Chapter 29

I’d hoped to actually leave New Orleans that evening. Then I found out the Lieutenant Governor was as corrupt as the Governor. I ended up having to stay there the entire week, dealing out high justice as needed, as well as effectively taking over the state.

We’d carefully loaded Ayo Gorkhali in California, hoping we wouldn’t need her cargo, but planning ahead. Major Pandit had two companies of troops. Courtesy of the rather creative idea of taking the wheels off and then carefully stacking the bodies on top of each other by hand before securing them for flight, they managed to fit a total of eighteen jeeps between cargo holds. They’d also brought a couple of air compressors and tools to make things easier on them.

While I had been busy at Broussard’s, they’d unloaded everything, put the wheels back on, reinstalled the machine gun mounts in the bed of the jeeps, and otherwise got their weapons ready. Mike had also sent a couple dozen of our ground support aircraft down to NAS New Orleans, just in case they were needed for a show of firepower, as well as to tell the Louisiana Air National Guard unit that was also stationed there to stay the hell out of whatever happened.

The driver was waiting to take me back to the airport, and was slightly surprised no one else came out at the same time. I told him, quite truthfully, that there was a bit of a mess that had come up during our meeting that needed cleared up, so they were staying to deal with it. I had another police escort back to the airport, and was dropped off at the plane. However, I made sure the driver was detained, and just kept the limousine for my own use.

My Gurkhas had managed to ‘acquire’ some stake bed trucks from the airport cargo operations. While Major Pandit took half of the troops and jeeps to the New Orleans City Hall, I rode in the limousine up to Baton Rouge, with the rest of the jeeps and troops as my escort. I was hoping that Lieutenant Governor Freeman would be open to reason, especially when I explained reality to him. He wasn’t.

After I beheaded Freeman, I sat down at his desk and called Ronald. After describing my actions so far, he chuckled and said, “There have been many times when I was Governor of California and since I’ve been in the Oval Office, that I wished I could do things with the certainty and authority that you have. Don’t worry about anything on the international front, especially the revolution in the Philippines. That’ll shake itself out. Just take care of Louisiana, and that’ll be your good deed for the week.”

With such a rousing endorsement, I made a conference phone call, to both Senators and the eight State Representatives.

Once they were all on, I said, “Thank you all for joining. I’m going to go ahead and just tell all of you, straight out since I’m sure you’re hearing rumors, that Governor Edwards, Lieutenant Governor Freeman, and Mayor Morial are all dead. By my hand, actually. So are Superintendents McCormick and Woodfork. As are Joseph and Joe Marcello. They decided that, in spite of the warnings that you all gave them – and thank you all for giving those warnings without actually revealing anything important – that they wanted to play politics as usual in Louisiana. Something about wanting a hundred million dollars just to listen to what I had to say, two hundred million to allow me to leave the room alive after they listened to what I said.”

“God DAMMIT! I told Edwin that the old ways of doing business here are gone,” Russell Long exclaimed.

“I understand, Senator Long. For what it’s worth, Edwards actually said he’d spoken with both you and Senator Johnston. He said my tongue was slipperier than Huey’s, and that he wasn’t letting me ‘pull the wool over his eyes.’”

“My late husband, Gillis, was Huey’s cousin. Rather obviously, we’ve had what some would call a stranglehold on Louisiana politics, not without error,” Catherine Long said.

“I take it they objected to the evacuation of my district?” Lindy Boggs asked.

I sighed, and said, “It’s not an actual evacuation, per se, Missus Boggs. It’s more of an abandonment. By the time the walls of water from the strikes that are going to hit the Gulf of Mexico come through, the levees that are supposed to protect the city from being flooded are going to be just like the walls of a kiddie pool, keeping all the water in. Throw in the mix of chemicals from all the factories, plants, and refineries along the Mississippi River and everything south of Lake Pontchartrain, it’s going to be a toxic mess that makes the Love Canal look like prime real estate. Even when – or if – the water recedes, the bayous are going to be unrecognizable. But I think people might be able to build again where Buras or Pilottown are now. Realistically, there’s no hope whatsoever for New Orleans. This isn’t a hurricane, where you might get a storm surge over the levee walls, and a foot or two of water in the lowest elevations. I warned them that we’re talking multiple twenty-five foot walls of water over New Orleans. They didn’t listen.”

