Curtain Fall Chapter 05

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—Excerpt from Presidential Security Council Meeting 3/5/35–

Yes sir, we’ve received our first reliable reports back from the zone in Nevada and initial reports from the Amazon region in South America. As you can see from the aerial and the first on-ground photos, these Probability Singularities we’ve seen in the atmosphere continue to be significant, even catastrophic threats.

A large cluster somehow changed direction and passed into and through the Ruby mountains in Nevada. This seems to lend support for the theory that extensive computer processing and AI somehow attract these “bubbles”. We had just activated one of our back up super computing centers located in that area. The center; actually the whole region was affected. The result I can best describe as complete devastation. The entire area is now riddled with holes and tunnels.

Yes Sir, completely gone.
There are also reports of “things” now in the region. Large mutated creatures and species heretofore unknown have appeared. Yes sir they are reported as very dangerous. Some humans have also been affected; much like the Original Curtain Fall.

Yes sir we are trying to manage the release of this information in order to control panic.
No, unfortunately we can’t fully suppress this.
We are having more luck however managing information coming out of Brazil! Due to American self absorption, we’ve largely suppressed what little we know of what has happened.

Yes sir, I’ll recap what we know. Approximately 70% of Brazil, most of the region of the Amazon, was affected by the Curtain Fall. This area has be surrounded by some sort of globe like barrier. All evidence of the deforestation that the indigenous populace had been responsible for in this century has been erased. Satellite photography has shown that 3 cities of some type have appeared. In appearance they are vaguely reminiscent of Incan structures.

No sir not primitive Incan. There are similarities, pyramids for example, but they seem not necessarily made just of rough stone. There is also evidence of mass transit lines.
No sir, we don’t have direct low fly-over or in person shots as the “bubble-like” barrier stops all transits. It behaves as a area encompassing force field. We have, however, photos of the new inhabitants!

Yes sir, they are indeed humanoid in appearance. Yes, sir, as you can see here they do reveal evidence of some military or at least martial capabilities. As you can see this female is being escorted by guards or soldiers. They can be seen carrying some sort of pole arm. It appears to be more than a traditional spear, however, as there seems to be some sort of control on the pole.

Yes sir, that observation has been noted as well. They do look almost like something out of a fantasy novel. We caution all not to assume they are peaceful, however much the males may look like Legolas... -

——————————————

Saturday early morning light shown through the blinds as Carol forcefully roused Jill when she returned to the bedroom they were sharing now that they were temporarily down to one bed. “Come on ‘Sleeping Beauty’! She called she gently nudged the lover who was buried under the covers. “Wakey wakey. I’ve decided we have a full schedule today!”

Jill shifted and beginning with an inarticulate groan of complaint, tried to burrow deeper under the covers. Partially muffled by the pillow she’d turned her face into, she mumbled, “Go away!” She had gotten little sleep after the stunning finale of her first experience of sex as the fairer sex. While amazing an different from any sex she’d had before, she’d been left reeling over the fact that they’d been floating. Actually floating the the air! Jill had fretted and worried about how much more of a freak she was. If it weren’t for the undiminished affection, even love, she’d continued to feel from Carol and her dark sense of humor Jill would have likely lost it completely!

“No, no Jill,” Carol shook her head and nudged the covered body again, “we’ve far too much to do and accomplish today!” Watching Jill trying to slip back into sleep she reached down and wrenched the covers down. Carol then chuckled a little meanly and saw Jill give up the fight.

Jill rolled over and gave Carol a baleful glare, “I really hate you right now you know...”.

“Yes I’m sure you do.”, Carol blithely replied. “You need to shower and get dressed so we can have breakfast and then be on our chores.” As Carol turned to dress herself she continued, “Tonight I thought we’d celebrate officially becoming a couple. We’ll be going on a real date!”

Unable to repress a smile from creeping on her face, Jill tried to grumble “What are these ‘chores’ anyway? Food shopping doesn’t take that long”. Carol simply smiled with some mystery and shooed Jill into the shower.

