Last Updated August 22nd,  2004

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Enola Jones for helpful editorial comments.
Thanks to various people in the writer's group for helpful suggestions.
Thanks to Joanna Novey for her insightful suggestions.
Thanks to email buddy known as "Tall and Smart" for constructive criticism.

Thanks to Kathleen Rose for help in spell checking.

Thanks to John Otto for several very insightful comments and questions.

Thanks to Dorothy Hendrix for good suggestions.

I give a giant thankyou to Lee Raymond and Paula Rumble for their very 
comprehensive editorial comments and suggestions.

Thanks to David and Dawn Wyatt-Rose for chapter by chapter suggestions.

And I thank Pam Russo for her very detailed, chapter by chapter, analysis.


Please send constructive criticisms to kermit@polaris.net

Kermit Rose
1914 Rosedale Drive
Tallahassee, Florida
32303


Qualities for Helen to display in the story

Angel of Peace
Art Angel
Celebration Angel
Feel Better Angel
Filing Information Fairy
Goddess of Child Care
Goddess of communication
Green Thumb Fairy
Happy Birthday Fairy
Kitchen Angel
Travel Angel


Suggestions for writing of this story

Many portions of the book
focus on very different topics, including:

1. The relationships of three young people
2. The existence and range of powers of extraterrestrial beings
3. A battle with tobacco companies to eradicate smoking
4. A rescue of a moon expedition
5. Responsibilities and opportunities that come with power


Show the obstacles thrown in the path of our heroes, keeping them from 
achieving their inevitable growth (the story must be about the growth of the 
heroes as they overcome obstacles and achieve their goals).


Give your characters depth.  Illustrate Intentions and show or tell of past 
experiences.


1. Create Original Characters

Build a detailed resume for each major character. Work from the inside
out, using your passions, experience and dreams. Construct characters
that only you can create. Especially in fantasy, readers may feel that
they've never met characters like these, yet they should relate to them
at a basic level.

2. Choose a Significant Story Goal

Without something crucial at stake, your story dies in Chapter One. Make
sure the hero's quest falls under at least one of the categories
discussed in Georges Polti's book, "The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations."

[Using only persuasion to get your way]

3. Build a Back Story

Give each character a back-story that includes reasons for them to act a
certain way under pressure. You may not have to include these milestones
in the story, but you know they exist.


Joe is looking for ways to make Helen famous.

4. Differentiate Characters

Imagine that your readers A R E   looking at characters through an opaque
pane of glass. Therefore you must tag your story people, physically and
emotionally, so that readers recognize differences. Paint with broad
brush strokes.


Bring your characters and readers from ignorance to awareness.  The story is the 
step by step description of how Helen solves difficulties and obtains her goals.

Show the major characters in the opening.

Show who's against who in the opening.  Make clear who you consider the villain 
and who you consider the hero.

Set a problem to be solved in the opening.

Foreshadow the ending.

Tell you story in scenes.  Scenes contain a purpose, a problem or conflict, and 
a resolution which develops your characters.

Include all the elements logically needed for your conclusion.

Give your characters credible reasons for their actions. Also ensure that all 
story elements, characters, background, plot, interact consistently. Make 
solutions of the problems appropriate to the characters.  Maintain consistent 
style, tone, and point of view.


Develop the plot as a series of increasingly serious problems.








                      Coming into Power

Chapter 1

	Helen pressed her leg lightly against Joe to get his attention.   
However, Helen's musical voice, just by itself, always caught Joe's 
attention.  "Joe, can I change the radio station?  It's not that I 
don't love classical music.  I do.  However, I really do want to hear when 
my friend Melody leaves the moon, and is on the way back to earth. She 
and the other astronauts have set a record for how long an astronaut has 
stayed on the moon."  Helen felt energized while sandwiched between her 
best friends Bob and Joe. 
	Joe divided his attention. While part of his mind focused on 
driving them to their concert performance in his ancient white camper truck, 
another part of his mind focused on answering Helen's question.  "Sure 
can.  I even give you permission."  He turned his head slightly so he 
could alternately see the road and her reaction.
	Helen laughed.  "I'm sorry I told you about my fifth grade English 
teacher and her 'may I' game."  She reached forward and swiftly punched 
the code sequence needed to navigate to her favorite news station on the 
truck radio.  
	". . .waiting for the signal to liftoff.  It's t minus 2 minutes and 
counting.   Brad, while we're waiting, tell our listeners why we named the 
lunar module by the name 'Grayjay'."
	After a short period of static, Brad's monotonic radio voice began. 
"We gave it the name Grayjay because of the Canadian grayjay.  The grayjay, a 
cold weather bird, adapted itself to the cold weather in Canada and along 
the Rocky Mountains in the northwestern United States.  One of our 
astronauts, as a child, lived in Canada, and we decided to name the lunar 
module after a Canadian bird. The fact that the grayjay also nests along 
the Rocky Mountains and this lunar expedition will explore mountains on 
the far side of the moon strikes me as an interesting coincidence."
	"Sorry to interrupt, Brad.  It's 15 seconds to liftoff. Countdown 
will begin right away." 
	"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1..."
	". . . Grayjay failed to lift off. Grayjay failed to lift off." The 
announcer's voice held the clear tones of tight emotional control.  "We know at 
this time only that the main engines ignited and then immediately shut down.  
This station will make special alerts as we receive them." 
	"What!" cried Helen.  "Something went wrong.  Oh, I hope they're 
okay."
	Bob shrugged his shoulders.  "Well. . . you can't do anything about 
it. You should relax. Don't worry about it."
	Joe laughed.  "Bob, we all cope with anxiety differently. Helen 
worries.  Not everyone can be as rational as you." 
	Bob replied, "I don't want her to worry.  I'm trying to explain 
why she shouldn't worry."  He shifted into his objective mode voice.  
"Look.  Either your friend is okay, or she is not okay.  If she is okay, 
then we don't need to worry. If she isn't okay then we can't do anything 
about it, so why worry about it?  We should worry only if it will help us 
solve the problem we are worried about. So, why don't you distract yourself 
for now?  Besides, I believe everyone can and should be completely rational."
	Joe shook his head. "My friend, you don't understand emotions yet. 
Emotions motivate our responses to perceived situations.   After we 
become aware of our response we can choose whether or not we should follow 
through with it."
	Bob meditated silently for a moment before speaking.  "People can 
and should learn rational emotions. Your emo. . . "
	Helen interrupted, "Joe, you two will never settle that 
discussion. So, don't argue with him now.  Instead, tell me what you think 
happened on the moon."
	"Well I can't.  We only know that liftoff failed.  That implies 
something went wrong with either the liftoff engines, or with the fuel.  
Perhaps Bob does have a point this time.  Let's think of other things for 
a while."
	Helen glared at him for just a second, but then laughed.  "We can 
at least check the news after the concert.  I want to hear it.  I need to 
know that Melody is safe."
        She paused, then continued.  "I know, Bob, you'll just say it's 
so I can decide what I should feel. Well . . .  I can't help it.  I have to 
know!"  
	Bob grinned.  "You know me very well. But that's not what I 
intended to say.  I'm curious about Melody.  Tell me how you know her."
	Helen looked affectionately toward Bob.  "Thanks for asking.  
During my high school years, I formed an anti-smoking organization.  
Someone in our small group found out that Melody, already famous, shared 
our concern about the growing power of the tobacco companies.  I contacted 
her and she actually came to our high school to speak to us.  She 
encouraged us by keeping in touch with us by video phone the rest of the 
year."
	Joe commented, "If I were you, the first thing I would have said 
to Melody is that I liked her name."
	Helen looked puzzled. "Why?"
	Joe grinned.  "Aren't you telling me all the time how much you 
like melodies?"
	Both Bob and Helen laughed at this.  Helen smiled.  "Thanks guys.  
Now I feel better."
	Helen continued, "We must be close to the concert hall.  Oh, there 
it is!" She pointed straight ahead through the window. "Oh, I hope we do 
at least as well tonight as we did last time."
	As Joe turned into the parking lot, he responded to Helen. "Plan 
on it.  You'll keep getting better and better until you perform perfectly 
almost every time."
	Bob spoke up then.  But, if you don't do better tonight, please 
don't let it bother you."
	Helen smiled.  "Thanks, guys."

	Minutes later, Helen, by leaning against the heavy door of the large 
concert hall, slowly pushed it open. Once inside, she looked around the room. 
Pulling a small black box from her pocket, she pointed it at the far walls.  
Bob, following her in, very carefully placed their beloved instruments on the 
floor next to her. "How does it look?"
	"It looks good, Bob. My sounder box tells me that we'll have great 
acoustics."
	Bob nodded and pointed to his right. "There's their stage. It's 
perfect.  We walk up only two steps and we are on stage across the room from 
the doorway.. Where's Joe?"
	"Right here.  It's not easy to keep up when I'm lugging this 
heavy archaic sound equipment, and you guys only have to carry one double 
oh eighteen sized guitar, my fiddle, and the basket containing the donation 
jar and flyers."
	Bob turned to Joe. "After we get rich, you could buy some 
ultra-light quality modern equipment.  That is, unless you are having fun 
showing off this hundred-year-old stuff that you inherited from your 
ancestors." 
	Joe responded, "Well,  I'm only keeping it now for sentimental 
reasons. Besides, it's better quality than anything we can afford." 
	Helen tapped Joe on his arm to get his attention. "Well, Joe, you 
are the tallest and strongest of us.  I thought it made sense for you to 
carry the heavy stuff."  Helen smiled at him.

	Joe looked directly into her blue-gray eyes. "Is zat so? Well, I 
may be strong, and exactly 188 centimeters tall, which is at least a 
centimeter taller than both of you. But I'm no Superman. Which reminds 
me, I have in my truck the Superman comic collection you loaned me.  Ask 
me after the concert about it."
	Bob laughed.  "Joe, you too?  I knew that Helen gushed over 
Superman, but I didn't know you cared.  Did you try to fly when you were 
a kid too?"
	"Huh! Well. . .   Before kindergarten, I jumped over a log trying to 
levitate.  Because of that, I got a grass reed stuck in my throat about a 
centimeter from my windpipe."
	"Bob, don't you ever dream of flying?" 
	"Sure.  One time I dreamed I built my own airplane and flew it 
all over town, and people looked up and said, 'Look up in the sky. It's a 
plane!' "Bob grinned in spite of his intention to look serious.
	She smiled in return.  "I never said I thought I really could 
fly.  It's just that when I'm asleep I forget it's impossible."
	Bob shook his head.  "I see." Bob briefly clapped his hands 
twice. "Well, enough of this.  We need to set up."
	Helen saw a small table near the stage, and dragged it to the 
entrance. Using both hands, she picked up the donation jar from her
basket and placed it on the table.  Next she arranged the flyers that 
advertised their availability for future gigs. Helen paused a moment to 
pick up one of their flyers to admire it.  Bob did a really good job when 
he designed this one.  Their name, "Vocal Strings", almost seemed to jump 
out. She like the way he used musical notes to make up the letters.  
Below their band name were pictures of the three of them.  Joe, being the 
blond handsome guy, stood slightly behind and between them. Helen ran her 
fingers over the three figures in the picture, tracing out Joe's wavy 
blond hair, Bob's curly black hair, and her own long straight light brown 
hair. Sighing, she put the flyer down.  She needed to set up the chairs.  
	 "I see you've fixed your broken strings."
	"What?"  Helen turned around to see a young man pointing at the flyer.  
Helen laughed.  "Oh, you mean our name change.  Yes, we are no longer 
the "Broken Strings."  Every few months we change our band name.  We'll
probably change it again soon."
 	Helen walked across the room to get the concert hall's chairs to 
set in front of the stage.  The young man followed her, and together they 
set the chairs in neat staggered rows in front of the stage.  When they had
finished, she thanked the young man and asked, "Could you do me a favor?"
	When he responded by looking questionly at her, she continued, "Could
you point out the donation jar to new people coming in?"
	The young man smiled.  "Of course.  I'll be glad to do it."
	Next, she helped Bob and Joe set up the sound system.  While Bob 
played his guitar, Helen walked through the rows of chairs, signaling to 
Joe how to adjust the sound. 
	During this testing period more people began entering the hall.  
Some sat down immediately while others congregated in small groups in the 
back of the hall.  Helen looked to Joe to see if he needed any additional 
sound checks.  Joe signaled the all clear.  But unexpectedly, instead of 
sitting down to play, he followed his all clear signal by an exaggerated 
pointing at the entrance to the Hall.  Helen turned her head to look.  
Two tall men, dressed in very formal suits, had just entered the hall.  
One of the two wore an unusually bright red vest, while the other 
distinguished himself by his top hat and fancy sash belt tied to his 
side.
	Helen quelled the impulse to tell them that they did not need to 
have such formal dress for this concert.  It would probably only embarrass 
them.  As she drew nearer Red Vest smiled and waved to her.  She reached
them just as Top Hat, addressing his friendly companion, complained. 
"Cato, they don't even have an entrance fee!  It's just a donation. What 
kind of concert is this?"
	Helen stood speechless for a moment, wondering what she could say to 
such an insult.
	Cato's smooth mellow voice showed his agreement with Helen's feelings.  
"Will, I think having a donation jar is an excellent idea."  He extended 
his hand to Helen.  "I'm Senator Cato Irving.  My irritating companion is 
Senator Will Bellum.  I'm sure we'll both enjoy your performance."
	Helen's eyes opened wide.  She had almost insulted an U.S 
Senator!  Even she had heard of the Senator Cato Irving of the ethics 
committee.  Why were they here?  Surely they were not here just to 
critique her performance?  As Helen shook Cato's hand, she noticed the 
time on his expensive looking watch.  Smiling at Cato, she apologized. 
"Thanks. I don't mean to be short, but now I have to run.  It's time for 
us to start."  As she turned away, she had a second thought. Turning her 
head back to look at Cato, she said, "I'll introduce you after the 
concert."
	As Helen jumped up onto the low stage, Joe's watch chimed to signal 
beginning time. He took the microphone.  "As senior member of our group, I get 
to make the introductions.  I'm Joe Athens.  Sometimes we call the guitar 
player Bob, sometimes we call him Bam, and sometimes we refer to him as 
'just the best guitar player on the planet'."  Joe pointed to Helen.  
"Helen, our lovely singer, the most beautiful lady in the world, also 
answers to the name 'Hat' Can you guess why?" 
	Joe paused, then smiling at the audience, said, "I will give you 
this hint.  Her last name begins with the letter T."
	Taking a firmer hold of the microphone, Joe continued, "Today is 
Saturday, July first, 2090.  Why am I reminding you of this?  It's so that 
when I tell you that today is both Bob's and Helen's birthday, you will 
remember it. Of course, I'm not permitted to tell you what year she came 
into the world." 
	Helen winked at Bob.  They had literally run into each other in 
the doorway of the music appreciation computer lab.  She fondly remembered 
being helped up by Joe as she and Bob untangled themselves in the doorway.
Calling them "The Three Musketeers" expressed only weakly the extent to 
which their friendship had since developed.

	After the concert, the trio took their bow with grace, accepting the 
audience's enthusiastic applause.  Helen felt warm with pride in her singing 
today. She glanced over at Bob, and caught his appreciative nod; he'd felt it 
too.
	She reached for the microphone stand with one hand.  "Now I'd like to 
intro. . .  Yow!"  Helen crumpled to the stage floor as a monstrous blue 
spark of light leaped from the microphone stand to her fingers.
	When she opened her eyes many faces crowded her view. Darkness still 
obscured her vision.  A commanding mellow voice filled her awareness.  "She's 
awake!  Give her room!"
	She felt her head with her hands.  "What happened?"
	"Some kind of electrical fault knocked you out."  Bob, looking 
worried and concerned, took her hand.  "You scared us a lot by passing 
out like that.  How do you feel?"
	She looked around.  She found herself backstage sitting on a low 
bench leaning against the wall.  No wonder she couldn't see very clearly!  
She began to feel a bit better.  "I'll be fine in a minute.  May I have a 
glass of water?"
	Joe addressed the crowd around him.  "Thanks for your concern, 
folks.  But now we need to pack up our gear and clear the hall."
	Except for the young man who had helped Helen place the chairs, 
the crowd dispersed, leaving them alone on the stage.  He stood, head 
slightly bowed, looking at them as if to ask permission to speak.  When Joe 
nodded his head slightly, he said.  "That electric spark didn't come from 
the microphone.  I saw it come through the window.  It flew in a straight line
past the microphone stand right into her hand."
	When he saw that their only reponse were looks of astonishment, he 
turned, walked slowly down the steps, and left the hall.
	Meanwhile,  Senator Bellum and his conpanion had walked through 
the exit door on the opposite side of the hall. Senator Bellum said 
quietly to his companion, "She promised to introduce us.  She didn't keep 
her promise."
	His companion smiled. "You know, Will, you can be such a jerk."
	Will heard the smile in his friend's voice. "Yes.  We make a good 
investigative team for the ethics committee.  I jerk the people around, 
and you look for guilty responses.  We've caught more wrongdoers than 
anyone else has." 
	Senator Cato replied, "True, but tonight's singer is not 
under investigation.  We came only to enjoy her singing.
	Senator Bellum answered.  "You are right.  However, we do need to 
maintain our reputation."
	Helen heard their remarks as a silent voice in her head.  
Believing the voices to be only her imagination, she said to her friends, 
"Those guy dressed in formal dress were U.S. senators. Why do you suppose 
they came to our concert?"
	Joe grinned.  "Because I invited them."

Chapter 2

	Later that night Helen dreamed she flew through the air.  She 
flew about 6 meters above and along a highway.  She looked down at all 
the cars and took pride in being able to soar above the crowd.
	She wondered briefly what made her different.  At that instant 
she noticed a blue spark of electricity flying along beside her.  From 
the way it flew, sometimes hovering, sometimes zipping along, she knew it 
was alive.  "Who are you?" she inquired.
	In answer the spark grew brighter and came closer to her.  It flew 
straight to her hand, and entered her fingers.  She felt it travel up her 
arm, into her chest, and then up toward her head.  Helen felt dizzy for a 
moment.  Then the spark flew out through her eye, and hovered a few 
centimeters from her.  A voice formed in her head.  "I'm an explorer from 
another world. I followed your trail.  I absorbed you. We are now one 
person. You fly above the crowd only for this reason."
	"What do you mean? What is your name?"
	"My name is what I am.  What I am is my name."
	"Do you mean you have no name?" She placed her hand above the 
cool blue spark. "I pronounce you 'Sparky'."
	Then she saw her house below her and dove down to fly into the window.  
She saw the blue spark follow her in.  As she alighted on her bed, it hovered 
around her. "Sparky, what are you doing here?"
	The blue spark answered silently, "I live here now."
	Helen opened her eyes and sat up in bed.  She turned and looked 
at the clock.  2:35.   "Oh brother", she thought.  Then she lay back 
down and closed her eyes, waiting to go back to sleep.
	"What did that dream mean?" She meditated on her brief dream. Did 
that electric shock have some permanent effect on her?
	"Not in the way you think."  The silent voice surprised her.
	"Omigosh", she exclaimed, "I'm talking to myself. That electric 
shock gave me a split personality."
	"No", said the voice. "You are my split personality."
	"Hey.  I'm the original! How could I be your split personality?"
	"When I absorbed you, I became you. You are now part of me, but 
split off from the rest of me."
	"Does this mean I've lost my mind?"
	 "Of course not.  You are still you.  You still make your own 
choices."
	"You changed me! You made me into a different person?"
	"There's no cause for regret.  We are both much greater than we were 
before we merged. I'm grateful to you. Before you, I could barely see your 
world.  Through you I can know everything about your world."
	 Helen thought, "So this is what's meant by a lucid dream.  I know 
that I'm dreaming because what's happening is clearly impossible."
	Helen drifted back to sleep. At the edge of consciousness, she 
heard the silent voice again.  "Nothing is impossible to us."


Chapter 3

	The sunlight reflected glaringly off the beach sand. The trio 
enjoyed their regular Sunday morning stroll down their beach.  They 
didn't really own this section of beach.  But Helen thought of it as 
their beach because they had searched for it and found it.  They wanted 
to find a beach where visits by other people would not spoil the natural 
beauty of the beach.  
	They walked north, Helen in the middle, Joe on her right, nearer 
the ocean, and Bob on her left.   "Look at those seagulls wading in the 
surf. How cute they are!" Helen's voice showed her amusement.
	The trio continued to walk up the beach as they talked while 
enjoying the ocean breeze.  Suddenly, Helen turned, walked up the steep 
sandy hill a short distance, and stood still in the loose dry sand.
	Both Joe and Bob stopped walking immediately. While waiting, Bob 
entertained himself by looking in all directions, never resting his eyes 
more than a few moments in any direction. Joe chose to turn towards 
Helen.  He admired her beauty, and took a moment to just stare.  Helen 
had straight light brown hair that came down to her waist, blue-gray eyes, 
nicely shaped ears, and a very cute nose.  He especially admired the way her 
zest for life beamed out from her. 
	Finally Joe found his voice.  "What is it?  Why did you stop?"
	She gave him a blank look. "I'm just trying to figure something 
out."  Then on impulse, she kicked the sand, and a coin flew out, 
making a soft plop sound as it landed by Joe's feet.
	"Wow", Joe bent over and scooped up the coin.  "How did you 
know about the coin?"
	Helen stared at her friends.  "I didn't."
	Bob replied, "Co-incidences like this happen all the time.  
There's no way she could have known about the coin."
	Bob noticed the approaching beach-walkers first.  "Looks like 
we've got company".
	Joe turned and looked in the direction Bob faced. He laughed.  
"Hey, it looks like our kind of people. They like lonely beaches also.  I 
wonder how they found our beach?  Helen, Are there any valuable coins in 
their path?"
	As Helen followed Bob's gaze she remembered how Bob had found 
their beach.  Bob had acquired coastal maps from the national 
oceanographic institute and they had all spent several hours scanning the 
map of the coastline.  Finally,  Bob found this one spot that had not yet 
been developed and might never be developed. Ever since, they had walked 
here each sunday morning.
	Next, Helen considered Joe's last question. She knew Joe liked to 
tease her, and wondered how she should respond.  Suddenly she had a clear 
vision of the people walking in the distance.
	Her voice took on an odd, far-away quality.  "A man and a woman . 
. . we don't know them . . .  The man has red-orange hair and is smoking 
a cigarette . . .  He's wearing white shorts and . . .  an extra large light 
green t-shirt . . .  with Maxwell's physics equations on it . . .  She 
has short blond hair and is wearing flower patterned . . .  matching 
skimpy bikini bottom and top."
	Bob and Joe looked at each other, then at her.  "All that and no 
really valuable coins?" Joe joked uneasily.
	Helen looked confused.  "Huh?  I'm not joking.  I can see them 
clearly."
	Joe and Bob exchanged glances again. Bob looked troubled.  "Helen, 
are you claiming to have super vision now?  It's not like you to tease us 
like this." 
        Joe clapped his hands as he responded to Bob's comment.  "Just 
goes to prove how super Helen really is."  Joe's grin turned into a frown 
as he thought of another possiblity.  "Helen, could that electric spark 
that hit you last night have made you farsighted?"
	Helen answered, "Of course not. I didn't think they were that far 
away.  However, I did have a strange dream about Sparky last night."
	Joe merely looked puzzled, while Bob exclaimed, "Who is Sparky?"
	Helen continued, "I dreamed I talked to the electric spark that 
knocked me out yesterday.  I named it Sparky."
	Bob grinned. "Now I get it.  I bet the spark said it gave you 
super powers. Will you show us a new super power every day from now on?"
        At that instant, she felt Sparky speak silently to her. "Since 
we became one person, you are as a goddess."  
	Helen shivered.  "What an idea! I thought you didn't read 
fantasy.  What made you think of it?"
	Bob replied, "Well . . .  You do sometimes dream about flying. Also, 
I knew you were very concerned about your friend Melody up there on the moon, 
and the spark giving you super powers would be a wish fulfillment dream that 
you could rescue her."
	She shrugged.  "I don't have wish fulfillment dreams.  Freud's dream 
theory is just another Freudian mistake."
	"Helen!" Joe exclaimed, "You made a pun!"
	Helen laughed.  "I made it by accident."  Helen pointed to the 
approaching beach walkers. "Anyway, let's move upwind of those folks so 
the cigarette smoke won't harm us."
	Bob ran his hand through his dark hair, and shrugged his 
shoulders.  "The wind's coming from the ocean.  We'll have a good excuse 
to go swimming and wait until they reach us.  Then we'll see if you are 
just making this up."
	Helen immediately began to wade out into the waves up to her 
waist.  Bob and Joe followed her.
	As the two beach strollers came alongside them, Bob confirmed her 
unlikely description.  "Gee Helen, even with the recent merger of the 
tobacco companies into United Tobacco Company, only 10 percent of the 
population are smokers.  And those Maxwell equations!  What did you 
see to guess that? I didn't even know you knew any physics."
	Bob paused briefly, then continued, "You don't know any physics!  
The only explanation that makes sense is that you knew these people in 
advance. You planned this with them!  You told them how to get to our 
beach. Isn't that it?"
	Joe commented, "I don't think Helen would do that.  It's less 
likely than her guessing everything right.  
	Helen didn't hear their comments because she had focused intently 
on the couple walking by.  "Doesn't he know it's against the law for 
people to smoke on the beach? I wish he would put that cigarette out."
	As she spoke, a huge wave formed immediately in front of her.  
The wave reached chest level on Bob and Joe as it sped to the beach. The 
strolling couple turned their heads toward the ocean just as the wave 
reached them and doused them.
	"Wow!" Joe said, unable to think of anything else to say.  
	"Well, you got your wish, Helen," Bob laughed.  "That cigarette is 
definitely out now."
	All three friends rushed through the receding waters to the beach 
to see what help the soaked couple would need.  As she easily passed the 
other two, Helen briefly wondered why they struggled so hard to wade 
through the water.
	She reached the couple first.  She observed the man lying on his 
back, with his eyes closed, and the woman kneeling by his side, with her 
hands covering her face.
	As Joe and Bob came up behind her, Helen asked, "Are you okay?"
	The man opened his eyes. He moved his left hand forward as if to 
push them away. Then seeing their response, frowned, and said,  "Thanks. 
I appreciate your stopping. I tried to stop a tidal wave. I may have 
broken my wrist again." 
	Helen said, "Can we get you to a hospital?"
	The woman, who had uncovered her face and looked at them 
wonderingly when Helen first spoke, now smiled and asked, "Would you do 
that for us?" 
	Bob answered, "Of course.  We'll be glad to.  We can all fit in 
my car. By the way, my name is Bob and my two friends here are Helen and 
Joe."
        Joe smiled and extended his hand toward the kneeling woman.  
"Provided you tell us how you found our beach."
	The woman grasped his hand, and pulled herself up. As she gained 
her balance, she skillfully turned her grasp of his hand into a 
handshake. "Thank you. You are angels to do this for us.  I'm Angela, and 
this is my husband Victor.  He got the map and directions to this beach 
from one of his friends." 
	Bob glanced toward Helen.  Did she mean Helen.  He asked Angela, 
"Who is his friend?"
	Angela looked sharply at Bob.  "Why would you want to know.  You 
don't know him."
	Bob nodded his head. "Right.  Apologies. Now you know that I'm no 
angel.  But you definitely are.  Is Angela your original name? Were you 
always a little angel to your mom?"
	Angela shook her head.  "No, I wasn't"  Then she smiled as she 
said, "I'm pretty sure she never thought of me as her angel.  And, yes, 
Angela is my birth name."
	Angela continued.  "My mom believed God put at least one angel to 
live in every community."
	Bob looked puzzled.  "Then did she name you 'Angela' in honor of 
the local angel?"
	Angela grinned.  "Not exactly.  She hoped that, because of my 
name, the local angel would pay special attention to me."
	Meanwhile, Joe extended his right hand to Victor to help him get 
up.  Victor extended his left hand and Joe awkwardly helped him to a 
standing position.  "I'm glad you changed your mind and let us help you."
	Victor's face showed his surprise at Joe's words.  Then he 
laughed.  "Oh no, you misunderstood.  When I signed that I tried to push 
away the water, you thought I meant to push you away.  No, no. I never 
intended that."
	Joe smiled.  Then staring at Victor's bright red-orange hair, 
exclaimed "I've never seen anyone before with your color hair. Did you 
eat so many carrots that the color went to your head?"
	Victor grinned at Joe's question, but didn't say anything.
	But Angela did say something.  "Joe! If you insult my husband 
that way again, I won't want to have anything to do with you."
	Immediately Helen reached out to Angela and touched her shoulder.  
"Angela, I'm sure Joe meant well.  When you get to know him better you'll 
realize that."
	Joe replied, "Gee, Angela, I didn't mean to upset you.  I 
sincerely hope you give me at least a second chance." Joe smiled.
	Angela looked at Joe.  His teasing smile puzzled her.  He seemed 
sincere, but also seemed to be making fun of her.  Did she misinterpret 
his intent?
	Angela shook her head and spoke to the trio. "It's ok. And I'm so 
glad you stopped to help us.  I can't drive.  I didn't know what to do." 
	Bob expressed his surprise.  "Why not?  All you have to do is steer 
the car.  Anyone can do it."
	Angela shook her head.  "The first time I tried it, I drove off the 
road into a fence."
	Bob nodded his head.  "Did you figure out why?"  
	Angela replied,  "When I saw the fence, I couldn't take my eyes 
off it until I crashed into it."
	"Then you knew that the next time you should keep your eyes on the 
road?"
	Angela paused before answering.  "I waited several months 
before trying again.  The second time when I came to a curve in the road, 
and saw the warning sign, I felt dizzy. I drove right into the warning  
sign.  Victor persuaded me to try again.  The third time, we tried that 
two lane road into the country side.  I had thought that if we took it, I 
wouldn't have to worry very much about other traffic.  Ha.  I didn't 
think about the people who live along that road.  When I saw the first car 
coming toward me, I froze.  If the other driver had not swerved at the 
last instant, I would have hit her.  After that I decided that I shouldn't 
drive a car."
	Joe said gently, "Is it that you are afraid to drive now?  There 
are people who can help you with that."
	Angela looked troubled.  "I think it's more than that.  I remember 
that my vision blurred when I saw that car coming toward me. And why did I 
get dizzy when I looked at the curve warning sign?"
	Angela continued, "I don't want to talk about it now. Let's go."
	As they walked, Helen talked with Angela. "We're musicians. Our 
band is called "Vocal Strings", but we are thinking of changing it again.  
I'm just waiting until I hear a better name.  I'm their singer, and Bob 
and Joe play guitar and fiddle."
	Angela smiled as she replied, "I'm an accountant at the 
university union store.  Actually I'm part of the accountant team there.  
I mainly keep track of inventory and re-order when things get low."
	Helen felt the need to do Angela and Victor a favor.  
Irrationally,  she couldn't help feeling as if she had caused their 
problems.  "Angela, would you like me to help you practice driving?" 
	Angela smiled her delight.  "That would be wonderful.  Give me 
your telephone code and I'll call you when we can get together." 
	As Bob started his car, the car radio came on.  "Grayjay is still 
stranded.  So far we have no confirmation as to why.  We only have hints 
that the fuel tanks were damaged.  Tune in the 6:00 news report for more." 
Victor leaned back, carefully resting his injured wrist against his 
stomach.  "It's too bad about those astronauts. I'm guessing rocks from 
space punctured some of their fuel tanks either before or after they 
landed on the moon.  It looks like they are truly stranded on the moon."
	"Not good! Do they have extra fuel available?" Helen showed her 
worry.
	Victor replied, "I don't know.  Even if they did, they would have 
to fix the leak in their empty tanks before refueling them."
	Joe said, "Perhaps we have a spare rocket ready to rescue them."
	Bob chimed in, "Joe, I think it's only in fiction that there are 
spare rescue rockets. This is only the 21st century.  Safety concerns 
still make the rockets so costly that they can't have more than one at a 
time."
	When they arrived at the hospital, Bob pulled the car up to the 
front door of the emergency room.   "Victor, you and Angela go on in.  
We'll find a parking place."
	Helen spotted a possible parking space, and a problem.  The car 
in the adjacent space straddled the line taking up too much of the parking 
space they wanted.
	Then she had a wild idea.  "Hey Bob, I bet the three of us could 
move that car over a little bit."
	Bob laughed, "Okay, if you say so. Do you have superstrength 
now as well as super vision?"  
	Bob stopped his car just short of the two spaces.  Then led by 
Helen, the three of them stood, with bent knees, under the back bumper of 
the other car, with Helen in the middle. "Now at the count of three, lift 
and shift to your right. One, two . . .    three."  
	As Joe and Bob grunted, straining to lift the car, the car rose 
and slowly moved about 30 centimeters to the right. Bob and Joe looked at 
each other in astonishment.
	Helen ran around to the front of the car.  "Hey, come on you 
guys, don't stand there all day admiring your work.  Come help me lift 
this end of the car."



