Blame Charlie ©

by K Pelle

Chapter 6

I suppose I should be slightly ashamed over my sense of satisfaction as I watched Officer Wilkins being arrested as soon as the gold was deposited and all the paperwork signed.  Instead I found myself fighting back a chuckle as I saw the look of sheer astonishment that flashed across his face when he was confronted, handcuffed and led away in disgrace.  After his arrest I was soon separated from most of the bank personnel and found that Fred, Marika and I were on our way somewhere else, only I wasn't told what was going on.  All I knew for certain was that Fred and I were being rushed out of the bank and into another tightly sealed vehicle, a limo this time.  To complicate matters I found that Marika was going to be riding along with us, but she would be sitting at my side this time.

"Just what are they trying to do to us?" I grumbled privately to Marika as I fought to hold my lustful thoughts concerning her under control.  "Don't these idiots know what happens when people like you and I are sealed into an inadequately ventilated space for any length of time?"

"Probably not, since most of them aren't aware of the problem or how it affects strong telepaths." Marika said evenly, then broke into a nervous giggle.  "Besides, you and I are the only people involved who know that I'm fertile as a turtle right now."

"What about Fred, he's my cousin and he's a telepath too?"

"Not a strong one!  He's nowhere near as strong as you are and that seems to make all the difference, at least from what the Eritol and the Maminai have told us.  Sawish said that the strongest male telepath influences the fertile female and her body sends out pheromones that are geared to match with that strong male's DNA," she snorted, then switched to speaking aloud.  "At least that's what they think, because that's what happens with the Maminai, who could be classed as mammalian, since they have live birth and suckle their young.  Actually our similar DNA structure is why their cloning and renewal methods work so well on us.  They were able to adapt their previously standardised procedures to work with our nearly congruent DNA profiles."

"Excuse me?" Fred said then.  "Am I missing something in this discussion?"

"My fault. Sorry!" Marika apologised.  "We were 'pathing' each other and I felt we were being rude not to include you in our conversation.  I was just explaining how similar our DNA and Maminai DNA are to each other, which is why they were able to clone our bodies so easily."

"No problem, that happens around my women all the time, so I'm used to it.  Anyway, my doctor was just talking about that DNA business when I saw him the other day.  He's one of the 'parallel evolution' crowd, not one of the 'galactic seed' bunch, so he believes that life will develop in a similar manner when it meets with similar conditions, no matter where in the universe that development happens." Fred joined right into the secondary conversation.  "By the way, Dave, my doctor would love to talk to you and the people on your ranch who actually saw or met that Kalibrodzax guy.  He said the Maminai told him that the Kalibrodzax are a sulphur/calcium based race, not carbon/calcium based, like the Maminai or humans are and he'd like to know more about the guy."

"What? Sulphur?  How the heck could that happen?  Is it chemically possible?"

"Actually I'm not enough of a chemist to argue with him, but if you consider the fact that calcium sulphate is a natural form of rock and calcium carbonate is also natural, then it might just be possible.  After all our bones are made up of various combinations of calcium and carbon, so it makes sense that sulphur could substitute for carbon in most circumstances.  What my doctor was thinking of was the similarity in form and function between the Kalibrodzax and humans though.  You know, two arms, two legs, a head and vertical posture, that sort of thing.  He wondered if you smelled anything strange about the guy when you were near him, Dave?  Since his body was sulphur based, the guy would be breathing out sulphur dioxide instead of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide stinks to high heaven, besides being poisonous to humans."

"Wait a minute!" Marika interrupted.  "I'm sure I recall Sawish mentioning that the brains of the Kalibrodzax were in their chest cavity, which is why their head is such a strange shape.  Wouldn't that brain position be a heavy duty argument against the parallel evolution theory?"

"Actually no, it isn't." Fred shook his head.  "Instead it's an argument for parallel evolution instead of the duplicate pattern that a galactic seed theory would produce.  The positioning of the brain is a major difference in form, but not in function. The Maminai and humans both have four limbs and a vertical stance, with major sensory organs on one end of our spine and a tail on the other, even though we humans only have a vestigial tail.  Other than the position of the brain, the Kalibrodzax have the same general form and function.  Of course that doesn't take into account any other internal differences because a sulphur-based life form is so different from the standard carbon-based pattern."

"Well, that's all very well, but look at the Eritol, they're definitely an intelligent race and they don't follow your vertical stance with four limbs and a tail business," she argued.  "Instead they look and act more like an octopus, even though they do spend extended periods out of water."

"Once again, the similarities of evolution seem to be parallel between a Mamina life-form and an Earthly one," Fred grinned at her.

I was slightly lost, so as they continued to argue, I did the 'telepath thing' to find out what 'galactic seed' meant. "Information, please explain the theory of a 'galactic seed' in simple terms."

