"So they're trying to help," Donna said.

"Apparently, but at a great price." Russell leaned back in his seat with a heavy sigh. "I wish we could be more definite. We lack data."

"I appreciate your theory." That was Stephen Johnson, a scientist from Dallas 90

who had worked with Russell long ago on the gate project. "But we hav e no real proof the masters are involved. For all we know, Lee might have contacted three- headed aliens from Beetlejuice."

Amanda frowned. "I agree. It's a shame we didn't find out more while we had the chance." She turned cold blue eyes on me. "You should have agr eed to the change, Lee. Then we would have someone who would have the necessary abi lities to help those people when they are released."

Damn easy for her to say! I stared at her as if she were a piece of bait on a hook, challenging her with both my mind and eyes. The intensity of my mental thrustfrightened her. The confidence drained from her face. She wiggled like a worm, as I half rose from my chair.

"I've got a better idea," I snarled. "Since you think so highly of changing into something no longer quite human, why don't you do it?"

It had been a long time since I'd raised my voice at someone in anger . Rita had had a good influence on me that way. But this anger was clean, justified.

This woman had no right to volunteer my humanity for her own purposes.

She didn't answer, but she didn't back down either. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at me. I sensed indignation radiating off he r as if I had done something wrong. I groped at the edges of her mind, trying to understand, and picked up an image: I was a fool who didn't recognize the opportunity of a lifetime.

I stared at her in astonishment. Where did she get such an idea about me?

Was she that willing to sacrifice her humanity-or was it mine she wanted to put up for grabs? Where did she get off having such a cavalier attitude toward throwing me-or anyone else-into that sort of cauldron? Apparently, Seconders had improved minds, but the same couldn't always be said about their soul s-or whatever you want to call the essence that makes us human.

I sat down again, clenching my hands into fists with frustration. Someon e cleared their throat on the other side of the circle. Derrick Batson, a physicist, spoke up.

"Lee, as I understand it, you're way too close to the edge to risk taking another shot at trying to contact this entity. I'm willing to go with Russ next time and 91

see how I come out." His dark brown gaze roved around the table, judging other reactions, particularly Amanda's.

Russell ran a hand through his hair. "Thanks, Derrick, but there's a catch: the time for releasing the people in stasis is running out; I don't know if you'd have time to get up to Lee's level. It's going to take someone with a certain amount of mental strength to contract these entities, whoever they are. I'd try, but that would be hubris.

I'm as vulnerable as anyone. It will take at least two of us to try and communicate with them."

"Can't we do like we did when Lee went back to Earth to stop the a ttack on the Seconders?" Terry asked. Some people looked puzzled, but I knew exactly what he meant. I'd come to the Nexus seeking help to fight those on Earth who were persecuting the Seconders.

After I'd learned how to fight them I'd gone back to Earth to the exact time and place I'd first left from, so that I could reemerge in time to join the battle then taking place around Messler's old hideaway. Terry wondered why we couldn't do t he same thing now-solve the problem at our own pace and then go back in time via th e gates to release the people before it was too late.

"Sorry, things don't work the same way in the Nexus," Russ told him. "This alternate world has some unique rules of its own. It's why we can rea ch the level of quantum reality so easily. But that very characteristic means that time is different here and time travel won't work. I estimate that we have only two weeks, or possibly three, before we have to make the decision."

"What decision?" Amanda tossed her head, and aimed another glare at me.

"You've already decided to let those people out, haven't you? Even though you have no idea how to help them if they emerge as flawed as they were when they entered."

The scorn in her voice made her position clear. We were idiots to even consider such a course. I started to speak, but Russ beat me to it.

"Actually, we haven't absolutely decided to go ahead and release t hem. We'd like to, of course, if we can work out a safe way to do it. That's wh y I've called this meeting-to decide how best to go about it when-and if-we do, especially in light of this new, unknown, presence."

92

Amanda gawked at him as if he were speaking gibberish. "What do you mean, how to go about it? It's simple enough. If we must do it, we le t them loose on the alternate world we found and we provide for them."

