Tick Tock Universe: A Harvester Adventure Series

By Richard W. Chamberlain

Jerome is imprisoned in another dimension with no chance to escape. He is placed on trial for the many crimes he committed against the Crystal Race.

His only thoughts are of his lost love Katie who he hopes is safe back on Earth with all the rest of his friends. While within his captive habitat Jerome encounters a strange being that

• Language: English
• Publisher: LitFire Publishing
• Release date: Jul 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781641519069

Richard W. Chamberlain

Richard Chamberlain was a part of the Naval Submarine force for twelve years. He was hurt during deployment and then medically discharged. He then entered Idaho State University and attained a degree in Mathematics and studied astrophysics. After graduation he commenced working at Nuclear Power stations on refueling code to refuel nuclear reactors. He worked for sixteen more years in various engineering positions at Nuclear Generating Stations throughout the various states. After he could no longer do that work he turned himself into the DAV. From then on he studied Physics, Mathematics, and various subjects pertaining to Quantum physic and Cosmology. He now writes, reads, and studies Electronics.

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DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this novel to the following:

Susan and Dana Browning who tirelessly worked with this book in order to make it read correctly and who gave me endless encouragement.

Michael Snodgrass who spend hours of mind numbing attendance while I rambled on about the Universe and encouraged me to try writing about all the minutia that filled my head.

Thank you one and all

Contents

DEDICATION

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-EIGHT

TWENTY-NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY-ONE

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

EPILOGUE

ONE

Katie sat at her favorite spot in the Ganymede Station Observation Deck and stared at the shifting bands of colors on Jupiter. Head hanging, she watched those swirling colors as if hypnotized. She shifted her view outward into the darkness of space and thought of the time the elder Jerome sent his original message from Galactic Center to Earth. That message provided a warning to the Earth that it was restricted to our Solar system and was never to leave it. It was that very message which initiated Earth Council to commence building the Jerome Project and the initial search for Jerome.

She languished in self-pity since Jerome’s loss to that strange ship. That loss filled her with a depth of remorse that never left her mind. Katie would often find herself scanning that bit of space out toward the sun where there had been the Harvester device…that space about the Sun now devoid of the Harvester Sun killer that previously orbited there. At one time that device had been slowly destroying the sun and subsequently the Earth. It was now nonexistent thanks to the efforts of Katie, Professor Massey, their friend AK an alien from another dimension, and Jerome himself the man she loved. Jerome was the prime initiator of the Jerome Project the Council had established to protect the Earth against the Tatmach.

She now awaited the return of her alien friend AK from his other dimensional home. Her hope was he would provide her information concerning Jerome’s location. He too had witnessed the abduction of Jerome by the strangely beautiful crystallin ship after the group effectively saved the Galaxy from the machinations of the malicious Harvesters.

In addition to saving the Galaxy, they provided Earth Council with ships of incredible speeds and very advanced technology. Earth now was able to traverse the Galaxy at seven times the speed of light. The results of attaining such advanced space ships gave Earth supremacy throughout the Galaxy.

After Jerome and the rest of his crew overcame the Harvesters and the group made its way back to Earth they encountered other races of the Galaxy and initiated peaceful contact with those races. It was Jerome’s intent to equalize the power structure throughout the Galaxy once he returned to Earth and was able to speak to Earth Council. That plan was thwarted by Jerome’s capture forcing the rest of the group to return to earth with only the Harvester ships.

Once Earth Council received the technologically advanced ships they immediately negated any peaceful intent with the other races of the Galaxy. This brought to Katie and the Professor a profound concern for the peace among the other races. This peace pact among all the other races within the Galaxy was essential to ensure an equality of power throughout all the races. Katie and the Professor felt the results of such pernicious deeds were normal for Earth, knowing of its history. As far as she knew Earth had never shared equally among others unless forced to.

Now the Council felt that it was most probable that those other races were completely unaware of the existence of that advanced technology anyway. Therefore, it gave Earth Council little concern about the matter.

Katie thought the World Council would have appreciated being saved from the clutches of the Harvesters and would have entertained some belief of their adventures after being provided with the highly advanced technological knowledge those vessels brought to Earth’s scientific community. But as it turned out Katie was misguided.

