23. the lake house Leo pulled the rental box truck into the small local owned fueling station parking lot just outside Binghampton at dawn. He parked under a grove of trees in the gravel at the back corner of the lot. “This is perfect, with the U-Haul outlet across the street. Let’s hold up here for a bit and let morning rush hour traffic thin out, and let them out of the back” Violet said before opening her passenger side door, and hopping out. Jazmin hopped out after her, as Leo stepped out of the driver’s side. They opened the back to find their illegally riding passengers waiting to hop out. Leo and Josy and Jasmine then lifted Catia out of the front, and into her wheelchair. It was a nice model, capable of traversing gravel. They all headed inside to use the restroom and grab some convenience drinks: water and fruit smoothies. “We can rent another small van here if you like, so you all don’t have to ride in the back” Violet said, holding up another credit card. “We have a few more hours to go before we get to the lake. Or we could try to rent a car in town if there is no drop-off location near our destination, or they want us to bring it back here.” Josy Lynx frowned and shook his head, and looked at the ladies he was riding with. “I don’t smell any exhaust or anything. It’s not so comfortable, but not too bad either.” The ladies all agreed. “The U-Haul here gives us cover, anyway. If the sat images or road cameras just happen to catch us driving out of here, it looks like we just rented the truck. However, we believe with confidence they don’t have access to the new hi-temporal-res system anyway.” They loitered for a bit, stretching and talking small talk, then Leo filled the tank, and they all loaded back into the truck and started heading north-west. Everyone was exhausted. Violet suggested that she drive, but they realized that she would need to be cramped against the driver’s door, her foot away from the gas pedal, her body not centered behind the wheel, if they wanted to get 4 in the front. With the saucer in the back, plus the other stuff they brought, it would be hard to cram even small little Jazmin back there too. Leo took an extra multivitamin capsule, hoping it would help him stay awake. In the back, the group were lined up against opposite walls, and eyelids were very heavy in the dim light of the single 12V incandescent light-bulb. Pink Panther fell out, fell asleep, and started leaning more and more into Josy, until her head was on his chest. His blankets kept her from falling over sideways any farther. He put his arm around her … or over her, and snuggled in, closing his eyes. Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx was sitting across from Josy. Her eyelids had been bouncing for several minutes, and then she noticed Josy and Honeysuckle snuggling. She smiled a sly smile, closed her eyes, and fell asleep. Leo finally pulled into the lake house driveway, and parked under trees. His head was spinning. His body felt like vibrating jello all the way through his bones, even after the engine was turned off. He opened his door, and caught himself in a wave of dizziness, as he stepped out the door. At Violet’s suggestion, he had kinda slept for a half-hour at the storage unit while everything was transferred. That was the only reason he made it here to the lake. His eyes zeroed in on the lounge-bench on the front porch. He looked at Violet and said “I’m going to go lie down now.” “We’ll get you in a bed A.S.A.P. Let’s get them out of the back first.” Leo looked at Catia. “Oh, sorry dear, I’m not thinking clearly. We’ll help you out first. Then I’m lying down.” Violet said “we’ve got her. Hit that porch now if you need. I see you looking at it.” Leo turned and walked over to the bench, moving like a zombie. Inside the back, Josy Lynx opened his eyes, as Pink Panther started moving her arms and legs, but her eyes were still closed. She had finally fallen completely over, and had curled up on the blankets half-way in Josy Lynx’s lap. His arm was still over her. She opened her eyes and looked around, and looked up into Josy’s eyes. She quickly sat up and started apologizing “I'm sorry Josy. I didn’t mean to crowd you.” Josy Lynx smiled and replied “no. It was nice to get to hold someone for a while. You didn’t crowd me.” Pink Panther grinned widely back, looking at Josy’s face. Sapphire Panther had just woken. “Doomed” she whispered. Then the back door opened and the others woke up, halfway startled. “We’re here?” Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx questioned Violet, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles. “Yea.” They settled into the four-bedroom lake-house. Leo was out-out on the front porch bench. They covered him with blankets and gave him a pillow. He woke just enough to tuck it under his head and then he was instantly asleep again for the next two hours. He woke long enough to eat a bit, use the bathroom, and went back to sleep for a few more hours in a bed. Everyone else lounged around the house and in their rooms, some napping for 15 or 30 minutes here and there, until mid to late afternoon, when everyone gathered on the back porch for a real meal that Jasmine and Violet prepared. That woke everyone back up fully. After eating, Leo lifted Catia Cheetah out of her wheelchair and into the double-wide Mayan-made hammock that was hanging at the edge of the porch, and joined her. The view across the lake was stunning. “This place is so beautiful” Catia Cheetah said. “It sure is” replied Violet. “Makes you wish you could just stay here for ever, and forget about all the problems in the rest of the world; doesn’t it? That’s why we chose it as a safehouse.” “So you think we are safe here?” Jasmine asked. “Yes. Most certainly. If I know the Red Dragon, and I have for 400,000+ years, if she could have tracked us here, we would have been attacked while driving on the road. We were most vulnerable then. We were driving long enough that if she COULD have picked up our trail, and she would need to do that within the first hour of driving, she WOULD have