We Never Break A Promise
By
Warm Hearted
Proofed and Edited by Catherine Linda Michel

Synopsis: This is the introduction story for a new universe. All the normal copyright stuff applies.

Eric Jones was an orphan that grew up friendless and unloved in the foster system . Eric was always a misfit in school and he wanted a new start. But Eric did not know how new it would be.

Originally posted on Classic BC on Thursday, December 12, 2002

Who will Erika be on her next anniversary...

The Anniversary

By Doug Beaton (Aardvark)

Erika:
My name is Erika Menendez. I am a lean athletic woman of 21, just over 5'3" with a medium brown complexion, black eyes, and long, shiny black hair that I almost always throw over my shoulders. My high cheekbones and the slight hook in my nose are from my Mexican Indian heritage.

A Moment at the Mirror

The young man looked in the mirror and sighed.

He had hoped to see a girl there, but instead he saw a sad boy in his mother’s clothes.

He’d been dressing up whenever he had the chance for a while now, and he still didn’t understand why. What was it about women’s clothes, a woman’s life that attracted him so?

The fact that he didn’t know the answer to that embarrassed him, frustrated him and drained him.

CHAPTER 50
Susie wasn’t too late back, which suited all of us, especially as I had been forced to threaten Valerie to go home rather than sit up awaiting the prodigal daughter. I had taken myself to bed, but I couldn’t sleep till I heard the key in the lock, a clatter of heeled shoes on the doorstep and, of all things, a giggle. The next morning, there was a knock at my bedroom door and in came my girl with a tray of tea and a couple of rounds of toast and jam.

“What brought this on?”

“Nowt, really, just felt like it”

Our multi-generational ship, the UAE Epoch, has been cruising through space for four hundred years now. I suppose it's fitting that I take on the role of captain on our quadricentennial year. I am the first gender-fluid captain of our ship, after all. We've come a long way since our ancestors in the United Astral Exploration unit first left shore so many generations ago. Back then, there was a lot of fighting. It was hard for our forebearers to blend so many different cultures together on one tiny vessel. People fought over religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation.

“Aiiiieeee!” I shriek as I’m suddenly startled by several loud bangs, and my vision is dazzled by multiple flashes of light. For a moment I’m so dazed I almost forget where I am, before my vision and hearing return to normal and I stare, slack-jawed at the scene in front of me.

“Happy birthday!” Jamie squeaks, giving me a tight hug before leading me into the crowded main room of Charlotte’s house, where I’m greeted by yet more hugs, more bangs from party poppers (which cover my hair in streamers) and more flashes from the partygoers’ phones.

Cutting Edge - Part 2
By Barbara Lynn Terry

Chapter 1 - Catherine learns about the 21st century.

As the night wore on, and Carl and Dan were fast asleep, the spirit of Catherine Stevens explored the body of Daniel Baker. The boys never heard the evil sounding laughter as Catherine continued her exploration.

The night went fast and the boys were awakened by the sunlight streaming through the windows of the bedroom. Carl Spencer was the first one to open his eyes.

“Hey, Dan, are you getting up?”

From what happened in the studio, it is clear that acting like a child causes further regression. While Ryan cannot avoid being treated as a six-year old girl, he attempts to curb the more destructive childish behaviour, but this means playing along with his developing role in the Patterson household. While this might be easy in a controlled environment, the first day of school looms and with it, the greatest and most important battle against the serum.

Excerpt:
Like a dog, I immediately perked up at the words ‘good girl’. Deep down inside, beneath the layers of what remained of my fractured masculinity, something stirred. A great lumbering beast, with twin pigtails and a bouncy, happy smile, heard those words and devoured them, but it was a morsel, and the beast wanted a never-ending feast. It was too late by the time I realized the happy smile was plastered on my face.

I was being attacked on all sides- the desire for praise and to receive that praise by helping, circumventing my usual defences. Greg and Eve never really praised me for anything. I mean they wouldn’t have thanked me for something completely mundane or said I was a good girl, not if they wanted to continue breathing normally. Mrs. Feinstein wasn’t one to heap praise either, but when she did, I reacted similarly. It was obvious, however, that since I arrived in Twin Falls, and I was really being treated like a child, I was regressing. The same thing had happened in the studio even before Ashley’s memory wipe