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 FOUR: OF FAMILIES
OLD AND NEW
I. FOXY’S MANSION
Earth
The Outskirts of the Great Megalopolis
Kazuo Foxworth-Savela’s Mansion
Monday, October 19, 2207
1003 Hours Local Time
It turned out that Foxworth Manor was a beautiful, eccentric
mansion built by an equally eccentric owner.
Patterned after a
strange castle seen in an old movie once by its owner, Foxworth Manor was a
bizarre castle built on a hill outside the Megalopolis.
Filled with rooms
lined with simulated woods, it had many weird features.
It had a huge entry
area that led to a room with a massive staircase; a room filled with bizarre
knick-knacks.
One of them was a
strange clock built out of a wooden coffin. Katrina gave Foxy a weird look when
she saw the clock, and Michelle screamed when he opened the coffin to reveal a
human skeleton inside. As the clock chimed 1000 Hours, Foxy grinned and dusted
cobwebs off the skeleton and said, “This was one of my uncles. We dug him up to
keep him around.”
Derek Wildstar gave
the skeleton and Nova a weird look, but Nova shrugged and said, “He’s always had that.”
“Vat sort of other
weird things does he just happen to
have?” Katrina said.
“This way,” said Foxy
as he stumbled over a wheelchair that was left sitting in the path for no
reason. The group came to a huge, old-fashioned elevator car that was closed
with a metal grating that one pulled back and forth. Foxy ushered them in, and
he worked the elevator like some old store operator, stopping to drink from a
bottle of wine kept in the elevator car. “Anyone want any?” he said as he
passed the bottle around.
Nova shook her head
hard; the day outside had been warm, and since she knew she would be helping
Foxy and Katrina clean, she held Ariel against a chest clad only in a very
light blouse tied under her breasts. Other than that, Nova wore only cutoff
shorts and thongs on her body. Derek had on shorts and a rugby shirt with
sandals, and he held little Alex. Jonathan had come along for the trip in
shorts, a t-shirt, and bare feet.
Katrina and Foxy also
wore similar summer clothes along with Michelle. The eight of them were the
only ones in the odd castle as the elevator passed two floors and stopped at
another floor.
Finally, they reached
their destination; an odd-looking den filled with lots of potted plants, wicker
chairs, and the like, along with various large stuffed representations of dead
bears and other such large Terran animals.
“The Zen Room,” said
Foxy as he stumbled over a sea chest.
Nova randomly opened
a small box on a table, and she jumped back and screamed as a human hand came
out from out of the box.
“I see you’ve met
Thing,” said Katrina. “Do not be concerned. He is both robotic and harmless.
Foxy keeps him around primarily to frighten the unwary.”
“I hope so,” Nova
said as she waved at the disembodied hand and watched as it closed its box.
“So why do you need
us here?” said Derek. “This looks like a hunting lodge for rich weirdoes.”
“You said you wanted
to be here to help us move in and clean up the other day on the yacht,” said
Katrina.
“Yes,” said Nova. “We
did. Well, show us what we have to do, and we’ll be happy to help…”
Katrina grinned,
thinking, This will be fun…
FIVE HOURS LATER….
A sweating Derek
watched as Nova used an old-fashioned carpet beater to slam the dust and crud
out of an old Persian-style rug that Foxy had put over a clothesline in the
side yard. Foxy, Derek, Nova, and Jonathan had done about sixty-one percent of
the work, while the servants had done maybe thirty-eight percent of the work
while Katrina ate grapes and did maybe one percent of the work as she watched
everyone else working in the heat.
“Whew,” said Nova after she stopped and reached down to play with
Ariel in her baby carrier. “Foxy, think I got it all?”
“I would say so,” he
said.
“I wish Katrina would
get off her butt and help us,” Nova said as she picked up Ariel and gave her a
breast.
“I’ll see if I can
scare her to come out here and help me carry in this rug,” said Foxy. “You lay
in the grass with her and get some rest. You’ve done enough today.”
“Thanks,” said Derek
as he kissed Nova after he checked Alex, who was asleep. “Where’s Jonathan?”
said Derek.
“Last I saw, off in
the pool with Michelle,” said Nova. “They found him a swimsuit someplace.”
A few minutes passed; Nova then burped Ariel and put her
back in her carrier after closing her blouse. Then, she lay in the grass on a
towel, watching the clouds in her cute, barely-dressed outfit beside Derek as
she said, “What do you think of this place?”
“It’s weird, like
them,” he laughed. “It suits them.”
Nova nodded as she
flexed out her long legs to get some sun. “This is sort of fun, you know?”
“Yeah; it is funny
watching Foxy make Katrina work. She sure has this regal, high and mighty
attitude, though. I wonder what sort of work she did when she was a pilot?”
“Some pilots are
lazy,” said Nova. “Witness Sakamoto and Bryan Hartcliffe. But she is a good
pilot. I know. Remember that one day at the airfield last week in
“Yeah…when you took
her for a ride in a Tiger?”
“She landed us,” said
Nova.
“You let her land a
Tiger?” said Derek.
