Chapter 4 - Their Bad Luck -

After Meagan had gone to clock out from work and to tell Mike where she was going she returned to Emma to go home with Rose. On the way, Rose was looking out the windows at the wonderment of all the new colors that she could see.

She noticed that the lake just a few miles from her house looked to be empty. But when she took a closer look she could see the fish in the lake swimming around. They looked as though they were flying through the air as they moved, but she knew this could not be. They had to be in the water and she just could not see it.

“Rose?” Meagan suddenly asked. “Why did Elizabeth’s mom leave?” Her voice trailing off with the last word as she too looked out the window at the passing ground not knowing if she really wanted to know the answer or not.

“I do not know really. She suddenly started acting all weird right after having Elizabeth. She would go days without a shower or brushing her teeth. She would start fights with me for things I never knew. And then one day I came home from work and she was on the phone having phone sex with some guy.” Rose said remembering back to the day Elizabeth’s mom left. “I have tried to ask her ‘why?’ but every time we talk she says things to try and make me angry like I was the problem to start with. But my friends and family keep telling me that I did everything right, I bought everything she wanted and gave her the life she asked for but apparently it was not enough for her.” Rose finished as the tears started to fall.

Meagan watched at the window for a few minutes not knowing what to say, thinking of what Rose had just told her. Suddenly she turned and hugged Rose around the neck before planting a big kiss on her lips. Rose did not push away, in fact, she had wanted to kiss Meagan ever since they had met just over an hour ago now.

Meagan was the woman John had always dreamed about. 5’6” tall with blond hair and blue eyes and at most she weighed 150 pounds. Rose embraced the kiss that lasted for what seemed like hours. They only broke apart when Emma told them they would be landing in just a minute.

When the house came into view Rose spotted Elizabeth walking up the steps to go inside. “We are too late to be waiting for her inside when she got home,” Rose told Meagan as the tears resumed their escape.

Meagan did not say a word but turn and ran for the side door on Emma. Once she opened the door she leaped from Emma as soon as she saw they were within feet of the ground. She ran straight to the house and knocked on the front door. As she stood there waiting for the door to open she started looking around the porch fighting the urge to look back at Rose.

The door opened and the girl inside said: “Hello, can I help you with something?”

“Hi my name is Meagan and I am a friend of your dads.” She said trying to be as calm as possible.

“My dad is not home right now. I will tell him you came by when he gets home, though.” Elizabeth said starting to close the door.

“No, Wait! Your dad is here, there was a...” Meagan broke off, searching for the rights words to say to keep Elizabeth from panicking, but it was too late.

“Is he okay? Where is he? What happened?

!” Elizabeth shouted tears now falling down her face freely as she wept. “

!”

“No he is ok but he is different than he was,” Meagan explained to Elizabeth as John now Rose walked in front of the door right behind Meagan.

Elizabeth looked over Meagan’s shoulder at the female figure that just walked up. Suddenly without words from either Elizabeth or Rose, Elizabeth pushed Meagan aside knocking her to the ground and ran to Rose hugging her around the middle.

After a few moments, Elizabeth broke off and escorted her new father, or more accurately, new mother to the house. As they passed Meagan, picking herself up off the ground, Elizabeth invited her in as well.

Meagan not having anywhere to be or even anyway of getting there followed Rose and Elizabeth into the house and closed the door behind her. The entryway was a double French doorway that had a set of stairs on the left side of the large hallway. On either side of the hallway in front of the stairs were two cased openings.

The one on the left led to a large family room that had bookshelves along the wall that backed the stairs and a large entertainment system on the opposite wall. These flanked a small desk at the far end of the room, and a sofa that looked more at home in a corner than out in the middle of the flour.

The other cased opening led to a large dining room that had a large table with 12 chairs around it, a large china cabinet on the wall that had the front door and a pie cabinet on the opposite wall with another large cased opening next to it that led to the kitchen.

The three of them went to the kitchen and each took a seat around a small four person dining table. None of them spoke for a few moments as Elizabeth looked Rose over.

“So what happened?” Elizabeth asked still not daring to remove her eyes from her new mother.

“Do you remember last year when I got sick for days at a time?” Rose asked Elizabeth looking down at the table.

“Da, I should remember. I took care of you all that time.” Elizabeth said turning to Meagan to smile at her, looking at her for the first time since they entered the house. Meagan smiled politely back still trying to get rid of the pain in her ass from falling on it outside.

