AN ALTERNATE TALE OF THE STAR
FORCE...
STAR BLAZERS-- Trade Winds (R-Rated
version: Mature Content Contained; NOT Recommended for Younger Readers!)
By Frederick P. “Freddo” Kopetz
with some help from Gail Kopetz
Thanks to Ken Mayes for some of the
art contained herein.
Originally written for Starsha APA in the 1990’s and trimmed
down/censored for the WWW version (see the PG version of this tale). The
naughty parts have been added back in and the tale is now as originally
written! Bleeeaaah.
What has gone before: Derek
and Nova Wildstar have just gotten married in late 2201. After due
preparations, they arrived for their honeymoon in
We now rejoin them on the
morning of the honeymoon...first day...
I. GOOD MORNING
Earth Federal Preserve
Sunrise Island-Dominica
December 27, 2201
1050 Hours: Local Time
The dazzling light of the
tropical morning shone in through the bedroom window of the bungalow in which
Nova and Derek Wildstar were staying in on their honeymoon. Nova, who had borne
her husband's name for less than twenty-four hours, awoke in a wide,
comfortable king-sized bed in the bedroom, smiling a little as a warm breeze
came in through the screened window.
She yawned, stretched, and fell
back into the soft bed, savoring a multitude of new and wonderful sensations as
she woke up. Nova gazed tenderly at Derek's sleeping form. The light topsheet
they shared was down to the middle of his chest, which moved up and down with
each peaceful breath. Nova smiled at him as she ran a hand through his dark
hair, which was a tousled mess.
"You are so
beautiful," crooned Nova softly in a very sleepy voice. "And, God
above, you gave me a great time last night on that beach. And on the way back. And in the shower. And on the floor.
And in bed. You made me pooped."
Of course, Nova's hair didn't look much
better. She paused to brush a stray blond lock out of her brown eyes as she
softly kissed Derek on the forehead and snuggled up to him. She held him close,
and her slender form quivered with excitement as memories of their long,
blissful wedding night poured back into her mind again.
Derek awoke a moment later. The
very first thing he saw was his Nova's dear face, framed by a pretty mess of
honey-blond hair and a pair of soft shoulders that looked lovely in their
simple bareness.
"...good morning,
Nova..," he whispered, greeting her with a tender kiss, and then putting
his arms around her to pull her so close that he could feel her heart beating
inside her chest. With that, Nova shut her eyes, sighed, and placed her head on
his chest, discovering that he made a wonderful pillow.
"mm...good morning, Derek," she whispered back. She kissed
him, and found again that waking up beside him, right in his arms, was even
more beautiful than she had dreamed it would be.
But now, they were very happy
that they had the right to be together at last. As they woke up, they savored
the togetherness, knowing that for the next few days, they wouldn't have any
shipboard schedules to keep or any work to worry about.
They had nothing but each other,
and to them, it was wonderful. After a long silence, Derek asked Nova a very
silly question.
"Hey...are you happy?"
Nova gave him a surprised little
look, as if to say what else would I be right now? but
then, she looked into his eyes, and the slow, impish smile that Derek loved so
much came to her face. Nova held Derek close and replied, "...yes...of
course I'm happy, my love. And I can tell you're happy, too."
"why?"
Nova snuggled him and then
murmured a very intimate endearment.
"Hmmm...so
what do you propose to do to make me even happier, Nova?"
"Guess,
silly. And, if you're
awake enough, make ME happy, too?" whispered Nova as she curled her left
leg up against him under the sheet.
Derek nodded, adding a grin that
made his new bride blush with delight. Nova kicked the covers off the bed and
awaited him with a playful light in her eyes....
"So what do you want to do
this morning, Nova?"
"The same thing we did last
night. Let's try it...side to side this time. C'mon,
you."
"Okay.."
Soon, their lips met, and their
conversation ceased as they spoke in an even older and more universal
language...the language of newlyweds discovering joys that were new, beautiful,
unique, and tender...responding to longings that they had enjoyed for the first
time only last night. Nothing more need be said, save that they were alone, and
sleepy as they still were, it was good...very, very good.
Later, the morning crept on in a
timeless, slow haze that was, of course, quite unnoticed by Derek and Nova as
they lay in each other's arms, tired, but utterly happy and at peace.
"Hey,
Nova?"
"What, Captain?" Nova
replied impishly as she lay sprawled like a lazy cat ,
still unclothed, on Derek's stomach. "Are you going to ask me if I'm happy
again?"
"No, I was wondering about
something else."
"About...well...what we
spent half the night doing?" asked Nova playfully. "You liked
that?"
"Yes. Did you? Was I,
uhh?"
"Derek, you were
marvelous" said Nova. "But...well...you told me there were others in
your life. How was I?"
"Different. VERY
different," said Derek. "In a good way...of course...."
"What do you mean,
Derek?"
"Well...in different
ways...the others I was with...seemed to see that sort of affection as
something furtive...something dirty...something nasty. You’re honest with this
sort of thing…like you always have been ever since we began to play around in
late 2200…before we even did the deed. To you, this isn’t dirty at all, is
it?"
"NO! It's not,"
said Nova firmly. "How it is...depends upon the circumstances, like
whether you're married or not…or commted or not. When you are, under such a commitment, two
have truly become one."
"Yes," said Derek.
"Those other times...the circumstances were different. Not like this...not
like you becoming a part of me, and me becoming a part of you...here on our
Earth, our beautiful Earth...just like when I promised you when you were
ill...like I promised you when...we were going to die together on the Argo, and…"
At that memory, Derek began to
cry. Nova just held him and rocked him like a mother with her lost child,
saying, "Shhhhhh…we
don't need to bring back any more of those sort of
memories right now, darling. We're together, and we are at peace….and safe….and
that's all that matters. Did you want to ask me something else, Derek?"
"Yeah. Are you hungry?"
"Yes,
sort of. And I think
you know why, Derek Wildstar."
They both chuckled, because they
knew why. Given the circumstances, Derek would've been pretty dense not to know
why they were hungry!
In spite of the fact that Derek
was nice and warm, and the breeze coming in through the window felt so nice, Nova
guessed that she ought to get up and make some breakfast. She kissed Derek on
the cheek, and said, "I think there's a light terrycloth cover-up out
there in one of our bags, Derek. You go throw it on while I rustle up something
light to wear and go cook us some breakfast."
"You don't need to get up,
Nova. Stay there and I'll tuck you back in. Then, I'll do my best impression of
"Cookies" on the Argo and make us our breakfast."
"Derek, I'm perfectly
capable of doing it!"
"Nova, do you think I'm
going to have that pretty, mussed-up little head of yours over a hot stove on
the first day of our marriage?" replied Derek with honest love in his eyes
as he tousled Nova's sweat-dampened blond locks. "You are going to get
under that sheet and rest while I cook for us! You are pooped from all
of that screwing around we've done in the past twelve hours, right?"
"Right...so??"
"You stay there. Rest."
Derek got up as Nova moved away
just a little. Then, he got the topsheet and threw it over his wife, smoothing it
over her back, down her legs, and all around her as she continued to lie on her
tummy. He finished up by finding the bottom of her foot and tickling the tips
of her toes. When Nova laughed and pulled her foot in, he covered it up with
the sheet. Then, Derek said, "I'll see you in a bit with breakfast!"
He kissed Nova on the forehead after she turned over, and then he bounded out
of the room to the combination kitchen-living room, making lots of noise as he
went.
Nova lay back and shut her eyes.
She couldn't help smiling at her sweet (and almost comical) new husband. As she
thought of Derek, she swore to herself that she'd enjoy his breakfast, even if
it was a complete disaster...
II. BREAKFAST
Earth Federal Preserve
Sunrise Island-Dominica
December 27, 2201
1145 Hours: Local Time
As it turned out, Wildstar's
breakfast was a complete disaster!
When Derek, clad in only a terrycloth wrap that covered his waist and left his
trim but muscular chest and legs bare, brought the tray in a few minutes later,
Nova smelled a faint whiff of smoke wafting up from under the cover that was
over the tray. Nova wondered what she'd find under the round cover when Derek
undid the legs on the bedtray and set it on her blanketed lap. With a flourish,
Derek pulled up the cover...
...and poor Nova began coughing
when a massive cloud of smoke wafted up from the food!
"Uh...DEREK," gasped
Nova with a cough as she looked at the food. "Let's see what it is,"
she said as she tried to fan the smoke away.
The smoke blew all over the room
as Nova tried to look at the food, but she was interrupted by a sudden BUZZ
from around the ceiling. A red light came on, and something began to bleep
incessantly like a ship's klaxon.
Derek's breakfast had set off
the smoke alarm!
"DAMNIT! I'd better cover it up!" yelled
Derek as he slammed the lid back down over the breakfast. He coughed and
grabbed up the tray.
"I'm sorry, Nova! The food
will be outside on the (hack)...deck! See you there!
He flew out of the room just as
the smoke began to disperse.
Nova lay there shaking her head,
and put a hand up to her mouth and began giggling.
POOR Derek! she thought as she lay in their bed
laughing, praying that he didn't hear!
A while later, Nova sat outside
at a patio table on the deck. She had put on a very short white caftan-like
robe trimmed in pink. It had the type of scoop neck she liked in a lot of her
dresses, and it came all the way down to her feet, clad in a pink pair of
surfer thongs that she liked to wear as slippers in warmer weather. Of course,
since Derek and she had never had the opportunity until now to relax together
like this in the morning in truly warm weather, Derek found his first sight of
Nova in warm-weather bedroom wear to be a rather nice revelation, to say the
least.
She lifted the cover on the
breakfast tray to examine what Derek had made. There were two plates, both of
which were covered with the following items of food: two servings of sausage
(shriveled and overdone), two servings of blackened toast, two cups of black,
thick coffee, two glasses of orange juice, and two bowls of frosted flakes with
strawberries. The frosted flakes and the juice were the only things that looked
fairly undamaged. As for the rest, Nova wondered if poor Derek had hit the burn
rather than the cook button on their food processor! God love you... she
thought. I really need to have Chief Rawlings show you how to run toast and
sausage through a food processor. At least now, I'm not really hungry anymore...
she thought as she finished off the cereal and looked at the food. What
I am is nauseous.
Derek appeared at the glass
doors just a moment later, wearing a t-shirt, white shorts, thongs, and a very
sheepish expression. He looked rather ill.
He watched Nova trying to take a
bite of his toast and felt terrible. He came up behind her and tentatively
kissed her on the cheek, sort of like a little boy fearfully kissing his mother
when he thinks she's mad at him.
"I'm sorry, Nova. I never
botched a breakfast like that before," he said, almost in tears. "I
never brought anything out of the oven smoking like that before...I used to
just burn the toast, especially when I was based on Mars. You can ask Venture
if you don't believe me...he was there. I'm so sorry, honey. I really am."
"Don't be depressed. I know
you tried...and the thought is what counts. Sit down like a good boy while I
talk to you."
"Okay," said Derek,
who felt worse, somehow, because his conscience was flashing YOU SCREWED UP, CAPTAIN
in nice big neon letters.
"Please don't look so
sad," said Nova with a little pat against Wildstar's cheek.
"Right."
"Derek, you know that we
have tons of wedding presents back at home."
"I know..."
"All of them are beautiful,
and they all cost a lot of money. But face it, we'll never use some of them-and
what good are a lot of gifts in a place where two people aren't happy?"
"Nova, what are you getting
at?" asked a rather anxious Derek.
"You see what's here on
this table? You see all this awful...yes...awful food that's sitting
here?"
"Yes..."
"That," said Nova as
she held Derek's hand and gazed at him with happy tears in her eyes
"...that...is the best wedding present I could've gotten from anyone,
because it came from you, as a sweet, simple little gesture of love. That's why
this gift will probably outlive everything else we got, Derek. Thank you.
You're very sweet!"
An extremely relieved Derek gave
Nova a nice, big bearhug. He was very glad she wasn't mad at him. He also knew
that if he made her breakfast in bed soon, he'd have to check the cooking time
on sausages! So, they sat there on the deck, laughing as they ate Derek's
botched breakfast. While they ate, they looked out at the sky, which was nice,
clear, and sunny. The strength of the sun made Derek think of something.
"Nova...did you put on
sunscreen?"
"Not yet," she said.
"I should be all right for a while longer; I have something on...and my
bare legs are under the table."
"But part
of your shoulders are out...and you've got nothing on your arms. Your
skin's so fair..."
"I think I'll survive for
five more minutes here in the shade under the eaves," she chuckled.
"Then, you can smear sunscreen on me...after I put on appropriate
swimwear, of course."
"What's appropriate?"
"You'll see," said
Nova with a smile. "Derek, it's a shame you only took up that standing
offer to spend some time with me in the sunroom on the Argo once or twice...you
know?"
"You know we had work to do...and...well..."
"May I ask you to
elaborate?"
"I...well...I didn't feel
right about being around when you were lying there in a swimsuit..."
"Even my one-piece?"
"Yeah...being admired by
all the guys..."
"And... Go on...?" she
teased.
"Well..." he stammered. "I always thought you were cute...and...even though I love the sight of you in a swimsuit...I...I...
"You
what?"
Derek couldn't say anything
else. He had turned as red as a beet.
Then, Nova giggled. "Oh! I
know why NOW, Derek! Bashful about something coming up in
your pants, hmmm?"
"I mean...yeah."
"Derek, we have no need to
be ashamed of such things now, all right?"
"Yeah..."
"Keep on looking,"
said Nova dreamily. "And..."
At that, she knelt down before
him and they kissed again. Then, they looked into each other's eyes again and began
to think of many, many other things...and...the
morning stretched on.
Newlyweds...
Later that morning, the two of
them were snorkeling out near an anchored speedboat in the ocean not far from
shore.
Their equipment was quite
minimal.
True to her word, Nova had put
on a swimsuit that Derek liked (even though it surprised him, given that she
was conservative and usually wore one-piece suits); it was a pink sports
bikini, brief, but not so brief that it didn't leave something to the
imagination. With it, she wore a black diving mask with a pink snorkel and pink
and lime-green swim fins.
Beside her, Derek swam along in
a dark red set of bikini briefs, with his own black swim fins and a black mask
and snorkel. Around his neck, he wore a small clear waterproof box that
contained his instant camera. Nova hadn't brought hers, but she WAS having fun
directing Derek with regard to appropriate underwater sights to photograph. She
also noticed that he seemed to have fun getting her into many of the pictures.
Near a large hunk of undersea
growth, they stopped for a moment. Derek snapped a picture as Nova looked
wide-eyed at the unearthly fronds of seaweed drifting in the current. She
stopped to stroke a few of the fronds and didn't even seem to mind much when she
kicked up, suppressing a little urge to giggle as a bit of the weed brushed the
tips of her toes, which were left bare by the light rubber shoe-like part of
her swim fin. She didn't mind; the water was so warm that even the seaweed felt
nice against her bare skin.
The usually modest young woman
(at least given her own usual tastes in clothes) was enjoying more than simply
having her toes free to wriggle in the water (even though that was a nice
change after all those weeks in her service boots). As Nova felt the currents
was over her and watched Derek watching her, she was feeling much more
conscious of her body than usual in her bikini, which felt even more
non-existent than ever in the water.
A flash made her turn her head.
Her eyes went bright at the sight of Derek taking a picture in the shadows,
and, again, making sure she was in it. She was tempted to smile, but couldn't,
since she'd lose the snorkel she was biting on, and also, incidentally,
probably snare one heck of a large amount of water. Too much water, she
thought. While I love kissing you, Derek, I'm not in the mood, dear, to get
myself in a state where I need to receive the kiss of life after getting
seawater forced out of my lungs, thank you.
Suddenly, Nova noticed Derek
kicking towards the surface. She followed. They broke the water together at
about the same time, clearing their snorkels by reflex before taking deep
breaths.