Nova nodded. “I was
hovering over the controls to get her out of trouble when we landed after she
asked to land it, but she did land
it. I was impressed. She knows how to fly, all right. I wonder what she is like
at her job, though.”
“Okay, she’s
just…weird,” said Derek.
Katrina came out with
Foxy a few minutes later; Nova almost giggled softly as she heard Katrina
yelling at him when he tried to make her work. Finally, Nova smiled when she
saw Katrina struggling with a corner of the rug as she and Foxy carried it back
into the castle.
“He got her to work,”
said Derek. “He actually got her to
work.”
“Good for him,” said
Nova as she kissed Derek. Derek kissed her back.
About an hour later,
Nova and Katrina were sitting together on a towel with Alex and Ariel while
Foxy and Derek went off to shoot some pool in the castle. Both of them had
needed diaper changes; Nova had shown Katrina how to strip Alex out of his
light baby clothes and undo his diaper pins and diaper as she also did the same
with Ariel. Then, Katrina had fumbled with the naked baby in her lap as Nova
rolled up her eyes and frequently helped Katrina wash him (he was just wet,
luckily), powder his bottom and diaper area, and then, Katrina laid him on a
fresh diaper, smiling a little as he wriggled with his dark hair, little nose,
smiling face, little chest, belly button, boyhood, pudgy knees, and ten little
toes all out on display to be tickled.
“He looks like a
living doll,” said Katrina, who was beginning to fall in love with the little
tyke even as she fumbled his diaper.
Nova laughed and
brought over Ariel, who wore only a half-closed diaper. “The diaper goes over
him like this,” said Nova as she
demonstrated with Ariel. “Be sure you get his thingie up under the flap and
covered or he’ll wee all over the place…”
Nova smiled as
Katrina fumbled but got the diaper over her son. Nova then helped with the
safety pins before Katrina poked him in the hips with them. A moment later,
Nova helped slide Alex into a light onesie-type garment in blue as she dressed
Ariel in a similar one in pink as she waved her arms and legs all over the
place. Nova smiled at Katrina again as she said, “You actually helped with him!
Thanks!”
“It was not so bad,”
said Katrina as she handed Alex back to Nova. In her lap, he reached for her
breast and began to whine. Nova smiled and undid her top, letting him have what
he wanted.
“How does that feel?”
Katrina asked as Nova nursed Alex.
“If you get them
latched on right, fairly pleasant,” Nova said. “If they get on the nipple the
wrong way, it can be
“It is a good thing
you’re not that self-conscious with your body, especially with those twins.”
“I was in the
beginning, Katrina,” said Nova. “Not now. I’ll be glad when they get interested
in baby food and I can do this a little less. I am planning to have them weaned when I start
“You adore them,
don’t you?” smiled Katrina.
“Of course I do,”
laughed Nova. “I think I might well be pregnant again at some point while I am
in
“You look like you
have fun being a mother,” said Katrina.
“I do; better than
fighting all the time,” Nova said. “Four space wars in eight years. I think we
deserve a break now. Earth has had enough. Some peace would be great.”
Katrina nodded. “It
was the same for Pellias,” she said. “I wish Pellias still existed.”
“Astrena said she
might try to have her daughter find a new world for their people someday,” Nova
said. “Ever thought about moving on with Foxy?”
“No,” said Katrina.
“Earth is nice. We like it here.”
“Great,” said Nova.
“I’m so happy for you.”
Katrina smiled back.
Later on, after the
Wildstars had left, Foxy and Invidia were alone in their wing of the house with
Michelle. The servants had retired to the servants’ quarters for the evening, so
Katrina had dropped her disguise and was showing herself off to her husband and
adopted daughter as herself.
“So how will you get
to your job now that you live with me?” said Foxy.
“I was on the phone
with them earlier,” said Invidia. “My job was independent in nature, so I can
send articles to them via long distance over the ‘Net. However, you have your
cottage by the baech in
“Yes, we will be
living there, too,” said Foxy.
“That’s good,” said
Michelle. “Someone has to take care of the yacht. And watch over dorky
Jonathan.”
“Actually, your
brother is growing up to be quite a nice young man,” said Invidia. “Nova loves
mothering him.”
“Do you love
mothering me?” said Michelle with a sigh.
Invidia smiled and
gave her adopted daughter a kiss. “I’m getting used to it; let us just say
that.”
“Thanks for being so
cool…both of you,” said Michelle.
“No need to mention
it,” said Foxy as he sat near Invidia on the couch and began to brush her hair.
“It looks better now that it is no longer a mess…”
“Thanks,” Invidia
said as she lay against her husband, looked at the video screen, and smiled.
II. A SWEET, WARM, GOOFY DAY
Earth
The
A Nail Salon Downtown
Tuesday, October 20, 2207
1123 Hours Local Time
Nova had decided to
go get her nails done; why, she didn’t know….she just felt it would lift her
spirits a littlle.
At the spa, Nova sat
with Sasha (whom she had also treated to a time at the spa) as both young women
got facials, manicures, pedicures, and got their hair fluffed up.
Afterwards, Nova sat
on a couch, clad again in her white Headquarters uniform and matching white
sandals, sipping at a lemonade and smiling as she looked down at her pink
fingernails and toenails. “Like it?