I hid a smile behind my hand. Amanda must have had some talent or mental ability I wasn't aware of, but whatever it was, she wasn't using it for thinking things through. Russ nodded to me. I forced the smirk off my face, lowered my h and and laid out the problems.

"First, if you do your math, you will soon discover that the logistic s of organizing and providing for so many people at once will be stupendous.

No one knows for certain how many people are locked in stasis, but estimates ru n in the millions. That's a lot of people, even with the help of the supercomputer we found.

Meanwhile, as far as warm bodies go, our resources are limited to the groupyou see sitting here in this room." I looked around the circle. Most were nod ding solemnly, seeing my point. "Secondly, we've found a couple of alternate worlds that will work, but we need more. Not everyone caught in stasis is an innocent. Let's not forget that many, many bad people got stuck. In fact, probably the majority of those who didn't make it through were criminals or mentally defective. What will we do with them? I can't see mixing the true innocents up with the others. Probably the innocent should go to the alternate Nexus we found, where they will get the best care. We need more worlds-"

"You're forgetting something," Amanda interrupted. "The majority of those criminals were male. Surely they will be changed for the better by becom ing women-and you know, as well as the rest of us, that most of the psychopaths and deviant personalities were men, too, so they will come out as women."

My jaw dropped open. I couldn't believe I was hearing this kind of se xist nonsense from a Seconder. We'd all been both sexes-some of us many times by now. We knew that hormones had an influence on our behavior, but our essential nature remained unchanged.

"We don't know that for certain," Russ said quietly, understating as always.

His confident declaration quieted Amanda down.

"Well, what is your plan, then?"

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Russell smiled. He was a gifted natural teacher and always enjoyed explaining his ideas. "First we need to find a few more alternate Earths we can reach from this Nexus. I'm putting you in charge of that project, Amanda, since you already have one trip under your belt. We need to find worlds that are unoccupie d by humans, but which have operating sex gates. And if we can find more worlds with a functioning supercomputer, so much the better. Our plan is to divide up the people by categories. That will be tricky, but worth our best shot. Personally, I'm very adamant about separating out the extreme types and letting them loose onto separate worlds."

A movement caught my eye. Another of the scientists, Sophie Podkayne, fiddled with her long braid of red hair as she leaned forward to speak.

"That seems reasonable, but what happens if, after they're released, some of them are able to go through a gate again and become Seconders. If they do that, their mental abilitieswill increase and they may find their way here. The bad ones, I mean. Ar e we going to have to have a police force?" Her voice trembled as she voiced thi s last possibility.

"I doubt very much any of them will qualify as Seconders. But just in case, I'll work out a way to fix their sex gates so that they can't use them to reach this Nexus."

I noticed a tired slump to Russell's shoulders as he took on yet anot her problem, but I think I was the only one to see it. My old friend Russ was certainly taking a lot on himself. I believed he could handle any sort of technica l problem in physics, given enough time, but these unending problems were bound to we ar him down. It made me want to get on with the program so he could go back to doing what he did best.

After a lot of discussion, both vocal and mental, Russ finally drew the meeting to a close-although a consensus had become fairly obvious by then. "

We're agreed that we should separate them out by types and send each type to their own world. Is that right?"

Only Amanda disagreed. She continued to oppose the whole release, although she seemed willing to help search for more alternate Earths. This provoked 94

another mental sigh from Russ. I think Terry and Randi caught a hint of it this time.

"Okay, is there anyone who feels strongly enough about helping these people to volunteer to go where Lee almost did? Remember, when you emerge, you probably won't be altogether human anymore."

No one volunteered, which didn't surprise me. I had given everyone a very vivid mental image of what Russ and I had gone through. I caught the dithering of Amanda's mind as she considered it, then decided against risking her own humanity.

The others decided their best course was to continue taking lessons in h ow to manipulate the gates and the quantum flux. Russ and I couldn't get around the simple fact that it would take time-a great deal of time-for them to reach our level.

