The Bells of Home
By Invid Fan
(c) 2012

A sequel to The Bells of Tanah.
A Bells Across the Universe story

Chapter 1

"Do you, Justin, take this woman as your wife. To love her, comfort her, help her. Do you promise to love the children she will bless us with as your own, to abandon jealousy, and help her find her way in this new universe?"
"I do."
"Do you, Alicia, take this man as your husband. To love him, comfort him, and help him. Will you bear his children, and love those born through his love with others as your own. Will you stand by him, where ever our travels may take us?"
"I do."
"Then, with no power but that of friendship, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss."

****

Anthony stepped back, letting the two have their moment. Another wedding. The gathered cheered, Justin and Alicia stepping together as if for their first kiss. If you had asked him, a year ago, if he ever thought the blonde, seemingly at times bimbo, cashier would ever be paired with the brown skinned, skinny four eyed geek, no answer would even have been necessary. That this, now, was one of the more normal couples, said everything. Hell, it wasn't even a couple...
Obviously unable to hold back anymore, Daium ran forward, grabbing bride and groom in a furred hug. She was laughing, crying, blackish grey forehead pressed against theirs, with enough presence of mind not to squish the five month pregnant Alicia too much. Melinda and Rinda, almost at the childbirth stage themselves, joined the hug, followed by the others. It became a mass of fur, and cloth covered flesh. Anthony stayed where he was, chuckling. Putting his now official marriage vows notebook on the park bench, he looked for Hannah. She too had not joined the pile, standing instead next to a bed of white alien roses. Her smile was sad, as her hand caressed the swell of her belly under the long white dress. With a sigh, he walked to her.
"Want to take a walk for a few minutes?"
The sadness seemed to fall from her as she turned to him. It was always this way. Left on her own, his lovely wife would brood, thoughts going where there was no good in sending them. She was distracted more easily than a newborn babe, though.Taking his hand, fingers warm, smooth, she shook her head, smiling.
"I'll be OK. Silly male. You do NOT walk out on someone's wedding!"
Anthony grinned, looking up at the clear dome overhead, and the stars beyond.
"It's not like we could walk far anyway..."

****

Nona just wanted to leave.
She didn't dance. Didn't sing. Didn't... well, party.
OK, that wasn't the problem.
Sighing, Nona took another swig of the strange alien beer as she watched the couples swaying to the slow pop song. Not drinking was one of the Islamic laws her family had been rather flexible about, and despite her re-dedication to her faith it was one of the many things now ignored. Beer just... made life more bearable. God had to understand. Hell, if anything, it kept her from sinning more.
For example, going over and smashing the speaker now playing Celine Dion.
Justin and Alicia were slowly swaying to the music, head on each other's shoulder. Nona wasn't sure what she thought about all this. The marriages. Really... did it matter? Everyone, apart from her and Tammy, had paired (or tripled) up rather early. The bonds seemed to be strong and long lasting. Did this second marriage, when both were already married to Daium... she shook her head. Well, it wasn't her problem. So long as it worked for them.
Her eyes shifted over to Tammy. She, too, wasn't dancing. She, too, wasn't her problem. The woman was sitting next to Rinda, laughing at some comment by the blue Orang. Dirty blonde hair, tied back as always in a pony tail. She wore a black form fitting dress that, while not really revealing, hugged her athletic form in a way that made Nona uncomfortable. So much about Tammy made her uncomfortable, including the fact of feeling uncomfortable. It wasn't, at this point, the whole lesbian thing (after all, all the women apart from her had at least ventured to that side once, and the Malay had no problem with that). It wasn't that she got along badly with her. Far from it. They could almost be considered friends, now.
What the hell WAS it?
Nona looked away, taking another sip of her beer. Later. She'd think about it later.
Maybe getting drunk would help.
"Um... Nona? Do you want to dance?"
In spite of herself, Nona smiled. Danny, she could understand and deal with. The half human boy was standing before her, looking rather good in blue pants and a black shirt. He'd grown almost an inch since joining them, with most likely more to go. but this new outfit had been tailored by Hannah almost perfectly. His red hair, usually a shaggy mess, had been trimmed down and combed back, both ears fully visible above his forehead. His green eyes, above his fleshy snout... well, there the cracks in this self confident shell was plainly visible. Despite their friendship, despite the months of talking together... he still went to pieces around her.
Nona took it as a complement.
Mind you, the poor teen's choices for realistic crushes were slim in the extreme. Unless the incest taboo was broken, or one of the three marriages opened further, she was it. And... well, in the future, who knew. Her choices were just as limited. Maybe, someday, they would end up together, like kids in a small town who all married their childhood playmates. She did like him, after all.
But, for now...
"Sorry, Danny." She smiled apologetically, hoping he understood. "I don't dance."
"I didn't either," he said, hope still in his eyes, "but Alicia taught me. I'll lead. Please?" There was a whining in that final word she didn't like. Her body language must have shifted, as his shoulders slumped.
"OK. I'm sorry I..."
"I'LL dance with you!"
Melinda ran over, or waddled, if you were feeling less than kind or just knew her well, grabbing Danny's hand. He was pulled away, to much surrounding laughter. Nona found herself blushing as much as he was. Their little exchange had been watched. Which, naturally, it would be. How their small family got along was everyone's business, and she made no attempt to sneak her observations of her companions. But, still...
Goldie came up beside her, golden fur brushed and shining. Sitting her bear-like body on the grass next to the bench, she looked out at her brother. He had no idea where to place his hands, and his body kept bumping Melinda's large baby-filled tummy. Goldie sighed, her human face wistful.
"He likes you."
"I think we all know that," Nona chuckled.
"Then dance with him!" She looked up, human eyes wide with emotion. "Please!"
"I don't..."
The song ended, to her great relief. Gone was the threat of dancing, for now, and more importantly the threat of bad pop music. Nona looked down at her beer. Maybe it was time for a refill. Justin would probably, in the interest of fairness, ask for something more rock or progressive be played next. There'd be no dancing to Pink Floyd...
The first note came from the speakers. Nona's head shot up, horrified. No. They couldn't. Think of the children! And the Muslims!
"Young man, there's no need to feel down..."
Tammy was in front of her, grin on her face. Grabbing both of the dark skinned girl's arms, she forcefully pulled Nona to her feet. Nona stumbled forward, was twirled, and found herself in a line with all the other females. The boys stood just off the circular stone patio that had become their dance floor here in the ship's garden filled dome, expressions that of amusement. Nona took a half step to join them, but was pulled back in line by Tammy.
"Stay here! It's a girls only dance!"
To her left, Goldie reared up onto her hind legs. She wobbled for a moment, body not built for being vertical, but her face was excited.
"Don't help me! I've got it! I've practiced!"
Well. If Goldie was putting in that much effort... With a sigh, in no way willing to admit she was probably going to enjoy this, Nona put her two arms up in the air as the chorus came.
"It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.!"

****

Daium yawned as she floated across the spherical bridge with her husband and wife. Their clothing, hair, and fur, which had been immaculate that morning, was now a bit disheveled. Within the hour, the clothing would be off and the hair in much worse shape. That was the future, though. The now saw them moving around the large tree taking up the center of the bridge. Pausing, Justin dived down to its roots, the others grabbing the central trunk to wait.
"Looks good," he yelled up, hitting some switches. "The new pump is keeping the water flowing."
"Thank the Tree," Alicia grinned, hand going out to rub Daium's head. Daium nodded, happy, hand caressing the rough bark.
"Losing the tree would be like losing Dad again."
"I'm glad you didn't say like losing us," Alicia said, cocking an eyebrow, "or I'd question exactly what you do on the bridge alone."
Daium laughed, pushing off towards her chair at the front of the bridge, legs spread to offer a glimpse under her green skirt.
"Wouldn't you like to know!"
Outstretched hand reaching the console, she flipped a switch. The wooden bridge walls faded, replaced by the blackness of space around them. Even the view behind showed this, instead of the large dome with its garden and Bells store, and the corresponding half sphere lower hull of the ship. Who wanted to see those, when you could see space!
Daium took her seat as her mates came up behind. Adjusting her four lensed glasses, she brought up windows of data onto the curved wall before them. Justin put a hand on her right shoulder, next to her suspender strap.
"Anything?"
Color images of five planets appeared, surrounded by numbers and letters. Alicia leaned in squinting. Her breast, swollen like her belly, brushed against Daium. The breast paused, then began rubbing itself on the furry arm. Daium just shook her head. The bitch could be SUCH a tease.
"Neither of the two Goldilocks planets are inhabited. Or, if they are, it's a primitive species."
"Cool, we can be gods," Alicia laughed. Daium turned, catching her eye.
"You're already my goddess."
"Hmm... keep that up, and I'll forget it's Justin I'm honeymooning with tonight..."
"We'll see about that, Woman. It's about time you had a husband to tame you."
"Promises, promises..."
Daium felt the two kiss behind her, her own lips tingling in response. Of all the strangeness that had happened, the love between the three of them was the strangest, and the most wonderful. Every day brought new blessings. Although, she thought, resisting the urge to touch her flat belly, not always the one she wanted. Someday, maybe, Holy Tree willing, the ultimate blessing of Justin and Alicia's love would be given to her. Until then...
New data popped up. With a sigh, her shoulders dropped in defeat.
"Fuck."
"What?" Justin moved next to her, eyes on the screen. She pointed.
"Planet three has too much methane, and planet four seems to be having an ice age."
The three stared in silence. Alicia finally snorted in disgust.
"You said the survey you found showed both were Earth and Tanah like planets."
"I also said the survey was a good 8,000 year old. Planets change, like everything else."
"Fuck change."
"That'll show it." Justin turned off the sensor display. Before them, stretched the endless universe. Somewhat closer, if still a day away, was the fourth planet of this system. The Bells had warped in outside of its orbit, partly so they could get a better sensor sweep of the system, but mostly to give them time alone for the wedding. They had wanted it in real space. Exactly why, she couldn't have said.
Alicia pushed herself forward and spun, back coming in contact with the bridge wall. She looked between her two mates.
"So, this place is a bust. What now?"
Daium brought her hands up to her head. She could feel a headache coming on.
"Don't know. We can't go to every star system looking for a new home. The ones we have leads on, we keep finding things have changed. I don't want to turn around, or circle around the edge of the galaxy, because... well..."
"Because, with our luck, we'll run into your people."
She nodded, glumly. That was a complication they did not need. Some word had jumped ahead of them, confused tales of roaming Orang ships. That, knowing some had survived, was enough for her. The bridge between her and her people had long ago been burned. She wanted to be away from them. To flee...
"Short term," Justin said, hands going to massage Daium's scalp, "I think it's time to find a system to settle in while Rinda and Melinda pop out their kids. Nona has been doing what studying she can, but we should be on a planet just in case."
Daium sighed.
"Doctors are never good outside their own species, but... yes." Her eyes closed, Justin's fingers doing their magic. "Tomorrow. I'll find a system tomorrow."
"And after?" Alicia wasn't going to let the subject drop that easily. Things were too casual among them. You needed to do lots of bitching to keep everyone focused on what was needed. The blonde was good at that, one of the many reasons Daium respected, not to mention loved, her. Which didn't mean she always appreciated such nagging.
"After..." Her four eyes looked again at the star map. "We're getting near the outer rim. We could... well, leave the galaxy."
Justin's hands paused.
"You're kidding."
"No. We just go, leave all this behind. The ship can do it..."
"You're talking years at warp, Daium. With no idea if we can resupply once we get there."
That was the idea. Go. Just Go. Flee. Flee the past. Flee any chance of it catching up with them. Start over. Start a new race. She looked at her wife, trying to say all that with her eyes.
"Alicia..."
"If it was a spiral galaxy," Alicia told her, shaking her head, "one that could be the Milky Way, I'd say go for it. But, I've seen the charts. It's not even close to the same as home. No... we'll find a new home here."
Daium nodded. She understood. That's why she loved them. They were strong. Stronger than she was. Stronger...
Soft, wet lips touched hers.
"Come," Alicia said, pulling back, eyes sparkling. "Let's go to bed."
Stronger, and more loving.

****

"There is nothing," Chuck muttered, half to himself, "better in the universe than this."
"Flatterer."
"He flatters with truth."
He smiled, arms drawing Melinda and Rinda closer. The three lovers lay on a patch of green grass near the edge of the dome, surrounded by red daisies. The lights mounted on the store roof were off, night now fallen over the garden. A night with a million stars above them.
And below. And to the side. It's not as romantic when the idea that there's an infinite drop two or three floors below you enters your mind. Not that you'd actually drop in space, but...
"Hey. Less thought, more kissing."
Soft hands turned Chuck's head to the left, drawing his lips to Melinda's. Rinda's smooth hands were there a moment later to draw him to her side. The next little while was a giggling tug of war, which would only have winners.

****

The grassy beds had been, Chuck had to agree, one of the great ideas in history. They had started as a treat for Goldie. The poor girl could not use chairs, at least not easily, and while Anthony had suggested extra long benches up here in the gravity zone for her use, she hadn't been thrilled with the idea. On their various planetary trips, the young teen had fallen in love with just laying on the grass. Her life had been spent on stone, or metal, so the feel of soft plants and dirt spoke to her in a way no bench cushion ever could. They had started with a small patch, large enough so she could sit and relax among the flowers. It was soon expanded, so she could roll a bit. Roll, and lay, so much like a dog that some of the humans were a bit uncomfortable. She WAS human, after all... as human as the coming children...
It only took a week for the various romantic groupings to discover that grassy beds under the stars had other uses. With no explicit discussion, four more were laid out in the garden surrounding the store, each reasonably isolated from the next.
The evolution of the garden itself, not to mention the store and the rest of the ship, had followed a similar pattern: need, plan, revise plan. Repeat. The old grocery store from Earth, now emptied of most of its food, contained living quarters, bathrooms, and a remodeled bakery and deli kitchen. Most of it was left as it had been, old shelves left up empty. When they needed the room, they'd take them down. Outside, stone paths wound their way through plant beds seemingly rearranged and restocked at each planet. Some were food plants, experiments to see what they could grow and eat once they found a new home world, but many were just flowers. Off in one corner, the two vans which had make the trip with the store that fateful night sat unused. They as of yet weren't converted from using gasoline. Exactly how they could be converted, without just ripping the motors out, hadn't been given much serious discussion. Chuck wondered if it would be easier, when the time came, to just try and make gas out of something.
The rest of the ship had been left much as Daium's father had made it. The living quarters weren't lived in much, the pain of gravity being seen as a needed evil for most of the day. But the Bridge, and Commons area, which held a large TV screen and dining area, remained in use and gravity free. Floating was just too much fun to give up entirely, despite the needs of the unborn.

****

"Mmm... aaahh..."
Rinda watched Melinda shudder. The two wives lay on their sides, bellies touching, as Chuck slowly fucked Melinda from behind. The blue Orang loved watching the human orgasm. The way Melinda just gave into pleasure, both giving and receiving, was always a source of wonder and joy for Rinda. You could see it in her face, the effort to ride the wave of pleasure up to the peak. Eyes closed, focused on every point of contact with her lovers. With a grin, Rinda slid down a bit, moved her face closer and took one of Melinda's nipples in her mouth.
That did it. The human let go a scream, which hung in the air around them. Rinda grinned around the swollen breast. If Goldie or Danny were around- and she had seen them peeking a few times lately- they certainly heard that. Hmm... she pictured both of them in her mind. Rinda had been about that age when she first began exploring her sexuality. Maybe she could teach them, as it was obvious Nona wasn't going to do it. She'd ask her partners first, though, naturally. It might not be how humans did things...
Melinda seemed to go limp, apart from an occasional shudder. Pushing her head up, Rinda saw her wife done for at least the moment, all pleasured out. A chuckle came from Chuck's general direction.
"She sure knows how to stroke a guy's ego, among other things," he whispered.
"Did you come, Love?"
"Almost there..."
"Give it to me..."
Melinda's warm body shifted as Chuck withdrew and stood. Rinda's four eyes stayed on the human as his form moved through the darkness, lowering itself behind her. She shifted a bit, picking the most comfortable spot as she felt him press against her. Two hands worked themselves around to pull her tight, as his hardness searched for the opening. It was her turn to give into pleasure. The world outside vanished.
Neither noticed the faint, snowy glow by the front store windows...

****

"Am I the ONLY one," Hannah asked, shaking her head, "who isn't a screamer?"
"You're not?"
"Not in the garden, at least! Not when I know others are probably around! God!"
One look at Anthony in the dim store light was all Hannah needed to know this wasn't a rant which would get much sympathy that night. And, really, she was being a bit self righteous. And hypocritical. She, just...
Well, she just. Some things weren't worth putting into words.
Anthony's hand found hers, squeezing. As always, worry vanished when her mind turned to him. She shook her head, giving a smiling sigh as they walked down the front aisle towards the cash registers and the stairway beyond.
"Sorry. Just tired."
"Will you be OK with the stairs, or do you want to try the elevator?"
She laughed. That had been the first design mistake: putting all the new bedrooms up on the second floor. Given the whole point was that these would be needed for pregnant women, who required gravity for their fetuses, access was not as convenient as it could be. Melinda had been the first to bitch, Rinda being a bit more stoic in the pain department. Discussion went back and forth, some suggesting moving the bedrooms to "ground" level, basically starting over just as the women needed less stress in their lives. That was when Goldie, in one of those moments that showed the adult she would become, asked if they couldn't just turn gravity off in the stairwell. After all, if gravity could be turned on for just a part of the ship, maybe it could be turned off for an even smaller section? After both Daium and Chuck finished smacking themselves in the forehead for not thinking of that, they went to work. Instead of modifying the stairs, though, they created a gravity free tube near the back of the store. A circular base, with polished wooden rods along the outside to keep you inside the floating zone as well as provide hand holds as you made your way up or down. Alicia had said it reminded her of a stair replacement mod for The Sims.
"I think the stairs will be fine today, Honey. I'm not a bloated mess yet."
"Oh, no argument there. In fact..."
"Hannah..."
The sound was faint... but familiar. A sound from a lifetime ago, tickling the back of her head. It was in her head, yet, also...
The two of them were near the front entrance. Hannah stopped, spinning her head towards the front window.
Gone was the darkened garden. And the spaceship. Instead, on the other side of the thin plate of glass, was snow. A field of snow, with more coming down. Falling onto four people, humans, all dressed for winter. Ghostly, as if on a film projected against the snow. A young girl, maybe a teen, knelt in the center, looking at her in amazement. To the right was a young man, tall, holding two snowmobile helmets. And... to Hannah's left... an unknown woman, and...
Her husband.
Mark.
Oh. God. It had been... He looked good. Older. Wiser. His eyes... even through the glass and snow, she could see the love in his eyes. See the loss, the hurt. The ease with which she had left him behind flooded up, threatening to overwhelm her. She had been such a horrible wife! He had deserved better!
And... he had found better. Mark wasn't running to her. He was holding the hand of a beautiful, dark haired woman. Hannah smiled at the pair, squeezing Anthony's hand while moving her free hand to her swollen belly. The ghost of Mark nodded, voice once again echoing in her head.
"I miss you..."
And she missed him... Almost as much as she missed...
"MOMMY!"
Her head jerked to the right. The girl. The young girl. Almost a teen. Dressed in pink and white. The hair, the eyes...
Her daughter.
Her baby.
Her life.
Mary.
Time stood still. Hannah fell to her knees, arms outstretched. It couldn't be her baby, her baby would only be two and a half! But it WAS her baby! Her Mary! Her little Mary! She couldn't be seeing this! Her eyes were so full of tears, she knew she WASN'T seeing this! The girl was now running towards her! Towards the window...
Through the window.
"MARY!!!!"
The ghostly scream of her husband never even registered as her daughter, her living, breathing, flesh and blood, daughter threw herself into Hannah's arms. 
"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!"
The girl was hysterical, almost as much as she was. Her daughter! Grown! And here!! Long brown hair! And so tall! Her baby...
"I'm sorry. I'll protect them."
Anthony's words... spoken not to her, but to the other side. Part of her knew they were important. Knew that this was not a GOOD thing. But that was the future. The now... the now was her baby.
"Oh, Mary! I've missed you, my little Mary! Oh, God!" They both were laughing. Crying. Showering each other with kisses. Hannah finally grabbed the girl's head and held it still, rubbing their foreheads together. "I can't believe it's you!"
"And Daddy!" Mary's eyes were wide with excitement. "Daddy's here, too! Daddy, look!" She turned, looking back at the storefront window. Hannah raised her eyes as well.
Outside, beds of flowers could just be seen in the darkness.
Hannah's body went cold. Of their own volition, her arms released her daughter, a split second before Mary bolted to her feet.
"DAD!"
Why. Why was the universe doing this to her. To them. What had Hannah done wrong? Mary rushed to the window, bashing the glass with her fists.
"DADDY!!!"
Hannah didn't mean to take her away from Mark. Didn't mean to drag her into this life. Didn't mean....
Through blurry eyes, she saw Anthony slowly walk up to her Mary. Saw him kneel down next to the screaming girl. Talk. Say everything she, herself, should be saying. It should be her comforting her baby. She was a failure. How could she bring a new life into this world, when she had failed her oldest so badly...
Blinking, she saw Mary slowly walking towards her, Anthony's hand on her shoulder. The girl's eyes were wide, not understanding. How could she. They didn't understand it, either. Hannah struggled to her feet, body so tired. Taking two steps forward, she took Mary in her arms, burying the girl's face between her breasts.
"I'm so sorry, Honey. So sorry. I didn't mean..."
"Mom... Daddy, he's... he's..."
From behind them, a tired, worried voice spoke.
"I heard yelling. Is everything OK?"
Hannah let out a sigh. No. Everything wasn't OK. But, there was no need to worry her tonight. She turned her head to the human faced bear girl, smiling.
"Everything's OK, Goldie. Go back to..."
A scream erupted from Mary. Primal. Terrified.
A rather reasonable reaction, all told.

Chapter 2

She was in Wonderland.
That had to be it. Wonderland. And not the good kind, with invisible cats and cartoon cards. It was one of those horrible dark, live action Wonderlands made by adults who should be locked up and let nowhere near children.
Mary reached down to touch one of the red daisies by her feet. Nope, not painted.
The thirteen year old looked around the circle of park benches. They were all here. All of them. The dead... well, the missing. And she knew them. Had memorized them. Dreamed of them. Given them personalities, voices. Anthony, the Manager. Dark haired, mustached. Thin, but strong. Afraid of nothing. Tammy, the office girl. Blonde, sweet, shy. Alicia, the scar faced cheerleader. Sad, but bubbly. Melinda, the geek. Smart, awkward. Nona, the dark skinned cashier. Foreign, mysterious. Chuck, the stock boy. Chubby, cheerful. Justin. Short, brown skinned. Good singer.
And now they were real.
Or she was dreaming. That was it. It would explain the four eyed monkeys and bear kids. Wonderland was always a dream, wasn't it? Alice always woke up. She'd wake up, and be with Dad again...
Mary's eyes went to her mother, sitting next to her on the bench. The woman she had dreamed of every night for as long as she had lived gave her a smile of such sadness, such loss...
Mary didn't want to wake up. Not yet.

****

"Twelve years..."
Mary turned to look at Chuck. The boy, man, was sitting between Melinda, who's glasses seemed to sparkle in the light, and the skirt wearing, blue furred four eyed monkey girl with suspenders that were also a bra. Wearing seemingly hastily donned blue pants and white shirt, he was just shaking his head. As if... as if it was SHE that had the outrageous story! She was confusing THEM! She looked around, trying to understand.
"How long has it been for all you?"
"Not even a year," Chuck replied. One hand went to his forehead. "And it's not even consistent with what Goldie and Danny told us! Damn it, the timelines don't match at all!"
Against her better judgement, Mary's eyes flicked over to the two... creatures.
She didn't think she had overreacted when first seeing the furry Goldie. The creature now sitting on the grass was hideous, a cute girl's face on the body of a small bear. That the girl looked to be about her age made it worse, as if an evil witch had turned the girl into this, and it was to be Mary's fate!
The fact Mary was incredibly tired and disoriented hadn't helped.
The boy, though... he had come running down, dressed in just shorts, ready to rescue whoever was screaming. He was... was...
A God.
That was it. If his skin was black, he'd be like that dog headed Egyptian God.
She looked away, blushing.
A freak, that's what he was. A hunky, shirtless, redheaded freak, with the most beautiful eyes...
"What about my parents?"
Mary looked over at Nona. The dark girl looked back with wild, worried eyes. She was alone on her bench, the only one so isolated. Well... that wasn't true. The dirty blonde Tammy was on the bench next to her, also alone... wait, what was the question?
"Nona," Anthony said, voice not as strong as Mary had pictured it, "don't. If we can't go back, it's best to just assume our families are well. We can't do anything, so there's no point..."
"I HAVE to know! Please, Mary! My Mom, Dad... are they OK? Have you heard anything?"
Had she heard anything? She tried to think. It was hard. She had been up early that morning, the excitement of the yearly trip on the anniversary of Mom's disappearance. Then the storm, Dad canceling the trip, her disobeying and trying to make the trip in the snow with her friend's older brother anyways... then, naturally, this whole thing.
Her mom stroked her hair.
"It's OK, Honey. You don't have to answer. I know you're tired. Maybe tomorrow, after we all get some sleep..."
It flashed before her eyes. An article she had seen online. She'd recognized the names...
"I'm sorry, Nona..." Her eyes met the girl's. Nona's expression became one of horror, denial. Slowly, she rose to her feet.
"No, no, no, no..."
"Two years ago. I saw their names. I'm sorry..."
"FUCK ALL OF YOU!"
The Malaysian girl was off, running. Mary saw a door in a wall open, the girl vanishing into it. Nona had almost seemed to throw herself through, with no concern for gravity. It closed behind her. Mary buried her face in her hands.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
"It's OK," Anthony sighed. He reached over and stroked her arm, even as Mom hugged her tight. His touch... it felt like Dad's. The mustached man looked out at the now closed door. "Should someone..."
"I'll talk to her," Tammy said, rising. "She probably went to her old cabin."
Anthony nodded, standing as well.
"We should all go to our rooms, get some sleep."
"Some of us WERE sleeping," the scar faced Alicia said, but there was no anger in her voice. Rising, joined by the dark skinned boy and the blackish grey furred monkey with glasses (would that make her eight-eyed?), she came to stand in front of Mary. "I'm happy to see you, Mary. Your mother has talked about you so much, missed you so much. I wish we had been the ones to travel to you, but..."
"Me too," Mary whispered.

****

Tammy pushed off down the ship corridor.
Well, wasn't this a fine kettle of fuck.
Life had been calm. Routine. No major emergencies, at least none since Chuck had to have his wisdom teeth removed. No emotional conflicts, now that the Daium/Rinda war was over (she still didn't know exactly what the problem had been. Rinda had been quiet, even when they spent the night together). It had been the calm before the expected storm of childbirths in a week or two.
Now, it was the chaos before the chaos.
Grabbing a handle on the wall, she stopped herself in front of the cabin door. Nona had to be in there. Really, where else would she go? It was her quiet place. Tammy knew that. While the others had almost completely moved into the new gravity equipped rooms, apart from when floating sex was desired, Nona had kept her limited possessions split between two bedrooms. Maybe it was symbolic? After all, she was the only one alone.
Well...
Tammy sighed. Now wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself. She had partners, when she wanted them. If she lowered herself to going to Melinda, or Rinda, and asked them to leave their lover's side for an hour to keep her company. She was asking less and less, as it satisfied her less and less. But, Nona didn't even have that. The girl wanted it. Tammy could see that. She WANTED someone to hold her. NEEDED someone to hold her.
And there was nobody to do it.
Tammy would.
In a heart beat... with her heart beating so fast...
No. Put that aside. This was about Nona. She needed comforting, comforting that was NOT in any way sexual. Tammy would NOT use this to take advantage of the poor girl. Damn it, she could never live with herself if she did that. She had seen guys do it to friends of hers, and it was the lowest a human could get.
No.
She took a deep breath.
"Focus," she muttered. "Be strong for her."
Exhaling, Tammy pressed the keypad on the doorframe.

****

Tammy's heart caught in her throat.
Nona had ripped her clothing off. They floated, orbiting the teen like moons of sorrow. The dark skinned Malaysian was curled into a ball, arms around her knees, slowly rotating in the darkness as she shook. The sound coming from her buried head was almost a low moan, punctuated by uncontrolled sobs.
Tammy's eyes filled with water. Never... never had she seen anyone like this. Someone so sad... and, so... so beautiful. Nona's skin, in the faint glow from the hallway light, was flawless. A smooth light brown stretched over graceful limbs...
No!
Don't!
Better to back off than to approach a girl who has already shown no interest!
But... Tammy found herself floating forward with no conscious effort on her part. Nona needed her. Needed to be held. Needed some connection to humanity, to tell her she wasn't alone.
Behind her, the door slid silently closed, plunging them back into darkness. Not total darkness, though. There was a light. Faint. Rectangular. Floating with the clothes. Her phone. The screen was dim, battery saving settings in the process of shutting it down. As she approached the sobbing girl, the screen finally went dark... but not before Tammy saw a photo of two adults who could only be her parents.
She wished she had met them. Wished she had known the people who had produced such an extraordinary daughter, who had inspired such love. Her own parents... Tammy had not talked to them in years. Didn't even know if the phone number she had was current. Didn't know if she'd care, if...
In the darkness, her outstretched fingertips touched soft skin.
It felt like a shoulder. Moving her hand, she felt the rounded joint that connected arm to body. Guessing, Tammy moved her other hand to where the head should be, and felt hair. Mind filling in the rest of the girl's body, she pulled herself closer and wrapped her arms around the slowly spinning girl. Her head pressed against Nona's, mouth next to the sobbing girl's ear.
"Shhh... it's OK."
The shaking doubled in intensity. Tammy began petting Nona's black hair, forcing the silky strands against the girl as they strove to float however they wished. Her cheek slid against Nona's.
"I'm here, Nona. I'm here for you. If you need me, I'm here..."

****

They floated in the darkness, two humans adrift in space. Eventually, Tammy gave up speech. She just held Nona, hoping it was enough. The girl had done nothing to acknowledge her. Tammy didn't even know if Nona knew she was there.
Time passed.
Sobs and moans gave way to silence, the occasional sniffle. Maybe it was over. Tammy rubbed her cheek against Nona's. Maybe she had done some good. Nona shouldn't suffer...
Freed from giving all her attention to the girl in her arms, Tammy suddenly became aware of herself. What she was doing. Her left hand... had slid down Nona's back. It had traced the girl's spine... and now was slowly heading lower. Her fingers were reaching the cleft of Nona's...
Tammy jerked her hand away, lifting her head off of Nona. God damn it! She was taking advantage of the girl! It was a kind of rape! Worse than rape! You don't fucking do this!
"Don't..."
The voice was weak, raw. Tammy's heart broke. What had she done. She had just wanted to...
"I'm sorry, Nona... I'm so sorry... I'll go..." Tears coming to her eyes, Tammy loosened her hold on the girl. She'd leave her. Maybe find Hannah, send her... no, she would be with her daughter...
"No!"
It was a shout. Tammy froze, her dress covered body still half pressed against Nona. She couldn't see, but felt the girl shift. Nona's voice trembled, cold fingers finding and touching Tammy's arm.
"No, please, don't go. Hold me. Hold me..."
"Oh, Nona, Nona..." Tammy once again engulfed the girl. This time, she felt her responding, arms going around her, hands tentatively touching, caressing. They cried, together...

****

"He thinks I hate him."
"Hmm?"
Tammy brought a hand up, touching Nona's face. The two floated, bodies fully extended, feet intertwined. Nothing existed, at that moment. Nothing that wasn't them.
"Daddy. I told him... I hated him. He died thinking I hate him. I never got to.. to..."
"Shh..."
"Mom too! We fought! Oh, God..."
"They know you love them, Nona. You were just being a teen..."
"It's their fault." Her voice had turned cold. Tammy shifted, bringing her nose up to press against hers.
"Whose fault?"
"Daium. Anthony. All of them. I wanted to go home. That's all I wanted. To go home. They were all fucking around, and I wanted to go home!" She spit those last words out. Tammy winced, at the truth of it. Finding home HAD become secondary. Mind you, once they realized this galaxy wasn't even the Milky Way, there hadn't been much that could be done. But...
"I'm sorry, Nona. I'm just as responsible. It's my fault too."
"No, it's not. You had no one to go back to..."
"But I knew how you felt. We should have tried..."
"I don't blame you..." Nona's voice was getting tired, groggy. Tammy pulled her closer, their heads sliding past each other, cheeks touching.
"Sleep, Nona. Sleep. Sleep for me..."
"Stay..."
Tammy closed her eyes. She knew the answer she wanted to give. The answer every fiber of her being cried out with. Nona felt so good in her arms...
"Until you send me away, my Nona..."

