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Angel S:1E:6 "Friends" By G.M. Shephard Copyright 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode 6 "Friends" Megan was sitting on the bed reading when Brad finally returned from the awards banquet. Her hips were hurting from all the walking around and decided to leave the party early leaving him to enjoy himself with his soon to be fellow astronauts. She got herself comfortable and poured a glass of wine celebrating the news that her fiancee will finally get his time in space. Megan sipped the fruity Zinfandel she bought on the way back while catching up reading one of the many medical journals that had formed a tall stack on her office desk. It was gibberish to many, but exciting to her. She loved having been to outer space, but it was inner space, the human body and the human mind that really fascinated her. "Hey honey, how was the rest of the night?" she asked her fiancee as he closed the door to their hotel room. The two met five years ago while working together and they quickly started dating, keeping their relationship quiet for a whole hour until the close nit group that the astronaut program was, figured out they had they hots for each other. Their time together was severely restricted once she was selected out of a handful of other candidates to join one of the two crews of the Deliverance. In the little time they did have, they squeezed in any free moment they could together until two days before launch, he popped the question. It was rash, she knew they still needed more quality time together before taking that big step, but in light of the situation, it was a girl's dream proposal, one that she would tell her kids a hundred times. Everyone seemed to know long before she did, that he was going to ask her for her hand in marriage before sending her off to the middle of the solar system. Arranging to sneak away for an hour, they stood before the Discovery on Pad A as it was being prepped to take her to her rendezvous with the Deliverance. With the Sun setting in the west, the sky colored bright orange, he got down on his knee and completely flubbed the words he had rehearsed a hundred times. He was cute as he tried desperately to get the words out, until his heart took over and improvised. What ended up pouring out of his soul made Shakespeare sound like Dr. Suss to the girl deep inside her. "It was all right," he said not embellishing too much detail about the rest of his night. "Come over here, there is something I want to tell you." Brad lowered his head and walked over. "Yeah, I have something I need to tell you too," he replied, "go ahead, you first." "Don't be silly, I want to hear from you, mine can wait, what's up?" She wondered how he heard the news already as Thompson gave her the honor. He was silent for a minute, and his reluctance to start talking triggered alarms that something wasn't right. Megan began to panic inside when he began. "Megan, I'm sorry, I really am, but I...um...I don't know how to tell you this, so I am just going to say it. I fell in love with someone while you were gone." He paused a minute waiting for his devastating confession to sink in before switching to his pre-planned list of excuses for his infidelity, "I didn't want to tell you right after you got back, with all that you had going on, but I can't keep it from you any longer. I love you, but she, well we're having a baby. I know I'm a jerk, screwing around while you were saving the world, but, well, I'm sorry," he concluded. Megan sat there in silence for 5 minutes staring at her lap refusing to look up at him tears gushing out of her ducts and spilling down her face. "Please get your things and get out, I don't want to see you again," she said through the tears as she pulled the diamond ring off her finger and tossed it on the bed in front of him. He left the platinum engagement ring with a princess cut 1.75 carat diamond behind and collected his bags in silence. She never noticed, but everything was packed up by the door as if his departure was well planned. "I know this is a lot to ask, but please don't say anything to anyone." Megan tried to control her rage as she processed his asinine request. She just spent a year apart from him on the most important mission in human history, and he couldn't keep it zipped up for 12 months. She was the sole female in a crowded all male vessel and managed to come back to him as pure as she left. To think after all that, he would have the nerve to ask me to help him save face so he could win his place on the roster. "It's a little late for that, Thompson wants to see you on Monday morning in his office. It sounds urgent." "Did he say what he wanted?" he asked with a hint of fear showing through, a fear she could easily detect. "GET OUT, GET OUT, GET THE FUCK OUT YOU BASTARD!" she screamed as she threw her journal at him making him instinctively duck. Brad scurried out the door as she went from a passive emotion wreck to a raging scorned woman spewed from the pit of hell. The door slammed leaving her alone. After a few minutes of screaming at the empty room, the rage subsiding leaving her a teary eyed disaster as she laid on the bed sobbing. Before her anguish wore her out and she fell sound asleep, a slight smile came over her face as she thought of the fear that would plague his mind until Monday morning. Washington DC It was getting late in the day and I figured it was time to get back to the hotel. I had spent the better half of the last two