ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---REORGANIZATION
Being the tenth and final part of THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed with the Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
Note-Chapter contains some content intended for mature audiences. (Even though the writer is sometimes not terribly confident of his own maturity…)
ACT ONE: LIFE DURING PEACETIME
I. HOME AT LAST
Earth
EDF
Saturday, September 5, 2207
0332 Hours, Local Time (Pacific Daylight Time)
Despite the fact that it was past three in the morning, almost no one in San Diego was asleep on this crazy night as the news of the day had ground on and the few bombings that had hit in the Pacific and that had also hit Los Angeles had missed San Diego altogether, and then, it had slowly percolated in through press releases that the second war with the Comet Empire was fnally over at long last.
Aircar and groundcar horns were going off, and a local military band had been playing for the past hour at the docks as battered but victorious EDF space destroyers, cruisers, battleships and spacecraft carriers had been coming in all night, leaving one dock, Dock Five, empty.
All of the
attention that had been at Dock Six next to it when the Arizona had
cruised in and dropped anchor a few minutes beforehand had gone to Dock Five as
a frenzied media announcer said, “Now, at long last, we have word that the last
space battleship of the night is due to dock here soon. We have cheered the
arrival of the Second Star Force, now, we will greet
the heroes of the night, as the flagship of Task Force Four, the famous Argo,
finally makes port here in
The military band began to play Yamato Sleeps in the Setting Sun as a hush went over the crowd as spotlights turned on the battered but proud blue-grey form of space battleship Argo as she cruised in through the water, coming up slowly to the quay with a mighty roar as a very nervous Chris Eager worked the helm controls and finally brought the mighty vessel to a stop in the spotlights.
“The man we all want to interview tonight is Commodore Derek Wildstar,” said the announcer as, almost un-noticed, the tiny star that was Medical Boat 21107 came in for a landing on the roof of San Diego Central Hospital, just another one of the many buildings of the downtown San Diego Megalopolis that was lit up tonight as fireworks went off in the slight late-summer drizzle and glittered off the announcer’s yellow raincoat. “The man who won the victory for us…”
The Argo’s gangplank lowered, and, a moment later, pandemonium went off as a group of Space Marines escorted a tall man in a navy blue peacoat off the ship. He was followed by a sort of red-haired, muscular but pretty young woman in a navy blue peacoat of her own and white and orange form-fitting uniform.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, a ranking officer is coming off the Argo, but it is not Commodore Wildstar! It looks like Commander Stephen Sandor, Ph.D, the scientific genius and technician who has helped Earth and the First Star Force through so many battles.”
Sandor came up to a podium with Diane Henson after exchanging salutes and shaking hands with Mark and Holly Venture, who were in their peacoats and who had just gotten off the Arizona.
“Where’s Derek?” said Captain Mark Venture. “I thought the Cowboy of Outer Space was going to be here to scowl at the press.”
“He can’t
be,” said Sandor. “He got off the ship ahead of us. He’s at
“Is she all right?” said Holly Venture. “She was pregnant like forever, and I heard that she was having trouble, and…”
“It ended right after the battle…in a good way,” said Sandor with a smile. “I’ll tell the Press now.”
A number of reporters shouted questions. “Where’s Commodore Wildstar?”
“Is he injured?”
“Did he die in battle like Admiral Yamanami?”
Sandor shook his head and smiled. “Derek can’t be with us tonight, so he sent me instead. But Commodore Wildstar is just fine.”
“Is he in trouble with Command for concocting his own strategy?” someone yelled.
“Do they
know he and Desslok had a trap set for the
“How did he stop a Comet base ship in deep space this time when we couldn’t stop it at Earth six years ago?”
“Is Princess Invidia dead?”
“I believe it’s safe to say that, “ said Sandor. “The Comet ship has been turned into an artificial sun orbiting Pluto by a massive wave-gun attack from four corridors of battle at once. Their forces were destroyed and scattered, and the forces of the friendly Cometine ships who aided us and the Gamilons, Rikashans, Pellians and Iscandarians at the last minute made sure none of Invidia’s forces got loose. But there’s a good reason why Derek and Nova Wildstar can’t be here tonight.”
“Why not?” yelled someone else as silence reigned.
“The Commodore and Lieutenant Commander became parents tonight,” said Venture. “Nova had twins. Derek, you sly dog!”
The reporters laughed and applauded at that as Sandor then went on for a few more minutes explaining how the battles had gone. They had won, Invidia was finished, and the friendly Cometine General, a mysterious presence that most of Earth only learned about tonight, a man named Radnar, had taken command and had said he would subdue or hunt down any remaining Cometine forces and then sign an armistice and peace treaty with Earth. The crowd went silent at that in a stunned silence, and cheered all the more as they realized that, as far as they knew, the Comet Empire was finally history as far as they were concerned.
At last, peace had broken out.
Lots of people would get drunk, children would stay up all night playing, and lots of babies would be conceived on the beach and in cars, parks and doorways as happy, partying couples got busy celebrating, some with loved ones who had come home safely from the ships and had been given liberty.
Others would be up all night singing.
The
fireworks would go off all night, and church bells would ring at four in the
morning as churches, synagogues, mosques, Buddhist Temples, and Shinto shrines
all over
In
Earth had earned it.
A great shadow had finally passed into nothingness.
And, on board one of the ships, a Marine Major Gary Maples wondered why the Sphere that had returned mysteriously to him in the night was dark tonight, or why his Dark Lord refused to speak to him.
Ekogaru’s dejected, defeated, and dark spirit was nowhere near Earth tonight.
He wanted no part of the good karma that was sweeping the world that night.
II. HAPPINESS IS A WARM BABY (OR TWO)
Earth
Room 1425
Saturday, September 5, 2207
0400 Hours: Local Time
The city had gotten away lucky. It had been untouched by the enemy tonight.
People
had been admitted and were still being admitted from the city and from the
ships of the Earth Fleet that had made harbor in
For now, people were in triage, the emergency room, the various surgical wards, and Internal Medicine was already full.
However, the Maternity Ward, in all of the acitvity in the hospital, was a relatively peaceful place.
After
their shuttle had arrived on the landing pad on the roof, and after an exam by
a very busy Doctor Sane, Nova Wildstar and her children had been admitted to
the hospital.
The
scene was very touching as Nova was cleaned up somewhat in her litter and then
tenderly carried to her room, still naked in Derek’s arms, holding Alex and
Ariel as they awoke and nursed at her breasts.
The
scene was very sweet when they got to Nova’s room.
Alex and Ariel had little cribs in their mother’s room, where they were staying with her in the still-quiet private room for care, bathing, and a feeding.
The room was warm, homey, and very dim because Derek had turned down the lights to make it as peaceful as possible for Nova and their new family.
Nova had been washed up, but owing to the fact that both babies had been hungry, and owing to the fact that hospital gowns and other such items were now even being requisitioned from this floor’s supply area (they were very few new mothers in this ward) to clothe other patients outside of this ward, so Nova had no choice but to just remain naked for the time being. Now cleaned up, she wore nothing at all as she cuddled in bed with her children, her pad replaced by a very soft sea-sponge tampon that she found very comfortable down there…she had been given a supply of them, so frequent changes and cleanup would be easy as she lay there in the nude.
Surprisingly,
(for her) Nova did not mind her nakedness very much! She liked bonding with her
babies skin-to-skin (and she told Derek it was very
healthy for them). Derek didn’t mind because, as bare as she was, Nova looked
like an angel as she held their children and sang to them in a soft voice while
she gave them the soft comfort of her breasts and the warm nourishment of her
milk. There were enough sheets to cover her if she needed warmth, which
was something she didn’t need now because she was still somewhat hot from the
ordeal of labor.
Nova spent some time playing with her babies, getting cuddled by Derek, and even getting her bare toenails polished by Derek thanks to a kind nurse.
So, it was, when Nova’s parents finally came in, exhausted from their trip home with the kids from deep space, they found Derek playing with and bathing their grandson, and they met their daughter nursing a freshly bathed Ariel, who lay wrapped in only a towel in her mother’s almost-bare lap as she lay there in the nude with a cover over her lap.. Nova’s siblings Aurora and David had also been allowed into the hospital, and they stood there with them, ticking the new babies, kissing them, and even tickling their big sister’s toes as she sat in bed with her feet uncovered.
The scene was very peaceful and sweet, Teri thought. Then, she got her bag and said, “Derek, diapers are here. Please stand aside so I can put this curtain around Nova to help her get washed up and fixed up a bit.” Teri stroked little Ariel’s hair, and then she tenderly stroked her daughter’s hair.
Her father looked at her and said, “Nova, honey, are you cold like that? They don’t even have…a gown to put on you?”
“The hospital is full of people,” Nova said. “They told me there is a massive shortage of things….even hospital gowns. There are people in worse shape than I am…and they are actually cold and need covering. I am…still hot, and I don’t need to be dressed right now. In fact, in trying to feed them, it would get in the way…and I just feel more comfortable nursing them in the nude, right, Mom?”
Teri laughed. “It sure would...I know. I remember when I had you…I think it was close to two days before I even got dressed…you hungry little stinker,” Teri said as she kissed her eldest daughter. “Now, Derek…please give me some time with her…okay?”
“Okay,” said Derek as he helped Teri pull the curtains closed so she could help clean and bathe her apart from all other prying eyes (Derek would himself do this alone later with his wife). While Nova was hidden away with her mother, and was being washed up again, Derek and Karl worked on cleaning up Alex and putting his very first set of baby clothes on him. He was going to be quickly and simply dressed in a little blue shorty coverall over his diaper with no shirt on under it, with a little hat on for his head. Karl sent Aurora and David out of the room, telling them, “Please wait in the lounge for us. We’ll be out in a few…”
“My first grandson is a cutie,” said Karl as Derek, getting very good at being a father in a hurry, finished washing his little bare bottom. “Look at that little face, Derek!”
“Yeah,” said Derek as they closed his diaper while he bounced Ariel on his knee. Ariel was wrapped in a white blanket. “He seems as smart as a new baby can be. Look at his eyes following us.”
Karl laughed. “He doesn’t miss a trick, does he?”
Derek shook his head as Ariel met her brother with her eyes and made a little noise at him. Both men chuckled at this attempt by brother and sister to communicate (if that was what was happening) while Karl lay Alex in his little clear bassinet as soon as Derek finished dressing him. He looked a little like an old-style train engineer in his little outfit as Derek tried to put a baby bootie on him and he kept on kicking it off. Derek just gave up and let his son go barefoot. This would be a common occurrence with him.
Derek, in the meantime, readied Ariel for her first clothes. Three minutes later, Nova whipped open the curtain, cleaner, and covered somewhat with a fresh sheet. When she came out, she began to help Derek put a fresh diaper and then baby clothing on Ariel, working calmly, unperturbed by her own bare chest as she worked. In fact, Nova’s breasts were somewhat engorged and a little tender, and it just felt better for her to keep them uncovered for the moment. As they did so, she cooed at Derek and gave him a look that almost made him melt as she kicked her little legs while Teri said, “Derek I may have something for Nova to wear out in the lounge in my bag. See if you can find it so she doesn’t have to go out in the lounge wrapped in a sheet like Gandhi?”
“Okay, Mrs. Forrester. Look at Ariel! She’s adorable, Nova,” said Derek.
“So’s
Alex,” replied Nova as the young parents worked together on their daughter
after Nova tickled Alex’s little chest in his coverall and played with his toes
for a minute while he grabbed her finger with his little pudgy hand and gave
his mother a sweet look that almost made her want to cry with happiness. Nova
then helped Derek dress Ariel in a tiny pink sundress, a little hat, and little
knit pink booties. Derek smiled as he again picked up Alex while Nova held
Ariel, smiling as she looked at her daughter and then she began to tenderly
offer her breast so Ariel could nurse. Then, he gently put a pair of fleecy
thongs on Nova’s bare feet…(like spa flip-flops), and he rooted around in his
mother-in-law’s bag and found a short white robe, trimmed in pink, and then
tenderly pulled off the sheet as Nova sat there naked with her legs crossed.
A moment later, a knock at the closed door shocked Derek and Nova out of their reverie right when Derek was about to help Nova put on the first clothing she had worn after the birth as Nova realized that, with the labor and everything else, it had now been a full 24 hours since she had even worn anything at all. .
“Who is that?” said Teri. “Nova, if that’s your cousin Jane’s crazy ex-husband Foxy,…he’s going to get it…disturbing us while you’re getting them ready…”
Derek shrugged as he opened the door.
“SURPRISE!” yelled Domon and Kitano (who were both in bandages), along with Eager, Homer and Wendy, IQ-9, Mark Venture, Sandor, and Diane Henson as they gathered at the door, holding balloons and bubblegum cigars in pink and blue.
Derek looked aghast. Nova blushed as she realized that most of the bridge crew was now seeing her quite clearly in the nude.
“Uh…guys…” he said.
“Ain’t ya glad to see us?” said Eager. “We heard about the new arrivals from Sasha!”
Nova blushed as she said, “It’s just a bit sudden, that’s all…we were about to head outside…and…and…”
“awww,” said Homer. “We didn’t even give Nova time to put anything on yet but her slippers…”
IQ-9 parted the crowd and came in. “Nova! What is that squiggly thing? Derek, who is he again?”
Nova blushed more deeply and said, “IQ-9, this is not a thing, she’s my new daughter Ariel! You saw her being born by the Moon, you dumb Tinwit!”
.
“And that creature is?” said IQ-9 as he looked at Derek and Alex.
“This is my son, Alexander,” huffed Derek. “He came first, remember?”
“Hard to remember much in my circuits with the way Nova was screaming and yelling on that shuttle,” said IQ-9.
“You would say that!” barked Nova as she slapped IQ-9 on his dome with one of her flip-flops as she got on her knees to try to cover hersellf a little more while the others laughed heartily. Then, they smiled at Nova as they realized little Ariel was busy nursing right at one of her mother’s bare breasts.
“Missus
Nova, ya look right lovely like that with your daughter in your arms,” said
Eager. “I seen girls nursin’ their babies bare-ass in the
“Thanks,” she said with a deep blush as Kitano and Wendy came up to tickle Ariel. Alex was being played with by Diane, Sandor, and Eager. Derek had to laugh because Eager was making really stupid faces at his son, who just looked on as if to say, “who’s this idiot making faces at me?”
“He looks like you,” said Venture with a big smile.
“And she looks like you, Nova,” said Sandor as he knelt down to tousle Ariel’s blond hair. Now that she was dry, she had a startlingly cute and full head of it, blond hair as golden as the spring sun.
“Thanks,” she said as she burped Ariel against her shoulder. Then, she handed him to her father, who gave Nova a kiss on the forehead while he put her back into her baby bed-she was getting sleepy.
“New experience, huh?” said Sandor.
“Yes, I’m learning a lot now,” said Derek as he handed Alex to Venture.
“How is it outside?” said Derek to Sandor.
“Not as bad as what we saw of the Great Megalopolis on the way in,” said Sandor grimly. “I heard they were trying to fire an anti-matter missile at it…”
“What?” said Derek as rage flashed in his eyes.
“It
went off-course and hit
Then, the room went quiet when they heard Nova crying (looking utterly pathetic curled up in a ball in just her skin) and saying, “I don’t want to hear this now! Haven’t we had enough?”
“Nova…I….” said Mark. “I’m sorry…”
“That’s okay, Mark,” said Nova as she wiped her eyes. “But from what I’ve seen, ten or twelve of those things would have finished Earth. It’s a good thing we’re still here.”
“I hope something,” said Henson.
“What?” said Commodore Wildstar as he held Ariel; Nova stood up and took Alex.
“I hope we got them all,” said Diane as Nova collected herself and finally clothed herself in her robe and got up, kicking her slippers back on.
“So do I,” said Nova. “Derek, let’s bring them back out to David and Aurora. I bet that’ll make them so happy…”
“Yeah,” said Derek. I just hope Earth stays here for these kids, he thought. There had better be no more left of them, he thought as some of their friends began to put up the balloons and streamers that congratulated the new parents on the arrival of their children.
A bit later on, after the festivities died down, Homer Glitchman and his fiancee’ Wendy Singleton slipped off alone to a secluded park not far from the hospital. There was a fountain nearby, and a grove of trees on a grassy hill that looked mysterious and beautiful in the night.
“Didn’t Derek and Nova’s babies look adorable?” said Homer as he walked hand in hand with Wendy. It was a warm night; he had his Star Force uniform top open slightly, while Wendy had slipped off her red ascot, loosened her EDF blue necktie a little, and she walked down the sandy dirt path barefoot, with her pumps off and in her bag.
“They do,” said Wendy. “Now, Homer. Now that this mission is over with, we have to get back to a topic we were talking about in our last communication before you warped out of the vicinity of Red Star five days ago. We need to set a date, and I want a family.”
“Well, uh…the date?”
“Preferably before it gets cold,” said Wendy as she walked with Homer. “I have this adorable wedding gown picked out, but it wouldn’t look right for an afternoon wedding with a coat on over my bare shoulders, and I got a great idea from Nova’s wedding years ago; I’m wearing sandals, no stockings. I don’t want my feet freezing. So, we’d better set up something soon…”
“Uh…how will we afford it?”
“My grandfather’s paying, you know that, silly,” whispered Wendy as she walked with him into a grove of trees. Homer was speechless at the beauty of the little sanctuary. Surrounded by trees and bushes, it was private, a nice little thicket that people came to for the seclusion. In time, Nova would come here often to nurse her children in peace and privacy, sometimes with Derek beside her to help.
Wendy had a similar but different reason for wanting privacy. She smiled to herself as she told Nova about this place, and guessed that in a few weeks, her own sessions with her husband and babies might well lead to the very same thing if it was warm and Nova was undressed and the babies went to sleep….but, Wendy jerked herself back to the present as she pulled Homer down in a patch of cool grass and they watched the stars for a moment through the gently swaying leaves before Homer said, “The wedding? Uh? He is? I will?”
Wendy nodded.