Jill entered the bathroom and prepared the shower and then climbed in. As she washed the previous days grime she tried to take a stock of how she truly felt. He ached a bit, not just from the rough treatment of the DROP from the ceiling, but from the the actual sex. As she gently washed minor scratches Carol had delivered during Jill’s first act of sex in her new body she marveled! In spite of this newest shock (another power!?!?), she still reveled in the satisfaction she’d felt with Carol. It came to her that as much if not more than just the physical pleasure, there was an emotional connection she’d felt, was feeling with Carol. ‘Wow. This blending of physical and emotional isn’t something I’m used to..’, she thought. As a guy he’d been able to easily separate the lust of the act from any emotional entanglement. Certainly they were complimentary but they were more distinct. Separate.

Not this time. She puzzled a bit if this were a “female” thing or if it was a complication of her empathic ability. She’d ask Carol later what it was like for girls, uh other girls... And now this “floating”! What was this? Was she turning into “Power Girl” ? Able to fly?!? Based on the bruising she still felt around her private parts Jill suspected she wasn’t bullet proof but ‘something’ had happened!

Jill finished the shower and dried herself while looking in the mirror. It seemed to her that she could almost see a change in her face. It was likely only a shift in internal perceptions, but she felt a little different. She now felt more connected to this woman she saw the mirror.

Jill gave a small deep sigh and then returned to ‘her’ damaged bedroom where her clothes were. Once dressed in casual jeans, boots, and a black t-shirt featuring the character Merida from the Disney movie “Brave” emblazoned across the front Jill joined Carol in the kitchen for breakfast.

Carol looked up and saw Jill entering. Immediately drawing her eyes was the tight body hugging t-shirt where Merida was preparing to fire an arrow from her bow; Her hands perfectly placed to fall on top of Jill’s prominent nipples! She snorted a bit of her coffee through her nose as she took Jill in and laughing she exclaimed, “Love that shirt Jill!”

Oblivious to the inadvertent double entendre of the t-shirt Jill smiled and thanked her. She’d picked it up at one of those Spencer novelty stores and liked the fit. She could feel the startled humor bubbling from Carol but since she felt no negative feelings assumed that Carol had also liked the movie. Jill was pleased at that since Disney films were one of her less than macho ‘dorky’ guilty pleasures.

Carol brought her mirth under control and fed Jill. While she was supplying some toasted waffles she broached the agenda Carol had come up with. She like Jill, had been rocked by the ‘climactic’ events of the previous night and had also thought long on it. Carol had seen already that Jill was a very good person and wouldn’t take advantage of others on purpose. Her response to and control of her “empathic powers” were proof of that. Clearly, however, there was a lot more going on with Jill than either had thought at first. If Jill was still manifesting abilities, it was essential for her to get a grip on them. Knowing what she was becoming capable of could help keep her from injuring herself or others by accident! Carol proceed to talk out her reasoning and concluded that Jill and Carol needed to discover what Jill could really do. Because of this, they needed to spend much of today getting started on this.

While a bit scared, Jill agreed with the logic and they decided to spend the first part of the day at the junkyard. With effort they’d find an isolated region and could explore her powers.

After the meal was finished, they put things is the sink for later and gathered up some trash and broken slats from the guest bed and took them to the sprawling municipal dump. They drove slowly into the interior, far past where home owners usually dumped and into areas used more by businesses. On a Saturday they’d be unlikely to have to deal with many others.

They parked and got out of the car to look around. Jill’s nose wrinkled as she took in the enormous piles, and chose to steal a quote. “Oh.. What a wonderful smell you discovered here!”

“Shut it Han!” Carol replied wryly. “Damn though, you’re right. This place DOES stink!” Shivering a bit in disgust, she pushed forward, “Let’s get working. The sooner we know what going on with you, the sooner we can get out of here!”

