Suddenly I smelt the most beautiful perfume, I noticed it was coming from the little white object in Bella's hand, somehow I gained some strength from the wondrous odour. I reached over and grabbed the pill from my crew mate, and popped it into my mouth, I felt the pains receding, but it was a brief respite. "Hey what are you doing, that's my contraceptive pill?" asked Bella in surprise Gift of the Red Planet - Part 1 by Alys

---

Part 1
 

Someone was shaking my shoulder.

"Alex, wake up," said a familiar voice, which I couldn't place.

"Leave alone..want sleep," I mumbled, I felt so tired and lethargic. I fought against the efforts to rouse me and shifted my body to find a more comfortable position to escape back to slumber.

I felt a sharp pain in my arm and heard the hiss of a hypodermic as something was injected into me. My head cleared enough from the dose of adrenalin to recognise the black haired, delicate, Asian face of Yuki Chan. She had a very worried look in her dark brown eyes.

"Yuki, whassup?" I slurred, the plastic pipe in my mouth, carrying my essential oxygen, making clear speech difficult.

"How do you feel," she asked.

"Like..death warmed up, and soon..be death nice and cold" I rambled in reply.

"I'm sorry," she said," listen there's going to be a phone call for you and we have to get you ready"

"Mom?" I asked, hoping for the miracle that had kept me clinging to life since the final stages of the mysterious illness had hit me.

"No, it's the President," Yuki explained, deflating my hopes.

"The President?" I enquired, " Mars Corps?"

"No, it's not Mars Corps, it's The United States President, you know, President Hassam," she replied.

"Tell him...get lost," I mumbled, breathlessly" ..not talking to...murdering bastard"

"Alex, you've got too, it's a live feed to all the networks," Yuki urged," and he's recording it to use in his campaign ads"

"Please Alex," pleaded another voice from the other side of my bed, " control says you have to take the call, it's due in twenty minutes"

I painfully rolled my wizened body a little and turned my face to look up at the beautiful honey skinned face of Bella Itani. I noticed the fear in her beautiful green eyes.

"Why, Bella?" I asked.

"I'm sorry to have to have to ask you to do this, especially after what he did last week, but....." she started to explain, before putting her mouth close to my ear to whisper," they threatened to cut off the air supply if we couldn't get you to talk to President Hassam. To think I voted for the slimeball in 2016"

"OK," I mouthed, however much I hated Hassam for ordering the missile attack on the Pot Noodle factory in my hometown of Crumlin I couldn't let my fellow crew members be asphyxiated.

"Thanks," responded Bella.

The two women took my shoulders and carefully pulled me up the bed until I was sitting up. Each movement of my body meant sharp needles of pain radiating out of every joint. Bella noticed the effect on me and increased the flow rate of my pain meds.

Yuki draped my now oversized Mars Corps jacket over me and placed my uniform cap on my head. Bella brought the bed table up towards me and set up the camjector phone.

Without warning the three dimensional disembodied head of Fred Hollis, Mars Corps missions CEO, materialised above the camjector.

"Hey Alex, how are you doing?" he boomed with complete insincerity," thanks for doing this, son. It's a sort of quid quo pro for Hassam, so you put on a good show now boy and we get next year's appropriations."

I stared at his corpulent features, the result of way too many corporate lunches, and wondered when the last trace of common humanity and decency had departed from his conscience.

"Need anything now, before I hang up?" he asked, pausing for half a second," no, I guess you're well cared for by Bella and Yuki, you lucky bugger having a couple of lovelies like that to look after you."

He gave me a suggestive wink and then closed his connection. The nausea that overwhelmed after the distasteful interaction almost took my mind of my general body pain for a few moments.

I drifted into semi consciousness until I was revived by another adrenalin shot.

"Alex," said Yuki, softly, "it's time for the call from the President"

A well groomed head appeared above my bed tray.

"Hello Alex, you're live on the Frank Worris election 2020 show and I have President Hassam taking time from his busy schedule to talk to you," oozed the oily presenter.

The presidential campaign music came over the camjector and the 3D image of Frank Worris's head was replaced by that of President Ali Hassam.

"Alex, it's an honour to be able to speak to you at last and to be able to congratulate you and your crew on your successful mission to Mars" said the Aramco funded President, "I trust that you are feeling better now?"

I nodded my head according to the instructions that I had been given.

"That's really good news, son," said the President," at last the great medical team at Mars Corps seemed to have found the answer to Martian Plague. Let me tell you Alex that I shared the grief of the whole nation at the news of the tragic deaths of your crew mates Captain John Sanders and Commander George Jerson from this mysterious illness that all of you men developed on your return"

I nodded my head again.

"Sorry, I would love to stay and chat but I have a country to run and an election to fight. God bless you Alex and give you strength," commented Hassam.

I smiled and I noticed the President turning away to talk to someone on his right. I caught the words, ' you got enough? do we need another take?", before the connection was terminated.

The strain of the phone call along with my mounting anger at having to interact with the man who had probably caused the death of my family caused me to slip back into oblivion.

Some time later, something dragged me back. I opened my eyes, it was dark in the room apart from a side light where Bella was sitting, next to my bed.

Suddenly I smelt the most beautiful perfume, I noticed it was coming from the little white object in Bella's hand, somehow I gained some strength from the wondrous odour.

I reached over and grabbed the pill from my crew mate, and popped it into my mouth, I felt the pains receding, but it was a brief respite.

"Hey what are you doing, that's my contraceptive pill?" asked Bella in surprise.

"Need more," I croaked, as the attenuated perfume coming from the packet in her other hand assaulted my senses.

"Give him your packet, Bella, quick" said Yuki," it seems to be helping him,

Bella handed me the half full blister pack, I quickly stuffed them down, the relief from pain was unbelievable. I sat up, unaided, and took the oxygen tube out of my mouth.

"What's happened Alex?" asked Yuki.

"Whatever was in the pills have made a huge difference, " I replied, "what was in them?"

"There's just standard low dose contraceptives, " answered Bella, "combination estrogen and progesterone"

"We'd better relay this to control, maybe they'll have some ideas about how to take this treatment forward," said Yuki, before leaving the medical room for the main communications area.

"Bella, do you have any other packets?" I asked after a few minutes of sitting and marvelling at the experience of being pain free for the first time in weeks.

"Why?" asked Bella.

"I can feel the pain beginning to return," I explained.

"OK, " she responded, " I think I have some more in my room, I'll fetch them"

By the time Bella had returned with some extra packets of contraceptive pills I had been forced, by my returning breathlessness, to return the oxygen tube to my mouth.

She quickly handed me the pills from the packets and once again my symptoms were alleviated.

Yuki, burst into the room, carrying some syringes.

"What did they say?" asked Bella.

"They told me to try some Depo-Provera, so I injected some of the mice that we infected with your blood and they seemed to make an instant recovery," Yuki responded.

"It's a risk though, Yuki," cautioned Bella," we can't know what the long term effects might be"

"What's the alternative, Bella," asked Yuki, " without trying some different treatments Alex will be dead in less than a day, look at how quickly the others went"

"Just do it," I said, "what have I got to lose"

Yuki gave me the injection and as the hormones coursed into my body I felt an almost miraculous improvement. I stretched my arms and turned my body to put my legs on the floor.

"How do you feel?" asked Yuki, concerned.

"Hungry," I replied, laughing.

Some hours later, after my fourth steak and fifth bowl of pasta I felt the hunger pangs receding.

"I don't know how you managed to put all that away," marvelled Bella, as she cleaned away my plates from the dining table in the middle of our crew room.

"How are you feeling now?" asked Yuki," do you need another shot?"

I stood up and stretched. So far there had been no return of the pains, which had disappeared completely after the first three injections.

"I feel great, I've not felt this good for ages," I replied," although there does seem to be a strange metallic smell in the room"

"I can't smell anything," said Bella, looking puzzled, "what sort of metallic smell, something overheating you think"

"No, it's not something specific, it seems to be a general thing, all around the room," I explained.

"Maybe you should sit down a bit, it could be a side effect of the Depo-Provera," suggested Yuki.

I moved back towards the sofa. Before I could make the sanctuary of the soft cushions I was overwhelmed by the strangest smells and tastes and the feeling of falling.

My last memory before everything went black was the shocked look on the faces of Yuki and Bella.

---

To Be Continued...
 
End of Part 1

"That's amazing, is it from Earth?" I asked. "We don't think so," she replied. "So did we find it then, life on Mars?" I asked Gift of The Red Planet - 2 by Alys

---

Part 1
 

I was in a dark place, the only thing impinging on my sight was a diffuse redness.