“Uh…it can’t be during High Holy Days,” said Homer. “If you don’t mind, that is…”
“I wasn’t raised that strongly in my faith, and no, I don’t mind converting,” Wendy said as she kissed him and made him sit down in the grass. “L’chaim,” she added in Hebrew with a smile. “Oh. Simchat Torah ends the Holy Days around October 15th. Grandfather has a hall reserved for between October 10th and the 30th. I think the afternoon of the 22nd would be a great day; it’s before Sabbath, on a Thursday, and Rabbi Greenberg says he’s free then. The 22nd?”
Homer nodded dumbly, not believing this. “Good. The 22nd, then.”
“And you won’t get cold feet?” said Wendy.
Homer shook his head.
“Let’s seal it with a kiss!” Homer blurted.
Wendy smiled. “Well, that’s nice…” she said. “But, I was thinking of something more than a kiss, and that’s why I brought you here, so no one could see us.” she said as she smiled and took off her yellow hairband and shook her medium brown hair free. Homer gaped, realizing he was seeing Wendy for the first time in their relationship without the hairband that she always wore when she didn’t have a hat on…even when she had on a swimsuit..
“What?” said Homer.
“This doesn’t give you a hint?” she giggled as she undid her scarf, pulled it off, and began to unbutton her blouse. “Oh…you are supposed to help me with this…”
“Help you?” he said as he pulled her close and hugged her.
“Help undress me…before making love to me…” said Wendy as she pulled Homer’s Star Force shirt out of his slacks. She unzipped his shirt a moment later and began to kiss his chest.
Homer got the cue and fumbled open the buckle of Wendy’s uniform jacket. He helped her out of it the best he could.
He kissed her as Wendy got him out of his shirt. When he unbuttoned her blouse, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw a lacy slip beneath it. He and Wendy fumbled open the zipper on her EDF white miniskirt and got her out of it. Then, he just kissed Wendy for a long time, holding her close in the warm night as he ran his fingers to the hem of her slip as he kissed her bare shoulders and collarbone. He felt her legs and started a little when he found out….
“Wendy! You don’t have on any…”
“This is my underwear tonight, silly,” she giggled as she encouraged Homer to pull her slip off, exposing her bit by but like a birthday present as she went on her knees and toes to ger her bottom up off the ground.
Homer ran his fingers in disbelief over Wendy’s bottom, her legs, and, with a wiggle of Wendy’s shapely bottom, a very special part of her. He had never touched a woman there before, and the warm, moist feel was fascinating to him.
Wendy’s breathing sped up as he touched her there, so he used his other hand to bare, as best he could, her stomach, upper abdomen, and breasts as he fumbled the slip off Wendy and it fell over his face.
Wendy giggled and pulled off the slip. “Surprise!” she sang as Homer saw her nude for the very first time. She wasted little time in getting Homer equally unclad, and then, she laid herself in the grass as she pulled Homer on top of her, and, while kissing him, she gave him a soft, but gentle education on how to make love to a woman. He had some idea of what to do, so she took the lead, helping her poor virginal fiancee’ through their first lovemaking session with a deep tenderness.
They were done twenty-five minutes later, and Wendy shared some plain grape juice with him. He wondered why it wasn’t wine, but he would find out why in a few weeks when Wendy’s little plan came to fruition.
Finally, wrapped up in their discarded clothes, the young lovers with a wedding date newly set fell into a little nap; and they would watch the sun coming up maybe an hour later before they dressed under the shade of the trees. Then, they would part…but only for a little while.
Wendy had plans in mind to move Homer out of his BOQ quarters by the end of the week.
And she was already looking at maternity clothes herself, having an ulterior
motive in mind, and a rather sweet one.
Unknown to her, it had already worked. Wendy Singleton went to sleep pregnant with her fiancee’s child newly made in her.
III. A DESOLATE NIGHT
Earth
Room 1425
Sunday, September 6, 2207
0300 Hours: Local Time
Nearly
a day passed while the members of the First and Second Star Force assigned to
their ships found temporary lodging in the city of
Lynn Westland had made some calls when her old friend Karl Forrester had stopped by the next day, and before he knew it, Commodore Wildstar had a place close to the hospital in a vacant three-bedroom condo in the Rio Amarillo Apartment Complex owned by a war widow (namely, Dana Hall, whose funeral was also taking place the same day) who had been killed two days ago in the bombings. Or rather, he would have if it hadn’t been for the Forresters and their children temporarily lodging with him.
In a nice way, his mother-in-law was driving Wildstar crazy while she fussed in the bedroom that had been set up as a nursery by its now-dead previous owner, Dana the sad war widow. Because it quickly came out that the Argo would have to be repaired and refitted in San Diego due to the damage in the Megalopolis from the earthquakes, Derek and Nova needed temporary quarters with room for two new additions, and this place, while smaller than their large, beautiful house in the Great Megalopolis (which Wildstar found out had survived along with the rest of Sands Point and College Point in Ota Ward) was a place that would do for the time being. Rental papers were signed before the day was over with.
But,
in the meantime,
The hospital was filling so rapidly that wards and departments meant for other things were being used for other patients.
So, it happened that the woman known as “Katrina Savela”, a Pellian by her records, woke up confused in a hospital gown in a hospital bed in the San Diego Megalopolis at about 0300 Hours.
“Where…where am I?” she said.
She looked at herself in the mirror; she was still in her guise as “Katrina Savela”, even though she looked very pale and unwell. To her, it was something of a relief. Appear here as Invidia and I would probably end up in prison awaiting death sentence, she thought.
“Shh..,” said a red-headed nurse in her white uniform and boots. “You’re in a hospital room on Earth.”
“Earth?” said the woman.
“Earth,” replied the nurse. “We brought you home on the space battleship Argo after you crashed your plane onto it, Lieutenant Savela. You were clutching a bag of effects that we didn’t touch. I’m sorry that we didn’t really get to scan you that much; you have some broken ribs, a lot of bruises, and we thought your spleen might have been damaged. You seem to be a little constipated, so I will bring you some medicine for it and a bedpan. I hope you don’t mind the noise…”
“What noise? It is quiet in here,” slurred “Katrina” in her heavy accent.
“There’ll be more noise in the morning. We put you in the maternity ward with a very brave young woman from the Earth Defense Forces who just had twins; she was pregnant during the war and she went into labor right at her post on her ship, poor thing! But she did her job until the battle was won. That’s one brave lady. The babies are rooming with her, but her husband spends most of the day with her, and she gets a lot of visitors. But she is very sweet and kind. She’s on the other side of the privacy curtain, sleeping with the babies in little cribs near her. She needs heavy pain meds at night because her birth was a little tough because it was her first. We think she’ll be going home in just a few days. She seems very healthy and is already beginning to recuperate from her birth thanks to the medicines we are giving her. Also, she seems to be in really good health and good spirits. She’s cheering us all up.”
“That is nice,” snorted Katrina. “But I am all alone…here…now…on Earth. Or an I? What about the girl in my ship? She was a prisoner I was trying to rescue…”
“That girl? She was more badly hurt than you, but she is under treatment, although she is unconscious. What happened to you that you crashed on the Argo?” said the nurse.
“I lost my ship. I lost everyone close to me,” said Katrina as she ran her hands through her messy purple-black hair. “But, I will be fine. Getting…sleepy…”
“Then I’ll let you sleep. Good night,” she said briskly as she closed the door.
After the nurse left, when she was sure she was alone, Invidia looked in her bag to find her data transfer unit, which looked like a Pellian comm unit. Finally, she had it out.
“This is my lifeline and where I have my fortune,” said Invidia in a slurred voice as she got up. Her bare feet hit the cold floor and she shivered. “I should have stayed in bed. How can they just dress you in a rag? I hate being half-naked like dis!” she muttered to herself.
Invidia hid the unit in her bag, which, as she saw, was not disturbed.
Then, walking on tiptoe, she found she needed to find the lavatory. Stumbling sleepily around the curtain, Invidia looked at the other side of the room.
Compared to her spartan side of the hospital room, this side looked as if it was the home of someone who was very popular. Balloons saying “Congratulations, Mom” and a large banner saying, “Congratulations, Nova. Good Luck, Mom” filled the room around the small bedstand and mirror. Flowers in pots were on the tables and her part of the windowsill, and Invidia hissed to herself as she noticed the young woman sleeping in the bed wore what looked like a warm blue nightgown and was sleeping heavily like an angel. She had honey-colored blond hair and a very innocent-looking young face. Two cribs, right near the bed, held two tiny sleeping bundles that looked like little baby angels. One little one wore a pink sleeper in bed; the other one wore a blue one.
“You,” Invidia whispered before looking at the chart, which read NOVA WILDSTAR, LT CMDR.
Invidia found a robe belt nearby. Now, she thought in a confused fashion, forgetting in her rage how friendly they had been on Iscandar a few weeks ago, How can I kill you? Can I make this easy and quick and leave your rotten babies with no mother? You deprived me of my throne, I should have killed you months ago..I….
Nova stirred in her sleep and mumbled, “Derek, my Derek….hold me…cold…I…”
I am the one who is cold in this half-naked rag! Maybe I can steal her nightgown off her body when she is dead, thought Invidia as she bent over Nova. This will be easy…she thought with a sick smile.
Then, Nova stirred, opened her eyes sleepily, and her fear-filled eyes met Invidia’s as one of her babies whimpered.
Invidia was taken aback when she found a sudden rage and fire burning in the befuddled young woman’s eyes as she half-awoke from a bad dream under the influence of her pain medication. “...Invidia!” she snarled with a sudden, ferally low voice. “You nearly destroyed Earth, you witch! You’re dead, dead, DEAD! AND YOU ARE THREATENING MY BABIES!” screamed Nova in a choked, slurred voice as she grabbed her pillow and swung it at Invidia so hard that she actually knocked her silly for a moment.
“I…” said Invidia as she dropped the robe belt, with all thoughts of killing this woman set aside for the moment as she realized she was dealing with a very active foe. There was a strength she didn’t expect from that little sleep-befuddled woman as Nova found a metal bedpan (which, fortunately for Invidia, was empty) and threw it at her hard enough to leave a dent in the wall.
“I hate you, Invidia!” screamed Nova in a half-strangled voice with vacant eyes as she lashed out with her fists and began to bash at her foe. “YAAAAARRRGGHH!”
Invidia grabbed the struggling woman’s wrists after absorbing several strong punches from Nova. To her shock, her slender little foe was as rage-filled and strong as a mother bear defending her cubs, and she was taller than she was. Invidia thought fast and hoped that her slighly disguised appearance (thanks to the ability Trelaina had given her to alter her form slightly) would help her lie to Nova and cover up her true identity.
Because if it didn’t and Nova reached for that button to call the night watch nurse, Invidia knew the room would probably soon be filled with Shore Patrol agents ready to put her in a separate room with…bars on the window.
“Nova…Nova!” she said in a voice she was trying to disguise. “You are just dreaming. There is no Invidia in this room!”
“No…Invidia…I?” Nova blinked as her confused eyes tried to focus on her foe. Finally, Nova looked at her and got out, “Princess Invidia…are you her? No, you can’t be her-your hair is a lighter dark brown color that looks a little…purplish? Invidia had dark, raven….black…hair…and your features look different-a little younger and softer. I’ve seen you before, but… ”
“How can I be?” lied Invidia. “She is dead. I met you on Iscandar. Did you forget?”
“Oh, my God,” said Nova in a sleepy voice. She ran to check her babies and found they were all right. Then, Nova said, “Miss, did I hit you? Katrina? Is that you? Please forgive me! I was having a nightmare!”
“I do not think you were yourself,” said “Katrina” in her heavy accent.
“I…my God!” said Nova. “Your lip is bleeding! Are you all right? Did I do that to you? I’m so sorry!”
“Maybe you were having…a very bad nightmare..” said “Katrina” as she wiped her lip. “People do crazy things in nightmares…”
“Yes. I was dreaming that Invidia was in here, trying to strangle me. If I ever catch up with her, if she is alive, she will die. But…I had a baby…two babies…and we just defeated Princess Invidia,” said Nova. “You look a little like her…but your hair is different…how can you be..? She’s dead! Couldn’t have gotten off that thing…right? We blew that Comet ship up good…real good.”
“Nova…if I may be so bold,” lied Invidia. “Again, I am Katrina Savela of Pellias. I rescued Michelle from off the Eritz Gatlantis, where we were being held prisoner. Remember?”
“How’d you get to Earth from Iscandar? Were you with the Pellian Border Legion Fleet? We know you left Iscandar again, we think, but…”
“Yes. I was fighting Gorse of the Comet Empire in the battle when I was hit by debris and smashed into the Argo. We met on Iscandar? Remember?”
“Yes, I served on her…and now I remember you…” said Nova. “Did you come from one of the Pellian ships from Iscandar?”
“Yes, but I had been captured…again,” said Invidia. “I was…” that is the truth…she thought. “I was escaping from General Gorse and that ship where they held me prisoner when I was hit. Instead now, I am your guest…funny?”
“Your accent’s funny, like I said on Iscandar…sorry…” said Nova. “But I’m not bein’ very nice…I’m sorry. Heck, I probably sound just as weird to you, don’t I?.”
Nova and Katrina laughed a little at that. Then, she said to Katrina. “What are you in here for? In case you can’t tell, I just had two babies.”
“Why do you need to know?” barked Katrina. Then, she said “…sorry, still confused. I just don’t like my private life…”
“I’m a nurse,” said Nova as she heard Alex whimpering. She ran over, picked him up, and held him.. “I’m going to start training to be a doctor in a few months or a year from now. Maybe I can help you.”
“They say I have broken ribs, a damaged spleen, and a lot of bruises,” said Katrina as she trembled as almost fell.
To Invidia’s shock and surprise, Nova bent down and gently helped her up and tenderly helped her into bed as best as she could while holding her son. “Poor dear! Let me get you something for that lip…I need to wipe up that blood. Please forgive me for being a little weak. I just had twins.”
“I see. What did having them feel like?”
“Passing two bowling balls,” said Nova with an impish smile. Nova patted and cuddled Alex, who began to go back to sleep. She put him into his bassinet and kissed him good night again. Then, Nova turned to Katrina with concern and said. “I’ll be back. Hold on, please.” Nova left, walking slowly to the bathroom with careful, measured steps.
Invidia shut her eyes and let tears of frustration and helplessness run down her cheeks until Nova came back with a wet washcloth. Nova sat on the edge of the bed, looked at her roommate with deep concern in her eyes, and tenderly dabbed at her lip until the bleeding stopped. “It may swell up a little in the morning, but putting ice against it will help you,” said Nova. “How long do you think you’ll be here? They think I can leave with my babies in two or three days.”
“They didn’t say,” said Katrina.
“Where will you go afterwards?”
“I do not know.”
“Maybe I can arrange something for you,” said Nova. Invdia looked at her in a puzzled fashion until Nova said, “Things like clothes, an income, a place to live, furniture, maybe a job when you feel up to it…”
“A job? Explain that term.”
“Well, I’m sorry, Katrina. Forgive me for assuming you were familiar with things,” said Nova. “Even though you’re Pellian and you would have some share of the Income Stake that all Pellians have, with the injuries you have, it may be a long time before a flight surgeon would say that you can fly a fighter plane again. If you don’t want to go back to your Fleet, we’ll need to let you get a job on Earth if you want to stay here with us. People on Earth have to do something to live unless they are disabled, retired, or somehow independently wealthy.”
“I might consider that, yes,” thought Katrina as she was a bit amazed that, in her innocence, her enemy was giving her a plan to help her run to ground before the Gamilons or anyone else caught up to her!
“Since you are a refugee from lost Pellias, and we have other refugees from the Pellian fleet joining us here on Earth now with the war over, it should be easy to find you something. You speak Standard English and look like us. You should fit right in if you want to live on Earth, Katrina! Did you have friends in your squadron?”
“Invidia,” said Katrina, surprised to be speaking of herself in the third person. “Invidia’s war killed them all. I…I have no friends. I am alone here…”
“If you don’t mind my saying so…you have friends now, Katrina,” said Nova. She kissed her on the forehead and said. “Try to get some sleep. Good night. I’ll say some prayers for you.”
“Thanks.”
IV. GOING HOME
Earth
The Vicinity of Room 1425
Tuesday, September 8, 2207
1130 Hours: Local Time
Three days passed for the unlikely roommates in the Maternity Ward.
Katrina was slowly losing her mind.
She had heard enough babies crying and screaming to drive her mad.
The funny thing was, she found that the two little brats that she was in closest proximity to were exceptionally cute.
And, to her surprise, so was their mother.
Nova seemed to be recovering quickly from her birth ordeal. By Monday, she was up and around with some regularity, although she still moved a little slowly. Katrina noticed that three nurses in particular, young women named Dawn Hardy, Tasha Cleveland, and Samantha Cleveland were the sort of nurses who seemed to pop into their room with some regularity. She found out that Nova herself, (how did she do it?) also seemed to be a very knowledgeable nurse, and that she even got up every now and then and went into other young mothers’ rooms for visits and to help them.
To Katrina’s shock, Nova not only seemed to have an incredibly tender heart, she was also very generous and giving.
On Tuesday, when Katrina complained about not having a proper nightgown, Nova got up, rummaged through her own drawers, and offered Katrina some of her clothes! The nightgown that Katrina had wanted to steal off Nova’s body the first night was simply taken out of a drawer and given to her with a sisterly kiss from Nova, along with an extra pair of slippers Nova hadn’t worn yet. Then, to Katrina’s shock, Nova said, “If you really want the one I have on, too, I’ll pull it off and give it to you.”
“You would?” said Katrina.
“If you don’t mind something that’s sweaty,” giggled Nova. “Isn’t it hot in here? Whew!”
Then, Ariel woke up and began to cry. Nova, in just her bright yellow flowered nightie, ran over to her and scooped her little white-clad angel up, asking her, “What’s wrong, sweetie? Hmm? Try to tell Mommy. What’s wrong?”
“She is too young to communicate with you,” snapped Katrina.
“I beg your pardon?” retorted Nova. “Any new mother can learn to communicate with her little one in a hurry. What is it, Ariel? Hmm? Diaper? Hungry?”
