I stroked her little hand, marveling at each tiny finger. Son or daughte r, Justina was perfect. I wanted her to grow up in a world that valued huma nity. A sudden babble of voices announced the end of the briefing. Swallowing a lump in my throat, I looked up at Rita.

"I need to leave tonight for the alternate Nexus where the psychopaths will158

emerge. I think it would be best if you stayed here with Justina."

Rita's arms tightened around Justina. The baby gave a little warning cry and stirred in her sleep. "That wasn't our plan."

"I know, but I'm worried that Amanda and Derrick are up to something. I don't want both of us to be at risk." Speaking quickly, I filled her in on my past experiences with Amanda.

"If there might be trouble, I want to be there," Rita said.

"And I want you to stay here."

Rita lifted her chin, a sure sign her stubbornness genes were kicking in . "You need me, Lee. How do you plan to handle these psychopaths?"

I realized Rita had missed our discussions in the Nexus, and I'd bare ly had time to fill her in on our plans. "Since their problem is a mental or emotional one, I expect they will emerge from stasis healthy. They will emerge on Nexus Six-"

"Nexus Six?" Rita interrupted.

"Our designation for the psycho world. There are seven worlds altoget her.

That's the maximum number we could handle. They'll emerge through a gate, but it will only operate one way, so they won't be able to leave."

"In other words, you've set up a fancy prison."

I shrugged. "These are people who would be, or should be, in a prison on Earth. We both know the gates don't make mistakes. They are people without conscience, capable of any crime. And we will try to help them once things settle down. With our ability to read their minds, perhaps we can find some way to reach them."

"A whole new kind of therapy." Rita gave me an incredulous look. "

Are you planning to try this on your own?"

Donna walked over to where we sat in time to hear this last remark. "He'd be a fool if he did. You have a special touch with people, Rita. Lee just wants you to wait until things have settled down to come to Nexus Six. The next few d ays are going to be nuts."

"I know I'll be lost without your help," I agreed, taking her hand. "I want to make sure the situation is safe, first, before you come, that's all. Trying to help these 159

people won't be easy. We may have to leave them isolated on Nexus Six to fight things out among themselves."Donna shuddered. "That won't be pretty."

"Maybe it's what they deserve."

Rita shook her head, and smiled her gentle smile. "You don't really think that, Lee. You're stressing out from overload at the moment. If the gates have taught us anything, it's that we have the ability to change-sometimes in way s we never imagined. I'm not going to give up on any of these people."

I rolled my eyes. "The gates want to change us into something more th an human. These psychopaths are less than human. It should be interesting."

Rita and Donna exchanged a look, although it was Donna who spoke. "Yo u don't sound like you have much sympathy for your future patients."

I shrugged. "I took this world, because it's going to be a tough o ne to handle. I never said I liked it."

A second look flew between Rita and Donna. They were doing that feminine thing, talking without words, although they might have shared a mental touch, for all I knew. Maybe women learned to read each other's minds long before the sex gates. I picked up some of that ability when I was a woman, but since I was a man at the moment, I had to guess what they were thinking. Donna turned to Rita and stretched out her arms.

"Can I hold Justina for a little bit, while you talk to Lee?"

"Sure."

Rita handed over the baby, although not without five minutes of kissing and cooing first. Remarkably, Justina never stirred. While Donna walked off with her precious burden, Rita turned on me, a determined look in her eye.

"You're going to take me with you. That was the plan."

"What about the baby?"

"I'm confident she'll be safe here. Donna can watch over her."

"She needs her mother."

"She needs both of her parents. That's why I intend to come with you and make sure you get back safely. Face it, Lee, besides housing and feeding them, you 160

have no idea what to do with a world full of psychopaths."

"And you do?"

"At least I have the training to know when they're trying to scam me."

She had a point there. I bit my lip and tried to think of another argume nt. "You need to stay behind, in case something does happen to me. If Justina los es both her parents, she'll be an orphan."

Rita folded her arms and jutted out her jaw. "You're not scaring m e. The best way to stop that from happening is to go with you. All the other teams havetwo people."

"Except Russell," I pointed out. "Donna can't go because she 's pregnant."

"Which works out great for us. Donna can watch the baby."

I sighed. I knew there was no arguing with Rita when she was in this mood. I just hoped I was wrong about Amanda. But if worse came to worse, we coul d always escape through the gates.

Donna must have sensed that Rita had won the argument. She came back, holding Justina. The baby was awake at last and regarded us with big blue eyes.

"Donna," Rita began, "could you-"

Donna kissed the top of the baby's head, and smiled. "Don't even ask. I would be thrilled to take care of Justina while you're gone."

Russell came over to join us, as the last of the stragglers left the room.

"What's your pattern sense telling you?" he asked.

I chewed on my lip. "I don't like it. Something's wrong. Amanda and Derrick are up to no good-I'd bet my fortune on it. And the gate masters h ave plans of their own."

Russ sighed. I noticed dark smudges under his eyes even though he had a new, youthful body as a result of our passage. Normally, the four of us would be piled in bed, venting our excess sexual energy. Instead, we were poised on the verge of some great change. Apprehension churned in my gut. Beside me, Rita took Justina into her arms and gave her a tender farewell kiss.

"We won't be long," she promised the baby.

I only hoped we could keep that promise.