days engrossed in study. I found Washington DC to be a wealth of knowledge both historical and scientific. My main draw was towards the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, but in light of some unknown recent event, everyone and their mother was packing the place. One would make more forward progress moving a shuttle, atop a wide load semi truck, up 5th Ave during rush hour than to brave the crowds suddenly filled with an interest in the history of space flight. With my ability to travel anywhere in the world as if going out to get the mail, I figured I could come back anytime I wanted, so instead my tour led me to other key parts of the city soaking in as much as I could. Around noon I found myself in front of the public library where I decided to do a little research on stellar evolution, supernova types and galaxy structures. The library did have a sizable collection of books on astronomy, but lacked the depth libraries at the university level had. I was amazed that the incredible speed at which I could move also translated to my reading ability. Most passed by me either staring at me for my looks, or for the fact I was just flipping through pages as if looking for pictures. Little did they know I was reading every word on the page comprehending every sentence and committing it to memory. I scanned about a page a second, and in a period of a couple hours I had gone through all the books and then some. Several people approached throughout my study questioning why I was even bothering with such deep subjects if I was just going to flip through them. They couldn't understand why a cute blond wasn't married and having kids, instead reading about "Astrology" as they mistakenly called it. What unnerved me more about the encounter, was it wasn't coming from men, but from the elderly female librarians. It was like they were stuck back in the 40's with the archaic notion that a woman's place was in the home. Being a female was bad enough with men looking down on me for my body, but I was never prepared to receive similar treatment from women as well. As I left the library to head back to the hotel, I considered the possibility of going back to school, this time getting my Doctorate in Astrophysics. After the Air Force, I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Astrophysics followed by a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Caltech. I had an impressive education, but now in a different body, I had no degree with Karen's name on it, and without that, all my knowledge wasn't going to get this girl through the front door. Becoming an astronaut all over again was uninteresting to me. I can take trips into space any time my heart so desired, but I still had limitations and likely couldn't venture too far from my life giving Sun. What I really wanted to find out where Kaaren was was from. The crystals would satisfy that answer, but my detailed knowledge of the universe was getting rusty, and this little appetizer of knowledge would hold me over until I could return to the cabin for the main course. More and more powerful telescopes were being developed that would allow for further look back times that will eventually take us back to when the universe was only a few seconds old. I wanted to be able to look through a telescope and see Kaaren's home star as it looked 30 or so years ago, long before her and her father embarked on their fateful journey. It surely would be something to look forward too, and perhaps taking part in developing more powerful technology to reach out to other worlds. It would take years of work, and I didn't like the idea of the difficulty I would face re- entering the educational arena as a woman, but my newfound skills could give me an drastic edge over the other students. I had plenty of time, time I should put to use to benefit humanity instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself. An Hour Later I entered my suite and tossed my handful of bags on the bed then went into the bathroom and turned on the jacuzzi. While waited for the tub to fill up, I picked through some of the clothes I found in between tourist destinations. It wasn't much, but I finally found a couple pairs of jeans that managed to fit after a slight struggle to get them around my hips. They were a tight fit, but they fit, so long as I had something to cover my ass with. The steam from the tub was rising and before I set off another blood curdling alarm, I shut the door while I undressed, throwing my new jeans on the floor. Next I took off the dark red hooded sweatshirt that had the letters "DC" on the front. It was very touristy and announced to residents of the city I was a visitor from somewhere else, yet I found it comfortable and neutral able to be worn by either my new body, or my old without drawing attention. I pulled my hair through the hood of the sweatshirt letting it fall around my bare back and chest and tossed the inside out sweatshirt onto the ground next to my jeans. Standing by the bed wearing nothing but a plain pair of black cotton panties I opened a package of rubber bands and secured my long thick hair into a pony tail. The dense mess of hair that came standard with the rest of this body was starting to stress me out. It was constantly announcing it's presence and demanding my attention like a small child in constant need. After nearly three weeks of fighting it, wishing this body could look acceptable with my old simple to manage crew cut, I tied it back. I grabbed one final, bag setting