"Galactic seed; proposition that DNA for life spread via 'specific virus' throughout total universe by either spontaneous development or eminent intelligence."

"Okay then, what's an 'eminent intelligence' or whatever you said?"

"Eminent intelligence; two choices - first, supreme being - second, earlier race of intelligent beings, both intentionally spreading 'intelligence'  virus."

"And in your opinion?"

"Eritol ambivalent, uninterested.  Humans, Maminai, Eritol, Kalibrodzax exist.  No theory fits all circumstances. Unimportant to life and development of races involved!"

"Okay, then a second question; how similar is the DNA of the North Pacific Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini of Earth to the Eritol, since the two seem to be almost the same size and general shape?  I know the Pacific Octopus is darn smart for a sea creature and I can't help making the comparison."

For once there was a longer than normal pause before the Eritol answered me.

"DNA similarity of North Pacific Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini to Eritol; virtually unbelievable 87%.  Further research required.  Patrón to be commended by Eritol for query of interest to the Eritol hives," my information contact's 'voice' had changed and now seemed to sound somewhat astonished and quite respectful.

Suddenly Sawish broke in on another 'telepathic channel' "Nice work, Patrón! I didn't think the level of respect the Eritol have for you could be improved, but I think you managed.  Right now Bniss, the local head Eritol princess, is flashing through all the colours of the rainbow, which shows that she's extremely excited.  So far she's sent about two dozen requests through to Mamina for information from our geneticists about all forms of the Earthly octopus.  That is extremely surprising because until now the Eritol showed little curiosity over the genetics of any Earth creatures except humans.  She's even reaming out her clone princesses back on Earth for their lack of curiosity over a species having so similar an appearance and characterisitics."

"Her clone princesses on Earth?" I asked.

"Yes, Bniss was the princess in the vessel that you inadvertently saved when you destroyed the Kalibrodzax device on Earth.  Since she was the primary princess on scene, she took over the rescue operation and designated several of her existing clones to handle the job of assisting the people left on Earth.  After promoting one Earth-based clone to primary function,  she travelled to Terratoo along with you and your section of the world in order to assure your safety on the journey.  There are at least two dozen of her clones on Earth now, along with thousands of drones who are all working with the local human population to try and reestablish a civilization of some sort."

"Pardon me?" I sent in astonishment.  "There are still thousands of Eritol on Earth after more than five hundred years?  Why for goodness sakes?"

"Patrón, don't you understand what happened when the Kalibrodzax operated his machine?  That removed a spherical section from the surface of the Earth which was eighty-miles in diameter.  While the upper hemisphere was only atmosphere and caused few if any problems, the lower half of that sphere was gouged out of solid bedrock, a forty-mile deep chunk of solid rock.  That area was near the juncture of two major tectonic plates and on the edge of the Pacific ocean, a locality that was already known for earthquakes and volcanic activity.  The result of the removal of that immense mass was a super-volcano, which spewed ash and poisonous gasses into the Earth's atmosphere for almost forty-years.  Initially the removal of that mass caused several earthquakes and tidal waves, but in the long run the resultant volcano altered the climate of the whole world.  Had it not have been for the hard work of the Eritol, its effects would have brought on another major ice-age which might have lasted for eons."

"One volcano did that much?" I queried in sheer disbelief.

"Yes it did, but it was a huge volcano and it was responsible for killing between four and five-billion people, almost two-thirds of the human population on Earth.  Just the tidal wave that resulted from the initial shock devastated the shoreline of many of the Pacific rim countries.  Seaside areas all along the western coast of the North American continent were virtually wiped out of existence, and that destruction included cities and towns from Alaska to the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.  There were smaller tidal waves and disasters down the western coast of South America as well, but nowhere as serious as those further north.  Large portions of Hawaii and several of the Pacific islands were either greatly damaged or in some cases, almost wiped out.  A fifty-foot high tidal wave hit the coastal zones of Korea, Japan and China, with smaller tidal waves radiating up and down the remainder of the Pacific rim countries.  Then by some freak of nature the repetitious action of the tidal waves broke free the last of the ice shelves of Antarctica, setting free millions of tons of ice.  In fact the resultant tidal waves were measurable at virtually every beach around the world, but there was only minor damage in comparison to those areas I mentioned." Sawish paused then.

"But, tidal waves are caused by earthquakes and ground movement, not volcanoes." I argued.

