Free Encompassing by Richard Lord Page A

about it, but yes, you tried that before too.  It’s a horrid memory.”
    “Did it change anything?”  Christina’s eyes blaze with the question as she stares at Adam.
    “Everything was hopeless to all of natural evolution from that moment forward.  You’ve come up with that idea more than once.  You damn everything except them.  It’s a total win for them and damnation for everything else.”  Renfield stands as he speaks.  His mind wandering back to the pasts he doesn’t want to think about.
    “I don’t believe you Adam.  I think you just want and you seem to get what you want.” Christina looks at him as if she wants to slap him.
    Laughing in less labored tones, “Well, that I do, dear.  Know me long enough and you’ll be even more convinced and satisfied!”
    “What does that mean?”  Christina looks at him with slits for eyes as she crosses her arms to avoid overreacting.
    “Satisfied that I am truly telling you what I already know.  What did you think I…Oh.”  This time the laughter was a bit stronger.  “I’m not getting into that, I mean I…” Renfield pauses considering his words, but unable to find better, “Yeah well I meant…”  Renfield pauses and then considers the things he hasn’t done before.  Adam then says, “Look at what we figured out you could put on me that would last!”  Renfield begins to unbutton his shirt while stating, “It’s your own drawing and you know your own hand well.  You’re a pilot.  Look and tell me you didn’t draw it and I’ll shut up about all of this and if you want to jump, go ahead.”
    At that Renfield showed her the markings that would always remain, no matter what happened to him.  Christina immediately knew they were hers.  They were a representation of a dream she had.
    “You are him!  I’m sorry I didn’t believe.  I…”  And then she kissed him deeply.

CHAPTER 20
    “In chaos, someone should take command, even if they are guessing.  It increases the odds of success.”  -- from the book of Vladimir
    “We all agreed to give you a break and we know that puts us behind schedule, but we weren’t about to interrupt.  Given the noises proving you’re healthy again.  Instead we spent the time on two other plans.  One was very bad and we lost a good officer.  So no more digging.  The other is we go around, not over.  There is a problem with that plan” Brady looked harried as he said the last.
    “I can make it!” exclaimed Renfield.  “Let me add to that. I know how to make it work!  Our pilot is about to become a skydiver!”
    Christina looked down at him inquisitively.  The ‘heli’ guy or me?  Didn’t you just give me a speech against jumping?  After last night, I at least proved I’m worth keeping around.  Didn’t I?”
    “No you.  Of course you!  They would be thinking we would never try that maneuver again, so while you fall we run.”  Renfield grins at her as if he has seen a light he didn’t expect to be in the darkness.
    “What kind of protector are you?  Talk about one-night stands!  This ended worse than any date I’ve ever been on!”  Christina looked at Renfield in awe of the audacity, but he just smiled.
    “We have plenty of tents!  In communications you get different results on a wire depending on the number of twists per inch. If math serves correctly I know how many twists per inch will cause enough feedback on the line.  It’s complicated, but we need to get everyone twisting tents as fast as possible.”  Both Brady and Christina look at him confused.  Renfield continues anyway, “Brady…thanks to you and the others.  We needed our time.”
    “Time for you to plan my death?” Christina was truly angry now.  At first, it might have been a joke, but Renfield was clearly not joking any more.
    “I love you and I know you’ll have faith in me.  You might want a change of underwear for later.”  Renfield quipped.
    Christina looked at Brady who just