it near the jacuzzi, before kicking off my undies and hopping into the warm water. I leaned further and further back until I submerged my head under the water level, coming to a rest on the bottom of the small jacuzzi. I held my breath and laid there enjoying the relaxing benefits of the jets while my long legs, the only part of my body above water, stuck up out of the tub and hung over the edge. Finally after shattering Michael's underwater breath hold of three minutes, I resurfaced what I believed to be ten minutes later. I squeezed a splash of shampoo in the jacuzzi which quickly got sucked into the water pump and spewed out through the jets. As the soft white foam started accumulating on the surface of the water, I reached over and grabbed the bag I brought into the bathroom with me. Inside the bag was a bottle of the best Vodka I could find in the city. The owner of the shop, an elderly man from the Ukraine slapped his seal of approval on the bottle and was nice enough to forego the ritual scanning of the ID once I started conversing with him in Russian. An unplanned change of events prevented me from attending Yeltsov's State funeral which was rescheduled to occur sooner than originally planned. Instead, I will have to celebrate his life alone, naked in a tub drinking Eastern Europe's contribution to the world's bar. The white and red paper seal wrapped around the cap tore as I unscrewed the top and paused a moment in silence foregoing the use of the many Russian cheers, finding they were inappropriate, all translating into a wish for long life. After a few moments thinking of my fond memories of my Russian friend, I took my first tug on the smooth Ukrainian Vodka distilled from fermented potatoes and grains and let the alcohol seep into my blood stream hoping tonight would somehow be different. After an hour, I was surprisingly relaxed and found I had the start of a slight buzz was coming on as I neared the end of the bottle. Finally I found myself truly relaxed and my mind a little at peace as I tried to convince myself that Megan was right, and Liz was hiding from the mobs of reporters begging to ask ridiculous questions about how she felt about my loss. Deep down, I knew it was wrong, we had out lived the typical expiration date of a marriage's honeymoon phase and twelve years later, we were still madly in love. Sure we had our moments, but I found it difficult to reconcile her fear of facing the press, would some how trump her husband's funeral. As the panic started to rise, I finished off the bottle as the small silky smooth bubbles popped tickling my breasts. Ignoring my paranoia of Kaaren watching, my mind become slightly curious overtaking control of my hands forcing them to cup my breasts feeling their softness. It felt good as I squeezed and massaged them a little before shifting my attention to her nipples. The pleasure that was building was taking my mind away from the only pain this body was capable of feeling. "Enjoy all the discoveries you make while in my body for everything it has to offer is yours to explore and cherish," I quoted out loud recalling that moment back on her ship minutes before she handed full possession of her body into my care. "What did she mean? Was she talking about her powers, or did she also mean she gave me permission to enjoy the pleasures of her alien sexuality?" Giving into my male mind's burning curiosity as to what kind of pleasure signals these things produced I decided to take her literally on all counts in an effort to mask my hurt. Male nipples as seemingly useless as they are, did have some degrees of sensitivity, but only produced local ticklish sensations. Kaaren's on the other hand seemed to produce radically intensified pleasure sensations feeding impulses to other parts of my body. In the time I have been living as her, my sexual drive seemed non existent. Looking at attractive women did not stimulate parts of my body, nor did men. It was probably due to my mind having been very occupied with things more important than sexual activity, but now I relished in the wonderful feelings slowly building and spreading throughout my body. I was relaxed, and my buzz was in full effect, my pain slowly fading when a loud noise rung though my room. The phone was ringing. "Shit," I yelled as I scrambled out of the tub hoping to not miss Megan's call. I yanked the door open and accelerated for a split second before my wet soapy feet slipped out from under me. In the middle of building up forward momentum, gravity took full hold my body and I hit the tile floor hard shaking the floors below, while sliding across the tile. My naked soapy body plowing through the mirrored closet on the other side sending shards of glass flying through the air. I was lying on my back looking up just as a large pointed sliver of mirror came crashing down threatening to disembowel my perfectly shaped abs in an accidental act if seppuku. Instead of piercing my belly, the glass hit my dense skin and shattered harmlessly into hundreds of small fragments littering the tile floor. As the neighbors pounded on the wall for me to be quiet, the phone rang for the fourth time as I quickly picked clumsy self up off the ground desperately trying to gain traction. The glass between my feet acted to provide the necessary grip my feet needed to keep from slipping and was finally able to reach the safety of the carpet when the phone stopped ringing. "Nice going, Michael. You got yourself a twelve year wait till Kaaren returns, and now