"Oh, initially there was a major earthquake.  Just removing an eighty-mile wide hemisphere of rock caused the local tectonic faults to shift, which caused a massive earthquake, followed by a series of aftershocks which followed one after the other for a week or more.  As well as that the opening was so deep that it intercepted a lava chamber or perhaps an up-welling of the Earth's magma, which burst out as a volcano.  Then too, you lived within forty miles of the ocean to the south and the east, so when that chunk of rock lifted, the gap left behind opened onto deep water.  Sea water poured into the opening and met with the lava and hot gasses as they were being forced upward - the result was something no one could have envisaged.  There were massive explosions, huge clouds of steam, devastating storms, multiple lightning strikes, extremely high winds, along with almost any other weather disaster you can imagine.  Initially there was so much water being evaporated and rising as steam and mixing with the clouds of ash that there were storms of falling mud far inland, but later emissions had even more serious and much more harmful effects.  There were discharges of  poisonous gasses with those clouds of ash, all of it blasted high into the stratosphere which is what caused many long-lasting problems for the whole world.

"For one thing any volcano produces tons of sulphur dioxide gas which is emitted at high velocity.  When that sulphur dioxide gas reaches the stratosphere it condenses, then cools and crystalizes.  Those sulphur dioxide crystals reflect sunlight back into space and as a result the world cools.  As well as that, much of  the finer particles of the ash remain suspended in the air for periods of a year or more, which causes even more cooling of the climate.  Then to make matters even worse, sulphur dioxide readily combines with water to form sulphuric acid, so any rain or snow that falls is acidic.  Needless to say that acid rain isn't beneficial to anything organic."

"So is it a losing proposition?  Is the Earth going to enter another ice-age?"

"No, the Eritol have managed to prevent many of the problems by neutralizing much of the sulphur dioxide in the higher reaches of the atmosphere and precipitating much of the finer ash as dust.  As a result the Earth's surface temperature is rising again and there are still viable populations of various plants and animals in most areas.  There have been major losses and extinctions of several species, but the Eritol feel they will be able to restore the Earth's ecological balance in a few hundred more years." Sawish sighed softly.  "Only now they're having a problem with many of  the humans remaining on Earth.  There are numerous factions who seem to be fighting against the Eritol effort, when they aren't fighting amongst themselves.  Religious, political or philosophical differences seem to mean more to many zealots than a safe and sane society would.  The situation is simply unbelievable."

"Oh, I can believe it." I snorted in disgust.  "I've seen that sort of situation happen before, so what they've run into is referred to as a snafu -'situation normal, all fucked up' and I doubt if it's about to improve soon!  I've seen that crap all my life and many times I've wished that I could take all the worst zealots from both sides of any conflict and dump them on a desert island, then let them fight it out amongst themselves.  I almost think it'd be far better for those few idiots to fight it out and perhaps kill each other than to allow them to destroy so many other people's lives with their stubborn asininity."

"Well, we can discuss that situation another time.  You need to get your attention back to the 'normal' world.  Fred and Marika are beginning to wonder why you're being so quiet." Sawish sent with a chuckle, then she was gone.

"So you're back, are you, Dave?" Marika said almost instantly.  "At least you've lost that thousand-mile stare from your eyes."

"Sorry about that, and the stare was more like several million-miles.  Sawish was updating me on the things that have happened on Earth over the last few hundred years."

"I take it she didn't have much in the way of good news?" Fred commented.

"Actually the Eritol seem to have most things in hand, but now the religious zealots and wacky politicians are creating problems."

"I don't understand, what went wrong after we were kidnapped."

"That 'F'n' Kalibrodzax and his machine left a hole that reached so far down into bedrock that it almost killed everyone left on Earth.  That bastard's machine cut away the bottom half of a globe  - eighty miles across and forty miles deep, something similar to what a gigantic ice cream scoop would carve.  From what she said I think that means it removed the whole southern end of Vancouver Island.  That hole set off a huge earthquake and a series of tidal waves, but it also penetrated so deeply into the Earth's crust that it intercepted a lava chamber.  As a result it became a super-volcano, which filled the Earth's atmosphere with ash and crap, blocking out much of the heat and light from the sun.  The whole climate almost slid into another ice-age, but the Eritol have managed to control most of that mess, not without a huge loss of life though.  Heck, almost two thirds of the world's population died, but it seems that more religious and political weirdos survived than people with common sense and they're causing no end of trouble.  My suggestion was to ship the worst of the nut-cases off to a desert island and leave them to fight amongst themselves." I gave Marika and Fred a quick summary of what Sawish and I had discussed.

"Oh no!  If the world's worst weirdos were restricted to a small island, they'd kill each other." Marika argued.

"Yep, and in my opinion it would be good riddance to bad rubbish." Fred laughed bitterly.  "I enjoy being around people who think independently, but when those original thinkers refuse to cooperate for the common good of the majority, then they should be culled from the herd.  Restricting all the nuts who practice weird religions and the wacky political hacks to a desert island would accomplish two purposes.  First, it would remove them from the population, which would reduce stress and probably lessen the number of deaths of innocent people.  Secondly, it would create a situation where the oddballs would either have to learn to cooperate or die fighting each other."

