Chapter 429 - Day MDCCCLXII

Aisha returned in the morning, and since I tried to contact her, the first thing she did, was to pay me a visit. I let her in, and she was quite surprised by a fifteen-year-old girl lying in the bed I was supposed to sleep on, and watching TV.

- Hi? - she started upon seeing her.

- Hi. I'm Tihana. I've seen you on the TV. You are awesome - she said with a big smile.

- What does a teenage girl do in your bed, Peter? - she asked after turning to face me.

I sighed and got few steps deeper into the room.

- Why does everybody have to react in the same way? Why can't it be: Oh, Peter. You saved a teenage homeless girl whose father tried to sell her, so she had to run away from home?

At that moment a pillow hit the side of my head.

- TMI you asshole! - shouted Tihana.

- Oh... Sorry - said Aisha. - Do the agents know?

- They helped me adopt her.

Her eyes went wide as she heard that.

- You... What? You... You know what? Never mind. I've seen weirder stuff than this. So, what you wanted to talk about? - she said waving her hand in the air.

- Hatta and others are setting up an exchange system for the crystals. They couldn't wait for your opinion, so it's already in motion.

- Oh... Ok. Good.

- So, how was your family? I sat on the edge of the bed and using 'Telekinesis' picked up the pillow.

She sighed heavily. 

- Not good. The reunion got crashed, because of my uncle.

- What did he do?

- He invested in some business, which was actually a scam, but since he got more people in, they think that he actually was a part of it. And the other guy is blaming everything on him. He made some kind of deal with the district attorney. It's not good.

- Can I help somehow?

- No... Yes... He asked my parents for some money to hire a good attorney to defend him, but they can't really afford that. I agreed to help if I'll be able to, and now this crystal exchange thing...

- I will get you as much as you need.

- Thank you Peter - she said, and sat next to me. - At first, I thought about buying some gold in the device, and then selling it for cash, but this makes things easier.

- No worries. I have your back. Oh, and also I made deal with the CIA to adopt her, and we, Hatta, and the rest will be having a vote about opening a portal leading here. I agreed to do it even if a single person says yes.

- First of all, that's quite stupid. Did you tell Will? I know you made a deal to help him with his son, but he still might want to do that. This would bring them closer, distance-wise.

- I can get him and his kid there and back, as much as he wants. That's even better than the portal. 

- Still, you should talk with him. I'll have a chat with the rest. If we open that damn portal, every other country on the face of this planet will want one, and that might get nasty.

- I know...

She patted me on the shoulder.

- Ok, now I need to eat something - she said and left.

I didn't really bother escorting her to the door.

- Wow, you guys have some real problems... - said Tihana. - A third world war? That sounds bad.

- Yeah... - I agreed.

- You guys really have to deal with some serious shit out there, don't you?

- I told you. We went through some very bad moments in the beginning. This is just the continuation.

- But do the portal here really could cause that?

- Yep. If we open the second one, Europe will want another, Russia, and China too. Then the rest of the world will start asking. If we let anybody have an edge, the rest might want to flip the table. We can't risk that. At least not yet.

- What does that mean?

- It means that at some point we will be strong and influential enough, so they will start seeing us as partners, and then everything will change. Until then we have to endure all the shit they might try to get their hands on the device.

- You meant that alien machine?

- Yes. Technically it's called a sapling.

- Sapling?

- Yeah. A sapling of a tree. It grows with every upgrade. You will see for yourself.

- But when? It's nice to have a bed to sleep on, a TV and food, but I can't stay here forever, you know?

- I can't just take you there and leave you alone too. We will return together. I don't know when, but I doubt we will be waiting here for long. Will's divorce might take some time, so we might return without him.

- Ok. I'll buckle up, and wait... I hope it won't be months, though.

- It won't. I'll talk with Aisha later about this.

- Ok - she said and turned her attention back to the TV.

I did talk with Aisha later that day, and we decided to return as soon as possible. Talking with Zander we learned that we can fly back as early as tomorrow if we want to, so we decided to do this.

After that I contacted Will through the coin, to tell him that. He said to me that, I shouldn't worry about him, because things are working out, and he will join us as soon as he can.

Then we also had a short talk about voting. He assured me, that there is nothing to worry about, and he knows that with my help he will be able to see his son as much as possible. This confirmation made me feel way more confident about my standings with the CIA, but I was sure, that they won't stop trying.

They still thought that they have Tihana to use against me. 

At the end of the conversation I mentioned the adoption, and he actually found the whole thing funny.