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 Twelve

The next morning, after breakfast, Sara asked everyone to hold hands for a moment. Kevin guessed what was going to happen as he grasped Sara with one hand and Julie with the other, leaving William to hold on Julie's other hand. Once everyone was connected, Sara triggered her bracelet, using her free hand to activate the change. Immediately, instead of four individuals, there stood four identical Jennifer's dressed identically. Letting go her hold on Jennifer/Kevin while he/she released Julie/Jennifer, she started to tell the two stunned friends what they had discovered. After several experiments of their own, William and Julie returned to their chosen forms. Sara and Kevin had done so already, and were watching the others discover their newfound ability.

"There's a possibility that it maybe used in reverse," offered Sara, as she mentioned Kevin's theory.

"Oh?" came from the others as they paused in their testing.

"We may be able to copy others by the same method, we just need to find out if its possible," she continued.

Once the implications sank in, there was enthusiastic support, and a mass fiddling with bracelets began.

"Hold it," Sara shouted, trying to make herself heard over the babble of excited voices. Their attention caught, she continued. "We need to do this methodically, not just willy nilly," she paused, smiling as she looked at William in particular. "First we need a volunteer. Either William or Kevin goes back their original bodies and removes the bracelet to act as our normal person on the street."

"Why can't...um forget I said anything," mumbled William, as he was about to ask why the girl's were excluded. The raised eyebrows from the girl's, was enough of an indicator to prevent him putting his locomotive appendage into his facial digestive orifice. Seeing he had spoken, he was volunteered by unanimous vote.

They took till well after lunchtime to come up with the solution after trying different ways and means. Julie had her bracelet visible when she activated the camera function. Her wrist was resting on Williams, when he flinched.

"Ouch, you scratched me," he said, looking at a tiny drop of blood on his arm.

The significance of that statement sunk in quickly, knowing that there were no sharp edges to the bracelet. On closer examination, a tiny puncture wound showed where the bracelet had, "sampled" Williams blood. It took a few more minutes to find that the bracelet had altered somewhat. Where one depression had been the setting for Jennifers form, it now had divided into two. Repeating the sequence, this time with Kevin as the victim, once the blood sample had been taken, another setting was shown to be divided.

"Looks like we can store as many blood samples as there are settings," Sara commented. By pressing the newly divided setting, Julie became first William then Kevin, before returning to her Julie body.

"Judging by the way both your stomachs felt, you're as hungry as I am." Julie smiled. "Let's eat."

They promptly charged to the kitchen, and scrambled for food like a starving horde, albeit a horde of just four. Hunger assuaged for the moment, they sat outside watching the ocean as discussions about their future continued.

"Do you really have to start work on Monday?" William asked of Sara.

"Well, I have used up my holiday leave, but I guess I could call in sick, or there is some special leave I could take...why?" Sara replied.

"Despite your worry's about work, I think we should investigate the places of the remaining alien/human bodies. If there is anything of value or of alien origin, the longer we leave it, the more likely it will be discovered and removed." William said, making a good point.

"Okay then," as Sara saw all, were in agreement. "I'll take my special leave entitlement and we can go search. If we split up into pairs, seeing they are widely separated, we can get it done quicker. Don't forget to change into the correct age so all the relevant memories can assist you." At Julie's sour look, Sara laughed. "Sorry Julie that might mean giving up that body for a short time. At least William can take on the male forms, while you take the female."

It was decided that William and Julie take the Ellery's Volvo and head south, while Sara and Kevin take the Trans Am and head east. William had three places to visit, leaving the others for Sara. The glasses were staying with Sara, seeing their journey was longer and therefore could be more dangerous. Once things had been decided, things then moved rapidly. Cars were filled with the immediate essentials, before Sara and Julie made tearful goodbyes.

Williams first stop was Los Angeles where Huang Chien Liang had been living, while drove the Trans Am out through Frisco's traffic congestion, and out towards Reno. Sara noticed a walkie-talkie like radio resting on the top of the dashboard. Picking it up and examining it, she asked her question with a look and a raised eyebrow to Kevin.