Nova listened to her little whines and whimpers and giggled as Ariel put her head on her chest and started trying to kiss her. “Hungry…always hungry..” said Nova with a sweet smile as she quickly pulled her shorty nightgown off over her head and then quickly had Ariel at one of her remarkably firm little breasts as she sat there on the bed, cross-legged ..and again quite naked…with apparently very little shame about her nudity as she let Ariel nurse!
“Excuse me,” said Katrina. “You…put her right to your bare chest to feed her? Just like…a peasant?”
Nova laughed. “Of course! On Earth, we have a lot of production shortages from the wars we’ve had to fight. A lot of plastics go right into the ships we build. Baby bottles are hard to come by, along with formula, and they’re saved for very sick infants or for sick mothers who can’t do this. There’s still shortages of lots of things. Nylon for stockings, even though I don’t mind just going bare-legged in a dress except when it’s freezing out. Velcro, for another thing. The military and medical establishments need a lot of Velcro. You’d be surprised at the shortages. Mom says even breastfeeding tops are a bit hard to get right now… “
“Why is that a priority?”
“Well, most mothers depend upon Nature just like this to feed their babies. Bottles and formula are even hard to get, and I have two working breasts, so they’ll get fed like this. It’s better for them anyway. I don’t mind much, except maybe in mixed company when they both get hungry,” said Nova with a blush. “Then, well…all of my chest has to come out anyway. And…”
“Yes?”
“Wait until you become a mother,” said Nova. “Sometimes, it is very embarrassing. I guess as long as it’s warm. I can wear a light button-down top or dress and I guess, just get a really cute tan outside when they both get hungry if I can find a quiet place….and can just strip like naked like this.”
“You’d bare your chest outside?”
“Uh-huh,” said Nova softly. “And everything else if I could! On our beautiful Earth, I sure would. I can’t wait to get out of here and explore those parks I see nearby, and that beach I see in the distance. I want to put my feet in that fountain I see below and just laugh and kick in that nice looking water,” said Nova. “I love the sun on my body, too. Grass under my bare toes. Blue sky over my head. I love to lay in the grass with Derek when it’s quiet and we just have shorts and tops on during a nice summer day and we look up at the clouds and imagine what they are. Or…if we’re at home, we lay in the grass in swimwear…or…nothing at all…”
“That sounds silly,” huffed Katrina.
“Derek’s my best friend as well as my lover. We don’t find it silly at all, and we like to watch butterflies and bees and little bugs in the grass, birds hopping around, maybe a squirrel in the woods. Or we like to watch my little cat playing at home when we’re all together. My Mom and Dad have Fluffy right now until I get home, I think. I took her on the last mission with us. We love those little pleasures because we didn’t have those things when the Gamilons drove us underground. Now, I appreciate so much. Letting the Spring rain run down my back under my dress, kicking off my shoes or boots and jumping barefoot in puddles…it drives Derek crazy when I do that because he thinks it’s silly, but…well…and there’s catching snowflakes on my tongue when it snows, snowball fights…even swimming naked when no one can see me, except maybe Derek or some of our closest friends. Or feeding these two with little or even nothing on you so they can just cuddle up to my warmth….”
“So that is what you do when he is there and you close that privacy curtain around your bed?”
“Yes,” retorted Nova. “He tenderly undresses me and cuddles me and cools me off. I love Derek. I love my children. Sometimes, when it’s just you and your partner around…it is very sweet, and it feels nice. I wish he was here right now to share that view with,” Nova said in a soft voice as she looked somewhere far away for a moment….wishing that she was alone with Derek and the babies, and that he was here….in bed with her, tenderly touching her naked body as she nursed. Katrina saw her turning away, but she saw a tear running down her cheek.
Wildstar. She misses him, Katrina thought. I have been with many, many men. I wanted to love the last one I was with, Admiral Jena, but never quite got the chance…
“Excuse me,” said Nova. She put the privacy curtain around the bed, and went quiet, but Katrina heard the soft sound of Nova sobbing as she got the phone. Then, she evidently found whom she wanted to get; because she went into a long, quiet conversation that was almost whispered.
Katrina looked out the window for a long time, wishing she had someone in her life who loved her that much.
Wednesday morning came around. Katrina awoke at 0800 to find Nova and the babies no longer there. However, her things were still in her room. It was very quiet. Almost too quiet.
Invidia had wanted silence. She had wanted to be alone, away from Nova and her squalling little brats and her strange visitors, her friends from her ship who sat on he bed and played cards or board games with her. Now, she was all alone, and she found it very disturbing.
Invidia thought at once of herself. She didn’t care…all that much, what had become of Nova and her brood. Have they discovered my secret? Have they decided to take her out of the room because they want to arrest me? That must be it. They will probably rough me up, beat me, and clap me in irons, too. Maybe their soldiers will rape me, too, before they shoot me. That must be it. That fool, they love her too much and she is…too kind…to see me tortured. She even yelled at some of the other nurses for hurting me with injections.
Invidia’s unaccustomed solitude continued. It was empty in there. Katrina began to sense that she herself was not particularly liked, unlike Nova. No one came to see her; when Nova…or even, believe it or not, Derek Wildstar himself was not there to insist that the doctors or nurses treat her well, none of the doctors here except some weird little bald man with round glasses and a cat who liked Nova a great deal seemed to be nice to her. The nurses were usually either impersonally kind to her or curt to her.
One
or two of the nurses’ aides who did the most menial jobs were downright nasty
to her, and one of the same two had even been nasty to Nova; but she had
stopped it when Mrs. Wildstar had demanded her name, which was “Corporal
Jones.” Jones was a short Terran woman with very dark skin and some kind of
piercing in her flat nose. Many, many dark-skinned women were very attractive.
Jones was not one of them. Nova had then demanded to see her superior, who was
a taller RN with lighter chocolate-colored skin known as Ensign Gina
Desjardins. Desjardins apologized for Corporal Jones’ behavior in her sweet
Invidia’s solitude was broken when Jones burst into the room again and slammed down a bedpan. “Use this, ya alien! Now!”
“I am not doing this in front of you!” responded Katrina.
“Listen…Savela. You in a military hospital! That means you’s still under military discipline. When you get ordered to use the bedpan, baby, you are using that bedpan! Good thing Miss Hoity-Toity pants Star Force hero Admiral’s baby-mama ain’t here! Now get on that pan now in front of me before I make you!”
“You and what army?” snapped Invidia as she cracked her knuckles. This might be fun, she thought.
“Oh, if you gonna be that way, I’m gettin’ the orderlies in here to help me make you…”
“Make her what?” said a rather high voice as someone came in. Jones snapped to attention, still looking very slouchy even in her short white tunic and flat white shoes.
The man who came in was the short doctor. “Doctor Sane! I was about to get the urine sample you ordered but she was bein’ resistant! Think we may have to catheterize this one?”
“Jones, I taught a dear friend of mine an old saying. When you want to draw flies, honey works better than vinegar.”
“Say what?” said Jones.
“She’d be more cooperative if you’d close her bed curtain or let her take that into the damn head!” snapped Sane with his hands on his hips. “Go and let her do that! I’ve had complaints about you from three officers this week, and I’m getting sick of your malarkey, young lady! Miss Savela. Please feel free to go into the head. Then I need to talk with you while your roommate is still out and we have some privacy for a few minutes.”
Savela nodded. Then, with the first bit of concern she had felt for anyone since Michelle (and she thought that she had lost that one utterly, guessing that Michelle was probably dead by now), she asked, “Doctor? Is Nova okay?”
“Nova and the little ones are fine,” said Sane as he wiped his glasses. “They’re down in Central Scanning two floors below us getting some tests and scans. Derek is down in the examining suite with her. We think that they might be clear to go home today. Now, would you please be cooperative? We have some things to talk about.”
Savela nodded glumly. She was free to do her business…in the head. She silently handed Jones the covered bedpan a few minutes later and Jones took it away while cursing under her breath.
Then, Sane sat down in a chair near Savela’s bedside as he cleaned his glasses again and opened a chart. Then, he began by saying, “Your injuries are healing rapidly, and I see a very good prognosis. We had you in that scanning suite yesterday for a reason. We did some careful tests and found that your DNA makeup and the makeup of your mitochondrial structures are quite interesting! Your mitochondrial DNA not only proves you are part-Pellian, it also has a distinctive pattern that we’ve only found in their Royal House. By my recursive analysis, I would guess you have some Royal blood, and may be related to both Lieutenant Commander Aliscea Rosstowski, the Lady of Pellias, and her mother, Astrena. You seem to be about a fourth or possibly fifth cousin,” said Sane. “Because there are very few Pellians of Royal blood left, we might send this analysis to Gamilon when we are finished so that Queen Astrena can see where you might be in the Royal line. Would you mind submitting to an examination by Aliscea? They might be able to find whom you are related to.”
“I…do not…know,” said Katrina. “The circumstances…” she stammered not wanting too much to come out, “Of my birth were…rather…”
Sane nodded sympathetically. “Easy to see why. My examination proved that you have a Cometine father, but you are not green like they are. We’re guessing that maybe the green coloration is a recessive genetic characteristic? Would you consent to further study? Nova and a friend of mine have been talking shop a little with me, and we may want to write a Medical Journal artricle on you! Maybe we can find out who your father was.”
“I do not want that!” snapped Katrina as tears ran down her face.
“Why?”
Then, she thought, Father, my Prince, please forgive me. I have to lie to save my skin. Then, she said, “My mother was captured by them. One of them…took my mother as a concubine…unwillingly. I came from that…union. I do not think I would qualify for any Pellian Royal honors, either. I am…a bastard. And I have failed Pellias twice by being captured by the enemy. I suffered terribly while I was on the Eritz Gatlantis, especially the second time I was there after I left Iscandar…” That is not entirely a lie, thought Invidia, remembering her losses and how her own generals and Ekogaru had treated her. “They have been kind to me here on Earth. May I stay here, please?”
“Hmmm,” said Sane. “I think we can arrange that. And if you feel the additional studies would be an invasion of your privacy…”
“They definitely would be!” snapped Katrina.
“Then we won’t do them, and I’ll tell Nova and Doctor Samlin to drop the idea of writing an article about you. I think you can go home in a day or two. But I have no idea where to discharge you to! You said you didn’t want to go back to Pellias…or their fleet…”
“No, I do not.”
“Would you like to accept a commission in the Earth Defense Forces?” asked Sane as Invidia’s face almost dropped off with shock. “I hear you were and are a very good pilot. We need pilots these days, even young women. Since you and Nova seem to get along nicely, maybe she could help train you? She wants to do some flying again after she recovers from the birth…”
Katrina then thought her disguise was too good. Me? Fly with the same forces that just brought down my Empire? I’m stuck here, but fighting in their defense forces…that’s almost comic. Crazy! Insane. No thank you…especially not if I want my Empire position back…maybe.
“For the time being, I want to live as a civilian,” sighed Katrina. “I have funds that I have access to from my time on Pellias. Could they be cross-transferred to your medium of exchange?”
“I think we could arrange an exchange, yes,” said Sane. “We have done it before. We have a very few aliens on Earth, pretty much just Iscandarians, Gamilons, and Rikashans serving in their Embassies. They keep a very low profile because of the odd appearances of the Gamilons and Rikashans, but occassionally, Iscandarians have been known to wander in our midst. We think maybe the Gamilons have some agents, too. Desslok is said to have a very good secret police but he never says much about it to us. Maybe that is why it is a secret!” laughed Sane.
“Yes, I guess so.”
“Anyway, someone from the Refugee Bureau will be in to speak with you on Friday. We still keep such a bureau around because occassionally we still find sick people hiding in the ruins of some of the underground cities left over from the Gamilon and the Rikashan and Cometine conflicts. We help them reintegrate into society…those poor souls usually don’t have very much. We do the same thing for space colonists who try to occupy land on some of our small colony worlds and fail and come back home lost, jobless, and all alone. The Refugee Bureau is a social service agency. Nova’s worked with them more than I have. She is getting a good social worker to help you.”
“I…I thought she was taking maternity leave.”
Sane chuckled. “Yes and no. Yes, she is taking leave and leaving the active part of the Reserves, but, no, she is not going to go home and just rock the cradle. She’s got too active of a mind to just go home and become a full-time homemaker. Also, while she was lying there, holding her babies, and getting needles put in her, she told me that she is very worried about you. When my girl takes an interest in someone, she’s not about to let her drop. Right now, Nova’s your best friend on Planet Earth, and she and Derek can get lots of strings pulled for you. Please don’t take her friendship lightly. She’s a good lady, and I think someday she’s going to be make a far better doctor than I ever will. Don’t tell her that, though. We don’t want to give her a swelled head and she hates having one. Even though she’s just as smart as Sandor in her chosen field and damn near his equal in intellgence. She is so smart that she scares me sometimes. Then she does something silly like calling a Landing Craft Shuttle a ‘space mobile’. She calls those her ‘blond’ moments. Strange but cute kid.”
Katrina nodded, feeling very guilty as she realized how she had wanted to hurt Nova in her sleep several times this week.
“Oh. I hope that we never find that Invidia character,” added Sane as he closed her chart. “If we ever did find that she had survived again and was on Earth causing trouble, I think she’d be lynched. Just an old ex-veteranarian’s opinion,” said Sane as he opened a bottle with some clear substance in it with a battered label in Japanese characters attached to the bottle. He poured some of the substance and drank up deeply, grunting with pleasure. “Just my Spring Water. Water from this clear spring here on Earth mixed with some very interesting substances, shall we say?” Sane smiled at that. “I’d offer you some, except you’re still in bed, and…”
Then, the door burst open. Derek and Nova came in, carrying their babies, along with Nova’s parents. Katrina noticed that Nova was in street clothes for the first time since she had come here; she had on a scoop-necked light dress in white trimmed in pink with bare legs and nice pink high-heeled sandals. She was carrying Ariel (who was all in yellow) in one hand with a suitcase in the other.
Derek had on his EDF blues and a short blue and red peacoat with an anchor on one breast. He was carrying his son; the baby boy wore a white t-shirt, dark blue play shorts, and little blue sandals on his feet; his first pair of shoes. Nova’s mother wore a shorty pantsuit with a white jacket, while her father wore a turtle necked shirt and dark pants.
“Oh! Mister and Mrs. Forrester!” said Sane brightly. “Where’s Nova’s little brother and sister?”
“With my niece Jane and her strange ex-husband Foxy,” said Teri with a laugh as she helped Nova begin to pack. “No! Don’t put that in there, Nova! You’ll be carrying too much with the baby!”
“Mother,” said Nova. “That’s why I’m buying a baby carrier pack the first stop we make. I can do it!”
“Don’t tax yourself! It’s only been five days!” cried Teri.
Nova rolled her eyes at that. “Mother, I just walked through several testing rooms when they didn’t insist in pushing me around in that wheelchair with that ridiculous hospital gown on that showed my butt to the whole world! I wanted my own pajamas on down there! When they finally me put clothes on me and I stopped spending the morning on an examining table stark naked being scanned by ten doctors and five medical students, I started to just walk around with you! And I walked through the snack bar myself. And the gift shop! Then down to the Social Services office. I snuck off on my own with Ariel while you and Dad were arguing about who to invite to the christening and then the Shinto Shrine purification ceremony!”
“And you ate like a horse in that snack bar,” said her mother. “Two chocolate milks, two apple pies, and a roast beef hoagie! You only weigh about a hundred and thirty-two pounds right now after having twins! Where do you put it all?”
“Excuse me, I have twins! I need to eat like a horse!” snapped Nova. “What were you eating like when you had Aurora and David, Mother? A bird?”
“The way you usually eat, Nova,” said Teri.
Derek shook his head and put his hand up to his mouth and snickered as Nova and her mother went at it for a few more minutes while Katrina was amused at these two while Derek Wildstar, the great hero who had wrecked her Empire, stood holding his baby boy and looking remarkably like some long-haired boyish doofus kid called in to play a role by some casting director.
Invidia, who had only seen Derek Wildstar looking authoritative as her mortal enemy, had never seen him looking boyish and both amused by and embarrassed by his strong-willed wife before. Katrina thought, And who wears the pants in this Star Force family? Is it the Commodore or is the one with the legs in the skirt the one who wears the pants?
As Nova gesticulated and argued with her mother (the latest bit was that she did NOT need a wheelchair to leave the hospital, thank you!), Invidia was surprised to see that it looked like she was losing weight very rapidly and was starting to look very trim in her white dress after just five days. She wondred why. Is she losing weight too rapidly? By Arishna, I am getting worried about the lady! I do not believe it!
Then, Nova turned to Derek and saw him snickering. “And what are you laughing at, you space hyena?” she said with one hand on her hip.
“You and your mother. You’ll probably be going at it when you’re both in your eighties and waving crutches at each other.”
“Not funny, smart guy,” said Nova with a smile. Then, she began to soothe Ariel. “Don’t be upset, honey, Daddy’s just acting stupid again.”
“You’ll drop her if you bob her up and down like that!” said Teri.
Nova stuck her tongue out at her mother as an orderly came up with a wheelchair. “I do not need that, Private,” said Nova. “I am capable of walking out of here with my daughter!”
“Orders, ma’am,” said the orderly. “Counter-signed by General Stone.”
Nova sat down and then put her nose in the air. “Hmph! Tell that old walrus to go take a long walk off a short pier without a life vest.” Nova began to push her wheelchair with a free hand while wiggling her toes in her sandals, but Derek came up behind her and grabbed a handle on it. “Nova, you’d better let me push that.”
“oooohhh,” said Nova. “Okay, Derek. Push away. But when we get out of the hospital, I’m jumping in the fountain outside.”
“What?” said Teri.
“Mother, I said I will take off my shoes and jump in the fountain outside. I’ve been looking out the window at that thing for five days and watching the kids jump in it. It’s my turn. Then I want a vanilla malted at the first place we can find when it’s lunchtime. With a cheeseburger. And mozzarella fries!”
“Yes, dear,” said Derek as he kissed Nova on the head as they left.
