(Scene: At the Crashdown. Conveniently, no one else is in the restaurant.)

Isabel: I'm guessing it will take a full day, maybe more to drive to Wyoming, even if we trade off driving.

Max: So we better get started soon.

Liz: You can drag your feet as long as you want as far as I'm concerned.

Isabel: So we get there. How are we going to find the location of the compound? How are we going to get in? And how do we get back out?

Michael: All very good questions, but one's we probably can't answer until we get there.

Max: Isabel is right. We still need a starting point. And we can't just breeze into town and start asking questions.

Alex: Laramie is a college town. The University of Wyoming is there. That and ranching are the town's economy. Maybe you could pretend you're checking out the University as a place to attend school. That would give you a reason to be there.

Max: Good idea. Thanks Alex.

(Isabel gives Alex a knowing, "see, you are a wonderful help" look.)

Max: Devin! Could you make a sketch of what you saw?

Devin: I could, but it was just the inside of one room, one hall, and one staircase. I have no idea about the outside landscape.

Max: I was just thinking about some way to know if we discover the right place.

Devin: I'll know the inside.

Michael: But I'm not sure you'll be with us when we break in.

Devin: That's why I'm going. Because I'll recognize it!

Max: We don't know what we'll find. It might be heavily guarded.

Devin: I've got an idea. Alex, can you get hold of a radio transmitter...a homing device of some sort?

Alex: I could probably build one if nothing else. I've made stuff like that before in the ham radio club at school.

Liz: You never told me you were a ham, Alex.

Isabel: Isn't it obvious?

*Alex: (Silent connection to Isabel.) Oooo! Wrong kind of ham, Isabel! You just wait...

*Isabel: (Smiling innocently) For what, dear?

Devin: See if this idea floats your boats, people.

Maria: Sounds like Devin's been watching too much TV.

Isabel: Hey, if he has an idea, let's hear him out. After all, he's been to where we need to go.

Devin: Can we get a message to Professor Jelaned?

Max: I think he still activates the portal in the cave once a day. But we need to hurry.

Devin: If this works, it will save more time than it will take to contact him.

Michael: So what's your idea.

Devin: Look! I can go through the portal unharmed, even without formula.

Michael: We know that. So what?

Isabel: Let him finish, Michael.

Devin: Here's what we do. I don't go with you to Wyoming. Instead, let me go back to the other dimension where Professor Jelaned and Setoma are. I'll take the radio transmitter with me. Once I'm there, I'll have Professor Jelaned send me via the portal back to the compound in Wyoming. You take a radio receiver tuned to the transmitter with you and when you get there, you can follow the signal right to me. Since I'll be inside the compound, maybe I can help you get in.

Max: Possibly we could take a cell phone and you could call us.

Alex: I wonder how much equipment you can carry through the portal. I'd be cautious of you using the phone you saw there. It might be wired so they can tell if it's in use. I'd feel better if you had a cell phone too. Even so, there's always the possibility that they would detect the radio signals from either the cell phone or the homing transmitter. It sounds a bit risky to me.

Devin: We could have specified times to turn it on and look for it. I'd want Professor Jelaned to send me in the middle of the night again. No one was in that room then.

Michael: That just might work!

Devin: I wish I had your ability to open the safe, Michael. But I think we're going to have to get at least Michael, if not all of you, in there to open the safe and get the formula. As to whether I go back through the portal or out with you somehow, we'll have to play that by ear.

Michael: If we do get the formula, couldn't Professor Jelaned pull us all out of there into the other dimension.

Devin: That's possible. But I don't know how much formula they have stored there and if there'd be enough for Setoma's needs if you used some of it so you could transport. He needs enough left to get four people over here. I guess we play that by ear too.

Max: I like this. At least we have a plan. Let's go out to the cave and get a note to Professor Jelaned. And you're right about the time. Even if it takes an extra day, it's worth it.

Liz: Why don't you three start up to Wyoming right away and let us handle this end. That would save some time. Take your phone and call us. We can tell you if we need to change plans.

Max: I think we better make sure Professor Jelaned is cool with this idea. If he's not, then we'd need to come back for Devin.

Devin: If he isn't, you may not even need me, since I can't tell you much about the outside of the place anyway. On second thought, maybe you would. There is something I forgot to tell you.

Isabel: Uh oh!

Devin: This could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. The people from the other dimension have these life sensors. They can wave them around any area and detect anything living. At least the way you define living. Professor Jelaned said they are good to about fifty feet.

Michael: Whoops!