The Council cared greatly for the possession of those ships which they felt would be put to good use to reverse engineer and protect Earth should the dreaded Tatmach race decide to make an appearance. But, more than that, the Council on the whole disbelieved all their explanations concerning those ships and the Harvester threat.

Only after receiving the crafts would the Council make a decision as to what was necessary to maintain Earth’s safety and ensure the supremacy of humanity throughout the Galaxy. The rest of their story was considered only as an attempt for she and the Professor to explain their missing time away from their appointed tasks back on Ganymede Station.

Katie as well as the Professor attempted, unsuccessfully she thought with distain, to explain to them that many of the other races were more advance than Earth and should have access to the new technology in case the Harvesters returned to again pose a threat. Of course, none of those races would be given access to the type and kind of vessels Katie and Professor Massey provided the Earth Council. She supposed that was part and parcel of the Council’s innate need to reign supreme over the Galaxy. It seemed that this was something Earth had as a fault; the need to control any and everything they perceived as their domain. She and the Professor both had argued against that concept with the Council, yet it was to no avail and had fallen upon deaf ears.

Shess! Katie snorted with open disdain. No gratitude, that’s the problem, she said aloud to no one other than herself. The Observation room was empty save for herself. There was little need for scientific personnel attending the Station anymore now that the Sun’s coronal activity had returned to normal.

All monitoring devices used for watching for Near Earth Objects (NEO), posing a threat to Earth, had long sense been automated, and now no alien device orbited the Sun required a watchful eye. So, there were now only a small contingency of maintenance workers supporting the safe and continued functions of the Station’s automated monitoring equipment.

It was just a part of her reasons for the sullen temper which made her sit and snort with such open disgust. There was no reason for her to be on Ganymede Station at all. Oh, she understood the Council’s logic of the matter, but she had her own assessment of the situation and it pertained to a completely different agenda.

The Council felt, someone of the group which had been a part of the now defunct Jerome Project should be available to monitor the Jovian system, and the anomaly from which the Elder Jerome’s message came. Well, she supposed it could prove necessary should additional information come through. Yes, that was what they were calling the first Jerome now.

As far as the Council was aware Jerome was still on his original mission and would more than likely never be heard from again. Katie’s and the Professor’s efforts to explain what Jerome actually accomplished was disbelieved by them.

Jerome was no longer available due to his capture by the strange ship they encountered in space, and since there was no need presently for an Astrophysicist at the Ganymede Station, Professor Massey was left to lecture back on Earth. His accounts of time changes and alien races soon drew little interest leaving the old Professor in a state of dismay with no real purpose to his life. His only outlet was to frequently seek out Katie and lament his feelings to her. What with her own similar feelings, this left them both in a state of utter dismay.

AK had decided to keep himself completely unknown to the Council and had, therefore, left this dimension for his home. This left him an empty source for either Katie or the Professor to contact and attempt to maintain useful communication. Both the Professor and Katie found they missed him greatly.

When he left, he did so leaving a promise to return after researching Jerome’s abduction, there by leaving the monitoring job at the Station to her. Thank you very much guys, she replied aloud sarcastically.

She did have to admit, however, that the person placed at the Station to provide analysis should have an intimate knowledge of the temporal alterations achieved by the Tao, the one-sided craft AK and Jerome found drifting in space. By right of salvage they claimed the craft and used it to discover what the Harvesters were doing to the Galaxy. Since the time alterations by the Tao left Earth without knowledge of those changes to Earths sun, only she was left to provide this analysis at the Station.

Now, only the crew of the Tao was truly aware of that horrible race and their past aggressions. It seemed that, not only had Earth’s history been altered, but, had also the racial histories of the Galactic races as well. The result leaving them all with no explanation for the returning health of their stars. Those races that Jerome et al had encountered upon their return to Earth had more information concerning these facts, but Earth took no heed of what they had to say concerning the events of Jerome and his crew. Yet, those on board the Tao, who carried out those changes in time, retained complete memory of those earlier events that forced the Galaxy to labor under Harvester control.