The call was so quiet for so long, I was beginning to wonder if I’d been disconnected. Finally, I heard Lindy Boggs say, “Then you did right, Mister Lewis. We were all elected to these offices to represent the people of this state. I’m not going to say that we’ve always done things totally in their interests that we may not have also benefited from. We have. This? No.” You could almost hear her shaking her head over the phone.

“Damn. What do we do?” Senator Johnston asked.

“Well, Ronald told me to take care of Louisiana, and that’ll be my good deed for the week. I have a hundred Gurkhas with Major Pandit in charge cleaning up – and out – the New Orleans Police Department, and then City Hall. They’re operating with my authority, so I’m quite sure there’ll be a few less two-legged rats when they’re done. I’m in the Capitol building myself right now, cleaning the Lieutenant Governor’s blood off my khukuri before I check the edge to see if I need to sharpen it after cutting eight heads off. Mind you, I doubt that, because this was a present from my Gurkhas, so it should hold its edge for quite some time. The Gurkhas that are with me are doing the same cleaning of things with the State Government. So, that’s what I’m doing to help make someone’s job a bit easier. I can’t have it, and you all know why. So, who does get it?”

“It shouldn’t be Catherine or me. Our last name is Long,” Russell said.

John Breaux said, “Not me, I’ve got too many ties with Edwin. I think this’ll be my last term in Congress, actually.”

“Hell, I’m just a small town boy, made good,” Billy Tauzin said. “But if you want my opinion, you should put either Lindy or Bob in charge.”

“What about me?” Buddy Roemer asked. “I think I could do the job.”

Lindy said, “You could. But you need to be ready for afterwards. Mister Lewis, put the two of us in charge of everything regarding New Orleans. That way, we’ll take the blame for everything; then, Buddy, you can take over when things are better.”

“Lindy’s right,” Bob Livingston said. “At the end of the day, we’re all politicians.”

“Hey, I don’t appreciate the insult,” I said.

Everyone on the phone call chuckled a bit at that.

Then Livingston said, “Even you, Mister Lewis. It’s just you’re not even an honest politician, because no one can buy you in the first place. No, you’re worse. You’re an ethical politician, and a moral one. You’re not afraid to do what needs to be done, even if it costs you somehow or somewhere down the road. Plus, I’m not the only one who remembers your promise to all of us in Congress. No, I misspoke. That wasn’t a promise. That was a statement, an oath to do whatever it takes, whatever is needed, to accomplish your job. No matter what the personal cost to yourself. There are no weasel words possible when you draw that line in the sand and say that this is where I will stand and this is where I will die if need be.”

“Damn, you say something like that, and I think my late husband Hale would’ve been proud of you. I’ll join you, then. Mister Lewis, I got to know Walter Mondale quite well. I was the head of the Democratic National Convention where he was nominated for Vice-President. Bob, we’re both basically out of a job after the middle of March anyway. Let’s go out in style,” Lindy said.

The rest of the week was spent simply setting things up and getting organized, so that starting Saturday morning, the first school buses loaded with people could start leaving. I found out, first hand, a little bit of what everyone had dealt with when they moved the family out of the Valley in Mexico. It’s just everything here was magnified by over two hundred, due to the sheer volume and number of people involved.

Acting Governor Livingston activated the Louisiana Army and Air National Guard on Tuesday, to begin preparations. He and Evacuation Director Boggs literally took over every television and radio station in the state on Wednesday, so that broadcasts of what should be done, what could be done, and what would not be allowed were the only things that were aired. The news media weren’t happy about it, but on my authority, for the duration of the emergency, the First Amendment regarding Freedom of the Press wasn’t suspended, simply ... modified. They could still report, but their mission – their ONLY mission – was to help make sure everyone who lived from the southernmost point of Tide Water Road south of Venice all the way up to just north of the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain had the most up to date information on leaving.

That wasn’t to say that they ignored the people who lived in cities along US 90, from Houma all the way to Lafayette. Their local stations were ordered to help them. It was just those broadcasts were more along the lines of realizing the people there were more able to get out on their own.

Livingston and Boggs followed my lead in dealing with issues, and pissed off every lumberyard, home supply store, sporting goods, and camping supply store, simply sending troops in and taking semi trailer loads of plywood, lumber, and every tent and sleeping bag available. They were given the choice of either giving us their materials and getting very favorable tax credits in the future for their losses, or they’d be taken anyway and they’d get nothing, since otherwise they’d be lost due to the flooding.

