ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE

STAR BLAZERS---IT NEVER RAINS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA…

A Postscript to THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz

This Story is being completed with the Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo

PART EIGHT: HOMECOMINGS

 

I. WARGAMES

Space Battleship Argo

The Vicinity of Saturn-Titan

Friday, April 8, 2208

1400 Hours Local Time

 

 

The Argo had just passed the Saturn-Titan space station at 1400 when a number of blips appeared on Nova’s radar.

 

“Twenty-four objects approaching the ship,” she said. “Range, eight megameters; speed, twenty-five space knots and accelerating. Video panel on!”

 

The video panel came up, and Sandor looked up. “Cosmo Tiger II Deck Planes…attack formation, Captain Wildstar!”

 

“It looks like the Sun Tigers,” said Wildstar as he got up from his post and looked up at the markings of the planes. “The Arizona must be nearby,” he said. “All right, two can play this game! Domon, scramble squadrons one and three of the Black Tigers!”

 

“Yessir,” he said. Domon repeated the order, and, a few moment later, Hardy’s squadron was on the attack, followed by Brew’s squadron.

 

“All right, Tigers,” he said. “We’ve gotta get those guys, and we’ve gotta get them good! Ah don’t like the idea that they got the jump on us.”

 

“Me neither,” replied Brew after his section leaders reported in. “Man, I could use a brew right now!”

 

“We’ll save that for Ganymede after this battle,” said Hardy.

 

Soon, the Black Tigers and the Sun Tigers were clashing, firing lasers at practice intensity as they began simulated dogfights. More Sun Tigers had to break off and fly back home as “dead” planes than Black Tigers. Cory Conroy was not pleased at that from his plane, and he slammed a gloved hand on his dashboard and began a second attack upon Hardy and his fighters.

 

 

In the meantime, on the Arizona herself, her current radar officer, a young woman whom Nova had helped to train named Lieutenant Carla Thomas, sat up at her post and said, “Captain, the Argo appears to have spotted us! Range, fourteen megameters, speed, twenty-two space knots!”

 

At his post, Captain Mark Venture shut his eyes and thought, Okay, Wildstar, gonna try to show me up, huh? Not today, buddy. I’m gonna kick your butt! “Open main guns, Dash!” he said as he got up and walked towards a spot behind Navigation.“Target, the Argo! Open fire as soon as they are within our range!”

 

“Yessir, opening main guns,” said Dash from his post at Combat as the ship’s Group Leader.

 

“Range, thirteen megameters,” said Thomas.

 

“Mrs. Venture, increase our speed,” said Mark as he nodded at his wife Holly, who was at the helm as his Navigation Group Leader.

 

“Yessir!”  she said. “Increasing speed to twenty-eight space knots…Course?”

 

“Straight intercept for the Argo!”

 

“Aye, aye, sir!”

 

 

“Domon, main guns ready,” said Wildstar from his post! “Keep the Arizona right on target!”

 

“Understood,” said Domon.

 

“Message from the Arizona, voice-only!” said Homer from his post. “Wildstar, they’re demanding our surrender! What should I reply?”

 

 “No answer,” said Wildstar. “Domon, call in the Tigers!”

 

“Yessir,” said Domon. The Black Tigers began to come in amoment later.

 

When the squadrons were in, Wildstar said, “Fire when ready, Domon! Practice rounds only!”

 

“Yessir! Open fire! Practice conditions!”

 

The Argo’s guns went off….at practice intensity, where the only effect they would have would be to hit the Arizona’s sensors…but, still the energy bolts looked impressive.

 

Soon, word come to Nova and Eager by way of their sensors that the Argo had scored several hits on the Arizona.

 

A moment later, the Arizona performed a short warp, and then, at closer range, she began to fire back at the Argo. The Argo herself took “damage” as more of the

Sun Tigers roared up out of the space battleship.

 

Soon, the Argo was surrounded by fighters, who scored hit after hit, “dying” as the Argo’s practice intensity pulse lasers took them out.

 

A moment later, the Argo turned about, hard, and, “smoking: thanks to crew members putting smoke charges out on deck for fire-fighting practice, the main guns went off several times. From his post, Eager said, “We’ve hit the Arizona ten times and she’s slowin’ down!”

 

“Message from the Arizona!” said Homer.

 

A moment later, Captain Venture appeared on the Argo’s screen, shaking his head as he said, “Enemy commander…you’ve given us a good fight. We’re badly damaged and are signalling our intent to surrender. Request permission to retire from the battle?”

 

“Negative,” snapped Derek with a sly grin. “Prepare to be boarded, Venture!”

 

“Screw you, Wildstar!” said Mark with a mock snarl. Then, he laughed and said, “Good battle, Derek. I see we hit your crews’ quarters and caused about fifty estimated casualties.”

 

“Yeah?” said Derek. “We took out your engines! You’re dead in space!”

 

“Don’t rub it in,” said Mark. “Request permission to meet up with you at Titan,” said Venture.

 

“Granted,” said Derek. “Bring Mrs. Venture. I’m bringing Mrs. Wildstar. It’s been a long time, Venture.”

 

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” laughed Mark.

 

 

A while later, Derek, Mark, and Holly were laughing and drinking beer in the Officers’ Club on Titan, while Nova, cognizant of the fact that she was still nursing, ordered a large mug of 7-Up with ice and lime.

 

“We should’ve got together sooner, Derek,” said Mark as he put down his beer mug. “How are the kids looking, and why couldn’t you bring them?”

 

“They’re asleep,” Nova said as she sipped at her soda. Then, she looked seriously at Mark and said, “I”d never bring my children to a bar, Mark. I’m not my mother.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” asked Venture as he looked at his beer.

 

Nova then said, “There were times when my father went off on business. I came with him at times, but sometimes, I was left alone with my mother. This was before the planet bombings. I remember when I was about eight or nine, I think my parents’ marriage was going through a rough spot. My mother brought me to a bar with her for a couple of times.”

 

“You must’ve felt grown-up,” said Holly.

 

“Far from it,” Nova said as she looked hard at Derek. He held her hand and felt sad as she had recently told him this story on the Argo. “There were times I liked it. I got all of the soda and chips I wanted, and I got to play video games at times, watched the baseball or soccer games on the videoscreens, or my mother would let me bowl if it was the sort of social hall that had a bowling alley in it. Mom sometimes went to places like firemens’ halls or Shriners’ Clubs that had bowling lanes in them. I had to come along because she wouldn’t let me out of her sight. After all, I was her “baby”. I still am, I think, in her mind. Sometimes I had fun. But sometimes, I heard bad language, yelling, fighting, coughed on cigarette smoke, and…sometimes I saw my mother talking to strange men who weren’t my dad. There were times when my mother and Aunt Yvona would have cocktails in those places before Auntie

Yvona really went crazy. Do you think I liked that? I felt alone. Very alone.”

“So?” said Holly.

 

“I don’t want to bring my children to a bar,” Nova said as Derek looked on with gentleness and compassion. “Not until they reach their majority and maybe we can all have a beer together, and a laugh. My children will grow up some day and I know that. They are our babies now, but Derek and I know they will not be babies forever. I don’t care to leave them vegetating in a place like that, daydreaming…thinking of imaginary friends…thinking of princes who would carry them away from that,” Nova said as she smiled at Derek. Then, she opened her purse and said, “Here’s some pictures. Alex is getting really big,” Nova said as she showed off pictures of her children with pride. One made them laugh…it was one of Nova in a bathtub full of suds, playing with Ariel as the baby girl blew suds at her.

 

“Now, that’s cute!” laughed Mark. “Nova…uh…is that your boob there half-covered with suds?” he said as she blushed and Holly slapped his hand.

 

“yes,” Nova said with a blush. “Cute picture…uh… isn’t it? But Holly, when are you and Mark having kids?” Nova asked with all innocence. “You see, I think it would be cute if my son dated your daughter someday, or maybe the other way around…silly me…”

 

“We can,” said Holly. “But we’ve been having trouble..uhhh…”

 

“Relaxing?” Derek said.

 

Venture nodded; now he was blushing. Nova then patted his hand and said, “No need to worry, Mark. Derek and I had a lot of nights and weeks like that in the early part of the Second Cometine War before he finally got me pregnant. We just had to relax a bit…and stop trying so hard.”

 

Holly shook her reddish-auburn hair and said, “So, you think we’ve been trying too hard?”

 

“Maybe,” Nova said.

 

Holly whispered something in Mark’s ear, and he smiled as he patted her hand.

 

“That’s a good idea,” said Venture. He and Holly kissed, and the get-together went on.

 

 

 

II. THE LAST WARP

Space Battleship Argo

The Jupiter Region

Saturday, April 9, 2208

0500 Hours Local Time

 

 

Finally, the Argo’s mission was coming to an end, with the space trials successful to this point.

 

The Argo prepared to make her last space warp of the mission at exactlly 0500.

 

The target was pretty conventional; they would be warping back to the orbiit of Earth from Jupiter, travelling for about an hour through normal space, and then landing safely at home at 0630. Then, there would be debriefings, and then they could all go home for a few days’ worth of leave before they went on to their next assignments.

 

“Course laid in,” Nova said from her post, trim in her gold and black uniform and boots. “Captain, I read signs of a small hyperspace eddy popping up between the Jupiter Asteroid belt and the Mars orbit. I think we should just skirt it. Just my two cents’ worth.”

 

“Captain, should we recalculate our course to avoid it?” Sandor asked as he looked at his instruments. “Those periodic disturbances can be dangerous to pass through. We might get shaken up.“

 

Derek sat in thought. “Nova, how wide do you read the eddy as?”

 

“Several hundred megameters wide,” Nova said. “We could calculate a new course to bypass it, in which case Kitano would have to take us around to RPX-231, right here,” said Nova as she caused a graphic of her scans to come up on the main screen. “That big blue blob is the eddy. It’s like going through turbulence in a thunderstorm in an aircraft, and we’d be going past its edge. We wouldn’t lose much time; maybe forty-five minutes.”

 

“What would the effect be if we forged on, Sandor?” asked Wildstar.

 

“Hmmm..hard to tell,” Sandor said. “Maybe nothing. At that distance, it’s not really dangerous, and the compensator loops would protect us from any major damage to the ship or our bodies. They’ve gotten better than they were in 2199 when our first warp damaged the aft portion of the ship and we landed on Mars. We might come out of the warp tired, nauseated, faint, or maybe missing weapons or even articles of our clothing.” Nova blushed at that, thinking it would be funny if they came out of warp and she was abruptly missing a boot or her bra or something. Such things had happened before. Sandor then looked at Wildstar and said, “It’s your call, sir.”

Commodore Wildstar then said, “I want to get home. I hope all of you have clean underwear on, because maybe some of us might see it.”

 

“Is your underwear clean, sir?” asked Diane Henson.

 

Derek blushed at that and said, “Yes. It’s clean.”

 

“Let’s get to it,” said Kitano. “Begin preparations for the space warp.”

 

“Making preparations for warp,” Nova said.

 

The preparations were quick. Ten minutes later, they were ready, and the engines came up. At that, Kitano pulled back the lever. The Argo again kicked off, blasting into the Fourth Dimension in a spectacular display of colors and lights. The passage into warp itself was normal after all of the preparations were completed.

 

It was what happened in warp that was very strange.

 

As they drifted in warp space and skirted the eddy, Sandor and Eager felt the feeling first; the disconcerting feeling that their uniforms were vanishing.

 

Another transitory effect, thought Sandor as he glanced down at himself and felt himself “bouncing” around everywhere as the ship passed through subspace. I think it’ll  be normal when we re-emerge into normal space. Poor Nova. She’s told me she sometimes goes through these illusory…episodes where her things just vanish. Hope she is not going through one now.

 

Nova was going through one, as it turned out, as the Argo went past the eddy.

