ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE

STAR BLAZERS—THE ENTROPY WARS

By: Frederick P. Kopetz

Note: This tale has some rather “Mature” Content (Although the Author is not terribly confident about his own maturity.)

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Ch. 12 “I REMEMBER YOU”

Thanks to “Anonymous Reader” for Story Inspiration and Brainstorming near the end of this chapter

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I. THE BAREFOOT GODDESS

New Pellias

Friday July 1, 2231

0552 Hours: Local Time

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Trelaina and Admiral Mark Venture were sitting on a beach maybe three kilometers away from the High Queen’s Palace watching the sun rise on New Pellias.

Trelaina, of course, wore nothing at all.

Mark smiled at her, admiring his new wife from her nose down to her toes, slightly gleaming and beautiful in her nudity.

My barefoot goddess, he thought with affection as Trelaina kissed him.

She had stripped Mark naked soon after they had touched land on New Pellias. Of course, given that Mark had left the ship in only a happi coat, fundoshi, and sandals, he had very little to lose.

Trelaina had laid herself down in the sand, and they had made love soon after hitting the lonely beach.

Mark sat by Trelaina, and ran his fingers down her creamy arm.

He gently asked her, “Trelaina, how does it feel, being naked all the time?”

She smiled at him and said, “I’m more in touch with the Cosmos, like this. When I came back to physical life, and tried to wear that dress, which quickly became transparent, I felt self-conscious-because it felt silly.”

“Silly?” said Mark.

Trelaina nodded. “Touch my stomach…my breast…do you feel the power and warmth coming from me?”

“I do…”

“It almost hurts me to contain this under clothing now. I am not the girl I was when you and I met thirty years ago, Mark Venture. I have grown. As you have. But I think now it was pre-ordained that both of us had to grow before we could meet again. You know…my life is still in you….sustaining you. Nova’s life is now in Derek, too, sustaining him…”

“I was amazed to see how young he looked after she put some of her…”

“Some of her life-force went into him? Yes. It did. Combined with that of the Matrix. Your friend is going to be a mighty and even more impressive warrior than before. As is Nova…”

Trelaina lay back in the sand, flipping her hair away from her breasts.

Mark immediately pounced on her, kissing her again, and kissing his way down her shoulder to her breasts.

He kissed and suckled Trelaina’s breasts, tenderly bouncing each one as he touched her.

Then, he stopped and looked deep into her blue-green eyes.

“Trelaina?” said Mark.

“Yes?”

“Are you happy?”

“Yes. And don’t stop…please….I…I want you inside me again…I liked that very much,” Trelaina said softly and gently. She had lost her virginity to Mark about forty minutes ago, but he had been very gentle about the act. It didn’t hurt her at all, and the feelings in her completely nude body had been wonderful. It felt nice to have a body again, she thought, and, indeed, she owned books and trinkets…but after that experience with the blue dress that had become transparent soon after she put it on, she had thrown it away, and she literally owned no clothing, jewelry, or shoes at all, since she was totally comfortable barefoot in her simple nakedness.

Mark got Trelaina to lie on a beach blanket they had brought…

And, as she opened her legs for him, she felt bliss as her lover, her husband, began to touch her all over again.

This is what sexual union is…she thought as Mark gently teased her womanhood…which was bare in her nudity, but only for him to touch.

Trelaina shut her eyes, shivered, and gasped happily as Mark brought her to a happy, melting climax that made her toes curl.

Then, he pulled her up onto his thighs, and, gently driving her mad, Mark took her for the second time.

Trelaina shut her eyes and shivered as he entered her again and again, shivering as he teased her, enjoyed her, and as she felt him growing harder for her and more eager with every thrust.

 “Ohh…yes…oh…yes…my darling…yes!” Trelaina whimpered.

“What am I driving you?” Mark whispered.

“Mad! Quietly mad!” said Trelaina in response.

She felt wonderful. She was shivering in the warm afternoon in a nice way, her hand pressing against the beach blanket, and her toes pressing into the sand.

Trelaina cried out as Mark brought her closer and closer to orgasm.

When her climax hit, she cried out, and began to gleam all over.

She shivered, kissed Mark and fell weeping softly into his arms as he held her.

Then, both of them took a swim together in the warm ocean and then sat back on the towel in the breeze.

Trelaina’s hair was wet, and she laughed as Mark began to comb it.

As Mark whispered endearments in her ear…

…a colorful beach ball fell at her feet.

She looked cross-eyed at it, making Mark laugh again.

“What…what is that?” she asked.

“A beach ball, Trelaina,” replied Mark.

“Where did it come from?” she said with some amusement.

Then, a suntanned, naked little boy ran up, and said to them, “Hey, Lady, can ya give me back my ball?”

“Sure,” said Trelaina.

Trelaina used her mind to float it over to him.

“Who are ya?” asked the little eight-year old.

“Trelaina of Telezart,” said Trelaina softly.

“You’re one’a Her Majesty’s friends? COOL!” said the little boy. “My name’s Jared. What’s yours, Mister?”

“Admiral Mark Venture,” said Mark who began to blush as he realized he was naked.

“Why are ya blushing?”

“Because I took my clothes off,” said Mark.

Jared laughed. “School doesn’t start until the end of the month. I haven’t worn anything since the beginnin’ of summer. I outgrew my stuff and it’s been warm, so Moma and Dadji took away my clothes until school starts up and I get new ones. I don’t miss ‘em…like the beach. Most’a my friends don’t have any clothes on, either, this time a ‘year. When Moma’s baby…my baby sister Sheeda, came along after MidTide, she took off her clothes, except for one of those funny hats every now and then, too and sometimes a pair of sandals, to feed and play with the baby, even though to chase me around the house, she goes barefoot like me. Dadji teases her because her boobies are bigger now and the stupid baby bounces ‘em all the time! Lady Trelaina, you’re so pretty! Why are you glowing?”

“I have special powers like Her Majesty, that’s why?”

“Are we gonna win the war?” said Jared.

“We sure are,” said Mark.

“I hope it takes a coupla’ weeks because I don’ wanna go back to school till Arvesta. That’s your October on Terra…they taught us that in school. See ya later!” said Jared as he ran off.

Trelaina waved good-bye to the little boy, and then she turned back to Mark.

“What do you want to do?” she said.

He kissed her.

“Nice answer,” she murmured as she kissed him back.

They began to kiss again, but then, they heard an ominous-sounding bell pealing in the distance in the city of Beltane

“What does that mean?” said Mark as he sat up, shocked at the sound of the deep, sad bell. “It sounds like…a funeral…”

“It is,” Trelaina said as she began to weep.

“Who…do know who died?” said Mark.

“Your President, our friend…the High Queen of Pellias…”

“NOVA?” Mark said, shocked.