seven of those are going to filled with even more bad luck," I said out loud, "Shit, now you missed the call." I was beating myself up for not flying across the room, when the phone started ringing again. I stood naked over the phone with fragments of the mirror and soap dripping off my still wet naked body. Taking a couple deep breaths to regain my composure, I answered. "Hello," I said as I put the handset to my ear." "Hi, Ms Shifley, this is the front desk, we received a call that there was a loud noise coming from your room. We just wanted to see if you where all right and see if you needed any assistance." "Yes, I had an accident and slipped on the tile. I'm terribly sorry, but I will need someone to pick up all the glass." This was embarrassing, but could have happened to my mortal self just the same. "We are very sorry about that. Are you ok, did you injure yourself? If you need, I can send someone to take a look at you." "No, I am just fine, just a little emotionally bruised, but I am un- injured." I stood there picking a piece of the mirror out of my perfectly shaped navel as the concierge notified me he was sending assistance up to my room." Quickly, but carefully this time, I floated above the mess of glass on the tile and brushed the glass off my body before making my way to the shower to rinse off before the clean up crew arrived. After what was my fastest shower yet, I dried off and covered my body with a white complimentary robe just as someone started knocking on the door. Making sure my robe was secure and not showing anything off, I opened the door to see a Manager, two maids and a fourth. The latex gloves on his hands gave away he was a hotel staff medical technician or nurse. "Ms Shifley, I'm Bernard Elliot, one of the senior managers, may we come in?" He handed me his card. I waved them in embarrassed at the mess they were about to witness in the bathroom. "I am terribly sorry about this, where was it the accident happened?" "It was over in the bathroom." I began to walk them towards the bathroom when the manager motioned for me to stay put. "Please Ms Shifley, we will take a look, if there is broken glass I don't want you to hurt yourself. If you don't mind I would like to have Leonard examine you and make sure you don't have any injuries." "I appreciate it, but I am really ok." I knew they were looking out for their own well being and didn't really care much about mine. "I'm sure you are, ma'am, but we like to look out for our guests. I promise he will be gentle and will only take a couple minutes." "Ms Shifley? I'm Leonard, if you don't mind I am going to check your vitals and make sure you are all right. Sometimes we feel fine, but in fact are not. It won't take long, can you tell me what happened?" Before I could protest, he had me recounting the story, minus a few details while he checked my pulse rate. "Thats quite and accident, wet floors can be a killer. You seem lucky not to have any lacerations from the glass." Very gently, pausing for my permission, he took my bare feet into his hand and examined the soles. It was utterly pointless as I knew the dangerous glass couldn't penetrate my skin. Still the seemed to be determined to ensure I wouldn't be suing them. As he examined my foot, It came to my attention I was leaning back in the chair with my legs spread wide open as I have done all my life. With only a bath robe on it would be easy for him to sneak a peak if he so desired. Quickly, I closed my legs together sealing my girlie parts away from his view. "Were you wearing slippers, it's amazing, you don't seem to have any cuts anywhere?" I nodded that I had in order to reduce suspicion. He moved to my back and started examining the back of my head when Elliot came back into the living area. "Ms Shifley, did you say you slipped, or tripped? There is a cracked tile on the floor that you likely tripped on." I know I clearly slipped and fell backwards. My skull must have cracked the tile when I hit the ground. "To tell you the truth, I thought I slipped, but things happened so fast, I don't remember. Either way I shouldn't have been running like that. I'm really sorry." "Ms Shifley, there is no need for you to apologize, it could have happened regardless of how fast you were running." The sounds of glass shuffling around as the maids swept up my mess carried through the room partially drowning Elliot out as he continued, "That crack could have caused anyone to trip, and those mirrors are supposed to be safety glass. You can't imagine the types of parties we have in these types of rooms." He turned to Leonard and asked, "Well, how is our guest?" "Amazing, she seems just fine," he replied as he shifted to the front of me. He withdrew a small pen light from his shirt pocket and shined it in my eye bending low to examine my eye's reaction to the light, "wow, you have incredible looking eyes, can you follow the light for me without turning your head?" My eyes tracked back and forth as he moved the light from right to left. "Good," he said moving the light high drawing a large square in the space just inside the space of one's normal field of vision. My field of vision, unknown to him was a bit wider." "Excellent. Are you having any trouble seeing, any spots, any blurriness?" I shook my head no. "Great, everything looks good to me, you're quite lucky. Ms Shifley." Elliot stood before me. "Ms Shifley, here is what I would like to do. I don't want you stepping on any glass, so I would like to offer you another room, or if I can