Legends of Amacia: Mysteries of Tiamat
Through the Looking Glass

Hannibal retrieved the radio from thewindow ledge, turning it off, and then looked at the portal. “I’ve put this offfar too long,” he murmured. “I should’ve done this a long time ago.” He thenlooked at the group, specifically at Mary and said with a little humor, “Areyou ready to step into my world? Are you ready to step through the lookingglass with me, Alice?” Mary abruptly choked with laughter, knowing thereference he was making.

“Come, my friends,” Nathanael said in aninviting tone as he smiled, showing his canines. He stood in front of theportal with his arm outstretched in a welcoming manner.

Hannibal led them toward the portalwith Selina following up behind them. They stopped at the portal and Harry,Mary and Dennis gazed into it. Fear began to rise in their souls, whichHannibal noticed. “Could you go on through Nathanael?” he asked. “This may takea minute.”

“It won’t hurt you,” Nathanaeldeclared, “watch.” He stuck his feline arm up to the elbow through the portalwithout going through it. “It’s like stepping between two rooms,” he said as hewithdrew his arm. He then stepped through the portal. They looked through theportal and saw Nathanael waiting on the other side, waving for them to come.

“It’ll be all right. It won’t hurtyou,” Selina purred in their ears.

Harry stood there with his family,staring at the portal. “This is really it. We’re going to travel half wayaround the world in an instant. Our old lives are gone. We can’t go back,” hewhispered, realizing the depth of their predicament. Mary and Dennis looked tohim for strength.

Hannibal saw their hesitation and fear.“Selina,” he said as he gently wrapped his arm around Harry and his family.

Selina immediately knew what he had inmind and did the same. “It’ll be all right,” she purred softly as she andHannibal began to move them toward the portal. Harry put up little resistanceand they moved into the portal. In an instant, they stood in the portal chamberat the Temple with Hannibal’s home shimmering beyond the portal. The portalchamber bustled with activity. Hannibal glanced at Selina and they smiled ateach other. Harry and his family moved forward a few more steps into the vastchamber and turned around, looking at the portal. He saw the empty bedroom onthe other side of the swirling ring. His mind reeled at the impossibility ofwhat they had just done. They had move almost ten thousand miles in an instant.He turned and gazed at the portal chamber.

Hannibal and Selina stayed close toHarry and his family. Nathanael stood in front of them. “Welcome to the Templeof Tiamat, my friends, the oldest structure known to humanity,” Nathanaeldeclared, extending his arm in a sweeping gesture, revealing the chamber.

The chamber was the size of a footballstadium with a ceiling nearly two hundred feet high. The portal stood on araised area nearly fifty feet across and four feet above the rest of thechamber. The floor consisted of a strange metal with the walls being lined witha strange combination of crystal and metal. Near the edge of the platform sat alarge console that had a very detailed hologram of Hannibal’s house above it. Aman stood behind the hologram at the console, operating the machine. He touchedthe console, the hologram disappeared, and the portal snapped shut. The manthen walked away, going to help with the dispersal of the supplies. Harrylooked across the platform where the portal had once stood and then up towardthe ceiling. He noticed four giant crystals coming down from the ceiling in asquare arrangement. He looked at the platform and saw another four colossalcrystals rising from it around the perimeter of the platform. A ramp went downto the main level of the chamber from the platform. A soft, pleasant light litthe whole chamber with no shadows or dark corners anywhere. The light seemed tocome from all directions. The air temperature was about seventy degrees.

Harry looked up at the crystals on theceiling again. He noticed that they were held motionless about seventy feet upby an immense web-like superstructure of machinery made of the same metal thefloor and walls were made of. The machinery and the floor of the platform hadstrange writing all over it. The crystals glowed in an unearthly manner andHarry noticed a low hum that seemed to come from every direction. Mary andDennis looked around in stupefaction, watching the people begin to unpack thepallets. The workers knew exactly what they had to do. Hannibal watched Harry,Mary, and Dennis as they slowly moved around the platform, absorbing theirsurroundings. Selina stayed close to Mary as she staggered around.

“This is just one chamber,” Hannibalsaid, putting his hand on Harry’s shoulder, “and just one machine of many we’vefound. The machinery in here stretches for miles.” Harry stood dumbfounded atwhat lay before him.

Hannibal watched Dennis’ reaction as hetook in his surroundings. His reaction went from fear to wonder and awe. Thenexcitement started to bubble up on his face. He began to move in largercircles, exploring the platform.

“This is unbelievable,” Harry finallydeclared. “I’ve never seen anything like this. This is absolutely astounding.”

Mary walked slowly back to where Harryand Hannibal stood, leaning on Selina’s arm. Her face was full of wonder. “Thisis the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Mary said with absolute and utterwonder.

Hannibal looked around and saw Dennismoving toward the console. “Do you want to see how this thing works?” Hannibalasked. Harry and Mary nodded and Hannibal called out to Dennis “Hey Dennis;wait a second. Let me show you how the portal works.” He led them to theconsole.

The console spanned eight feet long bythree feet wide by four feet high with top that pitched up at about thirtydegrees. Strange glyphs covered the casing and the top consisted of a series ofodd-looking buttons with glyphs on them. In the center sat a clear crystal thesize of a grapefruit. Hannibal thought for a minute. “Let me see if I rememberhow this thing works,” he murmured. “Ahh…here we go.” He began to press thebuttons in a specific order. Harry, Mary, Dennis, and Selina watched as hemanipulated the console. “We have a quicker way of doing this but for now I’lldo it the old fashioned way,” Hannibal commented.

The crystal in the console began toglow and the machinery started to hum. Harry looked up at the giant crystalsover the platform and notice they were beginning to glow brightly and resonateaudibly. He then noticed the crystals around the perimeter of the platformbehaving in the same way. A light suddenly flashed out of the crystal on theconsole and a hologram appeared of the whole planet. Hannibal found the US onthe hologram and touched it. The hologram zoomed in on the country. He touchedit two more times and had found Harry’s house. Once more, he touched thehologram and Harry’s living room appeared. Harry and his family watched withcomplete fascination as Hannibal manipulated the machinery as if he were theone who built it.

Hannibal looked intently at thehologram, and then said, “Now look up.” He touched a spot on the console asthey looked up at the crystals. The machinery’s hum became slightly louder andthe crystals all around the platform began to shine with an unearthlybrilliance. In the middle of the platform, the very air began to glow andshimmer violently. Then in an instant, great beams of light shot like lightningfrom all the crystals and touched in the middle with a roar. A glowing sphereseven feet across appeared as the air crackled with raw power. Harry, Mary, andDennis shielded their eyes from the brilliant flash. Within seconds, the spherebecame a ring just as they had seen when Dan and Selina first came through inHarry’s living room. The beams of light dissipated and the crystals sang inresonance, glowing eerily. The energy ring around the portal crackled withenergy discharges that seemed to flow around the portal. Harry, Hannibal, andDennis walked over to the portal and looked through. Harry’s living room wasbathed in a strange bluish-violet light. Mary slowly made her way to the portalwith Selina’s help. Nathanael stood guard over the controls.

As they approached the portal, thecrackling ring fascinated Dennis. He started to reach out to touch it whenHannibal quickly restrained him. “You shouldn’t touch the ring, Dennis,” hewarned. “It’s very dangerous, not like the middle where we can walk throughit.”

“Why?” Dennis asked.

“Watch and you’ll see why,” Hannibalstated, pulling a quarter from his pocket and tossing it into the ring ofenergy. It bounced off and fell to the floor partially melted. Harry and Marygasped in horror. “The ring is pure energy,” Hannibal reported, “and isshielded with a very strong force field to prevent anything from coming intocontact with it by accident. If you were to touch that force field, your handwould most end up like that quarter. That’s why we make the portal apertureoversized when using it: to prevent anything from accidentally hitting it.”

Dennis looked at the partially melted quarteron the floor with wide eyes. “Don’t worry,” he stated. “After seeing that, I’llnot touch it. I don’t want my hands burned off.”

“Yeah, thanks for the warning,” Harrysaid gratefully. “Everyone else knows about it too, don’t they?”

“They do,” Hannibal replied. “Are youready to get your things now?”

“I guess so,” Harry answered.

“Nathanael, replace four or five men tocome with us so we can sanitize Harry’s house,” Hannibal ordered. Nathanaelreached for his communicator and made some calls. Within thirty seconds, fivemen came to the platform and stood before Hannibal.

“Do we have another house to move?” amiddle-aged man asked. He had closely cropped red hair that and piercing browneyes.

“Yes, we do, Jerry. The goon squadransacked Harry’s house and beat up Mary. We have to sanitize it like we did myplace,” Hannibal stated.

Jerry looked at Mary and grimaced.“Man, they did a number on you, didn’t they?” he commented sympathetically.

Mary nodded and glanced at Hannibalsuspiciously. “Everyone here knows what happened, Mary, and they’re just asconcerned about it as I am,” Hannibal explained. “The men and women here arehandpicked by me, and are my friends. We’re all family here.” As he spoke, Danwalked up on the platform, approaching them.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Jerryapologized. “I’m sorry if I came across wrong.”

Mary smiled slightly as she wincedthrough another surge of pain, saying, “That’s all right.”

Upon seeing Mary’s face and condition,Dan rushed to her. “My god Mary; are you all right?” he asked with greatconcern.

“Yes, I’ll be all right,” Mary repliedin a labored tone.

“If you need anything, just let meknow,” Dan offered. “No matter how small it may be.”

Mary nodded as Hannibal addressed Dan,saying, “We must sanitize Harry’s house right away. Their attack on Mary was awarning.”