"I just don't agree with that idea." Marika argued

"Oh come now, look at yourself and what you do!  You're a police officer and your job is to remove the uncooperative members of our society from our midst.  Dave's idea is no damn different from what you do. He just wants to expand the scale of the operation to include the whole darn world - okay not this world so much as Earth, which is where the problem seems to be getting out of hand."

"Yes, but I enforce the law, not ideas."

"Oh, I wasn't suggesting that the nut-cases should be removed from society for their ideas, but if they're trying to force those ideas on others who aren't willing to agree, then there's a problem.  At a minimum you could say that they were disturbing the peace, or perhaps if they were being violent, you could say they were causing civil unrest.  I'm not a lawyer, but I'll bet if you asked one of them about it, there is probably a law in every country on Earth that could be used as a reason for clearing out uncooperative trouble makers."

"I still don't think it's right," she complained.

"Marika, it was an off-the-cuff comment, made in the heat of the moment, but the more I think about it, the more reasonable it seems, especially considering the present circumstances.  Most humans and Eritol are struggling to get the world's civilization back on its feet, but there are oodles of stubborn idiots who are doing their best to fight progress.  Instead of cooperating, they're trying to create advantages for themselves and attempting to use the situation to better their political or religious position.  As a result the recovery process is being slowed for the whole world.  The more I think about it, the more I think their removal from the equation makes sense." I growled.  "Once the world is back on its feet and the human population is making progress on its own, I couldn't care what the imbeciles do.  At that point the wing-nuts will be back to bucking an established system.  I just want to see the situation return to normal as soon as possible and having some jackass screw up progress for selfish reasons needs to be stopped."

"Well, I just don't think it's right to put all the feuding parties on a desert island where they can kill each other."

"Oh, I can understand that, but there aren't enough jails or guards to pen them all up in separate places and . . .  Wait a minute!  I've got an idea." Fred grinned at me.  "Our friends, the Eritol have a way to do that stasis thing and a way to make a shield over a small area as well, don't they?"

"I think so.  Why don't you ask them?"

"Because the Eritol don't respond to me very well.  I guess I'm not a strong enough telepath or something." Fred snorted.  "Besides, I want to run my idea past you two first."

"I suppose you're going to tell us anyway, so go ahead!" Marika snapped shortly, almost as if she was ready to veto any idea he had, just on general principals.

I just nodded my head at him, then listened as he explained.  He felt that every time an abrasive idiot began to cause major problems, the Eritol should simply place him in stasis, put a tiny shield around him, then leave him standing where he was for a while.  The more trouble the guy was causing, the longer the stasis would last.  That way people would be able to see what sort of treatment they could expect if they rocked the boat too hard or disrupted progress too much.

I couldn't help snorting in amusement, recalling one of the preachers from my childhood who used to get into trouble with the local police for his street-corner rants over one thing or another.  The thought of seeing him standing there, frozen in one of his overly dramatic poses for a few days seemed like a perfect illustration for what Fred thought should be done.

Sawish must have been eavesdropping.

"Fred, I believe your idea has merit.  Do you see a major problem with it, Marika?" she was including all of us in her 'path' - which surprised me and astonished both Fred and Marika.

"Actually they wouldn't be harmed, just shamed, wouldn't they?" Marika actually smiled slightly at the idea.

"No, once shielded they could not be made a target for those who disagreed with them and might like to take advantage of their seeming helplessness.  In other words, not only would they be unharmed, but they would be protected from any harm which might be attempted by those outside the shield."

"So it could be done?"

"Yes, I believe it could, but I would have to ask one of the Eritol engineers if it could be initiated and operated from outside the shield perimeter while in contact with a planetary mass.  Stasis definitely can be instigated from a distance and will work deep inside a gravity well, but I believe there might be some problems with a stationary shield in the same situation.  I am unsure if an attempt has ever been made to anchor a shield from outside itself, so I don't know if it can actually be done.  Of course since the stasis field stops the passage of time within its confines . . .  Pardon me for not saying more right now, but I believe I need to consult with some of the stasis engineers before I comment further." Sawish sounded tentative for once.  "Dave, if it is possible to do what Fred suggests, would you be willing to record a statement that could be translated into the local language of the area involved and broadcast at the time of confinement?"

"Sure, but why me?  I've told you before, back on Earth I was just an ordinary guy and all I did that day was what almost anyone else would have done in the same circumstances."

"Well, do it to humour me then, because almost everyone here on Terratoo, everyone of importance on Mamina and almost every surviving human on Earth considers you to be a hero.  Had you not shot the Kalibrodzax and inadvertently rescued Princess Bniss and her hive of Eritol, there would have been no one who would have been able to assist those on Earth.  By now the surface temperature on 90% of the landmass on Earth would have probably have been well below the freezing point of water, which would have killed millions.  There would have been hundreds of years of winter in most areas, so very few if any humans would have survived, let alone more than a third of the world's population," she paused for a second, then continued.  "The Eritol have made certain that any humans they interact with know who that hero was, in fact they may have been slightly overenthusiastic in your praise.  However your actions are respected in most communities on Earth, so if a holographic image of you were to actually criticize someone for their actions it would carry a lot of weight."

