by Ben Winston
Jenny was turning red trying to keep from laughing, Cindy was laying on the couch laughing, and Ian was fighting to maintain the scowl.
“I don’t know, Baby-girl, would it have chocolate on it?” Jenny replied.
“Of course! You can't have ice cream without chocolate!”
Ian burst out laughing and hugged Talena tighter to him. “You aren’t gonna ever just let me sulk are you?”
“Nope! You’re a Commander now; you can’t sulk, pout, or throw a tantrum – it’s unseemly,” Talena grinned and kissed his cheek before jumping off his lap and heading back by Cindy.
Jenny followed Oly’s instructions, and drove the big RV to a place where they could be picked up by the shuttle. Ian and the girls got out by Beth and her patient.
Barb kept glancing at the door back to the cargo area, where Beth was working on her lover. Ian quietly asked Oly to put a view of the happenings in the cargo bay up on one of the monitors so Barb wouldn’t worry so much. He knew it was the right thing to do when she visibly relaxed in her seat.
“Barb? What would you like Stevie to eat for dinner?” Jenny asked.
“Uh, what do you have?” Barb asked.
Jenny smiled at her. “I have a fully functioning replicator. You’ll learn what that is later, but for now, pretty much anything you would like to feed him is available.”
“Half a grilled cheese sandwich, and a few fries with catsup,” Barb replied. “And a small glass of milk.”
Jenny grinned. “Just tell Ian what you’d like, and he can get it for you while he gets his. I bet you he orders a steak!”
“For your information, wife of mine, I was going to order a sixteen ounce Prime Rib with steak fries, and mayo,” Ian replied, trying to get Barb to loosen up, and order what she really wanted.
“I... uh, honestly, my hunger went right out the window as soon as I heard Debbie was sick. Can I just have a grilled cheese like Stevie?” Barb asked.
“Sure, come on, I’ll show you how this works, that way, if you get hungry or thirsty while you learn what you’re now a part of, you can help yourself. Sound good?” Ian asked.
“Okay, but I was right, you guys are aliens, just really nice ones that don’t do all those weird sexual tests, right?” Barb asked. Talena fell off her chair, convulsed in laughter.
Ian grinned at the girl, but spoke to Barb. “Don’t mind her; she actually is what could be called an alien, though she is as human as you and I are. Talena was born thirty-four thousand light years away; four thousand, two hundred, nineteen years ago on a space station orbiting a world whose name translates directly as Alpha-ca. Though it shouldn’t be confused with the star in our northern hemisphere our astronomers have named Alphecca.”
“How old did you just say she was? I swear she doesn’t look a day over a thousand! Ian, I think maybe you should wait until we sit down again; my brain is already starting to overload,” Barb replied.
After getting the food, Ian led her over to the table that had risen out of the floor. “Okay, I think I’m ready for some more, but I gotta tell ya; I knew Talena had to be an alien or something; there is no way she could be twenty-four, and she’s far too painfully beautiful to be human!”
Talena got up and kissed Barb on the cheek. “Thank you Barb, but the same could be said for you.”
Ian smiled at her, and winked as she sat next to the woman. “Actually, Talena really is twenty-four. She’s still a little naive about our society and the culture here, but she’s learning fast.
“You’ll get her whole story during the explanation of all this, so if you’re ready, let me introduce our artificial intelligence associate; Olympus.”
Oly talked for over an hour. Telling the woman the story of how the ship crashed on the moon, meeting Ian, and his Commander’s current plan to repair the ancient starship, as well as help his planet while recruiting crew.
As the story progressed, Barb stared at the monitor less, and less. Oly finished up, by welcoming her to the crew. Janet sat quietly, off to one side, and watched, grinning.
“That might be a little premature Oly; since I haven’t even asked her if she wants the job,” Ian said winking at Oly.
“What job? What could I possibly be qualified to do on a ship like that?” Barb asked.
“Oly, please display an image of a Hornet, light fighter,” Ian asked. The image appeared in front of them almost immediately, and Barb was instantly transfixed. “This little thing is a fighter?”
