​    Meanwhile, back at street level, where the guests were still arriving:

     A small group of well dressed partygoers had their invitation in hand and waited patiently to be allowed inside. Around them gathered a much larger group who didn't have invitations but wanted to get in anyway or were just there to gawk at the celebrities and the super-rich.

     Katy stood with that second group.  

     She didn't have an invitation, but she wanted to get into the party anyway. No, she had to get into the party. As far as she was concerned, she had to find Adam Forwarder as quickly as possible, that night if at all possible. The future of all humankind depended on it.  

     However, none of the huge, burly security guards at the entrance saw it that way. 

     "I'm so sorry," one of them told her oh so condescendingly. "You look lovely tonight, but my instructions are that no one is allowed inside without an invitation. I'd lose my job, you see. If you actually knew Livia Montcrief, you'd understand."

     The most galling part of that little speech was when he said she looked lovely. Again, she'd tried. She wore her favorite purple dress, or, really, her only dress. Katy hated dresses, generally speaking. She'd showered and had her hair done up she that it rested precariously on top of her head, blue streak and all, like a slightly tilting bird's nest. Nylons, her black pumps, and make-up with a slight hue of purple in it, and Katy was as dressed up as she'd ever been before in her life.   She'd never gone to her senior prom because no one had ever asked her, and she'd never been married so had never worn a wedding gown so...

​     And, even as dressed up as she could be, she still felt incredibly out of place. Those all around her, especially those who'd actually been invited to the event, were dressed well and knew how to dress well. The women, for instance, weren't there in dresses. They were there in gowns, gowns incredibly expensive, and, in many cases, designed especially for them. The men all wore suits and ties as if that were part of their daily attire, which they probably were. 

     Still, for all that Katy couldn't give up. She simply had to see Adam Forwarder that night, immediately. It was absolutely essential that she become Mother to The One, as soon as possible. The entire universe, all of Infini, depended on...

     "Listen." Katy grabbed the guard's cuff to keep his attention. "I'm being serious here, friend. You've got to figure out some way I can get into this party. I need to talk to Adam Forwarder. If you knew..." 

     "Hey!" The guard jerked away from her. "You keep your hands off me, lady!" He glanced over at a couple of the other security people who stood nearby, and that's all it took. They strolled over to Katy casually so as not to attract undue attention to themselves or their situation, then gently yet firmly took Katy by the shoulders to lead her out of the area. 

     "But you don't understand!" she screamed. "I'm trying to save all our lives! I had this dream! I saw this hive! I'm to be Mother to the One! I'm to be mother of the woman who will save us all! I've got to see Adam Forwarder! I've got to!"

     She sounded like a crazy person even to her herself, but she couldn't help it. 

     Away from the crowd, the security people let her go. "You get away from here," one of them told her. "You just start walking and don't stop. We've got a holding area here, and if we see you again we'll detain you until the police arrive, and then there'll be arrests and everything else, and I'm sure you don't want that, so move on."

     "But..."

     "No!" The guard's face grew stern and sharp. "We don't have time for you!"

     "But...But..." Katy didn't know what to do next. She felt completely stymied. She stood where they'd left her, waved her arms helplessly, and yelled, "But you don't understand! I'm trying to help you! I'm trying to save you! I'm trying to save everybody! I'm the Mother to the One. I had a dream! I had a dream, and in that dream there was a hive, and the name of the hive was Infini, it was blue, this dream was, the color blue! No, it was Azure! That's right! My dream was the color of the sky! It was Azure! It was Azure!"

​     And now she stood completely alone. A huge crowd surrounded her at the base of the building where, thirty stories up, Livia Montcrief was throwing Seatrailia's Party of the Year, but no one wanted to stand anywhere near her. No one wanted to be around the shouting, crazy woman. Katy figured that, if she kept it up, the police were sure to be alerted, but she didn't know what else to...She couldn't think of a way she could just...you know...sneak into the...and she certainly didn't have any inside contacts who could help her into the...and she needed to get in there. It was essential. The most crucial thing in Infini was for her to get into that party and connect with Adam Forwarder and yet...and yet...Damn! It was all so damned frustrating. 

​     "Somebody help me! Please!"

     And then someone emerged from the crowd to come towards her. He was an old man. He looked well over ninety. He had a wide smile on his face.

     "Hello, young lady," he said as he drew next to her. "What's that you said about this hive? About Infini? What's that you said about the color azure?"

CONTINUE