With that they attacked the question of abilities systematically. First they focused on her empathic ability. With some work they discovered her ability was primarily passive. That is she could easily perceive the emotions of others. In fact she could perceive if she ‘listened’ others quite a distance from herself. They guessed over a thousand feet away, assuming that the trash wasn’t acting as a block. Being visible wasn’t necessary. This meant that Jill had exceptional situational awareness with regards to others. Interestingly, the stronger the emotion, the farther away the individual could be. They realized this when Jill ‘felt’ two cats getting into a territorial battle. Tracking the cats down they found them a bit more than a quarter of a mile away!

When asked to Jill felt she could identify all, the humans at least, in the dump and while not necessarily able to pin point, at least feel the direction of each.

More disturbing, Jill discovered that with concentration and extreme effort, she might not be limited to only perceiving. They discovered that Jill could actually impress emotions on another. Carol was shocked and frightened, but the distress Jill showed upon this revelation relieved her fears that Jill might exploit it. Jill for her part remained frightened. If she’d had this ability for a while and her subconscious could use it, might she have manipulated Carol into their relationship unknowingly? Was the affection and growing love actually real?? This concern would be certain to give Jill nightmares tonight...

After a break on water and food they’d packed in the morning they progressed to the newly discovered ability: the levitation. At first Jill couldn’t repeat it to Carol’s visible frustration, but as Jill focused to remember the subtleties of last night, she registered the ‘pressure’ again and purposefully leaned into it again. She didn’t feel any effect on her body, but she saw Carol’s eyes widening as Jill’s saw herself lifting into the air. There was no sense of movement and it made her feel a bit like she was watching the changing perspective through a remote camera.

“Holy Crap! Look at you!” Carol exclaimed as she watched Jill silently rise.

Jill looked down at Carol, equally amazed. “It’s really strange Carol, from the movies and stories I expected as ‘feel’ myself move. You know, sort of like when you are small and your mom pulls you up into their arms.” She shook her head with excitement, “It’s not like that at all! No feeling of being lifted; just a change in perspective!” She found she could move and slowly drifted down to Carol. As she approached, she remembered that Carol had been floating as well last night and feeling a bit mischievous, wondered if she could do it again.

Careful not to actually touch the ground she gathered Carol up in a hug and exuberantly squealed, “I’m really flying! This is sooo cool!”

Carol embraced her friend and squealed as well. What she didn’t realize until she relaxed to pull away was that Jill had slowly floated up again, taking Carol with her. When she started pulling away, she noticed she could see past the piles surrounding them and then understood she was no longer on the ground! She was floating above just as Jill was!! Her squeal, which had been falling off, ramped right back up. “Fuuuuuuuuuuu-!!!” With eyes as wide as saucers, she looked down.

In fright she began flailing and she accidentally pushed Jill away and it was then Jill realized this ability wasn’t dependent on touch. Both Carol and Jill floated above the ground separated by a couple of feet. She could feel Carol beginning to really panic, however, so she placed them quickly but gently back on the ground.

It took a minute for Carol to calm and Jill felt the fear morph into defensive anger. Carol started to scream at Jill and call her a crazy lunatic. She became so enraged that she cast about, picking up small stones and throwing them about. When Jill tried to apologize Carol in an unthinking rage threw a pebble at her!

“Ow!”, cried Jill as the pebble bounced off her leg. Seeing the pained cry caused Carol to focus more on Jill and she started throwing more pebbles. Jill cried out in pain and dismay and began to back away from her enraged friend attempting to shield herself.

Carol, however, stalked forward screaming, “You thought that was funny huh!”, A stoned pelted Jill. “You’re a funny bitch huh!?”, Pelt. “I’ll show you funny, bitch!!”, another stone. This time the pebble hit Jill in the head and she cried out in pain. This last started provoking a visceral response in Jill and she felt her own anger rising. Carol threw another pebble and Jill found her anger rising still more. “ENOUGH!!”, she thundered and then registered something new. The next stone Carol launched at Jill, suddenly and impossibly veered away. The next one did the same. Jill realized with a wonder that completely distracted her from her anger, that she had deflected them by her will! “Telekinesis”!?!?!?