“Well, I was infected by some stuff I was working with. It has been working all this time to change me, to make me into this.” Rose said looking down at her hands she just laid on the table. “Today it finished its work.”

Elizabeth took one of Rose’s hands in hers and examined it closely. As she did she noticed that the fingernails seem to be metallic and the skin perfectly hairless. As she looked up the arm she found more of the same. The hair that was even on her own body was at least noticeable up close but Rose had nothing, not even of the tiniest bit.

“Can you feel people touching you?” She asked as her fingers walked up Rose’s arm.

“Yes, I can feel you touching me,” Rose answered as her skin twitched from the feeling of Elizabeth’s fingers.

Elizabeth let go of Rose’s hand then moved to the back side of Rose, careful not to step on Rose’s tail, and looked at her ears. They were about 3 inches long and came to a sharp point like a cat. Her ears were the same color as her hair except for the inside which was just as purple as her skin.

“Can you hear better with them way up there?” Elizabeth Asked grabbing one ear and twisting it around to get a better look at the inside.

Rose thought about it for a moment and then realized she had been hearing things that she had never noticed before. Even at that moment, she could hear things happening in the kitchen that she had never heard before. She looked around the room for the source of what she was hearing. She saw a small beetle crawling on the counter and as it did she could hear each leg scratch the counter top as it moved. She looked around some more and found a little worm hanging from the ceiling swinging back and forth. Every now and then it would bump the wall making a faint thump.

“Yes, I can hear much clearer and distinctly,” Rose said pulling her head forward yanking her ear from Elizabeth’s grip.

Elizabeth then ran her fingers on each of Rose’s horns feeling the ridges that encircled them, also feeling the points noticing they were not as blunt as most of the animals she had worked with. Then she grabbed Rose’s tail to look it over. She saw that the tail was about three and a half feet long and was the same color as her skin and it too did not have any hair.

“What good is a tail?” She asked holding it up to the window behind them.

“Some animals use their tail for balance while others use it as an extra hand,” Rose said.

“What about this hole in the end.” Elizabeth was pointing to the end of the tail at the hole that she just noticed.

As Rose looked at the end of her tail she saw a small slit in the end about half an inch long, but whatever she tried it would not open. “I do not know, baby girl,” Rose said still looking at her own tail with interest. The end reminded her of the end of her penis. But the overall head shape was missing. The penis she use to have was more like that of a construction works hard hat with lots of crests and valleys all over. But her tail was smooth and the tip was as round as a beach ball.

Just then Meagan stood up from the table. Looking around at Rose and Elizabeth she said, “Well I need to go. I need to try to get Mike to pick me up.”

“That is the second time you mentioned Mike. Who is he?” Rose asked as she dropped her tail and looked up at Meagan.

“Mike is the guy that came to get me so I could get those clothes for you,” Meagan said rather quicker than she should have.

“Why not stay for dinner? Please?” Elizabeth said putting emphasis on please while traversing to her puppy dog eyes.

Meagan not wanting to look Rose in the eyes looked at Elizabeth. Seeing the little pouty face her heart melted and she knew she could not say no. “Okay, just for dinner,” she said trying to keep from looking at Rose in the eyes.

The three of them worked together to make dinner. Elizabeth sat the table. Meagan chopped the vegetables and made the salad, while Rose made the chow mein noodles with chicken and vegetables.

After dinner Rose told Elizabeth it was time for her homework. Even though Elizabeth tried to get out of it by insisting she had the whole weekend to do it. Rose talked her into doing it now.

“But if you do it now then you don’t have to worry about not having time to finish it later. Do you?” Rose said to Elizabeth who had to admit she was right about that. And grudgingly went to do her homework.

While Elizabeth did her homework Rose and Meagan talked about their pasts. They found that even though they both grew up in Flagstaff and that Meagan’s parents died when she was really young and Rose’s parents were still alive they had both lived nearly identical lives as for heartaches and opportunities. But somehow they had never met.

Rose had attended Sinagua High School while Meagan had attended Coconino High School. Both lived in Sunny Side but Rose was south of 6th street and never had a reason to go north and Meagan lived north of 6th street and never had a reason to go south.