Chapter 4

	Melody Armstrong, standing on the moon's surface, watched the 
dials of the oxygen extractor.  They had lost essential oxygen when the 
liftoff failed.  This oxygen extractor had been one of the new devices 
they were to test.  Now their lives depended on it working well.
	The oxygen extractor operated very simply. Melody would put moon 
rocks into the machine.  Then Hydrogen reacted with oxygen compounds in 
the moon rocks, producing water.  Next an electric current split water 
into oxygen and hydrogen.  Unfortunately, not all the water and hydrogen 
could be recovered. 
	First some of the water stuck to the walls of the machine and to 
the remains of the moon rocks. Second, Hydrogen reacted with other 
compounds in the moon rocks. And some of the hydrogen simply leaked 
through the supposedly air tight joints of the machine. 
	Her suitphone rang.  Melody smiled when she saw first the 
Earthlink signal, and then Grant's face on her phone monitor.  "Hello, 
Gaunt", Melody said as she opened the connection.
	"Hello, Melody.  I don't have much to report on my Anti-tobacco 
broadcast site as yet.  I have made some progress setting it up, but I'm 
not having any luck finding someone to program it."  Grant didn't comment 
on Melody's use of his nickname instead of his proper name.  Grant had 
gotten used to people first calling him gaunt Grant, and then eventually, 
just Gaunt.
	Melody expressed her confidence.  "I know you'll solve this 
problem as quickly and as easily as you solve all problems that come to 
you.  Did you check out that high school group I told you about?"
	Grant replied, "Yes.  None of them remained activists.  It seems 
that college life kept them too busy.  Even their leader, what's her name, 
has filled her days and nights studying music."
	Melody laughed.  "I'm guessing that you don't have your computer 
name directory handy.  Otherwise, you'd know her name.  It's Helen Troy."
	Melody continued, "It seems to me that many people would jump at 
the chance to program an internet broadcast website.  Is it true that 
you invented the protocols for internet broadcasting?"
	"Not quite.  The basic rules were set a hundred years ago. I 
merely organized and simplified them so that we could license and control 
the content of internet broadcasting.  And for five more years, I keep 
the sole right to grant licenses for internet broadcasting, provided the 
courts agree with my choices.  But now I have a question for you."
	Melody guessed what Grant wanted to know.  "The oxygen extractor 
is working well.  We should have enough oxygen for liftoff in a couple of 
days."
	"Great!  How is the hydrogen holding up?"  
	Melody expressed her worry.  "I'm only losing about one part in a 
hundred of the hydrogen for each cycle of the oxygen extraction. It looks 
like we'll have enough hydrogen left for liftoff but just barely."  
	"Hmmm . . .   It would be good if you found some rocks rich with 
water.  Then you could obtain more hydrogen and make sure you had more 
than enough hydrogen for liftoff.  I think that the survey showed some 
water bearing rocks about a mile from you."
	Melody laughted.  "When you read about the presense of water, you 
didn't bother looking at how much water was found, did you?"
	Grant's face showed his embarasshment.  "You are right.  I guess I 
jumped to the conlusion that it would not have been reported if it was not 
of practical importance.  Silly me.  I should be used to what other 
scientists find important by now."
	Grant continued, "But you don't really need to worry about running 
out of water do you?"
	Melody agreed.  "That's correct.  Lucky for us that we can recycle 
our water supply.  We could stay here almost indefinitely except that 
we would run out of food in one more day.  We might have to go hungry for 
a day or two before we can lift off."


	Grant changed the subject. "Did you discover why the Oxygen tank 
failed at liftoff?"
	"Sure did.  But the oxygen tank didn't fail.  The hydrogen tank 
is the one that failed.  We had re-designed the hydrogen tanks to cut off 
if the airflow exceeded the safe amount. However, the hydrogen tanks 
still had settings calibrated for Earth.  On the airless moon, because 
the air initially flows more quickly, we needed to re-calibrate.  We've 
fixed the problem now."
	"Then why did you lose oxygen?"
	"Because the oxygen continued to flow into the reaction chamber 
until the computer system responsible for monitoring the reaction shut 
off the oxygen tank."
	"I see." Grant said it in a way that made him sound like an 
expert on the moon rocket.
	Melody grinned.  Gaunt may not be a rocket scientist, but he 
definitely knew his electronics.  Melody exclaimed, "Hey Gaunt, you 
haven't asked me about your invisible alien detectors!"

	Grant gave one of his rare smiles. "That's right. I haven't.  
That's because I can see from my instruments that you've already deployed 
them.  I can assure you that no invisible aliens have landed on the moon 
anywhere near you."
	Melody laughed again.  "You know that I don't believe in your 
invisible aliens.  Unlike you, I never saw a saucer flying toward the 
full moon suddenly vanish. I'm surprised that you convinced the boss to 
let us bring your detectors to the moon.  How are they supposed to work 
anyway?"
	"They continuously emit low intensity radio waves to get a radar 
picture of the surroundings.  They monitor the distance between 
themselves and points on the moon."
	Melody said,  "I still don't get it.  How will knowing the 
distance between the detector and places on the moon tell you if there 
are invisible aliens?"
	Grant replied, "The way an alien would make itself invisible 
would be to make any light or, in this case, radio waves, go around it.  
The radar signals would suddenly go a longer distance to reach their 
target.  It would be as if the background target suddenly moved farther 
away.  Yet there wouldn't be any corresponding Doppler shift."
	Melody said, "Now I get it.  You check to see if everything stays 
in the same place.  If something appears to move, but doesn't really 
move, you know an invisible alien has intercepted your radar signal."
	Grant agreed.  "Yes.  I will let you know if any aliens, visible 
or invisible, have landed in your neighborhood."
	"Okay, Grant.  It's a deal. See you when I get back home."  
Melody smiled as she cut the connection.  She wondered how such a 
brilliant person like Gaunt could believe in such nonsense as invisible 
aliens.  She remembered again that many times Gaunt had sold electronic 
systems to Supermarket chains at cost in order to get his designs spread 
across the country.  Were any of them alien detectors?

Chapter 5

	Bob sat in the school cafeteria, occasionally taking a bite of 
lasagna, as he transposed several sheets of music using his circular "key 
changer."  Just as he finished transposing the last line, his cell phone 
rang.  
	"Hello Bob, this is Angela.  Is Helen there yet?"
	"No, not yet?  What's up?"
	"I needed to tell her, tell all of you, that you can come at 14:45 
to make your recording."
	"Whoa!  What recording?"
	"Didn't Helen tell you?  I asked Victor to do you a favor, and 
make a recording of you three performing your music.  Victor thinks he can 
give you a chance to earn lots of money by selling your music nationwide."
	Bob hesitated a moment before speaking. "How much would it cost.  
We wouldn't be able to pay you any time soon."
	"We're not asking for money.  You didn't ask for money when you 
chauffered us to the hospital. We're just returning the favor."
	"Thanks.  That's very nice of you, Angela.  I'll tell the others."
	As Bob gathered shut down his music labtop computer,  he saw out 
of the corner of his eye that, across the room, Joe had just entered the 
cafeteria.
	Joe waved, and rapidly traversed the room to sit across from Bob.  
Bob pushed across the table to Joe the two milks, peanut butter sandwich, 
apple and banana that he'd earlier gotten for him.
	Just then Helen strode into the cafeteria to meet her friends.
	Bob spoke as she approached.  "Hello Helen. Are you going to get 
lunch?"
	She replied, "I'm not hungry."
	Joe teased, "Are you sure it's not just that you don't want to go 
down the line because everyone will notice this?"  Joe brushed his hand 
lightly upward against Helen's mismatched solid yellow shorts and dark 
red blouse.
	She glanced down at her clothes and smiled.  "No, of course not." 
Then she frowned as she remembered.  "I'm still a bit riled from getting 
this speeding ticket on my way over here."  She tossed a yellow slip of 
paper down onto the orange tabletop.
	Joe looked puzzled. "But you don't have a car!"
	Helen smiled ruefully.  "That's true, unless you count when I 
drive Bob's car.  The traffic cop interrupted my jogging to give me this 
ticket."
	Bob picked up the ticket and looked closely at her.  "You look 
serious. Surely you're joking. Why did he give you the ticket?"
	 She replied, "I think he got mad when I told him he should get 
his speedometer fixed."
	Joe looked wondering at her.  "And why did you tell him he should 
get his speedometer fixed?"
	Helen grated out her answer.  "According to his speedometer I 
jogged at 20 meters per second along the sidewalk." 

	 Joe reached across the table, and took the ticket from Bob.  
"Wow.  Hey!  This isn't really a speeding ticket.  It's only a warning 
ticket.  It says that if you're a public nuisance again, you'll be 
subject to a fine. May I keep this ticket for my 'Helen Archives'?"
	She smiled at him.  "Of course you may. Thank you."
	Joe continued, "Did you find any really valuable coins while you 
were outrunning a racehorse?"
	She looked at him, a look of puzzlement crossing her face.  "Why 
would I?"  As she realized Joe's meaning she grinned.  "Quit teasing me.  
	Bob changed the subject.  "Helen, don't you have some other news 
for us?"
	"Indeed I do.  Remember that guy we met on the beach and took to 
the hospital? "She paused as she looked at them to see their reaction.  
At Bob's smile and Joe's inquisitive look, Helen continued, "Victor owns 
a recording studio, and he's asked us to be recorded on a disc, free!"
	"What!" Joe exclaimed, "How can you be so lucky?"
	 Bob answered for Helen. "Angela convinced Victor he should do us 
a favor."
	Joe laughed.  "I suppose this illustrates how women run the world 
behind the scenes." He smiled his teasing smile.
	 Joe continued,  "And I bet that Victor jumped at the chance to 
meet Helen again.  So, when do we get to do this recording?" 
	Helen said, "I don't know.  Angela's supposed to call me to tell 
me the exact time."
	Bob responded,  "We're suppsed to meet Victor at his home, right 
after our next tutoring session, at 14:45. He's setting things up, even as 
we speak."
	Joe stared at Bob.  "You sly dog.  You knew all the time, and 
didn't even tell me!"
	 Bob smiled. "I didn't know until just a few minutes ago.  Angela 
called me when she couldn't get hold of Helen."
	As he looked at his watch, he added, "We'd better hurry if we 
want to use our sceduled time at the music lab."
	 The three friends hurried to the music lab. As Helen answered the 
pretest questions on the computer, she found herself daydreaming about 
the recording she would be doing afterward. She didn't notice that she'd
automatically answered corectly all the pretest questions about pre-tonal, 
tonal and post-tonal theory.  If she had been more alert, it would have 
surprised her because she had not yet studied the topic.
	Afte the computer session,  Helen met Joe and Bob in the parking 
lot.  Bob already sat in the camper truck on the passenger's side. Joe 
held the driver's side door open for Helen so she could slide in to sit 
in the middle.
	The trio arrived at Victor's exactly on time.  "Hello folks.  
Glad you could make it.  Come in."  Victor held the door open for them 
with his left hand. While Victor had not put his right arm in a sling, 
the trio easily noticed that he tried to not use it for pushing or 
pulling.
	"Let me show you my equipment."  Victor led them into a small 
room whose walls were covered with glass cabinets holding electronic 
equipment.  "I designed the door and walls to make this room soundproof."
	"You will perform there." Victor pointed to three small stools in 
the center of the room.  Taking care to not bump their instruments, Bob 
and Joe each perched on a stool, and Helen stood between them.
	"We will be ready in exactly twenty seconds."  Victor flipped a 
switch, and then pulled a cigarette package from his shirt pocket.
	Helen interrupted.  "Victor . . .   I'm allergic to cigarette smoke."
	Victor looked at her in surprise as he streched his arm to flip a 
switch to his right.  He looked at the cigarettes in his hand, and slowly 
put them back into his shirt pocket. "Are you really allergic to 
cigarette smoke?"
	"Actually", she admitted, "Everyone's allergic to cigarette 
smoke. It's just that some people don't know it."
	Victor stood silently a few seconds.   "I wondered about that.  Do 
you really think I'm killing myself with these cigs?"  He looked 
expectantly toward Helen.
	Helen could only nod her head.
	Victor stood silently a few moments as he reconsidered why he 
smoked.  Finally, he said, "Well . . ., shall we resume the countdown?"  
He flipped some more switches.  "Twenty, nineteen . . . "  At ten he 
stopped counting and used his fingers to show the number of remaining 
seconds.
	Joe and Bob, at the same time, began to play.  Helen's lovely 
voice harmonized immediately with their playing. Victor smiled as he 
listened to them play. They performed so beautifully! Surely this would 
make the top hundred.
	With the recording completed, Victor spoke to them. "It's a very 
good recording. Thank you all.   Now I need to record your answers to a 
couple of questions. Next I can submit everything to my producer.  If he 
likes it, then we all might be a bit richer.  I'll let you know when Grant 
sends me his evaluation."
	Victor led them into another room obviously designed for 
photography.  He instructed them to sit on a long couch and look 
expectantly into the video recording camera.
	After they were seated, Victor said, "Now I will ask two 
questions, and each of you will answer the question in turn."
	"The first question is: 'Why did you become a musician'?"
	Bob answered first.  "On my 7th Birthday, my grandfather gave me a 
piccolo.  The next year, in a school play, I used it to play the ending 
part of 'The Stars and Stripes Forever.' Later I learned how to play 
other musical instruments."  Bob turned to Helen, swinging his open hand 
toward her as if to say, "your turn."
	 Helen said, "I've always loved music. My mother sang 
professionally, and she sang to me all my life, including before my 
birth. That may be why I have a natural perception of intervals.  It 
wouldn't have made sense for me to go into any other field of study."
	Joe grinned at Helen before taking his turn.  "I had a high school 
sweetheart, a beautiful girl in the church choir.  I wanted to impress 
her.  So I began to study the fiddle.  But she moved to Sweden."
	 Then Joe smiled as he added, "But now I know how to play the 
fiddle."
	Victor returned his smile.  "Good. "Then he asked his second 
question.   "What do you want to be doing one year from now?"
	Bob answered first. "I have my eye on being an instructor in 
the school of music here at the university."
	Next Helen answered.  "I see myself as joining some opera group.  
I had expected that when I finished school, I would become an opera singer. 
If that doesn't work out, I can always support myself by teaching music."
	 Finally, Joe answered.  "I haven't thought about this yet.  I 
will be out of school.  Perhaps the three of us would continue to play as 
a band, and support ourselves by playing at various special events."
	After the interview, Victor gave Joe the first disc already made 
by his recording equipment. "Here's your copy of the recording of the 
music and interview."
	Joe replied, "Thank you, my good friend.  We appreciate your faith 
in our music."
	Victor combed his red-orange hair with his hand. "I wanted to do 
you guys a favor for helping me out yesterday.  And it looks like I'm 
doing myself a favor also.  Thank you again."
	Bob turned to Helen, "Are you ready to go?"
	"You and Joe go ahead.  I promised to give Angela some driving 
lessons."
	Bob smiled as Angela suddenly appeared in the doorway. "And here 
she is.  She must have known we were done.  Helen, you are just too good 
for your own good. See you later at Joe's place for our regular practice 
session?"
	"Sure.  See you in a few hours."  She gave them goodbye hugs.
	As the guys drove away, Joe asked, "Bob, will you help me 
locate opera singer prospects for Helen?"

Chapter 6

	Helen asked Angela, "Did you have any particular place in mind 
for test driving?"
	As Angela hesitated, Victor started to clasp his hands together.  
Then as pain coursed up his right arm, he decided to skip the sign 
language. "Why don't you practice at the abandoned military school.
	"That's a good idea.  Let's go, Angela."  Angela picked up her 
round baggy white purse and led Helen out the door to Victor's dark green 
pickup truck.
	Helen noticed a large cardboard box in the back of the truck.  
"Is it okay if we leave that box in the truck?"
	"Sure. That's only an empty box Vigor, I mean Victor, planned to 
take to the recycling place later." 
	Angela's face flushed red as she apologized. "I sometimes forget 
and use my pet name for Vigor, . . .  oops, there.  I did it again!" 
	Helen smiled her understanding.  "I like it!  How did you find 
Victor?"
	As they climbed into the cab of Victor's truck, Angela answered, 
"I didn't.  He found me.  Six years ago, he attended a summer engineering 
music conference in Belgrade, Brazil at the hotel where I worked as a 
maid."
	Helen interrupted, "Belgrade?  I knew about the Belgrade in 
Europe, but I didn't know Brazil had one."
	Angela paused, then replied, "It's not a very old city. I think 
they built it about 30 years ago and named it after the European city."
	Angela continued her story. "Vigor had forgotten some important 
papers in his room and had rushed back to get them.  I had just finished 
straightening the blankets on his bed.  He walked in just as I walked 
through the door to leave.  We ran into each other.  When he saw me, he 
stopped just in time, but I didn't.  Maybe I wanted to run into him."  
Angela smiled at the memory.
	Helen echoed Angela's smile. As she made herself comfortable 
sitting in front of the inset steering wheel, she noticed that the truck 
had one long couch seat just like the newer models had.  She asked, 
"Angela, did this couch seat come with your truck originally?"
	Angela replied, "I don't know.  We bought it second hand.  The 
couch seat and the three seat belts were in it when we bought it."
	Helen acknowledged Angela's answer by nodding her head. Then she 
pointed to the drive buttons on the dashboard. "If you wish to go faster, 
push the forward button.  If you want to go just a little bit faster, 
then just jab it.  It you want to go a lot faster, hold it in. If you 
need to slow down, push the back button or step on the brake.  But be 
careful with the back button.  If you use it to slow down by holding it 
in, after you stop, you'll find yourself going in reverse.  It's 
better to stop by stepping on the brake.  And this red button on the left 
is the off button.  Press it after you've parked the car to turn off the 
engine."
	Helen waited while Angela mentally processed the information. 
"Seems simple enough. Actually Victor explained that part before.  He 
even told me that I could start the engine by giving three quick jabs on 
either button. Also, he told me I should never hit the panic button."  
Angela pointed to a three centimeter by three centimeter square set in the 
middle of the dashboard.'
	Helen frowned slightly as she looked at Angela.  "Well, if you 
see yourself about to run into another vehicle, you should hit the panic 
button.  It tells the truck's computer to take over driving the vehicle. 
You usually want to do this in case of emergency.  The computer can 
decide how much to brake or speed up quicker than any person can. After 
the emergency is over, the computer stops the car so that the driver can 
resume control." 

	Angela acknowledged by nodding her head back and forth. "But what 
I need help on most is actually driving."
	"Yes, of course.  Let's go."  Helen gave the forward button three 
quick jabs.
	A computer voice responded, "You are not authorized to drive this 
vehicle."
	Both Helen and Angela laughed out loud at their forgetting about 
this lock on the truck.  Through her laughter Angela managed to address 
the computer. "Attend to me computer V S."
	The truck computer answered. "You have my attention, Angela"
	Angela replied in a formal voice. "Please authorize the current 
driver to drive this vehicle today and all future days."
	The computer acknowledged, "Authorization is granted." 
	When they arrived at the abandoned school, Helen stopped on the 
side road that ran around the parking lot.  Helen opened her door, and 
looking at Angela, moved her hand in a counterclockwise motion to signal 
that they should change places. 
	As Angela climbed into the drivers seat, she asked, "Now what?  
what should I practice doing?"
	"Since you know the basics, let's just drive on this side road 
that runs around the parking lot until I tell you to stop."
	"Okay", Angela agreed.  "Remember, you promised to not criticize my 
mistakes."
	"Of course.  I'll merely have you repeat until you get it right." 
Helen smiled to show her friendly intent.
	Angela pressed the speed forward button on the dashboard, "I hope 
I don't run off the road."
	Helen looked sharply at Angela.  "Angela, please focus your 
complete attention on the road where you want the truck to go.  This is 
very important."
	Angela gave Helen a weak smile.  "I'll try."  After she'd gone 
half-way around the circle, she turned her head to talk to Helen.  As she 
did so, sudden dizziness made her jerk the steering wheel.
	Alarmed, Helen reached out to tap Angela on the Shoulder.  
"Angela, stop!"
	Angela stepped hard on the brake, and the truck lurched to a stop." 
	Helen spoke as calmly as she could manage.  "You just did the 
first brakes test.  Let's see if we can stop more smoothly."
	Helen got out of the parked truck and removed the large empty 
packing box from the back of the truck.  She placed this on the ground 
about a meter off the road.
	Helen walked over to where Angela still sat in the driver's seat.  
She placed her right hand on Angela's shoulder and looked her directly in 
the eye.  "Angela, please don't take this as criticism.  I want you to 
stay calm, keep your eye on the road, and keep control of the wheel when 
you have to turn your head."
	Suddenly, Angela felt something flow from Helen's fingers.  She 
felt it travel upward from her shoulder into her neck, then disapear.  Angela 
felt an amazing calmness.  "Helen!  What did you just do to me?  I don't 
feel nervous anymore."
	Helen stepped backward in surprise.  "I didn't do anything.  But 
I'm very glad you aren't nervous anymore. Are you ready to start again?"
	At Angela's nod, Helen said,  "Drive around the circle.  When we 
come back here, stop at the box."
	The first time Angela stopped at the box with a noticeable jerk.  
Over the successive tries her stops become smoother.  Finally, Angela 
said, "I've got it".
	Helen replied, "Indeed, you do." She smiled at Angela. "How come 
this truck runs so quietly at idle?"
	"You noticed that?" Angela showed her vicarious pride, "Vigor 
takes very good care of his truck.  What do we do next?"
	"Drive into the parking lot.  We'll practice pulling into parking 
spaces."
	Angela consistently parked over a line, putting half the truck in 
the adjacent parking space.  After four such tries, Helen asked Angela, 
"Angela, how are you deciding when to turn the wheel?"
	Angela replied, "I turn the wheel when I see the first boundary 
line go past."
	"I see.  Angela, next time I want you to try this. Pick a 
parking space. Try to see both the first and second boundary lines at the 
same time.  Turn the wheel when it will put the truck exactly midway 
between the boundaries.  Drive as slowly as you need to do this."
	After ten more tries, Angela felt confident. "Hey, I've got it.  
Thanks Helen.  I'll practice driving as much as I can this week.  Come 
next Monday and I'll show you how much better I've gotten at driving."
	"Sure. You can begin your practice by driving back home."
	Angela began the familiar drive back home.  After only a few 
blocks, she saw a man trying to hitch a ride.  Her previous practice 
still sharp in her mind, Angela stepped gently on the brake pedal.  The 
truck slowed and stopped. 
	Helen lowered her window, and asked the man, "Where are you 
going?"
	 The man leaned over to peer into the cab.  Then he straightened 
up and addressed Helen.  "Just throw me your purse."  As he pulled out a 
wicked looking gun he added, "And be quick about it."
	As Angela jabbed the forward button, and held it in, Helen heard 
a silent voice in her mind saying, "It's okay now."  At the same time the 
man apparently threw the gun at her.  She flinched, but the gun had 
already vanished.
	"Good going Angela!"  Helen looked back toward the man as the 
truck continued to accelerate away.  The man just stood there staring at 
the truck.  After a few blocks Angela slowed the truck, pulled over to the 
side of the road, and stopped.  White-faced, she turned toward Helen.  "I 
think I need to lie down for a moment.  He might have shot us."
	Helen opened her door as she faced Angela, "slide over and lie 
down while I drive us back."
	As she walked around the truck to the driver's side, she wondered 
about their escape.  It had been impossibly easy.  "That's because I took 
his gun away from him and ate it."  Helen stopped in mid-stride. Then 
thinking the silent voice to be just her imagination, she resumed 
walking.
	"I am real.  Think of some tests to prove it to yourself."  Helen 
smiled at this.  How sophisticated could her imagination get?


	Chapter 7

	As they drove back home, Angela recovered her spirits.  "Helen, 
could you stop at the Vanity Shop?  I'd like to buy a replacement for a 
mirror I broke last week."
	Helen glanced over at Angela. Angela smiled as she sat up and 
refastened her seat belt around her.  Helen replied, "Just tell me where 
to find the Vanity Shop."
	Angela pointed through the windshield.  Just turn left at the 
light, and go about a block to the shopping center on your right.
	Helen replied, "I remember it now."  She looked ahead to the 
traffic light.  It looked strange. She saw the red arrow for the left 
turn signal but also saw, as if in a tunnel, a sequence of red arrows 
that at the end of the tunnel changed to green.  Bemused and distracted 
by the strange looking red light, Helen didn't stop for it.  She drove 
into the intersection just as the red arrow signal changed to green left 
arrow.
	Their truck entered the intersection at the same time as another 
car.  Angela screamed, "No! No! No!" as she saw the car headed right 
toward them.  Almost by accident she swung her arms around and swatted 
the panic button on the dashboard.  Immediately, All the side windows 
rolled down.
	 Meanwhile the passenger in the front seat of the car, Mike 
Long, reached out calmly and pressed the panic button while the driver, 
Dan Austin, belatedly pressed the brake pedal as hard as he could. 
	Mike watched the action as if in slow motion.  He barely noticed 
the windows of the car swiftly roll down.  He did notice two women in the 
green truck and watched the driver put her left hand through her open 
window as if she could stop Dan's car with one hand.
	Mike stared at Helen, fearful that the next second would see her 
hand crushed.  Instead, both vehicles, under control of their computers, 
attempted to avoid the collision.  
	The car made a 450 degree counterclockwise turn.  At 180 degrees 
through its 450 degree rotation, when it faced away from the truck, the 
car accelerated forward briefly.  At 360 degrees through its rotation, 
Mike felt the brakes take hold.  Mike stared forward at the truck.  The 
car completed its 450 degree rotation, and he needed to look through his 
open side window to keep the truck in view.
	The truck made a full 360 clockwise degree rotation.  At 90 
degrees through its ratation, it accelerated away from the car for a brief 
instant. At 270 degrees through its roation, the brakes took hold.
	Both vehicles had slowed significantly, but not enough to 
completely avoid collision.  Mike could see it now.  In another half 
second the side of the truck would strike their car.  He attemped to slide 
as far as he could away from his side window, but his seat belt jerked 
him to a stop.
	The expected impact never came.  Mike, catching his breath, looked 
wonderingly through his open side window at the green truck.  Both 
vehicles had stopped.  He could see Helen and Angela through the truck's 
open side window.  They were staring at him.  Mike did not notice that 
Helen's hand rested lightly on his open window ledge.  Mike grimaced, and 
weakly waved to Helen.  
	With the vehicles stopped, Dan saw that they needed to clear the 
intersection.  He triple punched the forward button on the dashboard to 
start the engine.  He looked to his right to check on the truck.  He 
noticed the driver of the truck holding on to their window, while 
staring at Mike.  He thought to warn the driver to remove her hand, but 
immediately forgot about it because the immediate need to clear the 
Highway intersection dominated his thoughts.
	Dan glanced upward at the traffic light.  It flashed red in all 
directions.  Of course! The car's computer had transmitted the emergency 
code to the traffic light.
	Dan drove his car forward through the light, turning left, back 
the way they had come, so he could park his car in that shopping center 
they had just passed.  
	In a daze, Helen started the truck, followed Dan, and parked the 
truck in the adjacent space to the right of the car.  She looked to her 
left to meet Mike's stare.
	Dan opened his door, and walked around his car to address Helen.  
"Are you allright?"
	Helen broke off her stare with Mike, and looked at Dan.  "We're 
fine.  Both of us are fine.  We were all extremely lucky this time.  We 
should take it as a lesson for next time."
	Angela quickly opened her door, so she could get out to face Dan.  
"You drove very recklessly!  We could have all been killed!  It's a 
miracle that we're not all dead! Your guardian angel won't always be 
there to save you."  Turning to inspect Victor's truck she said,  "I 
don't understand how we escaped the collision?"
	Helen wondered too.  What really happened?  Then she heard or 
imagined she heard a quiet voice within her say, "I stopped the vehicles 
from colliding." She snapped her head sideways to get rid of the voice.  
Could anything be done to stop her silent auditory illusions?
	Mike and Helen emerged from their respective vehicles at 
the same time.  All four of them now stood in front of the two vehicles.
	Mike addressed Helen and Angela. "I'm Mike Long, and my companion 
is Dan Austin. Dan is the CEO for United Tobacco Companies. I'm his right 
hand man, responsible for public relations and shooting any trouble that 
arises.  We came a week early to vacation before the big event."
	Helen frowned, but politely asked, "What big event?"
	But Angela, excited, answered.  "Oh, you must mean the big Shoppe 
Faire next Monday at the fairgrounds.  Almost everyone who has anything 
to sell will be there advertising their wares.  I myself will be there 
representing the Campus Union store.  Helen, you should come to my booth 
at the Faire."
	Helen shook her head.  "First I've heard of it.  I don't think 
I'm interested in the faire."
	Angela turned toward Helen.  "You won't be free that day?"
	Helen replied, "Oh, I'll come see you, Angela.  But I have no 
intention of seeing these two gentlemen ever again."
	Mike responded, "I understand. We almost killed you.  I'm sorry. 
I don't blame you for never wanting to see us again."
	Helen shook her head.  "No.  That's not it at all.  I hate 
tobacco and cigs.  I won't have anything to do with people selling the 
cigs.  I wish you understood that cigs kill people."
	Mike started to respond, but then changed his mind.  He signaled 
Dan and they both got back into their car.  Helen and Angela watched them 
drive out of the shopping center.
	Angela turned to Helen.  "Now I feel relieved. Helen, what do you 
think just happened?  How come we aren't dead?"
	Helen frowned.  "I don't know, and I don't want to think about 
it.  Let's go buy your mirror." 
	As they approached the Vanity Shop, they saw a small boy sitting 
on the sidewalk in front of it.  As the boy looked up at them, they saw 
the tears in his eyes.  Helen asked, "What's wrong?"
	The boy started to cry again, and through his tears explained.  
"I came to buy a present for my mom, but just as I got here, the wind 
blew my M-note out of my hand. I couldn't see where it went.  Now I don't 
have any money to buy my mom's present."
	Helen smiled. "I think I can fix that."  She reached into her 
pocket and pulled out a flat wallet.  Opening it, she pulled out her last 
M-note. Giving it to the small boy she said, "This will replace the one 
you lost."
	The boy looked up at Helen, and smiled his thanks.  "Oh, Thank 
you very much!  Are you the Goddess of Beauty?"
	"What?"  Both Helen and Angela spoke as one.
	The boy pointed to a billboard behind them.  "Isn't that you?"
	Helen and Angela quickly turned to look in the direction he 
pointed. They saw the billboard set about 4 meters off the ground on the 
edge of the parking lot.  On it a picture featured a woman dressed in a 
toga like an ancient Greek citizen. She cradled a shallow dish of white 
stargazer lily flowers in her two hands while looking up at the night sky 
filled with stars.  The Caption at the top of the Billboard read, "The 
goddess of beauty shops first at the Vanity Shop."
	Angela exclaimed, "Oh my goodness Helen, she looks just like 
you!"
	Helen addressed the young boy.  "No, that's not me.  I think the 
goddess isn't a real person."
	Angela added her comment.  "Sometimes Helen acts like an angel, 
but I know that she's a real person."
	The boy nodded his head.  "That's what I thought.  But when I saw 
you, I wanted to make sure."  The boy turned to go into the shop.  Helen 
and Angela followed him in.  
	As they entered the shop, Angela rushed over to speak to the 
woman at the checkout desk. "Who was the model for your goddess of beauty 
ad?"
	Surprised, the woman looked up at Angela.  "We didn't have a 
model.  My husband paid a friend of his to find the most beautiful woman 
in the world.  Myself, I think it's kind of silly, and haven't paid any 
attention. Why do you ask?  Do you know someone who it looks like?"


