Wallace sat on the sofa, listening to activity in the kitchen. A head popped around the corner.
     "You doing okay in here?"
     "Yeah. Feels good to sit one place for a while. It's been some time since I got to feel that without sleeping."
     "What do you feel when you're sleeping?"
     "I hope you're not letting anything burn on my account."
     "That's what you feel?"
     "Or something similar."
     "Ah. A dreamer. I called Sarah, and she's on her way over. Are you sure that you wouldn't rather watch over my shoulder while I cook?"
     "Perhaps in a while. I am enjoying the peace of the house. Very, shall we say, restorative. I don't want to seem antisocial."
     "You, hardly. You feel like my brother. Funny, but I feel like I already know you. I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything."
     "Thank you, Louise. I appreciate it."
     She smiled and vanished as she had come, in a flash. Wallace sighed and stretched, feeling the sore sluggish muscles in his shoulders and back. "Ah, the scourge of TE, terminal exhaustion." He pulled out a pen and grabbed a handful of paper from the coffee table.
     He stared at the blank paper and let his feelings arise to the surface. Tiredness was to the forefront in every direction he felt. He saw the same problem in all his friends that were trying to maintain a social existence. It was getting harder and harder to do in the face of a deteriorating economy.
     The concept began to take form in his mind. He took the busy day and divided it into typical sections, using that as the lyric base for the verse progression. Life at work, life at home after work, the weekend, and the diminishing recreation time. He began to write. He scratched and balanced timing, finding the musical tempo and foot. He substituted words that closer expressed the musical meld of flow and meaning.
     After the first two verses, he broke off the thought line, expressing the desire to escape the grind. Here, the song broke open for him. His hand flowed, and the song was done in a few minutes. He scratched and reworded and retimed, filling, cutting, drawing closer to a song.
     He then pulled his guitar from its case and played, writing in the chords as the melody defined them. He sang the song a couple of times, getting hung up in several spots. Louise watched for a few moments without his being aware of it.
     He scratched out some of the chords as the melody shifted where it was awkward and disrupted the flow. The song reformed in stages, changing the timing and thus the wording. It was hacked and cut again. He played it again, working his voice without the breath behind it, fully singing it through his mind. A few more minor adjustments and he felt that he had it, having never retouched the chorus. He started playing it to get the feel of it. It resonated with good feelings, and it was his voice range in the sweetest slot. This one would take some effort to sing properly. But it let his voice soar with just the right amount of emotional warble. The subtle transitions jelled. He threw in the proper note changes in the chord progression and the song was there, finished.
     He picked up the paper and rewrote the song without the hen scratch. As he was proof reading it, the door opened and Sarah's face appeared. "There you are. Hope you haven't been waiting for me."
     "Actually, I just wrote a song."
     "Oh, that it?" she asked, entering with her guitar case and several canvas bags.
     "Yes. I was just looking it over for errors."
     "Let me see." She took the sheet, after she set everything on the floor, and read.

     "The sentiment is there if the music is there with it. Sing it to me. I want to hear it. Where is Louise?"
     "Kitchen."
     "Let me go gather an audience."
     "She's cooking."
     "At least let me check."
     "Fine. I was informing, not badgering."
     "Get set up to play it."
     Wallace placed the guitar in his lap and waited graphically.
     "Wise guy."
     "Of the worst variety."
     She smirked and left the room. She returned shortly with Louise. "So play, waiting boy."
     "As you wish. A couple of verses and the chorus instrumentally first so that you can see the progression."
     He adjusted his pick and started into the rhythm with energy, intrinsically finding the bounce of the wrist as he fell into the timing of the string pattern. The right hand knew the action without thought. His mind was on his left hand, getting the feel of the changing chords that were still new in context of the progressing versions during writing it.
     He started singing after the first dual verse/chorus cycle. What had strained his voice while singing it softly now flowed like honey at full volume, using the power- singing tensions to bring the music to fruit. He kept his mind on the sheet in front of him, making sure that the lyrics were sung correctly. When he finished the song, his peripheral awareness of Sarah and Louise was brought to the front by applause. He turned to look at them.
     "You like it?"
     "Yes. Sounds much nicer sung than read. Seems a touch goofy on paper. But your voice does wonders. I'm so glad that we found you out, you sneak. You have such a nice voice."
     "Thank you."
     "And to think that you kept it hidden from me for seven and a half years. That I will never forgive. All that time wasted, when you could have been singing with us. Think of all the music that never was because you kept your mouth shut."