This did, of course, make for a challenging time convincing the Council of the alterations to the past by Jerome’s team. The Council quickly came around to a point however, when provided with the highly advanced technology the team had given them. It was difficult to scoff at science that was so beyond Earths own. So, they did sit and listen, even if they appeared dissatisfied with some of the answers she and the Professor provided.

The loss of Jerome at the very end of the related scenario, did little to ensure their belief of the story she and the Professor had to tell. It seemed they thought if Jerome had returned it would have been better able to give credence to their story since he had been the person the Council sent to the stars… by the Jerome Project.

The return to health of the sun gave a reason to the Council to put the whole matter of Jerome and the Project to bed.

Katie spent lengthy hours in which she detailed Jerome efforts after leaving Earth to bring about the very changes that returned the sun to its present state of health, but the Council, having no direct knowledge concerning his actions after leaving Earth, discounted much of what she had to say as being part of her efforts to explain her missing time from the Ganymede station. Katie unfortunately had no evidence except the ships and this did give some credence to her story, but as far as her explanation of the missing time, her story of time traveling was disbelieved.

Just as Jerome had deep qualms concerning the initial validity of the mission he was undertaking; the Council just could not believe what the small group was relating to them. They questioned their veracity and disbelieved much of their story even though they had the ships to prove it. Besides, how could only one person out on a suicide mission accomplish such results as she and Professor related to them concerning that mission.

Invariably, what concerned the Council the most seemed to be the Tatmach Race. They could not be convinced that the Tatmach race posed no threat to Earth since they disbelieved the complete story as related by her and the Professor. They ask many questions concerning the Tatmach and Katie finally decided their continued interest was due to an innate fear of a possible attack by them. She feared that her continued explanation that there was no threat from the Tatmach would result in a time paradox, ultimately forcing her to let them believe as they wished. The fear fueled their desire to keep all the ships and that was, according to them, the end of it.

These thoughts and her feelings concerning Jerome filled her mind as she gazed out into the deep of space and watched the unblinking light of the stars.

Drawing a deep breath, she let it out, causing a slight fogging of the observation window from which she was observing the uncaring stars. I should not be here, she declared emphatically. I need to be out looking for Jerome, she bemoaned in deep frustration. She wagged her head sadly causing her brown hair to spring lightly about her lovely face. Her anger appeared to increase with every moment she sat looking out the space port window. The Council indicated their final results of their considerations concerning her story would be done quickly and she would be informed. Yet, it seemed the debate and consideration would go on forever.

She recalled the official stance declared by the Council. They would take all the ships and she would return to her position at the Ganymede Station while the Professor would return to his lecture tours.

The failure to convince the Council concerning the Harvesters left the Galaxy at risk should the formidable Harvesters return and rebuild the Conduit. Now, with the loss of Jerome, there was no way to know what horrible events were coming next. Katie worried over her failure to convince Earth Council that the Harvesters exists and could at any time assail the Earth through the very same Black Hole Conduit they had used previously.

Jerome had not destroyed the race and had definitely not altered their original intent. Her failure to convince them and their desire to have all the ships, caused her to defy their edict and she refused to give up her imprint on her own craft.

It would be left to Katie and hopefully AK, should he return, to make a trip back to Galactic Center to ensure that the Harvesters were not rebuilding their entry point, but without the Tao they could only know the conditions of that conduit at the present time. That might prove to be disastrous because by now that Conduit might already be rebuilt and ready for use.

But now sadly, both she and the Professor were remanded to menial duties; the Professor a Council guest speaker and money raiser and she a listener out at the fringe sector of the Solar System. At least she, had not succumbed to their fit of blatant narcissism. Their demand to have all the ships would have left her without any usable craft to search for Jerome. Professor Massey had already donated to the Council AK’s imprinted craft and his own. This gave the council two craft upon which they could reverse engineer and use for duplication of others.

Before AK had made his way back to his home dimension, he had released the ship he had commanded and made it available for ready imprinting by, whomever, the Professor wished to have it. The Professor gave it to the Council and then, as an added point of good faith, they had agreed to allow the Council to have that second vessel. That would give them one ship for reverse engineering while the other was left up and running, should Earth need protection. If that event occurred, there would be at least one available, operational craft. Not much protection, but at least some.

