​     The second they broke the connection, someone hit the buzzer at Gramps' front door.

     Okay, I can see now it's going to be ​that kind of day, he thought.

     "Yes?" he said into the intercom.

     "Gramps?"

     "Yes?"

​     "You need to let me in. We need to talk."

​     Gramps got a look at the visual monitor trained on the front door. No. No, he'd never seen this woman before in his life. He would have remembered her. She was young, at least to Gramps, in her early twenties, and she was blazingly attractive.

     "We've met before." she said.

     "That's impossible. I..."

     The woman at Gramps' front door transformed. She turned silver. What she wore, as well, turned silver.

     Oh no, Gramps thought. Not...

     "Silveria," he muttered.

     "Hey Gramps."

     "I'm not letting you in. The last time we met you killed..."

     "I know. I know." She waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "And I really do feel bad about all of that, I really do."

     "I am not letting you into my home."

     "Gramps." She smiled. "You know how powerful I am. If I wanted to I could..."

     "And I'll fight you with every..."

​     "This is all getting way too melodramatic way too fast. Okay." She held up one hand while putting her other hand on an imaginary Bible. "I swear, I will do no harm to this nice little house you have here while we talk, but we do need to talk."

     Gramps thought, okay, what do I do now? But he already knew the answer. He had no choice, really. He had to play out the hand that was dealt to him.

     "Let her in," he told his house.

     The front door unlocked.

     They met in the parlor. Gramps knew Silveria to be one of the most powerful, if not one of the most vicious, entities currently inhabiting Earth. He felt understandably apprehensive. The last he knew, Silveria had been destroyed along with the portal leading to the dream universe of Domitika.

     "Don't tell me The Fours has put you in charge of the Fourth Talon," Gramps said rather than greet her.

     She sat down. "That amusement park mess last year. That was the Fourth Talon."

     "I can count."

     "The First Talon has been going on for years. It began the year The Fours first became aware of this particular universe."

     "You made the effort to come see me."

     "Not a lot of effort, really. I'm kind of everywhere right now."

     "I can't believe The Fours trusted you with the Fourth..."

     "No one really asked me to...I just kind of..."

     "...took it upon yourself to..."

     "Well, I kind of am the plan, if you want to get technical about it. All I am, really, is energy, domitikan energy, a part of all the domitikan energy in this particular universe and..."   

     "I thought we destroyed the portal to Domitika."

     "There are several."

     "Great."

​     "Valtair and The Fours are able to record an individual's entire being, their bodies, everything but their souls, to transfer into a duplicate of that individual so exact not even their children and spouses can tell the difference."

     Gramps put his head in his hands. "And the people that the duplicates replace, the real people that..."

     Silveria shrugged.

     "You merciless..."

     "What can I tell you? War is Hell. Anyway, with these replacers, we're talking about, maybe, a thousand men, women and children. We have replacers in some very key positions around Seatrailia, around the country, around the world. They're CEOS and elected officials and high ranking military figures. We have one replacer who's even a world wide celebrity. This last year, in spite of the fact that the economy really should be recovering, the people of the world just seem to be getting poorer and poorer month after month. Our replacers are behind that. They're helping to direct the world's financial resources into The Fours' secret off shore account, but...you know...all of that isn't really why I came here. We need to talk about Adam Forwarder."

     "He's in Domitika. I watched him go. I thought you both went."

     "Yes, but before he went he spent some time with you, right?"

     Gramps had no response to that.

​     "He gave you something, didn't he Gramps? He gave you something at that time."

     "I have no idea what you're talking about."

     "One of your cameras is focused on the street, right?"

     "Of course."

     "Let's have a look, shall we?"

     Replacers surrounded the five bedroom house where Gramps and Abby had lived all of Abby's life. Now, also, Abby's three nearly grown children lived there with them, two daughters and a son.

     Replacers stood on Gramps' lawn and clogged the sidewalk in front of his house, people, hundreds of people, people of every size, age, color, and ethnic group. Gramps saw cops. He saw people in medical uniforms. He saw teenagers and the homeless and more than a few children. They said nothing. No one moved. They just stood on the sidewalk and in the street, staring emotionlessly at where Gramps lived. 

     "Okay, so you've got my attention," Gramps said. "What is it you want again?"

     "I want Claudia."

     "Uh...Claudia?"

     "You've got her."

     "Adam's personal computer?"

     "Adam gave you Claudia, didn't he? A portable version of Claudia? The essence of Claudia on a computer chip or something like that? He gave you Claudia and instructed you to never tell a soul you had her."

     "Except for you, of course. You'd expect me to tell you, apparently."

     "The common wisdom is that Tindriss destroyed her utterly two years ago, along with Adam Forwarder himself and everything connected to him. I don't believe it. I believe that she, instead, managed to hide herself in some manner. She contained and utilized technologies from a thousand different cultures among​ the galaxies, after all. She understood subatomic circuitry, I'm sure."

​     "You're saying..."

     "I'm saying she shrank herself down to the size of a penny, and that Adam gave that penny to you."

​     Gramps had no response to that, either.

​     "In two seconds, this could all be over, Gramps. Just give me Claudia."

​     "You've got a move to make, make it. Otherwise, get out of my house."

​     Silveria rose. "You're making a mistake," she said. "We're going to destroy you now, this house, your family, you, and then we'll find that penny, I bet."

     "Take your best shot, bitch," Gramps said.

​     Silveria smiled, then dissolved into mist before disappearing completely.

     Gramps went to the door that led to the rest of the house. He had to gather and prepare his family.

     They were at war.

END OF CHAPTER FOUR​

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