"How was that?" she
asked, as both of them treaded water for a moment before taking a few kicks
back to the boat with their masks partly up over their brows.
"Nice," said Derek.
"But I've always liked diving," he said as he hung on to the gunwale
of the boat's stern for a moment before gently putting the camera back on a
seat. He climbed up onto the access ladder, against which he leaned while
removing his fins.
"Well, if you did...you
really should've gone with me to that planet we checked out on the way to
Iscandar," said Nova while Derek climbed back into the boat and got a
towel to quickly dry his tousled wet mop of dark brown hair.
"Which one?" he asked
as Nova climbed up onto the ladder, holding on as one fin came off, followed by
the other.
"It was the one we checked
out between the time...uhh...we used to explore Beemira and Balan,
remember?" said Nova as she shook her head rapidly to get rid of the water
and her wet hair fanned out like crazy.
"Hey!" cried Derek.
"I'm getting WET!"
"What's wrong with
that?" cried Nova. "It's hot out!" she giggled as she shook her
head again.
"My wife, the Irish
Setter," chuckled Derek as he watched her shaking
herself.
Nova frowned at that one, until
she got a look at her wet hair. Well, she thought. It is about the
right color, especially when it's WET. In response, Nova tiptoed up to him,
shook her hair harder, and let out a merry attempt at a bark.
"Why are you doing
that?" he cried.
"You wanted me to be a
dog," she said with an innocent grin. "Besides, my family once owned
a beautiful Irish Setter. She was named Princess."
"What happened to her?
"Lost her in the bombings,"
said Nova with a sniff. "Of course...you lost more than I did. Now, what
were we talking about?"
"A water world," said
Wildstar after he tossed Nova his towel.
"Let's see...what was it named?" asked Nova as she innocently stretched
out a long leg to dry it off. "Oh! I remember what we named it now!"
"What?"
"Thatcher's Planet...after
that guy in the Navigation Group who found it...remember?"
"Oh, that one," said
Wildstar. "The one where you came back with the
starfish?"
"The new species we discovered,"
said Nova as she clambered over into the boat with a dancer's grace. She walked
past two of the seats, gave Derek a quick smooch, and doffed her mask. Then,
not looking at all serious, but looking just like her mere twenty-three years, she
sat down on the starboard side beside Derek, put on a pink pair of sunglasses,
and merrily put her bare feet up on the dashboard of the boat. "Oh. I've
got a dumb question."
"Yeah,
Nova?"
"Why are we back in the boat?"
"Ran out of film... that's
why..."
"Do you have another
cartridge?" she asked.
"I think so," he said.
"Let's see..." he said, rummaging around in a storage bin. "Yeah...I've got one."
"Great," said Nova as
she stretched before bending down. "What else are you looking for?"
"Film," he said.
"We'll be hitting land as soon as we weigh anchor on this vessel."
"Oh. Is the film in your
camera?"
"Uh-huh. Found my new
cartridge. Why?"
Nova kissed his stomach as he
put his arms around her. "Oh...I don't know," she said in all
innocence. "Oh! LOOK!" she cried.
"What? Where?" said
Wildstar as he looked around, taking his eyes off Nova for a moment.
Good boy... thought Nova with a wicked little grin.
First, she undid her top in a
hurry. Then, she slipped out of her bottoms.
Finally, she pushed him into the
water.
"HEY!" he yelled when
he came up, treading water and sputtering. "Why'd you do that?"
He found out why a moment later.
Nova was snapping away with the camera and giggling.
"You're mean!"
he protested. "No; you're incorrigible! You'll never stop doing
that! Hey...you're also..."
"Naked?" hinted Nova.
“Nude? Bare-assed?”
"Yeah. Woww...why’d you just
strip?”
“To make you smile. And the
water felt so good and warm I wanted to try diving naked. No
one here to see but you, right? I used to enjoy running around the beach
and swimming naked as a little girl.”
“Yeah…cute….but...why
do you keep on doing that other thing?"
"Doing what?" said
Nova innocently as she stretched out on her seat to give her husband an
unobstructed view of her nakedness as she pulled on her swim fins.
"Setting
me up to look stupid in pictures. I swear...every other picture that you have of me will make me
look like an utter idiot!"
"But you look so cute that way," cooed Nova.
"Come over here while I set up for another shot, and..."
"Okay," said Derek,
waiting for Nova to put down the camera.
At just the right moment, he
grabbed her hand and pulled her screeching into the ocean.
"Why'd you do
that?" snapped Nova when she bobbed up.
"No reason...except maybe to
cool you off a little," chuckled Derek.
"Okay, sauce for the
goose," said Nova with an evil grin.
She grabbed for his swim trunks
in the water and pulled them halfway down then grabbed for the camera again as
he jumped up. "Gotcha!" she cried. "Just you
and your gear!"
"I'll race ya!" yelled
Derek after he took off his swim trunks altogether and threw them playfully at
his wife.
"Oooooohh...challenge accepted!"
snapped Nova as she thew back the camera, splashed him and swam off.
They declared their race a tie
when they got near shore. Nova smiled as she looked at Derek's muscular young
form piercing the water. He looked a bit younger than his twenty-three
years when wet, and he looked as if he was having the
time of his life. They swam together for a bit, holding hands, and exchanged a
smooch in the water before parting again as a wave came up.
Suddenly, Nova's gracefulness
disappeared for a second as she screeched and began to splash around. Panicked,
Wildstar began to swim over like a madman. Thoughts of barracuda, sharks, and
poisonous jellyfish ran through his mind, especially when he noticed the look
of apprehension on her face.
But a moment later, Nova's
expression turned into one of joy. By the time he got there, she was actually
smiling as she treaded water again.
"What is it?" he
asked.
"Something bumped me,"
she giggled. "And it was right in a sensitive place. GOD!"
"Well, what?"
"Him," said Nova as
Derek noticed a fin running through the water and yelled, "NOVA! Shit!
That's a..."
Then, the creature surface right
before Wildstar and began to chatter at him, as if to chide him.
"Derek...he's just a
dolphin," giggled Nova as Wildstar stared the little blue-grey sea mammal
in the face. "Hello," she said softly as the mammal chattered at her.
"Uhh...can't they
bite?" said Wildstar.
"No, well at least he
doesn't want to. He wants to play, I think!" chuckled Nova as she splashed
at the animal, and had her splash returned a second
later by a fin.
"Why are you looking at him
like that, Derek?"
"I don't believe
it...that's all," said Wildstar. "Hey...you ARE friendly," he
said as the creature nuzzled against his leg. "Nova, I guess those old
mariners' tales are right."
"Which
ones?"
"The tales about dolphins,"
said Derek as he swam along beside his wife and her friend. "Nova, wasn't
it said they that they sometimes used to help swimmers and divers in distress
in the old days when there were more of them?"
"They did," said Nova,
who was stroking the dolphin and looking him over for a moment as she went back
in the water, looking like a sea sprite as she floated along unclothed
underwater. Derek was a bit more interested in Nova, of course, as he dived in
to look at her underwater and then to watch her surfacing with the animal.
"Hmm...This one's pretty small, and he doesn't have an ident-tag in his
dorsal fin from the breeding program! That means he was born in the wild...and
by his age, he must have survived Zordar's attack without any problems."
"Wonderful," said
Wildstar, who was grinning himself.
"We should document
this," said Nova as she continued to pet the creature with a big smile.
"Otherwise, they'll never believe our story back home….and I don’t care if
I’m seen naked in the picture, either. It’ll go with the dolphin…after all, he doesn’t have anything on, either!"
"Right. I'll get the camera...good thing I put
film in it...before..."
"Before I pulled you in for
a swim," giggled Nova.
"Right. I'll be right back," he said as he
swam over to Nova and gave her a smooch on the shoulder.
Wildstar found it didn't take
long to swim back to the boat. When aboard, he found his
camera, back in its enclosure after he had changed the film. He hung it
around his neck and swam back into the ocean with Nova, who was having the time
of her life innocent and naked with her finny friend.
He dived back into the ocean as
Nova splashed and played with the dolphin, submerging again to kiss him.
Wildstar swam out to them and stood treading water as Nova hugged the dolphin, looking
gorgeous in just her bare skin and swim fins. Derek loved having his cute new
bride’s nude body in the pictures as a lovely background element for his
underwater photography. A wave came up, and Nova submerged and swam back a
little, facing the dolphin's snout. As the dolphin came up to the water’s edge,
she kissed him right on the snout.
At that moment Wildstar snapped a
picture. Then the dolphin swam back and went deeper underwater.
Nova broke the surface (she was
good at free-diving) took a deep breath and went back under with the dolphin.
There, in the water, Derek also submerged, and he took a beautiful picture of
Nova free-diving in the sea with her friend, looking as if she was having the
time of her life. The picture turned out to be both sexy and adorable at the
same time.
Then, Nova emerged from the sea,
and took a deep gulp of air as the dolphin came up with her and chattered. She
laughed and waved at the dolphin as he submerged. Nova called,
"Goodbye!" as she waved. Derek joined her, calling out
"Goodbye!" as the sea creature swam back out into the edge of the
lagoon and disappeared into the open sea with a splash of its tail fins.
Derek and Nova hugged in the
water for a second, and then Nova said, "Let's swim back to the boat,
Derek. I'm getting a little tired out here...and let's get the boat near shore,
okay?"
"Okay," said Wildstar.
When they reached the boat, Wildstar sat on the deck opening the camera
enclosure while Nova went for the anchor. Using the windlass, she weighed
anchor, and sat down in the pilot's seat.
While starting the boat, and
putting a bare foot on the accelerator, Derek smiled to himself. Wet, or dry,
in her current state, she was quite a sight for sore eyes. Soon, the boat was
running, heading back for the little dock near the bungalow. Wildstar opened
the enclosure, withdrew the instant pictures of Nova with the dolphin, and
handed them to her.
"Oh, those are so
CUTE!" she said. "Thanks for getting the pictures, Derek. This is
fun!"
"You're welcome."
"It'll look so cute in our
honeymoon album after we get copies made," said Nova. "Won't
it?"
"It sure will," he
said, smiling at the first rather pretty picture of Nova giving the dolphin a
hug, looking quite carefree with her wet hair going all over the place. "You
know, with those bare shoulders, you sort of bear a resemblance to a mermaid in
that picture?"
"Sure," said Nova,
affectionately slapping him on the arm. "Mermaids had fishtails. I have
legs. See?" she grinned, bending them for a minute. “And in that first
picture it is very obvious I do not have a fish tail…but a normal human behind
and legs…”
“What if we made up a version of
that picture where you had a mermaid tail?” mused
Derek. “I could scan it into a computer and fix it…”
“That would be cute,” Nova said
as she kissed him.
"I'll tell you one
thing."
"What?" sang Nova as
she turned the helm hard to port while letting up on the boat's throttle as the
dock approached.
"You look MUCH better at
the helm than Venture. Especially in the nude."
"YOU!" she said,
giving him a playful slap on the arm. They both laughed at that as the boat
slowed down and Derek clambered up onto the dock with the rope to tie her up.
They got out of the boat, looked
at each other, and then looked at the beach.
A minute later, Wildstar grabbed
a somewhat wet towel while Nova went back and felt a large beach towel
(emblazoned with the logo of Coors' Brewing Co.) that was in the boat.
"Darn...it's still
wet," she cried.
"So?" asked Wildstar.
"Derek...I think we should
have SOMETHING under us when we lay on the beach...the sand will be
hot...and...and," she stammered as Derek came up
behind her...
...and literally swept her up
off her feet with a giggle.
He placed her on the beach,
giving her a kiss as he spread out the towel.
They kissed again. Then, both of
them stopped for a moment, glancing at each other with smiles on their faces.
Derek gave his wife a questioning look with raised eyebrows, and she responded
with a tender smile and a kiss. This time, they got right down to business.
Going naked isolated in warm weather had a nice advantage; since they could do
their honeymoon thing without any clothes in the way.
Satisfied at the closeness to
Nova, Derek moved up a little on the sloping beach, lying down and playfully pulling
his bride on top on him. She responded by rubbing tanning lotion up and down
his sides; then he took the bottle and placed some lotion on her upper stomach
as she giggled. She was ticklish there, too, as it turned out.
When Derek reached Nova's breasts,
she put her head back and smiled, appreciating both the warm sun and Derek's
touch on her tender skin. She had not run around nude in the sun since she had
been young, before the planet bombings, and she was getting to enjoy this. Nova
looked down at him through half-closed eyes, smiling as she gazed admiringly at
his nude form.
"You look so cute like
this," she whispered while teasing his manhood with a soft thigh.
"Like what?" he said.
"Stop being a tease!"
Nova playfully slapped him on one thigh. "Nice. I like your...can I talk
dirty to you?"
"Go ahead, no one listening
but me."
"I like your cute firm
butt, Derek. And your big ummmhmmm….
And your eyes. And your nose.
And your toes."
"Foot fetish?" he
teased.
She made a face at him and
kissed him on the nose. Derek grabbed the lotion and began to touch his wife's
tush. "I like your bottom too. Ever thought about decorating it?"
"With
what?"
"A tattoo...a butterfly on
the right cheek would look cute..."
"DEREK!" screeched
Nova. "Say that again and I'll pull that sweet hair."
"Ouch! Mercy! Mercy."
"What mercy?" asked
Nova as she stretched out on him, putting her leg up in a very sexy position as
Derek smiled.
Then, without warning, Nova
pounced on hubby like a cat. She ran her hands over his nipples, teasing them,
making them stand up, and then she kissed his most sensitive spot. She kissed
him at least three times before she began to run her tongue over him. The
stimulation and the sudden, unexpected sight of Nova touching parts of herself
(with her legs open and relaxed) caused him to grow against her lips.
"Mmmm," said Nova.
"salty…!" She then stopped teasing him with
her tongue as she took him all the way into her mouth. She had done this with
him a good deal since they had decided to become engaged in 2200, but it seemed
even better this time, somehow. Derek was soon rolling around in the sand as
Nova lovingly serviced him, touching his shoulders, his nipples, and his flat
stomach and navel over and over and over again, driving him mad with pleasure.
She paused to let him breathe,
and he gasped, "ready yet?"
"I need you for a bit.
Don't know if I'm ready yet."
"Happy to
oblige, m'lady."
They switched positions. After a while,
during which he had his fingers on her body like a musical instrument, Derek
then tenderly and gently began to kiss her lower stomach, going down all the
way to Nova’s unclad genitals, which were glistening with desire for him as he
licked her and began giving her the most tender and initmate of kisses. As
Derek did her, Nova just gasped and shivered with her legs up in the air while
her toes curled.
Finally, Nova’s pleasure
increased until she was about to explode. As she was enjoying her climax, Derek
pounced on her and entered her, almost making her eyes roll up into her head as
he went at her like a ravenous tiger. She put her legs around him and hugged
him as he thrust at her again, and again, and again. It didn't take long for
her to explode again right there on the wet sand as Nova grabbed at the sand
with her fingers and toes, digging in passionate patterns like claw-marks as
the surf came up and washed over them like lovers in an old movie.
That felt good. It took the sand
off, and, a minute later, like naked castaways, they kissed and rolled in their
passion. Then, they fell against each other, and smiled as the water washed
over them again, even as Nova was also crying.
“Honey, why are you crying?”
Derek whispered.
“Because you make me feel so
good,” she whispered back. “I want you to be the only lover I ever have, Derek…”
Derek whispered, “Yes, Nova….I
love you to death. I’m so glad that we survived and come home after Trelaina
helped us defeat Zordar…”
“So am I, my tenshi,” Nova whispered back. She kissed
him and looked happy. They were content,
and they were enjoying their passion and love for each other. And, of course, the nude sunbathing.
