In another Wilizy ship, two other teenagers had started out on a sofa. Theo and Nary had also run out of things to say, and Nary was being particularly affectionate. She had pushed herself up against Theo and was nuzzling the soft flesh under his chin. Theo took the opportunity to lightly touch his lips to Nary's cheek.
The next thing Theo knew, Nary was kissing him deeply while at the same time undoing the buttons on his shirt. Theo didn't want to think about what Marie would do if she found out. Marie was currently sleeping in the mud of Lake Ontario, so discovery might be a little ways off. Nevertheless, he pushed Nary's hands away and tried to extricate himself from her grasp. What had been a soft purring sound coming from Nary's throat became something more vigorous. Theo saw the red eyes and leapt aloft.
"Contrary, no! Away you go. Bad panther. Bad panther."
Nary's eyes turned black and she looked at Theo, puzzled. "Why are you standing? I was expecting you to kiss me. Didn't you want to be on first base?"
A word of warning, gentlemen. If you're planning to give a gentle kiss to a woman who has a panther living inside of her, don't do that when the panther is in heat.
# # # # # # #
Back at the home compound, TG was trying to explain to Yollie why he had spent so much time on Mavis' stenographer machine – the one that taped everything that the judge had said in Lucas' trial.
"I took it apart. That was easy enough – these recorders are standard devices. The pause button had been bypassed, as I had thought. Pressing the pause button would still give a clicking noise, so Mavis believed that it had stopped recording. "
"But it hadn't stopped recording."
"That's right, it hadn't."
"So what's the problem? A wire must have come off somewhere."
"No. That didn't happen. Instead, two wires had been soldered together so that the pause circuit wouldn't work. It wasn't an accident. Somebody deliberately fixed that machine so Mavis couldn't pause it."
"That leaves the question – who did that?"
"Exactly. And when was it done? All of those bots we found had no pauses during the time the judge wanted to be in recess. They recorded everything in those trials and those trials went back years."
"So why do you care? We caught the judge. End of story."
"It's the solder the person used, Yollie."
"What so special about solder?"
"Usually nothing. But this solder was a substance that I've never seen before. Neither has William. Between the two of us, we would know every type of metal alloy that could be used as a solder. We're stumped. William is planning to take the machine to Stanford."
"Either he or you will figure what it's made of."
"But we'll still have to figure out who is smarter than both of us."
# # # # # # #
Earlier that evening, Winnie had given Maddy a tour of the home compound and showed her where the kiddies would be sleeping. Maddy helped put them to bed and Winnie took Maddy into her own bedroom. "You'll sleep with me tonight so that you won't get frightened of being in a new place if you wake up early." Winnie didn't say that she was sleeping with Maddy to see if she could do something about her voice disappearing.
Winnie woke in the middle of the night hearing somebody prowling around the hall. Reese, is that you?
Yah.
Can't sleep?
Nah.
Want to talk about it?
Nah.
It may not be as bad as you think.
Sure.
At 11 years of age, Reese had learned how to grunt with the best of them.
Will you do me a favour?
OK.
You can come in my bedroom.
OK.
Patella and Scapula are in heat and want to go north to make some babies. I need to go with them to make sure that they choose the right mates. Can you take care of Maddy while I'm gone? Mom and Dad should be home today.
What will I have to do?
Make sure she gets breakfast; play with her. She'll probably want to stay with the kiddies.
OK.
She might be scared if she wakes up all alone. You should sleep next to her on top of the covers. She'll recognize you. She won't know who Yollie is, so stay near her until she's used to Yollie.
OK.
# # # # # # #
Reese awoke to the feeling that somebody was staring at him. Somebody was. Maddy was sitting cross-legged on the bed, still dressed in Winnie's sleeping shorts and top. She was the starer. Reese was the staree.
"You're awake," Reese said.
Maddy nodded.
"Do you remember me?"
Maddy nodded.
"Are you hungry?"
Maddy nodded.
"I'll take you to the kitchen and give you something to eat."
"Where'd Mommy go?" a little voice said.
"Mommy?"
"The one who gave me these clothes and slept with me."
"Ah, she went to help her...pets...get some exercise." Reese was so concerned about not spilling the beans about the wolves making baby wolves that he didn't react to the Mommy part. Or to the fact that Maddy was talking.
"Is she coming back?"
"Sure. I'll take care of you until she does."
"OK, Daddy."
From Maddy's perspective, her first mommy and daddy, the real ones, had occasionally taken her into their bed and let her sleep with them. None of the pretend parents had done that; none of the guides had done that. But these two people who had invited her to a picnic, and were the mommy and daddy to a whole bunch of other children... they had invited her into their bed to sleep with them. Therefore...
Reese didn't know what to do about the Daddy part. Nor did he know what to do when Maddy slipped her hand into his and walked down the hallway with him to the kitchen. He reacted like a normal male would react. He pretended it never happened and it would go away on its own if he kept on ignoring it.