     "Sarah, it's been many years since I sang for others. Almost twenty."
     "Why?"
     Wallace shrugged. "I guess that I was around others that were better than myself. In those situations, you step back. It's only been the last six months that I've started working on my voice again. It was a wreck, rustier than a junk car, long on the beach. I had lost what voice I had."
     "You sounded good just then."
     "I've been working on getting it back in shape. It hasn't been easy, but I'm getting back in form. A series of sore throats, sour notes, and broken ranges. I'm almost back to where it used to be."
     "When did you stop singing?"
     "I guess it was when I got divorced, when I broke up with my only wife. I went through so much trauma that I just gave up singing. Wasn't any reason for singing. No inspiration, no joy. I had no desire to stand out. I wanted to blend into a corner and not be noticed when I went through that period. I ended up helping others, having had the experience of performing. I could do the things that helped those that performed, doing the annoying necessities for the singers so that there would be less distraction from the actual performance."
     "So you went all these years shunning the spotlight, while you were hiding such a beautiful talent."
     "I was busy pursuing other talents. My eyes were always my strong point. I ended up being a visual artist. I knew music, and I still felt it, but I just never went public with it. I could show my work without being present. With singing, I had to be there, part-time, at least. I didn't feel like I should have been drawing that kind of attention. My discipline was gone."
     Louise excused herself, having sat and listened quietly, and headed back for the kitchen before something burned.
     "Well, you have a beautiful voice. It does something inside to hear it. You convey emotion very well."
     "That's the way I sing, from the heart. That's what powers my voice."
     "It's beautiful."
     "So is your voice." he returned.
     Sarah shrugged. "It's nothing special. I've heard a lot of women sing better than I do."
     "You're being too modest. You have a beautiful voice. After all, it was hearing you sing that inspired me to start training my voice back into shape. I've heard a lot of women sing, and none of them inspired me to sing again."
     Sarah blushed. "You sure know how to turn a girl's head."
     "I'm only speaking the truth."
     "So let's warm up. The others will be here before long.
     They began playing a group of standard songs to get their focus in tune to playing. Others began arriving and joining in, and soon there was the full compliment of over a dozen. Sarah announced that Wallace had written a new song, and naturally, everyone wanted to hear. Wallace protested that it was still new to him and not to expect too much for a week or two until he got it down pat.
     But he went ahead and played it and got applause. He stove off suggestions that they work on it. He needed it better defined in his mind with practice before going on and becoming involved with other instruments.
     Louise pulled out a song and suggested that they work on hers, since everyone was in the mood. She opened an envelope and pulled out copies. "This a heavy vocal type of piece. Not much support is involved. But let's try it anyway. I like the way it makes me feel." she said, handing them out to everyone in the group.
     "What in the world is this?" asked Harvey.
     "It's an old Rumanian tune. Don't worry about the words so much as you do the melody. I'll sing it a few times and see what you think."
     Louise cleared her throat and started singing. She was never tentative or unsure, obviously knowing the song by heart. Being the first time that Wallace had heard her sing, he was more focused on the strength of her voice than the music she was singing. Thus, he was not fully ready to sing the first time through. The other vocalists were not so hesitant.
     It was an unusual song, not something that he had figured that this group would do. But they started off without him, and he listened. He had sensed a power in the first time that Louise had sung it, but with five singing, it was even more noticeable. But he concentrated on the melody.
     The first time as a group stopped, and everyone seemed overwhelmed by the song. It was an instant hit. Wallace found the music appealing, in a strange way, but not like those they usually sang. They seemed to find no problem enjoying it. Wallace stayed quiet, though he noticed that a couple of the musicians that didn't sing also wore the same expression as he did.
     "What was this song used for?" asked Wallace.
     "It's a song for a gathering. It's about flying away to another land."
     "Pre-flight, I take it."
     "Yes. It's a couple hundred years old. I didn't see you singing, Wallace. You here for a free ride?"
     "No. I just didn't quite catch it all the first time through."
     "Get it the second time?"
     "I think so." He surrendered to the grip she placed on his wrist and stood when she pulled. Louise popped his mouth open with a squeeze to the sides of his jaws.
     "What about you, Jim? Bart? Terri? Kay? Come on. Get in on this. It's not a hard song to sing, and the more the merrier. This is a song that needs volume to do it justice. Many voices."