Fort Polk and Barksdale Air Force Base were designated refugee camps. They asked for and got permission from Governor Allain of Mississippi to send some people to Camp Shelby, outside of Hattiesburg. He’d been listening to Deukmejian as well, and agreed with their request. He simply changed his plans and sent the people from Biloxi and Gulfport to Jackson, as he figured Keesler and Columbus Air Force bases would be flooded and not able to be used for evacuees.

That’s not to say things always went smoothly. They didn’t. But by the time the weekend rolled around, with the surviving members of the police departments working in tandem with the National Guard – with my Gurkhas being used as shock troops to deal with looters, and videos of those executions being shown on local television – it looked like New Orleans would get evacuated in time.

On Sunday, I took one of our smaller jets home, leaving Ayo Gorkhali and my Gurkhas in New Orleans to finish the job.

I wasn’t physically tired, but I was mentally exhausted. I understood why many people didn’t want to leave, because they’d lose everything they couldn’t carry out on their backs. But I didn’t understand why they would risk it, because otherwise they’d die.

‘I actually sympathize with some of those people, Kalikulo.’ ‘Why is that, Grandpa?’ ‘We knew Star Home was going to be destroyed. No way around it, because unless you could change the laws of physics – and we knew much more about those than nearly every scientist here on Earth – there just wasn’t anything we could do. I’m not counting the last minute sub-light evacuation flight that won’t be here for another couple hundred years. I’d like to think we wouldn’t have destroyed Earth if we’d actually gotten here in the course of our regular evacuation, before Zarathen started the AI war. It’s... ‘ ‘What’s wrong, Grandpa?’ ‘I just realized something. While I can’t talk to Gormer Heloran inside you – in case you’re wondering, he’s just there, giving off a feeling of contentment – I can and do talk to the other souls from Star Home that now live on Earth. You’re quite the source of amusement and entertainment for them, actually.’ ‘Do I need to charge them a fee for being voyeurs into my life?’ I thought back to him with some seriousness.

‘Sorry, I got distracted. Your ship was built with a drive based upon a copy from our records, and the FTL drive was similar to the one Zarathen used. He and the sisters, and Irhaal of course, weren’t the only people who worked for SHIVA. I’ve been talking with a couple of souls who worked there as well. In the really old records, the original twelve used a wormhole similar to what Pahto uses. After that, the other colonists we sent to Earth were on other ships. Neanderthal ships, which used the same design. The only way Zarathen could’ve created that drive in the first place was if he’d found records that at some point, we actually had traded for it.’ I thought for a moment, then replied with, ‘That means we potentially could’ve fitted the large evacuation ships with that drive, rendering his whole war and coming here moot.’ ‘Exactly! I... ‘ ‘Hang on, let me think a bit more, Grandpa.’ He was silent, giving the time to run different scenarios through my mind. His mental cursing when I finally told him what I’d come up with would’ve blistered the paint from the walls of the jet.

When we landed, I jumped down from the jet before the door was all the way down, Sayel barely half a step behind me.

“Are you okay, Cal?” Chuck asked.

“No, I’m not. Do we have a designated war room for our planning?” I asked.

“For what Mike is doing with your military forces, yes. For our response to the comet, we’re just using your dining room.”

“Good enough. I need Carrie, Cally, and Karen there by the time we get home.” I glanced at my watch. “Beth, Dora, Eve and Hannah, too. Get them out of classes.”

“Um, Cal? It’s Sunday. No school,” Chuck gently reminded me.

“Fuck. Sorry about that.”

“It’s all good. I can tell you’re seriously distracted. Everyone will be ready.”

Fifteen minutes later, everyone was in our dining room.

“What’s up, Cal?” Mike asked. “Chuck passed along the word for an emergency meeting.”

“It’s basically for those of us who are enhanced, but I also wanted Hannah to listen in while I talk about things, just to see if I’ve cracked up,” I said.

Hannah frowned and said, “While that’s mysterious, I thought I was only in charge of thinking up worst case scenarios.”

“Normally, you are. I was talking with my Grandfather on the way home from New Orleans, and I had something cross my mind I don’t think any of us have considered. Pahto, Mycroft, give me a comparison of what remains of the FTL drive from my ship, against the records of how the original colonists from Star Home arrived a quarter million years ago and then against any surviving records of Shiva’s ship and also the ships that the Neanderthals used when they dropped off additional colonists.”

Both of their screen avatars looked thoughtful for several seconds, then looked at each other.