There were no sounds except a soft hum, no sensations but the feeling of a very slight vibration.

I opened my eyes.

The diffuse light that had previously penetrated my eyelids was replaced by a startling brightness, pouring in through a window on the right.

I turned my head toward the source of the illumination and then looked around to gain some clues about my surroundings.

It was a personal cubicle, too small to be considered a room, with a bed on one length of the rectangular space and a sliding door on the opposite side. Cupboards and shelves were cleverly located and the final part was a tiny wardrobe space with a few coveralls stored there.

I read the label on one of the work outfits,

Alex Dupre
Mars Corps

I wondered why I was in Alex's cabin.

A sudden thought struck me 'I had been on Mars'

Some memories flashed into my consciousness. The excitement of the departure from Mars Corps Space Station 2, the tedium and restrictions of the six month journey and then the euphoria of finally landing on the planet.

But I wasn't on Mars now. The brightness and colour of the light entering the room from outside was testament to that.

I raised myself, pushing the sheet away, my large, firm breasts swaying with the sudden movement, somehow an unexpected sensation. I sat on the bed while I tried to recall the memory of arriving at wherever I was now.

I had a feeling that somehow there was a discontinuity in my life, some recent development that was a rupture in the proper sequence of events. I reached my right hand under my thin, cotton, vest to absent-mindedly caress my left nipple with my forefinger. I gently squeezed the surrounding tissue as I tried to reach back into my mind for the lost information.

More memories returned. The wonder of the stay on Mars, the once in a lifetime experience that had become monotony after a few weeks of staring at the same, red dust coated, rocks, day after day. The disappointment of finding no signs of life in the Valles Marineris canyon, the relief at the final departure.

I felt my nipple harden as the touch began to arouse me. There was something that was strange about the pleasant feelings I was giving myself, but I didn't know what was wrong about it.

Something else that was strange was the illness that overcame John and George a few days after we had finally landed at Nellis air force base and had then been transported, without opening the hatches, to the Mars Corps site in the Mojave desert, where our crew module had been attached to a much larger living quarters while maintaining the air seal.

So now I knew, I was on Earth, but I didn't remember how the other crew members were. I stood up and reached for one of Alex's coveralls, I wondered why I had no memory of him while I clearly recalled Yuki, Bella and the two other men.

The clothes fitted poorly, being, not surprisingly, tight at the hips and chest but too long in the legs. I rolled up the trouser part of the coverall until I could move comfortably. I decided that any answers to my other questions would be best found in the rest of the complex.

I slid the door back and was surprised to see Yuki and Bella rushing down the corridor towards me,

"Alex, are you alright?" asked Bella, "we saw your increased heart rate on the remote monitor and wondered if you had woken"

"I'm fine," I responded and then realising how she had addressed me added, "but why did you call me Alex?"

"Don't be silly Alex, it's your name......well it was before..," responded Yuki before suddenly being at a loss for words.

"It's my name?" I asked, "..before..before what? I don't understand"

Bella put her hand to her mouth and said, "before you changed, Alex, into a woman"

The final lost memories flooded back, washing over my fragile identity. I had been a man, but now I evidently wasn't. Suddenly that was too much of a concept for my mind to process and a wave of blackness overcame me and I felt myself falling but being caught before I could hit anything hard.

Awareness returned, I opened my eyes to see the concerned faces of Yuki and Bella.

"Welcome back, ," said Bella.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Just now, only a few minutes, but before for a week," replied Yuki.

"What happened before," I asked.

"Your heart rate slowed to less than ten beats a minutes and your pulse to about twenty and you slowly changed," replied Bella.

"How much did I change, I can see and feel some obvious differences," I said.

There was a pause, then Bella smiled and replied, "Alex you're now a woman, completely and in every way."

"How?" I asked

"We really have no idea," replied Yuki.

"We did do some experiments with the mice though," commented Bella.

"What happened?" I asked, scientific curiosity temporarily taking over from a further consideration of my own life altering changes.

"The results were very variable," she responded, " we injected your blood into a group of male mice, of varying ages. But only some of them responded, those that did either changed quickly or they died."

"Which ones died?" I asked, curious about the effects of the infectious agent, whatever it was.

"The pattern of the response of the affected males was consistent. All the mature male ones died, there was no immediate effect on the immature ones while mice on the cusp of maturity changed into complete females, in fact two of them have been successfully impregnated already by the unaffected males," detailed Yuki.

"Mars Command to Mars Crew Complex, Mars Command to Mars Crew complex, requesting status report on crewman Alex Dupre," came the command over the tannoy.

"I'd better go and report in," said Bella, "I'll be back in a few minutes"

Bella left Yuki and me in the cabin while she returned to the comms desk.

"Listen, Alex," she said, with an anxious look on her face," I need to tell you something"

"What's wrong, Yuki?" I asked, sitting back up on my bed, wondering what could be worse than waking up to find that your gender had been altered.

"They don't know yet," she answered mysteriously.

"Don't know what, yet?" I asked.

"About you turning into a woman," she stated, bluntly.

"Why and how?" I asked, wondering what I had missed from the earlier conversation, why would Bella and Yuki not have informed Mars Corps about my medical developments.

"We found the infectious agent," she answered cryptically.

"That's amazing, is it from Earth?" I asked.

"We don't think so," she replied.

"So did we find it then, life on Mars?" I asked, getting excited at the prospect of being one of the discoverers of the first extra-terrestrial life form, without thinking about the implications of my gender change.

"Alex, by the way you need to think of a female name, it feels strange to still be using your male one," said Yuki, smiling, before resuming her serious countenance and continuing, " it's everywhere, the infectious agent"

"What do you mean everywhere?" I asked, " and I'm not sure that worrying about a new name is one of my priorities at the moment"

"In you, in your blood in high concentrations, in the bodies of the other two and also in Bella and myself, although at much lower levels, I guess we are just carriers," Yuki explained, before flicking her Chrono Personal Assistant open and showing me slides of the blood samples.

"What about Alexa?" she suggested after I had finished staring with amazement at the foldaway screen on Yuki's CPA showing the tiny red virus like organisms that appeared responsible for deaths of my crew mates and also for my incredible physical transformation.

"Is that a new name?" asked Bella, walking into the cabin and looking at me.

"It's as good as any, I guess," I responded, "what did you tell Control and what did they say?"

"I told them that you were almost conscious and appeared to be recovering slowly from the illness," she replied.

"Guys, I really don't get all this secrecy?" I asked, still trying to understand the reasons behind Yuki and Bella's subterfuge.

Yuki looked knowingly at Bella and then responded, "I guess this is a lot for you to comprehend at once, while we have had a week to look at all the possibilities"

"After we saw the results in the mice," added Bella," it seemed clear to us what the response of Mars Corps would be if they realised exactly what had happened to you, especially when they found out that there is an infectious agent, which I'm not sure if Yuki has explained is all pervasive in the complex"

"Surely they would carry on isolating us?" I said, inquiringly.

"Show her, Yuki," responded Bella.

Yuki unfolded the screen on her CPA and with a few flicks of her fingers on it brought up a document, "I found this in a secret, concealed data-store, look what it says"

I stared at the black letters on the light red background and swallowed nervously as I read the threatening title.

Post Mars Mission Extra-terrestrial Infections - Euthanasia and Sterilisation Protocols.

---

To Be Continued...
 
End of Part 2

"....so how stacked is she then?" asked Fred Hollis, making my skin crawl with his lascivious tone. "See for your youself," replied Bella, indicating to me to sit down next to her, " here she is" Gift Of The Red Planet - Part 3 by Alys

---

Part 3
 

I looked at the faces of my crew mates and then back at the screen of CPA, on Yuki's wrist, to re-read the title of the secret document.

Post Mars Mission Extraterrestial Infections - Euthanasia and Sterilisation Protocols.

"Euthanasia? Since we didn't take any animals with us am I reading the right meaning into the word?" I asked my two companions, shocked at the implications.

"Yup, you got it right" responded Bella," it's us they're referring to"

"There's even a consideration of the best methods of bumping us off," added Yuki.

I opened my mouth to question Yuki, my curiosity overcoming my disgust.

"Before you ask," interjected Bella, before I could formulate the words, " it's gas while we're sleeping"

I sat back on my bed and put my head in my hands. Suddenly I felt totally overwhelmed. It was less than an hour since I had woken from my near death illness but I was now having to deal with the loss of my manhood and the prospect of possibly losing my life.

Suddenly a wave of despair hit me and I began to cry.

"Are you OK?" asked Bella.