Chapter 8
	
	Later Helen met Bob and Joe for music practice, greeting them 
with the announcement, "I almost got killed today, twice."
	Stunned silence greeted her announcement.  After a few moments Joe 
replied, "I'm very glad you survived."
	Bob followed with "What happened?"
	Helen replied, "I ran a red light, and almost drove Angela's truck 
into another car.  Luckily the truck's panic computer programs saved us. I 
don't quite understand how.  Earlier than that, a gunman threatened to 
shoot us if I didn't give him Angela's purse."
	"And I daydreamed Sparky talked to me again."
	Bob laughed at this.  "And what did Sparky tell you?"
	"Sparky claimed to have eaten the gunman's gun and to have 
blocked the collision.  Sparky also said we should do some tests to prove 
it exists."
	Bob commented, "Well, perhaps your subconscious suggested these 
tests because it wants to exorcise this Sparky."
	Joe added, "Have you thought of any tests to prove or disprove 
that Sparky is real?"
	Bob responded, "I know some tests.  They won't prove anything for 
sure, but they may help show how unlikely Sparky is."
	Bob continued, "Helen, will you cooperate with us in these 
tests?"
	At her nod, Bob said, "Okay, what I want you to do is pretend you 
know Sparky is real, and you can talk directly with Sparky. I'll ask 
Sparky some questions, and you tell us its answers."
	She nodded assent.  Bob asked, "Sparky, can you do arithmetical 
calculations faster than Helen?"
	She said, "Yes, I can."  Helen looked surprised at her own words.
	Bob echoed her surprise.  He paused a moment. "Tell me what's 
eight to the eighth power."
	"Sixteen million, seven hundred seventy seven thousand, two 
hundred and sixteen."
	Joe grabbed a pen and his notebook.  He wrote down a number at 
random and showed it to Bob.  "Ask her to factor this number."
	Bob looked at the number and took the pen and notebook from him.  
"Sparky, tell me the prime factors of 9823862349264."
	"Sixteen divides it. The odd prime factors are three, twenty 
three, and lastly, eight billion, eight hundred ninety eight million, 
four hundred twenty six thousand, and forty one."
	Bob, pen still in hand wrote down the numbers as Helen spoke. 
Then both of them looked at Helen in awe.  Bob said "Joe, will you have 
your calculator confirm these numbers?"
	Joe picked up his pocket calculator from his work desk, punched 
in 9823862349264, and then pressed the factor button.  The calculator 
confirmed Helen's answer.
	Joe turned off his calculator, and turned to her. "Well super 
lady, which is it?  Are you a super fast calculator, or does Sparky 
really exist?"  
	Helen frowned.  "I don't think either of those are possible. I 
don't know."
	Bob said, "Well I'm out of ideas for the moment.  Joe do you have 
any suggestions?"
	Joe replied, "This is a toughie . . .  Wait, I have it.  Let's ask 
Sparky to prove itself."
	Bob turned to her, "Okay Sparky, what can you do that would prove 
to us you exist?"
	In answer, Helen yelled as she began to float toward the ceiling. 
Bob stared at her as she floated upward.  "This is not happening.  This is 
not happening. I'm dreaming it."
	When she reached the ceiling, Joe voiced his question.  "Helen, 
how did you do this?"  
	She yelled down, "I'm not doing this!  Hold on a minute."  For a 
long while they watched Helen floating near the ceiling with her eyes 
closed and an expression of total amazement on her face.
	Finally, she floated back down to stand between them. "Bob, it 
helped tremendously that you had me pretend that Sparky is real. It help 
make it possible for me to accept that Sparky really is real."
	"Sparky really is a person.  Sparky can control gravito-inertial 
and electro-magnetic fields.  I see everything much more clearly now.  
I am Sparky!  Sparky is me!  Yet, Sparky is more than me."
	Bob raised his eyebrows.  "Really? why did Sparky evolve the 
ability to levitate?"
	Helen looked forward without seeing.  "Sparky's family lived in a 
neutron star. Their metabolism is based on sub-atomic particle 
interactions."
	Bob said, "I see . . .    Just kidding."
	Joe said, "Then you really did have supervision yesterday!  How well 
can you see now."
	Helen replied, "I can see in all directions at the same time. 
Whenever you move, I actually see where you will be in the next few 
seconds.  I realize now that's part of the reason I had the collision 
accident.  I saw the green light in the future, before it turned green.  
At the time, I didn't know how to interpret what I saw."
	Bob responded, "It's not possible to see into the future!"
	Helen replied, "You're right.  I don't really see into the future.
It's just that I see what I anticipate, and I can anticipate very accurately
almost everything now."
	Helen continued, "And I can see or feel the exact distance between 
objects that I look at.  You and joe are standing 78.125 centimeters 
apart. I notice so many details that I never noticed before!"
	"All my senses are hyper!  I hear your heartbeat.  I can tell you 
the chemical composition of things I smell or taste.  I caused the ocean 
wave that sprained Victor's wrist again. And I cured Angela's proneness 
to dizziness.  I didn't realize it at the time."
	Helen continued, "And I know everything there is to know about 
human biology!  When Sparky absorbed me, I learned everything that Sparky 
learned.  Sparky learned the complete basis of life."
	Bob voiced his skepticism.  "Maybe Sparky knows everything about 
your biology, but I doubt he knows everyone's."
	Helen reaffirmed her claim. "Sparky understands all possible 
variations of my biology. Now I also know every emzyme that might have 
been used in any person's body and I know how they work together to 
maintain life."
	Joe stared at Helen, wondering if this person before him still 
remained the Helen he knew and loved.  He addressed Helen, "If you and
Sparky are now one person, are you still a woman?"
	Helen smiled warmly at Joe.  "Would you still love me if I weren't?
But you don't need to worry.  Sparky has not changed my gender. Sparky is 
neither male nor female.  However Sparky does feel feminine to me.  But of 
course, she should.  Sparky is me!"	
	After a pause, Bob said, "Well . . .    Either I'm dreaming this 
remarkably lucid dream, or we have a very interesting time ahead of 
ourselves."
	Helen laughed.  "How can it be your dream.  It must be my dream."
	The three friends stared at each other for a few seconds.
	Finally, Joe broke the silence.  "Glad to hear that you are still
the most beautiful woman in the world.  Now you truely are the goddess of 
beauty."
	Sudden insight came to Helen.  "Joe! You were the one who arranged 
for my picture to be on the billboard by the vanity shop!"
	Joe grinned.  "Indeed.  I thought it only fair for your face to 
launch a thousand sales."
	Helen blushed.  "At least my name isn't on the billboard. Most 
people won't know its a local person."
	Bob interjected, "Unless you become famous because of your 
superpowers.  What can't you do?"
	Helen paused.  "I don't know.  But I feel that I can do anything
that I can imagine doing. Why don't you test me?"	
	Joe said "Could you make us rich by crushing coal to diamond?"
She paused a moment with the blank look in her eye.  Then she opened her 
hand out toward him palm up, fingers curled slightly.   A small diamond 
immediately took shape in her cupped hand.  She shook her hand gently, as 
if she were rolling dice.   Joe watched, fasinated, as the diamond slowly
grew larger than any diamond anyone had ever seen.  He did not expect it 
when Helen tossed the diamond toward him and he almost missed the catch.  
He lifted the diamond closer to study it carefully. "Tomorrow we'll take 
this to the jewelers for evaluation!"  He put the diamond in his pants 
pocket.
	Bob said with evident tension, "We see you can levitate and make 
things from nothing.  Sparky told you it could manipulate electricity and 
magnetism.  Can you, for example, make Joe's phone ring?"
	Joe's cell phone rang.  Joe looked at Bob, shrugged his shoulders 
and pulled his phone from his pocket, and placed it to his ear without 
bothering to look at his caller ID.  "Hello . . . "
	"Hello", said Helen's voice on the phone.  Joe spun around and 
stared at her.
	"This is fun", said Helen and the phone voice at the same time.  
"Now I can carry my cell phone in my head.  I'll let the telephone 
tracking system know where I am anytime I travel so that everyone will be 
able to reach me any time of day or night, no matter where I am."
	Joe stared at her a moment longer, then sighed and pressed the 
disconnect button.
	Helen continued.  "Thanks guys.  Earlier I had hoped you would 
help me forget about Sparky.  I didn't expect you to prove to me that 
Sparky not only exists but has also become one with me.  Thank you again 
for helping me.  Bob, earlier you suggested that I dreamed sparky because 
I wanted to make sure Melody is safe.  But now I really can make sure 
Melody is safe." She smiled her gratitude.
	Bob stared at her for a few more moments.  Then he turned to Joe.  
"This is too much for me. I need a rest. I'm going home. Our practice 
session tonight is canceled.  Please call me tomorrow morning.  Helen, do 
you want to stay awhile, or do you want me to give you a ride home?"
	She smiled.  "Maybe I'll just fly home."
	Bob's laugh showed his tension.  "You do that . . .   On second 
thought, if people see you fly,  they will be asking you to teach them 
how.  Maybe you'd better learn how to be invisible first."
	Helen said, "Invisible."  Then she began to turn transparent and 
fade from view.
	"No! This can't be happening." Bob yelled as he clenched his 
fists.  He spun around and walked out of the house without saying another 
word.
	Joe, although excited, spoke more calmly. "Helen!  Are you making 
the light go through you?"
	She reappeared.  "No.  Sparky said the light goes around us."
Then Joe and Helen walked out to his porch, just in time to see Bob drive 
away.
	Helen sighed as she said, "Well . . .  I know how Bob feels."  She 
turned to look at him.  "See you tomorrow morning."  
	Joe reached out to catch Helen's hand.  "Bob made a good point.  You
shouldn't let everyone know about your powers.  With your good nature, 
you'd be doing super favors for everyone in the world, and have no time 
for yourself."
	Helen paused, thinking it through. "Perhaps You're right.  But I 
think I don't really have cause for worry.  Who would believe that I'm 
practically a goddess now?"
	Joe smiled.  "You've always been a goddess to me.  But be careful.
If someone who has public credibility discovers you, and announces you, 
you'll have thousands of people asking you for favors.  You've always done 
anything people have asked of you, provided it fell within your power.  
And now you have apprently unlimited power.  Please be careful.  Please 
keep your powers a secret."
	Helen nodded, pulled Joe to her, and gave him a lingering goodbye 
hug.  Then she fell upward into the sky and faded out of sight in 
seconds.  Only a slight breeze signaled her departure.


Chapter 9

	Melody watched the group assemble into the main chamber of the 
moon rocket.  Abner, the team leader, looked worried.  Melody wondered 
what could possibly worry Abner.  She had thought Abner never worried.  
The other three astronauts took their places.  Carol sat directly across 
from her, next to Abner.  Calvin sitting on her left showed his 
impatience by shifting his weight almost constantly.  Jonathan, sitting 
on her right, simply looked forward directly at Abner.  Melody imagined 
that anyone but Abner would have felt nervous at Jonathan's stare.
	Abner cleared his throat.  "I've just received an update from 
Earth.  They want us to lift off a day early."  Abner held up his hand to 
ward off the expected questions. "I know that you think this isn't 
possible.  But it is, provided we change our flight plan and leave 
non-essential gear on the moon."
	"We'll take a coasting orbit back to earth.  Instead of taking a 
direct path back, we'll simply reach moon escape velocity, and fall into 
orbit around Earth.  Then it will be a simple matter to refuel the 
Grayjay from the Earth orbiting space station."
	Calvin jumped to his feet so quickly that he had to grab a 
support to avoid flying to the ceiling. "But why?  We wouldn't get to 
Earth any sooner.  If we waited until we had more fuel, we could go 
faster.  We might even get there quicker if we waited."  Calvin looked 
toward Melody as he said this last.
	Melody nodded slightly to indicate that Calvin had the right of 
it.  Then she asked Abner, "What's the real reason we are asked to leave 
a day early."
	Abner's face turned slightly pink. After a few moments, he 
sighed, and said, "The president wants to make an Independence Day speech 
as we lift off.  He wants to use our liftoff as part of his speech."
	Melody turned to look at her neighbors.  Jonathan scowled his 
feelings.  Calvin looked pensive.  Carol seemed about to ask a question, 
and Abner's face showed his readiness to tackle their objections.
	When Abner turned toward Carol, she blurted out," But why?  We'll 
have to coast three days in this small craft just so the president can 
make a 
nice speech!"
	Abner nodded his head affirmatively.  "Consider this to be only a 
request.  The final decision is up to all of us.  Think it over.  Let me 
know later what you decide."

Chapter 10

	Early the next morning, Helen, sitting on the roof of Joe's 
apartment, patiently waited for him to wake up.  At last he stirred, 
opened his eyes, rolled out of bed and dressed.  Only then did she float 
down through the ceiling into Joe's bedroom.
	"Wow", said Joe as he noticed her floating down.  "So, now you 
can go through things."
	Helen's feet touched the floor. "Not exactly.  Sparky eats the 
things we go through, then afterward restores them as they were.
	Joe pulled the diamond out of his pants pocket.  "I've had second 
thoughts about trying to sell this diamond.  The clerk would want to know 
where it came from."  He handed the diamond back to her.  "Here. Take it 
back."
	She took the diamond in her hand. Joe stared at the diamond as it 
slowly sank into her open hand and vanished.
	"So . . .  How come you're here so early? If you had come any sooner, 
I would have still been in bed."
	She smiled, but didn't mention her waiting for Joe to wake up. "I 
didn't go home.  First I visited the campus union store.  Some people 
will be a little disappointed that now the store's out of cigarettes."  
Helen grinned. "Then I flew to the memorial hospital and secretly cured 
everyone in immediate danger of dying."
	"Wow!  And how long did that take?  Did you do any surgery? I 
wonder how much money the store lost on the cigarettes. "
	"I converted the cigarettes to 'Helen's super nutritious 
chocolate covered peanut butter patties'. I also converted the display 
cases to accurate plastic representations of healthy and unhealthy lungs. 
The store didn't lose any money.  I made enough of the peanut butter 
patties to exactly pay for the cigs I took away."
	"Gee, Helen.  Don't you know there's no such thing as super 
nutritious chocolate covered peanut butter patties?"
	She grinned, "Not until I invented them."
	Helen continued her story. "At the hospital, none of the serious 
patients were in need of surgery. Besides, with today's technology, if 
surgery were the answer, they wouldn't be in danger of dying.  For most 
of the patients,  I only needed to make minor improvements in their 
metabolism and give them the particular nutrients they needed. After 
taking a few minutes to cure the serious patients, I helped the other 
less serious patients."
	Helen paused, then looked directly at Joe as tears began to form 
in her eyes. "Joe, I want to visit the hospital regularly from now on. 
Two of the patients would have died of emphysema. Cig smoking caused 
their emphysema.  I don't want anyone else to die from emphysema like my 
uncle Ed did."
	Joe stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Helen and held 
her until he felt her move to disengage.  As they separated, Joe held her 
shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes.  "You know, Helen, now 
that you can do just about anything, you can do something to stop people 
from smoking."
	Helen's face lit up. "Thanks Joe.  You are right!  I will do 
something!  But right now, I want to give you a present."
	Helen held out her hands palm up.  Joe watched in amazement as 
several tiny copies of musical instruments grew in her hands.  After a 
few seconds, Helen handed them over to Joe.  "I remembered your wishful 
look when we looked at instruments like these last month."
	Joe smiled his biggest most sincere smile.  "Thank you Helen.  
But please don't make a habit of granting my every wish.  I could get 
spoiled that way."
	Helen laughed.  "Oops.  Perhaps when my powers aren't such a 
novelty, I'll be more careful."
	Joe grinned.  "But since you do have these fantastic powers, I 
have an idea how we can use them to earn some petty cash."
	Helen looked puzzled, and waited for Joe to continue. "Since you 
can make these tiny instruments, you can repair busted musical 
instruments and equipment.  We can repair musical stuff at less than half 
the price of any competitor.  How does that sound to you?"
	Helen laughed.  "So now you want me to make full sized musical 
instruments and equipment! Should I start with your sound equipment?  I 
can make it a lot lighter now.  Do you want me to advertise for you?"
	"Ah, no.  Not yet.  And I don't need or want the whole world to 
know.  I'll just tell a few of my friends on campus, and let them know 
they can tell others about us.  I don't want this to be a big business.  
We can ask Bob if he wants in on it too.  Oops, I'm supposed to call Bob 
right away."
	When Joe made the call, Bob answered on the second ring. "Hey 
Joe.  I'm sorry I didn't make it out to your place last night.  I must 
have forgotten.  Well . . .    I didn't totally forget.  I had one heck 
of a dream about being at your place!"
	Joe echoed, "A dream?"
	Bob answered, "Yah.  I picked up on Helen's dream.  I dreamed she 
had gained all sorts of super powers.  Can you imagine?  I never dreamed 
impossible things like that before."
	Joe paused, wondering what he could say. "Eh Bob, did you know 
you left your guitar at my house?"
	Bob responded, "I don't think so.  I think its here."  He looked 
on the shelf where he usually put his guitar.  "It's not here!"
	Joe replied.  "That's because it's here."
	Bob responded, "Thanks for letting me know.  Don't yet remember 
when I left it.  Why else did you call me?"
	Joe replied, "You aren't awake yet, are you?  Today's our fourth of 
July gig.  Do you want to meet us over here, or should we come pick you 
up?"
	Bob remained silent a few moments. "Might as well come pick me 
up.  I'll be finished with breakfast by the time you get here."
	Joe replied, "Okay.  See you in about twenty minutes."
	When Joe and Helen reached Bob's home, they saw him studying his 
guitar books and swinging on his front porch swing.  Bob jumped up and 
gathered his books when he saw them.  He then dashed out to the white 
camper truck. Helen opened the door for him, and he leaped into the cab.
	"I've figured out some possible songs for us to do."  Bob named 
his candidates and asked them their opinions about it.
	Helen said, "Well those are all good classical fourth of July songs.  
I like the lyrics of some of them.  And I want to start off with a couple 
of songs I just wrote."  She handed Bob some music sheets.  "And here are 
the music sheets for them."
	He took the sheets and put them in his folder while still looking 
at her.  "Tell me how you came to write these songs."
	"Remember, on the beach, when Angela felt insulted by Joe's comment
about Victor's hair?  Well, I thought about it, and decided to make up
songs about insults and friendship.
	Bob looked at the songs she'd just handed him. He nodded in 
appreciation.  "Yes.  These are good. I'm surprised you didn't include 
some anti-cig songs."
	Helen nodded her head.  "Yes.  I wanted to include some, but 
couldn't figure out how to fit them into the fourth of July theme."
	Bob replied,  "Yes.  I see how that would be difficult. You said 
you liked the lyrics of some of the songs I chose.  Does that mean you 
won't sing the ones you don't like?"
	"Which would you rather I do: Change the lyrics of a song I don't 
like, or not sing it?"
	Bob replied, "I would rather you not sing it of course.  If you 
change the lyrics, then you should change the tune also. And of course 
you should sing your own songs first.  Which of my songs do you like the 
lyrics to?"
	"I like 'Designs in the sky', 'Whose birthday is it', 'Our 
Country's Birthday", and 'Yankee Doodle'."
	Bob moved those songs to just below her music sheets.  After he 
did this, he asked, "Joe, do you agree with her about the choice of 
songs."
	He answered, "Sure do.  I agree with almost everything Helen does 
of course."  He smiled at both of them.
	As Bob closed his folder of music sheets he looked out the window.  
"Here we are at the park already.  I wonder if the stage will be out by 
the lake like last year."
	Joe turned onto the one lane driveway that entered the park.  
"We'll know in a couple of minutes."  They followed the driveway down and 
around the park until they reached the parking lot by the lake.
	"Well, look at that!  They didn't put the stage by the lake, but 
on the lake!  How are we supposed to get out to it?"  Joe didn't answer 
his rhetorical question.  The arrival of a busload of park service 
employees to the lake dock answered his question for him. Joe shook his 
head once in a "come this way" gesture, and led the way down to the dock.
	As they came to the dock, the park service employees prepared a 
ferryboat for use.  After about fifteen minutes, one man started the 
ferryboat's engine, and all but six of the employees left the dock to 
prepare the rest of the park for the holiday programs.  The remaining 
six employees stepped onto the ferry, and found seats for themselves.  
One of them took the pilot's seat. 
	Immediately after boarding Bob moved to the back of the ferryboat 
where, by standing up, he could get a good view of the ferryboat's forward 
direction. He remained standing and supported himself by one of the metal 
bars connecting floor and ceiling. He stared in the direction of the floating 
stage in the middle of the lake.
	Joe called out to him, "Hey Bob, are you in a hurry to get to the 
stage.  We are early you know.  Besides, nothing will happen until we get 
there."
	Bob replied, but Joe could not hear his reply.  Turning to 
Helen, he said,  "I can't hear him.  Is it because he's in the back of the 
boat?"
	Helen replied, "Yes.  He said that he's looking at the stage."  
Let's go to him.
	Bob turned to watch his two friends walk up to him.  "I'm just 
thinking about their set up."  He pointed to the stage.  "It looks as if 
they set up the sound equipment yesterday.  One advantage of a big gig 
like this is we don't have to bring any of our own sound equipment.  Of 
course the disadvantage of a big gig like this is we aren't allowed to 
use our own more familiar sound equipment."  Bob grinned.
	Helen laughed.  "Maybe I should personally inspect their sound 
equipment to make sure it is up to par."
	Joe added, "We will have plenty of time to do that.  We are 
scheduled to begin in about 40 minutes.  Although I suspect we should 
just stay out of the way while the park guys run the sound checks."
	Bob replied, "Bet they won't do it as well as you and Helen."
	Helen giggled.  Why Bob, you actually made a compliment.  If I
were doing the sound check, I'd be too busy to feel impatient."
	Bob expressed his surprise.  "Since when have you ever been
impatient?"
	"I need to do something as soon as possible.  I'll leave
right after our gig.  What about you two?"
	Joe guessed what she had to do.  "I didn't have any plans for 
myself.  I presume you are leaving immediately after the gig to make sure 
your friend Melody gets back to Earth safely."
	She smiled.  "Yes.  I won't need you to give me a ride of course, 
so you are free to stay here all day or not as you please.  I'll be back 
maybe this weekend and we can talk then about the astronauts' safe 
arrival back on earth."
	Bob looked strangely at her, but said nothing.  His face showed 
the conflict in his mind.  Did Helen really have super powers?  No, of 
cours not.  That's a silly dream! 
	Joe also noticed Bob's discomfort. "Hey Bob, what's bothering you?"
	Bob shook his head, started to say something, then shook his head 
again.  He looked toward them and saw that both were looking expectantly 
in his direction.  After a few moments, Bob said, "Helen, are you . . ."  
His voice trailed off as he found it impossible to continue.
	"Bob, you didn't just dream about Sparky giving me superpowers.  
Sparky really does exist." 
	Bob shook his head negatively.  "That's impossible!"
Helen smiled, and pulled her friends into a three-way hug.  "Let me show 
you Sparky's story."
	An image formed in both Joe's and Bob's mind at the same time.  
Musical food in the form of light and motion swirled all around them.  
Helen's silent voice-over carried the information they needed to interpret 
the images.  Both Bob and Joe feel they are Sparky.  They feel the 
feelings Sparky felt. It's as if they are the ones living in the neutron 
star.
	They live in the neutron star of Sparky's original home. But the 
star will soon collapse into a black hole.  It's necessary to leave.  
The neutron star is so close to collapse that to escape, everyone must fly
directly upward away from the center of gravity.  It's lucky that we 
discovered contra-gravity fields before final collapse.  
	It's time to leave.  One of sparky's friends tries to follow their 
path.  As they fly away from their star, the friend is lost from view.
	The image shifts.  Suddenly the neutron star is no longer visible, 
and stars are whizzing by.  A dim star appears directly in front.  They 
plunge directly into it.  The food isn't as rich here as at home, but it 
will do. They slowly travel all the way through the star.  As they exit 
the star, they hear a music that reminds them of their home star.  This 
is impossible.  Nothing lives in this section of the galaxy.
	They follow the music trail.  There is a slightly thicker cloud 
of matter at its source. Helen's thought explains that they are looking 
at the Earth. They plunge into the cloud that contains the source.  It's 
just ahead of us. The music stops.  No matter, we've located the source.  
Now to absorb it so we can examine it.
	The images faded from Bob and Joe's mind.  Helen smiled at them 
as they looked groggily at her.  "Sparky thought she traced the source of 
the music to me.  The music that Sparky heard came from the Earth itself."
	Bob studied Helen carefully.  "You look the same as always. This 
is still so incredible.  Are you sure you haven't changed?"
	She returned the smile.  "I've changed a lot, but basically I'm 
still the same person.  The only difference is that now I can do anything 
I can imagine. I refused to believe it myself until you and Joe proved 
Sparky to me.  Then I had to believe. Now I understand. I am Sparky.  
Sparky is me. Now I can fly to the moon to make sure my friend Melody is 
safe."


Chapter 11

	The Grayjay had launched successfully.  They were now coasting 
through space, falling into orbit about Earth.  It will take 2 1/2 days 
to complete the fall.
	Melody released her restraints and prepared to float around the 
cabin in zero gravity.  She had prepared for this moment. From the 
storage bin next to her bunk she pulled cloth and metal wings that she 
had made the previous day.  Attaching the wings and looking upward, she 
launched herself toward the ceiling. 
	Seconds later she bumped against the ceiling.  Using the wings to 
push against the air, she swam into the center of the room, and pivoted. 
She had placed herself exactly where she wanted, over 2 meters away from 
any wall.
	For a while, Melody just enjoyed spinning and moving through 
space using the makeshift wings.  She looked down.  In the absence of 
gravity, down meant in the direction of the floor.  She saw Calvin 
walking across the room using the magnetic shoes to keep himself on the 
floor.  Abner, Carol, and Jonathan were seated at their workstations.
	Melody heard her phone ring.  She had left it on her bunk. So she 
called out,  "Calvin, could you toss me my phone?"
	Calvin grinned, changed his direction to walk over to Carol's 
bunk, carefully picked up Carol's phone, and pitched it to her with an 
expert baseball like pitch.  It landed exactly in the palm of Melody's 
outstretched right hand. 
	As she very slowly spun around from the impact of the phone, 
Melody pressed the receive button.  Grant's image formed on the cell 
phone monitor.  "Hello Gaunt, What's up?"
	Grant said, "I'd like you to do me a favor.  Pull the TV monitor 
out of the wall and open the back panel.  Find a red toggle switch and 
flip it."
	Melody replied,  "I will, after you tell me why."
	Grant sighed.  "Ok. The red toggle switch will activate the 
invisible alien detector inside the Grayjay.  I didn't expect it to ever 
be used, so I put the switch for it in the back."
	Melody laughed. "I shouldn't have been surprised.  Ok, I can 
toggle your switch, but tell me anyway why you put the invisible alien 
detector circuit in there in the first place?"
	Grant said, "I can explain that part easily.  I use a prototype 
circuit for all my devices.  Long ago I constructed a general circuit 
that does almost everything that I would like a monitor system to do.  
Naturally I incorporated some of my alien detectors into it.  Whenever I 
need to design a new monitor system, I start with my prototype circuit, 
and make minor adjustments to customize it."
	Melody hovered her finger over the disconnect button. "Oh, I 
almost forgot.  Why do you want to turn on the invisible alien detector 
inside the Grayjay?"
	Grant paused.  Then he said, "Just before the Grayjay launched, 
my instruments, the ones you deployed earlier on the moon, observed an 
invisible alien land on the moon, and approach the Grayjay. I couldn't 
detect it at launch or after launch.  I'm considering the possibility 
that you have an alien stowaway on board."
	Melody laughed again. "I guess I didn't really need to ask.  Ok, 
I'm on my way."  She ended the call, placed the phone on her belt hook, 
and looked for the closest wall. Propelling herself to the nearest wall, 
she lazily landed feet first, then used the brace of the wall to propel 
herself speedily back to her bunk.  There she put the wings back in the 
storage bin.  She would have fun with those later.
	Slipping on her magnetic shoes, Melody went to the TV monitor, 
disengaged it from the wall, turned it around, and found the red toggle 
switch.  She flipped it, and the put the TV monitor back in its wall 
space.
	The word "scanning" showed briefly on the monitor.  Then a 
picture of the inside of the cabin showed from the point of view of the 
monitor.  Consequently, the monitor looked like a mirror.
	Only now the monitor showed a pink globe about 2 meters in 
diameter floating near the ceiling right next to where Melody had been 
playing in midair.  
	By now the others had noticed Melody's antics and were staring at 
the monitor.
	Calvin looked at the monitor, looked up at where the pink globe 
supposedly floated, and saw nothing unusual.  He nodded at Melody, and 
then removed his phone from his belt and casually pitched it in the 
direction of the pink globe as shown on the monitor.
	The pink globe image on the monitor easily evaded the 
corresponding image of the thrown phone.  Calvin's phone bounced off the 
ceiling, struck a wall, bounced off the floor, and returned to within his 
reach.  He retrieved his phone and stuck it back in his belt.
	Calvin looked at the others.  "Anybody else have any ideas?"  
Everyone except Carol just stood there staring.  Carol shook her head in 
the negative. 
	For a few more seconds everyone stared at the space above. 
Then a vibrant feminine musical voice startled everyone.  "I have decided 
to speak with you.  I didn't at first intend that you know my presence. 
Now I must reveal myself more than you have already seen. Know that my 
intentions are peaceful. Perhaps you can pretend I'm not here."
	Nobody moved.  They all waited to see what would come next. And 
then they saw a ghostly form of a young lady, standing on the floor near 
the center of the cabin, slowly become more and more solid. Finally Helen 
stood fully visible before them.
	Melody yelled, "Hel . . .", when she recognized Helen.  She cut her
exclanation short because she thought she should wait to see if Helen wanted
people to know her name.  How did Helen gain the power to become an 
invisible alien.
	Jonathan nudged her elbow.  "Melody, I've never heard you curse 
before. Although I admit that the situation merits it.  Myself, I'm 
inclined to think she's an angel from heaven rather than a demon from 
hell."	