"What are you going to do, show a movie of me to people while my image gives a recorded speech about the dough-head who is acting like an ass?"

"Not quite, they would broadcast a hologram of you, just as I appear to you as a hologram in most instances.  You must admit that those holograms are realistic, do you not?" Sawish graced us with a vision of herself, apparently sitting on one of the seats in the limo and her face was wearing one of her wide, toothy grins.  "Have you not wondered how I have often managed to appear and disappear so readily?  In truth the gravity on Terratoo is far too great for me to move about comfortably, and in your cases, actually being in your presence would serve no real purpose.  Since I only advise and guide people, not force them in any way, a hologram serves my purposes admirably.  Your hologram could be used on Earth in the same manner - to guide and assist your people, not force them into any objectionable situations."

"I'll have to think about that idea." I shook my head in wonder. "Right now I'm finding it hard to believe that I've been talking to a hologram whenever you visited me.  I guess it makes sense though, at least now that I think about it."

"Be that as it may, you are almost at your destination, so I shall remove my hologram at this point, or the driver of the limo will wonder how he managed to pick up another passenger," she disappeared then, but spoke to me alone.  "I believe we have shocked Marika and Fred, because with you in their vicinity I was able 'path' both of them much more strongly than I normally can.  It seems I can'path' others in your vicinity by reaching out to them through your ability, so you really are an exceptionally strong talent, even stronger than I suspected!"

"Well, I never showed any sign of being a telepath while on Earth, so you can blame my present talent on your genetic engineers who mucked with my brain while this body was being cloned." I scoffed.  "Now I want some straight up info on what I'll have to put up with this afternoon - just what is this darn party supposed to be about anyway."

"Well, it seems they wish to congratulate you on your full recovery as well as express their thanks for their rescue and for  involving the Eritol and Maminai, even if that portion of your influence was accidental.  As well, it gives every local politician and businessman a chance to meet you, along with chance for them to introduce you to their eligible sisters, daughters and female cousins.  Not only are you known to be the strongest telepath on Terratoo, but you're also one of the richest man in the area, which means a lot of them are going to be asking you for favours of one kind or another."

"Oh come on, I'm just a small scale rancher, nothing more."

"Oh, you are a rancher, but you are a few other things in addition to that.  Your ranch raises horses, which happen to be very rare, so they are worth a lot of money.  You are also the man who owns a very well stocked music store, which is hauling in cash hand over fist.  Then too, you just deposited a large sum of gold in the new Banker's Reserve Fund, which is bolstering the value of the dollar.  Most of all though, you are exceptionally well thought of because of what you did on the dome.  Since your actions protected the whole area and all the local people, they almost feel that they owe you their lives.  Then to top it off everyone knows you happen to have the ear of the Eritol, as well as a close connection to me, as a representative of the Maminai.  As a result you could almost be considered a member of the local royalty, perhaps the king, or at least a high prince, if there was such a thing as royalty here on Terratoo."

"Now you're laying it on just a bit thick." I snorted.

"You'll see," she said and I could hear the laughter in her 'voice' or whatever it was I heard in my 'inner ear' or 'thought center' - or whatever area of the brain telepathy activates.

Unfortunately once we were inside the banquet hall it soon became clear that she was right in more ways than one.  Over the next few hours I was thanked repeatedly, then had to shake hands with innumerable politicians and businessmen, each of whom seemed to have a deal they wanted me to support in one way or another.  I wasn't about to commit myself to anything though, so I soon developed two phrases that I could use to deflect their requests.  If I thought the guy was trying to do something unreasonable I'd say, "You might want to give that a bit more thought before jumping into it."  Then for those who were simply asking for funding of some weird scheme I'd say something like, "I'm sorry, but at the moment my time and finances are fully invested in projects which I consider extremely important and I can't afford to overextend myself."

Sawish was right about the rest of the afternoon as well.  I was introduced to numerous 'young' or otherwise 'eligible' women, unfortunately not one of them had anywhere near the appeal that Marika did.  As a result I spent the whole time struggling with my lecherous thoughts about her and must have seemed somewhat distant to the women I did meet.  Eventually we were seated at a banquet table then were served a typical banquet meal of 'rubber' chicken and overcooked vegetables.  Inevitably that was followed by a series of speeches and I was forced to respond, but somehow I managed to keep my responses very short, relatively gracious and politically neutral.