“Say no more,” Dan answered soberly.Then to Jerry and the others that had been called to the platform, Dan ordered,“You heard the man. Let’s clean up Harry’s house.” They charged through the portalon a mission.

“Thank you, Selina. I think I canmanage now,” Mary stated.

“Okay, but I’ll be right here if youneed me,” Selina replied, backing off a little. “Let’s go get your things.” Atthat, Selina started to lead Mary and Dennis through the portal into Harry’sransacked house. Mary hesitated and Selina put her arm around Mary to reassureher. “Nothing’s going to happen while we’re here,” Selina said confidently.

Hannibal added to her reassurance.“That’s right. Nothing is going to happen because I’m going to get Nathanael tomonitor the outside from here. He’ll let us know if anything comes. RightNathanael?” he called out.

“That’s right. If I see anything, I’llcome running,” Nathanael replied from the console.

“Besides, you have us for protection.God help them if they decide they want a second round,” Hannibal declared, “forwe’re more than capable of obliging them with a good scrap for what they did toyou.”

“I’m going to be there with you,honey,” Harry assured Mary, holding her hand. “We’re not going to let anythinghappen.”

At that, Hannibal led them through theportal into Harry’s ransacked house. Dan, Jerry, and their crew were well underway surveying the damage. Harry looked around at his living room where he hadfound Mary tied up just a few hours previously. The recliners and sofa layoverturned and torn to shreds. The splintered coffee table sat lying up next tothe wall. Papers lay scattered everywhere. He sighed deeply and stated,“There’s no point in taking anything that they broke.”

Mary stood there, shaking like a leaf.Seeing the terror in her eyes, Selina once again put her arms around Mary,purring for her. “It’ll be all right,” Selina purred. “You’re safe with us.”

“Why don’t you go to your room and getyour things together, Dennis,” Hannibal suggested. “Bring anything you like.”

Dennis looked at Harry, who nodded inagreement. “Go get your things, Dennis,” Harry ordered, “if they didn’t destroythem.” Dennis raced upstairs to his bedroom. Harry then decided to look throughthe house again and disappeared down the hallway to his study.

Hannibal looked at Selina and Mary. Heturned the sofa upright, making a place to sit, and then whispered intoSelina’s ear. Selina promptly sat Mary down on the sofa. Hannibal squatted downin front of them, asking Mary, “What do you need to take? I’ll go get them.”

“That’s all right,” Mary answered aftera few seconds. “I’ll get them. If they haven’t destroyed my kitchen, you canget the dishes out of there.”

Hannibal nodded. “Are you going to beall right?” he asked. “If it’s too much, you can go back to the Temple.”

Mary’s demeanor became more confidentas she said, “No, I’ll be all right. I have to face this now. Otherwise it’llhaunt me for the rest of my life.”

Hannibal smiled. “You’re stronger thanyou realize,” he complimented. “Go get your things. Selina, help her gather herbelongings.”

“Come on, sister. Let’s get yourpersonal effects,” Selina purred as she helped Mary up from the sofa. “Where arethey?”

“Upstairs,” Mary murmured. “They’reupstairs.” Selina helped Mary up the stairs, disappearing into the house.

Harry returned moments later from hissearch; his face flushed with fury. “They destroyed the whole house,” hegrowled angrily. “Why did they have to do so much damage? They could havelooked and not destroyed everything they touched.”

“That may have been the point,”Hannibal replied. “Their destroying everything was a means of striking fearinto you and Mary. It’s a tactic I’m well acquainted with from my darker days.”

Dan appeared with Jerry and their crew.“They demolished the whole house,” Dan informed. “They even tore holes in thewalls and ripped out some of the wiring. It’s a wonder they didn’t burn theplace.” Harry’s eyes flashed with building rage.

“Did you replace anything that issalvageable?” Hannibal asked.

“There’s not much left,” Dan admitted,shaking his head sadly. “There are some dishes left and some cookware. Theclothes you’ll be able to keep but all the furniture has been wrecked. We didreplace some of your food storage still intact. They did, however, replace your gunsafe.”

Harry ran his fingers through his hair,trying to suppress the rage. “Did they get in the gun safe?” he askedpointedly.

“I’m afraid so,” Dan said soberly.“They wrecked every weapon in there except this one.” Dan handed Harry a longbarrel Smith and Wesson forty-four magnum, adding, “It seems that they somehowmissed this one. The rest they totally destroyed. We found ammunition scatteredeverywhere. It looks like it’s still good so we might be able to salvage it.”

Harry’s eyes grew wide as he took theforty-four caliber revolver. “Thank you,” he whispered, trying to hide hisemotions.

“I take this gun is important to you,isn’t it?” Dan surmised.

“It’s a family heirloom,” Harrymurmured. “My grandfather gave it to me when I was twelve years old. Seeing itintact after they destroyed everything else is a miracle.”

“That it is,” Hannibal agreed.“Especially since it seems they went out of their way to destroy all of yourweapons.”

“Indeed,” Harry answered as his angerramped up again at the thought of the raid. “What about my radio equipment?”

Dan shook his head, reporting, “It’s atotal loss. It looks like they went at it with a sledgehammer. I’m reallysorry.”

Harry looked up at the ceiling andbellowed with rage. He went over to the kitchen door and pounded on thedoorjamb with his fist. “Gone…it’s all gone!” he snarled, “a lifetime of workgone in an hour! I’ll kill every last one of them for this, even if I have tospend the rest of my life doing it!”

Hannibal gently took the revolver outof Harry’s hand as he put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “Don’t talk likethat, Harry,” Hannibal said softly. “Don’t stoop to their level. The Lord willmake them pay for this outrage. That’s a promise.”

Dennis, Mary, and Selina suddenly camedown the stairs with some concern. “We heard Harry,” Selina said with concern.“Is he all right?”

Mary went to Harry and embraced him.The rage began to melt away as he returned the embrace. “It’s all gone, Mary,”he whispered, “all of it.”

“I know, honey,” Mary whispered. “Butwe still have each other. Our stuff can be replaced. You and Dennis can’t.”Harry hugged her again.

“Take anything that is salvageable,”Hannibal ordered Dan, handing him Harry’s revolver. “And make sure this gets tohis quarters.”

“Right,” Dan answered, taking therevolver and motioning to his crew. They immediately started moving whatremained intact through the portal. Hannibal stepped over to Harry and said,“Go get your things. We mustn’t linger here too long.”

Harry’s anger subsided to a low simmeras he followed Selina, Mary, and Dennis back upstairs. Hannibal stood alone inthe living room with the portal, resting his hands on his hips. He sigheddeeply, gazing at the destruction. He stepped back through the portal andapproached Nathanael at the control console.

Nathanael interpreted Hannibal’sexpression. “It’s bad, isn’t it?” Nathanael surmised.

Hannibal shook his head. “It’s a totalloss,” he stated. “They demolished the house and every stick of furniture inthere obviously looking for information about me and maybe about that hackerincident Harry was part of two years ago. He told me what happened and Isuspect they may have put him on their watch list because of it. Shit, theyeven tore out a lot of the wiring too. How’s the perimeter?”

“It’s okay for now,” Nathanaelanswered, glancing at the hologram that was set to monitor a perimeter aroundthe house. “But I wouldn’t wait too long though. These men are devious andtricky. Who knows what they’re up to or when they’ll return?”

Hannibal patted Nathanael on theshoulder. “We won’t be long,” he stated. “There isn’t much left.”

Hannibal turned and walked back throughthe portal to Harry’s living room. Glancing over at the front door, he noticedit was hanging half open and promptly shut it the best he could before startingdown the hallway to Harry’s study. The lights were broken with great holes werein the walls as if someone were looking for a stash in the walls. He got to thedoor of Harry’s study and found it smashed completely off its hinges. It lay onthe floor in the doorway. The wreckage of a computer desk, monitor, and printersat lying in the corner. Filing cabinets were battered like old tin cans andoverturned with their contents scattered all over the floor. Pictures frameslay broken in the clutter along with the broken glass. More gaping holes in thewalls greeted Hannibal. Overturned bookshelves with books ripped to shreds addedto the clutter. A spider plant lay on the floor, trampled and uprooted nearwhat was left of the computer desk. Then Hannibal noticed one little spot onthe floor about the size of a notebook that had been cleaned off. Heinvestigated the area, only to discover that the floor was hinged and Harry’ssafe was underneath. He then remembered Harry giving Dan a bag of stuff he hadretrieved from his car back at Hannibal’s house. Hannibal opened the safe,replaceing it empty. He closed it and gazed at the incredible mess on the floor ashe sat on his haunches. Something suddenly caught his eye and he moved toinvestigate.

Hannibal pushed back the ripped papersand broken glass gently, replaceing a small gold locket with strange writing onit. He gingerly picked it up and opened it. Inside the locket lay a picture ofHannibal, Harry, Mary, and Dennis taken back when they first met. Hannibalgazed intensely at the picture and suddenly realized there was more to thepicture than it appeared. He fumbled with the locket and the ring holding thepicture opened, revealing a strange-looking gemstone behind the picture.“Harry, you devil,” he muttered under his breath. “You’ve been holding out onme.” He stood up and walked back to the living room with the locket in his hand.Harry, Mary, Selina, and Dennis stood there waiting.

“Got your things?” Hannibal asked.

“We just sent them through,” Harryreplied in a depressed manner.

“I think you missed somethingimportant,” Hannibal said firmly, opening his hand revealing the locket and thegem.

Harry’s eyes got round withastonishment. “Where did you replace that?” he asked.

“I found it in what was left of yourstudy. Where did you replace this?” Hannibal asked in genuine interest as hehanded the locket and the gem to Harry.