“Um ... why didn’t we see this before?” Mycroft asked.

“Because we didn’t think to look for it,” I replied.

Carrie asked, “What are you talking about, Cal?”

“Karen, in thinking back, did Zarathen ever actually say where the information to build the ship he brought all of you here with came from?” I asked.

She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them. Shaking her head, she said, “No, not that I recall. I just remember him saying he’d spent several years in getting the ship ready, because he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in the slow ships we were building to escape. Irhaal was so young and naive then.”

Cally frowned. “We already know that, Mom. What are you getting at, Cal?”

“Ask Holly, too. When the three of you – all four of you – were on his ship, did it look like new construction, or something cobbled together?”

The two young girls closed their eyes briefly, then both looked at Karen, puzzled.

“Madalain remembers it looking ... not really new, but it didn’t ‘smell’ new, if you know what I mean. Mom, you were free more than we were – they were – whatever, damned language isn’t set up for us. What do you remember?”

Shaking her head, Karen said, “Just what he told me. I described what I could, so that the video Mycroft and Pahto made was as accurate as possible.”

“That’s what Grandfather and I figured out, on the flight home. The FTL drive that brought me here was like his. He didn’t build his ship. It was a Neanderthal ship. And, just to throw something out, we think he was, too,” I said.

I was actually surprised at how quiet things remained at the table after dropping what I thought was a bit of explosive.

My wives all got that mass communication look in their eyes, while Karen just leaned back again. Carrie and Cally got up from their chairs and moved to either side of her, then put their arms around her and leaned their heads onto her shoulders, closing their eyes as well.

After almost five minutes, everyone opened their eyes.

Hannah said, “We were also in touch with Hugo’s wives as well. Here are a few things we know. The sisters and Irhaal had the organ, Zarathen did not. Pahto’s crew that lived in Washington did not, until they met some of the Unangan, and then it became bred into them, but as a secondary characteristic, so not dominant. The Indigenous Australians, the Unangan, and those who grew up and lived near Mount Kilimanjaro all naturally have the organ, because they were descended from the original colonists from Star Home. Mycroft, what does a deep dive into the memory files of Junior, Mountain Guardian, and Peace show?”

He sighed, and looked at Pahto. She nodded, which at any other time I would’ve thought amusing.

“You may not know that we’ve been working with Doctor Valenzuela in doing analysis of the three true unidentified craft. Doctor Cain ... pardon me, Paula ... has been most helpful, as she has an innate grasp of the theoretical physics involved in determining more about those units. Peace and Mountain Guardian are not created intelligences. Neither is Junior, but with so many of his memories scrambled, other than his base memories from before he was first placed here, we didn’t do a full deep dive.”

Pahto said, “This is partly my fault. I had the excess capacity to do so, but I’ve been spending more time in working on the drone bodies for us, because I wanted Mycroft to experience more freedom, and ... honestly, I missed it, myself, after thousands of years of being entombed under that mountain.”

I shrugged. “You made a mistake. To use the phrase, shit happens. Now what?”

Mycroft said, “Now, we know. The probes are Neanderthal in origin, about a ninety percent certainty. There are too many things in common with the truly ancient records. We have all the records of Dora’s family from the Valley. One of the reasons she was so ... susceptible ... to the knowledge being passed along by the shivalingam was that her family actually has strong basic Indian heritage. But not from Irhaal’s descendants and from Star Home. From Zarathen, and the Neanderthals.”

The harsh ringing of the phone on our private line made nearly everyone jump. I just shook my head, used my telekinesis to pick up the handset and push the speakerphone button.

“You know it’s little things like this that will convince people you really are a witch. Oh, and you’re on speakerphone.”

Sophia chuckled and said, “Ah, now that I wasn’t expecting. You’re almost right, you know. The jewels – call them shivalingam if you must – are tuned to my blood. The more you get together, the greater my own abilities. You’re also wrong about us. We’re descended from Shiva, but we rebelled against him. That’s why we used the jewels to hide from him. We know – well some few of us, anyway – that our ancestors were bred by him to be ready for whenever his people arrived. However long that took, because even he wasn’t sure. He had to act when he did, to prevent the people from Star Home from coming here.”

“Mi Abuela, why have you never mentioned any of this before?” Dora asked.

“Because, child, until today I didn’t know all of it myself. I only knew of our history that had been handed down to me. The closer Shiva gets, and the stronger the Guardian gets, the more of our past is unveiled to me.”