Nova’s parents scooped up the balloons and banners as they left. Sane said goodbye to Katrina and then followed the happily bickering new family down the hall as Nova blew kisses at the nurses she had met.
Then, Katrina was left alone looking at an empty bed and empty locker at Nova’s side of the room.
It suddenly seemed quiet in here.
Too quiet.
Invidia then realized something about her bubbly, mostly upbeat roommate, and her ex-enemy.
She missed her.
A lot.
V. A NEW MORNING
Earth
San Diego Food King Supermarket
Saturday, September 12, 2207
1130 Hours: Local Time
“Katrina Savela’s” head was still spinning as she tried to acclimate herself to life on Earth.
This life was new, and rather strange to her.
For one thing, there was the climate. At least two parts of Earth; this coastal city in California, and the recovering Great Megalopolis of Tokyo (where she had flown in some communal aircraft with Nova’s friend Sasha for something called “a job interview” with a major magazine as a correspondent) seemed to be very sticky and hot all the time.
Invidia, in her disguise as Katrina Savela, was having to get used to dressing in far less than she had usually worn on the Eritz Gatlantis.
At the moment, as she pushed some kind of metal basket on wheels down the aisle of what she guessed was an Earthling food storehouse, she was trying to get used to the fact that about half her legs were exposed in her dress, a royal blue thing that came to just above her knees. It had straps at the shoulders that left them bare, but “Katrina” wore a light jacket over her shoulders. Some kind of thing called a “bracelet” in dark blue was at one of her wrists, and she carried a small shoulder bag with her oddments in it that Earthling women called a “purse”. Finally, on her feet, she wore strange dark barbarian (to her) sandals with very slight heels that left her heels and toes very much exposed. She had been surprised at how much the accursed things had cost in the large Earthling store that Nova had taken her to to buy a wardrobe at; she had been discharged from the hospital just the day before.
I miss my pointer, thought “Katrina” as she had to nudge past some obscenely fat woman that she might have put in prison for being ugly back where she came from.
She grabbed a can of odd Terran vegetables off the shelf and turned to Nova, who was walking beside her. “What are these called?” she asked.
“New baby peas,” said Nova with a smile. If Katrina felt oddly dressed, she wondered how Nova could walk around in the clothes she had on? To her, she was practically half-naked! Her legs were fully exposed, for Arishna’s Sake!
She tried to study her friend’s attire without staring at her. Nova wore very short pants made of some strange coarse blue cloth that looked faded. Katrina had no idea why it was called “denim” and she refused to wear what looked like something a slave would have worn in a concentration camp back where she came from-and the woman had bought those ridiculous things that covered nothing but the essential areas and some of her thighs? She had on an even more ridiculous thing that she called a “tube top” that was white and made of stretchy cloth with multi-colored horizontal stripes in what looked like garish colors to “Katrina”. And the thing left her shoulders and upper back naked, too?
Nova seemed to be very strong for her skinny build as she pushed a slightly bigger cart filled with groceries and a seat that held her two little brats, the babies Alex and Ariel.
Earthling babies, as Invidia had discovered, wore strange little garments that left their shoulders bare (Invidia had never seen summer baby clothes before), little rags around their otherwise bare bottoms held on with pins, and actually wore no shoes (at least in warm weather). And Nova occasionally stopped shopping to bend down in her almost totally non-existent barbarian sandals held onto her bare feet with just one strap each. Invidia thought they were odd because she had never seen black flip-flops before; she wondered why Nova just didn’t bloody walk around barefoot. To her, Nova also wore a very weird hat…something called a “baseball cap”. Nova wore it with ridiculous pink sunglasses to gurgle at one of her pre-articulate young (often the noisy one with dark hair called “Alex”) and rub noses with and make faces at the little gurgly squiggly baby thing. “Yes, Alexander, Mommy loves you! Isn’t it a great day?” Nova cooed at her baby. She then kissed the little blond cooing girl on her head. “Mommy loves Ariel, too. Don’t you just look like your cousin Sasha when she was a baby? I love you two so much!”
“Aren’t they cute, Katrina? I’m sorry, I just love them so much,” said Nova.
“Yes, they are cute,” said Katrina with a slight smile. Much cuter and you give me the diabetes! Yecch!
“So what is this aisle called again, Nova?”
“Vegetables. Most of these things in this aisle are canned. If you want fresh vegetables from right out of a farm or a hydroponic garden, go two aisles left, that way,” said Nova as she pointed. “There, you will find a produce aisle for fresh foods, and…”
Some tinkly thing went off in Nova’s own purse. It sounded like some weird baby cartoon cat chirping a song that went, “we’re off in outer space, defending Mother Earth…”
“Phone,”
said Nova with a blush. She pulled out the little phone (which had a picture of
a cartoon cat on it wearing a gold and black girls’ Star Force uniform) and
then Nova stuck it behind her ear with some kind of clip as she flipped it open
and sang, “moshi-moshi” into the phone. “Hi, Derek.
We’re almost done here. I’ll be taking Katrina home soon. She has more driving
lessons today. She should be picking up a license in maybe, uhh..two weeks,” said Nova as she stood there stretching
on her cranberry-red polished toes for a minute in her flip-flops. “Uh-huh.
She’s getting more used to our customs every day. Looks like she’s heading for
Produce,” said Nova as she waved “bye-bye” to Katrina for a moment. “What’s
that? Rosstowski called you? What’s he up to in his TDY with
Intelligence? They found where Jonathan is? Where was Astra hiding him? I…St. Anselm’s Orphanage? Where you were on
Nova sighed. “Astra, I know you’re grieving, but I want to take your head off about now,” she said out loud as another lady in a hot pink minidress gave her a weird look.
“You vant someone beheaded?” said Katrina as she came back with excitement in her eyes. “I can arrange that, I…”
Nova sighed. “Katrina, not literally.” Nova shut her eyes. “I’m not very happy right now; I’m sorry. I almost want to cry, as a matter of fact.”
“What happened?” said Katrina.
“I’ll talk about it in the aircar as I drive you home,” said Nova. “You said you wanted produce. See you in a minute…”
Katrina nodded and left for the Produce aisle.
A few minutes later, in the Produce aisle, as she walked around looking at the different kinds of Terran vegetables and fruits, Katrina bashed her cart into something.
“What?” she said. “What is this?”
She looked up and saw that she had smacked into another cart.
The cart was full of groceries, and it was being pushed by a rather
cute-looking young Japanese-American looking man with dark eyes, messy brown
hair parted on one side, and a rather impish smile. He wore a dark suit jacket
with a ship’s wheel embroidered on one of his pockets in gold, and a spotted
tie and white shirt.
He looked at Katrina, looking her over from her face (which he thought was very cute, even though she was almost growling at him), down to her hair, her light jacket, her dress, and her knees, slender bare legs, and her feet in her sandals. She looked like a cute little thing to the young man, and the first words he said to her were, “You’re short.”
“You’re stupid,” she blurted back.
“You’re cute,” said the young man as he turned on the charm.
“You’re idiotic. You hit my vehicle with yours,” snapped Katrina.
“Ahem. You ran into me. Is that cart insured? You messed up my
cucumbers,” said the young man.
“What is your name?” snapped Katrina.
“Milday, the name is Kazuo Foxworth. I am an attorney and I run a consulting business. I also have a big yacht. I also invest other people’s money and make a tidy profit out of it. I saw you walking around before with one of my clients. Your little blond friend in the flip-flops and tube top with the babies has enough in her portfolio to buy this store and I helped her do it. She had stocks, bonds, and property and business holdings set aside for her by her father since she was a year old; stock and goods and the like that was risky then, became almost worthless after the planet bombings, but has since appreciated greatly in value. I helped her do that, even though she is not very aware of how much her portfolio has grown, and, I think, at this point, she does not even care because she is so much in love with her husband, her children, and our newly safe planet. I’m very rich. Like me to do that for you?”
Katrina couldn’t believe this. I need to build up a fortune. Why not let him play with some money and see what happens? Also, he’s cute.
“Are you propositioning me?” said Katrina.
Kazuo smiled. “For minor pain and suffering and minor embarassment, I owe you, uh…maybe twenty credits. Could I repay you with dinner and a tri-d movie? Unless you’d rather have the cash, that is.”
Katrina smiled and nodded. “What can it hurt? You seem to be good company.”
“You’ve got a funny accent,” said Kazuo.
“I am not from around here,” snapped Katrina. “Not even from this planet!” she whispered as she ran up to his ear.
“Now, this should be interesting,” said Kazuo.
“You were talking about cucumbers. Do you have a cucumber?” barked Katrina.
Kazuo laughed, guessing the girl was unaware of the double entendre she had just made. “I sure do,” he replied. “Oh? What is your name? I know you are short, have dark hair, and are not from around here, but I don’t know your name? Becky?”
“No,” said Katrina.
“Cindy? Zakuro?” he said. “Princess?”
“Close,” purred Katrina. “Katrina Savela, at your service,” she said as she bowed and shook his hand.
“Ah…Katrina, my dear, my sweet,” he said as he got down on one knee before her. “Would you be so kind as to give me the answer to a personal, confidential question?”
“Yes?” said Katrina.
“What flavor of candy do you like?”
Katrina shook her head. Now, this is weird, she thought. Then, remembering something Derek Wildstar had given her the previous day in the hospital gift shop, she blurted out. “Caramels. I like caramels.”
“I’ll buy you a box of them,” he said as he tossed a heart-shaped big box of caramel chocolates into her cart. Then, he said, “What else would you like?”
Katrina shrugged. “Seeing water.”
“I have a yacht, done; you come aboard her with me in two weeks on a Saturday. Bring the Wildstars. Nova is a good cook for the galley. Don’t worry about room. The Lady Jane has enough room for lots of people.”
“Why do you call it the Lady Jane?” said Katrina.
“In
the year 2202, I had a whirlwind romance with your friend’s cousin, Jane
Forrester. She owns a ranch in
“Join the club,” said Katrina.
“Why and how?”
“Suffice it to say I had lost a lot in the war,” stamered Katrina. “The war messed up my life. A lot of it was my fault; some was the fault of two men I will never see again because they are dead, and some is the fault of a creepy man I hope I never see again even though he is dead. I think.”
“Are we mysterious?” said Kazuo.
“Are you a royal pain?” said Katrina in return.
“Pain, yes. Royal, I’d love to be.”
“You are driving me crazy. No first date yet and you plan the second?”
“Give me three hours and I’ll get to the wedding; then, the wedding night,” he said as he winked at her.
“I think you are crazy,” said Katrina.
“So?” said Kazuo.
“Help me disentangle this cart from yours, you fool, and then I will follow you about. I like crazy.”
“That is nice,” said Kazuo.
Nova came by and smiled at them. “Oh! Did you two have an accident?”
“I’m playing,” said Kazuo as he crawled about on the floor to separate the carts, not caring about getting his yachting pants dirty.
“This man is crazy, Nova,” said Katrina. “Can we take him to a mental hospital?” she said, with a slight smirk on her face.
“Play nice and I’ll rename the yacht the Lady Katrina before you ever see it,” he said as he pushed at the carts. Nova kissed Ariel, shrugged, and braced her flip-flop clad foot against one of the carts. “Help me push!” she barked as Kazuo pushed with his hands and Katrina stood there like a bump on a log and did nothing. This would become a recurring pattern in the next few years, although none of them knew it yet.
Nova and Kazuo shoved, and the carts came free.
Katrina’s cart slammed into a cereal display and knocked down ten boxes.
Kazuo’s cart freewheeled off and slammed hard into a produce case.
Kazuo fell on his butt.
Nova almost did, too, but she regained her balance just as the flip-flop she had used to help brace her foot flew off, went up in the air, and ended up on top of a produce display in a pile of dust bunnies. It would not be found until around Christmas.
Nova looked around, shrugged again, took off her other flip-flop, and knelt down barefoot to help Kazuo up. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You looked stupid,” teased Katrina. “You too, Nova.”
Nova stuck out her tongue at Katrina and turned to baby Alex. “Did you see shoes in here, honey? If not, Mommy has to go barefoot. Poor Mommy.”
“I could not believe how stupid you two looked!” laughed Katrina. “You look cute together!”
“No, you two do,” purred Nova.
Both of them glared at Nova.
“Have fun with my friend, Foxy,” she sang. “Katrina? Is dinner still on?”
“This person has asked me to dinner,” said Katrina.
“Have you accepted?” asked Nova.
“Yes,” huffed Katrina.
“Does he have a car?” said Nova.
“Nova, you know damn well I do,” said Kazuo.
“Good. Then I’ll take the babies home and tell Derek we’re eating home-cooked lasgna tonight. I will hunker down with him and let you two paint the town red. Don't bang on my door at four in the morning like the last time, Kazuo, when you nearly assaulted me because I came out with green facial mud on and you thought I was a space monster? Got that? Have fun!” sang Nova. “Don’t get too frisky on the first date, Foxy!”
“I won’t. Maybe.” Kazuo said as Nova blew them a kiss and ran off gracefully with the cart like a girl running through the grass on a Spring day as her babies squealed loudly with pleasure.
“Foxy,” mused Katrina. “They call you that?”
“Always,” said Kazuo with a laugh. “Jane didn’t start it. She did. At our wedding.”
“Why they call you Foxy?” asked Katrina.
“Crazy like a fox,” he said.
“I tend to agree with you,” purred Katrina as she kissed him while he was picking up a cereal box. Then, he ran off with her before the stock clerks would start yelling at them.
Dinner…would be…fun…
That night, dinner was very fun. Katrina relaxed while Foxy told lots of entertaining stories. He had led an entertaining and rather colorful life, and Invidia found herself liking him in spite of the fact that she hadn’t really wanted to at first.
After a lot of conversation and a very nice dinner that he paid for, over dessert he said, “So, when would you like to go on the Lady Katrina with me?”
“You’ve already renamed it?”
Foxy
nodded. “A good cruise would be down the
Katrina nodded. “I’ll certainly see you before then?”
Foxy said, “Yes. We can meet up every few days, if you like. Most of my evenings are free.”
“So are mine,” she said. She thought hard and said, “But, let us agree on one thing. We see where this is going before I sleep with you,” she said in a low voice.
“Why?” said Foxy.
“I’ve been hurt before,” said Katrina. “I want to be sure you won’t do the same.”
“I’d never hurt you,” said Kazuo. He put his hands over hers. “Never.”
“I pray you keep that promise,” she said.
“I will do it or die trying.”
“I hope so,” said Katrina.
VI. NOVA’S FEARS
Earth
Rio
Derek and Nova Wildstar’s Townhouse
Thursday, September 17, 2207
1300 Hours: Local Time
Derek Wildstar was at a staff meeting on the Argo, so Nova was alone in the house except for Alex and Ariel, who were asleep.
She
and Derek had a baby monitor intercom system connected both here and at their
home on
At this afternoon hour, it was Nova, all by herself. Classical music ( J.S. Bach’s Little Fugue in G Minor) played softly over the townhouse’s speaker system, low enough that it would not drown out the little ones.
After
tending to the babies, Nova had been exercising; riding along fast on an
exercise bike that had been installed in the living room of the mostly white
and grey decorated townhouse. After wearing herself out, Nova had stripped off
her shorts, t-shirt, sweatbands and legwarmers and was lounging in a bubble
bath in the large tile-lined bathtub in their apartment that was similar to
their even bigger tub in their house on
While reading, Nova brooded. It was rare for her, but she was worried.
Not about Derek or her children.
She was worried about her own health.
Maybe these are just the fears of someone with an overactive imagination, she thought. But, why did the postpartum bleeding stop a few days earlier than normal today? Oh, I know, it can be variable, but there’s that. And the weight loss…
Nova shut her eyes, pushed up on her feet in the tub, and looked at herself. I could swear it’s already getting flat, she thought as she looked at her stomach. It’s supposed to be normal, but why is it happening so fast? I’m kind of tired, she thought as Fantasia in D Minor on piano began to play on the sound system. All the time. All the time…
Nova then got up, and rinsed off the soap suds with the hand-held shower head. Swathing her body in one white towel and her hair in another, she got out of the tub, drained it, wiped her feet on a commodious pink rug that covered much of the white tile floor, and she picked up a portable scale.
She padded barefoot into the bedroom she shared with Derek. Most of the place had a new dove-grey wall-to-wall carpet in it that Derek had ordered before she had come home from the hospital. It was one of the gifts Derek had provided for his young wife upon her homecoming. The only exception to the grey was in their living room, where it was bright yellow before it met the grey rug in the den that was between the living room and the split-level kitchen.
Nova opened a closet door in the bedroom and revealed a full-length dressing mirror.
After doing so, Nova threw the towel off her hair, brushed it slightly, and tossed the brush on the bed. Taking a deep breath, Nova said a silent prayer and dropped the towel off her body and kicked it away.
She then stood totally naked in the warm apartment before her mirror and examined her body from her collarbones on downwards. She didn’t even have her jewelry on, either her cross or her ankh; Derek knew she always took it off before bathing, showering, or swimming.
The collarbones are standing out more, she thought as she touched her bare shoulders. Maybe too much. Breasts are fine, she thought as she did a cursory inspection for lumps. Firm, a cup size bigger due to the milk like Mom said they’d be. I could have also picked that up from the literature.
Nova touched her stomach. The softness is almost gone. I’m beginning to get my abdominal ridges back. I can also feel definition at my rib cage, she thought.
She
felt her bottom next. Firm. Of course it was
never that much of a problem even when I was pregnant. She looked at her
legs all the down to her ankles and feet next. Ankles aren’t swollen
anymore. I even tried on my old Star Force boots. They fit fine now. Like the
rest of my old uniform. But in this strange heat here in
Then, she touched down between her legs. She wanted to check for bleeding. No evidence of any. Then, she ran her fingers around down there.