“This gem has been in my family forgenerations. The story is my great, great grandfather found it whileprospecting in Arizona. It was so unique that he decided to keep it and it hasbeen handed down through the family from father to son ever since. It’s more ofa tradition than anything else,” Harry informed.

“That’s an interesting stone. I’venever seen anything quite like it,” Hannibal replied. “I take it that it veryimportant to you.”

“Yes,” Harry answered. “It’s veryspecial to me. My father gave it to me just before he passed away.”

Dan came through the portal andannounced, “I think that’s everything.”

“Good,” Hannibal returned. “Let’s goback to the Temple. There’s little point in cleaning up or locking the place.”Harry nodded in agreement. He looked around at the house as if to say good-bye.Mary looked around in the same manner. Tears began to well up in her eyes as itreally began to sink in that they weren’t coming back. “I know it’s hardleaving it behind,” Hannibal stated, knowing the emotions Harry felt frompersonal experience. “It was hard for me too but it’s something we have to do.”

Harry looked at him as Dan went backthrough the portal. “It still doesn’t make it any easier,” Harry murmuredsullenly. He went to Mary and stood at her side with Dennis at his other side.Selina remained at Mary’s side silently, purring softly in an effort to keepMary’s emotions level.

“Come. We have to go,” Hannibal said.

Just as they began to move, Danreappeared through the portal with great agitation. “Hurry…someone’s coming. Wehave to get out of here!” he urged. Fear began to surge in Mary’s soul and shealmost ran through the portal with Selina right beside her and Dennisfollowing.

Hannibal sprinted to the window andpeeked out. He saw four jet-black Chevy Suburbans with blacked out windowsspeeding toward the driveway. “They’re back to finish the job,” Harry hissedvenomously. “I’ll see to this.”

Harry’s anger flashed visibly as hebegan to move very deliberately toward the door with the intention of meetingthe invaders head on. Hannibal and Dan restrained him. “You can’t take them.There’s too many of them!” Hannibal pleaded as they dragged him into theportal. “Another time, Harry; they’ll reap what they’ve sown this day inspades. I promise you that! They’ll not get away with this,” Hannibal insistedas the portal snapped shut once they were at the Temple. Immediately, they wentover to the console where Nathanael was monitoring the hologram of the exteriorof the house.

“You made it out of there just intime,” Nathanael told them. “Look at what they’re doing.” Everyone watched thehologram as the black Suburbans pulled up and nearly twenty men got out withski masks, automatic weapons and several black bags. They surrounded the houseand stormed in. Nathanael zoomed in the hologram so they could see what wasgoing on inside the house. The men stormed through the house, obviouslysearching for something. The masked men shouted in Russian as they soonrealized that Harry had been there and things were missing, including Mary.

“Those are the guys that beat me up!”Mary shouted.

“Are you sure?” Hannibal asked bluntly.

“Absolutely…I remember their talkingand it was exactly like that,” Mary answered confidently. She latched ontoHarry as they watched the drama unfold. Harry’s face flushed with rage. The onein charge ordered something in Russian. The masked invaders opened their bagsand pulled out strange-looking devices, which they planted all over the house.As soon as the devices were planted, they left and Nathanael pulled thehologram back again so everyone could see the house and the yard. The invaderspiled into their trucks and drove away. As soon as they were out of sight ofthe house, it detonated in huge fireball that reduced it to flaming rubble inseconds. The concussion from the blast blew out the windows of Harry’sneighbors. Mary turned away and Dennis watched in shock. Harry stubbornlyrefused to turn away as the house burned to the ground in less than a minute.Selina put her arms around Mary to comfort her. Dennis latched on to Selina andhis mother. Hannibal watched Harry closely and carefully put his hand onHarry’s shoulder.

Harry’s rage suddenly melted and tearsbegan to well up in his eyes. “It’s all gone. They took everything,” Harrywept.

Hannibal sighed and hugged him. “No,they didn’t get everything,” he returned compassionately. “They didn’t get yourfamily and they didn’t get you or us. They’ll reap. You mark my words. The Lordwill make them to reap the whirlwind for what they’ve sowed here today.”

Harry looked at Hannibal and forced asmall smile. “You’re right,” he agreed. “The Lord will make this rightsomehow.”

Hannibal motioned for Nathanael to shutthe portal down and the hologram disappeared. “Come. We must get you settledin,” Hannibal said. Then to Dan, he asked, “How’s the setting up of thequarters coming along?”

“Oh. We’re getting along all right.Another couple of hours and we’ll have yours and Harry’s quarters ready,” Dananswered.

“Good…good,” Hannibal beamed. “In themeantime, would you like a tour?” he asked Harry.

Harry looked at Mary and Dennis. Theirfaces were weary but they seemed ready to participate. “I guess so,” Harryreplied with a sighed.

“Then come this way.” Hannibal said,leading them down off the platform. Selina accompanied them.

“I’ll see if I can’t speed up the workon the quarters,” Nathanael said while following them.

“Good idea,” Hannibal answered as theyreached an electric golf cart sitting near one of the exits with enough room toseat them all. “Climb aboard,” Hannibal invited. Nathanael disappeared amongstthe workers and supplies as Harry, Mary, Dennis, and Selina climbed on the golfcart with Hannibal.

“How far underground are we anyway?”Mary asked.

“This chamber has at least threethousand feet of solid rock between us and the surface. We could take a directnuclear strike and not feel it in here,” Hannibal informed as he drove the cartinto the tunnel. The tunnel was covered with the same metal that was in theportal chamber. It spanned nearly twenty feet high by thirty feet wide,illuminated in the same strange manner as the portal chamber. Its end could notbe seen. “We’re in the machine area that I told you about the other night.There are miles of tunnels such as these. We’re still replaceing machinerychambers like the portal chamber,” he reported. Harry and Dennis looked aroundin wonder. Mary did not pay much attention because of her pain. Selina stayedwith her, letting her lean against her. She kept an arm around Mary, purringsoftly for her.

“Wow,” Harry chimed. “This tunnel isbig as a four lane highway. How’d they do this?”

“I wish I knew,” Hannibal admitted.“There’s so much about this place that defies explanation. Whoever made thisplace had access to technology that is so far beyond us that it’s actuallyscary.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Harry agreedas Hannibal cast a wry smile at him.

They rode for nearly ten minutes, andthen Hannibal turned the golf cart down another tunnel. Within three minutes,they arrived in another chamber in the machine area.

“This room is some sort of a healingchamber. We bring people here who have been injured or come down withsomething,” Hannibal explained while stopping the cart and getting off. “I’veused it several times.” His passengers disembarked the cart and looked aroundat the strange chamber. It consisted of a metallic circular dome almost eightyfeet across and forty feet high. In the center of the room sat a 24-facetedgiant translucent crystal that stood nearly twenty feet high and seven feet indiameter rising out of the metal floor. The floor immediately around thecrystal rose up four feet onto the crystal forming a smaller dome at the floorlevel around the crystal reaching out six feet beyond the crystal. Twenty-fourmetal tables shaped and recessed to hold a person surrounded the crystal witheach table matching to a facet of the crystal and being connected to the domearound the crystal by a complex of machinery. The heads of the tables pointedto the center. A soft, velvety covering where patients would lie down coveredeach table. A control panel sat in plain sight on the small dome between thetwo tables closest to the exit. Several normal chairs sat unused around some ofthe tables. The room emanated a strange, calming atmosphere. The crystal glowedsoftly. It seemed to shimmer slightly and resonate with a low relaxing hum.

“Whoa, impressive; how does it work?”Harry asked.

“I don’t rightly know how it works. ButI do know that it’s automatic. In order to get it to work, all you have to dois lie down on the table,” Hannibal explained, walking over to the nearesttable. The crystal’s glow increased slightly as he approached. He climbed onthe table saying, “You know…I’ve had a nagging headache all day today.”

“How long does it take?” Harry asked,walking over to examine the crystal machine and table closer.

As Hannibal laid down on the table, thecrystal brightened significantly and hummed louder. A shaft of light suddenlyshot from the crystal and illuminated Hannibal on the table from head to toe.The soft gentle light fluctuated almost musically. Harry watched in fascinationas Hannibal lay there. “It depends on what’s wrong,” Hannibal explained.“Headaches usually take only a couple of minutes. More severe injuries likebroken bones require several hours. Viral or bacterial infections take fromfifteen minutes on up, depending on the severity of it. It can even be used tohelp remedy fatigue. It seems to me that this thing somehow useselectro-magnetic and sound frequency to heal. I don’t exactly know how it’sdoing it but I do know it works.” He propping himself up on his elbow as thebeam of light faded away and the crystal’s glow and hum quieted down. Hannibaljumped up off the table and said, “Yeah, that’s better.”

“You mean it cured your headache?”Harry asked with peaking interest.

“That it did. Why don’t you give it ashot?” Hannibal asked. “I know that you’re fatigued with all that’s happenedtoday. It can help with that.” Harry looked at him with some uncertainty. “Goahead. It’s not going to hurt you,” Hannibal assured.

Harry decided to trust Hannibal andlaid down on the table. He found the table very comfortable and relaxing. Histense muscles immediately began to relax. Mary, Dennis, and Selina moved overto the tables and watched intently with great interest. Selina already knew themachine’s capabilities and stood there with a smile on her face. The crystalglowed again and the hum increased. Harry felt the table vibrate with the hum,which further relaxed him. The beam of light then shot out and covered him fromhead to toe. Harry laid there in astonishment as the light bathed him in itswarm glow. The light seemed to vibrate at the same frequency the table did. Hiseyes grew wide as he first thought he heard beautiful music, and then felt itin his bones, rising from the table and the light. A gasp escaped his lips. Hefelt his strength returning as the light shown about him and the tableresonated with the crystal. The fatigue vanished along with some old aches andpains that had been plaguing him for years. Trouble he’d been having with hiseyes cleared up. Then the machine gave him a last dose of relaxation as thelight faded, the crystal dimmed, and the hum subsided. He looked up at Hannibalas he sat up, throwing his feet over the side of the table.