Devin: That's the bad news. The good news is they don't seem to detect me. At least they didn't. I was hiding under the table in the room where the safe is when the guards used it. I though I was toast, but they never found me. Copper shielding also blocks their sensing ability. That's how Professor Jelaned is hiding Setoma and his family.

Max: I don't think a portable copper shield is very practical.

Alex: Duh!

Liz: It does sound like you better delay your departure until you contact Professor Jelaned.

Devin: The downside of this is it's going to take some timing, and Professor Jelaned doesn't always have the latitude to operate the machine anytime he wants. I suspect someone might question him about too many overnight experiments.

Michael: Let's go see what he says.

(The group heads out to Riverdog's cave to put a communication in the dimensional portal. Meanwhile, in the other dimension, Professor Jelaned has brought Setoma's not too happy son to his lab...)

Lotaire: Well, my life is certainly ruined. Thanks a lot for falling off the roof and getting caught, grandpa.

Setoma: That's not fair, Lotaire. Your grandfather was one of the kindest, most loving men you would ever want to know.

Lotaire: He was also an alien. That makes you half alien and me one quarter. We'll never have a life again. I was all set to go to college on scholarship. That's all blown up! My friends don't want to see me, except maybe to suck my blood. My whole life is ruined.

Setoma: You're not the only one, son. None of us can have the life we had. Your mom, your sister, me...we all lost a lot. The odd part is; we don't really know if our blood is all that desirable. Lotaire: It not just the blood. Hell, I'd give them all they want if I could still have a life.

Setoma: Was your so called life really what you wanted? You had a scholarship...but in what? Agriculture? I thought you wanted to be in computers like me. And as I recall, you only got the scholarship if you agreed to marry that tall redheaded ag student they lined you up with. They designed that you two study together and be "team workers" after college. Did you really love that woman, Lotaire? If things work out we can build our lives doing what we want with who we want, not what the government thinks we ought to do.

Lotaire: In some other dimension? Geez dad! What makes you think we can do this. We've got to steal government formula to make your plan work. What does that make us? And even if we can cross over, Professor Jelaned said we'd still have to hide our identities. He told me aliens aren't exactly welcome in that dimension either. Why was I born to you? And why didn't you tell me about my "heritage" so this wouldn't have been such a shock? I always wondered why I could sometimes make objects move a little bit...

Linka: Calm down, son. This situation is what it is. Griping and complaining won't change it.

Setoma: Your mom's right. The best solution is to start over. We're lucky to have Professor Jelaned to help us. And I'm sorry about not telling you. I thought it was best not to.

Lotaire: We could just give ourselves up. The government wouldn't kill us. They want our blood.

Setoma: But we'd likely be prisoners; especially if our blood has the components they want. Even if it doesn't, we'd never be free. You have my permission to turn yourself in if that's what you want to do, but please don't tell anyone where the rest of us went.

Lotaire: No, dad...if you pull off this crazy scheme, I'll go with you. At least it will be an adventure.

Setoma: The people we've communicated with...some of them who are like us...seem very nice. They are willing to help us. Not only to get formula so we can go, but to adapt to their dimension. Things are a lot different there. As I said, men have freedom to choose what they want to make of their lives.

Lotaire: As long as they're not aliens.

Setoma: Or as long as they're not discovered. The people that have offered to help us have been living there freely for years, it seems. There is no reason we can't either.

Lotaire: Until you fall off a roof.

Linka: That's enough, Lotaire. Please son, give this a chance. It's our best option.

Lotaire: What choice do I have?

Professor Jelaned: It's time to check with our friends. Excuse me.

(Professor Jelaned leaves his back room and goes to the dimensional portal equipment. The professor operates the portal. A message says, "we need to talk". If you're clear, we'll have Devin ready to send in ten minutes. He walks back to where Setoma's family is hiding.)

Professor Jelaned: They're sending Devin to talk to us. They must have a plan in mind.

Whilea: (Setoma's Daughter) Devin's coming again? Good! I decided I like him.

Lotaire: Who's Devin? And if he can come through the portal, he must have formula.

Setoma: Devin is a long story, Lotaire. He has special properties that let him cross the dimension without formula. I need to know that you're with us on this before I can tell you any more.

Lotaire: So now this gets even more cloak and daggerish! What next? A plot to overthrow the government?

Setoma: No! Nothing like that. All we want is our lives back. The other dimension is the only hope I see of that.

(Professor Jelaned operates the portal again and Devin appears.)

Professor Jelaned: Hello again.

Devin: How are things going?