“This is a light fighter. Kinda like the interceptors the Air Force has, but far more powerful, and orders of magnitude faster. This ‘little’ ship is trans-atmospheric and capable of a maximum speed eighty percent of the speed of light. It carries two laser cannons, and two fire-and-forget missiles. In a fight between this and an F-22 Raptor... Well, let’s just say I hope the Raptor has a real good ejection system.” Ian grinned. “Talena and Cindy are both learning to fly them; they’d have far more information if you have any questions. The thing is Barb, I have two whole bays full of these, and no one to fix them. I plan on getting more fighter mechanics, but honestly, I’d like someone I can trust in charge of them.”
“It’ll take me years of study to even begin to understand the avionics systems, alone. Do you really have that much time?” Barb asked. “And what about Debbie? Do you have a job for her too?”
“The ship itself has an armory that is responsible for the big ‘ship killer’ missiles, Not to mention it would be the responsibility of the Armory Officer to control access to most of the weapons,” Ian described.
“Officer? Debbie? Oh, she’ll bitch about that, but I think she’d like the job. However, if you put officer’s rank on me, every male in my family will roll over in their graves!” Barb said grinning.
“Uh, I believe the senior deck hand is actually a Master Chief Petty Officer,” Ian said. When Oly looked like he was about to correct his Commander, Ian shook his head slightly to forestall the correction.
“As long as I can stay an NCO, and keep my family I’ll do it. Though I would like to talk it over with Debbie before I make a final decision,” Barb said grinning.
Ian nodded in agreement. “Well, even if you don’t take that job, I would like it if you could begin to learn the flight systems of our smaller craft. Even if you choose to remain a civilian, I’ll need someone that was capable of helping out, at least in the short run.”
“Uh, Ian... We’re talking years of study, here. It’s not like that little shit has much in common with the Model – T’s I’ve been working on,” Barb said.
Cindy knelt in front of the woman, and handed her a ship suit with rank, contacts, and ear piece. She set the boots down beside her. “Master Chief, I think you’ll find that you’ll figure all this out a whole lot faster than you might expect.”
Late that evening, back in Ian’s old home town, residents were awakened by a loud explosion. Four blocks from the William’s house, the Laskar residence was completely destroyed in a large fireball. Inspectors would find that the gas main in the basement had developed an undetectable leak, filling the house with natural gas. Since it was a cool evening, the furnace ignited to warm up the house. The spark from the electronic igniter lit a much bigger fire than it had ever been designed for.
The one fact that puzzled the fire inspectors was that neither of the houses on either side of the explosion had suffered any damage at all.
The remains of three adults were isolated in what remained of the house. Enough remained to positively identify two of the victims as Bill Laskar and his wife, Julie. The third victim was later identified as Janet Foster. Nothing was mentioned about the fact that all three victims were found to have been in the same bed.
“I’m really going to miss that house,” Julie said as they safely watched the explosion from one of the shuttles. “We raised our daughter there.”
“We did a damn good job raising her too. I’ll miss it too, my love, but it’s served its purpose. It’s time for all of us t
o start a new life,” Bill said and kissed the back of his lover’s head.
“Did Janet say when she expected to come back?” Julie asked as she pulled Bill toward one of the staterooms.
“I believe she said she would meet us at the site in the morning,” Bill replied.
“Her loss. Let’s get some baby-makin’ practice in,” Julie said with a steamy look on her face.
Bill, grinning, let her lead him away to his fate.
Barb walked out to the cargo hold to see her lover, and found Beth resting in a lounge chair with her eyes closed, and listening to Santana; ‘Smooth’.
Barb’s soft chuckle caused Beth to smile, open her eyes, and ask, “What?”
“It just struck me as odd; Debbie in a glass coffin having her cancer cured, while her doctor sits back and listens to Carlos Santana.”
“You still think we’re all aliens?” Beth asked.