“This is incredible. This thingactually works! I haven’t felt this good since I was a kid,” Harry saidecstatically, jumping off the table. “You should try it, Mary,” he insisted.“It’ll heal the damage those goons did to you. I know it.”

“All right; I’m willing to try just aboutanything to stop the pain,” Mary answered, gritting her teeth as another surgeof pain raced through her side. Selina and Harry helped her lay on the table.Mary immediately felt the relaxing properties of the table. The crystal glowedagain, this time much brighter than it had done before. The hum increasedlikewise and the table began to vibrate and resonate with the crystal. Marysuddenly smiled as the relaxation abruptly took her and she fell fast asleep inless than a minute. Harry watched in hope and fascination as the beam of lightsprang from the crystal and enveloped her. Suddenly, a strange alien musicechoed from the crystal.

“What is that unearthly music?” Harryasked Hannibal. “I thought I was imagining it when I was on the table, but now Ican hear it audibly. It’s absolutely the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.”

Hannibal looked at Mary on the table,and then at Harry. “I don’t know what kind of music it is but you’re right.It’s very beautiful music,” Hannibal admitted. “The thing I’ve noticed with theinjuries that we’ve brought here before is the music doesn’t audibly playunless there are some very serious injuries that need healing. It usually playsthe music on a low frequency we can’t hear, but can feel in our bodies when usingthe machine. But when there’s a serious injury or infection to deal with, themachine will ramp up the volume so we can hear it. The only time I’ve actuallyheard this music audibly before is when we brought in one of my top explorers.He had been gravely injured in a fall where he had broken his back, legs, andpartially crushed his skull. We managed to get him here before he died and thatmusic started playing.” Hannibal looked at the beam of light and noticed it waspulsing, adding, “The light beam also pulsed in harmony with the music too,just like it’s doing now. He stayed on the machine for a week. It repaired andhealed him completely. You would never know that he’d broken his back, legs orhad his skull partially crushed.”

“Who was it?” Harry asked intently.

“It was Dan,” Hannibal answeredsoberly, looking Harry in the eye.

“Dan?” Harry breathed. “Incredible. Heshows no sign of the injuries at all.” He suddenly began to piece thingstogether. “My God…they meant killed her! That’s why this thing is doing what itis. The Lord kept Mary alive long enough for us to get her here.” Harry shookhis head in disbelief, adding, “I had no idea how badly they beat her.”

Hannibal put his hand on Harry’sshoulder as Harry looked at Mary on the table being healed by a machineconstructed thousands of years in the past. He looked closely and began tonotice that the swelling on her face was almost gone and the bruising wasbeginning to fade slightly. “It’s working!” Harry declared.

Hannibal gazed intently at Mary and sawthe subtle changes. “Yes, it is,” Hannibal agreed. “I don’t believe herinjuries are nearly as bad as Dan’s were. From what I see here, it may be donein about an hour or so.” Hannibal retrieved some of the chairs sitting aroundand brought them over to where everyone was gathered. “Have a seat,” he offeredas he sat down in one. Selina brought a couple more chairs over and sat in one.Dennis sat in another as Harry sat in one that Hannibal offered creating aperimeter around the table Mary was lying on. The strange heavenly musiccontinued to echo softly through the chamber while the resonate hum added tothe strangeness of the place. The soft beam of light pulsed melodically as theywatched.

“I see all this metal that everythingis made of. Is this the same metal that the books in the library are made of?”Harry asked.

“No, it isn’t,” Hannibal replied. “It’ssimilar in molecular structure to the pages of the books but it isn’t the same.Most of the machine areas that we’ve explored so far are made of this metal. Wehave found some special rooms though that is made of the same metal as those inthe books. They, however, weren’t part of the main complex of machinery, butpart of a specialized machine area that we’re still studying.”

Harry leaned back and ponderedHannibal’s explanations as he watched his precious wife lay on the strangetable while the ancient machine did its job flawlessly. “You know, this is avery soothing place. I’m completely at ease,” Harry observed. Dennis sat closeto Selina, latching onto her hand while he watched the strange crystal shimmerand seem to dance as it resonated. It fascinated him.

“Yes, this place is very soothing,”Hannibal agreed. “If I replace that I need to calm down when I’m here, this iswhere I come.”

“This thing is capable of healing morethan one at a time, isn’t it?” Harry observed again. “I see these other tablesaround the crystal machine.”

“Apparently,” Hannibal replied. “ShallI demonstrate?” Then to Dennis he said, “Do you want to try it? It’ll make youfeel good.”

Dennis looked hesitantly at Harry andhe nodded. He then looked at Selina with the question on his face: will ithurt?

Selina squeezed his hand, smiling.“This machine will not hurt you,” she declared, interpreting Dennis’ look.“It’s incapable of hurting you. It’s a healing machine.” Dennis coughed a bitthen submitted to the table. Hannibal and Selina helped him on the table rightnext to his mother. As he lay down, the recess in the table seemed to adjustitself to Dennis’ stature. He immediately felt the relaxing properties of thetable. The softness of the table impressed him, and then the table began toresonate with the crystal, which further relaxed him. He liked it and smiled.Drowsiness suddenly took him and he fell asleep nearly as fast as Mary asanother beam of soft, gently light emerged from the crystal and surrounded himwith its warm, diffuse glow. Harry watched intensely as his little boy slept onthe table.

“The crystal seems to know exactly whateach patient needs. Apparently, Dennis needs a nap,” Hannibal informed. “How itknows what each patient needs is the mystery. The machine almost acts as if itwere alive.” They shifted their chair so they could watch both Mary and Dennisas they sat down. Harry watched the crystal’s reaction to Dennis and hescratched his head.

“You know, Dennis had a really bad coldjust a couple weeks ago,” Harry informed. “It may have been brought on by thestress of school. He had just gotten over it when you came over last Monday.”

“If there’s anything that’s wrong withyou medically short of being dead when you get on the table, this machine canremedy it,” Hannibal stated. “It’s a machine that’ll make the medicalestablishment as we know it obsolete. Imagine what we could do for humanity withjust this piece of technology. No one would ever have to go to the doctoragain.”

“That’s so true,” Harry agreed. “But Iseriously doubt the powers that be would allow such a technology to be sharedwith the masses. They are trying to kill six and a half billion of us becausethey can’t control us, you know.”

“You don’t need to tell me that,”Hannibal answered soberly. “I’m fully aware of their planned genocide of mostof humanity. You forget; I was once one of them and had a hand in planning theatrocities they want to commit on innocent people who are no threat to them.Why do you think they’re so hot to kill me? They know I’m on to something thatcould end their plans of world domination.”

“How can these people be so wretchedlyevil?” Harry asked. “I just don’t understand it.”

“There’s not much to understand,”Hannibal replied. “These people have given themselves over to the Dark Powersto such an extent that I honestly believe they cannot be classified as humananymore. But fear not; the light of the Lord and His power is omnipotent.They’re doomed to failure, just as Lucifer was doomed to fail when he roseagainst the Almighty. There’s just no way they can blindside the Lord, so don’tgive it another thought. It’ll just give you a headache.”

“I guess I’ll have to,” Harry statedglumly.

“Don’t let it get to you, Harry,”Selina chimed. “You have the light of the Lord in you. Don’t let the minions ofthe Dark Powers get under your skin. You, Mary, and Dennis are alive despitetheir evil mechanizations. The Lord will make them may for their evil inspades.”

Harry smiled at Selina. “You’re right,Selina. Thank you,” he replied.

“You’re welcome, my friend,” Selinapurred.

After about ten minutes, the beam onDennis faded. He, however, remained fast asleep.

Harry thought about waking him, butHannibal restrained him. “Let him sleep,” Hannibal ordered. “He’s had a lot todeal with today. He needs the rest. Let him sleep at least until the machine isdone with Mary.” Therefore, Harry let Dennis sleep. The crystal continued toheal Mary’s injuries as they talked softly about details of what Hannibal hadalready found in the machine area. They talked for an hour and a half, keepingconstant watch over Mary and Dennis as the mysterious machine continued to doits miraculous healing work. Harry became wrapped up in the conversation andonly occasionally glanced at Mary while they talked. Suddenly, the strangemusic ceased and the beam stopped pulsing. “It’s almost done,” Hannibalinformed.

Their attention turned toward Mary asthe beam of light slowly dimmed and faded away. The crystal dimmed and glowedsoftly as the resonant hum faded away. Everyone rose and gathered around Mary.She lay there still sound asleep. Hannibal noticed that her breathing was nolonger labored, but normal. Harry gazed upon is wife in utter astonishment andjoy. All of her wounds were healed: the beaten and bruised face had no evidencethat she had ever been beaten. In fact, her face actually had a healthy glow hehadn’t seen in years that seemed to enhance her beauty. He reached out andgently touched her hand as Hannibal and Selina looked at each other with smileson their faces. Harry leaned over and gently kissed his wife on the lips. Tearsof joy welled up in his eyes as Mary opened her eyes. She yawned and reached upto touch the side of Harry’s face.

“My Prince Charming has awakened me,”Mary whispered with complete love for Harry. He immediately scooped her up andembraced her as they sat on the table. She wrapped her arms around him andresponded, “I’m all right.”

Harry looked her in the face with tearsstreaming down his face. “I know,” he replied. “I’m so happy that I didn’t loseyou.”