"What do you think, Bella?," I asked, looking up at her, as the tears rolled down my cheeks, " I'm beginning to wish you'd never managed to save me, it would have been better for everyone"

Yuki sat down next to me and put her arm around my shoulders. She took a little pink rimmed handkerchief out of her pocket and dried my cheeks. I felt comforted by the touch.

"It's OK Alexa, sweetie, we'll think of a way out," she said.

"I hope so, Yuki," I responded, " what's with the sweetie by the way?"

"Oh yes, there was something else we forgot to tell you about your change," said Bella.

I looked at her raising my eyes in a query. She explained that one of the other effects of the change, however it happened, was to have given me a female body in prime physical condition, she estimated that I had a chronological age of about eighteen, almost young enough to be a daughter of my companions, both in their early thirties.

Somehow this latest revelation, although the least important one, was a little too much to bear and I lay down and asked Yuki and Bella to leave me to rest for a while. I soon fell into a sleep full of dreams about Mars, mice and gas chambers.

The re-entry to Earth was much bumpier than I expected, my whole body was moving violently as our spaceship slammed into the atmosphere. I felt a hand on my shoulder reassuring me but also shaking me.

"Wake up Alexa," came a familiar voice.

I opened my eyes and realised that the space entry had just been a dream. I looked up at Yuki, who seemed very agitated by something.

"Whassup Yuki?" I slurred as I slowly regained awareness.

"Sorry, I had to wake you," she replied," you looked so peaceful there, but Mars Command are insisting on seeing you. We couldn't stall anymore"

"Why?" I asked, " what happened?"

"They worked out that you had been awake from their own monitoring of your vitals," Yuki explained.

"What did you tell them about, you know, my changes?" I asked.

"As little as we could, but they know that you've had a gender change and that your body seems fit and healthy," she replied," but I didn't tell them about the effects on the mice, or that we had discovered the infectious agent. We need to keep that from them as long as possible"

"OK, " I replied as I rose and followed Yuki to the meeting. I wondered how long we could keep them from finding out the deadly nature of the strange organism that had somehow hitched a ride from Mars on our spaceship.

A minute or so later we entered the medium sized room that was the main work and living area in our module. Bella was already sitting on a small sofa at one end of the room. In front of her a camjector showed the disembodied 3D heads of Fred Hollis, Mars Corps CEO, Andrew Bacill, Chief Mission Scientist and a young woman who I didn't recognise. They were in the middle of a conversation.

"....so how stacked is she then?" asked Fred Hollis, making my skin crawl with his lascivious tone.

"See for your youself," replied Bella, indicating to me to sit down next to her " here she is"

I sat down and Yuki joined me on the sofa. I felt strangely protected sitting in between the two of them.

"Hello Fred, hello Andrew," I said in a surprisingly breathy tone, " sorry Miss I don't know your name"

The two men stared at me and I thought that their eye would pop out as their eyes wandered over the full body 3D image that their more powerful equipment was capable of rendering.

"Hello, Alexa, is that right?" asked the strange woman.

I nodded to affirm my new name.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, " she continued, smiling " I'm Doctor Williams, I'm a psychiatrist, dealing mainly with individuals suffering from Gender Dysphoria"

"What's Gender Dosphoria?" I asked, not completely sure how to completely pronounce the word.

Before Doctor Williams could reply the obnoxious pig, otherwise known as the Mars Corps CEO, recovered his senses and interrupted, " no time for 'her' therapy at the moment, Jean," he said, strangely emphasising the 'her', " there are more pressing matters in hand"

"What's that," asked the obviously irritated doctor.

"Don't you see it?" he asked, "I'm sure that you'll agree with me Andrew"

"What about Fred?" responded the scientist.

"The photo shot! Can't you see the magazine features now, think of the rave publicity for Mars Corps!" Hollis almost shouted in reply, " Hassam will be throwing appropriations at us for a chance to use this gorgeous creature on his campaign trail"

"But Fred, we couldn't possibly allow that... we have no idea about what caused the gender change, we need time for a proper investigation, what about the safety implications if whatever caused this is infectious...." protested Andrew Bacill.

"Andrew, we don't have time for this now," interrupted Hollis," the appropriations committee meets next week and are after huge cuts and my head on a platter for not finding life on Mars. When they see the pictures of our glamorous Mars babe those crusty old codgers will be creaming their pants"

"But Mr Hollis you can't subject poor Alexa to such stress, who knows what state of mind she is in after such changes, you could cause permanent, irreparable damage to her mental health," objected Doctor Williams, "I will need time to assess her properly"

"Hey son, what do you think about doing a centrefold?" asked Hollis, looking at me, oblivious to the objections of his chief scientist and the psychiatrist, " Playboy would pay hundreds of millions, I'm sure we could work out a good deal, say 95-5? We'd have to take the lion's share of course because this change happened while you were employed by Mars Corps"

"Um, um, I don't know," I responded completely bewildered by the unexpected turn of events.

"OK, that's settled then," he continued, " I'll look forward to seeing your lovely rack in the next issue, I'll leave you now with these two to sort out the details of the photoshoots"

The scientist and the psychiatrist looked at each other in complete bemusement at the outburst of the Mars Corps CEO.

The head of Hollis disappeared as he moved out of range of the camera but his voice was clear and distinct as he stated, forgetting that we could hear every word," I want that photo-shoot tomorrow, Fred, and pictures of the thing's tits on my desk the day after, understood?"

There was an abrupt silence as Hollis obviously left the room in the command centre and everyone else remaining sat looking stunned by the nature of the 'discussion'.

"No way!," shouted Bella, finding her voice at last, " we're not animals to be put on display and then to be callously disposed of when we are of no further use"

I squeezed her hand and when she turned towards me I looked at her intently for a brief moment, raising my eyebrows to remind her that we were in exactly the situation that she had just described.

"How are we going to do this?" I asked Andrew and Jean, after turning to face their disembodied heads.

"Are you sure?" asked Jean.

"We could delay everything, you know," said Andrew, "I have the ultimate decision over science issues on the programme, despite what Fred thinks, since he has no scientific training"

"Yes, I appreciate that," I responded, "but I feel that if we can go along with whatever he needs at the moment to save the programme then I'm prepared to help, however much a misanthrope he is"

The conversation continued for a while as we worked out the details of how a photo shoot team could come into our complex and the need for them to be wearing pressure suits. After agreeing a sensible time for the visit we terminated the discussion.

We all looked at each other in astonishment when the meeting was over. Yuki stood and indicated for us to follow her.

A few minutes later we were crowded into her cubicle. Safely out of monitoring range.

"Why did you agree to the bastard's idea?" she asked, looking at me.

"To be honest, I'm not sure what was going on there and I really don't know why he was so keen to have photos taken of me, but it seemed a good idea to gain time," I replied.

Yuki and Bella exchanged strange glances.

"Alexa have you looked in a mirror yet?" Bella eventually asked.

"Why?" I responded, puzzled.

"You've no idea have you?" she asked.

Yuki peeled back the cover on the mirror on her wall. I stood and faced it and almost fell back in shock.

The person looking back at me was probably the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. As well as perfectly proportioned features there was also something unearthly about the face, very hard to define, exotic and unbelievably attractive.

"Oh my god, I don't believe it, " I gasped and watched as the person in the mirror, well me of course, put her hand to her mouth in surprise.

"Sorry, Alexa," said Bella, " we've got so used to your face over the last few days, after it finally stopped changing, that we forgot how much a huge shock it might be to you"

I stood there for a few minutes, tracing the shape of my new face with my hand and watching my reflection to the same. Yuki and Bella watched me evaluating myself. Suddenly with a supreme effort I put the cover back over the mirror.

"Sorry, guys, now is not the time for self appreciation," I said," I think we need to be clear in our position at the moment"

"Well this is my viewpoint" commented Yuki, " we all know that the only thing we can do at the moment is to stall for time in the hope we can find a way of either neutralising the infectious agent or find a treatment to stop it"

"Yes as long as they don't find out about the mice and the containment is still effective we should have a few weeks," added Bella.

I nodded agreement and then something moving outside caught my eye. I turned to look through the window. Yuki and Bella followed my gaze.

At the edge of the camp perimeter there was a mixed pack of about 6 coyote, three pregnant females and three males foraging for snakes. Suddenly two of the males fell to the ground, the others startled by this event backed off briefly before the third male also dropped. The three females started howling as they looked at their motionless mates.

"Guys, " I said quietly, " we may not have too much time"

---

To Be Continued...
 
