Galactic Marshal III
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 9

“Gina, you are female and you have always been female. I will not speak of it again.”

Tinker immediately left the room. I turned to Bell.

“What goes on here?”

“We are trying to save our race. Please cooperate!”

“OK, OK, I said I’d do my best.”

Bell turned and left and I followed. We entered the control room. I had never been in one of there control centers. Tinker looked up, smiled, and motioned me to a seat. I could see a planet out the viewing window.

“This is our world. It probably doesn’t look like much to you but it is our home. I can’t tell you how grateful we are that you have agreed to help us try to save it. Please relax while we land.”

I just nodded. The world in front of me was not what I expected. It looked rather desolate. As we got closer, I could make out scattered cities but none seemed very large. Tinker noticed my puzzlement.

“Our people do not like to live in large cities such as you have on your Earth. We have populated all of our planet in scattered villages. All are connected by rapid transit and communications. We really have no need to live in large groups.”

I didn’t know what to say so I kept quiet. I was expecting to see a large space port but we
appeared to be landing in the middle of no where. I realized that I should have let Karen brief me on their culture. I knew next to nothing. After landing, we left the control room. It suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t even know if their planet had an atmosphere I could breathe.

“Uh, can I wear this outside?”

Tinker stopped and looked me over.

“Sure, why not?”

“I mean, is your air OK for me to breathe?”

Tinker laughed.

“I guess I should have given you more information. Yes, our atmosphere is similar to what you are used to.”

“Uh, one other thing, my belongings were left on my cruiser.”

Tinker nodded.

“Don’t worry, we will take good care of you.”

With that, Tinker and Bell headed toward the hatch and I followed. We exited into what at first looked like a barren landscape. I then noticed a small metal building of some kind. We headed for it. After reaching it, I could see a small door maybe 1  ½ meters tall.

“Our complex here is mostly underground. I’m sorry about the door. Watch your head.”

I ducked down and went through the door. We went down several flights of stairs and entered a very large room. It appeared to be a receiving area. There were quite a few people about. All heads turned toward us as we entered. Tinker stopped and pointed to me.

“This is Gina.”

A cheer went up. I didn’t know what to think. Tinker turned to me.

“They are all aware of your purpose here. We have prepared a room for you. Please follow me.”

As I walked along, many of the aliens touched me and smiled. They were treating me like a hero. We went down a hallway and stopped before a door. It looked new and was about 2 meters tall. I could see that it was put in especially for my height. We entered the room and I gasped. It was obvious that everything in it had been built for a Human and was very plush. Tinker smiled.

“We originally outfitted this room for Karen but it should do nicely for you as well. Please make yourself at home. The AI will explain anything you have questions about. We will come for you in the morning.”

Tinker left and I sat down in an overstuffed chair. My head was spinning. Everything had happened too fast.

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It didn’t take long before our first message arrived. It was from Sam, Jonnie’s boss.

“Gina, open the channel.”

Sam appeared.

“Hi, Mary, I need to talk with John.”

“I imagine you have heard from our council.”

Sam shook his head.

“Not me but my superiors apparently got an earful. I get the feeling that John is not there.”

I filled Sam in on what had happened.

“This is not good. Do you have any idea what they want with John?”

I shook my head.

“Not a clue.”

“This gate thing has really caused an up roar on your council. I can’t say I blame them. Of course, since Fledora is now part of the Planetopolis, it affects us all. Do you think the aliens will bring John to Fledora?”

“That’s what we hope.”

“OK, is Karen with you?”

Karen jumped in.

“I’m here.”

“Good, I would suggest that you stay in orbit and wait to hear from either John or the aliens. Then, contact me ASAP.”

“Will do.”

“Oh, by the way, we will inform your council of this.”

I smiled at Sam.

“Thank you, I was afraid I would get some heat.”

Sam chuckled.

“We both will get more than that but just stay in orbit. The council will leave you alone, for now.”

Sam disconnected and I sat back with a heavy sigh.

“This could get ugly.”

Karen nodded.

“I hope Jonnie can sort the aliens out. Until then, I guess we get it from both sides.”

Soon after, I got a call from Margaret. She was not a happy camper.

“Mary, what are you doing? You should be down here helping us.”

“I am helping and I have been told to stay in orbit.”

Margaret nodded.

“Yes, the Planetopolis government has informed us. This better get settled soon. Our patience is wearing thin.”

I sighed.

“I’m sorry, until we hear back from Jonnie, what else can we do?”

“Let us know as soon as you hear any thing.”

Margaret signed off. Karen smiled.