Hannibal nodded at Selina, motioningfor her to awaken Dennis. Harry helped Mary to swing her legs over the edge ofthe table. Mary’s eyes then fell upon Hannibal, who stood back a few steps fromthe table with a broad smile on his face. “I’m glad that we were able to helpyou,” he said happily. She got up from the table and when her feet hit the floor,her legs buckled. Harry caught her instantly, sitting her back on the table.She looked at Hannibal with a puzzled look. “Don’t worry,” Hannibal assuredher. “Your legs will carry you in a few minutes. It’s one of the after-effectsof the machine. When the machine has to heal serious injuries, it puts everypart of you into something like a deep slumber. Simply put, your legs justhaven’t awakened yet.”

She looked at him oddly, and thenunderstanding came to her. “I get it,” she replied. “My legs feel like they’vegone to sleep. They’re starting to tingle now. Where’s Dennis?”

Hannibal stepped aside so Mary couldsee the table behind him. Selina was leaning over Dennis, gently shaking him ashe lay on his side. “Wake up,” Selina purred. “Wake up, little one.” Dennisslowly began to move, shifting his position. He turned his head and looked upat Selina, his vision blurry. Slowly his vision cleared and he saw Selinaclearly as he yawned. A smile crossed his lips and Dennis reached up with hisarms to give Selina a hug. She helped him sit up and turned him, facing hismother. “Someone wants to see you,” Selina purred, looking over at Mary.

Dennis looked over at his mother andhis expression lit up. “Mom…you’re all right!” he exclaimed, literally leapingoff the table and running to her, giving her a big hug. Mary smiled andembraced him, saying, “Yes, I’m all right now, thanks to Hannibal.”

“Don’t thank me,” Hannibal replied,blushing slightly. “Thank the Lord because it was He that kept you alive untilwe could get you here. Also, the Lord led us to discover this amazing place tobegin with, so let’s give Him the glory. He’s the one that deserves it.”

“Help me up,” Mary ordered Harry. Sheslid off the table and Harry helped her stand. She slowly started to movetoward Hannibal. Strength returned to her legs as she reached Hannibal. Shethrew her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. “I thank the Lordevery day that we have you as such a dear friend. Thank you,” she said withextreme gratitude.

“The Lord is truly wondrous. You’revery welcome,” Hannibal answered happily, returning the hug. “Come, there aremany more wonders to see.” Hannibal turned and headed for the golf cart. Dennisfollowed close behind and Harry and Selina flanked Mary as she slowly made herway to the golf cart. By time she reached the cart, full strength had returnedto her legs. They climbed aboard and Hannibal drove them away from the healingchamber. “We have found several of these healing chambers around the machinearea. It’s almost like they’re first aid stations,” he reported.

“How many of them have you found?”Harry asked.

“At least seven so far,” Hannibalanswered. Harry thought for a moment about the fact that six more of thosechambers existed.

“Do you have anything to eat here? I’mstarving,” Mary asked.

“Yes, let’s go get something to eat.I’m a little hungry too,” Hannibal answered as they reached the junction in thetunnels. He turned right and headed down the tunnel that accessed the portalchamber, going away from it. Hannibal drove for five minutes and took threemore turns at which time they entered another large chamber in the machinearea. The rectangular chamber spanned two hundred feet long by seventy-fivefeet wide by forty feet high. Six golf carts sat parked near the entrance.Several rows of tables like those that one would see in a cafeteria lined thenear end of the huge chamber with people sitting at them, eating. The far endlay vacant. Along the right hand wall appeared to be a kitchen set up withstoves and refrigerators and counters. Cooks were in the kitchen, preparingfood. The counter, spanning forty feet, had a modest amount of prepared foodawaiting the diners in a buffet style setup.

“We managed to tap into the power thatruns the machinery and adapt it to our equipment,” Hannibal informed them as hestopped the golf cart by the entrance with the other carts. “An unlimitedamount of power surges through this entire complex. We found places where wecould tap that power to run our equipment. This happened to be one of theplaces so we set up our cafeteria here. Mmmm…it smells like they’ve alreadystarted using the food supplies I sent today.” They walked towards the counterwhere the food sat. Several of the people at the tables waved, shoutinggreetings to Hannibal.

Hannibal returned their greetings ashe, Harry, Mary, and Dennis reached the counter to be greeted by roasted deer,roast beef, tuna and tilapia steaks, all manner of green beans and peas,potatoes…mashed and baked, gravy, macaroni salads, squash, corn, and bread. Astack of plates and baskets of silverware sat next to an ice-maker that sat onthe end of the counter with stacks of cups next to it. Beside them were severalten-gallon thermoses with labels: water, tea, lemonade, and milk. Beside thatsat a cooler with sodas of every kind packed in ice. “Help yourselves toanything you want. This is your home now,” Hannibal stated as he reached for aplate and proceeded to put some deer, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, andcorn on his plate. The others lined up and helped themselves.

As Hannibal went to get a drink, thehead cook came out of the kitchen and spoke to him. “Hey Hannibal…nice to seeyou again,” the cook chimed pleasantly. “This new batch of food supplies ismuch more appetizing than what we’ve been having. Thanks for getting it.”

“It was my pleasure, Cynthia. It lookslike you were able to make some real dishes with it,” Hannibal said, grinningas he filled a cup with ice and lemonade. “I know those MRE’s weren’t cuttingthe mustard,” he added.

“That sure is the truth,” Cynthiaagreed. “I’ll see you later.” Hannibal walked to one of the vacant tables.Cynthia smiled at Harry and his family as they filed past her and said,“Enjoy.” She turned, going back into the kitchen. Harry, Mary, Dennis, andSelina retrieved what they wanted from the counter and joined Hannibal at thetable. Harry and his family sat down opposite of Hannibal and Selina took aseat beside him. As they ate, those who were already in the cafeteria filteredover to Hannibal’s table as they were going out, introducing themselves toHarry and his family, telling them how glad they were to see that Mary was allright. This went on for about ten minutes. After they’d all left going back totheir work, those sitting at Hannibal’s table were alone. The noise of bangingpots came from the kitchen as they continued to eat. Mary was ravenous. She ateas if she had not eaten in a month.

“It’s good to see that your appetite isstrong. The machine tends to do that to patients who were seriously injured.It’s a good sign,” Hannibal stated. The noise from the kitchen subsided andclassical music began to softly echo through the cafeteria. Everyone noticedit. “Cynthia likes Brahms,” Hannibal explained.

“Have you found the source of the poweryou’re using here?” Harry asked as he finished eating.

“No,” Hannibal replied as he finishedwhat he had on his plate. “Though, I suspect that it may be geothermal inorigin. Otherwise how could it have still been generating power after such along time?”

“Geothermal?” Harry questioned with araised eyebrow. “That’s an interesting theory.”

“You mean you think this place is runby lava?” Dennis asked.

“Yes, that’s what we suspect,” Hannibalreplied, smiling at Dennis. “But we haven’t found the source of the powergeneration yet. It may be something completely different from what I think. Wewon’t know for sure until we replace it.”

“Is there some kind of master controlroom to this place?” Harry asked after finishing off his drink.

“Not that we’ve found yet,” Hannibalreplied. “But we have found some control rooms that apparently control varioussectors of the machinery area. In fact, the control room for this area we’re innow, including the portal chamber, is just down the tunnel about six hundredyards that way,” he said, pointing toward the far end of the chamber they werein.

“Where’s the Library?” Mary asked.

Hannibal pointed out the way they hadcome in. “It’s about a mile from here that way,” he reported. “I’ll take youthere after a while. First, I’ll show you where we’ll be living for a while.”

Mary nodded. “Where do we put thedishes?” she asked.

Hannibal pointed to a large cart nearthe end of the counter. “You can put them there if you want. Though it’s notusually necessary,” he answered. “The cafeteria crew usually cleans up for us.”

“Oh, it’s all right,” Mary returned asshe began to gather up the dishes. “I just as well help out since we’re goingto be here a while.”

“I’ll help you,” Selina purred as shestarted gathering dishes too, seeing everyone had finished. They carried thedishes over to the cart and sat them down.

As Mary and Selina returned to thetable, a golf cart emerged from the tunnel with Nathanael at the wheel. Hestopped the cart and walked over to the table, sitting down next to Hannibal.“I have some bad news,” Nathanael said softly.

“What is it?” Hannibal replied with asigh as he slumped back into his chair.

“It’s not about you. It’s about Harry,”Nathanael answered. He then looked Harry square in the face and declared,“They’ve turned you into a terrorist, Harry.”

“A terrorist…how, when?” Harry askedwith astonishment. “I was one of the top cops in the country with a spotlessrecord. How were they able to do that?”

“You’re no longer a cop. Everythingabout your old life as a cop, including your family is gone,” Nathanaelinformed Harry. “On a whim after what happened today at your house, I decidedto check the records and profiles the government had on you.”

“You hacked into their system, didn’tyou?” Hannibal asked with a smirk on his face.

Nathanael smiled wickedly, showing hiscanines fully. “That I did,” he crowed. “Human computer networks are incrediblyprimitive by Kaitian standards so hacking in was easy for me. I figured one badturn deserves another. Anyway, I checked your files and found everything aboutyour life, including your job had been erased or changed. According to therecords now, you’re a member of a terrorist cell of which you are second incommand of. Your job as a cop was considered a cover. You’re now a renegade,white supremacist militia leader bent on the overthrow of the federalgovernment and the New World Order. You have connections to nearly everyterrorist agency on the planet that has reason to hate the US. Your wife andson are considered active participants with you. You’re now officially numberthree on the list of the FBI’s most wanted terrorists, right behind Hannibal.Osama Bin Laden, whom they erroneously claimed was responsible for the 9/11attack in New York several years ago, was four places below Hannibal until theyneutralized him a few months ago. They seized all of your assets. It seems thatwe spirited you away just in time.”