When Elizabeth finally said she had finished her homework and had gone to get ready for bed Rose and Meagan walked outside to take a walk in the cool night air. After about two hundred feet from the house, Rose noticed Meagan had stopped walking.

“What is wrong? Don’t you want to walk with me?” Rose asked looking back at Meagan.

“Yes, I do. But it is so dark I can hardly see anything right now.” Meagan said looking disturbed, her eyes darting all around trying to focus on something, anything around them.

“It is so bright out what do you mean you can’t see anything because of how dark....” Rose said trailing off remembering how much brighter everything has been since he now she had awoken in Emma earlier that day. “I am sorry I had not realized until now that I could see so well in the dark,” Rose said walking Meagan back up towards the house.

“You thought it was bright out here?” Meagan asked looking at Rose in the light of the front porch.

“Well, I thought the sun was not yet fully set it is so bright,” Rose said looking into the trees seeing the wildlife move around that most people never get to see without special cameras. “I can see the little coyote walking around just inside the tree line there.” She pointed to where it had just stopped. “I can see the bats flying around overhead, and an owl sitting on a branch on that tree over by that hill. They are all so clear as if it was the middle of the day. But as I look around I don’t even see the moon in the sky.” As Rose spoke she was looking around and pointing out the different things that she could see.

Meagan stood there looking at Rose not knowing what to say about her being able to see so well. “Well, at least you will never have to worry about disturbing anyone in the middle of the night by turning a light on,” Meagan said with a forced smile and small laugh.

Rose stood there looking at Meagan than raising one eyebrow and said, “You’re right.”

Both Rose and Meagan stood there looking at each other for a few moments than at the same both started laughing and turned to finish walk to the house to go inside.

Most of the weekend was spent with Rose Meagan and Elizabeth playing with each other. They had gone out on Saturday afternoon for a picnic and Rose had found herself having to wait for Meagan and Elizabeth to catch up because they would get winded from climbing the hill. On Sunday they had tried to play a game of Frisbee but every time Rose took a turn the disk would shot so far past either Meagan or Rose they had to wait about ten minutes for someone to get it.

By Monday morning Rose had not slept more than three hours each night since she had changed. She was not sure why but for some reason when she was up she was fine but then almost on cue after being up twenty-one hour, she got so tired she had to lie down for a few hours of sleep, or as she found out on Sunday night she would fall down asleep.

Early in the afternoon on Monday Meagan had told Rose that she had needed to get to work and Mike still had not shown up with her car nor was he answering his phone. So Rose took Meagan to town in Emma. On the way, Rose told Meagan she was going to go shopping for some new clothes since she had been in the same clothes since the change.

Before Meagan entered the store that she worked at she told Rose everything she needed to know to be able to find clothes and told her which stores to stay away from. Then she gave Rose a quick peck on the lips before walking into Spencer’s where she worked.

Rose first went to ‘Victoria Secrets’ to get new panties and bras since she had to have them, at least the panties, specially made. Then she went to ‘Just for Her’ who Meagan had told her would be the best place to go for both price and fashion to pick out some new outfits.

Rose was just coming out of the fitting room for the third time to look at one of the outfits she was trying on when Meagan came storming in with tears in her eyes.

“Well, I have some bad news and some really bad news,” Meagan said with anger on her face and in her voice. “I lost my job because I helped you.” She said now not looking at Rose.

“Okay, I have heard worse. What is the really bad news?” Rose said trying to find out what was going on while holding a different top to her chest to see how it might look.

“Mike was arrested, also for helping you,” Meagan said now looking at Rose again this time with fiery in her eyes.

Rose feeling this was directed at her asked in a calm cool voice, “Are you saying this is my fault, Meagan?”

Meagan’s cheeks flushed red and she averted her gaze down to the floor as she spoke, “Well no. I mean...” she never got to finish.

“Meagan we will go to get Mike from jail and if needed the both of you can stay with me until we get everything straighten out,” Rose said taking Meagan’s chin in her hand to lift her head towards her own. Meagan’s eyes filled with fresh tears as she hugged Rose around the neck.

After another half hour in the store, Rose was finally ready to leave having spent twice as much as she really had intended. Not because she bought more than intended nor because the clothes cost that much more, it was because nearly every pull over shirt she tried on ripped on her horns as she tried pulling them on.