At least they could make some progress between now and the deadline, so that whatever happened, we would be as prepared as possible. Our hope was to have a few advanced Seconders besides Russ and me to supervise the newly emerge d people when that became necessary.

With that decided, we trooped en masse back to the control room where thesex gate waited for us in towering silence. Since Russ had to do most of the training, he'd decided the most efficient method was for everyone to go through together.

As it turned out, my next trip through wasn't quite so bad. I'll admit that my knees might have knocked together once or twice as I stepped into the gate.

Maybe I expected the entity I contacted to pounce on me and haul me off. The entit y- whatever it was-was there. I could feel it probing the edges of my consciousness, as if taking my temperature. Helped by Russell, I hauled up my mental barriers and told it to get lost. It pressed hard against my barrier for a moment, then faded away. I dared to hope it had gotten my message, via Russ: I wanted to stay human ! The metaphorical siren song ceased, leaving me floating at peace in the time less green flux.

The others in our group didn't even sense the entity's touch. Russell rounded them up with a mental command, and we hung together in the green quantum flux like a litter of nursing puppies, exploring and learning. We did most of the learning and he did the exploring.

By the time we staggered out of the gate after our session, we were 95

exhausted. I was once again Li, and I was interested in finding a man. R ussell emerged as Rissa, but took another quick trip through so he could become Russell. I assumed he belonged to Donna now, but she was temporarily Don. We decide d to go through the gate for another lesson later that day. As we stood around talking, Don came up to me and touched my hand.

"I might as well stay a man if we're going back through later toda y," he told me. "And Russell-well, he needs to be Russell full-time right now. I think I'm going to go catch a nap. I'll see you later."

As he turned to go, he gave me a friendly leer. I knew exactly what he w as telling me-Russell was mine for the rest of the day if I wanted him. Already the other members of the group were pairing off-it was only natural after a trip through a gate. Sexual energy filled the control room. I noticed Terri and Randy standing in a far corner, busy making eyes at each other. As Don headed out one door, Russell tapped me on the shoulder.

"Want to get a bite to eat and relax?" he asked.I nodded. We slipped away and found an unoccupied room where Russell summoned up a gourmet lunch. Afterward, I lay back on the bed, stuffed, and not sure I would ever move again, but thanks to the gate, I was young and healthy.

All it took was the sight of Russell stripping off the blue jeans he wore to reactivate my interest in life.

A new sexual partner when you're young and horny always props you up for a while. Rissa and I had made love quite often, but I was seldom together with Russ.

He was usually too busy with his work when he was a man. Donna got him a lmost by default since she was around him, working side by side on his project s. Maybe that was why she was willing to give him up for me now.

I smiled as I watched him fold up his jeans and lay them carefully on a chair.

Even with the ability to vanish or create any object in the room, he remained careful and methodical about everything around him. Whatever he did, he always gave it his full attention.

I shivered at the realization that he was about to turn that focus on my naked body. I'd already gotten rid of the robe I wore. My heartbeat quickened, as he 96

approached the bed and lay down beside me. I forgot about his brilliant mind-his masculine body was far more interesting. I ran a hand over his broad sho ulders and down his muscled arm. He smiled as he leaned over and pressed his lips t o mine in a long and tender kiss.

It was a hoot to see him concentrating on something besides science, and even more fun since I was the one he was devoting his attention to. It w as strange to think that a couple of days ago I'd entered his body. Now he was about to enter mine. I shivered with anticipation as his fingertips traced a line of fire from my neck down to my navel. Too horny for foreplay, I opened my thighs and invited him to explore.

I had forgotten how dedicated he could be to when it came to exploration. The next thing I knew, his head was between my legs and his tongue was probing me.

I.

arched my back as his hands forced my thighs further apart and his talen ted tongue did amazing things.

"Oh, my!"

I buried my fingers in his thick hair and delighted in the inner explosions created by his tongue. I should have known a scientist would go straight tothe heart of the matter. My body buckled with passion as he took me to new heights with his caresses. He lifted his head and grinned at me as his finger continued to work their magic on my body.