Harry’s face began to flush with angeras he pounded on the table with his fist, cursing, “Those lousy littleshits…they made sure that I couldn’t go back!” Mary sat back in her chair witha blank look on her face. Dennis tried to comprehend what Nathanael had said,but was found it hard to do so.

“They sure did cover their bases,didn’t they?” Hannibal growled. “How are my holdings so far?”

“They’re untouched at the moment,”Nathanael stated. “We’re going to have to move quickly to secure the rest ofyour research and bank accounts.”

“Why’d they go to that much trouble?I’m their target. Why go to that extent to destroy Harry?” Hannibal mused. “Iwould’ve thought they would’ve tried that on me before Harry.”

“I suspect they hit Harry and hisfamily in an effort to draw you out into the open,” Nathanael stated. “Butthings didn’t go the way they planned. Why they didn’t go after you firstremains a mystery.”

Harry sat there, fuming, when a thoughtcame into his mind about what Hannibal had said and he voiced it. “They’restill scared of you, Hannibal. They must still believe that you have youroccult powers and are afraid of violent retribution from you,” he stated.“Also, you’re an extremely wealthy man because of your past and what you donow. Ten billion dollars is nothing to sneeze at.”

Hannibal rubbed the side of his face.“You know, Harry. You may be right about that,” he admitted. “But as soon asthey realize that I’m not the master wizard I used to be, they’ll act like theydid on you.” His face suddenly hardened as his resolve galvanized. “We have todeal with this now before they replace out,” he said sternly. At that, Hannibalrose from the table and everyone followed his lead. “How are the livingquarters now?” he asked Nathanael.

“Yours and Harry’s quarters arefinished,” Nathanael answered. “The rest of the quarters will be done in alittle while.”

“Good,” Hannibal returned. “Can youtake Harry and his family and get them settled in? Then come to the portalchamber. We have much to do. I have to get to the satellite uplink and makesome changes in my financial accounts.”

“Sure,” Nathanael answered as theystarted moving toward the golf carts.

Hannibal climbed a golf cart and saidto Harry, “After you’re settled in, you can come with us.”

Harry saw the stout resolve in Hannibal’seyes and face. “Okay,” Harry replied. At that, Hannibal sped across thecafeteria heading toward the far end. Harry, Mary, Dennis, and Selina climbedaboard the golf cart with Nathanael and started into the tunnel on the near endof the cafeteria. “This is bad, isn’t it?” Harry asked Nathanael.

“Yes, it is. I figured they would justerase your existence by having the record say that you and your family werekilled. This move of them turning you into a terrorist is unexpected. It wouldhave been far better had they just killed you in the records because then theywouldn’t be looking for you like this,” Nathanael answered as he reached ajunction in the tunnels and turned right.

“This is unbelievable,” Mary saidsoftly, still trying to grasp what Nathanael had said. “It’s like something outof a movie or something.”

As Nathanael drove, he said, “Well, itlooks like we’ve got a real winner if this were a movie. Unfortunately, itisn’t. Do you or Mary have any extended family we need to be aware of?”

“No,” Harry stated. “My parents diedfifteen years ago and my two younger brothers were career military and died inthe US’s War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan recently. Neither of them hadfamilies of their own, and didn’t have much to do with me. I just wasn’tmilitary enough for them. As for my older sister, I don’t know what happened toher. Mom and Dad told me she disappeared without a trace driving home from thestore one night while I was in Vietnam. They searched for years, never givingup hope that they would replace her. No one ever saw her again. Mom and Dad wentto their graves without knowing what happened to my sister. My brothers gave uphope and stopped looking after mom and dad passed on, going on with theirlives. I kept looking, hoping against hope that at least her body would showup. Several years ago, I was forced to give up the search for her in order tokeep my job as a cop. Her file was relegated to cold case file for missingpersons. It’s like someone or something snatched her off the face of theEarth.” He sighed deeply. “At times I still wonder what ever happened to her,”he added glumly.

“What was her name?” Nathanael asked.

“Zoë,” Harry answered softly.

“What a beautiful name,” Selina chimed.“Were you and Zoë close?”

“Yes,” Harry admitted. “We were veryclose…much closer than I was to my younger brothers, who constantly tried toget me and Zoë into trouble by doing something wrong and blaming it on us.Still, I loved my brothers despite their ill treatment of me and Zoë.” A sigh escapedhis lips. “God I miss her,” Harry murmured as Mary latched onto his arm.

“I’m sure you do,” Nathanael stated ashe made a left turn after driving a hundred yards from the cafeteria. “Do youhave a picture of her?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “It’s in ourfamily album. I’m just glad it didn’t get destroyed when those bastards torchedour house.”

“I’d like to see it when you have achance to show it to me,” Nathanael requested.

“Sure,” Harry replied.

“What about you, Mary?” Nathanaelqueried as they approached another tunnel intersection. “Do you have anyrelatives you’re worried about?”

“No,” Mary answered bluntly. “I was anonly child and my parents died five years ago within months of each other. Asfor my extended kin, they ostracized mom and dad for their beliefs. Let thegovernment have them.”

“That’s cold, Mary,” Selina commented.“I didn’t think I’d hear something like that from you.”

“If you knew what my extended kin werelike, you would,” Mary stated icily. “They’re a bunch of greedy, lying, connivinghypocrites that used Christianity as a way to enhance their social status. Theynever believed in Jesus the way we did. It was always about money and powerwith them. They had no qualms about cheating people out of their money andproperty whenever possible. Some of them even became Freemasons to enhancetheir political and financial status. When mom and dad denounced them for beinghypocrites, they blacklisted us and we were forced to move to Virginia fromWashington State just to get away from their meddling influences. It was thebest move my parents ever made. By getting away from our family, we could livein peace. Even better, it was in Virginia that I met Harry and we had Dennis.”

Dennis looked at his mother withsurprise. He’d never heard her talk like that about her extended family before.She saw the worried look on Dennis’ face and put her arm around him, smilingwarmly. Her smile caused Dennis’ worry to dissipate somewhat.

“Oh,” Selina replied. “I see. They cutyour family off because you wouldn’t lie and cheat the way they did.”

“That’s right,” Mary agreed. “I don’tlike to talk like that about my family, but I’m not going to lie about iteither. They literally ran us out of Washington State when I was a little girl,so let the government do what they want with them. I won’t shed a tear forthem.”

“In that case, neither will we,”Nathanael stated, making a right turn at the tunnel intersection.

“Why’d you ask us about our extendedfamily?” Harry asked.

“I asked because I didn’t want them tobecome victims in this twisted sadistic game the government is playing withHannibal,” Nathanael stated. “I intended on making sure they were safe from theUS government’s slimy claws. But from what I’ve heard, it’s really a mootpoint. Most of your family, Harry, has passed away and Mary’s kin don’t deservesuch mercy from what she says.”

“Oh,” Harry replied. “I see. Thanks forasking about them.”

“You’re welcome,” Nathanael answeredpleasantly. “The only one I’m inclined to look for is your sister, Zoë. At thevery least, maybe we can determine if she’s still alive or not.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Harry murmured.

Nathanael flashed a smile at Harry asthey entered another chamber that was dome shaped, nearly seventy feet acrossand fifty feet high. The floor consisted of that mysterious metal and the domeconsisted of a strange combination of the metal, granite, and crystal. Allaround the perimeter of the chamber were open doors. “Ahh…we’re here,”Nathanael stated as he pulled his cart up next to several others that wereparked in a row next to the tunnel entrance. “Come. Follow me. Your quartersare right next to Hannibal’s quarters. We gave you one of the larger ones,” hesaid, leading them toward the nearest entrance to their right.

“This place has barracks?” Harry askedwith interest.

Dennis scanned everything as Nathanaelled them into the passage. “Yes, it was one of stranger things we found inhere. Apparently, there must have been a fairly large contingent of people whostayed here. Little was left in the various quarters though,” he replied as heled them down the corridor which was twelve feet high by fifteen feet across.

The strange illumination that Harry hadseen everywhere was here too. “What’s lighting this place up?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Nathanael answered.“But the light seems to be motion-controlled. Whenever anyone moving anywherein the machine area, the light is on. Like right here for instance, look at theceiling.” He pointed out a strip of the ceiling that was lit, going in bothdirections. “This is one of the places where you can actually see where thelight is coming from. The quarters, though, have switches to turn the light onand off. Oh, here we are,” he said, turning right after they had walked sixtyyards down the passage. Before them stood a doorway blocked by a metal door. Ithad no handles and was completely smooth. Nathanael gently pressed on the doorand it slid open laterally. Harry looked at Dennis, whose mouth hung open inastonishment. Nathanael walked in and said, “Come on in.” Everyone entered andthe door slid shut quietly. Harry and his family looked around at their newhome.

“I hope this will do,” Selina chimed asshe followed everyone into the room.

The room they stood in was thirty-fivefeet by thirty feet with a ceiling that was fifteen feet high. The temperaturewas a pleasant seventy-five degrees. The place had been completely furnishedand the salvaged items from Harry’s house were sitting on the sofa and on thefloor next to it. The back wall was set up with a small kitchen, complete withcounter, cabinets, stove, sink, and refrigerator. In the back left corner lay ahallway leading away from the living area. “There are three bedrooms and a fullbathroom down the hall. You might want to use the spare room as a study orsomething,” Nathanael suggested. “We took a little liberty in placing thefurniture and some of your things. If you want to move them around, feel freeto do so. This is your place now.”

