Star Hoppers: A Science Fiction Novel

By Bill Napoli

Mike and Cindy are soul twins. They are also omnipotent Gods who, together with their eight other soul mates, have lived forever. While living in the Prime Realm, they possess the infinite power and knowledge that is enjoyed by all omnipotent Gods. However, most of the time they choose to live in other realms where they are totally unaware of who or what they are. Like all people who have elected to leave the Prime Realm, they have chosen to live their lives as ordinary mortals, possessing absolutely no special knowledge or powers. Their reasoning for doing this is simple. For them, living a heavenly existence in the Prime Realm isnt so heavenly after all. It means living a blissfully boring existence, one devoid of the opportunity to work, to grow, to learn, to be challenged, to fail, to succeed, and to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those around them.

Nine of the ten soul mates have completed their most recent lifetimes on Earth and are temporarily back home in their mansion in the Prime Realm. Only Cindy remains alive on Earth. While the others await Cindys inevitable death and her subsequent return to the Prime Realm, they research a variety of exotic planets and realms in which to spend their next mortal lifetimes together. Three are among their leading planetary choices. Kardon is a world where the population has mastered complete control of gravity. Baltham, another favorite, is a world where complete strangers routinely request and grant sexual pleasures to each other. Benu, the most interesting of all, is located in the Seventh Realm where planets and suns are alive and their inhabitants consider them to be gods.

When Cindy at last dies and rejoins her group, the ten soul mates decide to spend their next lifetime on the planet Benu, whose Sun is predicted to go supernova within the next several hundred years. Their goal is to work together in their new incarnations helping the inhabitants of Benu find some way to avoid total annihilation.

Before embarking on this new adventure, they place blocks on their godly memories and powers. Determined to save the planets inhabitants, the ten soul mates soon encounter numerous obstacles and pitfalls. At every turn, the group must deal with a deeply religious population who shuns science and instead prefers to leave their global fate in the hands of their planetary and solar gods. One way or another, the team of intrepid soul mates must overcome the populations massive resistance to embracing science over religion, which in actuality offers their worlds only hope for salvation.

In addition to being a riveting sci-fi tale, this book offers readers highly original answers to the eternal questions regarding our purpose in life, where we came from, and where we are going. You may find yourself asking, Suppose, just suppose . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503535121

Bill Napoli

Bill Napoli and his wife of fifty-one years live in Southern California. They have two children and three grandchildren. Bill is the author of over twenty-five computer training manuals and classroom workbooks, which he uses in conducting computer workshops at several colleges. Star Hoppers is his second novel.

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Copyright © 2015 by Bill Napoli.

Library of Congress Control Number:         2015900724

ISBN:                  Hardcover                        978-1-5035-3511-4

                            Softcover                          978-1-5035-3513-8

                            eBook                               978-1-5035-3512-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/21/2015

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1     The Prime Realm

Chapter 2     The Eighth Realm, Earth

Chapter 3     The Eighth Realm, Earth

Chapter 4     The Seventh Realm, Pegasi

Chapter 5     The Prime Realm

Chapter 6     The Prime Realm

Chapter 7     The Seventh Realm, Benu Universal Cathedral Council Chambers

Chapter 8     The Prime Realm

Chapter 9     The Prime Realm

Chapter 10   The Seventh Realm, Benu, The Supreme Pontiff’s Private Chambers

Chapter 11   The Prime Realm

Chapter 12   The Seventh Realm, Benu, Vid Vision Studios

Chapter 13   The Prime Realm

BOOK TWO

Chapter 14   Benu, 30 Years Later

Chapter 15   Benu, Twilight Men’s Prison

Chapter 16   Benu, Twilight Men’s Prison Visitation Room

Chapter 17   Benu, Universal Cathedral, The Supreme Pontiff’s Residence

Chapter 18   Benu, Men’s Twilight Prison

Chapter 19   The Prime Realm, House

Chapter 20   Benu, Men’s Twilight Prison

Chapter 21   Benu, In Route To Home

Chapter 22   Benu, Offices Of The Supreme Pontiff

Chapter 23   Benu, Offices Of The Supreme Pontiff

Chapter 24   Benu, The Home Of Home Of Julie And Rocan Ellis

Chapter 25   Benu, In The Home Of Julie And Rocan Ellis

Chapter 26   Benu, The Home Of Julie And Rocan Ellis

Chapter 27   Benu, The Home Of Julie And Rocan

Chapter 28   Benu, The Universal Cathedral Grounds

Chapter 29   Benu, The Office Of The Supreme Pontiff

Chapter 30   Benu, Heading Towards Twilight Prison

Chapter 31   Benu, Twilight Prison

Chapter 32   The Seventh Realm, Benu, Universal Cathedral, The Supreme Pontiff’s Private Chambers

