The Forgotten Past Part 9: Delivery
	After three hours, Ness's mother finally awoke. "It wasn't a
dream. My family is going to die." 
	"I'm sorry," Jeff tried his best to comfort. "I wish we could
do more for you."
	"I wish there was something more I could do," Julia answered,
sounding angry now. "They're both so young." She fell into tears. 
Footsteps could be heard on the stairs. 
	"What's going on?" Tracy asked. "Mom, what's wrong?" This just
made her sob even more. "What are you guys doing here? Where's Ness?"
	Jeff opened his mouth to say it, wondering how he was going to
get through saying it a second time. Julia put a hand up in a stop
gesture. "I'll tell her. You five should go on home." 
	They followed her advice. Within minutes, Poo had teleported 
everyone home. For days, the time seemed to stand still. Their grief
made the days creep by into monotony. They wondered what cruel fate
was in store for the descendants. More particularily, what fate was in
store for Ness. 
				***
	Tammy's first stop was at her home. She meant to only stay 
briefly and then deliver Ness's letters in person. However, her mother 
didn't want her venturing off so soon. 
	"There are adresses on all of them. You could mail them.
	"Mom, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here right now. I 
could be dead now! He could be dead now! I can't just mail them."
	"I understand that. But I don't think it's safe to go in that
contraption and it would take too long otherwise. It's out of the 
question. It just can't be done."
	"I can fly it! You're not even giving me a chance!"
	"Sweetheart, I almost lost you once. Can't you see I don't want
to loose you again?"
	"You didn't loose me last time and you won't loose me this 
time. I can take care of myself and I can fly that thing as good as any
of those aliens." Tammy stomped off to her room, disgusted. "My mom
treats me just like everyone else," she muttered as she paced back and
forth. "Just because I'm short, everyone think's I'm stupid or 
something I'll show her. I'll show them all!"
	That night, she snuck out of the house and into the pod. 
	"Let's see here..." She fiddled around with it a long time,
trying to understand the language everything was in. "This looks 
interesting... a human languages system? Why is that here? Oh, well."
	Instead of running away that night, she spent weeks sneaking 
off and learning the alien language. She knew her mother suspected 
something, but there wasn't much she could do about that. Before this 
had happened, saying their relationship was strained would have been 
a big understatement. Everyone who knew them said they were too alike
to get along. They also said that Tammy resembled her father more than 
her mother, which would be the reason why her parents were divorced. 
	"Honey," her mother said one day. "If you ever need to talk 
about anything, you know I'm right here."
	"Yes, mother."
	"Do you still have those letters?"
	"Yeah."
	"Then go deliver them. You will anyway. I can't stop you. 
You're like your father in that respect." In a low, almost inaudible 
tone,she added, "I could never stop him either."
	This was something Tammy never would have expected. "You mean 
it?"
	"Of course I do." Her mother was one of those people who rarely
said what she did not mean.
	"Thank you!" They embraced for the first time in a long time.
"You can come too... if you want."
	"I think this is something you'd better do alone. I know you'll
be fine." Soon after that, Tammy took off, in search of the town of 
Onett and Ness's immediate family. 
				***
	For days, Ness lived without company. He wondered what was 
going on.He'd expected to at least be tortured by now. Boredom seemed 
worse than any torture they could concoct, but he expected them to at 
least attempt to match it in some form of physical pain. After what 
seemed like an eternity, one day, Ganiana entered his cell.
	"Why have you not attempted to escape?"
	"What would be the point? You'd just hurt more innocent 
people to get to me. We both know that. You've left me with no 
real options here."
	"What do you mean?" She was unnerved by his selflessness.
	"Well, I don't see escaping as an option. You have me 
here against my will, yes, but if it's between dying and the whole 
human race dying, then, well, I'd die either way, wouldn't I?" She 
was stunned into silence. Of course, this was all true, but humans 
were supposed to be selfish creatures, only looking out for what 
might benefit them, rather than worry about anyone else. "I 
don't know how else to say it," he said after a long pause. "Is it
really that hard to understand?"
	"Of course not. Anyone could see the logic in that."
	"How come you look so confused, then?"
	"I'm not confused."
	"Okay, then." Ness assumed aliens used their faces 
differently to convey certain emotions. Perhaps it was truely an
expression of deep thought. 