Professor Jelaned: Not altogether wonderfully. Setoma's son Lotaire is here now and he's very bitter about the whole situation.

Devin: Would it help if I talked to him; told him that there are people who want to help him. That life in our dimension isn't so bad.

Professor Jelaned: I don't know. Maybe you better talk to Setoma first.

Devin: Before I do that, I need to tell you our idea. We need to know if you think it could work.

(Devin tells Professor Jelaned about the idea of using the portal to put him in the compound with a radio transmitter.)

Professor Jelaned: Ingenious! Who thought of that?

Devin: I guess I did, professor.

Professor Jelaned: It's worth a try. I've never tried sending equipment with an individual. We haven't sent that many people and we've never sent equipment with them. It always went separately.

Devin: Let's work out a time table, giving Max and the others time to get to the compound's location.

Professor Jelaned: You've pinpointed it?

Devin: Yes! Well, sort of. We know the area it's in. Alex figured it out from the phone number I saw on the phone when I was there before.

Professor Jelaned: OK then. Let's try for two possible times, just in case someone might be here that shouldn't be the first time. Today is Sunday. Suppose I bring you back here on Tuesday. I'll try for 1:00 or 3:30 P.M. to bring you over. Then let's say Wednesday about 2:30 AM or 3:15 A.M. to send you to the compound. I'll be ready to do a pull back 10 minutes later should you have a problem. Tell your friends to be listening for your transmission at those times. I'll check back four, six, and eight hours later from whenever we send you. You can either come back or let me know when to try again with a message.

Devin: That sounds good. Professor Jelaned, how much formula does it take for each person to safely travel through the portal?

Professor Jelaned: We don't know the minimum for sure. We know a cup works. That's what we give the travelers.

Devin: And how much do you think is stored over there?

Professor Jelaned: This is a guess, but with 14 people over there, there's probably a cup for each.

Devin: Then if my friend or friends drank some, they could come back with me and Setoma would still have enough?

Professor Jelaned: Yes! But remember they would have to drink it at least 20 minutes before they transport and no more than an hour before.

Devin: OK, then. I hope this works.

Professor Jelaned: So do I, for Setoma's family's sake.

Devin: Is Setoma back in the storeroom?

Professor Jelaned: Yes!

(Devin walks back to the storeroom to see the hideaways.)

Whilea: Hi Devin!

Devin: Hi yourself. How are you doing?

Whilea: Are you going to take me to meet some new friends?

Devin: I hope so Whilea. It won't be today, but I hope it will be soon.

Setoma: Tell all your people thank you, Devin.

Devin: They are happy to do it, Setoma.

Lotaire: So you're Devin!

Devin: And you must be Setoma's son.

Lotaire: Unfortunately! Name's Lotaire.

Devin: Your father seems like a good man to me.

Lotaire: He did to me for a lot of years too. But now...

Devin: You can't blame him for what your government wants to do to you.

Lotaire: I can blame him for what I am. For making me!

Devin: I suppose you can, but to what purpose? It won't change anything. It's not all doom and gloom for you, man. There are some neat people over in my dimension. Give us a chance. We'll help you. You can have a good life there. You can be your own person.

Lotaire: But, I'll have no friends. Nothing to do.

Devin: Sure you will. My friends are great. They'll be your friends too. I also know some cute girls. I sing with a band. Do you like music?

Lotaire: You sing? Men aren't ever singers here. That's woman's work.

Devin: See? They'll be plenty for you to do just learning our ways.

Lotaire: Like I told my mom, at least it will be an adventure.

Devin: Hey! It'll be great. We've just got to get through the dangerous part first. We need to get you the formula.

Lotaire: Why are you risking yourselves for us?

Devin: My friends think that since you're partly like them, they owe you that. They want to help.

Lotaire: And you?

Devin: I believe in doing the right thing. This seems like the right thing to me. You guys deserve more than you can have here now.

Lotaire: I just can't believe you people are doing this. I think we owe you thanks.

Devin: Wait until we get you freed. Then you can thank us.

Setoma: We thank you just for trying.

Lotaire: Thanks for talking to me, Devin. I feel better about this. Maybe it will be OK.

Linka: Son, I'm glad to hear you say that. It will work out. And we'll all be together.

Devin: I better get going. I need to tell my friends what the plan is.

Setoma: Until later, then.

Devin: Later!

(Devin goes back to the professor's lab and Professor Jelaned returns him to his own dimension...)

Max: You're back!

Devin: Yes. Professor Jelaned likes our plan. He'll help us. Here's the timetable we worked out...