End of Part 3

"In case you haven't noticed, for some reason hard to ascertain, I no longer have any clothes that fit me," I said indicating the oversize coverall, of my former male self, I was wearing. They both looked at me for a few seconds. "Mm, this is a bit tricky, " said Yuki, " you are a bit bigger than both of us especially in the boob department............. Gift Of The Red Planet - Part 4 by Alys

---

Part 4
 

We stared at the three downed coyotes.

"If the infectious agent has got as far as the perimeter fence then everyone in the base will be affected," said Yuki.

"But Yuki, I don't understand how that's possible," I responded, " surely the bacteria and virus filter in the gas exchange system would prevent any escape"

"We are dealing with an unknown entity here, " Yuki countered, " we don't know enough about the characteristics of the strange organism causing this disease"

"They won't have any choice but to either completely isolate the base or destroy everything here," added Bella sounding anxious.

"But what about people commuting to work in the base?" I asked, " it could be in the general population already"

"What can we do for them, if it's already spread?" asked Bella, sounding more agitated, " if it's too late, they will have to take the consequences. All we can do is stall for time and hope there will a chance to get out of here before......well, you know."

"We're morally bound to warn them" I responded, "otherwise we are condemning millions to a painful death"

"But what about our deaths!" responded Bella, raising her voice.

"Better us, than millions!" I yelled back, angrily.

Yuki quickly stepped between us as Bella and I glared at each other.

"Now calm down you two," she said, quietly, "we need to have cool heads to decide on the best course of action."

Yuki's intervention rapidly dissipated the antagonism, caused by the stress of our situation. We all sat down on the bed and tried to make some sense of developments. There didn't seem to be any good options and even after fifteen minutes discussing all the possibilities we were still only left with the diametrically opposed positions of myself and Bella.

Faced with an impasse we all turned to look out at the continuing pathetic scene near the perimeter fence. The females had by now sidled up to their mates and were alternatively trying to revive them, by licking their faces, and raising their heads to howl in anguish.

Suddenly a battered SUV arrived on the scene and two desert Rangers jumped out. One of them was carrying a rifle with a telescopic sight while the other had something akin to a medical bag in his hand.

The female coyotes that had been keeping watch shuffled a little away keeping up their howls of anguish.

The rangers moved from one limp male coyote to the other and seemed to be clipping something to a ear, they then injected each one with an injection gun, jumped into their truck and sped off.

We watched with relief as each of the previously prone animals slowly stumbled to their feet. Within a few minutes the pack had reassembled and had made their way quickly away from the base.

"Ohmigod they were only tagging the coyotes," said Yuki, as we gazed at the small dust cloud of the departing group, " they must have shot the males with tranquiliser darts"

"So it looks like containment is still working then," commented Yuki.

We all collapsed on the bed with exhaustion after the cumulative stress of the previous few hours.

"I feel like I've been to hell and back," I said, "I wake up from a coma to find I've been changed into a woman, then Mars Corps CEO wants to strip me for Playboy and then it looks like we are facing imminent execution"

I felt Bella put her arm around me.

"It's OK, Alexa," she said, " I know this is all such a lot to take in, but things will be fine, as long as we can get through the immediate danger"

"Yes, remember when we were caught in the dust storm on our last EVA and how it slowed down the buggy," mused Yuki, " I was convinced we would run out of oxygen before we made it back, but we didn't panic."

"Yes, we didn't," I responded, " and I remember I only had five minutes left in my tank, that was close"

"I think I had even less," said Yuki, as our thoughts went back to our time on the Red Planet.

There was silence for a few minutes as we each were lost in our memories.

"I know what would make us feel human again," said Bella, suddenly, " something I've wantd to do since we came back. What about if we have a nice relaxing meal, I'll cook us Veggie Lasagna and we can sit down and chat over a bottle of Napa Valley White. How does that sound?"

"It sounds good, Bella, assuming that you can actually make such a dish. I don't remember you preparing anything tasty, or even very edible, on Mars, " I said, smiling.

"That's because, Smarty Pants, we only had concentrates to use," she replied as she gave me a very gentle, affectionate slap on the cheek.

"Well, I think it's a brill idea," said Yuki

"Yes it does sound great, except for one thing that might spoil the atmosphere," I said.

"What's that?" chorused the other two.

"In case you haven't noticed, for some reason hard to ascertain, I no longer have any clothes that fit me," I said indicating the oversize coverall, of my former male self, I was wearing.

They both looked at me for a few seconds.

"Mm, this is a bit tricky, " said Yuki, " you are a bit bigger than both of us especially in the boob department, even though I would estimate that you have lost about four inches of height compared with your male form"

"I think I might have a loose shirt that might be just big enough," said Bella.

"My peasant skirt might stretch enough," ventured Yuki, "but you might have to go commando, don't think my panties would fit you"

Ten minutes later I was luxuriating in the base shower. I was amazed at how sensitive my new body was, especially my nipples. I was only able to tolerate the water splashing on them for small periods before the arousal became too strong. I was also surprised at how well toned every muscle was considering that I had spent such a time lying in a bed. I wondered what other surprises there would be as a result of my transformation.

The meal that Bella prepared was delicious, as I knew it would be despite my teasing. Afterwards we sat and talked about our time before Mars Corps as a way of forgetting our immediate predicament. I listened attentively to Bella and Yuki describing their earlier lives and tried to imagine how different my own experiences would have been from a female perspective.

I was woken the next morning, earlier than I had hoped after going to bed rather later than usual, by the sound of the airlock opening. I quickly jumped out of bed and made my way to the main lounge in the clothes I had borrowed the day before.

I almost burst out laughing at the incongruous sight of three space suited people standing there, surrounded by a collection of photographic equipment and heaps of clothing.

"Well, hello darling," said the tallest of the group, whom from their heights I assumed to be a man and two women.

"Good morning, who are you?" I asked, rather curtly, irritated by the immediate assumed familiarity.

"Hey, Sexy, don't get in a huff," the man responded, " I was only being friendly. I'm Hank and these other lovely ladies are Hannah and Josie. We're here for the photo-shoot and I for one can't wait to see those puppies exposed"

I was beginning to feel nauseated by Hank's sexism and was at a loss for words.

"So how is this going to work?" asked Bella, who had entered as our guests were being introduced, " how are you going to dress Alexa while you're wearing suits?"

"Yes, it will be a problem," replied Hannah, in a friendly tone, " we were rather hoping that either you or Yuki or both would help in getting Alexa ready"

"We are also constrained by time too," added Josie, "we only have an hour of oxygen, so we're probably going to have to get Alexa dressed for each shoot here in this room"

"No!" I blurted out.

"What's wrong?" asked Yuki, who had arrived at that moment.

"I'm not changing in front of him!" I said angrily, " and I'm not doing the topless poses."

"Come on sweetheart, you ain't got nothing I ain't seen before," he said in a smarmy way.

I refused to budge from my decision despite further pleading from the photo-shoot three and after a few minutes they decided that given their severely limited time in our module that they had better do what was possible. Hank was packed off to another room to wait while I was got ready for the first shoot. As he walked past he gave me a strange wink, which I ignored as I assumed it was another slimy try-on.

The next three quarters of an hour was one of frantic activity as I dressed, was made up and photographed for each outfit. Each time I was just getting used to the feel of the expensive materials before I was forced to disrobe again. Finally the base comm duty officer was forced to order Hank, Hannah and Josie back into the airlock as they were trying to finish another shoot while ignoring their suit warning lights. They left in a hurry, promising to return to finish the shoot using the clothes and equipment they had left behind.

I sat back on the sofa, exhausted after the frantic activity, wearing the designer black silk dress. I flicked off my unfamiliar three inch heels. I rubbed my calf muscles which were beginning to ache.

"Did you enjoy that Alexa?" asked Bella, smiling.

"This beauty business is hard work," I replied, " I can't wait to get back to Science"

"Yes, it's not as easy to look good as it seems in the magazines," said Yuki, smiling, "although you would still look amazing even without the makeup and sexy clothes."

Without warning the friendly face of Bill Gilles, the duty base officer appeared above the camjector.

"Alexa, if you feel up to it we have the Norah Jones interview scheduled for about fifteen minutes," he announced in a friendly tone.

I thanked him for the reminder and prepared myself for my appearance on the world's premier chat show.

"Good morning Alexa, and welcome to the Norah show," were the welcoming words of the most famous woman in the world. Norah Jones, the former Jazz and Blues superstar still looking absolutely stunning at 41, had taken over the TV phenomenon, formerly known as Oprah, four years previously and had maintained its pre-eminence.

"Good morning, Norah and thank you for the invitation," I responded.