“You see I got them
to do mine blue,” Sasha said as she extended her fingers and toes.
“That’s cute, but
sort of weird,” said Nova.
“Matches my outfit,”
Sasha laughed. She had on a maternity version of her favorite blue outfit, with
dark blue sandals on instead of her boots.
“How’s your stomach?”
“Sometimes I have a
little trouble keeping food down, Auntie…”
“Throwing up?” Nova
said as they went outside. Derek and her mother were going to meet them in the
mall in a few minutes with Alex and Ariel.
Sasha nodded as she
almost ran right into Katrina. “OhmiGod!”
Sasha squeaked. “I’m so sorry!”
“You should look to
where you are going!” Katrina snapped. The boxes that she was carrying were all
over the place now.
“I thought you were
supposed to be at work,” said Nova as she nodded at Katrina and helped her as
she began to pick up boxes. “Oh! Some of these things are gift-wrapped! Were we
going to surprise someone?”
“Don’t you look at those!” snapped Katrina.
Katrina did not want Nova to see that some of the boxes had pictures of little
storks on them, nor did she want Nova to see that her own name was on the gift
tags on some of those boxes.
The reason why was
because a surprise baby shower was planned for Nova at her own house at 5PM
that day; but no one wanted her
knowing about it. The hard thing about this was that Nova was both very smart
and usually very nosy! Katrina had to almost grab a box out of Nova’s hand
since Nova was just trying to be helpful in picking it up.
Luckily, Sasha
figured out how to distract everyone. She coughed and said, “Nova, I’m getting
sick to my stomach! Go buy me a milkshake so breakfast doesn’t come up?”
“Sure,” said Nova.
“Let’s go.”
Sasha winked at
Katrina as she left, and Katrina smiled a little and nodded back, thinking, The Iscandarian airhead actually did
something right for once! She has a brain under all that fluffy blond hair,
after all! Thus left alone, Invidia was able to keep her secret and she
didn’t let Nova know the reason she was out of work was because she was a
conspirator for a baby shower for her…
Katrina smiled when
Nova met Derek at a food court at the mall. He and Nova’s mother had Alex and
Ariel in their baby carriers. Nova and Teri had spent some time buying Alex and
Ariel new baby clothes, and the two of them looked adorable. Alex had on a
mostly white shorty coverall with little blue stripes, a blue shirt, and little
white and blue sandals, while Ariel wore a little white sundress with a pink
sash white sandals that matched the sort her mother had on.
“I see you’ve been
busy,” Derek said.
“You got them such
adorable clothes, Derek…Mom! Thank you!”
Nova said as she picked up Ariel and let her kiss her. “When can we go home?”
“They need you on the
ship for a few hours,” Derek said.
“Why?” Nova replied.
“Problem with the
computer system,” Derek said. This was not a lie. Commodore Wildstar had been
aboard the Argo earlier that day, and
the main computer had been giving them some trouble. Wildstar and Frank
Carmody, head of the civilian contractors supervising the Argo’s refit, had been having a horrible time adding some things to
the computer system. “We need you there to look at it while I run around the
ship and pick up Jonathan from school later on. I don’t think we’ll be home
until….oh…1700…”
Derek then winked at
Katrina, who smiled back. Good, she
thought. I still have that house key you
gave me. That will allow us enough time to get everything in there to surprise
Nova. Invidia had always been good in setting up sneaky little plans like
this, and she enjoyed scheming of this sort.
“Well, let me finish
lunch,” Nova said. “Then, aboard ship, I’ll need our cabin to give these two
lunch myself.” Nova smiled, but she knew when she mentioned feeding Alex and
Ariel, her breasts would start to ache for them. Darn, she thought. I did have
to mention that. In this uniform, with this slip being all the underwear I have
on under my blouse and skirt, I’ll have to strip to feed them. Can’t exactly do
that here! I hope I don’t start leaking or something….
FORTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER….
On the Argo….
Derek couldn’t help
smiling at Nova as she tapped away at a keyboard in the Captain’s cabin on the Argo. Alex and Ariel had begun crying
for milk almost as soon as they got aboard ship, so Nova and Derek had gotten
up here, the bunk had come down, and it was a good thing there were no
contractors in the cabin that day, because, with Derek’s help, Nova had gotten
out of her uniform very quickly and
had gotten Alex and Ariel into her naked lap just as quickly to give the milk
and comfort of her breasts…with the privacy shield down, of course.
“Good thing we’re up
here,” teased Derek, who kissed Nova’s shoulder as she lay back on the bunk to
work on her keyboard in comfort in the nude as the babies suckled her.
“Yes. If I had to do
this on the
“I know you
wouldn’t,” Derek said.
“Not unless they’re
screaming,” Nova said as she rubbed one of her bare feet against the deck.
“That feels new. Did they just put that in?”
Derek nodded.
“Mommy’s not going to
put her shoes back on aboard the ship,” Nova cooed to Ariel; her little girl
had everything on but her sandals. “Mommy likes the way the deck feels. When
you start walking, you’ll like it, too…huh?”