 

So was Diane.

 

Nova felt the feeling first; the disconcerting sensation that her outer clothing was gone. She glanced down at herself, got a good view of her own bra and panties, and then shivered as even those faded away and she seemed to be drifting totally naked in hyperspace.

 

She felt some consolation as she looked through the distorted lights at Diane Henson and saw that she was experiencing the same thing as she was also stripped nude in the warp. And so was Paul Rosstowski.

 

Welcome to the club, Nova thought with a lopsided grin as she wiggled her toes. Oh, well, I think everything…or almost everything  will be back on me when we come out of it…I hope....

 

Nova then turned her head to the Captain’s Station, and noticed that Derek was apparently sitting there in just his Captain’s hat. He then “flashed” all over the place as multiple images of him appeared, and Nova saw that he only seemed to have a fundoshi on.

 

Better close my eyes; this is too weird, Nova thought as she again shut her eyes, and counted to herself…

 

“One one-thousand…”

 

“Two one-thousand…”

 

“Three one-thousand…”

 

Nova looked through the flashing lights and colors as the distant Earth appeared in front of them in the windows as the Argo slammed out of warp.

 

“Warp completed,” said Kitano, who felt very cold. He suddenly realized he had nothing on but his underpants. “What?”

 

“Warp eddy…I think,” said Sandor as he sat there, clad himself in only his underpants. “And, no…the warp is NOT completed! The spatial sensors are giving us strange readings…we may not be fully emerged into normal space yet!”

 

“I feel sick!” Domon yelled. “This is weird!”

 

“Damnit, I’m naked!” yelled Homer from across the bridge. “Look!”

 

And he stood up and turned around. Diane licked her lips a little as she realized he was naked. From his post, Wildstar yelled, “Homer, sit down! All hands remain at your posts, and…”

 

From not far away, he heard Nova realizing her situation as she screamed, “They didn’t come back yet! NO!”

 

“Mrs. Wildstar, what are you wearing right now?” said Derek.

 

“No…NOTHING!” Nova yelled.

 

Sandor then said, “Please! I’m trying to analyse why this happened. And…when we’ll complete the warp! We’re stuck!””

 

“Stuck?” said Domon.

 

“Philadelphia Experiment stuck,” said Sandor. “That was a supposed old US Naval Test system that failed in the 1940’s. All explanations later!”

 

“Steve, I’d give you something,” Nova said. “Problem is…right now…I literally don’t have a thing to wear,” she said. “Literally.” Then, Nova put her head in her hands and laughed. It was either that, or start crying.

 

“C’mon. Let’s get some discipline here!” Derek snapped (while trying to hold his fundoshi on; it had suddenly gotten tighter as various thoughts of Nova sunning herself in her current state of dress on a beach came to his mind) “Commander Sandor, Mrs. Wildstar, any bright ideas? C’mon! You two are the smart ones up here!”

 

“That mean we’re stupid?” asked Eager.

 

Nova hit herself on the forehead suddenly. “No! Wait! What’s wrong with me? I’m acting like an idiot! Redstar! The Sea of Fire! What in the name of God is WRONG with me? That’s it!” Nova snapped. Then, heedless of her nudity, she kicked back her chair, got up, and knelt down on the deck, opening an access hatch at her post near the deck.

 

“Nova, what in blue blazes are you doing?” Derek asked. “With all respect, Lieutenant Commander, I’m married to you…I know what that looks like! Crew, tend to your stations!”

 

“Bright idea, sir! We’re in luck,” Nova said as she pulled out a bundle. “Sir, we should all have our stations stocked with the old-style emergency space suits, all of us. Right? We’re not facing a pressure loss, but we can break these out if we have them so we have something on and restore discipline and check out the rest of the ship. We did the same thing in drills and at the Voton Star when we were near those prominences on our way to Iscandar, Derek! Remember? Remember how hot it was when we were near the Sea of Fire? Also, my readings still indicate that the ship may not yet be fully materialized from the warp…it’d be good to have helmets on until I know it’s all clear! Suggest going to Condition Zebra until we’re sure of where and when we are.”

 

“Yeah….Good thinking; remind me to take you out to Riccardi’s Steakhouse for dinner when we get home.” said Commodore Wildstar as as he saw Nova dressing herself in one of the old heavy spacesuits at near warp speed as he thought Now why didn’t I think of that? “All hands, break out emergency space gear and secure for space conditions until the all clear is given! We are under Condition Zebra, repeat!” Derek said as a strange, ghostly hum began to fill the bridge. The crew screamed as they felt a bizarre bump, and then everything seemed to stabilize.

 

“What happened?” he asked.

 

“We appear to have come out of it,” said Sandor. “I’m checking my instruments,” he said as he was getting dressed. “Nova, spot me and check yours.”

 

“Right,” she said as she stood at her post pulling a boot on. Then, she locked down her helmet and said, “Secure for Condition Zebra. Taking scans now…I’ll have results in a minute…”

 

Derek then continued with, “When we’re done, check with your section chiefs to see if anyone else aboard ship is running around like this! This is plain nuts!” Derek then repeated his order over the shipboard PA system as he began to pull his gear on while Homer began to get dressed in a hurry.

 

“Aye, aye, sir,” said Domon as he began to dress.

 

Three minutes later, as Diane was zipping her spacesuit closed, the bridge doors whizzed open, and Dawn Hardy ran onto the bridge, wearing only a robe and carrying a crying Ariel. Sasha came behind her, wearing only a t-shirt and carrying Alex. Both babies were still as bare as the day they were born. Since they were still babies, that was neither a very rare or exceptional occurrence. But Nova’s eyebrows went up, because they should have been in spacesuits. Derek had ordered it.

 

“Mrs. Hardy! Mrs. Wakefield!” snapped Commodore Wildstar as he stood near the fore part of the bridge about to close up his suit to comply with Condition Zebra, which was a code for being in full space gear. “Didn’t you hear the order? And how come they aren’t dressed in something?”

 

“We did hear the order, sir,” said Sasha as she held up Alex.

 

Nova checked some sensors at her post. “Scan completed. Sandor, normality seems to have resumed. What are you getting when you scan the dimensional matrix and spatial state indicators?

 

“Nominal…same thing you have,” Sandor said. “But I was checking the computers just now. Captain Wildstar,” he said. “There is a major problem with three of the subroutines in the main computer that control the warp mechanism. I’m finding evidence the code has been corrupted…”

 

“Not good,” Derek sighed. “We have to work on this later. Nova, stand down to Condition Bravo…except for those in living areas, that is.”

 

“Yessir,” she said. She got on the PA and said, “This is the First Bridge, stand down from Condition Zebra, resume Condition Bravo except if you are in your cabin getting dressed, and dress in normal shipboard uniforms ASAP.” Then, she turned to Sasha and said, “Sasha, this would be cute if this was my bedroom, our bathroom at home, or our nursery, but, with all respect, why the hell are my children naked? And where your things, you two?” Nova said as she took her helmet off. “We could have just lost more than our clothes, you know!”

 

Dawn said, “Ma’am, we were trying to get something on these two when they began to scream for their mother…and….”

 

Nova blushed. “Yes, it would be that time of morning,” she sighed. “Captain, request permission to have Mrs. Wakefield relieve me at my post. I think I need to take the junior cadets up to our cabin for a bit for breakfast. And they also need something on. I have baby clothes up there.”

 

“Permission granted!” Derek said. “Sasha, take over at Nova’s post.”

 

“What do I do?” said Dawn as Nova got up and took Alex and Ariel from her and Sasha. Domon and Eager smiled at the two naked babies squiggling against their mother…and trying to grab her breasts through her spacesuit. Nova turned to leave, but Dawn was yelling, “Look at me! I’m fat and ugly in this! Look!” she yelled, pulling her robe open in a hormonal rush to reveal her pregnant nakedness. “I look grotesque! I’m not a teenager anymore! I’m…I’m…OLD!”

 

“Mrs. Hardy, close that robe!” snapped Derek.

 

“You wouldn’t do that if that was Nova!” she shot back.

 

“Yes I would! She knows damn well this is the bridge of a warship and not some kind of men’s club! Now obey my order!” snapped Derek.

 

“Dawn, you are not fat or old. You look pregnant,” Nova said as she juggled her babies in her arms. “It’s perfectly normal, and we all know what a pregnant woman looks like by now. For your information, I thought I looked perfectly nice when I was pregnant, and I think you look perfectly lovely, too. Unless you’re having a hot flash, and you need to have your breasts out or something for the irritation like I had to at times…could you please cover yourself up? We are under Condition Bravo, and this is not a clothes-optional or topless beach, where if it is about a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, it feels perfectly good to take it all off and go naked. I’ve done it.”

 

“Yes, please do cover up,” said Sandor. “Although I do agree with Nova; you look lovely. I’ll bet Jefferson is very proud of you, Ensign.”

 

Dawn stood there, looking shocked as Nova walked past with the babies. She was softly singing a lullaby as she left the bridge, heading up to her cabin to get out of her spacesuit and nurse them.

 

 

Derek found Nova that way ten minutes later when he tapped at the cabin hatch. After he identified himself, he came in, finding Nova back in the nude with the kids on her lap, taking her breasts. “Well, at least they look happy; you don’t,” Derek said as he kissed his son and daughter’s backs. Then, he kissed Nova on the nose. “Sorry I gave that order to go through the edge of that hyper spatial disturbance you picked up. Good thing it didn’t get any worse. You do see I tried to restore discipline ASAP. What do you want to put on when you’re finished?”

 

“I’m not annoyed now, Derek. These things…happen, and I don’t question your decision to get home early,” Nova said as she exhaled in a somewhat tired tone of voice. “Between you and me, when I was in the Captain’s Chair on the Danube, I made some decisions myself that didn’t turn out just fine, dandy, and peachy, so no blame. You’ll find my Headquarters uniform in the locker, Derek. The one with the skirt. And get me the new pair of shoes from the locker. The white ones with the heels.”

 

“These things?” Derek said as he pulled out a pair of summer pumps with open toes and slingback straps at the open heels. “Are they regulation?”

 

“Optional,” said Nova as she set Ariel on the bunk after burping her and pulled on her panties. “Someone in Command tried to make it a little more comfortable with the weird out-of-season heat and humidity we’ve been having. And these feel better than the regular closed military dress pumps when you are sweating like crazy.”

 

As Derek began to get out of his space gear and into his EDF blues, Nova said, “I’ll drop the kids off at the daycare center at EDF HQ while we debrief. We’re expected,” Nova said while burping Ariel and pulling on a bra, and then a blouse. Nova then diapered Alex and Ariel and finished dressing herself, pulling on her shoes last. “How do they look?”

 

“Cute,” he said with a smile as he pulled on an older short blue peacoat he had. “Wonder how long the debriefings will be?”

 

“Hours, probably,” said Nova as she puilled a one-piece blue baby outfit on Alex over his diaper that left his little arms and legs bare. “Would you quit squiggling, you little spider?” she teased as she made her son giggle as she tickled his tummy before closing up his oufit. “Mommy loves you! Did Mommy get rid of the hungries for you and your sister?”

 

Alex responded with “yayayayayayaya baba booboo funny mommy!”

 

“Mommy is funny,” Nova said as she let Ariel crawl back into her lap as she waited with her little pink outfit, which was similar to Alex’s, but a bit more stylish, being a miniature version of a pink summer shorts set in a style that her mother loved and wore frequently. One day, before they had left, when Nova had worn the same outfit and dressed Ariel in this (although the baby had worn high pink socks with the outfit rather than the boots Nova had worn) Derek thought they looked just adorable in their matching outfits. Nova had told him that she planned to go to Heroes’ Hill with Ariel later that week for a memorial for some of the casualties of the Rikasha Incident with them in the same outfits. Nova had also made a little set of baby-boy sized “EDF blues” (albeit with little shorts instead of bellbottoms) and a tiny peacoat for Alex to wear so he’d match his father.