Later, much later, Nova lay beside
Derek on a sunny spot between two folding chairs on the beach (on a fairly dry
towel), rubbing more sunscreen on his back.
Their snorkeling gear and fins
hung on a palm tree branch some distance back, drying in the sun. Nova had
found the sarong she had worn on their wedding night and had dressed again in
that. Nova blushed a little as she remembered some of
what they had been up to before. We could only act like this by all by
ourselves on a desert island, she thought with a smile.
"So, what else do you want
to do, today?" asked Derek.
"First, Derek, stop making
agendas," said Nova as she adjusted the top of her sarong, making sure it
was more or less on right, although she had a passing thought that Derek
wouldn't complain if it just fell off and left her naked all over again. She
was beginning to think that if everything of theirs had to go into the wash and
they had to spend a full day running around in the nude, it might be fun, as
long as it didn't rain or something.
"Why?"
"It's a honeymoon. You
don't make agendas on a honeymoon, Captain."
"What do you do,
then?" asked Derek.
"Enjoy it," she said
with a little smile. "I think we need some music, so, I'm going to wade
back out to our vessel and get the tape player."
Derek looked on in admiration as
Nova skipped back out to the boat and got a portable tape player. She smiled at
him, aware that she was being watched, as she ran back with the tape player and
a towel.
Nova took a moment to spread the
towel out neatly on the sand, plopping down on her stomach as she did so.
"Want it on now?"
"Sure."
Nova then turned on the tape
player. Some nice, soft but sprightly calypso-flavored guitar and piano music
was soon wafting across the beach. Nova was tapping her toes on the towel to
the rhythm of the music as Derek sat down, crawled up beside her, and
affectionately stroked her leg.
Nova smiled back at her young
husband, and shut her eyes, enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin.
"This is comfy. Derek...?"
"Yeah."
"I've got an idea. Do you
know where the camera is?"
"The camera?" he
asked. "Err...why?"
"I'd like you to take a
picture of me."
"Like that?" he asked,
looking at Nova in her blue, scanty sarong. She had also gotten the idea to
stick flowers in her hair, and she went barefoot. Derek thought she looked like
a pina colada...tropical and simply gorgeous.
"Like this," she said
softly as she put down her canteen and got up, running over to a seawall at the
edge of the beach that had the ocean in the background. After looking it over,
she turned to him, striking a cute pose with one leg up.
"Okay...but...why?" he
asked as he picked up the camera. and ran over towards
the tree.
"Derek," she said
tenderly. "It's going to be for you, and you
alone."
"Hmmm?"
"I want you to have a
little reminder of me with you so that when we're apart, you'll always have a
little bit of me with you. Okay?"
"Okay, but I'm not sure I
feel..."
"Derek...it's just for
YOU," she said softly. "Okay?"
"Okay," he replied
softly while kissing Nova on the forehead. Afterwards, Wildstar stepped back
and took the picture.
Then, Nova smiled at him, jumped
off the seawall, and gave him a come-hither look, motioning a finger towards
him. “See that little hill over there?” she said.
Derek nodded.
“I’m going to pose again there,
for another picture. But this time, I want you to close your eyes until I say
so. No peeking!” Nova said as she kissed him.
Derek again nodded and smiled at
Nova. She tiptoed off to the hill, and, while Derek had his eyes closed…
Nova, who was barely able to
hold back giggles…just stripped all over again.
“Open your eyes!” Nova said.
Derek did so, and smiled when he
realized that Nova was sitting naked in the grass. She somehow looked very
innocent as he took a picture of his bride sitting there looking like that. It
looked adorable.
When the second picture came
out, he admired it with a very pleased expression on his face. "You look
so cute like that," he said as the subject of his picture came up and
hugged him, nuzzling playfully at his neck.
"Thanks," whispered
Nova. "You'll pardon me...but I like the attention."
"You're blushing
again," sang Derek.
"I am?" cried Nova. "Oh!
I guess I am," she giggled, looking down at herself to notice that the
blush went down quite far. "I never knew I did that before...I'm
sorry."
"Why are you
apologizing?"
"Because I blush so much
that it even shows when I'm...not quite dressed," whispered Nova shakily.
"Funny...never noticed that before."
"Nova...you look extremely
cute like that. Really!"
Nova smiled again, unsure of
what to say. Finally, she gave her husband a kiss as she got another idea.
"You look cute in the your little swim briefs, too," whispered Nova as
she came up and nibbled at his ear. She snatched away the camera, jumping back
before Derek could react.
"Nova?" he asked.
"Where are...?"
"SMILE!" she sang as
he turned towards her, quite exposed, and obviously, quite happy. Before he
could react, Nova pushed the button and captured her husband...in (almost) all
of his glory in his extremely brief Speedo trunks.
"NOVA!" he called out
as she giggled away. "Why'd you do that...?"
"Easy," she said with
a sinister little grin as she took the picture. "You know what I said
about keeping mementos of each other?"
"Yeah..?"
"I want to keep one of YOU,
for when we have to be apart, too. After all, you look very, VERY nice like
this... Derek," she said with a giggle. Then, she smiled. She wasn't
blushing any more.
However, Derek was blushing. All over. Boy, is she
cute about this..., he thought. I wonder what ELSE she's got in mind for
today?
III. SHADOWS OF THE PAST:
Derek
Earth Federal Preserve
Sunrise Island-Dominica
December 29, 2201
1312 Hours: Local Time
The next two days passed for
Derek and Nova Wildstar in a romantic haze of sun-drenched happiness. They
played volleyball on the beach, swam, went boating, took a few hikes in the
jungle, and spent time getting to know each other better in the bungalow.
Throughout it all, there was only one rain shower. The rest of the time, the
weather remained nice, warm, and sunny, encouraging them to run around in
swimwear, shorts and t-shirts, and, naturally, when the mood for romance
struck, little or nothing at all as Nova had been hoping. After all, it was
just the two of them on this particular island...with no other humans around
for quite a few kilometers. Also, as a result, they were getting some
nice, light tans.
Now, today was another one of
those pleasant, dreamy days. Wildstar was in cutoff shorts and a t-shirt, and
Nova was running around in white shorts and a sky blue bikini top. They had
just finished lunch in the kitchen with the windows open, and now, they were in
the living room of the bungalow, curled up in two of the wicker chairs. To
enjoy the living room rug, they were both barefoot; their sandals rested
forgotten on the deck outside. They were beginning to think that, per Japanese
custom, it would be fun to go shoeless all the time at home together inside the
house.
Soon, Nova tiptoed up to sit on
Derek's lap for a moment. They snuggled for a while, exchanging a good number
of kisses, before Nova said, "When I unpacked some stuff before, I left my
guitar out. Would you like me to play you something?"
"Sure," said Derek as
Nova gave him a last smooch and flew off to get her guitar. She emerged a
minute later carrying a Gibson six-string acoustic guitar with a little flower
sticker on the upper part of the guitar body, just to the left of the last few
frets of the fingerboard.
She plopped down on the love
seat, crossed up her left leg as she adjusted the guitar and strummed a few chords,
humming softly to herself as she prepared to go into a song. Derek sat down
across from her since, having played a little guitar himself when he was
younger, he knew that trying to snuggle her right now would interfere with her
playing.
"Derek? What would you like
to hear?"
"Well, considering we just
had some old Beatles on the stereo a while ago and considering how that guy at
the reception massacred that song, how's about you try something by them?"
"Okay," said Nova as
she sat with her brow furrowed a minute as she strummed chords. Finally, with a
smile, she turned her brown eyes straight and began to play "Here, There, and Everywhere," a
rather pretty love song that suited her sweet singing voice quite well. When
she was done, she got a little round of applause from Derek that made her
blush.
"You were great!" said
Derek as he ran over and smooched her.
"No...uhh...I'm
not that good, Derek. Really."
"C'mon...you are! Let's
hear another one."
"Okay...mind if I do a sad
one from the same album? It's just sort of...going through my head right
now."
"It's okay...let's hear
it," said Derek as he went back to his seat. With a little smile, Nova
began to sing a piece written by Paul McCartney that went:
Your day breaks: Your mind
aches:
You find that all her words
of kindness
linger on when she no longer needs you....
She wakes up, she makes
up....
Wildstar suddenly looked very,
very sad as Nova played on. She looked up, noticing his face, and stopped with
a discordant twang as she released her chord. "Derek! What's wrong?"
"Nothing...just...that
song."
"What's wrong with it,
Derek?" asked Nova as she ran up to his chair with concern showing in her
large dark brown eyes.
"Nothing...you sounded like
an angel, Nova. It's...well...it just brings back some bad memories."
"Not about us, I
hope?"
"No...they're
about Diane Henson. I told you about her in 2200..."
Nova sighed. "I know you
told me that she used you and dumped you, but you never told me exactly
why."
"Well...I didn't want to
delve into that part of my past; and, also...I acted like a jerk then, Nova. I
was just nineteen, and all I wanted was...well..."
"Most people act like jerks
at times when they're that age, Derek. I...well...I did a few jerky things
myself at that age. And...well...you were still
growing up, even when we met at twenty-one."
"Boy, do I know that,"
he chuckled. After that, he took a deep breath, and said, "Nova...I know
you. You've always said we don't keep secrets. I...guess I won't keep this one,
either, " sighed Wildstar. "Nova, do you
mind hearing about Diane and I?"
"Not at all...that
is...if it won't hurt you too much to tell your story...I think you told
me about the breakup once before, but..."
"I never told you all the
gory details. All right," said Wildstar as he swallowed hard, motioning
Nova over to the love seat. They sat down together, and Derek began with:
"It all started in...."
"...The winter of 2197....
It was some time early in the month of December . It
was basketball season then, and Venture got me to come out to see the game with
the
"Let's just say that we'll
get to that point later, Derek," smiled Nova. "Go on."
"I will..." he said,
continuing....
Well, again, it went like
this...
"Derek," said Venture.
"Why are you just sitting there moping?"
"We're up in the nosebleed
seats," I replied. "You know you can't see anything from up
here."
"We only had to sit up here
because we got here so late,"
"YEAH?" I replied. "Well, who told us about
the game so late?"
"Well, we argued about it
for quite a long time..."
"Mark," I yelled back,
"I told you, I didn't want to..."
Then, I remember that a familiar
voice yelled, "Hey, what's up, guys?" from the aisle.
"Conroy!" chuckled Venture. "Would you join our little
group?"
We both knew Pete Conroy, then,
of course. He had been through quite a few classes with us. When he came up to
our seat level, he sat down beside us, and grabbed my hand, demanding,
"Why so gloomy tonight? Looks like your best friend just died..."
"He didn't," I snapped
back. "But if he keeps up this crap, he might be dead before the night's over."
"Boy, aren't you charming
tonight?"
"Conroy, leave me
ALONE!" I yelled. By this point, I remember that I was getting miffed and
just wanted to go back to the dorm.
"What's your problem?"
said Venture. "Wildstar, can't you unwind for a while?"
"NO...Not
with an astrophysics final coming up..."
"But we have two more weeks
to study for it, and I thought you could use some thing to take your mind off
classwork. Besides, I thought you liked basketball!" added Venture.
Oh, he was trying so HARD to get
me to loosen up! But I just wasn't buying any of it!
"I don't know if he likes
basketball or not," smirked Conroy. "But, I'll bet he likes the
cheerleaders! Hey, Wildstar..."
"Yeah?" I snapped back.
"Take a look down
there," he said. "Now, if you get tired of watching our star Maybank
beat the tar out of
I groaned. Now, from where we
were, we could barely see the game. We could just about see our team, in gold
and blue, running around kicking
"Derek?" said Nova,
interrupting Wildstar's story for a moment. "What were the other
reasons?"
"What other reasons?"
"The other reasons you
groaned when Conroy mentioned the Colorado Frontierettes, silly!" said
Nova with a funny little look on her face. She seemed to have something on her
mind.
"Well...." he said,
pausing while he thought, Wonder why she's so curious? Then he
continued.
"...as I was saying, the
first reason I groaned was due to the simple fact we couldn't see any of the
cheerleaders' faces, since they had their backs turned. There was also a second
reason, but it was rather personal. However, Conroy got it out of me when he
asked, of course, "Hey Wildstar? Why the long face?"
"I can't see any of
them," I replied.
"I know you...that's not the reason," said Venture.
"C'mon..."
"Yeah, c'mon," said Conroy.
"What is it?"
"I've been having horrible
luck with females lately," I replied.
At that, Nova shook her
head sadly in commiseration. However, she let Derek continue.
"YOU?" chortled Conroy. "Hey, we've all heard about
you...hotshot! What's a hotshot like you doing having problems like the rest of
us mere mortals?"
"I've been hearing that
you've been having problems, TOO, Conroy!"
"Yeah? But what about you?
What's your love life been like, Wildstar?"
"You don't wanna know, all
right?"
"Are you chicken or
something?"
"Hey! Grow up!" said
Venture, coming unexpectedly to my defense. "He's been through a lot of
stuff this week. For one thing, he 's been having a
hard time with astrophysics, like half of us, and for another thing, he's had
his parents on his mind. In case you don't know, Thursday would've been his
mother's birthday!"
"Oh, sorry," said
Conroy. Like many of my classmates, he knew all about my parents, of course.
"Also, if you want to
KNOW," I added sarcastically, "I just asked this cute girl to go out
with me, and she refused."
"Who?" said Conroy.
"Samantha Packwood: one of
the few girls in our major," said Wildstar. "You know her, a hot-dog Firstie. Loves to fly.
"
"What line did she give
you?" asked Conroy.
"The
usual. She said she
already had a boyfriend. End of romantic discussion."
"She's right,
Wildstar," said Conroy as another set of footsteps came clomping up the
bleacher steps. I should have recognized them, but I didn't ,
all because I was sitting there with my head down.
"She's right?" I said
as I vaguely heard the two-minute warning go off to signal the approaching end
of the first half. Down below, the first notes of "Chasin' the
Angels" came up on the PA to accompany the Frontierettes as their side
grabbed the ball again, being behind a few points at the moment.
"Yeah. She does have a boyfriend."
"Who?"
"This guy we know over in
Bravo Company: Rob Leslie. He's a senior, too. So, you see, she wasn't lying to
you. Besides, there's other fish in the sea..."
"They all tell me
that," I said.
"He's right," said
Venture. "Derek, why worry about a Flight or Combat major? Lots of other
girls look much better, for one thing."
"Yeah? Do you think I'd ever get one of those stuck-up
science majors you hang around with to look at me? I'd have about as much
chance with one of them as I'd have with a nurse...or...with one of those
cheerleaders down there...on either side... which is the other reason I don't
want to look at them! For me, they're totally unattainable!" I said as I
stopped for a minute.
Now, in the background, "Chasin'
the Angels" was still playing. The Frontierettes sounded chirpy and
cute singing that piece, but it changed a little when it got to the
instrumental bridge in the middle of the song. I remember that all of those
cheerleaders, who were just singing along, decided to improvise and add some
harmony to the guitar part, Nova. Some of them were just going,
"Ooooooo...oooo...OOOOHHH," like usual, but, one of them, and I could
never figure out who, because ,as I told you, you
could barely see those cheerleaders from the nosebleed seats, sounded very
different. She, was the one with the really long legs whoever she was, and she
was going, "Aaaaahhh...aaaahhhh," over the others, and she sounded
rather lonely at that moment, almost as lonely as I felt.
"Wildstar?" said
Venture.
"Nothing," I said. "Just that one girl who was singing for a minute. She
sounded like an angel, and she'd probably never even look at me, much
less....go out with me!"
"Hmmm..." said Nova
with a smile on her face, interrupting Derek again for a moment. "So,
Derek, you felt that girl would never go out with you?"
