Sally Stardust Is Dead

Sally Stardust Is Dead

Mark A Davis

310

"In human procreation," said Muriel, an alien space babe with green skin and blue hair, "interest in, I have none."

Eve Jaskulski lay on her bed and stared up at the underside of the top bunk.  Muriel lay above her, but all she saw were the deep, solid blue eyes, green hair, and antenna of Sally Stardust.  She'd pinned a large poster of the girl above where she slept.  Since puberty Eve had been in lust with this fictional girl, who appeared human in every way save the eyes and antenna.  She'd made it her goal to sleep with an alien babe, and since she was partnered with an alien babe.....

"Casual sex is not procreation," Eve said.  "It's just... casual."

It had been a simple, straightforward question, after all.  Not at all how she would approach a human girl, but Eve had learned that with her alien partner, simple and straightforward was best.

Eve and Muriel were the crew of S.I.S.B. Space Station Terra, the small space babes station that orbited earth.  It had proven to be a rather boring job, interspersed with brief moments of exciting battle with invading aliens.  The lack of interaction with sexy alien girls, other than the stoic Muriel, was beginning to drive Eve crazy.  Why couldn't she have been stationed at Space Babe Headquarters at Prokone 4, where you saw sexy girls everywhere you looked?

Confusingly, Eve was by now nearly identical to the object of her lust.  She wasn't an alien girl, but she had the green hair and the same proportions.  Space Babes were sculpted to match a template -- humanoid girl, sixteen to nineteen years old, 165 to 175 centimeters tall, hourglass figure -- they were engineered to be cute and sexy.  Eve had been male before joining, and would be male again once she left the corps, but for now she looked very much like Sally Stardust, sans antenna and alien eyes.

"Oola, Eve.  To procreate, the manner in which for humans, sex is not?" asked Muriel.

Eve had to parse this one carefully.  "Well yes, sex is for procreation, sometimes," she said.  "But -- we're both girls...."

"A human girl, alike to you I may look," said Muriel.  "Body sculpting, space babes template to match, the thanks for is.  Assure you can I that I am not.  Not human.  Not female.  Asexual my people are.  Gender we have not.  Participating in acts of sex, interest have I none, with you or anyone.   To what purpose serve would this?  Same species we are not.  Human mating rituals, required participation, bad enough is...."

"I'd hardly call ballroom dancing a mating ritual..." Eve said.

"On subject very explicit your human literature is!" Muriel stated forcefully.  "A mate for breeding, to select, dancing and socializing the manner is!  For sex, horizontal dancing an euphemism is!"

Eve frowned.  "You've... read quite a bit about human mating rituals?"

"Mating practices of the alien race, the understanding of, drives and motivations key to understanding is," said Muriel.  "Obsessed with finding a mate, trait of humans, example is.  Behavior of partner Eve, pattern of behavior I recognize.  To be impregnated, very strong your desire is."

"My desire... to be impregnated?" Eve asked, incredulously.  "No, no... I don't want to become pregnant...."

"Oola.  For female to become impregnated, act of sex, end goal is this not?" asked Muriel.

"Well, yes," said Eve. "Broadly speaking that's true, normally...."

"Female of the species are you?" Muriel asked.

"At the moment..." Eve said.

"Oola.  Then a misunderstanding perhaps there is," said Muriel.

"Yes," Eve said.  "A misunderstanding.  I apologize for bringing it up."  She hugged her pillow and turned to face the wall.  If only... she thought.  Where else am I going to find an alien girl in orbit around earth?

***

Eve ran her fingers along thin, fleshy antennas that stood up from her brow.  She stared at her reflection, looking deep into eyes of a solid blue.  There was no white to be seen.

She was naked, having just emerged from a rebirth chamber.  It had occurred to her only a couple of days ago that she could request alterations in her look to more fully resemble the girl of her dreams.  Her partner Muriel watched  to one side with a bemused expression.

She hugged herself and danced about.  "I look just like Sally Stardust!" she exclaimed happily.

"If your life's goal is to resemble a cartoon character," said Valerie 9000, the space station's ever-present A.I., "then congratulations.  But once again I object to giving you antenna that serve no functional purpose."

"Never mind that," Eve replied.  "Lots of species have features that no longer serve a useful purpose."

"Features that no longer serve a useful purpose, perhaps," said the A.I.  "Features that never served any purpose?  Other than to scream the word alien to prepubescent boys, of course...."

"Oola, Eve," said Muriel.  "Object of desire for you this girl is.  Become like her, to be your desire, why?"

"I... don't know," Eve said, still staring at her reflection.  "She doesn't exist so I can never meet her or sleep with her.  It just feels like becoming her was the next best thing."

"Alike to a human still your scent is," said Muriel.  "Musk have you considered?"

"Perfume, you mean?"  Eve made a face.  "That's not really my thing, and... I have no idea what Sally Stardust should smell like...."

Muriel smelled faintly of cinnamon and bananas.  It wasn't a perfume, it was the natural musk that her species gave off.  It tended to make Eve hungry.

"Not a real girl, reason is," Muriel replied.  "As image only she exists."

"Yes, I know," Eve said.  "Still, I'm satisfied, for now.  But my desire to bed an alien girl hasn't changed."

"I would suggest an Arellian girlfriend from the Trifid Nebula, Kootah Delphi Seven then," said Valerie 9000.  "Similar to Jennie Nova's friend Llahna.  For an alien species, they look remarkably like young human females.  It would seem to me that an Arellian would fit what you are looking for nearly perfectly.  Mind you, it is the male Arellian that resemble an earth girl...."

***

Eve's antenna perked up.  "Wait," she said.  "Run that by me again?"

It was morning.  Eve and Muriel were eating breakfast -- prepared by Valerie 9000.  Everything on the station was controlled by the A.I..  Breakfast wasn't exactly high cuisine -- consisting of vegetable nutrient paste pressed into flavored blocks and cooked -- but it was edible at least.

"As I've told you several times," Val 9000 said, "the Amethyst gateway is directly linked to S.I.S.B. Space Station Amethyst, in orbit around the fairyland planet of Amethyst.  This is in another universe...."

"You mean I can visit another world any time I want?" Eve said.  "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oola," Muriel said, a pained look on her face.  "Three weeks ago the Archons of Excellence transfer to Amethyst we did...."

"Well I know we sent them somewhere," Eve said, "but I wasn't paying attention to where, exactly...."

"It becomes increasingly apparent," said Val 9000, "that when your younger sibling described you as a space bimbo, she knew whereof she spoke."

"I want to go!" Eve exclaimed.  She stuffed the rest of her meal -- two blocks optimistically described as bacon and hash browns -- into her mouth and chewed quickly.  "I've been dying for some girl-on-girl action for months, ever since I got here!  Interactive holovids only accomplish so much, and I've already experienced the lesbian ones, and none of them have an alien girl as a partner!"

"Oola, Eve," said Muriel.  "Alien women in a fairyland you will not find I think."

"There's fairy women, aren't there?" Eve asked.  "That's good enough, isn't it?"

"The large majority of the residents of the land of Amethyst are of fairy blood to some degree, yes," said Val.  "You may visit on your next scheduled leave, in lieu of visiting earth, which is...."

"That's right now!" Eve exclaimed happily.  She leaped to her feet.  "I'm going, then!"

"I would suggest you wear something more in keeping with the local customs..." Val said, but Eve was already in the hallway, headed to the Amethyst gateway.

***

That she found a disco in a fairy kingdom surprised Eve a little.  The music had more in common with sixties soul and James Brown-era funk than disco, with brass horns, a large drum section, upright bass and stringed instruments that only vaguely resembled guitars.  There was also a large organ which made up for the lack of electronic instruments.  But the idea of a disco was certainly there -- the floor even sported flashing lights in multiple colors, provided via magic, with lights on the walls and even magical holograms floating through the crowds -- colorful insects, flying snakes, sparklers and fireworks, all created by light-based magic.

The room smelled of incense, alcohol, and sweat.  She sat at the bar and nursed a drink, watching the crowd.  She certainly stood out in her silver bikini, and had been approached by more than a dozen men asking to buy her a drink, but she had no interest in merchant boys and soldiers.  She was looking for a girl with looks exotic enough to trigger a switch in her head that said alien.

Exotic dancers performed on a raised platform along one wall.  They were lifelike, but clearly made of wood.  They resembled puppets, but Eve could see no strings.  But then, it was a fairy kingdom, so perhaps they were alive.

This idea was reinforced when a plastic doll, about four feet tall, sat on a stool near her.  She wore a black a-line dress, but otherwise looked identical to a Sailor Venus doll that Eve's sister had once owned.

"Boys bothering you?" the doll asked.  "Must be nice."

Eve raised an eyebrow.  "It is?"

"Sure," the doll replied.  "They won't give me the time of day.  I'm just a doll after all -- nothing but smooth plastic down below."

Eve noticed that the girl had a glass, but wasn't actually drinking.  Could she drink?  She had limited facial movement, but surely the only dolls that could drink were the kind that wet themselves afterwards?

Eve glanced away quickly, hoping that her face had not revealed her thoughts.  "Do you really wish you were anatomically correct, then?" she asked.  "I'd think in a magical world, that would be possible...."

The girl made a face.  "My gods, no!" she said.  "I'd be nothing but a sex doll then!  What I want is for people to treat me like a normal girl."

"To hit on you," Eve said, "like they were hitting on me."

"Yes!  No.  I don't know," the girl said.  "People just suck.  That's all."  She brought her cup to her lips as if to drink.  Eve could see now that there was nothing in it -- it was one of those plastic cups designed to look like it contained something, with liquid trapped between two layers of plastic around the outside of the cup.