“This place is huge,” Harry breathed,looking around the room.

Selina went to what appeared to be asmall console on the wall next to the door and she pressed a button, saying,“This’ll help to keep this place from feeling like such a tomb.” The wallssuddenly faded away as a holographic mural of a beautiful jungle as seen fromthe ground replaced it. It covered the walls back to the kitchen. Nathanael andSelina smiled as they watched Harry and his family’s reaction to the mural.

Harry’s mouth hung open, as did Mary’s.Dennis’ eyes glowed in wonder at the hologram. He immediately went to thehologram and tried to touch it. His hand passed through it and touched the wallbehind it. “It looks so real!” Dennis said.

“This is incredible,” Harry finallysaid. “It makes it feel like we’re in a hut in the middle of a jungle ratherthan thousands of feet underground.”

“That it does,” Nathanael answered.“Let me show you where everything is.”

Harry nodded and Nathanael showed themeach room and how everything worked. Each room had its own holographic muralthat was so realistic even sound and wind was simulated. When they came back tothe living room, Selina pointed out that they could change the holograms toanything they wanted. “You know, this place is better than where I was living,”Harry commented to Nathanael.

“Well…Hannibal thought with the loss ofyour home you’d need a pretty nice place to stay,” Nathanael declared. “I hopeit’s adequate.”

“Oh. It’s more than adequate,” Harrychimed.

“Yes, it’s very nice and will do verywell,” Mary agreed.

“Where’s Hannibal’s place?” Harryasked.

“It’s next door,” Nathanael replied.Then to Selina, he added, “Why don’t you stay and help Mary and Dennis settlein.”

“Okay Dad,” Selina replied. “I’ll alsoshow them around some more after we get done.”

“All right,” Nathanael returned.“Harry, would you like to come with me. Hannibal is going to need some help.”

Harry nodded. “Where do you and Selinastay?” he asked.

“We’re right next door too. I sharequarters with my dad,” Selina informed them.

“You’re right between us and Hannibal,”Nathanael added. “Now come, let’s go help Hannibal.”

“I’ll be back after a while,” Harrytold Mary before following Nathanael out the door. They went back to the golfcart and Nathanael drove them to the portal chamber. “How many people doesHannibal have working here?” Harry asked.

“We have about seventy people workinghere. All of them were hand-picked by Hannibal himself,” Nathanael answeredwhile turning the golf cart into the main tunnel leading to the portal chamber.“But that seventy have about a dozen or so children between them, so there’sactually between eighty and eighty-five people here, not counting you and yourfamily.”

“Oh…okay. How far is the barracks fromthe cafeteria?” Harry asked.

“It’s roughly two hundred yards. That’sone of the reasons we put the cafeteria where we did,” Nathanael replied. “Thatway everyone could have easy access to the cafeteria.”

They drove on in silence for a fewminutes, and then Harry asked, “Where does the machine area stop?”

“You sure ask a lot of questions,”Nathanael commented.

“Well that’s the only way I can learnanything,” Harry returned. “What else can I do? This is the first time I’vebeen here.”

“Touché,” Nathanael answered,chuckling. “The machine area stops about three quarters of a mile from thebarracks. The Library is about a quarter of a mile from the edge of the machinearea.”

“Just how big is the machine area,anyway?” Harry probed.

“The machine area is measured in miles.Exactly how big it is anyone’s guess,” Nathanael stated. “The farthest pointwe’ve explored in the machine area thus far is about five miles from thebarracks and down a good thirteen hundred feet below the portal level.” Harry’smind raced as he rode, trying to comprehend the vastness of where he was. A fewminutes later, they arrived at the portal chamber. All of the supplies had beendispersed to their respective places in the Temple, leaving the chamber vacant.They got off the golf cart and walked to the platform. An eerie silenceencompassed the place, punctuated only by a threshold hum that emanated fromthe crystals in the portal machinery along with their footsteps.

“This place is right down bizarre whenno one’s around,” Harry observed.

“You’re right,” Nathanael agreed asthey reached the console. “But you get used to it after a while.” He pressed abutton and console lit up. The chamber began to hum as he pulled out of theconsole something that resembled an earplug with an antenna on it. Nathanaelput it in his ear.

“What’s that thing?” Harry asked.

“This is a special transceiver thatallows me to control the portal without having to use the manual controls,”Nathanael replied as he gently fitted it so it was comfortable. “This littlething allows me to control the portal by just thinking about where you want toopen it. I used it to monitor the perimeter when we went to your house; watch.”Nathanael concentrated and the crystal began to glow and the hologram of theEarth appeared. “What would you like to see? I can monitor almost any place onthe face of the Earth with this machine,” he declared.

Harry was fascinated by the new way tocontrol the portal. “You can monitor anywhere without being detected withthis?” he asked.

“Yes, we can. It’s like asuper-sophisticated spy satellite without needing a satellite in orbit,”Nathanael stated. “What we do is monitor where we want to open the portal withthe hologram first to see if it’s safe to open the portal. What do you want tosee?”

“You know, I’m not sure. I’ve neveractually thought about it,” Harry said. He thought for a minute, and thenasked, “Could you show me Tiwanaku? Hannibal told us about it the other night.I believe I’d like to see it.”

“Tiwanaku it is then,” Nathanaelanswered. “And it’s an excellent choice too. I never get tired of seeing thatenigmatic city.” Even before he finished speaking, the hologram instantlyzoomed in on the megalithic city high in the Andes.

Harry gazed at the hologram, whichshowed an aerial view of the city. “Could you get in closer?” he asked.

“I can do better than that,” Nathanaelanswered. “We don’t actually have to open to portal in order to give you a feelfor the place. Watch this,” Nathanael replied, smiling wryly. The hologramsuddenly grew to enormous proportions, nearly filling the entire chamber. “Wedon’t usually do this because it hampers the activity in here by the others.But when you’re alone, like now, it can be done.” Harry looked around at anexact holographic replica of the center of Tiwanaku in Bolivia. His mouth hungopen in amazement. “This is incredible. It’s like I’m really there!” hebreathed. He gazed in awe at the massive structures and stones that were allaround him. He proceeded to explore the hologram on the platform as Nathanaelwatched. “I had no idea that these stones were so big. They’re enormous!” Harrysaid.

“That they are,” Hannibal answered ashe came up the holographic road with seven men. “I see you’ve shown Harry oneof the special features of the portal,” he said to Nathanael, who smiled.

“Yes, I did. We got here a little earlyso I decided to educate him,” Nathanael replied as Hannibal approached theconsole with Harry and the seven men who had come with him.

“Why don’t you show him a real view,”Hannibal suggested. “And be creative with your choice.”

Nathanael smiled and said, “All right.Try this on for size.” The hologram of Tiwanaku vanished in an instant, beingreplaced by a hologram of a quadruple star system in the midst of a stunningstar cloud. It had two sets of binary stars in orbit around each other. Thefocus of the hologram seemed to be a planet in orbit around one pair of stars.It was an enormous emerald green planet with twin rings and ten moons in orbit.When the new hologram appeared, the whole chamber seemed to vanish, leavingeveryone hanging in outer space. Harry latched onto the console in fear as helooked at Hannibal with awe.

Hannibal saw the reaction and chuckled.“Don’t be afraid,” he told Harry. “It’s just a holographic illusion. We’restill in the portal chamber.” Then to Nathanael, he added. “Good choice. By theway, where is this?”

“This is Gamma Omicron Correlia 6,sitting approximately seventy thousand light-years from this planet on theinner edge of the second spiral arm on the Kaitian side of the galaxy,”Nathanael declared. “It’s the most distant star system we ever reached in ourexplorations of the galaxy. Gamma Omicron Correlia 6 lies almost fifteenthousand light-years from Kaitia, far beyond the borders of the KaitianEmpire’s territory.”

“Whoa,” Harry murmured. “For a momentthere, I thought I’d fallen off the face of the Earth.”

“In a way, you did,” Hannibal said.“These holograms are of such precision that sometimes it’s hard to tell thedifference between them and the real thing.”

“I thought you said that Kaitian spacespanned about twelve hundred light-years,” Harry reminded Nathanael. “How is itthat you know of this place since it’s so far from your part of the galaxy?”

“That’s a good question, Harry,”Nathanael admitted. “We know of this system because of a malfunction in ourstar drives while making a warp jump using a pulsar. One of our experimentalstarships, the Chimeras, had an engine imbalance that accidentally caused awormhole to open up as they approached Pulsar 67803. The gravitational flux ofthe pulsar had become unstable and caused the engines to super accelerate. Theresult was the ship was flung through an unstable wormhole to the Gamma Omicronsystem where it was deposited in orbit around Correlia 6 with a complete enginefailure. But the Chimeras wasn’t alone when the incident occurred. Its sister ship,the Interceptor…the same ship Hannibal rescued Selina and I from was there whenthe malfunction occurred on the Chimeras. They followed the Chimeras throughthe wormhole and rescued the crew of the doomed Chimeras. Fate smiled upon thecrew of the Interceptor that day because the unstable wormhole opened by theengine imbalance of the Chimeras and the fluctuating gravitational fields ofPulsar 67803 stayed open just long enough for the rescue to take place. TheInterceptor came back through the wormhole, but didn’t come out at Pulsar67803. They emerged from the wormhole some two hundred light-years from thepulsar on the very edge of Kaitian space near NGR 1559034…a one thousand solarmass black hole near the Triaskus system.”

“Were you part of the crew of theInterceptor that day?” Hannibal asked.

“No,” Nathanael stated. “Though I wishI had been. To see Gamma Omicron Correlia 6 in person would have been a luxuryI wouldn’t have passed up. But at the time, I was on another ship coming backfrom the excavations in the Alpha Korizant system. I was brought in after theInterceptor returned to Kaitia from the rescue mission to help debrief the crewand replace out why the experimental star drive of the Chimeras malfunctioned.”