"Do you know how to read," Maddy asked on the way.
"Yup."
"I can read too."
"That's good."
"Would you read to me and explain the words that I don't know yet?"
"Sure."
"Are you going to beat me?"
"Nobody will beat you ever again, Maddy." (Way to go, Reese!)
"Do you know the longer word for Maddy. I used to know but I've forgotten it."
"Possibly Madeline. Perhaps Madison."
"Madison is my real name."
"Madison?"
"Ahuh. You should call me Madison."
"What's wrong with Maddy?"
Madison looked up at her new daddy and fixed him with her big blue eyes. "Maddy's a baddy," she confided.
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Chapter 47
The date: a year in the first decade of 2100. The place: a comfortable home somewhere on Earth. A mother was giving her daughter THE LOOK. And much more.
"I swear, I leave you alone for one day, and what do I find?"
"Mom, I can explain."
"Claw marks on my daughter's arm are what I find."
"Mom, they're not as bad as they look. Honestly. They hardly hurt at all."
"And what did I find on the travel register on your sling? The register that you didn't know about? What did I find?"
"Just a little time-travel."
"A little time-travel that would have required you to override the parental controls. How could you have done that, I ask myself."
"It's not my fault if you think about the control codes when I'm around."
"It is your fault when you've been told to not snoop in my mind, young lady."
"You could always wear tinfoil, Mom. I can't see through tinfoil. You know that."
"I refuse to wear a tinfoil bandana around my head for the rest of my life. You have to stop snooping in my mind!"
"But it was important!"
"You've been told. Listen to me. Time-travel is risky."
&n
bsp; "Mom, I had to."
# # # # # # #
"OK. I admit I went back to 2085 and 2086. Dad has told the story lots of times. How a guardian angel named Azure saved his life. First, she stopped him from being blown up; then she stopped a single sniper from killing him; then she stopped three killers; then she pulled him out of a wheelchair to give him a concussion. It's not like this is a secret, Mom."
"Of course not. That guardian angel is where your middle name came from. I chose your first name, he chose the second."
"I just wanted to see what she looked like. Dad said he never actually saw her. He only heard her. I thought with the new technology we have, I might actually see her."
"You'd be able to see a blonde, blue-eyed angel?"
"Exactly."
"Did you see her?"
"No. There was no angel."
"Are you saying that your dad tells lies? You know he doesn't."
"No. I'm saying that he was two minutes away from being blown up and no angel was there to warn him not to go into the chocolate shop. I waited until I couldn't wait any longer and then I stopped him from going in the shop. I had to, Mom. He was going to die."
"And you told him that your name was Azure?"
"Because that's what had happened."
"And you said you were blue eyed and blonde?"
"I could hardly say that I'm aboriginal with his brown hair, his brown eyes, and his jaw line, could I? He believes he was saved by a guardian angel. If I told him the truth, I'd change the future. The battle group that he commands is called The Guardian Angels, remember? All that they've accomplished would disappear."
"And you saved his life again, and again, and again?"
"There was no angel to do that, Mom. I was the angel. I had to. He'd be dead. You wouldn't be married to him. I'd be nothing."
"The claw marks?"
"I was captured by a panther."
"Nary?"
"Do we have more than one panther in the family?"
"Watch the smart mouth."
"I tried to escape. I really did. But she caught me."
"Did you talk to her?"
"Contrary was planning to eat me. She was starving. I had to."
"That was all? You got Nary to release you and she believes you're a blonde, blue-eyed angel."
"Pretty much. That was back when she had just come off the prison island and she was confused. I don't think she remembers it at all."
"She hasn't said anything to me."
"See. Nothing was changed. Dad's alive. You're married to him. You have a little angel for a daughter."
"But you're too modest to brag about it."
"Sarcasm is not an attractive quality, Mother. Are you gonna tell Dad?"
"I'm not finished with you yet. You went back earlier than 2085."
"I did, Mom. I had to so that the judge who had tried to kill Dad would be caught. Otherwise the future would have been changed."
"What did you do?"
"I fixed the machine that was recording the trial so that it couldn't be paused."
"How'd you do that?"
"With the special solder that William invented."
"But back then, he hadn't invented it yet."
"But he would invent it. After the trial. At Stanford."
"So because of you, he studied the solder that he had already invented, so that he could learn how to invent it, and then he invented it. Everything was done in the wrong order!"
"Technically that's true. But Mom, we know he would be inventing it. I just made sure that it would happen. I'm sort of like an angel guarding the future from being changed."
"You're no angel. Lohla Azure Wilizy, you're a little devil sometimes."
"Yeah, but I'm too modest to brag about it."
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Other Novels by David J. Wighton
It would be best to read the novels in the Wilizy series in order.