Chapter 33   Benu, Home Of Angelique And Josaphat

Chapter 34   The Seventh Realm, Benu, Benu City Hospital

Chapter 35   The Seventh Realm, Pegasi

Chapter 36   The Seventh Realm, Benu Vid Vision Studios

Chapter 37   The Seventh Realm, Benu

Chapter 38   The Seventh Realm, Benu, Angelique’s Home

Chapter 39   The Prime Realm, House

Chapter 40   The Seventh Realm, Angelique’s House

Chapter 41   The Seventh Realm, Offices Of The Supreme Pontiff

Chapter 42   The Seventh Realm, The A & J Stronton Research Center

BOOK THREE

Chapter 43   The Seventh Realm, The A & J Stronton Research Center Twenty Years Later

Chapter 44   The Seventh Realm, A & J Stronton Research Center

Chapter 45   The Prime Realm

Chapter 46   The Seventh Realm, A&J Research Center

Chapter 47   The Seventh Realm

Chapter 48   The Seventh Realm, Home Of Angelique And Josaphat Stronton

Chapter 49   The Seventh Realm, Home Of Rocan And Julie

Chapter 50   The Seventh Realm, Benu

Chapter 51   The Prime Realm

Chapter 52   The Seventh Realm, Fifteen Years, Ten Months, And Nine Days Later

Chapter 53   The Seventh Realm

Chapter 54   The Seventh Realm, Three Years Later

Chapter 55   The Seventh Realm, Twenty Years Later

Chapter 56   The Seventh Realm, The Sun Husk

Chapter 57   The Prime Realm

Chapter 58   The Prime Realm

This book is dedicated to my brother Bob for his unfailing support, encouragement, and suggestions in its writing.

We don’t grow when things are easy; we grow when we face challenges.

Zig Zigler

CHAPTER 1

THE PRIME REALM

Lying on the thickly carpeted floor of the cobalt-blue observatory room, Mike stared at the scene displayed on the dome a hundred feet above his head. It showed a spectacular view of the solar system of the star Pegasi and its eleven planets, including the one habitable planet named Benu. Pegasi was located on the outer edge of the Zeone galaxy, which was one of the billions of galaxies in the Seventh Realm.

Sprawled out on his back lying next to Mike, with his four huge paws pointing straight upward, Blackie was obviously enjoying having Mike rub and scratch his massive chest. Technically, Blackie was a black leopard, although everyone in the Prime Realm thought of him as a black panther. Mike’s fellow clans people sat in reclining chairs located nearby, all focusing their gazes upward at the star Pegasi. Helen said, It certainly looks as if the star is going through some significant changes. House, would you adjust the view to show a thousand years in the past, please. Let’s see how much Pegasi has changed in that time.

House was the name of the self-aware, eternal entity that was embodied in the huge mansion that the immortal clans people lived in whenever they spent time in the Prime Realm. House complied instantly with Helen’s request, and the scene switched to the time frame of one thousand years earlier. This wasn’t a recreation or a video recording of the way things had been back then; it was an actual live view of that time. Everyone in the room could see that the sun had gone through a dramatic alteration in the last thousand years. In this view of its history, Pegasi appeared about 10 percent smaller in diameter than it appears today, and the color had shifted from today’s angry orange to a much paler yellow color.

Gino vocalized what everyone could plainly discern. There’s no doubt about it. Pegasi’s heading towards becoming a supernova in the not-too-distant future—several hundred years, more or less, would be my estimate.

Wow, that’s really exciting. I would love to be a part of all that’s currently taking place down there on Benu, Gwen said. I sure wish Cindy would hurry up and die back on Earth so that she can rejoin the rest of us here in the Prime Realm and we can then get on with our next life adventure.

Lai put her hand to her mouth to cover her feigned surprise and exclaimed, What an awful thing to say, Gwen! Wishing someone would die just so they can return here for our enjoyment. You should be ashamed of yourself!

