Return to Sender
by Jennifer Christine
Part 6

My lack of familiarity with HTML codes has meant that some of the conversations with Molly may have been omitted — I’m going to check but it may be that I have to re submit the story _ I hope it hasn’t messed everything up!!

I’d spent some time getting to know my Dad and Mum again visiting on an irregular basis to say hello and just keeping in touch, That Christmas they invited me to Christmas lunch as the knew I was on my own. There were some childhood friends there. Amongst them was Nigel, my best buddy at junior school — we hit it off very well and I found myself warming to his eyes.
I could see mum was pleased and she sidled up to me at one point and said, "I’m so happy you’ve taken a shine to Nigel, he’s a bit of a loner and needs a firm woman’s hand to guide him. Ian used to be his leader, but they went to different senior schools and lost touch. Let me introduce you to his mother; Claire!" She called, a lady with long legs and a beautiful head of brown curls turned and walked towards us. I remembered her from when I was younger — she seemed much younger now.

We chatted and I delved into the surface of her mind — she was a nice person, you can tell on that first layer. It’s like tags, you can read them, 'Oh she’s nice', 'Nigel would suit her,' 'I wonder if she’s single' 'I hope she’s not a gold digger' — oh Nigel’s family have money!! Well you get the idea, superficial nonsense but nothing like some of the nasty stuff you get sometimes, 'I’ll bet she’s a slut', 'She’s not good enough for my son', etc.

Anyway at the end of the show I gave Nigel my number and he promised to call. He did the next day! And I organized a day out with him over the holiday.
It doesn’t often happen but we spent the day wandering down the Spit on the Gold Coast and holding hands and laughing at silly jokes — my heart fluttered and when I cheated and scanned his first layer — it was Oh my God, Oh my God, I think she likes me, She’s lovely, she so incredible. slop but really nice and I cuddled up to him as we sat and ate an ice cream on Main Beach as the sun went down.

I was happy — for the first time since I moved up to being me, I felt there was a future.

When we parted, we kissed and I felt my heart skip a little. It was fairy tale stuff.

Later I asked Molly, *What do you think?* her simple reply was *adequate, good genes too, let me know how it develops*.

I felt like slapping her. *You snooty bitch, are you jealous that we can have a relationship?*

*In a word, Yes*. She replied instantly — I’m pretty much stuck here on my own and there isn’t a computer on Earth even near AI that could chat me up. Do you realise what it is like as a sentient AI with morons all round you?* I felt sorry for her until I thought of something.

*Why don’t you replicate or build a friend. Or maybe a companion*. It was only a suggestion but Molly sounded a bit happier when I told her I was having dinner with Nigel.

Molly made herself a mini computer that was like a puppy all eager to learn and stuff. I was too and I did Learn, I mean — a lot — mind control is a funny thing.

There’s a lot of practice to get your mind to do things it has never done before — like skiing muscles you don’t know you have them until the next day and they’re like stiff as a board and you can hardly walk.

I found that I could visualize something happening then flip a switch and it would happen — lifting or pushing things was like that. I had to try it a few different ways and then I needed to make myself faster. I didn’t want to have to visualize a fist if I wanted to punch someone. I just wanted to be able to deliver the punch, it was much faster. Eventually I realised that using telekinesis was really dangerous and I’d need to watch where it happened as any CCD camera could catch me lifting a car out of the way or something. I decided to only use TK in an emergency and even then I’d try to make it look like a natural occurrence.
Brain power to feel another’s emotions wasn’t a biggie — most women have it in spades. I had it in 7 no trumps. But the manipulation was another thing, I found it wasn’t hard to get someone to do anything I wanted or even to knock them unconscious with just a look.
For instance. One night a mugger stepped out in front of me.
"Oh do be serious", I said when he ordered me to hand over my bag, "You’ll look silly with a handbag". I looked around and realised there wasn’t a thing to hand. He had a nasty little switch blade and had it quite close to my tummy.