arrange for you to have dinner somewhere while we clean this up. I promise we will be quick about it." I did skip dinner, and was now I was feeling a little hungry, but I needed to stay near in case Megan called again. "Mr. Elliot, I appreciate the offer, but that call was very important to me, and I need to stay close in case they call again." He was very kind and gentle, and seemed like an expert in hospitality. "The guests who have reserved the room across the way haven't checked in yet, I am going to let you use that to get yourself cleaning up and into your clothes. When you are done, I will take you downstairs to our restaurant. If anyone calls for you, I will personally come get you. How does that sound?" Within a few minutes the maids brought my clothes to me and in the privacy of the other room, re-dressed myself in the same clothes I had on earlier. While I changed, I could hear Leonard and Elliot talking in a quiet whisper. "Her eyes weren't responding much to the light and were slightly dilated. She also had a little difficulty tracking the pen." "Well there was an empty bottle of vodka, who knows how much she had," Elliot said informing Leonard of the possible intoxication. "It couldn't have been that much, she was very alert, just slightly slow in responding. She was very warm too, but that could have been from the tub." Leonard added to his analysis, "All in all she should be ok." "Well regardless of whether or not she was drinking, that tile could cause problems for us. I am going to have to see why that wasn't noticed after the last guests left. Man I would have given my left nut to have seen her running naked all lathered up in soap." I chose that precise moment to stop my eavesdropping and open the door. The two were just starting to laugh at the mental image of my nakedness, when I suddenly appeared in front of them. They were quickly rendered silent and remained that way while we made our way to the lobby. Elliot escorted me to the restaurant where a table was waiting for me. "I already gave my front desk instructions to look out for any incoming calls for you. Enjoy your meal, and let me know if there is anything else we can do for you." He had been so hospitable, but now, I disliked him knowing what was really going through his mind. After a couple minutes dwelling on it, I forgave him, knowing full well, I have done the same thing when I was a man. I was half way though my meal when Elliot returned informing me my call had come through. He escorted me to a row of pay phones with a couple of house phones. He handed me the white phone's handset and pressed the button to connect to the appropriate line. "Hello," I answered knowing it could only be Megan. "Hi Karen, it's Megan, how are you?" She asked while Elliot confident my call was received, waved signaling he would let me have a little privacy. "Well, not too bad considering, how about you?" "I'm exhausted and I have a lot going on, but I still want to meet with you before I head back to Houston. Can we meet in the morning, say around 9am?" How can I turn down an opportunity to see my friend?" "Of course, where do you want to meet," I replied. "There is a cute little French cafe on F St not too far from Ford's Theater. I went there this morning and wouldn't mind going back before I leave. I think you would like it." "Sounds good to me, I can meet you at 9, see you then," She took that as a cue I wanted to get off the phone and said goodbye hanging up before I could ask her for an update. I set the phone back in the cradle cursing myself as it would be another long sleepless night that I would have to spend in suspense. Cafe It was quarter to nine. I had arrived at the cafe a bit early and paid the host a little extra to get me a table in the back away from the crowd. I was nervous about seeing Megan again. It felt like a screwed up many times giving myself away during out last couple conversations, but I had to keep reminding myself that there was nothing at all to worry about. Why would she ever suspect I wasn't who I claimed to be? It was more pointless worry on top of my missing girls. After all, she ran into me. Every thirty seconds I kept looking up at the front of the little cafe to see if my friend had arrived, my mind going crazy running through all the possible answers to any questions she might ask me. Today there will be no further blunders like in the cemetery. As the waiter brought my coffee, I looked up to see Megan walk through the front door. She was alone and walked slowly with her cane as she looked around the dining room. Her searching eyes finally found me in the back waving to her. As she was half way across the room, I stood up to help her the rest of the way. "Thank you," she said putting her arms up in protest to my assistance, "but I am all right. Only a couple more weeks of this and I can go back to two legs. A woman my age shouldn't be walking with a cane just yet." Before I could reply, the waiter cut in and took Megan's drink order before leaving. I settled back into my chair and pondered how I would start the conversation. As much as I wanted to get right to what was on my mind, I still wanted to know how my friend was doing. "Have you been enjoying your time in the city?" I said keeping it simple and generic. "It's been stressful. I feel like Uncle Sam has dragged me through the ringer. This whole hero status isn't something I was thinking about when I signed up for this." "I'm sure it can be tough becoming an instant celebrity, everyone