“George” said the woman lying next to her husband in bed.

He continued snoring gently.

“George!” she said more urgently.

Then she gave him a kick. The snoring stopped.

“Wassup?” he said sleepily

“They’re at it again”

“At what again?” he said totally disinterested manner.

Galactic Marshal II
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 7

“Oh, I talk to Karen now and again. She has a room here and stays quite often. As a matter of fact, she is coming tomorrow. I’m sure she would love to see you.”

I was shocked beyond belief. She looked at me funny and then something clicked.

“That’s right, she has been away a long time. I bet you thought she had forgotten about you.”

I shook my head.

“Actually, I thought she was dead.”

At a supermarket, an overweight, balding, middle-aged man bumps into young mother with small child.

“I am sorry.”

“No it was my fault”

Nathan, a journalist, stumbles upon a web site for incredibly realistic female body suits while researching fetish wear. Convinced that they are fake, he goes along to a product launch to find out.

This story is intended to be the pilot to a series. It was mostly written before the movie Avatar came out, and has no connection to the movie.

***WARNING***
This is a very short 'what if' taken from a suggestion from one of my Dear Readers, who can claim credit if they feel they wish to. It is unpleasant and nasty, and written to take the taste of a bad day from my mouth. There is nothing redeeming about either of the characters in this piece. Read with caution.

COLD FEET. AN INTERLUDE

Snakes and Ladders 6

Chapter 6

I stare at the three of them my head going from one to the other to the other.
“Sword fighting?! I don’t know how to sword fight!”
Brennan just nodded as he made what looked like a tea. “Yes, this is exactly why they have asked for this.”

Shaya frowned as she was sliding into this dark blue silky dressing gown. “It is dishonest is what it is, they want to hurt her and embarrass us. Wren cannot be expected to perform well in a duel when does not have the training nor the years of experience that Kyte has.”

Dreams and Truth

It should be raining, Robert thought. It seemed like whenever there was a funeral in the movies or on TV, it was raining. But for a early November afternoon, it was sunny and warm. He found it hard to grieve for his mother. In one way, she had been gone for a while, lost in Alzheimer’s.

He found it also ironic that she would be buried today, on November 11, Remembrance Day. She had been, after all, the daughter of a soldier, and a soldier’s wife. For some reason the old poem came into his mind.

Dear reader: This was a request by a semi-friend of mine that I think went rather well. Upshot: A wandering mercenary/knight takes a job to slay a dragon who has been eating the local maidens. The problem is that the dragon refuses to fight honorably and will not appear unless the maiden is completely alone.
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Maurice Gao spoke up. “Do the Watanabes know Ripley is in Australia now?”

Gabrielle looked over at Maurice. ‘Be patient, your turn will be coming soon."

Synopsis- While a JAG attorney works on Hiromi’s legal defense, Gabrielle Tanaka advises the Swan Song committee on how they could get Ripley assistance once she returns to Japan.

Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 5

When the ship arrived in orbit around Broadskye, we met in the galley to ponder our next move.

“I have a contact with the police on Broadskye named Josh Randall. What say I contact him to see if he can help us?”

George was still a little shaky about my appearance.

“Uh, when you were with him last, weren’t you male?”

CHAPTER 15
The next morning, I made a valiant effort to outdo my mother’s breakfasts, but even with Dad’s present of ’decent’ black pudding, I was doomed to failure.

CHAPTER 14
It got easier. No surprises there, but the day was getting closer when I would be able to walk properly with Pete. Do you know, I had no idea how tall he really was?

Dear reader: Things go in the predictable manner and we have our heroes making good on their previous decision. Not much else to say except that I've recently been told I ought to use paragraphs, and I can reveal that in two more sections, I'll post the PDF, which has all these problems that my poor understanding of HTML (would you believe I moonlight as a pro web designer?) cannot fix, like indentation and the abysmal leading you get on these things.

CHAPTER 21
The departure from Perth was quite emotional, Terry and Kylie fussing over Jim as we waited in the security queue. Finally, we had to let them go, and a short while later were in the air in a DC9 heading for Cairns via Uluru. Jim was asleep in his window seat shortly after take-off; the excitement of being in the air fading quickly as we droned over a continuous waste of red dirt and bush.

Dear reader: To describe much of anything about the story's content would be removing what little suspense I can manage to create. Instead, I'll admit to being somewhat influenced by Daria in the previous story and influenced a good bit more for this one and the ones that come after. The only reason why most of my own high school experience was not drawn from is because I'm afraid you'd never believe me unless you've actually seen the inside of the school I went to.

CHAPTER 20
We continued along the coast, with the obligatory walk through the Valley of the Giants, until Albany, the oldest European settlement in WA.

CHAPTER 12
Mum was first up on Sunday morning, and brought me and Pete a cuppa as we lay snoring and tangled up, as she described it. As I sat up, she smiled.

Dear reader:

“I agree with you, Audrey-san. Ripley should not be prosecuted, but it is not my decision.”

“I cannot say, Audrey-san.”

Synopsis- Chuck and Hiromi have arrived safely in Australia, so Hiromi made her promised confession to him. It didn't go well, and Chuck became angry about being fooled by Swan Song and by his wife. He's run off home to try and help the original Hiromi, to whom he still feels loyalty, because he's never been sure that the old and the new weren't one and the same person. In order to help Hiromi’s legal defense, Gabrielle has given a affidavit that's almost sure to get her in hot water with almost everyone else at Pine Gap.

CHAPTER 10
The staff rooms were my next hurdle, but that was helped along by the presence of Dave, who gave me a kiss on the cheek when I arrived.