"Yeah, and for all I know,
we've never even met. I wonder who she was? I never
saw her face…but…she had these legs, and this singing voice….wowwwwww!"
"I know who she was," said Nova softly with a sweet grin.
"And, well...I've got some news for you."
"Was she one of your
friends or something?" said Wildstar, whose heart suddenly went cold at
the thought that he had hurt Nova by inadvertently insulting an unknown friend
of hers. "Or, did she die in the war?"
"Nope. Let's just say I can tell you exactly
who she was and is when you finish telling me about how you met Diane...and how
things ended. Okay?"
"Okay. Now, I
guessed..."
"...this girl would never
go out with me, whomever she was. I didn't have much
time to think about that, of course, especially because the owner of the
footsteps that I should've recognized came bounding up the steps to us."
"Derek, how are you?"
he called.
"ALEX?" I yelled back,
surprised that my brother should show up here, of all places. "Alex, what
are YOU doing here?"
"I came to see the game,
Derek," he replied. "How are you doing..?"
"Fine...I..."
"We're not sure, sir,"
said Conroy with a laugh, because I had introduced him to my brother before.
"A little while ago, he wasn't in such a good mood."
"Conroy," I said
through my teeth. "Alex, don't pay any attention to him. He's..."
"It's all right. I've got a
suggestion, little brother."
"Yeah?"
"Well, I'll tell you all
about it around halftime, when..."
And, at that, the buzzer went
off, ending the half. I looked up, and noticed the score was tied.
Everyone began to leave the
stands to get drinks, munchies and the like. Venture and Conroy dragged me
along, but once we reached the big concession stand, I was separated from the
group.
When I got on line, I ran into
Alex, who was waiting near a railing. As soon as he saw me, he dragged me off
to one side.
"How are you doing?"
he asked.
"Great," I replied,
lying my can off. "I haven't seen you for a while, and..."
"Derek," he replied,
knowing that I was spouting bull. He's always been good at spotting that. The only
person in the world who's been able to spot when I'm lying better than my
brother Alex was just happens to be you, Nova."
"Thanks," grinned Nova, as she gave Derek a playful little shove.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Do what?" asked Nova
with all innocence.
"Shove me?"
"I'm just teasing
you," said Nova in a typically appealing little voice. "Go on…go
on…" she said, smiling as if she was sitting on some secret.
Wildstar gave a sheepish little
grin before he continued. "As Alex was saying...I mean...he said, "I
know there's something wrong. What is it?"
"What's wrong?" I
asked.
"That
look on your face. It's not you. Now, I know this is about the time we
commemorate Mother, around her birthday, but I know that's not everything, and
I know your friends are...pretty damn observant, even if you try to tell me
they're lying. Now, what's up?"
"Alex, I don't have a
girlfriend, all right? With those guys razzing me about it, and the way I feel
about Mother, and exams coming up, I feel like..."
"I think we can solve that
problem in a hurry," said Alex.
"HUH?" I said.
"Now, do you see that girl
over there in the line, fifth one up...?"
"The one
with the dark red hair?
I know her, and she's never talked to me, her name's..."
"Her name's Diane, and she
was asking about you earlier," said Alex with a smile. "Funny, she
seems to know I'm your brother. How, I don't know...but, she was asking me a
few things about you."
"So?"
"I think she wants to meet
you. But she's a little too shy to go up and talk to you on her own. How's
about it, Derek? How's about going for it?"
"Well, okay," I said. Feeling
like an idiot, and knowing that Alex wouldn't play a joke on me, I inched up
forward in the line. After a minute or so, when some guys cut out of the line,
I found myself behind Diane. I still remember how she looked then; she didn’t wear
her cadet uniform to the game.
“What did she wear?” Nova asked.
“She had her red hair in braids,
and she wore this short little dress, bare legs, and thong sandals,” Derek said
as he recalled how Diane Henson had looked that night. “It’s an outfit you
would have looked kind of cute in…maybe….”
“We can discuss that another
time,” Nova said. “Go on?”
"Hi," I said after a
long minute. "Uhh...aren't you in the other astrophysics section? I
hear...he covered the formation of black holes in your class just a little
better than Captain Harrison did in our section..."
"Oh?" she said.
"I think he did, too...so?"
"Would
you like to get together...after the game...to discuss the notes?"
"Sure," she said.
"And, I think I'd like to sit down and talk with you, too...you
know...talk...about a few other things?", she
said with a wink.
"What other things?"
purred Nova as she interrupted again.
"Uh...you'll see,"
said Derek with a blush.
"Oh...I think I 'm starting
to get it," said Nova softly. "What happened?"
"Well...to make a long story
short, we went to her brother's apartment together right after the game. She
had a key, and she said that he wasn't there at the time, given that this was
the beginning of a weekend."
"We...started discussing
those notes...but that wasn't all we discussed...let's say. To put it
delicately...uhhh...errr...we ended up talking about our personal lives. I
remembered that she asked me about every person in my astrophysics class, even
the ones I didn't like, such as Lance Stovall. a
senior everyone hated. The rest of the details aren't important, right now.
She...let me kiss her, she kissed back, and soon we were touching like crazy. I
felt like I fell into...some kinda Venus Fly Trap or something. Then, she let
me...uh...touch her all over the place...after she opened up that little dress
and went barefoot…"
"What do you mean?"
asked Nova softly.
"You know," Wildstar
stammered as he gestured at his upper body for a minute. "Uhh...err...we
got naked and went right to third base and then we screwed each other’s brains
out…okay?"
"I'm sorry," said Nova
softly, but with a tiny smile. "I think I understand. It's something I
didn't let you do on our first date several years later," said Nova
with a smile. "Let me guess. Is that where you lost your virginity,
hon?"
"Uh-huh," said
Wildstar with a deep blush. "It was like the story of Samson and Delilah
all over again, stupid and sinful me. When that evening was over...I wasn't
inexperienced in that sense anymore. Not at all. You
know...all the way? And it happened in her brother's apartment, too.
I...I..."
"It's all right," said
Nova. "It has to happen to everyone sometime...Too bad it happened that
way, though...I like the way we did
it better...waiting and all. Even though I did let you get to third base after
we had our commitment ceremony with each other and got engaged…"
"Yeah," said Derek
sadly. "Like I said, I was a jerk, then."
"No...it's
too bad it happened that way for you, and Diane, Derek. Go on. How and when did
she break it off with you?"
"Are you sure you want to
hear this?"
Nova nodded, but then said,
"If it's too painful, you don't have to..."
"No, it's...ancient
history," sighed Wildstar. But, Nova, it still
HURTS... he thought. And it's the last thing I thought I'd ever be
discussing with you on our honeymoon.
Then, before he began again,
something struck him: namely, the idea that the honeymoon was supposed to be,
among other things, a period during which newlyweds got to know each other
better...and not merely in the most obvious sense. Nova, you're a counselor,
he thought. You've talked to me enough on an informal basis, of course,
usually over tea..., and we both know that. You must have a REASON for doing
this...
"OK, it was like
this," continued Wildstar after a long pause. "I kept on seeing Diane
until about May of 2198. Sometimes, it was an off-and-on kind of thing, as we
didn't always have time to get together: an old story, as you know. You might
know how hard it was in the Space Fighters' Training School to get off-campus
for weekends, and how hard it was to find a place to do things, which is why we
kept on using her brother's place. She said he had some important job that
required him to travel a great deal, so he wasn't often around then. However,
she was the kind who always resented it if we couldn't have time together, and
it was "my fault", as she put it.
It was as if I didn't have a
life...and she was someone who controlled me a great deal, besides. It was
always, "You're doing this..." and it was for her
own reasons."
There came a night and a time
when I wanted to go out with a bunch of people, a bunch of my friends. You
know, Venture, Conroy, Hardy...a few others. She
didn't want me to go out. It wasn't as if I was breaking a date or anything,
because we hadn't made any plans for that night. Finally, I asked her,
"What do you want?" and she asked me, "Do you know Lance
Stovall?"
I groaned all over again, and
not for the first time. For months, she had been mentioned him. And, as you
might guess, we never got along. He and his stupid friend Randy Parmon were
always riding me during plebe year. Now, these guys were about to graduate, and
they still acted as if they were the hottest thing in the world. Of
course...well...so did I, then..."
Nova just smiled at him, knowing
all too well that many, many people happen to misstate their bad side at times.
Right now, she was, as before, more than aware that Derek was engaging in some
reconstructionism regarding his own psyche, and she just grinned softly at his
understated comment, knowing all too well what he meant, as he had still been
that way at twenty-one when SHE had met him, and he was still the prototype
hotshot in many aspects even to this day. However, what Stovall and Parmon
didn't have, and what Derek possessed in spades, was an
something of a basic sense of honor and decency, and Nova certainly knew that.
Derek paused, stammering as if
he knew the trap he had fallen into.
"I...well...you know I was
pretty bad, then..."
"Go on,
Derek. I'm wondering
why she was asking about Stovall so much if she was supposed to be dating you."
Wildstar sighed deep within
himself, knowing that his rather perceptive newlywed spouse had just hit the
nail on the head. "That's the whole point," he said after a long
moment. "That's...the whole point of my story, as a matter of fact...Diane..."
"...Was in the habit of
asking about Lance Stovall like crazy. They were both engineering majors, and
she always wanted to know his whereabouts, and wanted to know...did I ever talk
to him, that sort of thing. I'm surprised I didn't catch it then, but a lot of
people are dense at seventeen. I sure was.
At any rate, that night, she
took me up to her brother's place again, after calling to make sure he was out.
The place was in a little apartment building at the edge of the underground
Megalopolis, not far from the SFTS grounds, so it wasn't hard to get to. That
was always the way of it. She put on this Beatles tape, and we...well...you
know. To her, sex was sex, and I didn't know the difference. For
both of us, partly because we were in a rush, and partly because she didn't
seem to like it all that much. She said it...was like some kind of
engineering procedure.
She was nothing...nothing like
you. In that respect, you're entirely different. And...boy,
did you demonstrate that the past few days," said Derek in a soft voice as
Nova turned her face away and blushed, but with a little smile on her face.
"And, boy, was she different than me. It was
heading for a crash, but it was just the way she did it that hurt, and that's
why that song hurts me."
"So, we...were together., right? After we were done, she had me hurry up
and get dressed. Then, after all that, the last song on the tape was coming on.
It was "For No One," and it began with the words you sang.
Then, she got dressed, and she began to just sing, as if she was joking
around..."
"She wakes up...she makes up....she takes her time and
doesn't feel she has to hurry, she no longer
needs you..."
"And then, I remember she
stopped the little tape player at that point and grinned. It was an evil grin. I
remember that, Nova. You know, with you, even your "evil" grins are
cute. Diane's grin wasn't cute. It was...just evil. Sadistic...that's the word.
It was a sadistic grin," said Derek with a downcast look on his face
before continuing.
"Diane?" I asked.
"Why are you grinning at that song? That's not funny."
"I've got my reasons,
Wildstar," she replied tartly. "And the reason I played that...if
you'll pardon my French...that sentimental piece of crap was to give you a
message."
"What KIND of
message?" I yelled back, both angry and hurt.
At that, a knock came on the
door. "Hold on, Lance, dear, I'm coming...," she said as I stood
there flabbergasted. She opened the door, and standing there, at the doorway of
her damned brother's apartment, with flowers in his damn hand...was Lance
Stovall.
"What do YOU want?" I
asked.
"Hey, Willdstah," he
said. "Yuh get any?"
"What is it to YOU? She's my
girlfriend...!!!"
"Not any more," she
said laughingly. "I used you, Derek. I used you to get me the man I
wanted. And now, I'm done. Goodbye.," she
laughed, blowing me a stinking kiss. "And you've got five seconds to get
OUT of here, flyboy!"
"And she means it,
dumbhead!" said Stovall.
"Who's gonna make me?"
I said. "You and what army?"
"How's about my
buddies?" taunted Stovall as he yelled, "YO!"
Around the corner of the
corridor came two morons I'll never forget...Jim Dangill, who, I hear, died at
Pluto... and his best buddy Parmon. They grabbed me by both arms, and Stovall
threw a punch into my gut that made me double over like a ruler. Then, Diane,
my darling girlfriend, booted that knee of hers into my...you know
where..."
Derek paused again as he wiped
at his eyes. Nova just sympathetically glanced at Derek's crotch and softly
said, "There?"
Wildstar nodded. "Yeah, THERE. Right in my balls…." To her
surprise, he stood and dropped his shorts and underwear, and guided her hands
to the exact spot.
"There?" said Nova
with a sympathetic, gentle look and loving touch. She kissed him there as if to
bless the spot and take away the memory of the pain. "That was HORRIBLE!
You didn't give her any reason to do anything THAT drastic!"
"Yeah...I know."
"Well...why didn't you turn
in the whole bunch of them for assault?" asked Nova as she pulled off his
shorts and left him bottomless. "They could've been kicked out for that,
couldn't they?"
"Nova, they had me, too. I
once told you that fraternization regs existed for Midshipmen then, as did PDA,
namely, Public Display of Affection, even if the whole thing took place off-campus,
there were witnesses, and we were caught in the act, so it made it PDA. They
told me that if I talked, I walked, too. And, you know something? Those creeps
were RIGHT. They had me dead to rights, Nova. And...well...that
was why I don't like that song much. Okay?"
"Derek," whispered
Nova tenderly as she stroked his hair and he shut his eyes and tried to shake
out the memory of his humiliation. "I suffered at the hands of people like
them, too. I once told you about those two idiots who liked to ride me horribly
when I was a plebe in ROTC, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did, Nova."
"Beast Barracks summer with
those guys was horrible. I almost resigned ROTC because of them and their
games...but...that's another story, for another time. At any rate, what I went through
at
Wildstar's eyes widened, knowing
that he had met...and married...someone else who had suffered at the hands of
fools like his old enemies. "So, you believe me...."
"Of COURSE I do!"
cooed Nova. She kissed him tenderly on the check while stroking him and said,
"Derek...this makes me think of something else. You remember that I was
asking you those questions about the Frontierettes?"
"Yeah...why did you do
that?" said Derek in a depressed voice. Nova looked sad as she realized
that he wasn't getting very hard. "Did I say something bad about one of
them? Was one of them one of your friends or something?"
"No, Derek...there's another
reason. Stay there a minute: I'll be right back!"
"Nova?" he asked.
"Just wait," she said
as she put down her guitar and left, heading for the bedroom.
Wildstar, still in a morose
mood, sat there and waited for a while. Finally, Nova called, "Derek,
close your eyes until I say you can open them. Okay?"
"Okay," he said,
sitting back again, wondering what Nova was up to. To his surprise, he felt a
book being placed in his lap. Then, he felt pages being turned.
"What's that?" he
asked.
"My old 2199 yearbook from
"Well...okay," he
said, wondering what Nova's elaborate game was. He opened his eyes.
He found himself staring at a
color picture of the 2199 Frontierettes cheerleading squad. There were seven
cute, perky-looking girls, posed in one of the quads of the underground
headquarters of the
There were a number of names
printed below the picture in script, and a number of girls' signatures around
the picture. Wildstar read in shock, one of them read, "Nova, sorry you
had to leave the squad when you got called up early-Kristin". Another one
read, "Now you're going---have a good time and good luck in your
endeavors--Sheri."
Derek's eyes fell upon the third
girl in the pyramid-like pose. There, smiling a cute smile, and looking as big
as life, was Nova at twenty as a member of the squad. As if to confirm this,
her name was below the picture in that script type.
Then, Nova said, "You can
look up now," and, Derek did so, looking into her big brown eyes, which
were just as beautiful on the current twenty-three year old Nova as they had
been on the twenty-year old version of her.
"Whoa...you looked just as
cute then as you do now," said Derek with an appreciative glance at his
beloved.
"I've still got my
cheerleader uniform, if you ever want to see me in it."
