Journeys with a stranger

Afterlife part 2

The young man can not believe his eyes. "ALTO! I am here," He shouts. The lady looks down at him. "Why are you calling me Alto? That is my grand daughter," She shouts back. "Alto is very much alive."

Alive? His mind boggles. "Nicole is still alive young man," She informs. The young man is in a lack of words. Tei' Rus calls up, "Nicole the red haired lady in black clothes?"

"In black clothes? That is news to me. But then again I have not seen her in hundreds of years," she tells. The lady flies down in her flight pack. The pack emits four jets as she fly. She lands with a smile. "Which world are you from," the lady asks.

"World? There is just one," Tei Rus says. The young man corrects, "I think Alto said it was 017CB22." The lady nods. "So what are you and Alto are," the young man asks. The lady confidently gestures a pointing to her head.

"A good question. We have the blood of Bruttens. Nicole is a mixed breed," the lady answers. "Nicole is also of that of an Ellicausan. My temperament, my looks, her father's skin, and a dash of her mother's strength." She remembers Alto in great detail. And the first time seeing her.

"Alto is a mix of different beings? Am I correct," the young man ask. The lady nods. "So what is her father like," the young man inquire. The lady points at her pouch. "I'll show you."

She takes out a hologram projector. Then the lady turn it on. Alto and her father's real faces and body appears. Tei' Rus is amazed to see the real Alto. Her father looks like an Ellicausan but distinct features of his ears and mouth are similar to the lady.

"Alto Ferrite," the lady say, "I am glad that you finally made a friend." Both men never knew about Alto's last name. "Your grandmother is proud of you girl," she comments to herself. "Alto must have followed my path and journeyed," she tells the two men.

The lady hands them a photo of herself. That photograph shows her greeting a tiny race of deer-like people. Written on the back, it said: my one hundredth worldly visit. Both men are impressed. One hundred worlds this lady have visited. And now Alto is doing the same.

"Not bad for an engineer and technician," the lady comments. Tei' Rus then asks, "Is her powers, from you?" "Powers? My ability comes from my ingenuity and my tools. Or maybe the camouflage device from her father," she states. The young man states, "Alto teleports." The lady thinks for a moment.

"The only thing I could think of. Maybe a wormhole cargo displacer. I never get to finish the miniature version for smaller cargo. Even that is risky for over four hundred years ago. Then again... if my son could find a small power source and find a coder who can create a program fast enough to calculate the spacial distortions in contrast to the environment. And then program it to create and collapse in timely intervals. There have to be such a complex intelligence that can do it within three seconds," she drones on.

The two men is stunned about the length of her rambling. In short, Alto's teleportation is very complex to them. At least this lady understands a lot more about Alto's power than them. "Morrat, I think we are going to be here a long time," Tei Rus says. Morrat agrees and lets the lady talk for an another hour.