Adam had a couple minutes to kill. ​"Claudia, tell me about a woman named Tana Wingate."

     "Tana Wingate. 28 years old. High school graduate. One quarter of college. Here are some photos of her from that time. There's this one where she was so drunk that..."

​     "Really? Let me get a look at that one." 

     "See?"

​     "Ooo. See really does get uninhibited after she's had a few, doesn't she? I love those small breasts of hers. And, boy, she really is gay too, huh?"  

     "Apparently. She declared herself in a blog​ she did when she was thirteen."

     "You have her number?"

     "Of course."  

     "Let's give her a call. What do you say?"

     "Isn't she still one of the hostages up in the..."

​     "Sure, but she should still have her cell phone. I'm sure my good friend Gideon Goldbody wouldn't mind if I have a little talky-talk with her."

​     Ring. Ring. 

​     "Yes?"

     "Adam Forwarder here. We had a nice little breakfast this morning. Remember?" 

​     "It seems like months ago."

     "How are things going up there, darling? Anybody getting horribly mistreated?"

     "Not after the initial killings. Honestly, except for the armed guards, everything's returned more or less to normal. People are gambling. People are eating. Everyone's texting like crazy, texting and talking on their phones."

​     "Have you seen your father?"

     "Both Dad and Angie are with the older people at the buffet. And how about you? Last time I saw you, you were spinning off into space. I thought you were a goner." 

​     "No. No. It takes more than that to kill me. It's why I get the big bucks. I thoroughly intend to come visit you later on today." Adam did a visual check on where the Bloodhawk was headed. He saw clouds so very far below, but they kind of blurred. Adam couldn't quite focus on them. "I've got a couple stops to make first, though."

     "So you never answered my question."

     "And what is that question again?"

     "Why are you so damned attractive to women?"

     Adam had a good, hard laugh over that one. "At a time when I can only..."

     "I'm serious. I really am. Like I said before we were so rudely interrupted by the mass kidnappers, I couldn't be more gay if I spelled out the word gay with my body while I slept, and I find that even I am attracted to you. You're the only man I've ever been attracted to in my life outside of my high school math teacher, Mr. Krogstad. Why is that?" 

     "Well, have you ever stopped to think..."

​     "No. Don't try to joke this away. What I'm asking is serious."

     "You think it's serious that a bunch of women..."  

     "Yes. Yes I do. In a way I think it's the key to who you are."

     That shocked Adam a little. He had talked to this woman no longer than a half hour, yet she'd gotten right to the core of him that quickly. He had to readjust his thinking. He had a whole new respect for Tana Wingate. When Adam replied, his voice was heavier, more somber, than it had been before. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

     "Try me."

     "It's a long, long story."

     "Well, where are you right now?"

     "I'm in one of my jets headed for Pete's Peak."

     "How much longer have we got till you get there?"

     "Okay. Okay. I'll tell you...okay." Adam took a deep breath. "I'll give you the condensed version, the very condensed version, but then I get to ask you a question, and you've got to answer me honestly or I'll track you down and ravage you. Deal?"

     "Sounds intriguing. Okay, it's a deal."

     "Okay, here's the answer to your question, and it's the true answer even though under no circumstances will you believe me. In truth, I'm not a human being, per se, at all. I was born at the beginning of time, and, unless I get atomized, I will live until the end of time. I was created to perform a specific mission, but I decided screw all that, why not just fuck around and amass shitloads of money for a couple of decades?" 

     "I already don't believe you." 

​     "I'd be shocked if you did."

​     "Do go on, though. To hear you lie is like watching a good fantasy movie. And, pray tell, Mr. Forwarder, what is your true mission on Earth?"

     "My true mission in life is to change the evolutionary course of the infinite and infinitely changing multiverse. It is to become father to the one who will one day become master of the white light and Queen Empress of a thousand planets."

                                              CONTINUE