wanting a piece of you." Megan did look tired and beat. She seemed like she was trying to be happy, but sad underneath her invulnerable mental state. "Well not everyone," she said with her head hanging low. "How about you, I hope my crazy schedule didn't interrupt your schedule. I'm sorry to have kept you in the city." "Don't worry about it, I was able to keep myself occupied. So, have you heard anything new since I last talked to you." "I'm afraid not, Karen. I have asked around made a couple calls to some people I know in the personnel department where I work. All those that I knew who were close to her, haven't see her in close to three weeks. Things are still very crazy at work in light of recent events, and I am sad to say not a top priority for most. One of my bosses has taken interest and we have called the authorities to report missing persons. They are out there looking for her." I was welling up, trying hard to fight the tears afraid she would find it odd that a friend of Liz would get so emotional crying over her loss, when I realized from her point of view I was a chick and supposed to get emotional over things as trivial as a dead goldfish. "I'm thankful for all you are doing, you don't have to do this for me." It was odd that she would take time out of her schedule to help a stranger, but it's possible the experience she encountered changed her to make her an even better person than I already knew her to be. "Karen, like I said, I owe Michael my life. I can't tell you why, but I do. He was a friend of mine and I will do anything to repay him, including making sure his family is safe. With the exception of a crazy mob of reporters, you are the only one who seems to care about their whereabouts." I was shocked to hear that no one seemed to care about my family. "Why does no one care?" I said showing a little increased emotion. It was making me angry that no one gave a shit up until now, even Megan who hadn't given it a thought until the cemetery. "Look Karen, I get that you are upset, I really do. Please understand, it's not that no one cares, but there has been a major international crisis that the world is still trying to settle down from. They are all right, trust me, they just got lost in the shuffle, and will likely turn up after the press goes away. You watch." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get upset, I know you're right." The waiter came over for our order to which we both made a rush decision on what to eat, eager to return to the conversation rather than wasting time picking the ideal breakfast. "So, how do you and Liz know each other? You have to be at least 10 years younger than her if not more. You said you were from California right?" "Yes, California." Let's start with the easy question, while I think of a good lie for the second. "I live in San Bernardino County. No place special, near the mountains not too far from LA." Ok, not really a lie, actually true, just not specific. Now, what about that first one. "Liz and I-" Beep, beep, beep, beep... Megan frantically rummaged through her purse finally withdrawing a pager. "Crap, I'm sorry, I am going to have to take this. You know I'm a doctor, but I specialize in psychology and I promised I would follow up with a patient when I got back from the mission. My partner took over my practice and all my patients. This one, I have no idea how he got through the last year." She made a twirling motion next to her ear to emphasize how cuckoo he was. She got up and slowly made her way to the bank of pay phones in the back. "Thank god, saved by the bell," I said aloud as the waiter brought our food. After about 15 minutes Megan returned and we began eating, keeping quiet for a while. "So, Liz was friends with my Mom, who passed away sometime ago. She has been like a big sister to me and has kept in touch over the years," I said amazed at what a few minutes of rehearsing could do. "Karen, I am sorry to hear that, were you two close?" "Yes, she passed away when I was a teenager. I was pretty devastated. Anyways Liz was always there for me." More slight fibs, but not really lies and all were mostly true depending on context. "I can imagine how rough that must have been on you.. It's not easy for teenage girls to loose their mother right when they are going through so many changes. I can see how Liz stepped in as that older sister and filled some pretty big shoes." She paused to take a bite of her rapidly cooling quiche as the weight of what she just told me set in. It was then that I realized that If I were anything at all like human females, a friend I would not be so happy to see, could come for a visit at any time. My mind traced back to Oct 18, It's been almost 21 days. I had no idea where on Kaaren's cycle I was. She could have left me at any moment. Oh, thank god nothing happened, and I thought of this now before an embarrassing accident occurred. "Are you ok, you look suddenly flustered, is something wrong," She asked picking up on my newest worry in my life. I calmed down making a mental note to get myself some protection after breakfast. "Sorry, I'm fine, you reminded me of something I need to do. Where were we?" "What about any other family?" Megan asked resuming her series of questions as if there were no interruptions. "I appreciate you asking, but I am rather alone, I don't have very many people in my life right now. My father is gone, and I was an only child." "You know, if you ever want someone to talk to, you can some see me. In fact I have been