Katie felt initially that at least one of the Harvester’s craft they had stolen be given to one other race in the Galaxy for their usage. That would allow, to some degree, a sense of equality of power throughout the Galaxy. But that very concept brought anger and fear to Earth Council and they would not allow any thought of such an occurrence. There was no reasoning they could use to convince the Council otherwise.

As far as Katie felt, she and the Professor had been more than altruistic concerning the alien vessels and their dissemination, but the Council felt differently. They wanted them all. They wanted all three of the ships and were adamant concerning it. The discussion raged on for some time if you wanted to call it a discussion. It was more of a quarrel or a standoff of wills for them all; a losing one for the Council however, for they could not make Katie capitulate to their will and release her imprint of her own personal vessel. Imprinting was necessary for one to use a Harvester craft and the changing of the imprinting of a craft could be accomplished only by the willing effort of the imprinted ship owner, and not something that someone could be forced to do.

Thus, it seemed that ship imprinting could not be force from one person to another. Katie’s implacability to release her imprint of her personal ship resulted in flared tempers and fits of fist shaking rage in the Council. She, however, always stood in negative contention with a smile. That smile seemed to somehow infuriate them even more than her actual refusal. Her unauthorized usage was what they feared the most, and they strictly forbade her that usage. She remarked, as she smiled prettily, that it was her ship by conquest and she would put it to use as she saw fit and when she wished. This infuriate them to a state of apoplexy.

She tried to assure them that, should Earth need her craft for Earth’s protection, she would be at the ready to oblige its usage at once. But, nothing short of complete and unfettered command of the vessel was acceptable to the Council. Katie resolutely denied them this privilege as she simply smiled at their rampage and walked stately from the Council room.

This blatant defiance to their authority, brought outrageous laughter by the Professor, as she had displayed that dimpled smile to the Council. They, in turn, for some reason beyond her understanding, became enraged by his laughter. How crass, she remarked snidely, as she joined the Professor outside the Council Chambers.

When the Council finally conceded to the fact that her ship belonged only to her, they had then bartered for its loan while she was doing her time at the Ganymede Station. That brought to her fits of laughter and had again done nothing for their own turbulently vexed demeanor. But they would have to be fools to think she would go halfway across the Solar system while leaving her private vessel here under their control.

She, therefore, used it for her own transportation to the outer colony and the ship now resided in the Ganymede Maintenance Hangar at the Station base, still fully operational and ready should she hear from Jerome. It would be but a small trip to Earth should she hear form AK to pick up the Professor, and then all would be off to seek Jerome.

AK was the one, she was certain, that knew what had happened to Jerome when the crystal ship had taken the Tao, and along with it, Jerome. She recalled the Alien’s exclamation when the beautiful crystal ship had come to intercept their little armada. AK implied there had been some sort of sound, which seemed only he could hear, that might indicate where Jerome had been taken. His explanation, however, had been less then revealing, when he attempted to satisfy the group’s questions.

AK said he could see that the crystal ship had made a time jump of some sort. But it was unlike the time jumps carried out when using the Tao. They had used the time corridor when they had jumped back in time and, although, it was in the fifth strata, it was still within our reality. He kept repeating that the kidnaping vessel had somehow dropped through time, but that left them with little understanding or any ability to stage a successful rescue.

AK finally admitted, he had far too little information concerning the concept, and that he felt he must journey back to his home dimension where information of this sort was more plentiful. There he hoped to research and learn more about the mysterious manner of the abduction, and they would eventually be able to seek out their friend and companion once he learned more. It appeared even this endeavor would be in defiance of the Council.

Months slipped by now and Katie was growing increasingly impatient with what she felt was a needless wait. Her heart was sick, causing her to fall into a deep fugue, leaving her to go about her work mindlessly. She was losing weight due to lack of appetite. Her continual thought was of him; the love she needed and could not have. Jerome was out there, somewhere unknown, with some unknown race; perhaps it was the Harvesters themselves who had abducted him. The Professor had proclaimed that to be a faulty conjecture on her part, for the craft had no similarity to those of the Harvesters.