Trelaina shut her eyes as she wept. “Ekogaru came during the night…near Procyon…as we slept after cuddling here on the beach…and…he sent Nova onwards while she defended the crew with what power she had…”

“Trelaina…unless you can do something do destroy Ekogaru…the war is lost….he’ll destroy everything,” said Mark as he held Trelaina. “He’s far worse than Zordar ever was…please…help us! Avenge our friend!”

“I will help,” Trelaina said slowly. “But, the defeat of Ekogaru is not intended for me to fight….”

“Then WHO can stop him?” yelled Mark.

“Mark…there are great Powers…both without and within this universe…both unknown and unseen…as I told Derek and Nova before,” said Trelaina. “You have been on the Other Side, even though you barely remember it now…where you have been…Nova is now…”

“And?” said Mark.

“The death of the body…is not necessarily final,” said Trelaina as she kissed Mark and held him. “Nova is not truly dead. Only her body sleeps…”

“…and?” Mark said.

“What happens next…is actually up to her….”

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II. A PASSAGE BEYOND…..

Nova Wildstar’s Point of View

Unknown Place….

Unknown Time…

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This feels familiar and unfamiliar at the same time…

My body is dead….I saw the heart stop beating through the hole in my chest…

I never knew my hair was quite that mousy before…and maybe I should have cut back on the doughnuts…too much on my hips…but they aren’t mine anymore.

My body is dead. But I’m quite well here in the dark. I certainly feel thinner. It’s easier to move.

My heart is breaking for Derek.

I watched him as they picked what used to be me off the deck. Strange, seeing my own body from the outside.

I watched my own post-mortem, which was performed by Doctor Bixley. He was a bit drunk. I think he had to be to get through it. A Pellian doctor was there watching with Miarahl and Astrena; I think they had to certify my death.

It was limited, per Derek’s directions. And he HAD to watch it, too, even though he threw up when they cut my chest open and spread the ribs.

They took out my heart and lungs, a good bit of my aorta, and some of my spinal column, which was replaced by metal, just like when I autopsied some bodies myself that had sustained damage in the upper thoracic cavity and spine. The chest was filled with stuffing, and my blood was pumped out and a Pellian embalming fluid went in. The holes in me were closed with a plastic that looked just like my skin when it sealed.

They left Derek alone to cry over my body for a while, and I left.

Now, I am here. To face…what?

I’m being drawn towards that tunnel….it’s…the passage I’ve read about in near-death experiences…

I’m heading down it…

..towards a very bright Light….

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Derek had finally left Nova’s body alone in Sickbay, which was guarded on the outside by two Space Marines and two strong Rahlken members of the Pellian Border Legion; who were formidable-looking Felinoid aliens in black fur.

Miarahl and Astrena stood alone, looking at Nova’s body.

“What do you think?” asked Astrena. “Has she made it through yet?”

“I cannot see her soul right now,” said Miarahl. “But…sparks of the Matrix energy are slowly falling on her body,” said the wizened old Rahlken psionic adept. “There is still a Power here, even though the flesh is dead and embalmed. I do not think she will decide to abandon us and our cause.”

“I also feel a linkage between her and her bond-mate,” said Astrena.

“The Bond between Derek and Nova has not separated even with the death of this body,” said Miarahl. “I think it may be safe to assume that if she had chosen to remain on the other side, that Bond would now be severed. It is not, even though…she is far away…”

“How far?” said Astrena.

“I believe she is meeting the Living Word now…” said Miarahl. “Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father…”

“So Mote it Be, Truly and True,” said Astrena.

Miarahl wept quietly as she anointed Nova’s cold forehead with her tears and said, “May you not pass Unshriven and Unremembered…may you pass into the Light, child from afar of Pellas…”

“It is your choice,” said Astrena to Nova’s cold body. “Whether to remain or take up the fight again…”

“As it was in the Beginning, is now and ever shall be…world without End, Truly and So Mote it Be,” intoned the Rahlken and the Pellian together.

“The energy does not dissipate,” said Miarahl.

“Order a waiting period of two days in state for the body before she is entombed,” said Astrena to Miarahl. “She may not need to be entombed…”

Miarahl bowed and said to the guards, “Keep a constant guard over her. She will be laid in state later tonight.”

The guards nodded as Desslok came down the passage and embraced Astrena.

She held him and asked, “Why did you delay?”

“Iscandar was under severe attack,” said Desslok. “We managed to fight off Ekogaru’s fleet, but at a severe cost. Mother Town on Iscandar is burning and the Palace was attacked. I have Commodore Alex Wildstar on my flagship….in a coma….”

“Where is Queen Starsha?” said Astrena.

Desslok shook his head as tears came.

“Desslok?” said Astrena.

“She was killed, Alex told me…before he collapsed. She knows Nova has been killed. I was told Starsha’s last words were strange. Can you interpret them before I pay my respects to Nova?” Desslok said.

“I can try,” said Astrena.

“I am told,” said Desslok, that Starsha’s last words were, “Nova, my dear kin….and….my mother?”

“That is a riddle I cannot easily solve,” said Astrena as she bowed her head. “She may have seen the sprits of both Nova and her mother…but…I will have to investigate the tablets of Iscandar…I remember a strange legend about Starsha’s origin…and her possible death…”

Desslok nodded.

He passed into the Sickbay morgue room, glanced at Doctor Bixley, and knelt in respect before Nova’s corpse, lying under a sheet, with her face and feet exposed.

He held Nova’s cold hand for a while, remembering the moment he had first met her…kneeling like a lioness over Derek’s inert body on his flagship….

Desslok did not notice the hatch opening, and he did not notice the middle-aged man kneeling beside him until he looked over and saw Derek crying softly.

Desslok did not hide his own tears as he looked at Admiral Wildstar.

Derek looked at him and said, “I somehow guessed we would meet here, my friend…”

“More than a friend now,” said Desslok. “You and I are kin. We both mourn her. And Queen Starsha…”

“My God,” said Derek. “Is she…?”

Desslok nodded. “Starsha died defending her palace, I am told. Technomugar forces are on Iscandar. Two continents on Gamilon are also occupied. Yet I was drawn here. Has she truly left us, I wonder?” Desslok said as he gestured towards Nova’s face.

“You may think I’m mad, but she told me it was not yet finished. Even after she died,” said Derek.

“You could be right,” Desslok said. “All this time…we have been beholding that which we do not understand. What is Death, but the greatest mystery? Whence do we come from, and whence do we return, but into the hands of our Maker?”

Derek nodded at that.

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Derek then returned to his quarters, where he closed and locked the hatch.

He typed an e-mail that he sent to all department heads, which read as follows:

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To: All Department Heads, and Section Chiefs, ESS Yamato

From: Admiral Derek Wildstar: Free Earth Defense Forces Commander and Skipper of the Yamato; Acting President of the Free Terran Government in Exile

Subject: Changes

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As you all know, we have been through a great deal in the past forty-eight hours.

