Setoma: Is everyone OK?

Linka: It's been hours, honey and you know I'm still feeling weak from...

Setoma: We can't come out of the ceiling until we're sure the guards won't come in again. Professor Jelaned said they usually sweep twice and they've only been here once.

Devin: At least they didn't detect us the first time.

Setoma: That's the reason for the copper lining.

Whilea: I need to use the bathroom.

Setoma: I'm sorry, honey. Not much longer I hope. This is exactly the reason we can't keep staying here.

Devin: My friends are going to be worried about me. I was only supposed to be here a short time. I...

Setoma: There's nothing they can do for you from there.

Devin: Except worry. My girlfriend will be beside herself if I don't call her tonight.

Setoma: You have a girlfriend. I thought you said you were unique...one of a kind.

Devin: I am. I just have a human girl that likes me.

Linka: Are you like my husband, Devin?

(Devin stares are Setoma, almost begging him not to talk about him to anyone else.)

Setoma: He's not, dear. He's special in another way. He can come through the portal without formula.

Whilea: He's not really alive, mom.

Devin: I seem alive to me, Whilea.

Whilea: That's not what I meant. Oh, never mind.

Linka: I think I'm confused.

Whilea: Is your girlfriend human, Devin?

Devin: Yes, very!

Whilea: And she likes you?

Devin: Yes!

Whilea: I'm not sure I want to go to your dimension if the young girls there date artificial life forms.

Devin: She doesn't know what I am. I'm hoping it wouldn't matter if she did.

Linka: So you're not...I mean...you are...

Devin: Yes...an android. But I think for myself. I'm as alive as you are.

Setoma: Devin's a little sensitive about this Linka and Whilea. He's our guest right now. He came to help us. Let's treat him like a normal person, which as far as I can tell, he is.

Whilea: Sure dad. I just had to wonder about his girlfriend...

Devin: When we get you over there, I'll introduce you. You'll like her.

Setoma: Shhhh...I hear someone coming.

(Door opens...)

Soldier: Here you are professor. They told me to escort you back to your office and stay with you for awhile.

Professor Jelaned: I don't know why you need to stay. I think this was a false alarm.

Soldier: I just follow orders, professor.

Professor Jelaned: OK...have a seat. I'll get us some drinks out of the refrigerator in my storeroom.

(The professor goes to the back room as the soldier's radio crackles...)

Radio: Lt. Bonnight, report.

Soldier: Here, sir!

Radio: If Professor Jelaned is OK, tell him to stay in his office until we clear everyone to leave. I need you back here. We've found our life form. There was a mongammer crawling around in the first floor ductwork. It was all a false alarm. We'll clear everyone for normal activity shortly.

(The professor comes back in and looks at the guard...)

Professor Jelaned: I heard your radio. I'm glad it was nothing.

Soldier: Me too. They get too uptight. There's no way anyone could get in here that wasn't supposed to. See you later professor.

Professor Jelaned: Thanks!

(The soldier leaves and the four hideaways come down from the ceiling.)

Setoma: You've got to get us out of here, professor. We're a danger to you.

Professor Jelaned: Don't worry about me, Setoma. Your father was a great friend. I'm glad to help his family.

Linka: But we pose a risk. If they found us here, who knows what they would do to you?

Professor Jelaned: I think getting discovered would be worse for you. I'd no doubt loose their trust. I might not be as free as I am now, but they need me to make formula and run the portals. They won't kill me.

Devin: How did you get Setoma and his family in here?

Professor Jelaned: Whatever you are, you really are observant and very logical.

Setoma: I wish I'd designed him.

Professor Jelaned: This is a secret only those in this room know. I've modified the dimensional portal generator. It can move things around in this dimension as well as send things to the other one.

Devin: Matter transfer?

Professor Jelaned: Right again. You are good! I kept thinking, if it can transfer things through dimensions, why not through molecules here. It took a year, but I got it to work. Since it takes less molecule shifting to work in only one dimension, it isn't absolutely essential that a person drink formula before being moved. But we can't do it too much or for very long. There is still some capillary damage. That's what happened to Linka... it's why she's not feeling well.

Devin: The others seem OK.