It had been such a lovely ship, she thought in wonder. But she found that her only thought now was of contempt for the abduction and, therefore, the same for the abductors.

She recalled how the light from the stars had reflected from its smooth, polished facets, such that it sparkled and glinted with scintillating brilliance. There appeared to be no hatches, no engines, no fins, as would a ship have if designed and crafted on Earth.

It appeared directly before them as if coming into existence, somehow, within the very space it occupied, as if it just…just shimmered into reality. Then it took him. Jerome and the Tao. One moment it was there, and the Tao was with them, and then it was gone, and so was Jerome. Suddenly Katie realized tears were again running down her cheeks. Angrily she wiped at them, chiding herself for her foolishness, but lately she found herself easily falling into that same state of emotional wreckage. Inaction was going to be the death of her she decided.

Enough of this, she cried aloud, as she leapt from her chair and spun about in the intent to proceed to her lab. She was abruptly startled to the point of exclaiming with a high decibel Squeak, by finding herself pressed up against AK.

You scared me to death, AK, she exclaimed throwing her arms about her friend’s neck and laughing with spent tension.

Please excuse my abrupt appearance Katie, the Alien said as he let her stand back on her feet. It was never my intention to bring death to you. Jerome would not like that. He thinks much of you and would take great umbrage against me should I harm you.

AK was again looking exactly like a later aged Einstein just as he had been the last time she had seen him. The ruffled white hair coupled with the kindly grandfather eyes hidden within shaggy eyebrows made her feel a closeness to this strange Alien that had befriended Jerome. She supposed he had befriended her as well for she always felt comfortable around him.

Oh! you know what I meant. Do not try and make me think you don’t understand human vernacular, for I know that just is not true, she scolded him as she smiled into his kind face. She feared his assumption of any human persona was more difficult for him to maintain now that the readily available informational archive aboard the Magellan was gone and time had passed. It was from that immense library that he drew his human knowledge.

AK smiled and waved pointing at the Observatory seat, indicating she should reseat herself. It is so very good to see you again Katie. I hope all has gone well with you and the Professor as you informed your Government of all we have accomplished with Jerome.

Don’t get me started on that, she said in a tone of disgust. It has been a nightmare and, as you can see, has resulted in my placement once again, out here on the very fringe of our Solar System. And speaking of my wayward location, how did you find me out here. Have you been keeping an eye on this Station? she asked breathlessly. A sudden shudder coursed through her at the thought that the Alien might have been watching her cry, during her deep fits into despondency as she stared daily at the stars.

It’s the first place I checked. Lucked it, as your people say.

Lucked out, Katie gently corrected, seeing that there indeed had been some loss since he had been away so long from the Magellan and its library. That craft held the total repository of all the knowledge of Humanity. Jerome’s trip to the stars planned to take that information and present it to some, at that time unknown, intelligent race among the stars. Jerome and AK discarded the ship he used for the trip when the two of them discovered another craft; the Tao. They had then taken the Tao and left the Magellan in an obscure part of space. AK no longer had access to that ship’s archival resources and therefore extrapolated his current human responses based solely upon his memory of that archive. This, very likely would result in his responses being, at times, a bit odd. AK thought for a moment and then nodded his head in agreement. Katie could tell the bit of colloquial jargon was being categorize and stored for future reference.

I fear I have some less than good news for you and the Professor, he said giving his best Albert Einstein impression for sadness. I have not yet determined where Jerome has been taken. I have though, for certain, eliminated where he has not been taken, he added smiling as if that should, somehow, make up for the terrible impact of the first part of his report.

Katie felt deeply dismayed when conveyed with this unwelcome news and stood motionless then she collapsed into her seat as if she had suddenly lost thought of what to do with herself. The grandfatherly smile abruptly dimmed on AK’s face as he realized that his news brought sadness to his friend.

I’m so sorry Katie. I know you are counting on me and I seem intent on failure. I assure you I am applying all my resources to resolve this problem and I assure you we will eventually find Jerome’s location. AK walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder and she reached up to cover his hand with her own.