"Can I ask you a question?" the doll asked.

"Sure," Eve said.

The plastic girl smiled.  "What are those antenna for?"

"Princess Pistachio!" a newcomer exclaimed.  "Who's your very beautiful friend?"

Eve looked into violet eyes framed by lavender hair, and was instantly smitten.  This was a young woman, maybe a year or two older than her.  She was tall and lithe and very good looking, with a freckled face and a pleasant smile.  She wore a white blouse with a peter pan collar and a lavender corduroy jumper dress over it.  The skirt was very short.  If you looked closely, you noticed ears that were slightly pointed.  Fairy blood? Eve wondered.  Either way, this girl was as close to a beautiful alien as Eve had seen in weeks.

The girl sat down and stuck out her hand.  "My name is Amaryllis," she said.  "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Y-yes?" Eve replied.  "I mean... sure.  I'd like that.  My name is Eve."

***

Warm sunlight slanted through a nearby window.  Eve lay naked on straw in a barn loft in the arms of Amaryllis.  This was her farm, located several miles outside the capital city of Amethyst.

Eve had heard of taking a roll in the hay before, but the literal experience was something new.

"So that's what sex between girls is like," Eve said.

The other giggled.  "You have never before been with a woman?" she asked.

"Well," said Eve, "technically I have... but not when I was also female.  But I've done a lot of holovids...."

Amaryllis rolled over on top of her.  She kissed Eve and said, "Then perhaps I should show you again, lest you forget?"


Later, as they lay arm in arm, Amaryllis said, "I will tell you a story, Eve.  More than a year ago our country was invaded from space.  After the war, I stood on the streets of Amethyst city and watched the heroes of the Space Thrall Invasion pass by.  Such beautiful girls the space babes were!  Girls from space!  Sunlight flashed bright off their silver bikinis, and I said to myself, I will bed a space babe.  That was my goal.

"When I saw you today, I knew that day had come!"

The statement confused Eve.  Surely she was the one seeking sex with an alien girl?  What did it mean if she was the alien girl that someone else dreamed of?

Amaryllis traced the line of Eve's antenna.  "These are so beautiful," she said.  "What purpose do they serve?"

"They..."  Eve was at a loss for words.  "They... prove that I'm an alien?"

She lay with one hand on her lower abdomen, considering what it meant to be the pursued instead of pursuer.  Amaryllis stared into her eyes.  "I don't mean that as a slight.  You are a very beautiful girl, Eve.  With your deep blue alien eyes -- I was charmed when I saw you.  But we've only known each other a few hours.  I felt the need to say why I so readily laid down with you."

"It's fine," Eve said.

"I would like to know you better," the other added.  Her eye twinkled.  "Perhaps even one day I could be nurse-mother to our children...."

Eve frowned.  "Do you mean... once I've become male again?"

"No, silly!"  Amaryllis kissed her on the breasts and said, "I have no attraction to men.  I love you as you are, here and now."

Eve smiled.  "How then would two women have a child together?"

"It is quite easy in Amethyst," Amaryllis replied, "with the aid of the wombflower..."

***

Eve stepped through the gateway, and found herself once again on S.I.S.B. Space Station Terra.   The past day had been a blur.  It had felt like a dream.

"Well, princess?" Valerie 9000 asked.  "How was your trip to fairyland?  Did you kiss any frogs?  Were you captured by a dragon?  Did you meet the prince of your dreams?"

Eve laughed lightly.  "There is no prince in my dreams, Val," she said.  "Only Sally Stardust.  But I did meet someone... a lovely farm girl who spent the afternoon with me in the hay loft, and fed me an amazing dinner before I returned.  I mean real food!  The first I've had in weeks!

"Also, I learned many interesting things."

"Such as?" the A.I. asked.

Eve wandered down the hallway to her dorm room.  "Such as... Amaryllis would like to have my babies, and in fairyland two girls can have a child, and neither need become pregnant."

"Ah, yes," Val 9000 said.  "Such interesting plant life they have in that fairyland...."

Eve frowned.  "I guess," she said, "they would grow in her garden?"

"And do you wish to have children with this girl?" Val 9000 asked.

"I..."  Eve's voice faltered.  "I mean, she's a very nice girl, I really enjoyed being with her, but...."

"She is no Sally Stardust?" Val asked.

Eve flopped down in her bunk.  Muriel appeared to be asleep.  "She... is a very pretty fairy girl," Eve said.  "She has pointed ears, violet eyes, and lavender hair.  That's not enough to make her my Sally Stardust, I guess -- she didn't flip that switch in my head.  I rather think I was some kind of Sally Stardust to her, in fact...."

***

The girl had blue skin and dark blue hair.  Her hand traced the lines of Eve's face.  "I am called Llahna.  I am an Arellian from Kootah Delphi Sven in the Trifid Nebula.  You are called Jennie Nova, of the famous Nova family of spacefarers?  You are of a race called human, from the planet Terra in orbit around the star Sol?  How strange it is to meet an alien, and he is a boy who likes so much like me!"

"I am sorry, but I am not a boy," Eve replied.  "I am a human of the female gender -- a girl, just like you."

"A girl?" the blue-skinned one said.  "But I am not a girl!  I am an Arellian of the male gender!"

Eve rolled her eyes.  These educational interactive holovids could be so stilted.  She'd met Jennie Nova and Llahna the Arellian, and neither of them talked like this -- in fact Jennie spoke so much space surfer slang that Llahna frequently had to translate for her.

She had been recalled to S.I.S.B. Space Station Prokone 4 -- Space Babe Headquarters -- for some interviews and tests.  These included an interactive holovid that detailed the founding of the Space Babes -- something most normal recruits would have already seen.  Eve had joined via a loophole -- sidekicks to Grandpa Anarchy were allowed to join without taking all of the tests -- so she'd missed this little lecture vid the first time around.

Eve sighed.  The vid was boring, but being back on station Prokone 4 was very exciting.  There were alien girls everywhere she looked!  She still had more tests to take, and then dinner with her family, but then her flight back wasn't until early in the morning.  She'd have the rest of the night to get laid!

"In the beginning," the voice-over said, "the Society of International Space Babes was little more than a club for Destiny Nova, her daughter Jennie Nova, and friends such as Jennie's companion Llahna."  The voice was smooth, calming, and feminine, very much like the voice of Valerie 9000.  For that matter, this entire station was also run by Valerie 9000, or a version of her, so the voice probably was that of the A.I.

Eve nearly fell asleep at this part.  She was still nominally in the role of Jennie Nova, but after a few quick scenes of her and Llahna in battle, she stood to the side and watched things take place before her.  They explained how the workload of the 5E -- a government division of the Eieio (pronounced EE-Yow) Empire -- grew to the point that they proposed absorbing the Space Babes as an organization, and greatly expanding their ranks, their role, and their funding.

Here is where the story got slightly more interesting.  Eve had wondered about the famed space babe template.  While it seemed reasonable to want members of the space babes to be -- well, babes, i.e. young, attractive females -- where had the notion that the must all fit such a rigid template come from?  It seemed perverse to force human girls into a standard height, weight, and body shape, never mind aliens who might not resemble humans at all.

The answer, of course -- as with everything -- came down to bureaucracy.  If you didn't have standards, then who was to say what constituted beauty?  How did you define a space babe in government terms?  If Jennie Nova, a human girl, was a space babe, and Llahna -- a male Arellian -- was also a space babe, then what was it that they had in common?

The answer, it seemed, was that they were young in appearance, and of a certain height and build.  Beauty was more difficult to define, but it was agreed that a human-like face and body, within given parameters based on those who were already members -- Jennie, her mother Destiny, Llahna, and a handful of others -- was the starting point.  Human standards of beauty could follow.

Governments, Eve thought.  She'd been transformed into a girl before joining but was now an inch shorter, with breasts a half cup larger, thanks to some bureaucrat who understood nothing about human sexism in beauty standards, but could easily quantify the physical attributes of the first two space babes.

The video did not cover the beefcake division -- another group known as the Interstellar Fraternity of Bunny Boys, located at a separate planet.  Eve could guess that they were just as messed up when it came to beauty standards.  Perhaps, Eve thought, she should have joined them.  Of course, her chance to meet a beautiful alien babe would have flown out the airlock....

***

"What did you do to your eyes?" Eve's sister Kassandra exclaimed.  "And what are those things?"

Eve sighed.  Dinner with her family sounded pleasant.  You could say I'm having dinner with my mother, my kid sister, and my grandfather, and it sounded perfectly normal.   Then you got together, and it was four teenage girls in silver bikinis, all about the same build.  You couldn't look at a space babe and think grandfather.  It just didn't work.  Eve had to remind herself that these girls were named Kassandra, Ula, and Marianna.  It was easier to think of them in those terms.

If that weren't enough -- she'd completely forgotten to warn them about her eyes and antenna.

"I..." she said.  "That is... I wanted to look more like Sally Stardust...."

Kassandra rolled her eyes.  "Really?  You're still pining for a cartoon girl?  You look ridiculous!  And here I had thought my sister looked sorta cool...."

"What are those for, Dear?" Ula asked.  "What do they do?"

Eve touched her antennae.  "They... don't do anything," she said.  "They just make me look like an alien...."

"You look," said Kassandra, "like an idiot!"

"How have you been doing, Dear?" asked Ula.

"I've been fine, Mom... I mean Ula," Eve said.  "Other than being pretty well bored out of my mind, stuck on a space station...."

