on unauthorized consortium with female 'lings. It was an embarrassing part of Crammerian history. After the Roswell accident and the declassification Crammerian spacers discovered that many female 'lings had extraordinary sexual fantasies which they unknowingly broadcasted through the ether. Earth was singing a siren song to the sexually frustrated spacers. It was impossible to resist at first. Many Crammerian spacers became addicted to the rush of mind melding with earth women while they slept. Several went so far as to commit what Bradrid considered dream rape. And there were consequences.

Children were born who could not be acknowledged. Lucinda was most likely one of them. But who and where was she?"

Bradrid shared his thoughts with Merlina. Merlina was like his right hand these days. There was nothing like a friendly empath in bed. That was the whole fucking problem. Brad ground his teeth in misery.

"I've tried everything" he said to his bed mate.

"I know," Merlina said with a sultry smile.

"That's not what I'm talking about. The girl and her cat. Why can't I find them?"

"Maybe you aren't looking in the right direction."

"What do you mean?" Bradrid asked.

"Well," said Merlina, "I've been thinking about it. What would a precocious teenager do after an experience like she had the other night?"

"Shut down and hide, obviously," Brad said. "For a while. And maybe even pretend it was all a dream."

"And then what?"

"Go to her parents or the goddamn press or the government. That's what I'm afraid of. If she talks the whole shebang will be busted. We'll never get earth evacuated. The consequences of our making decisions about gets to leave and who stays will cause international chaos.

"You're thinking like a male, not a frightened teenager," Merlina said. "She'd have to prove to herself it wasn't a dream. She'd do some research. Learn a little history. If she's as bright as I think she is she'll have searched their internet high and dry."

Brad's eyes lit up. He smiled and gave Merlina a huge hug. Then he pulled himself out of bed and slipped on a robe. "I have some computer work to do. Thanks, Merlina."