She confirmed this when the next stone was thrown when she with an act of will picked up a beat up sign remnant and interposed it to block the pebble. It loudly pinged of the metal sign and she felt a burst of shock accompanied with a complete interruption of the rage Carol had been radiating.

Timidly Jill lowered the floating barrier and looked at her lover’s utterly Gobsmacked expression. “You going to stop throwing at me?”, Jill timidly asked.

“Uh, what?”, Carol dazedly asked. Unsteadily she continued, “I. I think I need to sit down..”. As Jill watched Carol’s legs start to give out she quickly reached out with her mind and she gently held Carol to stop her falling and injuring herself.

Jill rushed over to Carol and did her best to comfort her. Timidly she gathered Carol into her arms and murmured quietly, “It’s OK. You’re OK. Everything’s OK...”.

Slowly Carol, seemed to gain stability and as she calmed she started speaking up again, “You moved the sign. You moved the stones! Oh. My. God! You have telekinesis! HOW FUCKING COOL IS THAT!!”

Jill relaxed as she gratefully basked and swam in the excitement radiating off Carol when she felt the mood sudden shift to distress. She quickly looked to her lover and saw a stricken look on her face. “Oh my god!” Carol choked and raised a shaking hand to Jill’s forehead, right above her left eye. “I hurt you!!”

A flood of guilt washed over Jill as Carol noticed an injury she had until now not been aware of. She reached up and tenderly touched the injury. She found blood.

Carol suddenly was all over Jill, mothering her and looking for more injuries; all the while crying heartfelt and tearfully guilty apologies. Jill did much the same, tearfully apologizing to Carol for scaring her when she lifted her without warning her. She was just so excited she thought Carol would like it too...

It took a while, but eventually they both calmed down. Jill was all for calling it a day, but Carol pushed back saying they needed to understand the extent of Jill’s telekinetic ability. Jill finally agreed when Carol had noticed that during entire time of their mutual meltdowns, Jill hadn’t dropped the sign, or Carol! So eventually they start back up with the testing. Through experimentation, they found that Jill’s ability was multifaceted. She could almost instinctively take control of and move upwards of 30 objects at a time, although the more controlled the less fine the movement. As for how much she could lift. She could lift two or three wrecked cars simultaneously. She felt she might be able to lift more, but there were limits to what they saw laying around. She also seemed to have reasonably impressive fine control. Jill would look into it more at home.

Jill finally called a halt when she announced that someone was coming. Soon after a truck came around a pile of rubbish and into view. Carol beamed at her companion and they marched back to the car arm in arm.

Upon getting into the car and becoming quite aware of just how odiferous they’d become, they drove straight home. Still feeling guilty, Carol insisted on cleaning and dressing the very minor cut on Jill’s forehead and then insisted on joining her in the shower where she lovingly cleaned her. Feeling Carol’s need to help her in order to sooth her own guilt, Jill was happy to let her join. What followed was very soothing for them both. Ironically to Jill’s originally male expectations, there was nothing sexual involved. Just a wonderful sense of closeness.

The rest of the morning saw Jill and Carol lazing about and napping. While not physically exhausted, the required focus of the morning had left Jill mentally weary and the emotional roller coaster had left them both feeling done. They just sat and talked to each other. Even though there was a strong and growing deeper bond, they didn’t really know a great deal of each other’s past. Jill shared more about her childhood and growing up as a boy and marveling about the differences she was finding. Carol, for her part, related the story of her first awkward experiences with her sexuality. Her dry delivery had Jill first giggling then belly laughing. Over all they relaxed and had a wonderful afternoon. They also attempted to watch the TV so as to catch the day’s news and found it pretty typical; save for reports of another confrontation with the lizard/stone man. This time the police had found and confronted it. Unfortunately they’d been unprepared and had lost 6 officers before the creature had escaped again. Another report also reported that the home of a more obvious victim of the Curtain Fall had been badly vandalized. No one had as yet been arrested, and the police were investigating.