****

Hannah stood next to her daughter in the upstairs hallway. Her eyes, still unbelieving, could not leave Mary's face.
Mary.
The toddler she had left behind, not yet in her terrible two's, now stood beside her on the verge of womanhood. She had missed... everything. Her first day of school. The first lost tooth. A dozen birthdays. Her whole life, gone by in the blink of an eye. It was too much. She could see herself in the girl, though. See the teen she had been, that her younger sister had been. There was some of Mark, too, in the eyes. The skinniness, almost a twig of a girl with just the start of breasts, also probably came from him. Hannah had gone from baby fat to curves. But, she was definitely her daughter.
A daughter who was a stranger.
And so, worse still, was she.
"You sleep in the store?"
Mary's voice was incredulous. Beside them, Anthony let out a laugh. Hannah was so grateful to him. Everything she didn't know how to say, seemed to come from him so easily.
"We didn't, at first, but it's more home-like than the rest of the ship. More... human."
The girl nodded. The hall was carpeted in a soft, shaggy dark red, wooden walls painted white with an alien oak trim. A mural, soft brush strokes depicting a forest scene, ran between two doorways on the left. Shifting her small backpack to her other hand, already holding her winter coat, Mary reached out and touched it.
"Who?"
"Goldie," Hannah said, moving behind her, hands going to her shoulders. "She's a great artist, isn't she? You should see what she's done with her room."
Mary seemed to lose interest on hearing the artist, backing away and looking around. Hannah looked over at Anthony. He shrugged. Mary turned to them.
"Where am I sleeping?"
"Well, obviously, we weren't expecting you. Maybe we can put you in Nona's room, for now. I'm sure she won't mind..."
"Can't I sleep with you, Mom?! Please?"
The pleading was well practiced. You could see that. This was a girl who had gotten what she wanted for most of her life. Not spoiled, maybe, but Mark had never stood a chance. Neither did Hannah... at least, not yet.
"Of course, Honey." She looked at Anthony, who just laughed.
"I'll see you two in the morning." Turning, he made his way back to the stairs. He'd probably sleep in their old cabin. Or maybe in the garden. It was warm enough. Mary looked between them, confused, and seemingly not sure if that could be blamed on being tired.
"Doesn't he sleep up here?"
"Usually," Hannah replied. Deciding to postpone that whole aspect of this new reality, she moved down the hall to their room and opened the door. "Come on in, Mary."
Somewhat hesitantly, the girl passed by Hannah into the room. Almost, it seemed, as if she still wasn't sure this all wasn't some trick, that now that her "Mother" was alone with her the mask wasn't going to come off, revealing a monster.
Hannah had some of the same trepidations, really.
Mary stopped a few feet inside, looking around as Hannah closed the door. The bedroom wasn't in the most visitor friendly shape: the king sized bed, with its four posts and light blue canopy, wasn't made. Clothing was scattered on the blue carpet from that morning's pre-wedding activities. With a seeming sigh, she let her pink backpack and coat drop to the floor.
"It's too... normal."
Hannah tried to think of a response. Mary's gaze fell on the vanity against the left hand wall. It had been a birthday gift from Anthony, modeled after one that had been in her bedroom as a child. Light blue, with a pink trim. Mary slowly walked over to it, winter boots leaving a faint trail in the carpet. Letting herself drop into the wooden chair, her eyes gazed into the large mirror. They met Hannah's.
"This is his room, too."
"... yes."
The reflection of the girl nodded. It gazed down, looking at the few brushes and cosmetics scattered on the counter. Once again her eyes rose and met the still frozen Hannah.
"What happened?"
Hannah sighed. Walking without conscious thought, she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, left hand playing with the carved post as she tried to organize her thoughts. Mary waited, back to her mother.
"We don't know," Hannah finally said, voice tired. "Really. One minute we were closing the store, the next the power was out, the parking lot was just empty snow, and the entire store was on another planet."
"Another... planet."
"Yup. Very stupid. We all agreed on that point." She laughed, shaking her head. "'Something quantum' has been our standard explanation for all the shit and coincidence that have gone on." Mary's reflected eyes doubled in size on hearing her mom curse. Hannah shrugged. "Mary... I'm probably not the woman you think I am. I can't imagine what you've gone through. What it's been like growing up." Her voice became emotional. "Mary, Honey... I..."
"When did you give up on Dad?"
"What?" Hannah jerked up straight. Mary's head turned from the mirror, eyes boring into her.
"Dad waited ten years before moving on. Ten. Years. I had to FORCE him to date again! And... you..."
Hannah bowed her head.
"I wasn't a good wife, Mary. I won't say I was. The marriage wouldn't have lasted if none of this had happened."
The silence was deafening. Hannah looked up, saw Mary's face a mass of sorrow and outrage.
"Wha... what about me? Were you glad to be rid of me, "Mommy"?"
"Honey, No!"
"You're already replacing me!"
OK. That did it. Hannah was pissed. She rose, eyes blazing.
"Mary! Come here!"
"No!"
"Mary Moyer! You get over here, NOW!"
She heard her own mother in her voice. Heard the echoes of countless generations of women. She stood, glaring, as her teen slowly stood and meekly walked over to her. Taking her hand firmly, Hannah led Mary around the bed. Coming to the corner of the room, she pushed her daughter in front of her, hands on the girl's shoulders.
"There. Look."
Mary stood, silent. Hannah couldn't see her face, but hoped she understood. Before them, was the shrine. A small corner shelf held a baby car seat, a stuffed yellow bunny with a pink bib buckled in tightly. Framed pictures of a year old baby surrounded it. Varnished wooden vases held freshly cut flowers. On the floor, was a square box. It was wrapped with balloon covered wrapping paper, topped with a pink bow.
"What's that," Mary whispered. Hannah moved forward, letting her belly press against her daughter.
"That, my little girl, is the gift I bought for you on an alien world, for your second birthday. I've been saving it."
Silence.
The shoulders under her hands began to shake.
"I'm sorry, Mommy. I love you."
"I love you too!"
A moment later they were hugging. Crying.
Bonding.

****

The bedroom door opened. Anthony peeked in, eyes well adjusted to the dark of the store. Two lumps, one big, one small, lay next to each other under a sheet on the bed. Glancing over into the corner, he saw the gift box open and empty. The car seat was empty as well.
The head pulled back out of the room. A moment later, a vase of flowers appeared, placed on the floor just inside the room.
The door closed.
Mother and daughter slept on.

Chapter 3

Goldie yawned as she opened the bedroom door.
There was a difference, some of her friends could have told her, between a morning person and someone who just tends to wake up early. Between enjoying the start of a new day, and having biology just starting the day too damned early. Goldie, definitely, was in the latter camp. She hated waking up. The whole transition from being comfortable on a nice soft bed, and having to get muscles and brain ready for actual activity. But... once her eyes opened, there was no going back. Her internal alarm did not so much ring, as rip the covers off and push her off the mattress.
Just another way biology was screwing her.
Standing on all four limbs, she stretched. She could hear the cracking, especially as she rotated her neck. Once, when she was half asleep, she had heard this horribly loud crack and thought she had broken something. Worried the heck out of her. Wrinkling her nose, she also realized she could smell herself. Her fur stunk. The humans, full humans, wouldn't notice for another day or two most likely, but her brother would.
She looked down at her furry arms.
Maybe if she shaved it all off...
Another yawn spawned, surprising her. OK, enough self reflection. She needed a shower to get rid of the stink, and wake up. Time to move.
She padded out into the hallway. Turning, Goldie reached up her clawed hand and grabbed the door knob, pulling the door shut. Anthony had offered to make the door more four legged friendly, but she had squashed that. Goldie didn't want special treatment. She wanted to be like them. Be ONE of them.
So, no doggy doors.
With another yawn, she ambled down the hall.
The ship, especially this store, was the most bestest place she had ever lived. Bar none. Now, true, before she had been a slave, living in some sort of cage (even if a nice one, compared to most cages). That alone could account for most of how she felt, her experience in the area of accommodations being rather limited. Still... carpeted floors, nice beds, clean bathrooms... What more could you want?
There was a sound behind her. Someone else was up. Stopping, she sat on her hind quarters and turned her head.
From Hannah and Anthony's room, a sleepy Mary stumbled.
Her eyes were half closed, brown hair a frizzy mess. Her skinny body was clad in an orange oversized t-shirt which fell almost to her knees. The faded image of a mean cowboy's upper torso holding a Lacrosse stick covered most of it, along with the words Buffalo Bandits. One hand held a stuffed pink creature with lots of eyes.
Goldie froze. If she turned and ran quickly, maybe she'd be away before the girl noticed her surroundings. But, then again... this was Hannah's daughter. Hannah had been like a second mother to her, and Anthony the only REAL father she had ever had. Over the past year, Goldie had come to realize that the story her mother had told, especially the part about "Real Daddy" (as opposed to "Fake Daddy", the one who got Mom pregnant), had been mostly fantasy. Embellishing truth for the little girl. Real Daddy... had just been a boy she liked, before all this happened. Anthony was real, and wonderful.
Goldie silently sighed. She had to try and make friends with the newcomer.
"Good morning!"
Mary looked up, eyes opening. They then opened wider. Her hand finished closing the bedroom door, but even as the latch clicked Goldie could see the girl hesitate, consider opening it and going back inside. To her surprise, instead of being hurt, as she had been last night at the screams of terror aimed at her, she was emboldened. Neither girl was happy at what was to come. 
Goldie could be stronger than her.
"Did you sleep well, Mary?" She turned her body to fully face the girl, but otherwise stayed seated. She could see the war on Mary's face. Her smile stayed simple, sincere. She hoped. It was what Goldie was feeling, but she never really knew what she looked like to others. Especially the full humans.
"Umm, yeah. Thanks." Letting go of the door, Mary reached up with her hand and rubbed her eyes. Blinking, she seemed to regard Goldie with... wary acceptance.
Maybe.
"Mom... told me about you. And your brother. I'm sorry. About yesterday... Goldie, right?"
"Right!" Well, this was going well so far! "Don't worry about yesterday. You'll get used to things."
"Right..." Mary shook her head. "Um, bathroom?"
"Oh! Down here! I'm going there too, to take a shower!" Not waiting for a reply, she stood and turned, heading down the hall.

****

"Um... can I go first?"
Goldie turned to look at Mary, puzzled, hand already on the bathroom doorknob. She could see the teen's legs together, her body tense. Ah, that was it!
"Oh! Don't worry, it's big! Come on!" Opening the door, she paddled forward onto the tile.
The gasp behind her was, for some reason, very satisfying. Continuing a few feet into the room, she waited until she was out of the way before facing Mary. The poor girl's eyes were practically bugging out of her face, stuffed creature barely held onto. Goldie nodded, happily.
"Alicia said, when women design a bathroom, they design a bathroom!"

****

The humans had started their interstellar travel with the Bells Supermarket's usual bathroom arrangement: a men's room and a ladies room, both with four toilet stalls and two sinks, in the back by the break room. The first problem with this setup had been noticed almost as soon as they realized they weren't on Earth, namely that there was no water connection anymore. That was bad. Once things had moved to the next level of silliness, with the store now on a spaceship in zero gravity, the bathrooms became useless. Piss and shit floating back at you is not a desired thing, apart from some of the more unusual fetishes not shared by those on the ship. Thus, that aspect of human activity was done in the Orang designed bathrooms placed among the ship's crew quarters.
With gravity restored to the dome, and the store, designing proper bathrooms fit for fussy women became a high priority (the original store ones, naturally, having been declared icky). Tammy had decided that, instead of recreating an updated men's room/ladies room setup, with added baths and showers, they should do one big multi person bathroom. After all, they were used to being around each other, and not all that shy. Four toilets from the ladies room were moved up to the second floor, placed in new, extra roomy stalls made from a nice wood painted white. A bank of four custom made sinks sat opposite them, set into a black and grey swirly marble counter. Copper faucets sat before a long mirror.
In the back, both corners of the room held showers, curved curtain rods providing some privacy. Two large baths, half submerged into the floor, completed the necessaries. From the ceiling, copper lights hung down around the edge of a large skylight.
A small R2 robot under one of the sinks, waiting for something to clean, completed the picture.
"Toilets are there," Goldie said, although she immediately regretted it because, well, it was obvious where the toilets were. "The one at the end is kind of special built for me, so try the other ones. I'm going to take a shower."
She turned, not waiting for a reply. The girl made her nervous. She, obviously, made Mary nervous.
She needed that shower.
The sound of a stall door closing came to her as she pulled aside the shower curtain. It was covered with blue flowers, matching the blue tiles of the shower. She liked blue. Her mom had told her it was the color of the sports teams in her home city of Buffalo (one team even used blue and GOLD!). Mom... she didn't think of her mom as often as she used to. Surprisingly, when they came, the thoughts were now happy, of the good times. Maybe because SHE was happy now, having good times...
Cold water came from the shower, drawing a quick yelp from the girl. She turned the hot water nob a bit. Finding a comfortable temperature, Goldie steadied herself... and rose onto two feet.
Closing her eyes, she let the water wet her down. She could feel her hair become one with her body. Fell it stick to her like... like clothing. Starting at the top of her head, her hands began running down her body. Only when she was soaking, like this, could she truly feel her body. Could she feel... human. Her hands came to her breasts, cupping them. They were firm, not changing shape when she stood like a person, filling her hands. Her stomach was flat, her hips swelling.
She wanted the hair gone. Wanted to look human. Human women had no hair below the neck, or at least shaved most that was there. Why was it that SHE got stuck with all this fur? Danny had NOTHING down there, so far as she could see, yet human men had tons of hair! Chuck had short curly hair on his chest, arms and legs!
Eyes still closed, water hitting her face, she reached for the shampoo.

****

Mary couldn't help staring.
She could see the outline of Goldie behind the flowered shower curtain. Goldie was...
Human.
Actually human.
Oh, there was an oddness to her legs, the angle of her hips, that spoke of something not being quite right. She occasionally staggered a bit, losing her balance staying upright for that long. But, beyond that there was no doubt about it. Even the two ears on top of her head looked like nothing so much as waterproof cosplay costume stuff. What her Mom had said was true. Goldie was...
"Oh, tell me what you want, what you really really want! I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want!"
Goldie was singing a bad oldies pop song.
Smiling, shaking her head, Mary looked around. There were two comfy chairs near the shower. More proof this was designed by women. Taking a seat, carefully setting Mr. Eyeball on the armrest, she waited for Goldie to finish.

****

Nona woke to mild, jabbing pain.
Her hand made its way up to the problem area. Her forehead, it seems, was pressing against the corner of something on the wall. This was fixable. All she had to do was shove her body away from the wall.
Her eyes opened.
Why was she floating in the dark?
Moving her head away from the attacking point, she put one hand on the wall as her brain slowly came online. She had been sleeping. In zero g. This, most likely, meant she was in her old cabin. Why had she come here...
Oh.
She closed her eyes.
"Oh, God...," she muttered, rotating her neck as she worked the kinks out of her aching body. "I didn't take that well, did I?" Nona had always hated being embarrassed, or the focus of attention. Her actions hadn't helped in that regard. Now they'd be treating her like some sorry kid, when all she wanted was to deal with it on her own. She didn't need...
Oh.
Her hand finally realized the object on the wall was, in fact, a light switch. She turned it on.
She was in her cabin, nude.
Floating across the room, sleeping in her sexy black dress from the wedding, was Tammy.
Luckily, for both of them, it wasn't possible to stay together while floating un-tethered. If Nona had woken with the blonde girl cupping one of her breasts or something...
Nona flushed a bit, resisting the silly urge to cup her breast to see what it would have felt like to have woken like that. Quickly looking around, Nona saw one of her spare outfits hanging against the wall. A shove had her over there, dressing. She was... happy that Tammy had come last night. Surprised, to be honest, that they hadn't just let her be. That's what she would have done, if one of the others had gone off to grieve. Grief should be private. That it had been TAMMY that had come... well, she did like her. Despite, well, you know. She was kind, smart, always listened. Always, well, tried to understand. Nona liked that. Sometimes she felt nobody here really understood her.
Not that she understood herself most of the time.
Adjusting her blue half shirt and white shorts, she turned. Tammy was awake. Tammy was also... not looking at her. Her eyes were averted. Nona blushed again. She wasn't sure why.
"Tammy."
The woman turned to her, face uncertain. Nona smiled.
"Thank you, Tammy. For last night. It... well, helped."
"Anytime..." Nona saw Tammy bit her lip, blushing a bit. Why, she had no idea. But, then, she had just woken. Her eyes caught the clock.
"I'm not gonna bother with a shower. Need food."
"I probably should go make breakfast then," Tammy replied, grinning. Nona grinned back.
"I'll help."

****

Anthony and Daium floated next to Alicia's sensor station up at the top of the bridge. Anthony's long arms grabbed a nearby branch, holding himself steady, while Daium free floated next to her wife. All eight eyes were on the fluctuating signals displayed on the curved wall before them.
"You see," Alicia said, pointing. "Here. The same thing. And if we go back... there. We've seen the same signal much weaker at least five times, including the same day you said you thought you saw Ghosts outside the store."
Anthony nodded.
"Always remember the day, because it was when we left Te after finally finishing the bedrooms. Hannah and I walked by you three, um, 'testing' your new bed."
"You WHAT?!?" Alicia whirled, face undecided if it should be amused or furious. Daium's black face gained a reddish tinge.
"Not our fault you three couldn't be bothered to close the door. Hannah was mortified."
"You probably liked it. Pervert." Alicia's tone showed she had decided to split the difference. Anthony just nodded, agreeing.
"It was hot, yeah." That got him a whack on the chest by both women. Well worth it, though.
"So," Daium said, trying to change the subject as she adjusted her glasses, "the sensors actually detected Mary coming through."
"It detected something, something that at least one other time was there when there was a link between us and home." Alicia frowned. "It's a weird energy signature, that's for sure. Very... unstable? Probably the wrong word, but it's not radiating outward. Literally, if we weren't right on top of it the damned signal would dissipate and vanish within minutes. Like it originates and ends here. There's no way we can do searches using this. At best, I can set it up so we're alerted the next time it's on our ship."
"Good enough," Anthony told her. "If you can rig a portable sensor we can take with us, do that as well. I want to know everything we can about this. Is it just on the ship? Or does it follow US?"
"Chuck and Daium build, I just fiddle with the dials, but OK. We'll see what we can do." She looked at Daium. "We leaving this system?"
The Orang nodded.
"I haven't picked a new planet yet. After breakfast."

****

"So, there we were, floating on the bridge!" Melinda held up her fork and knife, both covered with sticky pancake syrup, making floating motions. Mary, sitting across the table from her, looked on with wonder. Freshly showered, she wore one of the three outfits she had packed for just such an emergency as this. Outfits chosen on the, admit-ably unlikely, chance she found herself whisked off to be with her mother. This one was a year old pink and white top with a dark pink skirt. A little small on her, truth be told. As her only shoes were her snow boots, she went barefoot, as the others did on the ship as well.
"Where was Mom?"
"Shush! I'm getting to that!" Melinda used the handle of the knife to push the nose of her glasses up. The others around the table chuckled, eating the random bits of unfinished breakfast.
"So, like I said, we're floating. Alicia and Justin are up in the treetop with the strange monkey girl, looking down on us like they are oh so much better than us peons."
"What's a peon?" Goldie asked. She sat on the ground next to Mary, chin just clearing the table top. Chuck looked over and gave a wicked grin.
"It's someone below you who gets peed on."
"Eww!" Alicia reached over and smacked his shoulder. He responded by flicking a pancake crumb... or at least attempting to. It stuck to his finger, so after three tries he just licked it off.
"So I'm just floating here, easily getting the hang of it, being the wonderful athlete that I am. Chuck there is just trying to keep near the ground, and Nona is glaring at us for having WAY too much fun."
"Someone has to!"
"True! So," Melinda went on, grinning, "about that time we're wondering if Anthony and Hannah have survived our little surprise liftoff from the planet. You know, that's not the kind of thing you like to surprise people with. Just then, the door from the dome with the store opens, and in walks Anthony and Hannah. And, we're all like, 'yes, you're alive!' And they're like, 'what the fuck happened?'"
"Her quotes are so accurate," Anthony marveled.
"Memory like a paper bear trap," Hannah agreed.
"Quiet you two! Were you there? No! It's my story! So, anyways, Anthony looks around at us, and goes, 'who here was supposed to secure the bathrooms?' And, like, I raise my hand, because well I was supposed to. Hannah, your mother, looks at me, and says, 'well, guess what's now floating all over the store!'"
Mary's hands went to her mouth, eyes wide as the others broke into laughter.
"No!"
"Yes!" Melinda cried, picking up a small half eaten sausage and waving it in front of her. "Day old wet poop floating all over the bathrooms! Along with drops of piss!"
"Oh God! What did you do?!?"
"Well, me, I couldn't help laughing! I mean, floating space poop! They never had that in Star Trek!"
"There was Voyager, though," Justin mused. Melinda nodded, popping the sausage into her mouth.
"Very true! The geek knows his TV poop!"
Alicia leaned over across the table to Rinda, who was looking at her mate with amusement. She tapped the blue Orang on her furry shoulder.
"Has she been drinking by any chance, or should we blame this on hormones?"
Chuck just shook his head.
"I haven't seen any change, to be honest."

****

They walked though the garden, towards the bridge. Mary... was still overwhelmed by it all. Slowly, as it hadn't even been twelve hours yet, her preconceived fantasies of these people were being replaced by the real them. It would take work, she knew. Like when you saw the movie version of some book you've read a hundred times, and someone looks and sounds nothing like what was in your head. She had no option of ignoring the new version this time, though. The movie was her new reality.
Goldie walked next to her. She was getting used to the girl amazingly fast. Mary had always, really, been the type to make friends quickly. As a little girl her father had been amused when, a half hour into playing at the park, Mary would come over with a strange kid and ask if her new friend could come spend the night. Years later, when Mary finally talked Dad into entering the dating game again, he confided to her that his one regret now was that he hadn't taken advantage of all the cute single mothers that Mary's actions brought over to talk to him. A number had definitely sent signals.
Her eyes flicked over to Danny, walking on the other side of Goldie. She saw his eyes quickly look away. Oh, God... was he sending signals? Was SHE sending signals?!? Signals that he was a freak, hopefully! And he was still shirtless! God! He had to cover that! She didn't want to look at that hairless, muscled...
Mary ripped her eyes away.
Freak.
They came to the door Nona had run through the previous night. Mary glanced over at the Malay. She... seemed OK. Nobody, that Mary had heard, had commented on it. Mary wanted to know if she was OK, to say she was sorry, but... well, how to you say that to a stranger? At least she did seem to be smiling. Tammy seemed to be keeping near her, so maybe they were friends.
Reaching out, Daium hit a switch. The door before them opened.
"Here's the bridge, Mary."
Mary stepped forward, stopping at the doorframe. She just... stared.
"There... there is a tree."
Rinda barked out a laugh. Holding out her black hand to Daium, she grinned.
"I win! Pay up!"
Daium shook her head, disgusted.
"It's not a bet if we both agree that's the first thing she'll say!" She turned back to Mary, expression apologetic. "Ignore them. That's one of the Holy Trees from our home world. Legend has it that we first were created in the trees of that forest, so we honor the trees."
Mary nodded, looking at it anew. Extending maybe two stories above and below the central platform running around the edge of the bridge, it was topped with green leaves on its many branches. The bridge itself was a sphere, top just barely missing the top of the tree. The walls were wood, sort of cherry colored. Or, at least looked wood. She couldn't believe a ship would actually be made of wood...
Right, because that would be silly.
Her mother was beside her.
"OK, Mary, this is the tricky part. I want you to sort of grab the door frame, and push yourself into the bridge. Be ready to grab the railing over there."
"Grab railing. Gotcha." There were butterflies in her stomach. She was going to float. She was with her mother, and was going to float in space.
She was still dreaming, obviously.
"OK," the voice of Anthony said from behind her. "on the count of three. One, two... three!"
Mary pushed herself forward.
Her feet weren't touching the ground. There WAS ground, wasn't there?! Her head jerked down. Yes. A metal grating. Good. Her head jerked up again. She was floating. Floating! The railing was coming up fast. Shooting her hands out, she grabbed it, her body continuing forward. Her ankles hit something down there, stopping the forward momentum of her legs.
"Good job!
She could sense the others coming in behind her, but Mary's eyes were darting all around the bridge. The tree, the controls, the walls... suddenly, the walls vanished. Mary let out a gasp.
Space.
She was surrounded by space.
The tree, the walkway, the control stations... all floating in space. As was she.
Soft firm hands gripped her shoulders. Her mother pressed against her back.
"Welcome to our world, Honey."

Chapter 4

Rain fell from the sky with the same intensity that light radiates from the sun.
It was not a steady shower, unvaried in its force. The downfall seemed to ebb and flow as black clouds moved overhead, creating interesting variations that could be seen by any foolish enough to be outside. Moving a short distance in any direction could take you from painful, knife like drops to a gentle, almost morning dew like, heavy humidity.
Mary, walking under her mother's umbrella, looked out in awe.
Dad hadn't liked to travel. Had not, really, liked leaving his comfort zone. This had never bothered Mary growing up. Naturally, as most children do, she considered whatever her family was like as "normal", compared with the strangeness that was other families. Normal was staying in your hometown. Oh, the occasional visit downtown, or even the next city over, but no farther. Even week long summer camp stays were just an hour from home.
Now, here she was. On an alien planet. Far from the familiar home of Rochester, of Buffalo.
Far from Dad.
"I wish Dad was here."
She looked up at her Mom. The beautiful woman of her dreams was still, at least a little, a stranger. Her actions, manner of speech, movements, were new, unexpected. Not the comfortable familiarity that are a part of every child's view of what defines their parents. She no longer had doubts that this WAS her mother, at least. Three days together had overcome that. That inner knowledge, though, came with the realization that maybe this wasn't a dream. That, maybe, she really was here. That, maybe... she wouldn't see Dad again.
She had spent her entire life with him, dreaming of her mother. Would she now spend the rest of her life with her, dreaming of him? Was life that unfair?
Her mother looked down, smiling an uncertain smile.
"Me too, Honey."
Mary looked back over their shoulder at the receding ship, already almost hidden by the rain. The design, seen from the outside, was... cool. The body was shaped like a huge football, at long as a football field if not longer. Its lower half looked to be made of polished wood, glistening in the rain. The upper clear dome almost seemed to be made of waterfalls, as the rain fell against it and ran down the sides. Forty foot diameter spheres attached to either end, the bridge and the engines, the latter having smaller spheres attached to it of unknown function. The ship lay in a metal cradle seemingly custom fit to the craft, gangway and stairs attached to the side of the bridge where the hatch lay.
Beyond the ship... she could see nothing.  Just looming shapes in the rain.
Her mother stopped, Mary, having enough awareness, managed to stop before walking out from under the umbrella. Ten feet in front of them, Daium, Chuck, and Anthony were stopped before...
"Mom..."
It was a slug.
A giant, eight foot long, five foot tall slug. With two arms. Mary stepped closer to her mother.
"Yes, I know. Just don't stare. You'll be seeing a lot more. Just remember what we've told you, and stay near us."
Being told, and knowing, are two different things. Even the video footage they had shown her hadn't really sunk in. After all, movies are full of fake things! But, this... this was real.
Too real.

****

"You have got to be shitting me."
Daium almost winced at Anthony's words. She hated, more than anything, disappointing him. Them. Her human friends. They put their trust in her. Trusted her to help navigate this universe, to give them the information they needed to decide. Only she had managed to learn the Common language (even Rinda wasn't able to handle its complicated syntax). Only she could link them to the universe.
And she'd fucked up.
"I'm sorry, Anthony. I didn't know..."
"We all saw the info on this planet, Daium," Chuck said, shifting the umbrella in his hand. "Don't blame yourself. Blame reality. I know I do."
"Reality is the cause of most of our problems," Anthony agreed. The three of them, as one, looked at the slug dock master. It stood there, looking at the non-slimy creatures, waiting for their babbling to end so Daium could answer his demand. What that answer could be, she didn't know. The Inimesed, it seemed, no longer used gold, in any form, for their economy. Oh, they had, up until the previous year. It may not have been the basis for their currency, but at least it had value, and could be exchanged for money. Now...
"What the heck are they using?" Chuck asked. Daium sighed.
"Nothing. Just numbers in the computer, or printed slips of plastic. Once the economy collapsed, they decided that since they didn't actually use gold for anything it had no value. They have TONS of the stuff, just sitting around, so we can't even sell what we have in exchange for currency. At least, not at a rate we'd want to."
"So we can't even pay docking fees, let alone anything else." Chuck turned, looking back. Daium followed his gaze. The others stood under a half dozen umbrellas, waiting. As usual on these planetary trips, they were dressed in their homemade uniforms: the males in black jeans, the girls (apart from Goldie) in skirts of various colors. The humans also had white shirts, with an orange Bells logo on the right breast, while she and Rinda had the traditional Orang suspenders with integrated bra cubs. An orange Bells logo had been woven into the right bra cup of each. Even Mary was in uniform, one of Nona's cut down for her use.
Daium's eyes caught Rinda's. Her cousin crossed her arms, hugging herself, shivering, her pregnant belly exposed to the elements. She saw Chuck notice that as well. He shook his head.
"We either stay or go, but we have to do it quick. We can't keep the girls in the rain."
"Maybe," Anthony said, "we can sell something? Daium?"
"What do we have? Flowers? I'm not selling off droids, that's for sure."
A shape approached. The head of the slug turned, rain seemingly not bothering the creature. A moment later, the sound of a motor came to Daium's ears, quickly followed by the dark blob resolving itself into a long, rectangular, grey bus. It had four headlights, rectangular in shape, set below a four pane rectangular windshield. Eight brown wheels leaving a wake behind them on the flooded tarmac, it came to a stop just behind the dock master. The rectangular side door opened, and the driver stepped out.
The white furred, four armed monkeys were the reason they were here. Almost as tall as humans, the simian Personnes race was close enough to Humans and Orang that there was some hope they could help with the coming births. If nothing else, their hospitals would provide backup if Nona's basic skills proved inadequate.
Maybe.
The driver ambled up next to the slug. He, Daium assumed it was a he, wore a garish plaid rain poncho, complete with hood. His gaze swung between the dock master and the aliens, more curious than impatient. Removing a white stick, about the length of a finger, from his pocket, the Personnes put one end in his mouth. Protecting it from the rain with one hand, the other brought a small metal box out of its other pocket. Bringing it up to the stick, he pressed a button. A moment later, the end of the stick began to glow, white smoke coming from it.
"Quel est le probleme?"
Daium turned to Anthony. She was all set to give up. They had no money, she had no idea what this guy had just said...
The look on the dark haired man's face froze her words in her throat. It was... surprise, and... hope?
About time they had some.

****

Anthony couldn't believe it.
Not the French part. They had expected that, part of the 'what the fuck' nature of the universe they found themselves in. No, it was the smoking. Could it be this easy?
"Excuse me, Sir," he said, trying to dredge up long forgotten high school French. The monkey turned his attention to him, eyebrows raised. "I am not good at this language, so forgive any mistakes."
"I would not expect a hairless being to be otherwise! Are you the ones who called?"
"Yes. I am Captain Anthony. We would like transport to your settlement. However, we have a problem: we were not aware of the new... money situation here." Anthony shrugged. "We are barbarians."
The driver nodded. Again, he expected no less.
"However... I see your people smoke. Is it... tobacco?"
His eyes widened.
"Yes! Very rare! Your kind know of it?"
"Well..." Anthony tried to play it calm. "Our people have grown tobacco for centuries. In fact, while my crew does not smoke, we happen to have a rather large supply. Maybe you know of buyers...?"

****

They were back on the ship.
Melinda shifted on the garden bench. Junior was being difficult today. She could feel him moving around inside her, restless. With luck, he wasn't looking for the exit quite yet, although God knows she was ready to pop the little guy out. He'd have to wait. As usual, things had taken an unusual turn.
She sat back, watching Anthony and Tammy through the store window, up behind the store counter next to the office. Samples of each brand of cigarette and cigar were laid out on the orange counter, Anthony giving a sales pitch while Tammy tallied up their inventory. The chimp, now out of his rain slicker and wearing a rather dapper purple striped chauffeur's uniform, was on a cell phone talking to a friend who know a guy whose uncle dealt with the stuff.
She felt like they were doing a drug deal.
"They speak French."
Melinda looked at the young girl next to her. Mary had that familiar shell shocked look, gone for so long from her companions. It was almost comforting, in a way, to be reminded that, yes, this was stupid.
"Yeah. We knew that going in. Took us embarrassingly long to figure out what was going on out here, language wise, but that was mostly because we spoke so few languages among us."
Mary looked confused. Another familiar expression around here.
"What?"
"Well, see, when we found Daium she spoke Malay. Which Nona spoke. So we were like, OK, this is weird, but whatever. It's a nice coincidence. Then we meet a bunch of other species, who we can't understand at all, which is kind of what you'd expect, right?" Junior kicked again. "Oh, hold your horses, I'll feed you soon enough. It's like having an alien in you," she confided to Mary. The teen giggled, eyes glancing over at the other pregnant women sitting around the garden, waiting. Melinda took the girl's hand and placed it on her belly. Her eyes shot back as Junior punched this time.
"Oh, that was a strong one! So... right. So, anyway, after a couple months we run into this planet that speaks Spanish. And we're like, what the fuck? Spanish? Your mother speaks a bit of it, so that helped. It was then that we noticed the pattern."
"Pattern?"
"Um, yeah. The pattern. The stupid, why the hell is this going on pattern." Melinda sighed. "You know Rinda and Daium's people are called Orang, right?"
"Right. Like Orangutan, right?"
"Don't let Nona hear you use that word! But, yeah. Orang is the Malay word for 'people'. Their planet was Tanah, the Malay word for 'soil'. The world that spoke Spanish was called Suelo... the Spanish word for 'soil'." Mary's eyes widened. Melinda nodded. "And the people were called Personas, which means..."
"People!"
"Yup. And so on. We went back and checked the worlds we had been on, translating names back into Orang/Malay and then English, and they all came out the same."
Mary jumped to her feet, almost as if such stupidity couldn't be taken sitting down. Melinda saw Danny, over helping Chuck rig a half dozen droids to transport cartons of death, lift his head at the movement. As soon as he saw his actions were being watched, his eyes quickly dropped back down.
Ah! Mary has a stalker! How cute! Should she send the girl to Chuck for advice on how to deal with such a situation, or go help Danny do a better job of it? Maybe both!
"But what about this planet?" Mary turned to her, arms outstretched to encompass the world around them. "Muld isn't French!"
"Nope! But, then, it's not the French speaking Personnes who made it into space first, but the slugs! So, the planet is named in their language."
Mary just looked at her. With the disgusted sigh that defines a teen, she threw herself back down onto the bench.
"This is too weird."

****

"Look over at her one more time, and I'll break your nose off."
Danny grimaced. He hadn't thought he was being so obvious. Turning back, he saw Chuck giving him a disapproving glare from across the droid.
"Sorry..."
He looked down at the ground. Danny could feel his face heat up, blood rushing to expose his embarrassment. He hated being embarrassed. It made him feel so, so... so CHILDISH! That was it. He wasn't a child. He was a Man. Man. A human Man...
"You have the purple wrench over there?"
"Wha...? Oh! Yes! Here!" Grabbing the tool from next to his right foot, he handed it over to Chuck. The now only mildly chunky man took it, nodding his thanks. Looking closer at what Chuck was doing, Danny saw they were almost done. The last all weather wheel had been added to the droid, giving it much better traction for the short trip ahead. The various helper machines had already been set up for work in gravity, as opposed to zero g, but while they were waiting Chuck had said they might as well use the time to customize them a bit. Danny thought he might have wanted a few minutes away from his wives as well. Rinda had been a bit grumpy over having to be out in the rain for nothing.
His eyes lifted, looking over at the blue Orang sitting next to Nona and Hannah. Nona seemed to be examining her. He hoped the baby was OK. His eyes moved to the left. He should check out Melinda, make sure she and Mary were OK...
"Oh, for the love of... have you even talked to her?"
"What?!"
Danny's head shot around. Chuck was leaning forward, arms folded on the droid, his white dress shirt showing a few streaks of grease. His face showed amusement.
"The girl. Human. Cute. Your age. Have you actually talked to her yet, or are you just standing off and looking at her?"
"Um..."
"Oh, God... and I thought I was bad at your age." Shaking his head, Chuck pushed himself back away from the R2 unit. He motioned Danny over. Embarrassed, and really not wanting to talk about this, he slid himself over the stone walkway until his leg and shoulder just barely didn't touch Chuck's. Both leaned back against the bench behind them.
"Has Anthony given you any dating advice about Mary?"
Face getting redder, Danny shook his head.
"He... well, he's told me what to do about Nona. THAT hasn't really helped..."
"Sure it has. She likes you. You're friends. You're not KISSING her, true, but that's good for now."
"How is that good?"
He looked at Chuck. If Anthony had been like a father, Chuck was the older brother. Chuck teased him, harassed him... but laughed happily when Danny fought back. Chuck had... well, taught him what it was to be a male. He had grown up with just Goldie, and their two mothers, their "father" having given the two offspring nothing more than genetic material. He had grown up in a feminine world...
Chuck put a hand on the teen's shoulder, giving a firm squeeze.
"We'll talk about Nona later. Right now, let's talk about Mary." Danny nodded, looking up at the girl across the garden. "The first thing you need to know is, she needs a friend, not a boyfriend."
Danny's head dropped in exasperation.
"Again with..."
Chuck gave his shoulder a little shake.
"This is different. Your sister is already making friends with her. Letting Mary get used to her. You need to do the same. Talk to your sister, let her help. When your sister goes over to talk to Mary, go with her. Talk. About anything. Just... spend time with her. You two are close enough in age that, if she comes to like you, things will happen on their own." Danny gave him a disbelieving look. "Trust me. She looks at you, you know. The same way you're sneaking looks at her."
Danny's eyes widened.
"Are you... sure?"
"Yup," Chuck snorted. "It's rather obvious, at least to those not involved. So, talk. Be a friend. Wear a shirt more often... at least when Hannah and Anthony are around. And, the next time the women are in a dancing mood... maybe she'll dance with you."
The redheaded half human looked longingly at the slender teen.
"I'd like that..."