“I can’t stand that woman. It’s nice to see her stymied.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, she is a pain. We have really been butting heads over Raylan.”

“Well, there is nothing she can do as long as he’s on this ship.”

“Thank goodness for that, anyway.”

Karen looked out the window a minute then over at me.

“Tell me something, do you like John or Jonnie better?”

I blushed.

“I have to admit that I am more attracted to Jonnie but I love John as well. I guess it comes down to what will make Jonnie the happiest.”

Karen nodded.

“John always makes a fuss when being changed into a woman so it’s hard to know what he really wants. Frankly, I like him better as female too. Of course, that could be because of how we met.”

I looked slyly at her.

“Yes, I’m glad you two are sisters. I could get very jealous otherwise.”

Karen laughed.

“Yeah, I admit to some sparks there until I found out the truth. Now, I’m just glad to finally be united with my sibling, no matter the gender.”

I nodded.

“I hope being forced to change by the aliens will not prove harmful. Jonnie told me that there were some problems with growth of her internal female organs. I am afraid that going back and forth is confusing her both physically and mentally.”

“Well, all we can do is support John when he returns. I just hope it’s soon.

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Later that evening, the vid unit chimed and Tinker appeared.

“I’ve sent you a video of the device and what we believe you need to do to activate it. Please watch it closely.”

Tinker faded out and a link popped up. I hit it and the video started. The device was huge. Basically, it was a 30 meter square block of something with an indention that I was supposed to squeeze into. Once inside, the device should turn on and do whatever it’s designed to do. There appeared to be some question as to what I should do afterwards. I watched the video 3 times. Each time I became more nervous. Tinker’s people seemed to have confidence that the device would stabilize the planet but they did not know exactly how it worked; especially what would happen to me. Finally, I turned the video off. There was no point in dwelling on it. I would do what I could. I realized that I needed to wee.

“Uh, please show me the bathroom.”

There was no response. I looked around but didn’t see anything obvious.

“This is just great!”

I thought maybe I needed to rephrase my request.

“I need to eliminate bodily wastes.”

Suddenly, an oval shaped object came out from the wall opposite me. Yep, oh boy. I managed to use it and looked around the room. I wondered about clothes.

“Do I have any more clothes?”

A door popped open. Inside was a good selection of dresses and shoes. Oh well, I at least have something to change into. I decided to lie down and see if I could go to sleep. My mind was still whirling although I was dead tired. I don’t know if I had help but I immediately went to sleep. I awoke to a chiming noise. Tinker was on the vid.

“Please get dressed. We will come for you soon.”

I went to the closet and chose the longest dress in there. It was purple and came down just past my knees. I kept the white sandals I had worn from the ship. About 30 minutes later, Bell walked in.

“Are you ready to eat breakfast?”

I grinned.

“I might as well. It could be my last meal.”

Bell smiled and we walked to a room with a couple of tables. Some food was setting on one of them. I didn’t recognize anything so I took one of each thing. Oddly, all of it tasted good. After eating, Bell looked at me a minute.

“This is a very important day for us. It is a chance to save our planet. Are you ready?”

I nodded.

“I guess so.”

“OK, let’s go.”

We left the room and went to some kind of transport car. After getting in, we were whisked into a tunnel. I don’t know how far we traveled or how fast. We came out of the tunnel into what looked like a very large cave. Tinker and several other aliens were waiting for us. The big cube I had seen on the video was setting in the middle of the cave. As I got out of the vehicle, Tinker faced me.

“I don’t know what to say except thank you and good luck. Please come with me.”

We walked over to the cube.

“I wish I could tell you for sure what is going to happen but everything at this point is a guess. We believe that once you are in position inside, the device will activate. I don’t think there is anything special you will need to do but stay alert. Hopefully, the machine will guide you. If not, well, use your own judgment.”

I just nodded.

“OK, uh, our leader has some words for you.”

An alien stepped forward and started speaking. I had no idea what was said but, after finishing, everyone cheered. Tinker smiled and pointed to the indention. I sighed and went to it. I could tell that it was going to be a tight fit. I turned sideways and led with my right arm. Thankfully, the walls were very slick. After a brief struggle, I was fully within the cube. I did not see any buttons or switches to push. There was a depression in the wall. It was about the size of my hand. I figured that I had nothing to lose so I placed my right hand into it. Immediately, a high pitched whine started rising in intensity. I could see out the indention and the aliens seemed to be backing up. Suddenly, there was a flash of light. When my eyes recovered, there was only black outside the cube. The only thing I could think of to say was,

“Shit!”