First, as you know, Trelaina of Telezart has returned to us. For the sake of propriety, she will be marrying Admiral Mark Venture in a ceremony I have planned for the third of July, in less than forty-eight hours.

The requirement that all crew members be in uniform is waived for Trelaina, for she is to be considered a guest and Advisor to the Free Terran and Pellian realms. She is free to leave the ship whenever and however she wishes. Like one of our Rahlken members, she is also granted an exemption from wearing clothing. Due to what we could call religious vows and due to the nature of her new body, she cannot be clothed as we know it, so her nakedness is to be excused.

Secondly, Princess Invidia of the Cometine Realms is now aboard the ship, currently under guard with her spouse Mr. Foxworth-Savela for her own protection due to crew reactions toward her and two attempts on her life. We are aware she is not a popular figure; Desslok requested of me that she was to extradited to Gamilon custody at once for execution, but his spouse the Empress and Ruling Queen of Pellias Astrena caused him to put his demand into abeyance until at least the end of the war with Ekogaru, as Invidia has promised us she can secure a truce with the Cometine Realms and their cooperation in our cause against Ekogaru’s forces, who are also attacking the Cometine Realms in the Andromeda Galaxy. Trelaina informed me that President Nova Wildstar was aware of her past history and has chosen to pardon her of her past crimes, insofar as they affected Terra and the Pellian Commonwealth. I do not understand all of Nova’s reasons for this action, but out of respect for her, I have decided that her edict will remain effective, even though I am not granting Invidia the same freedom to go about the ship that I have granted to Trelaina. Princess Invidia is to travel the ship under guard and her access to certain areas such as the Engine Room, weapons rooms, and the Bridges is restricted. On New Pellias, she will be held under protective custody in a suite of rooms under guard in the High Queen’s Palace which belonged to Nova.

Thirdly, as you all know by now, President Nova Wildstar was killed last night in battle with Ekogaru. We all bow our heads in respect to her voluntary sacrifice of her life, which has saved us all.

I am serving as Acting President only at this time by consent of the Free Terran Officials and Officers I was able to contact since even as a partisan war continues on Earth, a war which has resulted in our forces retaking maybe twenty percent of the land surface of Terra, Nova had informed me before her death that due to the presence of the Pellian Matrix in her body, the possibility exists that she may be able to cheat Death, which the Pellians call “Passing Through The Fire” and return to us as a being somewhat like Trelaina, younger, reinvigorated, far psychically stronger than before, and, like Trelaina, naked, for much the same reasons. She will be publicly laid in State aboard ship later this evening swathed only in her ceremonial gown that she wore when meeting with the Blue Council. I am asking the crew to bid their respects to her. She will not be given an actual funeral until early on the third of July, after forty-eight hours have elapsed after her death.

Lastly, I have been informed that Queen Starsha of Iscandar was killed on Iscandar and her body was destroyed. There is some debate who will serve as Acting Queen in her stead under Sasha, her oldest child, can be located and taken to Iscandar to be crowned in her place. I am asking for a moment of silence today at fourteen hundred hours today in memory of Starsha.

That is all I have to share for now.

Admiral Derek Wildstar.

A tap came at the hatch after Derek sent the e-mail.

Derek sighed and took another bolt of the sake’ he had been drinking lately to dull his mind slightly regarding the horrible death of Nova that just now just twelve hours in the past. He coughed and sobbed involuntarily.

“Wildstar, are you in there?” called Sandor’s voice.

“I guess I’m here,” Derek said. “I sorta wish I wasn’t. What is it?” said Derek as he opened the hatch.

“Christ, I can smell sake’ on your breath, Wildstar,” said Stephen in a cold note of disapproval.

“Well, what would you be doin’ if Diane had died in your arms in a bloody mess, Steve?” Derek snapped. “What do you want?”

“They brought Nova out to the observation deck in a casket. Astrena asks if you want to see her before we open the ship to the crew and some of the Terran refugees on New Pellias as well as the Pellians and Gamilons?”

“Might as well,” sighed Derek as he allowed Sandor to walk him below to the starboard observation deck.

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“My God…my God, my GOD!” cried Derek as he put his hands on Nova’s crystal casket.

It was cold.

Nova lay inside, surrounded by a bed of white orchids, with her Astro-Automatic laid to one side.

Her body was covered only by her Pellian ceremonial gown of pure, gossamer white.

The Pellian morticians who had worked on her made Nova look pale with a hint of life in the nude skin beneath her thin gown.

“It almost looks like I could touch her,” Derek said in a low, soft voice.

“Their methods ensure that she can lie uncorrupt for at least two centuries on her sepulcher-bed in the Royal Tombs beneath the palace,” Miarahl said gently. “That is, if she chooses not to return to us. Do you like the Orchids? We know she loved those, and according to our prophecies, she was known as “The White Orchid.”” Miarahl said.

“Will that dress be her burial garment?” said Derek.

“No,” said Miarahl. “She left you and us a Will. She requested near the end of the forty-eight hours that she be undressed, and laid to rest in the nude.”

Then, Derek remembered his vision. He looked down at her and said, “I have an unusual request, Miarahl.”

“Yes?”

“We can see her anyway through that gown. Can’t you just benude her now and be done with it? She…she was so beautiful.”

“As you wish,” said Miarahl.

She summoned four Rahlkens, who gently opened the coffin, tenderly picked up Nova’s body, and undressed her.

She was then laid back in her bed of orchids, still but lovely in her nakedness.

Derek kissed her forehead and cold chest, where her heart had been, before the casket was again closed, and he was left to gaze at the naked body of his wife.

Derek looked Nova over from head to toe as she lay in her casket.

The scars of her violent death and autopsy had been totally hidden by the Pellian methods, and her naked chest and abdomen looked whole, as if she had not been disturbed at all after she had died.

Derek already knew that if she rose from her bed, she would not be covered again.

He wanted to prepare the crew for that, “If…If you come back to us, Nova….that is...if?”

He looked at her still face, and felt a slight twinge in their bond.

“Did you just laugh?” Derek said. “Nova, wherever you are, did you just laugh?”

Then, to his utter shock, deep in his spirit, deep in their Bond, she answered him, saying, “Of course I did, darling. I see the Light. O, the Light is so beautiful….I wish you could see this with me….He…He…”

“Who?” Derek said.

“He is Awesome,” Nova whispered. “He is one of Us, O Emanuel, yet beyond Words. And He decides whether I return or not. I desire to…but…”

“But what?” said Derek.

Nova’s Spirit said no more to him.

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In the meantime, in the Undiscovered Country, Nova blew Derek a kiss.

She was able to “see” her spiritual body now, and was able to comprehend that she was still naked.