Professor Jelaned: They are now...but they were pretty damaged when they first got here. Their alien blood has a healing effect on the capillaries, but it's not complete. And, of course Linka, being human, is taking much longer to heal. Setoma is doing what he can for her; but as he mentioned, being half human himself, his healing ability is limited. I can't risk sending them anywhere again, even in this dimension, without normal formula.

Setoma: But you could bring my son...

Professor Jelaned: Yes. But if we're going to do that, we should do it soon so he has time to heal before any inter-dimensional movement.

Setoma: Next message, I'll tell him to forget the house and join us. We're never going to be able to go back there anyway.

Devin: Professor! Can you send me back now? There's a practical limit on how long I can stay anywhere without my taking care of something?

Whilea: Do you need a charge or something?

Devin: No...not as long as I get enough light every day. That's not it at all, Whilea. I'm more normal than you think. I can see I need to get to know you better. By the way, since you are part alien, do you turn green at midnight?

Whilea: Dad! He's not being nice to me.

Setoma: Whilea, Devin is very much a sentient being. He just wanted to show you how he feels when you ask him questions like the one you just did.

Whilea: I get the idea, dad. I'm sorry, Devin. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

Devin: It's OK, Whilea. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad either. I'm sure you just didn't know how to interact with me.

Setoma: As I said before, as far as I'm concerned, you should be treated like anyone else.

Devin: One of my friends isn't quite sure about me either. It's just something I have to live with.

Setoma: So are you at your limit, Devin?

Devin: I'm not in bad shape yet. But how long I've got...I don't know. Setoma, you're a programmer. It has to do with rebuilding...

Setoma: Oh...I see...that has to be done from an external source?

Devin: Yes. Alex says my builders did that to keep me on a leash.

Setoma: I could write you an internal routine if I had your source code.

Devin: Verified by second opinion. That's what Alex said too.

Setoma: I need to meet this Alex friend of yours. He and I would get along well, I think. I do have something here that might help you a little.

(Setoma gives Devin a chart of computer characters to stare at. Devin does so for a few minutes.)

Setoma: Did that help?

Devin: Yeh! I think it did a little. Thanks! That should give me a while longer. Professor...I still say you need to send me to your people's compound in my dimension. If I can sneak out of there, I'll figure out where it is and get my friends. If I can't, I'll step back to where you left me in an hour and you can pull me back.

Professor Jelaned: What if I put you where someone will capture you immediately?

Setoma: Send a message first. If they answer it, go no further. If they don't, there's probably no one in the room there.

Devin: I doubt that's wise. A guard would certainly tell someone about any message.

Professor Jelaned: Damn you're good! You really understand this.

Devin: Let's just wait until the middle of the night. They won't be guarding the portal then. I'll risk it. If I'm captured, I'll make up some story about being an addition to the crew. Since I'll appear unharmed, they'll assume I had been given formula. How many are in the compound?

Professor Jelaned: No more than 20, unless they've sent some I don't know about. You're pretty determined, aren't you?

Devin: I just think we've got a better chance of snatching formula from our side where no one would be expecting an attack on it. Besides, that would keep you out of it, professor. Your government can't loose trust in you. We need you to operate the machine.

Professor Jelaned: OK! Let's get some sleep. It's not unusual for me to stay here all night. I'll just tell the guards I won't be leaving.

Setoma: Do you have to tell them?

Professor Jelaned: Yes! They expect I'll be going home soon. But quite often I stay here all night. They all know that, so it's not a big deal.

(Everyone sacks out for awhile. Then; about three AM...)

Professor Jelaned: You're sure about this, Devin?

Devin: Do it, professor. I'll either be back in an hour or I'll leave a note you can retrieve.

(The professor operates the machine and Devin disappears from their presence. He comes out of the portal into a dark room. He looks around but doesn't see any windows. There is a door to his left. There's a desk in the room and a phone on the desk. Area code 307-745-8809. Definitely not New Mexico! But where is it? Devin opens the door into a lighted hall. No one is in site. Everything is very quiet. Noting what door he came out of, Devin walks down the hall. There are stairs up and stairs down but no way out from this floor. He moves toward the stairs but looks up for some reason. He sees a security camera and quickly jumps back into the hall. He looks up and down the hall, but sees no other cameras; just several near the stairs. Is someone watching those, he wonders? He notices a chair with a pillow on it at the end of the hall. Carefully he retrieves the pillow and throws it down the stairs. Suddenly, a door opens on the lower floor and a guard yells...)