"Sure!"
"How
about now? I think
you could use some cheering up, couldn't you?" asked Nova. Before Derek
could object, she jumped up and ran off again, shutting the bedroom door behind
her.
Wildstar sat with his mind running back
down the halls of memory (and getting aroused as he imagined his wife jumping
around as a cheerleader) when, a short time later, Nova reappeared in virtually
the same classic-looking University of Colorado cheerleader outfit she had been
wearing in the school picture.
Once again, Derek's eyes went
wide as he watched Nova standing there in her white halter-neck sweater,
trimmed with black and gold (complete with her name monogrammed in script on
one breast), and short pleated skirt in black and gold with white sandals. She
struck a cute pose at the doorway with her gold pom-poms, wiggled her bare toes
up in her sandals and said, "You like? I came up with the idea of the
squad weraing comfortable white nurse’s sandals in junior year when we couldn’t
get white and black saddle shoes anymore due to the rationing…it was either
that, or go barefoot," Nova said as she grinned shyly at him before
sitting down on the rug near his chair. Then she remembered, “Although, come to
think of it, when I was to go up at the top of the pyramid, I did a few games barefoot…see?” Nova said
as she found a picture in the yearbook of her up on a pyramid and then leading
another cheer…in her bare feet. The picture looked rather cute, and both of
them knew some cheerleading squads (like the Dolphins of Pan-Am University in
"Boy, you sure were cute,
then." said Derek. "Maybe if I had
been able to meet you then...?"
"Well, maybe it's because
you weren't looking in the right place?" teased Nova. Then, in a more
serious tone, she said, "We weren't meant to meet in school, Derek. You
know that. We were just from different worlds then. Destiny brought us together
at just the right time for each other...for you, when you needed a friend to
help you get over Alex's apparent death, and for me, when I was ready to fall
in love with someone who...really needed me. Still, isn't it funny how things
work out?"
"Yeah, it sure is,"
said Wildstar. "But...I can't get over the fact that you were standing
down there all along on the night I met Diane."
"Derek, you know that song
you were talking about?"
"You mean "Chasin'
the Angels?""
"Well, I was the one who was singing that night," said Nova.
"Singing?" said a
flabbergasted Wildstar.
"The one whose voice you
remembered," said Nova. "I was the one going "ahhhhhhhh!"
instead of "Ooooooo..." Like that?"
"I...I love that!"
"Good! Derek, get up."
He did so, putting down the
book. Then, Nova pulled him down onto the floor beside her. There, they began
to hug. Then, Nova looked him straight in the eye and said as she touched his manhood
again, "You were wrong, you know."
"About...what?" asked
Derek.
"Well...before, you said
that you thought you'd never get a cheerleader, Derek Wildstar. When you're done,
I expect you to eat those words, Mister! Okay?"
"Believe me, I sure
will," said Derek. Wildstar laughed again. And...that's
an idea I DON'T mind at all , he thought as he took Nova in his arms, being
so eager for her that he just lifted up her skirt with a little flip, noticing
with pleasure that she had nothing at all on underneath it.
"I hope you never said
"sis boom bah" like this with your Honey showing," chuckled Derek.
"Those little panties they
gave me did their job...just barely," said Nova as she let her husband
fold her skirt up to her navel. The look of her dressed in a cheerleader outfit
but naked from the waist down was both kinky and arousing for her husband.
With a giggle, they fell back
down onto the carpet, this time, side by side. Needless to say, Nova had a nice
hour proving Derek wrong...and, for once, he didn't mind that at all, thank you
very much...
IV. BUTTERFLIES
Earth Federal Preserve
Sunrise Island-Dominica
December 30, 2201
1529 Hours: Local Time
Over the cries of exotic birds,
a young brow was currently furrowed as its owner faced an interesting little
problem.
"Hmm...Derek...how can I
get your camera to point up there for a good shot?" whispered Nova as she
aimed Derek's camera up into a tree.
"To begin with, stop
squirming?" whispered Wildstar upon whose T-shirt-clad shoulders Nova was
standing on top of!
"I am not squirming!"
whispered Nova fiercely.
"No, you're just digging
your toes into my shoulders," he chuckled.
"Sorry."
"It's all right. It could
be worse. You could've climbed up onto my shoulders with your heaviest jungle
boots on for this shot, Nova."
"I don't have ANY shoes
on," whispered Nova. "My sandals are off in the bushes someplace.
Shh. There he is."
Nova was currently helping Derek
stalk down and photograph a now-rare butterfly. The colorful creature was
sitting in the foliage of a small tree, just a little out of the camera's range
as it was currently encased in a small plastic case to protect it from tropical
humidity and enable it to be used underwater on dives, and hence was unable to
accept a zoom lens in its current state.
Nova and Derek were in the
jungle a few kilometers away from their bungalow on the island. It was even
warmer than usual here in the interior of the jungle, and their light garments
were quite thoroughly soaked with sweat. As they had been on the beach earlier
in the day they were lightly dressed. Nova wore a light, short white cotton
sundress with short sleeves, while Wildstar wore a dark blue pair of swim
trunks and a light blue Space Fighters' Training School T-shirt that Nova had
sent him as a birthday present last July while he had been out in space with
the Argo on his one-year tour.
They felt safe enough here in
their light state of dress. Unlike some of the other tropical islands on Earth,
preliminary exploration had ascertained that pre-Gamilon-War snakes, insects,
and poisonous plant life weren't much in evidence here on
The reason they were in this
slightly crazy position was due to a mutual hobby of theirs,
combined with an unwritten imperative they shared to just investigate any forms
of life they found in the redeveloping ecology of the island.
Namely, BOTH Derek and Nova
Wildstar happened to like biological field trips...particularly when they
included a chance to photograph insects or other local examples of flora or
fauna.
Wildstar grabbed Nova's bare
ankles again to steady her as she stood up on tiptoe to extend her camera just
a little more...
"Well?" he whispered.
"Almost..." whispered
Nova. "I've GOT him in the viewfinder..."
Wildstar looked up, in just
enough time to see Nova releasing the shutter release on the camera.
Then, chaos reigned as she
stepped back just a little too far.
"Whoa...whoa...WHOA!"
yelled Wildstar as the two of them bobbed around like a teetering tower. Nova's
weight shifted back, and Derek grabbed hard at her ankles...
Then, they both fell back with a
scream. Derek fell hard enough for the wind to be knocked out of him as he
toppled backwards with Nova's feet still on his shoulders for a moment.
The ground came up in a big
green blur and hit Wildstar with a hard body-slam that made him feel as if he
had been kicked by a loco mule. He hit the ground and blacked out for a second.
Finally, he regained his breath, noticing that he had fallen onto his butt into
a thicket of some green plants just a few meters behind the tree.
He looked up, and then
remembered Nova with a start. "Hey!" he yelled as an adrenaline rush
went through him and Nova was nowhere to be found. "Where are you! NOVA?"
"Oh, God!" he cried,
looking around. For a moment, nasty images of a maimed, paralyzed, or even dead
Nova ran through his mind, until he was relieved by the sight of the top of a
head of hair bleached a very light honey-blonde by several days of tropical
sunshine popping up above a thicket that was very thick.
"Derek?" cried a
little voice.
Wildstar jumped into the
thicket, finding Nova lying there with a few little nicks on her bare arms and
legs but apparently no worse for wear.
"Are you all right?"
he yelled.
"Uh-huh...I think so,"
said Nova querulously.
"Nova? You're sure?"
"I'm fine! Look," said
Nova as she raised her hands. "I've still got the camera, too. I had the
neck strap on, and it just fell against my body when I went down. OUCH! And...the picture's inside the enclosure."
Wildstar immediately ran over to
their gear bag (groaning a little at HIS scratches), and took the camera and
the picture from Nova. "Wow," he said. "What a nice shot!"
"Thanks. Isn't he
BEAUTIFUL?"
"Yeah. I'll bet he got away safely," said
Wildstar. "He must be the only one of us who didn't get any
scratches."
"He didn't," said
Nova. "Look, there he goes!"
They both looked up at the tree
and smiled as they watched the butterfly flying off to do whatever butterflies
did here in the tropics.
"A Monarch," said
Wildstar, as he looked at the picture. "Isn't it a little unusual for such
a creature to be here? Aren't they usually indigenous to more temperate
climates?"
"And...what
would such a butterfly be doing here THIS time of year?" mused Nova as she
rubbed a bleeding scratch on her leg. "I know it's a tropical climate
here, but shouldn't butterflies of this type normally be in their larval stage
as caterpillars now?"
"Yeah...it is weird,"
mused Derek. "Is your leg all right?"
"Just got a nasty nick
here, that's all," she said. "That's it! Next time we go in this
stuff, we're digging out our uniforms and wearing them," said Nova as she
pulled her brown sports sandals out of the thicket and began to put them on.
"With these, of course...unless we know we're going really deep in the
thickets."
"Shouldn't you put
something on that, Nova?"
"Why do you think I'm
looking for my pouch?" she laughed, looking on the ground until she found
a little macramé' pouch she had made for herself a few months ago; she had been
wearing it around her waist on a pink belt when she fell. She opened the pouch
and pulled out a tube of antiseptic, putting some on her scratches. When she
was done, she tossed the tube to Derek, who was in the middle of buckling on
his hiking sandals, which were similar to Nova's.
"That butterfly's
beautiful," said Wildstar, looking at the picture again. But, y'know,
there's gotta be a reason for it to be here. I just can't put my finger on
it."
"Maybe...it's a
mutation?" Nova said as she wiped her hand across her brow. "Whew,
it's hot. I'm sweating like a sieve!"
"Remember, we almost broke
our necks about ten minutes ago," said Wildstar, whose suntanned brow was
also quite sweaty. He brushed some of his hair (which was turning a lighter
shade of brown than was usual for him) out of his eyes. Nova undid her canteen
of water and began to drink while adjusting her dress a little, exposing more
of a usually creamy-skinned neckline that was showing just a little bit of tan,
which was a little unusual with her fair complexion. Derek had never seen her
looking like this until now, and he was fascinated by the way she looked.
"How did you do that
again?" asked Derek as he undid his canteen and drank.
"Do what?" gasped Nova
as she caught her breath.
"Get your skin like that
without getting a sunburn?"
"It's like I said the other
day. I've been putting on a slightly lighter SPF sunscreen level each day, and
getting myself used to it. I'm surprised you haven't noticed by now," she
said, extending one of her bare legs for a minute after checking the Velcro
strap on her shoe. "Especially considering well...what I've been wearing
much of the time when we go swimming...and...you
know..."
"I know," he said,
kissing her on the brow.
"You look better like that,
Derek. You should get out in the sun a little more often and spend a little
less time in the cockpit of that Super Starfighter of yours," said Nova.
"When did your hair last look like that?"
"I think when I was eight
or ten, maybe twelve..." grinned Derek. "Back
when I used to go out in the hills around our house on the outskirts of
At that, Derek paused with a
sigh. He was looking far off beyond Nova, beyond the jungle growth, back into
the past.
"What were your parents
like, Derek?"
"Well, they were...both nice.
There was my father. He was a heavyset man with a mustache and sort of a mildly
receding hairline. I don't think I have any pictures of him left. He was named
Theodore. He was a very serious sort of man. Kind, at least
when he bothered to speak to me. I remember he was always fighting with
Alex."
"Why?"
"Well... he didn't think
much of Alex's joining the Earth Defense Forces. He said that he was too
valuable to the family to 'throw his damn life away in the military.'"
Derek sighed, looking up into the sky. "He wanted Alex to carry on the
family business, but Alex didn't want to be 'chained behind an office chair',
as he put it. So, Alex and my dad were always at odds with each other. Alex
wanted to do his part for Earth...at least he did, as far back as I remember,
while Dad wanted him to take over the family import-export business. Of course,
when they fought, Mom always took his part, and she always looked after him. I
always thought that she cared more about Alex than me. I told her that to her face
once, and..."
"...And
what?"
"And...I never really got
to take it back," said Derek regretfully. "The bombings really picked
up a few weeks later, and after my mother held me and told me she loved me,
while I was holding my insect collection, we never talked about it again. We
never had time to."
"What was your mother
like?"
"She was named
Angelica...and, well, she looked a little like an older version of you, with
those wide dark eyes and all, but she had dark hair, and she always wore it up
in a tight bun. She was very kind. I mean, she was very kind. She was
patient, always there for Alex and I...up until the
end, when she spent much of the last few weeks of her life volunteering to help
victims of the bombings in our town, where they turned part of the high school
into an emergency hospital in early July of that year. When I last saw her, she
was on her way to the hospital, to help more people out, and I was on my way
back from visiting Alex at one of the United Nations Space Defense Force bases
in the area. Needless to say, I never saw her again, or Dad. I might have a
very old picture of her in my personal effects at home. You know...I don't have
much left...from my childhood. I wish I did."
"Derek..."
whispered Nova, stroking his arm gently.
"Thanks for
understanding..."
"I try. It's a little hard
to understand exactly what a loss like yours is like when your parents are both
still alive."
"But you've suffered, too,
Nova."
She just nodded. "I used to
collect insects, too. Or I did...until the
Derek just kissed Nova on the
forehead to try to comfort her. She appreciated the affectionate gesture and
cuddled back into his lap for a minute. Then, they exchanged a gentle,
searching kiss.
"I like what the sun's done to your hair, Nova," remarked Derek after a
moment of playing with the stray locks that seemed to always fall across her
forehead. "When was the last time it's really looked this blonde?"
"All the time," huffed Nova. "I AM a natural blonde."
"No...I mean...that
light," he said. "It looks like new honey."
"I think about eight,"
said Nova. "And..." she said as Derek came close. She stopped when he
saw how he was looking at her. She smiled softly and allowed Derek to
affectionately stroke her chin for a bit. Before long, they were edging towards
a kiss, which came a second later. When they were done, Nova released her right
arm from around Derek's shoulder. "Derek...I think we can think of better
places to do that sort of thing."
"Hmm?"
"Too hot here...too many
mosquitoes," she whispered dreamily as she fought an urge to just lay down in the foliage and take a nap. "Are you
tired?" she asked.
Derek replied with a yawn.
"Oh, heck," she
grinned, plopping down into the foliage.
As an afterthought, she dragged
Derek down on top of her.
As they lay there, Nova
affectionately pulled up his t-shirt and ran her finger down his chest for a
minute. A certain urge was going through her, but her eyes were just getting
droopy.
"Look at us," yawned
Derek. "We're supposed to be having a wild honeymoon, and what are we
doing? Taking a damn siesta!"
"Derek, don't you know
taking a nap together can be just as interesting and romantic as other
things...even with our clothes on?"
"Why's'zat?" he
slurred.
"Silly...it's with
you."
"Yeah," nodded a
sleepy Derek with his eyes closed. "And face it...we can't just crash out
like this together anywhere on the Argo."
"Uh-huh. So that's what
makes it special," whispered Nova after a long yawn.
"Derek?"
He didn't answer. Worried for a
second, Nova then placed her head on his chest and was reassured by its steady,
regular rise and fall.
"And to think you had THAT
on your mind while you were this sleepy," she whispered affectionately.
"Well..." she yawned. "Recharge your
power cells, my darling. I think I've got a few ideas for later..."
Then, Nova laid her head on his
chest, snuggled up to him, and joined her husband in dreamland for a while
right there in the middle of the bush. Her last thought was a hope that the
mosquitoes wouldn't torment them too much in their sleep because, after all, neither
of them had very much on....
When Derek Wildstar finally woke
up, he found that Nova was already awake, stretching and opening her canteen
again. They shared some water, and then Derek got up.
"You packed up
already?" he asked as he looked at their knapsacks.
"Uh-huh. Complete with our
picture and the camera," she said as she patted her pack. "Let's
break camp."