I know you are, she replied. There is no doubt in my mind that you will solve this problem, for I truly know your feelings for Jerome are almost equal to my own, she added smiling up at the Alien. I had hoped that somehow, due to your, somewhat, unique dimensional perspective, you would be more able to see where that ship went after leaving our space. It was a long chance, but we had to start somewhere, she uttered with a forlorn sigh. There is just so little to go on, she added with undisguised anger.

Alas, you are correct. When it happened, I could detect that the ship left this Universe. When I make that statement, I do not mean that it left this Galaxy, or that the ship taking him went into the quantum strata levels, as we would go. No, I mean it fell through the very fabric of this reality. Hence, my utterance of the event being impossible, he paused and looked at her to see if she understood. If it had been otherwise, I would have known, as I have come, in many ways, to understand those dimensional alcoves of this Reality. I learned of them while traveling with Jerome, he said with a puzzled look on his elderly Einstein face.

Katie looked up at him again with an attitude of intense perplexity. What can it mean to-drop through Reality? she questioned thoughtfully. The very concept makes little sense to me, she added.

Before that concept can make sense, one must define Reality, he said with a conviction that indicated he had already come to an understanding of that trivial matter. It is a difficult concept to define I’m afraid; many variables and numerous unknowns.

Katie burst out laughing and surprised even herself with the abrupt explosive nature of her sudden emotional change. You’re serious? she asked the Alien with complete incredulity. You believe you can readily define Reality, or that there is even a definition for such a broad concept as Reality? Wouldn’t that be much like trying to define the Universe? In, actuality, aren’t those two the same: Reality and Universe? she added with a somewhat unpleasant glower on her face.

AK looked at her for a few moments as if trying to decide if she was being serious or was attempting a joke. Laughter and human mirth due to human’s predilection for what they considered a joke were often difficult aspects of human emotion for the Alien to comprehend. Unable to readily decide Katie’s actual intent, he decided to continue his elucidation on the topic anyway.

There is a wide division between what one would call Universe, and what would define Reality, he tried to assure her, deciding finally, that her fit of laughter was not her just joking about this subject. So, he then continued. For your edification consider the concept Universe, although appearing to mean only one, the prefix Uni of the word meaning a singular one. We now infer a Universe to be a realm that may be inclusive of several separate Universes all now known as the Multiverse. Unfortunately, there are not any of those other Universes which make up the so-called Multiverse, that we can interact with. But none the less all those many separate Universes make up the totality of Reality.

Therefore, there is only one Reality, but it may be inclusive of literally billions of Universes, due to the earlier expansion of the Universe which exceed the speed of light after the Big Bang. So, a definition for Reality would have to be inclusive of those many Universes, while the definition of Universe would be of one exclusive of the Multi-verse. But, any actions known to us within this definition of Reality is only for those events that are occurring now, he added and then waited for her to understand this last declaration.

Seeing that she remained silent, he continued. Therefore, I must define this concept, this elusive NOW, of which I speak. We can say that NOW, is all the events occurring to you and me as I say that very word, NOW, to you. Those collective events are our acknowledgment of the most current events happening together with us that changes, and progresses our NOW, into our future.

The other problem with the definition of NOW, he continued, is that if you are not in my frame of reference, let’s say due to your velocity being very different from mine or you are many light years away from me, per the Theory of Relativity, your NOW and my NOW will be different, depending upon our velocity difference and how we vector in regard to each other. In other words, if I move toward you, our difference of the NOW will be less than if we are moving away from each other. AK paused and watched her for a very long pregnant moment. That new, NOW, definition means that our Realities will be completely different and thus contain many various places where Jerome is not.

As you can see the term Reality gains complexity the more you consider it, he said with what Katie thought was a horrible finality.

Her hopes of ever finding the person she loved was looking very slender indeed. I guess we will just have to stay together until we find him, she said with an abject hopelessness.