As night fell Carol turned to Jill and asked, “Sooo... For tonight. How are you feeling and how adventurous do you want to be?”

“What do you mean?”, Jill inquired, “How adventurous? What, after a meal, are we going BASE jumping or something?”

Carol laughed at this and shook her head. “No, nothing that extreme. We just have to decide where we will eat and what to do after.”

“I thought we were thinking of a movie.”

“Yes that was my first thought, but..”, Carol said, “Perhaps we’d take in something else? A cabaret maybe? I know of a very fun show I go to occasionally. It’s always a place full of good fun and beautiful women!”

“Are you getting tired of me already?!?!?”, Jill said archly with disapproval. Carol suddenly feared that she’d upset Jill and hastened to assure her until she saw the mischievous grin and look in her eyes.

Remembering that Jill could feel the import of her intentions Carol realized she was being teased and huffed, “You stinker!!” Jill broke down laughing and drew her new lover into a hug.

“Of course we can go to the cabaret!”, she assured chuckling. “I’d like to see it; I’ve never gone to one before. It will certainly broaden my horizons.”

With that, Carol guided Jill in choosing appropriate attire and after finishing make up and hair they went out.

They took dinner at a high end restaurant known as the “Bishop’s Move” as it was owned by a nationally ranked chess master. The food excellent. The service, however, was more suspect as their first waiter seemed to have difficulty with Jill being obviously “changed”. After the short time of the waiter slighting the their table and dismissing Jill, the increasingly irritated Jill just stood up and staring the man angrily and loudly told him his services weren’t required. This in short order brought the manager to them and upon learning what had happened immediately turned to the waiter, “This behavior is unacceptable! Go and gather your things. You are dismissed! Madam”, he said turning away from the now fired waiter, “we at this establishment truly apologize for this EX-EMPLOYEE’S behavior. I will immediately arrange for a new servitor please except any desserts as a gift.”

Shocked by the severity of the punishment Carol and Jill objected but the manager refused to pardon the waiter’s actions as they were a blight on the reputation of one of the finer restaurants in the city. The two women sat back down and finished the meal under the watchful eyes of the manager and a number of the patrons of the restaurant. During the remainder of the meal Jill noted the ex-waiter storm out of the restaurant. She could feel the rage and malice radiating from him and she wondered if there might be trouble when Carol and she finished and left.

When they finished the meal and went to leave Jill paused at the entrance and muttered quietly, “The asshole, he’s still about.” They then stepped outside and cast about. They didn’t see him, but Jill continued asserting he was about and even watching them. Moving quickly they made it to the car and drove off without incident but Jill still felt the man.

“The ‘Leather Stallion!?!’ This is a notorious gay bar isn’t it?” Jill asked uncertainly and the parked, then walked the short distance to the bar.

“Well yes.”, Carol responded, “And since you seem to be firmly attracted to me that means you are ‘gay’ now aren’t you?” Carol chuckled at the slightly panicked look in Jill’s eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you!”, Carol chuckled, “Perhaps consider it a little revenge for your ‘Tired of me?!?’, tease!”

Jill, stumbled a bit as she realized that Carol was right. She wasn’t attracted to men at all, in spite of the fears she’d had. That meant, ‘I really must be a lesbian now!” Following and slightly dazed, she entered the bar. In the lobby, she saw a number of posters announcing the 3’rd week of the “Red Garter Review!” After a modest wait, they were led to a table. After ordering drinks (Carol ordered a white wine and Jill a schnapps) they settled to watch the show.

The “Review” proved every bit as entertaining as Carol had promised. Five beautifully coifed cross-dressers strutted and sang a collection of marvelous R & B songs; peppered with ribald banter. The show was filled with fun and humor and the crowd loved it!