161

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

Darkness had fallen on Nexus One, a merciful darkness that hid the scene of pain and suffering that spread out before me. I knelt in front of the gate, as the old and sick and dying emerged from stasis. The choices were all heartbreaking, but I could only help one at a time. Blinking back unaccustomed tears I wrappe d my arms around the frail body of a little girl with copper-colored curls. A mind touch told me she was suffering from a terminal brain tumor.

I carried her past groups of sick and dying people, and into one of the crystal towers where I found her an empty bed. This whole tower had been converted into a hospital/hospice for those who made it out of stasis alive. They weren't many.

Most of the old and dying were perishing, many falling out of the gate already dead. It was a nightmare worst than any I had ever experienced. I laid the child's almost weightless body down on the bed, and tucked the sheets up around her thin shoulders.

"I want to go home," she muttered, grabbing my arm. "Can you ta ke me home?"

My heart ached for her. She was six years old and dying. How could I exp lain to her that years had passed since the day her desperate parents had urged her to enter one of the gates on Earth? Most likely, her mother and father were alive and would welcome her back with open arms despite the heartbreak of getting her back only to watch her die. Russell had sworn he would concentrate on finding a way to transport these people safely through a gate back to Earth. But we didn'

t know for sure if that was possible, or how long it might take him to find a way. And even if we could take these people home again, they would only be returning to die.

Nothing could prevent that tragedy. Maybe it was for the best that their loved ones on Earth were being spared this horrible sight.

Nexus One was the first of our alternate worlds, where the release of those we had dubbed 'Innocents' had started a few hours earlier. The ills of the very old and the extremely sick were beyond the capabilities of the gates' technology.

As the release from stasis began the Innocents came out unchanged except for their sex- 162

still gasping for breath, in pain, confused, dying, some of them even dead, as if the passage through the gate had shocked the last of the life out of their bodies.

In a matter of hours Nexus One had turned into a vast hospital world, but it was a world that offered little hope of recovery for its terminally ill patients.

"Someone will be coming soon to take care of you, sweetie," I prom ised.

The holographic computer on this world had manufactured hospital androids who would care for the dying. That was the best we could do. The gates t hat had cured so many had failed these people. But I couldn't find it in me t o blame the technology. A part of me knew that these people had reached a crucial po int in their struggle against old age or disease-they no longer possessed enough life energy- whatever it is-to enable the gate to disassemble and recreate their bodies new and whole. Instead, the defects remained. And the knowledge of why it had happened offered no comfort.I took the little girl's hand and squeezed it. "Will you wait here and try to get some sleep?"

One of the men in Russell's group who had some medical training affir med that none of these people were going to live long. He predicted most of them would be dead by morning. The old were going the fastest-we separated them on a different floor so the others couldn't see how fast they were dying. The gates had squeezed the last of life out of them, I guess.

The terminally ill adults were alive, but most of them hadn't long to go. Too many had delayed their passage through the gate until the last moment, not wanting to risk it until all other hope had failed. I had passed many of them sitting in huddled groups near the gate. Their last hope was gone and they were struggling to accept their awful fate. Many sobbed, or cursed anyone who came near to help th em. Guilt tormented me whenever I looked at them. Yet our only choice had been all or nothing-let all of the people in stasis out or let them all perish. If I hadn't authorized this release, the people now emerging on the other Nexus worlds would have been lost...

I left the little girl to sleep if she could, and staggered back toward the gate. I was drenched with sweat, and dead on my feet from exhaustion. All night long the 163

dead and the dying had emerged from the gate, like some scene from hell. I helped in my way-moving dead bodies and taking the sick to beds.

I reached the doorway of the hospital. Beyond, I could see a green, glowing arch. Someone leaned against the wall on one side of the door, quietly crying.

I.

walked closer and saw it was Rita. As she turned to me, her pain poured down the telepathic link between us, nearly overwhelming me. I choked back my own sobs as I took her in my arms. She pressed her face to my chest, her shoulders s haking.

"Hush, it's almost over," I whispered, stroking her thick hair.

"You mean they'll be dead soon." Rita's voice was bitter.

"They knew their situation was hopeless when they walked into the gat es on Earth."

"They took a gamble that they would emerge cured or vanish forever. They never dreamed they would die on an alien planet far from home. We should have letthem perish in stasis. It would have been kinder."

"We didn't know," I muttered, as the guilt choked my throat. "

They might have come out cured. We couldn't predict. And we've saved some."

She sighed and lifted her face. Tears glistened in her eyes. "I saw t he little girl in your arms. I couldn't help but think of Justina."

I swallowed a heavy lump in my throat. "There was nothing I could do for her.

The nursing androids will give her medication to ease her pain. I can on ly hope she will fall asleep and slip away into death."

Her eyes widened at the despair in my voice. She gripped my arm, her nai ls digging into my flesh. "You did your best."

"Did I?"

I bit my lip, as I glanced over her shoulder at the pathetic group of people hunched around the gate, refusing to move, simply wanting to die where t hey had fallen. Could I have saved some of these people if I had listened to the voice of the entity and let myself become more than human? Was my humanity purchased at the price of their lives? I didn't have to speak. Rita knew my thoughts, tasted my guilt.

"Nonsense. These people were doomed. There was too much degeneration in their bodies."

164

I nodded, too weary to argue. It was a good theory, and the truth was we would never know. I had made my choice. This was the reality that choice had brought.

The gate stood a few yards away, casting an eerie green light over the f aces of the dying. I noticed that no one had emerged for several minutes.

"Have we released the last of the Innocents?" I wondered aloud.

"It looks like it."

"Not so very many came through alive," I muttered. "Maybe that's a blessing."