In other words, I'd rather have been anywhere else!  As far as I was able to see absolutely nothing of any importance was accomplished, so I felt that whole afternoon was a total waste of my time.  If that shindig was meant to impress me, the organisers can be assured it did, however my impression was extremely unfavourable.

Once we were back in the limo I looked Fred square in the eye and warned him that if he ever put me in that sort of situation again I would make him regret it by shaming him in public.  Since he was a cousin and we'd known each other all of our lives, I wasn't all that polite about my wording either, in fact I was quite offensive.  Of course he apologised, but protested that he didn't have a choice in the situation.

I answered that statement with just one word, "Bullshit!"

We didn't talk much afterward, not until he was dropped off, then Marika turned to me with fire in her eyes, but I just frowned and raised a hand, palm toward her.

"Don't even consider the idea of reaming me out over what I said to Fred!" I spoke very quietly.  "He's my cousin and I've known him to be a conniving little bugger ever since he was a six year old kid.  I know darn well that there was some concrete advantage for him in having me at that stupid banquet today, I just don't know what it was, but if I do find out I just might do my best to undo whatever benefit it gave him.  He's done things of this sort before and he'll more than likely try to do this sort of thing again, but then he's a banker and bankers earn their living by taking advantage of any situation they can."

"Are you blaming this incident on him being a banker?" Marika looked at me in astonishment.

"Nope, I'm saying that banks employ people like him, people who choose to profit on the affairs of others, since that's the whole function of a bank.  Banks charge people who deposit money there by making them pay a handling fee on any services they provide.  What people don't realize is that as long as that money is in the bank, the banks are lending it out on short term loans and pocketing the interest.  In other words they charge you to handle your money, while at the same time using your hard earned dollars to make more profit for the bank.  Now if they limited their charges to just simple handling fees that wouldn't be so bad, but in the last few years they've begun to charge for nearly imaginary services.  It's gotten to the point that I hate to enter a bank for fear that they'll charge me for the air I breathe while in the building."

"But you just deposited a huge some of money in the bank."

"Ah, but I wasn't propping up the banks as such.  Instead I was propping up the dollar by placing my gold in a reserve fund, which means everyone can continue to use the money we have in circulation with some safety.  You see, we no longer have a central government to back the dollar with the tax-based funds, which is what the Federal Treasury did on Earth.  I and fourteen other depositors signed an agreement today to place a sum of gold in a Banker's Reserve Fund which is to be used to guarantee the value of the dollar.  It's not a huge guarantee, but until we have a new government and establish a treasury which can legally collect taxes, that gold is the only guarantee anyone has that our dollar is worth anything," I grinned then.  "Of course I only deposited the gold which was left behind by that Kalibrodzax crook anyway, so it was no skin off my nose."

"Are you saying that you have more gold at hand?" she frowned at me.

"No comment, but only because this limo was paid for by Fred's bank and I'm not certain that they'd be above hiding a tape recorder in here."

"You don't trust banks, do you?"

"Oh I trust banks . . . to use any advantage they possibly can to make as much money as possible with the least amount of risk or effort on their part.  I also trust the bank to be quite diligent about paying me interest on the deposit of gold I made today, but only because it was done in such a public manner that they can't legally default on the deal.  Meanwhile, I'll continue to use a Credit Union as my main depository because the profits there are paid to the shareholders, not used to prop up the influence of the bank or to pad the wage packet of the officials of the bank."

"That's almost dirty, isn't it?  After all, the banks are the businesses who are propping up the dollar, well, along with you as a private investor of course."

"Ah, but one of the other fourteen investors in the Banker's Reserve Fund was my Credit Union." I laughed softly.  "I made sure they knew how much gold I was depositing and they matched my investment ounce for ounce, so in actual fact I deposited even more money than Fred thought I did.  Of course my deposit through the Credit Union was only a percentage of their full deposit, the amount covered by my shares."

  "You really are a crafty character who takes advantage of all the angles, aren't you?" Marika shook her head from side to side, but grinned as well.  "Anyway, we're coming to the police station and according to Fred, I'm supposed to give you a ride home, but I want to discuss that with Tom first.  So far I've kept my knees crossed and my thighs tightly together whenever I've been near you, but I can't drive a cruiser that way, so . . ."

"Gal, whatever you've been doing, it ain't been workin' very well." I couldn't stop myself from commenting, though I probably should have tried harder.

"Well, whatever we decide now, I'll have to talk to Tom about it.  If I do give in and go with you, he'll need to change the schedule for the next while, not to mention personal arrangements.  Otherwise he'll have to arrange for someone else to drive you home, because, well - just because.  I do have to say that right now I'm not exactly positive what I want Tom to decide."

For once I managed to keep my mouth shut and even held back long enough to let her get out of the limo and go ahead of me, but darn if she didn't hold the door open and wave me inside. So I walked into the police station ahead of her and instantly realised that I knew Tom Perkins, since I'd met him before we'd been shifted to Terratoo.  I was astonished to have him smile and reach out to shake my hand, then look over my shoulder to wink at Marika and I heard her gasp.