“Well, Ian and Oly did tell me that only Talena wasn’t from this planet, but you have to admit; it’s kinda hard not to view all of you as aliens,” Barb said gesturing to the ship around her. “I figured the music you would listen too would be something alien. It’s... comforting to hear something familiar while surrounded by all this.”
“How are you holding up? All of this has to have taken its toll on you,” Beth asked, seriously.
“To be honest, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the last few hours, our lives have taken some mighty wild turns. Truth to tell, I’ve wondered if I haven’t gone insane,” Barb replied. Suddenly she shook her head as if trying to dispel her thoughts. “If I’m delusional, there’s not a whole lot I can do about it yet, so let’s just change the subject; how’d you meet your lovers?”
“We were all friends, when Olympus came along we became more,” Beth replied grinning again.
“Aren’t you a medical doctor? I mean, you look the same age os the others, but...” Barb said.
Beth chuckled. “I'm actually twenty-seven. Ian parents were friends of mine, when they died, I tried to look out for Ian, who was about to turn eighteen, and had just started his senior year in high school.
“His friends, Jenny and Cindy became my friends too. We got together just a little while ago after Oly made contact with Ian. Talena became part of our family when we got her out of a malfunctioning Cryo unit on the ship,” Beth explained.
Barb sat, thinking about what Beth had just told her. “This is getting to be too much for one day, I think I need to hit the rack, but I wanted to check on Debbie first, she looks okay.”
“She’s actually in an induced coma. Since we only have this one small unit, it pretty much has to go cell by cell. I’m sorry, but she’s gonna be out for a couple of days,” Beth replied. “She is one tough lady; the pain had to be incredible. I’m new to this technology myself, but I haven’t heard of very many people this bad still surviving.”
“I’d like to know how she hid it from me; I have a pretty good idea why she did it; she didn’t want me to worry about her. Are you sure she’s going to be alright?” Barb asked worriedly.
Beth caressed the woman’s head. “Sweetie, you don’t know it yet, but I’m forbidden to intentionally lie to you. If I did lie, I would not only loose the right to practice medicine, but I would also face criminal charges.”
“Still, I guess after the whole shock of finding out about her... like I said, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Beth smiled at the young woman. “I think you might be waiting for a while.”
“So why didn’t you jump in and take over?” Ian asked Janet.
“That would have been a bad idea. The poor woman was having enough trouble with her lover being in that condition. But the main reason is that she wouldn’t have listened to me. She was focused on Debbie, yes, but she was also focused on you and the girls. I’m a stranger to her. Besides, you actually did a really good job with her,” Janet replied.
Jenny snorted. “Uh huh, you were just sluffing off!” She said teasingly.
“Listen here, little girl! If I was ‘sluffing off’ like you say, I’d have stayed with my mates and just let you all deal with this! Respect your elders!” Janet teased back.
“Elders? You're not that damn old! Besides, you work for me!” Jenny countered.
“Girls! Do I have to separate you?” Ian said in a mock-stern voice. “Behave or I might have to spank you both!”
“Hey! Can I get in on this argument?” Cindy asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
Ian gave a well-used sigh of resignation as all the women grinned and got more outrageous in the argument. “Me and my big mouth!”
A week and a half later, Debbie and Barb bought out their lease, and packed up their furniture. A call to their battalion commander got them permission to out-process early. Within a month of Barb first meeting Ian and his ladies, the two women were free to face their new lives together without fear of persecution.
Middletown, New York
Saint Catherine’s School for Girls
Growing up, Brittany had been an only child. Her intelligence seemed to repel other girls at her school so she never really made any friends. Her parents had sent her to an all-girl boarding school for the rich when she had been nine. The fact that, even at nine years old, she was already in the sixth grade only made matters worse. With no boys or even men around (even the teaching staff had been female) Brittney was left with little experience interacting with the male gender.