Ariel stared at her
mother and smiled before going back to lunch at her mother’s nipple. Nova then
looked at the screen and said. “Darn those contractors!”
“What’s wrong?”
“The warp subroutine is
messed up. Because of the way they have security set up, I have to be at the
main Administrator console to rewrite this. Could you watch them when I’m done,
Derek?”
“Sure, Nova. I do
hope you will be getting dressed…”
Nova rolled up her
eyes and threw a pillow at her husband. “Of course
I’ll put my uniform back on. What? You think I’m going to run around the
computer room naked?”
“You weren’t very
dressed the other day in the holography room.”
“That was different,” Nova said primly. Nova then checked Alex’s and
Ariel’s diapers. “Wet,” she said as she sat up. “Derek, fresh diapers, please?”
Derek kissed Nova and
his children and nodded as Nova got Alex and Ariel out of their little outfits.
A tap came at the
hatch a moment later while Nova and Derek began wiping little Alex’s bare
bottom.
“Ohhhh, who’s that?”
Nova said. “Go away! I’m not decent!”
“Just your mother,”
said Teri.
“Derek, go get that…”
Derek let Teri in. She dropped her bags, oohed and ahhed over Nova and the
now-naked little twins, and got a camera and began snapping pictures.
“Great,” muttered
Nova. “I’m working, and you want to take pictures, Mom!”
“But you and they are
so cute!” Teri said as she tickled
Alex and Ariel at their mother’s breasts.
Then, a moment
later, Nova heard a little farting noise from one of the babies. It was Ariel,
at her mother’s breast.
Ariel
squirmed, kicked, wriggled….and, once again, just like at the baptism a little
while ago, she pooped all over herself, and all over her naked young mother.
The yellowish baby poop ran over Nova’s stomach, over her hip, and down her naked
bottom and upper thighs in streams that ran down her legs all the way down to
her toes.
“Akkkkkk!” Nova squealed as she tried to
hold on to her baby daughter. “NOT AGAIN! Ariel Starsha Wildtar, you are a poop
machine!”
“Oh, no!”
laughed Teri as Derek laughed and went “awwwwwww…” again.
“Derek,
Mom, I…”
Teri
smiled at her daughter. “Here we go again. At least, this time, you don’t have any stained clothing on to remove,
so this will be easier, won’t it?”
“I think
I noticed,” Nova said. A moment later, Derek began wiping her clean, helped by
her mother. Nova put up one foot and the other as her mother tenderly washed
her lower legs and feet. Nova could not hold back giggles as her mother washed
her toes clean, nor could she hold back shivers as Derek washed her lower abdomen
and upper thighs clean. Nova then shivered a bit more as Derek and Teri worked
to gently wipe the mess off her body and Ariel’s little body using lots of baby
wipes as rags. A moment later, Teri undid a package and spread out a new baby blanket
on the bunk for Nova and the twins to lie on. The soft blanket felt wonderful
under Nova’s bare feet and bare bottom in the warmth of the cabin.
As Derek
washed her lower abdomen and held her close to wash her crotch, Nova kissed him
and moaned slightly as she took this necessary treatment with both babies
suckling at her again a moment later. Then, Nova felt much, much warmer and far more tingly as Derek
washed her bottom, going up between her legs again with deep tenderness, and
her legs were shaking and her toes were curling rythymically in the blanket as
Derek finally, as gently as possible, put his hands and a fresh, cool baby wipe
right between her thighs to make her clean while she thrust out a long,
beautiful, bare leg as he again washed the most tender part of her form as she
stood up and sytood right in his arms.
Teri
winked at them and said, “Nova, where’s the bathroom? We need towels…”
“Back
that way…” Nova said.
“I’ll
take him out to dry him,” Teri said. “You both look as if your hands are
full….”
Teri
stepped out of the cabin with little Alex in her arms
Oh, my God, Nova thought as Derek cuddled her. I wish he’d stop…but how can I ask him to…he’s just cleaning me? I…I
don’t want him to stop…God forgive me, I…I…
Nova,
while being washed with her babies in her arms, went deep into her husband’s
protective embrace.
I…I…love his hands on me….God forgive me…I….in front
of my Mom, I…oh, God…this feels good! Just like in the church…I…
Nova then
shut her eyes, and put her mouth against her husband’s shoulder to stifle her
tiny gasps as her sensitive naked body just let go in a now not altogether
unexpected shivery and sensual climax almost as helpless as her baby daughter’s
accident right into Derek’s hand while she was being washed.
Luckily,
Teri never noticed, being in the head with baby Alex.
“Derek…I…”
whispered Nova. “I…”
“you
what?” Derek whispered. “Did you just do what…I think you did….in my arms? Again? You are becoming hypersenstive, dear!”
“Yes,”
Nova almost sobbed. She whispered, “You gave me the most…wonderful little
moment…oh, God, ohh…yes…you just…you’re horrible, but…you made me feel so nice…like
you do at home at times….”