"Tommy, you bastard, you knew about this!" she squawked mentally.  "And, you knew what was going to happen."

"Not at first, not until I heard about what Wilkins had planned, but by then it was too late.  Besides, this is probably for the best.  After all, you and I are first cousins and genetically, that's a bit too close for us to make whoopee.  Any kid we had might have been born with three eyes and seven toes on each foot."

"Tom, I can hear every word you two are 'pathing' to each other," but if my breaking in on their personal conversation wasn't enough, I squeezed his hand a bit to get his attention.

His eyes popped wide open and he paused, then shook his head as he grinned at me.

"No damn wonder you were able to pick Wilkins' head clean, since you can hear a private 'path' between people as close as Marika and I are," he squeezed my hand back, then shook it enthusiastically as he looked me in the eye.  "Want a job?  Not full time, just when we catch a tough nut to crack and need a little extra information to make sure we have enough to be certain of putting the perp away."

"Well, definitely not for a few days," I turned and winked at Marika, then let her sense some of my feelings about her desirability. 

"Oh, migawd!  You've been holding out on me, Dave," she sighed deeply, then spoke aloud.  "Tom, I know it's short notice, but I need a couple of weeks off and I need it NOW!"

"I already have the paperwork filled out and waiting for your signature.  As well as that, Belle went to the apartment and packed a bag to put it in your car.  Oh yeah, the two weeks off isn't listed as a holiday, it will go on the books as a personal emergency requiring your firsthand attention," he laughed.  "Your car is sitting in the parking lot, gassed up and ready for you to drive Dave home, then he can do what he wants with you and vice versa."

Ten minutes later Marika was rushing me out to her car, then she made the drive back to the ranch in record time.  Donna and both her daughters greeted Marika at the door and welcomed her 'home' as a new member of the 'clan,' then allowed the situation to develop naturally.

(What happened late that afternoon and during that evening shall remain closeted in my memory, but will not be described here.  However it might be of common interest that I did contact Sawish about my bodily reaction to the situation, once I was again able to think in a cognisant manner.)

"Look, Sawish, what I'm going through isn't normal for a human male.  Was my body changed to compensate for this situation?" I asked her early the next morning.

"In one or two minor ways, I suppose," her image appeared at my bedside and she was grinning that dang toothy grin. "Your body now reacts to the demands of your immediate partner or partners as need is telepathically communicated.  Those genetic features were adapted from the DNA of several different earthly creatures though, so none of your genetic structure is anything we are responsible for developing.  The selectivity factor, which came into prominence yesterday, was actually a gene adapted from the African Elephant, where the female selects the strongest bull in the vicinity as her mate.  However that gene is common, in fact humans have it to some degree, but the choice of a much stronger variant was adapted in your case, so you broadcast an extremely strong telepathic 'scent' to the females nearby."

"Whoa, back up," I grumbled.  "You said my genes came from Earthly creatures, but I don't know of one that has telepathy in the first place."

"Ah, that gene came from the vegetable kingdom since it seems to have faded to nearly unrecognisable hints amongst most animals.  Have you never seen a plant lean away from areas of extreme heat or seen whole fields of sunflowers spin toward the brightest source of light in the area?  Some birds also have the same genetic ability to some degree, for it is common to see huge flocks of several different varieties of birds wheel and turn as a unit.  Your human biologists refer to those reactions as a tropism, or natural reaction to outside stimuli, but in actual fact they are a form of interspecies telepathy."

"Okay, I don't have the education to argue that idea," I sighed.  "However there is one other fact that I do know a bit about.  How in Hades am I able to function physically in the way I do now?  For gosh sakes there were four women here last night and only one of me.  What happened just is not normal and could never have been possible before my body was cloned."

"I thought that was might be you were heading,"  Sawish laughed, seemingly in delight.  "In fact several of the factors which came into play last night are brought about by genetic influences which will fade from prominence in a few generations.  In the first place you were under the influence of a gene common to an Earthly mink.  It produces a state of rut which results in copulation being given priority over and above any other voluntary bodily function.  In the second place you're body has been given the ability to produce seminal fluids in greater than normal amounts.  That function is actually courtesy of the genes of a deep sea squid which habituates the deep trenches of Earth's oceans, again a creature whose home is on Earth and once more a being with a slightly special genetic adaptation."

"I don't get it, why give me these special abilities only to have them fade away in a few generations?"

"Oh, come now, Dave," she scoffed.  "You and I can only communicate well via telepathy and the same is true for you and the Eritol.  Don't you think it makes sense that you, who happen to be a very strong telepath, should be able to pass on your genes rather prolifically?  What we are hoping to do is to spread your strong genetic ability for telepathy throughout the population as quickly as possible."