As the show finished to enthusiastic cheers from the crowd, Jill turned to Carol and , emotionally high from the audience’s mood exclaimed, “You were right! That show was hilarious! And the crowd!!”

Laughing Carol started to reply when another woman approached the couple. Jill looked over, drawing Carol’s attention. Carol’s face lit up, confirming the recognition Jill had felt coming from the stranger and she stepped forward to hug and say, “Steph! I’ve missed you! How are things?” Releasing her old friend, she turned to Jill and continued, “Jill! I want you to meet an old college friend! Jill, this is Stephanie Connors! Steph, this my special friend Jill Neaveh.”

Stephanie reached out to Jill with a pleased gleam in her eye and grinning said, “I’m glad to meet you Jill! How long have you two known each other?” She offered an evil grin, “We need to have lunch so I can tell you all her embarrassing secrets from school!”

Jill laughed and accepted the hug, “I look forward to it!”

Carol snorted and laughed, “Take everything she’ll tell you with a grain of salt!” They all laughed and Stephanie joined the two at the table. It quickly became clear that Steph and Carol had been close friends for years and Jill might have been tempted to feel jealousy except for the lack of possessiveness between the two. Jill felt closeness and the comfort of shared history but not the connection Jill felt with Carol. This meant that the three had a very good time. The only awkward points arose when Steph asked about how Jill knew Carol and how they got together. Carol and Jill skated around the truth of Jill’s transformation other than to acknowledge it and to say that their relationship arose from events arising from the Curtain Fall.

“Well you got lucky. I’m glad you weren’t turned into a monster or got a third breast!”, Steph offered.

Jill almost snorted her drink through her nose. “Three breasts!?!?”, she choked, “I-Imagine!” Carol’s face reddened with suppressed laughter but said nothing. Stephanie seemingly noticed she was missing something but chose not to pursue it.

The three finally finally finished up and decided to head to their respective homes so they gathered their coats and purses and left the building. Laughing they chatted as they approached the car lot when Jill tensed up. “Shit.”, she muttered, “He’s here now...”

“Who’s here?”, Stephanie asked, hearing Jill’s exclamation.

“He is.”, she responded nodding towards the ex-waiter who was sauntering up.

“Hey, you Fallen bitch!”, the man sneered, “I’ve got a little payback owed me! Figures, you’re a dyke too...”. He pulled a butterfly blade and after opening it with a flourish continued, “You cost me my job and‘ve likely gotten me black-balled! You and your ‘lez’ friends are going to make it up to me!”

Jill could feel the rage and intent in the man and felt him likely to hurt or even kill her and her friends. She’d not been an alpha male, but in her mind still lived, however, a protective urge and to her surprise she found herself stepping in front of the others. Whispering, “Call 911!”, she pulled herself up and replied in what she hoped was a fearless tone, “Oh come on, really?!?” Focusing on the knife wielded in his hand she continued, “Haven’t you fucked up enough for one night; you want to add jail to it too?”

With that, the man snarled, “Fallen cunt!”, and lunged forward to grab Jill by the arm and possibly stab her.

Instead of completing the thrust to cut Jill, however, he found the knife directed to the side. This left him wide open and Jill took the opportunity to give him a telekinetically enhanced kick to the groin. Jill’s companions watched the man was physically lifted over a foot into the air by the kick. A strangled wheeze came from the man and he collapsed almost bonelessly in a pile.

“Holy shit!”, Stephanie yelled as she watched the confrontation. “Who are you, Bruce Lee?!? Do yo like break bricks and shit for fun?!?”

Jill looked down on the supine figure and commented, a little dizzy from the sudden absence of the man’s malice, “You should probably let 911 know they’ll need an ambulance...”