“Honey,
it couldn’t be helped, given where I was washing you…” Derek whispered. He
smiled, thinking of how things like this had been happening at home, where,
especially when Jonathan was not around and it was just Nova, Derek, the babies
and sometimes Ms. Eloise, Nova wore very little or nothing at all home…and many
stolen little moments like this had happened. Once, he had even made love to
Nova from behind in the kitchen while she had been standing there nursing Alex,
with both of them naked and fresh from the bath. “Now stand still while I
finishing cleaning you up,” Derek whispered. Nova looked over and saw Teri
coming back in the cabin with Alex, who was now very clean but still dressed in
just his baby skin.
“Now,
time for your new outfit,” said Nova as she nuzzled Alex while feeding Ariel.
Later on,
Nova had gotten dressed again (except for her shoes, she still went barefoot) and
she was kneeling on the deck in the main computer room, working on the Argo’s computer while Derek and Frank
Carmody watched.
“What did you find?” Derek asked.
“Trouble,”
Nova said as she tapped away at yet another keyboard. “Good thing we’re not about
to try warping the ship now; otherwise, we might not have any control over it.”
“Which
means?” said Frank Carmody.
“Uncontrolled
free warp into the Fourth Dimension,” said Derek.
“That’s
not good,” said Carmody.
“Your workers
caused it,” Nova sighed. “Who’s been at this subroutine?”
“Some guy
named McEllway,” said Carmody. “I’m really sorry, ma’am. I’ll get this guy
written up and help you fix the program myself.”
“Thank
you,” Nova replied.
Nova and
Frank worked together on the program for a while, regenerating it from backups
that were in other memory cells in the system. Derek watched them working for a
while, and then he went up to his cabin to check on Alex and Ariel.
I wonder when this day is going to be over? Nova thought as she wiped some sweat of her brow. I’m so tired! Whew!
Nova
continued to work on the computer system, smiling to herself when the screens
and indicators began turning from red to blue, indicating that the computer was
busy repairing itself from its backups.
“I’m not
going to let anyone else touch this except for Sandor for a while,” said
Carmody as he began closing screens. “That way, the warp subroutines won’t get
corrupted again.”
“Good
idea,” Nova replied. “Let’s run a simulation of a warp to see if it’s working
right…let’s start about now…we’ll calculate a mock warp between the Moon and
Jupiter.”
“Let’s
get to it,” said Carmody.
When Nova
was done, she came back up to her cabin needing to get some water or soda. When
she found Derek, Derek was busyplaying with Alex, who had on one of his new
outfits, namely, a blue striped shirt, shorts, and little blue sneakers.
Ariel was
asleep in her baby carrier and was being rocked and sang to by her grandmother.
“Did you get
the computers fixed?” said Derek.
Nova
nodded and smiled as she took the bottle of bottled water Derek handed her. She
drank it and then picked up Alex, playing with him on her lap while she grabbed
up her sandals and finally put them back on. “What time is it?”
“You mean
you lost track of time down there?” said Derek.
Nova
nodded.
“Now it’s
about…uh….1610,” Derek said as he looked at his computer and closed up his log.
Derek winked at Teri, and she smiled back. Teri thought, We should be ready. We kept
her on the ship long enough….
“Let’s
head down to the car,” Teri suggested.
“Shouldn’t
we wait until Derek’s ready?” Nova said.
“I’ll be
along in a few minutes,’ said Derek. “I have to make some notes in the log
about today’s repairs.”
Nova bent
down, holding Alex in his baby carrier, as she kissed her husband. “Don’t take too long, now. You’ll get me worried.”
“I
won’t,” Derek said.
Teri
slipped back on her own sandals and picked up Ariel, who wore a yellow top and
a little white skirt with matching sandals. Ariel cooed as she woke up, and her
father bent down over her to kiss her. “Listen to your grandmother now, and be
safe. I’ll follow you soon…”
Nova and
Teri left with Alex and Ariel, as Derek called his own house in
“Yes?”
she said.
“Katrina,
we’re leaving now with Nova and the kids; we’re also stopping by the school to
pick up Jonathan; he had a Photography Club meeting after school and so he was
going to be late today anyway. How much is ready?”
Katrina
smiled, looking over at Sasha, Diane Henson, and Wendy Glitchman, who were
there long with Dawn Hardy and Angie Hartcliffe. “Most everything is ready,”
said Katrina. “We have the streamers up, blue and pink ones, and we have a big
new baby blanket down. It’s surrounded by the gifts.”
“We know
it’s not usual to have a baby shower after the babies are born, but we couldn’t
exactly do this during the war,” said Dawn.
You don’t know how right you are, thought Invidia as she flashed back to what she
was up to just a few weeks ago; namely, plotting the conquest of Earth. We couldn’t have done this when I was on the
Comet plotting to destroy or conquer all of you. Now…things…well, they’re
different, she thought.
“Good..”
Derek said. “We should be able to pull a nice surprise for Nova when we all get
home.”
“I hope
she’ll like it,” Sasha said as she got back on the phone again.
“I think
she will,” said Derek.
III. SURPRISES!
Earth
The
Rio
Derek and Nova’s Residence
Tuesday, October 20, 2207
1700 Hours Local Time
At five PM,
Nova stepped into her apartment, carrying Alex. “Derek, why is the apartment
all dark?” she said. “I could have sworn we left the curtains open and the
lights on when we left this morning?”