"So, my first question, Alexa, how does it feel to be a woman?" she asked.

"I'm just glad to be alive, Norah, unlike the two other crewmen on the mission," I responded.

There was a few moments of silence, "Yes we were all sorry to hear about the deaths of Captain John Sanders and Commander George Jerson," said Norah.

She then expertly altered the subject to ask me some questions about my past and about our mission. I relaxed as she skillfully put me at my ease. Finally she said she had one final question.

"My last question then Alexa, this thing that happened to you, could it happen to anyone else? I'm not sure if Mr Jones would be so keen to have such a nice womanly figure as you now have, " she said, smiling broadly.

"Not to worry, Norah, we are working hard to find out the properties of the......" I paused as I noticed Yuki and Bella frantically signalling to me not to say anything further.

"Of the what?" Norah asked, looking puzzled.

"Sorry, I meant of my condition," I replied, trying to cover up my slip with a broad smile.

Norah gave me a strange look and then her disembodied head turned away as she spoke to her studio audience, "Ladies and Gentlemen please give a great round of applause for one of the bravest people on Earth, Alexa Dupre"

There was a thunderous sound of appreciation as she first turned to camera to announce an ad-break and then thanked me for the interview, before disappearing.

"Alexa," hissed Bella, "you nearly told the whole world what we're trying to conceal from the base"

"How could you be so stupid?" accused Yuki with more than a little anger in her voice.

"Sorry, sorry, she was just so good at making me forget everything," I responded, "listen I think I've had too much stress for the day I'm going to read in my room"

I left the icy atmosphere behind and retreated to my own little space. I dropped the dress, crumpled on the floor and put on one of my clean coveralls, rolling up the sleeves and legs.

For the rest of the day I kept away from the other two while Yuki busied herself with further tests on the blood and air samples containing the infectious agent while Bella analysed some of the soil samples we had brought back.

I slept badly as I dreamed about sexist photographers, beautiful clothes and firing squads.

I awoke with a start, there was a very loud rumbling sound that was increasing in volume. I rushed to the main room to investigate. I looked at the cloud of dust, indicating a huge vehicle approaching.

Suddenly the whole building shook violently as a tank crashed through the outer security wall and smashed the air lock.

The top panel of the monster vehicle opened and a young military looking individual of uncertain gender pulled themselves up into open view. I noticed their cap with a strange purple symbol on it, a male and female sign superimposed. I wondered what it meant.

"Quickly, you've got to get out of here, they're going to nuke the place!"

---

To Be Continued...
 
End of Part 4

I looked at the countdown clock in the corner of the Driver's screen, showing the time until the nuclear blast. It read twelve fifteen, next to it was another clock labelled 'Blast Zone Exit Time'. Alarmingly it was reading fifteen thirty. I noticed Christine following my gaze. "Shit Brenda, we're not going to make it!" she yelled," What's happened?" Gift Of The Red Planet - Part 5 by Alys

---

Part 5
 

I folded my arms across my unconstrained breasts to try and reduce their mad movement as we bumped over the scrub at a crazy pace.

It was only a few minutes since the tank had smashed into our base. The warning of the tank commander of our imminent annihilation had seemed all too plausible, given our previous discussions, so without thinking of any other consequences we had all jumped aboard.

"You OK?" asked the elder of the two soldiers who had smashed their way into the base a few minutes earlier.

I nodded my head in reply as I was forced to leave my boobs to their painful bouncing in order to grab a handrail, to stop myself being jolted against a bulkhead

"Do we have to go so fast?" asked Yuki from the relative comfort of a small metal seat in the front of the vehicle.

"Sorry," replied the driver, sitting next to her," we need to get back to the regiment before they notice we took a little detour. I'm Brenda and that's Christine."

Suddenly the mad swinging of my chest was lessened as the tank changed direction and resumed a more even pace on what felt like a paved road

"We know who you all are of course," added Christine in a husky voice.

"What's this all about then?" asked Bella a little uncertainly," I hope this is not some trick and I didn't know there were any women tank commanders."

"There aren't," responded Christine," and it's what I said, they're going to nuke the place in about an hour, everyone is being evacuated."

"Except you three, of course," said Brenda.

"Why?" I asked.

"We don't really know, we got the order half an hour ago to leave," replied Christine," although the rumour is that the generals are worried that whatever changed Alexa is going to get out and turn all men into women."

"I wonder why they think that?" asked Bella to herself while looking directly at me.

"I'm.. so sorry, guys," I said.

"So why have you rescued us then?" asked Yuki," aren't you worried about your husbands or boyfriends?"

Christine and Brenda looked at each other and laughed.

"Not at all, hon," responded Christine," in fact we're both hoping to catch whatever happened to you, Alexa."

"I don't understand, you know that it doesn't affect women," I responded, feeling puzzled.

"That's why it'll affect us," commented Brenda cryptically.

"You're not women?" asked Bella.

"Oh no, we are women, but most people don't see us that way," replied Christine," they'd call us transsexuals."

"So we're breathing in as much infection as possible from you Alexa," said Brenda, smiling.

"How come you're in charge of this tank then?" asked Bella.

"It's a long story, I'll give you a summary," replied Christine.

As the tank bumped along the road she told us how she had been born a boy and named Christopher. She had fought her feelings of otherness all her life and had finally joined the army to suppress her feelings of wanting to be a woman. Eventually she had found the strain of hiding her real self too much and had started going to transgender bars in nearby Las Vegas. She had eventually met Brenda and the two had managed to get transferred to the same tank.

"We are both saving up to transition when we leave the army," added Brenda.

"But maybe being in contact with you will speed up the process a little," said Christine, smiling and touching my arm in a friendly gesture.

"So you can see why we couldn't leave you to fry," added Brenda.

There was a few minutes of silence as Brenda and Christine busied themselves with some routine checks on the tank computer. Bella, Yuki and myself looked at each other as we tried to make sense of the situation we were in. Had we jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. What were the real intentions of the two transgendered women?

"Listen everyone," said Yuki, breaking the silence," things are not quite that simple."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're no longer infectious, nor is there any agent remaining in the air and water of the base," she blurted out.

We all looked at Yuki in shock.

"I mean I tested your breath as you slept," she continued," and there was no trace of the agent in it, although there seemed to be something in your blood."

"What does this mean?" asked Christine, a little curtly," has this been a wasted journey for us?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Yuki said, uncertainly," you certainly wouldn't be affected by breathing in the air around Alexa, although I would guess that a sample of her blood could transmit the infection."

Any further discussion was interrupted as the tank camjector suddenly projected the image of a man in his late thirties sitting in a tank.

"Green leader to green group, please initialise encryption code delta," said the disassociated head.

Brenda typed on her keyboard a string of numbers and letters. The image flickered and then re-stabilised.

"We have a code red base breach of base security. I repeat a code red breach," announced the regiment commander," Region executive has initiated fifteen minute countdown to sterilisation protocol sequence. I repeat fifteen minute countdown!"

We all looked at each other in alarm.

"In other words you bozos," yelled Green leader," you got less than fifteen minutes to get your sorry asses out of there!"

"Shit, Brenda," said Christine," put your foot down!"

There was a sudden surge of acceleration as the tank moved forward at twice or three times its previous speed. The jolting was soon as bad as earlier.

"We've got to stop them!" I shouted to my fellow astronauts, above the noise of the tank engines.

"Stop who?" asked Bella.

"The army, nuking the base," I explained," the fall-out, it'll blow towards Las Vegas, didn't you see the windsock before we left, there's what looks like a thirty mile an hour wind."

"But how can we stop them without giving ourselves away?" asked Yuki.

I was stumped for an answer. We could contact Hollis, the Mars Corps CEO and tell him to get President Hassam to stop the nuclear strike. But even if we could convince the slime-ball he would most likely get the army to blow up our tank just in case. I racked my brain trying to think of a sympathetic figure with enough influence to stop the devastation.

I looked at the countdown clock in the corner of the Driver's screen, showing the time until the nuclear blast.

It read twelve fifteen, next to it was another clock labelled 'Blast Zone Exit Time'. Alarmingly it was reading fifteen thirty.

I noticed Christine following my gaze.

"Shit Brenda, we're not going to make it!" she yelled," What's happened?"

"Dunno, we seem to have lost some power to the front engines, maybe we got some bushes into the air-filters when went over the scrub-land to rescue these guys, maybe blocking them a little." Brenda explained.

"Damnation! This is not a good day!" Christine exclaimed," I wish I'd never seen the three of them, bloody astronauts."

"We're all toast now," she continued, angrily," unless you have an idea how to stop the nukes."