     Louise pulled Wallace into the circle and kept hold of his arm. When everyone that could sing was in the circle, Louise started it off again. It took a few measures before everyone got with it. She brought it to a stop and said, "From the top. With feeling. One, two, three."
     The group started up, and Wallace felt the essence of the song filling him as soon as he was singing. He felt himself raise his output and his voice took power. Louise turned to him with eyes sparkling, filling in beside him. They became the two dominant voices, but the others soon fell in sync, and the level took off. They all felt a surge pass through them.
     The next thing Wallace felt was his lights being turned off.

     Wallace woke in a stupor, his face almost in the dirt. He lifted himself to a sitting position and wiped away the grit from the side of his face and hair. Then he looked around, and it made him dizzy. But he did notice the other singers lying about. As soon as his head quit swimming, after he breathed deeply for some minutes, he took stock of who was there. He counted and found nine bodies lying about him. Counting himself, that left one of the circle that was singing as missing. He looked at faces, and it took him several minutes to figure that it was Louise that was gone. He ventured to move and fought his weakened way to Sarah.
     He felt her pulse and it felt regular. His ministrations in checking
on her, including a look at her pupils, were enough to bring her to.
     "What happened?"
     "I'm not sure."
     "This isn't Louise's house. Oh, I'm sick."
     She turned to her side and spasmed in dry heaves.
     "Easy girl. Here." He lifted her head from the ground and wiped her face clean as well as he could, then nestled it against a clean spot on his lower thigh. She hugged to it and fought another round of nausea.
     The experience for Wallace was anything but pleasant, since it hit him as contagiously as yawning. But he pulled himself together and fought off the desire to wretch. Sarah settled down and Wallace began to find the struggle easier. They finally both fell to their ease, Wallace leaning back on his arms.
     Sarah managed to sit up and look about, after undergoing the same dizziness that Wallace had experienced. "What happened?"
     "I haven't the faintest idea, except that we are no longer at Louise's house. These seem to be the ones that sang, except for Louise."
     "Was it the song? It felt so strong, especially when you started singing so strong. Then pow, like a punch. It must have been the song."
     "First time a song ever did that to me. More likely it was some kind of gas that knocked us out."
     "All I smelled was food."
     "Some gases are odorless, especially the ones designed to turn you off. How could a song do this?"
     "Then where are those that didn't sing? Why aren't they here? Where are we? This is no place I remember being anywhere near home. Look at those mountains. And look at the color of the sky. Ever see sky that green?"
     The others started waking up around them. The two did what they could for those waking, giving hints as what not to do right away. They helped those that were nauseated to get past their discomfort. They were unable to answer many of the questions posed to them. Sarah conjectured more than Wallace did.
     It was eventually concluded that the song did bring them to this new place. They surveyed the area better and found no signs of civilization. There was a wild grass covering the meadows, but the trees were the oddity. No one there could identify the type of trees that there were lacing the meadows. They were like none that any had seen before. The birds seen flying about were not really all that identifiable on the wing, but none of them could be placed either. Certainly their songs were unfamiliar.
     Questions were asked about Louise. Not many of them were based upon concern, since she was the one that had brought the song, and she was nowhere to be seen. It was widely assumed that she had known what she was doing with song. Wallace began to bend in his insistence that everyone was reacting a bit too quickly without supporting evidence. Circumstance became too big a factor to ignore.
     As a group, they decided to get out of the warming sun and take refuge under the shade of the trees. Here, they sat, leaning back against the trees to further gather their strength. The discussion continued, and nothing further was decided as to what the group should do. The topic seemed to want to linger on what had happened. There was more solid indication of what had happened than what they faced in this new place.
     Wallace began to grow uneasy, the more that was said. Some of the group began to show signs of panic about to erupt. He broke in.
     "Look, regardless of what happened, we need more information. What is this place? Who else, if anyone, is here nearby? We need to form a scouting party and see what is over the hills and what else can be seen from the hilltops. Until we find something to give us a clue to what we are facing now, there is little reason to speculate on what can easily be interpreted in a number of different ways. I see logical exceptions to everything that has been said. Remember that what we have said is thus far speculation and not fact, no matter how convincing the direction it points. Judgment in ignorance is often worse than no judgment at all.
     "So let's find out what there is here that we have yet to see. For now, let's leave it that we all passed out while singing and that we all woke up at about the same time, with Louise missing for reason unknown. Whether or not she had anything to do with our being here is something that hopefully the future will reveal to us with certainty. Who feels up to a hike to the top of the hill? The quicker we look into this, the quicker we get some real answers, and the quicker we find if there is a way back home for all of us."