The Light then spoke and said, Your journey, dear one, has just begun. Step onwards….

Nova then tiptoed into the Light, and then….

…it turned into a vast Country, filled with a different sort of light, and a gentle warmth, peace, and dimly heard songs.

A breeze softly caressed Nova’s naked skin like a lover. She smiled for the first time since she had died.

She saw a river at her feet a moment later.

Curious, she dipped her toes in the clear water. The water was cool, clean, invigorating, and wonderful. Nova then smiled, and sat down like a child in the river and splashed.

She laughed as the water ran over her. She splashed in the water with as little modesty or care as if she was alive again and in her pool with her children when they were toddlers. Quite a few activities with her children; bathing them, giving them her breasts to suckle when they had been small, teaching them to swim, playing with them on the beach, had been done without a thought of shame with herself and her children in the nude. Nova felt just as comfortable and safe as she got up and ran down a sandy white path that felt wonderful under her bare feet.

Nova studied green grass and strange flowers that had no name as she found herself running towards a vast City that made the Comet Empire City or the Grand Technomugar Fortress in either of its iterations seem very, very small and squalid.

Before Nova knew it, she was at the very center of this Glorious City, looking around in shock and awe at literally billions of beings surrounding the very Center of the Light. Some of them had on white clothing, some had on the clothes they had worn when they were alive, and some of them went naked like herself.

Then, she was embraced.

She jumped, and saw she was looking into the face of her father, who looked far younger, and was clad in a suit.

“You’re so sweet,” said Karl as he kissed Nova. A pang of nostalgia hit him as he realized that she had still been slightly wet and naked from her birth when he had first held Nova in his lap, and she was just as innocently newborn naked into the Eternal Kingdom without beginning or end.

“Daddy, why am I without clothing?” Nova said. “Not that I mind…as such, this breeze feels so good against me, and I took an oath of simplicity before I died…”

“You were born naked into your first life, and everyone is reborn naked into this one, until after He determines how you should be clothed…if you want to be,” said Karl. “Some spirits here never ‘wear’ anything, and that is not thought to be strange. Oh…Jonathan’s here…and Sean Conroy, old Mister Orion, and…”

“Captain Avatar!” cried Nova as she saw her old skipper. She ran to him and hugged him, as well. “How is Derek holding up? I spoke to him, but I felt his heart was breaking…Is anyone else helping him?” Nova said. “I’m sorry, I know this is the City of Heaven and all, I guess…but I’m so worried about him.” An image of Derek weeping like a child on the deck of their cabin came to her and broke her heart. “Derek, I wish I could go to you. You need me! And why couldn’t anyone save me?”

“Because the Dark One’s presence was too strong,” said Avatar. “It is nice to see you again, Nova. You now have the choice to rest in peace until the Day comes when you see all of our comrades together again here. May the Most High bless you. You did more in the fifty-three years of life you had allotted to you than many women or men have done in a hundred and thirty years of life. You were still young when you passed on. Even your dead body shows a little of that zest for life, that, however, must fade as even in the frozen depths of space as it begins to go the way of all flesh and decay at last.”

“I guess the decision was made over my head,” Nova sighed. “Trying to save Derek, my mother, and poor Invidia was the only thing that could be done…is the Pellian Matrix safe now? And who gets It?”

“That,” said a much wiser-looking Aliscea as she came forward, naked, and genuflected towards Nova, “Will be your decision, in part, My Queen.”

“Hi, Sergeant Knox,” Nova said with a grin as Knox grabbed her and kissed her one right on the lips. “And stop looking at my legs!” she said with a blush.

“I think it shouldn’t matter now,” said Knox. “We’ll all meet up with you in a bit after your Examination.”

“Examination?” Nova said.

“When someone goes on; I mean, really goes on,” Orion said as Nova’s foster son Jonathan kissed and hugged her, “either they go to a place I don’t care to talk about where they wait in agony in the fires you saw your Aunt Yvona suffering in until they are Summoned at the end to face their final disposition…as Bryan Hartcliffe, Sakamoto, and Skaldart are now waiting burning in agony, and grotesquely naked because they truly have nothing at all…”

Nova looked down at herself again. Her spirit was flawless, clean, gleaming with a soft Light, and totally beautiful in its unclad state. She remembered how sickening and withered and living-dead Yvona’s soul had looked in comparison, and she shivered down to her toes, straining, as Orion continued with, “….or, they pass to the Presence to be greeted by Him personally and Examined before their Citizenship in the City is granted to them. When you accept that Citizenship, lassie,” Orion said gently, “…there’s no tears, regrets or turnin’ back. You will be reunited with your flesh and bones someday, but, until then, once you accept your Home here, eternity immediately begins for you, and you come into your reward then….”

“You are being Summoned now, Mother,” said Jonathan as he hugged her while the sound of a distant rams’ horn or shofar rang across the forest. “Time to go,” he said with a smile. “Whatever you decide, we will be waiting for you…”

“Dad, Captain Avatar, Orion?” Nova said. “I’m…scared. Especially after I …after what we did to Gamilon. Can’t one of you come with me?”

“It’s not our place to,” said Captain Avatar. “Everyone must appear before Him someday to give an account of what they did. But we all know in Whom you placed your trust. You shall have no fear, and He will also be on your side…”

Nova took a step, and left again.

Nova trembled as she turned towards the Source of the Light. At the Very Center of the Light, there was a huge Being embodied in Light that gleamed silver, green, red, orange, white; and its Light bewildered one and never remained the same, yet, the Light radiated wisdom, glory, courage. A River flowed from the Light almost right to Nova’s bare feet, and there were voices, and claps of thunder.

Nova recognized the River as the same one she had bathed in upon arriving here. But, then Nova looked at the Heart of the Light.

And, at the Right Hand of the Very Center of the Light…there was a gleaming, burning Light that looked as bright as the Sun in its greatest strength.

Suddenly, there was a sound like a clap of thunder, and a strong Voice said from the Light, “I am the Light of the Cosmos! He or she that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life! Nova Dawn Yukiko Wildstar, I recognize thee. Come forth!”

Nova got up and took a step or two on trembling legs until she fell on her face, crying as a great fear and utter self-awareness of her deeds hit her before Him like a sword in her heart. “No! I’m not worthy to be here! I’m dirty compared to You! I’m a sinner! I’m a killer! I’ve shed more blood than I’ve healed! I’ve treated my mother horribly! I’ve been short with my children! I’ve never appreciated Derek enough…and I couldn’t save Aliscea..I…I…belong in Hell! Is that why I’m naked? Because I am about to be damned?”

“Drink this,” said a Voice from behind her.

Her eyes blurred with tears, Nova took a cool, pewter cup thrust into her hands and drank of the cool, invigorating water within.