The response of her body was so sudden that it almost took her breath away. A lot of the literature says your lib…libido goes down when you breastfeed, she thought. Hormonal balance. But…this…I…
Nova ran her fingers around and then thought she had better stop before she needed lubricant. She let her mind wander and thought of Derek holding her, kissing her, touching her…
Time seemed to slide away as Nova gave in and enjoyed the pleasure with a version of Abba’s Mamma Mia playing in her head as she touched herself. She was almost shocked when, a few minutes later, she found herself exploding right on the floor and feeling pleasantly surprised and shocked at her own naughtiness. She hadn’t felt this good since the week of her honeymoon! Her first impulse was to reach for the phone and call Derek on the Argo with a simple message, “Come home now.” They were not far from the docks. He could push his Mustang home in just a few minutes. And then, she’d be waiting in bed for him on satin sheets to…to…
You’re not supposed to be ready for this for at least three to six weeks, she thought. This is crazy! What is wrong with me? All those doctors checking me at the hospital, all those tests and injections on myself and the babies, and questions about how I felt when I was on the Cosmo-DNA that time. I don’t even remember that much now! Just that horrible gas entering my lungs, like when Ekogaru attacked us in July, and me going out and waking up in Derek’s arms. Until then, blotto. Lots of weird dreams, but blotto. Unconscious. Coma time.
Nova then set down the scale. Shaking like a leaf, she placed her feet on the scale. She wiggled her toes; the light glinted off her pink polished toenails as she waited for the numbers to stablize.
Then, she looked down. The scale readout between her big toes read: 57.606 kg / 127 lbs.
“I lost two and a half kilos in a week,” she murmured out loud, her naked skin covered with goosebumps even though the room was warm. “Lost six pounds in a week, oldscale. This is too fast! This should take weeks! God, what is happening to me? Please, God…what…”
Then the phone rang. Nova jumped around the bed and answered it. “Hello?” she said softly.
“Nova. This is Doctor Sane. How are you?”
“Fine.”
“Why is your video off then?”
“I…I just got out of the bath and weighed myself. I’m still naked,” said Nova as she curled her toes in the rug. Getting tanned all over again, too, she thought as she idly looked at herself. Per her mother’s advice, to allow the sun to toughen her nipples for breastfeeding, she had enjoyed sunbathing and nursing the babies in the nude behind her hedges in her yard. She had done so enough with the kids and Derek lately to get a beautiful honeymoon-like tan again. Normally, this would delight her; neither Derek nor she liked any tan lines on her slender body, and she had always loved having her whole body exposed to the sun and the breeze. But, now, her sudden thinness was a bit frightening.
“I’ll bet you look wonderful,” said Sane. “Still riding that bike, running, swimming, and breastfeeding?”
“Yes to all of the above,” gasped Nova.
“What’s your most recent weight?”
“Fifty-seven pointer six kilos, hundred and twenty-seven oldpounds, naked and still slightly wet,” she said.
“Hmmm,” said Sane. “You are shedding that weight a bit fast. Still eating well?”
“Half the time, when I’m not tired, I’m always eating,” said Nova. “The bleeding’s stopped altogether, too. Even my face is getting a little thinner.”
“Not bad, but be sure you aren’t pushing too hard. Oh. The reason I called…we found a few things in those tests at the hospital that I want to have looked into. I’ve scheduled an appointment for you next week with Doctor Steve Gabriel at the San Diego Parkside Clinic by the hospital. I know him from medical school; he might have my old girlfriend’s number…you’ll get the quick exam and consult; just the usual bloodwork and scans.”
Nova’s blood went cold. “Isn’t Doctor Gabriel an oncologist? I worked with him a little in 2201 back in the Megalopolis while Derek was away.”
“Yes, Nova, he is an oncologist…”
“Then, you think I have…”
“Nova, we’re just noticing something a little funny about the way your T-cells were forming. It could just be a minor glitch. You’ve been through a lot lately.”
“You think I have cancer?” said Nova. Her eyes were filling with tears. “I’m just twenty-nine. Are you looking at leukemia?”
“Nova, you are getting paranoid. Do not try to diagnose yourself yet. We’ll have a consult with Derek when we have your full battery of tests and get your next pelvic exam at my office and get your post-partum check on the 27th.”
“Of October? That’s early.”
“No, this month,” said Sane.
“That’s too early,” said Nova as her lip began trembling.
“For some reason, your biological clock is running on fast-forward right now. Have you noticed the babies growing rapidly?”
“No,” said Nova.
“Then,
we’ll discuss it later. Nova, you sound scared crapless.
Don’t be. I think we have an answer, and I think it’s very benign but a little
bit weird. You know they reformed the area around
“Yes?”
“Too early to say, but we’re finding a correllation between your cells and…oh, I’m drinking old Spring Water now or just peeing in the wind. We’ll talk later. I’ve got patients. Bye.”
“bye,” replied Nova in a tiny voice as she wiped her cheeks.
Then, she looked down at her naked body as she flopped on the bed. “They say…” she said. “A flower looks its prettiest right before…before it dies. I look beautiful now. Like I’ve never been pregnant. But why so fast? And what is wrong with me? Why do I need to see a cancer specialist? Am I dying?”
Nova threw her face in the pillow and began to sob. “I have Derek and two babies! God, we just won a war! I don’t want to lose weight like a skeleton and die yet! I want to see my babies grow up! I don’t want Derek to put me in the ground before I’m thirty with rapid-onset radiation leukemia! I’ve seen enough cases! It kills you in weeks! I…”
Then, Nova just sobbed pathetically in the quiet apartment, accepting a little comfort as Fluffy came in, mewed, and licked at her side.
Nova pulled the little white cat onto her stomach, held her, and wept.
A while later, Derek came home. Nova had pulled herself together at last and hour beforehand. She had thrown on an apron over herself beforehand after hearing Alex crying. She ran to him and diagnosed the cause; messy diaper. Nova smiled when Ariel woke up, diagnosed her with the same minor malady, and after getting the worst of the green mess cleaned up, Nova ran them a bath and got them in. In the steamy bathroom, with two splashing babies, being nude except for her apron was rather comfortable attire for Nova as she knelt on the rug and bathed her children. Sometimes, Nova just got in the tub with them (Derek thought this was adorable and he had gotten lots of candids of Nova at bathtime; and her parents had also photographed them both at bathtime when they both got in and played onsen with the kids) but she didn’t want to get totally wet all over again.
A while later, Alex and Ariel were dressed in fresh diapers and tops, and they
were laid together in a playpen to squiggle around while Nova spent a few
minutes dangling toys over them and watching their little faces. Then, she got
up and began dusting something in the townhouse with her backside to the front
door as she heard it opening.
Nova stopped dusting and jumped up on her toes at the sound. Then, she heard a gasp and heard a briefcase dropping after Derek slipped his house slippers on.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled, “Hi, Derek!”
“Nova…uh…you look gorgeous, but…uh…where’s your underwear?” Derek came up and kissed and hugged his wife, touching her backside and confirming the only thing that she had on it was the large bow from her apron.
“The bleeding stopped. I’m getting better,” she said as she kissed Derek. “How did it go today?”
“Darn civilian contractors…they want to do things to the Argo…”
“Don’t tell me Stone is back on his old “let’s make the Argo into a machine kick, Derek?” Were you safe there today with those big machines and lifts around?”
“Yes, I was,” said Derek. “You look worried about something.”
“We’ll discuss it later. In bed. After we eat the Beef Stroganoff I want to make us.”
“In bed?”
“Yes. We are married and I am fairly healthy,” teased Nova. “I wanted you very badly earlier this afternoon. My body’s going wacky.”
This surprised Derek somewhat. All the literature he had read stated that most women had a hard time wanting their husbands again after having a baby and were scared of initmacy afterwards. Nova was breaking all the old rules again. “Nova, Doctor Sane said we’d have to hold off a bit. You just had two children. Remember?” Derek ran his hand over Nova’s stomach under the apron and said, “There was a big bump here at the beginning of the month. Now where did it go?”
“Go look in the playpen; that’s where it went,” teased Nova. Then, she sighed and said, “I know the doctor said to wait, but there are other things we can do to make each other happy until we can do that little thing again. I’m up for it later. And I…I want to live all I can in the next few weeks. It’s so hard…”
“Nova, what’s so hard…? You look so upset,” he said, shocked at this latest mood swing. “What is….?”
“Saying goodbye to you,” sobbed Nova.
“Nova, neither of us are going anywhere, and we haven’t had any problems that would cause us to separate! What is this ‘saying goodbye’ stuff?” said Derek as he sat down in his favorite chair.
“I don’t want to go,” sobbed Nova. “But when the angels come for me, I have to obey that call…we all do someday…Derek…no one lives forever,” she sobbed.
“What?” said Derek. “What are you talking about?”
“Doctor Sane wants me to see an oncologist next week. I might be dying!” Nova sobbed as she crawled into his lap. Then she began crying her eyes out in his arms as she sobbed and sniffled through her story while Derek stroked her back, her shoulders, and, yes, her bottom as she curled up into a pathetic little ball in his lap and bawled like a baby.
At this moment, Derek didn’t know what to say.
Or do.
He didn’t think Nova could possibly be right. She looked so…healthy. Almost disturbingly so.
But what if it’s true? He thought as he couldn’t help but notice how slender she was. What if…?
Finally, with tender kisses, he made Nova naked again, tossed her apron aside and began to comfort and love her right in his lap, as best as he could without them doing the Full Deed.
She clung to him and responded eagerly.
The Beef Stroganoff had to wait for a while.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2207…
A few days later, Nova’s fears were dealt with after her latest exam, when she and Derek sat dressed in his consulting room with Alex and Ariel as Doctor Steven Gabriel, a bearded, professorial-looking man in his late forties sat there, to their surprise, with Doctor Sane. Doctor Gabriel said, “The good news is that the blood tests and scans of Nova’s liver, bone marrow, lymph nodes, and spleen show no signs of cancer whatsoever. The only problem with Nova’s T-cells, if you can call it that, is that they have been forming very fast and healing any minor glitches we found in her bloodstream, like any small trace of infection, very quckly.”
“Then I’m not going to die?” said Nova.
Sane shook his head. “Your case, though, is very unique. You’re still losing weight rapidly…the latest weigh-in shows you at 123 oldpounds. Almost back to your pre-pregnancy weight, just around three weeks after the birth. Your uterus has shrunk, naturally, the birth area has healed, naturally, your stomach and muscles have become toned with your exercise program, naturally. The rate is just accelerated. Your body has done in three weeks what it usually takes six or seven weeks to do. Now, we know why.”
“Why?” said Nova.
“Blame the Cosmo-DNA, believe it or not,” said Sane. “In 2200, when that radioactive gas hit you, when the Cosmo-DNA went off, there was a massive shock to your system. You were in a state of vacuum. According to your charts, you passed into a state of clinical death that turned into a coma and then reversed itself as the effects of the Cosmo Wave ran through your body in a few hours. We thought you might well die, but everything regenerated instead. We thought it was a one-time effect. It turns out it was not.”
Nova and Derek looked at each other in shock. Then, Nova said, “That explains it. Whenever I got sick, or injured, I would be hurt, down, and then back on my feet again more quickly than usual. I thought during the Rikasha Incident it was due to Aliscea having saved me a few times, but…”
“Doc!” said Derek as he hugged Nova. “Does this mean she’s…invulnerable or something?”
“No,” said Gabriel. “That knife wound from Invidia and that poison, for example. She still needed medical intervention to save her life, still needed to be frozen, still needed to be operated on. She’s not like some Time Lord or something. Break her leg, she still needs a cast. Nova, if I went violently berserk and cut your arm open with a scalpel, you’d still cry, bleed, need sutures, antibiotic, tetanus booster, bandages, growth factor drugs. But maybe for only two-thirds of the usual time. Her and the little ones inside her then. But she wasn’t sick for long, was she?”
“So, my weight loss…” said Nova.
“For you,” said Sane. “It is utterly normal.” Nova blushed. She had on shorts, thong sandals, and a halter top for the oppressive heat outside, along with her cross necklace and a silver ankh necklace (for life) that Derek and Sandor had made for her as a new mother. Her legs, back, stomach, shoulders, all of them were exposed (and as Derek looked at her, he thought she was exceptionally easy on the eyes right now) and very trim and toned. At twenty-nine, Nova looked like a very healthy woman maybe five years younger than her real age as she bounced her little daughter on her knee. She had even tried on her old Star Force uniform (she would have to wear it at a ceremony on the Argo in a few days) and it fit perfectly again. In fact, with her slightly curvier hips and more prominent breasts decorating her still willowy build, it looked better on her than it ever had.
“So, I’m okay?” said Nova.
“We’ll just want to do one more exam next week,” said Sane. “When we’re on the Argo on Wednesday the thirtieth, come see me after the armistice ceremony with Radnar and Desslok. If my guess is right…well, you’re like you would normally be at six or seven weeks. I should be able to look at you then, and…”
“And?” said Derek.
“Then, you should be just about fully over that birth, Nova. As best as I can guess,” said Sane. Then, he cleared his throat and said, “And whem Gabriel and I looked you over from head to toe before on that examining table, we could not help seeing that…well…your womanhood is in very fine shape. If you are very, very careful,” he said as he saw Derek sitting there with an arm around Nova. “I don’t see any reason why you two can’t resume full marital relations.”
Derek and Nova looked at each other sweetly with their mouths open and then they blushed.
Gabriel teased them as he smiled and said, “Of course, I would be careful. No chains, whips, bondage gear, leatherette bags over your head, or Gimp outfits…”
Derek really blushed as Nova hid her face in her hands and said, “Derek and I..never do that. We are a pretty normal couple…the worst I’ve done,” she said as she blushed and her toes curled in her flip-flops, “is…sometimes, when I’m frisky, I wear a cute nightie, or…I don’t wear any underwear under my dress once in a blue moon, or, we…I… do the thing with him outside…bad, aren’t we?”
Doctor
Sane laughed heartily showing his teeth. “Nova, Wildstar, that’s downright cute!
You two remind me of two young puppies! Well, that’s fine! We could use a few more
little Wildstars in a few years. And, about being outside, I used to have a
very active little life with my old girlfriend years ago. I remember what it
was like making love in a meadow on a hot day. Best feeling in the world!” said
Sane as he blushed. “Then, things changed, and, well, the woman I was married
to for a few months thought that was vulgar. Sad, really.
Mizuko was very stuck-up,” said Sane as he wiped his
glasses and then his eyes. To his surprise, Nova came over with a hanky after
handing Ariel to Derek, and she wiped Doctor Sane’s tears away and then gave
the little 54-year old man a big motherly hug. “I should have married Kei
Stuart,” said Sane. “She was the love of my life, but we drifted apart after
medical school when we were separated for our internships. We lost touch after
that. She must be dead now. The last I heard, she was in
“You never know,” said Nova. “Stranger things have happened…people are still being reunited. Earth is a big place.”
“I’m sorry to hear all this,” said Wildstar. Sane very seldom talked about his past.
“I’ll be fine,” said Sane as he let go of Nova and then went for his favorite bottle. Gabriel nodded as Sane reached for a mug that was on his desk. Doctor Sane then poured himself a drink of his peculiar, boozy “water” and began to drink.
VII. A PRIVATE MOMENT
Earth
Rio
Derek and Nova Wildstar’s Townhouse
Saturday, September 25, 2207
1702 Hours, Local Time
Derek was coming home from a late-afternoon staff meeting that had taken place aboard the sleeping Argo, which was still being repaired.
Nova hadn’t gone with him, because she was tired and was taking a nap with little Alex next to her. When he had left her, she was holding him. He had on only his diaper; she wore only a light white and pink summer kimono or yukata on this warm and humid day. It had been so warm that he had worn shorts and a rugby shirt and sandals to church, while Nova had worn only a light blue minidress, light underpants and a pair of blue sandals she was falling in love with.
The house seemed quiet as Derek came in. “Nova?” he called. “Nova!”
She must still be asleep, he thought when he didn’t get an answer. But, she surprised him when she called out, “I’m in here, Derek…”
She was in the nursery, and he was sweltering in his uniform and peacoat. At the door, Derek shed his peacoat and his boots and socks, and he tiptoed into the nursery barefoot in his Star Force whites with his high-collar shirt slightly open at the neck to see his family.
He smiled when he saw Nova cuddled up in her favorite beanbag chair with Alex and Ariel. She was feeding them; they looked a little wet, as if she had just been bathing them, and they were still naked, as a matter of fact. So was Nova, with her yukata thrown in a pile on the floor. She looked sleepy and content feeding her babies in the nude. Derek couldn’t help noticing that Nova’s favorite breastfeeding apparel was rapidly becoming nothing but her bare skin. Derek certainly didn’t mind this.
Derek caressed his wife with his hands as she laid her head on his shoulder. They kissed, and then Derek stepped back.
Derek smiled at them, and came over and began to caress Ariel’s hair. He kissed her, then he kissed Alex…and finally, he kissed their mother, who looked angelic and content in her lovely nakedness, nursing one child at each breast as they lay cuddled in her lap. Derek knelt beside them as he began to stroke Alex. “Hi, big boy,” he whispered as he tickled his son’s chin, running a finger over his shoulders, his chest, his tummy. “I hope he doesn’t go wee on you like that,” Derek whispered as he played with his son’s thigh and smiled at his little boyhood. His baby boy was so cute that he made his father just want to cry looking at him sometimes. The same went for the baby girl that his night of love with Nova so long ago now had made.
“I think he likes being undiapered,” whispered Nova.
“Yes. Especially since he and his sister have the most beautiful mother in the world here to snuggle skin-to-skin with,” said Derek as he ran his finger from Alex’s bottom without a break right to the smooth, soft thigh of his mother. “Comfy, Nova?”
Nova nodded. “You know it’s been so warm that when I’m here, and they’re both hungry, I just love to be naked with them when they feed…especially when it’s warm. I feel more relaxed when I feed them and less self-conscious like this if there’s no one around; funny…aren’t I?” Alex looked sleepy, so Nova gently took him off her firm but soft breast and put him over her bare shoulder to burp him. Derek then kissed Ariel’s back, admiring her little toes as Nova finished burping Alex. “Take him and put a diaper on him, Derek. Then put him in the crib like that,” said Nova.
“No baby shirt?” asked Derek.
“Too warm in in here,” said Nova as Derek snuggled his son and took him naked to the changing table. Then, he put baby powder on his son and carefully diapered him as his legs kicked a little. Derek then held the diapered baby boy and carried him around, giving him a kiss as he laid him in his crib in just his diaper for his nap.