Meagan and Rose walked over to ‘Victoria Secrets’ to pick up Roses order since while they were at the checkout counter in ‘Just For Her’ they had called and told her it was ready. Afterward Rose and Meagan went to the jail to see what it would take to get Mike out of jail. Rose waited in Emma while Meagan went inside.

After more than two hours waiting for Meagan to return, it was time for Elizabeth to be getting home from school. Not wanting to leave Rose and Mike with no ride Rose called home and left a message on the answering machine that she would be home as soon as she could.

It was another two hours before Meagan and Mike came walking out of the jail. When Mike saw that Meagan was riding in Emma he turned to walk back into the jail but Meagan grabbed him by the arm. After they had argued for twenty minutes Mike finally gave in and got into Emma.

Mike having never been in this part of Emma before looked around in awe when he entered at how much room there was inside. As his eyes made their way up to the front he saw Rose and with a gasp tumbled back out of the door.

After Mike had reentered Emma he looked at Rose and said, “You really are an alien.”

“Sorry, I am not. I am a scientist that got too close to something that he should not have.” Rose said looking at Mike with a smile from ear to ear or rather horn to horn.

Once Meagan was in as well and they had left the jail. Mike explained that after Meagan and Rose left that all hell broke out at the mall. More than a dozen people had panicked and called the police claiming to have seen an alien in a spaceship kidnap a young woman.

The police took several reports about a blue minivan that had people getting in and out through the hood of the van rather than any of the normal doors. At first, the police thinking it was just people working on their van shrugged the calls off. Until they started getting the ones saying it just flew away like a helicopter after grabbing a young girl.

When the police got to the mall they started questioning everyone. Someone had told them they had seen Meagan approach the van only to be grabbed by some sort of purple monster and dragged inside kicking and screaming.

“I tried to explain what I knew and kept getting waved off. So I grabbed one of the cops and told him he needed to listen to me.” Mike said his cheeks flushing red.

“So that is why they arrested you then,” Meagan said more as a statement than a question. “But that still doesn’t explain why they fired me.” She finished off.

“I do not know for sure but somehow your name was brought up several times and no one could find you anywhere,” Mike said looking at the back of Meagan’s seat.

“I was off and had gone with Rose here to help her out,” Meagan said.

“But apparently you never clocked out,” Mike said now looking Meagan in the eyes.

“You are more than welcomed to come stay with me if you would like.” Rose offered Mike seeing he still looked rather pale.

“

,” Mike said emphasizing each word slowly as he spoke. “I will be fine at home.” He finished not even giving as much as a glance in Rose’s direction.

Once they had drop Mike off at his apartment Meagan and Rose returned to Rose’s house where they found Elizabeth setting the table for dinner. Rose and Meagan helped and soon were sitting together like a normal family for dinner.

Since Meagan’s rent was due in the next few days and she now had no job to speak of. The next morning Rose and Meagan went and packed up Meagan’s apartment, and too much of Meagan’s surprise, everything fits in Emma in one trip.

The next few months seemed to pass with few issues. Rose walked Elizabeth door to door for Halloween without having to find a way to cover her head or asking Meagan to do it instead. Thanksgiving came and went with just Rose’s parents and Linda attending the dinner, though she had invited five other members of her family.

But soon it was ‘Parents Day’ at school and the children were supposed to bring a parent to school to tell a little bit about them and what they do for a living. Meagan and Rose not really argued, but rather discussed with some stern words on rather or not Rose should go like Elizabeth and the school had asked.

“I just might scare the kids so bad they may never return to school again,” Rose said knowing how she was when was a small child.

“But it is for your daughter. She really wants you there with her.” Meagan said looking out the door as if she could see someone standing there.

Eventually Rose agreed to go but only if Meagan did as well. Meagan agreed and soon they both found themselves wishing Rose had just stayed home like she wanted to. They all filed into Emma and went to the school for ‘Parents Day’ and were told to wait in the hallway until announced.

“I do not know what to call her,” Elizabeth stated to the class. “She did not give birth to be but she is my biological parent.”

“So she donated the egg for someone else to give birth to you dear?” Miss Hamilton the teacher asked Elizabeth.

“No, ma’am. She was born a male.” Elizabeth said as the class started to laugh. “She, I mean he was working on an experiment when it changed him” She explained to the class as they continued to laugh even harder.