 

Finally, a while later, Sandor said over the PA that they were in orbit around Earth, and were home at last at 0700 Hours. Derek then called Dawn back from Sickbay to help with the kids as they went down to the First Bridge again for landing.

 

 

SIX HOURS LATER….

 

In the Tokyo Megalopolis, back on Earth, after the Argo had been docked and the crew dismissed at 0830, Derek and Nova had attended some initial debriefings with the Commander and General Stone at Headquarters after the kids had been dropped off. Mercifully, they were finally given lunch at 1245. So, here, at Heroes’ Hill at 1300, Nova and Derek were about to have a small picnic lunch in the open in a secluded spot on a hill behind the memorial, not that far from a small beach and a small stretch of woods that made up part of the National Park around the memorial.

 

As Nova knelt in the grass, she said, “Look at these marigolds, Derek! Mind if I pick some for my office at Headquarters?”

 

“Be my guest…but I am hungry,” he said.

 

Nova smiled, and she picked some of the flowers, both the pink ones and the white ones, while holding her briefing book momentarily in her other hand. Then, while making a bouquet with a sheet of florists’ tissue paper she had hidden in her book, she said, “So what sort of parents do you think the Hardys and the Wakefields will make? I estimate that Dawn and Sasha will have those babies coming in about two or three weeks.”

 

“I know Sasha and Deke will probably make great parents,” Derek sighed as he spread out a plaid blanket Nova had put in the car. “Here…get on this…it’ll feel better against your bare legs.”

 

“The grass feels very good…but this feels even better,” she said as she slipped off her sandals and tossed them aside. “Mmm…That feels so good. Derek, I wish I could spend the rest of the weekend barefoot. I know it sounds goofy, but you don’t realize that women’s shoes are sometimes torture to wear.”

 

“Once we get home, who’s stopping you?” Derek teased. “Certainly not me. You just want to be on the beach when we get home…don’t you?”

 

Nova nodded as she got onto the blanket beside her husband and opened the picnic basket. “What did you get us?” Derek asked.

 

“Ham on rye with swiss. And Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer,” she said as she pulled out two cold glass bottles. “This is the first time I’ve ever found these anywhere in the world except Philadelphia or Allensburg. They must have some expatriate Pennsylvania Germans here in the Megalopolis!”

 

“Wasn’t one of the guys we met in the Commander’s office named Nederhaus?” said Derek.

 

“Boy, Earth is sure rebuilding,” Nova said as she looked out to the ocean. “If we had time, I’d want to run down there for a swim, but we don’t.”

 

“Did you pack swimwear?” teased Derek.

 

“I don’t think so,” Nova said. “Not that many people come here when there’s not a memorial ceremony, and who goes back here?” She checked her wristwatch and said, “Darn…and I should have brought the kids with us.”

 

“Nova?”

 

“I usually feed them around now,” Nova said. “And it would have been a nice excuse to strip down to my skin and sunbathe…I’m getting hot, I wish I knew why it is still so hot on Earth!” she said. She then opened her coat and got it off, followed by her ascot and the blue EDF tie that went with her blouse under her coat . Derek smiled, hoping he’d see more of her shortly. A few weeks back, on a very unseasonably hot day when they had had the kids with them, Nova had spent part of a similar picnic lunch like this topless in just her skirt, and part of it in nothing at all as she had gotten romantic on the sly with Derek after the kids were asleep, praying no one caught them like that in the grass. “Now, back to Dawn,” Nova said. “What kind of mother is she going to be? I feel so bad for her and Jeff.”

 

“I need not ask why,” Derek said as he opened his coat and threw it aside. “How much time do we have until that next briefing with the Defense Council?”

 

“Seventy minutes, twenty of which we’ll spend in traffic downtown in the car,” Nova said. “Derek, I don’t think Dawn has any idea of what she’ll be facing when she has those twins. None at all. And I think when she is in labor, she’ll just lose it.”

 

“They could knock her out and give her a C-Section,” Derek said as he had food in his mouth.

 

“They only do that in emergencies when there is a medical need,” Nova said. “She’ll have her twins the same way I did…on her back and screaming soprano.”

 

“Poor Dawn,” said Derek. “And I thought your vocal range was alto or mezzo-soprano.”

 

“If you recall, Derek, I went soprano in labor around the time I punched you in the nose,” she said as she tapped her husband on the nose. Then, she worked on her sandwich and then delicately wiped her mouth. Then, Nova smiled and opened her blouse as Derek’s eyes went wide.

 

“I thought you said we didn’t have time…” Derek said.

 

“Just getting more comfortable,” Nova said as she tied her blouse shut at her midriff under her breasts, leaving her well-toned stomach bare. “Not regulation, but again, we’re not at Headquarters. Take off your shirt, Derek! And your boots! You’ll feel better!”

 

Derek did so, and said, a moment later, as he wiggled his toes in the grass, “You’re right..this does feel better…I know…we can’t tell the Defense Coucil to reschedule, could we?”

 

“Why?” Nova said.

 

“That ocean is looking mighty tempting right now. And so are you.”

 

“If this wasn’t such a big meeting, I’d call the Defense Council and tell them you got sick all of a sudden. I’d figure some disease out…even though we both know what the real disease is, Derek…”

 

“Spring fever,” Derek said.

 

“And not being able to make out with you for three days,” Nova whispered as she tiptoed over to him and sat next to him.

 

She took his face in her hands and began to kiss him. The kisses went down his neck as they fell back onto the grass together, and soon, Derek was kissing the nape of Nova’s neck, and making her shiver.

 

Nova kissed Derek’s nose and was reaching for his belt buckle when they heard laughter on the wind. They stopped and sat up like startled bunny rabbits as Stephen Sandor and Diane Henson showed up.

 

Sandor had changed from his Star Force uniform to his green Headquarters uniform. Diane, on the other hand, had changed from her Star Force whites (after changing out of her spacesuit aboard ship) to a white blouse, red tie that matched her hair, and a black knee-length skirt. She also went barefoot in the grass because she was carrying her thong sandals behind her back in her hand. Derek hadn’t seen her in civilian clothing for some years now, and he thought she looked cute…but not as cute as his wife sitting near him in the grass in her short skirt and uniform blouse tied up under her breasts.

 

Diane teased them with, “Hey, guys what are you up to? Did we interrupt something, Steve?”

 

“No comment,” grumbled Derek as Nova rolled up her eyes and looked at Diane. “You look good. Cute outfit.”

 

“Cute way to wear your uniform on a picnic, Nova,” Diane answered with a smile as she looked at Nova’s bare midriff. “By the way, I never got to comment before when you were giving the kids that bath and were naked, but I remember seeing you pregnant and undressed a few months back when you were getting your ultrasound, and, ma’am, your stomach looks so good that you’d never know you were pregnant! Hell, you look good from head to toe! How’d you pull that off?”

 

“Lots of exercise, healthy eating, and even nursing the kids helped me lose the weight,” Nova said, not wanting to add that it was partially due to her sped-up metabolism enhanced by the Cosmo-DNA. “So, what are you guys up to?”

 

“The same thing you two were up to,” said Sandor. “We just had lunch at a place near Headquarters. The Council wants to see us in a while, Wildstar.”

 

“Yeah, darn,” Derek said as he grabbed his EDF shirt and pulled it back on after Nova wiped his back and chest with a towel before putting her briefing book and bouquet back in the empty picnic basket with the trash and the blanket that she grabbed up. She stood up, opened her blouse, and opened her skirt and let it down slightly to tuck it in (not thinking much of it, since all three present had seen her in far less) when a familiar electronic voice said to Nova, “Beautiful panties, Nova! Did you wear those for me?”

 

“IQ-9!” Nova barked as she tucked in her blouse and pulled her skirt back up to her waist and closed it very fast. “Steve, did he come here with you?”

 

“No, Doctor Sane,” Sandor said as Nova screeched while IQ-9’s hand shot out and tugged the hem of her skirt up while she was trying to button up her blouse. “Would you quit that, IQ?” Nova yelped. The little robot made some noises, and then spun around and caught Diane. As Nova jumped back, IQ-9 pulled up Diane’s skirt from the back. She screamed as her tiny thong panties were thus exposed to the full view of Nova, Derek, and Steve. IQ then said, “Nice legs, Diane! But my true love Nova’s are nicer!”

 

Then, he flipped around and pulled Nova’s skirt up to her waist as she screamed and kicked him with the ball of her bare foot. Nova jumped back, grabbed her sandal, and got it on with the back strap undone, giving IQ-9 a good kick with her partially-shod foot as he grabbed at her again.

 

Derek held back the desire to laugh, and he yelled, “IQ-9! Remember, Nova’s my wife and the mother of three children! QUIT IT!”

 

“She’s going to be my wife!” said IQ. “Captain, sir, I’ll go get a Robot Magistrate, a Tenth Series, to issue a divorce and then a marriage license so Nova can marry me! Her new name will be Nova Nine!”

 

“No, you won’t!” Nova snapped as she got her other shoe on and looked at IQ-9 as furiously as possible as she pulled Derek close to her. “I’m not divorcing my Derek! Besides, robot judges only have jurisdiction over robotic affairs and have no jurisdiction over humans!”

 

“I know the judge,” said IQ-9. “I helped design his AI Circuits.”

 

“I don’t care if you know Buddha personally,” snapped Nova. “I am not leaving my husband for a tinwit!”

 

As Doctor Sane came up, laughing at the bizarre argument, he said, “IQ, I’d quit it if I were you. You’ll never win!”

 

“Let me drown my sorrows in your so-called Spring Water!” said IQ-9 as he grabbed Sane’s bottle and dumped the boozy brew all over his dome. “Oh, bless the maker! I am so drunk now! HIC!” said IQ-9.

 

“What were you guys doing here?” Derek asked as he pulled on his boots and then grabbed up his peacoat.

 

“Paying our respects to the Captain,” said Doctor Sane as Nova buckled the heel straps shut on her sandals and grabbed at her jacket, getting into a momentary tug-of-war with IQ over it as he tried to grab her again. “I thought you said you were drunk!” Nova snapped.

 

“Hey, babe..” said IQ-9 in a slurred voice that sounded like Isaac Hayes. “Let’s go make some hot buttered soul together…”

 

“Let’s see how quickly you can soak your head in Spring Water, IQ!” Nova snapped as she threw her tie, jacket and scarf back on. As he burbled around as he went for Diane, Nova jumped up on a retaining wall, and said, “Diane! Tinwit at five o’clock! Watch your skirt!”

 

Diane screamed as Nova grabbed Derek’s hand, waved at the others, and ran off into the woods with him to take the long way around as she picked up her picnic basket.

 

When they got into the woods, Derek asked, “Why are you sticking so close to me, Nova?”

 

“It is my hope, sir, that you will protect me from a certain Tinwit if and when he decides to follow us down this path. Although I notice this place is even more secluded than those hills…”

 

“So, what is it you are asking for?” laughed Derek.

 

“Not to be protected from you,” Nova said. “In fact, if we didn’t have that stupid meeting to go to…I would hope that you might imitate the Big Bad Wolf and tell me what big eyes I have.”

 

“Oh, Nova, who sometimes dresses like Peppermint Patty when it is hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk,” teased Derek. “You have such big eyes…”

 

“The better to stare at you with, my dear,” said Nova as she turned around and faced him. Then, she kissed him and said, “We’d better get to that meeting. The Earth Defense Council gets pretty nasty when we’re late. And remember, you owe me dinner at that Steakhouse, Mister!”

 

“Yeah,” said Derek as they walked hand-in-hand to back to the shrine at Heroes’ Hill, and back towards their car in the far parking lot….