doing a little soul searching the last couple days. I'm thinking of going back to my practice and leaving all this NASA stuff behind me." That surprised me greatly. It was always Megan's childhood dream to go into space, I couldn't believe she was going to abandon it. "I'm sorry to hear that, but you shouldn't let all that happened keep you from what you want to do," I said trying to discourage her from abandoning her career. "I know, but still, I think I got my fill of outer space, and want to get back to doing what I am good at. There are people I need to take care of. What about you, what do you do?" That was a good question, I had no clue. "Right now I am between jobs," and lives, "I have enough saved to be comfortable for a while, but I will have to get back to work eventually." She looked at her watch. "I'm really sorry Karen, but I do have a flight I need to catch soon," She said reaching into her purse and withdrawing a small white card, "Here is my business card, I know you are in California, but if you wanna come stay in Houston for a while, you are welcome to it. It will keep you close if Liz and Ashley come home." The waiter dropped off the bill, Megan in one smooth stroke slipped her credit card in between the bound leather without even looking at the receipt and handed it to the waiter. My attempts to pay were futile, eventually surrendering in appreciation. We walked outside and talked a little longer. "Please reconsider coming to Texas, Liz would like it if you were close when she gets home. It's going to be your turn to be there for her. She is really going to need to help her through all she is going through." "I will think about it. Either way, I will call you." I gave her the number to my cabin, knowing it was safe. We hugged briefly. I still found it strange to tower over her. I stayed with her talking until she was able to flag down a cab to take her back to her hotel. Forty five minutes later I was checked out of my own hotel breaking even as they comped my whole stay. Before long I was traveling through the sky at approximately 30,000 ft, heading home excited as to what I would discover. Crystals "Time to unlock all this body can do," I thought as I flew back to the cabin eager to soak up all the data contained on the crystals Kaaren left me. It is still unclear to me how it slipped my mind as I slipped her suit off her sexy body. There was so much happening that day, that the excitement of successfully saving the planet overwhelmed me to the point I was no longer thinking clearly. All I remember is wanting to get out of that tight outfit and lie down on a bed for a while to calm my mind and let the stress of the last year leave my body forever. A quick scan in infrared showed there was no presence of any life other than some small varmints around my cabin. It was safe to land without being seen by any prying eyes. During my week in DC, the west coast was hit by a fierce, persistent storm created by a vigorous low pressure system that had drifted east from the Hawaiian islands and made landfall along the west coast. After a brief struggle with a sheet of ice blocking the door, I entered my cabin and kicked off my boots, and tossed my bag on the dinner table near the door. My body was warm and comfortable although I could see the vapor of my breath instantly freezing as I exhaled. The round antique Coca-Cola thermometer hanging on the wall read that it was - 11 degrees Celsius. The lights on I started a fire in the fireplace, not for the warmth so much, as for the pleasant sounds of the pockets of air crackling under the heat and the mesquite fragrance that permeated the air. There was nothing like a good fire to sit around, and tonight, along with a nice pot of hot coffee, I planned to relax in front of the fireplace and learn everything there is to know about my full capabilities as Kaaren. The wealth of knowledge she endowed me with about our two worlds was about to become mine so that I could benefit my fellow human beings. With the coffee brewing and the fire raging, I almost caught myself skipping in excitement as I hurried into the bedroom to find the suit. There were clothes still scattered all over the place from when I had tried to find something to wear. Kaaren's suit was draped over the back of the wicker chair Liz kept in front of the sink where she sat brushing her hair or applying makeup or any number of things women do while us guys where waiting by the door patiently eager to get the show on the road. It was always my theory that professional sports were created to keep us guys occupied, while the girls took their sweet time getting ready. It always amazed me how we would be twenty minutes late leaving because of her but if I took one minute to run back into the cabin because I forgot my watch, our tardiness would suddenly be shifted on to my shoulders. The belt was still on the counter top where I had left it that first day I stood in front of the mirror examining my female body in all it's nakedness. With hopes of changing my feelings about my new body, I picked up the belt and searched for the crystals. Opening the first pouch I withdrew the clear crystal that she said contained all the information she and her father encoded for me. I knew relatively little about the two and where they were from. "Who are you Kaaren, and where are you from?" I said as I held the transparent crystal up to my face where I pondered it's elegance. It was about 15cm long and and about the diameter of a 50 cent piece. Data storage