"We are sorry if your rescue of us has been futile," responded Bella as calmly as possible.

"Don't give me your false piety," said Christine, bitterly," we did this for something you can't even give us now. Brenda, if we chucked them out would we make it?"

I looked alarmingly at Bella and Yuki.

"Nope," replied Brenda, after she had done some quick calculations," the reduction in weight only gives us about an extra thirty seconds, we're still short by more than two minutes."

"OK, I guess we'll have to try and dig ourselves in and hope the blast goes over us," said Christine," we can lie down and listen to the infernal music."

"Wait I have an idea," I said, abruptly as Christine's reference to music had reminded me of someone.

"What?" asked Yuki.

"We can contact Norah, her programme is on now and I'm sure she can get through to the President," I explained," quick, Yuki give me the portable."

She took out her hand-held camjector and handed it to me. I quickly recorded a message to the talk-show host I had met the day before, before handing it back to my fellow astronaut.

"Can you change the background, so no-one knows we're in a tank?" I asked.

"Sure," she replied," I'll insert some scenes from the base. But how can we send the message without the army detecting it and finding us?"

I had an answer.

"Christine I'm hoping that you have drones fitted?" I asked.

"Sure, why?" she responded.

"Can you attach the camjector to it?" I asked.

"Easy," she replied.

I took the device from Yuki, set it to loop transmit and handed it to the tank commander. She opened a hatch in the side and quickly inserted it in a compact storage module on the drone. In another thirty seconds the small airplane was launched.

Brenda patched in the output from the drone while grabbing the signal from the Norah show. For the next three minutes we watched the two side by side. My message was just finishing its fourth repetition when the image from the drone was replaced by static as an army missile destroyed it.

"They got it," I said dejectedly.

"Of course they did," said Christine," what did you expect, they weren't going to let you broadcast without responding."

"I just hope the message got through," said Bella," not much time left now."

We all looked at the countdown. It had reached the last minute and now showed fifty nine seconds.

"Quick Brenda!" ordered Christine," get us into sand!"

We we thrown about as the tank abruptly changed direction and seconds later came to a shuddering halt. Then the vehicle started vibrating and shuddering as the mechanical shovels began digging us in.

As we slowly sank we watched the image of Norah interviewing a round the world disabled yachtswoman.

"It looks like she didn't get the message," said Christine.

"I'm so sorry, everyone," I said as tears began to flow down my cheeks.

The timer had reached ten seconds when the TV personality suddenly turned away from her guest and announced.

"We'll be back in a flash, don't go away."

---

To Be Continued...
 
End of Part 5

"You're very beautiful," said Yuki, suddenly and surprisingly. "Thank you, even though that is such a strange comment to hear," I whispered back. Her hand slowly moved from my face to gently touch my neck. I shivered a little with her caress. Gift Of The Red Planet - Part 6 by Alys

---

Part 6
 

There was the slightest rumble in the ground around the tank.

"Was that it?" I asked.

"Of course it wasn't," answered Christine angrily," there's no way a one megaton underground nuclear explosion would feel so feeble!"

"Look at the TV signal, no effect on it at all," said Brenda, pointing at the screen where the Norah show break ads continued, oblivious to the peril we faced.

"....finding it hard to work that extra hour of your daily thirteen, take megamind stimulants for an explosion of energy......"

"Why is that significant?" asked Bella.

"It means that there's been no EMP," explained Christine," you know, electromagnetic pulse, wipes out electronics, from any nuke."

"So what's happened?" asked Yuki.

"No idea," answered Christine," apart from what is blindingly obvious, let's hope that no nukes is good nukes."

"Why wouldn't it be?" I asked," what else could be happening?"

"They could have decided to search for us instead," suggested Yuki," but I felt something, there must have been some sort of explosion."

"Detonators," responded Brenda," high explosive charges. I'm guessing that the stop command came so late that they only had time to slam the safeties back on the nukes."

"So we still don't now if the threat has disappeared or not," I pondered aloud.

"No, we could still be in danger from Hollis and Mars Corps," said Bella.

We all sat and looked at each other trying to decide on our course of action, as the Norah show ad break continued to blare out the usual inanities.

Our uncertainty was ended by two almost simultaneous changes in the background noise inside the tank. Firstly there was a buzz and vibration on my wrist CPA, indicating a message and then the hostess herself returned to the show being patched onto Brenda's display screen.

"Welcome back to the Norah show," said the stunningly beautiful presenter," we have an unexpected change to our schedule today. Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome President Ali Hassam, live from the Oval Office"

The picture shifted to show the nation's leader sitting at his desk in and looking at his audience with his usual perfect, wide grin.

"Thank you Norah," he said," I am extremely grateful for you finding a space for me to appear on your show at such short notice."

"It's always my pleasure Mr President, especially after you informed us of your momentous news," Norah replied, smiling with her lips only.

As I watched the interchange, between two of the most proficient media performers of a generation, I flicked open my CPA. To my surprise the small screen indicated a message in text format rather than the usual video. I read it quickly.

Thanks 4 message. Watching show? Told him stop nuke or I'd support Johnson :-) Good luck. XX Norah.

I smiled at the idea of such a prominent progressive supporting the reactionary Johnson, leader of the 'Back to the Homesteads' movement. But a very real threat to Hassam's re-election chances given Norah's huge popularity.

I turned my attention back to the broadcast.

"..............so you see Norah," the President was saying," the news from our mission to Mars is as startling as I have just explained."

"Life on Mars, what a discovery! This is indeed a momentous day," Norah responded," and what is the latest news from our brave astronauts, Bella Itani, Yuki Chan and Alexa Dupre?"

"They are well and are as excited as the rest of us with the confirmation of their discovery. I understand from Fred Hollis at Mars Corps that they will be allowed out of isolation in a few days. When that.............."

Suddenly Christine reached over to tap Brenda's touch screen and close the patch.

"OK, Brenda, that's all we need to know," she said abruptly," get us out of here so that we can unload our guests as soon as possible."

"'K, Chrissie," responded Brenda, before setting the shovels to dig us out of the sand," let's go baby."

The tank camjector suddenly flickered into life and the image of a man in his late thirties, sitting in a tank, returned.

"Green leader to green group, initialise encryption code alpha," said the disassociated head.

Brenda quickly typed the requisite keys, causing the Green Leader's head to flicker and then re-stabilise. By this time we had slowly resumed motion forward as the ponderous vehicle made its way through the sand back onto the road.

"Message from command to Green Group," said the disembodied man," rendezvous twenty minutes six-nine-six-zero-one-seven, repeat grid reference six-nine-six-zero-one-seven in twenty minutes."

The head dissolved as Brenda typed in the grid coordinates.

"How does that look Brenda?" asked Christine.

"Not good Chrissie," she replied," we'll barely make it in time and it's the road junction, right next to the derelict farmhouse. You know... where we were going to dump our passengers."

Christine thought for a few minutes as Brenda busied herself bringing the tank up to speed.

"OK ladies, it looks like you're going to have to walk," said Christine firmly.

"What?" responded the three of us almost in unison.

"Not too far," reassured the tank commander," but unfortunately it's going to be a bit hot. Let me explain."

★★★★★★★★★★
     
Fifteen minutes later Brenda brought our forward motion down to walking pace. The three of us jumped out, making our way quickly off the road to a small group of shrubs that Christine had spotted on her binoculars. We quickly lay down in the hot sand, throwing the sandy coloured camouflage netting over our heads.

Within a few seconds the tank, having quickly resumed full speed, was out of sight leaving a massive dust trail behind to slowly settle out of the air.

"How long till sunset," I asked.

"About ten hours," replied Yuki.

"I'm already warm under here," I responded.

"It's going to get hotter, it's not even midday yet," stated Bella.

"Do you think they're looking for us?" I asked.

"Of course they are, why do you think that Brenda and Christine's command were ordered to meet at the road junction?" Bella responded.

"Yes, I see," I said," I guess they're blocking all the roads out."

"Of course," added Yuki," unless you can fly, the roads are the only sensible way of getting through the desert."

"I wonder what they'll do if they don't find us?" I said.

The answer to my question came with the almost simultaneous buzzing of our CPAs. We all flicked them open and the image of our corporate boss was revealed. The discordant noise of Fred Hollis's video message, slightly out of sync, on our three receivers, failed to lessen the impact of his threats.

"You know we'll find you, what did you think you were doing breaking out this morning!" he yelled," But don't think I'm not a reasonable man. So here's the situation. It's simple and easy to understand. If we haven't heard from you within forty eight hours, telling us where to collect you from, then one of your relatives will have an accident!"