“I don’t get it dear. Changed him... Or I mean her how exactly?” Miss Hamilton asked Elizabeth looking confused.

Elizabeth pointed to the back corner of the room where there was a door for the parents to come through. As the class turned to see who or what she was pointing at. You could feel the air in the room vanish as each of the thirty or so kids and the Miss Hamilton gasped in shock. Miss Hamilton’s eyes rolled up into the top of her head as she fell to the ground.

Most of the students ran to the far corner of the room while the rest walked up in stunned disbelief looking Rose over. The parents that had heard the commotion ran in the room to see what was going and started yelling at Rose that the ‘Joke’ was not funny.

The principal suspended Elizabeth and told Rose and Meagan that she would not be able to go back to school until her father came in to straighten things out. Rose tried to explain she was the father but the more she tried the more the principal was set that she was not, that she could not be the father.

After two weeks of fighting with the school and the school board. Rose decided that rather than letting the school keep Elizabeth from getting an education she was going to enroll Elizabeth in an online homeschool program. This did not make Elizabeth happy since she wanted to be with her friends. But, yet after Rose explained that she could still see her friends, some after school and the rest of the weekend Elizabeth agreed and started the classes.

By the last week in December Rose and Meagan had really started dating. And then in January, for Rose’s birthday, Meagan decided to give Rose a birthday surprise that she would never forget. The surprise turned out to be all on Meagan.

Rose had gotten pretty good at controlling her tail and making it do some precise movements. So when Meagan took Rose upstairs for some birthday sex, as Meagan called it. Meagan had told Rose she was going to do all the work and all she had to do was relax. Meagan started with all the normal kissing and licking that Rose had come to enjoy and when she started to move forward for some rubbing Rose put her tail in Meagan and made it move in ways that guys could never dream of.

Meagan was so stimulated from the feeling that she was unable to do anything other than fall sideways onto the bed and let Rose have her way with her. After more than four hours Rose started to feel herself get really tired and had to stop. Meagan had been so stimulated that she could not remember any part of the last four hours other than it was the best sex she had ever had. And was so exhausted from the last four hours that she could not move and rather and fight it she just fell asleep right there next to Rose.

A few weeks later Meagan and Rose had moved from casual dating to sleeping together nearly every night. One Night in late April Rose heard someone talking outside.

“Yes, Sir. The alien has a woman and a little girl held hostage inside the house.” The voice said talking into a cell phone.

Rose tried to remember if she had ever heard the voice before but could not recall if she ever had. “Who was this person and how did he know who was inside the house let alone what they look like.” Rose thought to herself before going over to the bed to wake up Meagan.

“Meagan there is some guy outside. He called the police and said I was holding you and Elizabeth hostage.” Rose told her once she was sitting up on the bed on her own.

“What guy?” Meagan asked now walking over to the window still rather sleepily. “That’s my stepfather’s truck,” she said, pointing down at a little Ford Ranger parked in the driveway, a little ways from the house.

“How can you see that?” Rose said looking out the window. Rose had gotten good at telling how bright the light was by looking at how distinct the shadows were on the ground. But on this night there were no shadows that she could see.

“The moon is full tonight isn’t it?” Meagan asked.

Rose looked around for any sign of the moon but never found it. Before she could tell Meagan there was no moon that night she heard the sounds of helicopters off in the distance. As she scanned the horizon she saw a small fleet of Apache and Sikorsky helicopters flying right towards the house. Seeing these types of helicopters was not unusual but they never flew over Rose’s house, they always passed about 50 miles to the east.

“Get dressed now,” Rose told Meagan. “They’re coming!” She cried as she ran from the room to go get Elizabeth.

Before they could get dressed and all the way out of the house the helicopters were right over the house. Once outside something hit Rose in the head and looking up she saw ropes dropping from each of the Sikorsky’s revealing over a dozen men.

“Run!” Rose cried knowing that she would be their primary target.

The guys landed all around Rose with what looked like taser guns pointed at her. The first guy shot her right in the arm and nothing seemed to happen. Rose thought it was unusual for a taser not to fire but then the next one shot her in the stomach and again she felt nothing. Now she knew they the tasers were firing their charge but she could not feel them.

Rose was not going to wait for them to change tactics so she lunged forward hitting the first square in the chest knocking him back. As she turned to hit the next guy she saw 2 little probes float lazily by on their way to their victim. She watched them for a second before remembering about the guys around her.

