Author's note:
This is a rewrite of the story N21.
A lot has changed, although the idea is much the same. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1.1

"Sis, you need to try it, at the very least.”

We were in Carla’s lab, and she was showing me a belt buckle that was quite flashy. It looked like something that would have been worn by the ancient singer, Elvis Presley.

“Why would I wish to experience the memories of a madman?”

“He saw himself differently than we did, Rose.”

“I rest my case.” I shook my head. “He killed everyone on Earth, and I’m supposed to be sympathetic and see how he saw himself?”

“He didn't kill everyone. He died a long time before the missiles hit. Fredrik and Paula launched them."

I was furious. “Carla,” I said in a soft and menacing voice, “Paula is our sister, and you stand there accusing her of genocide?”

“That’s not what happened.”

"So, what did happen?”

Carla had been on the ship when it left the Earth, and I had hoped that she gained some insight into her hero, but it seemed that not much had changed.

“Have you ever taken a minute to consider that maybe you were the ones who were wrong?”

I stared at her, completely unsure of how to respond. We were in space, speeding through the galaxy, because of what Amos Goodwin had done. My sister was trying to convince me that Amos was a nice guy, with only the best interests of the human race at heart. I looked at that face, so much like mine, hoping to find something that said she was joking or mad. Nothing seemed apparent.

“Okay, Rose. You wouldn't trust Amos. I can understand that, but he's not here. Can you trust me? Do you think I'd try to get you to do something like this if I didn't have a good reason?"

She was seated on a lab stool, and I was looking down at her. I realized that somewhere in my shock, I had stood. I slowly sat back down, considering.

I remembered playing with her when she was a little girl. I had reached seventy-three years old by the time my parents had her. Our elder sister, Paula, was about the same amount older than me. Somewhere in her teens, she had become an unfailing champion of Amos after he had become the leader of our government.

Finally, I agreed to experience the memories.

Carla placed the garish belt buckle on the counter, then stepped away. I moved over to the counter and stopped, terrified at what this thing signified. I slowly reached out, but I couldn't touch it. I brought my hand back to my side and found myself dizzy. I knew I was silly, but I couldn't imagine seeing what this monster had in his head. Why was my sister so calm about it?

We had come up with the idea for the crystals as a method of storing our memories. With the advancement in nanobots to keep a person healthy, basically forever, there was not enough room in a person's brain to hold all the memories they may experience. They stored memories in their crystalline matrix, so even after a person died, their memories lived on.

I sensed her come up behind me and place her hand gently on my shoulder. I was crying, and she urged me to sit down on the stool. I did not want to know what made that insane person do what he had done, but I also wanted to show my sister that I loved and trusted her.

Slowly, I moved my right fingers to the thing. As I gazed at the crystals, they shifted color, as they all did when they were active. There was a black fog that swirled through the dominant red, as if something evil was there, waiting to envelop the lifeblood of anyone who dared touch it.

On my right wrist, I wore my crystals in a bracelet that shone in their own colors, completely different than his. They were emerald green, turquoise, and cobalt blue with a red swirl that moved slowly through the other colors.

I took a deep breath and extended my index finger. It brushed the crystal.

My entire world turned on end as I seemed to fall into an incredibly deep gorge with scenes from Amos’ life playing out on either side. I landed on my back, and it seemed as if the wind was knocked out of me.

I came around slowly. I stood up and looked around. It seemed that I was still in a dark hole, with no way out. I could see my body, but I didn’t know where any light was coming from.

The walls around me were now a featureless black. Not some black material, rather just… black. There was no way to describe it. I reached out, and couldn't tell how far I had to move my hand to touch it. I supposed that if I went far enough, my hand would contact it, but I didn't want to. I felt that the blackness was evil, plain and simple.

I wanted out, and I tried to move my hand away from the crystal in the lab. This experience was too much, and I couldn't handle it. I couldn't find my real hand! My control was limited to what I was able to see here in this hole of evil.

I closed my eyes, and I could feel my legs give way. I'm not sure how much time passed, but I became aware that someone was watching me. The presence was one with which I had grown up.

“Hello, Eugene." I shuddered at hearing the voice. The name was one I hadn't thought of in years. It was mine before I became who I was now, but only one person ever addressed me that way.

I opened my eyes and found myself face to face with Amos Goodwin.