	The both turned their attention to Helen as she smiled and said, 
"I let you see me because I didn't want you to worry.  Originally I 
thought I could just ride along invisibly until you landed safely back on 
Earth."  
	Helen continued, "I know you have questions. If I can answer your 
question, I will."  She looked over to Melody, wondering what her reaction 
would be.  
	Calvin spoke first.  "How did you get here?  How did you make 
yourself invisible?"
	Jonathan got his question in before Helen answered Calvin's 
question. "How can you survive in space without a spacesuit?"
	Helen smiled.  I flew to the moon from Earth, and entered your 
craft just as it took off from the moon.  I make myself invisible by 
making the light go around me.  I don't need a spacesuit because I can 
make a bubble of air all around me."
	Calvin grinned. "Care to elaborate on that?  Why can you do these 
things?"
	Helen returned the grin.  "I absorbed an alien from another world.  
The merger extended the abilities of both of us."  
	Calvin's face showed both frustration and amusement.  He slowly 
nodded his head affirmatively.  "Just like that?  Are you going to tell us 
what's so special about this alien? "
	Melody echoed Calvin's feelings.  "I do hope you will explain 
more.  Are you one of Grant's invisible aliens?"
	Helen laughed.  "Melody, it's good to see you again!  Sparky is 
alien, but doesn't have any flying saucer.  Although we could make one if 
we wished.  Melody, I heard both sides of the conversation when you talked 
to Grant.  How did he manage to get permission to put his alien detectors 
on the moon?  Does this mean that NASA management is ready to believe 
Grant's evidence about aliens?  And Grant said that he'd built alien 
detectors a long time ago.  If Grant believes I'm an alien, he might 
announce it to the world press, and it could cause trouble for me.  I'd 
prefer that Grant not know about me being here. I seek your friendship to 
ensure that he doesn't find out about me being here."
	Abner took a step toward Helen, turning his head slightly so he 
could see both Helen and Melody at the same time.  "Melody, do you know 
this young lady?"
	Melody paused.  Looking thoughtful she said, "Her name is Helen 
Troy.  I met her six years ago.  I don't have any idea how she came to be 
our invisible alien."

	Jonathan spoke up.  "You say that you want to make friends with us 
so we won't tell Grant.  Isn't that kind of risky.  What's to stop us 
from telling everyone about you"
	Helen turned to face Jonathan. "Well, unless you tell Grant, who
might be one of the few people who'd believe you and would be
believed by a lot of people, I'm not worried.  I hope that you will 
choose to not tell Grant about me.  But whatever happens it will be your 
choice.  I will do no more than ask."
	Melody suddenly remembered the Scanner.  "But Grant's seeing you 
right now on his scanner!"  She turned toward the scanning monitor. 
	Helen replied.  "No problem.  The scanner isn't seeing me.  
Now that I'm aware of the invisible alien scanner, I can compensate 
for it.  Notice that you can see me if you look directly at me, but you 
won't see my reflection in the mirror.  I'm still invisible except to 
your eyes.  I'm just using a different method to be invisible.  Grant's 
instruments won't detect me again."
	Jonathan walked forward to Helen, and extended his hand.  "You 
have my promise.  I won't tell."  When Helen extended her hand, and gave 
him a firm but gentle handshake, Jonathan expressed his surprise.  "I do 
believe you are just what you seem to be, a quite human young lady."
	Then Carol spoke, "You said you intended to ride invisibly until 
we were safe on Earth.  Did you come here to make sure we made it back?"
	Helen smiled.  "I didn't know your risks until I got here.  I 
prepared myself for almost everything except Grant's monitor showing my 
presence. Then I decided that it would be better for you to know a little 
bit about me than for you to be worried sick over invisible aliens."
	Then Abner voiced his concern.  "What story are we to tell on 
Earth? Grant has his recording of an invisible alien aboard our vessel. 
Do you want us to deny his recording? What do you want us to say?"
	Helen looked at Abner, and then at each of the others before 
answering.  Then she spoke slowly and carefully. "I won't ask you to 
outright lie.  I ask only that you refrain from telling what you see and 
hear from me right now.  Grant is mistaken.  I'm still very much a human 
being.  I don't want Grant to think I'm an invisible alien. I don't even 
want him to know of my existence. I give you a dilemma that only you can 
resolve."
	Calvin unhooked his phone and pitched it toward Helen.  Helen 
instinctively caught it and then smiling, pitched it back in perfect 
imitation of Calvin's pitch.  Calvin smiled, and then said, "You passed 
the test.  Do you still wish to ride with us until we reach Earth?"
Helen's smile widened. "Yes, of course I do.  What test did I pass?"
Calvin tapped his phone.  "When I threw the phone at you, you didn't 
duck. And you tossed it back to me just as if we were two kids playing 
baseball.  I'd say that pretty much shows your humanity, or at least your 
friendliness."
	Helen smiled. "Thanks.  How about the rest of you? Will it be ok 
with you?"  As she saw answering nods and smiles, she added, 'Great! 

Chapter 12

	Angela slowed her pace as she approached the entrance to the student 
union campus store. She no longer noticed the computer door security 
monitor and took it for granted that the door would open automatically as 
she approached it.  As she entered, she quickly and systematically 
examined the shelves for the cursory inventory that she did every day she 
had worked here.
	Everything seemed to be in order.  She pivoted on her toe and started 
to walk to her office.  Then she saw the new items behind the salesclerk's 
counter. What in heaven's name is that?  She strode quickly around the counter 
to take a closer look at the racks of candy peanut butter patties that Helen 
had left there two nights earlier.  Where did these come from?
	Just then Angela's supervisor entered the store.  Angela waved a 
peanut butter patty at her.  "Betty! Look at this!"
	Betty took the patty from Angela, and held it up to read the 
inscription on it.  "Helen's super nutritious peanut butter patties."  She 
opened it and took a bite.  "Its delicious.  You should try one.  Or did you 
already try one when the order came in?"
	Angela shook her head.  "But I didn't order these.  I don't know how 
they got here!"
	Betty took a step backwards.  "So, we need to find out who 
ordered it without consulting you."
	Angela shook her head again.  "No.  That's not possible.  I'm the 
only one authorized to actually place an order.  Besides, I stayed here 
Monday until we closed at noon for the independence day holiday.  These 
appeared between noon on Monday and now."
	Betty looked around. "Is anything missing?"  She spied the 
plastic replica of a blackened lung.  "What is that?  And, where are the 
cigs?"
	Angela felt her heart beat rapidly.  "Some thief broke into the 
store and replaced the cigs with this display during the holiday!"
	The supervisor nodded her head affirmative. "Yes, that's the way 
I figured it also."  She turned and strode rapidly to her glass enclosed  
office behind the main sales counter.
	Once there she clicked on her computer, and typed in the phone 
code for the local branch of United Tobacco Company.  As soon as she 
heard the answering "Hello", she spoke rapidly, "Clint, someone broke 
unto our store and stole all the cigs!"
	Clint's voice showed his disbelief.  "What?  Have you checked 
your alarm recording system yet?  Email me the pictures of the thief.  
But why didn't the alarm system alert the police when the thief broke 
in?"
	Betty replied, "That's what I'd like to know.  I'll call you back 
when I have the pictures."
	Angela showed puzzlement on her face.  "What pictures?"
	Betty pointed to the middle of the far wall.  There is a hidden 
camera in the wall.  Actually the camera is not there.  Only the lens is 
there.  The camera is in another building.  A fiber optic cable connects 
them."
	"Why?  Wouldn't it have been cheaper to have the camera here in 
the store?"
	Betty agreed, "Well, yes.  But the university security advisors 
suggested it.  They reasoned that if someone had sophisticated electronic 
equipment, they could break into the store without triggering the alarms.  
If they could do that they could also detect any active camera in the 
store and disable it."  Betty pointed to the wall.  "The recording system 
we have doesn't radiate any energy, so a thief would be less likely to 
discover it."
	Betty sat down at her desk, and invoked the computer program for 
the alarm recording system.  "I'll start it at closing time last Monday.  
The program skips over the part where nothing is moving.  We'll see 
results almost immediately."
	Angela bent over to get a closer look.  The screen filled up with 
a yellow background.  Then large black letters appeared, proclaiming, 
"Ultimate Security System:  Copyrighted by Grant Richardson, January 6, 
2075."
	Then they saw the recorded action.  Someone slowly descended from 
above, as if supported by an invisible rope.  Angela took a quick look 
behind her at the ceiling.  It looked normal.  She returned her attention 
to the screen.  The figure on the screen had her back to them.  Her long 
light brown hair hid the small bit of her profile caught by the camera.  
Angela 
thought, "From the back, she looks like Helen."
	Betty spoke then. "I'm running this in record mode so I can send 
a copy to Clint and to University Security."
	They watched silently as the figure on the screen stood in front 
of the shelf where the cigs had been.  The figure hid most of the cig 
cartons from view.  
	However, one cig carton, slightly to the left of the mysterious 
figure, remained in view. They saw the figure reach out and pick up the 
carton, and after a moment put it back.  No.  She had put back a carton 
of peanut butter patties, not the cig carton.
	The last scene showed the mysterious figure pulled upward again 
as if by an invisible rope."  Angela looked again at the ceiling above 
the checkout counter.  Nothing's unusual there.
	Angela thought, "I need to talk to someone about this."  Going to 
her office, she opened her computer phone program, and typed Victors Phone 
code.  When she heard the recorded message saying that Victor's phone had 
been busy for five minutes, she hung up.  Angela decided to wait five 
minutes and try again.
	While she waited, Angela kept thinking about the mysterious thief.   
Why did the thief take only the cigs?  Angela laughed as she imagined 
Helen's smile when Angela told her about the cigs being stolen. 
	Angela tried again to call Victor.  When she heard the busy signal 
recording, she hung up.  She'd wait a few more minutes.  Angela begin to 
pace back and forth in front of her desk.  Is there anyone else she could 
call?  Yes.  She could call Helen, and talk to her until Victor got off 
the phone.
	Angela called Helen. On the fifth ring, Angela heard Helen answer.  
"Hi Angela.  You caught me on my cell phone.  "What's up?"
	"Glad I caught you."  Excitedly Angela spoke about the mysterious 
woman stealing the cigs and replacing them by peanut butter patties.
Angela paused so that Helen could answer.  
	Angela waited for Helen's expected response.  Finally she heard 
Helen's question, "How did you know it was a woman?"  
	Angela answered "We had pictures of the back of the woman who did 
it.  She had long hair just like yours"
	Three seconds later Angela heard Helen's response.  "Angela, 
thanks for telling me.  I need to think about this.  May I call you 
later?"
	Angela quickly replied, "Sure!  I didn't mean to bother you if 
you're busy.  Call me when you're free."
	 Angela sat back in her chair and pondered a moment.  She really 
didn't have anything else she could tell Helen when they met.  Did Helen 
have any ideas about it? 

	 Suddenly Angela connected "Helen's super nutritious peanut butter 
patties" with Helen.  Could it be? It did look like Helen from the back.  
No, it's only a coincidence.  It must be only a coincidence!  Lots of 
people are named Helen. Besides, if she did it, why would she have used 
her real name on the wrapping for the peanut butter patties?
	Up on the spaceship, still only about a third of the way from the 
moon to the Earth, Helen pondered her recent conversation with Angela.  
She needed to figure out what she wanted to tell Angela.
	Helen interrupted her concurrent conversation with Melody.  I just 
now spoke with my friend back on Earth.  I think I may be in trouble."
	Melody looked surprised.  "What did you do?"
	Helen answered.  "Last Monday night I broke into my university 
campus store and took all the cigs off the shelf and destroyed them.  My 
friend Angela works as an accountant at the campus union store.  She just 
phoned me and said they had pictures of me doing it, but they don't know 
it's me because they only had pictures of my back."
	Melody stared at Helen. "Why did you do it?"
	Helen responded, "I did no harm.  The cigs would do harm if the 
store sold them.  I made sure the store lost no money by replacing the 
cigs with something of equal monetary value."
	Melody frowned. "Couldn't you have just bought the cigs?"  Surely 
with your powers you can find some other way to solve the cig problem. Why 
don't you deal directly with the cig company?"
	 Helen considered her friend's words.  "I could do more.  And I 
did wrong to break into the store that way.  And you are right.  I should 
deal directly with the cig company."
	Melody asked, "What are you going to do?"
	Helen answered, "I'm already working on it.  Right now I'm 
composing an email to send to the manager of the local branch of the cig 
company."
	Melody replied, "How will that help?  What are you telling him?"
	Helen replied, "I'm telling him that he can't deliver cigs to the 
union store anymore.  And I should let Angela know what's going on, so 
I'll copy the same message to her."
	Down on Earth, in the campus union store, Angela, sitting back in 
her chair with her eyes closed, attempted to make sense of recent events.  
Suddenly the computer announced, "Incoming text message."  Angela opened 
her eyes, and pressed the accept key for the message.

To: Clint@cig.Eastside.VA.US.com
CC:  Angela@Eastside.USEVA.us.edu
From: Aunt.Izciguf.Ana.Tic@Eastside.USEVA.us.edu

You have a problem.

I'm responsible for your problem. 

Your problem is that you won't deliver any more Cigarettes to Eastside 
Campus.

Since I'm responsible for your problem, I offer you some alternative 
solutions.

(1) Leave in the warehouse the cigarettes that you would have sent to 
Eastside Campus.  I will buy them from you at Cost.  This would be only a 
temporary solution.  

(2) Shut down your production of Cigarettes and start up a different more 
useful business to people.  I will help you get started.

(3) Close your business.  I will individually help you and each of your 
employees get other jobs at least as personally satisfying as the current 
job.

(4) If you have any other suggestions for how I may help you in light of 
my preventing you from delivering Cigarettes to Eastside, I am listening.


 Aunt.Izciguf.Ana.Tic


	Angela read the text message over twice.  She still found it 
incredible.  She pressed the print option, stood over the printer as it 
printed the message, and then ran with the printed copy to her 
supervisor's office.She dashed directly to her supervisor's desk, handed 
her the paper and gasped, "You've got to read this!"
	 The supervisor suspended her emotional reaction until she could 
read the paper.  As she scanned the paper, she called Clint again. .  
When Clint picked up, she said, "Clint!  Please check your email 
immediately.  Our mysterious thief just sent you an incredible message."
	Clint's voice came through loud enough for Angela to hear. "I'm 
already looking at it."  With grim humor evident in his voice, he added,  
"Well Betty, I don't think any insanely arrogant fanatic will stop me 
doing business with you.  I'll turn this over to my legal advisors.  
We'll be ready in case this fanatic tries to intercept our delivery to 
you next Monday.  Thanks for your concern."

Chapter 13

	Grant Richardson held a phone log in his hands, and read though 
it a third time.  On July 5th, two days ago, someone had called from 
Eastside University to the moon shuttle, nearly 270,000 kilometers out 
from earth.  Privacy laws prevented him from knowing that the log referred 
to Angela calling Helen.
	Grant remembered he knew someone from that area.  He relaxed to 
try to remember who.  Now he remembered.  It's Victor.  In fact, Victor 
had recently sent him a recording of a new band.
	Grant opened his file of potential new musicians. Just last Monday
Victor had sent a recording of a band named Vocal Strings, consisting 
of Helen Troy, Bob Mercury, and Joe Athens.
	Seeing Helen's name, Grant remembered that Melody had recommended 
Helen for programming his anti-cig broadcast.  Grant incorrectly guessed 
that perhaps Helen had been the one who had called Melody.  Grant kept 
this guess as a working hypothesis, in spite of how surprising it seemed. 
Ordinarily, citizens were prevented from calling astronauts in space.
	Grant pondered a few moments. Perhaps he should ask Helen to 
program his anti-cig broadcast. He made a note in his reminder file to 
call Melody after she gets back and have her invite this Helen Troy and 
her band to perform at Melody's next house party.  

	The fall into Earth orbit went as smoothly as expected.  And 
their orbit nearly paralleled the orbit of their replacement fuel, which 
now could be seen on their outside monitor.  About 7 hours earlier, the 
shuttle that carried it had launched by automatic pilot from the nearest 
Earth orbit space station.
	They planned a simple and foolproof procedure for retrieving the 
new fuel tanks from the nearby rocket.  Calvin and Melody would go 
outside.  Calvin would jump to the carrier rocket, extract the fuel tanks 
and throw them directly to Melody.  Then Calvin would jump back and help 
Melody place the fuel tanks where they were needed.
	When Calvin and Melody were back inside, Helen said to them, 
"Very good.  I would have helped you if it were necessary.  You did 
everything with no problems?"
	Calvin caught the question tone in Helen's last statement, and he 
laughed.  "No, Ms. impossible lady, we didn't need your help.  Earlier you 
didn't really answer my question about how you can do the things you can 
do.  What can you tell me?  Should I believe in magic now?"
	Helen looked at Calvin in Alarm.  "Please don't. There is a 
natural explanation for how I do things."
	"Could you teach other people to do what you do?"
	Helen frowned. "That's not possible."
	Calvin looked puzzled. "You said you don't use alien technology.  
You say you can't teach anyone else. Yet it's not magic.  What is it?"
	Helen nodded her head affirmatively.  "Yes.  There is only one 
Sparky.  No-one else in the world has an alien from a neutron star inside 
of them."
	Calvin sighed.  "Very well . What you say is incredible, but I 
guess I won't get any more information.  I'm glad that at least you 
affirm that there is a scientific explanation."
	Calvin continued, "In about two minutes, the rest of us need to 
be strapped down.  I hope that it's unnecessary for you because we don't 
have the extra bunk for you." Then Calvin grinned as another thought came 
to mind.  
	"Although I suppose that you could snuggle in with one of us if 
you wished."
	Helen grinned back.  "Nope, it won't be necessary for me to be 
tied down during your splashdown."
	The splashdown went according to plan.  Helen prepared to leave.
	As Helen made her farewells to the group, Melody asked, "Will you 
be able to come to our astronaut's open house on July 22?"
	Helen smiled, "Yes.  May I bring my friends?"
	Jonathan and Melody both exclaimed, "yes!" at the same time.
	Helen replied, "It's a date."
	As she sank through the floor of the cabin into the water 
below, she concentrated on forming a buble of air around her.  Once below 
the surface she surprised herself by knowing the species name of the first 
fish she saw.  Amused by this, she let herself sink all the way to the 
bottom of the ocean, naming the fish she passed as she sank.
	At the bottom of the ocean, she saw a Yellowtail Rockfish.  Helen 
smiled as she said, "Hello Sebastes flavidus."  As she made her way to the 
surface she continued to amuse herself by reviewing the species name, 
family name, and likely habitat of each fish she passed.  How did she 
know these names and facts?  Did she know other things like this?
	Helen asked, "Sparky?"
	Sparky's silent voice confirmed her suspicions. "We are fully 
integrated into your world wide computer system now."  
	How could she test herself?  Joe had kidded her for not taking 
that advanced math tutorial.  Did she know all about that math now?  
Nothing came to mind right away. Perhaps she needed to ask the right 
question. What did Joe call that course? Calculus?  That's right!  Now 
she had it. She knew the fundamental theorem of Calculus and all about 
taking derivatives and integrals without having to take the course. 
	As she broke the surface of the Ocean, she made herself 
invisible, and then flew toward home.  She needed to set up a meeting 
with Angela tomorrow so they could talk about the campus union store not 
selling cigarettes anymore.  
	She used her power to call a phone number by thinking it.
Angela answered on the second ring.  "Hello Angela, this is Helen. I'm 
back in town.  I'd like to meet with you to discuss your mysterious cig 
thief.  When could we meet?"
	Angela responded, "Tomorrow is Saturday. There won't be as many 
students.  So, we could meet at 11:30 at the student cafeteria."
	"Sure.  Ok.   11:30 tomorrow at the cafeteria.  It's a date.  Oh, 
I almost forgot.  Is it ok if I invite Bob and Joe to come along?"
	Angela almost laughed. "Of course.  I expected you to bring them 
with you."

Chapter 14

	Angela laid the three copies of her email from 
Aunt.Izciguf.Ana.Tic on the orange tabletop in front of her.  On each 
copy she had handwritten Clint's final comment about Aunt Ana being an 
insanely arrogant fanatic. She looked up toward the entrance to see if 
they were here yet.  Nope. Not yet here.  To distract herself, she read 
the email for the fifth time.
	On the fifth reading she began to think about similarities between 
Aunt Ana and Helen. Both wanted to end the tobacco company.  If Helen 
could break into the store, would she do this?  Silly!  Helen couldn't 
have done it.
	Just as Angela thought this, she looked up to see the trio, arms 
linked, with Helen in the middle, standing just at the opposite edge of 
the table from her.  She smiled, and motioned them to sit down with her.
	As they sat down, Angela eagerly handed the copies of the email 
to them.  Helen glanced at it as she took it, and instantly apprehended 
everything on it.  Tears came to her eyes as she realized the import of 
Clint's last words. She really had been an arrogant fanatic.
	Neither Bob nor Joe noticed, but Angela did.  She had focused her 
attention on Helen because she especially wanted to know what Helen would 
think about all this.  She noticed that Helen had glanced at the email, 
and put it aside as if already familiar with it. 
	Angela started to say something to Helen about it, but then she 
saw Bob's frown and Joe's smile as they read the emails.  None of them 
were responding the way she expected.  Did they all know something about 
this that she didn't? 
	Bob spoke before he finished reading.  He asked Helen the 
question that Angela had wanted to ask.  "Helen, what do you think about 
this?"
	Helen replied.  "Clint is right.  Auntie is indeed an insanely 
arrogant fanatic."
	 Joe responded, "Take it easier on your . . ."  Joe paused, but 
then continued, "on Auntie. She must have had some good reasons for 
writing this."
	Helen said, "Yes, she might have had some good reasons, but not 
good enough.  She should have taken a different approach."
	Bob replied, "I'm glad you think so. What do you think Auntie 
will do?"
	Helen replied, "I don't know.  Perhaps she should visit 
Clint in person and get his side of the story."
	Joe turned his head slightly to look intently at Helen. "Would 
Auntie like to have her friends come with her?"
	Angela almost yelped in surprise.  Helen had barely glanced at 
the email, but she evidently knew everything in it.  How did she know?  
And what did Joe mean? How did he know whether or not Auntie had friends 
helping her, and why did it matter?
	Angela spoke her puzzlement. "What do you guys know about all 
this?"
	Helen understood Angela's puzzlement. "Angela, you deserve to 
know what's going on.  I am Auntie."
	"What!"  Helen's statement shocked Angela. Her suspicions were 
correct!  How is this possible?  "Prove it to me!"
	Helen said, "I will prove it by sending you an email from Auntie 
right now."
	Angela's cell phone rang.  When she pressed the respond button on 
it, the phone announced, "incoming text message."  Then it scrolled the 
text message across the tiny screen, "Apologies to all.  Auntie."
	Angela stared at the screen for a few moments.  Then she looked 
up at Helen. "How did you do that?  Did you have an accomplice send me 
this message just now? If you want me to believe you, why don't you send 
me a message that an accomplice wouldn't know to send."
	Helen pondered a moment.  "OK.  Pick a number between 1 and 100, 
and tell it to me."
	Angela's cell phone rang as she said the number to Helen. 
Immediately, she pressed the respond button.  The phone announced, 
"Incoming voice message."  
	Then Helen's voice came from the phone.  "Your number is 42."
	Angela dropped the phone on the table. In astonishment, she 
asked,  "Do you want to tell me how you did that?"
	Helen looked at Angela, but said nothing.  After a few moments, 
Bob responded for her. "If I had been in your place, I would have 
thought that we'd preprogrammed the computer to send you the voice 
message.  We could have preprogrammed everything except the number.  Then 
we could have transmitted the number to the computer as soon as you told 
it to us."
	Both Helen and Angela, surprised, looked at Bob.  Angela asked, 
"Is that how you did it?"
	Helen shook her head negatively. "Bob is very clever. But that's 
not how I did it."
	Angela thought about it for a few moments.  Then she said, "It's 
ok. I don't really need to know how you did it.  It's enough that you 
have proven to me that you can do it.  I suppose it's also easy for you 
to break into the campus union at night without triggering any alarms."
	Helen's face turned red as she nodded her head affirmatively.
Angela felt troubled. "Helen, why did you do it?  Why didn't it seem 
wrong to you? Why . . . ?"
	Helen responded before Angela could finish her questions. "I 
wondered the same thing myself.  In the future I will think things 
through before I act."
	Angela smiled.  "Good. I'm glad you said that. For a moment you 
seemed to be more like a devil than an angel.  I'm glad you decided to 
stay an angel."
	As Angela's words echoed in her mind, she wondered if she spoke 
more truly than she intended.  Could Helen actually be an angel?  No, it 
couldn't be. Unlike her mother, she didn't really believe angels walked 
the Earth, did she?
	But how does Helen do these things?  She'd like to stay and find 
out more, but she'd planned to keep this meeting short so she could get 
her weekly grocery shopping done on time.
	Angela stood up.  "I'm sorry to run off, but I need to go to the 
supermarket to buy some groceries."
	Helen replied, "Angela, I want to tell you more, but I need to 
figure how how.  Can you wait a few more minutes?"
	Angela reconsidered.  She couldn't really wait. But there were 
alternatives. "Would you like to come with me to the store?"
	Joe grinned.  "Sure, we'd like to come with you.  I want to see 
you show off your driving skills."
	Angela laughed, and led the way to Victor's truck.  As she 
approached the truck, she suddenly stopped.  "Oh, I just remembered. 
There's only room for three people in the truck."
	Joe laughed.  "Not a problem.  Helen can sit in my lap. I'm sure 
she won't be too heavy."
	While Angela drove to the supermarket, Helen pondered how to tell 
Angela about her powers in a way that would not upset her more.  The 
supermarket appeared in front of them by the time Helen worked out her 
strategy.  Angela looked for a place to park and decided to park in the 
empty place next to the post that marked where to return empty shopping 
carts.
	Helen chose that moment to speak to Angela.  "Angela, last week 
something strange happened to me.  Part of me is an alien from near the 
center of the galaxy."
	 Concentrating on parking the truck, Angela seemed not to hear 
what Helen had said.  Then as she pulled into the parking place, she 
replayed in her mind what Helen had said.  Her hands let go of the 
steering wheel as she turned and stared at Helen. Suddenly, a very loud 
bang interrupted her thoughts. Angela had run into the shopping cart 
post.
	Angela looked through the windshield at the bent shopping cart 
post.  She imagined the huge dent it must have made in the truck.  She 
buried her face in her hands. Victor would be so disappointed!  Tears 
rolled down her face.  Then she heard Bob's voice.  "It's ok now."
	Angela looked at Bob in wonder.  "What do you mean?"
	Bob pointed through the windshield.  "Look."
	Angela looked where Bob pointed.  "Helen stood by the shopping 
cart post.  Amazingly, she saw no damage to the post.  Angela got out to 
inspect the truck. 
	Not a scratch! Not a dent!  Angela turned to Helen.  "Didn't I 
hit the post?"
	Helen answered.  "Yes you did.  I fixed it.  Besides, it was my 
fault that you hit the post."
	Angela looked at Helen.  "You could have just told me that I only 
imagined that I'd hit the post.  I would have believed you. Helen, are 
you really an Angel?  I mean, like the supernatural kind."
	Helen laughed.  "No.  Please don't think there's anything 
supernatural about me.  I can do some amazing things now, but there's a 
natural explanation for everything I can do.  So, let's just forget about 
the shopping cart post, and go buy your groceries."
	Angela slowly nodded her head affirmatively. As they walked into 
the store, she addressed Helen.  "Just before I hit that post you said 
something about being possessed by an alien."
	Angela's words surprised Helen.  "I didn't say possessed. I said 
that part of me is alien.  The alien part provides me with amazing 
abilities. But please let this be our secret.  I want to be thought of as 
just plain Helen Troy."
	Angela pulled a shopping cart from the rack.  As she pushed the 
cart down the first Aisle, she thought that no one would ever think of 
Helen as plain. 
	Certainly she'd keep Helen's secret.  It's not like anyone would 
ever believe her anyway.
	After Angela finished filling her shopping cart she looked for a 
short checkout line.  She spotted one and headed directly for it, 
oblivious of another lady heading for the same checkout line.  Angela got 
there first.  
	The other lady yelled at Angela.  "Excuse me!  You saw me heading 
for this line.  You cut me off on purpose!"
	Angela responded.  "No I didn't.  I didn't see you.  Why are you 
in such a hurry anyway?"  Suddenly Bob stepped between her and the other 
lady. 
	Bob spoke gently to them.  "Hey now.  There's no problem." He 
pointed to the adjacent checkout line.  "This next checkout line just now 
opened."  Addressing the other lady Bob added.  "Why don't you take it?  
You'll be done sooner."
	The other lady smiled, and thanked Bob.  Angela looked at the 
other checkout line cashier.  Helen stood there dressed in the uniform of 
the store!  Angela watched amazed as Helen calmly processed the groceries 
for the previously upset lady.
	Joe, standing at her side, commented.  Helen is amazing!  She's 
expends so much time and effort just to help someone avoid feeling bad.  
	Angela spoke to Joe.  "Helen told me to keep her amazing 
abilities a secret.  Aren't any of you worried that someone will think it 
strange that Helen suddenly became a checkout clerk?"
	Joe answered.  "Well, I just hope that everyone here is too busy 
to notice."  In fact, Joe's hope is almost justified.  Only the computer 
managing system noticed.  And it noticed only to the extent of adding the 
appropriate wage to the last checkout clerk to use that register.