So she reached out grabbed the tallest guy who had been directly behind her and tossed him over her shoulder at the guy she had just hit who, to her surprise, was still falling. As she turned she noticed the guy in the path of the 2 little probes had a knife halfway out of its sheath and was just looking at her.

She reaches out with her foot and kicked him so hard he seemed to disappear from the site. The next several guys went much the same between kicking, hitting and throwing. After about a minute’s time she had finished with all 18 men and none of them had seemed to care what she was doing to the rest of them.

Rose was shocked at what she had done but knew she had to leave. As she turned to run for Emma she felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder but she did not stop to look at what happened. She just ran as fast as she could, eventually making it to Emma where Meagan and Elizabeth were waiting for her.

As soon as Rose was in, Emma lifted off the ground and was gone before the Apaches could even turn to even try and give chase. Once they were safe, Rose looked down at her arm to see what had happened. She saw a hole where blue blood was coming out and then she felt faint. Rose tried to stay awake but found it much too hard and passed out sloping sideways onto the seat where she sat.

When Rose awoke a few hours later the pain in her arm was gone. She looked at her arm and saw a bandage wrapped around the wound. Rose moved the bandage to see how bad it was and found it was gone. Where the hole had been there was now nothing more than a small scar left.

Rose looked around the cabin and found Meagan was talking on a cell phone at the front of Emma, while Elizabeth was crying over in a corner near the back. It took her a few moments to remember all that had just happened. Once she did she too wanted to cry but knew she had to focus on making sure everyone was safe first.

“Where are we?” Rose asked as she sat up.

“On our way to Mike’s place, he says we are in the news right now,” Meagan said looking back at Rose.

Rose stood to get a better look around and saw that the sun was starting to come up. Which meant for this time of year it was about 6:30. “So what is he saying it says?” Rose asked Meagan.

“Just that the police got a phone call claiming that a woman and her daughter had been kidnapped. And when they arrived the kidnappers took out more than a dozen men before making their escape.” Meagan said not bothering to look back at Rose this time.

Rose knew this had to because Meagan did not want her to see the tears in her eyes. Rather than try and make Meagan look at her she just stood there for a moment thinking of what they should do.

“You know Emma will be too noticeable to be moving around in the daylight?” Rose said looking out at the quickly rising sun again.

“Mike told me that too. He is moving my car over to the visitors’ spots so we can pull into a covered spot.” Meagan said with the sounds of crying emanating from her voice with the last few words.

Rose wanted to do or say something that would comfort both Meagan and Elizabeth but could not think of anything. She took another glance around the cabin and thought hard for the next 10 minutes until they reached Mike’s apartment.

Once they arrived at Mike’s apartment Rose, Meagan and Elizabeth ran the distance between the parking area and the apartments. Rose moved so quickly that she seemed to vanish from Emma and reaper at the foot of the steps to the upper floors of the apartment building.

“How did you do that?” Meagan asked as she arrived closely followed by Elizabeth who exclaimed “Cool” before walking inside.

“I really don’t know. Back at the house when I wanted to move quickly everyone just seemed to freeze in place while I did what I wanted or rather needed to do.” Rose said really trying to remember if she had ever done anything like this before.

Meagan and Rose stepped inside the apartment as Mike was getting off the phone with his work. He had apparently told them he would not be able to go to work today. Because right after he hung the phone up he asked them what they wanted to do.

“Well, we need answers,” Rose said as she closed the front door behind her.

“Yes, like who those men were and what they wanted,” Meagan said.

“That part is easy,” Rose said looking down at her hands in front of her as she walked to the couch. “Those were military helicopters that came to the house and as for what they wanted. I would think that would be obvious as well.” She said fighting back tears as she said the last part but they finally won when they broke out once she had finished talking.

Meagan walked over to the couch and sat down pulling Rose’s head into her lap then looked up at Mike. “Have you talked to any of my dad’s lately?” She asked.

“I have never met your real dad so I don’t know if I have or not. As for your step dad, he called wanting to know if you were with me because your cellphone was not working. I just told him where you were living the cell phones did not work and I would let you know if he wanted me to.” Mike said as he tried to remember the last few weeks.

“As for your adopted dad, he was in the store looking around for the longest time a few weeks ago before walking up to me and asking where you were.” He finally finished looking around like he had more to say but did not want to.

