The camp seemed empty as Steve rolled up to his gate. Animal had certainly woken up as the sound of the harley approached, but may yet be too sore to get up and greet him at the gate as usual.

Steve was more concerned with Garoo at the moment, still wondering what the boy wanted from him. Nobody offers what Garoo seemed to be offering, without expecting to profit from the enterprise in some fashion. Garoo had not entirely made clear what he was offering, only hints about some future that included Steve in some way. Garoo had mentioned a corporate shelter, as if that were a trivial matter, but did not seem to assure Steve that he thought it was the best strategy.

So, where was Garoo?

The assembled spirits sat around the conference table, as Garoo summed up the proceedings they had just finished. "We are agreed then, if not unanimously, that we should proceed with the plan as outlined at our last meeting. For the record, I invite Miss Hardin, and Mr. Greenough to voice their dissent one last time, before we continue." Garoo pointedly looked at the attractive brunette that sat across from him.

"As you all know," started Miss Hardin, "I have no objection to bringing this Steve into our plans, he seems capable of the tasks we have need of, and I think he will be happy to be involved once we explain things to him. I also have no misgivings to the plan itself, it seems natural for us to make this journey, and it may well benefit us all immensely, my only problem is having mortals involved in the journey, that seems unrealistic, and dangerous to them, and possibly us as well. We really have no idea what to expect out there."

Garoo smiled, "Thank you Miss Hardin, as you are all aware, we have not committed to having mortals come with us, but we, the rest of us feel that the possible benefits outweigh the risks at this time, and to be sure, we may find none of the mortals willing to take this step with us, and with that, we'll make the adjustments, and strike out on our own. Mr Greenough, I believe you have a different objection entirely."

"My dissent is always the same, I feel very uncomfortable with the idea of having the mortals involved AT ALL! I am the only one here who still has direct relatives that are still living, who would recognize me, and may complicate our affairs in ways we cannot imagine, for instance, if we reveal ourselves, it seems possible that my grandson might find some legal argument that prevents me from using my share of the corporate holdings to continue the plan, and we all know that my share is crucial, without my part, this entire enterprise is a pipe dream." Mr Greenough continued, "Remember that it was my grandson who first realized that my wealth was not what he received, and he almost succeeded in stripping us of that. In any case the cost of the legal battle has been a burden, and even recently we get reports that he has not given up and may yet have some scheme to wrangle not only my share, but the entire corporate holdings. I have deep feelings about this plan, and I do not want to risk failure, by prematurely revealing ourselves."

"Thank you Mr. Greenough." said Garoo, as he looked around the table, the faces showed concern, but resolved to continue, despite the risks. "Now we look at new business, and we can see that the first business is that of introducing Steve, known as Mr. Wright, unless he objects. We have already agreed that he will probably respond very well to Miss Hardin, and at least be willing to come here and listen to us. Earlier, you heard me report that Mr Wright had already revealed himself indirectly, by going to get his motorcycle, and I'm reasonably sure that he at least will be quickly in a court of law, and will need our assistance. If we hope to have his skills with us, we should go now and get him if we can."

The faces nodded in agreement, then, the meeting was interrupted by a wailing noise as a thin spirit, drifted through the wall, frightened eyes looking around, her mouth working as the only noise she made was the sobbing wail. As she drifted along, the faces looked at her, and several of the seated spirits made comforting noises, inviting the drifter to stay and chat. However as the shocked eyes of the misty apparition realized that these men and women could see her, hear her, her form dissipated and was gone. The room was silent, as the group contemplated the number of times they had experienced this same fate of most dead people, to drift along, losing form and will, frightened, lost with no will, no understanding, only to finally slowly be lost entirely. When approached by one of the immortals, they almost always dissolved right then. Somehow the shock of meeting spirits who mastered solidity blasted away any hope and will they may have had, and they were gone.

Miss Hardin cried silently as she recalled her own journey, through almost two centuries of drifting, never being able to touch or speak to anyone who could possibly know she was there. Her name was Julie when she lived, near London, hoping to marry soon, but the accident at the pool house had ended that. Garoo had wandered by, and noticed her sitting morosely on a dock on the Thames River, looking at the great barges and ships as they swept by. Instead of dissipating, she almost immediately became solid when the shock hit her, that the young dark boy staring at her, could actually see her.

Steve looked around him, as Animal let out a soft whining. They could both feel a presence coming. Steve saw both figures appear, recognizing Garoo immediately, but the young woman with him startled Steve, and he was shocked to find himself responding to the presence of a female ghost, Steve flushed slightly as stood up, almost knocking over the camp stove that was trying to brew coffee.