Chapter 15

	Helen, Joe and Bob were ushered into Clint's office by the petite 
blond secretary.  Clint rose, and reached over his desk to shake hands 
with each of them.  "How may I help you?"
	Before Bob could give his prepared speech, Helen blurted out, 
"I'm Helen Troy. I'm the insanely arrogant fanatic that planned to stop 
you from delivering your cigarettes to the campus union store."
	Clint laughed in surprise. "That planned? Are you no longer 
planning it?"  Clint looked intently at Helen.  "So you are the thief who 
broke into the Campus Union Store and stole all the cigs.  How did you do 
it?"
	Helen replied, while looking directly into his eyes, "Yes. I'm the 
insanely arrogant fanatic that threatened to block your distributing cigs.  
How I did it is not important.  What's important is that I won't do it 
again because I don't wish to be insanely arrogant."
	Client stared at Helen for a few moments.  "You'r right.  I don't 
really care how you did your magic trick.  I do care that you don't do it 
again.  But I don't believe it's just because you dont want to appear 
arrogant.  What other reason do you have?  How can I believe you?"
	Helen replied, "That's why we are here now. We want to hear your 
side.  Why are you selling cigs?"
	Clint opened his mouth to reply, but unable to say anything, he 
closed his mouth after a few seconds. Then he shook his head negatively, 
and sank back into his chair closing his eyes.
	A few seconds later, he opened his eyes to look at the three of 
them seated in the soft red velvet high-backed chairs that his secretary 
had provided.  Then he said, "My grandpappy managed this business. My dad 
worked here.  I inherited this business on my 25th birthday. I never 
expected to do anything else."
	Joe said in a soft manner, "Do you think about whether your 
business is helping people or hurting them?"
	Clint turned to Joe, incipient anger visible on his face. 
"Sometimes. I don't know whether I'm helping people or hurting them.  
However, I do know that I give people what they want."
	Clint leaned back in his chair, relaxing.  Then he said, 
"Besides, I don't need to apologize to you for what I do."
	Bob caught Joe's eye.  When Joe nodded his head slightly, Bob 
said, "We don't intend to argue with you.  We are here to listen to you."
	Clint sat up straighter, then said, "If that's so, then listen 
well. I don't like you to question my business.  As long as people want 
to smoke cigarettes, I will sell them."
	Helen smiled.  "Suppose too few people wanted to smoke cigarettes. 
Would you quit selling them then?"
	Clint laughed.  "And how would you arrange for that?  Yes.  If 
not enough people bought cigarettes, I would be forced to go into another 
business."
	Then Clint added, "This is just a hypothetical question, right? 
There's no way you can persuade all my customers to quit. But if you did 
somehow persuade my customers to quit, I couldn't blame you, for after 
all, it is the customer who chooses to buy or not buy."
	Helen's smile grew.  "Thank you very much.  We may talk again 
some day.  You probably feel you never want to see or hear from us again. 
But, perhaps you should save my email address in case you wish to get in 
touch with me again."
	Clint showed his surprise.  "Is that all?  You don't want to 
question me more? What will you do now?  Are you giving up so easily?"
	Joe grinned.  "No, we haven't given up.  We will just figure out 
how to persuade people to quit buying cigarettes.  Get in touch with us 
when you notice that your sales have dropped."
	Clint laughed again.  "Gee, you sound like you mean it."  Clint 
reached across the desk inviting Joe to shake hands with him. "Ok. May 
the best side win."
	As Joe and Clint shook hands, Bob concluded, "Yes, the best side 
will win."
	Then Bob and Helen each shook hands with Client, and everyone 
smiled as they left Clint's office.
	Clint sat back in his chair, satisfied that he'd managed 
everything very well.  He congratulated himself on his public relations 
skills.  His phone rang. 
	Clint glanced up at the phone monitor.  It's Angela, calling from 
the Shoppe Faire.  Angela and Victor had been good friends since the first 
day the couple had moved to town.  Victor had wished to check out the 
local branch of United Tobacco Company and had come directly to his office.
	Clint had given them a tour of his business, showing off the 
warehouse, re-packageing equipment, delivery trucks, and his four room 
office building.  He had gladly answered all Angela's questions, even 
though she did not limit her questions to be relevant to the tour.  Her 
questions reflected her primary concern of adjusting to life in the 
United States.
	Angela had appreciated Clint's helpfulness.  She had expressed her 
gratitude by inviting him to have dinner with her and Victor.  Over time, 
the friendship that Angela had presumed, became actual.  Each time Clint 
visited, he brought Victor another two weeks supply of cigs.  Nowadays, 
when he did not visit quite so often, he personally made sure Victor 
received a steady supply of cigs.  Perhaps after he finished his call with 
Angela, he should call Victor to see when he needed another delivery.
	Clint picked up his phone.  "Hello Angela."
	Angela replied, "Hello Clint.  My friend Helen Troy said she 
planned to visit you today. Are they there now?"
	Client replied, "They just left.  They took only a few minutes to 
say what they wanted to say."
	"How did the meeting go?"
	"It went very well.  I don't think I need to worry about Ms Troy 
and her friends.  So she is your friend also.  What can you tell me about 
her?"
	Angela suddenly felt that she didn't know Helen at all.  What 
could she say about Helen?  "What can I say?  Helen does the unexpected. 
She wants you to not sell cigs.  She intends to persuade you to stop.  
	But I don't know what she will do if she can't persuade you.  She 
might decide to force you to stop.  In the short time I've known Helen, 
she has amazed me.  she is an angel or a magician. I think you should 
avoid being on her wrong side."
	Clint showed his amusement.  "I fail to see what she can do.  When 
she left, she and her friends spoke of persuading my customers to quit 
smoking.  Lots of people have tried that and for over a hundred years.  I 
don't see how she has a chance."
	Angela paused.  "Maybe not.  But, watch out for her.  If she gets 
sufficiently frustrated, she may pull one of her magic tricks on you."
	After she completed the conversation with Clint, Angela placed 
her cell phone in its holder on the wall of her Shoppe Faire booth.  She 
glanced at her watch, and waited patiently for Helen.  She had promised 
to come by.
	"Hey there!"
	Startled, Angela looked up.  She saw Mike Long approaching her 
Booth.
	"Not many customers yet, eh?  I left Dan to take care of the 
booth.  Too few customers to need both of us."
	Angela frowned.  "So you run into me again.  Were you looking for 
me, or did you just happen to find me?"
	Mike laughed.  "I wanted to find you.  You work at the Union 
Campus Store.  We sell cigs at your store.  I need to make sure I'm not 
on your bad side."
	"It won't be easy.  Almost killing me doesn't make a good start."
	Mike stepped forwards.  "Hey, take it easy.  I want to make 
amends."
	Angela paused.  "Remember when my friend Helen said she wished 
you understood that cigs killed people?"
	Mike looked carefully at Angela.  "So?"
	Angela paused.  Should she say anything?  Why not?  "I think that 
if you don't put yourself out of business first then Helen will."
	As Mike started to reply, he saw Helen out of the corner of his 
eye.  "I don't think that's very likely.  But here she is now.  I'll ask 
her myself."
	Angela spun around and looked in the direction Mike faced.  She 
smiled as Helen walked up.
	Mike addressed Helen.  "Hey.  Your friend thinks you can put us 
out of business.  When do you start?"
	Helen paused before answering.  "I've already started."
	Mike laughed.  "So, what have you done?"
	Helen looked pointedly at Mike.  "Just before coming here, I 
bought up all the cigs at the Campus Union store. Your customers in this 
area won't have easy access to cigs for another week.  I hope some of 
them decide to quit rather than go out of their way to buy more cigs."
	This time Mike laughed so hard he almost fell down.  "Are you 
going to be our biggest customer?  Think!  Even if you were able to buy 
up all the cigs locally, it wouldn't matter. Our customers are loyal.  
They won't think twice about walking a mile or more to get their cigs."
	Helen frowned.  "Perhaps.  But if they do, it just shows their 
addiction.  But I'm working on that too.  I visited Clint at his office 
today and after talking with him, decided to persuade all the smokers in 
Eastside to quit smoking."
	Mike laughed again. "Ha!  I'll have to ask Clint to notify me 
when you succeed."  Mike's continuing amusement showed on his face. 
	Angela shook her head.  "I just called Clint.  He's not worried 
either, but I think he should be."

	As Clint broke the phone connection with Angela, he said to 
himself, "First I'll call Victor before I forget."  Clint punched in 
Victor's phone code.
	Victor answered on the third ring.  "Hello Clint.  No, I don't 
need any more cigs.  Don't bother to send me any more.  I'm quitting."
	Surprised, Clint replied.  "why are you quitting?"
	Victor paused.  "Why do you need to know?  It doesn't have 
anything to do with you."
	Clint replied, "Does it have anything to do with Helen Troy?"
	Victor replied with a puzzled tone in his voice. "Why yes, it 
does.  How did you know?  I don't think that she knows that I'm quitting."
	Clint answered, "She and her friends came to see me today.  She 
wants to put me out of business and when she left she planned to persuade 
all my clients to quit.  Is your quitting only a co-incidence?"
	Victor considered the question.  "Yes and no.  Last week Helen 
unintentionally pointed out to me that I'm really killing myself when I 
smoke.  I knew that.  I should have quit long ago. I didn't know that she 
planned to make people quit.  She didn't tell me to quit.  I chose to 
quit because she made it clear to me why I should."
	Clint replied.  "I see.  Thank you very much Victor." 
As Clint hung up the phone, he thought out loud, "This Helen Troy may be 
more interesting than I thought."
	Across town, immediately after Victor broke the phone connection, 
it rang again.  Seeing the video attachment light up, he punched the 
video option. He smiled when he saw the tall thin man on the video.  
"Grant!  So you finally got my message.  What do you think of the 
singer?"
	Grant looked directly at the camera, which meant that he also 
looked directly at a corresponding image of Victor on a television 
monitor. "She has promise.  The two guys aren't bad either.  I'd like to 
meet all three of them in person someday.  In the meantime, I'll forward 
the recording to the advisory committee."
	Victor replied, "Great.  I'll let them know."
	Grant reached to disconnect, then paused.  "Oh, you can do me a 
favor.  Please ask Helen Troy to call me.  I want to ask her some 
questions."
	Victor said, "Sure.  I'll do that."  As Victor hung up the phone, 
he considered, perhaps he should let Angela tell Helen the good news.  
She'd enjoy that.

	Helen turned to Angela.  "Angela, when I came, I wanted to ask 
you a favor.  Joe had this idea for making some money.  Before now I 
thought I'd use the money to buy up all the cigs.  Now I understand that 
I'll need to use the money some other way to stop the sell of cigs."


	Angela looked at Helen in surprise. Turning to Mike, she said, 
"Mike, we'd appreciate it if you leave.  We need to plot stategy."
	Mike stepped forward a step.  "Then I should hear it."
	At Angela's fierce look, he paused.  "Ok, I know when to retreat.	
I'll talk to you another time."
	After Mike left, Angela asked Helen, "What is Joe's idea? How 
does it involve me?"
	"Joe wants to repair broken musical instruments.  Can you open a 
repair shop department within the Union store?  People can drop off their 
broken instruments at the union store.  You can advertise one day 
service."
	Angela looked serious.  "Well yes.  I'm very sure that my boss 
will agree provided you give us ten percent of your revenues.  In fact, 
it gives me another idea. Betty would not let me drop the cig orders 
without a good reason.  If you bring in enough business to the store, 
then I think I can persuade her to drop the cig orders.  You need to do 
enough repairs to match the revenues she gets from sales of the cigs."
	Remembering what she had discovered about Helen's amazing 
abilities over the weekend Angela added, "Do you want to restrict the 
repair to musical instruments?  If you wish, we could advertise to repair 
anything."
	Helen paused.  "Ok.  But Joe wants to restrict customers to 
students and faculty.  Please make a sign in the store window your only 
advertisement."
	Angela agreed.  "What do you want the sign to say?"
	Helen smiled.  "I'll show you."  She brushed her hand across the 
window ledge of Angela's booth.  Angela watched, fasinated, as a carboard 
sign grew, line by line, right there on the window ledge.
	Angela picked up the sign.  She admired the elegance of the sign.  
Three rows of pictures conveyed its message.  The top row of pictures 
showed a person accidently stepping on his music cd, and then bringing it 
to the union store for repair.  The second row of pictures showed a guitar 
player become frustrated at her new guitar and bringing it to the union 
store repair shop for adjustment.  The third row of pictures showed a 
puzzled man examining a toaster oven, being inspired to bring it to the 
union store repair shop.
	Bold letters at the bottom of the sign proclaimed, 

	"Bring me your worn out gadgets, your broken jar,
	Your crumpled mats yearning to stretch free,
	The wretched refuse of your household store.
	Send these, the useless, time ravaged to me.
	Repair all at this space in the union store."



Chapter 16

	Betty stared at Angela and Helen.  "Angela, Let me get this 
straight.  You say that this is the thief that stole our cigs!  And you 
want her to open a appliance repair department within our store!  And you 
want us to not honor our commitment to Clint because she can make more 
money for us than the cigs!
	Helen boldly stepped forward.  "Yes, Ms Bennigan.  My name is 
Helen Troy.  I won't enter your shop again without your knowing.  I'm sure 
we can work out a deal fair to both of us."
	"Fair to both of us, eh. How about if you work for me.  I pay you 
minimum wage or ten percent of what you make for me, whichever is smaller.  
At the end of the week, I'll let you buy any left over cigs with the money 
you earn from me."
	Helen thought about it. She needed a better deal.  But this would 
be a start.  Helen addressed Betty.  "I agree to your deal."
	Angela, shocked, exclaimed.  "But Helen, you don't get any of what 
you need.  The store will still sell all the cigs it did before."


	The next day Angela and the trio visited the local smoketorium. 
Helen expected to persuade everyone here today to give up smoking.  She 
would turn the smoketorium into a clean air building.  
	Almost every town had a smoketorium.  They were the only public 
places left where people could smoke.  They had become special clubs, and 
sometimes had tobacco shops within them.
	As they entered the smoketorium, Helen made a breeze blow from her 
in all direction, creating a bubble of fresh air around them.
	 They walked up to the back of the smoketorium where a heavy table 
had been pushed against the wall
	Helen turned and examined the people in the room.  There were five
people around the pool table.  One guy leaned against a column in the 
center of the room watching the other four guys play.  Helen observed the 
one ping pong table in use.  Two expert ping-pong players showed off 
their skill.  Most of the people were gathered around the chess tables.  
There were ashtrays built into the edges of the chess tables. Pressing a 
button sent the ashes to a disposal unit.
	Helen looked around the room and studied the distribution of smoke 
around the room.  She focused her attention on the smoke. It became 
brightly colored, and began to form into bold letters and arrow signs 
pointing to herself.  Helen made the arrow signs take on a sequence 
of colors and move backwards and forward to emphasize where she and her 
friends stood. The letters spelled out the words ACT NOW,  BE BOLD, and 
CARE for your HEALTH.  The bright colors were caused by the smoke slowly 
burning into carbon dioxide and water. While other toxic gasses were also
produced, they caused no problem because Helen removed them as they 
formed.
	Several people stopped what they were doing and looked her way 
expectantly even before Helen addressed everyone in a loudspeaker voice. 
"I'm here to solve your problems.  Your biggest problem is cigs.  Cigs are 
killing you.  I can help you.  Who here has tried to quit smoking?" Helen 
looked around the room for responses.
  	After several seconds, one of the ping-pong players raised his 
paddle and said, "Sure lady.  I've tried to quit.  I've tried several 
times."
	Bob replied to him.  "Don't give up hope.  Each time you try, the 
next time will be easier.  Remember:  Partial success is not failure.  Try 
again until you succeed."
	One of the pool players banged his cue stick on the edge of the 
pool.   "Hey, what about us guys that never tried to quit.  Are you going 
to convince us that we should?"
	Helen replied, "That's up to you.  There are good reasons to quit 
smoking.  Whether or not you quit is up to you.  If you wish to quit, I 
can help you.  Even if you don't wish to quit, I want to know why you 
don't."
	Joe added his comments.  "We can convince you only if you want to 
be convinced.  I'm sure you've heard all the good reasons for quitting 
many times.  Do you know the average life span of smokers compared to 
that of non-smokers?  Would you like to enjoy the taste of food again? 
Would you like to have a little more money in your credit line?"
	Joe continued, "The most important reason to quit smoking is that 
you will cope better with stressful situations.   You may think that cig 
smoking helps you cope with stress.  This is an illusion.  Cigs reduce 
your mental and physical abilities, making you less capable of resolving 
unfavorable situations."
	"In fact, as we will show you, quitting will not only enable you 
to cope better with unfavorable situations, it will enable you to have 
much more fun in life."
	One of the chess players said to his conpanion, "I don't need more 
fun.  My chess games provide me all the fun I need."
	Helen heard his comment, and responded, "Would you find it more 
fun if you played a better game?  If you let us help you, I assure you 
that you will play a much better chess game."
	The chess player stood up and addressed Helen directly.  "I 
challenge you to a chess game.  If you win, then I'll listen to you.  If I 
win, then you will quietly leave and never bother us again.  Do you 
accept?
	Angela whispered to Helen, "Have you ever played chess before?  
Do you have any chance?"
	Helen smiled.  "Every Chance.  Even though I've never played, I 
know the complete play of millions of chess games, and can calculate 
all the important consequences of a move before I make it."
	Helen spoke to the chess challenger.  "I accept your challenge."

	As they set up the chessboard to play, the challenger introduced 
himself.  "My name is Ralph.  I'm the best chess player in the county, so 
don't feel too bad when you lose."  Ralph smiled as he said this.
	Helen reached across the table to shake hands with Ralph.  "Thank 
you.  My name is Helen. Perhaps I'll surprise you."
	Angela, standing directly behind Helen added her comment.  
"Definitely, Helen will surprise you."
	After fifteen minutes of play, neither side had found opportunity 
to safely capture a chesspiece.  Ralph commented, "You really are a good 
chess player, but you won't win this game if you only play the defensive."
	Helen replied, "I'm beginning to realize that. Thanks."
	A few minutes later, Ralph exclaimed, "Now I have you!"  He 
moved a pawn diagonally to capture one of her pawns. She countered by 
moving a rook up to capture the pawn. He took her rook with one of his 
own rooks.  She captured his rook with her other rook.  Immediately, he 
captured her second rook with his remaining rook.  She took his remaining 
rook with one of her knights.  He captured her knight with one of his own 
knights.
	Now Helen had captured a pawn and two rooks.  She had lost a pawn, 
two rooks and a knight. Angela squeezed Helen's shoulder.  "Do you still 
have a chance to win?"
	Helen gave Angela's hand a reasuring squeeze.  "The game isn't 
over yet."  She reached for her remaining knight, and moved it to attack, 
at the same time, both his king and queen.  "Check, and checkmate in 
seven moves."
	Ralph replied, "Not so fast."  He moved his king to the next 
square giving his red bishop a clear path to her queen. "Now my queen is 
protected and there's nothing you can do. . .  Wait!"  Ralph gasped in 
surprise.  "Darn.  Now I see it.  You tricked me.  Good job."  Ralph 
reached across the table to shake Helen's hand.  "You've earned my 
attention to whatever you have to say."
	Ralph stood up, and indicating Helen with a wave of his hand, 
addressed everyone in the room.  "Folks, This young lady has earned the 
right to address us about our smoking cigs.  I feel that out of respect to 
her none of us should light any cigs while she's here.  Do you all agree?"
	There were many voices of agreement, and while most, but not all, 
people in the room voiced agreement, none voiced disagreement.  Ralph 
smiled, and waved for Helen to continue her speech.
	Helen smiled.  "I wish to sing a song for you." Helen and her 
friends returned to stand next to the heavy table on the back wall of the 
smoketorium.  Bob and Joe picked up their instruments, and as they began 
to play, Helen begin to sing.
	"Where, oh where do you live? Count your friends, count your 
blessings. 
	Where, oh where do you live?  Whom do you love?  Spouse, 
sweetheart, daughter, son, father, mother, all?   
	Where, oh where do you live?  Whom do you appreciate? Who 
provides your daily bread? Who provides the work you do to earn it?  Who 
are the many people who make it possible for you to live?
	Where, oh where do you live?  How good is your health?  What can 
you do to make it better?
	Where, oh where do you live? What is important to you; work, 
play, achievement, appreciation, control?   
	Where, oh where do you live?"

	Some people clapped in appreciation.  Others sat silently 
thoughtful.  Ralph spoke to Helen, "I like the song, but I don't see how 
it makes things any different for us.  I appreciate the tobacco company 
for making and selling the cigs.  Cigs are very important to me."
	Helen looked surprised. "As I said before,  cigs are your biggest 
problem.  They reduce your ability to respond to stressors.  In addition, 
each time you smoke a cig, you are damaging your own health and the 
health of your neighbors.  I want to help you quit smoking so you can 
have more fun in life.  It also works the other way around.  The best way 
I can help you quit smoking is to show you how to have more fun in life 
without cigs."
	Ralph nodded his head.  "Yes.  I heard you both times.  It's just 
that I don't believe cigs are hurting me.  The things you are blaming on 
cigs are just part of growing older.  I'm already perfectly happy with my 
life."


***********************
Needs bridging


	"What did you do today?  What did you do yesterday and the day 
before?  What would you like to do now?  What would you like to work on 
from now on?  Tell me your goals."
	"What is important to you? Is good health important?  It should 
be, because good health helps you find happiness. If you value good 
health, then you will never smoke a cig again."
	"Do you want to be appreciated for your accomplishments?  You can 
accomplish much more once you quit the cigs."
	"Do you want to be appreciated for your service to others? Do you 
want to increase your ability to help yourself and others?  Cigs have 
handicapped your efforts."
	



*****   need more bridging  ****
****    what does Helen do to show these folks that life without cigs can 
be fun.   ********
*****   Remember that Angela is with them.  *****


	Helen stepped forward. "If you don't want to quit smoking, at 
least quit making smoke to harm other people.  And I'm here to make 
that possible.  I'm here to sell you the superior cigarette.  Who would 
like a free sample?"
	One of the chess players who wore a bright button-down red shirt 
looked up.  "Did you say free?"
	Helen nodded her head affirmatively, and then she tossed a pack 
to him.  He caught it easily since Helen had aimed it expertly.  As he 
opened the pack, he commented, "They look just like regular cigarettes.  
What makes them superior?"
	Helen replied, "Try it." He took out one of the cigarettes, and 
put it in his mouth.  He turned on his cigarette lighter and raised it to 
his mouth.  As soon as the flame touched the tip of the cigarette, it 
said "OUCH!"
	The man jerked the cigarette out of his mouth, and yelled at 
Helen,  "What the hell is this?   What kind of joke are you pulling?"
	Helen winked at Joe before replying. It had been his idea to put 
that feature in.  "That is just to remind you that you don't need to 
light these cigarettes.  Puff on them as if they were already lit.  These 
are smokeless cigarettes.  You won't ever need your cigarette lighters 
again.  And you have no ashes to worry about."
	The man replied, "I never worried about ashes anyway."  After a 
pause, he continued, "Why should we bother to change our habit.  Tell us 
what makes it worth the effort to switch to your cigarettes."
	Helen looked to Bob and Joe.  In a clear voice that carried 
across the room, Joe said, "There are good reasons to switch.  One is 
that the only toxin that these cigarettes carry is nicotine. If you use 
these instead of regular cigs, you'll be able to taste your food again, 
and your smoker's cough will go away.  They have been designed to taste 
and feel almost like regular cigarettes, but that is only an illusion to 
minimize the effort it takes to switch.  Another reason is that these 
cigarettes will last 10 times longer than a regular cigarette.  As you 
puff on this cigarette it will shorten just like a real cig that burns.  
	And each time you use it, it will deliver just enough nicotine to 
satisfy your cravings. When the cigarette reaches the size of the 
cigarette butt, it will stop releasing nicotine.  But put it back in the 
cigarette pack, and in an hour's time it will lengthen to its regular 
size.  You will notice that the side of the new cigarette has the number 
10 written on it.  After one usage, that number will change to 9 or 9.5 
or whatever number represents the amount of nicotine left in the cig."
	Joe paused, then looked around the room at his audience, as if to 
gain reassurance from them.  He then continued, "Some more of you may 
want to quit the smoking habit.  These cigarettes will help you quit. 
Helen can tell you some additional reasons you should quit."
	Helen looked around at her Audience. "I'll summarize the reasons 
now, and go into more detail another day.  Smoking is an addiction that 
is killing you slowly.  But you can quit, and I can help you. The cig 
smoke is hurting all your friends as well as yourself. For men, Cig 
smoke damages your sperm and, for women,  interferes with development of 
the baby in the womb."
     Bob then added his remark.  "And if you care about money, remember 
that each of these cigarettes last 10 times as long as a regular 
cigarette. And the cost is exactly the same.  Effectively you pay only 
one tenth as much for them."
     Joe added, "And when you finish the pack, return the used cigarettes 
to us in order to get a new pack at half price. So, after the first pack, 
you really pay only one twentieth of the price per pack. Think of it this 
way.  You get a full pack for what you now pay for one cigarette "
     Joe paused, then continued, "And incidently, you may trade regular 
cigs for our cigs.  If you give up your pack of cigs to us, we will give 
you one pack of ours for free.  For each regular cig that you give to us, 
we will give you one of our smokeless cigs."

     The chessplayer with the red shirt replied, "You give a good 
argument.  However, I don't think any of us here are ready to quit our 
habit."  
     One of the remaining two guys playing pool spoke up.  "Speak for 
yourself, Randy."  He addressed Helen.  "I think it fair to try one pack.  
How can I get in touch with you if I decide to switch to your brand?"
     Helen tossed a pack to the pool player.  "Look on the package.  You 
will see our email address Aunt.Izciguf.Ana.Tic."
	Bob addressed the room.  "How many other folks wish to try one 
pack for comparison?"  About a dozen people lined up to receive a free 
sample.  
     After that, Bob observed, "It looks like we're done here."  They had 
given away a few packs, and felt sure that they would go over well."  

    Helen stood still, surveying the room.  She seemed not to have heard 
Bob's comment. Bob understood why.
     Bob addressed the room again.  "How many more of you would like to 
quit, or would like to hear why you should quit cigarettes?"
     Only a couple of people figited, perhaps indicating that they were 
interested, or perhaps indicating that they were tired of their pitch.  
	Helen sighed, and addressed the people in the room. "I'm leaving 
survey forms here.  If you or your friends have concerns about cig 
smoking, please email me the answers to the question asked."
     As they left the building Helen thought that at least the people 
would have fresh air for a short while.  Her face showed her 
disappointment. "That didn't go quite as well as I had hoped."
     Without turning his shoulders, Bob continued walking and turned his 
head to look at her.  "It's only human nature.  People don't like to 
change their habits."
	Helen looked grim.  "I understand.  I see that I need to be a lot 
more patient if I intend to win this battle by persuasion alone."

 Chapter 17

	Helen landed softly on the walkway leading up to Melody's Home.  
As she landed she released Bob and Joe.  She had had her right arm around 
Joe, and her left arm around Bob as she flew the three of them to the 
Astronauts' party in Houston Texas.   Both Bob and Joe had had their 
musical instruments in their cases strapped across their chest.
	Bob glanced at the beautiful marble walkway and beautifully 
landscaped yard. He started to comment on it, but Helen and Joe had 
already moved along the walkway to the front door.  As Joe stepped on the 
doorstep, a computer voice said, "Please state your name clearly and 
distinctly."
	Before Joe could respond, Bob rushed forward and said, "We are 
the impossible trio.  You scheduled us to entertain for tonight's party."
	The computer replied, "Response accepted. Please enter."  As they 
entered the opening door, Bob explained, "I called Melody earlier to tell 
her the new name of our band.  That's why I answered for us."
	Melody greeted them as they entered.  "Calvin and the other 
astronauts are already here.  Do you want to keep your names secret?"
	Joe glanced at Helen.  Then he replied,  "No, there's no secret 
about our names.  I'm Joe Athens."  Then indicating Bob and Helen, he 
gave their names.  
	Melody said, "Thank you.  Let me first show you where you will be 
performing."  She led the way down a long wide hallway with fancy artistic silk-
screened pictures hanging on the walls.
	After walking through the hallway they entered a large room.  The 
entire wall on the other side of the room seemed transparent, for they 
could see a beautiful lake and garden beyond it.
	Melody led them directly across the center of the room to the 
transparent wall.  She observed Joe looking intently at the lake scene 
through the wall.  
	She laughed.  "Do you think this is just a picture window?  Let 
me show you what a real picture window this is."  She held up a remote 
control, which she handed to Joe. "Press any channel button."
	Puzzled Joe pressed a button at random.  Suddenly the beautiful 
lake disappeared to be replaced by a view of the moonscape as 
photographed by the astronauts in 2060.  
	"Wow" exclaimed Joe as he handed the remote control back to 
Melody.
	Bob, equally impressed, asked, "How many scenes do you have for 
this window?"
	Melody replied.  "This remote has the capacity for selecting 4095 
different views.  I think we have about 500 of them programmed."
	Just then Calvin and Jonathan, each smiling and waltzing to 
inaudible music brought light swivel chairs for them to sit in. They set 
them down next to the picture window. They then turned to greet the 
group. 
	Melody introduced the trio to them. "Calvin, and Jonathan, this 
is Joe, and Bob.  And of course you remember Helen."  Melody waved her 
hand briefly toward each person as she said the name.  Then she observed, 
"I'll have to introduce you all over again to the latecomers."
	Just then Abner walked up. "Then why don't you wait until they 
start to play to introduce them?  Abner smiled at Helen.  "I'm glad you 
brought your friends." He shook hands with Helen, then Joe and Bob.
	Helen observed, "The only one of your group that we haven't 
greeted yet is Carol."
	Melody replied, "Carol is bringing out the punch bowl."
	Just as Melody said this, they all heard a loud crash and a yell 
of disappointment.
	They looked toward the sound and saw Carol sitting down in the 
long hallway with gallons of punch flowing away from her and shards of 
broken glass all around her.
	Helen ran toward Carol to help her up. As she approached Carol, 
the punch and glass shards in her path vanished. She helped Carol up. 
	Then she said, "Let me help you with the rest.  Where did you 
want the punch bowl set up?"
	Carol replied, 'It's too late.  I broke our only punch bowl and 
spilled the last of our punch mix."
	Helen smiled.  "Show me anyway.  Pretend you never dropped the 
punch bowl."
	Carol frowned, then remembering that Helen had previously done 
seemingly impossible things decided to go along, wondering what miracle 
she might do now.
	With a wave of her hand, Helen absorbed the remaining glass 
fragments in the hallway and followed carol to the refreshment table back 
in the large room.  Carol touched the edge of the table and said, "I 
intended to put it on this table."
	Helen replied.  "Ok."  She then stood next to the center part of 
the table and placed her cupped hands over the table.  Soon she had 
recreated the punch bowl and placed it onto the table.  She next held her 
arm above the open bowl.  Punch poured out of her arm into the bowl.
	Calvin came up to her.  "Do you know how many different laws of 
physics you just violated?"
	Helen replied, "Actually I haven't violated any laws of physics.  
It just seems that way."
	Calvin laughed.  "I'm glad to hear that.  So should I think of 
you as just a super stage magician?"
	Helen looked at Calvin in surprise.  "Now that is a good idea.  
We could spice up our music with a few magic tricks. I'll talk to the 
guys about it."
	Later when almost all the guests had arrived, Helen signaled to 
Joe that they should begin.  Joe spoke to the audience.  Our first song 
is called 'Where do you live?'  Helen wrote both the lyrics and score 
for it.  After this song, we will take requests from the audience."
	Joe sat down and swiveled to face Bob, already sitting.  They 
began playing and Helen began to sing.  
	Abner, leaning against the wall, prepared to wait out the song. 
When he heard the first line of the song, he stood up and moved slightly 
closer to insure he heard everything. At the end of the song, he came up 
to Helen. "Thank you.  What a wonderful song you have there!  It says 
what a lot of folks need to hear."