She paused, then laughed a little. “I apologize for my word choice just then. I’m still used to talking in metaphors, making it sound like I’m truly a mystic and seer. You know that I’m not. I’m just an old woman who is hearing voices in my head.”

“Literally, Sophia?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. I don’t believe he’s doing it deliberately. It’s simply that he is close enough now that someone like me – if there was anyone else like me – could listen to what the jewels are telling him, about Earth and why he is reborn.”

“This is going to sound a bit odd, but I think if you have some aluminum foil, you need to make a hat and put it over your head,” Mycroft said. “That should act as a bit of a Faraday cage and help keep him from finding you.”

We could hear her lay the phone down, then walk into another room. Then we heard a cabinet door open and shut, followed by the unmistakable sound of aluminum foil being pulled off the roll. It was followed by some crinkling sounds.

“Well, if I look in the mirror, the only thing I’m missing is a piece of paper sticking up from the top, and I’d be a Hershey’s Kiss. But you were right. The voices stopped.”

“Are you in Hutchinson, or at Fort Riley?” Mike asked.

“Fort Riley,” she said.

“Okay. It’ll be a bit, because I have to make a phone call. But Riley has an intel section, and will actually have a room or two with a Faraday cage already installed. That way, you won’t have to wear that hat all the time. But any time you’re not in that room, you need to wear it!” he emphasized.

“I’ll do that. Thank you all.” She hung up.

As soon as she did, Mike got up and called the duty officer at Riley, with instructions. While he was doing that, I looked at Dora.

“You know that doesn’t explain all the other shit Sophia’s done.”

Shaking her head, Dora simply smiled and said, “She’s a witch!”

Karen shook her head. “I know which shivalingam your ancestors had. They were the ones that served us the least.” Then she stopped, and thought about what she’d just said. “Damn, that makes sense. The bastard had two thousand years after I showed him how to do everything with them, to put deep programs in them that I wouldn’t have even thought to look for, to help his direct descendants.”

“Mycroft?” I asked sharply.

“You’ve had the ones you’re carrying with you open, to make yourself an obvious target. The remainder have been, and remain, locked down,” he said.

“I don’t like it,” Hannah said. “This reeks of long term planning, almost of the length of time Pahto mentioned.”

I felt a tickling in my mind, then, similar to something I’d felt before. I held up my hand, which hushed everyone else up, then closed my eyes and concentrated on what I was feeling.

‘Ah, that is better. I will say one thing about you people. The variety of languages you use is most amusing,’ the voice in my head said.

‘Well, I’d say thank you, but I really didn’t have much in the way of influence over how we talk. Plus, I’m a polyglot, so that very seldom affects me,” I replied.

He mentally laughed, then said, ‘Of course you are. I would not expect any less from the person who has spent the most effort in preparing himself to receive my gift.’ ‘Wait! You mean I’m actually not crazy, and the old stories about these toys being able to allow me to receive the powers of some old dead guy aren’t fantasy?’ In a puzzled tone, he asked, ‘Why would you consider yourself mentally unbalanced?’ ‘Well, it’s not every day I spend a couple of minutes concentrating, and suddenly hear voices in my head. At least not ones I can hold an actual conversation with, anyway.’ ‘Ah, yes. One of the side effects of using my – what did you call them, toys – is that they are capable of subliminal teaching. You have been an apt student with them, sharpening your mind and no doubt your body as well, in preparation. You should feel honored. No one over the last five millennia has accomplished even half of what you have. Many have tried. It has been amusing to me to watch their efforts, of course. But when you are to receive the powers and abilities of a god, you must put forth much more than a bare minimum effort.’ ‘Wait a second,’ I asked, my voice puzzled. ‘Powers of a god? What exactly have I managed to get myself into, here? Who are you, and for that matter, where are you?’ He sighed, and said, ‘I will forgive a certain amount of insolence, as it is possible you personally may not have the complete knowledge of your destiny. From your words, it is possible that others are using you, hoping to achieve their own goals through their manipulation of you after you receive my gifts. Well, we certainly cannot have that, can we? As for where I am, it is quite simple. There is a comet approaching your planet. I am within that comet, and because of how close it is to your planet, I am now able to mentally communicate with you. As to who I am, it is also simple. I am the great god Shiva. I am both benevolent, as you will find out, and yet also feared, as my enemies have found out to their distress.’ ‘But, the world government launched a missile and blew Halley’s Comet up. They showed the video of that, and how we have a large meteor swarm headed here now that we need to get ready for. Nobody said anyone was alive inside the Comet, just that we had to destroy it before it could hit Earth and kill everyone here!’ ‘Intriguing. You say there is a world government?’ ‘Sure. After the Messenger from Above pitched the United Nations building into the Atlantic Ocean, and killed a few million people after destroying a bunch of military equipment, the main governments decided that maybe it was time to act together in a proper manner. So, they did. Things have actually seemed to have gotten better since then. We’re actually at peace with each other, for the most part. Heck, even the Arabs and the Israelis are working together peacefully, and they haven’t gotten along for thousands of years.’ He was quiet for several seconds. While he was, I opened my eyes, grabbed a pen, and quickly wrote out what was going on. I shut them again when he began again.