****

Anthony showed the figure written on the scrap of paper to Daium. The white alien monkey stood, waiting, ten feet behind them.
"I don't think I can get him much higher. Will that cover costs, with extra?"
She bit her lip. The last hour had been spent checking prices, comparing them to costs on previous worlds. Money... had never mattered before. Their treasury, taken from the Orang government vaults by her father, had barely been touched even after a year. To now have to worry about such a... petty thing...
Eventually, she nodded.
"Yes. It should. We'll be able to pay the dock fees for a week, as well as a week's hotel and food, easily."
"Good. Make it a cheap hotel, just in..."
There was a scream.
Anthony and Daium were running instantly. Not bothering with the front doors, they bolted through the bottle return room and out the side store door. In front of them, Chuck was vaulting over flowerbeds towards a group of women, Danny just behind. They ignored the path as well, not caring what flowers they trampled.
"What is it?!" Anthony yelled. Daium prayed. That had been Rinda's scream. Oh, by all that grows green, let her be...
Rinda stood in front of the park bench, hands on her large belly, four eyes looking down in shock. Hannah and Nona were on either side of her, the Orang's strong black hands gripping their hands tightly. On the stone bricks between her two bare feet... a pool of water, splattered everywhere.
Her water had broken.
"Is she OK?!" Chuck was at Rinda's side, grabbing her right hand, taking Nona's place. He looked at the Malay, eyes wide. "What now?"
Daium saw Nona bite her lip. The eighteen year old was their medical expert. She... she had to do it.
And she would. Daium trusted her.
"Everyone back!" Nona's shout came as a mask of confidence fell over her. She shot a finger out at Tammy. "Get my bag! It's by the bridge door! Danny, blankets from the bedrooms! Justin and Daium, hot water, soap, and towels!"
Daium turned and ran. It was happening!

****

Rinda squatted on the rough stones.
Chuck held one smooth black hand. Melinda the other. Her lovers. Mates. Friends. The baby was theirs, as much as it was hers, and she drew strength from them as their child made the most important journey of its life.
She hadn't listened to the women, as a young Orang. Didn't listen to the tales of this birth or that, of the do's and don'ts. Had never even thought of what it would be like to bring life into this universe.
Until the past year.
Until the sacred Tree had chosen her to be the first to unite two people.
It wasn't pain. Pain she knew. It was... was...
"Ah...!"
She pushed again. It was stretching her. Stretching so much... Her body knew what to do. Orang had been populating the world since life first came to the forest. She could do this. Would do this...
She felt human arms between her legs. Fingers were probing her. Eyes closed, she groaned again, pushing downward.
"The head! I can feel the head! Yes! It's not breach!"
Nona. Good friend Nona. Doing all she could. So, there was a head? That was good news! She pushed again, hands squeezing hard enough to break bones.
"It's coming, oh, Allah be praised! Push!"
Rinda forced her eyes open as she pushed again.
There. Between her legs. A head. Coming out of her. As she watched, it slid out past the neck, shoulders visible.
It had four eyes. Four beautiful closed eyes. Its skin was hairless, black and glistening. On its head, blue fur.
Her baby.
THEIR baby.
Rinda's body pushed again. Nona's hands, so clean they shone, were under the baby, supporting, helping pull it free. With a sudden rush...
It was out.
HE was out.
A son.
She had a son.
His crying echoed through the ship, and their hearts.

Chapter 5

Anthony, umbrella in hand, watched the dock master slug slither off in one direction, the monkey driven bus with its cargo of Earth tobacco driving off in another. Rain, unchanged in the hours since they first braved the elements, fell in sheets around him. Again, he thanked whatever gods ruled this world for the lack of wind.
"So..." Hannah stood next to him, umbrella actually a bit under his, causing its runoff to just miss his arm. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Are we staying here? Sure, now we have money, but the kids are born. I assume we're not hanging around until Alicia and I pop ours out."
He laughed. Things changed so quickly, concrete plans tended to be nothing more than future suggestions. Daium, on his other side, just shook her head under her own umbrella.
"If we're not planning on coming back here, we might as well spend all this money we now have." Anthony saw her finger the stack of plastic bills in her hand, as if it was burning a hole. "We have the driver's number. Maybe go into town tomorrow?"
"It'll involve splitting us up," he warned. "I doubt our mothers will be in any shape to leave the ship, and Chuck's not leaving their side."
"There's no way we can have landed here and NOT let Mary see her first alien planet," Hannah said. "I think it'll be safe leaving Moms and babies on the ship."
"Morning it is, then. And I like how you lumped Chuck in with the babies there."

****

"You two don't fool me."
Chuck looked down at his two wives, disgust clear on his face. He shook his head. The two evil females in question lay next to each other in the center of their bed, nude, a sleeping few hours old baby on each of their chests. Despite exhaustion clearly showing, Rinda and Melinda grinned back at their husband wickedly. Melinda gently cupped the back of little Carol's head.
"Why don't we fool you?" she asked, almost managing not to break out laughing while using a little girl's voice. Chuck growled, large finger touching his daughter's incredibly small hand, marveling at the smoothness of the pink skin.
"Come on. Rinda pops out little Jeli there, and you just HAPPEN to go into labor a half hour later? You two had this planned, didn't you? Or were you jumping up and down to try and squirt Carol out so Rinda wouldn't hog up all the attention?"
"He's got us," Rinda loudly whispered to Melinda, shifting their son a bit so he wouldn't slip off. His little black fists were clutching her fur, head snuggled between her breasts.
"Damn straight. I know you both too well." Chuck, sitting on the edge of the bed, reached over and smoothed out the dark blue hair on his son. Or was it fur? Time would tell. Rinda reached her own black skinned hand up to take his, fingers intertwining.
"That you do..."
"Yeah," Melinda added, taking his other hand, fingers joining as well. "We can't pull anything over on you..."
"And don't you forget it."
Chuck gazed at his family. Family... he had a family.  Pulling his hands away, he removed his clothing. The girls shifting apart on the bed, he moved over to lie down between them. Weight changing the gravitational pull of the mattress, they slid down against him, giggling. He put his arms around their shoulders, pulling each in for a sweet kiss. His arms would probably soon be numb and tingling, but he didn't care.
Some pain was worth it.

****

Nona sprawled face down on her unmade bed.
Pillow. She needed a pillow. Her head, pressed against the mattress by the evil gravity, was not on a fluffy surface. Where was her pillow... ah. Yes. It was up at the top of her bed. Where else would it be. But, she was down here. Her head was a good two feet short of that fluffy goodness. Could she move up to the pillow?
...No. She was too tired to move. Two babies. She had delivered two babies in three hours, mind terrified the entire time. To have four lives in her hands! God, she just wanted to sleep...
A soft knock came from the bedroom door.
"Nona?"
Nona instantly moved, rolling over and up, sitting on the edge of the bed, one hand supporting herself while the other went to her forehead. Dozens of post birth complications ran through her head.
"I'm up! What is it?!?"
The door opened, a surprised and chagrined Tammy quickly poking her head it.
"I'm sorry! Everything's OK! Everything's fine!"
Strength once again left every limb of Nona's body. She fell back onto the bed, feet still on the floor, bouncing once. She heard a groan. It may or may not have come from her mouth.
"What do you want?"
Her voice was tired. Or were her ears tired? Could it be both? Maybe. Hard to say. Her mind was tired.
"I'm sorry, Nona. I... I didn't think you were asleep. I thought you might be thirsty. I brought something. I'll... I'll put it over here..."
Drink. Did Nona need a drink? She swallowed. Dry. Her throat was dry. And tired. Drink would be good. It would require movement, though. Movement upwards. Maybe Tammy could just pour it into her mouth...
OK, this was getting silly. With a loud groan, which to her ears was embarrassingly theatrical, Nona first pushed herself back into the bed, then forced her body upward. She sat up, stopping as she achieved a vertical sitting position.
"No, no, don't go... drink would be good..." She shook her head, trying to wake. Her straight black hair continued the movement for an extra second, before settling into place. She blinked. There was the sound of things being put places, liquid being transferred between containers. A weight settled on the bed next to her. Looking, she saw Tammy, still, like her, in their Bells ship uniform, holding two clear glasses with a dark red liquid. Nona reached for the offered glass with her right hand, paused to consider how much she liked her nice bedding, and used both hands to grasp the drink. There was a light touch on her bare arm. Looking up, she saw Tammy smile and raise her glass.
"To the babies, and a job well done."
Nona blushed. She kept her glass still while Tammy clinked hers against it, then took a deep drink. To be honest, they weren't sure what this stuff was. They found it five planets ago, an incredible combination of fruity red wine and beer. Served cold, as this was, it went down like water and refreshed even as the alcohol did its thing. Not only had they filled an entire storage room with bottles of the stuff, they had left that world with seeds, plants, and every book on brewing they could find. A test crop was already sprouting in the garden.
She lowered her glass, already half empty. Tammy topped it off.
"I didn't do anything, you know," she said, sighing. "Just stood there, like a catcher. We were lucky..."
"No," Tammy replied, shaking her head. "You did a lot. You kept the girls calm. Focused. You had the right kind of pain killers for Melinda, and used them well."
"God she's a screamer..."
"I think we ALL knew that," Tammy laughed. That did get a chuckle out of Nona. Everyone always knew when Melinda was getting some from Chuck, or Rinda. Or from...
Nona blushed. Looking away from Tammy, she took another swig of her drink.
"You... you helped too, Tammy. Thanks for being my nurse."
"Oh, my pleasure. I'm sorry I wasn't dressed for the occasion. I'll have to see if I can have a naughty nurse outfit ready when Alicia's due."
"OK, question." Nona, drink in her right hand, raised her left forefinger as she looked back at her friend. "Why is it there's only naughty nurse outfits, and not naughty doctor ones?"
Tammy cocked her head, barking out a laugh.
"Ha! Do you want Hannah to make you one?"
Nona could feel her ears burning. She couldn't answer that. Who would she wear something sexy for? Not herself. She really wasn't the kind to do that. Not Danny. Who would she want to dress up, or down, for? Why had she even ASKED the question, and to Tammy of all people?
There was a light touch on her bare arm. Every nerve end, every hair, seemed to react. Nona kept her eyes down in her lap.
"I'm sorry, Nona. Bad joke. I shouldn't have..."
"No, it's OK." Nona shook her head. "It's... hell, I wouldn't even look good in one."
There was a moment's silence. Her eyes closed. If Tammy agreed with her... oh, God...
"Hey."
A smooth, strong hand touched her chin, raising it. Her face was gently turned, eyes forced to meet Tammy's. The look she saw in her face... Nona trembled.
The hand began to caress Nona's cheek.
"You're beautiful, Nona."
Her face had to be glowing, blood from the rest of her body seemingly rushing to re-enforce the blush. Her eyes... couldn't leave Tammy's. She should look away. Say something, take another drink, something...
Tammy's eyes, her face, seemed to be getting bigger. Closer. God, was she leaning in to...
No.
Tammy wasn't moving.
Nona was.
Her head jerked back, eyes wide, half empty glass dropping from her hand to the rug. A growing patch of blue carpet turned purple.
Tammy let out a breath, seeming to deflate. In that moment, the entire atmosphere of the room changed. Something... had been lost. Something Nona wanted. Needed.
And had rejected.
"I'm sorry, Nona. I'll go..."
Tammy stood, weight leaving the bed. She was going. Nona's mind whirled. Tammy was leaving. Everyone was leaving her. Mom. Dad. They had gone. Left her alone... No. She had left THEM, and now they were gone. Forever. And, now, Tammy was... Nona was making her go...
"Please..."
It came out as a whisper. She didn't even know if she had said it aloud, let alone if it had carried across the void to Tammy. Nona wet her suddenly dry lips, trying again.
"Please, Tammy... stay."
Silence.
The mattress creaked next to her, weight returning to it... not so close this time. Nona's eyes refused to look at her friend. She didn't want to see the... disappointment in her face. Or, worse... affection...
"What do you want, Nona?"
There were so many layers of meaning to that quiet question. So many answers, all true, yet not. Her right hand went to her forehead, trying to contain the sudden throbbing.
"If I knew that, do you think I'd feel this way? Do you?" She was going to cry. She knew it. Cry again, like she had the other night. The night Tammy had held her...
"Were... were you going to kiss me, Nona?"
Her other hand joined the first on her forehead.
"I don't know!"
The words hung in the silence. Nona felt the bed shift next to her. Tammy's voice, still soft, came from somewhere closer.
"Do you want me, to kiss you?"
"Yes..."
The words were out of her with no conscious thought. Her eyes shot open. Oh, God, what had she just...
Two warm, soft hands took her own, pulling them away from her face. Nona's head slowly turned. Tammy sat there, eyes wet with tears. She was beautiful. Nona had always known that, always thought that, but... had never UNDERSTOOD it. She did now. God forgive her, she understood.
Tammy. Beautiful Tammy. Athletic. Graceful. Understanding. Loving.
She leaned forward. Nona sat still, frozen, only to realize she too was slowly leaning into Tammy. Her eyes closed...
Something soft, silky, touched her lips... and was gone.
Her eyes slowly opened. Tammy was looking at her with... awe. Her own expression must have mirrored it. The older woman took a moment to compose herself, then stood. She bent down, limbs moving in ways Nona would never permit herself to really see before, picking up the fallen glass. Handing it back to Nona, whose hands took it mostly by instinct, Tammy grabbed the bottle off the nightstand and refilled it. She then raised the wine to her lips and took a long swig. Letting out a sigh, she dropped her arm, holding the bottle loosely with two fingers. She looked down at the Malay.
"I am on my way to being drunk, on you, and on this stuff. Neither is going to help us." She laughed, shaking her head. "OK. I need to go. I'm going to go back to my room. For the next... twenty minutes, no make that half hour, I'm going to be busy. After that I'll get dinner going." Tammy made a move to leave, paused, and dropped down into a crouch before Nona. Her free hand lightly touched Nona's skirt covered knee.
"Whatever you want between us, Nona, I will accept. So long as you keep me in your life."
Tammy rose. A moment later, the bedroom door closed.
Nona was alone.
Only now she wasn't. Her left hand slowly rose, fingers touching lips that still tingled.
"First kiss..."

****

"Aww, does little baby want to be fed?"
The two girls giggled. Mary, sitting legs crossed on Goldie's bedroom rung, picked up the stuffed bunny. She had seen it before, a lifetime ago, next to baby her in photos. It was supper soft and supper squishy. With a grin, she mashed the bunny's face into her left boob.
"Hey!" Goldie yelled, "Don't hurt the baby!" She picked up a stuffed rag doll, with red yarn hair and patched clothing, raising one of its arms in protest. "Be careful with my sister!"
"She's just hungry!" They both laughed. Mary pulled the doll's face back an inch, made a belching sound, and put her back. Goldie fell over backwards, laugh turning hysterical.
Mary just shook her head, grinning. Goldie was fun. She didn't act like she was a year older. Heck, at times she didn't even act like a ten year old. Like now: it had been YEARS since Mary had played with dolls. She still had them, naturally, but only as decorations. Mary had even used some of her saved up money to buy a new china doll she had seen at a craft fair, with a beautiful handmade body and dress. It sat at home on her dresser, and she had dreams of filling all her shelves with dolls like that. But, playing Mommy with dolls? That was so elementary school! Yet when Goldie had asked her into her room to play, she had done so without a moment's thought. Because, well...
It was fun.
Goldie sat back up. She tried to match Mary's position, sitting on her butt with legs Indian style. One leg she got positioned correctly, but the other just would not bend.
"Mary?"
Putting her now fed baby down, Mary slid over to her friend. She grabbed the disobedient leg. The problem, it seemed, was the hip joint. It just didn't want to allow both legs to point outward at an angle that would let them then bend in and the ankles cross. Holding the furry leg in the air, she considered.
"Maybe lift up your butt a bit?"
Goldie did, hands out behind her to support her weight. This had the effect of emphasizing her chest. Mary couldn't help but look. They were bigger than hers, for one thing. More, though, they were a reminder that Goldie was naked. Heck, when she had grabbed the leg, she had seen her opening, not quite hidden by the fur. What would it be like, to be able to walk free like that? Part of her liked the idea...
"What's the matter? Something wrong with my boobies?" Goldie brought a hand up, as if to check them. At the same moment Mary finally brought herself back to the here and now, moving the leg again.
"Oh, wait!" Goldie began to totter. Her left hand, all that was holding her up, slipped on the carpet. Her right, instead of going back, shot forward to grab Mary for support. Mary, already precariously balanced on her knees...
Down they went, shrieking and giggling as Mary fell on her friend.
Goldie was furry and soft. Like a dog. Her boobs, though, were NOT dog like, and feeling one press into her neck had her rolling off the girl making laughing "Ick!" sounds. Goldie, laughing, helped shove her away, her clawed fingers and toes lightly scratching her. They ended up on their backs, looking up at the ceiling.
"Did you paint that?"
Mary's eyes tried to take the entire scene in at once. There were clouds, looking as if they were drifting over head. The shapes and sizes didn't look... quite right, or at least not quite like Earth. The sky, above them, wasn't quite the right shade of blue. But... it was so real!
"Yeah. You like it? Chuck found the paints for me, your mom made the brushes."
"I love it! Did it take you long?"
"Weeks! I just did a few hours a day, though. Had to give it time to dry before bedtime, as I was afraid wet paint would drip down on my nose during the night!"
"Heh!"
"Gonna do the walls, too, but I haven't decided yet."
Mary sighed. She had never been able to do anything like that. Cartoons, yes, but nothing you'd ever mistake for reality. Writing, she could do, but art...
"You're good."
"Thanks." Goldie rolled onto her side, looking at her. "When they get your room all done, do you want me to paint it for you?"
"I couldn't ask that! You still haven't finished yours!"
"But it would be fun! You can help too! We'd both do it!"
"I can NOT paint like that!" She laughed. "It would be easier just to share this room with you!"
Taking her gaze away from the clouds, her head fell on its side facing Goldie. The young girl was biting her red lips, blue all too human eyes seemingly... worried.
"What?"
"Um, Mary? Would you... well, do you want to room with me?"
Shocked, the almost fourteen year old pushed herself up on her side, facing the older girl. The idea...
"You... sure?"
"Yeah." Goldie nodded, clawed hand reaching across and touching Mary's. "I always slept with Danny, but when we came here he wanted his own room. And, it was fun, for a bit, but... it would be nice to have someone to talk to, at night. It's not that I get lonely, or anything, but..."
Mary giggled.
"It would be like a slumber party!"
"What's a slumber party?"
"It's when a bunch of girlfriends go to one girl's house and spend the night. Talk all night, about boys or something, listen to music. Girl stuff!"
"I wanna do girl stuff..." Her voice sounded so wistful. Mary's heart almost broke. Goldie had grown up with no friends, no sisters. Mary had friends, but no mom. Maybe they were meant to be friends...
"I need my own bed, though. Yours is a bit too close to the ground!"
"I wouldn't want to sleep WITH you anyways! Yuck!"

****

It was still raining the next morning.
Alicia looked out the bus window, sighing. It had been three weeks since they were last under a sun. Rain was nice, don't get her wrong. But, you couldn't go out in this rain. This was the wet equivalent of a blizzard, to be enjoyed inside a nice warm dry building with large picture windows. Or overhead dome. But, still, she was disappointed.
That's why she wanted them to find a planet to call home, to be honest. So they could have a sun over them every day. For everything else, she actually wouldn't mind spending the rest of their days on a spaceship. But she needed the sun...
The sound of the rain on the metal roof intensified. No wonder slugs evolved on this world.
Justin let out a sigh next to her.
"It just seems wrong not to have Chuck here."
Daium nodded.
"And Rinda. Splitting up on a new planet..."
"We'll be fine," Anthony put in from the other side of the bus. He sat with Hannah and Danny. Mary, Alicia noticed, was over in the corner with Goldie. Well. Those two had bonded quickly. Shifting her eyes to the other corner, she saw Tammy and Nona sitting somewhat closer than normal. The dark girl's expression was... well, who could ever tell what Nona was thinking? Not her, that's for sure. Tammy seemed happy, though. She looked back at Anthony.
"How long till we get to Monkeyville?"
"Half an hour. He said there's a large indoor shopping place."
"A mall!" Laughing, Alicia raised her right fist. "To the mall!"

****

Mary looked around in frightened wonder.
Aliens were... everywhere!
Most were the four armed monkeys, which after seeing the driver twice she was somewhat used to, and there were some slugs slithering down the wide mall walkways. But, there were others! Strange tall humanoids with rectangular heads, goats with three horns wearing striped dresses... she took a half step closer to Mom. Hannah put a hand on her head.
"Remember what we've told you. WE are the aliens here. Look, but don't stare. Don't bump into anyone, they might take offense. Stay close. Danny, stay with her."
Mary was going to object. Say that she didn't need a babysitter, or that she could just stay close to her. That, though, was before she saw the two legged reptilian thing walking by, fur hat the same color as Mary's own hair.
Well, she could always push Danny between herself and danger if it came down to that.

****

"Are there always so many... kinds of people?"
She was talking to him. Mary was actually talking to him! She was walking at his side, soft bare arm swinging just a few inches from his own. Goldie trotted on the other side of her, the two siblings forming a protective guard for their newest companion. The adults were walking ahead, deciding which stores to hit first.
Reply. He had to reply. Chuck's advice came back to him. Just talk to her. Talk to Mary like he'd talk to anyone else. Become her friend. Find something to say...
"Not always," Goldie said, looking around. "We're near a spaceport, though, so most of the non-natives are from other ships just like we are."
Danny winced. He was too slow. Was there something he could add, though?
"The planet Anthony found us on, the city was almost all from elsewhere. The locals lived underwater, and built the floating town just for aliens."
"It almost feels like this planet is underwater..."
He had talked to her, without sounding like an idiot.
Damn it, maybe Chuck was right...

****

"I'm not sure about this fabric. Tammy, what do you think?"
Anthony took a step away, sighing. Nothing was more boring than the girls talking clothing. He almost longed for the days when they just had a couple pairs of outfits, and for the ladies that was just skimpy bikinis made out of aprons. Damn it, he had liked that fashion statement. Why couldn't they go back to that? Or, at least, more revealing styles.
He looked around. For example, that creature over there. It was a red squirrel, maybe four feet tall, body a little slimmer than the creatures back home. Clearly female, thanks to the two breasts, she wore what seemed to be two white rectangular cloths, one front, one back, attached just by some string tied on the side. The entire side of her body was exposed. Now that, he thought, would look good on Hannah. Especially once the pregnancy was over. Hmm, maybe he could get Hannah to role-play "slave and her master". Then again, it looked a bit like some fantasy priestess getup...
The squirrel glanced up from the bin of thread it had been contemplating. Her head swung away, as if she was looking for someone, then swiveled back. Her almond shaped black eyes fell on Anthony.
Her entire body shot around to face him, claw grabbing the wooden display as if she was about to collapse. Her other hand went to her mouth.
Anthony's eyes widened.
She had seen humans before.
"Justin! Come here, quick!"
At the sound of his voice, the girl's other hand shot up to her mouth. She fell to her knees, trembling. He sensed the others come up next to him.
"What is she?" Hannah asked. The squirrel's head jerked to face the source of the new sound. Her eyes widened even more. Facing Anthony once again, she fell forward, red furry arms outstretched on the ground towards the humans.
"Don't know, but keep your eyes peeled for a Moose..."

Chapter 6

"If she asks if you're a god, say 'yes'."
Justin shifted his eyes around. Nobody really reacted. Daium did, though, nod her head in agreement. With a sigh, he let it go. Melinda would have gotten the joke. Probably Chuck, too. What was the point of making obscure geek jokes, if nobody was going to react? Laughs or groans, didn't matter. It probably didn't help that the movie in question wasn't among those in the store when they vanished, and thus was lost forever so far as they were concerned, but, still. The Bullwinkle thing got chuckles...
He set his attention back to the task at hand. A strange red furred squirrel girl was prostate on the store floor, hands outstretched, tail arching over her back. She was dressed in a white... well, shift might be a good name for it, cloth barely longer than mid-thigh and cut short in back to allow room for the tail. Sexy, in a slave girl kind of way. If you were into animals, which he wasn't.
Anthony, dressed as they all were in their "away mission" uniforms, knelt down on one knee in front of her. Alicia, standing behind him next to Hannah, was scanning the room, hand down where her holster would be if she was wearing it.
"People are starting to look. We should take this elsewhere."
"Agreed," Anthony said. Justin noticed that every use of English seemed to send tremors through the squirrel. Anthony seemed to see it as well. Reaching out, he touched her head between the ears. "Sit up."
The girl shot up. Her legs were bent under her, trembling hands clutching furry bare knees. Her long face, with its black almond eyes on either side and brown nose at the end, looked down at the floor. Human like breasts, under the white fabric, heaved. Anthony stood.
"We have to talk, but not here. Do you know someplace close?"
Justin could see her eyes dart back and forth, mind racing.
"I... we have... a room. Close."
He noted the use of the word "we". The others did as well, exchanging glances. Hannah motioned Danny to move closer to her daughter, while she stepped up to Anthony's side.
"Take us."

****

Chuck whistled an early Metallica song as he moved the hose over to the next flower bed.
There were a number of amusing things about his current activities. The first, naturally, was the silliness of watering flowers during a rainstorm. The clouds, and their resulting downpour hitting the arching dome overhead, were so dark and thick he had turned on the spotlights on top of the store. Lightning flashed, and you could hear the thunder and pouring rain despite the thick shell. The very fact that Chuck was using a hose was also rather silly. After all, not only could they easily have installed sprinklers to water their expansive collection of exotic plants, but the bottom recesses of the ship had whole rooms full of droids. Any number of them could be modified to water and tend the garden, even though you might have second thoughts about having one perform personal grooming. But, the key to survival was keeping busy. The garden was as much to give them something to do as anything else.
"Oh, field hand! I need a drink refill!"
And, naturally, keeping busy kept one from killing various females.
He was tempted, very tempted, to use the hose on Melinda. Filling her glass from twenty feet away could be seen as an honest attempt at serving her. But, alas, there was the baby nursing with her to consider, as well as Rinda and little Jeli on the bench. Rinda had not annoyed him yet, although the day was still young. Nope, there was no way he was going to spray his lovely wives and children with water.
Naturally, he thought, turning to aim the hose a foot away from the bench, there was no reason they would know that...

****

Their driver did not bat an eye when the Bells crew returned to the bus not a half hour after entering the mall, accompanied by another alien. He expected nothing else of foreigners. The address they gave him was a mere four blocks away. They could have walked, not bothering him. But, again, they were soft aliens. Lighting up a cigar as they once again exited his vehicle, he sighed. What could he do...

****

They paused, out of the rain again at least for the moment. Alicia looked above. The ceiling on the... well, driveway into the building, was an archway made of brick. She had seen buildings like this, in movies: a large, ugly structure taking up an entire city block, but once you traveled through the tunnel in one side you came upon a bright courtyard park with stairs and terraces leading to a hundred apartments or whatever on all four sides. Up ahead, their view showed them the first three levels on the opposite side, with three more unseen above that. The courtyard itself seemed to have more weeds than plants, although nothing would look good flooded as it was. She wondered if the rain ever did stop.
The slugs kind of hinted the answer was "no".
Her eyes went to their "guide". There was no trust to be had here, naturally. Not yet. Their position in the universe was much too fragile. They needed to get whatever information this fluffy tailed girl had, and get back to the ship so they could plan. Doing anything without the input of Chuck, Rinda, and even (though it pained her to say it) Melinda, was foolhardy. They all looked at the world from different enough points of view that someone usually saw the flaw in any plan.
Alicia liked finding flaws.
She felt movement inside her. As Justin was the father, she always pictured her baby just quietly reading a book in the corner of the womb. Recent crankiness on the infant's part, though, was causing her to think her side was going to be more dominant. Given stories her mother had told at about every gathering where the subject of children came up, this was not a good thing.
Another kick. She looked over at Justin.
"Baby's getting cranky. Can we hurry this up?"
Alicia felt Squirrel Girl's eyes on her. She flicked her eyes at the creature, causing the thing to cringe back a bit. For some reason, that made her feel better.

****

Umbrellas up once again, they made the not quite dash into the courtyard, and up the stairs. Anthony, despite the inner need to do this quickly, before the attention of some unknown bad thing fell on them, kept to an Alicia and Hannah friendly pace. The protective side of him wished they had been sent back to the ship. Who knew what they were getting into. But, that would have involved yet another splitting of the group. They were too divided as it was.
On the fourth landing, the newcomer led them down the row of wooden doors. It definitely looked like a motel, or maybe very small apartments. The place was not in good repair. The railings were rusting, with orange paint peeling off (the color change was an improvement at least). Down below, weeds grew up between paving stones. There was no sign of life, either. Kind of made sense, if this was a motel type place, as who would be in their room in the late morning. He'd expect some mothers and children to be around otherwise, though.
The red furred girl stopped in front of a door numbered 415. There was a window to the left of it, curtain drawn. She turned to him, seeming to struggle for the right words. She was nervous as hell.
"This... is our room."
He nodded, motioning for her to enter. Her face almost seeming to blush through the fur, she pulled a string necklace he hadn't noticed before out from under her outfit and over her head. Fitting the metal key at the end into the handle lock, the door clicked. Seeming to brace herself, she opened the door and entered. Anthony quickly followed, Justin a step behind.
The room was small. It looked like every motel room Anthony had ever had a hookup in, if a bit dingier (hey, he had standards). One double bed, unmade, was against the far wall. It obviously had been pushed there, judging by the marks on the brown rug. The walls were an ugly yellow, ugly enough to distract him as he entered. It wasn't until he heard the voice that he noticed someone was already in the room.
"Miriam!"
It was another squirrel, naturally. This one had black fur, with a tinge of grey on the chest and tail, and eyes of a sparkling brown. She had been lying on the bed nude, reading something, but sprang to her feet on their entrance, breasts bouncing. Seeing those following her companion, any further words died in shock.
"Sarah! Speak only the holy tongue!" The one they now knew was called Miriam ran to her companion, practically shoving her down to her knees. Dropping down next to her, she looked back at Anthony. "We are yours to command, oh Lord!"
Anthony paused. He recalled Justin's joke. Despite the lessons of Ghostbusters, they had to be careful here. Nona, for one (and there were probably others), would get seriously pissed at any impersonation of godhood. On a more practical level, a comic book story he had read as a kid, long forgotten, had popped into his head. Two Spanish conquistadors had come to a South American city, claiming to be gods. As they were about to be killed, they said they could blot out the sun, and sure enough the eclipse they knew was coming happened.
The King, naturally, was impressed. He freed the two, started leading them towards the heart of the city... and tossed them in a pit.
"What the heck?!", the two yell back. "Let us out!"
"Well," says the King, "if you two are Gods, and I do think you are, you should be able to fly out of there. If, on the other hand, you are NOT gods... well, just let us know and we'll lower a rope and continue where we left off."
The story stopped there, letting the reader decide which ending they would pick. Personally, Anthony decided to try and avoid the whole thing.

****

"Everyone inside, close the door."
Nona slipped in behind Anthony, sliding over in front of the window and settling in the corner. She didn't like this. It was... freaky, that's what it was. She also got this pagan vibe, which for some reason was very unsettling. The candles, and large pentagram laid out on the rug with white tape, were the cause of most of that. It was obvious the bed used to be there, but they needed the room for whatever evil purpose witch squirrels have.
Off hand, Nona couldn't think of any.
Tammy's taller form appeared next to her. Without giving it any thought, Nona reached out her right hand and grabbed Tammy's. After a moment's pause, she felt the strong, soft hand shift in her grip, fingers intertwining with hers. Despite everything around them, Nona blushed, happy.
With a click, the door closed. Anthony took a couple steps forward, stopping about six feet away from the squirrels. Nona, eyes automatically checking their two pregnant members, saw Alicia leaning a bit on an umbrella while Hannah used the wall for support. She didn't see any chairs, and the bed was behind the aliens.
"Who are you?"
The red one bowed her head at Anthony's question, elbow hitting her companion when she didn't immediately follow suit.
"I am Miriam, Servant of She Who Saw, follower of She Who Fucked."
Nona shot a glance at Tammy. She had NOT just heard that, had she? The blonde had the same look, though. What were they getting into...
"This," continued Miriam, "is Sarah, handmaiden and newcomer to The Way. We..." She stumbled, words failing her. Nona recognized part of the problem. English wasn't their native language. She was speaking... what had she called it? The Holy Tongue? Nona would have the same problem trying to speak Arabic. More so, given how little she had kept up on that in recent years.
"Where are you from?" Anthony's voice was calm. Nona had no idea how he did it. Guess it came with being manager.
"We are from the Temple, the NEW Temple, recently dedicated in your name."
"Who do you THINK I am?"
Miriam looked up, startled.
"You... you are one of the daemons! All of you, apart from her!" Her finger jabbed at Daium, who's four eyes widened. "Even those young are of your seed! Oh, how we have longed to see the joining of us and you! To know that it is possible! Shia, She Who Fucked, must be told! The Temple will celebrate!"
Anthony held up a hand, instantly silencing her. The black furred one, Sarah, just sat there, trembling, eyes not looking at any of them.
"Have you seen other humans, others like us?"
Miriam looked at the rug, body seeming to deflate.
"No, Lord. Not I. I am not skilled enough to see your kind, or summon. Neither have I attended the rituals, not that any have been successful from what we have heard. I have tried!" She looked back up, eyes wide. "Believe me! I, we, have studied hard! Tried to understand all you have told us, all you have shown us! But your ways are mysterious, oh Lord!"
"I just bet they are," Nona heard Tammy mutter. She shook her head. They were speaking gibberish. Whatever information there was to get, the humans would have to get it themselves.
She glanced down to her left. The nightstand, now far from the side of the bed, had books on it. The topmost one, a large hardcover seemingly bound in dark brown leather, had no name on the cover. Just a large white pentagram. Nona reached for it.
"No!"
Nona's hand jerked back, head whipping towards the now standing black squirrel. The creature's fur was almost standing on end, her tail straight up.
"Those are OUR Holy Books! You may NOT...!"
*SLAP*
"SILENCE!"
Sarah slowly turned to the red furred Miriam, eyes wide, one paw going to the struck cheek. Nona watched with... fear. Her hand squeezed Tammy's, heart doing a flip when her friend answered, caressing with her thumb.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Miriam's eyes bore into the younger woman. Not waiting for an answer, she jabbed a clawed finger between Sarah's breasts. "Who gave us knowledge? ANSWER!"
Nona was starting to feel sorry for the black one. Sarah cowered back a bit, but straightened, as if reciting something.
"The Gods."
"From where does all knowledge flow?"
"Earth."
"What is Earth?"
"Home of the Gods." It came out as a whisper. Miriam put one paw on her shoulder.
"These, before us, are Humans. Of Earth. Before them, we are nothing but servants. All knowledge comes from them. Thus, how can we deny them any of our knowledge?" She turned back to Nona, looking like a dog trying to please its master. "Please, take it. Forgive us."
"N...no problem."
Letting go, reluctantly, of Tammy's hand, Nona picked up the book. It was heavy, a good couple pounds. Holding it by the spine, she let it fall open to somewhere in the middle.
The book... was new. Or, at least, newish. The pages, for all they looked like some Middle Ages manuscript, were crisp and clear. The contents, words and pictures, were hand drawn. Much of it was in some language she was unfamiliar with, small squarish runes it looked like, but passages of English were interspersed throughout. Passages that really made no real sense. Illustrations showing female squirrels, nude, in various positions around pentagrams, candles, and... picnic tables.
"What the fuck?"
"Let me see." Tammy leaned over, Nona moving the book so she could get a better view. After a moment, Tammy laughed, looking over at Anthony and the others. "It's a spell book!"
Anthony frowned.
"Spell book?"
"Yeah, pretty sure. I dabbled with Wiccan things in high school, with some girls I knew, and this looks like some of the crap they were into. Only difference is, the spells in here are in English instead of Hebrew or Mayan or whatever they were supposed to be."
Nona's heart seemed to stop. She looked at Tammy, not wanting to believe.
"You... were a witch?"
Tammy smiled back at her, hand coming up to lightly touch Nona's cheek.
"No, I wasn't. I... well, a girl I liked was into it, and I played along just to be with her. Mostly, I liked the nude rituals. None of it ever worked, never cast any spells or the like. It was just stupid high school stuff."
Nona let out a breath, relieved. The whole liking a girl, and a non-Muslim at that, was proving hard enough to deal with. She didn't need that kind of thing on top of it...
Something the red squirrel said clicked in her mind. Handing the book to a surprised Tammy, her eyes bore into the creature as she took a step forward.
"Where is Earth?"
"Oh God, they know," she heard Hannah whisper in shock. She took another step forward, fists clenched at her side, eyes going between the two worried aliens.
"Where. Is. Earth?"
"There is no Earth..." Sarah started to say, puzzled. Miriam shot her hand out to cover her companion's mouth, face anxious. She smiled at Nona, trembling.
"Um, she doesn't know. New, hasn't learned much, hasn't undergone training..."
"Where."
"Oh, uh, Earth is everywhere! Earth exists in all of us! Earth is between the atoms, between the stars. Earth is what binds us together..."
Anger built. If there was one thing Nona hated, despised, it was New Age bullshit. The others must have seen it in her face. Nona had barely begun to lunge forward when Tammy grabbed her arms from behind, pinning them. The others just looked on, not knowing what to do. Nona knew, though. The time for being nice was over.
"Don't give me that bullshit! You know English! You know Humans! You know Earth! Tell us where the hell our fucking planet is, you stupid squirrels, or I'm gonna get Jihad on your sorry bitch asses!"
She could feel the eyes of her friends on her. Could feel Tammy pull her back against her, breasts pressing into Nona's shoulder blades. She didn't care. This thing was going to get them home, if she had to rip its guts out...
Miriam just looked back at her, confused.
"Earth... all the universe, all reality, is Earth..."