       Helen thanked him. 

****************Show how Helen thanks him.   *************


	She then turned to speak to the audience.  "Ok folks, time to 
challenge us.  What would you like to hear us perform?
	A tall thin man who had just entered spoke up.  "Please sing 'On 
the other side of the moon.'  It's my favorite song."
	Melody gasped in surprise.  "Gaunt!  That's not fair.  That song 
dropped off the charts over 60 years ago.  These kids are too young to 
know it."
	Helen spoke then.  "It's ok Melody.  We can do it.  We have the 
sheet music for it.  Helen reached into her pocket and pulled out two 
rolls of framed plastic paper.  She handed one to Joe and one to Bob.  
	As Joe took it he whispered to Helen, "Neat trick.  No one would 
have suspected that these rolls of sheet music were made on the spot."
	Helen whispered back, "or that I didn't even know the song 
existed until he requested it."
	The rolls of sheet music unrolled automatically and then grew 
legs. Bob and Joe weren't the only ones whose gasp showed their surprise 
while the rolls of sheet music became music stands. After a few moments, 
each of them began to play while Helen sang.      
	After the performance, Grant came up to examine the music stands. 
Picking one up, he carefully bent portions of it and watched it spring 
back into shape.  Putting it down, he smiled at Helen.  He said, "That's a 
very clever application of memory wire.  Even though I invented memory 
wire, I never would have thought of this application."

	Helen extended her hand.  "Thank you."
	As they shook hands Grant said, "You're welcome.  If you can 
program memory wire this well, I'd like to hire you to program a broadcast 
web site.
	Bob leaned forward to shake hands with Grant.  "My name is Bob."  
Pointing to Joe, he added, "And this is Joe."
	Joe stepped forward to shake Grant's hand.  "Glad to meet you. 
	Grant turned his head to find Melody, and waved for her to come 
over.  As Melody walked up, he asked her, "This group is very impressive.  
I already knew they were good.  But tonight, they exceeded all my 
expectations."
	Bob immediately asked, "You already knew?  How? Did you see us 
play before today?"
	Grant answered, "Yes. Victor sent me your first recording.  I've 
endorsed you, and you have a very good chance of earning free world wide 
advertisement.  If or when that happens, you'll have a steady 
supplementary income forever."
	Grant added, "But I had met Helen last year, although she might 
not remember me."
	Bob and Joe both turned to look at Helen.  She responded, "I do 
remember Grant.  He called once to tell me he and Melody were working 
together on a project against the tobacco Company, and asked me if I were 
interested in working with them.  At the time I turned them down.  My 
music study kept me too busy."
	Just then Abner walked up. "Helen, I'm really impressed by your 
song, 'Where do you live'.  What inspired you to write it?"
	Helen smiled, then replied, "I'm on a crusade.  I want to help 
everyone addicted to cigarettes so that cigarettes won't be made any 
more."
	Abner stepped back a step, astonishment lighting up his face.  
"That's a pretty big ambition, maybe even for you.  How will you do it?"
	Helen replied, "I've started small.  In my hometown Eastside, 
Virginia, I've gone weekly to the local smoketorium and attempted to 
persuade some smokers to switch to the smokeless cigarettes I've invented. 
I wrote the song so I could sing it at the smoketorium."
	Grant leaned forward, addressing Helen.  "So you do still care!
It's perfect.  Would you like to have your performances at the Eastside 
smoketorium broadcast all over the world?"
	Helen looked at Grant in surprise. "That would be very good.  How 
much work would it be for you?  It sounds like it would be too much to 
ask of you."
	Grant paused.  "Actually, I've already set it up.  I'm just 
looking for someone to manage it."
	He pulled a small computer phone from a holster on his belt, and 
rapidly punched keys on its keypad.  "Now I just need to know your email 
address."
	Helen smiled.  "Wonderful."  She reached into her pocket and 
pulled out a card.  "Here's the email address I use that's dedicated to 
the antismoke issue."
	Grant looked at Helen's email card.  "How did you come up 
with an email name like Aunt.Izciguf.Ana.Tic@Eastside.USEVA.us.edu?"
	Helen laughed. "So it's not so obvious after all.  It's 
Ant-ti-cig-f-fana-tic. I threw in some extra letters to complete the 
syllables, and confused things by moving first or last letters of a 
syllable to an adjacent syllable."
	Grant shook his head.  "I see that I didn't really need to ask."  
Looking at the card, grant quickly keyed in her email address.  "I've set 
up a web page dedicated to the broadcast. I've programed in one week 
already, and it repeats itself every week. The broadcast is 24 hours per 
day, 7 days per week.  I've also set up a way for people to ask you 
questions and make comments to you in response to the broadcast.  I need 
you to program variations of the content so people will find it 
interesting enough to subscribe to."


	Grant pulled a card from a clip in his shirt pocket and handed it 
to Helen.  "Here's my web address and email address. Log in to my web 
address by using any part of your name as ID and your email address as 
password. You may change your id and password anytime you wish.  It's 
ready for you to assign a broadcast structure and upload the content 
files.  Just make sure the content is relevant to the smoking issue.  
Email me if you have any difficulties."
	Grant's swift action impressed Helen.  Thank you very much!  We 
will make use of your web site very soon.  Is there anything we can do 
for you in return?"
	Grant answered, "Could you send to me one of your smokeless cigs 
for my lab to analyse?"
	Helen paused to think this through.  She couldn't very well say 
no to Grant's request.  But if he analyzed the cigs, he would realize that 
nobody on Earth could have made them.  Helen made her decision.  She 
reached into her pocket and pulled out a package of smokeless cigs.
     Grant accepted the package from her. For a few seconds, he just 
stared at the cig package he held in his hand.  Suddenly he seemed to 
wake up.  Looking at Helen he remarked,  "You seem to have a lot of room 
in that pocket of yours.  How much else is in there."
	Helen smiled. "Just everything I will need for each day." Then as 
Grant pulled out one of the smokeless cigarettes from the package, she 
said, "Notice the number 10 on the side of the cig. It shows how much 
nicotine is left.  The number 10 shows that the cig holds the initial 
starting amount. Electronic circuits monitor the nicotine dosage that 
people get when they puff on the cig.  It ensures that they get 
approximately a third of the dosage they would if they smoked a real 
cigarette.  The exact dosage depends on the puffer's response to the 
nicotine.  These cigs automatically provide the minimum dosage required 
to satisfy a person's addiction. If a person is working to quit, these 
cigs will make it much easier.  But most important is that the puffer is 
not putting harmful toxins in the air."
	Grant looked skeptical.  He found it incredible that such 
sophisticated electronics could be put in something the size of a cig.  
How could a music student have come up with this?
	He replied to Helen,  "So this is just a smart nicotine inhaler.  
How did you come up with it?"
	Helen paused.  What could she say?  She turned her head slightly 
to look at Bob.  Bob only shrugged his shoulders.
	Helen answered Grant.  "May I tell you some other time?  I'm not 
prepared to explain yet."
	Grant nodded assent.  He'd be interested in her story when he 
heard it.  Maybe he should have spent more time looking for geniuses like 
Helen instead of invisible aliens.


      
Chapter 18
(Second draft Chapter)




Chapter 17
(Original Chapter)

**************  Re-organize and re-order this chapter so that all the 
conflicts described are followed immediately by corresponding solution.  

United Tabacco Company [ sometimes in person of Mike Long ] would make a 
conflict followed by Helen making a conflict for Mike.

Alternate the conflicts, arranging them in order of increasing severity.

Each person would create the next conflict by doing something to solve 
their current conflict with the other. 

Develop Mike's character in parallel to Helen so that the reader can feel 
some sympathy for mike when presented with Helen's solution conflict, 

and also make it so that the reader can feel some sympathy with Helen when 
presented with Mike's solution conflict. 
*****************



	 Clint hid his mixed feelings about the reports being made at the 
regional conference.  For several months now cigarette sales, world wide, 
had slowly, but steadily dropped, and this regional conference had been 
called to coordinate the fight against "their enemy."  Clint, although 
concerned about his livelihood, partly hoped Helen would win.
	The conference had opened with the usual disclaimers that yes we 
knew that cigs had serious health effects and were addictive.  But in a 
free society we were still a responsible company who gave adults who 
chose to smoke what they wanted.
      The current speaker finished his introductory criticism of their enemy's 
unfair tactics.  Clint listened as the speaker continued.
      "We hired a few guys to harass our enemy, Helen Troy, at the broadcast 
site. But she refused to respond to us."
      Suddenly the speaker noticed one of the guys he had hired to harass Helen 
sitting in the front row.  "Hey, Alan, come up here and tell us what happened.  
Tell us how Helen ignored you after you raised a valid complaint."
       Alan shook his head negatively, but with continued prompting from the 
speaker, walked onto the stage. Before speaking a word, Alan took a disc from 
his pocket and inserted it into the video player.
      Alan took the microphone from the speaker.  "She didn't really ignore us.  
Watch this clip to see what really happened."
     Alan took the remote control and started the video.

     From a close-up of Alan, the camera zoomed away to show him sitting at a 
table watching Helen on video.  The video screen split to show Helen on the left 
half, and Alan on the right half.  Alan had a cell phone to his ear while he 
spoke.  "Some of us have a complaint.  Your smokeless cigs don't have that rough 
taste we expect to have in a real cigarette."
     Helen smiled.  "Exactly.  That rough taste of the cig that you refer to is 
what tells you that the cig is killing you.  No way would I want to duplicate 
that!  The purpose of my smokeless cigs is to facilitate your quitting a habit 
that is killing you and those around you when you smoke."
     The video Alan looked surprised.  Then he said, "But suppose we don't want 
to quit.  What good are your smokeless cigs then?"
     Helen frowned.  "If you don't use them, then of course they are no good to 
you at all.  However, if you do use the smokeless cigs, it will be very 
beneficial to your friends, and when you are able to quit cigs completely, the 
smokeless cigs will have been useful to you."
     Video Alan looked pensive for a moment, then said, "Thank you very much." 
The interview over, Alan's side of the video vanished as Helen's image expanded 
to push it off the screen.

Alan used the remote to turn off the video and removed his disc from the 
player.  He then addressed the audience. "She listened to our complaint, and 
politely told us why we didn't have a valid complaint.  I think she's right.  I 
think we are wrong to fight her.  If I had any say so here, I would say we 
should join her instead.  Remember, if you can't beat them, then join them."
       After some scattered applause, and much booing, Alan returned to his 
seat.
      The speaker stood as if unable to move by what Alan had said.  Finally he 
said, "Now you see what we are up against, when some of our best agents are 
turned against us."  
      His speech cut short, the speaker placed the microphone on the podium and 
left the stage.
     After about a minute of audience noise, Mike Long walked to the podium.  
"My name is Mike Long. I'm the chief trouble-shooter working directly under the 
Dan Austin, the CEO of United Tobacco Companies.  I personally met Helen Troy 
last year. I heard her say that she hated cigs, and that if she had the power 
she would end our business.  Maybe she has found some very powerful friends to 
help her."
	"Anyway, I and some other guys thought we would intercept the delivery of 
her smokeless cigarettes to her customers at the Austin Texas smoketorium.  We 
were sure that she brought them in the middle of the night because they were 
always there in the morning when the customers came in the door.  We stayed up 
all night inside the building guarding the place. The table where she usually 
leaves them stayed empty all night. The next morning, about 9:00 in the morning, 
one of her customers comes in.  I started to say something about it being too 
bad that his order didn't come in. But before I can say anything I notice he's 
looking at the table, and smiling. I turn around and look.  I see his order on 
the table!"
     Several people shouted questions at once.  Mike raised his hands, and then 
lowered the microphone to speak into it. "Please, just one at a time. Raise one 
hand, and let me recognize you to ask your question."
     The first questioner asked, "How do you know that one of your own people 
didn't put the cigs there while you weren't looking?"
     Mike snorted. "Ha.  I didn't think of that.  It's unthinkable.  None of my 
buddies could do that."
     The first questioner followed up with, "Then is it possible that someone 
else hid in the building?"
     Mike replied. "We thought of that of course.  We searched.  We didn't find 
anyone else in the building. And the only other exit has an alarm set on it."
     The first questioner shrugged his shoulders and sat down.  
     The second questioner asked, "Will you try it again?"
     Mike shook his head.  "There's no point to it.  She left a note with this 
last order that from now on she will deliver the orders directly to the 
customer's homes."
     Mike pointed to a third questioner.  "One more question after this. Then 
I'll be in the lobby if anyone wishes to talk to me individually."
     The third questioner asked, "Didn't you even observe her delivery vehicle 
approaching the smoketorium?"
     Mike threw up his hands in frustration.  "We had lookouts for that of 
course.  We saw no delivery vehicle. We don't know how she got them into the 
building.  Obviously she, or someone working for her must be an expert at 
misdirection"
     Mike pointed to a somewhat rotund man for him to speak. "You have the last 
question."
     The fat man used a bar set high on the side of his chair to pull himself 
up, and then addressed the podium.  "What about the company that's making her 
smokeless cigs.  Can't we do something there to stop her?"
     Mike shook his head.  "A very good question.  And I think our next speaker 
after the break addresses your question.  So, now let's go to lunch.  I'll stay 
in the lobby for a while to talk with anyone else who wishes to ask me questions 
individually."
      Clint intercepted Mike as he came into the lobby.  "Hey Mike. I have an 
idea how Helen smuggled the cigs into your building."
      Mike turned to Clint, hope and puzzlement fighting for a place on his 
face. "How?"
      Clint grinned.  "I think she star trekked them onto the table."
      Mike howled with laughter.  "That's a good one Clint.  You had me going 
there for a moment."
     After lunch an announcer came to the podium and spoke into the microphone.  
"Good Afternoon!  My name is Carl Swanson. The afternoon session will be focused 
on how to deal with our competitor. And we start with Sir Archie Baldwin."  With 
a sweeping gesture, Carl pointed to the first speaker already walking up to the 
stage.
     Archie spoke clearly with a classical British accent. "To 
effectively fight an enemy, you have to locate her.  We know where she 
lives.  We know her name: Helen Troy.  We know she's a music student in 
Eastside Virginia.  We know her friends. 
      Archie signaled to Carl, pointing upward to the video screen.  Carl 
immediately turned on the video.  Helen's smile greeted the audience from the 
video.  Archie continued his talk. "This is what Helen looks like.  We estimate 
her height at 1.7 meters, and her weight at 50 kilograms."
      Archie signaled for the next clip.  "This is her friend, Bob Mercury.  We 
estimate his height to be the same as Helen's, 1.7 meters.  And we estimated he 
weighed 55 kilograms, slightly more than Helen."  
      Archie signaled for the last clip.  "This is her friend Joe Athens.  As 
you see, he looks like the classical blond Swede.  We estimate his height at 2 
meters and his weight at 88 kilograms."
Archie signaled the video to be turned off. "However, We don't know where 
she makes her products. We don't know how she makes her deliveries."
      "We've tried all the obvious things.  We searched the patent office for 
information to lead to the manufacturer. Her smokeless cigs haven't been 
patented!  We located the source of the broadcast.  It's based on a web site of 
a very high ranking space engineer who has a spamming license. We are 
investigating the feasibility of having his spamming license revoked.  Discrete 
investigation around the engineer reveals that he has nothing to do with 
manufacturing or deliveries.  I want to hear from all of you now.  Has anyone 
been able to intercept deliveries, or trace a delivery back to its source?"
    The audience remained silence. After about a minute, Clint stood up.  "Why 
don't you just ask Helen Troy? The worst that can happen is that she will refuse 
to tell you."
    More silence.  Then one anonymous voice from the crowd shouted, "She most 
certainly would refuse.  Why bother asking her when we know she would refuse?"
    Archie held up his hands for attention. "Ok folks.  We all know how to 
contact her through the broadcast.  Clint, your idea appeals to some of us, but 
not to everyone.  The obvious compromise is for everyone here who thinks it 
worthwhile, to ask her through her broadcast for a tour of the plant."
     Mike Long walked quickly to the microphone.  "At first I strongly opposed 
asking our enemy anything.  But now I see how it can be very useful."  Mike 
paused a moment. "PROVIDING WE, ALL OF US, ASK AT THE VERY SAME MOMENT!"
     "From this we may be able to measure the limits of her computer system's 
ability to respond to input.  Perhaps we can set up an ongoing denial of service 
attack on her web site.  If we can block her broadcasts, it may stop her from 
getting additional customers."
     Mike waited through a few seconds of the applause that followed his 
statements.  Then he held up his hands for attention.  "So we need to agree on a 
day and time for the attack.  Can everyone be ready at 12:30 P.M. Central time, 
exactly one week from today? Give me a show of hands?"
     Mike smiled as a clear majority of folks present raised their hands with 
great enthusiasm.  Then he turned to the current speaker on the stage. 
"Apologies for taking your place, Archie, but this couldn't wait."
     "No apology necessary.  I agree 100% with you."
      Then Carl, resuming his role as announcer, addressed the audience.  "Now 
we have a video clip to show you.  It's a preview of a news broadcast we have 
prepared.  It will go out on all the tobacco issue newsgroups and all 17 current 
event RSS news feeds over the next 3 days."
     The movie screen sized video display lit up.  The audience recognized the 
background of the Jerry Terry Show.  

     Jerry glanced toward the camera, and then turned toward his guest. "Today 
my cameo guest is Senator Heedly.  Senator, you recently made a little known, 
but important amendment to this year's education allocations bill that President 
Carothers signed into law yesterday.  Can you tell me about that amendment?"
     The Senator looked stern. "Yes.  This very important amendment makes it 
illegal to sell products that haven't been patented.  We must protect the public 
from frauds and unproven and untested products."
     Jerry looked a little skeptical.  "Just because it doesn't have a patent 
doesn't mean that it's a fraud. But haven't courts protected us with the 
existing laws?  Why do you need this law?  Aren't you worried that it would 
conflict with individual rights ensured by the 10th amendment in the Bill of 
Rights?"
     Surprised, the Senator glared at Jerry.  "Not at all.  The courts will 
understand who I intend the law to apply to."
     "And who do you intend the law to apply to?"
     "An enemy of our economy has come to my attention.  This person sells an 
unpatented product to smokers.  Every time this unpatented product is sold 
instead of a tobacco product, it's a loss to our economy."
     "An important segment of our economy is based on tobacco.  Even though only 
about 2% of the public still smoke, that is still millions of people.  But it's 
not just the people who smoke who depend on tobacco. Consider the plight of the 
farmers who grow the tobacco." The Senator waved his hands in the air.  "I know, 
I know, the farmers aren't U.S. Citizens since all the tobacco is grown in 
Indonesia. But consider the plight of the people who produce the fertilizers and 
insecticide needed to grow the tobacco. Many, if not all, of these people could 
be ruined financially if the tobacco economy fails."
      Jerry shook his head in disbelief. "And what penalty would you give for 
people who violate this law?"
      The Senator paused to reflect before replying. "The amendment didn't 
specify specific penalties.  Rather it specified that selling an unpatented 
product is a felony. Whatever punishment is accorded to felonies is the penalty 
that the seller faces."
      Jerry's face showed his concern.  "Aren't you being somewhat harsh? Don't 
we all know that it would be a good thing if people quit smoking? The health 
benefits would outweigh all other disadvantages."
     The Senator laughed.  "You do like to play devil's advocate.  We can't 
legislate morals.  We don't infringe on people's right to choose, even if they 
choose badly.  But that's not the issue here.  The issue here is that someone is 
selling an untested product to the public, and must be stopped."
      Jerry paused to marshal his thoughts.  Then he asked, "Wouldn't it have 
been sufficient to have required proof of harmlessness before the product could 
be sold?"
      Senator Heedly snorted.  "Ha!  In this case I don't think that would be 
possible.  On my own initiative I had some chemists analyze these cigarette 
substitutes. They reported to me that these substitutes contain several 
unclassifiable compounds in the amino acid group, and a well known compound that 
acts like heroin in the blood stream."
      The Senator continued, "I went even farther.  I had my office conduct a 
health survey of the people who have been using these cigarette substitutes.  
The survey proved that, on the average, people who use these substitutes are 
less healthy than the normal person."
      Jerry paid no attention to the answer because he needed to quickly come up 
with his next question. "How does the cost of these substitute cigarettes 
compare to ordinary cigarettes?"
     The Senators face showed annoyance. "That's another thing. This company is 
obviously selling far below cost in order to create a monopoly. And you all know 
what monopolies do once they have the power!"
     Jerry, mindful of the time, hurried on with his next question. "What's the 
name of this company?  Who do you bring to court?"
     The Senator frowned.  "We don't know who the owners are. This company is 
operating underground.  We do know two people associated with them. One of them 
is the space engineer who designed their web page. The other is an 
extraordinarily beautiful young lady who they hired to be their spokesperson.  
Well, this young lady will regret working for them when she is arrested for 
selling illegal and probably harmful products."
     Jerry laughed. "What makes you so sure that this young lady is only a 
spokesperson, and not the CEO?"
     The Senator looked surprised. "Surely you don't think that a young woman, 
barely out of her teens could be head of a large devious company like this!"
     Jerry glanced at the clock above him. "We have time for one more question. 
What brought your attention to this issue?"
     The Senator froze. After a few seconds, he relaxed, and said, "Why some of 
my constituents, who happen to be smokers, alerted me to the danger. And I'm 
glad that they did!"
     Jerry stared into the camera.  "And that's all folks.  This is Jerry Terry 
saying Good Night, and may all your troubles be small ones."
    The giant sized video screen went blank.  Carl, still holding the remote 
control in his right hand, spoke into the mike to get the audience's attention.  
"We have two more video clips to show you.  Both of them will be put on all the 
tobacco issue newsgroups.  Here is the first clip."
     Carl pointed the remote toward the giant screen.  

     The first scene shown on the screen featured the words, "What our hidden 
camera showed."  These words stayed on the screen for a full minute, gradually 
growing larger and bolder.
     Then a picture of three people, starting out blurry, gradually became more 
focused. Finally the three people, Helen, Joe and Bob, could be seen clearly. 
Image Helen said, "Bob, do you have a cig?" Bob pointed to a pack of the 
smokeless cigs on a ledge next to Helen. Helen responded, "Not those.  I mean do 
you have a real cig?"
     Three people in the front row began laughing at this scene, and many other 
people in the audience, echoed their laughter.
     Carl clicked off the video.  "Perhaps this scene isn't so credible after 
all.  Let me see a show of hands.  How many of you knew immediately that we 
fabricated this scene, and misled by calling it a view from hidden cameras?"  
     About a third of the audience raised their hands.  Client, among those who 
had laughed at the fake video scene, stood up. "Helen shows her sincerity in all 
her broadcasts. Not one person who has seen her would believe that scene. You 
should have required your ad writers to study Helen's broadcasts."
     Carl nodded his head.  "Point taken. Perhaps you'll like the next ad 
better."
     Carl switched on the giant video screen.  Words too small to read began to 
form on the screen.  Gradually the words became larger and bolder.  Carl read 
them out loud, "The real thing." The words slid off to the right, leaving a copy 
behind.  A third and fourth copy formed the same way.  The words moved 
counterclockwise, forming a spiral moving up, and then down.
    Then an over-voice asks, "What's the real thing?"
    A series of pictures flash on the screen, each picture up for a tenth of a 
second or less.  Among the brief scenes are a rodeo cowboy riding a bucking 
horse, a canoe traveling over the rapids, a farmer slaving over a tobacco crop, 
A beautiful lady making a swan dive into a swimming pool, An airplane taking off 
from LAX, an ice skater making a very fast spin, a glorious sunrise, cigarettes 
dropping into a bin for packaging, a middle aged lady giving a piece of apple 
pie to a young man, a seven year old boy tasting a piece of chocolate, A young 
lady reading poetry, the cartons of cigarettes being delivered to a retail 
store, etc.
     Next, the words "A little bit of history" popped up on the screen. The 
words appeared first in outline form, and gradually filled in with red and green 
colors in each letter.  Suddenly the letters disappeared, and scenes from movies 
of long ago flashed across the screen.  Each scene stayed on the screen for 2 
seconds and showed a person smoking a cigarette.  At the end of the succession 
of scenes, the over-voice said, "Cig smoking has had a long and famous history."
     The video screen flashed a blank white screen for a fraction of a second, 
and then went completely black for about 1 second.  Next it showed another 
succession of scenes.  The first scene opened showing a Bellboy at a Hotel in 
the costume last seen over a century ago.  The bellboy cupped his hands to his 
mouth, and yelled, "Call for Philip Morris."  In quick succession, over 30 
different cigarette commercials from the previous century jumped onto the 
screen.  "I'd walk a mile for a camel."  ""You've ccome a long way baby." "Enjoy 
blissful regressions from vexatious depressions" etc.  Each commercial showed 
appealing graphics but looked as if they had been photographed instead of 
computer generated.
     The screen went blank to indicate another shift in subject matter. Then the 
picture zoomed up to a media announcer holding a microphone.
     The announcer strode up to a young couple. "Here are two young people. Is 
that an engagement ring you have on, young lady?"
     The young lady smiled and proudly held up her hand to the camera. "He 
proposed to me this morning."
     The announcer faced the camera as he smiled.  "Ah, very good.  Tell me your 
names."
     My name is Cindy Lewis, and my boyfriend's name is Dean Olsen."
     "And how did you two meet?"
     "We met at the smoketorium.  I went there because I felt bored, and then he 
showed up."  Cindy turned to Dean as she said this, the smile of love evident in 
her face.
     Dean took Cindy's hand gently into his own.  "And I'm very glad I went to 
the smoketorium. I would never have met Cindy otherwise."
     The announcer took out a pack of cigarettes.  Cindy reached out her hand, 
and took the cigarette as the announcer placed it in her hand. Dean gallantly 
took out his lighter, and as Cindy placed the cigarette in her mouth, Dean lit 
it for her.
     The focus shifted back to the announcer. "And there you have it folks. 
Another success story."
     The screen went black again for a second, then the interior of a 
smoketorium came slowly into focus.  A young man sitting at a table looked 
bored.  Suddenly, two young women walked in together, but separated, and 
went to tables on the opposite sides of the room. The one that went to 
the man's left had dark brown hair and combed it with her fingers as she 
walked to her table.  The other lady, walking as if she were proud of her 
light blond hair, cast an appraising eye at the young man.
    The young man looked at each of them in turn, clearly wishing to go to both 
of them but undecided who to go to first.  Then the choice became clear.  The 
blond took out a smokeless cigarette, and began to inhale. She looked around and 
noticed the young man looking at her.  She smiled, and beckoned him with a wave 
of her hand.
   In the meantime, the darker haired lady took out a cigarette, and lit it.  
Smoke curled up around her face.  The young man got up to go to the blond, but 
before he took two steps, he noticed the smoke from the other lady's cigarette.  
In mid-stride he turned and went to the darker haired lady with the smoking 
cigarette.
     The screen went black again for a second. A stream of water began to run 
down the middle of the screen. The stream widened, and became a river. The 
camera's eye followed the river downstream to an area of rapids. Then the screen 
image rotated until the announcer and his interviewee were in the foreground.
    The announcer began, "So you are a pathfinder.  Tell us about the paths you 
have made."
    "Yep. I've been path-finding for years.  I'm proud of it.  Although, don't 
know why they call it path-finding.  It would be better to call it path 
inventing."
     "What do you do when you path-invent?"
     "I hack away with this little hatchet you see here."  The pathfinder held 
up his hand to show the hatchet. "I cut away underbrush and sometimes vines to 
make an easy path to walk. It may take me several hours just to clear a good 
path for a short walk.  Before we open up the trail to tourists, we must treat 
the ground.  We must get rid of all those troublesome bugs before we let the 
public walk on the trails."
     "Why did you choose to take a job like this?"
     "I've always liked to blaze my own trails.  It's like cigarette smoking. My 
father didn't smoke.  In fact he forbid me to smoke. I decided to decide for 
myself.  So on my tenth birthday, I sneaked in a few cigs with the help of some 
friends.  I still remember the pure pleasure they gave me.  I recommend that 
everyone be bold and blaze their own trails."
     As he said this last, he started to cough, but the camera cut away 
immediately and didn't show his coughing fit.
     The screen went black.  Carl placed the video remote control back onto the 
podium.  "Now I want to talk to each of you about what you can do to help."
     "Each of you should be concerned about the availability of tobacco. Make no 
mistake.  We are in real danger here.  Our chief pleasure in life will be taken 
away from us if we don't stop this rival company from taking away our business.  
I suggest strongly that each one of you go back to your hometown, contact 
everyone you know who is in any way connected with the production of cigarettes, 
and enlist their help.  We need ideas. We need you to lobby congress.  We need 
time, talent, and yes, we also need money.  But don't just send us your money.  
Use your money to organize, to lobby, to advertise, and everything you can think 
of to help.  Send your ideas and questions to our central clearing house which 
will be located right here at our conference center."
     "Remember to reach out to other sectors of the economy.  Will truckers want 
to lose the business of delivering our product to the retail stores?  Will the 
retail stores care if they lose the revenue from tobacco sales?  Be sure to 
enlist the help of all the people who work in the field of tobacco production.  
This includes those people who haven't yet learned the pleasures of cig smoking. 
Seek support among the people who work in the final production as well as among 
those people who provide support with fertilizer, insecticide, and genetic 
improvements to the tobacco."
     "Make no mistake about it.  If you work in any of these areas related to 
tobacco production, your job and your family's welfare is in danger.  And it 
isn't by any fault of yours.  This company has taken advantage of us.  It isn't 
playing fair, and it knows it.  Why else would they keep their top management 
secret, and show us only one person as their spokesperson.  And notice who they 
chose as spokesperson.  They picked a beautiful young woman.  Clearly they are 
pandering to the emotions of young men.  Will we let them get away with this?"
     "Look at the statistics.  Billions of dollars are spent each year because 
of the production of tobacco.  It isn't only a family duty to protect your 
current lifestyle, it is your patriotic duty to do so."
    Carl waved his arms as people applauded, and then left the stage.
    Next a short thin man with a classical African hairstyle strode to the 
podium.  "My name is Alphonse Meeter.  I've been spying on their spokesperson 
over the last few months. I have a few clips to show from the police public 
surveillance cameras." He grabbed the remote control, and clicked the screen on.
    From a very high place the audience looked at a tennis court. A woman and 
two guys played tennis.  Alphonse commented, "The woman is Helen Troy.  The 
Blond guy serving is Joe Athens, and the other guy is Bob Mercury.  They are our 
enemies.  Today I'm showing you what I've learned about our enemies."
    Helen strode to the far side of the tennis court, and faced Joe and Bob.  
Each of them readied themselves to return a volley from Helen. Holding the 
tennis racket with her right hand, with her left hand Helen reached into her 
front dress pocket and pulled out a tennis ball. She served the ball expertly to 
Bob.  As the ball flew straight toward Bob, she pulled another ball from her 
pocket and served it to Joe.  Bob found it easy to return Helen's serve because 
she always put it well within his reach.  They volleyed back and forth many 
times, Helen sometimes having to jump 1.22 meters into the air to return their 
volleys.  Helen always returned the volley and always well within their reach.  
As a result, they rarely missed returning the volley.  Helen never missed.  When 
they did miss, Helen simply pulled another ball from her pocket and continued 
playing.
     The screen went blank, and then began to repeat the scene just played. This 
time Alphonse made comments during the viewing.  "Did you notice that she pulled 
a total of sixteen balls from her pocket. Why didn't they make a bulge in her 
pocket?  It's not easy to be sure from such a high view, but I froze a frame and 
zoomed down to the pocket when she pulled a ball from it.  Watch."  
     Alphonse gestured with the remote, and the screen froze at the point when 
Helen reached for a ball from her pocket.  Then, as Alphonse single stepped the 
frames, the view zoomed down until only Helen's hand and pocket were visible.  
The pocket appeared flat.  Helen's hand inserted into the pocket clearly made a 
small bulge. As she withdrew the ball, the pocket appeared flat again.  Alphonse 
clicked the go button, and the tennis game resumed.
     Alphonse continued, "I studied this scene over and over again.  At last I 
guessed what might explain what's happening.  I think Ms Helen Troy is in 
reality a humanoid robot.  The sixteen tennis balls aren't in her pocket, but in 
some interior storage cabinet, perhaps manufactured as needed.  Her being a 
robot also explains her superior playing ability.  Note that the guys programmed 
it to make their game easy on themselves."
     Alphonse paused, and then turned to face directly into the audience. "Would 
you trust a company who uses such devious tactics against you?" 
    The screen went blank and amid thunderous applause, Alphonse left the stage.
     The conference over, people began walking out of the auditorium. Three 
people remained seated in the front row as everyone else left. Finally after the 
theater emptied except for them, Helen quit projecting the holographic image 
that had disguised them. She turned to Bob and Joe with a grin.  "Looks like we 
have some work to do."