The repellent face faded away as the CPA system voices continued," if you'd like to reply to this message please tap twice on the icon and.."

"Bastard!" I spat out.

"Yes, what a complete lump of shit he is," agreed Yuki.

"You realise that Hassam put him up to this don't you?" asked Bella.

I nodded my head and lay there thinking about all the horrible things that I would like to do to our erstwhile head of mission. Most of them involving a spaceship, an airlock and the utter vacuum of space.

"You know what I'd like to do to him?" asked Bella, with a little smile on her face, after a few minutes of silence between us," as long as you're happy with it, Alexa."

"I can guess," chuckled Yuki.

"What's that Bella?" I asked.

"Well maybe he need a little blood transfusion," she replied," I wonder how he would look as an eighteen year old woman!"

I joined in the laughter for a few seconds but then had to stop as even that minimal amount of movement had caused me to sweat heavily.

"How much water do we have?" I asked.

"Two litres," said Yuki, indicating the water bottles in the corner.

"That's not going to be enough is it?" I asked, feeling really concerned about our chances of making it through the day.

"Well if we can move and make it to the farmhouse to get shelter, it might be OK," suggested Yuki.

"I don't think so?" said Bella," those tanks are going to be there all day. No ladies, there is only one thing we can do if we're going to have to stay here."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Strip off and use our clothes to protect us from the heat of the sand underneath, along with the thermal blankets Brenda gave us," she explained.

Yuki and I accepted the wisdom of Bella's idea so we all quickly removed our clothes. I noticed as I did the difference between the three of us. My alien induced female body was so much firmer and younger looking than theirs.

"It's not fair," said Bella as she noticed my glance," I spend all those hours in the gym and am still nowhere near as strong and supple as you, Alexa."

"Sorry Bella," I responded as sympathetically as possible," but I did the same gym routine when I was Alex, remember."

"You know what I mean," responded Bella, pouting and poking her tongue out at me.

We all lay back, using our rolled up clothes as pillows and attempted to rest and avoid any unnecessary movements. Bella had set her CPA to give us regular water breaks. I hoped that the supply would last until the evening.

★★★★★★★★★★
     
I felt a hand caressing my face gently. I turned to see Yuki gazing at me. I noticed that Bella was deep in an uneasy sleep.

"Hi, how's it going?" I whispered through my dry lips.

It was over four hours since we had settled down in our hideout and we were all suffering.

"I want a nice cold soda with ice," responded Yuki looking into the distance as if to create a vision of her drink.

"Best not to think about it," I said, even though the my body was screaming for more water than the two mouthfuls Bella was allowing us every hour.

"You're very beautiful," said Yuki, suddenly and surprisingly.

"Thank you, even though that is such a strange comment to hear," I whispered back.

Her hand slowly moved from my face to gently touch my neck. I shivered a little with her caress.

"You have such amazing breasts," said Yuki, softly, as her fingers traced the outline of my upper body before circling around my aroused nipple.

"I didn't know you liked girls," I responded, remembering the sweet moments I had spent with her in her cubicle on the mission.

"Neither did I," she responded, smiling, " until I saw how you had turned out. How about you? Do you still fancy me?"

I nodded and returned the gentle caresses.

Our exploration of our hot and sweaty bodies was suddenly cut short by Bella's alarm awaking her and preparing us for our next liquid intake. Soon we had all returned to keeping still and conserving our energy.

★★★★★★★★★★
     
Yuki pushed the half broken door open as I helped Bella over the threshold.

"Get me water, water....a nice cold coke with ice," muttered Bella in her semi-delirium.

She had suffered the worst from the exhausting heat while Yuki with her smaller frame and myself being physically a lot younger had coped with it better. It had been a struggle to get her the last mile to the derelict building.

"I think the sink is over here," said Yuki, as we made our way into through the detritus and rubbish of rooms that had had no-one inhabiting them for years.

The warm brackish water from the taps tasted like an elixir to our parched mouths and we were soon feeling quite a lot better.

We carefully made our way to the empty store room before getting on all fours to search for the entrance to the cellar where Christine had told us to wait, until one of her friends from the city came along to pick us up and take us out of the desert.

"They'll knock in a particular sequence, only open up if you hear it," she had warned.

After some minutes we finally located the trapdoor. Entrance proved a little difficult as first Yuki and then her and Bella combined failed to overcome the resistance of the corroded hinges. Finally they turned to me and I found, to my surprise, that my youthful strength was able to complete the task without any great difficulty.

I waited as the two of them made their way down the concrete steps, locating a few sacks and then to our relief and surprise a few cans of food still within their date limits. Closing the trapdoor behind me I slowly and carefully made my way down the steps in the pitch darkness feeling the wall as I went. Suddenly the blackness disappeared.

"Wow, did someone find a light?" I asked as I looked down at the room clearly illuminated in a ghostly green.

"Nope," responded Yuki," why?"

"I can see everything really clearly, can't you?" I asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about, it's completely black here, I can't even see my fingers from one inch" said Bella.

I walked straight towards them, while explaining how the darkness had suddenly disappeared for me.

"Amazing," responded Yuki," I can't wait to do some proper tests on you."

"I bet," I responded, smiling at the thought of Yuki experimenting on me. She would love it so much and I myself was curious about how exactly my body had altered.

We settled down to wait our rescue.

★★★★★★★★★★
     
Some hours later the silence was suddenly broken by the crunch of heavy footsteps on the floorboards above. They sounded like they belonged to two or three separate individuals. I was immediately alarmed as Christine had only mentioned one person meeting us in the farmhouse.

We could hear some muffled male voices, too indistinct to make out.

"Must be a search party," I whispered to Yuki who was sat next to me.

The steps moved away from the store room above and grew fainter as the people above us wandered around the rooms. Then there was silence again.

I sighed with relief.

Suddenly there was the sound of running above us, getting closer as the strangers moved quickly back through the building.

Until they stopped, directly above us on the trapdoor!

---

To Be Continued...
 
End of Part 6

"I'll send you all my dreams Everyday in a letter Sealed with a kiss"

---

 

"You OK there baby?" asked Kalani, Christine's musclebound boyfriend, as he turned round once again to ogle me. I looked away as he stared open mouthed at my breasts, exposed through the many rips on my long t-shirt caused by the desert thorns from our earlier escapades.

"I'm fine," I replied with disdain as I looked out at the window at the traffic on the busy Interstate, extremely irritated by the continuous gawking," how much longer till we get there?"

"Not too long, sexy," he replied before turning to his Hawaiian brother, Makana," can't you drive faster you idiot, the lady wants to change into something more comfortable and I'm volunteering to help her."

"Shut up Kal, you fuckwit, you know we can't afford to break the speed limit," grunted the sibling driving the battered SUV, which was almost as uncomfortable as the tank had been earlier.

It was almost two hours since our fear of recapture had been allayed by the two brothers giving the coded signal on the trap-door. Then followed a scary few minutes while Makana tried to navigate the desert road in almost complete darkness after the moon had set.

After the third time near disaster, when he had avoided dumping the car in a deep gully only by me yanking the wheel at the last second, I had insisted on taking control of the car and, with my newly discovered night vision ability, had easily navigated the way to the Interstate.

"God I'm so hungry," grumbled Bella, sitting on my left, while Yuki slept uneasily with my right arm around her shoulder and her head resting gently on my soft boob pillow.

"Any chance of stopping," asked Bella," we haven't eaten anything all day."

"I don't think there's anywhere on this road," responded Kalani.

"Yes there is I can see what looks like a 24 hour KFC a couple of miles ahead, over there," I countered, while I gently stroked Yuki's arm.

Kalani looked in the direction of my pointed finger while trying to shield his eyes from the glare from the oncoming traffic headlights," I can't see nothing."

"It's definitely there," I said, grateful that my strange ability to see in the dark also seemed to filter out bright lights as I surveyed everything in a ghostly green glow.

"Anyway we haven't got to time to stop, we need to get you off the road as soon as possible, girls, before those army bozos work out you've escaped and follow our tracks," stated Kalani, forcefully.

"Please guys, I need something to eat!" pleaded Bella," and I need a pee too."

"Come on, where's the harm stopping for a few minutes? I really need something to eat too," I asked, " and you know what I've got for Christine and Brenda don't you and I'm sure they'll be pissed if I'm too ill to do it for them asap."

Even though I doubted I would be able to change the men's girlfriends I hoped suggesting it would be enough of an inducement.

"What do you think Mak?" asked Mr Musclebound, sounding less certain.