for computers was a growing industry as they were starting to become common in all aspects of business and personal living. Still the storage units were bulky, expensive and contained very little storage. I wondered what the limitations of the crystal's storage capability were as I set it on the marble countertop, guessing it was light years beyond our current state. I withdrew the next crystal from the second pouch and held that up to the light. Beams of pink light shone on the walls as the light photons coming from the ceiling light passed through the magenta crystal. According to Kaaren, her return sometime in the next twelve years, would be announced by this crystal glowing bright pink, thus letting me know I could return to my male body. I began to wonder, what life would be like then. Would my body be returned to me aged about twelve years, or would I still look like I would now. What about my wife, If my aging slowed down, my wife would easily be much older than I. Would we ever be able to just pick up where we left off. What about the endless questions about my supposed adventures saving Kaaren's world. I shook my head. Liz and Ash were missing, and what happens twelve years from now, is the least of my worries. I set the beacon down on the counter next to the clear crystal and returned for the last and final key crystal. Rotating the belt, I located the final pouch where my right hip would be. As I went to open it, my heart skipped several beats and my face suddenly felt warm as the panic began to overtake my body. The pouch was empty with the exception of a little dirt. I felt all around, and frantically checked the rest of the belt. "Fuck," I cursed out loud. All those that know me, know I am not one that curses often. To me it was always a sign of a lack of intelligence that one would would have to resort to foul language to get their point across, but today, this situation called for the crudest word in the english language to be uttered by my lips. "Ok, Michael, calm down and think," I said aloud trying to regain my sense of peace, "I clearly remember seeing Kaaren put the crystal in the pouch and sealing it." It has to be around here. I turned on every light in the room and began tearing the place apart looking for it. After an hour of searching every nook and cranny in my cabin at least ten times, I sadly concluded, that it was no longer in my possession. The necessary piece, that would allow me access the the information on the other crystal, was lost. Without it, I would truly be on my own with no one to guide me, no secrets of the universe at my disposal. All their collected knowledge, their history, their science and arts, now inaccessible. The secrets to her powers while on earth, and even understanding of her biology in the palm of my hands, yet unattainable. In a fit of rage, induced by a feeling of despair over my situation growing out of control, I punched the wall as hard as I could splintering the wood panels and destroying a wood stud underneath. I was starting to deeply regret my decision. I would have been better off just letting the world die than to be trapped in this stupid body, my family being lost anyways. Why would any man want to become a woman. It's so degrading, I don't care how strong and powerful I am. It's humiliating going out in public getting whistled at by members of my own sex. Might be great for those born as a women who desire a man, but I can't stand it. "Fuck you Kaaren, you ruined my life. I was ready to die up there you bitch, and now, I'm alone stuck in a body I hate." I kicked the chair across the room where it bounced off the wall while I continued to scream. It felt great yelling at her. Part of me was really feeling that way, but for the most part, I was just frustrated and the rage helped me release some anger so I could think rationally again. "Ok Michael, it was on the ship, and the only other place I had the suit on was here. So between there and here, where did I go?" Calming down, my mind ran through my journey from the start, all the way back to the cabin. After leaving the ship, I had spent some time trying to learn how to fly, then I interacted with the Deliverance shortly before pushing it into orbit. None of those interactions would have knocked the crystal out of the pouch. After the deliverance was safe, I made my first attempt at moving the asteroid. I recalled that dreaded moment when I started to feel weak inside the asteroid, but there was nothing that happened that would have led me to lose the crystal other than my re-entry. It was very possible the friction could have opened the pouch causing the blue crystal to fall out. It could be just about anywhere then and my chances of finding it were essentially zero. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." I said to myself out loud many times as I realized my hope was lost. The rage was beginning to build again as I was in despair, hitting rock bottom. Tears ran down my face as I fell to my knees. I couldn't take it any longer, the loneliness was too much to bear. Michael was dead to the world, and all that is left of him is out of place with no one in my life to carry me through my troubles, no one...except one. I made my way to the kitchen, and picked up the phone, dialing the number that I memorized from Megan's card. "Hello," she said in an equally sounding level of anguish. To Be Continued....Episode 7 "Event Horizon" please send feedback, questions, editorial mistakes or comments to: [email protected]