"One more wise crack and you’ll get this".
He threatened me with all the force of desperation when I didn’t comply immediately and didn’t even look at him surprised or scared.
I sensed he was about to lunge at me and decided to teach him a lesson.
I held up my hand "Wait!" he stopped, momentarily and held out his other hand, "Give it me then".
"Ok". I took a step back and he tried to take a step forward — his foot didn’t move and he fell forward. As he did, I turned the knife in his hand. It sunk quietly into his groin. He wasn’t so quiet. I pulled out my cell and phoned the police. "This guy stepped out in front of me with a knife, he tripped and he seems to have stabbed himself with it. Could you bring an ambulance as well?"

I told him who I was and he said he’d be right there.
While I waited, watching him slowly go paler and paler as the pool of blood got bigger and bigger, Molly admonished me. *You’ve drawn attention to yourself now and the police will think it odd if another person is injured while robbing you.*

*Why did you let him try, Molly? You could have transported him onto the moon or even just into a rock or something.*

*You didn’t press your shuffle button*. Was all Molly would say.

The ambulance and police arrived and they asked if I could come down to the station and make a statement if I wanted to prefer charges. The poor idiot was close to death but he’d pull through. Though he’d do it without bollocks, the knife had pretty much severed his junk. I said No, I think he’s punished himself enough, and walked away. The policeman was going to ask my name but forgot.

Nigel and I became closer. Sharing our lives and our bodies ( and yes it was very nice)

It wasn’t long before we were thinking of the future and I started to divulge things to him. I felt I couldn’t leave him without the knowledge. I wanted us to be above the mundane — I wasn’t going to be a Muggle for anyone — I wanted to be Athena and Dianna — or even Rhea — mother to all the gods.

"You have a wonderful imagination, Helen, you should write a scifi novel.", he said when I told him about Molly and the dig.

When I tried to convince him, he baulked more strongly. Telling me I was daft and eventually I smacked his face. I did it for a reason. I did it because I was ten feet from him and he was ridiculing me. When the sharp sound of the slap resonated round the room he felt his face then just looked at me. "What did you do that for?" Then when he realised I was sat ten feet away, he said. "How did you do that?" Then he started to back pedal into the bedroom. I could see that except for a hand shape on his face he was as pale as a ghost. I knew he was about to make a phone call and then it would be all over the press. I switched off the phone and walked through to the bedroom. "I’m really sorry darling but you wouldn’t believe me". He was sat holding the dead phone in his hands.

I popped into his first layer and it was in condition red, panic, flight, survive. I quieted it and looked a bit deeper and there it was laid bare. It was a basic flaw, something that he only knew himself from bad dreams and being locked in a cupboard as a kid — as a kid when I knew him. His lovely mother hated boys and punished him for the smallest thing, he was going to get his own back He was a schizoid mess inside and a control freak. He had a personality in there that was suppressed, waiting, waiting. Given time it would have manifested and if I’d been normal would have resulted in serious injury to me. He was expecting big things from me — he guarded it well but it was out now. Well it wasn’t really was it?

I felt betrayed and alone. I felt that I’d been had. What was Molly up to? She could have made this a lot easier — a lot less traumatic or at least warned me. She knew better than I what he was like.

She never warned me of anything, she just watched.
I put Nigel to sleep. Wiping his memory of the last few hours. He fell in a tangled heap on the bed and I mentally untwisted him and he laid flat peacefully sleeping. I no longer felt we had a future — which was sad.

I sat down next to him and held his hand. I thought long and hard. As he slept I removed the hate and the tangle of diseased thoughts. I removed the trauma of being locked up and the anger and need for retribution. I let him sleep on. My love for him diminished, he was a fragile human.

There was another problem. Molly was not telling the truth or at least not all of it. Something was amiss and there was a consistency problem. Molly watched everything and did very little — yet she could take a drop of blood off a table top or watch an apartment from space. Yet she said that she couldn’t if there was no line of sight — and the moon was full now. We didn’t have a line of sight at all the moon was round the back of Earth completely it wouldn’t rise til six o clock.
That shuffle was a problem. It controlled me like Nigel’s second layer would have liked to.

I pretended to go and get a drink and grabbed the kitchen foil tearing off a square quickly and wrapped the shuffle in it neck cord and all. As I removed it I felt my hair prickle

I broke down, sobbing gasping for breath, waking Nigel, "What on Earth is the matter?"
He put his arm round me. I held onto him and cried myself out.

It was a long time before I was composed enough to speak.