“What is this?” Nova said meekly.

“The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him. This is the Living Water I promised you,” said the Voice, deep yet gentle, as two strong human hands fell on her shoulders.

“I know of thy deeds,” said the Voice, which now seemed gentler. “But, Behold, I have Redeemed Thee. And, your spirit is naked since you have just been born into this life, and because Thy gentle spirit is beautiful, and needs no raiment or covering…”

 Nova felt a hand laid on her shoulder. She looked at the hand and tried to look up at the Face. Nova immediately knew who He was. She couldn’t bear to gaze upon Him for long.

The name, “Yeshu’a? Are you Yeshu’a Himself?”

“Behold my Son, in Whom I am Well-Pleased,” said the great Voice from in the Light.

Then as Nova gingerly felt the scars on His Wrists, the scars of nails from long-go, He said, “Behold, I am Alpha and Omega, who, for Thy Sake, was once Dead, but I am now Alive forevermore. Fear not! You and I need not review thy deeds now; except to state that beginning at twelve, you were a wise girl when you began to build upon Me, the Cornerstone the Builders hath rejected, my daughter, my Princess, my faithful true prophetess and servant who accomplished much since you let Me guide thee. The edifice thou have built of thy life is beautiful, strong, and filled with bravery and sacrifice. Even now, they remember My Hand upon you as they sing of what you and the others have already done for Earth. But thine house, thine edifice, is not yet finished in My Sight. Thanks to thine selflessness and thine stubborn, gentle conviction that greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friends…Aliscea Rosstowski reached My Presence in safety, and bore from the abomination’s face the gift he demanded unrightfully of her.”

“The Pellian Matrix?” Nova said, shocked as a golden fire appeared in His Hand. “But I am unworthy to receive You…or your gifts.”

“Do you not know of the Food I gave Thee, ‘only say the Word…’”

“And I shall be healed?” Nova said.

“Yes. As I give of you to feed of Me by Grace, I give this back unto Thee should you desire it. It came back unto Me. I originally granted It long ago and let it grow and develop as a weapon against Ekogaru. It must return now to Earth since the Nameless Abomination who should have died long ago still seeks it and it is needed to send him to the fate that awaits him and his Master, if he indeed choose that fate. I offer thee a choice. You may come into the City, rest, and wait until such time as a new Guardian can be appointed for it and Ekogaru can die someday, maybe closer to the end of Ends, or the End of This Age, which has been deferred many times over now, but must soon come.”

“Or?” said Nova quietly. “Isn’t there an alternative? Can’t we do something now? They’re suffering so much on Earth! Derek is suffering so much! Even Trelaina is pleading for Your help! I can hear her begging you, O Lord!”

There was a long silence. Then, the Voice spoke again. “Nova, there is something you and I can do. To do so means you must defer entering into that which I have prepared long for you. You must defer this, if you choose to do so. But what is it you want to do?”

Nova bowed her head and said in a very small voice, “Rabbi, my Lord Yeshu’a, with all respect, I want two things, please. One: to kick Ekogaru’s ass, Fortress, Empire, and forbidden knowledge back down into HELL where they belong! Two: To have Derek hold me again and to be his wife! Both stupid, maybe, but…”

“Both of those paths are fraught with pain, suffering, and sacrifice,” said the Voice. “Yet, you choose a right! It will be as you ask. You shall live again. Before you leave, I confer upon you a Gift. And a Grave Trust.”

Nova began to shake as she saw the fiery orb in His Hand. “Which is…?”

“Pellias has been badly weakened. Behold, those who founded Pellias originally came long ago from your Earth. Indeed, the first Bearer of this Matrix was an Earth woman, not a Pellian, as you know. You have passed the tests and have passed through the Fire, Leader of Earth, and Pellian High Queen. So, you shall return, bearing the full Matrix at last, as My Anointed Plenipotentiary against Ekogaru, the duly anointed and Resurrected High Queen of the Pellians in truth, and feeding from the Tree of Life itself… Listen carefully, for I have, for Thee, the following orders and charges…”

Thus, Nova prostrated herself before Him, and shut her eyes as the full Fire, root and all, was finally placed in her hands and then laid it in her spiritual heart as His Hands gently touched the naked chest of her spirit while He gave her some solemn orders and charges and gave of her a fruit, sweet and alien yet homely. To her surprise, she found that bearing the All of the Fire was not a blazing pain, but a kindly, warming heat. She also comprehended she could again divide shares of it amongst others, some was to be given to Derek, and some to Invidia.

___________________________________________________

On New Pellias, in deep meditation in the woods, Miarahl was made aware of the transaction that had just transpired in Heaven before the Throne, and she was immediately filled with the desire to tell the others.

She appeared, first, in the catacombs deep, deep beneath the High Queen’s Palace….to the masons who were building Nova’s tomb by hand, with square, compass, chisel, mallet, and setting maul, and she told them, “Stop work on this Tomb! It will not be needed! Behold, I have been sent with great tidings! We again have a High Queen. She for whom this Tomb was meant shall return alive to us! It is time to wait and to rejoice!”

The stone masons, who were Rahlkens, Pellians, Terrans, and even two refugee Cometines, stopped their work and began to cheer at this news. The iron gate to Nova’s Tomb was sealed and locked as soon as the Masons got their tools out of the tomb, which was instead decorated in the night with white orchids as the wine and cakes came out.

The second person to whom Miarahl appeared was Astrena, who was weeping and in prayer alone in seclusion in her palace.

She laughed when Miarahl told her the news, and she said, “We will summon the Blue Council by midnight. Do you have any idea when her body will rise?”

“No, but it shall be before the forty-eight hours elapses; which is 0130 hours local time, Lady.”

“Her Ghost may appear to us before she lives again,” said Astrena. “Summon whom you can of the Council.”

Miarahl bowed, and left.

_____________________________________________________

On the California, on patrol in the Beta Valentis System, Sasha Wakefield ran crying in her nightdress to Deke, who was on the ship’s bridge.

“Sasha, what is it?” said Deke.

Sasha could barely get the words out. “Astrena is Summoning me to New Pellias, Deke. I….have received bad news…my Mother has been killed….Auntie Nova is also dead….I have to help the Blue Council choose an Iscandarian Regent until such time as I can return there….”

“You can’t be gone for long,” said Deke. “We need you here, Sasha…”

“I won’t be gone for long, my love…I promise you that…I love you…and I’m so….so..scared…”

“It will work out,” sighed Deke.

“How?” sobbed Sasha as she took Deke upstairs as he helped her change into her ceremonial robes.

“I do not know,” said Deke. “But I believe it will work out.

They kissed before Sasha faded from his sight, and reappeared on the Council Chamber on New Pellias with flowers in her hair and her gown on her body.

Astrena was presiding, next to a vacant chair where Nova’s ceremonial gown was draped over the back, in mourning.

