Synopsis:

Scott was on his way west to meet up with his friends to start a new life in L A. What he came across in the desert after his car broke down would change him forever. He wondered if his friends would recognise him once they finally met again. He didn’t think this was what his friend’s intended when they said, "start a new life."

Chapter Fourteen

"WHAT! She did?"

"Yes, apparently there's a threat from an star in a neighbouring galaxy. It's been tampered with, and it's going to nova. They have to help shift their people to an adjacent galaxy, that's far enough away to be safe from the radiation pulse, which the super nova generates. At this point, they aren't sure if the nova triggering was a deliberate act, or an accident, by over zealous scientists. It may be the act of an unknown invading race, trying to expunge any competition."

"Oh boy," Kevin was riveted by the tale unfolding. "What about us, are we in danger? What are the Shelke's intentions?"

"From what Julie told William, they are trying to guide us from repeating some of the disasters that they have seen other emerging races falling into. We have two choices; continue as we are, polluting the earth with poisons. Which eventually lead to global annihilation as food gets scarce and nuclear war eventuates- or," Sara paused, to collect her thoughts.

"Or," prompted Kevin, unnecessarily.

"We turn to a new power source, one that isn't going to kill off all life on earth, and one that will eventually give us the universe to play in." Sara looked at Kevin, anticipating his next question. "Julie thinks this message was left for us, maybe not for us, specifically, but for whoever discovered the true purpose of the motorbike." Sara quickly added, seeing the almost uttered question forming in Kevin's mind. Julie and I think that the Shelke must have anticipated this and left the message to whoever found it."

Kim, in the bedroom paused, as she admired herself in the mirror, a smile crossed her face as she uttered a near silent, "yes." She changed for the final time, selecting a nice sundress, that although not of top quality, given the rush of buying on the run, still managed to make her look elegant, in a youthful looking way. She heard the indistinct conversation in the other room stop, so she made her entrance with a loud "Ta Dah," doing a quick twirl in front of the others.

"Very nice," Kevin was quick to comment, seeing Sara was still deep in thought.

"Um, oh...oh yes. It suits you," Sara said belatedly, complimenting Kim on her choice.

"When are we leaving?" Kim chirped up.

"Soon, very soon," answered Sara, getting up from the couch.

As promised, they were soon on the road again in the roomier Volvo. Kim was bubbling with excitement and dominated the conversation with her light patter. Sara was hard put to think of Kim as nothing other than the young girl she appeared. Her thoughts about her uncle being an alien were driven into the background, as Kim's cheerful mood rubbed off on all of them. There was one moment of worry, as they passed through the police cordon heading away from the city. They had to open the trunk to show that no stowaway's were hiding there. The police checked out the women carefully, before allowing them to pass.

"I wish I could get even with that brute," Kim complained, after they resumed their journey.

"It's a nice thought, but we aren't in the business of revenge just now," Sara counselled. "Maybe we might come up with a plan on the return journey, which might see him exposed as the corrupt official he is. We have certain powers at our disposal, but we can't go righting every wrong in this world. We could end up abusing our power and be just as great an evil."

"No way! You're both my hero's. I just wish he could have been put in my place, to see just what it feels like." Kim muttered.

"Hmmm, maybe we could," mused Sara, looking thoughtful. "I'd rather he was punished the normal way though the court system, but we'd need photographic evidence for that."

"We could do it you know," offered Kevin, who had just been listening up till then. "Make him into a young girl, then take his place and photograph him doing exactly what he did to Kim."

"You could do that? Make him suck... well you know what I mean." Kim enthused.

"Well, not exactly, but we could make it look like that for the photographs. I think the threat would be enough, especially after the shock of becoming a girl. As Sara said, we don't want to fall into the trap of exacting that kind of revenge, or we'd be no better than him." Kevin explained, hoping Kim would understand, despite her natural need for revenge.

Kim pouted for a second or two. Sara, who had turned to look at Kim in the back seat, saw a fleeting look of... something cross Kim's face. She wasn't sure if she imagined it, but it seemed to be a look of approval, but at what, she wasn't sure, seeing her wish for real revenge had been diluted somewhat.

They made great time, using the speed enhanced Volvo. They had a moment of fun just before Denver when they sped past an Evo 6 on one of the fast stretches of road. It must have blown the driver away, seeing a stately Volvo saloon whip past him. Kevin grinned, as the driver of the Evo floored it and started to gain on them.