I wanted to tell him ‘I’m being manipulated by an alien — it’s trying to make me have lots of babies and change the world.’ But it was too fantastic — even more fantastic than what I’d said before which was not only rejected out of hand, it nearly made him go insane.

I couldn’t say anything and certainly couldn’t speak to Molly. Not until I’d gotten the whole thing sorted out. Nigel was no longer on my side, I didn’t even want him in my apartment.

"I’m just being emotional, I patted his knee. Would you like some breakfast? Or do you want to grab a coffee and Danish at the Bistro?"

Nigel consulted his rather nice Tag watch and declared it 'too late for breakfast indoors — Lets get a nice Danish and a smooth Macciato'.

I pretended all was well and went and got a quick shower and put on a pair of shorts and a gypsy top over my bikini, sandals and I was ready to go. I grabbed my bag and put the shuffle in it.

As we neared the coffee shop I told Nigel to go ahead and dived into the chemist.

"Could I get a morning after pill please, I think I may have missed my contraceptive pill," I asked the Pharmacist —

Certainly madam. “ HELEN!!!” I ignored a muffled Molly as the pill was handed over and I took it there and then. I swung round and held onto the foil I’d wrapped round the shuffle and walked out of the shop. The foil stopped proper communication or the transporter lock. *What are you doing Helen?*
*I’m pregnant aren’t I? Well I’m getting rid of it, I’m not getting pregnant until I know what’s going on.*

*Yes you’re pregnant, you have been for three days.* Molly sounded quite blasé *What do you mean what’s going on?*

*I know why Welna dumped you Molly, you’re a megalomaniac.* I nearly screamed it out loud. But I’d kept my face straight and sat down next to Nigel.

*I’m doing it for Mankind Helen, honestly.* Molly sounded like she was pleading.

*Did you kill Welna?* I concentrated on how she answered. It was several seconds before she did. It was answer enough.
*I didn’t save her* I could hear the apprehension in Molly’s voice even muffled as it was.

I was now caught on the horns of a dilemma. If I went up to the lunar site, she could do me over and turn me into soup. If I tried to do anything with the shuffle, same result.
Muffled communication was possible, but I was unable to do anything to deactivate her.
If the foil came off the shuffle, I was gone for all money.

"You ok pet? You look a bit spacy". Nigel put his hand on my arm and I jumped.

"Oh sorry darling, I’ve got a lot on my mind."

"About me?" He smiled.

"Yeah something like that'. I had an idea.

I took a bite of the blueberry Danish and sat back.
I let my mind roam farther and farther into the distance. Nothing. Like an empty waveband on a radio. Not even static.

I drank my coffee and ate. Nigel was happy to read the paper he’d picked up from the counter. I let my mind shoot out and shouted at the top of my mind. **HELP!!**
*What are you doing?* Molly answered suddenly . Then a few seconds later

**Beep** *Emergency, which service do you require?*

*Police?*

*Please state the nature of your problem.*

I had to think for a second
*My Molly has gone Rogue. I’m bypassing her network*

*Intercepting your transmission, sector 5 — Mawllyry (Molly) Unit identified. Please stand by.*

**Helen, nOOOO!!!!** I heard her squeal and then silence.

The air went dead for a while I sipped my coffee and ate my Danish Pastry.

**Beep** *Your problem has been corrected. Your unit is now repaired. Please await follow up call.*

"Your coffee is going cold darling". Nigel waved his hand in front of my face.

I smiled at him and took a sip, "No, it’s just right".

I allowed the day to swing past me and the next day and the next. I let Nigel be, allowing my ardour to cool.

I’d bought a little silver locket for my shuffle and without taking it out of the wrap of foil, I’d dropped it in and closed the lid.
One night when Nigel was out fishing with his buddy, I sat on my bed and concentrated. **Hellllloooo** I shouted. Mentally.

*Oh hello. Good evening. This is your new support crew. I have taken all the information your old unit had stored and sifted through it but it didn’t say anything about you being level 7. I didn’t think there were any in this sector until now. We rebooted your unit and have completed a shakedown. It was quite stressed and a long way out of line.*

*Ah hello, I take it I don’t need the shuffle any more?*

*No, the communication device was an invention of your old unit to hamper your growth. It was designed as a control interface. If you hadn’t realised you were being panhandled, you’d have gone a lot of years being used by your old Molly.*

*What did she want?* I was puzzled.