Gwen looked over at Lai, trying to read her facial expression. She couldn’t tell if Lai was joking or being serious. Lai maintained her grave countenance for a few more seconds and then burst out laughing. I’m only kidding, Gwen. I feel the same way. I am as anxious as you are to have her here with us so she can cast her vote on whether we should live our next set of lives on the planet Benu. It would be thrilling for us to help the residents find a new home somewhere else in the galaxy.

Mike chimed in and said, Not only that, but I miss my twin-soul Cindy so much. Yes, I know you all do too, but not as much as I do. When I died on Earth four years ago in that freak motorcycle accident, I was sure that Cindy would follow along very soon. Her injuries appeared to be nearly as massive as my own. It’s hard to believe that six months later she had recovered from her injuries. I have to give credit to that woman of ours; she is one hell of a fighter. Not only to live on, but after months of incredibly painful physical therapy, to regain the use of her left leg and then two years later at the age of seventy-nine to run in the 10k race. Not just run in it, mind you, but finish first in the Women’s Masters Division.

Gwen couldn’t resist snidely mentioning that perhaps the reason Cindy had done so well was because Mike had telepathically sent her a few words of encouragement just when she needed them the most.

No, replied Mike with a secret grin. That had nothing to do with it. She did it all on her own. He knew, of course, that simply wasn’t true. Nevertheless, he didn’t want to take anything away from her accomplishments. No matter what, he would always have her back.

Gwen wasn’t really listening very intently to the conversation. Her mind was wandering billions of miles away, both literally and figuratively. She loved a challenge; she thrived on danger. The situation on Benu had to be reaching a critical point. Certainly, the residents were fully aware of the relatively imminent danger they all faced from their sun, which was close to going supernova. She wondered what they were planning to do in order to save as many lives as possible before the disaster struck. Once the sun went supernova, nothing could keep anyone alive on any planet in that solar system. Everything and everyone, including each of the eleven planets and all of their attendant moons, would be instantly incinerated in the cataclysmic explosion that would inevitably follow the implosion of the star into itself. For a very short time, the supernova would emit more light than that produced by the entire galaxy of stars and give off more energy than is emitted by smaller stars during their entire lifetimes.

The light would turn night into day on the planets in the Taos planetary system, which was the closest star to Pegasi. Taos was 3.1 light years away from Pegasi, and had a solar system of six planets, two of which possessed space-faring civilizations. Gwen could picture the astronomers on those planets carefully monitoring Pegasi in these final centuries of her life in order to record as much information as possible about the impending death of their neighboring star. After all, Gwen mused, on average only one star went supernova anywhere in the universe in a fifty-year period. To have it happen to your next-door-neighbor star was an occurrence so rare as to happen only once every ten billion years or so.

Phil looked over at Gwen and saw that she was deep in thought and had pretty much tuned out the conversation that was going on around her. He could, if he wished, listen in on her mind and hear all of her thoughts as she was thinking them. In fact, anyone living in the Prime Realm could listen in at will on anyone else’s thoughts. All possessed godly powers and abilities during those times that they elected to live here in the Prime Realm. Nevertheless, common courtesy dictated that they all accord each other a degree of mental privacy. Thus, he said, Gwen, you look deep in thought. Are you thinking about the last lifetime that we all spent there on Benu some ten thousand years ago?

It had taken Gwen a few seconds before Phil’s words penetrated into her reverie. She smiled, looked over at Phil, and said, No, not really. At least, not at this very moment. I was thinking about what the people of Benu must be going through right now, trying to formulate a workable plan to forestall or avert the solar-system-wide disaster that lies in their not-too-distant future. Failing that, they must be seeking a way for at least some of the inhabitants to escape and start life anew in another part of the galaxy. I was also thinking about the fact that Airack and his clans people created the Seventh Realm and that they designed it so that all of the stars and their planets are alive, self-aware, and capable of high-level thought. These entities can all communicate instantly with each other, even over the vast physical distances that separate them. Furthermore, on those rare occasions that these solar entities choose to do so, they can also communicate telepathically with their planets’ inhabitants.

Mike interjected, Yes, that was a very interesting modification that Airack and his clan introduced into the Big Bang from which they created the Seventh Realm thirty billion years ago. It has led to nearly all the people on Benu believing that the suns and planets are omnipotent, omniscient, and all-loving gods who were responsible for creating the entire universe and everyone in it. As I recall, there were over twenty-five hundred different religions being practiced on Benu the last time we lived there. By now, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that twice that number of splinter religions have evolved.