     Kay asked, "Do you think that we are wrong in talking about it?"
     "No, as long as we do not take any hasty conclusions as facts. As far as we know, we are victims of some elaborate practical joke. There could be any number of reasons that we experienced what we did. Let's just not jump the gun and get us more worried than is wise. We need to be alert to the present, not to the past, not knowing where we are."
     Wallace stood up and started looking up the hill. "Who wants to go for a walk?" He started moving out from under the trees.
     "Do you think it wise to split up?"
     "I don't see any problem with that as long as we don't go beyond visual and auditory range. I don't see any signs of any dips in the slope."
     He started walking up the hill. Sarah was soon at his side and had his arm. "Let me stay with you. You seem to be the one that knows what he is doing."
     "Okay."
     Three of the others followed. Wallace directed them to take a wider sweep to the top of the hill to see if there was something else that could be seen on the way up that might not be visible from the direct path. They diverged from the pair, speaking in voices that didn't carry.
     "Wallace, do you think that what was said is not the case?"
     "I don't know, Sarah. I won't say that what was said isn't possible. But I also can see other possibilities. I'm just trying to keep some of the speculations from sending some of the less resolute into having nervous breakdowns. There were a few going toward the edge. I just said what I did to give them reason to hold on a bit when things got wobbly. We don't need anyone falling apart on us at a time of such uncertainty.
     "I will say that I felt something in the music take hold of me. I can't think of any song that I sang so strongly the first time that I attempted to sing it. There is something unusual. But even that has some possibilities beyond the realm of magic, like everyone else wants to dump on the problem to give it solidity. It could have been mass hypnosis or something heard before and remembered in the subconscious. It was not a difficult song, though it was not any usual progression of modern times.
     "There is something here that defies explanation with evidence at hand. Beyond that, I'll wait and see what the future reveals before I fully accept any answer. Not that I'm not open to suggestion. Just don't hold ideas as truth. 'Evidence points to' as opposed to 'happened in actuality'. I just don't have enough verification yet."
     "So you're saying that what was said could be true."
     "It is a possibility among several."
     "Okay. It all does point to Louise using the song being sung by the group to get us here, or rather her here, since she is not among us."
     "I won't deny the possibility, but I won't base my actions upon it unless I see further justification."
     They had to stop to rest, their bodies protesting the stresses that they would normally take in stride. Wallace used the height advantage and the time to further scan the horizon that presented itself.
     When they felt ready, they continued up the slope toward the crest. There was still no sign of life other than themselves. Wallace had expected to at least see some sign of smoke, even in the warm weather, but there was none. He had surmised that where there are people, there is always signs of smoke. There would trash to burn, trees to clear, metal to heat, meals to cook. Many uses for fire were a part of man's life beyond staying warm in cold weather.
     They made it to the top with only one more rest. Their bodies were recovering more quickly from the exercise. Wallace stopped Sarah from walking boldly up to the top. He had her get down to take the first look over the top to keep from showing their silhouettes against the sky.
     They crawled the last few feet and looked. They were disappointed to see more of the same undisturbed countryside. Wallace was not hasty. He took every part of the view and did as thorough a job of seeing everything that was to be seen without the aid of optics. They had just finished when the other three arrived to join them.
     "Nothing." announced Wallace.
     "Same here. Puzzling." responded Ben.
     "Puzzling?"
     "I can't think of a place on Earth that has land like this and no signs of man. No fences, no barns, no houses, no roads. It just doesn't strike me as right."
     "I know what you mean, but it still doesn't give us answers."
     "And the sky. Wallace, say what you might, but this not Earth. And the trees. Ever seen any like them? Can you classify them as to type? I sure can't. Certainly not in North America, or anyplace else I've seen, and I've been subscribing to several magazines about travel and geography for a couple of decades. This is not familiar in any of my memories."
     "I understand. But let's not play this up. We have a couple of people down there that are close to snapping. Let's not feed the fire and wind up with a couple of serious problems."
     "Where do you think Louise is?"
     "I don't know. I did see a single track through the grass from where we were when we woke. That could be her. If it helps any, I see things that you don't, or if you have, they haven't been mentioned. Let's assume that Louise did bring this song to the practice session with the expressed purpose of getting here by some process unknown to us.