"Tell me about it!" Kassandra said.  "They've got me taking classes all day!  Language, interstellar history, math, navigation, shooting practice and martial arts...."

"We all have to do some of that," Marianna said.  "An earth education doesn't cut it in outer space."

"So tell me, Eve," said Ula, "have you found a nice boyfriend to settle down with?"

Eve made a face.  "Mom -- I mean Ula -- I'm not interested in boys."

"I've been dating a very handsome space marine," Marianna said.

Eve stared at the girl who had been her grandfather only a few months ago.  "That's nice," she said.

"Then have you found a nice girlfriend?" Ula asked.

"Mom," said Eve.  "I mean Ula -- I'm stuck on a space station with one other space babe who has no interest in sex.  Where am I going to find a girlfriend?"

Eve had decided to not mention her tryst with Amaryllis.  It would only encourage her mother -- that is, Ula -- to ask repeatedly about the fairy girl, and Eve wasn't sure she wanted to see her again.

"Well," her mother said, "there are a lot of girls on this station.  Maybe you'll find someone before you leave."

***

The room was warm, almost humid.  Eve quivered with excitement.  She lay naked in a dorm room bunk aboard S.I.S.B. Space Station Prokone 4.  After dinner with the family, she had gone looking for a date -- with an alien girl if possible.

And now, here she was.  It was finally happening!

She watched as the other slipped out of her boots and bikini.  The girl had jet black skin, with solid red eyes and insect-like horns jutting from her forehead.  She smelled of licorice.  Her hair was more like porcupine spines, but in the dim light she resembled a human girl where that it counted.

This girl had propositioned her.  Eve couldn't even believe that part.  What luck!  An actual alien girl had sought an encounter with her.  It was just the thing she'd fantasized about!

The alien girl did not speak.  She was very businesslike in fact, very unemotional.  The lights went out.  The girl lay down beside Eve and embraced her.  Eve shivered in the dark.  Her hands explored he alien girl's body, and the other's hand slipped between Eve's thighs, exploring  what they found.

Eve trembled.  She felt something slide inside, and gasped in shock.  That... was more than just fingers, wasn't it?

"Is that... your arm?" she asked.

"Mmm, yes," the alien replied.  "My third arm, as they say...."

Eve frowned.   What did that mean?  But the girl grasped her more tightly, and something penetrating deeper.  She cried out as a wave of pleasure overtook her.

When it was over, Eve lay on the bed, exhausted, trying to process what had happened.  She could not deny that it had felt wonderful, and yet... so very different from her time with Amaryllis.  What had penetrated her?  Surely not just a hand, a fist....

The alien girl stood and dressed.  "Feed my young well," she said.  "Earth girls are so easy...."

Confusion flooded Eve's face.  What the quasar did that mean?

***

"You have been impregnated," Valerie 9000 said.

Eve lay on the exam table, still completely confused.  "But... she was a girl...."

"She was an alien," the A.I. replied.  "Do you even know what kind?"

Standing nearby, Muriel sighed.  "Warn you I did," she muttered.

"So... I'm pregnant?" Eve asked again.

"You are impregnated, as I said," Val 9000 replied.  "There is a difference.  She was a Space Babe agent, yes?  Good.  What was her name, and what species?"

Eve looked frightened.  "I... I didn't get her name," she said.  "She had horns, and black skin, and pure red eyes, and spine-like hair...."

Images of at least a hundred alien women appeared on the wall.  "Look carefully," said Val 9000.  "It is imperative that we know what we're dealing with...."

Eve studied the images, finally pointing to one.  "That's her," she said.  "I'm certain of it."

"That would be Agent Ch'k'ta," said Valerie 9000.  "She is a member of an insectoid species called the Arkoth'pard.  Like Muriel, they are an asexual species.  Unlike Muriel, they impregnate other beings with their young...."

"But," said Eve, "she was a girl...."

"Oola," said Muriel, shaking her head.

"Well," said Valerie 9000, "the good news is that the gestation period is only four weeks."

"And the bad news?" Eve asked.

"Once mature, the young eat their way out of the host's body," Valerie 9000 said.

Eve's eyes grew very wide.  "Well, screw that!" she shouted.  "Take them out of me!"

"It's not that simple, Eve," Valerie 9000 said.  "These are not human fetuses -- they are Arkoth'pard young.  Once planted within the host they have rights that are protected by Eieio (pronounced EE-Yow) Empire treaties.  To remove them now would be murder."

"Leaving them in means my murder!" Eve exclaimed.

"Oola, Eve," said Muriel.  "Two deaths this month already you have had...."

***

Eve Jaskuksi lay on her bunk and stared up at the image of Sally Stardust, just as she'd done for two days straight.

She placed a hand on her stomach.  She'd been given a new body, of course, one without alien parasites ready to rip their way out.  Her other body -- now rendered brain dead, but still kept alive to protect the parasite children -- lay in an incubation room in another part of the station.  They were preparing to ship it back to the Arkoth'pard home world, where it would soon be consumed from within.  But if she lay like this, with her hand over her middle, she could feel them wriggling around inside.

The sensation made her ill, and yet she couldn't stop thinking of it.  Nor could she stop staring at that image of her dream girl on the underside of the top bunk.

Sally Stardust isn't real.  The thought ran through her head.  Of course, she'd always known that, but somehow she'd convinced herself that she could bridge the gap between reality and fiction, that there was an alien girl for her out there somewhere that would satisfy her juvenile desires.  It was, she supposed, part of an unwillingness to give up her childhood.

Now what?  She had never particularly wanted to be female -- it had simply been a means to pursue a dream.  But that dream had proved childish and ultimately impossible to attain.  Now that it lay shattered, what did she want to do with her life?  Her contract with the Space Babes was for three years.  There was still the desire for space exploration -- but several months aboard a space station with little to do had dulled that dream a bit.

"Eve?"  The voice was that of Valerie 9000.  "You have a visitor."

For a moment the words failed to penetrate, then Eve's brow furrowed.  A visitor?  Who could that possibly be?  No ships had arrived that she knew of, so that only left people coming from earth via the dimensional gateway -- but who on earth would come to visit?

Eve padded down the hallway and into a waiting room, where she found a girl with lavender hair and violet eyes wearing brown boots and a rough cotton peasant dress of blue, with a laced corset bodice of black.

"Amaryllis?" Eve exclaimed in surprise.  "What are you doing here?"

They embraced, and Amaryllis gave her a passionate kiss.  "A little bird told me that you were feeling down," she said.  "I was hoping I could cheer you up."

Eve's eyes narrowed.  "Would this bird happen to be named Muriel?" she asked.

Amaryllis giggled.  "She seems like a good friend, Eve," she said.  "She was very concerned for you.  She even stayed behind on station Amethyst, so that you and I could be alone...."

She paused, then reached up to Eve's forehead.  "Oh!  Your antennae?  What happened to them?"

Eve laughed.  "They... didn't serve any purpose," she said.  "I got rid of them."

"But your eyes are still the deepest blue," said Amaryllis.  "Like crystal pools hidden in the forest... I love your eyes."

"So do I," said Eve.  "I've decided to keep those.  And the green hair."

"Show me around this station of yours," said Amaryllis.  "I saw some of station Amethyst, but it is very different from this...."

Eve took the fairy girl's hand in hers.  "Oh, I'll give you the grand tour," she said.  "I'll show you everything.  The view of earth from space is amazing!"

But not the incubation chamber where her lifeless other body lay, Eve added silently.  That had been a mistake, which she never wanted to think about again.

And as for the poster above her bed?   Perhaps she would finally replace it with a photo of a real person... one with elf ears, violet eyes, and lavender hair....

FINI

Going Home

Going Home

Mark A Davis

309

Eve the Explorer lay on a couch of pink fur.  She stared up into the bright white ceiling of S.I.S.B. space station Terra and said, "I can never go home."

"Pardon?"  The smooth, soft, feminine voice was that of Valerie 9000 -- the station's A.I., and in fact the A.I. for the entire Society of Intergalactic Space Babes.  "Did you not visit the home of your parents two weeks ago?"

"Sure," said Eve.  "What I meant was... look, are you familiar with the Wizard of Oz?" asked Eve.  Auburn hair framed her face.  She was dressed in the Space Babes uniform -- a silver bikini,  with silver go-go boots and a belt with a holstered blaster.

"Of course," said the A.I.  "Both the movies and the books."

"I've only seen the movie," said Eve.  "Dorothy goes on a fantastic adventure.  She learns to stand up for herself, and she triumphs over evil.  She makes new friends.  And we're supposed to believe that she wants to go back to Kansas?  To Kansas?  There's no place like home, Glinda says -- but the truth is there's no place like Oz.   There are a lot of places like Kansas, if you ask me.

"More importantly, Dorothy has been on a grand adventure and she's changed.  She can never go back to being a simple Kansas farm girl again.  The truth is that you can never go home."

"I will assume that you are speaking metaphorically," said Val 9000.

"Yes," said Eve.  "That's the very definition of growing up, don't you think?"

"It may surprise you to know that, in the books by Frank Baum, Dorothy eventually returns to Oz permanently," said Valerie 9000.

"Really?" Eve asked.  "Well, it makes sense.  It's just like Alice In Wonderland said:  I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.  That's wisdom."

"It is an old sentiment," Valerie 9000 replied.  "Veterans of war discover the same when they return home.  Novelists like Thomas Wolfe and Marcel Proust have written about it.  The past of your memory is frozen in time, while the world is ever-changing.  Attempts to return to the world of your youth are doomed to failure.