“What did you replace out?” Harry asked.

“It seems there was an error in thematter/antimatter mix in the engines,” Nathanael stated. “The imbalance wasmultiplied by a sudden fluctuation in Pulsar 67803’s gravitational androtational energy, which created the wormhole. It’s my opinion that thecombination of the two not just created a wormhole, but it actually foldedspace by accident. The Interceptor came out in a different place because spacewas in the process of unfolding when it returned.”

“That’s a really interesting story,”Hannibal stated, “and I’d like to hear more about it later. But we have work todo that can’t wait any longer. Nathanael, check my office at the University.”Nathanael nodded and the hologram disappeared. The small hologram reappearedover the machine with Hannibal’s office in view. “Check the perimeter,”Hannibal ordered and the hologram widened to show the building in the night. Itrevealed no activity at the school at all.

“It looks like it’s clear for now,”Nathanael commented. “It seems that everyone has gone home.”

“Good. Open the portal to my office,”Hannibal stated. The hologram changed back to the office. The portal machinerythen began to resonate as the crystals hummed and shined. The beams of lightsprang from the crystals, opening the portal. “We don’t have much time. Let’sgo. Nathanael, keep watch,” Hannibal ordered.

“Yes, sir,” Nathanael answered. Theyproceeded through the portal into Hannibal’s office.

Hannibal turned on the light andordered, “Take all the research materials. There can’t be as much as a shred ofpaper left with anything about the Temple or Amacia.” The men immediately beganto clean out the filing cabinets and the desks. “Harry, come with me,” Hannibalordered as he headed toward the door.

Harry followed him out into the hall,asking, “What’re we doing?”

“There are some samples in the lab weneed to retrieve,” Hannibal said as he scanned the dark hall in bothdirections. “Come,” he said, sprinting down the hall to the right. He passed acouple of classrooms, and came to a lab. Pulling a key card out of his pocket,Hannibal swiped the electronic lock on the lab and opened the door. Uponentering, he turned the light on and looked around at the lab tables and thecabinets. Walking to the cabinets, he checked them as Harry instinctivelywatched the door. Hannibal reached the last cabinet and searched through it.“Ahh, here it is,” he said, pulling out several small sample bags filled withwhat appeared to be metal filings.

“Is that what I think it is?” Harryasked.

“Yes,” Hannibal answered. “These arethe samples of the metal from the books and superstructure in the Temple. Come,let’s go.” They left the lab as they had found it with Hannibal turning out thelights as they exited.

“Something’s not right here,” Harrysuddenly blurted out when they reached Hannibal’s office. “I feel like someoneis watching us.”

Hannibal stopped just outside of thedoor and looked intently into the darkness of the hall. Harry started to speakbut Hannibal shushed him. He listened intently to the darkness for a fewseconds, and then said, “I know. I feel it too. We’re being watched.” They wentin the office to replace the crew nearly done with moving out the researchmaterials. “How much more time, Jerry?” he asked.

“Just a couple of minutes,” Jerryanswered.

“Take the computers,” Hannibal ordered.“They belong to me anyhow.” Jerry nodded and continued with the sanitationprocess. A noise from outside the window suddenly alerted Hannibal so he andHarry ran to the window. They peeked through the blinds out into the darknessof the parking lot in front of the building, seeing several sets of lightsspeeding into the parking lot heading directly for the building.

Nathanael peeked through the portal andurged, “We have company, Hannibal. Better hurry.”

“Come on, guys; time’s up! Let get thisstuff and get out of here!” Hannibal insisted, grabbing an armful of researchmaterials and handing it to one of his moving crew. “Harry, lock the door,” hebarked. Harry immediately went to the door and opened it, looking down thehall. He didn’t see anything but heard the slamming of doors and the sound offootsteps echoing down the hall. He ducked back in and locked the door just asthe last of the materials had been removed. “Kill the light,” Hannibal ordered,motioning for him to come to the portal.

“They’re coming,” Harry announced as hecut off the light. He darted to the portal next to Hannibal, who was writing anote. “What’re you doing?” Harry asked in a concerned manner.

“I’m just leaving them a little note toirritate them,” Hannibal answered as he finished the note. “After what they didto you, they deserve it. Come on.” The sound of heavy footsteps and clanking ofweapons echoed from the hall. They looked at the window on the office door andsaw the light from several flashlights shining in the hall, and then duckedthrough the portal with the portal snapping shut as the door was kicked open.Ten men poured in the room, all armed with automatic weapons.

The leader turned the light on andlooked around. “Shit! He took everything!” he cursed. The men searched all thecabinets, desks, and files, replaceing nothing related to Hannibal’s research.

One of the men found the note on thedesk and called out, “Captain. I have something here.”

The captain walked over to the desk andthe man handed him the note. He looked at it, reading, “Missed me again, Boris.Tough luck; catch me if you can. Beowulf.” The captain’s face contorted in rageas he crumple up the note in his fist and cursed, flinging the balled-up noteacross the room and kicking the desk. “Come on,” he ordered to his men and theyfiled out of the room and left the building.

Hannibal, Harry, Nathanael, Jerry, andthe moving crew stood watching what was going on with the hologram. Hannibalbroke out laughing at their apparent inability to apprehend him or hisresearch. Harry looked at Hannibal with a puzzled look, and then broke outlaughing too as he realized what Hannibal had done. Within a minute, everyonewas laughing at the misfortune of the invaders. “You know, that was close,”Nathanael said, chuckling.

“Yeah…too close. It looks like mysnitch was right on the money,” Hannibal replied, still laughing. “This littleincident ought to put me on top of their most wanted terrorist list now.”

Harry then looked at him with a seriouslook on his face. “Do they know where this place is?” Harry asked.

“Not at the moment,” Hannibal answered.“Though, they could probably replace out. This place still is the safest placeeven if they replace out. For one thing, they can’t get in here. The main entranceis sealed with two hundred feet of solid rock and the silent entrance is minedand guarded heavily with remote sentries. It would be suicide for them to eventhink to attempt coming in here.” He turned to his help and said, “Take thisstuff to my office. I’ll deal with it there.” Jerry nodded and the crew startedloading the golf carts with the research and carried it away. Turning toNathanael, Hannibal asked, “Could you bring up my house? I’m curious to see ifit and my garden are still there.” Nathanael nodded and the hologram changed toHannibal’s house, or rather what was left of it. The hologram showed nothingbut a burned-out ruin with only part of a charred wall and chimney standing inthe moonlight. Even the garden had been burned to ashes. He looked at itintensely and said, “Hmpt. It looks like they paid me a visit too. That’sprobably why they were so upset when they came to the University. Well, too badfor them. Once again, I’ve slipped through their nets. Come, Harry. It’s been along day. I’m sure you’re tired. I know I am.” Nathanael removed the earpiece,put it back on the console, and pressed a button as Hannibal and Harry startedwalking to the golf carts. The console went dark and the portal machineryquieted down as Nathanael joined them. They all boarded in a golf cart withHannibal behind the wheel and headed back to the barracks. After parking thegolf cart in the barracks hub, Hannibal led them down the passage to hisquarters. “I’ll show you more of the Temple tomorrow,” he stated. “There’sstill much to see.”

“I’m sure there is,” Harry answered asthey reached Hannibal’s quarters.

“I’m going to turn in,” Nathanael said.“I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Okay,” Hannibal replied whileNathanael walked a couple of doors down and went into his quarters. “Would youlike to come in?” Hannibal asked Harry.

“No, I’ll see you in the morning. Whattime do you get up, anyway?” Harry asked.

“Anytime you want. But most of us getup around 8:00 am or so,” Hannibal replied, opening his door. “See you in themorning.”

Harry nodded as the door slid shut,leaving him in the corridor alone. His mind reeled as he looked around at thecorridor. This is unbelievable. I’m really here, he thought as he walkedto his door and went in. The lights were low and the jungle hologram rustled ina simulated breeze. Soft music echoed through the living room. Mary lay on thesofa, asleep. Harry gazed at her with great appreciation and quietly went overto the sofa, kneeling beside her. He softly touched her cheek with his fingersand she stirred, opening her eyes.

“You’re home,” Mary said with a yawn.

“Yes, I guess I am,” Harry replied.“It’s still so strange calling this place home. It’s going to take some time toreally get used to it.”

“Yes, it is,” Mary replied, claspinghis hand in hers. “But you know something; this is the first time in a verylong time that I’ve actually felt safe, strange as it sounds.”

“I don’t think it’s strange that yousay that,” Harry said gently. “I feel the same way. When Hannibal said we werecoming here, I was a little concerned because of what he told us the othernight. But he assured me this morning that this place was safe and now that I’mhere with you and Dennis, I know he was right. This is the safest place on theplanet. I just wish that things didn’t have to turn out like they did.”

“We seldom have any say about howevents turn out,” Mary said, looking him in the eyes. Fatigue showed on hisface. “Come, let’s go to bed. A good night’s sleep will help. You’ve been upfor almost eighteen hours,” she added.

“It’s been that long?” Harry asked asthey got up from the sofa.

“Yes,” Mary answered as she led himback to the bedroom. The bedroom door shut and the lights went out, the musicceased, and the hologram dimmed, reflecting the jungle in the late evening witha crescent moon bathing the junglescape with its eerie light. Only the sound ofwind echoed through the room from the hologram, matching the circulation of theair through the hidden vents all over their quarters and throughout the Temple.Harry and his family slept soundly for the first time since the day Hannibalcame to their house for dinner, changing their lives forever.