"Yep, what's the harm and if she can do, what happened to her, to our girls then the sooner the better," he replied and slowed down to move into the exit lane.

*********

Ten minutes later I was refreshing myself in the restroom of the almost empty roadside cafe. Yuki and Bella has already sneaked back to the car while the two men were stocking up on a range of unhealthy food to sustain us for the rest of the journey.

As I tried to wash as much of the desert grime as possible off my face, the door from the eating area opened and two middle-aged women walked in wearing overalls that proclaimed their identity as Edwards air force base civilian staff.

I carried on cleaning myself while one of the other women used the mirror next to mine to freshen her make up. The second woman stood behind me, waiting for me to finish.

"Did you hear about the Martian base, Callie?" asked the woman standing next to me to her companion.

"What's that Brid?" asked Callie.

"The space women and the freaky thing you know the one who used to be a man, well they escaped.............." explained Brid before she stopped in mid-sentence when she noticed me staring at her in the mirror.

"....it's you, you're the one who was on Norah, you're the fr.....sorry the one who changed, you'll have to meet the rest of the gang outside," she continued, before touching my arm gently," come on Callie lets take our brave astronaut to meet Bren and the rest."

Suddenly the fear of discovery so soon after our arduous and perilous escape from certain death formed into strong feelings of anger inside me.

A clear thought filled my mind, shocking me with its intensity, 'I WANT YOU TWO TO FORGET ME,' was blasted into my consciousness.

Suddenly there was a flash as what looked like bolts of green lightening leaped from me to the other two women. Their eyes glazed over briefly and then they looked at each other.

"Funny, I was sure there was someone else in here when we came in," said Callie as she looked around the restroom without seeing me.

"'Course there's not, don't be silly Callie," said Brid," you been drinking on the job again?"

"Maybe, but not when bloody Williams is around, she's such a stickler for stupid rules," responded her companion.

The two of them left and I stood there, for a few seconds, in wonder at the new ability I had discovered, before leaving and rejoining my companions in the car.

Two hours later we pulled up outside a badly maintained town house on a city street which had obviously seen better times in previous decades.

We were all completely exhausted and after a quick round of hugs and kisses with Christine and Brenda, the three of us collapsed on the beds in the so-called spare room, with more junk than space in it, Bella on the single bed and myself and Yuki spooning on the double.

********
I woke up as my mind was suddenly filled with a painful scream in a tone which reminded me of Christine.

'My fucking god she did it she changed me!!!!'

'Is that you Chris, did it happen to you too," came another blast of thought with a Brenda tone.

'Hey you two, not so loud and what's happened? I thought as a response.

'Dunno how, but I just woke up and, well I'm all-girl now," responded Christine.

'Me too,' was Brenda's accompanying thought.

'How?' I wondered.

'You only needed to exchange some DNA,' came a distant, fainter answer, "it only took a kiss."

'What!!', 'Who', 'Where' were the sudden response of the three of us to this new unknown connection.

'Hello earth people welcome to your future,' responded the distant entity.

We are the remnants of the civilisation that once occupied the surface of Mars but over the eons of time, as the environment became harsher and harsher we moved deeper and deeper into the womb of the planet and lost our physical form as a trade-off for an exceptionally long individual existence.

'What are you?' I probed.

'We have a collective and also an individual identity although as our energy resources have been reduced the luxury of an individual existence has been restricted to a few lucky ones,' was the response.

'We have been observing with great apprehension the development of planet destroying weapons by your species, but have been impotent to act until your mission arrived on our planet,' explained our mentor.

'Why couldn't you stop us then?' asked Christine.

'Since we have no physical form it is almost impossible to do anything but with a great sacrifice of individual existence we were able to create the smallest possible physical vector to try and influence your minds. We call this symbiont a word in our base language, which sounds like 'Churinck''throid''foo' in yours. We appreciate maybe some difficulties in recalling this and thus we will shorten it to 'Foo',' was the distant thought.

'We managed to mix it with the dust around your landing base and some of the billions of the dormant motes managed to enter your bodies. We waited until you returned to your planet before activating them.'

'Why did you kill John and George?' I asked.

'We are sorry about the death of your crew members, our weak understanding of your physical bodies meant we weren't sure how you would respond to the initial invasion by the 'Foo' germ cells. Unfortunately for your male colleagues their bodies tried to fight back and they weren't able to receive the chemical precursor which you were lucky enough to have access to, while your female friends seemed to be completely unresponsive to the 'Foo'. We will need further refinement of our symbiont to address that problem.'

The dialogue continued for what seemed many hours as we learned more about the Martian civilisation and the collective entity probed our minds for details of Earth. We all felt their rising horror as they quantified all the planetary indicators to evaluate our nearness to final planet destruction.They formulated an ingenious plan which we had assented to when I felt my body being shaken.

"Wake up Alexa!" I heard the voice of Yuki in the distance as I was shaken vigorously.

I opened my eyes to see my sweet companion looking with concern at me.

"What's up?" I asked a little dreamily as I noticed the filigree mental connections fade a little into the background.

"You've been comatose for the last five minutes," she explained," I thought you were having an absence or something."

"It's OK," I reassured," I've been involved in something much more exciting."

I sat back on the bed while she woke up Bella and then I explained things to them.

"This is all so amazing, I can't believe it, another sentient species in the solar system," said Bella in wonder, after I had finished.

"Not sure about 'another'," I said chuckling a little," from their point of view they're the 'sentient' ones, we're the primitive beasts by comparison."

"But what's the plan, remember the threat to our families, we don't have long," asked Yuki anxiously.

"OK, lets get on, we need a computer to track down someone who's a fan of particular websites." I said before jumping up, rushing to the bathroom and quickly changing into the fresh clothes left out by Brenda and Christine.

*************

An hour later I was driving the battered SUV into a rather more salubrious area of the city. I pulled up outside a pleasantly manicured house and quickly made my way to the front door.

A masculine looking woman in her late fifties opened the door.

"Ann?" I ventured as I recognised the person I had been talking to by web-chat half an hour ago after our Martian enhanced PC had located the nearest user of the MegaCloset website.

"Alexa, nice to meet you in the flesh," she replied," although I must be honest, if I hadn't recognised you from Norah I wouldn't have agreed to meet you."

"I can promise, you will be happy with the results," I said before holding out my arms to give the sceptical house owner a hug and the briefest of kisses.

"Well come on in and explain it all to me," she said," what do I have to do to gain this miracle transformation."

"You don't have to do anything," I said.

She looked at me in puzzlement.

"It's already done, it only took a little touch of our lips and the changes have started," I explained," let me help you to sit down and then you'll fall asleep for a little while."

I took Ann's arm and helped her into an armchair in her lounge.

"I must admit I feel a little tired," she said," can you let yourself out and maybe we can talk later about your crazy notion of a complete gender change."

"We will talk, a lot more than you expect," I said, smiling, before leaving the gently sleeping Ann.

***********************

Two hours later I was pulling up outside Christine and Brenda's house, after completing the last of my five visits, which had all preceded along similar lines to Ann's.

I felt a new presence in my mind, a new link in the collective consciousness.

'It's a miracle, how did it happen?'

I smiled as I left others to gently guide Ann into her new personal and joint reality.

I picked up my CPA to make the call to the odious Fred Hollis.

****************

The camera flashes were blinding and the screams of the paparazzi were deafening as I entered the room. I felt very strange in the close fitting mini-dress, which I had slipped into in the limo which I had come to pick us up while two experienced stylists had made sure I was perfectly made up, ready for my photo-op with the President.

"Ladies and gentlemen let me introduce the latest member of our campaign team, Alexa Dupre," announced President Hassam suavely.

He walked towards me to embrace me. I made sure I responded with enthusiasm to his kiss and for a few seconds there was even more pandemonium in the room as every news outlet tried to capture the President making out with the space-girl.

We finally broke off.

"I think I might be seeing rather more of you than I expected," whispered the President, before we both turned towards the press throng.

Myriad microphones were thrust in my face.

"Any comment, Miss Dupre?" was the loudest question, among the cacophony of noise.

"Anyone who kisses like that should have my vote," I said huskily.

I turned to President Hassam

"Good luck and you may find these useful" I whispered before putting the packet of Premarin in his jacket pocket.

He looked at me with a strange expression on his face before turning away and following his aides.

There was a flicker in my mind as another consciousness joined our growing collective. Soon there would be thousands and then millions and then there would be enough to influence the rich and powerful to end their destructive ways.

'Do you think she will enjoy anagrams after she changes?' I thought.

The ripple of mental laughter spread across the depths of space as we celebrated the gift of the red planet.

---

The End