“”Step
out of your shoes and walk in,” said Derek.
Nova shrugged
and sat down on the little bench in the foyer and got rid of her sandals. She
took Alex out of his carrier and waiting for Derek to follow with Ariel after
he got rid of his shoes; Jonathan had his school shoes off last and he nodded
at his father as they walked into the darkened living room.
Suddenly,
the lights went on, and everyone yelled, “SURPRISE!”
Nova
almost dropped Alex as she looked up at the big banner that read, “CONGRATULATIONS,
DEREK, NOVA, ALEXANDER AND ARIEL!”
Nova
smiled, biting back tears as she looked at Sasha and Deke, Brew and Bangs, Mark
and Holly Venture, Sandor and Diane Henson, Katrina, Foxy, and Michelle, Homer
and Wendy, Bryan and Angie Hartcliffe, and Dawn and Jefferson Hardy as they sat
there with Frank and Marina Carmody and their children along with Karl
Forrester and Nova’s brother and sister David and Aurora. They were all sitting
on a large blanket with gifts around them with IQ-9 and Ms. Eloise sitting
nearby.
Derek
pretended to act “surprised” as he said down with Nova and the babies while
Jonathan sat down with them and winked at Felicia Carmody, who was now
officially his girlfriend. Felicia had on her school sailor dress and high
white socks as she smooched at Jonathan’s cheek and whispered, “I got home
early and helped Katrina set this up. Isn’t this great?”
“What did
you buy them?”
“You’ll
see,” said Felicia. “Nova’s got that box in her hands.”
Nova
opened the gaily gift-wrapped box and pulled out a set of pink and blue rattles
and pacifiers for Alex and Ariel. Both babies were soon sucking away on the new
pacifiers and looking with interest at the rattles both parents were holding.
Sasha and
Deke gave their gifts next; Nova and Derek were pleased to receive three robes
and some bath cushions in boxes. The little robes were white, trimmed in pink
and blue for Ariel and Alex, and there was a big adult-sized white robe in pink
for Nova to wear after bathing the twins. Nova’s mother gave them some
washcloths, towels, baby oil and baby shampoo, and two Lionel train sets…one
for Alex and one for Ariel, while Karl Forrester surprised Alex and Ariel with
some new clothes and some envelopes that Nova found held stock in some
aerospace corporations, along with notations that the dividends for Alex and
Ariel’s stock would go into bank accounts for them where they would be held in
trust for them until they became twenty-one. Alex and Ariel would be shocked on
their twenty-first birthdays when their parents presented them with the stock
and bankbooks that by then held sums that were in the hundreds of thousands of
credits.
The baby
shower party went on for much of the evening. After all the gifts were opened,and all of the pictures taken, Nova put Alex and Ariel to bed,
yelled a little at Jonathan and Felicia when they were caught necking in the
guest bedroom (even though Nova secretly thought it was sort of cute), and
then, after having some apple juice, she finally went in for a nap around 11PM
as the last of the guests were leaving.
Nova gave
Wendy and Homer a fond farewell, knowing that she and Derek would be at their
wedding in just two more days, on Thursday, the 22nd. They were
looking forward to that, and they would be travelling back to
But, at the
same time, on
Namely,
the people in question were pilot Shigeru Sakamoto and his fiancee’ Duchess
Caella of the Comet Empire.
They were
still living on
As Caella
was discovering, they were also rednecks and hicks.
Some of
Sakamoto’s relatives from America, namely the Sakamotos of Northern California,
the Leeces of Kentucky, and the McFarrells from the hills of West Virginia had
also come to Great Island for what Sakamoto’s weird cousin Cletus McFarrell, a
farmer from West Virginia, called “A glory-filled weddin’ bash with lotsa
moonshine.”
Yes, some
of Sakamoto’s relatives were actually hillbillies!
At the
moment, Caella, who was barefoot in an old pair of coveralls and a halter, came
out with a straw hat on to watch Cousin Cletus, barefoot, who, in coveralls, a
straw hat and bandana, sat working on their tractor engine, cursing and
drinking moonshine while he chewed on a piece of straw in his rotten teeth.
“Damned
dagnabbed thing of a tractor, Caella. Where did ya bring this from, honeypie?
The wreckage of your goddamned Comet?”
“Sakamoto-san
bought it at the local Tractor Company branch, Cletus. This was a perfectly
good tractor two weeks ago…”
“Damn
no-count stupid-ass brainless cowshit patty head fiancee of yours was usin’
this thing to drag-race, ah reckon! He really mucked up the clutch, worthless
no-account son of a bitch!”
“Cletus,
cool it,” said Sakamoto, clad in a leather jacket and jeans, as the old hick
cursed up a storm.
Cletus’
wife, Marty Sue, came up and said, “Cletus, get off your no’count tail and
comeon over to the ceement pond these people got.
“Why
don’t you stop ‘im, Marty Sue?”
“Why don’
you stop him, Cletus, ya worthless, moonshine guzzlin’ hunk of dried out sake
residoo?”