Julie smiled inwardly at Steve's reaction to her presence, she had of course experienced it many times as a living woman, and even from some of the spirits that she was now conspiring with. She was not the only female spirit at the table, and she was aware that of the other females, some had chosen to experiment with some of the men spirits, and had reported that the experience was lacking, and probably even dangerous. The men reported similar results, and it was agreed that sex with ghosts was little more than exercises, and the matter was dropped, except when a new spirit came along, and one of the ghosts would allow the new one to try, and fail.

Julie however had never had a man in her life, and had never tried as a ghost either, Mr. Greenough had tried to convince her, thinking that perhaps as someone who had never, the experience might be different. Julie had refused, as always, bu explaining that she had no interest. In fact however, she was curious, but had not ever felt any attraction for any of the ghosts at the table.

Garoo introduced Miss Hardin, "Steve, I'd like you to meet Miss Hardin, she and I are part of a group of spirits, who would like to meet with you, and hope to convince you to join us."

"How do you do, Miss Hardin, " said Steve, pulling himself together, and extending his hand with a friendly grin. "I'm Steve." Julie stepped closer and made to shake hands, but as their hands just began to touch, her hand passed through his as if it were air.

Steve laughed, "I'm sorry, really, I thought of doing that last night as I was riding home." He indicated the panhead chopper now parked in it's usual spot near the truck, chuckling, he continued, "of course I had imagined playing this on a real girl, not a ghost."

Julie looked at Steve with a shocked expression, no man had ever played such a childish prank on her, she found it amusing, but irritated her. He still extended his hand with a playful grin, and she allowed him a small smile, and extended her own but left it far enough away that Steve had to reach out further to grasp hers. As he did, he saw his hand passing through hers, as if it were air, then she was the one laughing.

"Touche!" exclaimed Steve, and he joined in with her laughter. Then they finally did shake hands. Garoo watched with some interest, but was clearly a trifle bored with this childish play. Steve indicated the perking coffee with a glance down, as he pointed at it with his toe, "I don't know if coffee is going to work for me, but I thought I'd try it. Garoo? Miss Hardin?"

"None for me, thanks." said Garoo as he settled himself into a seated position on the ground, he was no longer dressed as if he came from a jungle, but had an expensive looking suit, apparently tailored to fit him well. He did not seem to care that it was being soiled as he sat on the dew damp ground.

"I don't usually, but I'll have some this morning." Julie said. She remained standing, and looked around as if expecting to find a chair in the small meadow. Julie looked at Steve, pointedly, clearly expecting him to find a seat for her. She was dressed in a tailored suit jacket, with a skirt that decidedely was not appropriate for camping in the woods.

Steve noticed her looking at him, but ignored it. Instead, he walked to the truck, and came out with a cup and handed it to her, he had his already on the ground near the campstove. Steve smiled innocently, "Pull up a stump Miss Hardin." he said, as he sat down himself on the ground, and poured coffee into his cup. "I figure you for a city girl, and you have an accent, Australian. Maybe?"

Julie stood in the new sunshine of the meadow, mouth open, eyes wide in disbelief that she was being treated so rudely. "Really, Mr. ahhh, Mr. Oh I don't know your last name. Sir, do you expect to have me stand here while you sit on the ground like an oaf? No, I am NOT from Australia, I am British."

Steve looked sharply at Garoo, "So, you thought that Miss Hardin here would be a tempting treat to entice me into joining whatever devious schemes you have in mind for me eh?" He looked up at Julie, and his gaze was intentionally designed to make a woman feel uncomfortable under any circumstances. With his vantage point at about her thighs, his viewing of her was doubly troubling to her, and her free hand fluttered down to her hem line, self consciously attempting to cover her legs. Now she was flushing, and quite uncertain of her usefulness.

Garoo looked at Steve, as the small power play wound down, and realized that Steve had managed to force the ace they had thought to play, and found that it was lacking. Doubt crept into his ancient mind, as he reviewed the rough points of the plan. They needed someone who could captain the ship they would build, but expected to have control themselves. Now of course it seemed obvious that if they had Steve join them, he could be captain, but they would not have control, and they would have to trust him, as a crew does and should trust the Captain.

"Ahhh, " said Garoo, "perhaps we were mistaken. We thought to have you join us, and expected that you would more willingly do so, if certain interesting points of our 'devious scheme' were shown to you before we got to the meat of the matter. Seems that we have misjudged you."

"Yeah, well I have seen scams, and I'm willing to go along for a while, but on my own terms. Let's drag out the meat, then we'll see if I'm interested in dessert." Steve had looked away from Julie while Garoo spoke, and now indicated her with a slight toss of his head in her direction.

Julie was no longer with them however, and Steve scowled when he realized that both Garoo and the girl had departed, as the still empty coffee cup fell to the grassy turf of the clearing. The wolf who had been lying still in the sunshine a few feet from Steve now growled low in his throat, as the crunch of tires coming up the driveway alerted Steve that he had visitors of a different sort to deal with now.