Chapter 7

Justin felt his blood turn to ice.
"That," Alicia said, speaking for most in the room, "makes no fucking sense."
Oh, but it did. It all made sense. Or, it could. The languages. The animal aliens. The... familiarity, and stupidity, of it all. God fucking damn it, if they were...
There'd be no going home.
He saw Alicia turn to him, her face becoming disgusted as his expression registered.
"Oh, fucking... please, don't say you understood that. I don't want a kid fathered by someone who understood that."
Justin shook his head, Nona now looking at him as well. He also saw the squirrels staring intently. They were going to need those two, that was now clear. He didn't think it was a good idea, but then, what was?
"I... might. That is, I know what it could mean, one possible way." He looked at Nona. "I'm sorry, but we'll probably never get home. We'll try, Nona, God damn it we'll try, but, please..." She stiffened, Tammy still pinning her arms behind her back, then seemed to slump in the woman's hold. Justin knew how she felt. Turning to Anthony, he sighed. "We need these books. We have to go over them. All of us. See what we can tease out of them."
Anthony nodded, thoughtful.
"Ladies," he said, turning his body to face the two residents of the room, "I'm sorry. We need to borrow any books you have. We will return them, I promise..."
"No!"
The black furred one, Sarah, stepped forward, shaking off the red furred Miriam's attempt to restrain her. She walked up to Anthony, two uncovered breasts leading the way, pink nipples just visible under the short fur. Justin's eyes shifted to Daium, to see how she saw all this, and was surprised to see anger on her face. Hmm... natural antagonism between these two races?
"These are OUR Holy Books!" Sarah jabbed one black claw into Anthony's chest. "OURS! She Who Fucked entrusted them to us! Few copies exist, and I will NOT release them from my care, even to Daemons!"
Anthony looked down at the creature, a good two or more feet shorter than him. Justin could see his mind working (which, he had to admit, was a good thing, so long as what you're seeing isn't the gerbil on its little wheel trying to get up to speed). Looking back at the others, Anthony indicated the door.
"I think we need a little meeting outside."

****

"No fucking way!"
Anthony blinked. He looked at Daium, not recalling the last time he had seen her this angry. Her four white fur rimmed eyes looked at him from behind her glasses, serious.
"Look, Daium, we need those books."
"Then take them! Buy them! Or, borrow them, and we stay here until we've copied what we need. But, I am NOT letting my father's ship become some taxi service, or letting just anyone onboard!"
Anthony leaned back against the metal railing, feeling the occasional drop of rain making it under the shelter of the walkway above them to fall on his back. Most of the others were against the wall of the motel, or whatever it was. He had to chuckle at that. Obviously, they didn't trust the rusted, formerly painted support railing. Just as, really, Daium didn't seem to trust their two acquaintances. He glanced over at Hannah, the only other to brave this side of the walkway. She had both hands on it behind her, almost as if holding it up instead of the other way around. Her eyes were regarding the Orang with a speculative gaze he was well familiar with. Not from her, really, but just woman kind in general. A quick look showed Justin too had realized this was a "woman thing".
Danny just looked confused.
"I don't trust them either," Nona said, almost growling. Tammy had her held against her, like a guy might hold a shorter girlfriend, arms around her waist. Nona's arms were crossed, not seeming to notice Tammy.
"We don't need trust, we need the books." Alicia put a hand on her wife's bare shoulder. "Please, Love. We can lock them up if you like... if they come voluntarily, and agree, naturally," she quickly added, glancing at Mary's widening eyes. "After all, we're the good guys." Justin shook his head.
"We are NOT going to treat them like prisoners, or steal their stuff."
Daium's gaze went to her husband. As dim and male as Anthony was, he began to have a hint as to what the problem was. He let out a sigh.
"Hannah..."
"Yup." She pushed off from the railing, pausing to brush some flakes of paint and rust off of her hands. As always, Anthony couldn't help but admire her pregnant form. His life had always been spent trying to avoid having his women in this state, with a couple close calls in his younger days. If he had realized the beauty of this female form, maybe he would have stayed with that cute Indian girl who refused any contraception. Then again, that was an easy call to make now, as opposed to back in community college...

****

Hannah walked over to Daium, nodding to Alicia. The blonde glanced down the walkway, away from the others, then back at her questioningly. Hannah nodded again. Placing her hand on Daium's other shoulder, the two women turned the Orang around and walked her away from the others ten paces or so. Daium came, if not willingly, at least with no resistance. Her arms were crossed over her woven bra, mirroring Nona.
The dirty window they stopped in front of had no curtains. The room inside, identical to the one they were just in, was bare, dark. Hannah glanced in, decided she really didn't want to be that exposed, and moved them the few extra feet until they were in front of blank wall. Maneuvering Daium so her back was almost touching it, the two pregnant women stood before her. Daium's eyes were on the ground, not meeting theirs. Hannah let out a sigh.
"Is this about Justin?"
All four eyes opened wide, Daium's gaze coming up to met hers in shock. Hannah just shook her head.
"Come on, it's not like you're the first female to feel like this."
"Yeah," Alicia agreed. "Hell, we've just been lucky there hasn't been much of it between us."
Daium's gaze dropped again, shoulders slumping. She hugged herself as the howl of the wind began to add itself to the constant sound of rain.
"They, those two..."
"They are young, furry, walking around naked or almost naked, and seem to have a desire to have kids with humans." Hannah looked over at Alicia, who nodded.
"Yeah, I caught that too." She looked back at her wife, who was nodding miserably. "You don't think Justin's going to cheat on us, do you?"
Daium let herself fall back against the wall. Her voice was miserable.
"He is male. Males, human males, want lots of mates. He has two, why would he not want three? Or four?"
Hannah burst out laughing. Daium looked at her, shocked. Alicia smiled as well, just shaking her head.
"Oh, Daium, you do NOT know Justin! He was perfectly happy with just you, before I forced my way into the mix. Hell, none of the guys have strayed."
"Well," Hannah disagreed, considering, "I think Chuck hooked up with Rinda while with Melinda."
"Yeah, but Melinda doesn't count, sort of stalking him and forcing herself on him. I know Anthony hasn't tried to go for any of us."
"Possibly because none of you have flirted with him. He has, jokingly I'll admit, complained about that."
"Oooh, so I should start! Hmm, that could be fun..."
"Alicia, Love," Daium interrupted, hand reaching out to touch her bare arm. "You... are not worried?"
"No," she replied, stepping closer and leaning in to give Daium a quick peck on the lips. "Just tell him he has us, and you don't want him to stray, and he won't even give them a second thought."
Hannah stepped back as the two embraced. That, it seemed, solved that. The other women would have to work it out with their men. Rinda and Melinda probably wouldn't care about Chuck, although you never knew. Danny... she'd have Anthony, no, Chuck, talk to him. And, naturally, she had no worries about Anthony.
She glanced down the walkway at him. Her husband was talking to Mary and Goldie. He had been there for her, since the first day they'd found themselves in this place. When she had needed a friend, and more, he had stepped up without hesitation. When she had been unsure... he had stepped back, and waited. When she had told him of Tammy's loneliness, he again had stood aside. Hannah knew he didn't like it, and while enjoying herself with Tammy greatly she stopped after a few encounters. Tammy had understood.
So... given all that... if Anthony had some interest in the two inside, could she really stand in the way? He WOULD come back, after all... wouldn't he?

****

"God damned fucking piece of..."
Chuck sighed. This wasn't going to work.
The girls were napping. For some odd reason, squirting out babies, plus the assorted other gunk that had been in there (he had almost expected packing peanuts to pop out), had tired them. Real tired, not the fake kind just to get his attention. Chuck had popped into their room and found both passed out on the bed. The kids were asleep too, in their little bassinets. Those had been all ready to go, as they knew the babies were coming. Other stuff, for the most part, was still in pieces. They had stocked up on things like cribs, strollers, and playpens, all unassembled. They could have put it all together early, naturally. It's not like there was a lack of free time while the ship was traveling. But... babies did not always make it to full term, and when they do they are not always born alive. In some times and cultures, he knew, they didn't even bother naming kids until they had been around for a few months so they wouldn't feel the loss as much when they lost them. So, this had all been left until needed.
Which is why it wasn't until now that he discovered the damned crib was missing a support.
Well, they'd have to improvise. Or buy one here. The kids wouldn't be needing one for a little bit. They couldn't even roll over, after all.
Chuck sat back, considering. He still had to move the spare bed into Goldie's room. It wasn't so much heavy as bulky, but he could get a few droids to help. Hell, maybe they could do it themselves. Or, should he wait and see if Anthony was going to pick a new bed up in town? The one in the Dog House, used when one of the threesomes (or the twosome) felt that one member really should be absent for a bit, wasn't that girly. It also was a bit big for the room, as they hadn't intended two beds for the teen's room. Maybe a bunk bed? That could work, although whoever was on the bottom couldn't see the painted ceiling. Have to talk to Mary and Goldie, see what they wanted.
His cell phone rang.
Chuck glanced at it. Couldn't be good news. He knew that. Then again...
"Chuck here. What's wrong now?"
"Oh, you're gonna love this," Alicia's voice said. "We're gonna have two guests, and probably be taking off as soon as we get back. Any supplies you know we'll need?"
"Should I ask for any details about all of this?"
"We'll fill you in when we get back. It's... well, the normal weirdness."
"Gotcha. Um... well... damn it, I don't want to rush buying furnishings, so it can wait until the next world. No, nothing. Just get whatever was on the lists you took with you."
"Kay. We're putting the squirrels in one of the Orang rooms, or maybe two rooms. We'll see."
"Squirrels..."
"Yup!"
Chuck removed the phone from his ear. Holding it out, he just looked at it. Squirrels.
Well, it was bound to happen.

****

Piercing crying woke Melinda with a start.
Panicking, she tried to push herself up off the bed. There was unexpected resistance. Rinda was sleeping on her arm. Just as she was about to try and just use all her strength to half pull it out, half roll her lover off of it, Rinda woke as well, as the cry of Jeli joined that of Carol. She was up in an instant, rolling off the bed onto her feet, leaving Melinda with an arm tingling madly. Furiously clenching and opening her hand, trying to hurry blood flow back into the appendage, Melinda got to her feet and rushed to Carol. Her little girl was crying, tiny face scrunched up as if in horrible pain. Melinda scooped her up in her arms, holding her against her shoulder.
"Oh, baby... what's wrong? Shhh, Mommy's here..."
Carol had a little diaper on, made of cloth. They had tons of diapers in the store, which no doubt would not last through four or more babies, but none were newborn sized. Trying to remember Hannah's lessons through the screaming, Melinda ran her hand over the diaper. It was dry. That means, most likely, this was food related.
"Are you hungry, Carol? Want some milk?" They had undressed for bed, so there was no more to do in that department. Sitting down on the mattress, she adjusted Carol in her arms and brought her mouth up to her right breast. The screaming stopped, the little mouth finding other activities to keep it occupied. "There you go... good girl..."
Melinda had dreamed of being a mother when she was little. Dreamed of husbands, babies, sons and daughters. Dreamed of a family, a chance to give her children the love and security she had never had. It hadn't been Dad's fault, naturally. Mom had died, before Melinda could even walk, and none of the other women who entered his life seemed to last more than a few years. Well, this was going to be different. She was going to be with Carol forever. Chuck and Rinda were going to be her little girl's father and second mother forever as well. They were a family...
There was a groan from the bed as Rinda sat down beside her. Little Jeli was happily suckling on her right breast, Rinda's four eyes wide with awe.
"I'm still not used to it," she said, amazed tone drawing a chuckle from Melinda. "It feels so different than when you or Chuck suck on me! Not sexual, but... amazing!"
"Yeah..."
Their eyes met. Without even thinking, Melinda leaned over towards her. Their lips met, mouths open, Rinda's tongue quickly entering to engage hers. Adjusting so that one arm held up Carol securely, she brought her left hand up to Rinda's face. Her lover seemed to purr into her mouth as she caressed that soft fur, ran her fingers over her almost human ear. She felt Rinda's smooth hand come up, touching her cheek...

****

A half hour later they were dressed, the babies fed and changed, and walking out of the store. Both wore thin short skirts, almost see-through in the right light, with matching non-transparent panties. Melinda's thin blouse had been altered for easy access to both breasts, flaps held with fasteners openable with one hand. Rinda's light tan woven suspenders and bra had a front clasp. Both outfits had been extensively tested by Chuck, back before the reason for them caused them to no longer fit. The girls had found, much to their delight, a fully assembled two baby stroller awaiting them when they got to the front door. Each holding the handle with one hand as they pushed it out the automatic store doors, they took the babies into the garden.
"Girls!"
Chuck's cry had them looking over towards the front of the ship, grinning. Those smiles quickly faded a bit. There were strangers.
Chuck hurried over, following the winding path. The newcomers, they could see, were...
"Squirrels."
Rinda looked over at Melinda. The human's face looked... a bit repulsed.
"Squirrels?" she asked. The word meant nothing to her, but she assumed it referred to the bushy tailed newcomers.
"Yeah, squirrels. They're small, about yay big," she indicated the size with her hands, letting go of the stroller for a moment, "eat nuts. Furry rats, basically. Remember, we watched that cartoon with all the ice?"
"Oh!" She remembered! The one little guy who kept trying to get the nut. Rinda looked back at the two aliens. They looked nothing like him.
Chuck came up to them, grinning.
"Have a good nap?" He leaned over and gave both a quick kiss, then looked down at his son and daughter and gave them his finger. The two fought over it.
"What the hell's going on," Melinda asked. Rinda nodded. They didn't need more people here. They were fine, just them, and the babies. They especially didn't need... more women.
"Something has come up, it seems," Chuck told them, voice not sounding much happier than they were. This lightened Rinda's mood somewhat. If HE had no interest in these creatures, then maybe she didn't mind. "Those two, it seems, know of humans. Worship us, even, even though they've never actually seen one. So, we're taking them on board for a bit."
"Why?" Melinda's tone was a little softer, but not much. Chuck chuckled.
"Well, they have a bunch of books Justin wants to go over, written partly in English of all things, and they won't part with them." His face suddenly looked startled, eyes going into the stroller. "OK, that's definitely my son. He just tried to twist my finger off so he could have it to himself."
"These squirrels worship us?"
"Yup. I'm used to it, naturally, as you've been worshiping me for years."
Rinda saw Melinda try not to react. Try to stay stern, angry about these cute newcomers. But... you couldn't stay angry when Chuck was there. Melinda broke into a grin.
"Well," she said, playfully jabbing a finger into his chest, "We'd better be your ONLY harem members. We don't share."
Rinda nodded, so glad the two of them were on the same page with this.
"That's right. You have us." Even as she said it, Rinda felt a slight pang of hypocrisy. After all, both women had been with Tammy. But... that was different, right? And Tammy hadn't been with either woman in over a month...
Chuck regarded them, face serious. Rinda began to fidget a bit. She didn't like it when he looked like that. Didn't want him serious. Unless they were making love, but even then it was so much better when he was playful...
"We'll talk later. But, don't worry. You two are enough for me."
Rinda didn't know why that answer wasn't good enough.

****

Miriam looked at the approaching females.
They were the mates of the male Chuck. She could see that, from the way they walked next to him, pushing that strange cart. Their hips and body moved as one, as women who shared a man and each other. In their eyes, she could see the possessiveness. Their man, they were telling her, was off limits. The same vibe had been given by the scar faced woman and the Orang with the glasses about the dark skinned male, Justin. She could practically feel the hate coming from the one called Daium.
And well all four women should fear.
To mate with one of the daemons, a human, was the most sacred act. The most sought after goal of their faith. Every ritual was performed to that end. Every spell, every attempted summons. Only once, ONCE, had it worked, but that one partial success had spurred them on even more. They now knew that it WAS possible! That She Who Saw was in fact right, that their faith was right.
They could mate with Gods. And something petty like existing bonds would not stop Miriam.
Sarah at her side, Miriam bowed down to the approaching party.
"Greetings. It is an honor to meet you..."

Chapter 8

Justin kind of liked having to deal with jealous females.
It was a new experience. As, really, were most things having to deal with women. He had not dated on Earth. Not by choice, naturally. Few teens choose such things, and those who do often discover the problem was they weren't paying attention to the right gender. That had never been the case with Justin, despite that odd dream about Chuck he'd rather forget about. No, he liked girls.
Especially, but not limited to, what the two girls in his life were doing just then.
Justin had been placed in the middle of their bed, with orders not to move. Both his wives, eyes full of a hunger he never got tired of, quickly stripped his lean body, clothing already shed from theirs. Alicia was magnificent, with her blonde hair, slightly swollen belly and larger breasts. The scar on her cheek only seemed to accent her beauty. Daium's blackish grey fur clad form, at least to him, kept getting more human. There was a swell to her hips now, and he could swear the white fur on her breasts seemed to be shorter. The mind behind her four eyes, however, had never changed. It showed the same loving, caring being that had been there the first day he saw her.
That mind, it seemed, was currently focused on one thing. Laid out on the lower part of the bed, Daium moved her head over his thighs and licked the side of his cock. Alicia, stretched out on the other side, legs folded up near Justin's head, kissed his smaller head, tongue flicking out as her lips pulled back. She repeated it, moving her lips over the smooth top as Daium continued to lick down below.
Eyes closed, Justin contemplated the difference in his lovers. Alicia's tongue was small, but sharp, fitting her perfectly. It came almost to a point, allowing her to move it like a feather over his most sensitive parts. Daium's was large, wide, a touch rough in the center. She could curl it around his shaft as she licked, up, and down. Without a word the two traded targets, Daium attacking the head while Alicia kissed up and down his manhood. A content groan from him was met with giggles down below. There was movement and a shifting of weight on the bed.
"We're going to tease you." Alicia's voice was in his ear, followed by her teeth lightly biting on his earlobe. Justin's slight gasp of pain was followed by another groan as his cock was engulfed by Daium's mouth. Her throat always felt so strange, so different than Alicia's. A sexy chuckle echoed through his head. "We're going to satisfy you, again, and again. Just to remind you what you will never feel again..." Teeth lightly pressed against the base of his mouth enclosed penis. "...if you ever, ever, look at those squirrels the wrong way..."
Justin had no interest in animals. In aliens. He had the only two women he wanted in the whole world (especially since he knew Tammy wasn't bi). Both hands going down to hold Daium's head, he opened his eyes to look at Alicia.
"Take all night if you have to..."

****

Mary lay in the darkness.
Goldie had left the bedroom a few minutes before, doing her best to close the door silently. She did a good job, the latch just making a slight "click" sound, but it really didn't matter. Mary wasn't asleep.
She had slept well last night. Maybe the excitement of the babies, or the idea of sharing a room with her new friend, had tired her. Or, maybe, it had just been that it had been her second night in the spare bedroom. She had spent two nights sleeping with Mom, cuddling with her for the first time in... well, in living memory. That had been... wonderful.
Looking up at the ceiling, she blushed a bit, thinking about being in Mom's arms. She hadn't slept with Dad in years, not being a scaredy cat during storms or anything like that. The feeling of having someone next to you, someone that loved you... you don't miss what you don't remember, but now she missed the closeness of those two nights.
Naturally, though, she wasn't going to sleep with Mom forever. Mary had been the one to ask for her own bedroom. After all, she was almost fourteen. So, she took over what Goldie had told her was called "the dog house". Anthony (she was NOT going to call him her Step-Dad!) hadn't been using it, probably keeping it free for her. She had spent the first night there not getting much sleep either. So, even though she was in the exact same bed now, the room was different, the company was different...
Oh, God, was there anything in her life now that wasn't different?
Her mind wandered. She had walked on another world. Was, in fact, still on another world, at least until tomorrow. She hadn't asked what their plans were. The two squirrels had thrown everyone's plans up in the air. Squirrels.... four foot tall, talking squirrels.
She thanked God they hadn't been bugs. She hated bugs.
The door opened again, a shaft of light cutting through the darkness, illuminating Goldie's empty bed. Goldie softly entered, tiptoeing on her four clawed feet. Her eyes came up to Mary's bed, meeting hers. She paused, startled.
"Oh! Did I wake you? I'm sorry! I sometimes have to go potty at night..."
Mary shook her head, which was never very effective when your head is on a fluffy pillow.
"No, you didn't wake me. Can't sleep."
"Oh..." Goldie came farther into the room. She kicked the door closed behind her, softly enough that its noise wouldn't have been heard in the other bedrooms. The room dark again, she heard Goldie get into her bed. Her friend settled in, the room once again quiet.
"Mary?"
"Yeah?"
"Still awake?"
"No. It's a dream. All a dream."
"Hmm... if it was a dream, I wouldn't be furry..."
That startled Mary. The idea that Goldie wanted to be like the rest of them... well, like the humans, made sense, but she'd never considered it. Lots of things about her new friends she probably hadn't thought of yet.
"Goldie... if you're not too tired, want to stay up and talk?"
"Yes!"

****

Chuck ambled down the hallway, yawning. Scratching his side, he looked down, making sure he had in fact remembered to slip some shorts on. True, nobody was likely to be awake, but there was no reason to scar someone for life if it could be helped.
Yup, green shorts. He was good to go.
Pausing for a second, he looked back at the bedroom door. Both mothers were up for the "Goddammit It's Too Damned Early" feeding. He wished he could help. He really did. For the previous ones he had stayed up, talked to them, helped change and fuss over the babies. But, really, he was in the way. Oh, things would be different once the newness of it all faded, once all the "babies are the best!" chemicals started to be flushed from their systems. Melinda and Rinda would want their sleep, and he'd take his turn dealing with them, feeding the kids bottled breast milk. You know, the whole modern dad thing.
Now, though, while he was somewhat awake, realizing sleep might be long in coming, he had decided to get some reading in. Justin had made some comments about the gathered books. He hadn't said much: Justin wanted Chuck to look at them with uncontaminated eyes, to see if what he saw jived with what squirrel girls had told them. Best to get that done as soon as possible.
Closing in on the end of the hall, he heard voices. He stopped. Ah. The door to Goldie's room wasn't quite shut. Smile on his face, he felt like he was back home, sneaking up to his younger sister's room when she was having a sleepover. Should he? Well, he did have to walk past it to get to the stairs, unless he walked all the way back and took the other way down...
"...and Beth was like, 'No! Get it away!', and my cousin was like, 'It's just a frog! Look! Look!'"
"Hahahahaha!"
"And then he threw the frog at ME, and I was like, NO, you do NOT do that! So here I am, chasing this four year old through the birthday party, over the sandbox, around the swing set TWICE, and he trips running around the table the cake is set up on, grabs the table cloth as he falls..."
"No!"
"And pulls the entire thing off! Cake all over the grass! Oh, Aunt Marge was MAD! And she blamed ME!"
"It wasn't your fault!"
"I know, right? Like anyone can control a four year old!"
Chuck moved away, smiling. They needed Mary. What she was doing for Goldie, and probably would do for Danny, was more important than any books. It would be hard on her, but... they'd take care of her.
Rotating his shoulders and neck, waking up a bit more, he headed for the stairs. Time to get to work.

****

Tammy hated being a light sleeper.
It was an active night on the ship. Three people had used the bathroom, the babies had woken twice, and after the last crying fit someone had left the cabin across the hall and walked off towards the stairs. Once again, she considered asking for better soundproofing.
But... really, she didn't mind all that much. The sounds reminded her a bit of the college dorm. It was comforting, in a way, to know the people around her were OK, and if there was a problem she'd be one of the first to be up to help. She liked that. Especially when there were strangers on board. And, hey, she always fell right back to sleep, it wasn't like this was cutting into her R.E.M. time.
So, no hurry.
Pulling the blanket up a bit, Tammy felt sleep coming on. She kept her room a bit on the chilly side, just so she could snuggle under a blanket. She slept nude, enjoying the feel of being tucked in. There was nothing better.
Well...
Somewhere in the hallway, another door opened.
Tammy sighed, turning on her side. This was getting a bit much. She waited for the sound of another door, probably the bathroom next to her, to open and close.
Nothing.
Hmm. Interesting. Did they go downstairs? Alicia or Hannah get the munchies? Or...
There was a light tap at the door.
That... had never happened before.
Sitting up, she swung her legs around, sitting on the edge of the bed looking at the door. Who could it...
Oh.
Tammy's heart started hammering in her chest. Looking around, she didn't see anything in the dark she could quickly put on. Her dirty laundry was in the bin, she had no robe. There had been no need of one...
Another soft knock. If she didn't answer, and it was Nona (it might not be, don't get your hopes up), she'd go back to her room. Possibly to never try this again. The courage it was taking her to do this! Standing on the rug, Tammy walked quickly to the door. Grasping the handle, she took a deep breath.
"Be calm," she told herself. Turning the handle, she opened the door an inch, keeping her body behind it as she looked out.
The dimly lit hall was empty.
Tammy opened the door wider, sticking her head out.
Nona was slowly walking back to her room, head down. She was dressed in a re-fitted oversized Buffalo Bills T-shirt, coming down past her butt halfway to her knees. Tammy bit her lip. Damn it!
"Nona..."
She stopped, bare feet caught mid stride on the carpet. For a moment, Tammy thought she's just keep walking, that she'd have to go after her. Slowly, Nona turned.
She had brushed her hair. The part down the middle was neat, perfect. There was no makeup, not that she was the type to use any (or need it), but she had primped to the best of her ability. It had to be past two in the morning. It had taken her that long to psych herself up, to will herself to walk over to Tammy's door. How long had she stood there, before knocking? Tammy's heart melted. She spoke again, softly.
"What is it, Nona?"
Licking her lips, Nona looked down at her feet.
"W...would you like to take a walk in the garden?"
"I'd love to, Nona."

****

Chuck looked at the pile of books on the dining table before him. It was late, he was tired, and realistically he was only going to be able to focus on one of these damned things. Two, if the glass of beer became two or three glasses, but comprehension might suffer in that situation. Although, hell, at times it seemed the universe itself was drunk, so...
With a sigh, he grabbed the largest in size, although not thickness. It looked like a coffee table book, the kind with tons of pictures. He liked pictures, especially at times like this. Pushing the others away, he positioned his choice in front of him, getting more comfortable in the wooden chair. The book was leather bound, like the others, title burned into the hide.
"Seeing", by She Who Saw.
Great, a see saw book. Taking a sip of his cold beer, he opened it.
The first page was a drawing, looking like it was done with colored pencils. Lightly touching it with his hand, he saw it wasn't printed: this was a lovingly done, handmade book. The image... Chuck scowled. It was a picnic table. Faded green, wooden, with the benches on either side attached at the ends. The artist was looking down on it, as if perched up above. Under the table was dirt, weeds, with dark green grass and the occasional dandelion filling in the rest of the ground.
Weird. He turned the page.
The same table, although the artist had lifted his head to look past it towards the horizon. There were other picnic tables around, trees, garbage cans, swing set...
The next page showed a human family having lunch at the table. Husband, wife, three kids, eating sandwiches and drinking pop. In the corner, half seen, was a squirrel.
Chuck sat back.
The style was realistic, even if the skill of the artist wasn't capable of photorealism. She... well, She Who Saw, had seen this. Seen... Earth? He flipped the page.
Another view, still from up high. It was looking through tree branches, almost as if they had just turned in place. There were people... kids, dressed in the same color... oh! Baseball diamond! It's a view of a baseball game! Words caught his eye. Unlike most of the facing pages, this one wasn't blank. It had... well, it was in English...
****
Hey batter batter
Hey batter bat
Hey batter batter
Swing batter batter swing
Hey batter swing batter
Hey swing bat- crap he hit it!
****

Chuck blinked. He took a long swig of his beer. Blinked again. Didn't help. Next page.
Now he saw porn. A human girl, dressed in a cheerleading outfit, was on the picnic table, legs hanging off the end closest the viewer. Between them was a guy, pants down by his ankles, banging away at her. There was a... roughness to the drawing, not seen in the others, as if the artist was not only trying to get this down as it happened, with the subjects always in motion, but had one hand busy. The next page was the same, with a different couple, both nude this time. The guy was banging away with all he had, which to be honest looked like quite a bit. Two small squirrels looked on from the ground.
The following page had a change of perspective. The viewer, it could now be seen, has been up on the branch of a tree near the picnic table. Looking almost straight down, this view showed a teen guy leaning against the tree trunk. His dick was out, and a cheerleader was busy blowing him. Her long blond hair was blurry, head obviously moving quickly.
Chuck sat back again. Two things. First, what the fuck. Second, damn, that's a bad place to get laid, all open like that, unless part of the thrill is the danger of getting caught. Third, that was a Clarence High School cheerleaders outfit. Why the fuck...
His eyes widened.
The artist was looking into their world.
A window. A SMALL window. In one spot. A park, somewhere near Clarence. A window that could see across the vastness of space? Was that it? Or...
"...or into a different universe..."
He didn't notice he had spoken aloud. Different universe. Dimension. Plane. Brane. And a... hole? Passage? Between them.
He took another drink.
"How do you find our books?"
Chuck didn't do a spit take. He was very proud of that. Spewing out beer onto priceless handmade books would not have been good. Instead, he took the time to swallow, put his beer down, and looked up across the table.
It was the squirrels.
It had been decided to give them free run of the garden and store, but no access to the rest of the ship. Even that free run had been limited somewhat: watch R2 droids had been placed at the access to the upstairs sleeping quarters, and protecting food storage areas. As they claimed they loved nature, one of the grassy patches had been declared their bedroom. Obviously, they were up late.
"What can I do for you ladies?"
"Many things..." The red furred one, Miriam, took a few steps forward. She was... Chuck blinked, making sure he was seeing this right. The slightly smaller black one was in the white slave girl outfit from earlier, the one with the exposed sides he really would like to see Melinda and Rinda wear. Miriam, though, wore a cloak, or maybe you'd call it a robe. She held the front tightly closed. Maybe she was nude under there? Come to seduce him?
Well, half a beer wasn't enough to make that happen.
"You're up late."
Miriam smiled, slowly walking around the table. Her hips swung, furry tail swishing.
"Sarah was mediating, and saw you, Lord, come down from your harem. We saw you were alone, and thought you might need... company."
Coming around the end of the table, she stopped three chairs away from Chuck. Smiling a smile that, well, could be called sexy, or at least could be interpreted as trying to be that, Miriam pulled the cloak open, letting it fall to the ground.
She was wearing a red Clarence Red Devils cheerleader uniform.
That did it. Chair turned to face her, Chuck bent over, laughter pouring out of him. His right hand banged on the table, not quite spilling his beer but shifting a couple of the stacked books.
Miriam froze, horror on her face. Sarah looked on with uncomprehending eyes. Chuck looked up, again seeing this furry squirrel shoved into tight human clothing in no way tailored for her form. He tried to speak, shaking his head through the laughter.
"Oh, God... You thought.... Ha! And some said Americans didn't understand other cultures!"
"But... but..."
"But nothing, my cheerleading friend! I don't have that kink, and frankly I don't think you'll have luck with the others either. We're all newly married men and not that desperate yet." Chuck rose. He hoped the girls were still awake, as they had to hear this. Grabbing his glass (he'd finish it on the way upstairs), he walked towards the hurt, confused, humiliated Miriam. Passing by her, he paused. "Oh, by the way... stay away from Danny. If I hear either of you tried anything with him, you'll be wearing that outfit on the inside."
He left the former produce aisle, walking down the front of the store towards the stairs still chuckling. Cheerleading squirrels... Man, it's a good thing there weren't any furries on the ship.