Sasha was crying when she sat down, and felt her hand squeezed…unexpectedly, by Princess Invidia.

“What are you doing here?” hissed Sasha.

Invidia bore her own ceremonial robes, in black, and she said, “I was anointed and pardoned by your Aunt. I bore some of the Matrix, as well, and I was kept hidden by Trelaina….”

Trelaina herself appeared in the room and said to Sasha, “Take courage. I live again, and soon, your Aunt will join us here, first in spirit, then, soon in body.”

“But…how?” said Sasha as Promecium appeared in the room, only nodding to her with an almost contemptuous look as her daughter Maetel, who was now much older, came before them in translucent black robes of her own.

“I was summoned quickly, as well,” said Maetel. “I was in a locomotive works on Larmetal, working on a boiler and its computer ports when I was Summoned here. I only have the vaguest idea of what has happened.”

“The High Queen is dead,” said Promecium. “We need to wake up to reality, Astrena. This war has all of the hallmarks of a lost crusade. I believe we need to request a truce of the Dark Lord, and…”

“We shall debate that when everything is laid before us,” said Astrena calmly but with fire in her eyes. “I know your daughter, Princess Maetel, does not see this as you do…”

“What are we waiting for, then?” said Promecium.

“For as many of us to come who shall come,” said Astrena. “The Living, as well as the Dead….”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the meantime, in Heaven, Nova continued to receive her commission from the Most High.

The Orders were complex, and a few made her spirit blush with their frankness from the very Author of Life Himself. Nova learned of Starsha’s death on Iscandar at this time as she saw her spirit, bare like her own, and she also learned that a provision had been made for Starsha to also return to life.

“And how will that be?” Nova said.

Starsha embraced Nova and said, “This will be the third and the Final time that I will have come here and left. I am actually Starsha the Second. And Starsha the First. Each time, I experienced growth in the womb of a mother, birth, and rapid maturity. On your second wedding night with Derek, in your beautiful new naked body, will you do me the honor of being my Third Mother as I come to you and enter your new womb?”

“I will,” said Nova as she hugged Starsha’s spirit.

Then, thoughts and visions raced across Nova’s spirit like Visions of Love, Honor, Incidents Past, Wars against the Comet, and the forestalling of the Final Entropy came to her as the Gate swung closed, and Nova found herself flying fast from the City and the Shores as the sound of a choir came to her. Thoughts came to her, that made little sense…

Clad in white, or naked in simplicity….

White Orchid….

Giver of Life…

Messenger from the Presence…

Reunite with Thine Helpmeet….

Consolidate your energies in the Song of Shalinskar with thine Love…

See to it ye Shatter his Globe….

Do not disdain the help of others…

The Central Point…you will know where it lies…

Then the Voice came again, clear and grand as He said, “FEAR HIM NOT! The bond is strong! He can never harm thee again! He has already done the worst he can do to you…and you have passed through the Fire intact…”

“You are?” Nova said.

“I am the Word! Who, from the Beginning, was with God, and Was God, and is God,” said the Voice. “I am the Bread of Life, broken by the Romans with whip, nails and Spear to feed you. I am the Fruit of the Vine, Crushed so you will never thirst again, I am…the Light of the World! And, some day, ye shall see me again, and I will grant for Thee to sit down with Me in My Throne, even as I overcame, and am sit down with My Father in His Throne…be brave!”

Then, Nova saw a view that awed her. Only Trelaina saw this, and only once…she thought.

The view was that of all of the galaxies rotating below her feet in something that looked like a vast child’s globe. It was an awesome and humbling sight as Nova’s spirit, still nude, but now burning like a Seraphim straight from the Presence, burning like star fire, rushed back Home in triumph.

_______________________________________________________________________________

III. THE BLUE COUNCIL AGAIN...

New Pellias: The High Queen’s Palace

July 3, 2231

Midnight

________________________________________________________________________________

She knew it would take some time, but she knew that Ekogaru would be defeated…even though his evil would take centuries to eradicate…and it hit her as she felt the Crown Imperishable of the Matrix blazing again on her brow that she would be alive again in her new body for as long as it took for Ekogaru’s evil to be dealt with.

Suddenly, as she fell back into the Universe (dimly aware that powerful and mighty dignitaries in the Spirit Realm were genuflecting to her, waving to her, and wishing her success), she was aware of Ekogaru.

Nova had never seen the dreaded Dark Lord like this before with a new, clear vision. My God, he has one foot in the Pit already! He is utterly pathetic! Nova thought.

Then, the strangest thought of all came to Nova as she thought…. This makes no sense….but…he’s afraid of me? Why? My Lord, I almost….I…

…I feel sorry for him…Nova said as she, for the first time, wept tears of compassion and empathy for her greatest foe. I want to cry for him…because he doesn’t know…he doesn’t know who the real enemy is!....and what He told me..it makes sense now….and…I soon have to get…Home….

Nova flew on towards her destination…

…but as she did so….she felt that the Blue Council was in session…emergency session.

She uttered a prayer to ask if she might attend before she entered her body again, as a spirit.

Your prayer is granted, my Child, said the now-familiar Voice of the Savior as Nova shut her eyes….

______________________________________________________________________________________

….and her Spirit appeared, shining, naked, and beautiful in the Council Chambers of the Blue Council.

“What time is this?” she asked as her nude spirit sat down in its empty throne, draped with the ceremonial garb that had been taken off her dead body.

“Midnight, on the eve, I guess, of your Resurrection?” said Astrena.

Nova’s spirit nodded. Cheers filled the room, except for a glower from Promecium, who said, “Lady, what purpose would it serve? He’ll just kill you again, and…”

“You don’t know me very well, Promecium. But I know you,” Nova said as her eyes lit upon those of Promecium like two flames of fire. “Tell me, what parts of your body are cyborg parts now, by his foul craft? How long have you been meeting with our Enemy, and in secret?”

“You know of that, Lady!” yelled Promecium. “You sent me to His Fortress once, yourself.”

“As a spy. Not a negotiator for us,” Nova said coldly, reasserting her regal authority in this room in her Palace with her spirit flaming with a terrible Light straight from the Presence even as her body lay dead on the Yamato in its casket as a wake proceeded around it. “How long have you been accepting cyborg parts and favors from Ekogaru? How long have you been sharing his bed? I will tell you this. His manhood entered my body, once and only once in an act of rape. He will give you very cold comfort, and he can only give you pleasure by sorcery in your very mind, which you have bared lewdly to him like your body.”

“Expel her from the Council at once, Nova!” yelled Invidia as Ariel and Anya appeared in the room. Ariel screamed when she saw her Mother presiding over the proceedings as a ghost.

“Why did you let him kill you, Mother?” cried Ariel. “Daddy’s ready to kill himself because you’re dead! Or do you prefer to float around like some damn…?”