"It's a scanner, I picked it up before I left home. A friend I know gets them before they're modified, so it covers the whole radio spectrum."

"Modified?" Sara asked, knowing she was in for it now.

The US bans scanning receivers that cover the whole bandwidth. Most have certain frequency bands blocked. With this one, we can receive low wave to UHF frequencies. Seeing we will probably be exceeding the speed limit, I thought it would be nice to know when and where the police are, so we can avoid any problems."

"Excuse me Miss, did you know you were travelling in excess of 200 mph?" Laughed Sara, attempting to sound like a highway patrolman.

"Sheesh, must be a real effeminate patrolman to sound like that," offered Kevin. "Why the Miss?"

"Well its a universal fact that all patrolman's brains can be turned to mush at the sight of a sexy blonde," Sara giggled. "If you're pulled up for speeding, you'd better be prepared to show some cleavage."

"Maybe we could outrun them," he retorted, smugly.

"I don't think even this car can reach 186,000 miles a second," Sara pointed out, holding up the scanner and waggling in front of him.

"We could..."

"Yes, but I don't want to limit ourselves by having the Trans Am on everyone's wanted list," Sara interrupted, forestalling Kevin's likely suggestion of morphing the car to avoid capture.

Things settled down as they finally hit the open road, after passing though Sacramento heading for Reno. After a lunch stop at Reno, they headed northeast towards Salt Lake City. Kevin opened the car up on the road passing though the great basin of Nevada. Sara smiled, knowing this was his first time to test the car out. Having already experienced it herself, she knew that ever-present danger of crashing out of control would soon curb his impulse to race.

Sara took over the driving at Lovelock, while Kevin tried to nap. She kept the speed just over the limit and was soon eating the miles up. She was alerted to some police activity near Salt Lake City, as the scanner began picking up calls. She slowed, not sure what was going on, but deciding to play it safe. It wasn't such a surprise, when a she came across a police roadblock. Sara nudged Kevin awake, who, on being quickly filled in, turned off the scanner and placed it under the seat.

Sara slowed as she navigated through the road cones set up to divert the traffic. She noted the cars leaving Salt Lake City, were being searched thoroughly, but the cars being towards Salt Lake City were only held up while an officer spoke to the driver, before being allowed to proceed. Sara wound down her window, as she approached the officer.

"Hello maam, we have an escaped prisoner on the loose. I advise you not to stop until you hit town and don't pick up any hitch hikers."

"What should we be looking out for, just in case?" asked Sara, feigning concern.

"Well, you know it's unsafe to pick up any hitchhiker, male or female," the officer replied, seeming to be uncomfortable about answering her question.

Puzzled, but not willing to press for more, Sara just nodded and drove on.

"That was odd," commented Kevin, as he looked backwards at the police. "They usually ask for anyone to keep an eye out and will give detailed descriptions."

"Yeah," agreed Sara, continuing to drive on. Ten miles on, the road twisted and turned, and Sara watched the car ahead of her suddenly brake and veer to the other side of the road. It slowed then sped up, leaving a huddled form lying on the road. Sara slowed to a crawl as she approached the figure. It seemed she must have dashed out from behind the boulders at the side of the road to flag down the oncoming car, and been hit.

Why are you stopping?" Kevin voiced his concerns. "This could be the escaped prisoner," he added, worriedly.

"She's been hit, prisoner or not, I'm going to help." Sara insisted, as she stopped by the prone figure.

"Looks like her wig fell off, if it is a her," Kevin warned, getting out to assist Sara.

When Sara examined the young lady, it was plain to see she was a he. There was some blood from a cut on his head, but seemed relatively intact. A rip in the dress, attested to the fact that he'd have a painful bruise from where the car had given him a glancing blow. His disguise would have worked better had his makeup not been messed up.

Sara started to lift him in an attempt to get him into the car.

"Sara? Your not thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"I'm not handing him over to the police, at least not yet. Sheesh he must be only 16 years old, look at his face."

Kevin saw a face made androgynous, by makeup, even smeared as it was. The slender body didn't seem to fit into the normal criminal profile, and seemed too innocent to have caused the police to take such drastic measures.