****

Tammy couldn't keep her eyes off the Malay next to her.
They walked slowly down one of the stone paths through the flowers. The rain, ever present since coming to this world, had stopped. In the sky above, beyond the invisible dome, were stars, and a small, red, crescent moon. It provided a faint red tinge to the scene, competing with small white lights set every ten feet along the path. Nona held Tammy's hand, her blushing face easily more radiant than the moon. Tammy could feel the girl's budding sexuality, confused, exalted, bubbling inside her. Nona moved with a grace she had never seen.
God, she felt like it was HER first date!
Tammy had found her own version of Nona's outfit, just an oversized shirt, barely long enough to be considered decent. Especially with nothing underneath. Nona's blush had intensified on seeing it, but she had just smiled, shyly taking the older girl's hand and leading her downstairs and outside. Tammy had no idea what her beautiful friend had in mind, but she was happy just doing this. It had been so long...
They came to the far corner of the garden. One of the two vans was on a raised mound, almost like a work of art, surrounded by an oval of flowers. On the far side, bushes had been planted in a semi circle, forming with the van a three sided hideaway. Lush grass covered the ground. Nona led them to the center. The grass felt green and alive under Tammy's feet. She gave Nona's hand a squeeze, and waited.
Nona looked up at the sky.
"I've never dated. Tammy. Never. I never wanted to. Nothing to do with my parents, or my faith, or me being shy or non social. I... just never wanted to. I did things with my friends, went out with groups of them, and some guys thought they were paired with me, but... no." Tammy squeezed her hand again, urging her on. "You've made me uncomfortable. Right from the start. I never knew why. I figured, once we all ended up here, well that was it. I had my chance at romance and it was gone. No one here interested me. And, I was OK with that. When... when Danny came, I figured, well, eventually, I'll probably marry him just because, well, who else did each of us have."
She turned, looking Tammy in the eye.
"I love you. I think. I don't know. I haven't explored love. I missed that part of puberty, or maybe it's just hitting now. I want..." She paused, swallowing, eyes wet. Tammy raised her free hand, wiping away the tears.
"What do you want, my little Malay?"
Nona's eyes widened at the name. She trembled.
"I want... oh, Tammy... go slow with me, please... date me. Teach me. Let me... let me grow into my love for you. We have time... Oh, God above, I want to just tear off that stupid shirt and make love to you, but..."
Tammy stepped into her. Leaning down, she silenced her with a kiss. It was soft, mouth closed. Nona whimpered, or maybe she did. Tammy lightly licked Nona's upper lip, and was rewarded with Nona's mouth opening. The world vanished. It was just the two of them, bodies pressed together, separated by two thin cloth barriers.
Heaven.

****

They lay on the grass, looking up at the stars. The lateness of the night was catching up with them, as effective as any chaperone.
"I'm sorry," Nona said, voice already half asleep. "Sorry for how I was when you first told me. That you liked girls. I..."
"Shh... It's OK. I... my fault. You were so beautiful, and I just hoped..."
"...even then?"
"I loved you even then, Nona..."
Turning on her side, Tammy saw Nona's eyes close, smile on her face. Reaching over, she brushed a stray hair from the dark skinned girl's forehead.
"Then, now... and always."

Chapter 9

It started as a joke.
"You know who SHE is, don't you?"
Sarah looked up from her textbook. Lily sat there, grinning, eyes motioning over Sarah's head. She didn't need this interruption. She was behind in Quantum Math to begin with, between the treatments and therapy. Her family told her not to worry, not to put more stress on her body, but... to not ace the next test meant repeating the year, falling behind her friends. The very friends who were trying to distract her with...
What the hell. Sarah turned.
She saw her. Red. Red fur. Nobody had red fur. At least, no one that she had ever seen, in her life or on the screen. Was it dyed? Couldn't be! From her bearing, and the simple blue dress, the woman had to be a teacher, or researcher. Not a student, certainly not someone young like her that might play with colors on a whim.
"Who is she?"
Lily grinned across the library table, brown furred face smug. Lily was always smug. Annoyingly so. Reaching a clawed finger up, she scratched her long face.
"You don't know?"
Sarah groaned.
"No, I don't. I'm busy here. If I had any idea who by the Acorn of Knowledge that was I'd be ignoring you and doing some actual studying. Now, who is it?"
Smug grin even worse, Lily leaned back in her chair, hands folded in her lap.
"She's a follower of the Insane One."

****

The rumors were too outlandish not to be true.
The 'Insane One', some called her. The 'Mad Scientist'. The 'Furred Freak'.
She Who Saw.
Whenever Sarah heard the whispered tales, she felt sorry for the woman. Empathetic, even. After all, SOMETHING had happened. Something... strange.
She had been, was, a scientist. A researcher. Brilliant. Everyone agreed on that. Incredibly observant, intuitive, Not one to stay put, though. Always looking for the next problem to be solved, the next unknown her mind could dive into, she had cut a path through the world of the most cutting edge scientific endeavors. As one project started to bore her, or more often as the truth began to become apparent to her and her colleagues, she moved on. Always staying one step beyond the Known.
Her last major project, last government funded experiment, had involved one of the most massive instruments known. Planetary in scale, it was constructed as a series of hollow spheres, one inside the other. At the center, at the core... the attempt to peer beyond the universe.
She had been behind the fundamental ideas, the foundations of Multi-Reality Theory. While not an engineer, she had helped design the key sensors and test beds. Her fame, although never officially used as such, was a recruiting tool, bringing the brightest minds in M'ntsn space to her. Women, for all the hard sciences were the domain of the female sex, flocked to be with the one changing history. Other species tried to join, offering funding, expertise.
But, no. This was for the furry tailed M'ntsn.
What happened next... well, that was the thing. If the Insane One was to be believed, then she was not insane. Thus, what DID happen? Something, certainly. Into the central chamber went the most decorated intellectual in her species history. Out came... a zealot.
What is known is that the P'aqt research facility literally imploded as she fled through the station. The work of years, resources that would take the planets decades to recover... gone. So too, all data. All hope of understanding. The pride of their culture now preached insanity, of knowing the unknown. She did not, however, preach to the masses. Did not rail against the government now demonizing her. She allowed herself to become a pariah.
She did not, though, vanish.
Slowly, rumors spread of a small band of young women, students, researchers. Responding to some siren call. She Who Saw gathered them, taught them...

****

"See? You aced it. Why were you worried?"
"I aced it because I WAS worried. Studying your tail off does help, you know."
Sarah shook her head. They'd never understand. Lily, the others. They never... applied themselves. Not beyond what was needed for the now. Dedication. That's what was needed, to get anywhere. Not that she knew where she was going...
"Besides," she sighed, stopping as they exited the exam building to rub her leg, "what did I get by passing? A chance to go through five more years of this? Ten?"
"Whine, whine, bitch, bitch." Lily's face was unsympathetic. Once again, the question of why they were, in fact, friends crossed Sarah's mind. Rooming with someone shouldn't automatically grant that status. Lily suddenly perked up, reaching into her bag. "Oh! Almost forgot! I know what can take your mind off of things!"
"Roasted nuts?"
"This!"
Sarah took the small piece of paper. It was an ad, torn off of some wall or tree where it had been nailed. She frowned, reading it.
"See. Listen. Learn." There was an address, too, a small pub in a quiet part of town. She looked at Lily. "OK, what is it?"
"I THINK, based on what I've heard, and you would too if you'd actually listen to the gossip, that it's a meeting run by that red furred doctor. About, you know... HER."
Her.
Sarah looked at the paper again. Suddenly, her leg didn't ache so much...

****

"If they're recruiting, it's a failure so far."
Sarah ignored Lily, taking in the pub's small back room. Food had been set up, although not much, just some of the more common (and less expensive) nuts. They had been late getting there, the Blain monorail not running due to a track problem. Others may have had similar problems, but... yeah, the room was sparse. Maybe fifteen young women, university age, most in pairs like she was. There was one single there, though. Light brown fur, with a tail mostly white with a brown stripe down the middle...
She knew her!
"I'm going to try and find the litter boxes, then something to drink," Lily told her. One glance told Sarah the drink was going to be more important than keeping her company here. She made a motion with her hand.
"Go. I'll be fine."
"Later."
Just like that. Drag her here, then abandon her. She needed a new roommate.
Sarah's eyes went back to the familiar face. Hedva. She had not seen her former tree mate since... since before university. What a small universe...
"Sarah!"
"Hedva!"
They grabbed each other's hands, grinning like the idiots they were. Sarah's eyes immediately went to the side of the woman's face. The scar earned as a child, a lesson to pay attention while jumping branches, was gone, just a slight discoloration of the fur. She saw Hedva glance down at her left leg. She resisted the impulse to take a step back.
"Your leg! How is it? I heard!"
"Oh... it's..." she blushed a bit. Talking about herself was never one of her strong suits. "It's fine. The treatments went well. The growth, they think, is gone this time. Why are you here? Didn't you go off to...?"
"My exams finished, so I came back. As for why I'm here... same as you, I think. I want to know."
Sarah scoffed.
"Don't we all..."
The room went quiet around them. Entering the room, from a door that she would have guessed led to either the kitchen or the bathrooms (speaking of which, where was...), the red furred woman moved through the gathering. She was regal, or at least self assured. Her eyes seemed to meet everyone's as she passed. Sarah blushed a bit at the contact, which was rewarded with a knowing smile. She was younger than Sarah would have guessed, maybe not long out of university. Her outfit was no longer the blue of her profession, but a simple white, baring her arms with moderate cleavage. The dress fell just past the knees. Coming to the front of the room, she turned, facing them. With a motion, she bade them come closer.
"We are few, so there is no reason to be shy." Her voice... was unremarkable. Sarah blinked as she complied, Hedva staying with her. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting. Why shouldn't someone with red fur speak normally?
"There, much better. This will be short, a disappointment perhaps given the distances some of you have traveled, but there are reasons. We have a Way." You could hear the capitalization as she said the word. Sarah put her hands together in front of her, ready. Now would come the unbelievable sales pitch...
"We are not interested in having you join us." Sarah's eyes widened a bit, a murmur going through the room. "Neither are we going to tell you anything you need to know about us."
"...the fuck?" The whisper came from somewhere behind Sarah. The woman nodded in acknowledgement.
"More true than you know. My name is Miriam. I... I am a servant, a servant of the She's who will not be named here. You have gathered here, some of you, because you know. Because you know you wish to know what is known, what can be known. You wish to experience, to help bring about..." She paused, as if contemplating the right word. "...the sensualness of what can be."
That made no fucking sense.
"If you are one of us, you will know, and knowing, will know knowledge. Thank you." Miriam bowed her head.
Wait... that was it? Sarah looked around. The others were equally confused. She looked around for Lily, still not seeing her. Well, naturally not. If she thought she'd need a few drinks before listening to this nonsense, there's no way she'd be done yet. People were leaving. Angry, amused people. Reactions ran the gamut. Shaking her head, she looked at Hedva... she was moving towards the front of the room, as were two or three others. Not sure why, other than the excuse of staying with a friend, Sarah followed.

****

"Sorry for abandoning you."
"No problem..."
"I mean, as I was squatting down in the box, I had the sudden thought, 'what if this is some brainwashing thing?' My old G'al'k warned me about that. One of the few things I remember from Temple, actually..."
"It's OK. You wouldn't have liked it."
The monorail continued its journey. Looking out the window at the passing night, Sarah fingered the small slip of paper in her pocket.

****

The second meeting was two towns away, in a hotel not quite cheap enough to be affordable by the students gathered there but close to that bad. Sarah came alone this time. Her roommate thought she was... well, at this point she didn't think Lily thought much. Hedva was here, though, smiling at her as Sarah entered the room. Two others she recognized from the first meeting. The other ten... strangers, but like them young students. They smiled shyly at her, apart from the one black and brown furred girl with a strip shaved between her ears. She scowled.
"Any ideas?"
Hedva shook her head, filling her plate with food. The selection was a bit better this time, and the water was quite fresh.
"No. We've entered the unknown."
"At least we know that."

****

A half hour later, Miriam entered the room. She wore a two piece white dress, just the back and the front, tied at the side and around her neck. Her entire side was exposed. Sarah blushed. It was... sexy. She could never wear something like that.
"Your attention. Ladies. Thank you for coming. Thank you for... coming alone. From now on, what we do is for ourselves alone. Let the universe go on its way. We will go on ours."
Well. That was... a message Sarah didn't think she could live with. Was there to be another weeding out phase?
"I would ask you now to sit in the chairs provided." Miriam motioned to the rather comfortable stuffed chairs scattered around the room. Just enough for everyone, Sarah noted. She took one, sitting on the edge, her bushy tail falling over her right shoulder. If she got bored, she could always groom it.
Seeing they were ready, Miriam went to the hallway door. A moment later...
The woman that entered was, perhaps, middle aged. Her gown was identical to Miriam's, but blood red, contrasting with her pure white fur. She, too, had a regal bearing, but now Miriam was bowing to her like the lowest servant. This couldn't be HER. But, then, who?
She stopped in the center of the room. Turning, she looked at them. Her face... was calm. a calm Sarah had never seen. This one... this one Knew.
"I... am She Who Fucked."
There was a gasp of surprise. Not at the admission, as Sarah had no idea who that was, but at the name. It was... vulgar, and yet erotic. A second gasp was ripped from them as She Who Fucked pulled two strings on her dress and let it slide to the ground. She stood there, nude, proud. Her body was slim, lacking the padding that all of their race tended to have. The fur on her breasts, and between her legs, was shaved short. They could see her nipples clearly, hard, pink. Stepping forward and slowly turning to them all as a bowing Miriam rushed in to remove the dress, she spoke.
"It was almost twenty years ago. I was young. As young as you. Young, proud, foolish. But, yearning. As you may yearn. I was one of the first to answer She Who Saw's call. I left school, family, friends, and went to serve my Lady.
"She told us. Told us what she saw. Showed us the books she had written, the drawings and paintings. Oh! Oh, girls, the things that she drew! Such beauty! Such truth! I sat at her feet, and soaked up Knowledge.
"But, with She Who Saw, it is not about what is known. Only what is not. We worked. Hard. We built machines, incredible machines. Machines that put any you have read about in any science journal to shame. For, this knowledge we seek is that of science... yet, also, the mind."
She paused, modesty entering her posture.
"I, myself, was never good at that. At electrons and subatomic this and transdimentional that. I was, though, one who enjoyed language. Ritual. Controlling emotions, the mind. I, yes, I, suggested we try this, in addition to that. And, she said yes." She paused, as if this was a major thing. Getting caught up in the story, Sarah was half way to believing it was.
"The experiment was one of a number, but the first with the new machines up above. The new boson accelerators and quark entanglers. I was down below. In a cave, carved from solid rock under the labs. It was... our ritual place. I was alone. Nude." Reaching a hand up, her thin clawed fingers cupped her right breast. "As they worked above, I set up the wards. The marks. I sang the songs. I prostrated myself on solid stone, and chanted to the world She had Seen."
She did another slow turn, pinching her nipple while her other hand began to rub at her hip. Sarah saw, between her legs, white fur getting darker.
She Who Fucked was getting wet.
"I did not see it happen. There was no sound, no light. I just suddenly, in the midst of my chanting, heard... the sacred language!" Her eyes doubled in size as she spun, hand on her hip shooting out to point at all the women assembled. "Can you imagine that? Can you? She Who Saw had come back from the Seeing with a language. A language she said came from beyond the universe, from those so above us. And, here, someone spoke it! It was TRUE! Yes, belief, but KNOWING! To KNOW!
"My head shot up. There. There in the circle, in the pentagram, on the dais... a daemon. A god. One of... them. Human."
Sarah leaned forward, half aware the others were as well. She was not aware one hand was straying towards a cloth covered breast.
"Oh, ladies... the drawings of our Lady did not do them justice! It was a male. No... a MALE. Tall. Twice my height. No fur, apart from his head and between his legs. Brown. His body... smooth, yet hard. Color... color like sand in the evening light. And, between his legs... Oh, ladies. His maleness. He was huge! Long. Hard. Easily as big as my arm!" She squeezed her breast, other hand going to the opening between her legs. She spread her lips, easy to see with the short fur. Sarah gasped, imagining an ARM entering there!
"I thought, in my hubris, I had made a cage. That any who came to us, for that, my sisters, was what we were trying to do, would be held, at least for awhile. But, no. Of course not. These are Gods. He walked off the dais as if only air stood between him and me. He strode, tall, proud. His eyes... they burned with desire. Desire... for me..." Two fingers went inside her. Sarah's hand squeezed her own breast, the other slowly sliding down between her legs. "He spoke. 'Who are you', he asked. The voice was so full of power, the power of a true male. Not like OUR males!" There, Sarah had to agree with the disgust in her voice. No male interested her...
"I told him my name. Shia. Told him I served She Who Saw. His face was blank. He knew this. Of course he knew this! It was a test! Then... oh, sisters, I was bold. It was the boldness of youth. I... I said, 'Lord, Fuck me. I am yours.'"
The room gasped. Sarah's fingers found their way into her panties.
"Sisters! There was no hesitation! He grabbed me! Lifted me up like I was a child! And I was, we all are, compared to them! He touched me, between my legs! Saw I was wet, ready!" She lifted the fingers from between her legs, licked them, then returned them to their duty. "He saw the altar. The altar She Who Saw had built. And, he knew it! He knew it! Again, she was right! SHE WAS RIGHT! He took me, and THREW me on the altar! He grabbed my legs, pulled them so far apart it hurt, and FUCKED ME!"
Her entire hand entered her, minus the thumb. She held it still for a moment, then began thrusting to the rhythm of her voice. Her legs were spread, knees slightly bent. Eyes closed in memory.
"It hurt. Oh, Lord, it hurt! But it didn't! He filled me in ways I did not even know was possible! He rammed it in, and out, over and over! My ass slapped against the altar! God, the pleasure! The pleasure! No male, no furred male, could match this! I was ruined! Gloriously ruined! I was his! His mate! I wanted his seed! I would birth the litter of a God! We all would! All of us, all the sisters, we would birth A RACE!"
She gave a squeal, an orgasmic scream. Half the room did as well. Sarah's fingers were dripping, her breasts beginning to get bruised from self abuse.
There was silence. She Who Fucked stood in rigid pleasure, then dropped her head in despair. She removed her hand, voice soft, despondent.
"Then... I felt him fade. Felt my Lord... leave. He had not finished the act! His seed was still inside him! I could see it in his face. He did not want to go. Did not want to leave me! His lover! He thrust one more time...
"And was gone."
Her voice was raw. Miriam ran over with a bowel, holding it so she could drink. Waving it aside, she again looked around at them.
"We failed. All of us. I could not keep him. Or his seed. Worse, up above... Machines failed. Exploded. Many sisters died that day. She Who Saw was injured." The room gasped. "BUT! Oh, but! We knew it could be done. We had done it! And, someday, we will do it again.
"Will you join us, sisters?"

****

Three years later.
Sarah found herself in a dingy room in an abandoned building, reading texts that are on the verge of making sense. Her faith is strong.
The door opens.
In walks Miriam... and Gods.
Faith... but Knowledge!
These beings, these humans, these... people. They are not what are expected. Despite Lady Miriam's insistence. They are less... yet more. So much more.

****

Sarah sat on the grassy patch the Humans had given them for the night. She was once again nude, a state she had found she preferred. It was so freeing, made her one with the universe. The moon and stars above only re-enforced that feeling in her. Her eyes, though, were not on the heavens, thought they wished to be. She watched Miriam discarding the outfit carefully made under the direction of She Who Saw. The outfit they were to deliver to the new Temple being built, a doubling of their resources. The Temple Miriam was to lead.
What did it mean, to have met these creatures NOW?
"What brought them here, Lady?"
She spoke in a quiet, meek voice, as they all did when talking to one above them. A glance from her Lady silenced her, and she bowed her head. It was not her place, the place of a neophyte, to talk. Lady Miriam looked at the brick outline of the Bells store.
"We must take them to the Temple. The She's will know what to do. I am not enough."
Sarah wanted to ask, "And if they won't go?", but remained silent. It was not her place.
She lay down, eyes on the stars. She knew. She KNEW. And knowing... what would she come to know tomorrow...

Chapter 10

Danny yawned.
He had slept well. But, then, he always slept well. The slave pen (and that's what it was, for all the comfort his mom had) where he grew up could be noisy at night. It was either learn to ignore it, or live forever sleepless. A few had been driven mad. Compared to that, this place was as silent as something that wasn't a tomb, but was still silent. No sense jinxing things.
He made is way down the narrow stairs to the main floor, hair still wet from his shower. Slicking the red mass back as he passed the front windows, he noted it was almost touching his shoulders. Time for a hair cut? Or did Mary like long hair? More importantly, how could he find out without embarrassing himself? Hmm... maybe have Goldie ask.
"Morning sleepy-head!"
Speak of the devil girl. He looked up as his ever widening stride took him around the corner to the dining room. Goldie was sitting, human style, at the table next to Mary. He stopped. His sister NEVER sat like that. It hurt her, hips just not built for it. She had her own chair, custom built to keep her head at the same level as everyone else.
He mentally shrugged. Whatever.
"Morning, sis. Morning, Mary."
"Morning!"
There was something... musical in her voice. It perked his mood right up. As soon as she had said it, though, both Mary and Goldie leaned their heads together and giggled. Hmm. Something was up. He had never had to deal with TWO girls before. Best to be careful.
Breakfast that morning was fruit and toast, with some cheese. Taking one of the pink spheres picked up at the market the day before, he grabbed two slices of bread and pulled the plate of butter closer as he sat across from the girls. Making use of the butter knife, he spread a good amount on the toast as he looked at the far table. All the others were down there, gathered around a pile of books.
"OK, what's going on?"
"Well, if you didn't sleep in!"
"Yeah!"
More giggling. Danny looked at their plates. Either they were slow eaters, or they had been down here for only a couple minutes themselves. Should he mention it? He glanced at Mary. She was smiling at him.
Nope. He smiled back, and began eating.

****

"See... here it is again."
Hannah pointed at the section of alien text. Anthony leaned in, hand automatically going to her back, sliding down. Just as automatically, her body responded, pushing back and repositioning slightly. Such moments of affection were so common and open among the couples so as to be almost invisible. His wife giving a pleased hum, Anthony frowned.
"Really?"
"Really. This phrase looks familiar, sort of. I'm telling you, this looks like a mutated version of Hebrew."
"Not it doesn't," Tammy scoffed. "I tried to learn Hebrew, in my occult days, and that's not it."
"Who's the Jew here? It's backwards, altered a bit, but..." She sighed, shaking her head as she sat back in her chair. "But it doesn't matter, as I don't speak Hebrew."
"It could be a sister language, one dead on Earth," Chuck commented, taking another look. "It's not like the written words have always matched up with what we expect anyways."
"Let's get to the things we CAN read." Justin pushed the book aside, bringing back one of the heavily illustrated texts. He grabbed one of the alien orange fruits Daium was done peeling and sectioning. "So, what have we got?"
"Alien Squirrels," Alicia said, voice half amused, half contemplating suicide at the stupidity, "make or find a VERY small window from this universe or whatever into a tree in the Clarence Town Park. From the outfits, I'd say... late 60's, early 70's?" She glanced over at Hannah, who nodded. "The woman who did this starts some sort of cult, one which," she gave a disgusted glance at one thick book, "insists on having math in its bibles."
"That's not just math," Chuck corrected, voice as bemused as anyone else's. "That's... wow. Even what I can read is so far beyond even the stuff Daium has shown me."
"Any of you seen Prince of Darkness?" Melinda leaned forward, excited. Alicia gave her an exasperated look.
"That's not one of your tentacle anime, is it?"
"You wish! No, it's a great old horror film. John Carpenter. There's a 2000 year old book written by Jesus, and when it's translated from Latin and Hebrew it's all mathematical equations and such to prove what the book is saying."
"Can't believe they left it out of the Apocrypha," Anthony commented. Melinda grinned.
"Great film! They showed it at a church youth group lock-in, along with Life of Brian. Presbyterians rock!"
"And roll," Chuck added absentmindedly. This got him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Theories," Nona suggested, "we need theories."
"Oh, we have tons," Justin replied, laughing. "All the theories you want. All fitting the facts and mutually exclusive."
"Oh, god, it's string theory," Melinda moaned.
"The question," Daium said, looking them over as she absently played with little Jeli in the bassinet, "is what do you want to do?"
The humans exchanged glances. Anthony kept his eyes on their two furry friends. Earth... complicated things. Maybe, perhaps, in a good way, but complications were never easy.
"We stay away from their temple," Nona said, seated as she now tended to be next to Tammy. "For now. Later, maybe, we see what's up, but..." She shook her head.
"I'd have thought you'd want to go there right away. See if there's a way home."
Nona shook her head again.
"Too soon. Something about this isn't right. It's too... I don't know. If nothing else, I don't want to be surrounded by a hundred or more cult members eager to mate with our three studs here."
"That's why I vote no for now," Chuck added. "We have the kids to consider. After they're all born, maybe. There's time."
"Dad was getting old," Melinda said, sadness in her voice. "The longer we wait... the more it won't matter."
"What will not matter, my Lady?"
Anthony looked down the row of tables. Their guests were awake. Gone was the cheerleader outfit, which he was glad he had missed. Chuck may not have handled that in the most diplomatic way, but he wasn't sure he would do much better if the image in his mind was any indication. They were back in their two piece white dresses, black furred Sarah standing a few steps behind red furred Miriam, head bowed. Miriam's head was raised high, eye's... slightly lowered. Anthony nodded to her.
"You're up. Good. We have things to discuss today."
"Indeed we do, Lord. Indeed we do." Miriam bowed low, breasts almost large enough to show cleavage. "Lords, Ladies. This humble servant of She Who Saw invites all in this blessed group to the Temple dedicated to their name. Bless us with your presence, let us serve you. All knowledge will be yours: those volumes before you are but a small sample of what the holy library contains."
Anthony flicked his eyes to Nona. Her expression hadn't changed. Tammy, beside her, silently nodded her agreement with the moody Malay. Chuck caught his eye, shaking his head. Melinda, next to him, hesitated, eyes flicking to the baby in her arms... then slowly nodded. The others were the same. He turned back to Miriam.
"You have caught us at a bad time. Naturally, we have plans and destinations of our own. I'm afraid we can not travel to your temple right now."
The two squirrels jerked their heads up, astonished. The smaller one fell to her knees, prostrating herself before them. Anthony went a little cold at that. Another reason to stay away. Miriam fell to her knees, too, but raised her arms, eyes looking at them yet staying down out of respect. That had to be hard to learn.
"Please, oh Lord, reconsider! Our people live only to serve! Has not our faith been enough for you? Do we not please you? If so, come, correct us! Give us NEW words and books to live by! Let us supply you, for your journey onward! We would gladly fill your holds with all we have!"
Oh, she was good. He cast an eye over at Daium. The blackish grey furred Orang stood, adjusting her glasses.
"Out of curiosity," she asked, "where IS your temple?"

****

Mary watched the adults (well... older people) begin to rise and put away breakfast. Her mother, being motherly, waved them away to whatever they were in a hurry to do and began to gather the dishes herself. Looking down at the half eaten fruit on her plate, she grabbed it and took a big bite. Juice squirted out all over her face.
"You're very neat," Danny commented from across the table. His own partaking of the non-orange orange was... much less messy. She felt a blush coming on. Goldie shook her head, giving her brother an exasperated look as she too took a squirting hunk out of the fruit.
"Ignore him, Mary. Fruit should be messy to eat."
She smiled at her friend gratefully. Mary didn't know what she'd do without someone to, you know, really relate too. Goldie suddenly winced a bit, adjusting her hips in the chair. Danny leaned forward, concern on his face.
"Sit in your other chair, Goldie. You know it's not good for you to sit like that."
"But I WANT to sit like this! I don't LIKE that chair!" Her furry body adjusted itself again.
"Yes you do." Danny's voice sounded tired, the tired of an argument fought many times and thought to have been won. Mary suddenly saw his eyes shift over to her. Why would he be... oh. Goldie was doing this because of her.
Danny's eyes pleaded with her for help. How? She didn't know the scope of the argument, what had been said, what her practical limits, in fact, were. That she wanted to be a normal girl was about all she knew, and Mary, well, could understand. Wanted to help. Not in ways that hurt her, though!
Well, at the very least, she could get her to stand up for a bit.
"I'm done. Come on, Goldie, let's help Mom clean up and go play with the babies."

****

"There. That is the site of The Holy Temple of What She Saw."
Daium frowned as Miriam stepped back from the console. Letting her touch her father's ship had seemed... wrong. As if the ship had been defiled. She probably shouldn't tell the priestess, or whatever she was, that. Or anyone else, as it was a silly thought.
(If she touched the Tree, though...)
Looking at the coordinates, she frowned again. The system was, somewhat, in line with the path they had been traveling. A ways away, though. Couple months travel, if they don't stop. You could almost argue that the star wasn't even still in the galaxy, as it was isolated out beyond what most would call the galactic rim, although still rotating with the rest of the stars. Like an island off shore, before the vastness of the ocean.
She smiled. Given there had been no oceans on Tanah, Daium was kind of proud she had come up with that analogy. It was probably even right!
"Thank you, Miriam," Anthony told the woman. His voice, at least to Daium, had a worried undercurrent. She looked up at him. No sign of it there. Maybe just her imagination?
"Will we be leaving for the Temple then?"
Daium had to admire her persistence. The entire walk to the bridge had just been her trying out various, very reasonable, arguments, while her assistant walked silently a few steps behind her. Daium kind of felt sorry for the girl.
That would only last until she made a play for Justin, though.
"Let me talk to our Captain here first, alone."
To Daium's surprise, Miriam happily agreed. The two squirrels left. Anthony turned to her.
"Thoughts?"
She sighed, leaning back in her chair.
"I don't know. I'm not sure I want them traveling with us, for one thing."
Anthony nodded, eyes taking in the screens with a practiced eye. Daium put up a few more, giving the details of some of the more interesting nearby systems.
"We need the books, which means they're coming with. Either that, or we try and photograph all the pages. Hmm... how long would that take, if we use all the camera phones?"
"No idea, but I'm willing to find out."
"What's in the system?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. To be honest, it's exactly what we were looking for. Minus the religious nuts."
The door slid open behind them. Turning, Daium was surprised to see it was the LOWER door, the interior of the ship, and not the upper one to the dome. Rinda, strapping on a gun belt, burst through it, quickly making her way along the circular walkway to them. She must have entered the engine rooms at the far end of the ship and circled around through the hull. Anthony's hand went to the back of Daium's chair as she spun it around to face her cousin.
"Anthony! I've got it! I know!"
"What?" She skidded to a stop before him, hands on his shoulders helping stop her momentum. All four eyes were bright with excitement and worry. He copied the gesture, as if trying to calm the excited Orang.
"Their ceremonies! Machines! They're to try and bring humans to them, right?!?
"That's what it seems, but..."
"WHAT IF IT'S WORKING?"
Working? If it was working they'd have all the humans they needed. There'd be no need for people who just randomly appeared...
"Oh, sacred tree, mother of us all..." Her eyes shot up to Anthony. His face was white.
"Jesus Fucking Christ..."

****

Sarah could not get enough of the babies.
Babies. Human babies. Well, one human, one half human. For all She Who Fucked went on about breeding with the gods, she had never actually gone into much detail of what that would be like. The biology, what, in fact, little half humans would be like. Hell, what they'd DO with the little sacred offspring was also sketchy. Maybe it had seemed like a moot point until they actually had some? But, here, in front of her, were two incredibly cute ones. She wanted to just reach into that basket and tickle them. One look at the human mother standing nearby, as the two young girls fussed with the babies, kept her a couple feet away. The humans didn't trust her or Lady Miriam yet.
Sarah didn't blame them.
"Lady Miriam!"
The voice of the Lord called Anthony was cheerful. Something in the tone alerted her, though. She turned. The Lord and both of the furry Others were walking towards them through the garden. The four eyed creatures looked tense. The one, with blue fur and no glasses, kept her hand at her waist. Sarah could think of no reason why she'd do that.
Lady Miriam, smiling, took a few steps towards them and dropped to one knee, bowing. Sarah took her place three paces back and did the same, making sure her head dropped below that of her mistress. To do otherwise would dishonor her. She had acted improperly in the rooms the day before. She would not repeat her mistakes.
"Lord. Have you come to a decision? Will you come to your temple with us?"
Lord Anthony stopped a few paces away, still smiling. Sarah now noticed both he and the other two wore thick, woven belts, with something attached at their hip. She had no idea what it might be. Whatever it was, though, the other humans were reacting. In the corner of her eye, Sarah saw the baby carriage being pulled away, Lady Melinda stepping in front of it. Lord Justin was practically shoving Lady Alicia behind him, which the pregnant woman was having nothing to do with. Her eyes went back to Lord Anthony.
"We may, but first we have a couple questions."
"Of course! Anything, my Lord!"
"Good! Good. Hmm, let's see.... well, first, I had a question about your rituals. At the temple, you perform rituals to try and make contact with our world. Correct?"
"Yes, Lord, but we fail." Miriam dropped her head, shame in her voice. "We have never, in all the time since She Who Fucked, succeeded. We try, again and again, but it never works! Are we not worthy, Lord?"
"Oh, I'm sure you're worthy. So, you do these rituals often?"
"A few times a year, oh Lord. When the machines are ready and conditions are right."
"I see..."
"Honey?"
Sarah saw Lady Hannah, gloriously pregnant with the Lord's child, walk closer. He waved her back, smile... suddenly not seeming as real to Sarah. She began to tremble.
"So! You do this a couple times a year, and it never works. When, Miriam, was the last time they tried to bring someone from our world?"
"Lord?" Lady Miriam raised her head, confusion in her voice. Sarah was confused too. Why would it matter? Not that she had been admitted to the rituals yet. She would have no knowledge to add to this if questioned by the Lord.
"Simple question. When would the last ritual have been? Ballpark figure, just general timeframe."
There was a pause. Miriam's voice was uncertain.
"A week ago? Less?"
Anthony's eyes seemed to first go to Mary, then traveled around the group. After a moment's pause, all hell broke loose.
"Mother fucking!"
"No!"
"Anthony!"
"Quiet!"
Anthony held his hands up. Sarah finally recognized the strange lump on his belt.
A weapon.
She spoke. It was against all protocol, but she had to!
"Lord? What is wrong? What have we done to offend you?"
"Wrong?"
At first she thought the voice came from the dark skinned woman, as it was angry, as Nona had been angry the day before. It was the blonde, though. The athletic looking one who was always with the dark Lady. Coldly, the woman came forward, eyes blazing. She stopped, dropping to one knee before Sarah, looking her straight in the eye.
"What you did, was play with things you had no business playing with. Your rituals worked."
"W-worked?"
"Oh, yes." She nodded, face so close the human's white nose almost touched hers. "You ran your machines, said your prayers, and drew humans to this universe."
"Oh..."
"You know what happened then?"
"No..."
"THEY DIED!"
Lady Tammy shot to her feet, whirled, grabbed Miriam by the front of her dress and yanked her up. Sarah could only look, uncomprehending.
"How many? Huh? How many have your fucking animals brought over, to die alone?"
"I... I don't..."
"Mary!" Tammy shot a hand out, pointing. "She was brought over here less than a week ago! Your machines!"
"They... they work? Oh! Oh, Praise Be! I must tell..."
"Shut up and listen!" Tammy slapped Miriam. The sound echoed through the garden. Sarah froze, appalled. Nona came up behind Tammy and grabbed her arms, pulling them unresisting behind the blonde's back as Chuck came forward and held a stunned Miriam. Sarah could feel herself guided to her feet, but all attention was on the still yelling Tammy.
"You brought us over! Against our will! Just dropped us who knows where in this fucking insane universe! How many died, huh? How many have you killed?"
"But... you're not..."
"Their moms!" Tammy jerked her head at the shocked Danny and Goldie. "A dozen humans came with them, dropped onto some godforsaken desert planet, all dead! Their mothers turned into sex slaves! SLAVES!! And how many more? How many just popped in between planets? Kid? Babies? GOD DAMN YOU!"
Oh. Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God... what had Sarah done. What had she joined. She... she just wanted... it sounded so...
"You're lying."
Sarah's head jerked to her Mistress. Lady Miriam's voice was cold. Lord Anthony came up to them, head cocked.
"Really? That's your answer?"
"You're lying. All of you. You're not humans. You're not Gods. Let me go. Let me and my servant go."
Servant. Not disciple. Not assistant. Not even apprentice. Sarah's eyes looked up at the faces around her. Angry. Upset. The little one, Mary, was holding her pregnant mother, eyes wide with fear as if either one might now vanish. The boy, the half human boy, and his sister were GROWLING, teeth bared. These people... these innocent, human people... surely, Miriam had to see. Had to see they were right. Had to...
"We have to destroy the machines."
It came from Justin. Miriam's head whipped around to him. Sarah saw... the woman she loved and respected, vanish.
Miriam's red tail came up, smacking Chuck on the side of his head and shoulder. More surprised than hurt, he gave a cry and let go. She leapt, not at one of the humans, not to Sarah's side... but towards the doorway to the bridge. Sarah, standing there with Justin's hand holding her arm, just watched. She made no move to follow. Wondering why none of them were giving chase, she saw Anthony's hand was up, the universal signal to stay put. Miriam was almost to the hatch, when her body suddenly vanished from sight in crackle of electricity. Anthony dropped his hand.
"Well, the droid taser works."

