you dozed off."
"I apologize! I'll eat humble pie! But, yes, you are right. I clearly
remember passing through a computer-enthusiast phase in my mouth. But those
days are long gone. All I want to know now about computer hardware now is
where the switch is that turns the thing on."
"James will take care of our computer problems," she said with the firm
knowledge of our son's talent that only a mother could have.
But she was right. If it had not been for the hard work of James, and his
twin brother Believer, our recent adventures in parallel-galaxy trotting
could very well have ended in disaster. When Angelina had gone to Heaven it
had been my turn to go to Hell. Or something very much like it. It took us a
long time to sort out our time and space difficulties with a multi
charactered individual who was causing immense problems in a number of
places. We could never have been able to do it without the boys' help. But,
unlike the failures that we occasionally experience when we clash with the
evils of the universe, this time all had ended very well indeed. In fact the
whole affair had been consummated in matrimonial bliss. The twins had both
been in love with the same woman, Sybil, the top agent in the Special Corps.
As intelligent as she was beautiful, she had made the fatal decision that
had turned the possibility of sibling rivalry into the enduring knot of
marriage. Double marriage that is.
One of the more interesting side effects of Professor Coypu's
universe-hopping machine was the doubling of one of its passage portals.
That is if one person went through it, he or she came back doubled. Two
people that really were the same person, or had been the same person. A bit
confusing to
understand, but very effective if two men were in love with the same
woman-and she loved them both as well. Firm of mind, Sybil had passed
through the portal and Sybil and Sybill had turned. They had tossed a coin
to see who got the extra 1. This had all ended in a very festive marriage
indeed. We were most happy to see Sybil joyously married to James, while
Sybill was happily ensconced in Bolivar's arms. It had been a very neat
solution to what could have been a rather serious problem.
"We must talk to James," Angelina said. "Have him sort this computer problem
out."
"We must indeed," I said, reaching for the phone.
It was not pure chance that had brought us to this dreary planet. When James
had discovered that Sybil shared his passion for nanotechnology, they had
moved here to utilize all of the planet's technological know-how. We had
reports, from time to time, about their progress. Everything seemed to be
working as planned and the money, instead of flowing out steadily, had begun
to trickle in.