     "I really didn't get to know her that well, since today was the first time that we met. But in that short time, I did come to some conclusions from her behavior that I would be surprised to see refuted. I think that she is a trustworthy person. I don't see her as the type of person that would hurt someone. Use them without their knowledge, perhaps, if it were necessary. But it would have to be for a good reason. Second was the way she looked at me when I started singing without holding back. There was an excitement there that I was going to the level that I was, that I was caught up in the song at a peak level. There was also a gratitude, an humbleness, and an admiration for the power of my voice.
     "I'm not trying to brag, but I probably have the richest voice in the group. Not the most powerful, but the most flowing. I have a way of singing from the depths of my being that does not like to stay on one note when a series will also do. There is a life to my voice, and she respected it, almost cherished. It was as if she anticipated the chance to hear more of me. I know that it seems foolish to think that I could see all of that in a single look, but I did. I felt it, fully.
     "So I am of the mind that whatever we are doing here is something of a necessity. A duty, an obligation, a must, something she couldn't deny or wouldn't want to deny. Maybe it would be an obligation that we wouldn't have seen as such. Maybe that is why we weren't told. But to think that there is a betrayal here, I would say that I need more proof, since the evidence of circumstance leans in the opposite from my standpoint.
     "I know that I could be wrong on this, just as everybody else could be wrong in what they feel to be. There is just too much unknown to us. We do not know enough on which to make a choice of action. There is nothing here except ourselves and this natural setting as far as we can tell from here. That means nothing. Camouflage is an art known well to many men. There is also the possibility of underground facilities, etc. We do not know that with which we deal, or even if there is anything close by."
     "Maybe we should follow her track."
     "I do not think that we should separate. There is the chance of getting lost. It's not long until night. Also, there is the chance that she might return for us. Best that we wait here."
     Sarah tapped Wallace on the shoulder. "Look"
     They turned and saw a rising moon.
     "That settles it." remarked Ben. "This is not Earth. That is not Earth's moon."
     "Well, at least we won't need a fire tonight for light. And we can huddle together tonight for warmth, if it gets that cold. I see no clouds to signify rain. Let's go back down and report that we've seen nothing. And don't mention the moon. Let's try to prevent a panic reaction. Should we find ourselves needing to react in a hurry, it could possibly spell the difference between surviving and not surviving. We are in a survival situation. Act accordingly."
     They all agreed and headed back down to the camp. Bart had started to gather wood for a fire, but Wallace told him that a fire would be unnecessary, as warm as it was and with the moon rising.
     There was some talk about dinner, since no one had eaten since arriving at Louise's house, even though there had been food prepared. Since nothing had presented itself as obviously edible, they ruled out experimenting and decided to go hungry and thirsty.
     They spent time talking as a group, and there was a group that continually steered the conversation away from the topics that would upset those that were ill at ease. The sun reached the horizon and dusk grew. The colors were not typical of a cloudless sunset, but no one mentioned it. They sent everybody that needed to relieve themselves out for one last stroll into the copse of trees before settling in.
     They were all tired, and it wasn't difficult to get everyone to turn in early. It hadn't shown much sign of cooling down for the night, so the need for blankets was forgotten. Wallace volunteered to keep watch. Sarah stayed up with him. Everyone else had fallen asleep before the moon rose over the hill.
     The two moved away from the rest so that their motions wouldn't wake anyone, yet they stayed close enough that might hear someone speak upon waking. They settled in at the edge of the trees.
     "Wallace, what do think this is all about?"
     "I don't know."
     "Forget what you know. Tell me what you feel. Gut level."
     "A mission."
     "For Louise."
     "Yes. Something that she believed in very strongly. I don't feel that it is evil. I didn't see that in her. I am a pretty good judge of character. I saw reluctance in her when she started handing out the music, as if she were having a hard time justifying what she was about to do to us. This is hindsight, mind you. Not something easy for her to do. At first, I thought it was shyness at presenting such an odd piece to the group. But now it seems different. It was something she needed to do from deep conviction. Beyond that, I couldn't imagine."
     A motion caught Wallace's eye. The moon had yet to light the ground around them, but it was definitely lighting up the night sky, and a darkness moved across the humidity laden openness. He looked up to focus and saw a small brief metallic reflection at the small space of darkness.
     It changed direction from moving across the sky to moving toward them. As it moved overhead, Wallace determined that it was square in shape. He immediately realized that the square was growing in his vision. That equated to his mind as shedding altitude. Sarah had finally spotted it, looking at the sky in reflex to Wallace's actions of watching.
     "What is it?" she asked.
     "Wait and see. It's coming here."