Chapter 11

"Well. That went down with the usual human diplomacy and tact."
Anthony looked over at Chuck. The humor in the man's voice, as he rubbed his shoulder, helped ground him. Anthony gave a rueful sigh.
"That did not go as planned, needless to say."
"I should hope not," Hannah said, moving to his side. She cast a glance towards the bridge door. "Is she..."
"Hope not. Nona..."
"On it." The Malay was quickly tracing Miriam's path, Tammy at her side. The blonde almost seemed to be acting as body guard, although her rage thankfully was fading. Reaching the squirrel, Nona dropped to one knee. "She's breathing."
"Good." Anthony let out a breath. One less thing to have to worry about, although now they still had to deal with her. "We probably should tie her up, or something." A second droid, red with a blue vertical stripe, came out of the same opening in the ship wall as the taser droid. Its two arms ended in handcuffs. Anthony turned to Daium. "We HAVE asked you why your father built droids like this, right?"
She nodded.
"Yes, you have."
He nodded back.
"So long as we asked." Anthony let it drop, watching the robot secure Miriam's stirring form. He loved Daium as a friend, respected her, and knew that it was only due to her help that they were still alive. Still, he also had to admit her father being dead when they stumbled into her home had probably been the best case situation. The more they learned about him, the more surprising it was his daughter was as she was. Not that she probably didn't have her own buried dark side...
"How do we know it's actually them?" Alicia's question was echoed by a couple others. Daium let out a breath, shaking her head.
"We don't. And we can't prove it was them. If they do their thing, and something happens a thousand lightyears away, how are we going to connect the two? Or even know about both? Best case, we get a list of when they have done this, and match it to our experiences and those strange energy readings we've gotten. But, that's still not proof."
"What's the old joke?" Chuck asked. "Guy buys a house with a light switch that does nothing, and he flips it every time he walks by. A month later, he gets a letter from a guy in Germany telling him to stop it."
"But..." Mary came up to her mom again, hugging her. "I did it differently than you guys! I didn't just vanish!"
"There are different ceremonies."
Anthony looked over at Sarah. The furry prisoner's entire body seemed... deflated. Disillusioned, defeated, eyes looking at anything but the humans. Justin was holding one of her arms lightly, but it was obvious she was going nowhere.
"We're not going to hurt you, Sarah. Or Miriam. Tell us what you know, and we'll let you both go."
She nodded, eyes still on the ground. Anthony indicated that Justin should let her sit on the stone path. He and the other humans took over the park benches, Nona and Tammy coming over to join them. Legs folded under her, Sarah. spoke.
"First... I am sorry, Lords. I did not know..."
"We are NOT lords," Chuck said, drawing his wives close on either side of him. They were once again holding the babies. "I think that's the entire point here. And we know you didn't know. Nobody could. It's what you, she, did after knowing that's the point."
Sarah nodded again.
"Yes. I know." She sighed. Taking a deep breath, she seemed to gain strength. Lose some of that submissiveness.  To Anthony, it was almost as if the real woman was coming to the fore, someone kept under wraps until then.
"They do the ceremony, use the machines, several times a year. There are different versions, always changing, as they try to make it work. Sometimes the change is in the machines, sometimes in the ritual." She gave a tired laugh. "The ritual has been becoming more important, or so the rumors say. I think I joined more for that, than for the actual reality of you humans."
"How many of you are there?"
"Few hundred. Maybe more. We are scattered, now, somewhat. It is another recruiting time, so missionaries are out and about, not at the temple. Plus, there is the new temple. Some have gone ahead there..."
"Two temples?" Alicia leaned forward, eyes narrow. "Are there two machines we have to deal with?"
"No, no. The second temple is not yet active. Miriam was to lead it. We brought the books to fill its library, have with us the plans to build the new machines for the ceremonies..."
Daium leaned forward, excited.
"Plans? With you?"
"Yes, although I have not looked at them. I am just an acolyte."
Hannah, one arm around Mary, the other hand caressing her swollen belly, frowned.
"Do we deal with the machine, or the people? If we can just tell them to stop..."
"Enough will have the same reaction as Miriam to make that dangerous," Nona said. "We know how some of the religious on our planet are. It won't be much different here."
"But we have to try!" Melinda looked around. "We're not going to just bomb the place or something! Killing hundreds to save a few of us isn't right!"
"Morals are annoying, yes," Chuck said, dryly. His eyes flicked over towards the bridge. "Our friend is awake. Pissed and quiet, but awake."
"Ignore her," Rinda said. "It's what we do with Sarah that's the main question."
"We toss them off the ship," Tammy said, voice cold. "We take the books and anything else we need, give them our leftover money so they won't starve, and leave them at the spaceport."
"We can't have them warning anyone," Melinda worried. "If they have a ship and outrun us..."
"We have no ship," Sarah said quietly. Melinda raised an eyebrow at her. "No ship. We have passage booked in a week to the site of the second temple, but no way to travel beyond that."
"See?" Anthony gave Melinda a reassuring nod. "If we warp right away, we'll have a good jump on any news..."
"Let me come with you."

****

Sarah watched the reaction to her words. She was asking them to trust her. To trust someone they had just met, knew nothing about, and who was the servant of those they now had cause against. But, then, she was also asking herself to trust them. Trust those she knew nothing about, who had just confronted one she had considered, if not a friend, then a teacher and mentor. Neither side had long to consider the matter.
"No," Daium said, all four eyes boring down on her. Sarah forced herself to meet that gaze.
"I will not plead," Sarah told her. "I will not protest whatever you decide, but hear me. I know the temple... somewhat. Have been there. I have a friend, a childhood friend, who joined with me. She is still there, and..." She faltered. What could she say, with honesty, about Hedva? Would her friend see things from the Human's point of view, or would she side with the Miriam's of the temple?
The brown skinned man, who had left her side to once again be with his mates, regarded her from behind his glasses.
"And you want a chance to talk to her."
"Yes." Sarah lowered her eyes again. Were these not Lords, after all? They knew, knew so much... even if it was just a guess, or reading her expressions, still, they were special.
"You'll be a traitor." The blue furred Orang's smile was not the kindest she'd seen. Sarah shrugged.
"To some. My people, in general, think She Who Saw is an insane freak. I will not be traitor to THEM." Not that she cared what her people thought. The temple's training had not had to instill a disregard for her people. That had already been there, to some degree. They only had to take advantage to her yearning for something more. Something outside what was expected of her.
What was more outside that, than where she was now?
"Traitor!!!!"
Miriam's cry made her wince. Why. Why did it have to be like this. Why couldn't Miriam have seen the humans for what they really were, seen things the way they saw them...
"Oh, what the hell. She can come."
Sarah's head shot up, meeting Daium's eyes. The Orang stood, walked up before her, dropping to one knee. She could smell fruit on her breath.
"Just understand your position. Earn our trust." Daium paused for a moment. Her voice lowered almost to a whisper. "And stay away from our men."

****

"No... no... no... no..."
Anthony just shook his head as system after system dropped off the list of possible destinations. This one had contact with the squirrel people, that one was outside the usual monetary systems. Daium had almost set a course for a world filled with methane breathers, before catching the mistake.
It would have been a good choice, apart from that.
"Damn Hannah, and her wanting us to be fully supplied before taking on the temple."
"We could always eat less," Daium suggested. Another list of planets popped onto the screen. "Is sixty light years away too far? Here's one that fits. Even has three inhabited planets and a few moons."
"I'd like to be right on the galactic rim, but... what's our travel time?"
The right side of the forward bridge wall filled with equations, possible paths through the nothingness next to reality the ship would be traveling through. Was that what the M'ntsn sect was tapping into? Somehow punching holes through that into Earth's reality? And, if so... was there a way for them to take their ship back home at the end of a warp, instead of back into this universe?
Naturally, given their luck, they'd end up in some galaxy far from the Milky Way.
"Best course gives us seven weeks."
Anthony considered. Seven weeks. They had never traveled that far in one jump before. They could hold enough supplies, naturally, probably had enough now, but their reserves would be very low...
With a sigh, he leaned around Daium and hit a button on the console before her.
"OK, gang, the first ideal destination is seven weeks away. I want an accurate inventory of all supplies. If we can't last eight weeks, I want to know it now. We lift off and warp as soon as everyone reports back.
He stood back up. There. The order was given. His job was done.
It was good to be the manager.

****

Danny sat shirtless on the hard metal floor.
Chuck, shirt still on, adjusted the wrench a few turns and returned it to the bolt on the front of the droid's four foot tall cylindrical body. Danny held his tool, inserted into the open access panel. Chuck's eyes came up.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
Danny locked his arms, grip tight. His hands were beginning to sweat, and he hoped to hell he didn't let go again. Real men didn't do that...
Chuck leaned into the droid, his full weight coming down on the wrench and the stubborn bolt. Danny felt the pressure on his wrench, but countered with his own weight, holding the interior nut still. There was a moment's hesitation... then the bolt gave, rotating. Chuck half grunted, half growled.
"OK, hold it, let me..." Rotating the wrench for a couple full turns, he dropped it and grabbed the bolt with his bare fingers, continuing to turn. Danny felt all tension fall from his tool as Chuck pulled the six inch bolt out. "Got it. Now, gently, pull that nut out. Try not to drop it, or you're going to be the one fishing it out."
That put more worry into Danny than he really needed right then. His arms trembling a bit in his effort to keep them still, he moved his body back. Slowly, the black tool came out. He could see it. See the tarnished silver of the five sided nut held in the end of the wrench. It was almost out. If he could just clear the side of the droid...
"Hey, Chuck!"
Mary's voice came from the doorway behind him. With a jerk, he fell onto his butt, wrench pulled out of the machine. The nut flew off, clattering on the floor somewhere to his left. His eyes quickly went to Chuck. The man... well, he may have been amused, but that amusement was not the kind that made Danny's life an easy one. He grimaced, putting the tool down and casting his eyes around for the lost nut.
"I'll get it!"
"Indeed you will. I'm not moving."
Danny saw, with a relieved breath, that the thing hadn't bounced far, or under anything else. Scooting his body across the droid bay floor, he grabbed it. It wasn't until then that the fact Mary was there, registered. Turning, he looked up at her. He had never seen the girl from this angle, him on the floor and her standing. He was close to her bare, white legs, ending in flip-flops. Her toes, he noticed, were cute, nails painted pink. His eyes began going back up her legs. It was only when he got to her knees that Danny realized, before actually seeing it, that she was probably still wearing the skirt from that morning. He did NOT want her to think he was looking up her skirt! His eyes jerked upward to her face.
Mary was looking down at him, face a bit red. Her eyes were not on his face, although they WERE on him. With a jerk of her head, she brought her eyes up to meet his. Her face seemed to get redder.
"You interrupting our manly work for a reason, Mary?"
Chuck's amused, and not amused, voice seemed to jolt her head up. She... she had been looking at Danny! Looking at him the same way he had been at her, and been as embarrassed at being caught! Damn it, Chuck had been right! Well, then. When he had a chance, the young male teen would have to ask his mentor some more questions about girls. He was an expert! With a smile, Danny kept his eyes on Mary's red face.
"Um, yeah. Mom said they decided Sarah is going to sleep on the patch of grass next to that bluish corn, and wants to know if you can have a sentry droid to sort of... keep an eye on her."
"That's what the hell I'm doing," Chuck replied, putting the bolt on a tray and grabbing a water bottle. "Tell Miss Mom that we're switching out some parts on this guy, and we should have him ready to go in an hour or so. I'll also have bots that will take over watching her if she enters the zero g parts of the ship. The guards I put up last night we'll also keep up, for now."
"OK..." Her eyes seemed to be going everywhere but Danny. Danny saw Chuck get a familiar grin on his face. The brown haired man cocked his head at the girl.
"If you want to learn how to do this, let me know. I could use an assistant who isn't all butterfingers like you know who here."
Danny saw her eyes come back to him. The thought of... WORKING with her...
Well, that would be worth any amount of teasing from Chuck!

****

A level below, Goldie was hard at work.
It was hard, much harder than she wished it was, to find things Goldie could do well. It wasn't a matter of skill, of effort, or will. She had all of that. It was her body. Her stupid, four legged body. Anything that required hands, especially using hands while standing or walking, were a horrible strain on her. She WANTED to do them. Wanted to be useful! Her brother was useful! All his weird face kept him from doing was using a drinking glass!
Still, if there was one thing her friends and shipmates were good at, it was fitting her in with the rest of them. Inventory had to be taken, and Tammy and Nona had asked her to help. Hung around her neck, like a VERY heavy necklace, a computer tablet swung back and forth as she walked. Ever few feet, she stopped, sat on her haunches, and marked what boxes and containers she saw. Now and then, she'd stand to get a better view, trying to then walk and write the way the others did. Her record was ten steps.
Stopping at the end of a row of flour barrels, she sat and tallied up what she had so far. They knew, somewhat, what was supposed to be in the hold. What they had bought, what had been used. However, not everything was logged when dragged up to the kitchen. Some things went bad, turned out to not be edible (or, worse, only edible by Orangs). However, it looked like in her assigned section at least, all was accounted for. Rotating her sore shoulder and neck muscles, she sighed.
She was done.
The question now was, where were Tammy and Nona? For awhile she had heard them talking, but things had gone quiet. Something must have really demanded their attention. Getting onto four legs again, Goldie started her search.

****

She found them busy, although not the way she expected. Coming to a stop ten feet away, she sat, eyes wide. Nona's back was pressed against the wall of the second fresh water tank. Pressed against her front was Tammy, one hand under her shirt, the other in her black hair as they kissed. The one hand of Nona's she could see was cupping Tammy's breast over her shirt.
Goldie had seen couples kiss before. Boys kissing girls, girls kissing girls (no boys kissing boys, though. She wondered why.). She had even seen, in the shadows at night, her friends making love. This, however... maybe it was because it was unexpected. Because she didn't know they were a couple. Or, maybe, because she had spent months looking at Nona, trying to see what her brother saw in her. Finally seeing someone kiss the dark skinned girl... her body was reacting. She wanted... something. Her body wanted something. Something...
Two giggles came from the women before her. Tammy stepped back from Nona, turning to face the furry teen while her partner in romance hurriedly adjusted her outfit and smoothed her hair. Tammy's face, while a bit red, was nowhere near the color of either Nona or Goldie.
"Ah. Finished? We did too, a little while ago."
"I saw." Not knowing really how to react, Goldie settled for an embarrassed laugh as she removed the rope from around her neck. Rubbing the indentation the necklace had left in her, she handed the computer pad to Tammy. "All accounted for."
"Thank you, Goldie." There was honest thanks in her voice. Goldie blushed even more. She loved helping.

****

Daium and Rinda stood on either side of Sarah. The two, taller than she was but nowhere near the height of many of the humans, had spent the last half hour making sure she understood. Telling her the difficulties of being with humans, the changes she'd have to make in her life. She'd have to eat their food. Watch and listen to their entertainment. Understand THEIR ideas of humor.
"Chuck, especially," Rinda was saying, "will say things that seem to make no sense, although Melinda is not much better. Just ignore what you don't understand. It is never hurtful. Never take offense."
"Goldie likes to touch, but not so most of the others. Do not touch them unless they touch you first."
"But, I saw..."
"How human mates act, and how they act towards non-mates, is very different."
"Ah." Well, Sarah was not the touchy feely kind herself, but contact between M'ntsn WAS part of the social norm. "So..."
"So you give them time to get used to you." Rinda smiled. "Don't worry. We've broken them in for you, mostly."
Sarah smiled back.
"Thank you."
"Earn our trust, and soon this will be your home as much as it is ours."
"So long as you don't touch the men."

****

Miriam, rubbing her wrists, watched as the large, egg shaped ship rose into the air. Daemons. That was one of the words She Who Saw had used to describe the beings she had seen. Her use of the word had been positive, worshipful. Now Miriam saw the word as representing evil. These were daemons all right. Horrible, deceitful creatures, tempting the righteous into betrayal. They had tricked Sarah. Poor, fallen Sarah. But, that would be the extent of it. They had no chance against She Who Saw, She Who Fucked, or any of the other True Followers.
After all, SHE had resisted.
Hmm... She Who Resisted. Had a ring to it, did it not?

Chapter 12

Wine her, dine her, sixty-nine her.
Nona wasn't sure who, in her group of friends, was the first to come up with that phrase. Probably Steve, although it could have been Cindy for all she knew. It was the kind of thing she was likely to think of. Nona did know, though, that the expression became one of their group's arsenal of regular sayings long before she herself understood it. It was something silly, probably dirty.
That it now described her love life was scary, and wonderful.
She had asked Tammy to be patient. All around Nona on the ship, she had seen relationships form based, on friendship, yes, but at the start mostly on lust and sex. Maybe that was the adult way to do things. She didn't know. Nona had been the youngest of the group, if only by a year, and certainly the most romantically innocent. Even Justin had her beat, mostly because he had TRIED to find that special someone.
Nona had never bothered.
Now, there was someone she liked. Maybe loved. Someone who felt that way about her. And... she wanted some of what everyone else had. Oh, she knew it wasn't practical. There would be no dinner dates to small, out of the way restaurants. No long walks through crowded markets, hand in hand, just the two of them alone surrounded by crowds of strangers. Not for almost two months, and even then it was rare the humans felt safe enough on a planet to travel in small groups. Tammy tried, though. Tried to do right by Nona, and each effort opened the Malay's heart even more. The others had to be laughing. She could see it in their eyes. Her own eyes, though... those were only for Tammy.

****

Dinner that night had been set up in what the others had begun to call "the Malay Hideaway", the small patch of grass isolated from most of the universe by bushes and a SUV. Nona had arrived, as instructed, an hour after the usual shipboard dinner time. That extra hour had been needed, quite frankly. Nona was not one for fancy dress, and in fact HAD no fancy dress apart from what she had worn to recent weddings. That afternoon, though, a blue silk gown had magically appeared in her room, as had Hannah to complete a fitting. She CLAIMED it was just something she had whipped up, out of boredom, a change from doing outfits for her daughter.
Nona wasn't fooled. Tammy had arranged this. Tonight was to be special. Special enough for a dress she would never have the confidence to buy herself. Baring her right shoulder, it hugged every curve, flowing down to her ankles. A slit up the right side went up mid thigh. It made her feel sexy. Nona never felt sexy. Unless Tammy was with her.
Leaving the stone path, Nona's bare feet took her through the gap in the bushes into the grassy hideaway. The feel of the silk against her skin, the grass against her feet... already, the evening was special. A small round table had been set up in the clearing, table settings for two laid out. Even as she noticed the lit candle in the middle, the garden lights dimmed.
She smiled, shivering slightly. Yet another first for her, it seemed.
Alone, at least for the moment, Nona walked to the table, one hand touching the metal silverware. The store had made the journey to the stars with only the plastic place settings and paper plates and cups sold in aisle seven. This had been fine, for awhile, and the ship galley had some Orang dishes (although that part had not been fully stocked). Over the past year, though, various alien plates and utensils had been gathered. This one, she thought, had been picked up on that cat planet. Silver forks and spoons, beautiful wooden plates. The cups, stems of twisting green glass vines ending in red roses, had been found on a space station, origin unknown.
The sound of wheels on stone came to her ears. Turning, she almost fainted. Tammy stood there, long black dress glued to her body. It was cut low, thin straps traveling up to tie around her neck hinting the back was probably MUCH lower. Dirty blonde hair fell down to cover one bare shoulder. Her eyes... Nona's heart fluttered under that gaze.
Smiling, Tammy glided forward. Behind her, Goldie was walking, on two feet, pushing a two shelf hand cart with covered dishes and plates. The half human girl's face was adorned with bright red lipstick, blush, and a touch of eyeshadow. She wore actual clothing, a maid's apron. The sight was enough to bring Nona out of her romantic haze. Tammy broke into a grin.
"She wanted to help."
Nona laughed, going up to Goldie and placing a hand on her furry arm.
"You look beautiful, Goldie." The teen blushed.
"Thank you. So do you! I wish I had a dress like that!"
Nona felt the girl start to tremble a bit, hands gripping the cart handle tighter. Standing like this was not easy for her. Stepping back, Nona let her continue forward. Still grinning, Tammy came up and placed a hand on her back.
"Come. Sit."
Allowing herself to be led, she sat down at the table. Tammy pushed her chair in. Nona wasn't sure if she felt like a date being treated like a princess, or a little kid. Maybe there was no difference between the two? As Tammy sat down opposite her, Goldie moved the cart next to the table. With moves obviously well rehearsed, she poured dark red wine into each cup. Stepping back, she waited. Tammy took her glass, raising it.
"To two years."
Nona blushed. Two years. Two years ago, she had come to work at Bells. Two years ago, she had seen Tammy for the first time. Just an older girl working up in the customer service counter. No one special.
"To two years."
Their glasses clinked.

****

"Rendang!"
Tammy grinned. That one cry of joy had made the entire day of slaving over a wok worth it. The beautiful Malay's hands were literally trembling as she moved the fork to spear one of the chunks of spicy meat. It was sort of a curry, but not quite, one of the recipes she had contributed to their store of knowledge almost a year ago. It had been too spicy for some of the others, ingredients were hard to find (especially once alien meat had to replace their depleted Earth stock), so had not made the regular menu. For this special evening, though...
Nona took her first bite.
The change in the girl's expression was NOT good. Tammy groaned.
"Did I screw it up?"
She could see the warring emotions on Nona's face. She didn't WANT to say anything bad, obviously. Another bite, another involuntary grimace. Nona slowly put the fork down. Looking up at Tammy, her eyes were apologetic.
"It... it's not BAD, really. I've had worse..."
Tammy burst out laughing. She grabbed the cup of wine, raising it in toast.
"Just what every chef longs to hear!"
Clearly relieved no offense was given, Nona grinned and raised her own cup.
"To Rendang that tastes like I made it!"
"Oh!" Tammy put her glass back down, recoiling in horror. "You didn't say it was THAT bad!"
"You saying I can't cook?"
"I used your recipe!"
"Don't blame me!"

****

Goldie, back on all fours for the moment, watched the two women laugh and eat in the candlelight. It was all so... romantic. She had started to watch the romantic movies in the ship's collection, those her brother and the other men derided as "chick films". So, too, was she reading the few books Alicia had brought on her phone. Those were more... physical than the films, about kissing, touching. She always felt her body responding when she read those parts.
This, though... just seeing two people in love, was better than any movie or book. They would be kissing later. And dancing. And kissing. She'd be gone, then, though. After desert, she'd take the dishes away and leave them.
Would she ever have a candlelight dinner? Dance, with a boy or girl she loved?
"Goldie?"
Tammy was turned to her, smiling. Pushing herself to her feet, Goldie walked over to clear the table.

****

Nona pressed her body against Tammy's, swaying to the music. She had no idea who the singer was, and didn't care. All that mattered was the heart she could feel beating next to her own. She was lost. Lost to the passage of time, to everything that wasn't them.
"Hey."
Tammy's voice floated into her ear. Eyes closed, Nona just hummed in reply. She could feel Tammy's laughter.
"Having fun, my little Malay?"
"Mmmm..." Nona pulled her head back. The two women looked at each other, noses touching. Tammy's eyes... she could just get lost in them. Not even thinking, she leaned in, touching her lips to Tammy's.
It was the first time she had taken the lead. Nona could feel the surprise in Tammy, but there was only a moment's hesitation before the blonde's lips parted, soft tongue coming out to play. Her hands began sliding down Nona's back. She reveled in the feel of her lover's touch. They slid down, moving from her back onto her bottom... and she felt Tammy pause. Giggling, something she had thought she'd NEVER do, Nona broke the kiss off to look at the happily surprised woman in her arms.
"Yes?"
"Why you little..." The strong, yet delicate, hands moved again over her ass, the lack of underwear now accepted fact. Nona moved her own hands down Tammy's side, knowing she would find the same there. Suddenly, one of Tammy's hands slid over to the slit in her dress, touching the bare skin of her thigh. It moved up, and over, cupping bare ass. Nona gasped.
"Are you ready?" Tammy whispered. Nona nodded, eyes closed. She was ready. She had been ready, almost from the start, if she had been willing to be honest with herself. She loved Tammy. Loved her. Wanted her. Needed her.
"Love me..."
"I do..."

****

Nona lay on the grass, dress gone. The sky above was the colored streaks and swirls of whatever dimension warp travel took them through. Her mind, too, was all swirls of pleasure and emotion. She could feel light kisses traveling up her right inner thigh. She spread her legs farther, waiting. Waiting for the first touch. The first touch of her lover. The first touch that would make her a woman...
"Aaah!"
It was so light. Just a lick, at the edge of her sex. Another. A wet flick over the smooth wetness of her body. Her body was so tense, but it was the tenseness of eager anticipation. Every glorious touch seemed magnified, Tammy took her time, letting the girl accept each new feeling before going on to the next. When her lips were parted, Nona feeling that wondrous tongue entering her, she couldn't help but let out a cry. Others would hear. They were supposed to be in the lounge down below, watching a movie, but she knew they could still hear. Didn't care if they heard. Nona, stuffy, repressed Nona...
...was coming.

****

"When did you first fall in love?"
Nona's question, half muffled by the breast she was snuggling against, caught Tammy by surprise. She was still recovering from the girl's magic fingers. Nona's hand was sliding up her stomach, leaving a wet trail to cool in the evening air. Bringing a hand up to caress the dark girl's face, she considered.
"With you?"
"No... you love me?"
Nona's eyes still showed doubt. With all the serious in the universe, Tammy nodded.
"I love you."
She offered no further details. No further protests of emotion. Nona wasn't one to need that. The girl... the woman, could sense the truth. Nona snuggled her body closer, legs bending to intertwine with Tammy's. 
"I love you. This has to be love. How do I know? What if it's just... lust? How did you know, the first time?"
Tammy sighed. Her mind cast back, over girlfriends, lovers. Sensing her thoughts, Nona pushed herself up, raising her own hand, still wet, to caress Tammy's face. Without any thought Tammy took the hand and brought it to her lips, slowly sucking each finger clean. Nona smiled, eyes waiting. Tammy rolled over on her side, the two women adjusting until they faced each other.
"My first love... my very first love, not a crush, not a girlish love, but REAL love... was the brother of a girlfriend."
"Brother?"
Tammy nodded. From the look in Nona's eyes, her own eyes must have shown the sadness that had suddenly welled up in her. Swallowing, wanting to tell, she lightly kissed her lover, and began.

****

His name was Brian.
Tammy first saw him the second time she went home with Cathy after school. The skinny, brown haired waif of a girl had come up to Tammy after a soccer game, gushing about how good she had been that afternoon, how cool she was. An old hand, by now, at picking up the signals of those who at least had some leanings in the same direction she did, even if they had never acted on them yet, she had looked the girl over and liked what she saw. A couple days of talking, some innuendo, inviting Cathy to "spot" for her as she worked out... Soon they were in Cathy's bed, naked and sweaty, making the most of the two hours before her parents got home.
The second time, though, as Tammy pulled her beat up Toyota into the driveway, Cathy next to her had a disgusted look on her face.
"Ugh. HE'S here."
"Who?"
"Brother."
They walked into the house. Cathy grabbed Tammy's hand, starting to lead her upstairs, when... he appeared at the end of the hall.
Brian was nothing special to look at. Especially to one, and this had been well established by then, who had no sexual interest at all in the male gender. He was fifteen, a year younger than the two girls, with curly black hair and a few pimples. A somewhat scrawny body was covered by a shirt for some band Tammy had never heard of and faded jeans. The look he gave his sister was... amused.
"New friend?"
"Fuck off!"
With that, Tammy was yanked by the smaller girl up into the hallway and into her room. The door was slammed shut, Mia Hamm poster protesting its home's treatment. Cathy threw herself onto the pink bed, rolling onto her back.
"God! Can you believe him?"
Amused, having seen this type of family dynamic before, Tammy crawled onto the bed over the slim girl. Cathy's face changed from pissed to yearning desire. With a growl, Tammy dove in.

****

Dressed again, Tammy quietly walked down the front stairs. It had been good. She liked the small, girlish types, and for someone who had never been with a woman before Cathy was very eager to please. She could still feel that last orgasm. If only Cathy had not seen the clock, jumping up to take a much needed shower. Tammy liked cuddling, liked a goodbye kiss...
The sound of a familiar video game came from down the hall. Curious, knowing there was still a half hour until the parents returned, she walked through the house. In the doorway of the den, she paused. The brother was sprawled on the couch, playing Grandia 2. Looking, she saw it was even the old Sega Dreamcast version, the familiar white controller in his hands. He was about mid game, if her memory was right.
"You two done for the day?"
His voice was... half amused, half resigned, with maybe a hint of disapproval. Or maybe she was imagining that last part. It's what she expected to hear.
"She's taking a shower. Has to wash the shame away."
There was a bitterness in her voice. She knew that wasn't it. Cathy was not at all reluctant. And, yet...
He turned to her, battle paused on the screen. His eyes... they seemed to look right into her.
"She's a good girl. It may just be a game to her now, but... give her time."
Tammy stepped back, shocked. Brian turned back to his game. She stood there, watching. Only when the living room clock struck the quarter hour did she finally make her way to the car.

****

For the next three months, she and Cathy were an item. They didn't try and hide it, too much. There were no public displays, to be sure, but both sets of friends knew. Tammy made appearances at the house with parents home, as a close friend, and if the adults suspected more, there was no sign (pro or con). Brian, too, was around. They talked. Whenever Cathy was busy, or if Tammy happened to stop by while she was out, somehow she always found herself sitting with the boy, talking. About old games. Politics. Religion. He made her laugh. He made her think. On days when Cathy was being a real bitch, which began to happen more and more, Tammy would bring her date home early, go to the nearby park to sit... and, a half hour later, Brian would come walking up to sit on the next swing over. They'd talk, about everything except his sister.
It was the happiest time of her life.

****

She saw it happen.
That was the worst, maybe. She saw the truck hit him. Saw him... saw...

****

Nona gathered the older woman in her arms, letting her cry into her bare shoulder. She shouldn't have asked. Should have known better. Naturally, every love before this would have ended in tragedy, or at least sorrow! Otherwise, it wouldn't be a "past" love!
But, still, how could this be a love? How could what she had felt for this, well, boy, qualify? Holding her close, she shook her head.
"I don't understand."
Tammy sniffled, composing herself. She pulled back, meeting her confused gaze.
"Love isn't sex. Isn't desire, or friendship. It's... real love is something beyond. Something that has nothing to do with gender, or age. I loved him. With every fiber of my being. He made me feel like no girlfriend ever has. If he had been first... if I had met him in middle school... maybe I'd consider myself bi. At the very least, I'd have learned to at least accept boys just to be with him. I still may have, later, if we stayed friends after Cathy and I ended. At the very least we could have been friends..."
"You don't love me, do you?"
Tammy didn't protest. Nona was grateful for that. She just looked at her through tear full eyes.
"Like that, no. Not yet. I do love you, Nona. You know that. Can feel that. But.."
"But it's too soon."
Tammy nodded, hand coming up to touch her cheek. Only when she felt the tears being wiped away did Nona realize she was crying too.
"We have forever together, Nona. I love you more than any woman I've been with. That, Love, is the truth. Open yourself to me. Let me into your soul."
Taking her right hand, Nona drew it to her heart.
"You're already there..."