‘Who is this Messenger from Above, and how did he do what he did?’ ‘He just showed up one day, said he was from the Galactic Council. He was supposed to check on us a few thousand years ago, but some files were misplaced. He ended the Iran-Iraq war by digging up all the runways their jets were using, then flying through the sides of their tanks and blowing them up. North Korea didn’t believe him, so he flew through the sides of mountains and killed their troops, and used some kind of heat vision to burn their navy. He even picked up a Soviet ship and carried it over some land, too. Of course, that wasn’t anything like what he did to China. He took out their navy when they attacked Taiwan, then killed more than twenty million people within a few seconds. Then he flew to their capital and burned all their leaders to a crisp. End the Wars, Destroy the bad drugs, and Live in Peace were his mandates.’ ‘I ... see. So, he was an alien, then?’ ‘Yep. He said right off the bat that he wasn’t a god, or anything like that, and while someone who had powers like he did might think they were a god, they weren’t. They were nothing more than someone abusing their own powers and abilities. It was while he was here that Missus Rothschild approached me, because she and her family felt like I was just who they’d been looking for, for the last several hundred years. Something about a prophecy that’s been handed down. I don’t know much about that. I know I’m smart and capable, but at the heart of things, I’m just a Kansas farm boy. They wouldn’t have helped make sure I have all these toys if I wasn’t smart. But it sometimes makes me nervous when I’m talking to the wealthiest people on Earth, and the heads of the national governments that the Rothschild family knows.’ I’d felt someone putting a pen in my hand and paper underneath, so while I was talking, I transcribed my conversation.

He was quiet again, then finally asked, ‘You said he was here, correct? Does that mean he is no longer present on Earth?’ ‘That’s what’s supposed to have happened. He overstepped his authority or something like that. He was only supposed to deal with matters between nations, and when he messed with some whites in South Africa, kept them from killing blacks, he got recalled home. Like it ended up mattering, anyway, since the blacks now control South Africa, and there’s some army going around uniting nearly the whole continent, anyway. Of course, it might not have happened if he hadn’t interfered, so I suppose that’s a wash. The Angels from Above are supposed to still be here, anyway, but I haven’t seen them since the film of them saving that Jumbo Jet from crashing. I heard they’re mostly living in the city of Los Angeles, since that means City of The Angels, but they’re not dealing with international matters like he was.’ ‘You do not know if he did anything in a mountain range in India, do you?’ ‘No. Last summer, there was a mountain in Nepal, which is just north of India, that had a massive earthquake, and was reported to be an unknown volcano because several thousand feet of it blew off. But nothing in India, no.’ ‘You would not happen to know the name of that mountain that did blow up, do you?’ ‘Sure. It was Machapuchare. But on the news, they said the locals called it Fishtail Mountain, and it was supposed to be sacred to the religion of the natives because it was the home of Shiva. That can’t be right, though, since you said you’re in Halley’s Comet.’ ‘Yes, I did, did I not? Unfortunately, that is quite correct, and since I am still just over four point two million yojanas from Earth, it requires quite a bit of energy on my part to talk to you. I will contact you again after I have restored myself.’ I decided to mess with him, just a bit. ‘That’s ... a very old system of measuring things. Just a second. Oh, right. Four point two million of those are the same at thirty-seven million, eight hundred thousand miles, or sixty million, eight hundred thirty-three thousand, two hundred three kilometers. Of course, you are getting closer all the time, as cometary speeds are typically fifty-one kilometers per second. Sure, give me a call sometime this next week.’ As soon as I mentally said that, I broke the connection and locked all of my shivalingam.