and then likely sent more of those saucers after us.” Jasmine turned to Leo and Catia. “I’m really sorry for causing you all this hassle. Thanks Leo for driving. I know that was a really hard, long night on the road for you.” “I told you when I met you: ANYTHING you need. I was at the lowest point in my life when I met you, and I could tell you, a paid call girl, actually cared about me. You pulled me out of my years-long funk in only a couple of hours. I kind of feel I owe my life to YOU.” “I can tell Catia cares about you deeply, too” Jasmine replied. “Yes dear, of course I do. But things were very different back then. I was a mess, physically, emotionally, mentally. I was VERY needy. I didn’t have much "care" to offer back — I just didn’t have it in me. Of course I was, am always, so grateful to Leo, but it was hard to show it "energetically," in my aura. I could say "thank you" all day long, but Leo, or anyone, could not FEEL the gratitude coming from me. Subtle energy may be subtle, but it has powerful effects on the mind and consciousness at times.” “OH SHIT!” Josy Lynx suddenly said. “I forgot! José Yaguar called me in my dreams this morning, while I was passed out on the chair inside for a while. I must really be tired today! But he said to tell you Jasmine that Tammy is doing fine, she left the church safely with one of José’s most trusted past apprentices and best friend escorting her. They are on horseback, he teled me an image — that was amazing. I didn’t know he could do that. Anyway, Tammy is safely in the mountains, and it was really pretty there from what I saw, heading south. He said they were going to a cave, then the beach. Lucky her!” Jasmine looked at Josy Lynx with wide eyes, a hint of desperation in them. She wanted to believe every word he said. She was truly beginning to believe this "ghost story," but her "rational" mind still was hanging on to the past ways of thinking. She HAD to believe it when she texted Tammy last night … it was really her only hope. But doubt and fear were still lingering in her mind like the smell of this old wooden lake-house cabin. You can clean it three times with citrus cleaner, but a week later, it reverts to the old smell. Josy Lynx continued “He wanted to tell you that he’d come here in person with his second attention, but he’s watching so many different places right now, and he can’t be everywhere at once. Again, I don’t get that "remote seeing" thing, but whatever. He also said to tell you, reluctantly, his energy level is weaker these days, he tried to describe it with pure thought, not words, and I think he was inferring it has to do with the Sun’s energy cycles, but it is limiting him. That’s why he’s not here to show you images of Tammy for yourself. He says "don’t worry", but he needs to keep watch on these other things — it is very important.” Jasmine turned to Violet. “We are still on track with the same basic plan to get the GVT7800 so we can get to Jazmin’s kids?” she inquired. “Yes, basically. We’re a little farther away, but now we can take the interstates in a rental car and it won’t be as long of a drive as it was last night driving under pressure. AND we have a flying saucer. Not sure what we can do with that, but maybe it will help. Hopefully, it can teach us everything we need to know to take full command of the GVT7800, without being tracked. But like I was saying yesterday, once we get the unit, we head strait for the Moon. If they track us, they do, but we are going.” “Josy and I will get on that. This evening?” Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx inquired, looking at Josy Lynx. “When ever. I’m starting to fully wake back up after eating, but I don’t think it will be a long night for me either; just to warn you. And don’t expect that the GVT7800 will be similar to the saucer, as far as the computer system hardware goes.” “Hopefully we get a schematic like we did with the saucer” Leaping Lynx replied. “If you say this thing is big enough to carry us all,” Josy Lynx said to Maxine Violet Leffleur, “it may be harder to find the tracking signal. Likely, it could be integrated to the whole system, and not easily de-activated, if we could at all, physically speaking. It may depend on the A.I. system, if there really is one, as we all seem to agree is most probable.” “I agree, but then even with A.I., we may be able to identify a low-level machine language file that actuates the tracking signal system hardware, that the A.I. uses once it makes a decision” Leaping Lynx replied. “Then we delete or hide that file. If the O.S. will let us. 10-to-1 that the system uses the Linux kernel. I could almost certainly hack that in under 20 minutes, from the main terminal.” “You think they use an unmodified kernel?” Josy asked her. “There aren’t that many kernel coders out there. That’s why there are only 3 main kernels: Windows, Apple-OS, and Linux. If this is as "hush hush" as Violet says, they likely don’t have one. In my opinion.” “I think that sounds reasonable based on what we know of them” Violet replied. “I think it’s about that time” Leo said, changing the subject. “I concur brother.” Josy grabbed his backpack and pulled out his jar. Leo grabbed his binger. “Leo, Ammey and I want to give you a good shoulder and back rub. Thanks for driving us out of that crazy hell. You’re a real Champ.” “Yes, thanks Leo! But I don’t trust my own Qi right now, after last night. I want to give you ONLY the best help I can. I’m sitting this out” Pink Panther said. “Ms. Pink Panther, you’re amazing. Take all the time you need for yourself; don’t even think about me, or anyone else as far as I’m concerned; no need to worry. Thank YOU. YOU really saved us all.” Leo smiled at her. “You are, sis.” “Yea, sis.” Amethyst Panther and Sapphire Panther both gave Pink Panther a hug. Jasmine, Leaping Lynx, and Violet quickly joined in, followed by Leo and Josy, with Catia wheeling up and holding her hand. Jazmin walked over and wrapped her arms around everyone. It was the first time in years and years and years she had even one extra drop of Qi to share.