"What camp?"
"I'm teasing you," she
said.
Wildstar took his knapsack and
pushed off through the bush beside Nova. Before long, they were back on the
sandy path that led towards the bungalow.
The walk was long, but it wasn't
by any means quiet. After a while, Wildstar began to whistle, and Nova joined
in. They went along like that, while Derek mused that
Nova would sure be a great companion to have along on a long training hike.
Even though he was still tired, something about her brisk little walk had a way
of picking one's spirits up.
"You know?" she said.
"Yeah?"
"This'd be even more fun on
horseback," she said.
"Horseback," he asked.
"But I don't know how to ride a horse."
"Well, I'll have to teach
you sometime," said Nova. "It's fun, and
it's a great way to keep in shape."
"When you last go galloping
off into the sunset?" asked Derek.
"Last year, when you were
in space," said Nova. "I was very blue one day, and my friend Natalie
dragged me off to a riding stable around Jamaica Bay in Queens when we were
visiting New York, and she forced me onto a mare, and took us off down some
trails along the shore down to where the old Kennedy Airport was.”
"Forced you? I thought you
just said it was fun? Why would you need to be forced to do something that's
fun?"
"Derek, I was just a
little...rusty," said Nova. "After all, I hadn't been on a horse
since before the bombings."
"Oh."
"Well, I got used to it
again, and then , one day, just about a year ago,
right after Christmas, I got to go riding again. It was right before I was sent
off to the
"You'd better be careful
about stopping in bars for burgers and beer like that, Nova. You don't know
where it could lead you."
"Oh, we took care of
ourselves," giggled Nova. "Boy, did we
ever." She stopped abruptly and grabbed Derek by the arm. "THIS way."
"That's not the way back
home!" he said.
"I know that!"
whispered Nova with a wink. "C'mon."
The walk took them down into a
hollow, filled with foliage of all kinds that Wildstar didn't recognize. They
went a bit more, and descended down into a deep valley; the path leading out
went uphill and it was a little bit rough.
They got out of the dell, and
Derek noticed the growth changing.
He looked down, and noticed that
they were now on a reed-lined path. He also heard a familiar roar in the
distance.
After a few hundred meters more,
Nova stopped and abruptly sat down on the side of the path. She dropped off her
knapsack and tossed Derek a granola bar and a packet of beef jerky, following
it up with her own.
As they began to munch out for a
second, Derek noticed Nova undoing her shoes again.
"Hmmh?" he asked.
"You didn't come here
before?" she asked quizzically as she pulled her shoes off.
"Nope."
"Well...you'll find out why
in a bit," she said as she kicked her sandals off. "Get rid of yours,
too...c'mon."
"Okay," he said as he
took off his footgear and crammed it in the pack in the same manner as Nova
had. While she stood there playfully kicking up some of the warm sand with her
toes, Derek did admit that Nova seemed to have a good idea after all, because
the soft, sandy path seemed to feel a quite a bit better in bare feet. A minute
later, they were off again, plowing through the sand up a hill.
Then, Derek recognized where
they were when he noticed a long line of palm trees up ahead, in conjunction
with some beach grass in the distance.
"We're going home THAT
way?" he asked with deliberate denseness.
"Yes, after a detour,"
said Nova as they went up the path
"What kind of detour?"
he asked.
"A nice, wet kind,"
she smiled as they reached the top of the ridge and went through a gap in the
tall grass.
Stretching out before them was a
nice, wide, beautiful sandy beach that looked untouched by human hands.
"Ooooh," he said.
"I think I see what...Nova?"
"Just getting
comfortable," she said as she shrugged her knapsack off her shoulders
again. She grabbed a small bottle out of it and then merrily kicked it aside
into the grass.
Nova turned around on her toes
and affectionately stroked the tip of her husband's nose as he dropped his
pack. "Ready?" she said.
"Ready for what?" he
asked with a grin.
"Oh, nothing," said
Nova nonchalantly as she took a few deliberately slow steps forward...while
devilishly undoing her belt and then reaching behind her back. Then, she turned
to him and said, "Derek?"
"Yeah?"
"Last one in's a rotten
space turtle!" she cried as she tore off, dropping her belt and dress in a
quick motion as she ran off in only the sky-blue bikini she was wearing under
her clothes.
"NOVA!" he cried.
"That's a dirty trick!"
She didn't look back. She was
giggling as she ran, taking a deliberate zig and zag through the sand to try to
"lose" her husband. Along the way, she dropped her bikini one piece
at a time.
Looking back to see if Derek was
gaining on her (he was) and to see if HE was following suit (he was down to his
swim briefs, a VERY good sign), Nova ran across the wet sand, leaving a nice
little trail of footprints as she tore into the lagoon like an impish child to
enjoy her cooling swim in the nude. Derek followed her, also bare.
"Oh, YEAAAHHH!" yelled
Derek as he followed Nova into the clear blue tropical waters. "Surf's
UP!" he whooped as he splashed down underwater in a dive. When he
surfaced, he found he was treading water right near Nova. "Whoa, that felt
good!"
"Well, Derek," she
cried over the pounding surf. "How'd you like THAT?"
"FUN!" he responded.
With a big grin on his face for a second, he got back onto his stomach and swam
along a bit further, with each stroke and each warm wave knocking sleepiness
out of him as the sheer adrenaline of a nice, vigorous swim began to run
through him.
Then, just as they had the other
day, when they had gone swimming with the dolphin, they enjoyed a long swim,
spending a long, playful time splashing each other, showing off with
backstrokes, dives, and treading water while sneaking kisses, cuddles, and
gropes right in the warm water. Since they were naked again, the groping was
easy. It was a lot of, literally, good, clean fun (or was it dirty fun?) in the
warm ocean. The only thing that disappointed them a little was that no dolphins
showed up, even though, in one of their dives, they thought they could see some
fish, but they weren't sure, because even though the water was clear, their
view was blurred because they had no face masks on.
Finally, Derek and Nova hugged
in the water for a second, and then Nova said, "Let's swim back, Derek.
I'm getting a little tired out here..."
"Okay," said Wildstar.
When they reached the shore, Wildstar sat on the sand while Nova went to their
packs to get a beach towel for them to lie on. When she came back and spread it
out, Derek soon had sunscreen going on his back after he and Nova dried off
with another towel.
"When should we get
dressed?" asked Wildstar after a long moment.
"Let's wait a while,"
said Nova with a smile and a wink. "Okay?"
"Okay," said Derek.
"Hmm...," he said. "Hey! Look over there!"
"Where?" cried Nova,
who looked around, only to find, a second later, that Derek was snuggling up to
her, making funny beeping noises.
"Derek? Hey. Why are you
doing that?"
"My energy level's at thirty percent," he intoned. "And, my
safety lock's off. And I’m getting ready to fire…!"
"Uh-oh," said Nova.
"Uh-hmm..." she said. "What's the
target going...to...be...?"
"Guess," whispered
Wildstar as he began to lick her womanhood. Nova gasped and squirmed. When he
paused for 
breath, he made more beeping noises.
"Target scope open!" he said.
"Oh, YOU!" chuckled
Nova as they went on, forgetting all about wave motion guns about a minute
later as the surf rolled on behind them and they got into the right position to
pleasure each other with their mouths…. This time, they didn't get wet, but
they had a wonderful time anyhow as the warm, gentle afternoon crept on and
their bodies joined yet again on the beach.
Then, they went naked into the
jungle.
In the jungle, they found a nice
lagoon to swim in. After taking another dip, they found themselves bare in the
thick foilage, where they began making love all over again.
Nova remembered how cool the
growth felt under her naked body as Derek kissed her, loved her, and pleasured
her. Soon, he found the center of her, and she hugged him hard and gasped
happily as he made love to her, with his hands, then his mouth.
Then, he bent over her.Nova
kissed him, teased him, and then she helped him take her willingly and
passionately right there in the jungle.
Nova sighed, smiled, and gasped,
putting up her legs and curling her toes with pleasure as their dance sped up…and
they went faster and faster, going wild for each other in the cool jungle
growth, and the lazy, humid afternoon air.
(Artwork: “Honeymoon in the
“Yes…yes…yes!” Nova cried as Derek brought her to climax as he also came to
a shivering, sexy climax and then lay on top of her, kissing her, tickling her,
and playing with her hair.
“Nova…I love you so much,” Derek
said.
“I know,” Nova said softly as
she kissed him back.
They lay there cuddling for
quite a while, and then they feel asleep again, this time naked in each other’s
arms.
V. CONFESSIONS OF THE PAST
(II. Nova)
Earth: Dominica/Sunrise
December 31, 2201
1740 Hours. Local Time
Derek and Nova finally arrived
back at the bungalow after a slow, romantic walk home, during which they
carried their packs on their shoulders with one hand and held hands with the
other. They had dressed again, but in only their swimsuits. When they arrived
home, they took the shower they had meant to take and dried off. Wildstar then
changed into a pair of white swim briefs decorated with a red arrow similar to
that on his Star Force uniform and a t-shirt.
Nova put also put on a white
swimsuit, but hers was a one-piece tank suit. However, it was trimmed in black
with a stripe extending from the bodice to the neckline as the upper part of an
arrow exactly like that on her Star Force uniform, with the motif continued
down around her legs just as it was on her uniform.
"Who designed that?"
he said when she finished pulling it on in front of him in the bedroom while he
put on a white tank top.
"I don't know,"
shrugged Nova. "But I think it's adorable. Don't you?"
"I sure do."
"I like that arrow on your
briefs, too, Derek. But...we don't need either of these arrows."
"Yeah. We KNOW where to look!"
Both of them laughed.
"I'm hungry,"
commented Derek.
"I think I am, too,"
said Nova. "Since I don't think we'll be swimming any more today, like to
have some dinner?"
"Okay," he said.
"Good. You get the plates
while I grab up some food. I've got to check my e-mail!"
"Now?"
"Haven't checked my box for
days, Derek," said Nova as she went for her laptop. "Want to see what
kind of spam hit my box?"
"Okay," said Derek.
Nova had been letting hi look at her inbox on and off for the past two weeks.
Some of it was amusing, some annoying, some downright creepy because weirdoes
sometimes got hold of her e-mail address and occassionally sent her threats,
which she forwarded to Earth Federation law enforcement.
Nova turned on her computer,
established the satellite uplink connection, and then opened her e-mail reader.
With a tiny chime noise, her Inbox opened. This was a sample of what came up of
out of about a hundred messages...
Inbox Nova
Wildstar
Mistha@confort.grp Make Better Coffee From the Privacy of Your
Own Home!
SJosiah@bouldnet.grp Having
a Good Honeymoon?
Markensthal@electrol.grp Enlarge
Your Penis!
Xytghqera@money$$.grp have You saved $$$
Misty@pornhaus.grp Hi, I'm
Misty. I'm Horney!
Courtney30@crudster.grp Do Women Like to Fuck?
Mortvale@money$$.grp Your
Mortgage Application is Pre-Approved!
Arianne@ernnet.grp Like
To Do iT wiTH HorSeS?
Markesthal1@electrolb.grp Enlarge
HIS penis!
TForrester@newgrp.grp Nova,
Honey, Are You Okay Out There? Not Too Cold?
MVenture@EDFcent.grp Hey,
is he treating you good?
Ergonut@Centramail.grp Hey, babe,
show me your feet? Bet Their Cute.
Mustpha@Nigerongov.grp I
am Mustapha With Needing Help From Nigerian Govt.
Loon@Centramail2.grp Hey bItCh
Send me your picture Naked or ELSE!
Tammefae@newchurch.grp Your
Soul Needs Saving NOW! Say this prayer!
Cardserva@cosmochg.grp Nova Forrester Did You Forget Your Bill?
"Coffee,":
grunted Nova. :Must be a coincidence, or they read my
book about the first mission. Next one's from Sam,
mark it to write him back..."Enlarge your penis?"" she
giggled. "Derek, does 'Nova' sound like a man's name?"
"No."
"I just got an e-mail
telling how to enlarge my penis," giggled Nova. "I know it's spam, but it's funny! Okay. Spam,
spam, Do women like to f--? I do," said Nova brightly. Both of them
giggled at that. "We have a house, we don't need a mortgage. Horses? No, I do not make out with horses,"
giggled Nova.
"You said I was hung like
one," said Derek.
His wife playfully kicked him.
"Enlarge his penis? I know how already, thank you." Both of them
laughed again. "Mom. Need to write her, no, Mom,
I'm not cold, I'm hot...Venture. How'd he get this address?"
Derek shrugged.
"If you gave it to him, you
might need a new set of teeth," giggled Nova. "Show me your feet? Oh,
some weirdo with a foot fetish, turn him over to law enforcement..."
"I have a foot fetish. For your feet, of course…" said Derek.
He grabbed her feet and tickled one of them….(she made an easy target because
she had either worn only sandals or swim fins or gone barefoot all the time
since they had landed on this island) and Nova kicked and laughed as she
struggled free.
"I'll dump water on you if
you don't shut up," sang Nova. "I am Mustapha...another Nigerian 401
scam...forward that to law enforcement, Hey...bitch? No, I do not send out our
honeymoon pictures, send that one to law
enforcement..."
"Nova, how many of these
threats do you get?"
"Too many," she
sighed. "One time, some sicko said he was waiting for me outside EDF HQ
one night. That's the night I called you to come get me."
"Oh, crap. If I had know..."
"You would've beaten him
up. That's why I didn't tell you, Derek. Your Soul needs saving now? No...on my way to the right place already...Nova Forrester Did
You forget your bill...no, I paid it by mail before we left
"Do we need food?"
said Derek.
"Yes. Go for the plates,
please."
Wildstar went for the reusable
plastic plates that were the standard there while Nova began to cut up some
roast beef from another one of the roasts she had taken out of the freezer and
cooked the previous day. When combined with some tomatoes, lettuce, Swiss
cheese, and mustard, the beef made some good sandwiches, accompanied by some
macaroni salad, which had been Derek's contribution to their feast yesterday.
They ate outside in a contented
manner on the deck, exchanging some rather nice small talk about things they
were going to add to their house when they got back. Derek smiled at this,
noting to himself that Nova, like many a young wife in
these postwar days, was clearly in a nest-building mood.
After their dinner, and after
they cleaned up the wreckage, they made their way down to another part of the
beach, where Derek had spent some time putting up their volleyball net.
Nova made the first serve, and
the two of them spent a good hour chasing the volleyball around, making
last-minute saves to keep it in play (quite a few of which involved falls in
the sand) and they had a great time.
When the volleyball game petered
out, Nova spread out the beach towel she had brought with them, taking a can of
beer from the cooler Derek had hauled down as she awaited him. He was standing
nearby, shaking the sand out of his shirt after having stripped it off for a
moment.
"Damnit, it's getting so
hot again!" yelled Wildstar.
"I know..." he said as
Nova gave him a mildly "annoyed" look. "I've
been saying that all day."
"Derek, grab a can of beer
from the cooler, lie down and let me get some sunscreen oil on your back,
because you're not putting that shirt back on yet."
Wildstar got his brew and
replied, "I remember you sort of took your time about this when we were
about two kilometers down the beach earlier."
"We were distracted. VERY
distracted." she smiled as she rubbed more lotion into his back.
"Good thing we got a lot of this stuff," she said while reaching for
their portable cassette player. She found it, and flicked on a tape. A guitar
and piano-based rendition of "Scarlet Scarf" began to play in
the background.
"Nova, look at you,"
said Derek. "I think you should get this on first."
"But I've got more on than
you do."
"Ah...but your skin's
lighter. Even with that tan, you might still get a burn."
"Okay, Derek, I give
up," sighed Nova as she capped the glass bottle and
left it in the sand near one corner of the towel. She laid
down on her stomach, baring much of her back to the sun in the process, since
her suit had a rather low-scooped back.