Kevin waited till the other driver was close enough to see him wave bye bye, before Kevin accelerated away. At 300 mph, the Evo was soon a speck in the distance. Kevin shocked the girl's by letting go the steering wheel, for a few seconds before taking control again.

"Please don't do that again," pleaded Sara, her heart thumping in her chest. "It's bad enough to be going this fast, without risking our lives on a stunt."

"Relax honey, I don't know how, but there's some sort of built in stabiliser in this thing when it's at speed. I bet we couldn't get out of control if we tried," he said, trying to reassure her.

"Maybe that's true, but I prefer both hands on the wheel in future," Sara insisted, trying to act like a responsible adult in front of Kim. "Let's hope we don't need to prove it any time soon," she added.

"Maybe I should use the bike setting, and tuck you both in non-space," laughed Kevin jokingly.

"Well if you want to be alone on the bike, maybe you might like being alone in bed," sniffed Sara archly, trying for a disdainful look with her threat.

Kim wasn't following this, so just looked out the window as the byplay continued. Sara's sudden laugh, as she saw Kevin's exaggerated contrite look, broke the mock seriousness of the moment, and Sara revelled in her sense of power from the baseless threat. Kevin grinned at her, knowing she had been kidding, but letting her have her moment of glory. They sat in silence till they reached Denver, content in the non-verbal communication of looks and glances.

They picked up a lunch to eat on the way, along with hot coffees. They wanted to make Kansas City that day and didn't want to waste time eating lunch in Denver. Sara took over the driving at Denver, glad to be doing something except watch the scenery flash by. Kevin feed her the sandwiches they had bought, handing another to her, as she finished eating the first.

Late in the afternoon, just before Topeka, Sara noticed a light showing on the dashboard. Alarmed at the thought of something going wrong, she slowed and pointed it out to the others.

"Maybe it’s a radar detector," offered Kim, seeing their confusion.

"There is a bit more traffic on the police bands," suggested Kevin, having pulled the earpiece from the scanner from his ear.

Sara slowed to the limit, watching the light blink steadily; she thought it had started to blink faster, as they went about a mile further on. Suddenly with a whirr, a small barrel like object rose out of the dash pointing out towards the windscreen. Two reflectors at the rear of the barrel swung out, looking like some kind of focusing mechanism. The device swung sideways, before pointing steadily in one direction. Weaving the car side to side, proved one thing, it was locked on something as it compensated, remain fixed at something on the road ahead. They heard a Zzzzzt, and a click and the flashing light went out. The device whirred again, retreating back into the opening on the dash. Looking at each other in surprise, Sara shrugged at Kevin, who also showed puzzlement. A bit further on and still doing the legal limit, they passed a police cruiser parked behind the Topeka welcoming sign. They saw that the officer had his laser in his hand and was more concerned about the smoke coming from it, to notice them pass.

"Wow! A laser detector and killer too," chortled Kevin, imagining the officers surprise at seeing the ruined laser gun.

"This car has more surprises than a Xmas cracker," Sara grinned.

"I get the paper hat, next time," laughed Kevin.

"I would have thought you would be asking a million questions, Kim," Sara asked, looking back at Kim in the mirror.

"I would have normally, but you did say not to ask questions, besides, being turned into a fully functional female holds more interest than a super fast car with James Bond accessories." I don't care how you did it, only that its been done," Kim responded. "I wouldn't be surprised at anything this car can do. It's like a sort of dream for me, I bet if you pressed those blank panels there, all sorts of gadgets would show up." she followed up, pointing to the small oblong shapes on the dash.

Sara looked at the dash with new eyes, wondering. The small depressions Kim pointed out were common on most cars. They were usually the places where extra switches for luxury models where fitted, but left blank for the earlier versions. She fingered one nervously, not sure if she should press it while driving, just to see if Kim's idea had merit. What if something radical happened? She looked over at Kevin, to see he was also looking at her with the same thought. He shrugged, not commenting, but his message was as clear as if he had spoken out loud. "Let's try it."