	[It's just a trick to unnerve me. Perhaps he will attempt
to kill me and then escape as soon as my back is turned. I won't
give him the chance.] Even as she thought this, it somehow seemed
improbable. His words seemed sincere. [George and Maria were that
way as well. We trusted them and they betrayed us.] At once, she 
had a strong desire to leave before he had the chance to pull 
anything. She absconded at once, without ever turning her back
on him.
	"These people sure are weird," Ness muttered after she
was gone. 
				***
	Tammy had finally found the town of Onett. It took her a good 
half hour to find Ness's house. The townspeople looked a little freaked
when they saw her transportation, so she was more than hesitant to ask 
for directions. 
	She rang the doorbell nervously. It was Tracy who answered. 
"Hi. I'm Tammy Marlow and..."
	"Whatever you're selling, we don't want it."
	"I'm not selling anything. I have a couple of letters here for 
you and your mom."
	"Letters?"
	"Here you go." Tammy handed them to her. 
	There were tears in her eyes when she saw who had written them. 
"This is impossible. You must have foraged  them... or something."
	"I'm sorry if you feel that way, but I didn't forage them. How
would I know what his handwriting looked like?"
	"There are ways," she muttered, her words had no conviction.
"Thank you anyway."
	"You're welcome. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
	"Thanks."
	"I'd better be off." She held up the remaining letters. "I've
got people to meet and places to go." 
	Tracy smiled. "That'll keep you busy for awhile."
	"I know. He's been practically everywhere."
	"Well, bye."
	"Yeah. Bye." Tammy went back to the stolen alien escape pod and
made a couple more stops around Onett before heading to Twoson. 
				***
	Paula's day was creeping by at the speed that a snail would 
find annoyingly slow. In addition to her grieving, which was unbearable
in its own right, the air conditioning wasn't working. It was 88 
degrees outside with a slight warm breeze and so humid you could smell
the water in the air. Needless to say, being inside was only a slight
improvement. She was glad it was Saturday. None of the kids were here
today, so they didn't have to suffer through the heat. Technically, she
didn't have to either, but she wasn't in the mood to leave the house, 
even if it was sweltering. Around noon, the doorbell rang. 
	"Paula! Could you get that?" her mother called. 
	"Okay," she replied grumpily and set down her book. "It better
not be a reporter," she muttered under her breath. Lucky for her, it 
wasn't.
	"Are you Paula Polestar?" asked the girl at the door.
	"Guilty."
	"I have a letter for you."
	"Would't it fit in the box?" 
	"I'm not with the post office. My name is Tammy Marlow."
	"Aren't you the missing girl?"
	"Yup. I got abducted by aliens and someone you know helped me
escape, but decided not to come with. As a feeble attempt to repay him,
I'm delivering all of his last words through these letters. Here is 
yours." She held it out. Paula had figured out who it was from and 
grabbed it eagerly. "Thank you!"
	"You're welcome. You know, he spent the most time and paper
on your letter. Were you two..."
	Paula's expression sobered. "No. We probably would have 
been eventually, but..."
	"I'm sorry."
	"It's not your fault. Thanks for the letter." Suddenly, she
burst into tears. "I-I wish..." Tammy was taken aback by the display
of emotion and didn't know how to react. 
	"Ummm... I know. I wish it was that idiot, Pokey instead. He's
a loser anyway. Paula was crying too hard to question how she knew 
who Pokey was and continued sobbing. "Let it all out. You'll feel  
better. I know." After another minute of sobbing, Paula finally stopped 
crying.
	"I'm sorry. I..."
	"Don't worry about it. 
	"Thanks! I'd better get going."
	"Bye." Paula held out the letter and looked it over. The 
envelope was primitive and made in an oragami fashion, without any 
help from tape. 
	"Bye!" Tammy waved as she struggled to climb into the pod. 
	"Good-bye! Thanks again!" Tammy nodded to this and then shut
the hatch. She took off and to deliver the many letters that remained.
				***
	Teddy sat in a vacant cafe, waiting for his partner to arrive.
Once again, he was cleaning off the counter. At last, the door opened
and a man sat down on the counter.
	"You're late," Teddy said without looking up.
	"I got held up."
	"What'll it be?"
	"My new usual." Teddy filled a glass with ice water and set it
down in front of him. "It happened again. That's five incidents now."
	"In the past couple of days? They're good."
	"What I can't understand is why they haven't gone to his
immediate family yet. I'm sure they've done some research by now."
	"Yeah." Teddy thought of the woman who had questioned him 
about the Chosen Four. [Naw, it can't be.]