—————————————

The police and ambulance arrived after about 5 minutes by which time the man had roused enough to spew a small amount of vomit and had obviously passed into shock. The girls, who had sent Stephanie back to the bar to get help were watching a doctor who was also a patron of the bar doing minimal first aid. The EMTs rushed to the downed man and after an update from the doctor on hand transferred him to a car and put him in the ambulance. They notified the officer in charge and took him to the closest emergency room.

The officer then came to the women and a certain amazement listened as they explained what had happened. He then took the statements of the doctor and any bystanders. He then politely requested that the women make a statement at the station. They nervously agreed and followed him to the station where a detective took their statements. As they detailed what happened Carol and Jill noticed some officers starting to talk and stare at them.

Jill could sense amazement, respect, and a bit of fear in a number of the male officers as well as strangely satisfaction from some of the female officers. “Excuse me detective”, she inquired, “What’s going on outside?”

He looked to the door and saw the people outside gathering and took a step out to find out. Jill felt a spike of surprise and he returned looking a little pale.

“Ah, mam, do you have martial arts training?”, detective Pollard asked.

“No. Why?”

“Well, it seems you kicked him very forcefully. You completely ruptured his testicles and did significant damage to his penis.” He looked with careful respect at Jill. “It appears you’ve rendered him sterile and like likely permanently impotent.”

Jill blanched and swayed a bit, “Oh my god..”. In a stricken voice she looked at detective Pollard, “I just wanted to keep him from hurting me or my friends!”

Recovering his composure, Pollard chuckled darkly and replied, “Well I don’t think he’ll be hurting anyone for a long time! Between the hospital time he’ll have and the likely attempted murder charge, he’ll likely be off the streets for a long time.”

Jill absorbed this news. Wincing with horror at how she’d maimed her attacker she fought to bring herself back under control and finished answering the detective’s questions. She was eventually released and rejoined Carol and Stephanie. They then returned back home. After promising she was fine, Stephanie returned to her apartment.

Once alone with Carol, Jill was left with dealing with all the turbulence in her mind. Her thoughts felt like they were flying about randomly at a furious pace and she found herself trembling. “Crap! I feel like I’m losing it! What’s going on!” Jill choked out as she started gasping.

Carol rushed over and pulled her into a fierce embrace, “You’re just feeling the after effects of the attack, hon!”, she soothed. “You are safe now and are just dealing like any woman!”

“But I’m not.. wasn’t a woman before!”, Jill weeped out. “I shouldn’t buckle like this! I’m supposed to be strong...”

Carol rocked Jill gently and assured her she was strong, “It’s just you really and completely are a physical woman now. And your body and increasingly your mind just deal with stress differently now. As a man this stress and fear would almost certainly have manifested as rage and aggression.” Carol gently kissed the top of Jill’s head. “Women.. WE handle it differently.”

With that Carol quietly continued rocking the now sobbing woman she cared so deeply for.
'Let's hope things are quieter tomorrow...' she thought to herself...

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Comments

Bigotry and envy

Bigotry and envy from the small minded people seems to be the norm. In real life, many despots have used it to fire up the mobs. Ethnic cleansing and all that rot.

In this case, those affected may well be friends or family, so someone bent on rousing the rabble will have a more difficult time. But the damage will be greater because it will turn family and friends against each other.

Blame game

Jamie Lee's picture

Who fired that waiter, or was the cause of him being fired? The manager and the waiter himself, in that order.

Because the waiter decided Jill was a "fallen," without any proof, HE DECIDED not to give her and Carol excellent service. And because he followed Jill and Carol to exact revenge, he now is experiencing the stupidity of his attack.

That wave slowed as it approached the system, then hit the Earth causes changes and disappearances. Now it's known of bubbles in South America which house beings who appear humanoid. Might the changed be part of a gathering the new people created for their own purpose?

Others have feelings too.

Still going?

northmiester's picture

I must say Jamie, I'm quite gratified that you've binged and read 5 chapters in an afternoon!
Thanks for for enjoying the story and I hope you continue to!