 

 

TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER…

 

“Commodore, you and Mrs. Wildstar are late again, “ snapped General Jackson Stone as Derek and Nova took their seats before the Earth Defense Council.

 

“We’re sorry, sir,” said Derek as he sat down between Sandor and Nova, who were at the far end of the table. “Where’s Diane?” whispered Derek as he looked at Sandor.

 

“Downstairs in the coffee shop waiting for us,” said Sandor.

 

Derek looked to his left to Nova, who had the briefing book closed before her on the table. “Sir,” said Derek as he stood, saluted, and looked at the Commander. “Permission to refer to our briefing extracts.”


“Granted,” said Commanding General Singleton as Derek nodded to Nova, who opened the booklet. A moment later, in the background, another young woman in a white HQ uniform with dark brown hair and with less in the way of decorations on than Nova came up to her and whispered, “And these are the extracts you downloaded from your ship to your office, ma’am. I printed them out as per your e-mail.”

 

“Thank you, Sergeant,” whispered Nova, smiling softly at her enlisted secretary and aide.

 

Sgt. Victoria Pearson, Nova’s aide, crisply saluted her superior officer with a hand-to-the-heart salute as she stepped back, her own ultra-hot-and-humid weather dress sandals clicking lightly against the deck as Singleton said, “Commodore Wildstar, tell us something of the nature of this new enemy. Are they an Empire, space pirates, or terrorists?”

 

“We’re not sure, sir. They just came out of nowhere after they admitted they had destroyed the ore carrier Monongahela, sir. The enemy commander, that strange General Ibn Zoltar character, said that he had demanded the surrender of that vessel and was demanding ours. He said nothing much about his nation’s motives, nor did he, of course identify their location,” said Commodore Wildstar.

 

“Any guesses on the nature of their mecha, Commander Sandor?” said a tall, African-American general with an almost bald head who sat there staring hard at the group. He was Lieutenant General Gilbert Alexander, a man Derek didn’t know all that well. He was not inclined to think that well of the new head of Intelligence since he knew that, in terms of rank seniority due to time in grade, he was General O’Malley’s superior. However, Sandor had commented to he and Nova before the meeting that Alexander had been a classmate of himself and Derek’s brother Alex at the Space Fighters’ Training Academy and that he had been a bright man who had made connections and come up through the ranks quickly. If Derek wou;d have been able to see the future, he would know for sure that Alexander would play an increasingly important role in the EDF over the next twenty years, up until the time that the bright officer would reach his top rank in 2228 and then eventually succeed an officer who would be thought to be almost irreplacable. But all of that was in the future. 

 

“Well, we know it uses Magna-Power of some type, sir,” said Sandor. “I’m inclined to think they have something to do with the Cometines. Maybe they are a rival House of theirs, or someone supported by them, sir. We also had a bad warp accident on our way home, sir. There was a problem with the main computers and I suddenly found corrupted code in the computer.”

 

“The nature of the technical problem?” said General Margolis of Naval Design.

 

“Sir, it had to do with the reality stabilizers. It took close to three minutes after we reached our destination to fully emerge into normal space, and our spatial stability was so damaged that most of us remained out of uniform after emerging from warp. A mere hyperspatial eddy should not have done that. There’s some problem with the computers.”

 

“Get it fixed and give us a report,” said Margolis.

 

“Mrs. Wildstar,” said Stone. “Are you up on your…diplomatic contacts?”

 

“I am, sir,” Nova replied.

 

“Is it my understanding that the Gamilons have relations with House Gatlantis? We need to set up some kind of interests section with the Cometines, even if we don’t have diplomatic relations yet.”

 

“They do, sir. Desslok is actually the titular head of that House now, but I have the impression from the dispatches from Gamilon that the actual power behind the Throne of that House is General Radnar. Pellias also has some contacts with the Cometines.”

 

“All right then,” said Stone. “Mrs. Wildstar, go to the Gamilon Embassy on Monday, and take that Pellian pilot friend of yours…what’s her name, Savela? Does she have contacts with Pellias? Her and your cousin?”

 

“Yessir,” said Nova. “We’ll set up an appointment for Monday. I’ll take Katrina with me, sir. I take it I can also take the Commodore?”

 

“Certainly,” huffed Stone. “Both of you report back to the Commander and I on Monday. Next order of business?”

 

 

III. A HOT, HUMID HOMECOMING

The Tokyo Megalopolis

The Wildstar Residence

April 8, 2208

1515 Hours

 

 

Later that day, Nova and Derek got back home at last and they were greeted with a blast of hot, humid air as soon as they opened the door of their house.

 

“What’s wrong with the damn central air conditioning?” Derek yelled as he held Alex.

 

“I don’t know,” said Nova as she held Ariel, who was beginning to cry. “Darn! The diagnostics panel said there was a power outage while we were in space. What is it, honey…hot?” said Nova as she kissed Ariel and took off her little sundress, leaving her in just her diaper and sandals as Nova slipped out of her uniform jacket and tie. “Derek, we have to get windows open in the living room, at least!”

 

“I’ll do it,” said Derek.

 

“And get little Alex out of those clothes! He might get heatstroke!” Nova said as she worked frantically with the little computer panel for the climate control as she held a squalling Ariel.

 

Nova was then yelling directions about getting undressed for the bath as she got the air conditioning up.

 

They all got into the bath a few minutes later. Nova laughed as baby Alex crawled right back to her breast and grabbed it. “Oh, Alexander, you’re just like your father! All you want to do is play around with that!”

 

Derek thought that was funny and he kissed both her and little Alex and then kissed Ariel.

 

Finally, as Nova nursed her baby son while Derek played with his daughter, Nova said, “Sometime this summer, we have to go back to the island where we had our honeymoon. For a week when Jonathan’s in Junior Space Cadet Corps training camp. Just you, me, Alexander, and Ariel. They’d wear their diapers…some of the time, and sunscreen. Guess what we’d wear.”

 

“Sunscreen?”

 

Nova nodded. “Maybe a hat or two, sandals on the rougher ground…and nothing else. Maybe…even…make them a new baby brother or sister when they’re napping?”

 

Derek raised his eyebrows, and they laughed and cuddled. They were in love, and they were happy. Nothing else mattered.

 

 

IV. ANOTHER BLAZING HOT DAY…ELSEWHERE

The Tokyo Megalopolis

Foxworth-Savela Manor

April 8, 2208

1320 Hours

 

 

“Foxy!” yelled Katrina Foxworth-Savela as she ran across a back courtyard at Foxworth Manor. Katrina was looking for Foxy because she wanted him…for purposes of her own. The courtyard was near their private beach, and a beautiful view of the ocean could be seen from the area. Ironically, the mansion was maybe three kilometers away from Derek and Nova’s place. In fact, one day, when up on one of the upper towers of her house with Foxy, having a picnic outside, he pointed out the spot on the shoreline that held the cove that led to the Wildstars’ smaller but well-kept home. But, Katrina didn’t have that on her mind right now.

 

She wanted to find Foxy, and fast. “Kazuo!” she yelled as she ran, with her sandals slapped hard against the brick of the courtyard. Katrina hoping the use of his real name would catch Foxy’s attention as he mucked around in only his swim briefs near an edge of one of their pools.

 

“Yes?” said Kazuo a moment later as he pushed his feet into his thongs and ran up to meet her. He kissed her as he spun her around, and then he set her on her sandaled feet. She had on a white and light purple sundress, and looked gorgeous from her bare shoulders down to her bare toes. She giggled as he played footsie with her while they kissed.

 

“That’s the first time I’ve made you laugh in a while,” said Foxy.

 

“I can laugh when I vant to; have I not the right?” said Katrina. “Let us review again the reasons they call you ‘Foxy’ before I call you again by your real name. They are?”

 

Foxy grinned at her and said, “One: I’m crazy like a fox. Two, it is a derivative of part of our last name…”

 

“The Foxworth part, but one cannot forget the Savela part,” said Katrina as they hugged.

 

“Right,” said Foxy. “Three, I’m sneaky like a fox in business. Remember, I’m an investor and lawyer. Part of the game of maximizing the money of my clients is to make those who do not want my clients to make money think I am innocuous and planning only small plans while I set them up for the fall.”

 

“In other words, you are sometimes something of the high-class con man,” said Katrina.

 

“Exactly,” said Foxy, as he reached behind his back while he waved his right hand around, grabbed a bouquet out of a vase on a nearby table with his left hand and then presented it to a shocked Katrina. “Didn’t know I was gonna do that, did you?”

 

“I did not expect it,” said Katrina as her wet, near-naked husband stood holding her and grinning at her. “Is there sneezing power in here? Is this another one of your stupid magic tricks?”

 

“Magic is misdirection and conning people,” said Kazuo. “Blackstone, Houdini, Doug Henning, David Cooperfield….The Great Migdal…” all of those stage magicians, illusionists, escape artists and weirdoes were great at getting you to look elsewhere or seem innocuous or helpless while they did their dirty work,” said Foxy as he looked around, saw no one there, and kicked off one of his flip-flops to push a beach towel over with his toes. Then, he kissed Katrina, smiled, and began to tickle her back and backside with one hand while he began to unzip her dress with the other.

 

“What…what are you doing?” said a shocked Katrina as Foxy began to slide her dress off of her. He smiled as it fell down her feet, and he kissed her, noticing that she had on a black, lacy stapless bra and black panties on beneath her dress. They were very, very brief, and came close to exposing…quite a bit.

 

Foxy helped her step out of her dress, and then he picked her up, carried her to the towel, and laid her on it, saying, “I like your bra…..”

 

“I put it on for you…but..but..I was hoping that it would be saved for the master bedroom…I…” Katrina could say no more as Foxy nuzzled her neck, and began to tease her nipples through the lacy cloth. “Kazuo…my…my Heavens…the servants might see us!”

 

“Then they won’t have to watch any porn tonight,” teased Foxy.

 

“Foxy…I…I…” she said as Kazuo kissed her neck, her back, and then had her bra coming off. She gasped as he got it off of her and began kissing her breasts passionately, bouncing them around as he played with them. Katrina tried to escape, but all she was able to do was to get her feet up. Foxy then slid down the back straps of her sandals and made her barefoot in a minute, as Katrina realized that she now had on nothing but her panties….

 

“Kazuo…no! I…no…I…yes!” she said as he began kissing her lower abdomen shamelessly….

 

HALF A HOUR LATER….

 

They were still undisturbed as Katrina came up from the water with Foxy and sat against the edge of the pool, working knots out of her hair with her hands as she drew up her legs. Her clothing had been scattered to the four winds in their lovemaking, and she had nothing to cover herself with at all. I do not like others seeing me naked, she thought. I think I am imperfect. I envy so much those women who just pull it all off and sit around in the onsen around others like that, she thought as Foxy surprised her from behind with a kiss…and a pure white terrycloth robe.

 

Kazuo kissed her and helped her into the garment. It came down to above her knees like her discarded sundress, but it felt good against her wet body.

 

“What do you wish to do today?” said Kazuo with love in his eyes as he slipped on his robe.

 

“I do not know yet…it is hot, and…I am no…thank you,” said Katrina as Foxy kissed her again and slipped a pair of yellow and brown thongs onto her bare feet. She wiggled her toes in them and said, “Now I know why Nova likes these so much. It feels nice to be almost barefoot in the hot weather.”

 

“It does,” said Foxy. “So what did you want to do again?”

 

A moment later, a servant came in with a phone on a tray. It was ringing. “Katrina,” he said respectfully with a bow. “It is good we found you. A friend of yours is on the phone.”

 

“I’ll take it.” Katrina picked up the phone, and was pleased to see Nova on the small screen. She looks hot, thought Katrina as she looked at Nova on the screen; her hair was frizzed up, and her face and what she could see of Nova’s bare shoulders were dripping with sweat.