Chapter 18

     Joe drove his white camper truck into the loading dock of the Houston 
Datamax company.  The three of them begin to carry equipment from the back of 
his truck toward the back entrance of the computer company.  Helen balanced her 
load on one hand, and waved at a couple of guys standing at the entrance.  They 
politely held the doors open for the trio.
     Inside the manager met them. "Thanks for your call.  We are pleased to 
participate in your experimental upgrade."  The manager grinned. "Especially 
since we don't have to pay anything for it."
     Joe, in the lead, smiled back.  "You win, we win.  Your computing center 
will be able to handle many times the load it could before, and we distribute 
over many substations the load that would have come to our site."  
     Helen directed the installation of the equipment. The manager looked on 
with interest during the half hour it took to install the equipment. "What 
happens if your equipment fails?"
     Helen answered, "It would be as if our equipment weren't here. Everything 
is pass through so that the worse that can happen is that your site would run 
exactly as it did before we installed this equipment."
     With the installation completed, Helen asked, "Shall we go to your office 
to make a test of the new installation?"
     The manager led them into a small room, overcrowded with magazines and 
video discs.  He sat down in his chair facing his computer terminal, while Helen 
and her friends searched for space to lean against the wall. Quickly, the 
manager invoked a series of test programs. "Ordinarily I would never run these 
test programs during the daytime because they would interfere with our daily 
production runs.  I'll monitor both their progress and our daily production runs 
for the next five minutes."
     They sat in silence for a few minutes while the manager studied the display 
screens. After a while the manager turned to them.  "Not only did the tests run 
perfectly, but they did so without slowing the daily production runs.  In fact, 
the production runs processed more quickly than usual!  We may have more than 
doubled our computing power.  How long may we keep your equipment?"
     Bob answered for the trio. "We intended you to keep it indefinitely. We 
want our own site to be able to respond to a very large number of customers in a 
very short time.  Your site is on a major pathway to our site.  So everything we 
can do to upgrade your capability will be an upgrade of our own.  We only ask 
that you permit us to add to what we've installed as needed. "
     The manager looked dazed. "Of course, of course."  He looked at each of the 
trio in turn.  As he looked at Helen, he asked, "What's the bandwidth capability 
of the equipment you just installed?"
    Helen smiled.  It is a million times the bandwidth of one of your existing 
phones.  That's why I like to call the entire setup my megaphone."
    Joe laughed.  "That's a good one Helen.  I didn't know you had it in you."  
He paused a moment, looking thoughtful.  "so.., where will we go next?"
   Helen waited until they were walking outside before she answered.  "Austin.  
After Austin, we will have only 16 more places to upgrade.  Then we will be 
assured that no denial of service attack on our web site would matter."
    Bob responded.  "That's good.  Just how good is this equipment we just 
installed?"
    Helen replied, "This is our secret, ok?"  When she got only puzzled looks 
from Bob and Joe she continued.  "We just installed an artificial intelligence 
based on the structure of my own brain.  It has the same decision capability 
that I do, and it has several terabytes of content addressable memory.  In 
addition, I can communicate with it at any time through the internet."
    Joe smiled.  "What will Mike and the others see when they ask their 
question?"
    Helen replied, "They will see the answer to their question.  And I've build 
a non-broadcast wing of our web page to answer every detail of any follow-up 
questions."
    Bob looked surprised.  "Surely you didn't tell them that you just make your 
cigs out of nothing!"
    Helen nodded her agreement.  "You are right. Bob, after we finish installing 
these auxiliary computers, we'll build in your basement the machine that can 
make the smokeless cigs.  I told them that we make the cigs in your basement.  
From now on, that will be the truth."
 

Chapter 19

     Jerry Terry nervously looked for the tenth time at the printed email 
confirmation in his hand.  Five minutes till air time and his guest hadn't yet 
arrived!  Perhaps he should call them to make sure they were on the way.  
Turning away from the doorway, he dialed the number.

    Joe walked in just as he dialed the number.  He immediately guessed that 
Jerry had called their number.  So Joe, not waiting for Bob and Helen, 
immediately walked up to just behind Jerry.  After a couple of rings of the 
distant phone, Joe said "hello" in Jerry's ear just the way he would have said 
it on the telephone.  
    Jerry said into the phone, "Why the hell aren't you here?"    Then Joe 
teasingly said, "But I'm here.  Look behind you."
    Jerry spun around, facing Joe, and by this time, Helen and Bob. Seeing 
Helen's glorious smile, Joe's grin, and Bob's look of surprise, he burst out 
laughing.  
     Jerry led the way into the studio. He spoke to Bob and Joe.  "You guys have 
the couch seats. Helen will sit there next to me since she's the main 
attraction.  But don't worry.  We will give you guys a chance to answer some 
questions also."
     Jerry led the trio into the stage wings, and gave brief instructions. 
"First my aide will call me out to the stage. Then I'll call you three to join 
me on stage.  Then all of us will take our interview seats, you first."
    All went exactly as Jerry described. As soon as he sat down, Jerry turned to 
Helen and said, "So tell me the real story. Did you see my interview with 
Senator Heedly?"
     Helen smiled. "Yes I did.  That's why I emailed you to request a follow-up 
interview."
     The grin on Jerry's face increased in intensity. "I remember receiving it.  
Probably, at the time, everyone in the building heard my yell of delight. I'm 
very glad you are here.  I want to give you the chance to tell your side."
     Helen glowed. Although under the bright white lights of the studio nobody 
noticed that Helen gave off more light than fell on her. Even Helen didn't 
notice this side effect of her emotions.
  Helen spoke calmly and quietly in spite of her strong feelings. "For as long 
as I can remember I knew that cig smoke harmed everyone exposed to it. A month 
after my fifth birthday my uncle Ed died from cigs. When it became possible for 
me to work to remove cig smoke from the world, I did so."
      Jerry interrupted, "You mean that you began to work at it, not that you've 
already done so?"
     Helen smiled ruefully.  "There are restrictions on what I can do." 
     As she said this, Joe laughed. Jerry turned a quizzical look toward him, 
but Joe waved his arm in dismissal, and said, "Private joke."
    Helen continued, "An engineer friend in the space program set up a broadcast 
web site for me.  I could send my message to all the smoketoriums in the world 
from it.  A small percentage of people responded favorably.  Most people ignored 
it.  However, as time goes on, more and more people respond."
  Jerry pursed his lips as he paused a moment to choose his words. "According to 
Senator Heedly, you are doing more than sending a message.  You are selling 
something called smokeless cigarettes that haven't been patented and have not 
been tested for safety."
  Helen responded, "Well, since I saw that broadcast, I haven't been selling the 
cigs."  Helen paused a few moments. Then she added, "I've been giving them to 
the customers without charge."
    "Furthermore, I invite any lab that wishes to do so to analyze them for 
safety. I made my own tests.  I know that they are safe. I know they are 
beneficial. I know they work. I know because I designed them myself, and have 
seen the results of their use."
   "My earliest customers have quit smoking. This means that they don't smoke 
cigs nor do they still use my smokeless cigs.  They are cured of their 
addiction."
    Jerry nodded affirmatively. "Very good.  I suppose you can count on those 
customers to support you if it ever came to a court battle?"
    Helen looked surprised. "Perhaps.  I never thought to ask.  I'm primarily 
concerned with helping them cure their addiction."
   Jerry again nodded his head affirmatively.  "I understand. Have you had any 
backsliders.  People who stopped smoking for a while, and then resumed?"
   Helen paused. Then she said, "None of my customers have resumed smoking.  
However, it has only been a year since I started in my small town of Eastside.  
Critics may want me to wait longer before claiming a hundred percent success."
   Jerry's voice raised in surprised.  "A hundred percent success! What's in 
those smokeless cigs?"
   Helen's face echoed the tinted light from the neon bulb behind Jerry. "The 
main ingredient isn't in the smokeless cigs.  The main ingredient is my message.  
I get my customers to think about their life. I ask them how they want to 
enhance their life.  I composed a song to help my customers think about what 
they really want for their life."
   Jerry said, "Wait a moment.  I really want to ask you more about your song, 
but first I need to follow up on the active ingredients in your smokeless cigs.  
How do they work?  What makes them work?"
    Helen sat up straighter as she answered. "The reason people become addicted 
to nicotine or similar drugs is that the drugs act directly on the part of the 
brain responsible for making choices. The drugs cause the brain to respond the 
same way it does when the person does something life enhancing.  With continued 
use, people think that taking the drug helps the body, even if, as in the case 
of cigs, they are actually killing the body."
     Helen continued. "That's the first stage.  The second stage occurs when the 
person taking this drug nicotine realizes that nothing else consistently 
delivers the same feeling of reward as the drug.  Hard work, studying, helping 
friends, etc no longer bring the joy they did before the addiction. My smokeless 
cigs are designed to break the pattern. They provide exactly the amount of 
nicotine that the person expects from their smoking, and also provide nutrients 
to the brain so that it can recover its ability to accurately judge what's truly 
rewarding to life.  But the smokeless cigs by themselves, however perfect, 
wouldn't be effective if the person didn't wish to think about life choices."
   Jerry smiled. "Very nice. So how do you motivate people to think about their 
life choices?"
	Joe picked up Bob's guitar from the floor and tossed it over to 
him. "That's our clue."  They both played their instruments while Helen 
sang her song, "Where do you live?"

	Helen continued singing until she'd sung all the verses.  When 
she had finished, Jerry sat stunned for a few moments.  Finally shaking 
his head, he said, "That's very powerful.  I'm amazed at how, in the 
first verse, you added so much more meaning by repeating the lines."
	Helen smiled as she replied.  "Thanks.  I had hoped the melody 
would have that effect."
      Jerry nodded as he looked directly at Helen.  "Earlier you referred to 
special nutrients in your smokeless cigs that cancel the effect of nicotine on 
the brain.  Is that something like a nicotine inhibiter?"
       Helen replied, "Not at all.  I had considered a nicotine inhibiter, but 
decided against it.  That's because the nicotine inhibiter I thought of would 
require gene therapy, and would cause a permanent change in the person taking 
it.  If a person underwent this treatment, that person would be immune to 
nicotine because the nicotine would be broken down into simpler molecules before 
it reached the brain."
       Jerry nodded his head affirmatively.  "I understand.  Did you decide 
against the nicotine inhibiter because it was too difficult to apply?"
       "No.  I decided against it because it would not be safe. Even if I made 
an enzyme that metabolizes nicotine that is also mutational stable, it's not the 
right approach.  Right now I could give nicotine addicts an injection that would 
cure their addiction forever.  But, would you use a sledgehammer to put a hook 
nail into the wall?  No, because the nail would go all the way into the wall, 
and you'd probably damage the wall.  My goal is not to cure the addiction, but 
to help people not pollute themselves and their environment."
Jerry, planning his next question, did not really hear Helen's answer. "I 
wish to get back to my earlier question. How does your special nutrients in the 
smokeless cigs cancel the effects of nicotine?"
	"When a person grows accustomed to the nicotine, and begins to prefer 
nicotine to other ways of activating the reward centers of the brain, then the 
brain changes the way it processes nicotine.  My special nutrients simply help 
the brain act like it had never encountered nicotine.  It gives the person a 
second chance by weakening the cravings for nicotine."
Jerry looked surprised.  "That's amazing!"  
Jerry paused a few seconds and a frown crossed his face.  "But now I need 
to ask you a difficult question.  I'll understand if you can't answer it."  As 
Helen looked puzzled, Jerry asked, "Just over a year ago you seemed a typical 
music student at Eastside, Virginia.  Suddenly you are in charge of what 
apparently is a very powerful corporation.  How did this come about?"
Helen leaned forward. "There is no corporation.  It's just me and my 
friends."
Jerry looked surprised.  "You are not incorporated! But it must take 
thousands of people to run your business.  How is this possible?"
  "No. It's just my friends and myself. Fortunately I can do a lot more 
than the average person."
Jerry, amazed at her answer, stared at Helen for a full minute. Finally, 
realizing that he had lost track of time, he shook his head. "It seems so 
incredible.  How do you find the time?"
Helen answered, "I'm very good at automating tasks.  It doesn't take 
thousands of people, but I'm probably significantly adding to the internet 
traffic flow.
Jerry shook his head.  "Amazing! But talking about the internet, who wrote 
your biochemical pages on your web site?  Who ever wrote them seems to have 
incredible knowledge of biology!"
Helen paused before answering.  How could she make it believable that she 
could write in such scientific detail when she had never studied any of the 
sciences?  "I wrote them, with the help of the artificial intelligence in the 
internet."
Jerry glanced at the clock. "If you wish, we can use the remaining time to 
answer questions from our audience."
   Helen agreed.  "Ok.  But anyone who wants to ask a question, but doesn't get 
to ask their question tonight can ask me through email."
Jerry signaled to his assistant to allow the questions.
   The first question came from a lady in a black lacy dress. "The Senator said 
that he had done some research that showed that your customers had poorer 
average health than the national norm.  Can you comment on that?"
   Bob responded first. "The Senator really put his foot in his mouth on that 
one.  Of course they had poor average health.  All of our customers had been 
smoking cigarettes for years!  But because they were our customers they have 
either quit or are on the way to quitting. Individually, their health will be 
much improved for it."
    The next question came from a young boy. His red hair bounced as he stepped 
up to the microphone. "You said that your customers use your cigs only for a 
short time.  Won't you be out of business soon? Why would you go into a business 
that would end so soon?"
   Joe laughed. "Son, you have the right of it. We want people to not smoke. As 
soon as there is no one left to need our smokeless cigs, we will very happily go 
out of business."
   A man wearing a red shirt with the top two buttons open walked slowly to the 
microphone.  He paused in front of the microphone and then reached into his 
pocket and pulled out a carton of cigs.  "I'm a smoker.  Been one all my life.  
I have no intention of quitting. And there is no way you can force me to quit."
   Helen stood up as if to see him more clearly. "We have no intention of 
forcing you to quit.  It is our hope that you yourself will freely choose to 
quit.  I agree that we can't force you.  Only you can decide what you wish to 
do.  If you do choose to quit, we can help you."
   Red shirt nodded as if in agreement.  "That's about what I expected you to 
say. He then stepped aside to be replaced by a tall blond lady carrying a large 
red bag supported by a strap across her chest and shoulder.  "My question has to 
do with the production of your smokeless cigs.  Where do you make them? How many 
do you make?"
   Helen answered, "I make them in Eastside Virginia.  I make exactly as many as 
needed to fill my customer's orders."
   Red bag lady continued, "How much does it cost you? How much profit do you 
make on your sales?"
   Joe jumped up to respond. "As Helen just pointed out, we are not a 
corporation.  We don't have huge costs.  We don't have huge profits.  In fact, 
since our selling became illegal, we have made no profit at all. However, we 
continue to help people break their addictions."
   The lady scowled at this answer, but turned away, apparently not prepared to 
respond to this answer.  
   The next questioner polished his thick eyeglasses on his shirt before asking 
his question.  "The Senator pointed out last time that if you stop everyone from 
smoking, then a lot of people will lose their jobs.  Do you care what happens to 
those people?"
    Helen leaned forward as if to get a closer look at the questioner. Then she 
said, "Yes.  We do care.  We care very much.  And we can help.  I personally 
will ensure that nobody will be out of work because cigarettes are no longer 
produced."
    The questioner snorted. "You!  What do you know about job search? Are you 
prepared to find jobs for over ten thousand people?"
    Helen smiled. "As a matter of fact, yes! Look on our web site, "the anti cig 
company", for help in finding work.  We have already put job search assistance 
on it, even though it isn't needed yet.  Our job dictionary enables people to 
locate immediately any internet advertised job matching their criteria within 
minutes. Our job trainer program helps people train for new jobs.  In those few 
cases where a person needs to re-train extensively, I will personally take care 
of it."
   The questioner raised his hand as if to make a point, then on second thought 
lowered it, and returned to his seat.
   A man overweight even by standards of the 21th century approached the 
microphone. A sound of static came from the microphone as his soft hands grasped 
it. "I don't believe that cigarette smoking has that much effect on people.  I 
defy you to prove that it does."
   Helen stood up and walked down to the floor to the man.  She held out her 
hand as if to shake hands with him.  Surprised, the man responded by reaching up 
and shaking her hand.  While holding his hand, Helen generated radio waves from 
her hand to his to conduct a chemical analysis. "I see that you smoked one 
cigarette this morning, but that yesterday you smoked two cigarettes, one just 
after lunch and one just after breakfast.  Does my being able to tell you this 
prove that the cigs have had some effect on you?"
   The speaker, stunned, just stood there, staring at Helen.  Helen smiled, 
gently released his hand, and returned to her guest seat by Jerry. Down on the 
floor, the fat man still stared at Helen.  A young lady behind him finally 
become impatient and tapped him on the shoulder. 
    As the young lady stepped up to the microphone to replace the departing 
heavyset man, she brushed strands of her wavy black hair backward off of her 
forehead.  She grasped the microphone firmly and spoke.  "My parents and 
grandparents all died from cigarette smoke.  What can I do to help you in your 
work?"
   Joe responded first. "Thanks. Every time you help a person develop life 
enhancing goals and purposes, you help us.  Search for our web site with the 
title "The anti cig company."  You should recognize it by seeing our smiling 
faces on the title page.  From there you can follow links to see our goals and 
to answer any other questions.  Perhaps you could be a distributor for us when 
we are ready to expand production. And of course please email us if the web page 
itself doesn't immediately answer your questions.  One way you can help us right 
away is to tell your friends about us, and tell anyone you believe we can help."
   Before the next questioner could ask his question, Jerry Terry announced, 
"Folks, we have time for only one or two more questions."
   A man dressed in a old time western style shirt and pants stood before the 
microphone.  Slowly and carefully he took hold of the microphone and brought it 
toward his lips. "Do you ever have an open house at your manufacturing plant?"
   Helen looked toward Bob. At his nod she pointed her hand at Bob and said, "We 
have equipment to make the smokeless cigs in the basement of Bob's home. It's 
not practical for us to give tours of the physical equipment.  However, Check 
our web site, "The anti cig company".  There you will find a virtual tour of the 
equipment.  You will get much more information there than you would from a 
physical tour."
   The last questioner stood before the microphone. She nervously brushed her 
hand over her forehead, revealing brownish black hair underneath fake redish 
blond hair. "Helen, I have evidence that you are not human, but are a humanoid 
robot.  Can you disprove it?"
   Helen laughed. "You want me to prove I'm not a robot!  Seems to me that the 
burden of proof is on you."
    Jerry Terry spoke to the Camera. "That's all folks.  But before we leave, I 
want to appeal to all of you.  Our guests are losing money because of an unfair 
law that forbids them to sell their excellent product.  So to be fair to their 
customers they are giving their product away.  But the law doesn't forbid 
donations!  How about it?  Please send donations to the anti cig company care of 
the Jerry Terry Show.  This is Jerry Terry signing off, and may all your 
troubles be small."

Chapter 20

     Mike Long tossed the newscast printout on his supervisor's desk. "We're 
doomed."  At Dan's quizzical look Mike added, "Look at the headings!"
     Dan turned the paper over and unfolded it.  He read, "Millions support 
anti-cig company: Congress considering sanctions."
     Mike pointed to the lead article. "Congress is considering passing a law 
forbidding the United States to import tobacco or tobacco products from 
Indonesia."
     Dan suggested, "Perhaps our man Senator Heedly can help us."
     Mike snorted. "Ha! Our Senator jumped ship before anyone else.  He saw 
which way the wind blew."
     Dan still tried to downplay the news.  "This isn't really much worse than 
what we had before.  We have a good chance of blocking the import ban.  Also, 
since Helen has only one production facility, I don't think that we will have 
much more problem with her smokeless cigs than we have now, even if she has lots 
of help in distributing them."
     Mike responded, "Look at the bottom of the article.  Helen has announced 
plans to install manufacturing and distribution equipment in the homes of over a 
hundred volunteers."
          Dan looked at the ending of the article and verified the claim. "Hmm.. 
This is potentially serious all right.  But Helen will have a problem paying the 
utilities for the equipment. Perhaps we can hassle her volunteers through the 
utilities somehow."
     Mike laughed.  "Not so easily.  She's way ahead of us. Her equipment 
requires no outside source of energy.  I know because I looked at her web page.  
Ironically she herself alerted me that her web page revealed these secrets. She 
has no sense of commercial secrets. "
	Mike continued. "Her web page explains all the details.  A central core of 
superconducting wires acts as a battery. This wire is insulated by a special 
material and cooled by a refrigeration system which itself runs off the current 
in the superconducting wires.  The only thing not explained in detail in the web 
site is how she charged up the superconducting wires in the first place."
Mike continued his lament.  "All the volunteer needs to do is to provide 
the space. The installed system will do everything from taking orders over the 
telephone to delivering them to the home of the customer."
     Dan wondered out loud, "What raw materials does she provide?  Does she have 
her own supply of tobacco?"
     Mike snorted. "She's been using discarded cigarette butts!  Her delivery 
vehicles are like toy flying saucers.  They fly around the smoketoriums and 
gather up discarded tobacco.  At least now I know how she got past us that night 
I and some other guys tried to intercept her delivery.  We never thought to look 
for a toy flying saucer."
     Dan sighed, then leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a few 
moments.  Then, more relaxed, he said, "Well we still have a chance to block 
that ban about getting our cigs from Indonesia. However, if we don't block that 
ban, we will be sliding down a very slippery slope."
     Dan continued, "But what about the plan to launch a denial of service 
attack?"
     Mike frowned. "It fizzled. Every one of us got essentially the same 
message.  We saw a video leading us right up to Bob Mercury's house and into the 
basement.  There we saw a bunch of the toy saucers attending several box shaped 
machines. Not much you can say about metal boxes. I can tell you more about the 
toy saucers.  They had arms, eyes and ears.   They flew around like giant 
insects. Some put tobacco into the input bins, and others removed the completed 
product and flew off to deliver it.  Still others removed what looked like waste 
product, and supposedly flew off to the junkyard with it."
     Mike paused a few seconds.  When he began again, his voice betrayed 
admiration for Helen.  "Helen used standard hypertext to explain her machine.  
Links from the main page led to progressive more detailed descriptions."        
  	Dan looked pensive for a few seconds.  "Let me know if you find out 
anything useful to us on it.  By the way, is there any chance that we can make 
the denial of service attack work?"
	Mike's voice became louder.  "No! Helen appeared on Jerry Terry's show the 
night before we launched our attack.  Almost ten times the number of people we 
had planned for the denial of service attack linked to her site immediately 
after the show.  Her site had no difficulty responding to all those calls. We 
never had a chance against them.  I don't know what to do."
     From behind his desk, Dan looked up at Mike.  "Relax. Get a grip on 
yourself.  Let's solve one problem at a time.  Round up all your congressional 
contacts and try to kill that proposal to ban our imports."
     Mike looked Dan in the eye. "Righto.  Stiff upper lip and all that. Aye Aye 
sir.  I'll get right on it."  Mike spun around to leave the office.  

      Before Mike took three steps, Dan's computer announced, "Incoming email 
message from Helen Troy."  Mike stopped in his tracks, and spun around.
      Dan swung his chair around and pressed the down arrow key on his keyboard.  
Dan scrolled Helen's message slowly up the screen by pressing the down arrow key 
repeatedly.  Mike read the message over Dan's shoulder.
	"Hello Dan."
	"Tell me why you continue to make and sell cigs. Surely you must 
understand that people are dying because of them.  Do you have any reason at 
all?"
	"I intend to solve this public health problem you are responsible for.  
However, I don't want to harm you.  If I can't persuade you to stop making the 
cigs, then I must continue to persuade the smokers, one by one."
	"Perhaps you really do wish to stop, but feel dependent on the selling of 
cigs.  If that is so, perhaps I can persuade you to stop by offering you a 
profitable alternative to making and selling cigs. On my web page I describe how 
to mutate the tobacco plant to make an extremely useful medical tool.  I used 
this mutation myself to make the smokeless cigs. I have declared it to be in the 
public domain.  You can use this mutation yourself for various medical 
applications. By making genetic medical research your primary business, you'll 
increase your revenue manyfold."
	"Please take this opportunity to phase out making cigs.  I realize that 
your customers need an easier way to break their addiction.  That's why I'm 
willing to let you take over the distribution of my smokeless cigs, provided you 
use them in place of the cigs you now sell."
	"In friendship,  
	Helen Troy."
 
	Mike laughed when he read Helen's closing.  "So she wants to be friends! 
Do you think she's getting tired of fighting us?"
	Dan shook his head.  "I don't think so.  I think she is actually trying to 
reach a compromise with us."
      Mike laughed again.  "Ha!  She's not very skilled in negotiation.  She 
gave away all her cards.  We can take her gift and still sell cigs.  I think we 
should put more pressure on her until she gets so tired she just quits."
	Dan looked at Mike.  "Perhaps.  I do pay you to advise me.  But I'm not 
sure I feel right about this.  I feel very strongly that we can trust her. 
Shouldn't we be trustworthy with her?"
	Mike's face showed his surprise at Dan's words.  Wordlessly, he merely 
shook his head negatively.  Having nothing else to say, Mike left Dan's office.
	Dan reconsidered Helen's email.  He valued Mike's opinion, but felt it 
only fail to send Helen some response. He reread her email twice before reaching 
a decision.  First he forwarded Helen's email to his Biotech chief, and added a 
request to evaluate Helen's proposal.  Next he crafted his reply to Helen.  
"Your proposal is very interesting.  We'll evaluate its possibility.  If we find 
it has merit, we'll contact you."

Chapter 21

    Mike Long again counted the panels on the wall of Senator Heedly's living 
room while he waited for him.  The Senator had promised to appear in a few 
moments after he wrapped up some research in his library room. Finally the 
Senator's head appeared in the doorway from the library.  He opened the door 
just enough to squeeze through, and left the door slightly ajar as he entered 
the living room.  The Senator quickly moved to sit in the comfortable chair 
adjacent to Mike.
    Mike stared intently at Senator Heedly. "There are reasons why you shouldn't 
sponsor the ban on cigs from Indonesia. Now I will tell you some you haven't 
heard yet."
    Mike handed the Senator a folder containing 3 booklets.  The Senator looked 
at each of the booklets in turn.  "Why don't you just tell me what you want me 
to know from these booklets."
    Mike wondered briefly if the Senator ever read anything.  Then he looked the 
Senator in the eyes and said, "Sure.  One of those papers explains our plans to 
smuggle cigs into the country should the import ban pass congress.  Don't think 
you can block us.  And don't think we've incriminated ourselves.  The smuggling 
tricks hinted at in this paper are well within the law.  We have other tricks 
that you won't catch us at.  The black market will net us a greater profit 
anyway. But don't expect to benefit from that."
    Mike continued, "The second paper details the change to our donations to the 
senate if the ban is passed.  I think you and several other senators would have 
a hard year ahead while you learn how to spend less money."
     "The third paper explains in detail why 5 federal judges believe the ban 
isn't right and would declare it unconstitutional if it were passed. I've added 
my own comments about that at the end of the paper."
     Looking mike directly in the eye, the Senator took the papers. "First, I 
don't care if you smuggle in the cigs.  Second, I don't need your money any 
longer.  Your past donations will keep me in good shape the rest of my natural 
life. Third, I don't care if the law is declared unconstitutional.  The folks 
who matter will know that I tried."
     Mike stared at the Senator while he tried to think of a reply.  After a few 
moments he closed his eyes and tried to invoke inspiration.  Nothing came to 
mind.  He opened his eyes and leaned forward toward the Senator.
     The Senator moved backwards to avoid Mike's forwardness.  Consequently he 
fell off his chair.  Mike jumped up to help the Senator. But Senator Heedly had 
already recovered, and stood up just in time to see Mike rushing toward him.  
Alarmed, he began backing up, and backed into the slightly open door leading to 
the library.
     Mike, still approaching the Senator asked himself, "What's wrong here?  Why 
has the Senator turned against us?"  Mike unconsciously continued to press 
toward the Senator while he tried to think of the right questions to ask.  
Senator Heedly, forced to back up into his library, stopped only when he bumped 
into his computer.  The whole event took only seconds.
     Mike and the Senator found themselves in the library room, and neither 
quite knew how it had happened.  The Senator had backed up as far as he could.  
He had reached his computer console.  Mike suddenly became aware then of how 
little space separated him from the Senator.  He leaned backwards a tiny bit to 
give the Senator more space, and reconsidered.  One question dominated Mike's 
mind.  What changed the way the Senator felt?
      Suddenly Mike became aware of the computer monitor and several pictures 
posted on the walls.  The Senator's computer showed icons of Helen Troy roaming 
across the computer desktop screen. The walls of the room showed at least a 
dozen printed pictures of Helen.
        Mike smiled and relaxed.  Now he knew what to do.  Obviously the Senator 
had fallen in love with Helen.  