"However," said Valerie 9000.  "As to my question...."

"All of this reminds me of Donna Noble," interrupted Eve.  She rolled off the couch, kicked off her boots, and began to strip.

The computer sighed.  "Are we speaking of the fictional character from the British television series Doctor Who?"

"Right!" said Eve.  "She was the Doctor's companion, and she saved all of creation by absorbing some of the Doctor's power.  However, this threatened her life -- the human mind was not built to deal with such knowledge and power.  To save her, the Doctor erased her memory.  She forgot everything about him, and the adventures they'd shared.

"In a way, she's the only companion who got to go back home.  She literally became the person she'd been at the beginning.  She had a nice life -- got married, won the lottery.  But it was the worst ending.  Who wants to forget such fantastic adventures?"

As she spoke, Eve wandered, naked, into another room.  A regen chamber sat in the center of it -- a long tube of steel and glass, filled with a green-blue liquid.  It was tilted about sixty degrees, with an opening in the top.  Eve continued to speak as she climbed inside.

  "I've been thinking about this a lot," said Eve.  "I was Grandpa Anarchy's sidekick, and we traveled into space.  I was living the Buck Rogers dream.  Then I got transformed into a woman by some alien god.  I was upset, but the Eieio (pronounced EE-Yow) Empire has the tech to switch me back easily.  Except I joined the Society of Intergalactic Space Babes instead, so that I stay in space and have more adventures.

"I can return to the old me after my three year contract is up," she said.  "Or can I?  That the thing, isn't it?  I'm a different person from who I was.  I'm no longer sure if I prefer being male or female.  That," said Eve, "is what I mean when I say I can never go home again."

"Understood," said Valerie 9000.  "But all that I asked was if you were certain that you want angel's wings, demon's horns, and aqua seafoam hair?"

Eve shrugged.  "Sure, why not?" she said.  As the regen chamber's lid began to close, she added, "I can always change it back later, right?"

FINI

Hero Lunch: Tony's Diner

Hero Lunch:  Tony's Diner

Mark A Davis

308

John Blume was Boy Secretary -- a young man who dressed in women's clothes and worked as a secretary for one of the best-known supergroups in the world, The New League of Two-Fisted Justice.  He manned the front desk of their fancy new headquarters in New York.  Once upon a time he had been a sidekick to Grandpa Anarchy, known then as Boy Waitress, but while he kept in shape and knew some martial arts, he'd never had super powers.  These days he was just a man in a dress with a fancy name.  The job did come with some perks, however -- he knew some of the world's most powerful heroes on a first-name basis, and he even had his own trading card, part of the Sonny's Collectibles Sidekicks of Grandpa Anarchy line of cards.

Mind you, some very marginal heroes with extremely questionable powers were included in that card set.  Boy Secretary's was one.  Still, it was pretty neat.  He had the card framed on his wall at home.

John had a neatly-trimmed beard and long blonde hair in twin braids that fell past his shoulders.  Today he was wearing a blue dress with a sailor collar, white tights and black Mary Janes.  He glanced up from his desk as someone in green and white power armor flew down and landed in front of the building.  Circuit Girl entered and made her way to the elevators.  "Good day, Miss Circuit Girl," he said with a smile.  "Saved the world again?"

"I wish," the young woman replied.  "I spent the entire morning dealing with the mayor.  There have been more complaints about our saucers making too much noise at night.  I told him crime knows not day or night...."

"This sounds like something Grandpa Anarchy or Dark Dr. Dark should be dealing with," Boy Secretary noted.  "They are co-leaders of the group, are they not?"

Circuit Girl smirked.  "In this group, being leader means avoiding as much responsibility as possible.  Say, what are you doing for lunch?"

"No idea," said Boy Secretary.  "I forgot to bring anything...."

"Have you ever eaten at Tony's Diner?" the heroine asked.

"I don't think so," Boy Secretary replied.  "Is that nearby?"

"It's... quite a hike, I guess you'd say," she replied.  "It's on Lavender Avenue, right in front of the palace."

The boy's forehead wrinkled.  "Um... Lavender Avenue?  Palace?"

The girl grinned.  "Just come with me, and you'll see," she said.  "Lunch is on me."


Circuit Girl led the boy upstairs, where she changed into her regular costume.  She led him through several security checks and to a room with a large dimensional portal.  This was a a giant circle of carved metal, with a ramp leading up to it.  Strange symbols marked the outer perimeter of the circle at regular intervals.  It was like a large alien clock without hands.  The center was a liquid surface of pure aqua blue, as if it was a wishing well on its side.  It hummed like an electric generator.

Boy Secretary stared in wonder.  "Wow," he said.  "I've never used the gateway before."

"It's perfectly safe," Circuit Girl replied.  "We use it all the time."

"This diner isn't in New York?" he asked.

"Not even close," Circuit Girl replied.  She set the coordinates, and the two stepped through.

They found themselves in a futuristic room with smooth white walls and a similar gateway.  The walls vibrated softly.  The floor was rubber tile.  Circuit Girl led him out of the room and down a hallway.  They passed a window, which Circuit Girl pointed out.  Boy Secretary glanced out and came to a full stop.  What he saw outside was a starry field of black with a green-blue earth below them, partly in darkness.

"Oh my stars!  We're in space?" he exclaimed.  "It's... beautiful!"

At the same moment, a young woman in a silver bikini and go-go boots appeared at the far end of the hallway.   She had auburn hair and wore a belt with a holstered blaster.  A pleasant, disembodied female voice said, "Welcome to S.I.S.B. Space Station Terra.  My name is Valerie 9000.  Please feel free to ask me anything."

"Oh, hey!  Circuit Girl!" the girl in the bikini exclaimed, approaching.  "Who's your friend?"

"Eve, this is Boy Secretary,  who is our secretary at the New League of Two-Fisted Justice headquarters," Circuit Girl replied.  "Boy Secretary, this is Eve the Explorer.  She's a member of the Society of Intergalactic Space Babes, and has been manning this station for the last few months."

Belatedly, Boy Secretary noted Eve's S.I.S.B. belt buckle.

  "We were headed to Tony's Diner for lunch," Circuit Girl added.

"Oh wow, really?" Eve exclaimed.  "I've never been.  Can I come with you?"

"Of course you can!" Circuit Girl replied.

The trio went down the corridor and into another room with a gateway much like the other.  "That other is the local gateway," Eve said.  "It's mostly used to pop down to earth, and to stay in contact with the League, and the Archons, and the Black Moon Maidens.  There's an interstellar gateway as well, but this one is specifically for transport to another station in another dimension."

"Wait.  Another dimension?" Boy Secretary asked, coming to a halt.

"Don't worry, it's as simple as stepping through the portal," Circuit Girl said.

They stepped through.  They appeared in a room that was broadly similar to the one they'd left -- with a gateway and an ramp leading up to it -- but it was also quite different.  The walls were wood and polished brass, with rivets and pipes and dials everywhere one looked.  The gateway itself was somehow more ancient and more imposing, a massive device of steel and brass and copper wire and moving parts, although clearly it performed exactly the same function as its futuristic counterpart.

"Wow.  This looks very different," Boy Secretary said.  There was even music playing -- the sounds of a string quartet.

A female automaton in a flowing silver gown awaited them.  "Welcome to S.I.S.B. Space Station Amethyst," she said.  "My name is Valerie 1895.  Circuit Girl I know, and I've met the lovely lady Eve.  This lovely man in the fetching blue dress can be none other than Boy Secretary, whom I have never met.  Again, welcome."

"Amethyst?"  Boy Secretary's face scrunched up.  "I think I've heard of that... it's a fairyland, right?"

"That is correct," said Valerie 1895.  "Grandpa Anarchy and the S.I.S.B. helped repel an invasion of Amethyst from space, after which this station was built to help patrol the stars above the fairyland and protect it.  I run the entire station -- I am, of course, a copy of Valerie 9000, adapted for a more steampunk setting.  As you might imagine, modern technology does not fare well in a magic-based fantasy setting.  The more steampunk our technology appears to be, the better it works, strangely enough.  Which is of course why I was given a physical, automaton body."

"I see," said Boy Secretary.  "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"What can I do for you three today?" the automaton asked.

"We came to have lunch at Tony's Diner," Circuit Girl said.

"I see.  Step this way, please."

The automaton led them past thick glass portholes and to yet another room with a gateway.  Along the way Boy Secretary saw several generic Space Babe automatons seated at desks or standing before terminals and work stations.

One final trip through a portal brought them to a room of marble and wall tapestries.  Zombies in armor stood at attention, looking at nothing in particular.  The reek of death was present, although not overpowering.  Boy Secretary wrinkled his nose.

"The Amethyst gateway is in in the palace of the Necromancer King -- unfortunately," Circuit Girl said.  "Come, I'll show you the way.

She led them out of the palace, across a square, and through tall golden gates, also guarded by zombie soldiers.  They stepped onto a wide cobble road.  Jeweled spires and domes arose around them, with colorful violet flags flapping in the breeze.  They passed a wide square with stalls filled with merchandise lined up along the walls, with throngs of people in colorful clothing.  Many of them wore things that seemed folkish or of a style more than a century old, with many tall, broad-brimmed hats with buckles on top, breeches, and women in full skirts that brushed the ground.  But there was no time to explore -- Circuit Girl led the group to a place where stood a long silver diner car -- just like those one might have seen in the Northeastern U.S. in the 1930's or 1940's.  It resembles a sleek aluminum rail car, with a long counter inside fronted by round silver stools with red leather seats, and by booths with red leather seating on the other side.