 

“Good day,” said Katrina. Winking at her, she said, “And vat sort of catastrophe has happened at the happy Wildstar home to make you look so unfashionable?”

 

“There was a power failure while we were in space recently and we just got back. The air conditioning is running, but the house is sweltering because it was off for days,” Nova said. Then, she said, “I’m making sure this is a close-up, because I don’t have anything on…sorry I called like this, but Derek wanted me to catch you.”

 

“Oh, that sounds cute. I bet Derek likes that.” Foxy pushed her aside.

 

“What is it you are doing?” Katrina snapped.

 

“I want a better look at my former and now honorary cousin,” snapped Foxy as he leered at Nova through the screen. “Nova, step back! I want to see everything!”

 

“Foxy, you already know what I look like naked!” Nova snapped. “Remember that trip on your yacht? The onsen or bath there? Alexander peeing on me when I was nursing him?”

 

“Does he still do that?” asked Foxy as Katrina slapped him.

 

“He does,” Nova said. “Now, Katrina, why did you hit him?”

 

“He is supposed to leer at me. Not leer at you.”

 

“Hmph! He leers at anything that’s female,” said Nova as she covered her chest with her arms, tilted up her nose, and stepped back a little.

 

“So why is it that you call?” asked Katrina.

 

“Derek, my kids, my parents and my kid brother and sister are going to a water park tomorrow on the Miura Peninsula. The place is known as The Blue Water Park and Ryoukan. Are you interested in coming with us?”

 

“I’ve heard of the place,” said Foxy. “Didn’t they expand it a great deal recently?”

 

“Yes,” Nova replied. “Katrina, why are you looking at me like that?”

 

“Is it that place near Miura Kaigan? That HUGE beach?”

 

“Yes, but…”

 

“Nova, I appreciate your kindness, but, you know that I hate the beach, I hate amusement parks, I hate the stupid rides, I hate standing on line, paying for the overpriced greasy food fried on the braziers, and I hate tons of screaming children who are half-dressed and stupid clowns, stupid music, and stupid sand! I thank you, but no…”

 

Foxy looked at her. “Michelle told me she wants to go and see Jonathan again. I talked with her about it before. Katrina, you can say no, but then that will break her heart.”

 

“You can take her with you, and…”

 

“She wanted you to take her,” said Foxy. “You. She is our adopted child. Do you want to disappoint her? Especially after all she has been through?”

 

Katrina shook her head, so upset that she almost forgot where she was and Changed in front of Nova on the phone screen as she wanted to make a point to Foxy as her real self. She caught herself just in time, ground her teeth, and said, “All right then. For Michelle, I will do it! Foxy, find me a proper swimsuit to wear tomorrow. Nova, what time do we meet and where do we meet?”

 

“Our place. 11AM after we get back from church. And thank you. Michelle and Jonathan will be so happy,”  Nova said. “And Derek and I will be happy. It’s been a while…since we’ve seen you. We’ve missed you. Take care!”

 

“Bye, now!” said Foxy. Katrina smiled slightly and waved back feebly.

 

At her end, Nova hung up. Derek was in the bathroom washing up.

 

Nova lay back in her nude skin on the carpet, looking up at the ceiling and thinking, I wonder what’s wrong with Katrina? I saw a horrible look on her face for a moment like she wanted to cry…or tell Kazuo or I something? But she seemed to catch herself in a hurry. Nova paused, putting her feet up on the edge of the couch to wiggle her toes, something she did at times when she was in thought. Derek had been noticing it a lot more lately because, except for some periods on the ship, she had frequently been running around in sandals or bare feet. Nova then thought, I wish I was psychic like Sasha or Aliscea. If I was, I’d get to the bottom of this one quick. I’m worried about Katrina. What is eating her?

 

Nova bit her lip. Then, she heard Derek yelling, “Nova, I’m getting the bath ready for the kids before your mom and dad get home with Jonathan. Wanna come in? After we’re done, the house should cool down and we can all get dressed! Got your dress picked out yet for tonight at the steakhouse I am taking all of us to?”

 

“Yes! And sure!” Nova said. Another case of the vapors, Nova thought. That’s all it is. Just pizza and bull, like Derek has been putting it lately.

 

Nova did not know it, but she was far closer to being “psychic” than she thought.

 

                                                                                                                                   

V. TO THE BLUE WATER! A DAY AT THE PARK

The Tokyo Megalopolis

The Wildstar Residence

April 9, 2208

0730 Hours

 

 

“David!” Nova yelled at her little brother as he ran towards the front door, giggling. He was five, going on six. His big sister. Nova, was fresh from the bath with him, and was clothed in a white bathrobe, pink swimsuit bottoms, and a pink sash…one that she was just getting tied shut, incidentally, fighting a losing battle with the pink belt.

 

David, on the other hand, wore nothing at all. He made a face at his big sister, giggled, ran up over the couch and vaulted over a chair in his little bare feet, and then he ran for the foyer and the front door. With Nova hot on his heels, since the young woman could run like a cheetah when she was mad enough, little David Forrester flew towards the front door, pivoted past the shoe cabinet, and opened the front door and ran out into the early-morning sun naked to escape his crazy big sister, who would surely turn him in to Mom. He knew his sister could be a tattle-tale, although he was sometimes beginning to realize that a kid could get her to see things a kid’s way if you talked to her the right way. He got the sense that sometimes his Mom even put Nova in the doghouse with him and Aurora, which was a bit of a funny way to treat a young grown-up. David knew his Mom had also been crabby a lot lately. He didn’t know why.

 

“Darn it!” Nova mumbled as she stopped before the front door. Securing one of her breasts back in her robe, Nova opened the shoe closet, pulled out a pair of thongs that she kicked her wet bare feet into, and yelled out, “Derek! If you can hear me, one of the older kids is loose! Tell Mom I’ll be right back!”

 

Nova then remembered to get rid of the nail polish remover she had been using on her toes right before David ran off. Then, she ran down the driveway, her flip-flops slapping down the walk like crazy as she ran to catch David.

David was about fifty meters ahead of her, running past the large Wildstar property down the hilly street they lived on

 

“You can’t catch me, slowpoke!” he yelled at his sister.

 

“Ever run an EDF obstacle course?” Nova yelled. “I’ll get you before you know it!”

 

“That the same thing you do when you catch Derek?” he teased.

 

“NO COMMENT, KID!” Nova yelled. “And you run so slow that my Aunt Louise, who is seventy-six and lives in Allensburg, Pennsylvania, now, could catch you!”

 

“Then why can’t you catch me?”

 

“Because you cheat!” Nova yelled. She finally ran on the grass with him on someone else’s yard. Kicking off her thongs as she ran, Nova got better traction on the grass in her bare feet as she caught up with David at last and tackled him while he yelped in protest.

 

Immediately, she began to tickle him without mercy as David’s yells turned to giggles. Nova had once done the same with Derek, even though when she wrestled with her husband, Nova usually ended up being the one who was tickled (not that she happened to mind most of the time with Derek). David grabbed his sister, pulled her robe wide open with the typical lack of propriety of a five-year old, and he began to tickle her right back. Nova ended up giggling, flailing her legs, and kicking as she tried to pick up her brother under his tummy and get control over him. Even though Nova was very slender, she was in good enough physical condition to be able to bench-press nearly twice her own weight.

 

Finally, Nova lifted him up and said, “So what do you want, Davy?”

 

“I want you to put me down!” he yelled.

 

“Going to come home so we can get some clothes on and get church over with so we can go to the water park?” Nova said.

 

“Only if you dress me in that stupid suit, Nova! I hate when Mom does it! She makes me wear those yucky knee socks! And she ties my shoes too tight!”

 

“That’s the problem, huh?” Nova said. “I’ll have to see if we have a nice pair of sneakers or sandals for you in your bags at home, okay? If you do, no socks, and you get to wear sneakers or sandals to church, okay?”

 

“Yaaaay!” David said as he kissed his sister all over and tickled her belly button before Nova made herself decent again. “You’re cool, Sis!”

 

“Thanks, you too,” Nova said as she kicked her thongs back on. “Now, let’s get you home…”

 

When Nova got in, Derek was smiling and handing her a crying, diaper-clad Ariel. “Is she hungry again?” Nova said.

 

“Sounds like it,” Derek replied. Nova shrugged, looked around, and let her robe come open again as she gave Ariel a breast.

 

“Good diagnosis, sir,” Nova said. They went up to their bedroom, and while she talked to Derek, Nova switched her from one side to the other as she got out of her robe and let Derek begin getting her ready for church and the water park by helping her into a set of bikini bottoms, and then a light outfit, starting with a white skirt and then a pink sailor top, saying, “I have to go talk with my mother. David ran off because he is staging a protest.”

 

“What kind of protest?” Derek said.

 

“Over knee socks,” Nova replied as she put a fresh coat of polish on her fingernails and toenails while bouncing Ariel around in her lap from one breast to the other as she worked.

 

“You wearing any?” Derek teased.

 

“Heck no. I have this nice pair of open-toe pink pumps picked out for church downstairs,” Nova said. “Now come over here so I can help you with your tie once Ariel is done,” Nova said after she let Ariel take herself off her breast, play with it for a moment, and then Nova burped her while getting a tie for Derek. I swear, you are the biggest of my kids, Space Cowboy,” she said with real affection as she mussed up his hair while beginning to button her sundress closed.

 

“Space Cowboy?” Derek said with amusement while trying to eat a cracker.

 

“If you call me Peppermint after Peppermint Patty, whom I did not look like at 11, Jere “Brewski” Marrable notwithstanding, I’ll call you the Cowboy of Outer Space,” Nova said back teasingly while securing her husband’s tie. 

 

“I saw pictures of you at eleven, your mom showed them to me.”

 

“And?” Nova said.

 

“You did kind of look like Peppermint Patty, you little tomboy” Derek whispered. “Except that you had no freckles then, your hair was lighter, and even at eleven you were getting nice little bare legs in those shorts and flip-flops you had on. Now, if you were dressed like that, you’d look way better…”

 

Nova smiled and kissed her Derek, and then said, “Now we have to decide what to put on Ariel. Any ideas?”

 

“Something cool. And we need to sit you at the end of the pew again. Don’t you have to get up to sing that solo?”

 

“Almost forgot about that,” Nova mused. “Okay, thanks for the reminder,” she said while getting up and taking Ariel into the kids’ nursery while looking for a dress for her. Jonathan was already in there, in a suit with shorts, getting Alex dressed in the little version of the EDF blues and peacoat that Nova had made for him. He looked adorable in his little outfit.

 

Then, David ran in, wearing a black blazer, red tie, white shirt, white shorts, no socks, and sandals. He stood up on tiptoe and said, “Thanks for talking to Mom for me, sis! I’m going to be nice and cool today!”

 

Aurora ran in, barefoot, but wearing a little white dress trimmed in pink with a scoop collar that looked like a miniature of the dresses Nova sometimes liked. “I’m gonna be cooler! And I have my swimsuit on under this, nyahh nyaaah, nyaaaah nyaaahh!”

 

“I can’t run around in a stupid dress!” yelled David.

 

“No one’s asking ya to,” said Jonathan as he pretended to fistfight with his five-year old Uncle by adoption;’ since the little kid was his mother’s brother, that made David his Uncle and that made him David’s nephew.

 

 

A few minutes later, they finally ran to church….after Teri got her camera and made Nova pose in her dress and matching pink open-toed pumps on a blanket in the front yard, first by herself and then with her brother and sister and then Derek and her children. With that done, and another set of pictures ready for the Forrester and Wildstar family albums, the Forresters got into their minivan while Derek and Nova got Alex and Ariel into their car seats in Derek’s Mustang, this time out. It was red and white while Nova’s car was yellow with black markings.