"So, like I said one other time, I've been put out to stud for the whole human race living here on Terratoo, haven't I?"

"You might say that, but considering what you did for the Eritol and for your fellow humans, I think the geneticists felt you deserved a reward.  With that in mind, I understand they did their best to make your task as pleasant as they could," she chuckled.  "And, since I haven't actually heard you complain, I think you are actually quite satisfied with the results of their hard work and foresight."

I couldn't really answer that, partly because I couldn't think of a quick response and partly because a certain young woman decided I was available once more and she wanted my attention.

Needless to say I had a very busy period in the next few days, but eventually all four women seemed to calm down.  Of course by the time they did settle down, Sawish had declared that all four of them were pregnant and I was faced with the idea that I was going to become a father - times four.  Perhaps the most worrisome idea for me to accept was that my future progeny were being carried by four different women.  My past had been spent in a society where monogamy was the norm and for some reason I was having a hard time with the idea of casual polygyny.

Neither Sawish nor my contacts with the Eritol were of much help on that issue either.  The manner of selecting a male partner was different for either race, but neither of them practised polygyny as such.  As a result neither the Eritol nor the Maminai could understand either the concept of monogamy, or my harem's desire to remain on the ranch to raise our children.  Of course they didn't comprehend my feelings on the concept either.  As a result both I and the womenfolk were a matter of interest to both races and we were subjected to multiple questions and somewhat invasive inquiries.

Of course their interest tweaked my curiosity about their procreative practises, but I was stubborn enough to demand information from them in return for answering their questions.

For instance I managed to discover that the Eritol had two methods of propagation.  They could either clone themselves by a process which they kept completely secret or they could lay eggs that became drones having little if any independence, but only lived to serve their princess.  One drone in a hundred might develop male characteristics and would become one of the fifty or so mating members of either the queen's or one of the princess's harem of mates.  Their only duties were to assist in the impregnation of the female when more drones were required, then the care of the females eggs after they were produced.  Actually even learning that much was difficult, since the Eritol were extremely secretive about the whole subject of propagation.

Conversely the typical Maminai female selected the father of her children using his genetic characteristics as a guide.  Once the female was pregnant, the male had nothing further to do with raising his progeny, instead he returned to his normal duties and personal interests.  Then, with pregnancy achieved, the Maminai female joined a group of other females who were also pregnant or else raising young children.  She'd remain in that group during an eight-month pregnancy, then give birth to three or four pups.  For the next few years, her only concerns involved raising and educating her pups until they became independent, then she would usually return to her former interests.  Of course there were odd cases where a female would decide to have a second or even third set of pups, but that was extremely rare.  In that case the male she selected to impregnate her was seldom her previous mate.

Sawish simply couldn't seem to understand our thoughts on monogamy, or the women's need to have a father for their children, so she seemed to come to the conclusion that we were weird.  Of course the feelings were mutual, but they didn't stop there.

Coming a close second to my concern about being involved with four women was a fretfulfeeling that I wasn't going to be up to the task of being a good father to any child.  My previous life on Earth had been devoid of children, other than in a second hand manner through the children of others.  The only children I had any amount of experience with had been those on the ranch or those I had taught to play music while at my music store, and in both cases I was an 'automatic' authority figure.  Somehow I couldn't see either case as a training ground for my future as a father figure.

Maria was the person who gave me a mental whack upside the head concerning that worry.

"Jefé, you are Patrón to every person on this ranch, which is much like being a father, but without the ties of blood and kin, so it is much more difficult.  You should have no worries about being a good father in any way," she snapped with a look of fire in her eyes that let me know I'd better not argue with her.

***

Two weeks after she had arrived, Marika went back to work, but with plans to spend as much time as possible back on the ranch.  At that time she gave Tom warning that she'd be going on an indefinite, but extended leave sometime during her second trimester and might well never work again.  That meant Tom was looking for three replacements, because by then his two lady friends were in the same condition.

After we congratulated each other, I warned him that I was thinking of becoming a hermit, then mentioned why.  Even in the short period after things had settled down at home I'd discovered that there are times when having more than one woman in a house results in bickering, arguments and sometimes even in cat-fights.

In the next few weeks the bickering grew so bad that I arranged to have four cabins built just over the brow of the knoll that my house sat on.  As a result none of them were too close to my house for privacy and none of the women could see my house from their windows.  I fibbed slightly and told them that was so their cabins didn't block my view, but I'm sure they knew my real reason was to keep jealousy at bay.  I just didn't want any more fights over who was sleeping at my house or any issue over who came and went at odd times of the day or night.

It cost me slightly more than I had bargained for, but the contractor managed to have all four cabins built and move-in ready inside of six months, which brought a feeling of relief to everyone involved.

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