Sure, Brittany had spent holidays with her parents and visiting relatives, but even her cousins seemed to avoid her. Truth be told, Brittany was more comfortable talking with the adults anyway; kids her age had no idea what was going on around them. However, the adults were unsure how to talk to an over-intelligent youngster. So she had muddled through each holiday, patiently waiting until she could get back to her studies.
Eight days after her sixteenth birthday, Brittney’s tiny world shattered when she had been called to the headmistress’ office. One of her least annoying 'aunts' was sitting in a chair waiting for her when she arrived. It was obvious the woman had been crying, and Brittney was informed that her parents had been killed in a car accident the day before. Her aunt was there to take her home.
The headmistress, who was very fond of—and very proud of—her star pupil, told her to go ahead. Brittney had earned enough credits to graduate last semester, but begged permission to be allowed to stay and finish the school year. So with her aunt and the headmistress to help, she packed up her few belongings and left the only place she had really ever called home.
Once in the car, her Aunt Valerie began talking to her; “Sweetheart, I know this is a terrible time for you, but I think there are a few things you need to know. First off, I’m not really your aunt. I met your mother in college and we were roommates.” She hesitated a bit before continuing, “We were also lovers.”
Fresh tears began to slowly fall from her eyes again, so she pulled over. “I loved your mother with all my heart, but since your grandparents would have disowned her if they had found out she was a lesbian, she was forced to date men.
“That’s how I got to know your father. Sandy met this really nice man in our senior year; I’d already met him since we were both pre-law. She fell in love with him, which scared her more than a little, because she still loved me too. Your father, Bill, knew about us, because your mother didn’t feel right about hiding such an important part of herself from him.
“Well, what ended up happening was when Bill and Sandy got married, later that evening in the hotel honeymoon suite, we all pledged our vows to each other. You were conceived that night, by all three of us.” She stopped speaking then, because her sobs were becoming too strong for her to continue.
Brittney had tears running down her cheeks too. Feelings of awe, love, betrayal and loss were mixing up her mind to the point where she couldn’t think. But her instinct made her unbuckle her seatbelt and hug the woman sitting next to her.
“Why didn’t any of y
ou tell me this before?” Brittney asked, attempting to distract herself.
“We didn’t know how you’d react. We didn’t want to bias you either way toward alternative lifestyles. Besides, you were so young back then we didn’t know if you would even understand. When it finally dawned on us how incredibly intelligent you were, we made the decision to send you to this school. We kept finding excuses not to tell you about us. We maintained the illusion of separate lives because of our careers, but I lived with them as much as I could. Most of my clothes are in their closet at your... our house.”
“Would you like me to drive?” Brittney asked. “I’d like to get home. I have a lot of things to think about.”
The woman she had known as ‘Aunt Valerie’ only nodded her head and got out of the car to trade places with Brittney. The rest of the ride home was quiet, but Brittney’s mind was racing.
“I know this is going to sound kinda stupid, but... can I call you Mom now?” Brittney finally asked. If nothing else, the title would distract her from the relationship Valerie had just told her about.
“Sweetheart, you can call me whatever you want. Does this mean things are ‘okay’ between us? You don’t hold it against me, or Bill and Sandy, for not telling you sooner?”
“Mom, for as long as I can remember, I’ve had an abnormal life. The fact that even my parents weren’t normal actually doesn’t surprise me. I do resent the fact that I wasn’t told, but the very fact that you were trying to protect me from that knowledge... well, that’s about the most normal thing I’ve ever felt and I appreciate the attempt.”
Valerie smiled at her daughter. “It’s going to take some getting used to; being called ‘Mom’ finally. I think I like it.”
Brittney smiled sadly back at her; “Well, I might slip, and call you by name every now and then too, so don’t think anything is wrong, okay?”
Valerie nodded, her usual happy personality smothered once again by grief.
Brittney found herself having to make the funeral arrangements for her parents. Valerie was almost totally lost in her grief. Brittney could understand the feeling, but curiously she wasn’t as stricken as Valerie was. She decided that perhaps, since she hadn’t really known her parents that well, she was able to remain apart from most of the feelings of grief.