 

“We need to get a bigger car, Derek,” Nova said while crawling around in the backseat getting Alex secured in his car seat. “It’s tight back here.”

 

“I was thinking the same thing, Nova. I’d like a GT model Mustang, but what do you want?”

 

Nova sighed. “Well, since I guess I have to get the so-called family sedan, I’d like one of the new models from Subaru. Maybe the Starblaze or the Neo-Impreza. The Neo-Impreza was based on a classic car from the early 21st Century; one of the last of the old piston-engine cars that ran on gasoline. The new one’s supposed to be kind of similar even though it has a fusion drive cell like everything else that is built these days.”

 

Then, a moment later, a car pulled up in the driveway. No one was expecting them, but when the car stopped, they noticed Foxy getting out (in a ridiculous powder-blue tux with dark blue pants and a walking stick). Katrina followed him, grumbling in a black sundress, sandals, and a white hat. “Damn you, Kazuo! You had to pressure me to dress weird for that water park!”

 

“What do you mean dress weird?” Nova asked. “You look normal.”

 

“Under my clothes, I have on this ridiculous swimming garment that is too tight, exposes my stomach, and makes me look like I am half-naked! I look like some barbarian under my dress, Nova! Some kind of barbarian who should be swinging axe around!”

 

“Me too,” said Nova as she casually lifted her skirt to show off her pink bikini bottom. “It’s called a bikini, Katrina, and it’s very cute. You saw me in one a bit on the yacht, if you remember.”

 

“What does the top look like?” Katrina asked.

 

“I’m not wearing it right now,” Nova said. “In case one of the kids…uh…gets hungry again. I’m putting it on when we get back, right before we leave. Why is it so hot today? Whew!” Nova said as she wiped sweat off her brow. “So what did Foxy promise you to make you wear a bikini, Katrina?”

 

“I negotiated hard and I made him promise me a second long honeymoon later this summer,” Katrina said. “Nova, you seem good at finding places to go. Could you help me with this?”

 

“Possibly,” Nova said. “We’ll talk later. We have to run now.”

 

Katrina nodded, then turned to Foxy and said, “If you want me to do anything else that is stupid, you owe me big time, big man!”

 

“We’ll see…” said Foxy.

 

 

In the church, Katrina found herself grumbling again after one of the prayers as she got off the kneeler and onto the pew. She fanned herself with the program while Father Likanski went on with, “And now, we shall begin with the offertory hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” while we take the collection. Then, we will pause before the homily for our first solo.”

 

“Which is my cue to go,” Nova said as she handed Derek Ariel and opened her purse and pulled out two bills from her subdued pink wallet. “Give them forty, Derek. The starving children of Australia need it,” she said as the hymn began. Nova kissed Derek on the cheek and slipped out of the pew.

 

“Now we begin singing,” whispered Teri as she opened her hymnal. Katrina gritted her teeth a little as Teri Forrester sang. She had a low soprano voice that set one’s teeth on edge as she sang. She was good, but she had a tendency to show off.

 

Finally, after the ushers came along with their baskets, two of the altar boys pushed a large grand piano up into the space before the altar. Someone brought a bench; Nova sat down behind the piano and tapped the mike carefully as she kicked off her shoes, put her bare feet on the sustain pedals, and began to make ready to play.

 

“Now that we have received our offering,” Father Likanski said, “Here to bless us today with a solo is Lieutenant Commander Nova Wildstar, who will play and sing “Turn Back O Man: Forswear Thy Foolish Ways..” from the Gospel Musical Godspell. Mrs. Wildstar…”

 

To some applause, Nova ran a glissando down the keyboard as she then started into a somewhat syncopated number that sounded like a 1920’s honky-tonk song as she banged out the chords and added jazzy improvization as she flashed a smile before she began to sing, “Turn Back…O man…Forswear They Foolish Ways…..Old Now is Earth and none may count her Days…”  Then, Nova paused to sing a quiet, sultry scat as she sang, “da da da daa da…Yet Thou, her Child…”

 

Derek smiled at the hymn as Foxy listened and said, “Michelle…she’s far better than I thought.”

 

“Of course she’s good,” Teri huffed. “If it wasn’t for the Gamilons, I would have made her go to Julliard School of Music in New York!”

 

“What’s that?” said Katrina.

 

“Just one of the top ten performing arts colleges in the world!” snapped Teri. “It was that, Yale, or Tokyo Imperial University, or…damn the war! Damn the Gamilons, and God Damn the Comet Empire!” Teri snapped.

 

“Mother, calm down…your blood pressure,” said Karl as Katrina gritted her teeth, thinking, They don’t mean to, but all they do is humiliate me! Them, that damn Caella, Radnar…sometimes I wish they’d all die!

 

Katrina then listened as a line came up from Nova’s song, “…age after age their tragic Empires Rise…” that hit her in her heart. She then thought, There will come a day when Earth realizes what we are planning for it; and everyone will then see how wise it will be when they become part of a greater whole…times will be better. But why did I not see that then? I should have never joined with Ekogaru. Never. I hope I never see him again nor hear from him….

 

At that, Invidia felt a deep, frightening cold that came from her ankles and wound over her whole body as the music seemed to falter and the church seemed to be filled with an eerie fog. “Foxy…please…” she said as she hugged Kazuo with an intensity that scared him.

 

“What is it?” he said.


“He’s watching us….it’s him,” she whispered in his ear. “He’s not dead…he’s here on Earth somewhere!”

 

“Where? Who?” said Foxy as Nova continued to sing and play up front, ending the song with “Forswear Thy Foolish Ways!” as she did a run down the keyboard with her elbow and then bowed to applause as she kicked her shoes back on, bowed again, and ran up the aisle to Derek, looking eeirely framed with light for a moment as the piano was pushed away.

 

The feeling of the Dark One’s presence passed as Foxy hugged Katrina and Nova reappeared, throwing back her hair. “That was a good one.”

 

“You did great,” said Derek as they kissed.

 

“That piano needs tuning,” Nova said as she sat down. They got up again a moment later to begin a prayer of contrition as the service went on…

 

Katrina was not terribly interested. She just wanted to get out of here.

 

 

Finally, they got back to the Wildstar residence. There, they changed.

 

In her bedroom, Nova stripped out of her clothes, down to the loose pink bikini bottoms she wore as underclothes. Nova giggled as Derek tickled her after he had changed into black swim briefs and thongs. “Would you stop that?” she laughed. “I’m trying to get dressed!”

 

“Go like that,” Derek said. “Your breasts look delicious this morning…”

 

“Derek, it’s a children’s water park! I don’t think so,” she said as she put on her matching string halter top in pink. Nova’s mother then popped into the room, leading Aurora by the hand. Teri Forrester wore a dark green bikini, while little Aurora had on a baby-blue bikini. “What are you putting on Alexander and Ariel?” asked Teri.

 

“Diapers and those little swimsuits we got them,” Nova said as she ran into the nursery and came back with Ariel. Ariel giggled as she was stripped out of her diaper, put into a fresh one, and clothed in her tiny pink bottoms. Derek was playing with Alex, who was already in his swimsuit.

 

             

In the meantime, Katrina had changed into her black bikini and thong sandals, but she was looking hard at Kazuo. Foxy, despite his protests that he was still skinny, had worked out a bit over the past few months and filled out a bit more; he looked…foxy…to Katrina in his blue swim briefs. “I need a cover-up!” she snapped. “This black thing should be fine,” she said as she pulled on a short slip dress that left her legs very bare. “It barely covers my legs, but….”

 

“So what?” said Foxy. “You have nice legs.”

 

“What is that bulge in your swimsuit?” asked Katrina.

 

“This?” said Foxy. “Katrina, you know what this is…it’s my…”

 

“That’s in your middle. I’m talking about the one to the left…”

 

“It’s that holy oil I carry around every day,” said Foxy in a whisper. “In case he ever comes back.”

 

Katrina shivered and cuddled up next to Foxy. “I felt him the other day. You owe me big time for going out to this park in this swimsuit,” said Katrina. “This almost non-existent bit of barbarian clothing. My Arishna, this must be too damn popular. Even Nova’s damn mother has one on!”

 

“It’s hot…it’s never been this hot on Earth before…not since the Gamilon War, where we had to go underground. So, remember…think about who caused that Cometine War the next time you complain about it,” Foxy whispered. Then, he whispered in her ear, “Remember that…Princess…”

 

Katrina nodded and let Foxy kiss her. Then, they began to make ready to leave.

 

 

FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER…

 

“Turn left at Kiiyama Road, head up to Route 278,” said the GPS unit in the dashboard of Derek Wildstar’s Mustang as it was beginning to become obvious to Nova, who sat beside him in the other front bucket seat, that they were going around the Southern outskirts of the Megalopolis in circles.

 

”Yeah, yeah,” said Derek. “Left at Kiiyama Road,” he said, making a left turn.

 

“Watch out for the exit, Derek…it’s tricky,” said Nova as she wiggled her toes in the carpet of the car. Knowing she’d be on and off rides all day, she had decided to go barefoot (the grounds of the park were mostly covered in sand and grass) as she looked back at the passengers in the smallish back seat of the car. “Are you OK back there?”

 

“Yeah,” said Jonathan, whose fifteen-year old form was crammed against the cushioned armrest.

 

“I’m OK,” said Foxy, who sat with Katrina on his lap, next to Michelle.

 

Michelle remained quiet as she stretched out in her bikini, but Katrina said, “NO! I am not all right! I am hot! I sweat! You can see my breasts in this stupid itching swimsuit and top! My toes itch and I cannot even reach them to scratch! My hair itches! I itch all over!”

 

“It’ll feel better once we hit that water,” said Nova soothingly as she looked in the rearview mirror on her side of the car, seeing her parents following them in the minivan with their youngest children and Aurora and David. Then, she looked at a sign flashing by as Derek pulled off the exit ramp onto Route 278 and she yelled, “DEREK! We’re going NORTH. We were supposed to be going SOUTH!”

 

“Nova, I hit the right damn exit!” he snapped.

 

“No you didn’t…the Southbound exit was the next one after the light! And we’ve been there twice before!”

 

“The GPS is wrong! It told me to turn there!”

 

“Darn you,” Nova huffed. “Get off at the next exit, go to the heavy water station…”

 

“Heavy water station?” said Katrina.

 

Nova quickly explained. “Cars on Earth used to run on a kind of oil called gasoline. It is now barely used anymore since we have electric fusion drives in vehicles. But those vehicles’ fusion cells need Tritium to run, so we have to fill up the heavy water tank at a station with a cracker in the pump. You pay money for it, and the marketing looks like the ancient gas stations on Earth. Derek, pull over here at the Koshiki Station…”

 

Derek growled and drive right past it. “Derek!” Nova yelled. “BAKA!” she snapped in Japanese.

 

“What is dat word?” said Katrina.

 

“She just called him an idiot,” giggled Michelle. “And that’s what he is! The great Commodore who won all those battles gets lost driving!”

 

“Derek, pull over,” Nova huffed. “”Right here at that rest area on this pike,” Nova said.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Get out, I’m driving,” she snapped. “I know how to get us there…without the GPS,” she said as she turned it off.

 

“Uh-oh,” said Derek as he stopped the car. “Use the Force, Luke. The Force is strong within you, Nova. It enables you to lift up car with your mind,” he said in a weird, nasal, voice that, to Katrina, sounded really idiotic.”

 

“Yoda, get out and take the passenger seat,” Nova sighed as she yelled a little while her bare feet hit the hot asphalt. She got into the drivers’ seat, adjusted her top (it was beginning to slip a bit) and got into her shoulder harness, signalled confidently for a left turn, and got onto the entrance ramp for 278 South with little fuss. There, she accelerated up to 110 kilometers per hour, got in the middle lane (watching to be sure her parents were behind her) and then said, “Three exits to the place. It’s on Mikasa Pike near the sea. We’ll be there soon; get ready,”she said as she turned on the radio and found a classic rock station.