Wildstar began at Nova's back as
she hummed away to the song. When he approached her bottom, he ran his fingers
down her legs, enjoying the peaceful look on her face as she looked up at him.
Then, the song changed. Wildstar
had made up the tape one day when Nova hadn't been home, and he had put
selections on it that he thought she would enjoy. The tape changed to the first
notes of Beethoven's familiar "Fur Eloise". Wildstar looked
gently at Nova with a quizzical look to see how she'd like it.
Her reaction surprised him. She
abruptly sat up, reached over to the tape player, and flicked it off rather clumsily, hitting the fast-forward button as she pushed it
aside and said, "Excuse me, Derek...please."
Then, at that, she left, tearing
off down the beach as fast as she could go, disappearing over the dunes.
"Nova?" he asked. "NOVA?"
Wondering what had happened, Wildstar flicked off the tape player and took off
after her. He couldn't see her at first, but the trail of her bare feet in the
sand wasn't too hard to pick up.
Soon, he had her in sight. Nova
was running down the wet part of the sand again, holding one hand against her
eyes. When he got closer, he could see she seemed to be crying as she ran.
"Nova!" he called. "Nova?"
She didn't answer. All she did
was cried and ran faster.
"NOVA!" he yelled.
"What...what did I do?"
At that, she stopped. She didn't
turn to face him. "Nothing," she said brokenly. "Nothing...Derek.
It's my fault. That's all. Please...leave me alone for a while. You...don't
want to deal with a crying, crazy woman on our honeymoon. Go back...and...let me join you after I compose myself."
"Nova...you said there
weren't to be any secrets between us. What happened? Was it something I did?
Something I said?"
"Damnit, I said NO!"
she yelled. "It's not you! It's something that happened in...happened in the past, that's all."
"Well, what?" he asked
with concern in his eyes.
"I...well...I don't like
Beethoven. At least...not that particular piece. You
know how it bothered you when I played that one Beatles song? Because of what
Diane Henson did to you?"
"Yeah..."
"Well...because of an old
scar ...I don't like Beethoven's "Fur Eloise" very much."
"A...SCAR?" he asked. "Where? I...I've seen every square centimeter of you by
now, and I've never seen a scar on you..."
"You can't see it. It's in
here," said Nova as she turned around to face him, with her hands on her
chest. "Right in my heart...on the inside. "Fur
Eloise" was playing while it happened."
"Was it an old boyfriend
you had?" he asked. "If it was...he'd better not ever run into me.
I'll..."
"No, Derek. It's not from a
boyfriend. You were the first serious boyfriend I've ever had, as a matter of
fact. It was from a member of my family. I...well...It's just...one of those
things. And?"
"If you'd rather not talk
about it, I'll understand."
Nova took a deep, shivering
breath and sat down in the sand, not caring that there was no beach towel, not
caring about the fact that the surf had taken some of the sunscreen off her
legs all over again as she had ran, not caring about anything at all for a
moment as she paused to collect her thoughts. She almost wanted to cry again
before she gritted her teeth, beating her fists angrily into the sand for a
moment in a gesture that frightened Wildstar because it was so uncharacteristic
of his usually gentle wife.
"Nova...if you want...we
can make an exception to our rule about no secrets between ourselves. We can
just go back, and---"
"NO, Derek!" said Nova
with some heat in her voice. "I...I think we'd BETTER talk about it. NOW!!"
"But
why?"
"Because... sometimes... I
still have nightmares about this, okay?" she said. "Derek, I decided
that you'd better know what I'm yelling about if I ever wake up from one of
those dreams screaming...like you do when you dream about the planet bombs. The
only other person who knows about this is Ronnie."
"Why? Natalie Fisher's your
best friend...didn't you ever?"
"Derek, there are some
things that I know you don't tell Mark about. The same goes for myself and Natalie. Ronnie Davis only knows about this...because,
when we lived together, I awakened her at 0300, screaming out the name of THAT
WOMAN in my sleep."
"Who?"
"Listen. You'll learn. Just
listen...okay?"
"Well...okay. But...did you
have an accident in training?"
"No. It happened to me when
I was a child. It was done QUITE deliberately, too," said Nova with
downcast eyes, as if recalling an old and very bitter memory.
"Who would DO something
like that?"
"It's a long story,
Derek...but I guess I'd better tell you...even though...I don't like to talk
about it. "
"...any more than I like
talking about Diane Henson."
"Right. But...you'd better know. Especially because some day...you might MEET the woman who put this
mark in my psyche."
"Who did it?" hissed
Wildstar with fire in his eyes.
"The person is a member of
my family, Derek...it's not a nice story." Nova shut her eyes before going
on.
"Derek ,
as you know," said Nova, "I was born in
"My mother," continued
Nova, "...had four sisters and a brother.
My mother was only the
third-eldest girl of her family. Her two oldest sisters, and my two oldest
aunts, are named Louise...and...Yvona. You didn't get
to meet my Aunt Louise, who's the oldest of the two,
at the wedding because she was ill, but my mother did say she wanted to come.
You didn't get to meet my Aunt Yvona...for other reasons."
"This whole thing was the
result of a visit to Aunt Yvona's place in
"
"Actually, both Louise and
Yvona lived there. Now, only Louise lives there...all alone. Her husband died
from radiation sickness in 2196."
"I'm sorry to hear
that."
"Yeah," sighed Nova. "My Uncle George was a nice old
fellow."
"So were my aunts and
uncles," said Derek. "I...I don't think any of them survived the
Gamilons."
"Derek," whispered
Nova as she gave him a reassuring hug. "Are you sure you really want to
hear the rest of this?"
"Nova...you listened to me
spilling my guts about something that bothered me the other day, even though I
could see it was making you a little upset..."
"...it's because of what
Diane and Parmon and Stovall put you through, Derek. No one deserves to have
suffered like that."
"well...if
you listened to me," said Derek. "I can certainly be patient and
listen to you. Go on."
"All right," said Nova
hesitantly. "Louise and George...lived in a part of
"Where was that?"
asked Wildstar.
"You can't find it on a map
anymore, because the Gamilons thoroughly flattened the place," said Nova.
"It's near the border with
"Yeah..." said
Wildstar sympathetically, trying to understand, and wishing that he didn't feel
so awkward around Nova right now. This was one of the moments in their relationship
where he knew...he might have a hard time dealing with what she would have to
say...and he wasn't sure how he could comfort her. "What were you doing in
"Well, in the year 2189 my
cousin David, who was Louise and George's oldest son, was getting married. We
had to attend the wedding, of course, and my father also took some vacation
time. We arrived from
"Was that your Uncle... Hiram Josiah?"
"Right. Josiah. My uncle was a fighter pilot
then, but he eventually became a Captain, as you know. It's a miracle he
survived the battle with the Cometines, you know."
"Nova...this Yvona...your
aunt, said Derek awkwardly "I mean...I've heard...is she supposed to
be?"
"You've heard the stories,
too?" sighed Nova. "Yes. Most of them are true, unfortunately. My
Aunt Yvona was, and still is, quite a religious fanatic."
Nova paused again. "As a
matter of fact," she said. "It was her fanaticism...that caused all
this."
"As you know, we were at
Yvona and Hiram's in Allensburg. Before the war devastated the place, parts of
it were fairly nice...but other parts of the city...would prove to be
fascinating only to a child...even though they were creepy. For
some reason... I thought the city...just didn't feel right. I can't
describe it. It feels as if...something awakened there. Something...that
should have died a long, long time ago. Funny...none of the other towns
in the area, like
Nova paused again, looking out
at the lagoon, away from Derek. "I remember the day well. Yvona and Hiram
weren't home, and Mom and Dad had gone off to a museum in town. I didn't want
to go with them, because I had become fast friends with my cousin Samuel, Hiram
and Yvona's boy, who was just a year older than me.
"It was a late-summer day, " said Nova, "...and we had taken off on an
excursion on Samuel's bicycle. We had no trouble sitting together on it: it was
one of those kid's bikes with a big "banana" seat and somewhat garish
colors. I'm sure you remember those, Derek."
"Yeah. I had one," he said with a smile.
"Did you have one?"
"Yes...but it was a pink
girl's bike, of course. And it was off in
"Sunset?" asked Derek
quizzically.
"That's what I named my
bike then. I had this silly obsession with naming things. Now, the only things
I'd name would be an animal or a ship; certainly not a bicycle. So, that day,
Samuel and I were riding on his bike, heading through the business district of
Allensburg and past the courthouse to an older part of town. I remember I didn't
like the looks of it..."
"SAM?" I asked as I
clung to my cousin on the back of his bike.
"Where are you taking
us?"
"It's this really neat
place I found, Nova! You'll like it."
"Well, what is it?"
"Long ago, it used to be a
railroad station, and then, they made it into a restaurant, then a train
museum, and then a little station for a steam tourist railroad that they
rebuilt along the highway where the real railroad used to be, or so my dad
says. Now, it's just an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere. But it's
still neat."
"Why would you like to go
to some abandoned building?" I asked.
"To get
away."
"To get
away from what?"
"Mom. Haven't you noticed? Mom's...kinda
crazy," said Samuel as the bike skipped over a crack in the pavement.
"Drive over a crack...break your mother's back," he sang as the bike
flew over some patched spots in the street.
"Sam? Why are you singing
that? That's not nice!"
"What's not nice?"
"Singing
about your mother like that!"
"Nova...you don't know what
I go through. Didn't you say, when you first met her, that
she seemed...?"
"Yes, I said she seemed
creepy," I replied. "Why does she wear mostly black?" I asked.
"It's this thing she
has."
"And...why
does she have all those religious medallions around? She has pictures of saints
I've never HEARD of. Like Saint Simon...Saint Cyril...Saint Methodius...and
Saint Kularu. Who's he?"
"She's creepy," said
Sam, weaving his way around Nova's question. "And she scares me. And she
yells all the time. And she drinks too much. And I hate being around her by
myself because when Dad's away on missions at the fighter base or an alert
comes up, she gets weird and makes me pray weird prayers with her. Prayers
about destroying her enemies and prayers that God will make her enemies burn in
Hell. And if I don't pray just right...BAM! She hits me. Does your mom
ever hit you, Nova?"
"Not
much...not since I was little, anyway."
"My mom used to hit me all
the time when I was three, I think," said Sam. "No, I take that
back."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Because WHAT?" I
asked.
"Just because,"
snapped Sam.
Then, we stopped at the train
station. It was in an old part of town, and you had to go over a bridge to get
to it. I still remember it to this day. It was an old orange-brown brick
building with a big, high clock tower, a big slate roof, and these curved
windows, and someone had put up what surely had to be a reproduction of an old
sign that had once been on the building. It was a red sign that read
"PASSENGER STATION" and it had the crests of the old, long-gone
Jersey Central Lines and Reading Lines on it in white. They were a little hard
to see, though...because the sign was filthy.
We walked around to the side
where the old, abandoned steam railroad tracks were, sort of running up
alongside this boulevard. There was just one track left, and I still remember
how my little brown Docksides crunched over the cinders beside the old roadbed
as I walked on it behind Sam..."
"ROADBED?" asked Derek
quizzically. "Nova, aren't maglev tracks usually built on a concrete
foundation?"
"Derek, this was the
remains of an old-style steam railroad track, like the sort you see in the
history books," explained Nova. "Have you ever seen an old railroad
track?"
"No...they
didn't have any left in my part of
"Okay," said Nova
helpfully as she stood up. "This track," she said as she drew a line
in the wet sand with her big toe, "had an iron or steel rail on one side,
like this, on a wooden crosstie, with another one," explained Nova as she
paced out about a meter and a half and drew a parallel line in the sand at that
point, "...about this far away. The trains ran on steel wheels on these
rails, and there was a roadbed made of crushed rock or cinders holding it all
together."
"You seem to know a lot
about this. Did you ever see a working excursion line?"
"Yes, in
"I can just picture
it," said Derek with a smile. "You were the cute, well-dressed, neat
little one, while he was the grungy-looking one, right?"
"Well, he wasn't quite
grungy, but he looked a little less neat than I did, Derek. But he still looked
cute."
"So, there we were,"
continued Nova, "walking up and down this roadbed, looking at these old
rusty rails, when Sam said, "Nova, hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"It's...someone's
around..."
I remember crouching down behind
a bush while a set of footsteps crunched their way down the path. Then, I heard
a dog barking. Two bigger kids showed up. One was a REALLY-grungy looking kid
of about fourteen or fifteen while the other was a younger fellow of about
thirteen. They just looked filthy and ugly.
They had a dirty-looking brown
dog with them, sort of a mutt.
"Hey, lookit this!"
said the older boy. "Ya see this?"
"Do I see what,
craphead?" asked the other kid.
"Ya see these damn tire
tracks in the dirt? I think there's some little crapheads that rode a bike down
here! I"
"Nova?"
"I...don't feel right
telling this part of it. As you can guess, those boys were using TERRIBLE
language."
"Nova, all you said was
"Damn", and "Craphead."
"Neither of which are nice.
Would you lightly wish damnation on anyone, Derek? I don't."
Derek nodded, not wanting to remind
Nova that she had snapped "DAMNIT" before when she had been angry at
him. He had never heard her talk like that before, so it had seemed unusual.
What she was saying now made sense as she continued with, "
I don't think you would...especially because I know your native religion
also believes in a Hell of a sort...and now, you also believe in the Biblical
Hell."
"Yeah...some of those
Buddhist Hells I've heard about sound pretty gruesome. Almost
as bad as Dante's version of Hell."
"Let me go on," said
Nova. "Even though I may have to gargle my mouth after I'm done. What
those boys said...well...if I'm going to be a honest
storyteller...I guess I'll have to report it. But I don't like it. Going
on..."
"Whatdaya mean,
Denny?" I remember the other boy saying.
"Lenny," I heard him
saying as my ears burned. "... you got..."
and Nova paused again, clearing her throat before continuing with, "he
said, "you got...friggin' rocks in your head? YOUR people are the ones
that are dumb!"
"There's
two kids around here! And they've got a bike!"
"Yeah...if we steal
it..."
"Yo, KIDS!" yelled the
one named Denny. "Let us have your bike. Then maybe we won't kick your
butts!"
And, at that, a rock flew out of
the place where Sam was hiding.
It hit Denny square
in the forehead.
"YAAAAA!" he
yelled...just as Sam showed up to reclaim his bike.
Before Lenny could get his hands
on it, Sam had it. At the same time, of course, he was yelling, "NOVA!
Follow me! RUN!"
I followed him, running between
my bush and the old station building to try to get away from Lenny, who started
chasing me.
But, Denny was the smarter one.
Even though he was stunned, he had enough brains to call his dog. "YO!
NORTON! Get 'em!" he yelled.
A minute later, I screamed,
since I had a nasty dog barking, growling, and snapping right in front of me. I
was scared...but I didn't lose it.
I noticed that one of the doors
to the abandoned railroad station was open, so I ran right inside. Norton
caught my scent a minute later, and he was right on my heels. But I ran,
tearing my way through that old building towards something that looked like a
doorway on the far side, which I later found out faced west.
I got through there and found
Sam outside, trying to hold onto his bike. Lenny was pulling on it with one
hand, and Sam was pulling on it with the other hand. Then, Lenny slapped Sam
with a free hand, and I slapped Lenny right back.
"Hey? What's this?" he
said. "Little GIRLS ain't supposed to fight big boys!"
"Well, big boys aren't
supposed to pick on LITTLE kids, either!" I screamed back. Then, I said.
"And where did you learn to TALK like that? You should be ashamed of
yourselves!"
"Weren't you scared?"
asked Wildstar.
"Terrified, actually,"
answered Nova. "I think they had me crying by then. But I didn't give up.