	"It's very strange. Even when we get there, it's as though 
nothing has happened. It is, however very unlikely that we will be
able to cover this up. Word of one of them has already leaked out."
	"It's about time. Have you negotiated with the press?"
	"Yes. It's going to take a lot of money to keep them quiet.
Things are already appearing in the tabloids."
	"Like you said before: No one believes the tabloids. Calm down
and focus."
	"You're right. This is no time for panic." 
	"Who do you think will be abducted next?"
	"It's hard to say. The disappearances have no pattern that
we can find."
	"We could just let it all go. I mean, they're cleaning up after
themselves and weither we like it or not, this will leak out sooner
or later."
	"You know better than I do we can't do that."
	"I guess you're right."
				***
	"Only two stops left," Tammy muttered as she flew toward 
Winters. 
				***
	Jeff was living with his father for the first summer in a long
time. Normally, he would stay at the school all summer as well, even 
though the classes were optional. This year, he and his father had 
planned to get to know each other better, to make up for ten years of
lost time. 
	At the moment, their only screwdriver that would work on a 
certain screw on the Phase Distorter. This was a problem because they
were installing a mechanism that would allow living things to travel
through time safely. Jeff was looking through the extensive wrench 
collection for it when he heard a knock at the door.
	"Hello?" He looked outward and saw nothing. Then he looked 
down. 
	"Hi, are you Jeff?" said the short girl at the door. She was
reading the name off the sheet. 
	"Yeah."
	"I'm Tammy Marlow and I'm here to deliver you a letter. Here
you go."
	He took the letter from her and recognized the handwriting. 
"This is impossible."
	"Not imposible. Just highly unlikely." She reached into her 
coat pocket and pulled two letters out of some secret pocket inside. 
After looking at both of them, she put one back inside. "Is Dr. 
Andonuts here too? This is the address on the envelope."
	"He's here. I'll give it to him."
	"Good. That makes my job easier." She handed him the letter. 
"Well, I'd better get going. It's a long way to Dalaam and my 
vehicle seems to be running out of gas."
	"We have a lot of different types of fuel here. What do you
need?"
	"I have no idea. It isn't mine." She walked back to the pod.
Jeff glanced at it once and then turned back to it in awe. 
	"You can pilot that thing?" 
	"Sure. It was my ticket back to Earth."
	"Back to Earth? You were that missing girl."
	"Yup."
	"Why did they want you? Are you related..."
	"You mean they told you? I had to wait three weeks before they
told me anything! And no, I'm not related to Ness. I'm just the 
escaped test subject." With that, she climbed inside the pod. Jeff 
stepped back and she took off into the sky. A couple minutes later, she
came back down again, nearly touching the ground only a few feet from
where she had taken off. Her cursing could be heard from outside. Jeff 
could also hear her kicking something. This must have had some effect
because a few seconds later it took off again. 
	She landed in Dalaam three hours later, toward sunset. After
standing at the doorstep knocking for ten minutes, someone finally told
her that most people just walked in. She asked for Poo and was told he
wasn't there at the moment.
	"Can you give this to him? It's very important."
	"I will do my best." 
	"Thank you." With that, Tammy finally headed for home.
				*** 
	"You had the Chosen Four in your grasp and you allowed them 
to escape! Why didn't you capture all of them?" the commander demanded
of Ganiana.
	"Only one of them was related to George..."
	"NEVER speak that name in my presence again. Besides, I don't 
care how many of them were related to... the human. They killed Giygas.
Have you forgotten that? A crime such as that should result in death!"
	"Commander, ignorance had to be a factor in this situation. 
They didn't the seriousness of what they did. Besides, they had no
choice!"
	He whirrled around and looked Ganiana directly in the eye.
"You've grown soft," He accused in almost a whisper. "Humans are 
selfish, lying creatures, Ganiana." There was sorrow in his voice and
expression in addition to hatred. It was impossible for Ganiana to 
fathom the hate he bore against humanity. "Until you relearn this, you
are removed from your position abord this ship." She had expected to
feel hatred, grief or even shame. In their place was a strange calm.
	"I would expect nothing else." She waited as Giegue pushed a 
button near a speaker on the wall.
	"Jagner, come in."
	"What is it, sir?"
	"Come to my quarters immediately and put Ganiana under arrest.
Then take her to the jail cell."
	"Ganiana? Under what charge?"
	The commander cast his angry stare on her again. "Treason."