     "Here? Aren't you going to do anything?"
     "I've already done all that I can under the circumstances. Not a lot of options, considering that we were carrying nothing."
     The square enlarged noticeably. It dropped toward the edge of the trees where they sat. As it came close to the ground, a figure began to appear over the edge. The figure was human male, dressed in finery adorned with metallic brocade and what appeared to be a turban. He spoke quietly.
     "I do not speak your language, but I have been asked to relay to you a message from the girl you call Louise. It is as follows. 'I am doing well, so do not worry about me. I will be joining you in a short while, as soon as I can get free. I am sorry that I had to do things this way, but I am hoping that you will understand when I get a chance to explain what happened. Stay where you are and you will be safe. It will not be long before we are able to return to Earth.' End of message. If you wish to reply, say the words that you wish relayed to the girl you call Louise and no others, I am trained to repeat whatever sounds you make."
     Wallace thought a minute, holding Sarah quiet. "Understood and complying. This had better be good. Wallace."
     The man repeated what Wallace had said and placed his hands together before and below his mouth. Wallace replied in kind. The man rose upward and vanished in the same manner and direction from which he had come.
     "A flying carpet?" asked Sarah, with a touch of incredulity to her voice. "Is this a dream or what?"
     Wallace pinched her lightly.
     "No. No dream. Why aren't you amazed?"
     Wallace shrugged. "The legends had to come from somewhere, or perhaps the legends had a hand in their design. Just a different science. If there is a song that would bring us to a different planet, why not flying carpets? That is the easier of the two concepts, is it not?"
     "I guess so. You are pretty cool to take it so lightly."
     "Nothing new. I have always been rather hard to amaze. Balanced, of course, by a quickness to appreciate."
     "I guess that's true, now that you mention it. So what now?"
     "We wait for Louise."
     "Oh. I don't see how you can be so calm."
     "Shhh. You'll wake the others, and this is the last thing that they need to know at the moment."
     Sarah nodded, and they sat and watched as the moon rose over the hill.
     The moon was past zenith and the false dawn was showing, and Wallace was supporting a sleeping Sarah in his lap when the next square of darkness appeared in the sky. Wallace didn't notice it's approach until it made a shadow in the meadow before him. He looked up and saw it on approach to where he sat. He shivered to flex some added circulation into his limbs.
     The carpet dropped before him, and there was Louise, dressed in similar fashion as the man that had delivered the message. The main difference was that she was holding a massive sword in a jeweled scabbard. Behind her on the carpet was a large chest of wood.
     "Hello, Wallace. Are you the only one awake?"
     He nodded.
     "I guess that you want an explanation."
     He snorted a chuckle in reply.
     "Can't say that I blame you."
     Sarah stirred, and Wallace rubbed her shoulder to get her to waken.
     "I hope that we can go home now."
     "Sure.''
     "Another song?"
     "Yes. Aren't you the sharp one? No fits of yelling at me?"
     "You'll get that aplenty from the others."
     "We need to hurry. I hope they're willing to wait until we get home."
     Sarah looked up and recognized Louise. She started to shout, and Wallace cupped his hand over her mouth. "Quietly now. Best to wake the others gently. Let's not kick a hornets' nest. Come on. On your feet, sleepy head. Explanations can wait until we get home."
     Louise smiled at Wallace.
     "That grin is a bit premature. Smile at me like that when this all over, and I'll accept the honor."
     "Shall we get home?"
     "The sooner the better. I hope that the song is no harder to learn that the other."
     "I think that you'll be surprised. I certainly know that I was."
     Wallace went no further with the remark that was designed to get a response from him. He instead stood and started walking toward where the others were sleeping.
     He gently nudged them awake, unless they proved to be harder to waken. He used more force increasingly on the hard to wake until they looked at him and sat up and answered questions. A couple of these he had to wake twice. There were questions as to why he was waking everyone.
     "We're going to sing." was his only reply, though it inevitably brought further questions and some complaints. When everyone was awake, he signaled to Louise and Sarah. Sarah came first, followed by Louise, still on the carpet. This caused a definite stir, but Wallace brought the attention onto himself.
     "Let's get ourselves back home before we start grilling Louise. I'm sure that we'll all be more comfortable on familiar ground. Form a circle and let Louise teach us the song that we need to sing."