"Oh, my god!" I came up off the bed as his skilled touch set off a n avalanche of sensation that ran from my toes clear up to my eyeballs.

"Have you suddenly gotten religion, Li?" Russell laughed out loud.

I didn't have any time to pout at his teasing, though, because a seco nd later he straddled my body and thrust into me. I wrapped my legs around his hi ps and did my best to keep him absorbed in the love making until it suddenly dawned on me that he was the one keeping me absorbed! Russell really was a good lover, almost as good as Rez.

By the time we got up to tackle the sex gate again, my whole body was li mp and relaxed and my mind hummed with sensual pleasure. As it turned out, that was a mistake. This close to the deadline for dealing with the stasis problem, I should 97

have been letting my pattern sense work overtime; instead my thoughts co ncerned Russell and how he'd felt on top of me while he was loving me to piec es.

As much as I enjoyed bedding Russell, it wasn't practical to spend the rest of our lives cuddled together. Maybe there's an alternate Earth where life works that way. If so, I'd like to find it. When we finally abandoned our warm b ed, the sense of foreboding, which had been haunting me lately swept over me again. Why t hen, I don't know; perhaps my pattern sense began working overtime to make u p for the hours when my thoughts had focused on other matters.

Our trip into and out of the sex gate was quite rapid. Not only was Russ ell a great teacher, but also Seconders, as a group, possess the ability to absorb information at a phenomenal rate. It didn't take long for Russ to demonstrate the method he proposed to separate people as they came out of stasis and channel them to the various worlds set aside for them. Even as he taught us, I c ontinued to sense that entity in the background keeping watch. It didn't contact me mind to mind again, but I knew in my heart it continued to believe we were unprepared for the task we were about to undertake. To my dismay, my pattern sense confirmed, almostas a certainty, that the release would be fraught with peril; to them, to us, and perhaps even to Earth.

As soon as we were safely out of the gate, Rissa grabbed my arm, not ev en taking a moment to go back through and become Russell. I only had a seco nd to glimpse the stunned expression on her face before she pulled me away from the others.

"What is it?" I asked.

She drew her brows together, a puzzled look in her eyes. Fear shot through me. If our brightest mind couldn't handle this transition, we were lo st.

"I discovered something new on this trip," she said in a dazed voice. "About Earth. It contains the potential to become a Nexus world, like this one."

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CHAPTER EIGHT.

I had plenty to think about over the next few days. I spent most of the time meeting with Russell and his group. Meanwhile, Amanda did as we'd asked and used the gates to scout out alternative Earths where we could place the refuges from stasis once they were released. We also kept busy debating exactly how we wanted to divide up the people.

First, we decided to put the 'too old' and 'too sick' group on their own world.

We figured their problems would be different than the others. And they were innocents, caught up in stasis only by an accident of fate. That decisio n was a simple one. What to do about criminals, those with mental problems-a whole host of defectives-was more challenging. Did we dump the criminals together or divide them up by crimes? And what about multiple offenders, some of whom were also mentally ill?

After a long day of arguing about who to put where I needed a break. I r etired to my quarters in a section of one of the towers. I'd spent a lot of time working on learning to manipulate the quantum flux, and the result was a series of rooms that looked somewhat like the old homestead in Ruston. Lately, I'd regretted making it so much like home. It only made me more homesick than ever for Rita.

I kicked off the pair of soft sandals I wore inside, and poured myself a drink while I contemplated changing it into a luxury suite. I could materialize rooms that would cost a fortune to build on Earth. I could let my fantasies take over. I pictured a domed entranceway with double staircases sweeping upward and a waterfall in the middle. A knock interrupted my plans.Mostly, people don't knock in the Nexus. We can sense the mood someon e is in from outside, so we either walk through the wall or go away. That alone told me who was waiting outside. Donna tended to be a little old-fashioned. She was back in her female form now that Russell had finished his lessons. As soon as I opened the door I saw the glow on her face.