Between the two of them, they got the youth in the car before anyone arrived on the scene. Kevin took over the driving as Margaret, after having changed the car into Volvo mode, seeing they needed the extra room. Sara checked on their passenger that was lying across the back seat. A low moan and a face grimacing in a rictus of pain convinced her that he might have internal injuries. Holding his wrist, she touched her bracelet, and took a blood sample of the youth, to save his form in one of the bracelets settings. She then touched yet another more familiar setting, which immediately changed both her and the youth, into copies of Julie. Releasing his wrist, she quickly returned to her Sara body, leaving him in Julie's body form. At once, her moans ceased, seeing that the injuries he had were now gone along with his old body.

Kevin, now back in his body, after using his own bracelet to change from the car generated Margaret form, looked at Sara and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I had to do something, and seeing how he was dressed, a female form seemed appropriate." Sara offered, defending her decision.

"I didn't say anything," protested Kevin. "But wont this complicate things once she wakes up?"

"What's one more complication in this crazy life we have," shrugged Sara noncommittally.

A stirring in the back, heralded the return to consciousness, of their extra passenger. A "what happened? Where am I?" was next.

Sara turned, to see a confused Julie checking herself out. Catching Julie's attention, the girl gazed mesmerised into Sara's just donned sunglasses.

"You are Julie, a female, riding with us. You will sit quietly and do what we say, understood?" Sara commanded, seeing Julie had gone into a trance.

"Yes," the newly minted Julie replied.

They drove on until they reached Salt Lake City. Consulting a tourist information centre, they found the Colonial Village motel at 1530 S Main Street. It was just far enough away from the city centre to allow some peace and quiet. They paid for a room for one night, then, they drove around to the unit, and parked outside. As it was late, getting 'Julie' inside with her torn clothing without attracting attention was easy.

They prepared dinner from the supplies they had picked up on the way, mainly a cooked chicken in its foil bag and some fresh bread rolls. Making a quick salad to go with it, the three of them settled down to eat. Sara and Kevin watched Julie as she ate, both wondering what she was thinking. Once their hunger had been satisfied, Sara used the glasses to question Julie, or Kim Ashton, as they found out after questioning.

Kim had been making his way to his uncles after losing his parents in accident where they died in a fire in their trailer. Not having much money, or possessions after losing everything in the fire, he set out to hitch hike. One of the neighbours had given him some clothes in sympathy, before he had announced his intentions to seek out his uncle.

"The trouble was, she only had teenage daughters, so she gave me some pants and a tee shirt that had once belonged to them, but had grown out of. Pity, I couldn't ask for some dresses," Kim sighed.

"You like wearing dresses?" Asked Sara, incredulously, not believing her luck.

"Yes, from when I could fit my mom's. We didn't have much money, so I wore her clothes to supplement the few I had of my own." Kim replied, the trance robbing him of any embarrassment from the confession.

"Do you dress for necessity, or because you like too?" asked Sara, persisting in her question to find the truth.

"Well it used to be only while I was at home to save my other clothes, but I grew to love the feel of them, and wished I could wear them all the time." Kim said, as s/he narrated her story.

He had been wearing the girl's clothes, when she was picked up just outside Salt Lake City, by the sheriff. He tried to charge her for vagrancy, despite his protests that he had money to pay his way. The sheriff, being alert, had picked up on the fact that the clothing he was wearing belonged to that of a female.

Sara and Kevin listened amazed, as Kim's story unfolded. How the sheriff took him to his place instead of to the precinct, where he forced him to don the clothes she had on, saying he knew what kind of person he was. The sheriff had him wear a wig and put on makeup. Part of him was delighted to be fully en-femme, but part knew there was something very wrong with the situation.

Once dressed in presumably his wife's clothes, the sheriff undid his pants and indicated that Kim perform according to the gender he was portraying. Kim didn't know what to do, but was sure that giving the sheriff a blowjob wouldn't end there. Kim knelt, as if submitting forcing himself to take the tip of the engorged organ in his mouth, but instead of sucking as expected, he bit down as hard as he could. The sheriff screamed, pushing Kim back, as blood streamed from the injured organ.