Little Alex smiled at him, and Derek smiled back.
Then, Derek turned to Nova, kneeling on the carpet beside her as he kissed her stomach. Derek then slurped his tongue in her belly button. Nova giggled and said, “Ariel, your Daddy’s being bad…”
“I know,” said Derek as he paused to abruptly tear his shirt off. Nova smiled at his chest and firm abdomen. Then, she giggled again as Derek licked her side near her breast. “Now what are you doing?” she giggled.
“Licking you.”
“Why?”
“Some of the milk ran down you. It smells nice. Like you,” said Derek as he then began to play with her free breast…very tenderly. “Does this hurt?”
Nova shook her head. “No…it feels…”
“How?”
“Nice,” she said as Ariel continued to feed.
Derek smiled at her and then, he tenderly began to kiss his wife’s nipple. Nova moaned a little at that, and Ariel squiggled; she appreciated the increased milk that Nova was producing as a reaction to the stimulation. There were times when she was a little unsure of her milk supply when Derek would tenderly help her like this at home, and only at home. Nova had no complaints about this. Some of her milk went in her husband’s mouth. Neither of them minded much; Nova knew she had enough to give, even in “accidents” like this in love-play with her husband, and Derek liked the warm, soy-milk like taste of her milk.
As Nova fed Ariel, with Derek kissing her, she began to feel flushed, and very warm.
She flexed a leg slightly and began moaning a little. Then, she let a hand wander…down below her waist…
When Derek saw what she was doing, he smiled and teased, “You’ll go blind if you do that too much…”
“Isn’t Daddy silly?” said Nova to Ariel.
“Let me do that instead,” said Derek as he began to tenderly touch his wife’s center himself.
Nova opened her crossed leg a little more and sighed, wiggling her toes as Derek teased her. Then, Derek kissed her as she pulled away Ariel and burped her. She stood up and carried Ariel to the changing table while still in her husband’s embrace, with his hands playing with her breasts, and then her lower abdomen, and the center of her body. Nova shivered and stood on tiptoes, digging her toes into the rug as she smiled at Derek, who was alternating now between helping Nova clothe their baby girl in her diaper and erotically teasing Nova, who didn’t want or need any clothing right now as she kissed her husband and lover. Nova then laid Ariel in the crib as Derek admired her. “Sleep well, little angel,” she said softly as she kissed their daughter and moaned again, softly, as Derek worked at touching her bottom, again touching her most sensitive spot and driving her tenderly mad.
“This is another reason why I like to see you breastfeed them in the nude,” said Derek as he kissed Nova’s neck. “You are very conveniently easy to touch afterwards…or during….”
“I know…why do you think I love to drop it all around you?” she gasped as she relaxed and turned to jelly in his arms, stroking his toes with hers as she shut her eyes and just let her husband make sweet love to her with his hands. She pressed her bare bottom against him, and shivered as she felt him almost ready to burst out of his Star Force pants.
He was breathing heavily as he loved her as best he could half-clothed, not at all surprised when she cried out softly and shivered in his arms as her body let go and she felt like Heaven.
“You feel beautiful,” he said as he stroked her hair. He kissed her and began to pull back.
“We’re not through yet, space cowboy,” Nova purred as she turned to him and undid his pants, pulling them down and making him naked in a moment.
“Hmmm?” said Derek as he expected Nova to pleasure him in turn, feeling a bit bad as he took his pleasure, knowing he could only reciprocate with his hands…Sane said we could, but I do not know if it is safe yet…, he thought sadly. You’re not ready for it…I…
He was shocked when Nova pulled him down to the floor with her. Then, she said, “I want you to go all the way, and just make wild love to me on the floor…right now!”
“Nova, you’re not r…”
“I want to try,” she insisted. “Five weeks without this has been driving me crazy. We stopped in the last two weeks of my pregnancy. It’s three weeks after the birth. You see how fast I’m healing. The doctor said it was okay yesterday, if we were careful. And I want you so damn bad! Just be gentle with me…”
Derek couldn’t believe this. He was about to protest for his wife’s health when she just pulled him closer to her. “Do it to me or I’ll just jump on top of you and rape you,” she whispered.
“
Okay,” said Derek.
How could he resist? She was beautiful, lightly tanned all over, naked, toned,
and gorgeous, and she wanted lovemaking with him very badly at the
moment.
“If I hurt you, or it hurts… give me the sign and I’ll stop it,” he said as he kissed her and began to slowly take her, right on the nursery floor.
“Don’t stop,” whispered Nova as she accepted him eagerly. “Please don’t stop!”
“I won’t,” said Derek.
He didn’t.
They spent the next hour making love right on the floor in the middle of the nursery as the babies slept. Nova enjoyed it.
So did Derek.
As they sighed and made love softly, Ariel awoke slightly and turned her head.
She didn’t have any words yet for what she saw with her sleepy eyes, but she knew who Mommy was by her face, and she also recognized Daddy; he was with her quite often himself, and she was often put to sleep in his lap, too.
Baby Ariel had no words or concept to figure out what she was seeing in all innocence, but she figured out that Mommy looked happy. Daddy looked happy, too. They had on no clothes, as they both often were at night when Mommy took her into their bed with her brother. Ariel smiled. She had no idea of what sort of funny game Mommy and Daddy were playing, but she guessed it had to be fun-they were making happy sounds, laughing, kissing, and tickling each other a lot. Then, she closed her eyes, and cooed at the nice sounds Mommy and Daddy were making as she fell asleep again.
When Nova got sleepy, Derek romantically carried her to the bedroom in his arms and tucked her in. It was warm, humid, and they knew the kids would probably be hungry again in about another four hours. Nova told Derek not to dress her. He expected that. Ever since she had begun to truly heal up, (rapidly, how did she do it?), she had not worn nightclothes of any sort to bed for the past week, (sometimes she threw them on when expecting company) and some mornings, she made their breakfast in nothing but her apron; an apron where she could let the bib down to feed one or both of the babies if needed. When it was just them in the house, or even them in their yard behind their hedges, Nova felt no particular need to be terribly modest anymore.
Derek didn’t mind.
Neither did Nova.
VIII. KATRINA’S BAD NIGHT
Earth
Rio
Derek and Nova Wildstar’s Townhouse
Sunday, September 26, 2207
2145 Hours: Local Time
Nova Wildstar was at home alone with Alex and Ariel that night. Derek was away again, working a little late on the Argo. Derek had said it was more problems with the civilian contractors, …Nova had no reason to doubt him, especially since she had been aboard the ship with him earlier and had met a bunch of them herself…some of them were not terribly bright men, and some could be very difficult. She was expecting him to get home between 2300 and midnight, so she was trying to wait up for him.
Nova had the baby monitor circuit up and running in the townhouse’s intercom system. She was sitting in the living room in a leatherette recliner, reading a novel which was actually a Medically based thriller; it seemed someone was carrying out an unusual set of murders, and it was up to the book’s heroine, a female pathologist, to gather clues from the autopsies. Nova could easily picture herself in such a role someday, and she was very interested.
It was warm again in the townhouse. They still hadn’t gotten the air conditioners installed yet, so Nova sat there wearing only one of her comfortable white summer kimonos or yukata decorated with a floral pattern.
Suddenly, the chiming doorbell rang.
Now who could it be at this hour? It’s almost ten! Nova thought a little irritably as she marked her page in her novel and got up. She was hoping it was not Angie Hartcliffe. While she liked her friend, she did not to hear the latest of her trials and tribulations with her husband tonight.
Nova went to the door and threw it open…only to find Katrina Savela standing there, looking very depressed. She had on a long dark blue dress, black pumps, and she had an odd-looking red pin in her hair above her bangs.
Nova rolled up her eyes a little and asked, “What’s wrong?” She looks odd tonight, Nova thought.
“Much,” she said.
“Did Foxy treat you badly tonight?” Nova asked as Katrina stepped in.
“No. We had a good date. It was when he went home again…that I began to feel lonely. Tried to call him. His mobile phone is not working, and I had no one else to turn to at this hour, so I reluctantly come to you.”
“Why reluctantly?” said Nova. “We are friends, right?”
“I thank you,” said Katrina. “I need someone to listen to me, and I do not need a lecture…not tonight!”
“Okay,” said Nova. “I’ll listen.”
“Where is Wildstar?”
“Derek’s on the ship; he’ll be in late,” said Nova. “Oh? Would you please take your shoes off?” Nova said.
Katrina sighed. Nova herself was barefoot; she hoped she didn’t expect her not to wear shoes. “Why is that?”
“We usually don’t wear street shoes in the house,” said Nova as she opened up a closet door near the door; it held shoe racks where Katrina saw she and Derek kept their shoes and boots. Nova opened up a drawer in a cabinet in the closet and found a pair of black Japanese-style women’s house slippers that she thought would fit Katrina. “You can put these on and consider them yours when you come here. Just don’t touch the open clogs there; they’re mine for when I sometimes have to work in the kitchen.”
Katrina nodded. She sat on a small bench by the door and changed her shoes, and had to admit the slippers felt nice. Then, she got up.
Katrina then said, “I am feeling a great deal of anger at my father right now. The memories are haunting me…”
Nova took her hands while sitting on the bench. “I am so sorry….I know who your father was….”
“YOU do?” snapped Katrina.
“Yes. We know that he was a Cometine. Your poor mother was captured by them…wasn’t she?”
Invidia’s eyes began to involuntarily mist up when her mother was mentioned. She hated herself for showing weakness now, especially in front of Nova, but she admitted, “Yes. She was…my father…”
“What did he do? What was his name?” asked Nova.
“NEVER ask me his name again!” yelled Katrina. “You do that, our friendship is OVER! GONE!”
“all right,” said Nova. She took a big, deep breath. “Katrina, you came here to see me. You are my guest. I am not yours. And you do not scream at me like that in this house again. Are we clear on that?”
“I guess so.”
Nova got up. “You know, Intelligence wanted to use you as a guinea pig and keep you in ‘protective custody’ in a prison. They wanted to use reverse-engineered Gamilon technology on you to actually probe your mind and your memories. Guess who protected you from that?”
“You?” said Katrina.
Nova nodded. “I interceded for you. One of the Intelligence people told me I was risking my chances at future promotion in rank by doing so. I told him I would appeal to the Commanding General if I had to. I really put my damn neck on the line for you, Katrina,” Nova said in a flat, hard set of tones Invidia had heard only once from her before; at the conference at Melezart. “I do not appreciate being yelled at by the person who owes their freedom to me. I’ll have you know I was also told to observe you. I am under orders to have Intelligence come and pick you up if you ever cause trouble here in our society. I don’t feel that way, personally, but a lot of people on Earth are very prejudiced against aliens. Even allies of ours. So, you are a guest, Katrina. Not only in my home, but on our planet, by our grace, and the grace of the Pellian Hgh Command. Are we clear on that?”
Katrina nodded. Immediately, she regretted coming over. She decided she had better bite her tongue and not anger this woman. If I anger you, they might just take me and probe…and find out who I really am. Around you, I had better act nicely… “Nova, I apologize.”
“Thank you,” replied Nova with a formal bow. “Now, would you like some tea?”
“Are you putting anything in it to make me talk?”
“No,” said Nova. “Come in the kitchen and watch me make it if you do not trust me.”
Katrina did so.
A while later, Katrina sat at the table with Nova.
Katrina looked at Nova and said, “I came to talk to you about my father.”
“What was he like?” said Nova.
“He was a Cometine General. We will speak in generalities. He captured my mother and made her into his concubine. I was born on a Cometine planet,” she lied, knowing all too well she had actually been born aboard the original Gatlantis in the clinic. “It became clear my mother loved me more than my father did. My father was always away on excursions of conquest…”
“That sounds awful,” said Nova.
“But…he cared for me when he was there. We had a governess or two who helped my mother. I was very close to Mother for many years. Same with Father. Father would sometimes take me to staff meetings now and again. But then, when I was twelve, my mother died. They said it was an accident. And I was left alone with my father amongst all of these Cometines…that’s how I know their language and customs so well…”
“What did your father treat you like?”
“A posession,” said Katrina as she didn’t truly fake this part of her story. “He tried to use me to replace Mother. We became close. A little too close, one might say…”
“You and he…he didn’t…use you as his wife…did he?”
“No, he did not. But the officers said he was using me in that way. It made me feel like trash,” said Katrina. “I had to get out of there eventually,” said Invidia, as she glossed over the years where she and her father had conquered planets, the months where Desslok had been on the Gatlantis city-ship with them, and the whole first war with Earth and her scheming. “Get out of there I did. I ran around the time that the Cometines were getting involved in their first war with Earth, and I began making my way, bit by bit, towards Pellian space in a stolen shuttle. Then, Ekogaru brought Pellias to your Galactic System. I got word of that, and I came there and arrived right as people were beginning to leave. I was accepted as another refugee, and I went to Iscandar. I served in the Pellian forces for some years until Invidia captured me again. I was tortured on the Eritz Gatlantis; treated horribly. I escaped, and you and I met on Iscandar. Then, I left, and was captured again; almost put to death on the Eritz Gatlantis by Ekogaru,” she said, not lying about that part. “I escaped again in the chaos of the second battle with Michelle. How is she?”
“She just became conscious again the other day,” replied Nova. “She seems to be all right…enough. I saw her in the hospital. She was asking for you.”
“She was?” said Katrina.
Nova nodded. “You two seem to have quite a bond.”
“Can she live wid me? Can I care for her?”
“Possibly,” said Nova. Nova then looked at Katrina and then at the time. “It’s after eleven, and it’s late. We have a guest room. Want to stay the night?”
Katrina yawned; she was getting tired. “Of course,” she said. “I will accept your gracious offer, Nova.”
“That’s good,” said Nova. “I’ll lay some spare nightclothes out for you.” Nova finished her tea and ran off. “I’ll be back soon. Just have to check on the kids…”
Nova took a while. In that time, Katrina walked into the living room and turned on the Tri-D set. The news was on, and much of it was sad.
There
were a lot of stories on the news about refugees from
Katrina
bit back unexpected tears as she watched an image of a half-naked mother, in
just a ragged shirt, breastfeeding twins on the back of a truck. “This woman
lost all of her family except her newborns,” said the announcer. “There are
many like her in the ruins of Sydney,
“Our
Fleet also continues to repair its damage,” said the announcer as Katrina saw
footage of battered EDF space battleships, cruisers, even a shot of the Argo
herself, covered with damage in her dock in
The announcer continued as footage of Pluto showed on the screen. “On Pluto, temperatures continue to warm under the light of her new artificial sun, which is actually all that remains of the Eritz Gatlantis, of Princess Invidia, her generals, and her dreams of conquest. Scientists expect that Pluto may become an inhabitable world in a few years; it is hard to say…”
“It is better she remains dead,” muttered Katrina as she looked at what remained of her city-ship on the video screen while feeling a deep nostalgia for it, as well as a deep revulsion.
The strange warmth, the strange weather, the poverty, the devastation; I caused all of it, Invidia thought. Father never let us walk for long on the planets we conquered. I think I see why now. He never wanted us to see this…the true cost of our Empire. I was hardened enough to it; the slavery, the expropriations, the executions, the suffering. With the suffering thrust into my face, now I see what sort of monster I truly was. I don’t know if I am fit to live or not after seeing this….
Katrina turned off the video unit.
She went into her bedroom in a daze. She checked the bathroom to see if anyone was there. Nova was not there now-it seemed strangely quiet.
Katrina took the nightgown left for her into the bathroom, and she stripped and took a bath. It seemed to calm her…but only a little.
She couldn’t bear to sit in the tub for more than about fifteen minutes. After she emerged and dried herself and put on her nightgown, she began to walk to her guest room to go to bed, when she heard a soft singing or crooning from in another room.
Katrina tiptoed into the nursery, to find Nova at last.
Nova was curled up in a beanbag chair, with her kimono open a little as she held little Ariel in her arms at her breast. Nova was softly singing to her baby, and she looked peaceful and very sleepy.
Nova looked up, a little startled as she saw Katrina.
“I feel horrible,” said Katrina.
“What’s wrong?” asked Nova in a quiet voice.
“I saw the news. I really saw what the Comet Empire did to your world. I am…shocked…”
“War is never a pretty thing,” said Nova in a soft voice. Nova looked at Katrina with gentle, fawn-like eyes that made her want to melt. They looked like her mother’s eyes; or the eyes of her mother as she remembered them. “I don’t watch the news that much any more. When I go to work, I have to deal with it. I don’t need to bring it home if I can avoid it. Maybe I’m hiding from it, but I just saw too much in space during the war. I’m tired, Katrina. Very tired. I hope it’s not a sin to want peace and a new life for your children…”
She is asking me for forgiveness? Katrina thought in shock. This sweet woman most have the most over-active conscience in the universe!
“No, there is nothing wrong with wanting peace. I’m tired, too, Nova. Tired of the fighting, the pain, being a prisoner. So tired,” she said as her eyes began to mist over.
“Come here,” Nova said in a soft voice.
“Am I not disturbing you? What if your son gets hungry?”
“Then I’ll just take this robe off,” Nova said. “That’s all. It’s so hot in here anyway…”
Katrina came over and she hesitantly knelt beside Nova’s chair.
To her shock, Nova motioned her over and gave her a tight hug with her free hand.
“What is…?”
“You look like you need this right now,” Nova said as she hugged Katrina, unaware, in her innocence, who she was embracing along with her own child. “Poor thing…you look like you don’t have a friend in the world…”
“Except for Foxy, I am not sure I do have any friends…”
“I’ll be your friend,” said Nova as she held Katrina. Then, the next thing she said shocked her. “I’ll talk to Derek tonight. We’ll see about getting a key made for you. You can come over any time you feel lonely. I think he’ll agree to that. My niece Sasha has a key to the place; I think you should, too.”
“Right now, you remind me…of my mother,” said Katrina as she began to cry.
To her shock, Nova reached down and kissed her on the forehead. “That’s okay. Sometimes I miss my mother, too even though we fight a lot. I miss Derek even more right now.”