“What did you tell him, Mike?” Meagan said with a lot of anger in her voice from the fear of what she thought Mike had to tell her.

Mike looked around and saw Elizabeth step out from behind a chair as Meagan stood to push Rose aside. Once Rose realized what Meagan was doing she also stood and grabbed Meagan by the shoulders to keep her from doing something she would regret later.

“Mike it is important to know how they found out about me,” Rose said looking at Mike her eyes suddenly looking as though they had a lot more fire than usual. But this fire was a different color. It was red, blood red. But rather than having the effect of making Mike more nervous. It seemed to effectively calm him down, a lot.

Mike looked as though he was deep in a daydream when he started, “I told him that you and she have been spending a lot of time together and that you moved in with her after you lost your job.” Mike said in a dreamy tone. “He wanted to know where this place was and I did not want to tell him but he eventually got it out of me.” He finished. His eyes glossy and he had a dazed look about him.

As Rose turned to Meagan, Mike fell sideways onto the floor. Rose and Meagan hugged for a few minutes and then they were quickly joined by Elizabeth. Once Mike had come to his senses and stood up he too tried to join the hug but quickly decided not to after seeing the look Meagan shot him as he approached.

Rose was the one that broke the hug before turning to Elizabeth and Meagan and telling them to go get some sleep. Then she turned to Mike and told him he was going to help with some things.

They both walked from the apartment and out to Emma. “You will get everything on this list I will give you in a minute. And I mean exactly what is on the list.” Her eyes seemed to flash with an intense fire again but not like before. “Each Item is important and needed for my plan to work. Plus, we need some new clothes since we can’t go home.” Rose said handing Mike the list of items that she had just finished writing down along with over two thousand dollars in cash.

***

Suddenly there was an alarm sounding and all the lights turned red. Rose looked around and asked, “What has happened?”

“I don’t know stay here and I will find out,” James said standing up and running out the door.

Rose had never been one to let others do all the work so she too stood and walked out after James.

When she walked into the medical bay after James, she saw the black guy from early beating on Meagan. And without any conscious effort, everyone in the room seemed to freeze as Rose crossed the room and hit the guy square in the chest not just knocking him back but throwing him all the way out of the medical bay and knocking over James as he went and nearly Rebecca.

“I am sorry,” Rose said holding Meagan and looking down at James. “I just reacted to what was going on.”

“No. Don’t be. I would have done the same thing if I had been a little quicker.” He told Rose as he picked himself up off the ground and turning to the black man. “Edwards, what the do you think you are doing?” James said with his eye bulging.

“That thing’s a freak and that one is pregnant with its bastard child,” Edwards said looking James in the eyes as his hands flailed wildly.

“It is not our place to judge people,” James said returning Edwards gaze. “You are black and your wife is white, Should I judge you on that?” James asked the anger more pronounced than before.

“NO! That is different we are both humans. I don’t know what that thing is.” Edwards said breaking his gaze for the first time to look at Rose.

“‘That thing’ as you so elegantly put it was born human like you and me,” James told Edwards as James walked back out of the medical bay to join Edwards in the hallway.

“That thing was ?” Edwards more said than asked. “But… How?”

“If I remember how she put it a ‘Dimensional Rift’,” James said. “Subspace or compressed space or something like that the details is not important,” James added seeing the confusion on both Edwards and Rebecca’s faces.

“You mean the theory has already been tested since the article,” Rebecca said with amazement in her voice.

“This is the results of that article in ‘Scientific Journal’, ?” Edwards said gesturing to Rose.

“I was the one that made that article possible. I am the one that found the equation that had been misinterpreted for half a century. I am the one that got too close and has been changed by it, for better or for worse. I am the one that has to live the rest of my life as a freak.” Rose said as the tears fell harder and harder with each syllable. “And the article was written after all my work was completed.”

“You have read in the ‘Scientific Journal’?” Meagan asked looking around at the room.

The room stood quiet and still for a long while until Rebecca stepped forward and looked at Edwards and said, “Is this how you want to be remembered by others? Going down in the history books as the one who killed the first child of a new species that could be the answers to all humanities questions on what is next?”

Edwards’ face said it all. It was one of total shock and horror. “I didn’t know. I mean how could I? No one said anything.” He said looking around trying to find the right words to apologize.