Chapter 13

The thrill of new books was wearing thin.
For a heavy reader, like Justin, the past year had been hell. Imagine: all there was to read, potentially for the rest of their lives (and their children's lives), was the contents of eight cellphones and iPods. Oh, sure, by pure chance both he and Melinda had the amazingly large storage in their phones filled with tons of books: the complete catalogs of Lovecraft, King, McCaffrey, Bear, Norman, and others, alongside equally large music collections. Their favorites would always be there for them. There had been little in the libraries of the other employees, though, just the title or two they were reading. So little, compared to the infinite wealth of words he had grown up with! Just made you cry.
Mary, for all he was happy to have her with them, had depressed Justin even more. Her phone had... nothing. No music. No books. No movies. In the decade they had been gone, everything had been moved up into some "cloud". No internet access... no content.
Fuck clouds.
Thus, Justin had jumped into the study of the squirrel books out of the joy of reading as much as a desire for knowledge. It was new. It was interesting.
At the start.
Two weeks in, and he was starting to get sick of squirrel "literature". To start with, he had never been that into religion. Oh, sure, church, Jesus, God, all that. He believed. He had never actually read the books Jesus wrote, though, leaving that to his Mom and others. It wasn't like it had mattered, and quite frankly he preferred fiction. Thus, the... quality of the religious texts before him, the style of arguments, were totally unfamiliar. They made his brain hurt. Melinda, bless her, seemed to have more of a knack for it. Comparative religion was actually a bit of a hobby of hers, she had said, if only so she could laugh at the silliness of other faiths. Justin had started pushing most of the books towards her. Let her try and cut through the crap to the underlying facts.
The hand written English texts weren't all they had now, though. Among the possessions destined for the second temple were data spheres with thousands of books. All untranslated.
Yeah, that was going to do them a lot of good in the short term.
Justin looked across the Commons. Sarah floated before the wall screen, fingers flicking quickly across the virtual keyboard. She was translating. Well, in theory, both translating and teaching the computer how to translate, but they had already learned the software onboard was not up to the task. Its Malay/Orang to English translations had been... horrible, Nona able to do much better work even when it used her instructions. That they were on a spaceship with computer systems in some ways a decade or two behind what they had at home was one of the many puzzling things in their lives.
He returned to the books floating before him. It was the first of Sarah's translations, done not because of importance but because it was the only physical book with major portions not in English. One of their few remaining spiral notebooks had been sacrificed to the cause, the black furred newcomer's careful English script laid out so it could easily be matched to the original. Composition, the placement of paragraphs among the illustrations and English phrases were important. It told a creation myth. Not the one, according to Sarah, traditional to the M'ntsn. It was new, and thus related in some way to She Who Saw's visions.
Probably why it was crazy.
The claim was that Earth was the creator of the universe. Or, at least, Humans. The two words were used interchangeably. It was all dragons, daemons, gods, good, evil, mashed up into a confusing mess. The timeline went back and forth, the future changing the past, and all matter of weirdness.
Justin closed the book again. His head hurt.
"Justin!"
The door to the bridge opened, Goldie and Mary floating in. Goldie was her usual happy, furry self, wearing a necklace they had picked up for her a few planets back for a birthday gift. In zero g like this, she was almost human, movements not much different than the bipeds among them. Her breasts, at least to Justin, became more of an issue. Maybe it was time they got some clothing on her. Mary wore a loose shirt and shorts, hair tied back in a pony tail. Her mother was sure going to town making new outfits for the girl.
Not that he paid attention to the outfits the young teens wore or didn't wear.
"So," he asked the pair, grinning, "what's on the agenda for the day?" Justin saw Sarah pause, listening. He ignored her for now.
"Chuck wants to teach me how to change out a droid's power supply," Mary said, seeming to blush a bit. Goldie, coming to a stop using a ceiling handhold, gave a disgusted grunt.
"It's HARD. I tried."
Justin sighed. The girl's body just didn't agree with most work. Mary was following the same path Danny and Goldie, and Rinda before them, had followed: spend time with everyone as they went around their daily tasks, find out what they were interested in and good at. Goldie STILL followed that path. Taking in her attitude, it was obvious that the two friends were not both involved in this robotic test. He thought a moment, then pushed the notebook towards Goldie.
"Want to help me make sense of all this?"
"Sure!"
Her expression brightened immediately. Justin smiled. She just wanted to be useful.

****

Alicia sat on the examination table, clothing in a pile on the floor. She had never really liked doctor visits. Part of it, probably, was the scar. The constant examinations after the accident, the touching, the questions, had made her self-conscious about a flaw she had wanted to just disappear, wanted others to ignore. Not that anyone had ever ignored it. Every eye was drawn there, her paranoid mind kept telling her. It was all others saw... but, after awhile, that became a secondary issue with regard to doctors. The main one was that the idea of some old adult prodding her body, especially "down there", just gave her the willies. Well... usually. Her doctor as a kid had been a man, and at some point she got a kind of crush on him. Maybe because he had called her "beautiful", and completely ignored the well healed scar. It was short lived, though. Mom must have noticed, since in seventh grade she had switched her over to a female one. That ended that, and things went back to being weird.
That was definitely the case here. She was being examined by Nona. A friend. Not a CLOSE friend, to be sure, in the way her girlfriends in the olden days had been. Brandi examining her would have been silly and fun, and in fact while both girls had been totally straight they had examined each other on sleepovers. Nona, though, was a friend through necessity. Someone she trusted and respected, yes. Maybe even liked. But...
"So, has the baby been kicking?"
Nona, dressed in the white lab coat she always wore for these things, walked up holding a computer pad. It was obvious she, too, wasn't too comfortable with all this. Her eyes tried to stay on Alicia's face, or swollen belly. That hadn't been the case before. The Malay had always been clinical about this kind of thing. Why the change...
Ah.
Tammy.
Feeling a bit more at ease, now that she understood, Alicia placed her hand on her belly button and rubbed.
"He's been a bit active. More than I expected, being Justin's kid."
"Well, you haven't swallowed any books for him to read, so he's bored."
Alicia's eyes shot up Nona's face, surprised.
"Both Justin and Daium use that same joke."
"Well, I'm sure it's just as funny the hundredth time." Giving her a weak smile, Nona began the exam. Alicia was prodded, poked, scanned. They did NOT have an ultrasound, and naturally x-rays were out of the question. Just another limitation they had to deal with. At least the latest remodeling had turned the old tractor trailer, parked at one edge of the dome park, into a reasonably clean and modern clinic. Nona had pushed for moving their sickbay into it, despite the space limitations. She had argued that this way, once they DID find a planet, the entire structure could just be picked up and moved off the ship to form part of their initial settlement.
Whether that would be practical when the time came remained to be seen.
****
"All done."
Alicia let out a long breath, relieved. Perhaps her main objection, her main problem with these exams, was that Nona seemed to know what she was doing. Alicia was jealous. This was serious, hard work that needed someone very smart to do it, and the younger woman was doing extremely well with few resources. Alicia couldn't do it. That was for certain. Oh, yes, what she did with the sensors on the bridge took skill and brains as well, don't get her wrong. But this... there had been nobody, literally nobody, to teach Nona medicine.
Then again, she could just be faking it.
Sitting up, Alicia was about to get to her feet when Nona bent down and grabbed the pile of discarded clothing, putting them on the bed next to the blonde. Grabbing the bra, she nodded her thanks.
"So, any problems, Doc?"
Nona shook her head, double checking her notes. She was always so serious.
"Nope, not that I can see. You're about the same as Melinda was at this stage..."
"That is NOT reassuring."
"...and you line up with Hannah. I have the sickening feeling you two will also pump out your kids close together."
"If she goes first, you have my promise that I'll try and hold my legs together for at least another day."
"Thanks."
Slipping her underwear on, Alicia watched Nona remove the long white coat and hang it up next to the desk. Photos of her parents hung on the wall, blown up from cell phone images. Alicia, with a new phone, had yet to put any pictures on it that fateful night. In a way, that had made it easier to adjust, or so she told herself. She rarely thought of her family, or her boyfriend... damn it, what had been his name again? A change on the desk distracted Alicia. There, propped up next to a potted flower... was a photo of Tammy. With a grin, Alicia arched an eyebrow at her.
"So... how is it going?"
"How is..." Nona's expression, at first puzzled, changed to a blush. One hand moved, as if to take down the photo of her significant other, then just dropped. Alicia laughed.
"Come on, dish! What's going on? How is it?"
"It's..." With a sigh, Nona dropped into the swivel desk chair. She began to swivel, eyes anywhere but on Alicia. "I don't know what to say."
Man, was she that out of practice talking about girl things? A guilty pang hit Alicia. She had been left out of a lot. By her own choice, to be certain, but... Alicia and the others should have tried to include her. Talk to her. Well, now that she was in the relationship club, maybe she'd be more open.
"Are you happy at least? With her?"
"Yes!" It came out so quickly, Alicia had to laugh again. Ah, first love!
"Well, tell me about it! Every girl needs someone she can brag or bitch to!"
She could see the blush on Nona, her one hand playing with her skirt. The girl's eyes went to Tammy's photo.
"It's all so... new. I honestly just lose myself when I'm with her. I'm someone different."
Alicia nodded.
"Been there, done that."
"And, it's... scary. Really scary. And wonderful, and sweet, incredible..."
"And you're falling, and you don't want to stop, because when you do you know it'll kill you." Nona looked up at her, eyes wide. Alicia nodded. "Hey, I've been in love. A few times. It's not easy, believe me."
"Does it get easier?"
Alicia shook her head, standing up on her bare feet, unconsciously smoothing her blouse and skirt.
"It changes, over time. Becomes more... comfortable. But, at least for me, that feeling never really changes." Thoughts of Daium filled her mind. It was her turn to blush. Expression turning a bit shyer, she pushed herself back up to sit on the bed. Nona's eyes widened in surprise. "Nona... do you want to... talk?"
"Huh?" The unstated second part of that sentence was that obviously they already were talking. Alicia smiled, suddenly feeling tired.
"I mean..." she looked around the trailer, at the ship beyond. "We never broke up into cliques here. Which is good, yes, we're all together, no one REALLY isolated." Again, she felt a bit guilty, but pushed on. "But... I'm a kind of reluctant lesbian. Daium was the first, and so far as my body and mind are telling me, ONLY woman I want to be with. Before Tammy, did you ever have thoughts..."
"No." Nona blushed, looking down at her skirt again. Alicia nodded.
"Do you want to talk?"
Nona looked back up, eyes shining.
"Yes."

****

Mary didn't know why she was doing this.
There was the reason that WASN'T the reason, for sure. She was not here in the droid repair bay because of Danny. Nope. That for sure wasn't it. She in no way had ANY desire to spend more time near that freakish half human, especially in a place where he tended to remove his shirt from his sweaty, glistening, well formed chest. God, why couldn't he leave that ON? Nobody should see that! And, it wasn't because she was in anyway mechanically minded, or enjoyed hard labor.
Or so she had thought.
Dad had not been a very handy person. He didn't have a workbench in the basement, or a tool set out in the garage. If a toy broke, they tried some glue, but if that didn't work into the trash it went. Her grandmothers had tried to teach her sewing, and she did like that a bit, but mostly she had been like Dad. Just let others that are better at it do the work.
This was different, for some reason. Maybe it was because the work was done in the weightless part of the ship, still a novelty for her. Maybe because Chuck, for an older married guy who WASN'T inhumanly hunky, was kind of cool. And, maybe, it just turned on a switch in her that had been dusty and unused.
"OK, before you is a hull repair droid, used, theoretically, to repair the hull. Thankfully, we've never had to see if they actually work. You'll notice it works purely via thrusters, no wheels. One reason we're working on it down here, and not up in wonderful gravity. Plus, it was designed to be serviced like this."
"That's silly," she said, maneuvering around the egg shaped robot twice her size. Chuck nodded.
"Welcome to my world. OK, first task: using just the instructions on your pad there, remove the cover and point out the battery pack."
Mary grabbed the tool from her belt. To her left, she could sense Danny pausing in whatever work he was doing that she totally didn't care about. His eyes seemed to be burning into her... or, at least in her imagination they were. Goldie had said her brother kind of liked her. Wanted to know if she liked him. Which, no... no! God, no! No...
Before her mental protests began to sound hollow even to her, she began.

****

Daium's eyes had a hard time leaving little Jeli. Her nephew (that's what the little baby was, wasn't he?) was sucking happily on Rinda's left breast. His black, furless skin was bright and shiny, looking so different than an Orang baby yet the same. Reaching out a hand, she caressed his back. It was the same skin as hers, as Rinda's. Tough, yet smooth. Her hand slid up, into the tangled mass of blue hair on his little head. And it was hair, it seemed. Not fur, but human hair.
Did she want a baby like this? Before, the answer was yes. With no doubt in her mind. From the first time she had seen Justin, or so her memory now told her, she had wanted to bear his child. Had wanted to bring a life into this world that was both Human and Orang. Now such a child existed. Most likely, if the looks Chuck and Rinda still gave each other were any indication, there were more to come. A new species.
Was having Justin's child still so important?
She could be infertile. It had been a year, after all, a year in which every other female paired with a male had conceived. Alicia had conceived, so it wasn't Justin that was the problem. She was the problem...
"Do you want to hold him?"
Daium looked up, startled. Rinda was re-buttoning her shirt, smiling at her cousin. Jeli let out a burp, looking around. He was so cute, four eyes taking in all the colors of the garden. Outfit decent once again, Rinda held her son out to her.
"Take him. I need to make a quick run to the bathroom. I'll be back soon."
"You can just squat over there," Daium said, not startled enough to miss the obvious joke. Rinda chuckled, strangely mirroring both Chuck and Melinda. Their influence was so heavy on her, at times she didn't even seem Orang.
But, then, how Orang was Daium?
"I am civilized," Rinda said. She held Jeli out a little father. With a wan smile she hoped wasn't taken the wrong way, Daium took him. His first act was to grab onto her blackish grey fur, just under her breast. His grip was strong. Rinda stood, letting out a slight groan.
"I'll be back. Don't let him grab your glasses. He almost broke Melinda's."
That would not be good, this far from anywhere. Daium had no backups. Frames probably COULD be repaired, or at least temporarily replaced. Still, there was no need to tempt fate. She'd keep the little guy down low.
That wouldn't be easy. As soon as her hold on him loosened, just cradling him in her arms, Jeli turned and began to try and crawl up her. Black hands with little tiny clear fingernails reached up and grabbed onto her bra, using the woven cup to leverage his body upwards. Laughing, she put both hands around his waist and moved him to sit on her knee. He immediately became distracted by her skirt, and the flowers printed on it.
Did she still want a son? Or a daughter? Did she want a little baby like this, all of her own? To love, to raise... she could help raise the others. She did not have to give birth to be a mother. With so many babies, and so few of them, all would be raised by the entire crew. What did she want... and, more, what did she, in her heart, need?
Skirt now boring him, Jeli reached again up towards her glasses, now so far away. He was so much more active then Melinda's girl. Carol just lay there, not doing much as of yet, apart from being cute. Hannah had said that was the normal way of things for humans, that they took awhile to grow up. Longer than any other creature on Earth. Heck, it took almost two decades before they were adults, a side effect of a species that could live to be eighty, or a hundred.
A hundred....
Daium sighed. Justin could live to be a hundred. Orang lived... what, fifty? If that? How long did they have together?
Taking advantage of her distraction, Jeli again began the climb up her body. Laughing, she put all that aside. She had to defend her glasses!

****

"Done!"
Mary pushed herself away from the droid, adrenalin surging through her. She had done it. Actually done it. With no help, no assistance. Just her, the instructions, and an alien robot. She had managed to find the power cell, replace it, diagnose why it wasn't working and fix the problem. She wanted to shout. She wanted to brag. She wanted ... wanted...
She wanted to do it again.
Mary looked over at Chuck. He and Danny had another droid completely disassembled, parts attached to fasteners all around them. She saw him glance up, take in the scene, and nod.
"Good work. Quick. If you're not tired, want to help us with this?"
Tired?
She could do this all day!

****

"You're asking the wrong person," Sarah sighed. Sipping her drink, she shook her head at the other two floating in the Commons with her. The three had agreed, with the unspoken bond sometimes forged among those with a common task, that they were done for the day. The drink bar had been broken into, liquid refreshment liberated as reward for boring, fruitless work. Justin let out an exasperated noise.
"Well, you're the only one we CAN ask, that's what makes it annoying." She shrugged.
"Sorry."
"Not your fault. You didn't know you had to study up on all this."
"Does it matter?" Goldie asked. Her cheeks reddened as the two adults regarded her. "I... I mean, we have LOTS of time to read all this. We don't have to know everything NOW. With the three of us, it'll go fast!" She saw Justin chuckle. He reached out, putting a hand on her head and ruffling her golden fur. She liked that. She knew why the others didn't touch her like that much, but she still liked it. Goldie beamed at him, trying to convey that feeling. His hand scratched between her ears.
"So, you like these boring books."
"They're FUN!" Her eyes widened, arms moving in excitement. "Danny told me some of the stuff Nona tried to teach him about God and such, but she didn't have any books. This is much more interesting! All the stuff about Gods, and magic, and quantum entanglement, and sex..."
Her hand went over her mouth, keeping any other embarrassing admissions from flowing outwards. She could feel her face turn beet red. Justin just laughed.
"I don't know which is a worse place to read about sex, this stuff or Melinda's GOR books, but don't worry. You're hired. Your secret is safe with us."
"Um," Sarah said, eyes plainly now curious, "what are these GOR books you mentioned?"

Chapter 14

Sarah woke for the start of another day.
They left her alone. That, perhaps, was the source of most of her depression. She had her own little corner of the garden, with her few possessions, changes of clothes, and a bottle of water. Every evening, after dinner, and any entertainment planned (often a movie, sometimes Melinda reading and acting out parts of one of her favorite books, to laughter and catcalls), Sarah separated from the others and came here. She sat, thought. Maybe read. Then sleep, only to start again the next morning.
It was not a life.
She understood. They hadn't accepted her. Not yet. Oh, Justin, and maybe some others, talked to her, somewhat. But... only when there was something to say. Never... about nothing. The girls still gave her looks, even while showing off the babies to her. Almost as if to lay claim to their man, even though she had made absolutely no move towards any of them.
Maybe she should. Anthony... intrigued her.
Sitting up, she stretched. Her body was slimmer, at least a little bit. A combination of human food, and the slightly higher gravity of the dome living space, had taken a bit of weight off of her. She was also doing gardening, although that wasn't all that labor intensive. The others took turns with the watering and such, and she was included in that rotation. It was fun. She had never done much with living things before, much less plants, and they definitely had a beauty to them. That the humans had surrounded themselves with all this said something. What, exactly, she wasn't sure yet.
It was still dark around her. The others, she knew, would be waking soon, going through their morning routine. Judging by the very faint glow coming from the large lights that would soon be simulating dawn, she had a bit over an hour before breakfast. An hour to herself. Stretching again, getting the kink out of her muscles, she spread her legs. Leaning forward, she opened herself with the fingers of her left hand, two fingers of her right slipping inside her sex. Her body shivering with the contact, Sarah began her morning exercises.

****

Anthony's hand slowly ran over the soft curve before him.
The body of a pregnant woman, he had come to discover, was perhaps the very definition of beauty. For half a year the woman asleep beside him had been changing, life growing within her. Every altered curve, every swell of the belly and breast, only succeeded in bringing another lump to his throat. Anthony couldn't even imagine Hannah as she had been. She was the woman before him now. Radiant. Incredible.
Snoring.
His eyes flicked up to the clock. Well, it was time to wake her. Not time to actually get up, but there was always quite a delay between when they woke and when the bed was actually abandoned. She lay on her side, facing away from him. How to attack the problem...
Gently, Anthony slid up against her. His cock, mostly hard, made its temporary home nestled up between her two lower cheeks. Kissing her neck, his right hand slid down her side, over the swell of her hip, dipping in between her legs. Fingers feeling soft brown hairs, they followed the trail down until folds and slight wetness revealed his target. With long practice, his middle finger divided smooth lips, sliding up and down between them, as the others gently rubbed around her sex. After a minute, the body next to him began to stir, his finger now wetter. Curving it, he entered, rewarded with a drowsy gasp.
"Oh, no, stop," came a drowsy, joking voice, music to his ears. "I'm being molested in my sleep. Anthony, save me..." Her body pushed back against him, hips now moving of their own volition. A second finger entering her, his lips moved up to her ear.
"I'm not sure I can. You may have to save yourself..."
With speed belying her condition, Anthony found himself on his back, Hannah swinging her leg over him as hands pinned his arms up next to his head. With long familiarity, she dropped down, engulfing him.
"Take that, you rapist..."
Anthony groaned, in the thrill of defeat...

****

Sarah's breath came shorter, faster.
The daily regimen of exercising the vagina, attempting to stretch it, was perhaps the last remaining vestige of her temple training. The rest had fallen aside. It was easy, once outside of the circle of novices, to slip back into what until three years ago had been the real her. Not that she had been something else, really. Sarah had not so much given up herself to the Temple, as taken on attributes that were extra. Mostly. She HAD discovered some things inside herself that had been repressed. Or ignored.
For example, orgasms.
M'ntsn males were small, puny things. They had small, puny phalluses. The Temple had shown Sarah she did not have to settle. She could have pleasure, pleasure beyond what any of her kind could provide. Pleasure...
Fingers together, her entire hand up to the knuckles pounded in and out. Against her will, his image appeared before her eyes. Tall. Hair as black as her own, on his head as well as between his lips and nose. His eyes... those eyes... she wanted him. Imagined him nude, standing before her, like one of She Who Fucked's paintings. Imagined his hardness. His hardness inside her....
Mouth open, she silently screamed into the empty garden.
The ritual was over.

****

Hannah could feel her husband's eyes on her as she bent over to pick yesterday's dress off the floor. From the bed, he probably had a good view of her profile, belly rounded, breasts hanging down. She paused, holding that pose. Without turning to face him, she smiled.
"Like what you see?"
"Always."
It was the honesty in such praise that always got to her. While Anthony, she was sure, could be a charmer, in bars or out on the dance floor, she had only ever seen honest attraction in his eyes. Maybe he was good at faking that, who knew. And, so long as she never found out, it didn't matter. Position starting to stress parts of her now susceptible to stress, she continued the motion and grabbed the dress. Standing, she balled it up, tossed it in the hamper, and moved to the closest to grab today's outfit. Her ass wiggled a bit, drawing a laugh from behind as the creaking bed indicated he had finally decided to join her in the land of the standing.
Her eyes swept over the day's clothing options. Tammy had mentioned some "girls day" activity for later on, possibly requiring an outfit change, but for breakfast just a once piece sundress would do. Purple, she thought. It was a purple day.
"So, what do you have planned, Honey?"
Not bothering with underwear, she slipped the dress over her head. She had already washed up a bit, using the basin they kept in the corner. Nice big bathroom at the end of the floor, and it was often more convenient to just do things in the room. It avoided the morning rush, if nothing else. Although, if everyone was doing that, they had built that sucker for nothing...
"Not a heck of a a lot," his voice came to her, briefly muffled by a shirt passing over his head. She hadn't heard a wash cloth being used. Typical male. "Chuck mentioned something about a 'guys day out', so we'll probably be down in the ship for a bit."
"Sounds kinky."
"We'll take photos."
Deciding that she would, in fact, put some panties on, Hannah walked over to the dresser. Her eyes briefly touched on the Baby Mary shrine, still up in the corner.
"I'm not sure what Mary will do, if she can't spend the day playing with machines."
"Oh," said the voice right behind her, accompanied by arms going around her waist, "I'm sure she'll survive. You can try her again on more girlish activities." Smiling despite herself, she stopped and enjoyed the hug. His tall, lanky frame, now covered by jeans and a shirt, pressed against her. The roughness of his clothing rubbed against her skin, the thin dress almost not even there. She let out a sigh.
"I'm glad she enjoys it down there, but she doesn't seem to want to take sewing or cooking seriously. Unless it's just her and Goldie fooling around."
"Oh, don't worry about it." His lips kissed her neck, mustache tickling her skin. "There's lots of time for her to gain an interest. Maybe the sewing gene just skipped a generation, and you'll have to wait for her kids to come along."
Hannah felt her body stiffen. Damn it, she had been avoiding thinking about that. His arms tightened, sensing, as always, her mood. He always knew her mood. Always knew what to say. Her eyes closed as his voice spoke softly in her ear.
"Don't worry, Love. Chuck's watching out down there, and has Danny fully in hand. There probably will be kids, before she's 17, but that's just our new reality. It'll be awhile yet before the two of them are ready."
And if a problem could not be avoided, she shouldn't spend her strength worrying about it. She nodded.
"I know. Now, let me get some underwear on." Chuckling, he released her, stepping back. Opening the drawer, she sorted through it. Hannah, thinking ahead, and lacking good elastic, had created a series of panties based on what she remembered of her sizes while pregnant with Mary. Odds were this wouldn't be her last use of them, between the lack of birth control and little desire from either of them to hold back, so it wasn't like it was a waste to create good maternity clothing. She'd get her money's worth. Finding a pair with a small '6' embroidered on them, she grabbed it.
"I wonder what it's going to be like."
She looked up as she pulled the silk panties up her legs. Anthony was looking over at a new photo of Mary over on the vanity.
"What is going to be like?"
"Five generations from now. Human, Orang, and whatever those bear things Goldie and Danny's dad was, all mixed up. How are the genes going to mix?"
"Don't forget squirrel."
There. She'd said it. They should be getting downstairs, Tammy and Nona probably having breakfast already out on the table, but the opening had been there. They needed to talk about this. She saw his head slowly turn, eyebrows raised. All the well reasoned facts and arguments she'd been going over in her head for the past month came to the fore, and quickly vanished.
Typical.
"She's not staying," Anthony told her, stating again his position. He crossed his arms, leaning back against the cabin wall. "After we deal with the temple, however we deal with it, we send her on her way home."
"But..."
"No buts."

****

She wasn't proud.
Using some of the water in her drinking bottle, Sarah cleaned her hand off, using a bit more to clean between her legs. The Orang's would be able to smell it if she didn't. Maybe could smell it regardless. Who could say. At the very least, the odor wouldn't be enough to draw comment, or a distrustful look.
Humans were not playthings to be mated with. They were not otherworldly creatures, abstract, mythic. They were actual people.
Yet...
Damn it. She wanted him. The other three males, no. They did nothing for her. But, Anthony...
Slipping into her one piece dress, making sure the side ties were securely fastened, she made her way towards the store, towards breakfast. Maybe food would make her less horny.

****

The others were already seated and eating. There was a schedule, unofficial but more binding perhaps because each individual had chosen it for themselves. Tammy and Nona came down first, half dressed and drowsy, starting some hot caffeine enriched drinks brewing. Alicia was next, popping down to help as they decided that day's breakfast plan. The others slowly filtered down, order unchanging.
Last was Sarah.
"Over here!"
Sarah's mood lifted. Goldie, sitting with Danny and Mary away from the older Humans and Orang, was waving frantically. The other two seemed to exchange a glance that communicated much, although Sarah was not able to interpret such telepathy. An empty chair next to Danny, directly across from Goldie, awaited her, Goldie beaming as Sarah slipped into it. She squirmed for a moment, large furry tails not designed for seats such as this. Despite being older, she was the shortest at the table, a fact she took as reinforcement of her subservient position even among the youngsters.
"I'm glad you're here!" Goldie's human face was bubbly, furry ears on the top of her head twitching with excitement. She gave off such energy Sarah almost felt like running. Next to her, Danny just shook his head at his sister.
"OK, she's here. Now are you going to settle down and eat, or do Mary and I have to hold you down and pour orange juice down your throat?"
"Hey, why am I on your side?" Mary's eyes seemed to sparkle. Sarah had seen that sparkle before, when Hannah was with her man Anthony. Was this the human mating dance? The back and forth that led to pair bonding? There had been none between those two when she first came on board. Was it something she could try with Anthony? Or did the male have to initiate it? So much to learn...
"Sarah, I read that book you translated the other day!" The comments of the others seemed to wash off Goldie, at least when the youngster had a goal. An admirable trait. Sarah thought for a moment, trying to remember which one the furry girl could be referring to, as she went on. "It was SO interesting! I have so many questions!"
Well, questions she could answer, even not knowing exactly which book it was. She smiled, grabbing a fruit off the plate in the center of the table.
"Ask."
"Well, first, there's all the talk of bringing humans over. But, why nothing about you guys going to Earth? If it's such a paradise, why don't you want to go there?"
The murmur of voices from the other tables seemed to quiet, Goldie's loud question carrying quite well. It was a good one, too, although not one she herself had asked. Maybe she should have. Again, her mind cast back into her teachings.
"I... THINK, for I was far from the inner circles, that the machines that first allowed She Who Saw to see, were in fact allowing light from your world to enter ours, but NOT light from ours to enter yours. Thus, the first machines based on that first design would bring people this way, following the light." A memory came to the fore. "But, I think they were, are, working on something to go the other way. To send a volunteer to Earth. Perhaps to arrange transport of males, who knows. They were building something as I left, something HUGE. Expensive."
A moment's silence followed her words, conversation returning once it was clear she was done. Goldie's mouth twitched, as she considered the information. The other two had gone back to eating some sort of checkered bread covered with a brown, thick syrup. Sarah took a bite of her own fruit. It was sweet, juicy. Not as good as a nut, but more refreshing. Goldie leaned forward again, fur covered breasts coming down on the table top before being hidden behind her arms.
"OK. Makes sense! Next thing. Why is there so much talk about penises? And if she never actually had one in her mouth, why does She Who Fucked insist human semen tastes like hickory nuts?"

****

The four males floated in the Bells engine room.
"This isn't a 'bitch about the girls' meeting."
Chuck's opening comment had Anthony smiling. As if, really, they had anything to bitch about. Life wasn't perfect, no, but it was damned close as far as he was concerned. Justin, to his left, let out a mock sigh.
"Damn. I wanted to bitch about Alicia for a few hours. How the hell did you deal with two pregnant women, Chuck?"
"Set them against each other, and stayed out of the way."
They laughed. Even Danny, who probably was just thrilled to be included as an equal. Really, why shouldn't he be, given he was only four years younger than Justin and Chuck. Anthony, grabbing a ceiling handhold, decided to get down to business.
"So, what is this about?"
Chuck looked around the room.
"We have to make plans for if things go wrong."
He had their attention. Anthony nodded at him to continue.
"When we get to squirrel world, we don't know what we'll find, what our plan of attack will actually be. We DO know, however, we'll have two pregnant women and two babies. How do we keep them safe, who do we leave behind, and how do we get them ready to stay alive in case the shit hits the fan."
Justin shook his head.
"We just don't do anything stupid that puts us in danger. Then it's not an issue."
"It's not that simple. Who, now, can fly the ship on a moment's notice? Not learn, given time, but set good coordinates in an emergency and take off and warp?"
"Daium and me," Anthony said. Chuck nodded.
"Which means one of you gets left behind if we leave the ship for an 'away mission', or we have to spend the next month training up some of the girls to do it. I have Danny here as backup for the engines, with Mary coming along. We have to get everyone ready for the possibility we lose someone."
"No!" Justin shook his head more violently. "We don't put anyone in danger! Yes, we have to stop them from bringing others over, but it's not something I'm going to risk Daium or anyone else over! If we can't do it, we fall back!"
"Nona won't accept that."
Justin turned to Danny, surprised. The bear faced boy looked at him with sad eyes.
"I've talked to her. She wants that destroyed. At any cost. It took her away from her family, and she never, ever, wants anyone else to have to go through that."
"Hannah feels the same," Anthony added. He sighed. "She'll have to stay behind if it comes to that, naturally, but you didn't see her crying out in the middle of the night for her daughter. We shut it down, blow it up, convert everyone to Buddhism, whatever it takes."

****

The sight that greeted the males as they entered the garden put the legendary Eden to shame.
The girls were wearing bikinis. Skimpy, almost nonexistent bikinis, of various colors and styles. Red, blue, green... The ladies were stretched out on the ground, blankets and towels under them, one of the upper spotlights shining directly on the group. It was a breathtaking sight, to be sure. Anthony could hear the gasp from Danny, as he got his first look at an unclothed Mary. She was definitely her mother's daughter when seen this way, breasts under the stretched red fabric still small but full of potential. Goldie, though, was the real revelation. She, too, wore a bikini. The black fabric highlighted her breasts, revealed the secrets between her legs by the very act of covering them. For the first time, she looked like a furry woman.
Something had to be said, naturally. Something complimentary, yet witty.
"Having fun, ladies?"
OK, that probably wasn't it, but he was distracted. Hannah, eyes closed, shifted, bending one leg as she lay on her back.
"We're just taking in the sun. Getting some tanning in."
Anthony looked up. The sky, above the dome, was the usual dark swirl of colors. The spotlight, while bright, most likely was not suitable for tanning as such. Should he mention it? Naturally not. That's what they wanted.
Amusement clear on his face, Chuck walked over to his wives, kneeling between them. Rinda was on her back, both babies napping on a blue blanket next to her. Her four eyes regarded him drowsily.
"You know," Chuck said, hand going to her furry knee, "you really should have some suntan lotion on so you don't burn. Want me to rub it in for you?"
"I already DID her," Melinda said, turning her head as she lay on her front. "Why don't you do me?" Her bottom, much more rounded than Anthony would have given her credit for, wiggled suggestively. Shaking his head, he once again looked over at Mary.
It was only because he was looking at Mary's face that he caught that first reaction. Her eyes, perhaps to avoid seeing anyone looking at her and thus becoming more self conscious than she wanted to be, were on the universe beyond the dome. As Anthony watched, those eyes suddenly shot open. Thin arms pushed her body up, mouth falling open. Anthony immediately shot his own gaze upwards, seeing it the same moment warning klaxons rang throughout the ship.
Something was above them.
Nothing could be there. They were nowhere. In no time, no space. There was even no movement: it was more like they stayed still, while reality flowed around them. Yet, there it was: A cylinder. Tube. Something. It was a bright swirl of colors, stretching... you couldn't say. There was no sense of scale. It could be small and touching them, or lightyears away and larger than a solar system. It was short, though, compared to its diameter. A swirling tunnel of colors...
"What the hell is it?!" Alicia's cry cut through is mind. What WAS it? Was it dangerous? And the alarm! He knew it! It meant something specific! Daium was on her feet, eyes wide with recognition.
"It's the signal! From before!"
That was it! The ship was picking up the same energy pattern as when Mary came through! Did that mean this was...!
It suddenly flashed. Hands shot up over watering eyes. Anthony couldn't look away. He had to see. See what this was. See what had just happened...
"NOOOOOO!"
Nona's scream cut through his mind like a knife.
He saw.
Just for a moment.
The tunnel, for that was what it had been, had vanished. Gone. There, silhouetted by the exploding light, had been three shapes. One was like a boat. A small one, for a lake, or river. Next to it... not in it, but next to it, were two smaller shapes, one half the size of the other.
Like little stick figures.

****

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!"
Sarah didn't see her cry draw every eye to her. She didn't even notice her legs failing her, her body falling to its knees. Her eyes never left the sky. The dark, swirling sky. Even after the light faded, even after all traces of the portal were gone, she could still see it.
She had believed the humans. Believed them when they said that what She Who Saw was doing was wrong. Believed them when they said the rituals must be stopped.
But now she knew.
And KNOWING, KNOWING....
She fell to the grass, crying the tears of sin.
"WE DIDN'T KNOW!" 