Then, Katrina said no more. She just let Nova hold her along with her daughter. She glanced at the young woman’s bare breast as she fed her baby. Now, it didn’t look strange to her at all.
On Earth, they love each other, she thought as she fell asleep on Nova’s lap.
Katrina came to later on in someone else’s arms.
Derek’s.
“Hmmh?” she said as she smelled men’s cologne around her.
“This is Derek,” said Wildstar as Katrina opened her eyes. He had on his uniform but no peacoat or shoes. To her shock, Wildstar was carrying her! “Nova and I are putting you to bed, sleepyhead,” he said with a teasing smile. “I came home and found you, Nova and my daughter all asleep together in the nursery.”
“That is rather…”
“It’s not embarrassing,” said Nova with a yawn in her voice from somewhere behind her. “It’s after midnight. Derek’s tucking me in next…”
“But he is…”
“Don’t get up,” said Derek. “I don’t mind carrying you,” he said.
Soon, Katrina found herself being laid down gently in a soft, cool bed. Derek Wildstar pulled a sheet up over her, while Nova tucked her hands under the sheet. Then, Nova kissed her on the forehead.
“Derek and I are going to bed,” she said. “Good night, Katrina. Sweet dreams.”
Then, Katrina saw the young lovers leaving the room in each other’s arms. She glimpsed them kissing before Nova turned out the light.
Katrina felt comforted, warm, and safe here.
She finally went to sleep. There were no more dreams that night.
VIII. JONATHAN
Earth
Rio
Derek and Nova Wildstar’s Backyard
Monday, September 27, 2207
0900 Hours: Local Time
A
sleepy morning came as Nova puttered around the yard of their house in
Even
though Nova was officially a reservist off active duty, she still had some
responsibilities, as light as they were for a new mother on maternity leave, as
she found herself assigned as to Central Hospital in San Diego to the 255th
Aerospace Medical Unit at the hospital that mostly met for drill on weekends,
helping out where needed. She would also sometimes help Dawn and Doctor Sane in
the hospital in
Nova also noticed during infrequent visits to the Tokyo Megalopolis that General Stone was harassing Wendy Singleton a great deal when she came into the office. Nova popped into Singleton’s office every now and then, sometimes even with the babies, to say hello to the Commander or to help his new Adjutant, whom Wendy also helped. General Singleton finally got Stone to stop harassing his grand-daughter about that and other things after Nova had found her crying in the ladies’ room one day at Stone’s abuse. Nova had then given Stone quite a piece of her mind and had asked Stone to leave Wendy alone!
“Why?” Stone had demanded.
“Because I’m pregnant!” snapped Wendy as she held onto Nova’s arm and cried. And she was! She had just found that out in the middle of the previous week while Doctor Sane had been checking her out. Part of the celebrations of the fifth of September upon the Argo’s homecoming had included her first full lovemaking session with Homer, as previously recorded. Since they had just set a wedding date that night, they didn’t consider it immoral. Homer had said, “We don’t need to tell the Rabbi you’re expecting; you won’t be showing in October yet.” Wendy had agreed to that.
Nova remembered this with some amusement as she knelt by her vegetable bed and said, “Comfy, Ariel? Mommy is. Mommy can feel her toes in the warm dirt. Here’s a little for you,” said Nova as she playfully rubbed a small bit of warm soil on Ariel’s little bare foot. Nova smiled at the face her daughter made and kissed her on the nose while adding some fertilizer to the area around her tomato vines. Unknown to her, Nova was working near the same spot that Dana Hall had been digging around when she had been killed. She wondered why some new sod had obviously just been put down near here, but then Nova ignored why as she while someone kissed the back of her neck.
“Who’s that?” she yelped.
“Just your husband,” purred Derek as he showed her Alex. Their son wore a blue T-shirt with an old cartoon steam locomotive on it. Ariel wore a pink T-shirt Derek had gotten her that said DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL. Other than that, they wore only their diapers. When they didn’t need to be dressed up, Derek and Nova took advantage of the warmth and kept the babies very lightly dressed in a top and diaper or just a diaper to faciltate changes. Sometimes, after having their bottoms cleaned, their parents just kept them naked for periods of time in the heat. They saw nothing wrong with that. In fact, they thought it was rather cute, especially when Nova matched them herself when she went naked to feed or bathe them.
“I see you got him dressed,” said Nova. Then, she looked at his legs. “Sort of,” she giggled.
“Hmm?” said Derek.
“Alexander, this diaper won’t do you much good if your daddy can’t get your thingie inside it,” teased Nova as she began to adjust her baby boy’s diaper.
While she was doing so, Nova squealed as Alex imitated a fountain and made a merry little wee all over his diaper, shirt, and his father’s shirt. Both parents laughed at that as Alex finished and his wet garments came off and went in the grass along with Derek’s shirt.
Derek laughed. “Nova, wouldn’t it be easier if we just kept him out of his diaper?” he teased.
“You’re silly. That’s waiting until potty-training time,” said Nova as she got a wipe and cleaned her baby up. “Let’s carry him around like this until he dries out, and then he’s just getting a diaper on for now until he has to be in the sun when we get to the Tokyo Megalopolis again for the ceremony at Heroes’ Hill.”
Derek nodded. He would need a shirt on then for his presence at the traditional party that followed each one of the Argo’s cruises. “Nova, did you pump and bottle any milk?”
Nova smiled and shook her head, holding up a breast with her shirt on. “These work just fine, thank you, dear…”
“At Heroes’ Hill?” Derek teased.
“Captain Avatar wouldn’t mind if I slipped to a quiet corner somwhere in the bushes or something to feed him; you know, that little park off to the right of the Memorial Statue,” said Nova. “When he was sick, he told me he’d sit holding his wife Sarah for hours when she fed their boy Adam when he was a baby. He’d hold her the same way you hold me when these guys get hungry when you’re home. Did you get the idea from him? It’s so sweet…”
She smiled at Derek. He wore no shirt, but she had one on. It amused her because lately, it had usually been the other way around. Her mother had even caught a very cute candid snapshot one day of a clothed Derek holding a very naked Nova in his arms with an equally bare little Ariel in her arms. Nova had later given him a playful slap when he called it a picture of “my two favorite naked women on Earth.” Teri Forrester had promised that a formal photo session would follow in a few days in a friend’s photography studio.
“No, I just do it because you are so naturally huggable and light,” said Derek as Nova stood with Ariel and he hugged her. “Also, if you’re…showing…I like trying to keep you decent…”
“Derek,” said Nova with a smile as she kissed him. “You are such an attentive father. I never dreamed you’d be so sweet. It’s like a second honeymoon for us,” she said as her eyes filled up with happy tears. Derek held her as she cried softly. Often, someone was nearby to hold her when she got like this or just got overwhelmed with the babies. If it wasn’t Derek, it was her mother when she dropped by. If not her mother, it was Sasha, Dawn, or Dawn’s mother Lynn who lived nearby or Marina Carmody, with whom she had shared a few feeding and sunbathing sessions on the beach. Or Sandor or even, believe it or not, Diane. They were openly living together now…Nova had begun to wonder if there might be a double wedding soon for Sandor and Diane and Homer and Wendy. Derek was amused by that, and was even more amused when Nova reminded him that, going on six years now, they were like the “old marrieds” of the Star Force now.
Once, even Deke had responded to a call for help when Derek was at some meeting with Sasha, and he had showed up from his nearby townhouse, helped her, and then he had literally held her through a crying jag until Derek and Sasha had come home together. Her friend Katrina had showed up once to help, too, in spite of her mouth and her nearly total ineptitude in helping her with the babies. Her cute boyfriend Kazuo had been much more helpful, and Nova didn’t have any prejudice against him for being her cousin Jane’s ex-husband. So had Angie Hartcliffe, even though Bryan Hartcliffe disgusted Nova because he never seemed to lift a finger to help her or his obviously pregnant young wife. Even Katrina was actually more helpful than Bryan Hartcliffe!
There was also talk of getting Nova a household robot of her own to help her out. She wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea, not wanting to leave her children to the care of some…tinwit.
Nova’s mind drifted back to those times and she then said, “I am such a terrible dweeb of a mother! Always needing help!”
“Nova, honey, every new mother needs help. A lot of it,“ said Derek. “You have the world’s best extended family with your parents and their relatives and all of our friends. Heck, half your friends are expecting now, too…”
“That’s cute,” said Nova. “As soon as it was obvious I was pregnant, everyone wanted one. I guess babies on Earth are like Astro Munchies. You can’t have just one! Wheeee!” she laughed as she tickled Ariel’s tummy as her shirt hiked up. Ariel giggled at that and showed the most adorable smile.
Derek got out his portable camera (it seemed he carried it everywhere now) and quickly got a shot of his daughter’s smile. Then, Nova grabbed the camera and made Derek stand there as he held Alex. Before she took the picture, Nova opened Derek’s pants and pulled them down along with his underwear so that his hips would be showing.
“Hey!” protested Derek as Nova danced back and snapped a picture. “What’s that for?”
Nova smiled at him and said in unfeigned love, “I just wanted a photo of my two favorite naked men on Earth right now. Boots off. I want to get one of you in the grass with him like that!”
Derek complied, smiling as Nova then took a picture of her naked husband cuddling their naked baby boy against his strong chest as he sat cross-legged in the grass.
Only then did Nova let Derek get dressed.
Later
on, the family was flying towards
“I can’t wait to see what it’ll be like to be a mother,” said Sasha. “Even though I am scared…”
Nova looked sweet and very feminine as she sat holding Alex, who now had on a baby EDF shirt in blue and red to match his father’s shirt and his own little red shorts. Alex was hungry, and Nova had her pullover up a little on her left side, by Derek and his window seat, as she nursed her son at that breast…easy since she had nothing on under her blouse. Derek held Ariel, who was sleeping in his arms. Nova’s right side was covered, but one could see her belly button and flat tummy below the hem of her shirt. Derek smiled at her, and kissed Alex and then kissed Nova’s exposed left shoulder as she smiled, comfortable with her left side modestly bared down to the waistband of her shorts. “Sasha, you’ll be fine,” she said.
“I
won’t be,” sobbed Angie. She was showing now under the loose male-pattern Star
Force uniform she wore with sandals. Nova had seen Angie unclothed during
exams, and she thought Angie looked lovely pregnant. “
“He’s doing that again?” snapped Nova. “After I let him see me naked with the twins when they were born?”
Angie nodded. “He’s back to his old ways! He just mocks me all the time. He hates my stomach! He won’t help me when I hurt! He is such a pig!”
“We need to give him a blanket party!” snapped Sasha. “Girls-only this time, Auntie.”
“What’s a blanket party?” sobbed Angie.
Derek
cracked his knuckles as he said, “Angie, remember when he was all beat up that
time on the mission? That’s because he was getting mean to you, Nova, and Dawn
and not being nice to Sasha either after she came home from being in prison on the
Comet. So, Deke, myself, and Hardy all got together, got a blanket over
Angie looked horrified as Nova smiled and said, “Yes! I think we ladies need to go for him next. Don’t you?”
Angie reluctantly nodded. “Maybe,” she said.
“Get back in that cockpit,” snapped Derek. “Right now, my wife needs her privacy!”
“Oh?’
sneered
Derek snarled and wanted to just slug him, until he moved and awoke Ariel, who began to cry.
“Leave us alone and get back in that cockpit, Mister,” retorted Derek. “And that is a damned order!”
Hartcliffe glared at them and went back as Angie just glared daggers of anger and hatred at him. For the first time since they were married, she truly hated him for his actions. It wasn’t annoyance, or just anger, or even rage. It was sheer hatred. “Waking someone’s child, disturbing a nursing mother,” she hissed. “You bastard,” she said in a low voice.
“I’ll bloody knock your friggin’ teeth out for that, yer bleedin’ bitch!” he screamed.
Before
the horrified Wildstars and their children
Derek
handed Ariel to Nova as Nova pulled her shirt back down and he got up just as
Suddenly,
Sasha stormed up to
“You…bloody…cu…”
Sasha
stood there with her hands up in a strange gesture. An angered Derek stood
there with his Astro-Automatic out, up, and aimed at
“Why…I’ll…”
“Hands UP!” snapped Derek as he pointed his weapon at him. “Hartcliffe, you will freeze at once! Mrs. Hartcliffe, sit next to Nova! Nova, tend to her! NOW!”
Nova nodded as she let Angie run over and bury her face in her arm as she also comforted her two crying babies.
“Uncle, let me do it,” hissed Sasha as she stood there with trembling hands.
“Do what?” muttered Hartcliffe.
“Stop your rotten heart! If you even have one,” hissed Sasha. “I have the power to do it, and you’d deserve that for killing an innocent child! Don’t fuck with me, Hartcliffe!”
“Sasha,
don’t. Leave him to us,” said Derek. Derek snarled and said, as he kept
the gun turned on
“Okay,” said Sasha as Derek held two weapons on Hartcliffe until the two Marines in green came up with an EDF Corpsman in blue. The Marines punched Bryan Hartcliffe again and two of them handcuffed him and frog-marched him out. The Corpsman turned to Nova after she gave her babies to Sasha. “Ma’am. I’m Corporal Watanabe. Do you need my assistance?”
“Maybe,” grunted Nova. To everyone’s shock, including Angie’s, the slender young Lieutenant Commander grunted and picked Angie up in her arms. Angie was crying and clutching her stomach. “Help us get the dispensary ready. She fell on her stomach and she is about four and a half months pregnant. She told me her crotch feels wet all of a sudden. It might be bleeding…”
“Yes,
ma’am,” said Watanabe as Derek went forward just as
“Angie’s hurt; Bryan Hartcliffe did it,” said Derek as Nova, Watanabe, and
Angie went aft. “Sasha’s fine. She helped us stop it. Let’s go forward.
Hartcliffe is under arrest, and we need to call MP’s and an ambulance. Angie
needs to go to
“Yessir,” said Deke.
Later,
Derek again sat with Deke and Sasha in that all-too familiar waiting room in
Finally, an hour or so later, Doctor Sane came out, followed by Nova. They were both in Medical whites and looked tired.
“Well?” said Derek.
“Luckily, we stopped it in time,” said Sane. “Angie won’t be able to make it to Heroes’ Hill with us; she will be on bed rest for a few days. But she’ll live. So will her boy.”
“That Hartcliffe disgusts me more than ever, Derek,” said Nova as she pulled off her paper shoe covers and then took her OR sandals off. “I usually don’t like divorce, but I think maybe this might be a case where it might be called for.” Then, she held her son on her lap, kissing him and tousling his hair as he woke up. The new mother then picked him up and held and snuggled Ariel the same way before she put her back into her baby carrier.
“I agree with you,” said Deke. “That Hartcliffe has been degenerating into a sick excuse for a human being.”
“He already was, long ago,” said Sasha.
“I’m going to go and get changed,” said Nova. “Then we can see Angie before we leave…” Nova kissed Derek and left. As she left, Ariel began to wail. So did Alex. Derek kissed his son, shrugged, and followed Nova into the locker room as she pulled him in by the arm with a wink.
Sasha was left alone with Deke. “They’ll be alone for a while, Deekee,” she said. “They’re hungry.”
“How do you know that?” said Deke.
“I’ve been around them and Auntie enough to recognize their cry. I can also pick up on their little baby thoughts,” she said with a blush. “Babies think mostly in feelings and images because they don’t have any words to express what they are feeling yet. Those two know their parents love them an awful lot.”
Deke nodded as he sat beside Sasha and hugged her. “They make such good parents. Like a certain Princess I know will be in a few months…”
“I feel tired so much,” said Sasha as she laid her head on Deke’s shoulder. “And you know what that morning sickness is like. It’s like I’m back on the Nagato again that first day. Whooping all over the place. Nothing to worry about, I guess,” said Sasha as her eyes filled with tears. She then sobbed as she said. “Auntie says she was throwing up all the time at this point, too…and crying like this, and…”
Deke just held his pregnant Princess as she crawled in his lap and began to cry. A nurse came in, looked at them, and said, “Poor dear. Did she just suffer a loss?”
“No, two months pregnant,” sobbed Sasha. “I’m fine, just…”
“Let me bring you some water, dear,” said the nurse as she kissed Sasha on the forehead. She ran off in her clogs to get some water.
“Everyone’s so kind to me now, Deekee.” said Sasha. “Almost everyone. When I called my sister Astra the other day, she was short and mean with me. Almost like she didn’t want to hear from me…”
“What brought that on?” said Deke.
“Her losing Conor. She blames Jonathan for it.”
“Poor kid,” said Deke. “Where is Jonathan? Isn’t he back on Earth?”
Sasha shook her head. “He is, but, get this part…she refuses to tell anyone where he is. Except that he is in an orphanage somewhere. They searched the part of Saint Anselm’s above-ground in the Megalopolis already, but they can’t find him!”
“What?” said Deke. “Sasha, that’s crazy!”
“I know,” sobbed Sasha as the nurse came back with the water.
Deke then looked at the nurse and said, “Do you work in Internal Medicine?”
“Yessir, I do,” she said.
“How is Lieutenant Angelique Hartcliffe in Room 212 doing?” said Deke.
“Sleeping,” said the nurse. “She’s been sedated. She doesn’t need visitors now, sir.”
“I’m sorry, Nurse,” said Deke. The nurse nodded and left as Sasha added, “About Jonathan? Uncle is really mad that she won’t reveal where their godson is. And don’t mention it to Auntie. She goes livid whenever she talks about it!”
“Stinks…even the perfect couple has their problems…” sighed Deke.
“We do too,” sobbed Sasha. “Inside my stomach,” she said as Deke patted her still-flat tummy. “A few more months, and I’ll start getting…”
“I will not say the word,” said Deke. “I repeat…I will not say the word…”
“You mean what Hartcliffe’s already been calling Dawn and I?” said Sasha. “I’m
“fatso”, Angie is “Balloon Number One”, Dawn is “Balloon Number Two,” and Nova
is “Elsie the Cow.” He has insulting names for all of us. And he moos at
Auntie.”