Helen said, Don’t remind me. I spent many years as an acolyte in the Cathedral of the Holy Orb, doing mundane things like sweeping the church and cleaning and polishing the icons representing the sun-god Pegasi, the planetary-god Benu, and the other ten planetary deities. Not to mention being required to participate every year in the ‘Bacchanalia of the Faithful’ that the priests secretly required of all young female assistants.

Oh, come on, Mike chuckled, admit it. You know you enjoyed being sexually used and abused in the name of the Sun-god Pegasi.

Yeah, right, replied Helen in a sarcastic voice. That’s not even funny, Michael Cincotta. Those priests were nothing but a bunch of sicko perverts and sadists. No way being abused by them was in the least bit enjoyable to me or to any of the other acolytes.

Puzzled, Mike asked, Why did you all submit to doing it then?

Because that’s how we were all raised by our parents. If you disobeyed a priest who was the chosen representative of the astral gods, or even thought about disobeying one, you risked spending an eternity in one of Benu’s molten volcanoes. Better to be sexually abused by the priests than to risk fiery damnation for all eternity.

Blackie telepathically said, If I’d been there with you, Helen, I’d have taken a huge bite out the leg of any priest who forced himself on you.

Thanks, Blackie, replied Helen with a wide smile. I know you would have protected me if you’d been there.

See, Blackie telepathically replied, that’s why you should take me along on your life-trip adventures into the other realms.

You have to keep in mind, Blackie, the sole reason we all leave the comfort and safety of the Prime Realm. That is, to live a lifetime in another Realm where we get the opportunity to experience the dangers, adversities, hardships, and challenges that everyone in those realms faces. Even though we would love your company, bringing along a great brave black panther like you to defend us would go against what we are trying to experience.

Yea, yea, I’ve heard all that a million times before, Blackie telepathically replied. I still say you would be much better off having me along.

To change the subject, Lai asked, Who’s up for a game of mixed doubles in tennis? To make it more interesting for you guys, I might even play topless. Mike, does that sound good to you?

You know it does, said Mike with a leer. But that would give your side an unfair advantage because I wouldn’t be able to focus on the ball.

That’s the whole idea, Mike. My partners and I lost the last five matches to you and yours. It’s about time we win one.

Well, I’m up for a game. How about you, Gwen? Wanna be my partner again?

Sure, Gwen said as she stood up to indicate her readiness. Who’s going to be your partner today, Lai?

Lai looked at her clans people and asked, Who wants to team up with me to give these two a well-deserved whipping?

Gino answered her question with one of his own: Which persona are you going to use? The one from your last life on Earth, or some other one?

The people who lived in the Prime Realm were eternal, essentially all knowing, and all powerful. To compete athletically here in a meaningful way, they adopted the bodies, persona, and the skill limitations of one of their recent mortal incarnations in another Realm.

I don’t know. Which would you like me to adopt? The one from my last life on Earth, or perhaps the one I used on Tarnat in my life before that? I was especially physically adept in that life. If you remember, I won the gold medal in track and field back then. On the other hand, you can select any other persona I’ve used in the past. I really don’t care. Your choice, partner. You pick.

Gino thought about it for several seconds and then said, Lai, if this ends up being a topless match, I think you should adopt your recent Earthly persona. Those boobs of yours were a real knockout. If I know Mike, he’ll be staring at them so hard he’ll never even see the ball coming.

Lai chuckled at Gino’s last comment and said, Sounds good to me. Let’s all switch into our preferred competitive persona and bodies and then meet out there on the court in ten minutes.

Normally, the nine clans people elected to walk or run to their destinations within the Prime Realm, but this afternoon they opted to teleport themselves to their private tennis court. It was located behind their 300-foot-deep rear lawn. The court abutted dozens of square miles of well-maintained yet still-virgin forest.

Gino and Lai went to the south side of the court while Mike and Gwen took their positions on the north side. The other five clans people climbed into the plush bleacher seats to cheer on the participants. Neither female competitor removed her top, nor did either man comment on that fact.

A few minutes after the game started, Blackie padded up silently and stood by the baseline. He assumed his perennial role of ball-fetcher, retrieving and returning balls to the server after the balls were hit out of play.