Guard 1: Anyone there? Hello?

Guard 2: What is it?

Guard 1: I was sure I saw something black move across the stairs monitor.

Guard 2: Look! There's a pillow lying there, halfway down the stairs.

Guard 1: What in the hell...

Guard 2: Do we call the Colonel?

Guard 1: And have to explain why there's a pillow on the stairs. I don't want to be locked up for a week.

Guard 2: Let's get the life sensor and sweep the place. If we find nothing, this never happened, OK?

Guard 1: If we find nothing, it never happened.

(The guards sweep the halls, stairwells and rooms in the three-story building. Devin retreated to the room he came from and is hiding under the desk. The guards come in and sweep. Guess what? Devin may be a life form but he doesn't show up on the life sensor.)

Guard 1: Isn't the portal room door supposed to be locked?

Guard 2: Yes!

Guard 1: It wasn't.

Guard 2: Check everywhere...and look at the safe where the formula is. Maybe someone's trying to go back without authorization.

Guard 1: Only the Colonel knows the combination to the safe.

Guard 2: Safes can be cracked. I hear it happens in this dimension a lot more than in ours.

Guard 1: But not by our people.

Guard 2: I don't know. Bilillia's been pretty vocal about wanting to either get loose in this dimension or go back. He hates being stuck in the compound. Did you hear what he said about this dimension? He says men are free to decide their destinies.

Guard 1: That's scary. They might make a bad mistake.

Guard 2: Bilillia says that's what makes men here strong.

Guard 1: Bilillia is going to be in prison if he keeps talking like that. Where does he get his ideas?

Guard 2: From someone named Rush. He told me he found a radio from this dimension. He listens to the broadcasts for the people here.

Guard 1: I should report that.

Guard 2: Please, don't! He'd know who told you. I promised I wouldn't.

Guard 1: OK, but don't you go weird on me.

(The guards leave, but by now, Devin decides his best move is to go back to the other dimension where Setoma and Professor Jelaned are. He'll have them send him back to Riverdogs cave, armed with a phone number that hopefully can be traced and the name of someone who is not totally happy about being restricted to the compound. "This Bilillia person might help us", Devin thinks to himself. Devin waits until the hour is up, then stands in the portal area. The portal comes to life and...)

Professor Jelaned: Welcome back, Devin.

Devin: I couldn't get out of the building into the compound, but I did learn some things. Send me back to the cave in my dimension. Let my friends and I work on this.

Setoma: You sure are going out of your way for us.

Devin: I think our trying to get to the formula in our dimension makes the most sense. We have the freedom to move about. If there's formula there, we'll get it and send it to you.

Professor Jelaned: Or you'll wind up dead. Our people won't sit still if you're discovered. They will eliminate anyone who knows about them.

Devin: We'll be careful. We need to get the Memonts out of here and save our relationship with you, professor. Round up your son, Setoma. It may take little while, but we'll find a way.

Setoma: Thanks, Devin. And tell your friends...my people...thanks too.

Linka: You be careful, Devin!

Whilea: Devin? Tell your girlfriend she's lucky to have you.

Professor Jelaned: OK! Step over there again, Devin.

(The portal materializes and Devin is gone. Soon...back in Riverdog's cave...)

Alex: DEVIN! Hallelujah! We were so worried.

Devin: You might say I got a little hung up. But I've been in and out of this dimension twice.

Max: We didn't see you.

Devin: I didn't come here. I'll have to explain.

Alex: Are you OK, Devin? It been almost two days.

Devin: Yes, for now! I found someone you need to meet. He knows almost as much about computers are you do. Where is everyone?

Alex: They all went back to town, except Max and I. Someone has to run the Crashdown.

Devin: Let's go get everyone together. I only want to tell about this once.

Max: It's 5:00 AM.

Devin: OK...it can wait a few hours. There's a lot to tell, but let's go back to town anyway. I need to stop by home; then there's someone I need to go see who's been worrying about me.

Max: He's turning into a hopeless romantic isn't he?

Alex: Romantic, maybe. But I think he's a big hope for some people in another dimension.

Devin: They're counting on us guys...all of us!