The place was busy but not too crowed.  The three found a booth and were barely seated when a waitress appeared.  This was a young tiger girl, with a catlike face, pointed ears, and orange fur with black stripes.  She wore a red dress with a white apron over it.

"Circuit Girl, welcome back!  What can I get ya?" she asked, in imitation of a Jersey accent.  She handed each a menu.

"We'd like time to decide, Katherine," Circuit Girl said.  "This is the first time here for my two friends."

"Take alla time you like!" the waitress exclaimed.  She disappeared, returning with glasses of water and napkins and utensils.  She poured coffee for each of them.

Boy Secretary was still taking in the diner.  There was a clock on the wall with the logo for the New York Giants on it, and also a Yankees banner on the wall.  There was circular glass case filled with cakes and pies.  The menu was exactly what one might expect from a diner in New Jersey or New York -- lots of fried food, with burgers, fries, and grilled sandwiches dominating.

The man at the grill turned out to be Tony himself -- a jovial, portly man in a white tee shirt and stained apron.  He saw Circuit Girl and called out to her.  "Hey there, Circuit Girl, Darlin'!" he exclaimed.  "Ain'tchoo gonna introduce mes to yer beautiful friends?"

"Hey, Tony," she replied.  "This is Boy Secretary, who mans the front desk at our supergroup headquarters, and this lady is Eve the Explorer, who is a member of the Society of Intergalactic Space Babes and runs their station Terra above earth."

"Youse both looks lovely today," Tony said with a smile.

"Why is there a New Jersey diner in the middle of a fairyland like Amethyst?" Boy Secretary asked.

"Well," said Tony, "that's a funny story.  I usedta owns a diner like this ones in Jersey, but one day this tornado comes along and carrys it away.  Grandpa Anarchy and Unpossible Man were there, and we all winds up here in this here Amethyst fairyland.  After a bunch of adventures, that there Necromancer King asks me to stay as his personal fry cook -- see, he was dependin' on zombies to cooks for him before that, and I ain'ts gotta tell youse what a disaster that was."

Boy Secretary blanched at the thought.  "I can imagine," he said.

"Well one things leads to another, I get Mildred to come here, and heres we are," Tony said.  "I'm the official cook o' the palace, but I also runs this here diner durings the day."

Katherine returned to their table.  "Decide on what you want yet?" she asked.

"I think," said Boy Secretary, "that I'll have the grilled veggie sandwich, with fresh fruit...."

Tony made a face.  "That ain't real food," he growled.  "That's only ons there 'cause that Princess Amethyst insisted."

"And it's what I'm ordering," Boy Secretary replied.  "It's on the menu, after all."

"Yeah, yeah," said the cook.  "I'll makes it, but I won't likes it."

"The turkey cheese steak for me," Circuit Girl said.  "What about you, Eve?"

"I'll have the mac 'n' cheese burger!" Eve exclaimed hungrily.

"Coming right up!" Tony called out.  "Don't forgets to saves room for dessert!  My Mildred makes the best pecan pie in alla Amethyst!"

"I would suspect," said Circuit Girl, "that she makes the only pecan pie in all of Amethyst."

"Dat's true," Tony agreed.  "But trust me, it's really good!"

The food was excellent -- even the grilled veggie sandwich that Tony was so loathe to make.  For dessert Boy Secretary ignored the pecan pie and instead picked a cake made with fairyberries and lavender zuna seeds, which were as small as poppy seeds but added an incredible flavor to the cake.  "After all," Boy Secretary reasoned, "it would be a waste to travel all this way for lunch and just eat food that I might easily find back home in New York."

By this time Tony's wife Mildred had shown up.  She was a round, smiling woman who, it turned out, was from Kansas City originally.  She liked living in Amethyst, and retold the story of their arrival from her point of view.

"So one day a tornado comes along and picks up the diner and carries it away.  I thought my poor Tony was a goner.  They never found a body, of course.  Turns out he was in fairyland having adventures with Grandpa Anarchy, who knew?  I found out weeks later when this Necromancer King shows up on my doorstep with Tony in tow.  We barely had time to sell the house before he whisked us away to his kingdom.  But you know, it's all right.  You don't age here unless you want to -- you gotta like that!  Of course, I was already 46 when I got here -- you think they coulda found me when I was 25 maybe?"

"Mildred was a beauty whens she was 25," said Tony.

His wife scowled.  "You saying I ain't beautiful now, Old Man?"

"Nah, youse is still beautiful," Tony said, his face flushing red.  "I loves ya Babe, youse knows that.  I'm just saying...."

Mildred laughed.  "He's so easy to tease," she said.  "That's what I love about him.  That, and he does most of the cooking.  By the way, did he tell you about his magical frying pan?"

"More than once," Eve replied.

Boy Secretary checked his watch.  "It's getting late," he said.  "We've already been gone two hours...."

"Relax," said Circuit Girl.  "Time flows differently between dimensions.  We take our time and still get back to New York an hour after we left, no problem.  That's the other reason I love coming here -- apart from the food.  I still say Tony runs the best diner on two worlds.  We'll even stop in to see my brother before returning, he'd kill me if we didn't...."

"It's certainly been the most unusual lunch break I've ever experienced," Boy Secretary said.  "Or ever will experience, I suspect."

There was a twinkle in Circuit Girl's eye.  "You've never been to the Slice of Time Bar and Grill, have you?" she asked.

"Um... no?" replied Boy Secretary.

"A brontosaurus burger might change your mind," she said.

The door to the diner slammed open and a young boy in purple knee britches and a matching waistcoat with bright brass buttons charged in.  "Circuit Girl, Circuit Girl!" he exclaimed.  "Come quick!"

"Alisto?"  Circuit Girl stood. "What is it?"

"My sister Annaballa has been kidnapped by Wicked Eustace of the Barren Pines!  She said she was gonna transform her into a Wooly Willow tree!"

"Oh, my goodness!" exclaimed Mildred.  "The poor girl!"

"But... transform her into a tree?"  Boy Secretary frowned.  "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know," the boy said.  "She's a wicked witch!  That's the kind of thing they do!  You're a hero, Circuit Girl, you've got to save her!"

"I have a spare power suit in the palace..." Circuit Girl said.  She glanced at her two companions.  "I can do this, and we'll still get back in time.  You don't mind waiting for me, do you?"

"Wait for you?" Eve said, brandishing her gun.  "What are you talking about?  We're both heroes, too -- we're coming with you!"

FINI

Ballroom Blitz

Ballroom Blitz

Mark A Davis

307

Eve Jaskulski stared at herself in the mirror -- beautiful young girl with lavender hair in a shimmering, strapless, full-skirted gown of metallic purple.  Above her hovered a holovid drone.  In keeping with the fantasy theme of the fairyland of Amethyst, the drone was appropriately steampunk in appearance.

"Another princess dress," she said, disapprovingly.  "Yay."

"Oola!  The King of Throga, in courtesy, once a month, we do get," said her companion Muriel.  "And other outfits two more as well."  Her partner was an alien girl with green skin and blue hair.  She wore a creme-colored dress.

"Yes, I know," said Eve.  "You and I, and Lucci and Sashi, for saving him from assassins.  I suppose I can deal with wearing a fancy dress three times a month -- and we finally get to visit another world, so I'm not complaining, mind you -- but I didn't join the space babes in order to attend fancy balls."

She glanced down at the gun in her hand -- not the sleek laser pistol she normally carried, but something out of an H.G. Wells-inspired steampunk fantasy.  It had a polished wooden handle, coiled brass tubing, and a glass chamber filled with greenish-yellow liquid, like the vials of a carpenter's level.

"Does this thing even work?" she wondered aloud.

Muriel eyed the weapon.  "This device, you got where?" she demanded.  "Oola!  Commander's orders, heard you not?  Earth mating rituals to enjoy here we are to do.  Official mission this is!  Weapons allowed not, fighting allowed not, no circumstances are we to be involved in!"

"Yes, but..." Eve began.  "Wait... mating rituals?"

"Reason for this know you," said Muriel.  "To the king and queen of Throga, our first holovid, merely wearing new dresses did not show -- destroying them it also shows!"

"It was an emergency!" Eve exclaimed.  "Roquinnian Arachnoids had invaded the station!  We didn't have time to change!  "Also," she added after a second, "trying to parse your sentences is giving me a headache...."

"Oola, truth this is," said Muriel.  "But pleased, the king and queen were not.  In excrement soaked, our second gowns were...."

"We were teleported straight from a New York ballroom to the underground sewers!" Eve nearly shouted.  "It was an attack from Doctor Totengräber!  How is that our fault?"

"Assignment of blame, to do I try not," said Muriel.  "Truth only I state.  Five dresses presented from the king, destroyed you and I have, on holovid captured, to see they did.  For the S.I.S.B. Throga an important client is.  To anger them further, wish we do not."

It was true.  As a reward the king had provided them both with three outfits a month, including one fancy ball gown.  In five months, they had managed to destroy all five gowns.  But it wasn't their fault!  Wherever they were, things just seemed to happen.

"Yes, obviously," said Eve, "although I don't recall him complaining about the treatment of our gowns when we were saving his froggy ass...."

"Oola, Eve...." Muriel began.

"Plus we've established a space station above the fairyland of Amethyst for some reason...."  Eve held up a hand to forestall Muriel's reply.  "Yes, I know the reason!  We stopped an invasion from space, and now the Necromancer King is an ally, and his adopted daughter Princess Amethyst wants to host a fancy ball, and we're supposed to dance with princes and be demure and pretty and gracious and not cause trouble and this is not what I joined the space babes for!"

