Four Sisters--Book Three: EARTH Violet's perception floated in virtual space outside the Nautilus. She felt like the glowing bit of a lantern-fish, a bait being jiggled in the dark, to attract the big fish to swallow her whole. She shook her head and laughed. "Boredom and sensory deprivation is taking a toll on my mind! I'm looking for something--NOT vice the versa!" Something sprang out of perceptual space onto her. She shrieked and thrashed around. It separated from her and seemed to float away. It was Starshine. Violet's body thundered with her heart-beat at the sudden start. She heard over her contact line, Snowflake's calm question,"Are you alright? You body's stress level's spiked suddenly?" Violet responded,"Perceptual glitch. Re-running scan parameters." Outside the ship, she 'heard' Tall White Lady's voice said,"Violet if you can hear me... in intergalactic SPACE of all things...Sorry. Starry wanted to see you. She said you were flying and wanted to visit for a minute and off we went!" Violet said in wonder,"I am a MACHINE-LIFE! I have NEVER had a telepathic contact with ANY biological life-form before! How am I NOW? How is this possible? Starry? What are you doing?" Starry simply kicked her feet and giggled,spinning slowly in weightlessness. TWL said,"I think she must have some kind of remote interface ability to enable this, and she's my gate-keeper to enable ME to link up with you just enough to talk. I can NOT scan you as I would another living person. Your brain is processing information way to fast to hear. The Abel must have some form of ability to access information in some way that is completely mysterious to us." Violet looked at Starry and TWL and asked sarcastically,"Ya think? She is a child of an extinct species that had BILLIONS of years of technology and still ended up dead at the hands of their 'Great Enemy'! Just what she taught Sunny is still scaring the pee out of people! She EDITED her own physical form the first time she made real contact with Sunshine!" Starry laughed and made like she was an airplane and shouted,"WHEEEEEEE!" Violet said,"STARRY! I AM trying to work here! Please, can you be quiet for a couple of minutes?" Starry nodded and went back to sucking her thumb. TWL said,"You aren't bothered at all, I noticed." Violet smiled and blushed. "I love the little spud. She reminds me of Sunshine when she was smaller. She seems to like me,too." TWl said with a warm tone,"She likes everyone. I worry about that, a little." Starry was spinning slowly, and seemed to wrap dust and gas from the cluster of red dwarf stars around her. Violet said,"STARRY! What are you into?" Starry laughed,"Pudding?" Violet said,"You know it ISN'T pudding! Answer with words and stop goofing around." She looked at TWL and Violet and giggled. "It's...SMOOTH! Like a bed! Bendy like a straw!" Violet looked over at TWL, who shrugged. "It's only been less than six months since we got her re-embodied in physical form. Her language is still mangled up. I'll try to help." She reached out and tried to read her new daughter's mind. After a moment she said,"I get something like soft bubbles. She has no clue what she's feeling." Violet exclaimed,"Maybe it's the geodesic gravity line between the Milky Way and our own Galaxy! We left Hel behind us to see if we could find the slip-stream formed by the gravity line between the two galaxies. it took us five months of travel in hyperspace to reach here. It's 30,000 light years to the Milky Way, or another EIGHTEEN months of Hyperspace if we can't find it. We know the Druaga can fly through hyperspace in their war-form...maybe the Abel are capable of something similar? If SO--they must have some sense to detect the starpaths?" TWL said,"Makes sense." After a moment of intensely scanning, Violet exclaimed,"GOT IT! We're on to the Milky Way! Finally!" Starry giggled and played with her feet. --To be continued!--