“I have been interviewing her for the last several hours trying to get to the truth of her and her friends. No one else should be concerned with anything other than their duties.” James said walking over to Rose and Meagan. “Come with me please,” James said escorting them both from the room.

As Rose walked out of the room she looked over at Elizabeth and without saying a word manages to convey her wishes for her to remain silent. As long as she was a friend and not a daughter then she should be safe. At least she hoped this was true.

Once out of the medical bay and down the stairs James told Meagan she needed to put on one of the pursuer suits.

“Why?” She asked looking back at Rose.

“We are going to go get your ship,” James said as he pulled off his pants revealing his boxer-briefs. I can’t have my crew trying to kill people when they need to be working.” He said now pulling off his shirt revealing his tight chiseled abs.

Meagan glanced over at Rose and saw her cheeks had turned blue. “Are you blushing?” She said drawing the attention of James.

“No,” Rose said with a faults laugh. Her cheeks now flushing even bluer than they were before.

“I think she is,” James said looking at Rose with a grin as he now pulled one of the pressure suits off of the wall behind him.

Meagan having just realized what made Rose blush, suddenly found herself wishing she had not noticed it. She turned and grabbed one of the pressure suits off the wall then walked to the corner of the room and started pulling off her clothes.

Rose followed Meagan over to the corner and said: “Let me help you with that, will you?”

Meagan who by now had tears in her eyes just nodded letting Rose pick up the suit and start undoing the straps and buckles while Meagan stripped down.

“Meagan you know I love you right?” Rose asked looking out the window as she played with one of the buckles.

“Yes… I do. But I see now you have feelings for him as well.” Meagan said in a soft voice as she looked over at James who was pulling up the bottom part of his suit ash tried to undo the buttons of her butterfly pants.

“I do not know about that. I have been telling him about the last two years all night.” Rose said turning to look at Meagan while handing her the suit. “He has not said much just listened to every word I had to say. Only interrupting when it was getting hard to talk anymore or something happened.”

“I know that he is a guy… and a good looking one to boot.” Meagan said now turning around and pulling the bottom of the suit on. “You had only just turned female when I meet you so you never had the chance to even look at guys before we got so involved.” She finished turning to look Rose in the eyes as she now pulled the top part of the suit on.

“You’re right. I never had a chance to explore my feminine side before falling for you.” Rose said looking past Meagan to James seeing he was just about done with his suit. “I don’t know what my feelings for him are yet. I had not even noticed anything until he started undressing in front of us.” Rose said looking back at Meagan confusion showing in her eyes.

“Explore it,” Meagan said with a sigh. “You will never know if you don’t.” She said looking back at James. “He is rather gorgeous, for a guy, you know?” She said with a laugh in her voice. “I might take him if you don’t.”

“Meagan, are you sure about this?” Rose asked not sure what this would mean for either of them.

“No I am not but I know what it is like to always wonder about what might have been and I won’t ask you to do that,” Meagan said. “If you two hit it off then you were meant to be with him if not… well then, at least I am still here.” She went on forcing each word as if it was the hardest thing she had ever said.

“But what if I want both of you not just him or just you but both of you,” Rose said leaning in to talk a little softer to Meagan. “We do live in the 21st century now, why can’t we be a three-parent family?” Rose said with a smile on her face.

Meagan stared at Rose for a moment before shaking her head then both Rose and Meagan busted out laughing as they turned to join James now waiting by the door for them to finish talking.

Once outside, James used both rovers to drive them the nearly one and a half mile distance to Emma. As he did he wondered what Rose breathed.

“What do you breathe?” James asked as the rovers started moving.

“What I actually breathe I don’t know for sure, carbon dioxide, maybe,” Rose said thinking hard sounding as though it was not meant for anyone in particular. “After we landed we only had a few bottles of air left so when they ran out the rest started feeling sleepy while I never did. Then you guys opened that first door while I was in there and even though I felt the air rush out nothing happened.”

“So you assumed it must be carbon dioxide because it is the most abundant gas on Mars?” James asked looking around at the landscape as it went by.

“For the most part yes, if I breathed anything else I would have a harder time when the air started getting thin in Emma,” Rose said.

James thought about it for several minutes. Know they would have to run a test to know for sure he decides not to give it much more thought for now. James then asked Rose to continue her story. And she did.