The event proved to be the closest and best-played match that the four had participated in since returning from Earth. After an hour of intense play, each team had won two sets in their best-of-five-sets match. Now in the last game of the fifth set, each team had reached match point three times but failed to win their final victory point. It was currently match point for the fourth time with the advantage to Lai and Gino. Lai was serving. Just before she tossed the ball in the air, her halter top and sports bra suddenly disappeared from her body. She had teleported them into the stands. Lai served the ball to Mike, who was caught off guard by the sight of her lovely bouncing breasts. He hesitated just a fraction of a second too long before running towards the ball. The ball flew past him. Ace! Lai and Gino did a little victory dance and then walked to the net to shake hands with the losers. Lai’s halter-top was back on her body looking as if it had never been removed.

The five spectators whooped and cheered the victory. The nine then regrouped and all walked back to their house laughing, talking and holding hands. Mike smiled at Lai and said, It’s OK, Hon. The sight of those two beauties bouncing around was well worth the match loss.

Lai smiled back and with a wink suggested that they plan to spend the night together in her own bedroom so that Mike could better appreciate her charms. She promised not to revert to her Prime Realm body until the following morning.

It had been fifteen years since Mike had made love to Lai in her current Earthly incarnation, and he was looking forward to it now with great anticipation. He recalled that fifteen years ago, Lai had been the first of the ten soulmates to die on Earth and thereby to return to the Prime Realm to await the deaths of the other nine. Back on Earth, she had been brutally raped and murdered late one night as she walked to her car, which had been parked in a nearly deserted parking lot. Despite outrage from the public and continual pressure on the police, her attacker, James Watson, a middle-aged, nondescript homeless man with a mile-long rap sheet wasn’t caught until six years later. After a prolonged trial that was tightly covered by the press, he was convicted of rape and murder. It gave Mike a measure of satisfaction to know that Watson was currently serving a life sentence on Earth in a maximum-security prison without the possibility of parole.

CHAPTER 2

THE EIGHTH REALM, EARTH

The rain was beginning again, and the visor of her motorcycle helmet was spotting with raindrops. The air was cold, and the road was twisting, narrow, forlorn, and dark. She and Mike were returning home on Cindy’s Harley from a day trip to one of the Indian casinos near San Diego. Cindy tightened her grip around Mike’s waist as he slowed to 30 MPH to navigate safely through the upcoming sharp turn on the single-lane road. She spotted the cocker spaniel slowly walking in the middle of the road at the same instant that Mike slammed on the brakes and swerved sharply to avoid the animal. Cindy screamed as the back of the bike fishtailed and then slipped out from under them and went into an uncontrollable skid on the wet pavement. She felt a terrible pain in her left leg as the bike spilled over and landed on its side, crushing her leg between the bike and the road. Mike’s chest slammed into the sole tree anywhere in sight, a fifty-foot-tall palm growing at the edge of the road. Mike died instantly upon impact. However, his mangled and broken body served as a cushion that softened the impact for Cindy, thus saving her life.

Cindy jumped up in her bed, sweat pouring profusely from her brow. In her recurring nightmare, she had once again relived the horror of that awful night four years ago. Wide-awake now, she glanced at the bedside clock and noted that the time was 1:30 AM. Rubbing her eyes several times in an effort to drive away the lingering effects of her dream, she knew she would not be able to get back to sleep again this night. She reached over, turned on her nightstand lamp, stretched, and then slowly got out of bed. She groggily walked into the living room and turned on the TV. Cindy had been averaging only three to four hours of sleep a night since the death four years ago of her twin-soul Mike Cincotta in the motorcycle accident that took his life and nearly claimed hers as well.

In the first six months following the accident, her physical therapist pushed her to the limit to regain the full use of her left leg. She never once complained, although inwardly there were so many times during those tortured months that she fervently wished she had died right along with Mike. Even four years after his death, she still felt completely empty with Mike no longer in her bed and in her life. The loss of her other eight soulmates over the fifteen years prior to Mike’s death had left Cindy with absolutely no one to lean on to help her through her grief. While it was true that she had many casual friends, both male and female, there were none with whom she felt any type of a deep, enduring bond.