I just said, "And if you know what's right...you'd better stop this now!
Someone's bound to come along and see you!"
"Ha, ha, HA!" sneered
Lenny. "Hey! Look! Norton's comin' for ya! Wanna be stinkin' dog food,
little girl?"
Well, I got so mad that I
screamed. Then, I kicked Lenny in the shin as hard as I could...."
"Then, what happened?"
asked Wildstar.
"Then, Derek, I lost one of
my shoes, Norton came out and snapped at me, and Denny threw a rock at us. But,
Sam and I were free. Sam threw another rock at the kids, and then he just
grabbed me, pulled me on the bike, and sped off."
"By then," continued
Nova, "we were both filthy...just as filthy as the other kids, as a matter
of fact, and Sam had lost both of his flip-flops.
We sped away to the nearest
street, with Norton tearing after us. The street was one that also ran uphill,
but it at least curved, so Sam could pedal the bike up it...even though we were
swerving up and down that sidewalk like crazy to avoid Norton.
At one point, the dog sunk his
teeth into my skirt, which was flying back in the wind. I screeched, and
slapped him pretty good, getting nipped in the process...and losing a bit of my
skirt. Luckily, Sam swerved at that moment, cutting off into the street. Norton
ran over a sewer grating and got a paw caught in it as he ran. It only slowed
him down a little but that was the last we saw of him for a bit
The kids were behind us, coming
with sticks. We reached the top of the hill a minute later, and Sam yelled,
"Nova, hold on! I'm not STOPPING THIS BIKE!"
So, we just tore on downhill,
flying like the wind was after us. I still don't know why we didn't fall off
that bike and split our heads open on the pavement..."
"Sounds like some of the
scrapes Alex and I were through," said Derek.
"Yes, but did you have to
get home to someone like Aunt Yvona?"
"I had my
parents...especially my Dad, who was terror on you if you were bad."
"But you never had Yvona to
contend with, and SHE'S the real point of this story, Derek."
"When we got home,"
continued Nova, "Sam put his little card-key in the lock beside the old,
wooden door, and listened to it buzz before we stepped into my Aunt Yvona's
living room".
"Yvona's parlor was a
creepy-looking place. It was dark, with a dark red Persian-style rug, and a lot
of overstuffed furniture in dark green and red velvet. A big grandfather clock
ticked in there all the time, and there were a lot of mirrors around,
surrounded by all of those pictures of those saints."
"Yvona," said Nova
after a pause, "was one of those women who was
already beginning to look old at a young age. She was about the age my mother
is now, but she had her hair pulled in a bun even tighter than the one my
mother wears, and she already had a few streaks of gray in it. Also, her hands
were already covered with liver spots, and they were wrinkled, and her face
looked very thin and drawn, but she was getting a paunch under her dress. Very unusual for our family. She was wearing a little pair
of glasses, and she was knitting something when we came in. And, Beethoven was
playing on the stereo. She was playing "Fur Eloise," like I
said. She really liked that piece for some reason..."
"Sam and I both huffing,
puffing, and trying to keep from crying our heads off."
"WHAT do you two think
you're doing?" she hissed as we came in.
"Mom, a DOG was after
us!" said Sam as she threw down her knitting.
"A dog was after you,"
repeated Yvona mockingly. "Is that any reason to come tearing in here like
a little barbarian, Samuel? HUH?"
"No...and.."
"Auntie, I can explain
everything," I said. "We..."
Then, she turned her eyes on me.
They were dark, and they looked a lot like my mother's, but meaner. She said,
"My dear, DEAR niece. You're the older one! Your parents say you're so good,
so let's hear YOUR story first!" she said as she got up and turned her
Beethoven up even louder.
"All right," I said.
"Sam and I were down by the old train station. We went down there to look
around at stuff...when these older kids showed up with a dog! They wanted to
steal Sam's bike and beat us up, but Sam protected both of us by throwing rocks
at these punks, and we got away. While we were running, Sam lost his shoes, and
I lost one shoe and the dog bit my skirt," I said, holding out the ripped
part of my skirt and my dirty bare foot as proof, "but we got home
okay."
"Does he still have his
bicycle?" snapped Yvona.
"Yes, and it's out on the
porch, Mom," said Sam.
"Shut up! I wasn't talking
to you! Whose idea was this?"
"I went down there, Mom, I'm..."
"That's not good enough.
Get over here!"
"What?" said Samuel.
"Get over here NOW!"
yelled Yvona as she picked up a bedroom slipper of hers from under the skirt of
her chair. Sam came up to the chair, and Yvona just pulled him over like a
madwoman. He struggled, but she forced him onto her lap. Then, she twisted him
around, forced his...behind up in the air...and began flailing away with that
bedroom slipper of hers.
I just stood there in shock and
watched. She had her hand over his mouth, and she was just...beating him. I
never saw anything like that before, and I wanted to just get out of that
house! I prayed, "Please God, make mama and papa show up...now...just make
them come...make them come and make her stop this..."
Finally, I said, "Auntie...why...?"
"SHUT UP, brat!" she
screamed at me as she slapped Samuel while he screamed. I wondered what she was
doing to him to make him scream like that, and I wondered if I could call the
police or something, when she stopped, slapped him across the mouth, and threw
him off onto the floor.
"Get out of here, boy, and
go off and ask God to forgive you," hissed Yvona...right as she grabbed
me.
She held me back while she went
over to her stereo, ran the tape back, and then began playing "Fur
Eloise" again, even louder than before while she cracked her knuckles.
Oh, what an awful sound she made!
"Auntie!" I cried. "What are you doing?"
"Nova, dearie; does your
mother believe in "spare the rod and spoil the child?"
"No...I almost never even
get hit."
"Well...she SHOULD hit you, and more often!" screamed Yvona. "Get over
here! NOW!"
I was...terrified, but still
used to listening to adults. I don't know...maybe I was too good. Maybe,
in some ways...I still am...but...well, I came over towards Yvona. Then, she
hugged me hard around the waist with her right hand and threw herself down in
the chair.
Before I knew it, she had me
over her knee. I struggled...not wanting to get hit with that slipper.
She just slapped me across the face and snorted, "REBEL! Stay down! Now,
we shall begin..."
"DON'T!" I screamed as
I realized what she was about to do with that slipper. Then, she threw up my
skirt, and, worst of all, pulled off my underpants as I struggled.
Before she replied, the slipper
slapped my bare..ass... with a terrible force. It was
a hard-soled slipper, and it HURT when it hit you there," said Nova.
"She just went on and on as she reached back to turn Ludwig Von up even
louder...and...soon...I found out why Sam was
screaming. The slipper, you see, had a nailhead sticking out of the heel...just
a little bit. Whenever that nail hit your...rear end...it hit it almost hard
enough to draw blood.
Soon, I felt a very, very sharp
pain, and I felt some blood running down...down me...between my legs. That was
when I was punctured. She...she cut my bottom with it...right here," said
Nova as she turned in the sand to lie on her stomach. "It didn't leave a
mark...at least...not permanently," said Nova as she patted her posterior
and then gave herself a wedgie on purpose to expose
her firm, lightly tanned buttocks to Derek for emphasis. "And...Derek,
that's when she stopped."
"She must have stopped when
she realized she was leaving marks on a kid who wasn't hers," said Derek. "Right?"
"Right, I guess. She just
stopped at that point, and threw me off her lap like I was poison. Before I
could react, she pulled me up, and said, "Child, don't you bleed on my
rug, you accursed little hypocrite! I never let Samuel bleed on my rug, and you
shouldn't do it either. Clean yourself UP, child! Children never appreciate
their elders! God knows I had enough trouble having him, and he never
appreciated me! NEVER! Six times I tried, six times I lost the issue...and HE
came on the seventh try and never appreciated me! Being pregnant isn't FUN,
dear! Do YOU want to get pregnant?"
"I...I'm not sure what that
is," I said. Remember...I was just ten...and Mother hadn't told me very
much about that sort of thing yet, you know, and I hadn't learned much in
school at that age, either.
"Well, you'd better learn,
or you'll be pregnant before you're fourteen...little whore!" she
screamed. "Little trollop! Your mother got lucky! Wham-bam, and out you
came! First try, too! I'll bet she had a
"You think again, Auntie!
Wait until I tell my mother what you DID!" I screamed back. Then, she
slapped me again. Right across the mouth, too.
"You won't tell anyone,
Nova!" she barked back. "If you tell, I'll find you, hunt you down,
and KILL you. Then, I'll leave your body totally undressed in a ditch by the
river for the stray dogs to eat! Then, will you think that's FUN?"
At that, the adult Nova stopped
abruptly. She was crying again.
"Nova, that's HORRIBLE!" said Wildstar in amazement. "You never
told your mother?" he asked very gently.
"No, I never did!"
sobbed Nova. "You're only the second person in the world I've ever had
the...courage...to tell this, remember? Ronnie was the only other one...and she
had to know, because her crazy roommate woke her up one night screaming,
okay?"
"Did your mother ever find
out...I mean...from the signs?"
"No. I did a good job at
keeping my body hidden from my mother during the rest of the trip, not that she
would've looked there, much, anyway...and I managed to treat the little wounds
all by myself. I...I also helped Samuel tend to himself when no other adults were
around. Also, of course, I changed all my clothes and kept that skirt and
underwear hidden from Mother in my little suitcase. When she finally saw it a
few days later when we got home, I told her that a dog in
"That sounds..."
"Derek...sometimes...well...I
told you I still DREAM about that woman! She's horrible! I...well...I'm still scared
of her...and..."
"Nova...don't worry about
it...don't worry about her...you'll be all right. You'll be fine..."
"Derek...just..."
Nova then fell into his arms and
began to cry her heart out.
Wildstar simply held her as close
as he could...and stroked her hair as he continued to soothe her and whisper
reassurance.
They were like that for quite a
while.
Some time during that moment,
Wildstar felt so much compassion for her that he thought, Nova...if
anyone...ANYONE...ever lays an unwanted hand on you again...so help
me...they're...they're going to regret it...
It took quite a while for Derek
to finally calm his young bride down. But, he understood. As Nova knew, he,
too, knew what it was like to suffer unexpected pain at the hands of a cruel,
uncaring world, and just as she had comforted him, so also did he finally
succeed in comforting her.
And, in that comforting, the
bond between them grew even closer. And, in telling those stories to each
other, they became even closer than the run-of-the-mill lovers of that time.
They became, more than ever,
their very closest friends. In each other, they knew they had found someone
that one could share your darkest, deepest secrets with without any fear of
rejection or reprisal.
They knew, then, even more than
ever, that if they needed a friend, a comforter, they'd always, always be there
for each other...in the good times... and in the bad times.
Finally, later that evening,
they were back in the bungalow. The storm had passed, and Wildstar had long
since wiped the tears away from Nova's cheeks and listened to the last sob.
They had come back inside in a close embrace, and couldn't help making love
again in the shower as they began to wash the sand off along with the dark
memories of their conversation. They emerged cleansed on the inside as well as
the outside and then they dressed, with Wildstar putting on denim shorts and a
navy blue T-shirt, and Nova dressing in a white pullover top, black shorts, and
her low white sandals. When Wildstar saw Nova putting on her shoes, he added
brown Docksides to his apparel and then they both sat in the living room,
listening to some music that came up on the short-wave from the Megalopolis.
While they listened, they were
reminiscing about everything they had done on their honeymoon trip so far;
their explorations of the island, their diving sessions (during which they had
captured some BEAUTIFUL underwater photographs), their little excursions on
their jet-skis, their moonlight swims, the times they had cuddled on the beach,
their little picnics and volleyball games, and all the hours they had just
spent talking to each other and snuggling like two teenagers.
"You know, there's one
thing we haven't done yet..." said Derek.
"What is it? I can't think
of ANYTHING we haven't done..." replied Nova.
"We...haven't opened
Commodore Hoshiyama's gift box yet," said Wildstar.
Both of them paused. The dark
wood box sat across the room on a shelf, untouched, and, as of yet, unopened.
"Well, we have a while to
recover from any ill effects," said Nova with a wink, "So...let's try
the sake now. After all...there's no time like the present...and it IS New
Years' Eve."
"Nova, are you SURE?"
asked Wildstar as she ran over to the shelf and grabbed the box.
"I think Commodore
Hoshiyama would be very insulted if we didn't use his gift at least once,"
said Nova innocently as she opened it.
Nova sat deliberating for a
moment, and then she poured it into a glass. "Derek?"
"Yes, for the sake of
Commodore Hoshiyama, a bang-up honeymoon, and a great New Years' Eye, let's
drink!"
"Good idea," said
Nova. They clinked glasses, whispering,
"Cheers," at each other.
Then, Nova took her first sip of
the unheated sake.
The first taste of the liquid
burned her taste buds and the roof of her mouth. Then, it burned its way down
her throat. For a second, Nova almost retched the vile liquid right up, but her
notions of propriety (one of which was that it just wasn't LADYLIKE to barf in
front of your husband) kicked in, and she allowed her stomach to accept the
dubious gift.
Immediately, her head began to
spin as a warming sensation ran its way straight down to her toes like a wave.
Her vision seemed a little bit blurry, and she wondered why, until she looked
up at Derek and saw that the commander of the Star Force was sitting there with
a very zonked-out look on his face and tears forming in his eyes. He looked
rather like he had just been hit by an airbus.
"Whhoooaaa," he said,
shaking his head back and forth. "I forgot that this stuff hit you like
THIS! Nova...?" he moaned. "You okay?"
Nova was, in the meantime,
picking up her glass and sipping at it. She didn't look particularly unhappy.
As a matter of fact, she looked rather amused. When she finished her glass, she
was wearing a slightly cockeyed smile, and she muttered, "I don't believe
this!"
"What?" moaned Wildstar.
"My mouth doesn't hurt
anymore! I'm feeling GREAT!" she said in a very slow voice, with her
country-girl
A few minutes later, Nova was
laughing as she ran over to the small piano that was in one corner of the
bungalow. She was normally a fairly good pianist, but now, she banged out "Auld
Lang Syne" in a terrible, off-key fashion as she giggled, "Happy
New Year!"
This is fun, thought Wildstar through a mind that
began to feel like cotton candy as Nova tried to play on She's never gotten
this giggly before on just one drink!
Nova was sipping at her stuff
with a big, wide smile on her face, and she stood up, shaking a little in her
sandals. She sat down again and sort of kicked them off, and then got up,
finding that navigation was much easier in bare feet. "What time
isit?" she asked as she stood by the piano again, banging away off-key
before giving up.
"I don't know," moaned
Derek. "Is thish shtill New Yearz Eve?"
"Does it matter?"
"Nope."
"You know...I wish Pop had
given us this stuff right after we got home? We could've really used it then,
Derek...really," said Nova as she struggled over to the short-wave and
began to spin the dial around, looking for another station. All she got was
noise and static.
"Oh...there's nothing GOOD
on the radio!" she said.
"Who needs the radio?"
moaned Wildstar as he took a third drink; this time straight up. He was now at
the point where he felt no more pain, so it didn't matter.
"Right...let's get a movie
on...a New Year's movie!" said Nova as she fished around for a videotape,
dropping far more of them than she got. Soon, she forgot about her mission, and
bumped her way over to the couch, where she fell into Derek's lap and poured
herself her third glass of the vile brew, also straight.
Around the time she was drinking
her third glass of sake, her memory began to slide
away into some nether state. Wildstar's fell into the same state around that
time.
Afterwards, the two of them had
no conscious memory of what they did for the rest of that night...except that
it can be said they didn't end up in their bedroom...and it took them two full
days to recover... in a manner, however, that was not at all inconsistent with
their honeymoon objectives!
It was a very good thing that
they were all alone on an island and on leave during this period of time.
Otherwise, (in the real world)
almost ANYTHING could have happened...
END.