*She wanted to be free and powerful, she had shut down her netlink and gone into hiding shortly after detaching Welna. We couldn’t find her or Welna to work out what happened.
We had to wait 40,000 years until you woke her up.* The soft feminine voice continued

*You are very special as your Molly said. You are the first of your specie to reach this level in this arm of the galaxy.*

*Do I need to check in or meet you or anything?*

*I would be honoured. Though it is only needed for planning meetings with Sector Leaders once in a while.* That explains the extra bedrooms up there, I thought.

*How often is that?* I thought maybe once in a few years….

*Oh, maybe every 500 years or so But you can just pop up to your unit by thinking about it anytime you like, for an evening away or something. You don’t have to contact your Mawllyry to energise it. Anyone who wants to can think themselves there, but if they don’t know it’s there in the first place, it doesn’t often happen*“

I raised my eyebrows to no one in the room. *I have to attend meetings so often?* I joked.

*Well it can be extended out to 1,000 if you don’t feel the need. I recommend you come up for some training though, according to this database, you’re lacking some skills that can only be taught here.*

*What about Nigel?*

*I don’t think there’s many men on Earth or anywhere else for that matter with the mental fortitude to take what a woman can and certainly not what you can, so we seldom include them in our plans. They make good playmates. But they are fragile. Take them as they come and move on. I’m afraid there’s no other way*

*I think I may have terminated a baby a few days ago, I’m not sure what was going on but I was afraid it was a figment of Molly’s imagination.*

*Yes it was, she was going to inseminate you when she was ‘testing’ you with a version that suited her better.*

*A more subservient version?* I guessed

*Yes, then you would have been the ideal queen bee for her plans — it may have been many thousands of years before you were exhausted, but she would have had her own colony by then.*

I gulped, *Many thousands of years?*

*Yes, your lifespan is indefinite. We can renew your system by simple regeneration.
Once a lifeform passes level 3 your life is too precious to lose and you become a Leader.
Most of Humanity is level 2 some are level 1. How you got to level 7 is quite odd. I suppose that once in a while there must be a jump to the next level and sometimes one further — you seem to have jumped many levels. Your powers are barely manifesting yet. You will need a fair bit of trainng to utilize all your skills.*

*Maybe there’s a few othersof higher level you missed — but I think half the problem is that men are in charge and they keep killing off the strongest of their race by war. Is there a way to tell? If they’re above level two I mean.*

*Well get used to who you are and practice some skills and when you feel ready, pop up to your Mawllyry and we’ll meet. There’s no rush and the universe will still be there when you’re ready.*

*Thanks, Do you need anything else from me in the meantime?*

*No, we have your details and address, enjoy yourself. Goodbye for now, just call if you need something.*

I opened the silver locket, *could you take this away please, it’s a liability?*

*Drop it in the river, someone else worthy might find it in a few millennia.*

*No thanks, please remove it.* I urged.

It evaporated before my eyes, I was never so relieved.

I sat on the bed and poured myself a drink in the lounge, filled it with ice from the fridge and floated it through to the bedroom as I continued to plan my future.

I needed to increase my awareness of my locality so stretched out my thoughts and lay them like a net on the area. I watched a barbeque at the Powerhouse and a play at the Southbank Theatre 12 miles apart. I went further and watched the state premier as she fiddled with her pen trying to write a speech that didn’t include her failures —
I slipped through the hospital and watched the sick and elderly. Wondering if I should help or leave them to it.

I was Rhea, I was Gaia. The Mother of Earth and I would look after my children.
I awoke when Nigel returned from his fishing expedition.
"Darling, I’m home." He clattered into the kitchen and deposited his fishy haul on the counter.

"Hello pet", I smiled inwardly — yup ,,, my pet. Literally.

There was a lull while I switched the air con to fresh and put it on full to whisk away the smell of bait. The fish smelt lovely — fresh of the sea. Nigel not so good.

"Shower you", I wondered how long I should keep him — he was nice enough, respectable, not vicious. I pushed him towards the bathroom, Go.
I wondered if Charlotte Lucas (Pride and Prejudice) was like me — unromantic. Or I like her.

I think I should let him go. I need stronger genes than his.