Chapter 22

     Joe held the letter up so Helen and Bob could see the letterhead design on 
it.  "Imagine that! We have a personal invitation from Senator Heedly to attend 
an informal hearing to determine whether or not he should push for a ban on 
tobacco imports.  It's really a party where the guests can speak individually to 
the Senator."
     Bob commented, "It looks like we've become vips.  When and where is the 
party?"
    Joe glanced at the letter as he answered.  "It's next month on the 5th, at 
the St Regis Hotel in New York City."
    Helen immediately made the connection. "Hey guys, that hotel is one of the 
places where the tobacco companies regularly hold their conventions. Do you 
think that they sponsored this party?"
    Bob looked toward Helen in surprise.  "How did you know that?"
    Helen answered, "I just knew it.  Ever since I got back from the space trip 
I've noticed that occasionally specialized knowledge valuable to me just pops 
into my head.  I think it's my Sparky side feeding me information."
    Bob looked pensive while Joe grinned.
    Then Joe considered her question.  "It seems Unlikely that the cig companies 
sponsored . . .  unless they have reason to believe that this conference has a good 
chance of changing several Senators' minds. It's well known that many senators 
look to Senator Heedly for guidance.  It's amazing that he has so much power.  
He could have been President if he had wanted.  Is it possible that the cig 
companies CEO's know that we don't advocate the ban, and that they expect that 
Senator Heedly would actually pay attention to us?"
    Bob looked to Helen. "Do we accept this invitation?"
    Helen smiled.  "Of Course we will.  It's one more chance for us to resolve 
the cig conflict completely.


Chapter 23

     Mike toyed with the paperweight on Dan's desk.  "Our plan is working. Helen 
accepted the Senator's invitation.  I've sent out all my own invitations.  I've 
especially invited Senators Cato Irving and Will Bellum from the ethics 
committee. I will pay them personal visits to make sure they will want to come."  
When Cato and Will see Senator Heedly fawn over Helen he will lose respect in 
the senate.  If we are lucky, we will catch Helen trying to take advantage of 
Heedly's admiration for her."
    "Whom did you invite?"
    Mike smiled.  "Ourselves of course. I had already asked Senator Heedly to 
invite the most important of his senator friends.  I invited Clint because he is 
the contact for Eastside where Helen lives. I also invited their anti-cig web 
sponsor, Grant Richardson, and his close friends Melody Armstrong and Abner 
Housier. I invited Helen's friends Victor and Angela Septavious because they can 
play a part in a nasty surprise I have planned for Helen.
     Dan nodded his head affirmatively. "Tell me about your nasty surprise for 
Helen."
	Mike smiled.  "Helen is just too smart for her own good.  Grant Richardson 
is a nut about extraterrestrials.  I'm sure he thinks that Helen is either an 
alien or has access to alien science.  If I can make it plausible that Helen has 
contacts with Aliens, I can portray her as a danger to Earth."
	"Moreover, Clint has informed me that Helen broke into the Eastside union 
store over the Independence Day holidays in 2090, and replaced all the cigs 
there with other merchandise.  Angela works at that union store.  She'd know 
about the break in.  When she finds out it was Helen that did it, she may 
unwittingly speak against Helen's character."
	"Sounds like it might work.  I myself have plans for a nasty surprise for 
Senator Heedly."
       Seeing Mike's questioning look, Dan continued.  "I've just reviewed 
statements made by the senators attending the memorial of the late Senator Latt. 
Listen to this quote from Heedly. 'I voted for Senator Latt the first time he 
ran for office 36 years ago.  We would have a much better nation now if he'd 
been elected then.' We can use his statement against him."
     Mike still looked puzzled.  "I don't see the criticism yet?"
     Dan chuckled.  "That's because you haven't researched the history yet. 
Senator Latt lost that first election because he ran on a hawkish campaign.  He 
wised up for the next election and became famous for his proactive peacemaking. 
Maybe we can make Senator Heedly sound like he supports the hawks.  That would 
make big trouble for our Senator.  He might even be asked to resign."
      Mike smiled. "You do have a knack for digging up dirt, don't you."
     Dan smiled his appreciation.  "You seem more chipper than the last time you 
were here.  Shouldn't you be on the lookout for what might go wrong?"
     Mike looked at Dan for a few moments before answering.  "What? Do I hear 
words of discouragement this time? But what could go wrong? It will be easy to 
get those two witch hunters to come to the party. Senator Heedly is sure to make 
a fool of himself when he meets Helen in person.  And I don't see how Helen can 
weasel out of our charges against her.  She actually did break in to the union 
store and steal our cigs."
	
Chapter 24

      Mike Long stood in the lobby of the St Regis Hotel in New York City.  He 
surveyed the entrance, occasionally glancing at the elevators and stairways.  He 
patiently waited for his special guests, Senators Will Bellum and Cato Irving.
      At last he saw two figures approach the entrance.  Senator Bellum 
struggled with his suitcase.  It seemed to not turn properly when the senator 
walked in a different direction.
     Mike rushed out to help the senator with his suitcase.  When Mike reached 
the Senator, he stopped, and slowly reached for the suitcase, smiling at the 
Senator. "Here, may I help you with that?"
     Senator Bellum jerked the suitcase backwards.  "No!  I can handle it 
myself!  What rooms are we in?"
     Mike paused a moment, and remembered why he had to forgive the senator for 
his rude behavior.  Then he smiled, and said, "You are on the first floor, room 
104.  Follow me."
     As they entered room 104, Mike pointed out the monitor. "You can see all 
the rooms from this monitor. Just change the channel to the room you wish to 
observe."
     Senator Cato Irving nodded his head affirmatively.  He walked over and 
turned on the monitor. Mike stood next to him and illustrated the use of the 
monitor.  "This dial allows you to shift the view between rooms. This other dial 
here allows you to move around within the current room.  The arrow keys provide 
an alternate way of moving the view."  
	Taking a closer look at the monitor, Cato noticed a clock and a number pad 
on its right hand side.  Pointing to it, he asked, "What's this?"
	Mike smiled. "Ah yes, I forgot to tell you about the timer. By setting the 
starting time, you can play back any room from any time.  For example if you 
just left someone in a room, you can come back here, and trail that person from 
the moment you left them."
	Cato turned to his companion. "Isn't that interesting, will?"
	But Senator Bellum merely scowled while he dragged his heavy suitcase to 
the nearest bed and with a final tug popped it onto the bed.
     While the shorter Senator sorted out his clothes, Senator Irving 
experimented with the monitor.  
	Observing the Senator walk the monitor through the rooms, Mike commented, 
"It works just like many popular video games."
      From across the room, Senator Bellum retorted, "We're Senators.  We don't 
play video games."
     Senator Irving laughed, "Speak for yourself John." Then to Mike, he said, 
"I sometimes play video games with my grandson, so I know what you are talking 
about."
     "Good!"  Mike's smile showed his pleasure. "Call me on my cell phone 
whenever you have any questions or want to call my attention to something 
happening. But now you can monitor me as I greet the rest of the guests."  
     Senator Bellum watched Mike leave the room, then immediately opened a 
secret compartment in his suitcase.  He pulled out several rods, cables and 
electronic gadgets.  Working quickly he assembled a tripod structure from them 
and set it on the floor behind the bed.  
     Cato watched silently.  "Are you satisfied now that we can independently 
gather information to send to the web news-feeds?"
     Bellum nodded.  "Yes. This device will prevent Mike from observing us in 
this room, and record anything we wish from Mike's monitors."
     Cato smiled.  "Good.  But I will tell you again that I feel that you are 
being just a little bit paranoid."
     Senator Bellum grinned.  "Really!  But it doesn't matter does it."  After a 
short pause, he continued. "It's all set up. Lets circulate and provoke 
comments."
     Just as Mike returned to the Lobby, his Supervisor Dan, and Clint from 
Eastside walked in.  They saw Mike immediately, and increased their pace toward 
Mike.  
      Mike shook hands with both of them.  "Well, Dan, long time, no see."
     Dan grinned.  "Nope, not since last Tuesday.
     Mike turned his attention to Clint.  "Tell me Clint, how are things on the 
home front?"
     Clint paused a moment to gather his words.  "A very strange thing happened 
the other day.  A man came to my office and said that he had met Helen only 
once, and wanted to know more about her.  I found it hard to understand him. He 
kept mumbling something about not being able to hold up a car because he didn't 
have a gun any longer.  I think he ranked low on the IQ scale.  Anyway, I put 
him on the payroll to observe the house where the smokeless cigs are being 
made."
    Mike expressed surprise.  "You knew he had a low IQ, and hired him anyway!  
What do you expect he'll be able to do for you?"
    Clint shrugged.  "I felt sorry for him.  I just wanted to help him out some 
way.  I didn't really need anyone to watch that house, but since he had an 
obsession about Helen, I figured that his watching that house would be a perfect 
excuse to put him on temporary payroll.  I gave him my cell phone number so he 
could call me if he had anything to report."
     Mike shook his head negatively. "Watch out that you don't bankrupt us with 
those bleeding heart expenses of yours."
     Clint acknowledged.  "Don't worry.  It's only a temporary expense."
     Mike looked around for his trained press agents. "I wonder what's keeping 
the newscasters?"  
     At that instant, as if in answer to his question seven people walked 
through the outside door into the lobby.  Led by a tall man in a dress suit, 
they walked quickly up to Mike.
     Mike smiled at their leader.  "Thanks for getting here early."  Waving his 
hand to indicate the press box seats over near one wall, Mike said, "Please 
stand or sit over there until all the guests arrive. Then we can have our show."
     Just then Senator Heedly and several other senators entered the lobby.  
Mike caught Senator Heedly's eye, and with a tilt of his head invited the 
Senator to join their group.
      "Hello Mike. You remember Senator Dimes? He has a very interesting point 
to make."  Senator Heedly emphasized the word "interesting" as he spoke.
       Mike's showed his curiosity looking Senator Dimes directly in the eye.  
"Ok, Senator Dimes, I'm all ears."
       Senator Dimes glanced at the other senators, then turned his full 
attention to Mike. "I've studied the question about the cig ban.  I'm convinced 
that it will pass the Senate.  However, I believe that I can get an amendment 
passed that will make the ban ineffective."
       Mike laughed.  "That is subtle.  And why would you want to?"
      Senator Dimes spoke honestly. "We don't really want to put you out of 
business.  We just want it to look like we have the public interest at heart."
      Clint snorted. "Does this mean you don't really care about the public 
interest?" 
       Mike answered for the Senator.  "Actually Clint, he does care.  It's not 
his fault that the public doesn't know what's good for them." Mike thought he 
did well by choosing words that reminded Clint to think before speaking.  At the 
same time his words were designed to smooth over any ruffled feelings Senator 
Dimes may have had from Clint's question.
     Then addressing the Senator, he asked, "What's your amendment?"
     Senator Dimes leaned forward. "My amendment is to exempt government 
employees from the ban.  Most of the senators will see it as a reasonable 
exemption and overlook the fact that over half the nation's employees work for 
the government. Government employees can provide your cigs to all your 
customers."
   Mike considered.  "Well, it's not quite what I had expected, but it might be 
ok.  Why are you telling us about this?  What do you want us to do?"
   Just then, Senator Irving walked up.  "Hey Mike.  Do about what?"
   Mike turned to the senator, "Senator Dimes here suggested that he wouldn't 
support the cig ban unless government workers were exempt.  What do you think 
about that?"
    Senator Irving reminded himself that he didn't need to debate the merits of 
the cig ban, but did need to search for unethical behavior. For a few moments he 
stood silently.  Then he said, "I shall think about it." 
    Mike looked at Cato in surprise.  Then he noticed the rest of his guests all 
arriving at the same time.  In the lead were Grant Richardson, Melody Armstrong, 
and Abner Housier.  In the middle were Victor and Angela Septavious. And lastly 
came Joe Athens, Helen Troy, and Bob Mercury.
    Cato waved for all of them to join their group.  The others in their close 
knit circle stepped back to widen the circle for the newcomers. Helen stepped 
into the circle next to Senator Bellum, who had moved aside slightly for her.  
Senator Bellum glanced at her mismatched orange blouse and yellow shorts and 
increased the distance separating them.  Helen noticed and asked him, "Is 
something wrong?"
	Senator Bellum frowned as he replied, "It's not right that you would come 
to a formal conference like this dressed like that."
	Joe, across the circle, objected.  "Sir, please remember your manners."
      Angered, Senator Bellum looked at Joe.  "And you sir, should remember to 
shave before coming to a formal conference."
      Joe felt anger.  This guy not only insulted Helen, he also insulted me.  
But then Joe's sense of humor came to his rescue.  Stepping forward, across the 
Circle, he addressed Senator Bellum.  "Sir, please tell me what clothing you 
believe Helen should be wearing to this very formal occasion."
      Senator Bellum stepped backward.  "Sir, I do not usually engage in 
hypothetical conversation.  But since you are so forward, I will answer you."  
Turning to Helen, he said.  "Your blouse is quite pretty.  If you had worn a 
skirt the same color, then it would have been acceptable."
      Joe stepped between Senator Bellum and Helen, blocking Senator Bellum's 
view of Helen.  Joe whispered to Helen, "Give me a quick shave.  Can you make a 
matching skirt underneath your shorts?"
	Helen laughed.  "What a teaser you are."  Helen rubbed her right hand 
across Joe's chin and face, erasing the stubble that had begun to grow.  As Joe 
turned around, Helen's shorts vanished and were replaced by a full orange skirt 
that reflected the light in rainbow sparkles.
       Senator Irving had watched with interest.  It took a brave person, or 
maybe a foolish person to cross Senator Will Bellum.  But then when Joe turned 
around, Senator Irving saw that now Joe's hint of a beard had completely 
vanished.  And Helen now wore a beautiful skirt that matched her blouse. Senator 
Irving howled with laughter.  "Look at that.  Will, these two magicians have 
foiled you."
      Senator Bellum frowned and stepped across the circle away from Helen and 
Joe.  They had set him up.  Senator Bellum vowed that someday they would both be 
sorry that they ever dared to cross him.
 Still chuckling, Senator Irving addressed the group with his test 
question. "I want to get some advice from this group.  I own some lakefront 
property.  Recently some crook bought the land under my lake.  He sent me, and 
all my neighbors, a letter threatening to build a floating wall in the lake.  
The wall would extend all the way around the lake. But he would not build it if 
we each paid him $5000.  At first I intended to sue the bastard. What do you 
folks think about that?"
    Abner responded first.  "I think you are right.  The courts should recognize 
that you have the right to view the lake and your rights should be greater than 
the crooks right to build his wall.  However I think you should interest some 
city lawyers to take up your case for you.  Surely it would be in the interest 
of the city to prosecute this guy."
    Bob responded next. "Well, if you sue, you lose money to the courts.  If you 
don't sue, but pay the guy, you lose money to the crook.  I think you should let 
the guy build the wall.  Call his bluff.  Then if he does build the wall, make 
it so that it mysteriously sinks into the mud overnight.  I don't think he would 
dare sue you for sinking his wall."
    Cato grinned.  "You have a very interesting idea son. I like it."  But 
Senator Bellum silently made a mental note that one of Helen's team approved 
possibly illegal actions.  Maybe he could embarrass them by exploiting that 
tendency.
    For a few moments no one spoke.  Senator Heedly took this opportunity to 
open his shoulder bag and take out an official document.  Stepping forward into 
the circle, he handed it to Helen.  "This is a full patent on your smokeless 
cigs, based on the information you provided in your web page."
     Helen blushed, and stood speechless for a few seconds.  "I did not expect 
this.  Why are you giving it to me?"
	Mike answered the question by pointing toward the waiting reporters.  "I 
think that one of our reporters just turned on his telemike.  Why don't we sit 
down for our press conference?"  Mike stepped to the wall and toggled a switch.  
Immediately a semicircular section of the floor rose into the air. Soon, that 
part of the floor became a roof over a semicircular row of chairs. 
       Everyone except Mike sat down in the provided chairs and faced the press 
box where the reporters were sitting. Mike strode to midway between the chairs 
and the press box. "Ok folks.  It's question and answer time."
       Angela sitting next to Victor gave his hand a tight squeeze. "I'm 
suddenly very nervous.  Why do we have to answer questions?"
       Victor whispered to her, "I don't think you'll have to say anything.  The 
reporters will probably zero in on Helen and the Senators."
	The first reporter stood to ask his questions.  "Senator Heedly, Why have 
you called for this conference?  Have you had second thoughts about imposing a 
ban on cig products from Indonesia?"
	Senator Heedly also stood to answer the question.  "Not at all.  But we do 
live in a democracy.  And I consider it quite appropriate that everyone 
concerned with this issue be given a fair hearing.  When all is said and done, I 
will be ready with my final decision."
      Mike shook his head.  Score one for the Senator.  He slipped out of that 
one too easily.
	The first reporter continued with his allotted questions.  "Just now you 
gave ms Troy a package of documents. Please tell us what those documents 
contained."
	The senator paused a few seconds before replying.  "Those documents are 
personal to Helen Troy. The press need not pry into them."
	Senator Bellum saw an opportunity.  He jumped up.  "I'll answer your 
question.  I don't believe that patent rights documents are personal 
information.  Our beloved Senator Heedly just gave Helen Troy the full patent 
rights to her smokeless cigs so that she may legally sell them.  Perhaps ms Troy 
has found some way to blackmail esteemed Senator Heedly."  Turning to Heedly, 
Senator Bellum said,  "How about it sir?  What hold does she have on you?"
       Senator Heedly turned to face Senator Bellum.  "Will, you have always 
been too suspicious of others.  I now understand that I made a mistake when I 
proposed that amendment to outlaw the smokeless cig's.  Ms Troy has fully 
documented on her public web site how the cigs are made.  Competent biochemists 
have testified to me that the cigs are safe.  I have now partially rectified my 
mistake."
	Senator Bellum shook his fist at Heedly, and even though his face 
displayed anger and frustration, he said nothing more as he sat down.
	A second reporter took his turn to ask questions.  "My questions are also 
addressed to Senator Thurmond Heedly.  Senator, in 2048, you voted for Senator 
Latt, who ran on a hawkish campaign.  Recently, you even said that if Senator 
Latt had been elected in 2048, that we would be a better nation now.  Are you 
claiming we should have a hawkish foreign policy now?"
	Senator Heedly sat very still while he pondered how to answer.  He spoke 
silently to himself, "I should have been alerted that the reporter planned an 
attack when he used my first name."  After a few seconds, he spoke out loud.  
"Ah, my friend, my friend.  Because of my esteem for that great peacemaker 
Senator Latt, I completely forgot that he had ever held hawkish views.  However, 
I strongly believe, that if he had been elected in 2048, he would have had the 
opportunity to build his great peace networks even sooner. I stand by my 
statements."
	Mike thought to himself, "Another point for the Senator.  He's just too 
good with words."
	The next reporter stood to ask his questions.  "My questions are to Grant 
Richardson.  Sir, you have had a lifelong interest in extraterrestrial beings.  
Have you ever found proof for extraterrestrial existence?"
	Grant wondered what this is about.  He had examined Helen's smokeless cigs 
and concluded extraterrestrials aliens had provided her with the biological 
knowledge needed to create the cigs. Surely the reporter didn't care about his 
actually recording an invisible alien. The report he'd already sent in had been 
totally ignored.  This reporter probably wants to expose Helen's contacts with 
aliens.  No! No one is going to hurt Helen on his account.
	Grant stood and spoke directly to the reporter.  "Sir, I have nothing of 
interest to tell you.  It is true that I've searched for Aliens all my life.  
But I've never found one."
	The reporter persisted. "Sir, I suggest that if you examine the web page 
of Helen Troy, the same broadcast web page that you authorized, you will find 
evidence of extraterrestrial knowledge. What do you say to that?"
	Grant looked puzzled.  He knew the reporter spoke truth.  He had reached 
the same conclusion himself.  His puzzled look signified his rapid thinking, 
searching for a way out of this trap. He looked around the room and caught 
Victor's eye.  Victor held his right hand up vertically, touched his chin with 
his thumb, and then holding his hand in the same orientation, touched his chest 
with his thumb.  Next, he held both hands palm out and moved them up and 
forward, three times, while leaning slightly forward as if about to bow before 
royalty.  Grant understood his suggestion. Victor had used sign language to 
praise Helen.
	Grant returned his attention to the reporter.  "Sir, I did indeed examine 
the content of Helen Troy's web page.  I found evidence that Helen posses a 
remarkable intuition for biological systems, and demonstrates a high order of 
engineering genius.  I found no proof of alien technology."
	Mike felt frustrated.  None of his verbal traps so far had worked. He had 
expected Grant to confirm a possible link between Helen and extraterrestrials.  
The next gambit would be weaker without that confirmation.  In spite of that, 
Mike signaled for the next reporter to proceed.
	"I direct my questions to Angela Septavious.  You are the accountant for 
the union store on Eastside campus.  Didn't someone rob that store during the 
Independence Day holidays in 2090? "
	Angela jumped to her feet.  "No! No! No!  You are devils trying to 
besmirch Helen's reputation.  She replaced the cigs she took with merchandise of 
equal value.  The store didn't lose anything."
	Mike smiled.  Angela couldn't have responded better. She'd volunteered the 
information he expected to have to pry out of her.
	The reporter also smiled. "Thank you.  But the thief left no identifying 
evidence.  How did you know it was Helen Troy?"
       Angela looked around the semicircle.  Helen smiled and mouthed the words, 
"It's ok."  Victor raised his left hand, and made his right hand flat as if 
laying it on a book.  Angela recognized the gesture of swearing to tell truth in 
a court of law.
	Angela turned back to the reporter.  "She told me.  Helen is my friend.  
She's an Angel.  She can't do anything wrong."
	The reporter glanced down at his short list of questions, and decided to 
throw in his own question.  "How did Helen manage to break into the store 
without triggering the alarms?  Did you let her in?"
      Helen flew out of her chair, landing on the floor midway between Angela 
and the reporter.  She addressed the reporter.  "Hey! That's not a fair question 
to ask Angela! I'll answer the rest of your questions. There's no need to badger 
my friend Angela about it. I don't need to tell you how I broke in. However, I 
do promise that I'll never go through locked doors again unless I'm very sure 
the owner doesn't mind. Also, as Angela has told you, I did no harm to the 
store."
	Mike surprised himself by admiring Helen's boldness.  He looked to Dan, 
wondering what he thought.  Dan looked pensive as he stared at Helen. Turning 
toward Mike, Dan said, "She has style! I sure would like her to work for me."
	Mike opened his mouth to respond to Dan, but said nothing.  What could he 
say?  He couldn't call his boss crazy!  Didn't he know that Helen intended to 
destroy United Tobacco Company?  Surely he did. What could he be thinking?
      Mike sighed and signaled the reporters to end the press conference.  
Mike caught Cato's eye.  When Cato caught up to him, Mike made his request.  
"Cato, the informal party is beginning now. I'd like you to talk to our guests, 
especially Senator Heedly. See if you can spin doctor the revelations from our 
little press conference to our benefit. If you can cast doubt on Helen's 
reputation, all the better."
	Cato smiled. "Sure.  It's one of the things I really enjoy doing.  Do you 
want me to get Will to help me?"
	Mike considered the question.  "No, Senator Bellum has become neurotic 
about Helen.  I don't think he'll be much help."
	The subject of their conversation, Senator Bellum, smiled gleefully.  This 
time he had her.  She had admitted her guilt.  It should be easy to buy an 
attorney willing to prosecute her for stealing from the campus union store.

Chapter 25



Not yet the END

Epilogue

     As Helen jumped up onto the low stage, Joe's watch chimed to signal 
beginning time. He took the microphone.  "As senior member of our group, I get 
to make the introductions.  I'm Joe Athens, the guitar player is Bob Mercury, 
and our lovely singer is my lovely wife, Helen Troy Athens.  Today is, Saturday 
July 1st, 2202.  Why am I reminding you of this?  It's so that when I tell you 
that today is both Bob's and Helen's birthday, you will remember it. Of course, 
I'm not permitted to tell you what year she came into the world."  Joe grinned 
as he added,  "And no fair asking Bob his age!"


***************************************




$CUTS


Helen, Joe and Bob planned strategy. Bob asked,  "So, Helen, why did we 
meet here in my house instead of our usual place at Joe's?"
Helen replied.  "Joe rents a duplex.  I live in a dormitory. You actually 
own this house.  That's what makes it best for our quasi-commercial venture."
Joe looked at Helen.  "Commercial venture?  Is this more serious than my 
proposal to repair music equipment?"
Helen pretended to miss the teasing aspect of Joe's question.  She looked 
serious as she replied, "Yes, it is.  By the way you missed an opportunity to 
advertise your venture at the Shoppe faire yesterday."
Bob looked surprised.  "Joe, you're going to repair music equipment?  When 
did you learn how?"  Then Bob grinned as he looked at Helen.  "Ah, I see.  Joe, 
you're not the one who will be repairing the music stuff."
Helen responded.  "That's right. You guys take the credit, and I do all 
the work."
Joe touched Helen's hand.  "Very good, Helen.  I couldn't have said it 
better myself."
      Bob asked, "Helen, what are you going to do.  What quasi-commercial 
venture do you have in mind?"
      Helen answered, "I'm going to make a special kind of cig that doesn't 
smoke.  It will be a substitute for the cigs people use now.  And they will help 
people stop smoking!"
Joe grinned.  "I thought you would do something like that.  How are you going to 
do it."
	Helen answered, "I've figured out most of what I need to do. However, I 
need to know if you wish to help me."
      Bob looked at Helen in surprise.  "Of course we wish to help you."  Bob 
looked at Joe in time to see his confirming nod.
	Helen smiled.  "Thanks.  I hoped I could count on you.  Bob, I need to 
build some equipment to put in your basement.  I hope it's ok with you."
	Bob looked amused.  "Sure.  What do you want to put in my basement?"
      Helen answered.  "It gets complicated.  I'll build some equipment to make 
the alternative cigs.  I now understand the complete biology of cig addiction. 
My alternative cigs will not produce any smoke. And they will undo some of the 
cig addiction. But I haven't yet worked out how to get people to switch from 
their regular cigs to mine."
	Bob smiled.  "Sounds good to me.  Joe and I can help you with the sales 
pitch.  But what happens after we are highly successful?  Will you have time to 
deliver all those alternative cigs?"


	
	Helen laughed.  "That part I've already figured out.  Watch."  Helen 
Extended her arms in front of her.  Slowly a complicated machine formed from her 
arms and grew toward the floor.  Helen answered their unspoken question.  "This 
is the master constructor.  It will direct the building of all the equipment we 
need.  I gave it an artificial intelligence based on my own brain, and put in 
its memory all the foundation knowledge it needs. It will do all the work.  The 
only thing we have to do is be super sales people for a while."
	Joe whistled.  "Wow.  I really am impressed. So what sort of things will 
it build?"
	Helen sighed.  "Whatever it wants after I give it supplies and a few 
robots to direct."  
      Helen cupped her hands in her lap and one after another, several extremely 
small machines emerged, and ran over to the master computer.
	Bob looked puzzled.  "You said 'whatever it wants'.  Isn't it a computer?  
I thought computers just followed instructions."
	Helen laughed. "This is more than a computer.  It can solve unexpected 
difficulties the same way any person would. We need to treat it the same way we 
would treat a person.  That's why we should only suggest to it what we wish it 
to do."
Joe smiled his teasing smile. "If we must treat it like a person, why are you 
referring to it, as 'it'.  Shouldn't we give it a name?"
	Helen laughed.  "Of course.  What name do you suggest?"
	Bob chimed in, "We could call it 'Constructor'.  After all, that is what 
it does."
	Joe grinned, "Actually, I thought that 'Helen Computer' would be quite 
appropriate."
	Helen waved her hand to indicate it didn't matter. "Constructor has heard 
and understood this conversation.  So you may use either name."
Joe laughed.  "Can it talk?"
      Helen laughed.  "Constructor doesn't have a voice yet.  But if it wishes 
to talk, it can build a speaker for itself now."
	Joe laughed again.  "Hey, Constructor, I have a suggestion for your 
delivery vehicles when you get around to it."  Joe paused, waiting for a 
response, but then remembered that Constructor could not talk.
	Joe continued, "I've always been fascinated by those toy flying saucers.  
You could make small toy flying saucers for the delivery vehicles. Each one 
could take only a few orders, but since you can build as many as needed, why 
should it matter?"


**************************************************************************************************************



Chapter 9

Just before beginning her first song, Helen looked out to the land where 
already a large number of people were gathered.  She smiled as she took 
the mike and spoke into it.  "The first two songs 



*******  Can I build up Helen's character in such a way that these two 
songs fit naturally into the story,  or must I delete them? 



I have considered making Helen want to do whatever she can to help 
everyone be happy.  Whenever she sees someone unhappy, she might give 
advice for how to work through it, or how to avoid the cause of the 
unhappiness.  Many of her songs are motivated by this.

  
This will impact the way she attempts to persuade others to quit smoking.

 ********

"Friendship isn't glass.
But if you worry
about it breaking,
it may be you cause
it all to shatter.

It's not a football,
so please don't be rough,
so please be gentle.
It wouldn't be good
to lose it by wear.

Friendship is a gift.
So permit yourself
to feel its beauty
and let it reside
in your heart always."


	After the end of the song, she again spoke into the mike.  "Who 
here has never been insulted?"  When no one responded, she said, "Who 
here has been insulted recently?"  Lots of people waved their arms, or 
yelled a response.  
	Helen smiled.  "And who has unintentionally insulted a friend 
recently?"  There were fewer people who were willing to admit to this. 
	Helen continued.  "How many here have deliberately insulted their 
friends?"  One person in the back row jumped up and waved his arms.
	
********  Should I show how Helen acknowledges the person?  ******

	Helen acknowledged the person, and then said,   "Isn't it 
interesting that more people have been insulted than have done the 
insulting?  Ever wonder how that's possible?"  She began to sing.

"Insults aren't true.
So if one you hear,
either you misheard
or else the other misspoke.

Insults aren't true.
So if one you hear,
You should ask questions
which accurately show
what the other intended.

Insults aren't true.
So if one you hear,
it's not important.
But seek for the truth 
that lies underneath.

Insults aren't true.
So if one you hear,
turn it inside out,
the better to see,
which part is false,
and which part is true."


	After they finished all their songs, and said goodbye to the 
audience, Helen, Joe and Bob exited the stage to the back. Helen smiled 
as she turned invisible.



	Then invisibly, she fell into the sky.  Three hours later, still 
invisible, she touched down lightly on the moon. The moon lander stood 
directly in front of her.  Helen walked over to it, and stood adjacent to 
it for a few moments in order to see the interior.  They were getting 
ready to launch!  She had gotten here just in time.