“That sick piece of crap,” said Deke. “Well, at least he’s cooling his heels in that brig…”
Sasha nodded and held Deke without words for a while. He knew they might be late to Heroes’ hill, but he did not care at the moment.
A while later, Derek and Nova came out again. Nova was back in her civvies with Derek, burping Ariel on her shoulder, while Derek burped Alexander. They both carried their diaper bags, which could double as beds for the little ones if needed. “We’ll probably be late,” said Derek. “We still have to see Angie.”
“No,” said Deke. “The nurse said she’s asleep. We asked, sir.”
“I think we can still make it!” said Nova with a smile.
“Let’s go, then,” said Derek.
“No prob, sir,” said Deke. “Let’s go!”
They
got to College Point half an hour later. The ceremony at Heroes’ Hill was just
beginning as Doctor Sane stood there with IQ-9. The group was bigger than
usual, because now it included the crew of the
Eager had brought Lisa, at long last. She was short, blonde, cute, and in a blue and white checked gingham sundress and thong sandals. She looked adorable next to Eager but a little overwhelmed.
“Captain Avatar!”
screamed Doctor Sane at the statue. “Your children are here again today! The
Star Force has grown! We now have two units on board two ships, the Argo
and the
From
his place in ranks,” Derek then said, “There are many I can remember. Mister Nelson.
Mister Nishina. Mister Bando. Miss Tobias…far too many others,” said Derek as
his eyes scanned the memorial plaques at the foot of Captain Avatar’s statue.
“Thirty-eight new plaques on Heroes’ Hill today. Twenty-nine
new graves. Nine are lost forever in the
The whole group came to attention and saluted. Nova tried to stay as solemn as possible as she heard little Alex beginning to cry. Sane then shouted, “We stand here for all of Earth again in thanking Captain Avatar of the Star Force! Your children have come home today! Your children, and the children who will follow them!” he cried.
They held the salute, watching in respectful since punctuated only by the sound of baby Alex’s crying.
“At ease!” said Derek. “Nova, go check our son….”
“Gladly, sir,” she said with a cute, perky salute. Nova ran over to Penny and picked up Alex, caressing him as she felt his bottom. The young woman then ran up to Derek and said, “We need the diaper bag! We have a messy little junior cadet here…”
Becky Voorhees came up and laughed as her little girl Tammi said, “Auntie Nova! Can I help you change him?”
Nova looked over at Derek, who nodded and said, “Help her with the safety pins, Nova. She will probably be careful…”
Nova smiled and laid Alex down on a baby blanket as Derek held his daughter. Nova helped little Tammi change Alex, getting rid of his shorts, and helping her undo the little blue-trimmed safety pins and his cloth diaper. There was only wetness around the little boy’s bottom and diaper area as Nova and Tammi lifted Alex up and used some recyclable wipes to clean his little diaper area and his tush. Then, Nova laid him back down, smiling at the growing crowd as she pulled up his shirt to clean his tummy and back. Then, Nova took off his shirt and let him lie naked in the sun for a minute to dry off on his blankie as she tickled his tummy and played with his toes.
“His belly button’s done healed up!” said Eager as he looked down at the tousle-haired little boy’s stomach.
“It sure has,” said Nova.
“I see you didn’t circumcise him,” said Penny as she looked down at Alex as Ariel began to whimper in Derek’s arms. “He looks like he’s developing nicely and gaining weight naturally.”
“He sure is,” said Nova. “Now let’s cover you up,” she said to her son. “We
don’t want to offend anyone.”
“Also, I bet you don’t want him going peepee everywhere,” giggled Tammi Voorhees, very cute with her dark brown mop of hair, striped sundress, and little flip-flops.
“That too,” said Nova as Derek knelt down with Ariel in his arms. Someone ran over and got a picture of Derek and Nova closing up his diaper together while they looked lovingly at each other and their baby.
Then, as they put a fresh shirt on Alex, Derek’s cell phone rang. “Who could that be?” he said.
“I’ll get it, Uncle,” sang Sasha as she ran over in her striped top, low sneakers and tights to pluck the phone out of the inner pocket of his peacoat. “Moshi-moshi,” she sang cheerfully. “For you,” she said as she handed the phone to her Uncle while Deke came up from behind and hugged her possessively.
“Yes?” said Derek. “Yes? Aliscea! I was wondering why you and Paul weren’t here. Where’s Hemsford? The old underground city with twelve Marines and some shore patrol? What happened? The old south gate? I..?”
Then Nova watched Derek’s face turn colors as he listened to whatever it was Aliscea had to say. “You ran to the Iscandarian Embassy to protest? And she threw you out? And it’s true?”
“Derek?” asked Nova. “What’s…?”
“We’ll be right there. I can drive fast…,” said Wildstar. He hung up and said, “Nova, get Ariel on my back until we get her to the car….”
“Derek, what’s wrong?” said Nova.
“You get Alex, Nova. We have to run now. Sasha!” he called out.
“Uncle?” said Sasha, now thoroughly confused…”
“You have to go to the Iscandarian Embassy with Deke tonight,” said Derek. “Aliscea said she was in touch with your mother. Good thing that Lady Novalia is here on Earth.” Derek then said in a low voice, “She has to be invested by you as the Royal Family Representative as the new Ambassador tonight. Astra…”
“What happened to my sister?” said Sasha as Deke held her.
“She has to be discommended and sent home,” said Derek. “Your mother’s request. Then, you are to anoint Novalia as the new Ambassador, and then you and Deke have to take her to Government House to present her credentials to President Mendellsohn. But Novalia knows most of the protocol. Nova and I can’t be there.”
“Why?” said Deke in a low voice.
“The reason that Astra is being punished. Jonathan has been found.”
“Where?” cried Nova. “Oh, my God, Derek, is the poor boy...?”
“He’s alive,” said Derek. “But in danger. They found him dumped in a secret branch of St. Anslem’s in the old underground city. He’s being punished for something!”
“My God,” whispered Nova.
“The poor boy,” said Sasha as she began to cry.
“Abandoned in the same orphanage I had to go to,” said Derek. “And he’s been abused, Nova. We talked about this. Do we have room for one more?”
“We can ready the spare room tonight, Derek,” said Nova. Nova then looked at Derek and said, “Uhh…on one of my excursions..I bought some computer games, a small PC, and some teenage boys’ clothes and shoes in his sizes…I know them well enough from having had to examine him head to toe in our Sickbay back in July after that battle when he got hurt…I…”
“Good thinking, Mom,” whispered Derek in Nova’s ear. She smiled at him and gave him a kiss.
Then, Derek and Nova
took a depressing drive off to the old underground city beneath the Tokyo
Megalopolis. During part of the drive, Nova needed to feed Alex. She did so,
but he burped over her blouse, so, when they drove along an area with little
traffic, Nova pulled off her pink blouse and fed her son topless for a little
while in the car before she got dressed again in an old red and blue golf shirt
that she kept in her diaper bag.
They were depressed when the aircar drove off the finished road onto earth that was still scarred by the planet bombs. Some rank weeds grew there, but little else. Almost no one came here; and even fewer care to come here to this place.
This, thought Derek as he drove along with a quiet and pensive Nova in the back seat tring to comfort Alex and Ariel, This is a part of the world that God and Man forgot about. I hope we never have to come here again. Why would they still even have part of the old orphanage down here, in the place of darkness, death, and nothingness? Why have children down there, out of the sunlight?
“Why, Derek?” murmured Nova. “Why put children down there, underground, where they have to live like moles?”
“I have no idea, Nova,” said Derek. “They said a new priest took over the orphanage since I left. I don’t know what kind of man he is.”
“I’m not sure I want to know what kind of man he is,” replied Nova as she comforted a whimpering Ariel by rubbing her leg.
They parked the aircar near an egress point for the underground city. Nova remembered the place well; it was the same place Derek had taken her to back in the early autumn of 2201 when he had told her that he would have to leave soon to go off and fight the Comet Empire; and he could not ask her to come.
Much had befallen them since they had last been here. Now, the young parents walked along, with Derek holding Alex, and Nova holding Ariel as they walked along into the dimly lit underground city. They were soon sweating. The sun was strong here, it was hot and dry, and every step the young parents took kicked up the red dust of some of what remained of the dying Earth of the days before the Cosmo-DNA had come. Plants grew here, but they were rank, weedy, and rough in this nearly-dead desert.
They went down the
lift about three hundred meters, down past the abandoned portions of the city
where nothing but rats and scavengers lived with a few of the dead. Alex and
Ariel whimpered at the dimly lit cold of the elevator as their parents tried to
comfort and sooth them. It was clear that they were scared of the cold and the
dark of this place, a place one step removed from the grave.
“I hope these two never have to see this place again,” said Derek as he held his son and looked at the grim towers of the underground city.
“And I hope that we can bring Jonathan back up from this place again, for good,” said Nova as she cuddled her daughter. “Why put children down here, Derek? I can’t understand such cruelty.”
“Cruelty,” said Derek. “Maybe that’s it…”
“But why?” said Nova. “Who could do that to children?”
Derek just shook his head. “I have no idea…”
They met the man when
they met a tall, strange-looking Japanese-Celtic looking priest with blond hair
and severe-looking vestments at the illuminated doorway of St. Anselm’s
Orphanage (Underground Branch).
“I am Father Cale Sakimoto,” said the priest as he roughly shook Derek and Nova’s hands. “I understand you have some interest in one of my inmates?”
“Inmates?” said Derek. “Isn’t that a strange term to use for children and young teenagers?”
“These are inmates,” said Sakimoto. “Children who are too incorrigible for the new Orphanage up in the sunlight. I regret to inform you that as Dean, I keep such children down here as a short-term measure for punishment.”
“What have they done that you need to keep them down here?” cried Nova.
“Attitude problems. Psychological difficulties. Difficulties in adjustment. Sometimes…even the specific orders of those who consigned them down here to us,” said Sakimoto.
“Is Jonathan Hartnell-Iiiyama down here?” demanded Derek Wildstar.
“Yes. And we’d just as soon be rid of the little nuisance,” said Sakamoto. “He is the one who complains the most about his tenure here being an injustice!” Then, he leered at Nova. “Is Karl Forrester, Esquire your father?”
“He is,” said Nova.
“He is quite the meddler, coming down here with social workers and what-not. I do not abuse children,” said Sakamoto.
“I beg your pardon,” said Nova. “Keeping children down here in this cavern can be considered abuse in itself!”
“Ah, the light and air thing, hmmh?” said Sakamoto. “You’ll see what I have to deal with, girl. This way.”
Father Sakamoto motioned them on.
Nova and Derek were appalled at what they saw next.
Not even Derek remembered St. Anselm’s, in the same buildings, as being quite like this.
The old common room that Derek remembered had been turned into a bleak-looking barracks room. About thirty bunks were lined up in the room; fifteen along each wall. Doorways that Derek remembered as leading to the two-child bedrooms that had once been used were closed off with plywood, looking bleak as they stood clad in only grey PT T-shirts, shorts, and plastic sandals.
Thirty boys stood at attention in the room. They looked like prisoners…watched by four muscular-looking monks who carried sticks.
Derek and Nova recognized Jonathan at once. Nova ran up to her father and accepted a hug from him as he and two social workers stood near a diminshed-looking fourteen-year old boy that Nova recognized as Jonathan.
Derek ran up and gave Jonathan a rough hug. Nova kissed him.
“Guys,” he said in a choked voice. “They may not let me leave.”
“What do you mean by that?” cried Nova.
“He says they have not been abusing him,” said Karl. “Or so he claims.”
“Jonathan, take your shirt off,” said Nova.
“I beg your pardon?” said Sakamoto. “I do not know what you are insinuating?”
“Take off your shirt,” said Nova.
As the monks and the priest snarled at the boy, he took off his shirt.
Nova gasped as she looked at his sides. He had several bruises on his bare flanks, along with an ugly scar on his back. Nova wiped his back with a wet baby wipe provided by one of the social workers as Jonathan grimaced.
It came away bloody.
“Look at this!” said Nova. “If he hasn’t been abused, how do you people explain this?”
“He needed discipline. He refused to say his prayers at night,” said Sakamoto.
“That’s a lie!” cried Jonathan. “They make me wake up in the morning by hitting me!”
“Would you be quiet, brat?” snapped one of the monks. He was about to get up and get into Jonathan’s face when Derek handed his son Alexander to his grandfather and pushed the monk back.
“Listen! We’ve come here to claim this boy!” he yelled. “It’s pretty sick that you’d hit any of the children here, but even worse that you’d hit our godson!”
“What legal basis do you have to take him?” sneered Sakamoto. “He is here under a Decree Nisi of cutsody signed by Lady Astra of Iscandar. It is by her orders she is here.”
“Astra’s orders?” cried Nova. “Why, that horrible woman! Jonathan, why does she have you down here?”
“Because she blames me for Dad being killed,” said Jonathan as he began to sob. “Nova, she says she doesn’t love me any more. Please take me home. Please be my new mother.”
Nova handed Ariel to one of the co-workers, and then she gently pushed aside Father Sakamoto as she hugged Jonathan hard. “Of course I will. Derek and I have a room ready for you. You’re leaving here…with us…”
“What legal basis do you have?” said Sakamoto.
Karl Forrester looked up from a piece of paper as one of the social workers notarized it. “A Decree Nisi, Father, alleging neglect and abuse of a Ward of the Court. This Decree gives immediate emergency custody of Jonathan Hartnell-Iiyama to my daughter Nova Wildstar and her husband Commodore Wildstar. We have ample proof they are fit parents. Also, per vows they took in Church, they are his godparents. This orders you to surrender custody of the child to them or face legal consequences.”
“You are also going to be investigated for the way you have treated these other twenty-nine children,” said one of the social workers. “This order orders you to grant us access to their persons for medical exams and psychological interviews.” At that, another one of the social workers herded the other children away.
Sakamoto took the orders and stood there in a low rage. “Take them. And, if he’s going to go with you, he has to give us back his clothes. We can give them to someone else.”
“You’re horrible!” said Derek, who had to be restrained by Nova from punching the priest. Jonathan cast his eyes downwards and looked at everyone.
“No,” said Jonathan. Even though he knew it wasn’t entirely legal yet, he said, “Dad, Mom…I’ll let him have my things…”
Jonathan took off his plastic sandals and gave them to the priest. Then, he handed over his battered grey T-shirt, followed by the grey shorts as he stood there clad in only a rough fundoshi. “There, Father, happy?” he said.
“You came here with nothing, you leave here with nothing,” said Sakimoto. “Take the fundoshi off, too.”
“What?” said Derek.
“Naked he came to us, naked he will leave,” said Father Sakimoto.
“I’ll take it off, “ sighed Jonathan.
Blushing like crazy, he took off his loincloth and stood there…just as naked as the day he was born.
“Aren’t you giving him anything to wear?” cried Nova.
“No,” said Sakamoto. “You’re his parents now. It is your responsibility to clothe him. I suggest you do so before you leave.”
“Derek, let’s take him off to the side for a moment,” Nova said.
“C’mon, Jonathan,” said Derek as Nova led them off towards a bathroom while Karl and one of the social workers held their other children.
In the bathroom, while she was trying to comfort her new adoptive son, Nova looked at Derek and nodded. Derek didn’t like that look, but he knew Nova was about to act.
A moment later, Nova pulled off her own red and blue golf shirt, revealing her well-toned stomach and firm breasts.
“Nova!” cried Derek.
“I’m sorry, but he can’t leave here like this; it’s not right,” said Nova as she fiercely hugged Jonathan against her bare chest and then clothed him in her own shirt. She looked down at her own brown sandals and told Jonathan “Sit on that toilet and put out your foot..”
“Mom?” said Jonathan, who gasped as he realized what he just had called Nova.
“Just do it,” said Nova as she crossed her arms over her breasts.
Jonathan did so. “Looks like they’ll fit…” Nova, with tears in her eyes, unbuckled her own sandals, took them off, and put them on Jonathan’s feet. They fit.
“Jonathan, stand up,” Nova said.
He did so. Blushing, he realized Nova’s shirt wasn’t quite enough to entirely cover his nakedness. “There’s not quite…”
Nova looked at Derek. “Just one thing to do.”
Then, Nova stood, and before the shocked eyes of Derek, she just unsnapped her khaki shorts and let them drop to her feet.
Jonathan looked on with tears in his eyes as Nova stepped out of her shorts, unashamed of the undeniable fact that she was now completely naked. Then, she clothed Jonathan in her shorts and said, “There. Now you have something on. Thanks to that horrible priest, these are right from off my back!”
“Ma’am, I..” said Father Sakamoto as he followed Karl into the bathroom.
“Now do you have anything for me to wear?” asked Nova as Ariel began to cry. Nova picked her daughter up and unselfconsciously cuddled her. “Or, Father, is the mother of three children going to have to leave your orphanage in the nude? He’ll get sunburn out there without anything on…”
“I..” said the priest.
“Nova, you’ll get sunburn too,” said Derek. He pulled off his jacket and his blue EDF shirt and quickly clothed Nova in them. They just covered her, even though she kept the jacket and shirt slightly open because a hungry little Ariel was immediately going for her breast. Nova kissed her daughter and held her close as she nursed with little suckling noises.
“We’ll give you clothes,” said Father Sakimoto. “I…”
“I don’t need your charity; I can dress my son on my own,” said Nova as she hugged Jonathan, looking as regal as a Princess even though she wore only a shirt and her husband’s coat and went bare-legged and barefoot. “Derek, let’s go.”
Derek nodded, and left, taking Alex in his arms from the social worker.
Then, Derek smiled at Jonathan and looked at him. “C’mon…son…”
“Thanks, DAD!” Jonathan said with a sob as he hugged his new father.
Derek hugged Jonathan back and then took him by the hand. He nodded at the priest and the social workers as they left. “Good day, Father,” he said as the new family walked towards the lift.
A few minutes later, Father Sakamoto also left.
He left in handcuffs; under arrest for child abuse and neglect.
The children left later that day, taken to other orphanages.
But, Jonathan Hartnell-Iiyama never returned there again.
TO BE CONTINUED….
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here