I Got'cha: Book #1 in the Wilizy Series (July 2081 to October 2081
If you think being a teenager in today's world is tough, try being one in 2081. In Alberta's It's Only Fair society, your brain-band will zap you just for chewing with your mouth open. One boy pried his brain-band off to see what living with emotions would be like. Being chased by the entire Alberta army was bad enough. It became worse when another 15 year old kid offered to help him escape.
The Get-Even Bird: Book #2 in the Wilizy Series (November 2081 to April 2082)
Will and Izzy are forced to flee from Zzyk's army. After months away from Alberta, they fly their sailing ship into B.C. thinking that they would be safe there. Bad mistake! Izzy is captured. All Will has to do to save her life is turn himself in for a free brain-band fitting appointment. That's what happens when you wear a Zorro costume to a dance.
Assassination Day: Book #3 in the Wilizy Series (May 2082 to September 2082)
A DPS technician offers to defect if the Wilizy will rescue his daughter from The Citadel – some super smart military people who are friends with Zzyk. Izzy thinks that their new recruit is an assassin, but Yollie insists that he's a decent man. Can assassins be decent men? It will take a hair-raising experience to find out.
Hoist the Jolly Lucas: Book #4 in the Wilizy Series (September 2082 to March 2083)
It's bad enough that Zzyk pins the blame for two assassinations on Izzy and launches a full out assault on their home compound. But then, another enemy takes advantage of a security lapse to get revenge for a war that happened 20 years ago. The Wilizy are left reeling with two key members kidnapped and stashed where they can't be found, let alone rescued. For the family to survive, everybody must enter the battle. The story is as much about the past as it is about the present.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Torpedoes: Book #5 in the Wilizy Series (March 2083 to September 2084)
Mac disappears and doesn't want to be found. Will and Wolf use time-travel to search for her and discover secrets she wouldn't want them to know. The Alaskans attack when Will is finding out what happens to a submarine's air when it is lying helpless on the ocean floor. Between the Alaskans' impenetrable fortress and their bubblegum weapons, life is going to get a little sticky for the Wilizy.
Bob, the Invisible Dragon: Book #6 in the Wilizy Series (September 2084 to May 2085)
Raging hormones as well as Raging Gardeners play key roles when young Wilizy warriors are attacked and the Wilizy's scientific marvels offer no protection. The youngsters' future will rely on a different kind of warrior protecting them. Warning: events at the end of the story will move quickly. They certainly won't drag on.
Nary, Nary, Quite Contrary: Book #7 in the Wilizy Series (May 2085 to December 2085)
Theo and Lucas move to Toronto to live on their own. Both meet girls but neither is brave enough to introduce his new friend to the family. They wouldn't have the time anyway, what with villains trying to assassinate them and Voodoo royalty greeting them as though they were Voodoo gods. At the end of the story, Lucas receives a surprise Boxing Day gift that leaves him speechless.
Maddy's a Baddy: Book #8 in the Wilizy Series (December 2085 to May 2086)
Maddy had escaped from Big Momma only to find herself all alone in the cold and begging for food in Eastern Canada. While she's trying to return to her home in Seattle, the Wilizy have their own problems. Everybody in the family is intent on bringing the judge to justice for what he did to Lucas. It would have been so easy for them to rescue Maddy, but they didn't know anything about her.
Bite Me! Book #9 in the Wilizy Series (May 2086 to July 2086)
Spurred on by Marie's desire to eat a meal with her former slave masters, the Wilizy plan to put Safe Haven ranches out of business. In the process, they encounter two foreign assassins intent on abducting Maddy. Theo and Nary become closer but a red-eyed chaperone does not approve. The Wilizy's war with Safe Haven starts with a bang but ends with a whimper.
Wheelchair Moccasins! Book #10 in t
he Wilizy Series (July 2086 to November 2086)
A 13 year old girl pretends to turn to prostitution to gain her freedom from her crime boss father. In Wilizy family news, Winnie agrees not to meddle in Mathias' love life. No, the world isn't ending, so long as you don't have a green vegetable for your name. Best advice ever? If somebody wearing moccasins and sitting in a wheelchair offers to sing you to sleep... run!
Yes, there'll be an eleventh book in the series.
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About the Author
David J. Wighton is a retired educator who enjoys writing youth novels when he's not on a basketball court coaching middle-school girls. The books in his Wilizy series peek at how people lived after the word's governments collapsed in the chaos that followed the catastrophic rise in ocean levels and the disappearance of the world's last deposits of oil.
Wighton's novels have strong teenage characters driving the plot and facing challenges that, in many respects, are no different from what teenagers face today. His novels are intended to entertain and readers will find adventure, romance, suspense, humour, a strong focus on family, plus a touch of whimsy. Wighton also writes to provoke a little thought about life in today's societies and what the future might bring. Teachers may find the series useful in the classroom and the novels are priced with that intent in mind.
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