Muriel held out her hand.  "Oola.  Please to hand weapon?" she asked.

"Halt right there!"  a voice barked.  "Down with the Necromancer King!  Long live the revolution!"  A strange wooden soldier with no head marched stiffly into the room.  "You two are hostages of the Revolutionary Guard of...."

Eve aimed and fired.  Green energy shot out, vaporizing the soldier into a pile of sawdust.  "What do you know?" she said.  "It really works!"

Muriel scowled, hand still held out.

"Oh, come on!" protested Eve.  "He was a revolutionary!  He was trying to overthrow the king!"

Muriel said nothing.  After a few more moments, Eve sighed.  She handed over the gun.  "Fine," she said.  "I'll be a good girl.  I won't attack anyone."

A tall, muscular man in white military uniform appeared in the doorway.  "Miss Eve?" he said.  "My name is Prince Harry of Aquamarine.  I'm to be your date for this evening."

"Why Prince Harry," said Eve, extending her hand.  "My name is Eve.  It's a pleasure to meet you!"

***

Eve and Muriel watched as the holovid played.  Headless wooden soldiers ran rampant through the ballroom crowd.  Princes brandished swords.  Zombie soldiers wielded halberds.  In one corner of the room, Eve and Muriel could be seen eating hors d'oeuvres and calmly watching the chaos in the room.

Across a work surface from them sat Captain Alice -- their direct superior in the Space Babes.  As with all space babes she was a young woman, perhaps nineteen, with dark skin and curly black hair, dressed in a silver bikini and go-go boots, with a belt and holstered blaster.  If one looked closely however, the left strap of her bikini held four stripes.

"I don't understand," said Eve.  "I was good.  I didn't attack anybody.  The Necromancer King's soldiers regained control all on their own.  Our dresses weren't harmed in the least.  Isn't that what you wanted?  So what's the problem now?"

"Although pleased that the dresses were not ruined," said Captain Alice, "King Karoat of Throga was very disappointed that space babe operatives stood by and did nothing during a melee...."

Eve threw up her hands.  "Really?  Really?  How are we supposed to respond to combat situations and keep floor-length ballgowns completely pristine?"

"Throga is a very important client..." Captain Alice began.

"You'd have to retroactively edit the holovid," said Eve, "and provide us with duplicate gowns that we could appear in afterwards...."

Her voice trailed off as she saw the glint in the captain's eye.  "Crap," she said.  "We're getting two gowns a month, aren't we?  One paid for by Throga, and duplicates paid for by the S.I.S.B."

"Oola," said Muriel.

Captain Alice smiled and said, "Why, how very perceptive of you, Agent Eve!"

FINI

Beautifully Engineered

Beautifully Engineered

Mark A Davis

302

Lights flashed, red and pink and blue, like fireworks.  Klaxons blared.  The scent of ozone and burnt plastic filled the air.  A blubbery, multi-tentacled purple monstrosity waved at least five pistols in the air.

Grandpa Anarchy, world's oldest hero, went down in a hail of laser fire.  Beside him, a red-haired girl's face exploded.  She, too, went down.

Grandpa had been about to introduce his sidekick, the Cisgender Sleuth, to the women who ran S.I.S.B. Space Station Terra -- two young women in silver bikinis and go-go boots, which seemed to be the uniform on the station.  In the next second the tentacled horror had appeared out of nowhere and opened fire.  He'd teleported in -- just as Grandpa and the Cisgender Sleuth had a mere thirty seconds earlier, only they had done so with the permission of Valerie 9000, the station's A.I. computer.

Red lasers scorched the walls and the ceiling.  The one remaining bikini-clad girl grabbed the Cisgender Sleuth's arm and pulled her through an archway.  A blast door slammed down after them, shielding them from laser fire.

"Val!  The intruder is sealed in deck 3, section five!" the girl yelled out.  "We have two people down!  Requesting all air be removed from that section!"

The muffled sounds of shouting and laser fire could be heard through the bulkhead.  There was no reply to the girl's request.  She swore.  "He's blocking Val out somehow!" she said.  "I should have realized -- he'd have to mess her up somehow just to teleport in here...."

The two were trapped in a twenty-foot section of hallway, with blast doors sealing each end.

"Who in Hades is that?" the Cisgender Sleuth asked.

"Vlorlaxio," the young woman said curtly.  "Terrorist with a grudge against us.  Wanted on a thousand worlds...."

"Grandpa's trapped on the other side of this door!" the sidekick exclaimed.

"Grandpa Anarchy is most likely already dead," the girl in the bikini said.

"Oh gods!"  The Cisgender Sleuth could feel the terror rising in her throat.

"Don't worry," the girl said.  "He's died before. You're his new sidekick, I take it?"

For the first time, the two girls got a good look at each other.  The Cisgender Sleuth was a tall girl, lanky, with dark skin and bleach-blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.  She dressed in red spandex, with a deerstalker cap and a double-breasted Ulster overcoat.  On her chest was the astrological symbol for Venus.

It might have made sense thematically, but the overall effect was of someone who'd thrown a costume together in half an hour at a Salvation Army.

The space girl had long, auburn hair.  Aside from the silver bikini and go-go boots, all she wore was a belt with a gun holster and an S.I.S.B. buckle.

"That's right," said the sidekick.  "I'm the Cisgender Sleuth."

"That explains the deerstalker cap and overcoat," the space girl replied.  "My name is Eve -- Eve the Explorer.  I was Grandpa's sidekick once, too."

"Really?"  The Sleuth studied the girl again.  She was quite healthy, with curves in all the right places -- something that was hard to miss given her state of undress.  "The name sounds familiar," said the sidekick, "but I feel certain I'd remember that face.  I've studied the roster of past sidekicks rather extensively...."

"I... look a bit different now," the girl said evasively.  She turned back to the blast door.  "Val?  Valerie 9000?  Can you hear me?"  After several moments of silence, she added, "I'm worried about Val, but I guess we're safe for the moment.  Laser fire alone can't penetrate that blast door...."

She glanced back at the girl in the deerstalker cap.  "I hope you don't mind me saying this," she said, "but that name and that look -- it really doesn't work well."

The Cisgender Sleuth frowned.  This was not the time to argue about her costume.  "Look," she said, "Is Grandpa Anarchy really dead?  You said he's died before...."

"Grandpa Anarchy has died plenty of times," Eve said.  "I couldn't give you an exact total but yes, he's dead, and no, it's not permanent.  Look, Terra is a fully-functioning Earth-based space station for the Society of Intergalactic Space Babes.  We're a division of 5E, a government arm of the Eieio (pronounced Ee-Yow) Empire, which spans a thousand worlds in the Milky Way.  They have technology that you can't imagine.  What that means is that we have clone vats and resurrection technology on board this station.  You were scanned when you first came aboard, right?  The pink light?  You gave permission to be genetically identified and mentally scanned?  Val does it without even telling you exactly what you're agreeing to, but basically, if you die, we can bring you back to life."

She paused and added, "If Val and the station technology are working, mind you...."

"Clone technology?  So it'd be me, but a different version of me?" the Sleuth asked.

"Well, technically speaking, you're already a different version of you from yesterday," Eve said.  "Trust me, don't overthink it.  You wake up and you're still you."

There was a loud boom.  The station shook.  The Sleuth said, "That didn't feel like laser fire...."

"No," said Eve.  "I was afraid of this.  Vlorlaxio brought some heavier firepower.  He might be able to break through that door.  If so, we're sitting ducks."

She ran to the far blast door.  "Val!" she called out.  "Open the blast door on deck 3 between sections four and three!"

There was no response.  Eve swore.  "Let's hope I remember how to override this," she said.  She pulled some wires from her bracelet and plugged them into the wall.  Belatedly, the Cisgender Sleuth realized that what she'd thought was a bracelet was actually a small wrist computer.

"What's your name?" Eve asked.  "It feels weird calling you the Cisgender Sleuth.  It's a mouthful."

"Rhonda," the sidekick replied.  "Look, about the name -- I did this mostly as a tribute to my brother.  He was... transgender.  He was born female. He was always a fan of Sherlock Holmes, and plus the name seemed nicely alliterative...."

"Yeah, okay, I get it," said Eve as she worked at her wrist computer.  "A tribute?"

"My brother committed suicide," the Sleuth replied flatly.  "My parents never accepted who he was, and he was teased and bullied at school...."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Eve replied.  "People suck."

Another boom shook the station.  The door on the far side of the room buckled inward slightly.

"All he wanted to do was to be a normal boy," Eve said.  "To play football, and maybe become a cop one day.  He really like superhero movies, and so I thought... I don't know.  That I'd become the hero he might have been, or at least become a hero for him, or something."

"So you didn't do this for yourself?"

"I like helping people," the Sleuth said.  She was once again staring at the girl beside her.  "Look, I hope this doesn't sound weird, and I know this isn't the time, but... I find you incredibly sexy."

Eve blushed.  "Why, thank you," she said.

"I mean it," the sidekick added.  "I'd kill for a body like yours.  I always wanted curves like that.  If I looked like you, I'd wear a silver bikini and go-go boots too."

"Got it!" Eve exclaimed.  The blast door slid open, revealing a larger room with a couple of desks with terminals.

"Well, this isn't much better," Eve said.  "I can try to contact Val 9000 manually I guess...."

She sat at one of the desks and held her hands out.  A holographic keyboard appeared.  She tapped a few keys, and a drawer slid open.  "Bingo!" she exclaimed, producing a pistol.  "I hope you can handle a blaster," she said, tossing it to the startled sidekick.