Sara pressed on the nearest depressions. Immediately, the laser gun disabler, rose out of the dash, but this time there was a display showing two sets of numbers. One was reading 55 and was steady, while the other was varying around 60. It didn't take them long to realise that the one varying was the actual cars speed, as it shot quickly to a 100 when Sara pressed on the accelerator. Seeing the other was set at the legal speed limit, it didn't take a rocket scientist to work out that the other must be some sort of radar scrambler which would make it seem that that were doing 55 when in fact they were exceeding the limit. A dial next to the set speed was obviously to set it for city speed limits.

Kevin pressed the next one, leaving the other still working. Again, the change was instant. The colour of the Volvo changed from blue to sliver. Seeing a ring materialise on her finger, Sara knew something more than a colour change had occurred.

"Check your ID in your wallet and the one in my purse, will you." Sara asked Kevin, who hadn't noticed the ring or the significance of its positioning.

"Wow!" Kevin marvelled. "I'm somebody else now...and I'm married to you." He added, having checked her ID. "How do you like being Mrs. Elaine Cosworth, married to me, Mr. Steven Cosworth?"

"I'll tell you after the honeymoon," Sara quipped. "Sheesh! Talk about a shotgun marriage, I never even got to hear the "I do's," she giggled. Sara sighed, seeing the ring disappear again, as Kevin touched the depression again. 'One day that will be a real ring,' she thought, missing the sight of it already.

"I'll buy you a ring of your own to keep," Kevin said, echoing her thoughts, and surprising her with how he'd known what she had been thinking.

Even Kim was getting into this new box of tricks.

"Can I try one?" she asked excitedly, meaning the last one left.

"I thought James Bond gadgetry was just old hat to you," Kevin laughed, giving her the go ahead.

"Well this is fun," she giggled, leaning forward to reach the last one to try. Just as before, there was an immediate reaction. A shimmer of light seemed to cover the car, before fading away. A small icon lit up in the instrument panel itself, showing a three dimensional depiction of the car. It was rotating through all three axis, giving them a view of every side of the car, including underneath. Kevin and Sara were stumped as to its purpose, as there seemed to be no actual change. Kim put forward a possible explanation.

"It reminds me of a science fiction movie in which a spacecraft has a force field up. Every time it was hit, it showed on a screen where the impacts were, except it wasn't rotating like this one. Maybe the shimmer was a similar protective force field," she proposed, suggestively.

"Well it sort of fits with everything else," agreed Kevin. "Speed, disguise, and indestructibility."

"Oh, oh, trouble ahead," Sara interrupted, seeing two police cruisers heading towards them from out of Topeka.

Kevin quickly retracted the radar device and stuffed the scanner back under the seat again. As they approached the oncoming cars, they turned on their lights and swung across the road blocking it in a practised move. Sara slowed, and then drew to a stop near the cruisers. One officer walked forward warily, one hand on his holster, leaving the other standing by his car. Sara wound down her window and waited, till the officer reached it.

"Anything wrong officer?"

"Please step out of the car Miss, and that goes for the others." The officer demanded bluntly.

"Why? We haven't done anything, just driving through." Sara asked a little more firmly.

"Well, Miss, we had a report that something on this car destroyed police property, namely, a hand held speed laser." The officer said coldly. "Now please step out slowly and walk to the front of the car placing your hands on the hood. You first Miss, right, now the front passenger, okay, now the girl in the rear." He ordered, as Kevin joined Sara at the front of the car. Kim climbed out under the watchful eye of the officer and added her hands to the hood, as the officer stood back. "Keep your hands there and don't move, while I check over your car."

"Fine, but we didn't have anything to do with this laser thingy. Search away." Sara insisted, taking one hand off the hood and slipping her sunglasses down off the top of her head to protect her eyes from the glare of the sun. The officer looked inside. He checked inside the glove compartment and tried to see anything added under the dashboard. He then had everyone stand back before he released the hood and checked around the engine and around the front of the car. Frustrated at not finding anything obvious, he went and sat back inside the car.

"What's this knob for, Miss?" he asked, finally discovering the only anomaly.

"What knob? Officer," Sara asked, allowing the glasses to have their full effect on the officer. "There's no knob- is there?" Her voice held a command that couldn't be resisted.

"Ah- no- there's no knob," the officer repeated, following the words that were overriding his own perceptions.

The officer stepped out of the car, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. Belatedly, he asked for her driver's licence and registration papers.

"You don't need to see my papers," Sara insisted, feeling like she was in a Star Wars movie.

"I don't need to see your papers," he parroted, as the effect of the glasses overrode his will.