 

In his seat, Derek grumbled and thought, Nova why do you always have to be right? I love ya, but I hope something happens soon to make you look like a baka!

 

  

They were at the Park in fifteen minutes. But, after parking their vehicles, they had to get on a long line to buy tickets.

 

That line was now longer than anyone of them had thought; and they had been in it for more than half an hour now.

 

They were now all hot, sweaty, and miserable in the sun. Alex was in a small stroller being pushed by his mother, and he was hot and fussing. Derek was holding Ariel, who was so fussy she was grabbing at her father’s breasts!

 

Especially Nova, who was covered in sweat and whose hair looked as frizzy and messy as a drowned rat’s hair. She barely even looked like herself as she kept on pushing her sweaty bangs off of her forehead.

 

She looked tired and horrible.

 

“Sure you’re OK?” Derek asked compassionately as they tried to block out the sound of Katrina’s complaining. Said complaining was now non-stop.

 

“I’m hot,” Nova said. “This was a bad, bad idea. Derek, I’m sorry I called you an idiot. This must be my payback for that,” she said. “Why don’t we just go home?” she sighed. “I can just strip and get into the Jacuzzi with the kids!” Nova almost sobbed.

 

“Good that you are miserable,” laughed Katrina. “I have been miserable most of the day, Mrs. Cheerful! Now we friends get to be miserable together on this barbarian planet! And Foxy owes me a second honeymoon and week of breakfast in bed now!”

 

“A week?” said Foxy.

 

“Yes. Be glad I do not make it month,” Katrina snapped. “I hate this place! Michelle, Nova, I WANT TO GO HOME! Blame Baka Derek there for getting us lost!”

 

Nova sighed, “I’’ll go ask my mom….”

 

 

Forty-five minutes later, Katrina and Foxy were on their third ride.

 

Katrina was laughing now. Part of it was embarrassment, because she had been forced to shed her cover-up (the ride, a long water slide, did not allow you to wear them).

 

“Our turn,” said Foxy as he helped Katrina step onto the slide. Derek and Nova were a little ahead of them, and Katrina could hear Nova screaming as she went down the slide holding Alex.

 

A moment later, it was their turn.

 

Foxy held Katrina as they went down the slide, yelling, screaming, and getting very, very very wet!

 

Foxy could not help noticing that the wetter they got…the more Katrina’s bikini clung to every curve.

 

Her breasts bounced around in a most enticing way as water flew into her face. Katrina put her hands over her face and screamed, “This water is blinding me! Foxy, you will be punished for this! I assure you! YOU WILL BE PUNISHED!”

 

“Oh, will I be punished now?” said Foxy.

 

“Yes! This is cruel and unusual treatment!” she screamed. She whispered in his ear, “I never even did zis to prisoners on the Comet!”

 

“You told me about the Sphere of Joy,” he whispered back.

 

“Yes, but that did not masquerade as fun ride!” Katrina whispered back into his ear. “When you vent in these, you knew that was torture chamber! I just figured it out! Amusement park is Terran euphemism for torture chamber!”

 

Foxy looked down (they had about two more levels to shoot down) and said, “I see Nova smiling! She’s screaming and she looks like she is having fun.”

 

“Weird silly woman! She probably thinks Sphere of Joy is amusement park ride like stupid bumper car boats you made me drive! What is the point of getting wet in collisions?”

 

Katrina and Foxy screamed more as they reached the end of the ride. When they did, the waterfall in the slide threw Katrina out towards a patch of wet sand as Foxy held her. She also lost some apparel as a flip-flop flew off her foot and tumbled under some of the machinery that ran the ride.. Then, she looked down at herself and saw how her bikini was clinging to her, and she screamed. “KAZUO! I must dry off! And find my shoe!”

 

Then, Katrina landed on her butt in the sand, minus her other sandal, which fell down into a pool of water, floated there, and then sank like a ship.. She dug her toes into the wet sand and began to just cry softly, because this was turning out to be a miserable day!

 

 

Miura Kaigan coastA few minutes later, a hot, inviting stretch of beach at Miura Kalgan beckoned as Katrina sat down on a towel, wincing because she had to go barefoot. She sat near Nova, who had her arms up and was sighing because it was hot, and because she was now topless. “Katrina, I’m so hot, and I feel like crap,” Nova said.

 

“Too crowded,” sighed Karl Forrester as he looked at Teri. “Mother, Nova’s right. The girl’s good a good head on her shoulders like your sister Louise. We won’t mention the other one who went batty before she died! Let’s get out of here!”

 

“Aww, Dad, I’m having fun!” said David as he sat in the sand with a bucket digging a huge hole.

 

“It’s hot and yucky here and there are bugs and I hate the place!” yelled Aurora as she hugged her big sister. “David, you are yucky! And Mom is yucky!”

 

“I love you, dear little one,” said Katrina to Aurora in a miserable voice.

 

“Why, Auntie Trina?” said Aurora.

 

“Because you are right, and some other people here are wrong! This beach is hotter than a desert planet! Rikasha would be more pleasant than dis beach!”

 

Nova sighed, got her drink, and she began to just throw ice from her cup of Pepsi all over herself!

 

“Nova, why are you doing that?” said Derek.

 

“Derek, I’m melting in this damned heat!,” she sobbed. “Mom, unless you come up with something logical in the next fifteen minutes, I am leaving here with my family and my friends and leaving you alone!”

 

“You know, you look miserable,” Derek said.

 

“Thanks,” sobbed Nova,. “When did you notice, Derek Wildstar?”

 

“I’ve noticed for a while,” he said.

 

“Good,” Nova said. “Find me a hose or a kid with a Super Soaker. I want to be wet.”

 

“There’s always the ocean,” said Foxy. “You could go swimming.”

 

“The way I feel, I’d probably drown,” Nova snapped. She threw more ice on herself and tried to keep from crying.

 

When Foxy spread out a towel with Katrina’s help, Derek lay Nova back down with a kiss for both his wife and son. Foxy kissed the top of the young mother’s head, and Katrina smiled at Nova and kissed her, tenderly helping Derek put ice and suntan lotion on both Nova’s and Alex’s bodies, even smiling as the cute baby boy wiggled his toes and kissed her hand. It made Katrina feel a little better to help Nova and Alex like that. Then, a moment later, she went over to Michelle, kissed her, and began to rub her down all over with suntan lotion. Foxy came over and helped, and as they rubbed the oil on Michelle’s back, their hands met, and Foxy gave Katrina that look that made her just melt. Katrina smiled back a little, and said to Foxy, “I may forgive you for this. But you need to do something romantic to me…”

 

“What is that?”

 

“Dinner…breakfast in bed…skinny-dipping at Foxworth Manor during a servants’ meeting!”

 

“I’ve got something better in mind, Katrina. Another ride.”

 

“Not stupid amusement park torture rides again that make you wet and eat clothes! Vat! You want to throw water and the ice from drink on me next? Think again, young fox!”

 

Nova and Derek ignored them, laughing as Derek dumped a bottle of cold spring water from Mrs. Forrester’s cooler all over Nova, Alex, and now Ariel. They were all laughing their heads off.

 

Katrina looked at Foxy and said, “Where do you want to go?”

 

“Tunnel of Love,” leered Foxy. Then, he yelled out, “Hey, Nova! Wanna go in the Tunnel of Love?”

 

“Yes, but not with you!” she yelled out, laughing as Derek grabbed her feet and was mercilessly tickling her toes. Teri got up with her camera and got a photograph of her daughter getting her feet tickled while she lay there with her eyes closed and tears of laughter running down her smiling face that would end up in an a fine book she would do that would feature modeling pictures, largely of Nova and Sasha. Nova then collected herself and yelled out, “For God’s sake, Foxy, take Katrina! Derek will take me! Mom, let the kids play in the sand, and then let’s all go to our place and we can all just have a pool party! I’ll order pizza and lots of soda! Okay?”

 

“What about swimsuit?” said Katrina.

 

“I have a nice black one-piece that would fit you,” Nova said as Derek kissed her and whispered, “I can’t wait for you to be stuck with me in the dark! Bwa hahahahahahahaha!”

 

“Calm down, monster,” Nova giggled as she slapped Derek’s wrist. “Remember, not in front of the kids! At least the ones who are old enough to know what is going on…”

 

“Are we going in the Tunnel?” said Foxy to Katrina.

 

“You owe me even bigger time, but, okay! I see what ride is about! If I do not like, you wait on me hand and foot for the next two weeks!”

 

“Yes’ ma’am…” said Foxy.

 

 

VI. THE DARK TUNNEL OF LOVE

The Miura Peninsula

Blue Water Park and Ryoukan

April 9, 2208

1413 Hours

 

 

Nova and Derek were the first ones in line heading towards the Tunnel of Love. They were let on first, getting into a little white boat that looked like a swan as they kissed and vanished into the darkness of the ride through a gate shaped to look like a big heart.

 

“So what is the purpose of the ride, anyway?” said Katrina. “Looks stupid.”

 

“The idea,” said Foxy, “Is that this is sort of like a horror movie. The boat, with you and your partner in it, goes down into this dark tunnel filled with creepy music and things and noises that are supposed to be scary. Figures of Monsters, Skeletons, Japanese Demons, Creeps, Frankenstein Monsters, Vampires, Werewolves, Melvins, Rat-Men, Ghosts, Bat-Boys, Rabid Kittens and Bunnies, Ghouls, Zombies, Tigger-Tigers and other such Living Dead things. They are supposed to make you scared. While you get scared, you hang on to me for comfort and scream.” As if on cue, they heard Nova screaming deep in the ride for a moment. “And then I hug you. Sometimes they make the boat slow down and you can kiss and neck. Sometimes it slows down more and you can pet. Sometimes it stops and you can heavy-pet or even do It in a quickie if you are brave enough. That is the point of the ride. I want to be romantic with you in some chaos! Please?”

 

“Not my place for romance,” huffed an angry and miffed Katrina. “Too young-girlie for me. Nova and Michelle would love this place with their sweeties…if Michelle has met a sweetie yet at that restaurant she is starting to work at as waitress part-time. Don’t know about myself.”

 

“Please?” said Foxy. “I’ll give you whatever you want!”

 

“All right,” said Katrina. “I do it. Just once. Then that is it!”

 

Katrina and Foxy got on line for the ride.

 

 

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER…

 

Nova was shivering against Derek in her bikini as he cuddled her, protecting her from the “danger” as a weird voice from nowhere began to recite some demented poem, that sounded like a kooky voice saying, “…There’s no eartlhly way of knowing….which direction we are going…” while weird colored lights like those of a space warp floated around with holograms of skulls and such icky things as worms crawling over people’s faces and a chicken getting its head cut off as demented laughter came from everywhere accompanied by weird music and goofy noises. Unaccountably, something like a giant clown’s horn honked as Nova cuddled up against Derek, laughing as he hugged her while they kissed.

 

A few boats away, riding in a boat that looked like a giant snail, Katrina was allowing Foxy to hug her as she wanted her eyes hidden from the bizarre sights and sounds of this strange place. He ran his hands up and down her back, kissing her like mad as she whispered, “I want out of here…this is like a bad space warp, please, please, please!”

 

“Please please you?” said Foxy in her ear…as he began to run his hands down under the waistband of her bikini pants.

 

“Foxy…I don’t know whether I want to whisper in your ear or slap you! This place is too weird!”

 

The strange laughter and the weird voice came up again as the Voice said, “…..there’s no way of knowing which way we’re rowing…or which way the river’s flowing!”