“SILENCE, BOTH OF YOU!” Nova yelled. “I can spank both of you at once, one over each knee, and don’t think you’re too old, Ariel, because I can still do it! Anya, stop laughing at your sister like some Laughing Hyena, would you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Anya as the room fell silent.

“I am allowing you to live and serve, Promecium, due to Mercy. I received Mercy at the Divine Throne, so how can I deny Mercy. Everyone can avail himself or herself of that Mercy while they yet breathe. I was informed even the Dark Lord himself can still repent, even though he must be defeated and his works smashed first.”

Shaleeda from Andromeda hissed at Invidia, and said, “I know you once hunted and killed our broods yourself, Cometine bitch!” hissed the huge Leptil Creature, her reptilian flesh bristling at having to share a room with a Cometine Princess.

“She is a living example how people can grow and change,” Trelaina said. “Which is why I harbored her…”

“And which is why I pardon her to the furthest bounds of the Pellian Commonwealth, as I do Promecium,” Nova said. “I cannot remain long…at least in this form. Let us adjourn for now, I move, and reconvene in twenty-four hours, after I have my body and my husband back? I have to leave in the meantime…I have business, elsewhere.”

“Where, Majesty?” asked Astrena.

“On my ship, and with my Mother.”

Nova then vanished from everyone’s sight as suddenly as she had appeared.

“She gets around now, doesn’t she?’ said Shaleeda.

“Aye, she does,” said Mikala of Rikasha as tears ran down her face as she smiled. “Aye, she does….”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

IV. AN ACT OF MOURNING

Space Battleship Yamato

July 3, 2231

0015 Hours, Local Time

____________________________________________________________

Alex Wildstar III had not noticed his sisters’ departure, for he, along with his brother Stephen, sat on the Yamato watching their father descending more and more into a pathetic drunken state as he sat near their mother’s coffin, mourning her.

No one knew, of course, that her Ghost had already been seen in the City around them, for the proceedings of the Blue Council were secret.

“How can we go on without her?” said Derek.

“You’re drunk, Derek,” Mark said. “Really. You should be in bed.”

“They told me if she wassssn’t comin back by 130 inna morning, she wouldn’t be comin’ back,” Derek said, sobbing.

“Let’s get nice and drunk,” said Homer as he grabbed the sake bottle from Derek. “I think Wendy’s dead, too, and we should just give up!”

“Let’s sing a song to Nova,” said Dash, who was also drunk. He laid himself over the casket and sang, “I’ll take ya hooome again, Kathleeen!”

“To you, Nova!” yelled Diesel Dalton as he walked around with a beer can. “May your toes not turn green for twenty years.”

“She’ll probably be green before that,” said Homer. “The Worms Crawl In, the Worms Crawl out…”

“What was the worst thing about her, guys?” yelled Dash.

“Her coffee!” cried Homer. “It was bad. I mean, it was soooo baaaad we’ll never see the likes of her lousy coffee in the Cosmos again!”

“She kicked my ass once,” said Diane Sandor, who was also drunk, against her husband’s wishes. “I mean….she kicked me so hard that I fell down, and…”

“She fought me to an honorable defeat,” said Desslok as he came in. “Drinking toasts to her is fine. But you are all acting like pathetic drunken disgraces.”

“Haven’t ya ever heard of an Irish Wake on Gamilon, Desslok?” said Dash. “This is so that she’ll know we all loved her?”

“If she’s watching this, she’s probably laughing at all of you,” said Desslok.

“I gotta leave, I can’t take any more of this. If she’s dead, she’s dead,” said Derek.

Desslok stood in his way. “Wildstar. You can barely walk anywhere. I would recommend you lie down on that couch.”

“I can do it, Desslok…goin’ up to my cabin, and…”

“Let him, Desslok,” said Sandor as some Rahlkens wheeled Nova’s body back to the morgue. “Maybe it is better he releases his grief in private.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Derek returned to the Captain’s Cabin on the Yamato, managing to hide his grief as he entered the compartment.

It’s 0030 Hours now…Derek thought as he threw his cap on the bunk. She won’t show up in the next hour, so….

He sat down on the bunk and drew his weapon. “Is this a dagger I see before me?” he said.

“Nova, if you’re not coming back to us, what’s the use?” he said.

He looked at the weapon and sat down on the bunk.

He undid the safety and slowly cocked his Astro-Automatic.

Then, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he opened his mouth and closed his lips around the cold muzzle of the weapon.

He tensed his fingers to fire, but, sudden, a flash of light filled the room, and with a burst of something like lightning, a force knocked the weapon from his mouth and hands to the deck.

Derek looked up, and he saw Nova looking at him as his mouth dropped open.

She was naked and flaming with fire, and she appeared very solid as she came up to him and slapped him in the face as hard as she could.

“HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO DAMNED STUPID, DEREK?” she said as she grabbed his shoulders and slapped him again.

He suddenly realized he was stone cold sober and he said, “You’re alive again?”

“Yes and no!” she barked. “My body lies down there, dead and cold, but I will be back in it shortly. The Matrix gave me the power to embody myself even when out of the body, and remember this! I gave up Heaven to win this war and be with you. Never disappoint me like that again, Derek! Because you have things to do, too…sooner than you expect.”

She grabbed him hard and kissed him, breathing some essence into him that reinvigorated him and re-ignited his spirit. He held Nova and said, “I’m sorry, but they told me you would come back in forty-eight hours after your death…I thought you had chosen to remain dead…”

“It’s forty-eight hours more or less, silly,” Nova said as she kissed him again. “Now, I’d love to hang around, maybe even have a roll in the hay with you, darling,” she said with a wink, “But, I have things to do and people to see, and, oh, yes, St. Germain has a Goraizu Fortress bearing down on the planet, so you’d better get busy,” Nova said. “We’ll meet again soon, love. Take care.”

Nova kissed him again and then vanished.

Then, a moment later, the Yamato shook with a near-miss as Derek saw plasma energy blasting all around Beltane. The ship was hit again and he fell to his knees on the deck.

Then, the klaxons went off.

Derek heard Anya’s voice yelling on the PA, “The planet is under attack! The ship is under attack! Launch First Squadron of Cosmo Tigers from the Beltane Local Airfield! Captain to the Bridge! HURRY!”

“Here we go again, Nova,” said Derek as he got up off the deck. “Off we go!” he said as he ran to his Captain’s Chair and began the descent to the Bridge.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

V. VISIONS, CHAOS, AND ST. GERMAIN’S LAUGHTER

Space Battleship Yamato

July 3, 2231

0105 Hours, Local Time

__________________________________________

Now, Teri Forrester lay in Sickbay, inert in her bed, receiving IV’s that gave her liquid and nourishment.