At age eighty-one, she was still an attractive woman. Many who knew Cindy believed her to be in her early sixties. Three men had briefly tried courting her during the past year. Jack, a stately, handsome, silver-haired man fifteen years her junior was the only one who had succeeded in seducing her into bed with him. Truth be told, she had consented to have sex more as an experiment than for any other reason. The sex, a one-time-only occurrence, was for her utterly unfulfilling. It succeeded only in making Cindy even more aware of what she had lost with the deaths of Mike and her other eight soulmates.

Nevertheless, though sexually unfulfilling, that night with Jack had not been a total waste—not by a long shot. She recalled that, as she was dressing in preparation for his coming to pick her up at her house that evening, her thoughts had been all about Mike. She wondered what he would think had he been watching her from some other plane of existence. What would he say to her if he knew that she was planning to have sex with Jack after they returned tonight from dinner and a movie? At one point, she stared up at the ceiling. Aloud, she said, Mike, if you are out there somewhere and are OK with what I am about to do, please send me some kind of a tangible sign. I really need to know that you approve. I miss you so much, but I need to get on with my life to the degree that I can. I hope you understand and support me in my decision.

An hour later, Jack came by to pick her up. You look ravishing, he said, giving a hug and a quick kiss. Where would you like to go for dinner? he asked cheerfully.

Thank you! You look great too. I know a wonderful little Chinese restaurant about a block from the movie theater. The place has zero atmosphere, mediocre service at best, but they make the most delicious Mandarin food this side of Chinatown. Wanna give it a try?

Sure, he said. Sounds like my kind of place. Chinese food’s a real favorite of mine.

They arrived at the restaurant ten minutes later. As was so often the case at this prime dinner time of the night, the place was nearly empty of diners.

Wow, exclaimed Jack in a whisper as they walked into the restaurant and waited to be seated. There’s almost no one here. Is it always like this?

Yes, she answered quickly. I really don’t know how they manage to stay in business. I’ve asked myself repeatedly why they have so few customers. It’s definitely not the excellent food that keeps people away. I think it’s the owner, who functions as their sole waitress. She is coarse, abrupt, and very surly. No matter how often I come here, she never says more than ‘Ha’ many?’ to me when I arrive. No pleasantries or friendliness whatsoever.

A moment later, the owner, a rather dour-faced, rotund, middle-aged Chinese woman walked up to them. Ha’ many? she asked in broken English.

Smiling, Jack held up two fingers and said aloud, Good evening, my dear! Two, please.

The woman nodded slightly and led them to a table for two. She handed each a well-worn and soiled menu and then asked, Wha’ you wan’ drink?

Both Cindy and Jack ordered a soda. The owner nodded, left, and returned a moment later with two unopened cans of Diet Pepsi, two straws, and two glasses filled with ice. She deposited them unceremoniously on the glass-topped table and then walked back to her personal chair adjacent to the kitchen door.

Jack smiled at Cindy and said, I see what you mean. She isn’t the friendliest waitress I’ve ever met. Not the best, either. At the very least, she could’ve opened the cans and poured the drinks into the glasses. It’s not like she is busy waiting other tables.

I agree entirely. Trust me, though, Cindy said, the food makes up for it. Everything on the menu is great. They both picked up their menus and studied the six pages of offerings.

Jack looked up from his menu and said, I think I am going to have the Kung Pow chicken dinner. How about you?

Cindy glanced back at him and was about to reply when suddenly her can of soda inexplicably began moving. It quickly slid five inches straight towards her on the flat glass-topped table as if some unseen hand was propelling it. Oh … my … Gowd! Did you see that? she inquired excitedly when it finally stopped.

Yes, of course I saw it, Jack answered in shocked amazement. Unbelievable! I’ll bet the bottom of the can is wet or is sitting on a melting piece of ice. That’s the only thing that could satisfactorily explain what just happened. He reached over, lifted the can, and examined the bottom. It was bone dry, and so was the glass tabletop on which it had slid. Well, I’ll be damned. I’ve never seen anything like that before. What could possibly have caused an unopened can of soda to slide straight at you like that?

Cindy smiled enigmatically and hummed the music from the classic Twilight Zone TV show. Do do do do. Do do do do. A weight had been lifted from her chest. She now knew without the slightest doubt that Mike was watching her from somewhere and was signaling that he approved of her plan to get on with her life and to have sex with Jack later that evening.

Now at nearly 3 AM, she continued her reveries about that evening. A broad smile appeared on her face. She recalled