 

As Katrina cuddled against Foxy, part of her bikini top slipped, and one of her breasts came out in the dark. She began to shiver with a strange coldness mixed with excitement as Foxy observed her discomfiture and began to kiss her there. Almost against her will, Katrina began to moan. “Now I begin to understand weird ride…but do not go too far…I…”

 

“You what?” whispered Foxy as the weird voice continued with, “…..is it raining…is it snowing..is a hurricane a-blowing?”

 

In their boat, Nova was a little more forward, since Derek had stripped her entirely of her top in the dark, and she was laughing softly, mostly giggling at the howls and flashing lights as she put her leg up in the boat, pointed her bare toes like a dancer, and her breathing began to speed up as Derek popped open the knot on her bikini panties as she wiggled her toes with pleasure and whispered, “Derek, you pervert!” in a laughing voice.

 

“What you want Igor to dooo to you, lady?” Derek said in a weird Peter Lorre-type voice.

 

“Leave me alone!” Nova giggled. ”No! Yes! Stop! Help! Yes!” Nova laughed as the sound of a howling wolf came over the PA as she realized their boat had stopped somewhere in the dark as a cool fog drifted in. The “fog” from a fog machine felt good on Nova’s body, as she suddenly realized Derek had her bottoms…wide open in the dark. In the nude, but not at all physically hot (although Derek was making her hot in another sense that was altogether different), Nova decided to go along with this, praying that no one caught their stolen moment of joy down in this thing as Derek climbed on top of her in the car and she helped him get rid of his swim trunks as they hunkered down in the seat, intoxicated with each other in a naughty quickie.

 

The weird voice (which Derek figured was just the PA) got louder as it recited, “….not a speck of light is showing…so the danger must be growing….”

 

In their car, Katrina dimly glimpsed two boats ahead of them for a minute as a strange lightning-like flash of light came and she could see down into the tunnel…she saw two cars…one was a Swan, and she thought she could see Nova’s legs flying up for a moment in ecstasy as something like a blue light appeared before her, and a weird, dragging Voice that sounded different from the PA system said, “Remember ME,  Katrina, Love???”

 

“Foxy!” screamed Katrina. “It talked to me! Listen! It talked to me! Please stop! It…”

 

“Stop what?” said Foxy.

 

Then, Katrina cuddled against him, at the point of tears. “I’m cold…so cold…like death…like Hell,” she said as she suddenly realized her bikini top seemed to have become far too large for her on its own. It fell down to her waist, baring her breasts as she cowered against him in the dark. Her bare toes curled against the bottom of the boat as she felt miserable, cold, and exposed, and the feeling grew worse as she felt her bottoms beginning to slip off her. Foxy held her close, putting a hand over her suddenly half-bare bottom in the boat as he held her close and yelled, “Okay, assholes! Stop these weird tricks! She’s not turned on by this! She’s miserable…she’s…”

 

Then, they heard Nova screaming in the dark.

 

Derek had just taken her, and they lay together in the boat, writhing in their hot, unexpected joy, as something like a black fog appeared over them.

 

Then, it turned into a black cloud as strange chords played on somewhere in the Tunnel.

 

It began to grow cool, and then cold.

 

They went on for a bit, thinking it was an effect of the ride as Nova threw her head back and cried out softly in joy and love as Derek and she made music together while she cuddled passionately against him for warmth. But, Nova’s joy at being made love to by Derek turned to rank fear as something like a weird light came from the cloud…and organ chords began to sound

 

, and, as the strange Voice said, “….while the Fires of Hell are Blowing…is the Grisly Reaper Mowing? YES! The danger must be GROWING! AND GUESS WHAT? IT IS GROWING! Remember ME, Nova, dear? YOU and Katrina? You’re both trapped! And I HAVE BOTH OF YOU RIGHT WHERE THE HELL I WANT YOU AND YOUR ANIMAL MATES!”

 

Nova recognized the weird organ music as she sat up, covered from head to toe with goose bumps, and shocked Derek by waving her fist at the dark and screaming, “You BASTARD! Ekogaru, come out and show yourself! Then leave my husband and I alone!” as the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor filled the Tunnel of Love with chaos and noise.

 

Then, weird organ chords blasted as, behind them, the couple in the other boat, which looked like a turtle, who were also making love, screamed as something like a Specter came out began to strangle the poor man, beating him with a spectral fist…beating him bloody as the emergency lights came up. Nova and Derek quickly dressed in their scanty clothes and then splashed out of the boat, half-running, half-swimming to the next boat as the Spectral Form of the Dark Lord Ekogaru was close to claiming another victim.

 

Not sure why he was doing this, as if controlled by another force from elsewhere, Derek impulsively gave Nova a foot up into the boat, and she then balanced on her toes on the boat’s bow and yelled, “Ekogaru! You want me? Come and try it! Come and get me! You told me you’re scared of me! I have no idea why, but…”

 

“Nova, dear, you and I know that the time for our last confrontation is years away. No, DECADES AWAY!.MARK THIS WELL, BITCH! THE NIGHT ALISCEA OF PELLIAS DIES IS THE NIGHT I TAKE YOU TO HELL WITH HER! AND THAT IS GOING TO BE IT FOR YOUR WORLD, SINCE THEN I WILL HAVE HER MATRIX! AND WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ME WHEN I WIELD THE POWER AND I TAKE FROM YOU YOUR THRONE?”

 

“Throne?’ Nova said, utterly confused. “I plan to be a surgeon. I don’t intend to be ruler of anything. I’m so sorry, but I do not have an inflated ego like yours!”

 

“BITCH! DAMN YOU! THE NIGHT I DEAL WITH ALISCEA, IS WHEN YOU GET TOO NOSY FOR YOUR OWN GOOD AND I RAM FIRE THROUGH YOUR HEART! THEN I WILL RAM FIRE THROUGH THE CORE OF YOUR EARTH AND DESTROY IT AFTER I DISGRACE YOUR WORLD’S MEMORY! BUT GUESS WHAT? I WILL LEAVE THIS ONE ALONE, BECAUSE I WANT YOUR FRIEND! WOULDN’T YOU LOVE TO KNOW HER TRUE NAME AND FACE, LITTLE NAKED APE-DESCENDANT SLIMEBALLS?”

 

“Her name is Katrina!” snapped Derek. “Let that poor woman be!”

 

Ekogaru just laughed like mad as he leered at Derek and Nova with a skull-face unparalled in its ugliness as he floated off to the fog surrounding Foxy and Invidia’s car.

 

Katrina had been cowering against Foxy, now naked, as she heard the Dark One’s hated voice taunting Nova and Derek.

 

Suddenly, he came to her, and leered at her and Foxy. “GOOD AFTERNOON, CRAPHEADS! LIKE MY RIDE?”

 

“NO!” Katrina yelled back. “Ekogaru, you know who I am! I am through dealing with you!”


“Kazuo, leave her be and say goodbye to her now!” demanded Ekogaru. “You are nothing compared to me!”

 

“Like hell!” yelled Foxy as he clothed Katrina again in her bikini and kissed her. Then, he turned to Ekogaru and removed a small vial from his swim trunks. “Remember our wedding night, bastard?” hissed Foxy. “I always carry this now! Always! That oil that Nova and Wildstar gave me. It is holy. And you hated it. Didn’t you?”

 

“I did, but it matters nothing to you, human! LEAVE! SHE IS MINE!”

 

“No, she is MINE!” Kazuo yelled as he kissed Katrina, and then threw the vial of oil against Ekogaru’s spirit.

 

The spectre screamed, writhed, and then vanished, just as Foxy and Katrina saw Derek and Nova climbing up into the car to check them, along with some of the ride attendants.

 

“I am so frightened!” said Katrina as she cried and bawled. “But, Foxy, you made him leave! I was angry at you, but now, I LOVE YOU! TAKE US OUT OF HERE!”

 

“We will,” said Derek. “Nova, shall we let them stay at our place tonight?”

 

Nova nodded. “It will be crowded, but you’re welcome any time. Derek, there’s the police….we need to talk to them. I checked that young man in the other car,” she said.

 

“I forgot about him in the chaos…how is he?”

 

“Derek, he’s dead!” Nova said as she cowered against her husband and joined Katrina in weeping. Then, Nova motioned for Katrina to come close in the car, and Nova held Katrina as they cried together, held by Derek and by Foxy as the men also began to cry.”

 

“Nova, I thought I was about to lose you,” sobbed Derek. “He said all of those horrible things…”

 

“He said same to us,” said Katrina as she coughed as she cried. Derek then helped Foxy comfort her as he comforted both Nova and Katrina at the same time, and whispered, “Nova…it’s okay…Katrina…it’s fine…you’re safe…thank God you are both all right…”

 

Katrina could almost do nothing but sob and wail now as Foxy just picked her up like a young, helpless child. Next to them, Derek held a weeping Nova on his lap as he kissed her and tenderly made sure her bottom was fully closed as he made sure her bikini bottoms were pulled up. Then, he again helped Foxy hug Katrina, and then, in a gesture of tenderness Katrina would remember for many years, Derek kissed Nova on the lips, and then he kissed Katrina on the nose as both Foxy and Nova soothed her with gentle caresses and whispered gentle words of, “shhhhh…hush…you’re safe, Katrina….I love you,” Foxy said. “We love you,” Nova added. “Derek and I care a lot about you, dear one…”

 

“You’re so kind to me…all of you!” sobbed Katrina as she felt safe, loved, protected, and guilty, all at once…

 

But it was over.

 

The amusement park ride was over…and so was their trip to the Blue Water.

 

 

Later on, back at the Wildstars’ home, Nova, sat in her robe holding Katrina as she said, “Are you all right?”

 

“I must have drawn his presence by my anger at Foxy,” said Katrina. “It was my fault. All my fault…”

 

“No, silly, that wasn’t it at all,” Foxy said. “You had every right to be mad at me. I was about to give up the idea when you changed your mind and got on line.”

 

“And don’t say you invited Ekogaru by being angry,” Nova huffed. “I know you wouldn’t, but if someone attacks me in the street on a hot day because I have on short shorts, a halter top and flip-flops, did I dress to invite the attack? No! I dressed for the weather! The blame for the attack lies in the sick mind of the potential rapist. And don’t ask me how I’d handle it. I’ve been very close to being attacked in that way twice in my life. And both times, I was able to fight free because I’m a warrior. The only way someone is getting me is over my dead body! So, no, Katrina. You did not invite it!”

 

Someone knocked at the bathroom door. “Who is it?” Nova called out as she stood up and instinctively shielded Katrina and Foxy with her robe-clad body.

 

“Just me,” said Derek. “I have fresh towels like you asked, Nova!”

 

“Good….slip them in here…..

 

 

Later on, late that night, after everyone was in bed, Derek and Nova went to bed, shed their yukatas and finished what they had started before in the Tunnel of Love.

 

Later, after they were done, Derek held Nova and said to her, “Katrina is scared about the future. She fears him. She really fears that damn ghost.”

 

“But Foxy and Katrina’s love made them prevail over Him,” Nova said sleepily. “We have to talk to the Defense Council, Derek. And if you won’t go, I’ll go myself.”

 

“Nova…what do you think he meant when he was talking about killing Aliscea? And sending fire through your heart?”

 

“Maybe it was a prophecy,” Nova yawned as she lay against Derek as he caressed one of her breasts. “Maybe it was just his garbage-talk. He sure talks big, but can he really make a lot happen? He’s scared of me. I have no idea why, but he is. Is he just a paper tiger now?”

 

“Hell no! He killed a man today, Nova. Remember? And he could have killed you just as easily.”

 

“He won’t,” Nova said in a drowsy voice. “Not if I have anythin’ to say about it…good night…and sweet dreams.”

 

Derek kissed Nova good night and then he lay there for a long time in the night as she fell asleep skin-to-skin against him in his arms…

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED….