Ark

"Now that's a deep hole," said Stepan as he carefully looked down into the Ark's core.

Tyne finished strapping on his safety equipment and joined him at the edge, "You have no idea. I hate going in there, I'm not really a big fan of heights."

"No time like the present to get over it," said Nyo and got ready to repel into the core. "Stepan, I want you to monitor the main panel on the wall over behind you. If something comes up then let us know through the sub-vocal, ok?"

"Ok," replied Stepan. "Good luck."

"Thanks, hopefully we won't need it," said Nyo as he and Tyne then began their slow descent into the core.

"When we get back I want to hop into the Interactive Integration Module," commented Tyne. "Assuming that you've kept it working that is."

"I've kept it running but Ark said I couldn't get in it," said Nyo. "Ark said something about me not being able to handle it."

"That's understandable," Tyne said he started to descend. "I'll explain later."

"Ok," replied Nyo.

"Do you remember how far down Ark's memory link panels are?" asked Tyne nervously as he did his best not to look down.

"Yeah about half a mile," replied Nyo. "Hey are you ok?"

Tyne took a few more deep breaths, "Yeah I'll be fine, I wasn't kidding though I really am afraid of heights."

"Oh ok," said Nyo. "I've never really met someone that didn't like heights. Although I'll admit I haven't met all that many people."

Tyne closed his eyes and then changed the subject, "So how long have you known Stepan?"

"Oh just about a day or so now," replied Nyo. "I saved him and the other two boys from a really bad situation. Wait a minute, Founders are telepathic; I thought you could read my mind."

"Yeah if I wanted it all at once," said Tyne taking a few more deep breaths. "If you've been around for over fifty thousand years I think I'd rather just stick to asking you questions, reading your mind might kill me."

"I'm sure Stepan would appreciate it if you didn't read his mind either," Nyo said as he reached over and pulled Tyne into himself.

Tyne's eyes shot open, "What are you doing?"

"Just trust me," replied Nyo. "I want you to grab onto me really tight and then I'm going to drop us a little faster, at this rate we'll be descending for hours."

Tyne didn't say anything but he did as Nyo asked and as soon as Nyo was sure that Tyne had a good grip he pressed a button on the side of his clamp causing them to start descending at a much faster rate.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Tyne kept repeating over and over again.

"It's ok," Nyo said softly into Tyne's ear. "I won't let you fall."

"This is going to be a long day," Tyne said into Nyo's chest.

~~~

"Jeez, we barely got off that shuttle before getting run over," said Dmitry as he and Dominic started towards the group of buildings near the landing pad. "You know this place doesn't compare to Ark for a Headquarters, I'm not impressed."

Dominic chuckled, "Whatever, they're still moving; we can compare architecture later."

"Oh hey, if they all live here does that mean that I can..." Dmitry started to say.

"NO! Let's not even go there!" Dominic said quickly. "Let's just find somewhere to stand before things get crazy here."

"Oh come on what makes you think things will be getting crazy?" asked Dmitry as he stared too long at one of the boys as they passed them at one of the door.

"Hey! Stop that!" said Dominic. "We probably need to find out where they gather to work and stick there as long as we can."

Dmitry giggled, "Ok fine, you're no fun. Do we have a map?"

"Oh yeah right next to my tent, coil of rope, and pocket knife," replied Dominic.

"Well maybe your tent but..." Dmitry started to say.

"I'll find us a computer then!" Dominic said quickly. "Jeez you're, I don't know, giddy I think is the right word.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just having a good day," said Dmitry as he watched Dominic access a nearby computer. "Oh are your eyes feeling any better?"

"Actually they're starting to give me a really bad headache," answered Dominic. "Okay, their command center is at the center of the compound; it almost looks like everything was built around it."

"Should we find somewhere for you to rest instead?" Dmitry asked as he began rubbing Dominic's shoulders.

"No I'll be fine," replied Dominic. "Ok come on let's get there before I forget where I'm going."

"Well hang on, I've got a photographic memory," said Dmitry as he looked over the map that Dominic had found. "I'll memorize it really quick."

"So about how long do we have until our cloaks don't have any more power?" asked Dominic.

"I'm guessing about five hours," replied Dmitry. "Come on, it should be this way."

Dmitry and Dominic started to carefully make their way through the compound following the directions that Dmitry could remember.

"Hey DT, what are we going to do when five hours is over?" asked Dominic.

"Aren't you the one that said not to panic?" replied Dmitry.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean we can't think ahead," said Dominic.

Dmitry looked up ahead of him and noticed a few boys heading in the direction he wanted to go, "Oh quick, I think they're heading for the command center."

"Do you think it'll be hard to get in?" asked Dominic.

Dmitry smiled and evil grin, "Well if we grease you up a bit..."

"Be serious!" Dominic responded quickly.

"I think if we hurry we can probably get in with this group ahead of us," giggled Dmitry.

"Then quit cracking jokes at me and walk faster pokey," said Dominic.

Dmitry turned and wagged his eyebrows at Dominic, "Hmmm pokey...I'll have to remember that for later when we're alone."

"Ok POINT taken," replied Dominic. "Just walk faster."

Dmitry sighed, "All work and no play..."

"Work first, play later," replied Dominic as rushed ahead of Dmitry and pulled him along.

"Ok," giggled Dmitry.

~~~

"Try it now!" shouted Tyne from within one of the conduits off of the main core.

"Are you sure? The last time you said try it now I got the shit shocked out of me!" replied Nyo from outside the conduit.

"Yeah I'm sure this time," replied Tyne. "Last time I forgot to ground it."

"I'm glad that it didn't burn anything out by doing that," said Nyo as he reconnected power. "Hey no shock, I think we got it!"

< Yes you have, although I think it took you long enough. I still do not have most of my systems online though. >

"Ark! Awesome its good to hear your voice again," said Nyo.

"Hi again Ark," said Tyne. "It's been a long time."

< Yes it has been Tyne. But we can catch up later, for now I still do not have sensors or teleportation abilities. >

"We're working on that," replied Tyne. "It's gonna take a few more hours though."

< Well while I have two of you in here I have a few things that might need looked at, I am detecting a strange pattern in one of my unused core storage units. >

"We'll check it out Ark," said Nyo.

"I think I might know what it is though," added Tyne. "It's nothing bad and it's been there since before I was placed in cryo-sleep."

"Oh?" said Nyo. "Why didn't we notice it before then?"

"Why didn't you notice me before?" Tyne said in reply.

"Good point," chuckled Nyo.

< I assume by now Tyne that I am in a lot of trouble by your standards >

"Damn Skippy! I mean what the heck, were you thinking! My father would kill us both for what you've been doing here!" said Tyne.

< Well... >

"I'm not done," Tyne said quickly.

< Then please continue. >

"However, I also realize that sixty thousand years is a lot longer time then what we predicted," Tyne continued with a smile. "I probably would have done the same thing."

< Good then that means we do not have to go over why I chose to reveal information to the group we have selected. >

"No but I'm still gonna need you and Nyo to fill me in on exactly what we're doing and how we are going about it," responded Tyne.

Nyo grinned, "Fair enough."

< So is there any way that you two could work faster, I still can not talk to Dmitry or Dominic. >

"We can only work so fast," replied Nyo.

"Sounds like Ark has gotten pushy in its old age," mumbled Tyne.

"You have no idea," Nyo whispered back.

< Excuse me? >

"Nothing!" Nyo and Tyne said in unison.

< That is what I though. If the two of you do not mind I am going to have Stepan work on a few other problems that I am detecting as well. >

"That's fine Ark," said Nyo.

"So Ark," said Tyne. "I see you've picked up some help."

< Actually at first I created my help. >

"Yeah Nyo mentioned that, but what is he?" asked Tyne.

Nyo went back to working on the core control panel, "I'm sitting right here ya know."

"Oh sorry Nyo, I just meant..." Tyne started to say.

"It's ok Tyne, I know you didn't mean anything by it," laughed Nyo.

< Nyo is a Vifer, his sub-species was created in the Second Cycle of humanity. >

"Wait so what cycle are we in now?" said Tyne.

< The Fourth >

Tyne shuttered, "Dang I didn't think humanity was that bad."

< You would be surprised at some of the things that humanity has done to itself. >

"So how many sub-species do we have now?" said Tyne.

< There are six including your own species. The Vifer are like the all-purpose sub-species though, they can absorb the skills of the other sub-species if they so wish to and they live the longest. >

"Yeah I kind of figured the long life part of it when Nyo told me how long he'd been around," said Tyne. "So Nyo if you've been around this long any reason why you've only started seeing someone?"

< I have done my best to keep his mind off of anything that he might need in that area. >

"Yeah Ark's mean," giggled Nyo. "I just never really thought about it I guess."

Tyne frowned, "Ark that is mean."

"Don't worry about it Tyne," said Nyo. "I have someone now and I don't think there is anyone in the world that I would rather have over Stepan."

"He seems like a really nice guy although I don't really know either one of you that well," said Tyne. "He is cute though."

Nyo smiled, "Thanks I think so too."

< Stepan is very efficient for some who I just started training a few days ago. >

"So where did you get the rest of your team from?" asked Tyne. "Did Ark make them too?"

"No we rescued Stepan, Dmitry, and Dominic from Russia," replied Nyo. "They had been kidnapped and were being tortured. The other kids that this man had kidnapped didn't make it though."

"Oh, is that why Stepan has a few bruises?" said Tyne.

"Yeah, Stepan was beat badly, Dmitry was being skinned alive, and Dominic got his eyes gouged out," responded Nyo. "We've given Dominic artificial eyes and made all three of them Vifer to help them heal faster."

"And you say that this is the most promising Cycle so far?" Tyne sighed. "It sounds like we have a ton of work to do then."

"Yeah but you should see this Clan that we've been watching work though, they actually get work done," said Nyo. "This Clan is the best hope we're had in years and after being with them for a little while if the rest of the world could take the same approach to life that they do then our work would be done."

< They are very infectious. >

"I still don't understand why any adult would listen to this random group of kids," replied Tyne.

"It's a long story," said Nyo.

"Until we get this stuff working I've got all the time in the world," said Tyne. "There will never be a better time."

~~~

Dmitry and Dominic sat off to the side just inside the door at Clan Short's control center watching everyone that was there rush around exchanging information.

Dominic had his eyes closed and was resting his head in Dmitry's lap.

Dmitry looked down at Dominic and smiled, "How are you feeling now Dom?"

"Actually I think its getting worse," whispered Dominic. "So what's going on, I haven't been listening."

"Well before they went to lunch they got a call from some mysterious person that gave them information about some kids I think," replied Dmitry. "From that point on they were running around here like their butts were on fire. They only took a break for lunch and now they're right back at it again. Oh and the Vulcan boy named Xain is kinda cute."

Dominic sighed, "In the last hour I think you've said that about all of them."

"Well I can't make up my mind, they're all cute," giggled Dmitry.

Suddenly Xain spoke up from the other side of the room, "It appears that our subject is located at a residence 12.38 miles southeast of Missoula, Montana. Information from the Lafayette indicates the presence of one adult and one youth at the location."

"Looks like they're about to get started," said Dmitry.

"Just let me know if we need to move," replied Dominic. "I'd rather not move unless I have to."

"Great job, Xain." Alec responded from his console. "Andy; Rusty! Suit up; you got a kid to grab! Xain, have Lafayette stand by for transport and possible emergency pickup."

"Acknowledged, Alec," Xain replied prompting Andrew and Rusty to scramble to assemble their gear. Xain adjusted the terminal he was using and then initiated a call, "Clan Short Headquarters to Lafayette."

"Lafayette; Lieutenant Chambers. Proceed."

"I require Priority One transport to the coordinates I am uploading at this moment. Two personnel will be transporting in; we require transporters standing by for immediate extraction on their orders," said Xain.

"What two are they sending in?" Dominic asked softly.

"They said Andrew and Rusty," said Dmitry.

"I meant what do they look like," replied Dominic. "I don't want to open my eyes."

"The two red heads," giggled Dmitry.

Dominic smiled, "Oh their cute."

"Hey that's my line!" said Dmitry.

The Lafayette then came back on, "Clan Short Headquarters we are ready to initiate the transport on your command."

Alec looked over at Andrew and Rusty, "You guys ready? This'll put you a little bit away from the site, but ya should be able to see it fine."

The two boys checked their equipment before replying, "We're ready Alec."

"Okay, good luck guys; keep your communicators open until you're done" Alec told them before nodding to Xain.

"Lafayette; Energize" Xain ordered.

Suddenly the two boys disappeared from where they had been standing.

"I'm still not exactly sure what they're doing," said Dmitry.

"Typical blond, they're saving someone," replied Dominic. "Haven't you been listening or have you been spending too much time watching?"

"Hey you're blond too!" said Dmitry.

Dominic grinned slightly, "You're not denying the rest of it though."

"No comment," answered Dmitry.

"We're here. One youth and one adult visible," they suddenly heard Andrew say over the speakers.

Everyone in the room got silent and listened intently to the communications console.

"Bro let me just go up there and say I'm lost; she won't even suspect anything until she's down," they heard Rusty say.

From the other side of the room Alec appeared to be deep in thought and then he leaned forward, "Okay, but you be careful."

"Quit ya worrin; ya's as bad as pop and dad," they heard Rusty say.

"I'm assuming that this adult that they mentioned is the she that they mentioned," whispered Dominic.

"Yeah she has to be they wouldn't be taking down a kid," replied Dmitry.

"Oh yeah I suppose you're right," said Dominic.

"Who's the blond now," giggled Dmitry.

"I can't tell my eyes are closed," replied Dominic.

"Smart ass," mumbled Dmitry.

Just then they heard the word "CLEAR" shouted over the speaker system.

Alec sat up a little straighter, "Strike team, report!"

"We have the youth secured, no team injuries, and one adult suspect down, all secure," they heard Andrew reply back.

"Stand by for transport of the suspect" Alec said as he signaled Xain to perform the extraction of the downed woman.

Everyone that had been sitting and waiting began to slowly start working again; but were still listening in just in case anything was said over the communication channel.

"Hey lil' guy; you must be Matty! I'm Andy; do you think I can get some of those cuddles too?" they heard Andrew say over the speakers.

"That must be the kid's name," whispered Dmitry. "Hey Dom what are cuddles?"

"You, God of Horniness, are asking me what cuddles are?" responded Dominic. "If this headache goes away I'll show you later."

"I wanna go home," came the reply over the speakers.

"Oh wow, he sounds really young," said Dominic.

"Can I get some of those cuddles, please?" they heard Andrew say again.

"Oh dude, you gotta be careful with scared kids," Dmitry said softly.

"I'm sure they know what they're doing DT," replied Dominic.

Matty responded with, "Wusty saved me. Why you wanna cuddle; you ain't gonna do nasty stuff is you?"

"No way little guy! I don't make little boys do nasty stuff! Who told you that cuddles meant nasty stuff?" asked Andrew.

"The preacher an Daddy an Daddy's friend who was watchin me," answered Matty.

"Matty;" they heard Andrew say softly, "all of those people were taught stuff that was wrong. They were trying to teach you the same stuff. I know it's hard, but you need to trust us lil' buddy."

"I'd trust him," said Dmitry.

"You only say that because you think Andrew's cute," Dominic whispered. "If I was Matty I would probably be afraid."

"You're still cuter," replied Dmitry.

Dominic blushed, a little and then opened his eyes a little and smiled up at Dmitry, "Thanks DT."

"It's ok Matty, Andy won't hurt you" came Rusty's voice over the speaker system.

"I wanna go home" they heard Matty repeat.

Dmitry looked up with a worried look, "I don't think that kid is listening to Andrew."

"Matty we're gonna take you home little guy but not for a little bit, we're gonna..." they heard Rusty started to say.

"NO, I WANNA GO HOME!" Matty screamed in reply.

"No! Leave me alone!" they heard Matty shout and then it sounded like Andrew fell to the ground.

"Sounds like the shit hit the fan," mumbled Dominic.

"Or a pissed off kid hit Andrew," added Dmitry.

"Same difference," said Dominic.

"Andrew!" Alec shouted at the communication console. "Andrew what's happening, what's wrong, give me a status report!"

"Leave ... me ... alone!" they heard Matty shout again.

"Some one tell me something!" Alec cried frantically from across the room.

"Matty it's gonna be alright" they heard Rusty say.

"I said LET ME GO! I wanna go home!"

"Andrew, Rusty! Answer me now or I'm sending a security team from the Lafayette!" Alec shouted.

"Alec...emergency transport...ah we got a little problem here!" Andrew gasping, just before they heard Matty start screaming at the top of his lungs.

"God! Kill the sound already," Dominic said as he covered his ears. "He's screaming bloody murder."

"Alec, you better have Xain standing by!" they heard Rusty add.

Alec pressed a few buttons killing the screaming and opening another channel, "Lafayette pull them out."

"Performing emergency transport," came the reply from the Lafayette. "We have them, rerouting to your location."

"Lafayette; hold them in buffers while we prepare to receive them." Alec added.

"Acknowledged. Let us know when you are ready."

"Dom I hate to say this but I think we need to get up," said Dmitry.

"Yeah I think that's a good idea," replied Dominic as he started to get up. "If they're bringing that kid here the last place I want to be is on the floor laying down when he gets here."

Alec spoke up again, "I don't know what the heck happened; let's prepare for the worst guys. Rusty said to have you standing by Xain; get as close as you can without violating the safe zone. I want every exit here double-blocked guys; all security personnel triple check that your phasers are set at low stun. Don't use them unless you have to! Jamie, Jacob; stand by to assist Xain if needed. Places guys!"

"Where the heck do we stand," said Dmitry has he and Dominic moved out of the way of the boys heading for the door they were next to. "We don't want to be bowled over by someone."

"Between this door and that door over there, if we stick to the wall I think we'll be ok," replied Dominic.

As soon as Dmitry and Dominic made it to the wall, Alec reopened the communications channel. "Lafayette; transport to prearranged coordinates."

"Acknowledged. Completing transfer."

"Wait a minute," said Dominic in panic. "They're bringing him here! He's still screaming!"

Dmitry reached up and covered Dominic's ears just as the three boys began to materialize on the other side of the room.

"We got them, Lafayette. Thanks; Headquarters out," said Alec but as soon as he killed the communication link Matty came flying at him and head butted him in the stomach.

Xain rushed in to try and intercept the screaming boy as Matty made a break for the nearest doorway.

"It's a good thing Alec had the boys gather at the doorways," Dmitry mouthed over the sub-vocal.

As Matty hit the group at the door the sheer number of boys slowed him down enough and Xain quickly rushed in and touched Matty on the shoulder; Matty instantly collapsed unconscious on top of his final victims.

Xain turned to where Jamie and Jacob were standing off to the side, "Brothers, it is imperative that we isolate the causes of Matthew's emotional distress before he is permitted to regain consciousness. Alec and Justin; despite standard procedures it would be logical to perform a mind meld with Matthew to assist him with his distress. I would require your approval before commencing such a procedure in the absence of Patriarch Short."

"Just do it Xain! Jamie, Jacob; help him!" Alec groaned from the floor.

"You heard Alec; I agree." Justy added from the bottom of the pile in the doorway.

"Are you ok Dom," Dmitry asked as he took his hands off of Dominic's ears and noticed that he still had his eyes closed tightly.

"I...I don't know DT," replied Dominic softly. "My eyes are killing me and my headache is now like ten times worse then it was."

"Crap," said Dmitry as he watched Xain effortlessly picked up Matty and placed him on a nearby couch. "Dom I think we're going to need to get you some help."

"Are you sure that's a good idea," responded Dominic.

"Come on, no ones watching let's go out into the hall," said Dmitry as he started directing Dominic towards the door. Once they were out in the hall Dmitry continued, "Dom, we have to do something. If something really bad is wrong with your eyes it might do permanent damage and I won't stand for that."

"But if we ask them for help then we will be giving ourselves away," replied Dominic. "Nyo didn't give us permission to do that under any situation."

"Exactly, he didn't say because he didn't anticipate something like this happening," said Dmitry. "We have to do something for you Dom; I can't stand to see you in pain."

"I haven't been through as much pain as you have DT," Dominic said softly. "I'm sure I can afford to go through a little more."

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" replied Dmitry. "Just because Dr. Waltkins did more to hurt me then he did to you doesn't mean that you need to go through any more pain. This isn't a contest or an issue where you need to experience just as much as I have to relate with me. And who's to say that I have been through more and experienced more pain then you have. I don't know what it feels like to have my eyes pulled out. So I don't want to hear crap like that again."

"Sorry," Dominic said quietly. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Dmitry sighed and then pulled Dominic into a hug, "Dom I'm not upset I just don't want to lose you again, not to something like this."

"I'm not going anywhere," replied Dominic as he wrapped his arms around Dmitry. "It'll take more then a headache from hell to get rid of me."

"Can I please get you some help?" asked Dmitry. "Please..."

"Ok DT," said Dominic.

Just then Jamie and Jacob came out into the hallway and started walking in the opposite direction.

"The twins, they'll be perfect," said Dmitry as he grabbed Dominic's hand and then ran after them.

"Wait a second DT they're telepaths, how can we trust them?" asked Dominic.

"Earlier I heard them talking to Mark about Kyle's history," said Dmitry. "And they only told Mark what he needed to know, they refused to tell him anything about what happened to Kyle other then they needed to hunt down the boy's father and 'deal' with him."

"What makes you think that they'll keep the same courtesy with us?" said Dominic.

"We have to choose to trust someone," replied Dmitry.

Dominic suddenly stopped and pulled Dmitry to a stop as well.

"What are we stopping for? What's wrong?" said Dmitry.

"They went into the bathroom and I refuse to let you follow them," responded Dominic.

"Oh, right no bathroom following," giggled Dmitry. "Let's at least wait by the door, that way they have to deal with us before rushing back to their control center."

"Hey DT," said Dominic as he pulled Dmitry into a hug. "No matter what happens I just want you do know that I love you."

Dmitry smiled and returned the hug, "I love you too Dom."

Just then the bathroom door opened and the twins walked out directly into Dmitry.

"Alright DT, you're on," whispered Dominic.

"But what do I say?" said Dmitry.

Dominic sighed and then decided to take the lead, "Please help us."

The twins looked confused for a moment.

"Wait what if they decide to scan for..." Dmitry started to mouth but as the words left his mouth Dominic cried out.

"OWWWW!!!!! Stop, please stop it, that HURTS!!" shouted Dominic as he gripped his left arm.

The twins looked shocked, "What the HECK!! Who ever you are, we ain't gonna help ya if we can't see ya'. Stop playin games before we call the rest of the guys and find ya the easy way. You ain't gonna be able to hide from all of us."

"Not here; can we go somewhere a little more private? I promise you we won't disappear," replied Dmitry.

"And I thought just being around Kyle hurt," Dominic said softly. "Either these things need a pain killer added to them or I need one added to me."

"Kyle?? Dude, I feel for ya; if we hurt you Kyle, hadda almost kill ya," said Jamie before he then looked at Jacob. "Bro, what would Cory do?"

"They say they need help; he'd try to help if he could," replied Jacob. "Tell Justy to keep the on-duty suite clear for a while, we'll fill him in a little bit."

"Yeah, but last time we used our minds we hurt one of them," said Jamie.

Dominic spoke up, "I should be okay as long as only one of you does it and you don't push hard."

Jamie nodded, then went silent for a minute. "Justy says okay; he figured we needed rest after helping with Matty. Follow us guys."

A minute later, they entered the suite set aside for anyone working overnight in CIC. Jamie giggled as the door closed and locked behind them without either of them touching it.

"This is a nice room," mouthed Dmitry. "The walls are even a nice color."

Dominic stopped and looked at Dmitry with a not so happy look.

"Sorry, mouthed Dmitry."I'm just nervous."

"Okay we're in private. Show your faces dudes; if we want to talk to air we'll find Aaron."

"Just a second," said Dmitry. In a hushed tone he added "Do you think we can trust them?"

"It's a little late to be asking that question again DT," replied Dominic, who suddenly became visible; somehow he looked to be leaning on thin air with his eyes closed.

Suddenly another blond boy became visible where the first one was leaning, "Hi, my name is Dmitry. And this is Dominic."

Dominic waved at the twins when he heard his name

Jacob giggled. "Nice entrance dudes! How long you guys been sneaking around like that? And why do you need help? And what the heck is on your arms!"

"About three days," said Dmitry. "Give or take a few hours. I'm not really sure how much we are allowed to say. Oh, this is Giggle; he's kinda like my protector from telepaths and stuff. That's Eyes on Dom's arm. They are Phasenmorphs."

"We were assigned to your group when you guys were in South Carolina," mumbled Dominic from Dmitry's shoulder. "We're supposed to be observing you guys for a particular reason that we can't explain right now."

"Well on the first day our group leader followed Cory and Sean out to the Battery," Dmitry continued. "Whatever happened there caused a panic and he was pulled back to base. Shortly after that we lost contact with base completely."

"We're sure they'll come back for us," said Dominic. "But it's hard to keep hidden when our cloaks are dying."

"That and Dominic's eyes have been bothering him since we got up this morning," added Dmitry. "And I'm worried about him."

Jamie shook his head. "Ummm ... let me get this right here. You've been around for three days without any of us catching you. You are assigned to watch us, but can't tell us anything. Now you somehow got stranded and you can't hide any more. About the only thing that makes sense is Dominic's eyes are hurting him and he needs to have someone check him out. The rest of it is either crap or really weird."

"Really weird? Sounds about right to me," said Dominic. "But if it is a bunch of crap then please tell me why I look like I do."

Dominic suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Jamie clearly showing off the fact that his eyes were mechanical rather then organic like they should be.

"No I have a better Idea," said Dmitry. "Dom close your eyes, you're going to make your headache worse; lay down on the bed over there."

Dominic didn't argue and quickly plopped down on the nearby bed.

"You want to know if I'm lying?" asked Dmitry. "Scan me."

"DT, I don't think that's such a good idea," Dominic said from the bed.

"No I think it is," replied Dmitry. "I'll tell Giggle to stop blocking and you can have a look for yourself, but only if you promise to keep my thoughts to yourselves."

"You realize that whatever I see is going to be the absolute truth don't you?" Jacob asked; giving Dmitry a chance to back out. "I've been trained to seek out the truth in peoples minds, I know how to find everything; there is no way you could send me false information."

Dmitry nodded his head. "I kinda figured that out. I'm ready, go ahead."

"DT, are you sure you'll be okay?" Dominic asked. "I don't want them bring up something from before we left Russia that could hurt you."

"I'll be okay," answered Dmitry. "Just rest for now Dom."

Jacob sat down and concentrated on Dmitry. After a few seconds his eyes started to tear up and then suddenly his face went emotionless. About a minute later, he opened his eyes, "I have concluded that your previous statements were correct. I would suggest you instruct your protectors that the telepathic activity about to commence is safe and that they are not required to protect you. I must confer with my brother on the procedure best suited to securing the data I have acquired."

"I don't think you should have let them scan your mind," Dominic mouthed into the sub-vocal.

"That was my decision," Dmitry mouthed back. "I'm more worried about you then about what they think of me after reading my mind. Don't worry Dom, everything will be ok."

The twins were quiet for almost five minutes. Once they were finished, Jamie looked over at their two guests, "Okay guys; you just redefined weird. Dmitry, while Jacob was in there he set it up so that what happened before you were saved is not going to come back to haunt you. Dominic; if you want we can do that for you too. From what we found out it'd be a good idea."

Jacob took over, "One other thing; if you guys are gonna stay around here we're gonna have to do something or else Kyle will kill your protectors just by being around. Jamie and I figured out a way to shield the mind from Kyle; Cory needed it because Kyle was worrying too much. What happens is we teach you how to split into two memories, public and private. You can access both easily, but telepaths only see the public area. It would save a lot of wear on your protectors."

"Hey if you can help us block Kyle without having to have Giggle or Eyes do it then that would be great," said Dmitry. "It's kinda taxing on the system when we're around him right now, the Phasenmorphs have never come across someone like him before and they end up being over protective just to make sure he's blocked.

"I wouldn't mind, not having my arm feel like it's on fire," added Dominic. "For now I'll pass on your other offer though, I'd like to keep my thoughts mine if that's okay with you."

Jamie smiled, "No problem; but the offer is open anytime you need it. It'll only take a second to teach you the blocking; one side effect is you can sense when someone who can scan you is nearby. It's pretty much automatic normally, but with just a thought you can fully block or fully open your mind. We need to talk about your eyes though; I'm not a doctor but something don't sound right. We gotta figure out a story that'll cover for you so that we can check them out and make sure you are going to be okay."

Dominic smiled a weak smile, "Thanks for understanding. And it sounds like being able to block our minds like that could definitely be helpful."

"For Dom's eyes I'm not sure if he needs a doctor or an engineer," said Dmitry. "Nyo's no doctor but he had to help put them in because of their mechanical properties and how they mesh with our genetics. Do you have anyone that knows how to work with hardware to wetware interfaces?"

"Let's have Doc Austin look at him first," Jacob replied. "If it's not something he can handle then it'll be mechanical and the AI division can probably handle it. How does that sound? I know Doc just got back, so he could be right over to check Dominic out, that way if it's something bad we catch it right away."

"Okay that sounds good," said Dmitry. "Dom what do you think?"

"That my head is going to explode," moaned Dominic. "Yeah that sounds good, just make it stop."

Dmitry went over to the bed and softly spoke three short words to Dominic in Russian. Dominic, despite the way his head felt, looked up at Dmitry, smiled, and then replied in Russian.

Dmitry then turned to the twins, "I'll see what information we have on Dominic's eyes on our handhelds; it might help your doctor if we have anything."

The twins giggled, "You guys are really a cute couple; you're gonna fit right in here." Jamie announced. "You know, 'I Love You' sounds kewl in Russian! Jacob, fix up their heads real fast; I'll go get Doc while you guys see what you can find in the handheld. Think of a way that Doc can read the info you find on the handheld too. I'll be right back."

Dominic blushed, a deep red and tried to bury his face in the bed, "DT I think you taught them Russian."

Dmitry giggled, "Congratz guys, I haven't seen Dom blush since..."

"HEY!" exclaimed Dominic. "I'm red enough as it is, no more."

Dmitry smiled and then pulled out his handheld, "Okay, do you guys have a computer in here?"

Jamie giggled as he headed out the door. Jacob pointed to a cabinet on the far wall. "Terminal is in there; go ahead and see what you can find. I can fix you up while you are working; you'll just 'know' what to do if you need it. Just relax Dominic; we'll get you fixed up real soon."

"Okay sounds good," replied Dmitry. "It looks like I have something although it's not much but I'll have it ready for your doctor when you get back, I'll also do a few more checks in a few other related topics. Either way it will be ready."

"Jacob?" Dominic said from the bed. "Thanks."

"You're welcome from both of us bro." Jacob replied with a smile. "Dmitry, you want a hand?"

"Yeah that would be great Jacob," said Dmitry as he started looking for information on his handheld.

"Thank you DT," Dmitry heard Dominic say over the sub-vocal.

Dmitry looked over at Dominic and smiled.

"I'll always look out for you Dom," Dmitry mouthed back. "Always."

About ten minutes later Jamie returned dragging Doc Austin behind him. Once the door was closed, Jamie stopped, "Doc, anything you see, hear, or experience in this room is Top Secret Clan Intelligence business. No logs, no discussion outside of this room. Understood?"

"Let me get this straight Jamie; you want me to violate my instructions from Cory, your Patriarch, and perform medical procedures on Clan Members without informing him? You better have an awfully good reason for this young man," replied Doc Austin.

Jamie gave Doc an emotionless stare, "You misunderstood Doc; these boys are not Clan members. This is a delicate situation under direct supervision of Clan Short Intelligence. All reports are required to be routed through us due to sensitive information which must not be disclosed to anyone without explicit need to know. At this point in time, despite his status as Patriarch, Cory has no need to know on much of the information we possess. Information will be released after negotiations with the other involved parties are completed. Due to a medical issue, you are being allowed access to some of this information to assist you with diagnosis; but that information needs to stay right here."

Doc looked at the four boys in the room; two of which he knew quite well and two he had never seen before. After considering Jamie's statements he replied. "I really have no choice, do I? I'll probably understand when I'm done, but right now I'm in a spot. I'll compromise with you; I will not report any details, but I will report to Cory that medical procedures were done at the request of CS Intelligence and that I was told all reports will be made by them. Considering the implied urgency, let's stop playing politics and fill me in on who has what problem already."

"Hi Doctor, my name is Dmitry," Dmitry said from over by the terminal. "That's Dominic on the bed; he's the one that needs your help. Dominic has prosthetic eyes due to an incident that I'd rather not talk too much about. What I can tell you is that he has only had these eyes for a few days now, and this morning when he woke up they seemed to be bothering him. Over the last few hours the problem has been getting worse and worse; now they are actually causing him pain. Due to the situation, though, the technician that fitted him with his eyes can't be contacted."

Doc Austin walked over to Dominic, "Dominic, I'm going to scan you in a minute to see what is wrong. You're going to have to put your pet down though, whatever it is."

Dominic giggled, "Sorry Doctor, but Eyes is kinda attached to me. He's a Phasenmorph; he protects me from telepaths and other things. All I gotta do is tell him that what you are doing is okay so he don't tell your tricorder wrong stuff."

"Thank you Dominic. I guess we'll see what happens; I'm not sure how the tricorder is going to handle two life forms."

"That won't be a problem Doctor; he'll hide himself from it," said Dominic.

"That should work," Doc Austin said as he unslung his tricorder and scanned Dominic. "What the....??!!"

The twins both giggled madly. Jamie caught his breath enough to say "Get with Dmitry Doc; He's got some info to help you."

Doc Austin shook his head as he headed over to the terminal. "You little rats did that on purpose! Just wait until your next physical!" He turned his attention to Dmitry. "Okay, could you explain the strange readout I just got?"

Dmitry smiled, "Let me guess, it told you something along the lines that his blood has an unrecognized metal base to it rather then something you would expect, like iron. Well I can't really tell you what it is unless it's vital to you being able to treat Dom; just know that we are a sub-species, kinda like the twins just different. Anyway, I don't have much info for you but a little is better then nothing so I'll give you what I have."

Dmitry tapped his handheld and the screen in front of him brought up a profile in Russian. "Ooops, wrong language." He tapped his handheld again and suddenly the profile came up in English, "There. Okay, most of this information is correct I think; hopefully it will make more sense to you then it does to me, I'm not an engineer or a doctor. I think that the only thing that might be different is that the sensitivity of his eyes had to be turned up two times higher then it recommends here because of his genetics; some of this info also describes how his body and eyes interact as well as how to access the internal interface for the eyes. That's pretty much all I have."

Doc Austin looked over the information, then quickly typed a code into the terminal. "Could you upload that to this? I believe the new AI handler we just programmed into the biobed will be able to work with that information easily. A good side effect is that it will register as an AI variation instead of a new species; that way even if Federation Medical was to access the data from Headquarters it would not raise any flags. I definitely think the biobed would be able to make those adjustments easily with the information you have here; I'd say twenty minutes tops once we get to the medical annex. Does that work for you?"

"Yeah, that would be perfect," replied Dmitry. "It should be just as easy as when I uploaded info into...just give me a moment."

Dmitry entered a few commands on his handheld and then looked up at the screen, "That should do it, transfer complete." Dmitry turned off his handheld and strapped it back onto his belt. "Okay doctor lead the way," Dmitry added as he got up and went over to the bed to help Dominic up.

~~~

"So you're hoping that this ragtag group of kids are going to help save humanity," said Tyne as he and Nyo headed back towards the control room. "That's leaving a lot to luck don't you think?"

Nyo frowned, "That depends on how you look at it Tyne. The children of the world are the leaders of tomorrow and in this case it's taking the children to cleanse the world as well."

< The world may be bad right now Tyne but with the correct actions this group could easily change that. >

"Yeah but if you're really going to try and help them then what the hell are you doing just watching them?" said Tyne. "It doesn't do them or the world any good if we aren't willing to actively help."

"Wait a minute," said Nyo. "You're the one that was yelling at us for waking you up and for giving out information and now you're yelling at us for the exact opposite?"

< Humans have a word for people like that >

"You misunderstand; I'm not saying this from the same perspective. What I said to begin with was from the perspective that the council would have taken as well as my father. What I just said is what I would have said after hearing all of that."

< Then what did you think before if the last opinion that we heard from you was not yours? >

"To be honest I didn't care," replied Tyne. "My opinion has always been that of the council, I have very few opinions that are my own."

"And in what areas then do you have an opinion?" asked Nyo.

"Hate and Love," replied Tyne. "Those are the two things that I never listened to the council for."

< Those are also two of the most important things that humanity values. >

"What were the council's opinions on them?" said Nyo.

Tyne sighed, "Well first and foremost was love; love could be easily be defined as a tender and or passionate affection for another person. And in most cases the council followed this except for where it came to relationships. Towards the end we didn't have all that many women left and it became the opinion of the council that every male had to have at least one child before they died. This instantly threw our concept of marriage astray but the council was afraid that there wouldn't be enough of us to finish our task of constructing the Ark so it was a sacrifice that they were willing to have us make. Well I never cared for women so they held it against me that I wouldn't just do as they asked and father a child; oh well."

"Why wouldn't you?" asked Nyo.

Tyne stopped walking for a second and then looked down at the ground, "Because I was in a relationship and I wouldn't do anything to violate the commitment that I had to him. That and it degraded women to nothing more then tools and that didn't really sit right we me."

"Oh ok," Nyo said quietly. "And hate?"

"Right," replied Tyne as he straightened up and started walking again. "Well hate was something that very few of us towards the end really agree with the council on. The council was of the opinion that we were the reason that the world was in such a sad state. We were the reason that the Moroi rose against us and we were the reason that we were being hunted and killed. While some of that is true I can't see how they could have ever thought that we were responsible for why the Moroi started trouble in the first place; we can't control humanity after all. Well because the council thought that we were responsible for how the world was we had no right to hate any human or Moroi for any reason; we were the ones that brought pain and death upon ourselves. Well I have a very different view of all of that; the council can just take its opinion to the grave. Hate is what starts trouble but it's also how trouble gets resolved is how I see it. For example, I hate the Moroi; I have for a long time and I probably always will. They helped bring about the end of my people...and they stole something important from me. But by using my hate for them to kill them the problem gets half way solved."

< Hate is not the way that problems get solved Tyne; it just brings about more hate and more pain. >

"Yeah you just keep that opinion Ark, it'll get you real far," said Tyne.

< Tyne I have watched humanity continuously tear itself apart because of hate. Hate brings about destruction not peace. >

"Sometimes they're the same thing," said Tyne. "Destruction can bring about silence and that is peace."

"Not in our world it's not," replied Nyo. "Hate has no place in the world that your people wanted for humanity. And I tend to think that it doesn't have much of a place in the world that we hope to help create."

"Do we really have to keep talking about this," Tyne said abruptly. "And is it just me or is it getting really cold in here?"

"Ok sure," replied Nyo. "Actually now that you mention it yeah I think it is getting colder in here."

< The central heating system is still offline. I have Stepan working on it right now. >

"So that's were you sent him off to," said Tyne.

Nyo smiled, "And I was hoping that Ark was having him get us something to eat."

< I need one of you to start working on the teleportation system. Long range communications can wait for a while longer. >

"I'll take the teleportation system," said Nyo. "Tyne said back in the core that he wanted to hop into the Interactive Integration Module. While you're at it Tyne are you going to take care of whatever that was the Ark detected in one of its core memory modules?"

"Yeah I'm about ninety-nine percent sure I know what it is but I'll look at it while I'm in the IIM," replied Tyne.

~~~

Dominic carefully laid down on the biobed as Doc Austin had instructed, "Is this thing safe Doctor?"

"Don't worry Dominic, you have nothing to worry about; the Biobed won't hurt you," replied Doc Austin from a console a few feet away. "Just hold still for a few minutes and we'll have you fixed up as good as new."

"DT could you watch what he's doing," Dominic mouthed into the sub-vocal.

"Why is something wrong?" Dmitry mouthed back.

"He's a Doctor," mouthed Dominic. "I don't trust him as far as I can throw him."

Dmitry frowned, "But he seems like a nice man Dom, I don't think that the Clan would have a Doctor on staff that was a danger to anyone."

"Please just watch him anyway DT," Dominic mouthed. "It would make me feel better about this."

"Ok Dom," mouthed Dmitry as he walked over to where Doc Austin was working. "Hiya Doc, do you mind if I watch ya work?"

"No not at all," replied Doc Austin. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I just wanna watch so that later if I had to I could do the same thing," lied Dmitry.

"That's not a bad idea, besides I might need to ask you a few questions if the biobed runs into any problems interacting with Dominic's eyes."

"You didn't have to lie to Doc," Dmitry suddenly heard a voice say in his head. Dmitry looked over at the twins and noticed that Jacob was staring back at him. "Doc would have understood."

"Dominic doesn't like others to know that he's afraid of something," thought Dmitry. "I'm just protecting his ego; Dominic takes pride in his courage and I'm normally the only one that knows how scared he really is."

"What's wrong DT," Dmitry heard Dominic say over the sub-vocal. Dmitry looked over at Dominic to find him watching him.

"The twins know that I lied to the Doctor," Dmitry mouthed back.

"Don't worry about it Dmitry," Dmitry heard Jacob say in his head. "I just wanted to know why. We just try and make a habit of not lying to any of the adults here unless we really have to."

Doc Austin looked around the room and then chuckled, "The non-verbal communication is so thick in here you could cut it with a knife."

"Sorry Doctor," said Dmitry.

"It's ok Dmitry, most of us adults are use to it by now with the twin terrors over there around all the time," Doc Austin relied with a smile. "The biobed is ready but the interface is in a language that I can't read."

"Oh sorry about that," said Dmitry as he pulled his handheld out and removed a small device from it's back. Dmitry then placed the small device on the console and then pressed a few buttons on his handheld. "There that should help, it's in English now."

"Ok which one of these do you think is the problem," said Doc Austin as he looked over the list of options on his console. "Depth perception, light intake, three-dimensional interpretation range, color filter, radiation filter, UV filter, interpretation signal strength, or biological interface strength?"

"If it works anything like the Phasenmorph health scanner that Giggle and Eyes were scanned with after our first training section then I think I know how to find what's wrong," replied Dmitry. Dmitry then pushed a button on his handheld and spoke, "Scientia orca." The handheld beeped in reply. "Quaestrio contendo itaque demonstro." The handheld beeped twice and then it brought up the biological interface strength menu on Doc Austin's console. "There, that's what he's having a problem with."

"What was that?" asked Doc Austin. "It sounded like Latin."

"It's Founder," replied Dmitry. "Latin is derived from Founder so it should sound very similar."

"That's a pretty old language then," said Doc Austin. "Ok the interface says that his eyes are set three times above the normal limit, but you mentioned earlier that the person that installed the eyes had to set it that high because of his genetics. So if we assume that this 3.12476 here is a 1.12476 instead what would be the normal limit to adjust this by?"

Dmitry brought up the correct information on the console screen through his handheld, "It says here that if it's causing headaches it's too high, if it's causing nose bleeds then it's too low. This suggests adjusting the last number by three."

"3.12473 It is then," said Doc Austin as he started making the adjustments.

"Just for the record I prefer headaches to nose bleeds any day," Dominic said from the biobed.

"Yeah but if it was nose bleeds then I could work on keeping you on your back with your head tilted back and..." Dmitry started to say.

"That's a good place to stop DT!" interrupted Dominic.

Doc Austin chuckled, "Ok well the adjustments are finished, Dominic how do you feel?"

"I still have a headache but my eyes stopped hurting," replied Dominic.

Dmitry smiled, "Sounds like it worked to me. Do ya got anything for a headache Doctor?"

~~~

"Are you sure you know how to work this thing?" asked Nyo as he watched Tyne strip down and get into the Interactive Integration Module. "Ark always told me that if I ever got into this thing it would probably kill me."

"And Ark is right it probably would kill you," replied Tyne as he powered the module on and started entering commands. "You have to meet a few prerequisites before you get in this thing. First you have to be a Founder because that will at least set you up for the second prerequisite. The second is being trained to use our seer skills, and very well trained at that. And third, this is the only one I think you could meet, never wear clothes in the module or they'll get fused to your skin."

"Seer skills?"

"Yeah," said Tyne. "Every Founder has the ability to see into the past and the future but they have to be well trained in order to use it correctly. As a Founder once you unlock your seer skills your mind splits into three different times, meaning that a Founder's mind is constantly in three different time periods at once. Depending on the Founder though some can see farther into the future or past then others. I hold the record for how far into the future a Founder can see, I can see about twenty thousand years give or take a few thousand."

"Damn, so do you know how all of this will turn out then?" asked Nyo.

"Just because I have that kind of range doesn't mean that I can always use it," said Tyne. "To go that far into the future I have to go into a kind of trance. Most of the time I can see minutes or hours into the future without even trying, which is standard for a well developed Founder Seer."

"So why is that needed for the IIM?" said Nyo.

"The Interactive Integration Module takes advantage of the fact that a Founder can absorb information in the past as well as the present and the future. It makes me a sub-core of the Ark and allows me to act as a second AI for the Ark's database; this allows me to access any information that the Ark has saved in its memory bays the same way that you would normally recall a memory. But instead of trying to load that information into my present mind, as that would either overload my senses or kill me, it loads the information into the part of my mind that handles the past and the future allowing me to process the information faster and integrate it correctly."

"So you'd be like a mini Ark?" said Nyo. "Like one isn't enough."

< Excuse me? I do not think that I am that bad. >

Tyne giggled, "As soon as I get out of the IIM I go back to being myself; I would just have a little more information then I did when I got in."

"Are you sure you know exactly what you're doing though?" said Nyo with a worried look on his face. "I really don't want it to kill you."

< Do not worry about Tyne, Nyo. He is the one that designed the Interactive Integration Module and is the most qualified person to ever exist to use it. >

"Ok, but just be careful anyway Tyne," said Nyo. "I'm off to work on the Teleportation system."

As soon as Nyo was out of the room Tyne pulled the IIM door closed, typed in a few more commands and then laid back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Suddenly Tyne found himself standing in a white room that seemed to go on forever in every direction.

Tyne smiled to himself, "It feels good to be here again, I haven't been in my own mind in a while."

Tyne straightened up, cleared his throat and then spoke, "Access restricted core memory module 572, authorization code spiritus socius."

< Authorization granted. >

About ten feet in front of Tyne the figure of a fourteen year old boy faded into the room. He had bright turquoise hair and the robes that he wore matched his hair with a little bit of purple to match his eyes. As soon as he was finished fading into the room he looked over at Tyne and smiled.

"Hey Semel," said the boy. "How's it going?"

"It's good to see you again Cyna, I'm doing ok I guess," replied Tyne as he ran up to the boy and threw his arms around him. "I've missed you."

Cyna smiled and put his arms around Tyne, "It's been longer for me then it has been for you. I'm glad to see that you're ok though, I was worried when they said they were going to put you into cryo-sleep."

Tyne sighed contently, "I made it just fine, so what's with the turquoise?"

Cyna giggled, "I've been picking a different color every day for the last sixty some thousand years, I'm glad you've noticed."

"I think I like this one better then the last color you had your hair dyed before you..." Tyne started to say before he broke down crying.

Cyna kissed the top of Tyne's head, "Shhh its ok Tyne, I'm doing ok in here, and you're right orange wasn't my best color. So how is life with Ark's current crew?"

"How did you know that Ark had anyone here?" asked Tyne.

"I've been watching through Ark's eyes so to speak, I did design the core program for Ark's AI so I know my way around," replied Cyna. "Although I'll have to admit it did take me a while to get use to not having a body and how to navigate from inside the computer rather then outside of it."

"I suppose they're ok, they said that there are two more of them," said Tyne.

"Yeah Dmitry and Dominic," said Cyna. "I think you'll like Dmitry, he's a lot of fun; he pokes fun at Ark."

"I think I kinda got off to a bad start with Stepan."

Cyna chuckled, "Yeah I watched you make a fool of yourself in the control center when you were talking to Stepan alone there for a little while. The cameras were working there so Ark was watching too. He seems like a nice guy though, I'm sure he won't hold that against you."

"I was practically attacking his boyfriend's leadership," said Tyne.

"Yeah I noticed that too," replied Cyna. "Tyne although you were trained to be leader of the Founder Council trust me when I tell you that you're nowhere near fit to run this place now; Nyo is much better equipped and is far more knowledgeable."

Tyne sighed, "Some how I had a feeling you were going to say that."

"Well I say it though for two reasons," said Cyna. "Part of it is because he really does know more about what's going on and he trusts the Ark more then you do but the other part of it has to do with your mental health."

Tyne looked up at Cyna with a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"Tyne you know that I'll always love you but I'm trapped in this computer forever now," replied Cyna. "Now don't get me wrong, I'm really glad that you took an image of my mind after I died, I'd rather be able to spend some time with you then never see you again but I can't ask you to stay here forever. You have to move on Tyne."

"But I made a commitment to you," said Tyne.

"A commitment that was to last until death," said Cyna. "But Tyne as far as a body goes I am dead. My soul may still be here but my body is gone. Please don't hang on to me forever Tyne, I love you too much to watch you continuously greave for my death and let all of your grief and anger go undigested."

"Are...are you saying that you want me to delete you?" replied Tyne. "I'm confused."

"No I don't want to be deleted," said Cyna. "I want to watch you forever if I can, maybe even protect you if I can but in this computer is as far as I'll ever get. It's not far to you for me to ask you to never fall in love again."

"Yeah well there's no one else that I'm interested in so for now I'm not going to worry about it," responded Tyne.

"Ok Tyne I can live with that for now," Cyna said as he kissed Tyne on the forehead. "Just promise me that if you ever fall in love with someone else that you won't turn them away because of me."

"But..."

"Promise me Tyne."

Tyne sighed again and then lay his head on Cyna's chest, "Ok Cyna, I promise. But you have to promise to always be there if I need you."

"I promise."

~~~

Jamie and Jacob waved to Doc Austin as he split off from them. "Thanks Doc!" They then turned to their guests.

"Guys, let us take care of introductions." Jamie advised as he placed a hand on Dmitry and Dominic shoulders. "We'll try to deflect the tough questions."

Both boys nodded, then followed as Jacob led them through the first stage security doors. "We are at alert; you guys need to be put into the system or else you'll set off the alarms."

Dmitry giggled. "That's what you think; take a look, we aren't here!"

Jacob looked at the display and giggled, "Okay dufus! No fair hiding behind your Phasenmorphs! Get your butts over here so you can legally get into CIC!"

Dominic looked at Jacob strangely, "We would have to be Clan members for you to do that."

Jamie smiled, "Yeah, you do. Welcome to the family guys!"

"She's gonna be soooooooooo pissed!" Dmitry giggled. "I guess it's gonna be easier to do our jobs if we're part of the group though; let's do it!"

"Nyo might get a kick out of it," added Dominic.

"Y'alls evil!" Jacob giggled. "Tell the 'morphs to relax so I can get you in the system."

After a minute, Jacob waved them over, "Okay, Dmitry you first for the bioscan. Once that's over with you guys can come and go whenever you want."

"Hey while you're scanning me do you think you can tell me if my leg muscles are healed all the way?" Dmitry asked.

"Not from this terminal. We'll have Doc check you out tomorrow; he might be able to help you if they ain't."

"Actually my body will take care of that," said Dmitry. "I just wanted to know how well it's taking care of it."

"Whatever." Jacob replied. "Think about it; the same bed that fixed your boyfriend's eyes could fix your legs in about 5 minutes. Up to you dude."

"Dude, really I don't need it, my body heals ten times faster then yours could ever hope to," said Dmitry.

Dominic gave Jacob a blank stare, "Our relationship is for us to talk about when we're ready to talk about it."

"Dom he didn't mean anything by it," whispered Dmitry.

"I will not have someone else telling us something that we haven't had time to talk about yet and decide for ourselves." Dominic replied.

Jamie slapped Jacob upside the head. "Think before you speak bro. Dmitry, Dominic; you guys have my permission to toss him in the pool first chance you get. You guys are close; that is obvious. How you feel about each other is between you two; we're here to talk to if you are having problems sorting out how you feel though. Until then the subject is dropped."

"Well you want to talk about it now?" Dmitry asked quietly. "Do you not want to be my boyfriend?"

Dominic sighed, "It's not that DT, I just wanted to actually sit down with you in a nice setting and actually ask you."

Dmitry pulled Dominic into a hug.

"Can I ask you instead?" Dmitry whispered into Dominic's ear.

Dominic wrapped his arms around Dmitry and nodded.

Dmitry smiled, "Will you be my boyfriend?"

"Yes," replied Dominic with a content sigh.

Jacob smiled. "Does this mean you guys want a private bedroom tonight?"

Dominic groaned and hid his face, "Okay DT you get his left side, I'll get his right, just tell me where the pool is."

"Yeah sure," giggled Dmitry. "We'll take that room."

"Hey! Whose side are you on?" asked Dominic looking up from Dmitry's chest.

Dmitry smiled, "Ok, ok, we'll take that room some other night."

Dominic groaned again and buried his face once more.

Jamie giggled. "Bro, you are gonna be soooooo dead! C'mon guys, lets get inside before my brother runs out of feet to put in his mouth!"

They entered through the second set of doors and walked across the hall to CIC. They were no more than five feet inside the door when a black haired 10 year old broke away from his work and rushed over to them.

"Bathroom huh? Let me guess, you found them in the sink. Really great way to say you missed me; disappear for over an hour." Beau said as he came to a stop in front of them. "I'm Beau, and these are MY boyfriends. Who are you?"

"Actually they did find us in the bathroom," Dmitry giggled.

Dominic gave Beau a look that could make a Vulcan cry, "I've been tortured and sent all over this damn planet in the last month. On top of that, I've got the headache from hell that I'm just getting over. Trust me; the last thing I want is your boyfriends! If you have a problem with me then let's go outside and I'll kick your ass, if you have a problem with your boyfriends then leave me out of it; I have a hard enough time keeping myself out of the trouble that mine gets me into. But I'm not having the best week and the last thing I need is someone getting in my face about something that's not my problem."

By the time Dominic finished, Gabe was standing with the group. He gave Beau a cold look. "Mr. Wagner; your conduct is an inappropriate way to welcome guests. Jamie and Jacob were performing official business which I was aware of. I would suggest you calm down now." He then turned to Dominic and Dmitry. "Guys, I'm sorry about that; that is not the way we welcome guests to the compound. I'm Gabe; right now I'm in charge since our Patriarch is away. Welcome to Clan Headquarters; I'm guessing the terrors put you in the system already so you should be free to roam around. I didn't catch your names, but if you are not feeling good go ahead and grab a seat anywhere to relax."

"Hi Gabe, I'm Dmitry and this is my boyfriend Dominic." Dmitry said cheerfully.

Dominic looked Beau over; muttering something in Russian before he turned his attention to Gabe.

"Not good Dom," whispered Dmitry. "That doesn't help."

Dominic closed his eyes and sighed, "Thank you for the welcome."

Gabe smiled. "Dude, I understand. These three have set world records for putting their feet in their mouths. If you don't mind sharing the couch with our newest rugrat you can have a front row seat to watch this circus. Jamie just told me that right now you guy's history is confidential; I'll make sure everyone knows not to ask you anything more than you volunteer. We should be taking a late dinner break shortly; we can do introductions with everyone then."

"That sounds great, thanks Gabe," said Dmitry as he started to pull Dominic towards the couch.

As they reached the couch Dominic stopped and looked Matty sitting on Rusty's lap for a moment and then grinned, "I have one of those." He then held up his left arm, "but it's not quite as big."

Dmitry giggled as he sat down and then pulled Dominic into his lap, "Dom are you saying that this little guy is dangerous."

"No comment," Dominic said with a smile.

Gabe gave them a curious look. "If you knew what the munchkin did earlier you'd know what dangerous was! All Jamie told me was that those are your pets on your arms; what are you able to tell me about them Dominic?"

"Actually we were here for that earlier," Dmitry said quickly.

"They're called Phasenmorphs, they have a number of purpose," stated Dominic. "We've mainly been using them to mask our bio signatures and block all of your telepaths. But they also serve as a weapon and shields that we can control through our mental link with them."

"And they're really cool!" added Dmitry. "I named mine Giggle."

Gabe's jaw dropped. "Wow; I gotta get one of those! It'd be great keeping Kyle outta my head! Hey, would you guys mind helping out with security if we go to red alert? I'm always needing more Security personnel; it sounds like you might be all set with them helping you."

"Umm actually Kyle is the one thing person it has problems with," replied Dominic. "Kyle is something that its never encountered before so it has trouble blocking him without over compensating. And sure, we can help you out if you want us to."

"That will at least make me feel like I'm paying you'll back for the food we've been borrowing from you guys," said Dmitry.

Gabe smiled. "You guys are part of the Clan now; any way you feel comfortable helping would be great. I guess I could settle for blocking the terrible twosome; that's still better than right now. Dmitry, you make it sound like you guys have been around a while; can you explain better or is that part of what you can't say?"

Matty had been slowly creeping across the couch while they were talking. He looked around to make sure nobody was paying attention, then reached up to where Dominic's left arm was draped on the back of the couch and gently ran his fingers over the Phasenmorph. He giggled when the creature started vibrating and giving off an audible purr. "Kewl, he's puwwin'!" Matty giggled.

Suddenly Dominic's eyes got really big and then he half closed them and sighed, "He definitely likes that."

Dmitry giggled, "Awesome! Oh right; we've been watching you guys since you were in South Carolina, it's been about three days."

"Yeah; and if I ever see someone kill a cup of coffee the way that Caleb did the other night again, I think I'll go ape." added Dominic softly.

"And I didn't notice your sleeping habits until it was too late for me to check everyone out." pouted Dmitry.

"You'll live," said Dominic as he laid his head back and sighed again. "Oh that feels so good."

Matty settled in next to the pair as he continued to stroke the Phasenmorph. "Whats his name Dommynick? Why do you feel good when I pet him?"

"His name is Eyes," Dominic said softly. "I can feel you petting him because his nervous system is tied into mine. It's the same link that I use to talk to him with in my head."

"Kewl!" Matty replied as he focused all of his attention on Eyes.

Gabe giggled as he noticed Johnny come up on Dmitry's right side. "I think you've started something! Look out Dmitry!"

Johnny giggled. "Can I pet yours, Deemeetee?"

Dominic laughed. "At least my name sounds better then yours when it's butchered."

"Yeah sure you can pet him if you want," giggled Dmitry. "Deemeetee? That almost sounds like what you call me Dom...among other things."

"Hey!" said Dominic.

Gabe shook his head. "You guys really have been around three days? It's cool, we ain't got nothing to hide; but if you can tell us, I'm curious why and how you stayed hidden."

"We work for a very old agency that is interested in seeing your clan progress and grow," said Dominic. "For the time being something happened that has left us stranded here but hopefully the issue will resolve itself soon."

"As to staying hidden, Giggle and Eyes took care of most of the detection," continued Dmitry. "But for visual we have personal cloaking devices, which are just about dead at this point; they only have power for three days."

Gabe nodded. "That's good enough for me. If there is any way we can help you recharge your cloaking devices just say the word and we'll help out. Do me one favor though; let me know before you guys have to leave. Oh, let your boss know that you don't have to hide to watch us when nobody else is around; that way you can save your cloaks for when you need them."

"Umm ok cool," replied Dmitry. "I'll have to check my handheld to see how to recharge the cells. And if you need our help while we're here we're more then willing to help out."

"I'm a better shot," Dominic commented with a grin.

"You're cuter too!" Dmitry giggled.

Gabe was suddenly distracted by Alec. "GABE!! Get over here NOW! We got problems!"

Gabe rushed to Alec's side and looked at the datastream. He was just about to comment when the secure line rang once again. "Here we go." Gabe groaned.

"Clan Short Headquarters, Gabe speaking."

"Gabriel, there is an unfortunate development in the trial you are monitoring. It appears that David and Jimmy have suffered the same brainwashing which you had advised me that Matthew suffered. I would strongly suggest that you stand by to recover the subjects which your personnel are guarding."

Gabe glanced over at the twins then returned his attention to the screen. "I believe that might not be necessary. We have personnel who are trained for such situations. Rest assured the prosecutor is not going to expect the answers he receives."

"I see." the caller responded with surprise. "Well I trust your expertise in this matter and although I am quite concerned, I will defer to your judgment on it as long as the parties involved will remain safe."

"As you are aware, that is always our priority." Gabe replied. "I believe you will appreciate the outcome."

"Very well then, I will leave it in your capable hands; thank you for your assistance." the caller said before terminating the call.

Gabe turned quickly to Xain. "Xain, give the twins everything you have on what was done to Matty. Jamie, Jacob; stand by to deploy, full security gear."

"Is there any way that we can be of assistance?" asked Dmitry.

"Please don't make me go anywhere," Dominic whispered to Dmitry. "I've still got a really bad headache."

Dmitry smiled and then kissed Dominic on the cheek, "That's okay Dom, you need rest anyway." Dmitry looked back at Gabe, "Is there any way that I can be of assistance then?"

Gabe gave a small smile. "If you want to back these guys as security it'd help a lot; that way they can concentrate on their work. Do you have enough power left in your cloak?"

"Yeah, we conserved a few hours worth last night by shutting them off while we slept," replied Dmitry.

"Mmmm, last night," Dominic said softly.

"Hmm I think petting your Phasenmorph has a strange effect on you," said Dmitry.

Dominic blushed, "Oh crap did I say that out loud?"

"Yes you did!" Gabe giggled. "You guys are gonna fit it great around here. Dmitry as soon as Xain says he's ready we'll transport you guys out. You might need to tell Giggle it's okay."

"Okay, that shouldn't be too hard," said Dmitry as he carefully slid out from under Dominic. "Hey Johnny I'm gonna need my arm back for a little while."

"Okay Deemeetee! Can I play wit' him when you get back? Pweeeeze?"

Dmitry smiled, "Sure maybe later tonight Johnny." Dmitry then turned his attention to Xain, "Giggle is ready now so I'm ready whenever you are Xain."

Xain nodded. "My brothers have acquired the required information. Alec, notify Lafayette to prepare to transport three personnel."

Dominic got up and walked over to Dmitry as he was taking his place to transport out. When he got there he hugged Dmitry tightly and gave him a kiss on the cheek saying "be careful" before returning to his seat. Once he sat back down Matty asked "Can I pet your kitty some more?"

"Sure I think he would like that." said Dominic.

Dmitry joined Jamie and Jacob in the center of the room. A few seconds later, they dematerialized.

"Whewd dey go Dommynick?" Matty asked in awe.

"They used a special machine that lets them move from one place to another faster then you can snap your fingers," replied Dominic. "I've never used the machine that they just used but I've used one that's kinda like it, its kind of fun."

"Kewl!" Matty exclaimed as he went back to petting Eyes.

Dominic smiled as he slowly began to drift into his own world as he thought about what had gotten him this far in the last few days; Dominic liked where he was now.

~~~

"Well hey you're still alive," Nyo said with a smile as Tyne walked into the room.

"Ark said that you needed me," said Tyne as he looked around the room. "Hmmm tanks of water with strange creatures swimming in them either we're breeding something to eat or you have some very strange fetishes."

Nyo gave Tyne a blank look for a minute and then broke out in a fit of laughter, "Keep your mind out of the gutter, jeez. They're called Phasenmorphs, they're living weapons."

"They're weapons?" said Tyne as he walked over to one of the tanks. "How do you use them?"

Nyo pulled back his sleeve and showed Tyne his Phasenmorph, "Like this, it embeds itself into the host's arm and then it integrates itself with its host's nervous system. It reacts to what the host thinks and feels."

"Ok but what did you need me down here for?" asked Tyne.

"I needed a test subject," Nyo said as his smile turned evil.

"Nyo why are you looking at me like that?" Tyne said as he started to back away from the tank.

"I want you to stick your arm into the tank here and see what they do," replied Nyo. "One of them should decide to work with you, I'm not testing that. What I am testing is the new numbing agent that this batch of Phasenmorphs is using; Dominic complained that they hurt too much when they attached themselves to your arm."

"And how do they 'attach' exactly?" asked Tyne.

"They dig their arms, legs, and tail into your arm," said Nyo. "So go on stick your arm into the tank already."

"You've got to be kidding," said Tyne. "I'm not sticking my arm in there; they'll like eat me or something."

"Oh come on, I've got one on my arm," replied Nyo. "Dominic and Dmitry did it too."

"Some how I think I'm going to regret this," said Tyne as he walked forward and slowly lowered his arm into the tank.

The Phasenmorphs crept up to Tyne's arm and a few of them brushed against him. Then they all backed away and formed a circle.

"That's normal," said Nyo. "They are deciding now which one of them will take you."

Suddenly the Phasenmorphs broke their circle and all of them back away from Tyne's arm.

"Umm I thought you said that one was supposed to decide to take me," said Tyne.

Nyo looked confused, "I've never seen them all back away like that before; that's really strange."

"Great now I feel even better about putting my arm in here," said Tyne. "Should I take my arm out?"

"No, hang on," said Nyo as he lowered his Phasenmorph clad arm into the tank. "I'll see if Phil can find out what's wrong."

"Phil?"

"That's the name I gave my Phasenmorph," replied Nyo.

All the Phasenmorphs came up to Phil and began rubbing against him. After a minute Nyo giggled.

"They're all afraid of you Tyne," said Nyo. "They've never seen a Founder before and so they don't know how to deal with one."

"So I bother to put my arm into the tank and they're more afraid of me then I am of them?" said Tyne. "Ok well now what?"

"Give me a second, I'm having Phil explain to them that you won't eat THEM rather then them eating YOU," replied Nyo.

"Hey that's not funny," said Tyne. "How the heck am I supposed to know that a strange tank of weird swimmy things aren't going to eat my arm if I put it in there?"

Nyo laughed, "I wouldn't have told you to do it if they were going to hurt you. Although now I wish they had."

Tyne frowned, "Not even the Phasenmorphs want me around, nice."

"Tyne I'm just kidding with you," said Nyo. "In just a moment they are going to scan your arm again."

Slowly the Phasenmorphs in the tank left Phil and swam back over to Tyne's arm. After brushing against him arm a few more times the group backed away from him and formed a circle again.

"Hopefully one of them will pick you this time," said Nyo.

Then the circle broke and one of the Phasenmorphs swam back up to Tyne's arm and then promptly began to climb it.

"Please say this is normal," Tyne said in a panicked voice.

"Just relax, this is normal," said Nyo. "I promise. Go ahead and lift your arm out of the tank, it'll make it easier for him to attach."

Tyne did as he was told and then watched as the Phasenmorph began to rub the end of it's tentacle like arms on certain spots of Tyne's arm.

"Hey Nyo," said Tyne. "I can't feel my arm anymore."

"Oh good then the numbing agent is working," Nyo said cheerfully.

Suddenly the Phasenmorph plunged its tentacles into Tyne's arm and secured itself tightly.

"Well any pain?" asked Nyo.

"Nyo, I can't feel my arm," replied Tyne. "My whole arm is numb, completely."

"It's working though," said Nyo.

"Dude! I CAN'T FEEL my ARM!" Tyne repeated.

"The numbness will go away in about ten minutes," said Nyo. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Well what am I suppose to do in the meantime?" Tyne asked.

"The practice room is over there on the left," replied Nyo. "Ark will walk you through our training course."

"Aren't you supposed to be fixing the teleportation system," said Tyne as he headed for the practice room.

"Stepan is taking my place for a few minutes," said Nyo. "I'm heading back to work on it now and Stepan will be down here to get his Phasenmorph."

"Oh is he now?" Tyne said with an evil grin.

"I've already explained to him exactly what he's supposed to do," replied Nyo. "So you can just keep practicing."

"Damn," mumbled Tyne.

"Have fun," called Nyo as he ran out the door.

~~~

Five shimmering columns appeared in the center of CIC. As soon as the group materialized, Jamie immediately escorted a subdued Dmitry over to Dominic. "Dom, you need to give Dmitry a little support. Things didn't go too smoothly."

"What did you do to him?" Dominic said darkly as he got up and pulled Dmitry into a hug.

"Don't do that Dom," replied Dmitry softly. "They didn't do anything wrong."

"Oh, sorry Jamie. But then what's wrong," whispered Dominic.

"I killed someone," said Dmitry.

"Well did they deserve it?" asked Dominic.

"What's that got to do with it?" replied Dmitry. "I still killed someone."

"It has everything to do with it!" said Dominic as he pulled Dmitry over to the couch and sat him down. "Dmitry, don't you remember what Ark was telling us during training about different kinds of people? There are people in this world that don't deserve to be here; but because of the laws of this world they are allowed to live. But if you throw away all of those laws and just follow what's right in your heart, then everything becomes clear. It's part of our job to make sure that those that cause others pain pay for what they did; that way no one will ever have to go through something like what we've had to go through."

"It still hurts though," Dmitry said as he laid his head on Dominic's chest.

"That's because you're a good person DT," replied Dominic. "If it didn't bother you then I'd be worried."

"I love you Dom," Dmitry said quietly.

Dominic kissed the top of Dmitry's head, "I love you too DT, I love you too."

Dmitry smiled to himself and then sighed.

Jamie turned and was intercepted by Gabe. "What happened?" Gabe asked softly.

Jamie looked up at Gabe. "Both boys' minds were totally messed up by that trash. We were able to fix it so they told the truth; when that happened, that stupid prosecutor tried to attack them. We came out of hiding and stunned him; he's on the Lafayette now waiting to join Hippobottom out on the prison planet. We had the Judge bring their stepfather in; when we confronted him with his actions, he attacked us. By the time we had our phasers in our hands Dmitry vaporized the sorry butthole. Jimmy and David are now under Clan protection."

"He went head first if anyone cares to know!" Dmitry added from the couch.

Gabe hugged Jamie then went over to the couch. He squeezed Dmitry's shoulder as he said "Thank you Dmitry; you did exactly what you should have done. I felt the same way when I had to kill a guy a while back; it proves you are human and have feelings. I'm proud to have you guys as brothers, and if you ever need someone to watch your backs we're all right here for you. I'm gonna go welcome our new brothers."

"Thanks," replied Dmitry. "Ohhh if I have all of you as brothers now, does that mean that..."

"NO IT DOESN'T!" Dominic said quickly.

Dmitry sighed, "Ok never mind then. Thank you though Gabe, that does mean a lot to me."

Gabe giggled. "Oh, just a warning; now that you are part of the family my lil' brother and his cohort will probably try to get you guys in the shower when they get back. I think they are keeping notes on what everyone looks like nude!"

Dominic blushed, "Oh God."

"COOL!" exclaimed Dmitry. "Sign me up!"

Matty's eyes lit up. "WUSTY! Awe we gonna showew tonight too! PWEEEEEZZE!"

Rusty rolled his eyes. "Thanks a LOT Gabe! Sure kiddo; I'll let you shower with me tonight."

Gabe chuckled as he turned and went over to where Jacob was standing with two scared boys. Dmitry watched them for a minute and then laid his head back on Dominic's chest.

"So are you going to be ok?" Dominic asked softly.

"Will you hold me like this forever?" replied Dmitry.

"As often as I can," said Dominic.

Dmitry smiled, "Then yeah I think I'm going to be ok."

"You still up to throwing Jacob into the pool later?" asked Dominic.

"Yeah that could be fun, but maybe tomorrow," said Dmitry. "Hey I wonder what we'll be having for dinner."

Dominic giggled, "At least you're thinking about food and not...other things."

"Well sausage might be on the menu later," Dmitry said with an evil grin.

"You're bad," smiled Dominic.

"But you wouldn't have me any other way," replied Dmitry. "Hey lets walk around a little; I haven't seen the rest of this place yet."

"That's not a bad idea," said Dominic as he and Dmitry started to get up off the couch. "I've been on this couch pretty much since you left."

"Cool, let's head for the Dining room to see if they got anything set out yet," said Dmitry as he grabbed Dominic's hand and began to drag him towards where he thought the Dining room might be.

"Do you even know where you're going?" asked Dominic.

"Nope, no clue just going in this direction because I think I smell something this way," replied Dmitry.

"Hey didn't Gabe and the group he was with go this way?" said Dominic.

"I think so..." Dmitry started to say as they reached the doorway of the Dining room.

"You mean we have a choice about what happens?" they heard Davey asked in wonder.

"Oops, maybe we should come back in a minute or two," Dmitry whispered.

"Hang on a second," Dominic whispered back as he looked around noticing that Davey, Jimmy, Gabe, Travis, and Doc Austin were all present. "I want to hear this."

Gabe smiled, "That is the golden rule around here guys; no matter what you have the final right to say yes or no about anything that directly affects your body. Nobody has broken that rule yet; I am afraid to find out what will happen if anyone ever does."

"What about sex stuff?" Jimmy asked quietly.

Travis answered Jimmy in a caring tone, "That is up to you too. If you want to do something and the person who you want to do it with agrees then it is fine; but if either one of you is uncomfortable with it then all you have to do is say 'no' or 'I'm not sure' and it won't happen. If you start something but don't feel right about it then just say 'stop' and the person will stop. There are no adults allowed around here who will ever try to do sex stuff with you."

"Yeah right, whatever." Davey muttered.

Doc Austin turned Davey's face towards him. "I will cut the privates off of any adult who tries." he said seriously.

"If he doesn't I will. And I won't use a knife." Dominic announced from the doorway. "Sorry for interrupting; I needed to stretch my legs and figured I would check out the newest additions to the family."

"Damn," added Dmitry from under Dominic's arm as he covered his crotch. "That hurts just to think about."

"Don't worry, yours are safe," muttered Dominic.

Dmitry giggled but then got serious as he addressed Davey and Jimmy, "Actually I kinda prompted Dominic to want to stretch his legs, I wanted to know if you guys are alright."

Both Davey and Jimmy nodded. "We're better." Davey replied. "Gabe and Travis just adopted us. Thanks for saving us from the bastard," Davey glanced at Gabe to ensure he was not going to get in trouble before continuing, "We owe you our lives."

Dmitry blushed, "You don't owe me for that, I'm just glad that the both of you are ok. And even if he hadn't of pulled that gun I probably would have killed him anyway just for the fact that he sounded too much like someone else that I knew that deserved to die."

"I think if we want to help make the world better, people like that should be dealt with when ever the opportunity presents itself," said Dominic. "And I think Nyo and Ark would agree."

Dmitry giggled, "Dude, they don't know who that is."

"Oh, oops," said Dominic. "Sorry, they're friends of ours; I'm sure you'll get to meet them some day."

"I think I need to up our uniform order." Gabe giggled.

Davey rolled his eyes at Dmitry then replied. "Whatever. You saved my little brother; that is enough for me to owe you."

"Yeah but these guys were going to save you anyway," replied Dmitry.

"They were saving us, but so were you. His gun was pointed at Jimmy when you got him; would they have been able to shoot him in time before he pulled the trigger?"

"Ok I guess you have a point," Dmitry said quietly.

Dominic shook his head and then poked Dmitry in the ribs, "That means they win. So you say..."

"Hey!" giggled Dmitry as he squirmed under Dominic's arm. "Ok they win!"

"And?" said Dominic.

"You're welcome," added Dmitry.

"Better," mumbled Dominic. "You have to work on delivery though."

"We can do that later," whispered Dmitry as he looked up at Dominic and wagged his eyebrows.

Dominic sighed, "You're hopeless."

Just then Helen came into the room. "Austin, what were you mumbling about? I barely could hear you." She then noticed the new faces in the room. "Oh my; I see that you boys have been busy. Travis, honey; could you please introduce your new friends? Jacob; go tell your brothers to wrap it up and get ready for dinner."

"Yes ma'am." Jacob replied as he hopped up and ran towards CIC.

Travis beamed with pride as he began introductions. "I'll start at the doorway first mom; otherwise I'll never get to them. The taller one is Dominic and the other one is Dmitry; they are Clan Security and are gonna be visiting for a while. I'm kinda proud of these other two; my snuggle bunny and I adopted them! Mom, meet your new grandsons; the oldest one is Davey and the youngest one is Jimmy."

"Oh they didn't tell her first," giggled Dmitry. "This'll be fun!"

Helen smiled at the boys in the doorway. "Sorry to ruin your fun cutie, but I was wondering when they would get around to it!" She then started over towards the boys at the table with a glowing smile on her face.

"Hmmm cutie, I don't think anyone has ever called DT that before," said Dominic as he looked down at Dmitry. "I'll have to save that one for later though."

"Oh gawd!" replied Dmitry as he tried to hide his face. "Don't give him ammo! Embarrassing others is my department!"

As she walked by the two boys, Helen whispered "Dominic, if Dmitry tastes as good as he looks you have a gourmet meal for a boyfriend!" She then hurried over to greet her new grandsons.

Dominic smiled, "You have no idea."

"HEY! That's not fair!" said Dmitry as he turned a deeper shade of red. "You can't just joke and run! I'm not done!"

"Who said she was joking," Dominic whispered into Dmitry's ear before he started nibbling on it.

Dmitry giggled, "Well if I'm a gourmet meal then you're the dessert that completes me."

"I just can't win against you," blushed Dominic.

"So what do ya think of all this?" Dmitry asked softly as he watched Helen interact with her new grandsons on the other side of the room.

"What about how they work?" asked Dominic.

"No about this family," replied Dmitry. "Actually from what the twins say it's our family now too."

"Yeah but we don't belong to anyone DT," said Dominic. "Everyone here is part of this family because someone else from the family is their parent."

"That's not completely true," said Dmitry. "Mark Owens isn't."

"But he's also eighteen years old," replied Dominic. "We're only ten."

Dmitry grinned, "Ark could be our mother."

"That's just not the same, I can't hug Ark," whispered Dominic.

"How about Nyo?" asked Dmitry. "I'm sure he'd be more then willing."

"I'll think about that," said Dominic. "Don't worry about it though; if these guys want us as family then I'll try my best not to disappoint them."

"They might still like ya even if you do disappoint them," replied Dmitry as he watched Doc Austin and Davey head of the room.

Just as Doc Austin and Davey were out of sight Beau came out of the hallway and approached Dmitry and Dominic, "Can I talk to you guys for a minute?"

"Oh Hiya Beau!" said Dmitry. "Can he Dom?"

"Sure," Dominic said cautiously.

"And if you run out of time I'll talk him into giving you more then a minute," smiled Dmitry. "Actually I'm not really sure if he would time you though because then he wouldn't be paying attention and Dominic always pays attention so..."

"DT," interrupted Dominic.

"Yeah Dom."

"Shhhhhh," said Dominic getting a giggle out of Dmitry. "Okay; go ahead Beau."

Beau shuffled his feet, "I kinda screwed up when you guys got here. I didn't think about how you guys felt; I was kinda missing my boyfriends and took it out on you. I'm sorry for being such a jerk."

"I'm sorry too; we can both be accused of taking it out on the wrong person," said Dominic. "I was just getting over the worst headache I've ever had and I was a little bit too touchy."

"In that case you're both really cute for a couple of jerks," added Dmitry.

"So what does that make you then?" Dominic asked Dmitry.

"DAMN cute!" giggled Dmitry. "Wait a second, did you say they're both your boyfriend? You have TWO!?"

"No! Don't even go there DT," Dominic said quickly.

Beau couldn't help but giggle, "Keep it up Dominic; trust me, having twin boyfriends is not as kewl as it sounds. You have twice as much to miss when they are not there. You wanna try introducing ourselves all over again since we got a bad start last time?"

"I like that idea, let's start again," said Dominic as he stuck out his hand. "My name is Dominic Ivan Nimvok, I'm ten years old, I'm originally from Russia, and my eyes use to be my favorite thing about myself because they were gray."

Dmitry giggled, "I think your name was enough Dom."

Beau took Dominic's hand and shook it. "Hi, I'm Beau Wagner. Those two nut cases you came in with are my boyfriends; don't take them too seriously, they can pull some pretty mean pranks."

"Ooo pranks, I might have competition," smiled Dmitry has he offered his hand. "We're very pleased to meet you Beau. And by the way you've got to have one of the coolest hair and eye color combos ever; the blue eyes with the black hair is really amazingly cute!"

"You'll have to excuse Dmitry, he thinks it's his job to make anyone he likes blush," said Dominic as he stepped behind his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around him.

Beau giggled. "You're gonna love Cory then; he's easy!"

The three of them moved out of the doorway as the rest of the boys started to filter into the dining room. As Matty came in dragging Rusty behind him, they stopped by Dmitry. "Deemeetee; Jamie says you fixded the bad man sodat he can't huwt noone nomowe. Thanks fow fixin him." Matty then timidly gave Dmitry a quick hug.

Dmitry smiled and then carefully returned the hug, "You're welcome Matty. And thanks for the hug, I think I needed that."

Matty smiled at Dmitry in response, "Youw welcome Deemeetee. Youw awe a good boy just like Wusty."

"I don't know if I'm as good as your friend Rusty but thank you for the complement," said Dmitry.

Matty turned to drag Rusty to the table.

"You awe." Matty replied as they moved away.

"I agree," whispered Dominic.

"You're opinion is biased," smiled Dmitry. "But thanks."

"Oh while you were gone I started to go over the information that Nyo had us 'plant'," Dominic mouthed. "I think I actually understand some of it."

"What kinda info was it?" Dmitry mouthed back as he watched Doc Austin and his wife Carrie come into the room.

"I don't think Nyo would like it if I went into detail while we're at dinner here," mouthed Dominic. "But to some degree it all seemed to make perfect sense; very organized and clean. It makes me wonder what else Ark has stored away in its database."

"Sounds like fun," Dmitry mouthed as he continued to watch what was happening on the other side of the room.

"You're not listening to me are you?" said Dominic.

Dmitry smiled, "No not really."

"Liar."

"Just a second Dom," Dmitry replied as he sat up a little straighter and then called across the room. "It's alright guys everything will turn out okay. I don't think there's a person here that I wouldn't trust with my life. I've seen what they can do to protect those that they love and what extremes they will go to, to keep their promises."

"Remember what I told you guys?" Jamie added. "Nobody here will hurt you or mess with your minds ever. We don't let them on the property; Jacob and I always catch them before they make it to the front door."

Davey looked around at the few boys who he slightly trusted. "My mother used to be nice, but that bastard changed her. What's gonna keep that from happening to any of you?" he asked accusingly.

"Uncle Cory'll kill 'em first!" Johnny piped up. "He hates bad people."

"Yeah; that's if Kyle don't fry their mind first." Robby added.

"Tell me about it!" Dominic muttered.

"Actually Dom I just thought of something," Dmitry said softly to Dominic. "Jamie mentioned that he and Jacob would be able to catch them before they could even make it to the front door."

"Yeah," said Dominic.

"They didn't catch us," said Dmitry. "In fact we've been hanging around them for days and they never even knew we were here."

"Well oh course we have cloaks and Phasenmorphs," replied Dominic.

"Yeah but if humanity made these things before couldn't they make them again?" asked Dmitry. "And in that case could the Clan be at risk?"

"Ark would probably know if humanity had made anything like this again," said Dominic. "Nyo probably would have warned us too so we wouldn't freak out if we came across someone else that was cloaked or armed with a living weapon."

"Probably but do you think there could be a way that we could adjust the Clan's security sensors to pick up cloaked people?" said Dmitry.

"Nyo said that our cloaks are undetectable so I'm not sure," responded Dominic.

Dmitry shook his head, "That's not true though, you can see cloaked people."

"Then until you can talk to Nyo about it I'll keep an eye out," said Dominic.

"Oh I suppose we would need his help," Dmitry said sadly. "Neither one of us knows that stuff yet."

"You scare me when you say 'yet'," said Dominic. "So what are they talking about now?"

"You weren't listening?" said Dmitry.

Dominic smiled, "I don't multi-listen like you do oh hyperactive one."

"They're talking about how bad Davey and Jimmy's now departed step-father really screwed them up," Dmitry said.

Just then Alec leaned over to Dmitry, "It's a good thing you killed that bastard; right about now I easily could rip his dick off and shove it down his throat before vaporizing his worthless ass."

"You mean that thing I actually killed was human?" grinned, Dmitry. "Wow! I was under the impression that he mates through his foul language; and the only way to tell his species to back off is to vaporize them."

Alec looked at Dmitry with surprise, then giggled, "Thanks D, I needed that! You might be right; I'm not to sure a human could do that much stuff."

"I got a question for ya though," said Dmitry. "Are they ever going to feed us or do I have to start eating my boyfriend?"

"Hey!" shouted Dominic.

"Naw, we usually save eating boyfriend for during the evening showers!" Alec replied with a grin.

Dmitry grinned, "AWESOME! Hey Dom did you hear..."

"Yes! Yes I heard him," blushed Dominic.

Dmitry looked over at Dominic and gave him an evil smile.

"No plotting," Dominic said to that. "I'll get you before you get me."

"Oooh promises," replied Dmitry.

"Oh God!" said Dominic as he hid his face. "I just can't win."

Dmitry giggled, "Tonight at eleven! How many shades of red can Dominic Nimvok turn!"

As if to just save Dominic from further embarrassment Helen came into the Dining room bringing with her multiple platters of food.

"AWESOME!!!" Justy exclaimed from the other side of the table. "Thanks Helen! Dad and Pop won't fix us the stuff to make our own burritos and tacos any more; not since Airhead loaded up on refried beans then snuck into their bedroom after they were asleep!"

"Umm hey Dom, what the heck is a burrito or taco?" Dmitry said as he watched the food get placed on the table.

"Oh sure now you want me for something," replied Dominic with a grin. "I don't know what they are DT, your guess is as good as mine."

"Okay," said Dmitry as he turned to Alec. "Hey Alec what kind of food is this and what is a burrito and a taco?"

Alec grinned, "Well, that's pretty easy. A burrito is when you take a tortilla and fill it with meat and stuff then wrap it up. A taco is kinda the same thing; it's stiff so you put your meat in the bottom then pile more good stuff on top of it."

"Please say we're still talking about the food," groaned Dominic.

Dmitry giggled, "Thanks Alec. Jeez Dom you need to get your mind out of the gutter."

"I need to get MY mind out of the gutter!?" replied Dominic. "If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black I don't know what is."

"What's this got to do with pots and kettles?" smiled Dmitry.

Dominic sighed, "I'm done, I just want to eat in peace."

Dmitry moved a little closer to Dominic, "I'm just kidding with you Dom."

"I know I'm just hungry and tired," replied Dominic.

"Okay Dom, let's eat already," said Dmitry as he kissed Dominic on the cheek.

Suddenly Travis spoke up, "Guys! Hold off your attack; our SON wants to say Grace!"

~~~

"Well how did it go," said Nyo as he looked up from the teleport buffer he was working on as Tyne and Stepan came into the room.

"We're both out of shape," replied Stepan as he sat down and leaned against a nearby buffer module. "I'm so sore now."

Nyo gave Stepan a worried look, "Didn't I tell you to do the easy training course, you haven't recovered enough to do anything else."

"All I did was the easy one," said Stepan. "Tyne over here on the other hand is one hell of a shot. He aced the advanced course."

"After I could feel my arm again," said Tyne as he sat down next to Stepan.

"I take it then that you've had some kind of training before Tyne?" said Nyo as he pulled a bottle of water out of his repair bag and handed it to Stepan. "Step I want you to drink this whole thing."

"Ok," said Stepan as he gladly accepted the bottle.

"No actually I've never fired any kind of weapon before," replied Tyne. "I'm pretty good with a sword but I've never worked with any kind of weapon that shot something. I just have a really good amount of focus all the time so my hand eye coordination is really good."

"That and he cheats," added Stepan as he took a drink. "He sees everything before it happens."

Nyo laughed, "Oh yeah I forgot about that, I suppose that helps."

"And here I thought I could get you to think I was just naturally good," grinned Tyne.

"So what are we looking at for departure time," said Stepan. "And do you need help or do we have time to grab a shower, I really stink now."

Nyo leaned forward and sniffed, "Yeah you're right you do stink, although Tyne doesn't smell at all."

"I don't have an odor when I sweat," said Tyne. "My genetics took care of that."

"Ah, lucky," said Nyo. "I'll get you some deodorant when you're clean Step; I'm looking at about eight hours here. The teleportation matrix some how got fused."

< I was going to try and pull Dmitry and Dominic back when I realized what was happening. I had just charged the matrix before I lost control of the teleporters. >

"Well that'll explain it," said Tyne. "Doesn't the teleportation system have to use all buffered power when teleporting or release it when it's done or..."

"It'll fuse the matrix," finished Nyo. "Yeah it does."

"Well do you need help?" Stepan asked again.

< Yes he does. >

"Hey I can answer on my own," said Nyo. "Yes I do but I want you to rest and get cleaned up."

"Actually I'll start on the buffer that me and Stepan are leaning against," said Tyne. "Why don't the two of you go get a shower and maybe something to eat? When you get back I'll go do the same."

"But I'm almost finished with..." Nyo started to say.

"Nyo put down the tools and go with your boyfriend," interrupted Tyne. "It'll make you both feel better."

Stepan giggled as he got up and grabbed one of Nyo's hands, "Come on Nyo."

"Ok," said Nyo as Stepan dragged him away. "But make sure that you sync the buffers and..."

"I helped build it the first time I know what I'm doing," said Tyne. "Go! And Stepan get his mind off of work will ya!"

As soon as they were out of sight Tyne sighed, "That boy has no clue does he?"

< He has never had someone as a partner before; he is very work oriented. >

Tyne smiled, "I hope Stepan breaks him of that, it'll do him some good."

< As much as I hate to agree, you are right I think it will too. >

~~~

"Hey Alec?" Dmitry said as they were getting up to leave the table after dinner. "Can me and Dom go ahead and get our shower?"

"Sure guys," replied Alec. "Do you guys know where the bathroom is?"

"Yeah that's were we first ran into the twins," said Dmitry.

"No twins this time," mumbled Dominic. "I want to get clean...among other things."

Dmitry giggled, "Thanks Alec, just wanted to make sure we were allowed."

"No problem," said Alec. "You guys don't have to ask for permission in the future."

"Ok Alec," said Dmitry as he dragged Dominic off to the bathroom for their shower.

"Have fun," Alec called as they slipped into the hallway.

As soon as they were in the hallway Dominic stopped walking, picked Dmitry up, and then dashed for the bathroom.

Dmitry giggled wildly, "I didn't know you wanted to get cleaned up that badly."

"Actually YOU stink," Dominic said very matter of fact like as he got into the bathroom, closed the door with his back, and then set Dmitry down. "I'm just doing the Clan a favor."

"Will you do ME a favor too?" Dmitry asked as he wrapped his arms around Dominic.

Dominic smiled, "Name it."

Dmitry leaned in a whispered something in Russian into Dominic's ear causing him to blush.

Twenty minutes later both boys came out of the bathroom wrapped in towels looking much more relaxed.

Dominic wrapped his arms around Dmitry as they walked towards the Rec room, "I love you."

"I know you do," giggled Dmitry. "I love you too Dom."

"Are we going with standard Clan dress to sleep in?" asked Dominic.

"If its ok with you I'd like to," replied Dmitry as they walked into the Rec room. "Where do you want to sleep?"

"Sure that's fine just don't remind me that I'm naked and I'll be ok. Oh there's a spot over there on the left," said Dominic. "Will that work?"

"Yeah that works perfect," Dmitry said as he led Dominic in that direction.

"Towel please," said Dominic once they got to their spot. "I'll run these back to the bathroom to dry, we forgot our jumpsuits too."

"Ok," replied Dmitry as he pulled off his towel and handed it to Dominic. "Hurry back."

As Dominic ran off Dmitry took notice of all the other boys that were getting settled in and watching a movie on the TV. Everyone looked like they were just having an ordinary day and that this was a normal way to end it. Some of them were in their boxers, some weren't wearing anything at all, and most of them were cuddled up to someone. Dmitry found himself smiling as he thought that he could live with a life like this. As he sat down Dominic came back carrying their jumpsuits.

Dominic sat down next to him and smiled, "You look happy."

"I am," replied Dmitry. "Come on, let's get comfortable."

As Dmitry and Dominic were settling in Johnny walked over, "Did you guys take care of your boyfriend stuff in the shower like everyone else? Uncle Aaron ain't here and I kinda wanna cuddle with you guys tonight."

Dmitry smiled as Dominic laid his head on Dmitry's chest and cuddled up to his right side, "Sure Johnny you can join us."

"Yeah I'm much more relaxed after that shower," Dominic smiled and said softly with his eyes closed. "I think this is the most relaxed I've felt in months."

Dmitry giggled, "Any second now I expect him to start purring like our Phasenmorphs."

"I've claimed this side of DT but if you want his other side Johnny I'll gladly share him with you tonight," said Dominic. "Personally I think he's very cuddly."

"Kewl! Can I cuddle your fuzzymores too?" Johnny replied with a huge smile.

Dominic chuckled, "Fuzzymores huh? I guess that is easier to say."

"I don't have any fuzzymores yet," giggled Dmitry. "At least as far as I..."

"You don't," Dominic said cutting Dmitry off.

"But if you want to cuddle Giggle or Eyes then you're more then welcome," said Dmitry.

Johnny quickly dropped down and snuggled against Dmitry. "You are nice; I like you guys," Johnny stated as he found a Phasenmorph for each hand and settled in for the night.

A few minutes later both Dmitry and Dominic were fast asleep.

~~~Several Hours later~~~

Tyne, Nyo, and Stepan suddenly appeared in the walkway just outside of the entrance to the Clan Short CIC building and then disappeared again.

"Ok cloaks are active," said Tyne.

"We really got to remember to do that before we get here," replied Nyo as he rushed up to the door. "The Phasenmorphs will mask our signature but I'm going to need to hack their system to get the door to open."

"Are we sure that their signals are coming from within this building," asked Tyne.

"Yeah, there are only two Phasenmorph patterns topside and they're in that building," said Stepan as he pulled out his handheld and began scanning the area. "Unfortunately other then that we haven't got a clue who or what is around here."

"Is that why we didn't just teleport inside?" said Tyne. "We don't know if any of them are awake?"

"That and they might have a security system," responded Nyo as he placed a small device on the computer panel and began typing away on his handheld. "This is a very complex security system it might take me a minute."

"How long is a minute?" asked Tyne. "Do we have a minute?"

Stepan giggled, "And I thought Dmitry asked a lot of strange questions."

"I really do mean a minute and yes we have the time to spare," said Nyo.

"Sorry," said Tyne.

"So what kinda encryption are they using?" Stepan asked as he continued to survey the area.

"Some really lame binary," replied Nyo. "There I got it! Let's move!"

"Hey I though that was gonna be my line," said Tyne as they rushed through the open door.

"We re-scripted at the last minute," giggled Stepan.

"Ok guys let's stay sharp," said Nyo. "Step where are they at?"

"The scanner says three rooms to the left give or take a doorway," replied Stepan.

"If we're lucky then Kyle will either be asleep or not here," said Nyo as they progressed through the hallway.

"Who is Kyle?" asked Tyne. "Is there something different about him?"

"Yeah something about the way his head works makes the Phasenmorphs overreact," said Stepan. "We'll be looking into it at some point. I'll have to admit I like the numbing effect that the Morphs have now when you put them on, no pain is always good."

Tyne shook his head, "No pain? The thing makes your damn arm numb for like..."

"They're in the room; right up ahead Nyo," interrupted Stepan.

"Ok now we just have to find them in here..." Nyo started to say as they reached the door way.

Before them though was a sea of boys scattered about sleeping in various piles all over the room. A few of them had boxers on but it looked like most of them were sleeping nude.

"Good God!" exclaimed Tyne. "Is this the whole Clan?"

Nyo looked around before answering, "Actually it looks like they're missing a good section of them."

"You mean this isn't all of them?" Tyne said in shock. "Wow, maybe there are enough of them to change the world."

Stepan chuckled, "We'll make an optimist out of you yet."

"Changing the world would be a miracle," said Tyne. "Making me an optimist would be an act of God. So how are we supposed to find them in here if they're hidden?"

Stepan held up his handheld, "Again, the Morphs will tell us."

Tyne blushed, "Oh right; sorry."

"It's ok Tyne I have my bad days too," said Stepan. "They're over there on the left."

"Ok let's go and be careful where you step," said Nyo as he started tip toeing through the boys.

As they got closer to where Stepan had indicated suddenly Nyo stopped, "Damn we have a problem."

"What's wrong?" asked Stepan as he came up next to Nyo.

There in front of them were Dmitry and Dominic cuddled together with little Johnny sleeping soundly.

"Ummm Nyo I think this is a little bigger of a problem then we thought it would be," said Stepan.

Tyne sighed, "So they're visible and cuddling with a Clan member. Well wake them up and let them explain themselves."

Nyo nodded, "I'll let them explain before I feed them to Ark."

"It's a good thing Ark can't hear us," added Stepan.

Nyo grinned and then leaned over and kissed Dmitry on the forehead, "Dmitry I need ya to wake up buddy."

A smile spread across Dmitry's face as he slowly opened his eyes, "Hi Nyo, it's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too," replied Nyo as he sat down next to Dmitry. "Do ya mind telling me why you and Dominic are visible?"

"The cloaks are pretty much dead and there was something wrong with Dom's eyes and we...," Dmitry started to say.

Nyo interrupted him, "Something's wrong with Dominic's eyes?!"

"It's ok don't freak on me," said Dmitry. "With a little bit of help from my handheld and the help of the Clan doctor Dom is fine, we just had to tone down the Biological Interface Strength a little."

"Well crap," said Nyo. "I completely forgot that he might run into that problem, it happens sometimes. But your cloaks are dead? Oh wait I you guys only had the three day power cells; I'm so sorry guys."

Dmitry nodded, "They've got about an hour of power left on them but Dominic needed help and I..."

"Shhh you did just fine Dmitry," said Nyo. "I'm guessing though that this means that the rest of the guys in here know about you two?"

"They don't know who sent us..." Dmitry said.

"Jamie and Jacob do..." sighed, Dominic as he shifted a little."Hi Nyo, hey Stepan, and hi strange guy I don't know."

"Go ahead and turn your cloaks off guys so Dmitry can see you too," said Nyo.

"Oh Step! I didn't even see you there," giggled Dmitry.

"Duh!" said Dominic.

"Hiya! And yeah hi new guy," said Dmitry. "You have very pretty eyes I can see them from down here."

Tyne blushed, "Thanks."

"This is Tyne guys," giggled Stepan. "He's a Founder."

Just then Johnny stirred and looked at the new boys sleepily. "Who are you? Is those fuzzymores under your shirts? Deemeetee, I gotta pee. Will you take me to the bathroom?"

Nyo smiled, "Hey there little guy, I'm Dominic and Dmitry's friend Nyo. I've never heard them called fuzzymores, although that sounds a lot more fun, but yeah we're wearing Phasenmorphs." Nyo stretched out his arm and pulled back his sleeve, "This is Phil."

"Nyo, the boy needs to pee," said Stepan. "Let Dmitry take him to the bathroom and then you can talk his ear off when he gets back."

"Just think DT you finally get to go into a bathroom with one of the boys here," said Dominic as he stretched and then sat up.

Dmitry grinned, "I didn't want to follow Johnny into the bathroom, he's cute but way too young for me."

"Whatever, just hurry up already," said Dominic. "You're my pillow and I want you back when you return."

Dmitry blushed as he got up to lead Johnny to the bathroom.

"So while DT's gone what's been going on with Ark?" asked Dominic.

"When we had you guys complete your side mission it started a reaction that placed Ark into standby and woke Tyne here up from a very long sleep," replied Nyo. "We've spent the last few days trying to get Ark's systems back online because taking it out of standby didn't bring everything back online."

"Oh ok," said Dominic. "I'm glad you came back for us."

"I'll never leave you guys behind," Nyo said as he pulled Dominic into a hug. "You and Dmitry are two of my best friends; I'll never abandon either of you."

Dominic smiled and wrapped his arms around Nyo, "You don't know how much that means to me."

Just then Dmitry and Johnny came back from their trip to the bathroom. Alec followed them over to the new group. "Hey there guys. I'm Alec. I'm guessing your friends of Dmitry and Dominic by your clothes; welcome to Clan Headquarters. Tell your 'morphs they can relax; the twins swore secrecy on anything to do with you guys, so they won't try to scan your heads unless you give them permission first."

"Thanks for the welcome Alec," Nyo said as he looked the dark haired fifteen year old boy up and down before turning to his guys. "I'm Nyo and this is my boyfriend Stepan and our friend Tyne."

"I'd hope you'd look guilty but I was looking too," said Stepan with a smile causing Nyo to blush.

"You mean some of these boys are telepaths?" Tyne said almost in a panic. "For their own safety they'd better keep that promise or they could get hurt, I don't want to think what would happen if another telepath tried to read my mind."

Alec turned his full attention to Tyne. "Tyne, are you saying there is something different about your mind that could hurt them? It's not a problem, but if you don't mind I'll warn the twins and Xain so that they can make sure to block any stray stuff that you might be transmitting."

"I don't transmit but they'll need to keep out of my mind if they value their consciousness," replied Tyne. "They could get stuck or lost in my mind. I'm in three different times at once."

"Wow; that could mess someone up!" Alec replied. "From what Kyle told me, everyone is kinda like a radio station; their surface thoughts radiate out and Kyle hears them without trying. The twins have never said anything about it, but I would rather be safe."

"Yeah Kyle's the one we don't have a definition for," said Nyo. "He's kind of a PAIN to block too."

"That reminds me of something someone once mentioned," Tyne said deep in thought.

Alec giggled. "Yeah, Kyle's kinda unique. Even we don't know what all he can do; he keeps surprising us with new things none of the other telepaths can even figure out."

"Yeah, tell me about it!" Jacob muttered as him and Jamie joined the group with Beau sandwiched between them. "Hey, double D's; is this who we think it is? Who's the new guy?"

Dmitry giggled, "Yeah this is Nyo and Stepan; the new guy is Tyne, he's a Founder."

"Just stay out of his head though guys, his mind is mentally a danger to the both of you," added Dominic.

"That's a thought, me being dangerous without me even trying," said Tyne. "You know I never used to have to worry about this. Founders never had this problem between each other."

"You'll have to excuse him," said Stepan. "He's been asleep for about sixty thousand years."

"Give or take a few thousand," said Nyo. "He's a good guy though."

"Great to meet you." Jamie replied. "You know;"

Jacob got an evil grin as they started to see-saw the conversation. "If you really wanna ..."

Jamie: "find out about Kyle"

Jacob: "If you can see in our heads"

Jamie: "We'll let you look"

Jacob: "Since we've been in his head"

Jamie: "You can see how really"

Jacob: "unreal his brain is."

Johnny giggled as he reached out and started petting Nyo's Phasenmorph. "You're silly Uncle J's!"

Nyo yelped and jumped a little but then moaned, "Ohhhh that feeeeeels goooood."

"I didn't know you could make that noise Nyo," giggled Stepan.

"No better way to incapacitate someone then to pet their Phasenmorph," said Dmitry.

"I don't know if that's a good idea or not guys," Tyne said to Jamie and Jacob. "I don't have control over how much I read. Its like only having two settings, scan and kill."

Jamie looked Tyne in the eyes. "I can't say what we know with everyone else here; but Jacob and I know enough that we trust you. If we didn't, double D's would not have been welcomed into the Clan family. If you can't be selective, we trust you to keep our secrets just as much as we have been trusted to keep yours. Just try not to use the 'kill' mode; it really messes up the morning to be dead before breakfast."

"Kill doesn't actually kill it just makes you hallucinate and see what you fear most while blocking me from your mind," said Tyne. "I haven't used something like that in a very long time and I hope I never have to again. But that's very trusting of you, maybe later we can find somewhere quiet and give it a try. I haven't used my telepathic skills in a while."

"Kewl." Jamie replied. He reached out his free hand for Tyne to shake. "After breakfast I know of the perfect place; I've got a couple of questions I'd like to ask in private anyways."

Tyne smiled and shook Jamie's hand, "That would be..." But suddenly Tyne stopped and then tilted his head sideways. "Something's not right here," Tyne said softly to himself. He tightened his grip a little then the loosened it again but didn't let go. "Yesterday you went somewhere that you should have gone to by yourselves," said Tyne as he let go of Jamie's hand. "Someone was killed that wasn't supposed to die then, and they were killed by someone that wasn't suppose to be there. Which one of you was it? Which one, I have to know which one of you!"

Dmitry spoke up, "It was me Tyne."

Tyne looked at Dmitry with a very strange look on his face, "Give me your hand then."

"What?" said Dmitry.

"Tyne what's wrong?" asked Nyo.

"I'll explain in a minute," replied Tyne. "Dmitry give me your hand."

Dominic took a few steps towards Dmitry wanting to protect him but Dmitry shook his head at Dominic.

"It's ok Dom," said Dmitry as he stuck out his hand. Tyne quickly took a hold of his hand and then closed his eyes.

"Jeez I can't see far enough," Tyne said after a few seconds. "Dmitry sit down with me for a few minutes."

Both boys sat down on the floor with Tyne still gripping Dmitry's hand firmly. The room was quietly watching them and after a few minutes Tyne sighed and shook his head.

"Time and destinies change all the time," said Tyne. "Most of the time the changes are so small that they're never noticed, they never make very big waves in the time space continuum. But this is different, whoever had Dmitry go with Jamie and Jacob yesterday set things up for a very different future. And when Dmitry showed himself and killed that man it split the time line in two; one with how things would have been and one with how things will be now."

All of the boys exchanged glances before Alec asked "How bad? How many people does it affect; just those of us here or what?"

Tyne looked up at Alec; "If it just affected a few people I wouldn't both to look almost twenty thousand years into the future to check long term repercussions. This has a different feel to it than what I've seen before; you guys managed to create a rift, an exact split in time and space creating a parallel effect which is something that only the Founder Council has ever dealt with. It's a situation where you've forced time to make a change without even realizing it to fit a new future. Meanwhile the original timeline, what's left of it, continues on in that parallel time. I can't even see that part of the timeline anymore, this is the new timeline. I can tell you that more people are alive because of this change than in the old timeline though."

Alec shook his head. "Oh shit! If I wasn't used to guys with weird abilities telling me stuff and/or doing weird stuff I'd tell you that you were nuts. After living with Kyle, Eli, and Benji around I've learned to expect anything; but this is unreal. What exactly can you do Tyne?"

"I don't know what all I can do I just know what skills I've been trained to use," replied Tyne. "The one that most Founders are known for is their ability to see into the future although range depends on the Founder. We can see into the past too but we don't normally use that very often unless we need to see what caused a particular action. The other skill most Founders are somewhat trained to do is what we call Scanning, which is just another way of saying we're telepaths that can only read one way and we get everything at once rather then in controlled amounts. And a few of us can use that technique to also do the reverse effect that I was telling the twins about a few minutes ago. If we have other abilities then no Founder has ever bothered to develop them."

"Oh great; a Kyle that can also see the future!" Beau moaned. "It's bad enough with these two cuties rearranging everyone's head!"

Alec laughed as Jamie and Jacob pulled Beau to the floor and started tickling him. "I'm not going to argue. It looks like the rest of the crew is waking up; why don't we head into the control room and I'll get you guys entered into the system so that you don't have to break in anymore. After that those of us who are still undressed for bed can get dressed and we'll grab breakfast. If you don't mind, after breakfast the five of you could join the twins and me in private and we can catch up on what you are allowed to say to us. At the same time I'll answer any questions you guys have."

"Ok that'll be fine," said Tyne as he got up off the floor and then helped Dmitry up.

Nyo nodded his agreement, "Yeah Ark should have communications back up and running by then and breakfast could be fun; we haven't eaten yet either."

"Yes food," giggled Dmitry. "Already our minds are becoming like one; we are thinking the same thoughts..."

"DT Nyo's mind could never be as bad as yours is," interrupted Dominic.

"Sure it's not," mumbled Stepan. "You just keep believing that Dominic."