Kim scrambled away, spitting the coppery tang from his mouth, as the sheriff continued bellowing. Kim ran for his life, before the sheriff decided to further action against him. He ran losing the heels he had been wearing, as he rushed outside and fled down the street. He took to hiding, as sirens heralded the arrival of first an ambulance, then more police units. Kim had managed to avoid capture as he fled the city and made his way back towards where he had come from.

"No wonder they wanted him captured," sighed Sara, sad that there were people like that out there. "I bet the sheriff wanted this covered up before it became public knowledge. What's the bet he gave orders to shoot on sight, so Kim couldn't talk."

"Yeah, he wouldn't want it to be known what he was up to," Kevin agreed. "He probably cooked up some trumped up charge to ensure his kink wouldn't be uncovered."

They both looked at Kim, thinking life on the run was a poor start for the tragedy stricken boy. Sara looked at Kevin seeing his thoughts echo hers. She brought Kim out of his trance, and allowed him to see himself as she was now. Kim's surprise was tempered with shock, as he realised he was now a she.

Kim's myriad questions were brushed aside, as Sara interrupted her.

"Kim, how you became female is not important. What is important is that at the moment, you are safe from the police and if you want to return to being male again, then that can be accomplished. One thing, your original body has injuries, possibly internal. I don't know how serious, but if we do return you to it, you'll need to be near a hospital to be taken in for treatment."

"We can provide another body for you, if you don't like this one,' offered Kevin, as Kim went to look at herself in the bedroom mirror.

Sara gave Kim one of her nightgowns to sleep in and hustled her off to bed, saying they'd talk more in the morning. Sleep took a while in coming for Sara, as she cuddled up to Kevin's warm body, when it did her dreams were a strange mix of police sirens mixed with scenes from an old TV series, the fugitive.

The next morning, Kim was awake early and enjoyed her first shower as a female. When Sara got up and started breakfast, Kim entered and gushed.

"This is amazing, are you some sort of aliens, or am I just dreaming this?" Kim asked, as she posed and looked over her new body critically

"No we aren't aliens, let's just say we are using technology the world has never seen before," Sara answered, trying not to be too forthcoming.

"I can hardly believe this. I love the feel of this body, somehow being female seems so right," Kim said with a huge grin on her face. "I won't even ask how you did it. I only want to thank you for the experience, for as long as I'm allowed to stay in this body."

Sara was pleased that not only was Kim happy to be female, but it seemed that she wasn't going to ask any awkward questions.

"Where's your uncle living at the moment?" Kevin asked, wondering how much of a detour they'd need to make sure Kim arrived safely at her uncles.

"Oh he lives in Kansas City, but if you are only going to Denver or Topeka, that's fine. I still have a thumb that works, even if it is a little smaller, anyway, I could hitch my skirt to get a ride," she giggled, demonstrating that very same.

"I think we'd better change her back," Kevin laughed, having got up and joined them. "It may save many male drivers lives; I can just see them running into telegraph poles or into oncoming traffic if we let her loose on the road." He added grinning, seeing Kim pout at the suggestion.

"We can take you to your uncles. We have to stop there anyway for a while on our way through." Sara said, thinking Kim was really getting into acting like a girl.

What's your uncles name and whereabouts in Kansas City does he live?" Sara asked.

"Steven Kennedy is his name he lives in Gladstone, just north of the city."

"Not 26 north Cleveland road by any chance?" asked Sara, going slightly ashen.

"Why yes, do you know my uncle?" Kim asked brightly.

Sara didn't answer, her thoughts churned in a maelstrom of shock and confusion. How could she say "yes we know your uncle the alien, we are just going to impersonate him so we can sell his property. Just who was Kim? Was she an alien too, or was she some progeny produced from them whilst they were in human form?

Before she could gather her thought, her cell phone burbled.

"Hello, oh hi William," Sara answered.

"What happened?"

"Is she okay?"

"Call me okay?"

Sara ended the called, putting the phone away. Kevin looked at her, seeing her pensive look, as Sara chewed her bottom lip.

"What happened? Is there a problem?"

"Yup."

To be continued.

    

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