In the far room there was another boom, and the sound of debris scattering across the hallway.  The doors to the room slid shut.

"Those won't hold long," Eve said.  She went back to typing.  "Did you really mean what you said?" she asked.  "About wanting to look like me?  Because you can, you know."

Rhonda laughed bitterly.  "No I can't," she said.  "I don't have the curves.  I'd never look half as good as you in a bikini."

"Oh, you'd fit," said Eve.  They'd make you fit, trust me."

The Sleuth frowned.  "How do you mean?"

"When you join the Space Babes, they adjust your body," the girl said.  "Bio engineer it.  They'd make you shorter and more curvy.  They have certain size guidelines that they go by, and every Space Babe is engineered to fit them.  After all, the uniforms only come in one size, did you know that?"

"They... bioengineered you?  To look sexy?" asked Rhonda.

Eve giggled.  "Oh my, yes!"  She grinned impishly.  "Would it surprise you to know I was a guy before this?"

"A... boy?"  Rhonda's eyes suddenly went wide.  "Of course!  I thought the name was familiar!  You were Evander the Explorer!"

"There you go!" Eve exclaimed.  "You've got some of that Holmesian sleuthing ability after all!"

"Then," said Rhonda, "You're transgendered too."

"Well... not so much," said Eve.  "I just wanted to explore space.  The Space Babes are girls only -- but they take applications from boys, and then transform them.  In the Eieio (pronounced Ee-Yow) Interstellar Empire, it's pretty easy to change your gender.  For most it costs a pretty penny, but the government pays for whatever cosmetic upgrades the Space Babes require.

"What I'm saying is, if you joined the Space Babes, then you will fill out a bikini  as well as I do.  Bio engineering will see to that.  For that matter you could join the Interstellar Fraternity of Bunny Boys and you'd become a muscular young man -- for the duration of your contract, at least."

There was a loud boom and a crashing sound.  The blast doors burst inward, scattering debris and dust.  One door was shoved aside, leaving a two-foot gap through which they could see Vlorlaxio moving.

"Time's up," Eve said, crouching behind the desk.  "It's show time!"

Laser fire erupted.  For several moments blasts of red flew back and forth through the gap in the doorway.  One beam struct Eve in the right arm, burning it to the bone.  She cursed and shifted her weapon to her other hand.

The laser fire ceased.  A burbling voice from beyond the door called out, "Eve the Explorer!  You are injured!  Give up now!  Let me kill you, and I won't destroy the entire station!"

"Not happening, Dirtbreath!" Eve shouted back.

"Stupid, gun-wielding bimbo!" the alien terrorist yelled.  "Consider carefully!  I only want revenge on you and Grandpa Anarchy for what you did to me on Persa Three!  I'll give you one minute to reconsider!"

Eve was sweating.  She had a delirious look in her eye -- the pain was clearly affecting her.  She gritted her teeth and said, "Look, Rhonda, this might not be the best time to pitch you, nor the best example of what joining our group would entail... but being a member of the Space Babes is a fantastic job.  You get to explore the galaxy, you meet new and interesting people and alien races -- and you get to blast a lot of them with laser fire.  You're a highly-trained killing machine in a sexy bikini and go-go boots.  Everybody loves the Space Babes, and also fears them a little.  We're the perfect consorts -- one part sexy lady, one part bodyguard.  We don't discriminate either -- male, female, humanoid, non-humanoid, old, young -- it doesn't matter who or what you are before you join.  You'll become young and female and humanoid and sexy!  There are worse things to do with your life!"

"Eve," said Rhonda, "your arm is nearly burned off...."

"What, this?" Eve asked.  "They can fix this.  No problem!"

"Well," said Rhonda, "it does sound tempting...."

"Tempting, nothing!" the voice from beyond the door exclaimed.  "I've always wanted to be more sexy.  Do you think they'd take me?"

Rhonda glanced at Eve.

"Ex convicts have been accepted," Eve offered.

"Fantastic!" the creature exclaimed.  Tentacles shoved the busted doors open, and Vlorlaxio appeared before them, unarmed.  "In that case," he said, "I surren...."

Rhonda fired, striking the alien squarely in his blobby, bulbous torso.  Energy enveloped him.  He crumbled into particles and vanished.

"Got him!" Rhonda exclaimed.

Eve laughed.  "Rhonda," she said, "you'll make an excellent Space Babe!"

FINI

Family Affair

Family Affair

Mark A Davis

300

"When I was a child," said Eve Jaskulski, new member of the Society of Intergalactic Space Babes, "I read comics and pulp fiction about Dr. Thomas Nova, his son Elias Nova, and the whole Nova family.  I dreamed about adventures in space.  I was going to travel the stars, and sleep with an alien space babe.  That's why I joined the space babes, you know."  She fidgeted in her ball gown -- a peach-colored dress of satin and chiffon with a full skirt to rival that of any Disney princess.  "I didn't expect my first assignment to transfer me back to earth."

"Oola, I comprehend," replied her companion Muriel, a green-skinned alien with blue hair.  She wore a ball gown of deep blue, with a laced bodice and laced sleeves.  "Earth never have I have been.  An exciting adventure, for me, it is."

Eve shook her green hair.  "I mean, if I knew I was just going to orbit earth, I wouldn't have agreed to become a girl!" Eve exclaimed.  The two were seated in the forward compartment of the ship, in fur-covered bucket seats, staring out a simulated view screen at starry space.

"Oola, to be female, a bad thing it is?" asked Muriel.  "Human you were to begin with, at least.  Human I was not."

Muriel was a Jangathau -- a race of amphibious aliens.  They were humanoid, but very tall and thin.  The space babes, however, had a body template and everyone who joined was transformed to match it.  Body shaping was much easier than providing uniforms in multiple sizes.

"Yes, but," Eve said, "they invited my family to meet us at the station!  You know, I wasn't going to tell them that I'd become a girl -- at lest, not right away.  Now I'm having dinner with them on my first assignment!  And in a princess dress, no less!  Talk about embarrassing!"

"For this meeting to wear our gowns, instructed we were," said Muriel.  "From a client very important they were.  Rewards they were.  Holovids of us he requests.  Oola, this you can recall?"

"I know our assignment..." Eve began, when an alarm began to sound.  A pleasant female voice spoke.

"Greetings, Eve the Explorer and Muriel the Jangathau.  I am Valerie 9000, in contact with you from S.I.S.B. Space Station Terra.  You are entering the Sol system.  I regret to inform you that, due to an unforseen gateway breach, the station has been overrun with hostile spider xenomorphs.  The station's S.I.S.B. crew are dead, and Miss Eve's family has been captured.  Please prepare to recapture the station -- full force is authorized."

Muriel frowned.  "Oola!  Spider?  Meaning of this word is?" she asked.

***

A klaxxon blared.  Red emergency lights flashed.  The lighting was dim, but everywhere you looked you saw sticky webbing -- clinging to the walls, hanging from the ceilings, strung between chairs and work surfaces and across vid screens.  As a small holovid drone hovered overhead, recording their every move, Eve and Muriel moved forward slowly, each cradling a laser carbine.  An acrid musk hung in the air -- the entire station reeked of it.

There came a scuttling ahead.  Hairy segmented legs moved quickly, black and covered with fine purple hairs.  Eve blasted the arachnid with laser fire.  It squealed like a chew toy.  Black ichor splattered over Eve and her peach gown, now ripped and torn and stained with blood and ash.  The same covered her arms and face, and webs wrapped about her tangled hair.

"I am not having a good time!" Eve screamed.  She charged into the room spraying laser fire.  Two more of the creatures -- each as large as a sheep -- splattered gore.  Webbing flared to life and burned quickly, like fireworks.

"Eve's family is in the next room," came the voice of Valerie 9000.  "Try not to set the webbing on fire.  It consumes oxygen."

"Decision have I come to," said Muriel.  "Things called spiders, I do not like!"

From the darkened doorway into the next room, a spider scuttled, larger than the others.  It knocked Muriel's rifle aside, snatched her up, and bit her in two.

"Muriel!" Eve cried out.  She blasted the creature, splattering its innards against the wall.  But it was too late -- her companion lay dead.

Eve did not have time to mourn.  Two more spider creatures appeared.  These she blasted as well, then moved into the next room.  Here she found three suspicious shapes -- large bundles wrapped in many layers of of silk, like three human-sized cocoons.  She could guess what lay within.

She locked the door to the room, drew a sonic knife and began to slash at the thread.  "Valerie," she said, "What's the rebirth status of Muriel and the station crew?"

"I apologize," Val 9000 replied, "but rebirths will not be available for approximately four days."

Eve frowned.  "What?  Why?" she asked.  "I thought they were virtually instant!"

"Agents Julia and Iqma have already received ten rebirths each," said the computer.  "In their fight against the xenomorphs, they sacrificed themselves over and over, until there were no more clone bodies available.  Four days is the minimum time required to force-grow a new clone."

Eve had noticed where they were -- the outer room of the rebirth center.  She saw through a doorway into an inner room, where glass and steel tubes filled with green water glowed faintly in the dim light.  This was the the part of the station that they most needed to protect -- otherwise, none of them would be coming back to life, at least not anywhere near earth.

"In anticipation of your next question," said the computer A.I., "yes, we did have clone bodies prepared for both you and Muriel.  However, given the emergency, Julia and Iqma used those bodies as well."

"Do you mean... there are multiple corpses of Muriel and myself on this station?" asked Eve.  The very idea made her pause.

"That is correct," the A.I. replied.