     Louise pulled up next to Wallace. "I promise you that each of you will be amply rewarded for your part in what happened here. But first, let's get ourselves home. Then there will be an explanation to everyone's satisfaction. Now as to the song we need to sing, I hope that all of you remember the chorus to the song that Wallace wrote. That is the song that we need to sing to get back home. Wallace, would you care to lead us?"
     Wallace looked at her with disbelief.
     "Hey, when I heard you singing it, you could have knocked me over with a feather. Where you got it, I don't know. The melody is the main thing. The words are unimportant. Since the words you wrote are the most familiar, we'll use them. Will you sing?"
     Wallace sighed and visualized the music. Then he started singing. He sang it through for everyone. Then he shrugged and looked at the others. He hummed the first note to act as a pitch pipe, then counted off.
     They sang as a group, and the feeling was there as with the first song that had brought them to their current location. But they remained there. Wallace turned to Louise.
     "Stronger, people, if you want to get home. Shake the sleep off and put some feeling into it."
     They sang louder, and Wallace came on strong, putting the full measure of his feeling into it. It spurred the others into singing stronger.
     The lights went out again.

     Wallace woke to find his face in the carpet. He stirred and felt a touch on his shoulder.
     "Take it easy, big guy. Coming home is always easier. It won't be nearly as bad as the last time. It's going where you don't belong that does a real number on you. And repetition makes it easier to take."
     He rolled on his back to looked up at Louise. She had changed out of the costume and was back in street clothes.
     "Everyone make it?"
     "Here. You are the first after me to wake up. I guess you want an explanation. You were very kind to help the way you did."
     "That would be nice."
     "The world that we visited had a war. It is my home world. Many lives were lost. One of the big targets were the singers, those that knew the songs of travel. They were all killed, and the songs were lost, except for those of us that were stationed on other worlds. I was here on a rotational basis. I arrived with a group of singers that made the rounds of the worlds that we visit, dropping off one singer and picking up the one due to go home. Our tours last twenty years. So I was here when the war broke out. I received a message that there would be no replacement as scheduled. So I found your group. I needed good strong voices in numbers. Thus, you were it.
     "This world is rich in song, and there are many singers here. But I had to find a group that wouldn't blow the whistle when I returned. That left out church choirs and the like. I needed people with good voices and open minds. It was not as easy as you might think to find your group. I think that this group will keep quiet. At least, I hope that they will. I brought things of value to make it easier to stay quiet."
     "The chest."
     "The gratitude of our people. It's more to thank you for the giving of your voices than it is to buy your silence. I'm hoping that the measure of our gratitude will convince you of our sincerity, and that that will help you realize the need to stay quiet. We are basically a peaceful people when we are not threatened. We did not start the war. We were left with no hope and had to respond to survive. They hit us first and very hard, trying to cripple us to the point of not being able to defend ourselves.
     "The thing that puzzles me is how you knew the song to reach your world. The melody of the chorus you wrote is not one commonly found in your culture, though it fits a common style. How you knew to write the exact notes perplexes me. I find myself not knowing quite what to think of you. You seemed to accept things where the others didn't. You are not what I've grown to expect as typical of your culture."
     Wallace shrugged. "What was the sword?"
     "A communication device. It will allow me to stay in touch far more easily than before. I was lucky to have received the message that showed me the need to return home with the songs. Now I will know how things go on my home world. Questions?"
     "What now?"
     Louise shrugged. "Depends on how the war goes. As for you, you won't be needed to travel, now that my task is done. I'll give you your reward for service, and that will be that."
     "You won't see us again?"
     Louise blushed. "I had assumed that I'd be left out of things after this. After all, I didn't ask permission. I just used you. Do you want to see me again?"
     "I like your voice. I'd like to hear more of it, on a recreational basis. You seem to be a nice person. Your responses tell me that you would make a nice friend. I'm in no hurry to see the last of you. I'd like to sing with you again. What time is it?"
     "About thirty minutes have passed since we sang the first time, in this world."
     "So your world is not of our time and space."
     "No. You are sharp to think so quickly. Tell me, are you attached?"
     "No. Not for some time. I like my freedom. I have this thing about others making my decisions for me. I've yet to find anyone that could live with that on a continuous basis. So I've kept my distance as of late in terms of finding a mate. I like having friends. They satisfy my needs for company, and I stay away when I'm not in a positive mood. It keeps things comfortable, and I save my negative feelings for when I'm alone. I like living that way."
     "Are you implying something?"
     "I'm saying that I'd like for us to be friends. You have none now that know your origin. I'd think that it would be nice to have someone in which you could confide."