AK observed her chest fallen response to his effort to clear up the complexity of this subject and again felt dismayed that he had caused Katie additional pain. "I understand that you feel Jerome’s loss deeply and that we can never experience the depth of that loss as you have, but I assure you, we will find him. I will discover where he is being maintained, but it will take a bit more time. But I feel I have failed to properly explain this concept of NOW to you fully, for I was using your and my NOW as an example: a metaphor as such.

Katie felt a great feeling of helplessness at the very mention of more explanation of his word NOW, that he seemed so preoccupied with. If she never heard the word again it would be too soon for her. Right NOW, she would be delighted to have the word written a billion times on paper, have it rolled up and forced down his throat. That thought, however, immediately brought a deep sense of shame to her. She knew AK was doing his best to find his friend and her lover and he was doing it especially for her and now she responded with rancor. It was wrong of her and it made her feel cheap and filled with vitriol.

Despite her inward feelings of virulence, she sat demurely as he continued. "The difference in NOW becomes more difficult by the fact that the Universe is so huge, and light is so slow. Us being together will have no helpful effect on the complexity of that definition I fear."

It may seem we have little evidence, he continued, trying to make clear a most difficult topic, but we know where he is not, as I stated before. Recall, when you lose something, the first thing you do to find what has been misplaced, is to look for it, correct? he informed her as if losing and finding objects were some strange new concept requiring deep explanations before it could be completely understood by the meager human condition.

Katie gaped as AK gave her that bit of wisdom. Her mind suddenly began to do summersaults. Having this conversation with an alien began to seem beyond her conceptional grasp.

Yet, without any signs of awareness of her despondency and discomfort, he continued. In doing that, in truth, what you are discovering is where the misplaced item is not. Otherwise, when you made the decision to look for the item, you would have found it at the first place you sought it. Once you eliminate all the places it is not, then the next place you seek it, will invariably be the location where it must necessarily be found. AK stated this last piece of profound logic just as if it was the most reasonably viable concept available to find the location of any lost object.

Katie could not help but smile at the Alien. It made sense when he said it, if one understood that there needed to be some limit to the places where the item was not. If those locations were so numerous that they filled an eternity, then the method broke down. But AK did not think like others, for he was not a human, and perhaps that was just as well. Since Jerome’s loss was the results of very strange circumstances, it would require the efforts of an entity outside the human condition to discover those circumstances.

I am certain you are right AK. I will leave it in your capable hands, for I assure you, it would take an incredible length of time for me to determine all the places where Jerome is not, she told the Alien as she tried to make him feel better for his giving her such grave news.

AK again looked puzzled. Why would it take so long. Most of those many places can be eliminated by default. For example, we know he is not under your bed, correct? We know, as well, he is not on Earth, for if he were, he would have contacted either you or the Professor by this time, he said looking perplexed that she could not apparently see such easily eliminated locations. Actually, most of the myriad locations are of this nature and can be immediately eliminated and I have already done so.

Katie’s mouth dropped open in utter shock. Are you saying what I think you are saying, she asked hopefully of the Alien, knowing fully his problems with human speech.

The Alien cocked his head to one side and considered her words for long moments. Katie, I of course don’t know what you’re thinking, and I am almost certain you know what I am saying. I was using English just as you have been. Is that not so?

No! No! I mean your meaning. I mean... Oh hell AK, are you telling me you know for a fact that the very next place you look for Jerome will be the place he is located? Katie said filled with a mixture of exasperation and consummate joy at the same moment.

There you are Katie, I was most certain you understood, he stated cheerfully. Why would you even ask me if I would say something I don’t mean? Do humans often say what they don’t mean? he asked genuinely interested.

Katie stopped talking. She looked down at the floor for a moment, feeling somewhat conflicted with his reasoning and then she drew a long deep breath to help relieve her exasperation and addressed him. Look AK, what I am asking is this, she said with an even, slow, voice. Are you saying you have found Jerome or not?

AK looked directly into her eyes and said curtly, No.

The color drained directly from her face and small lights spun in her vision making sparkles which floated about her, as she stared at the Alien. No! But I thought...

No, Katie! he interrupted. "I have not told you I have found him. I have told you I have found where he is not. Now I tell you that we will look for where he is. It will,