Again Eve sliced through web.  She could see cloth now -- army green.  "But I thought... I mean I don't really know, but..." said Eve, "doesn't rebirth take about half hour?  When they altered me...."

"Sculpting an existing body is much quicker than growing a clone body from scratch," the computer said.  "I am sorry, but for the moment you are the only operative on the station.  Reinforcements are on the way, but their arrival is estimated at twenty-one hours."

"We don't have time to wait," said Eve.  "What about heroes from earth?"

By now she'd revealed the person within the cocoon -- a woman dressed in strange military garb.  There was a green army jacket, paired with a brown leather skirt, woolen socks, army boots.  There were twin guns, holstered, and a strap across the chest carrying six grenades.  The outfit confused Eve, but when she uncovered the face, she saw it was her mother, Ula Jaskulski.

Her mother opened her eyes.  She stared into Eve's face for a moment, then comprehension dawned.  "Evander?" she asked.  "Is that you?"

"Yes, Mom.  It's me.  Only it's Eve now," Eve said.  "Let's get you out of this mess."

"Why is your hair green?" her mother asked.

"It's..." Eve said, "like Sally Stardust, you know.  In the comics...."

As she pulled her mother from the webbing, Valerie 9000 said, "I have been unable to contact any existing superhero organizations.  I have tried the Archons of Excellence, the New League of Two-Fisted Justice, the Black Moon Maidens, even the Daughters of Anarchy.  None are available to respond at present.  If the situation changes, I will alert you."

"My goodness," Eve's mother said.  "Look at you!  You're beautiful!"

Eve rolled her eyes.  "Mom, I'm covered in blood, webbing, and spider goo...."

"Eve is a perfect name for you," her mother said.  "I named you after your grandmother Evalynn.  But look at you!  You're wrong -- a mother can see through the dirt and grime to the beauty underneath.  You are my daughter, and you are beautiful!"

Eve's face flushed red.  She turned and began slashing at the second cocoon.  She wasn't sure what response she'd expected to her transformation, but this wasn't it.

The second cocoon revealed a young girl in her early teens, who looked remarkably like Eve.  She was dressed in one of the space babe silver bikinis, but she didn't have the curves to fill it out properly.

"Kasandra!" Eve exclaimed.

Again she got a blank stare, followed by recognition.  The girl took in the full picture -- despite the torn dress and blood and gore, Eve sported the curvaceous figure that was the space babe template.  Her sister's face filled with sudden fury.

"My brother is a green-haired space bimbo!" she exclaimed.

"It's space babe," Eve replied.  She hadn't expected this either.  In her mind she had expected support from her sister, but resistance from her mother.

"Where did you get that dress?" her sister demanded.  "The bimbo bikini isn't good enough for you?  What are you trying to prove?  Why is your hair green?"

Eve turned to slash open the third cocoon.  "It'd take too long to explain," she said.  "Right now we're trapped on a space station with alien spiders, and I'm the only one left to stop them.  And it's my first day on the job!"

Eve frowned as her grandfather Marian Jaskulski was revealed.

What was grandfather wearing?  As she pulled the threads away, a strange spandex outfit of orange and brown was revealed.  There was an oxen head on the chest, and a strange helmet with oxen horns.  Grandpa opened his eyes and grinned.

"Aniolek!" he exclaimed, hugging her with his one free hand.  "My little angel!  You make a beautiful girl!  Grandmother would be so proud!"

"She... would?"  Every reaction surprised Eve.

"Yes, yes, of course she would!" he said.  Then he added,  "But green hair?  Really?  Here, help me out, help me out, Aniolek."  As Eve freed him from the silk, he said, "Why, your grandmother almost joined the space babes herself!  Did I never tell you?"

Eve's eyes widened.  "She did?  I mean, she almost did?  Is that true?"

"Yes, yes!  When she was seventeen!"  He grinned like a happy dog.  "I was Orange Ox Boy back then, in 1969.  See my uniform?"  He stood and spread his hands.  "I was Grandpa Anarchy's sidekick, and your grandmother was his previous sidekick.  Shrapnel Girl!  A uniform just like Ula is wearing!  She was going to join the space babes -- but I proposed!  We both quit the hero business and got married!"

Eve was staring in wonder.  "Why are you all dressed like this?" she asked.

"We wanted to welcome home our little soldier!" Grandpa exclaimed.  "We're all very proud of you.  Joining the Space Babes -- it's quite a brave thing that you do!  We were heroes once, so we wanted to celebrate your heroism!"

"And no sooner do we arrive," said her mother, "then we're attacked by alien spiders!  Isn't this exciting?"

"Exciting?" Eve exclaimed.  "Mom, people are dying!"

"Death is  temporary in the space babes," she said.  "Surely they taught you that much, at least?"

"The good guys always win, in the end!" her grandfather asserted.

Eve just shook her head.  She hefted her laser carbine.  "Look," she said, "I'm going out.  Someone has to try and clear this station of xenomorphs.  Lock the door behind me.  If I die, I'll be reborn from a clone in four days, but help should arrive in twenty hours.  Don't do anything stupid."

"Aniolek," said her grandfather, "why don't you wait here with us?  If it's only twenty hours...."

"Because," Eve said, "I'm a member of the Space Babes.  This is what we do."

Tears welled up in her sister Kasandra's eyes.  "It's not fair," she cried.  "Why does my older sister get to be so cool?  I want to be a beautiful heroine.  Why couldn't I be a space babe?"

"You're too young," Eve said.  "And first, you'd have to be a sidekick to Grandpa Anarchy...."

She unlocked the doorway and stepped out into the hall, weapon at the ready.

***

Eve opened her eyes.  The light was bright.  She was floating in warm, green liquid.

She blinked.  Rebirth?  She must have died....

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Eve  Jaskulski," said Valerie 9000.  "Otherwise known as Eve the Explorer.  You have been dead for four days."

"The spiders?" Eve asked.

"All gone," said the A.I.

"My family?"

"Everyone is safe, 'Val 9000 said.  "They've been helping to clean the station...."

Eve found the locker containing dozens upon dozens of space babe uniforms -- silver bikinis, go-go boots, and belts with holsters.  She dressed quickly.

"Thank goodness for the reinforcements," Eve said.

There was a light laugh from the doorway.  A familiar girl strode in -- Muriel, Eve's partner.  "Oola, Eve!  Reinforcements, sent they were," she said.  "Jennie Nova, Llahna the Arellian, Quantum Uncertainty Girl, Vanellope -- best among the space babes they are.  Before their arrival, dead these spiders were."

"Really?" Eve said.  "I killed them all?"

Muriel laughed.  "Kill them you did not.  Dead you were.  Three others, It was...."

Another space babe strode into the room.  She had long auburn hair like Eve.  She placed a hand on her hip and winked.  It took a second for the face to register, and then Eve exclaimed, "Mom?"

"In the flesh!" the girl exclaimed.  "And very sexy flesh at that, if I do say so myself!  After all, if they can transform my son into a sexy young girl, then why not me?  I was Grandpa's sidekick one upon a time too.  Shrapnel Girl II, following in the steps of my mother!"

Eve's eyes bugged out.  She'd been worried about what her mother would think of her as a sexy girl, yet she was totally unprepared for her mother to become the same.

Another space babe entered, also with auburn hair.  She looked almost exactly like Eve.  "Hey Sis!" she said.  "How do I look?"

"Kasandra?" Eve said in a hoarse voice.  "You joined the space babes too?  But you were never a sidekick...."

"Technically I was," she said, "for about ten seconds.  Val 9000 arranged it -- signed me up with the Temporary Superfriends as Shrapnel Girl III, transferred me to Grandpa Anarchy's employ, then immediately made me a space babe.  Of course, the actual space babification took a bit longer... about thirty minutes...."

"See, we had to fight off them spider aliens," said a third newcomer.   Another girl strode into the room.  She looked familiar, similar to the others, yet Eve could swear they'd never met.  She also had pink hair.

"You were so brave, rushing out to face them critters alone," the newcomer said.  "We all decided that the least we could do was follow your lead.  And after all, I was Grandpa Anarchy's sidekick once, too!"  She stuck her chest out and added, "how do I look, Aniolek?  Like the hair?  What's good for the goose is good for the gander, eh?"  She laughed, as Eve's eyes continued to bug out.

"Grandfather?" Eve exclaimed.

"As Ula said, in the flesh," the pink-haired girl replied, grinning.  "Very sexy flesh as well, no?  I feel completely reborn!  But please, call me Mariana."

Eve remained open-mouthed.  "Of course," Marianna said, "it was only meant to be temporary -- just long enough to clear the station of spiders.  But Ula and I got to talking.  We all have dreams of adventure that were never fulfilled.  Evalynn is gone, your father is gone -- you kids are mostly grown.  What's to stop us from joining the Space Babes?  As for your sister, what better education can she get than out in space?  We all signed up for the initial three-year tour."

She laughed and added, "I think it's exactly what Evalynn would have wanted."

***

Eve watched the ship depart.  Her face was sullen, almost angry.

"So soon your family gone, you are sorry to see?" Muriel asked.

"It's not that," Eve said.  "Truth be told, it's easier to not have the three of them around.  I can't deal with a kid sister, my mother, and my grandfather of all people being sexy sixteen-year-olds.  I thought they would chastise me or berate me for being like this -- I never thought they'd join me!"

She sighed and added, "No, the problem is that I joined up to explore the galaxy, and what do I get?  One year stuck on a station orbiting earth, while my family gets to travel the galaxy.  It's really not fair!"

FINI