     "You are very sweet. I'd like that very much. I'd like to sing with you. You have a very nice voice. I would like to explore what we could do together in song."
     The other singers started stirring. Wallace rose to his feet and found his stability, then joined Louise in helping the others bring themselves together. There were questions, but the answers were postponed until everyone felt revived. Then Louise apologized and explained. Before she tended to questions, she opened the chest and began handing out supple leather bags with drawstrings. While none were labeled, she knew exactly which bag went to whom.
     These were opened by all except Louise and Wallace. Wallace was not handed one. He made no notice before the others, but Sarah did. Louise told her that his would come later. Sarah asked why, and Louise responded that his was shy a few items that needed to be added.
     Inside the bags were gems, all loose, and all of exception size and quality. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and some that defied classification. There was one stone in each bag that had the unearthly quality of having a different color for each viewing angle. It refracted light in a veritable rainbow, if held at the proper angle to the light and distance to the eye.
     The questions that came were not nearly as aggressive as they would have been before the bags were handed out. They were promptly answered. Then Louise led them into the dining room for the dinner that she had prepared for them before leaving.
     Sarah held back Wallace. "What is going on between you two?"
     Wallace shook his head rapidly. "Pardon?"
     "Something is going on between you two."
     "There is?"
     "You greet her back there with no questions, handle the affair, get no jewels here cause you didn't get enough. What is going on? I didn't hear a single question out of you."
     Wallace shrugged. "I have got to stop doing that or I'm going to end up with sore shoulders. Nothing is going on. Maybe I see her as a person that needs a little friendship and understanding at the moment. She seems to be doing fairly well on the surface, but she needs consoling. Her people are at war, and they would rather do anything else before that. She had to search us out for some time, finding just the right group. It's all been very hard on her, her identity now exposed to those of us that she lives among. And she has been rather lonely for some years in her secret. It just sounds to me that she could use some support from us, rather than us dragging her down. She is need of some healing, separated from her own kind that currently are facing danger. She could use a friend, don't you think?"
     "You're just feeling sorry for her?"
     "Hardly. There is a lot of respect. She has taken on a difficult task that meant much to her own kind, and she's done admirably. And I love the sound of her voice. Sort of fits mine, or it could if we practiced. And that is her trade, and she is one of the few left. She'll need someone to help keep her in voice during the depression that she is likely to feel, now that she has finished. I want to help her.
     "Ah. Still not satisfied. I find her attractive, and so do you, for that matter. Don't deny it, or I'll call you a liar. You like Louise. Having met her, I'm finding myself liking her. She has good energy. She has strength. But I do not see her staying here forever. I see one day saying farewell to her. She will be going back to her world. She's opened my eyes to possibilities that I never knew existed. I want to share with her. I don't plan on being romantic with her. I just have the feeling that we could be good friends. Besides, I'm curious as to how I knew the return song before it was ever played for me. I don't want a crowd around for that. Need I say more?"
     "You said that you don't have plans for being romantic. What if she does? Then what?"
     Wallace sighed. "Quit asking me questions that make me shrug. I don't know, Sarah. I'd have to know her better before I could answer that."
     "So you aren't ruling it out."
     "I've never ruled it out with you, but we haven't been to bed."
     "So I noticed."
     "Sarah, green is not your color. I like you. I like a lot of people. I like liking a lot of people with no one to crimp my style. When I give, it's because I want to give and someone wants to receive. We just haven't reached that point. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. If and when we do, we'll both know it, and there will be no doubt. Louise threatens nothing between us. You and I are still friends. Good friends. I'd do for you whatever you need of me, and then some. You matter to me. A lot." Wallace hugged Sarah. "Now why don't we fill our stomachs before they start growling again?"
     "You're a good friend, Wallace. I don't want to lose you."
     "Just try."
     "What about the others in there who didn't sing? They're still asleep."
     "I guess they haven't had the time that we did to recover from the first shock yet. Serves them right for playing music and not singing. I have a feeling that Louise will ask us not to tell them. We'll let her dictate the terms. After all, it's her show. We're just along for the ride. And they fell asleep at our efforts to make music. Hmmph!"
     Sarah giggled. "Okay. We'll give Louise a chance. She seems nice enough. I just don't want you going in blindly."
     "Are you sure you're addressing the right person?"
     "Sorry, Wallace. I guess the excitement made me absent minded."
     He chuckled. "Tighten it up. You're lagging badly. Let's go get something in our bellies. I'm hungry after all that."