Chapter 15

Hannah paused at the break in the path.
Her doubts about her intentions, the wisdom of this choice, were washed away by the sight in the darkness before her. Sarah lay, on the grassy patch they had given her, curled up in a ball. Her black fur blended into the shadows, faintly outlined in the dim light that was midnight in the ship garden, but Hannah's eyes had adjusted well. The large furry tail twitched, as if bad dreams tormented the poor girl. It was doubtful she was asleep, though. Not tonight.
Hannah glanced around. She needed backup. Someone to help her, keep her from backing down. The garden was empty, though, the store dark and silent. She was on her own...
Movement caught her eye. Two shapes, slender, quietly slipped out of  the bottle return door. They saw Hannah, paused, then slowly walked towards her. They were nude, Melinda's pale flesh in stark contrast to Rinda's blue fur. Hannah had to admire their confidence, having slipped on that day's dress before leaving the bedroom. Robes and nightgowns had not made her tailoring schedule yet. Not wanting to wake Sarah yet, she strode towards the girls.
"Out for a walk?" She kept her voice low, crossing her arms over her chest. Just looking at those two made it seem like she was the naked one. Melinda reached up and adjusted her glasses, looking over towards the sleeping Sarah.
"We just put the babies down to sleep. She doing OK?"
"No. And I don't think we've been doing OK by her."
"That's not our fault," Rinda muttered, voice betraying her true feelings. Her arms hugged herself, a slight shiver running through her. The night air wasn't quite as warm as they were used to.
"Forget the past, we worry about the now," Melinda said. Her eyes regarded Hannah thoughtfully. "You offering Anthony?"
Hannah almost took a step back at that. Damn, she was observant. Letting out a sigh, she shook her head.
"He wants her gone, when this is over. Probably because he notices the looks she gives him. I... I don't want to toss her out."
Melinda nodded.
"I told Chuck, when the whole thing started, I'd be willing to share him because pairing up was going to leave some out. Naturally," she chucked, "if you don't count our two furry companions it turns out we actually did pair up nicely."
"But the point still stands," Hannah said. "Goldie is going to need someone. And Sarah."
"I don't like sharing..." Rinda's voice was one on its final argument. Melinda reached out and touched her arm.
"Tammy."
Rinda seemed to deflate. Hannah nodded.
"Tammy. We helped Tammy, and the men stepped aside. We should do the same."
"IF the men are interested." Rinda seemed to perk up at her own realization. Melinda smiled, giving her arm a stroke.
"Come on. I don't want to leave Chuck and the babies for too long."
The three walked over to the grass. They made noise, wanting to find her awake, or at least waking. As they stepped onto the soft green blades, the dark form rolled over and sat up. Before she could stand, they lowered themselves to sit before her.
Sarah, too, was nude, although fur and darkness covered her more than adequately. She adjusted herself, legs folded under her body, hands in her lap. A position of respect, of submission.
"How can I help."
Not what do you want, or even hello. Hannah looked at the others. She didn't even know where to start.
"Do you still see it?" Sarah's eyes widened at Melinda's question, then closed, head dropping. Melinda nodded. "Me too. I've never seen... I've seen death, Daium's dad, but never people dying like that." Hannah lowered her own head. They could argue that they in fact didn't see what they all thought they saw, didn't see two people, an adult and a child, flung into the void as the Squirrel's machine failed. They could do that. That would not help them with what was to come, though. Not help them steel themselves for whatever was needed to stop these mad experiments. No. They had to use this. It was... confirmation.
"Anything you want," Sarah told them, eyes still closed, "I will do. Anything against the temple. Just..."
"We forgive you," Hannah told her, reaching out a hand to touch her knee. Her fur was cold to the touch, body trembling. "Forgive you even before you do anything. That's why we're here. We forgive you."
"And we want you to stay."
Rinda's voice was soft, with no hint of previous doubt. Sarah's eyes opened, surprise clearly showing.
"Stay?"
"Stay." Rinda added her own hand next to Hannah's, Melinda following suit. "Join us."
"But..."
"It will take time for you to really fit in, yes," Melinda said. "We three will start to include you more, work on the others. If you want to stay. If not, we'll give you money for passage anywhere, naturally. We'll owe you that, if this works. But," she looked at the others, "our little group is alone in the universe. Eventually, we'll be large, a race to be reckoned with, but for now we need friends." Her hand squeezed Sarah's knee. "Are you a friend?"
There was a pause, followed by both her hands covering theirs.
"I can be..."

****

Hannah slipped back into bed, pregnant body protesting having ever left it. She had thought she had heard sounds from the girl's room, late night giggling. The temptation to join them, or at least give them a playful scare, had been great. Her baby, though, was telling her she needed her beauty sleep.
Snuggling against Anthony's strong back, her sleepy mind considered. Three weeks. She had three weeks to try and work her magic on him...

****

"OK, everyone, we have real space in five minutes. I want a full status report, everyone at their stations!"
"Captain Anthony, should we give the reports before we go to our stations, or do you want us to go to them and then report?"
"Whichever your saucy blonde mind prefers, Alicia!"
Anthony grinned at the two extended middle fingers that showed themselves as Alicia launched herself towards the sensor station near the top of the bridge dome. They'd been too long onboard. Seven weeks, give or take. Seven weeks with no fresh air, nothing new to see or do. It had been their longest jump, and one he was going to do his damnedest not to repeat. Damn it, he wanted to see a new face, even if it was some slimy alien walking down the opposite side of the street.
He caught black fur out of the corner of his eye. He nodded.
"Sarah. Know what your job is?"
"Stay out of the way."
"Ha!" He looked down at her, eyebrow cocked. Damn it, that was the first joke he thought he had heard from the squirrel. Assuming it was a joke. You never knew with aliens. No, there was a twinkle in her eye. He glanced over at Hannah, who made a point of not looking back. It was her doing, naturally. As a male, he knew female manipulation when he experienced it. The key was to not let them know you knew, so they felt all superior and such.
Or maybe that's what she wanted. Who knew. His gaze returned to Sarah.
"Well, yes, always. We are the Lord Humans after all." Yes, damn it, there was a twitch of a smile at that. At this rate, he was almost going to have a moment's sadness when they kicked her off. "I meant what you'll be doing while you're out of my way."
"See if any Temple ships are here. But I don't think there will be. It's not near the home world, and we wouldn't come over here for supplies."
"But you said there's some kind of..."
"Small temple, yes, for travelers. And for collecting any tech She Who Saw needs."
He nodded. They needed information. This small temple would provide it.
Maybe.
"Thirty seconds!"
At Daium's yell he strapped himself in.
"Ready when you are, Captain Daium!"

****

It only seemed appropriate that they land on a planet named Sol in blizzard conditions. The crew, now numbering lucky thirteen, crowded the central walkway of the spherical bridge, gazing at the projected image of the snowstorm around them as the ship rested in its docking cradle. The wind whipped around, snow seeming to fall horizontally. Chuck laughed.
"Now there's a sight for sore eyes!"
"I want to make a snow Chuck," Melinda yelled, grabbing his arm and jumping up and down. Alicia glanced at her across the bridge.
"A 'snow Chuck'?"
"Only the best, most noble kind of snowman," Chuck told her. He turned to Anthony. "We still doing this?"
Anthony nodded.
"I still think it's best. If the 'wrong' people see humans, it'll just lead to complications." Behind him, the door to the ship interior opened. "All ready, Daium?"
"Ready."
She was dressed in winter gear, the same snowsuit she had worn that day a year ago when two cultures first met. Feet and hands were gloved, a pistol strapped to her waist. Rinda was similarly dressed, blue snowsuit thin, of military cut, wrinkled for having been in her pack for ages. Following behind, Sarah entered wearing an ill-fitting blue human winter coat, falling almost to her bare knees, and a knit Buffalo Bills hat. Unlike the other two, she had no weapon, or shoes.
Anthony walked up to Sarah, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"We're counting on you for this. We need information."
"You can trust me." There was a tremble in her voice. He squeezed her shoulder.
"I know." His eyes flicked to the two Orang. "Recon the port city, take her to the temple. If it goes well, you have the shopping lists. Feel free to add to it."
"It IS my dad's stolen money we're using, after all," Daium said. Rinda's glance told Anthony that argument, long settled, was still a point of minor friction. He just nodded.
"Good luck, be safe."

****

If there was one bright side, it was that the Habitants hated snow.
The three furred travelers sat on the subway car's bench, coats opened, relishing the heat. Sarah was tempted to take the damned thing off, never one for heavy clothing, but stopped short of that. She'd only have to put it on again when they got to the city center. She looked around. The car was almost deserted, only a couple of the reptilian locals sitting at the far end. They were bundled heavily, obviously not evolved for the weather now battering the city above. Unless coats could be considered an evolutionary trait? Hmm... Glancing down at her bare feet, she wished her kind had evolved shoes. Even the foot gloves Daium and Rinda wore would be nice.
Seeing her looking down, Daium shook her head.
"They're not that great, although they keep your feet dry. Human shoes and boots are much better in the snow."
"Too narrow," Rinda disagreed, frowning. "How can you force all five toes into one shape like that? Makes no sense."
"Makes human sense," Daium shrugged. Sarah scrunched her toes. Yeah, she could see how shoes COULD work, but Orang foot gloves did seem to have the comfort part right.
"Fast train," Rinda said. Sarah looked up, surprised, as she felt the car begin to slow. Lights on the wall map approached a large crisscrossing of streets. Rinda stood, grabbing a strap hanging from the ceiling. "Showtime. Ready?"
Sarah zipped up her coat. She was in no way ready.
"Ready."

****

The blizzard, it seemed, had shut the city down. Streets were empty, both of cars and people. A few storefronts were lit, large windows revealing bored shopkeepers alone with their wares. Most residents and workers had had the sense to stay home. Only the foolish would venture out of their own free will.
Sarah kept her head down, wind battering her hat like the prow of a ship. Human hats, she approved of. In her hand, she held the address of the local temple. It was on this street, she knew that. Thought she knew that. It HAD been here. Places like this, though, were transitory. Only the Temple was constant.
Or, at least, had been.
A hand grabbed her right arm through the thick coat. She was almost afraid to stop, as if any loss of forward momentum would forever doom them, wind casting them back towards the ship. Pausing, she turned her head a bit, eyes finding Daium's legs. Looking higher would just invite the wind to blind her.
"It was 87556, right?" Daium's voice cut through the wind. Sarah took a moment to translate the words, her mind not thinking clearly. Glancing down at the paper she was holding, it took another moment to compare it to Daium's words. She was so cold...
"Y-yes. 87556."
"It's here."
Daium pulled her arm to the edge of the sidewalk, and into an alcove. The wind vanished, as did the stinging on her bare legs. Her body straightened, shoulders slumping in relief. Daium and Rinda appeared to do the same, which pleased her to no end. She would hate to have been the only one suffering. The door before them was plain, naturally. Behind it was a small religious order, one trying to stay, if not secret, then under the radar. No fancy custom designed buildings.
Besides, the rooms were rented.
Sarah looked at the two Orang. They awaited her, patiently. It was all her from now on. They were there... to either help, or hinder, her. Depending on how they saw her actions. She turned back to the door. It was a simple metal panel. A keypad was imbedded in the frame. Thinking for a moment, she typed in the length in milli-cubits She Who Fucked had estimated the size of a human penis was. The door clicked. Steeling herself, she turned the handle and entered.

****

The room was simple, bare. As one would expect. One tapestry hung against the far wall, woven picture of a brown picnic table in a grassy field. Beneath it, a desk, bare apart from a computer monitor. Sitting at the desk, head coming up as eyes tried to blink away sleep...
"Hedva!"
The light brown furred woman blinked even more, head cocking as she regarded the newcomers. Recognition dawning, she jumped to her feet, brown striped white tail standing straight up.
"Sarah!"
The two old friends ran towards each other, meeting in one giant hug. Sarah was ecstatic. Of all the people to meet here! Her worries vanished in an instant.
"Hedva! Why are YOU here? I've missed you!"
"Me? Why are YOU here! You should be with Miriam at the new Temple! What's going on! Did you respond to the Temple recall?"
Sarah pulled back, eyes questioning.
"Temple recall?"
"Well, yeah. That's where everyone is. You didn't hear? Everyone was recalled, us acolytes left in their place as, you know, WE don't matter. Well, apart from you, serving Miriam and all." Sarah began to get a cold feeling deep in her heart. Hedva paused, seeing it in her eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Why the recall?"
"Why are you wearing that stupid hat and coat is the question! And who are those four eyed women? What..."
"Hedva! Why the recall?!"
Her brown furred friend released her, stepping back. Sarah was obviously confusing her.
"I'm an acolyte, how would I know?" Sarah's hard gaze caused her to backtrack. "OK, well, there's rumors. The new machine may be ready, or at least part of it. I think they're testing it..."
"WHEN?" Sarah saw her friend just stare at her. It broke her heart, to see her not understanding, but there was no time! "When, Hedva? When is the ceremony?"
"Ah... wait..." Her brows furrowed, eyes looking away from Sarah in concentration. "Three days from now? Maybe?"

****

Goldie lay on her back in the grass, looking up at the snowstorm. She had never seen one. Never seen snow, come to think of it. Real snow, not the stuff in the movies or in books. This, too, almost looked like a movie. Like a sea of white stars falling from the sky, falling onto and around the glass dome above them. It was so pretty!
"You said it's called a blizzard?"
Mary nodded, eyes up on the sky as well. She was lying on a park bench in front of Goldie, feet dangling off the end. Goldie saw her between the wooden slats of the bench, the weird angle and viewpoint amusing. They should switch places, let Mary look up at Goldie through the bench...
"Yeah. Blizzard. Looks worse than the one the night when I came here. They're beautiful if you're inside, looking out. Out there in them, though, they're no fun. The wind, the cold, the snow..."
"I hope we get to play in the snow. I want to make a snow Chuck."
"They're not called..."
Mary paused, quickly sitting up. Goldie, staying on the ground behind the bench, saw her quickly straighten out her dress and blouse. That was the problem with clothing, you had to keep moving it so it kept covering what you wanted covered. She felt someone coming towards them, up the path. They stopped just next to the bench.
"Hi Mary. Seen Goldie?"
Goldie almost laughed. All her brother had to do was look down here, and he'd see her. Did he pay that little attention to his surroundings? Duh!
"Haven't seen her."
Now it took all Goldie's willpower to stay silent. Good Mary! Let's tease her brother a bit! With a sigh, Danny sat down beside Mary. She scooted over a bit to leave more room between them, although not TOO far. Their hands, on the bench, were a mere inch apart.
"What do you need her for?"
"Oh, nothing. Just wanted to talk." He looked at her, eyes a bit confused. "I'm surprised she's not with you."
"Oh, you know," Mary said, casually. The hand farthest from his eye line stuck its fingers through the gap in the bench, wiggling at Goldie. Goldie stayed still, not wanting her movement to give them away.
"Actually, I probably should apologize to her."
"Why?" Yeah, why? He had done nothing wrong! Nothing serious and out of the ordinary, at least!
"Well, you're spending a lot of time down there with Chuck and me, and I know how much she likes being with you. I'm taking you away from her."
"It's not like we don't spend the rest of the day and night together," Mary said. Goldie heard something in her voice. Was it... embarrassment? "And I like spending time with- in the engine room." Her voice speeded up as she corrected herself. "It's fun."
"It's definitely more fun with you there."
Goldie caught her breath. She heard Mary above her do the same.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I like being around you."
They were doing it! They were talking! Goldie had been hearing from both sides for two months, and now they were talking about it! Next thing you knew they'd be kissing! Wow! She wondered if they'd let her watch!
"I... um..."
Mary went silent.
Looking up, Goldie saw... her brother's hand, covering Mary's. Time seemed to stand still.

****

The warning klaxon blared out twice, startling the two lovebirds to their feet. Goldie, too was up on all four legs, jumping out next to them. Her brother almost had a heart attack.
"Goldie!"
"EVERYONE TO THE BRIDGE!" Chucks voice echoed through the dome. Melinda, running with her stroller before her, burst out of the store. "EMERGENCY LIFTOFF AS SOON AS AWAY TEAM GETS BACK! DANNY, ENGINE ROOM!"
"Fuck!" He was off before his name had even stopped echoing through the dome. Mary and Goldie just stood there, stunned, watching him go. Melinda passed him, then screeched to a halt in front of the girls.
"What is it? What happened?"
Goldie looked at her, eyes wide with all the seriousness of youth.
"He held Mary's hand!"

****

"What's their ETA?" Anthony looked over at Alicia, frowning. The damned message had been partly garbled, the storm playing havoc with their modified iPhones. Apparently, the first ones hadn't even gotten through.
"They're off the subway! Just a few minutes!"
"OK, I want everyone buckled in. No idea what's going on, but as soon as that door closes we're getting out of here."
"At least Daium didn't request covering fire," Justin said, worry clear in his voice. "It can't be THAT serious."
"Here they come!"
Through the transparent seeming bridge walls, they could see four figures hurrying through the snow. The blue coated one, which had to be Sarah, was practically dragging another squirrel. Nothing could be seen following them. Anthony closed his eyes.
"Oh, this had better be good."

****

The bridge door opened, two Orang and two squirrels bursting in. Daium leapt to the pilot's chair, Anthony already vacating it. Rinda shed her snowsuit as she ran over to her station, leaving Sarah standing next to the already closed door with her friend. Anthony ignored them.
"Daium, what's going on?"
"We have to go! No time! No time! We may not even make it!" The ship shuddered, ground starting to fall away.
"Damn it, what is it?!"
"Three days."
All eyes fell on Sarah. Keeping her feet despite the rumble of takeoff, she let her wet coat fall to the ground, removing her hat.
"In three days, the new machine powers up."
"And," Daium said, fingers flying over the controls, "it's three days to the Temple planet."
Anthony closed his eyes. Fuck. Opening them, he saw the newcomer down on the metal walkway, arms stretched out towards him in worship.
Double fuck.

Chapter 16

It's sad when you're an old hand at being called a god.
Justin hung back, Daium and Alicia flanking him as Anthony tried to talk to their newest companion in the garden. "Companion". Yeah, he was beginning to feel like The Doctor, what with strangers walking into his Tardis and being, "What the hell is this? Why is there a tree on the bridge?" It got old, quick.
"Didn't Sarah brief her at all on the way back?"
Daium shook her head, string of colored beads hanging next to her ear swinging back and forth.
"No. She just told her to get her stuff and come, then told Rinda and I what was up while the poor girl was out of the room. We finally did speak when we got to the train, and the girl freaked when she heard English."
"Maybe it was her chance to have a little power trip over her friend," Alicia muttered. One hand dropped to her belly. Justin put his own hand over hers, concerned.
"Want to sit?"
"Yeah... yeah, I do. Mary, I'm kicking you out." The teen jumped to her feet as Justin helped Alicia over to the bench.
"Sorry! Can I get you anything?"
Alicia shook her head, not just to Mary but to Nona, who had started to come over. Butt firmly planted on the bench, she relaxed.
"Another month. This is going to kill me."
"Not if I can help it." Justin gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. His eyes went back to the newcomer. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt us."

****

"I'm leaving her in your care. The watch droids are going back on higher alert, and she's your responsibility. Keep her out of our way until we can use her."
Sarah nodded at Anthony. She understood. She had brought Hedva here, when she didn't have to. It was up to her to protect her friend, from herself if nothing else. She didn't Know, like Sarah Knew. Drawing her up to her feet, Sarah led Hedva away, towards the patch of grass she called home. There was so much to teach her...

****

"I almost forgot we had these."
Chuck picked up the rifle, feeling the heft. The Orang military issue weapons didn't feel quite right, designed for a smaller form and arm size, but he had fired them before. Weapons training had been an early time killer, and a fulfillment of Rinda's original mission. That had been long ago, though, before the garden even. Before Danny and Goldie. Hell, before he had two wives. He saw Nona pick up a small weapon, looking a bit like a submachine gun. She, too, hefted it a few times, then laid it back down on the bench.
"I can't."
Chuck nodded, understanding.
"I know, and we don't expect you to. Hell, we don't expect US to. If we need these things, we've failed oh so spectacularly. But..."
"But we have babies to protect." Alicia slammed the empty ammo pack into her own rifle, then quickly removed and replaced it. Her muscle memory was long. Tammy, standing behind Nona, picked up the weapon she had discarded.
"Count me in."
Shoulders slumping, Nona took the gun from her, shaking her head.
"That one's more my sized. Take the rifle."

****

"ONE HOUR TILL REAL SPACE. GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER."
Hedva almost cringed at the sound. For all Sarah had told her, had said these were not Gods, or Daemons, hearing the Holy Words echo through the air still filled her with awe and dread. It was all so sudden! Hedva hated change. Hated not knowing what was coming. The Temple had given her... a constant. A safe, unchanging harbor in which she could live out her life. And, now...
"It will be OK," Sarah said, voice cutting through her fear. Hedva looked at her oldest friend. So... confident. So strong.
"How do you know?"
"I Know."

****

"One minute till showtime."
Anthony looked around the bridge. He was all nerves. Never, not since the first time he had tried to ask a girl out, or maybe just before a final exam he hadn't studied for, had he felt like this. Was no one else feeling it? Why were they all so calm?
Or did he look calm, too, and they were all wondering the same thing about him? That lifted his spirits a bit.
"Do we have a script yet?"
"Nope! All improv!"
"I vote we all start with a hoedown!"
"No! Those suck!"
OK, maybe Chuck and Melinda weren't all that wound up.
"Thirty seconds!"
"Make video contact as soon as we're..."
Alarms blasted through the bridge. Anthony's heart stopped. As if from somewhere else, he heard his voice yelling for the view screens.
The curved bridge walls vanished. There, in the swirling void they were poised to leave, was a wall of rainbows. It filled the entire lefthand sky, seemingly almost touching the ship. Tammy, at a console facing it, threw herself back, body slamming into the trunk of the central bridge tree. She screamed.
"God! What is it?!"
"Ten seconds!"
"Viewscreen off! Now!" The walls returned to wooden panels. Anthony's death grip on the panel edge before him loosened a bit. Eyes wide, he tried to remain in control. "I want them on as soon as we're in normal space!"
"4, 3, 2, 1, out!"
The walls vanished again, alarm still blaring.
They were floating in empty space. Before them, a blue green world. Peaceful. Beautiful. Innocent.
"I have a massive energy reading," Alicia yelled down from her sensor post up by the ceiling. "Coming from one point!"
"Try and make contact! Can we send a video signal? Get our image on their screens!" He had no plan. No ideas. They just had to stop it. Them. Anyway they could. He'd play God. Anything...
"Landing beacon detected! Heading in!"
Suddenly, silence.

****

The thought that first came to Alicia, up in her sensor perch, was that of the a movie fight scene suddenly stripped of dramatic music. Her body was all nerves, but the reinforcement, perhaps even the cause of that state, had vanished. It was disorienting as hell.
"What the fuck? The alarm's gone!"
Trust Melinda to state the obvious. Shaking her head, Alicia poured her full concentration on the displays before her. Windows opened and closed quickly, hands dancing over the controls.
"Energy reading... gone." She blinked. "Daium... check your readings." There was a pause.
"I... see nothing."
"Yeah... um, Anthony?"
"Talk to me."
"We just had all energy signals from the planet vanish."

****

The Bells dropped down through the atmosphere, passing through thin layers of clouds. Everyone, despite the lack of seats, was crowded on the bridge walkway, artificial gravity put to work to keep those standing from hurting themselves. It felt like cheating, but there was no way to keep the kids and squirrels away. This was too important.
As they broke into clear sky, there was an audible gasp. The planet below... was beautiful. They were coming down towards a large peninsula, jutting out into a blue ocean. Its phallic quality wasn't lost on Anthony, probably the reason it had been chosen, but that thought was shoved aside by the world around it. Green forest filled the land, lush, healthy. He saw lakes, rivers, patches of grasslands. As they dropped father, flocks of birds could be seen, V formations heading mostly northward.
"Tanah..."
"Earth..."
Daium and Nona's whispers only confirmed how he felt. This... this was home.

****

They continued to drop.
"Visual on the landing field."
It was in a valley, surrounded by low hills. A large, grey, concrete surface, maybe a half mile square. Three other ships occupied docking cradles, two small, less than half the size of the Bells, and a larger one roughly the same mass. No lights were flashing to indicate an authorized landing zone. That didn't concern Daium, although in a minute it would become a rather urgent issue. Her eyes were on the large, brown circle of land due north of the pad. She felt movement behind her, a black furry hand reaching out past her head towards the image.
"It's... gone."
Sarah's voice was confused, as well it should be. Daium bit her lip.
"Did it blow up? You said things sometimes went wrong with the machines..."
"How... why..."
"Ha!"
Mary's outburst startled everyone. Daium spun her chair to face the girl, frowning.
"Mary, this isn't..."
"They went! Don't you see?" She looked around, eyes wide with excitement. "It looks just like where the store was! I've seen the pictures, from after you guys vanished! The whole temple just went to Earth!"

****

The Bells settled on an empty stretch of tarmac, landing skids extended, the one empty landing cradle lacking power. It sat for a moment, silent. A small hatch at the bottom of the central body opened, from which a small R2 unit dropped onto the ground. Its top swiveled, getting its bearings. Seeing its target, it began rolling towards the collapsible portable stairs on the other side of the field, moving deftly around scattered pieces of equipment. Small connectors extending out, it plugged itself directly into the control panel, beeping happily. Those beeps stopped, replaced by one long beep sounding as much like a sigh as Chuck had been able to make it. Behind, four more droids dropped out of the ship. As they approached, the first directed them to the gangway's four corners. Clamps extended from cylindrical bodies, latching on. Slowly, the wheeled gangway began to roll.

****

Anthony was the first out of the hatch, stepping onto the now extended stairway, pistol in hand. After the recycled air of the past months, the cool fresh air was a shock. He paused, taking in a ragged breath. And another. It felt like spring. Early spring. Chuck moved past him, holding a rifle, repeating the ritual Anthony had started. The two men looked out across the valley. A wide path, paved with irregular, colored smooth stones, extended from the end of the spaceport, running due north. It ended, abruptly, at the start of the brown circle. It was definitely dirt, or clay, and not natural. Not quite a perfect circle, with various half circles extending out here and there, nor was the ground of uniform depth. Remembering their first explorations of the exterior of the store that stormy night, it seemed whatever had happened here had followed the same pattern, taking everything attached to the main structure plus some extra.
Moving as if in a daze, Sarah stepped out between them. Anthony moved aside a bit as she approached the railing.
"Gone..."
"Looks like it," Chuck said. His head turned to survey their surroundings. "I hear by proclaim this 'Deus Ex Machina' valley."
"Gone..."
"We've already established that."
Rinda, dressed in her military issue suspenders and skirt, joined them wearing a combat pack, rifle at the ready. Daium, with just a pistol belt, followed. Anthony nodded, looking back into the ship.
"Everyone else stay here. The five of us are going to look around a bit."

****

 It was the empty ships that worried Chuck the most, as the five explorers slowly made their way across the tarmac. Their hulking mass, looming above them, could be hiding anything.
"Sarah, were these crewed by temple people, or hired help?"
"Temple sisters." Her dazed voice spoke with almost no inflection. "No outsider would be allowed to even know where this planet was..."
"So everyone would be inside the temple." He relaxed a bit. "Possibly still security systems on board, so we'll have to send droids in first."
"Good idea," Anthony agreed. They passed the nose of the last ship, coming up on the path. The landing pad itself was surrounded by bushes, perhaps four feet high, trimmed into a wall. There was no gate blocking their way, but instead two tall carved posts flanking the break in the bushes. Chuck looked up as they passed.
"Well, don't know about you, but this doesn't make ME feel inadequate, no sir."
"I don't even want to THINK about something that big," Rinda added. Shouldering her rifle, she moved closer to Chuck and took his hand. Her eyes wandered. "I don't know what it is about this place. It's so... peaceful. I can see why they put the temple here."
"It is..." Chuck suddenly stopped. The others did as well, all eyes on him. Squeezing Rinda's hand, he regarded Sarah. "Sarah, you said everyone was recalled to the Temple."
"Yes." She hung her head. "All except the acolytes, like Hedva. Those few are all that are left, along with those at or going to the new Temple, like Miriam. So few..."
"And nobody else claims this planet?"
Daium gasped. She spun around, taking in all the green.
"Oh... Chuck, do you think..."
"Where would you plant the sacred tree, Daium?"
She pointed.
"There. That hill. The tallest. In the center. Around it, a circle of seedlings. Oh, Rinda, we can replant the Sacred Tree!"
"You and your trees..." There were tears in her eyes, though. Throwing his own gun onto the grass beside the path, Chuck grabbed Rinda into a spinning bear of a hug, kissing her soundly. With the same skill he'd use removing other items of clothing, her gun and combat pack found themselves also on the grass, her body molded to his.
"I think that's settled, then," Anthony said. Chuck gave him a silly grin as he broke the kiss, looking past his wife's head.
"So you think it will work?"
Anthony nodded.
"Don't see why not. We'll have to plan, really stock up on supplies..."
"We have those prefab buildings in storage."
"Yeah, but there's no need to rush." He glanced back at the ship. "I would like to see my son or daughter born under this sky, though..."

****

The next week was spent in intense planning.
Buried deep in the records intended for the next temple were years worth of logs from this world, reports of weather, growing seasons. It was, as Anthony had thought, early spring. Crops could be planted soon, immediately even.
"We're not farmers," Tammy repeated, adamant. "We have to expect to screw up for the first year or two. I want just test crops in, so we don't waste our seeds. It's not like we can go back across the galaxy and restock."
"Don't worry. Nobody's going to risk our supply of grapes and hops!"
It was decided, in the end, to leave droids to begin plowing and preparing fields while they returned to Sol. Every possible colonizing item anyone could think of was purchased, with more ordered for delivery from other worlds. All would be picked up on Sol, naturally. Outside transport to their new home was to be discouraged. Carpentry tools, along with an entire hold full of nails and screws, were high on the list. Daium insisted her home be made of wood. Rinda claimed indifference, but Chuck's casual acceptance of that idea for their own home resulted in the wildest post-pregnancy sex yet. 
The Bells overflowing with supplies, they started the return journey.

****

"Blow out the candles!"
Cheeks red with embarrassment and happiness, Mary leaned over the cake, blowing. The fourteen candles, small, cheap things which had seen a number of uses, were no match for her mighty lungs. They went out quickly, although the one at the end almost hung on. It took one extra puff, still technically from her first breath, to extinguish it. A cheer erupted around her. Goldie, standing to her left, bounced up and down.
"What did you wish? Tell me!"
"No! Then it won't come true!"
"Bet it's about Danny!"
"Goldie!"
It was with great relief that Mary saw her mother come and take charge. God! She loved Goldie, but you do NOT talk about things like that! Not in front of ADULTS! Her eyes slid to Danny. He either hadn't heard, or was ignoring his sister. Either way worked. He was dressed in his best shirt and pants, cutting a striking image. His arms, poking out of short sleeves, seemed to be getting even bigger, stronger. Catching her looking at him, he smiled. Mary returned it. The days of them avoiding each other's gaze was over.
"Mom," she asked, taking the plate of chocolate cake that was handed to her, eyes still on Danny, "how old were you when you started dating?"
Her mom paused mid-slice. Mary thought she heard a resigned sigh, but couldn't be certain.
"Fourteen. We'll have a talk later, set the rules."
Shifting the plate to her left hand, Mary leaned in, hugging Mom.
"I love you."

****

"Everyone remember, if you see a shadow over you, move!"
As Chuck held his breath, the loading crane lifted the former tractor trailer up off the garden floor. It paused, hanging ten feet above the ship, then slowly began to swing outwards. Nona, next to him, was practically bouncing. They had opened the clear dome that covered the top half of the Bells that morning, the first time such a thing had been done since Tanah. Once they were done it would be closed again, a backup garden to provide seedlings for future plantings. Already, Hannah and Anthony's vans had been lifted off, testing the spaceport's crane on something that they might not be able to use much. Now it was Nona's clinic, critical for the coming births. Some of the most important things had been removed, just in case, but this was still a matter of life and death.
Now hanging sixty feet in the air, the trailer was slowly lowered. Once down, droids would tow it to the rapidly growing settlement. Finally tired of the distraction, Chuck put a hand on Nona's shoulder.
"Stop your jumping. It'll be OK. We had the system rehearse the move a half dozen times."
"I'm worried about the wheels. Might be rusted."
"Then we fix them. Look, worse case, we leave it here and run long power cables, and you'll have it when the kids pop out. But it should be OK."
"Let me worry, OK? Makes me feel better."

****

It figured the mess hall would be the first thing finished.
Tammy walked around the kitchen, still not believing it. They'd done it in three days. Three days to get a timber frame building with a full kitchen and food storage, restrooms, a dining area large enough for sixty people, all connected to the start of the town power grid. For now it would also double as their rec room, until an actual one could be built. Tomorrow, they started on the first house, Chuck, Melinda, and Rinda's, so the babies would have their own place. Anthony and Hannah's were next, then Daium, Justin, and Alicia's. The three teens would have their own house, Mary and Danny's future for now assumed to be set (although the reality of relationships would probably throw that into doubt eventually). Finally, a new wooden home for her and Nona.
Tammy blushed. Her own home. With Nona. Curtains. She'd have to talk to Hannah about making curtains. Now she laughed. It would be weeks until she had her new home, and she was already decorating it! God, she was such a wife!
A ringing came from the far wall. It took a moment for her to place the sound, laughing when she finally recognized the wall phone. They were so few, and so rarely scattered, the phone system was more an investment than a need. She'd get to try it out, at least.
"Hello, Kitchen. How can I help you?"
"Tammy!" Rinda's voice was excited, and loud. "Alicia just went into labor!"

****

The four mothers sat in a circle in the grass, babies either in their arms or in their laps, comparing notes, showing off. In the distance, Chuck and the three teens were planting the second field, singing bad camping songs. Dinner would be soon, Tammy and Nona having promised a feast starring a large turkey-like bird they'd caught that morning. Both Rinda and Daium seemed happy about the idea of eating bird.
Anthony stood with Justin and Daium on the tarmac. Sarah stood before them, dressed again in her revealing, two piece Temple garment, Hedva behind her similarly dressed.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Sarah smiled at Anthony's question. Such a change, in so little time. She bowed her head slightly.
"Yes. The other acolytes must be told about the Temple. Must Know. I must gather them."
He nodded.
"Well... if you ever want to return, there's always a place for you here." He extended his hand. She took it. It was firm, strong. Human. For a moment, her resolve wavered. The full plan then came to her mind again. She could do this. She was strong. With a final smile, she released his hand, turning to accept the goodbye's of the other two. With a wave to the blooming town, she turned, heading up the gangway into the small ship.

****

Hedva almost collapsed into the copilot's chair. One hand went to her forehead.
"It's almost like leaving a dream. They've turned our Temple grounds into..."
"Into a paradise."
Sarah slipped into the pilot's chair, fastening the straps. Belatedly, Hedva did the same as systems powered up. Tentatively, while she had the nerve, she asked the question.
"Are you sure they will like this?"
Sarah's glance was not promising, but she answered.
"Once we have done it, they will see how I am serving them." Sarah flipped more switches. "We will gather the Sisters. I will tell them what I Know. We will buy supplies, and come back. We will serve the humans, befriend them... eventually, some of us will mate. We will join our races. This, I Know."
Hedva nodded. Every time she heard it, she believed more. It could be done... would be done.
"Yes, She Who Knows."

****

The two humans and one Orang watched the small spacecraft liftoff. Anthony was almost sorry to see them go. Almost. It did solve lots of problems, and was two less mouths to feed and house. He was betting they never saw them again.
Turning, they walked off the tarmac. Gone were the carved penises flanking the exit. Instead, the posts had been reshaped into regular thick poles, painted by Goldie with Buffalo sports team logos and other symbols suggested by the crew. He particularly liked Waldo. Someday, maybe, their children's children would consider these mysterious signs important. Anthony's eyes went to the far hill, now home to the Sacred Tree which had lived for so long on the bridge of the Bells. It stood out from all the other fauna, seeming to glow with life. He suddenly understood why it was sacred. Given time... who knows. He might even join in the worship of it, if only symbolically.
"You know," Justin said, walking hand in hand with Daium, "I just realized we haven't named this planet yet."
"'Planet' is a good name," Anthony whimsically replied. "Or 'Dirt'."
"'Home'", Daium said, gaze far away. "Let's just call it... 'Home'."
"Planet Home, Home Planet..." Anthony shrugged. "We'll have to see what the others think, but it works for me. Easy to remember, at least."
"Home." Justin seemed to consider the name. "Home, home to seventeen colonists of... mixed race."
"Eighteen."
Justin stopped, frowning at his wife, redoing the math.
"Eight from the store, two Orang, three teens, and four babies. No, Daium, I count seventeen."
Smiling, Daium put a slender hand on her belly.
"Eighteen."

****

The End

Edited by SciFi Nut

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