Sara had to bite her tongue to stop her from adding the next line. "We aren't the droids you're looking for- move along.

He walked to the other officer and spoke to him, before returning to tell Sara that she was allowed to go. Sara thanked him, allowing a certain amount of sarcasm show in an, "I told you so," tone.

Getting back in the car, they drove slowly past the police and Sara burst out laughing, telling the others what she had wanted to say. The others cracked up, and Star Wars puns flew thick and fast, till they were in hysterics.

"Obi One has taught you well," was Kevin's last word, as they carried on to Topeka, where they stretched their legs and had a coffee and a pastry, before hitting the road for Kansas City. The nearer they got to Kim's uncles house in Gladstone, the more nervous Sara got. With the return of the gnawing doubts about the exact relationship Kim had with his/her uncle popping up in her head, she didn't feel exactly confident. Kim hadn't been to her uncle's place, so a map book was their guide to number 26 North Cleveland Road. The gates opened automatically as they went to park in the driveway. Sara wondered if the car had a transmitter that opened all the gates of the Shelke's residences, or was there someone home.

Kim insisted that they drive in, saying that they could stay a day or two before continuing on their journey. Sara wondered if the Shelke had a reason for liking two storied buildings that were set back on the properties. The screen of trees at the front certainly provided a secluded setting, and the maximum privacy. When no one answered the door, Kim entered the six-digit code into the Cipher Keypad to the right of the beautiful inlaid red oak door. The code was one her uncle had given her earlier in the year, one he trusted with no one else. The place was empty. Kim found a note from her uncle, on a corkboard in the entry. It said that he was away for an unspecified time, and that Kim if she visited, was to make full use of the place.

Kim wandered around the house with the others in tow. Once Kim spotted the Jacuzzi, her interest in the rest of the house vanished. She had located a bedroom for herself, and was more interested in getting her clothes brought in and using the hot tub. She was happy to let the others explore, and told then to find a bedroom for themselves.

Kevin and Sara quickly took the opportunity to split up and check out the place. Knowing what to look out for, they soon located a computer room. A laptop sat there, seemingly intact. There was no disarray as in the other places, and the computer fired up first time. Leaving Kevin to play, Sara went over the place with a fine toothcomb.

Kim had started to sing to herself in the hot tub, surprising Sara at first, as the dulcet tones rang through the house. Knowing she wasn't going to be interrupted in her search, she went into the main bedroom, presumably used by Kim's uncle. Wanting to satisfy her feminine curiosity, she checked out the large walk in closet. It was divided into two sections, one half was full of men's clothes, and the other half was full of women's clothes. Curious, she pulled out a gown of white satin and held it against her body, luxuriating in its slinky touch.

'Did the uncle have a partner,' Sara wondered, admiring herself in the built in mirror, as she idly imagined herself wearing the gown. 'Maybe he lived a double life, as both male and female,' she thought. Putting the gown back with more than a little regret, she went and checked the drawers that were part of a vanity and mirror set. The top was covered with an assortment of men's paraphernalia that wouldn't have looked out of place anywhere. One thing that Sara noticed was a hair bush and comb set. Looking closely, she saw one anomaly that stood out. Picking up the brush and comb, she couldn't find one strand of hair that surely would have been there, had the owner been human.

The drawers revealed more male accessories like cufflinks, watches, and rings. Another had ties and even a selection of leather wallets. There was a small oblong box about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long and 2 inches deep. Inside was filled with 100 dollar bills neatly stacked together. Sara guessed that there must be around ten thousand dollars there. She put it back, and closed the drawer, thinking that Kim might need to use that money, if she remained here for a while.

Looking at the vanity again, she noticed a design on it that looked odd. It was a symbol, shaped like a molecule with different colours for the atoms? When she touched it, wondering what it represented, the vanity shimmered like a heat mirage. She noticed the symbol had changed shape along with the look of the vanity. Now it was unmistakably a woman's vanity. The top was covered with an array of beauty products, including makeup and perfume bottles. Sara checked the drawers again, seeing that the contents had changed. The top one held her interest with the many items of expensive looking jewellery, but one item held her gaze riveted. She picked up the bracelet and looked it over carefully. Her breath quickened, as she identified it as a twin to the one she was wearing.

To be continued.

    

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 © 2005 by Prudence Walker. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of the copyright holder.