“I’ll get
him, Mammy,” said Takeo Sakamoto, a big giant of a man who weighed maybe 350
pounds. A minute later, Takeo was pulling
“I need
to go pee!” cried
“Go in
the damn outhouse then,” growled Takeo.
“But
there be spiders and bugs in there,” said
“I go in
there all the time,” sighed Caella, as she thought, Why did Zordar and Invidia ever want to conquer this planet? We should
have either left it alone or blown it up! “Now, c’mon and I’ll show you how
to go pee!”
“Thank
you, Auntie Caella,” said
In the
meantime, Akron’s sister Victoria was randomly spray-painting things on the
side of Sakamoto’s barn as she giggled, wearing a frilly dress that was rapidly
becoming filthy with spray paint as she chewed on a piece of dried dog food in
the corner of her mouth. No one thought much of this. She had just stolen it from
Sakamoto’s ugly mutt dog, who was named Spike.
In the
meantime, Cletus was drinking moonshine and cursing while Caella talked about
her wedding dress.
Then,
Sakamoto said, “We’d better get dressed. You got a suit, Cletus?”
“Ah’m
goin to see the preacher like this,” said Cletus.
“Takeo?”
said Caella.
“I’ll go
if I can have sake and get drunk.”
“Go and
get
“
“C’mon,”
said Caella. “You’re going to be the flower girl. You have to put on this
pretty dress.”
“Okay with
me if ah can rub in the mud later on,” said
Later on,
at a synagogue on the outskirts of the Megalopolis, Homer was putting a wedding
ring on Wendy Singleton’s finger under the canopy. She was crying. So was
Sasha, who was her matron of honor. So was Nova, who was waiting with Derek.
Then, the
wine glass was broken under Homer’s shoe, and Wendy
and Homer left the synagogue, newly married, laughing as they ran towards their
limo.
Katrina ran
next to Foxy. Katrina had on a dark red gown with spaghetti straps that showed
off her shoulders, worn with black sandals. Foxy ran beside her; he had on a
black tuxedo with a white bow tie.
Half an
hour later, they all ended up at a huge country club far to the north of the
Tokyo Megalopolis, where Dash, who was the best man, stood at about 1500 giving
a rambling speech for the toast while he paused every now and then, hearing
weird noises from the other room next to them.
Katrina
shook her head at the noises. She ignored them, and went on talking with Foxy.
They had
made their decision they were going to have a big wedding of their own in early
December. Katrina had picked out a country club nearby that they had passed as
a venue, and she was cuddiling with Foxy and talking about who they were going
to invite, when….a few minutes later, the doors to their reception hall burst
open, and Cletus staggered in in his bare feet, old dirty overalls, straw hat,
and so forth.
Katrina
wondered what THIS was (some joke on Homer’s part?) when she saw that Homer and
Wendy looked just as shocked at the hick as she did. She looked at Foxy, who
nodded. Then, he looked at a shocked Wendy and Homer (Homer and Wendy were
dressed very nicely; Homer had on his EDF dress blues, while Wendy had on a
beautiful satiny bridal gown with satin pumps). Cletus then spat tobacco on the
rug and said, “Ya look nicer than the other bride. She’s green!”
“Green?” asked Wendy, very confused.
Commanding
General Singleton came up, cleared his throat loudly, and said, “Sir, are you
from the Sakamoto wedding party next door?”
“What if
I is? Who are you? The Penguin in
Chief?”
“I beg
your pardon! I am the Commander of the Earth Defense Forces,” said Singleton as
Nova introduced Derek (who was in his blues and peacoat).
Nova
looked imperious in her black dinner dress and sandals as she said, “Sir, this
is Commodore Derek Wildstar, Commander of the Argo and the Star Force. We were here to see a shipmate getting married.
I think you’re in the wrong place. I’ll walk you…”
A minute
later, everyone screamed as Spike the Ugly Dog ran into the room, trailing a
leash made of rope behind him. He barked, growled, and put his head in the
champagne fountain and began lapping away loudly while most of Homer and
Wendy’s guests looked on in disgust.
Little
Victoria came in in her bare feet, whooping and yelling as she ran up to Spike
and then she screamed at litte Aurora Forrester, about her age but more nicely
dressed, as she tried to make the dog heel.
“Is this
your dog?” said
“Yeah, he
my dog,” said
“He’s
ugly and he is not welcome in here,” snapped
Then, a
moment later, people screamed and yelled as an apparition in white entered the
room.
She was
dressed like a bride, but a very tacky one.
Caella
had on a white, short bridal dress, white fishnet hose, two garter belts, and
clear plastic sandals that had goldfish swimming in the clear plastic platforms
that made up the soles of her shoes. She was also very drunk.
“Why are
you hitting MY DOG?” she yelled at Nova as Nova tried to grab the drunken mutt
by the collar. Nova was usually good with animals, but she was batting .001
with Spike, who had just bitten her twice.
“I’m very
sorry. This dog is loose, drunk, and a menace to humanity. My babies are
sleeping over by that table. I do not want this thing biting my children. And
who are you?”
“Duchess
Caella of the Comet Empire. I just married Mister Sakamoto Shigeru over there.”