She remained catatonic; unable to respond to anything around her, locked firmly into her mind.

“Check her again,” said Ariel Wildstar with a sigh as her nurse’s sandals squeaked on the deck. “Oxygen Level 92, unchanged,” she said as she took a blood-gas monitor off Teri’s cold finger. “Heart rate and rhythms,” she said as she pulled down the sheet to listen to Teri’s bare, sunken chest. “…Normal….and…”

Ariel suddenly felt a hard tap on her shoulder. “Jordy, I said we weren’t supposed to plan dates when I was on duty,” she laughed, referring to her shipmate (and now her boyfriend) Jordy Venture. “Hey, would you quit that?”

“I’m not Jordy, dear,” her mother’s voice said softly but authoritatively in Ariel’s ear.

Ariel jumped back and held back a scream as she saw her mother advancing on the bed. “Mom…you..I…we…you’re….dead….checked your body in the cooler ten minutes ago…no life signs…”

“I’m not going to be dead for much longer, dear,” said Nova as she kissed Ariel and grabbed her mother’s hands. “I need her for a bit, before she dies…she’s at that point, you know…”

“Where…where are you taking her?”

“I have to teach her a lesson….and very hard one. Get ready for casualties in a moment…”

Nova grabbed Teri’s hands, and Ariel gasped as she saw her mother pulling a stunned, but fighting ghost-like form out of Teri Forrester’s body, which also had nothing on. “Damn you, Nova!” yelled a ghostly, muffled voice from the ghost-like form. “Stay dead!”

“I was told there is hope for you, but I have to be very harsh,” said Nova as she grabbed Teri’s spirit and vanished.

The ship shook under Ariel’s feet a moment later, and the klaxons went off.

________________________________________________

But, Nova and her mother were already far, far away, walking barefoot on the cold sands of what looked like a dead planet.

“What is this place?” yelled Teri as Nova pushed her along. She stopped to shiver. “I’m naked and I’m so COLD!”

The cold didn’t seem to bother Nova even her spirit’s apparent nakedness as she walked along with an almost regal aspect as the Crown Imperishable burned hard at her brow. “Unless you change your point of view, Teresa Forrester, you are about to behold your Future,” Nova said in a strong, echoing voice. “This place is Planet Abraxas, and this lake you see before you is a Gateway to the Next World.”

“Who is here?” said Teri.

A terrible form ascended from a whirlpool in the cold lake as Nova bowed slightly. “I take it you are aware I have leave to be here, Abraxas?”

“WHO’S THAT?” screamed Teri as she looked at the terrible, gleaming, shrouded form with wings.

“I am the Angel of Death, Abraxas,” boomed the terrible form. “Nova, it is my understanding, High Queen, this is yours. Saint Michael the Archangel took it from you as you died, but he and the Most High beg you to bear it again.”

“My Spirit Sword; thank you, my Lord Abraxas,” said Nova as she took the crystal rapier from the hand of the Angel of Death. She touched Teri’s spirit form on the shoulder with it, and Teri screamed as she fell to her knees and felt a horrible cold running through her.

“Do I have leave to call her?” Nova said.

Abraxas nodded as he disappeared, and a sobbing Teri could barely look as a second terrible form came from the whirlpool as her daughter cried, “Sprits of Hell, release Yvona Josiah for a moment unto my keeping!”

“We do as we are ordered, High Queen and Necromancer,” hissed fifteen deadly voices at once as Teri was forced to stand by Nova and stare her Eternally Damned sister Yvona Josiah in the face.

Yvona’s Ghost looked like the naked remains of a cancer victim; the face was almost a skull covered with sallow white skin. The naked breasts sagged like shriveled bags, and ribs showed in the chest; the skin of the horrid apparition was dead white, and blue flames still crackled over the skin.

Yvona cackled and looked at her sister. “Teri, my love? You’re dying, I know that. How long until you come down here to be with me? How long until you see that Ekogaru and the spirits behind him lie ten thousand lies?”

“Is Karl down there with you, you bitch?” said Teri in a trembling voice.

“No….he went the other way…and he’s in the hands of the Great Enemy, the Damned God, the God who damns himself, the Master of cheats. It’s all fire and vanity, Teresa!” laughed Yvona. “You’ve done a damn good job in damning yourself so you will be Damned like me! Come down here with me and let us scream at God together, my dear lovely sister!”

Then, Nova stood back as Yvona cackled and reached for Teri with open arms.

“NOOO!!!!!!” screamed Teri. “God, have Mercy on ME! I have sinned! I don’t want to end up down here with you, dead!”

“Come, my dear,” said Yvona’s Ghost as her rotten, cold breath surrounded Teri as she picked her up. “Be with me…in HELL!”

Teri’s bare toes brushed the flames as Nova vanished. “DON’T LEAVE ME HERE WITH HER, NOVA! I’M SORRY FOR HOW I MISJUDGED YOU AND GOD! HAVE MERCY ON ME, PLEASE!”

“C’mon, love, come be with us…it’s fun screamin all fuckin’ day’!” yelled Bryan Hartcliffe’s rotten soul as he grabbed at Teri from the flames.

“NOOOO!” screamed Teri.

Then, a third set of hands grabbed her, and Teri found herself staring into the shrunken face of a naked Adolf Hitler as he grabbed her and said, “Kommst du hier, mein Leibchen! Leibst mich heir, inst Tod! Fick mich hier in der Hölle kommen!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” screamed Teri as she fell and the world spun around her.

________________________________________________

“NOOO!!!!!!!!!! NOOO!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!!” screamed Teri Forrester as she came to in Sickbay. “No…no…no…no…” she sobbed as Ariel and Doctor Bixley held her arms to keep her from hurting herself.

“Where were you?” said Doctor Bixley.

“Nova’s alive! But she punished me in God’s Name! I was falling into Hell! I saw Yvona, my sister…I saw Bryan Hartcliffe…I saw Hitler! They all wanted me in Hell! With them! O, God, have mercy on me, I’m so sorry I ever aided Ekogaru, I confess, confess, confess to everything….Ekogaru and Stone were full of threats and promises…this war is my fault…please let me die…I’m so sorry!”

“Her heart rate is really up…but it’s dropping,” said Ariel as she looked at the EKG Teri was now attached to.

“None of what you saw was real,” Doctor Bixley said smoothly.

“But it WAS! IT WAS!” screamed Teri. “I’m so sorry! Kill me! I deserve to die…I deserve…”

Another nurse handed Ariel a syringe. Ariel gave Teri a shot, and she quickly quieted and fell asleep.

“Sedated,” said Bixley. “Ariel, leave her…here come casualties…we’re in combat…”

“Are we in space?” said Ariel.

Bixley nodded. “Yes! Get cracking!”

________________________________________

TO BE CONTINUED….