Nova
smiled, nodded at Caella, and then turned to Sakamoto. “Sakamoto.
This is Homer and Wendy’s reception. We didn’t invite you…”
“So
leave!” snapped Sasha as she came up. Sasha also pointed at Cletus. “And take
that drunken farmer out with you, please.”
Cletus,
in the meantime, was attacking Homer and Wendy’s wedding cake. Wendy was
beginning to cry as Homer grabbed him and said, “That cake cost three thousand
credits! You’re paying for it now!”
“Here’s
your cake,” said Cletus as he shoved some cake and frosting in Homer’s face.
Wendy
screamed and kicked Cletus in the behind with one of her open-toed pumps. A
minute later, she was on the carpet, coughing and gasping as Caella jumped on
top of her, tore her veil off, and began smacking Wendy’s face against the
carpet while yelling, “Princess Invidia! I thought you’d show your ugly face
sooner or later! Here’s mud in yer eye!”
Wendy
screamed and shoved some of the ruined wedding cake in Caella’s face as Katrina
ran up to the melee.
In the
meantime,
Alex
caught a look at the ugly face of the nasty little boy bouncing him around and
he began to scream with terror as Derek ran up and yelled, “What are you doing
to my son?”
“Babies is basketballs! Babies be good for
throwin’ around!”
“That’s
my cousin,” said Sakamoto. “I’ll take charge of him!”
“Good,”
snapped Derek. “I recommend you give him the spanking of his life! He could
have hurt my son!”
In the
meantime, Katrina tried to help Homer comfort a hurt and crying Wendy while
Caella looked down at her and said, “Look at you. I thought she was Invidia!”
“You’re
drunk,” snapped Katrina, who recognized Caella at once but did not want to let
on that she knew her (it would blow her cover wide open). “I recommend you
leave before they have you arrested!”
“INVIDIA!”
screamed Caella at Katrina. “YOU ARE INVIDIA! THE PURPLE HAIR
HIDES CRAP!”
“Are you
deluded?” snapped Katrina. “Invidia is very much dead!”
“You’re
her!” yelled Caella as she grabbed a pie and threw it at Katrina.
Katrina ducked,
but the pie hit Nova in the face instead. Caella began to laugh her head off
while Nova wiped lemon meringue topping from her eyes….until Nova fired back
with an apple pie she grabbed up. (Nova had seen enough ancient Three Stooges shorts to know that when
someone threw a pie in one’s face…you threw a pie back)
The apple
pie hit Caella in the face, but Caella snarled and bit at Nova.
Nova
slapped away Caella and succeeded in kicking her in the butt with one of her
pointy-toed sandals.
Caella
fell over, and then she got up and punched Katrina in the face, and Katrina
punched back, knocking out one of her teeth.
Caella
grabbed a glass of champage and threw it in Katrina’s face. Katrina hissed,
found a fallen curtain rod and began to hit Caella with it while she punched
Nova.
Nova
punched Caella very hard in the head to help Katrina as Sakamoto and Derek were
wrestling on the floor. Derek yelled as
And in
the meantime, nasty Spike the Dog bit Homer, but was stopped by Eager grabbing
him by his collar, wrestling him down, and then hog-tying him.
“What are
you doing to that dog?” said Dash.
“Hog-tying
this varmint!” said Eager. “That’s what we do to them in
Then, the
Shore Patrol and the police showed up while Nova, Katrina, and Caella stood in
the center of the melee, forcibly separated and yelling at each other. Before
Derek knew it, Caella was handcuffed and walked out of there, followed by
Katrina, and then followed by Nova, who was in handcuffs for the first time in
her life.
“Where
are you taking them?” yelled Foxy as he ran up.
“Jail,”
said one of the policemen. “They’re all charging each other with assault. Well,
purple-hair and blondie here are charging Greenie here with assault and this
Cometine defector is charging both of them. They’re all under arrest until all
this is sorted out….”
IV. JAILHOUSE ROCK
Earth
Fujiyama District Jail
Thursday, October 22, 2207
2300 Hours Local Time
Katrina
leaned on the bars of the door of the jail cell she shared with Nova and said,
“Well, at least she’s stopped yelling from her cell. I hate that Caella!” Then,
she bit her lip and looked very depressed and tried to keep the tears from
coming. “Criminals. Caella and her family ruined Homer
and Wendy’s reception and we are the
criminals?”
“I hope
my babies are all right,” Nova said as she mournfully paused from playing a
harmonica a guard had given her. Nova was lying on one of the lumpy bunks
chained to the wall. “It’s a shame. I try defending everyone from those
maniacs, and we end up in here.”
“Why are
you playing that mournful music?” said Katrina.
“It’s
called the blues. It fits being in jail,” sighed Nova. “I hate it here. I wish
Derek and Foxy would come soon to bail us out.”
“You and
I both,” sighed Katrina. “You and I both…”
And, on
that note, both Katrina and Nova waited to be bailed out of jail.
When is Foxy coming? Katrina throught through her tears… This is so unfair!
TO BE CONTINUED….
(THE NEW COMET WILL END NEXT
CHAPTER WITH CHAPTER FIVE: “RECEPTIONS AND
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here