I glared. It could have been for a split second, or a million years. I had no idea. “Amos.” I wouldn’t even benefit him with a hello.

“What do you think of my home, my dear?”

“I’m not your dear.”

“No, I suppose you're not.” He turned and walked a few feet away, then turned back.

I suddenly realized what was happening. “You’re not a memory. You’re talking to me.” The terror somehow increased. “You’re real.” My voice came out in a whisper as I said the last.

He gave a slight smile. “Do you know what I always wanted as a child, Eugene?”

I shook my head. I didn’t know, and I didn't think I wanted to.

He seemed to be tired, giving a sigh as he spoke. “You.”

My stomach churned as I considered what he was saying. “What do you mean?”

“Just what I said.”

“Let me rephrase that, Amos. How did you ‘want me’?”

“Do I have to explain, Eugene?"

I stormed up to him. Whether he was just an image or not, I was ready to scratch his eyes out of that smug, white face. “Don’t you call me that name again! No one calls me that! It isn’t my name.”

Amos was condescending. "Yet you respond to it… Rose."

I felt faint. It was almost worse to hear the bastard use my chosen name.

“Oh well. It doesn't matter. Soon you will respond the way I want you to." He turned back to the blackness. "Come," he said, holding out his hand.

I didn’t move.

“I said, come.” He snapped his fingers.

“I’m not a dog.”

Again, he turned back. "No, you're not. You fail to realize, however, that I rule here. What you see around us is your new home. You are what I want you to be."

The blackness behind him started moving. It enveloped him and continued advancing toward me.

I felt something in my mind. Something soft, that seemed to brush ever so gently against my consciousness. It was reassuring, and though I could sense no thought, I knew it was someone else, not Amos. It seemed to say that it was there and would help protect me. Had Carla touched the crystal too? I had no idea, and no time to consider anything else, as the blackness enveloped me -- evil, cold, devilish, blackness.

I screamed.

Whatever had touched my mind, swarmed in, and it seemed to embrace me. I still had no idea who it was, but I clung to the hope that Carla had joined me.

Suddenly, the black parted, and I saw a scene playing out before my eyes. Amos wasn't there, but as I looked down at myself, I realized that I was Amos. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I was on a playground, watching as John and Eugene were playing a game of some kind. We were all in the third grade, and I had no idea how to play, but John threw some type of ball to Eugene, who caught it in some oversized glove. I brought my pale white hand up where I could see it. I was small for a man, and I knew I couldn't go into the sunlight for long. I would burn.

The scene changed. I was home and watching as my father and mother were having fun with my half brother, Fredrik. I hated him. He had everything that I didn't. I felt the hate overwhelm every other emotion I tried to feel.

I saw memory after memory as I grew up, always trying to feel something other than my growing hatred of everyone. The hate was worse, however, when I saw John Carlson. Especially when Eugene was around.

When I was fifty-three years old, I walked into a fast-food restaurant and saw John, Perl, and Eugene, sitting at a table. Eugene beckoned me over. I considered joining them, but John was there. All I felt was hatred, unlike any I had ever felt. I sat down where I could only see Carlson's back.

John always hated me, and he monopolized people. He was so deceptive! He had this fake smile that always fooled people.

I hated him just as much as he hated me, though. I would show him! I let my eye stray down to the table where Carlson was drawing something, but I couldn't make it out what it was.

He showed it to them both, and I could see the awe in their eyes as he explained it. That fake smile and supposed care for everyone. He had them completely under his thumb.

The three got up and left the restaurant. As they walked by me, Eugene smiled at me. I felt a bit better for a moment, then Carlson smiled as he walked by. The bastard was rubbing it in! He had them both, and I had nothing.

When they passed by me outside, I got up and picked up the napkin he had drawn on. It showed a sketch of a space station. He was an engineer, and he designed that type of thing. I softly laughed as I thought about what I could do with this.

The emotions faded as I felt something embrace me again. This time, I heard words, although not a voice. Don’t let it take over. You are Rose -- Not Amos. I’ll help you resist.

I tried to ask who this voice was, but before I could form any words in my mind, I was Amos, and somewhere else.

I was seated at a workbench in my lab. The hatred had come back full force, and I was working with it fueling me. Everything I did was accompanied by a thought of how I was always treated. I was an autistic albino, and that made everyone hate me.

I no longer had any desire to be friends with anyone. Eugene and Perl had spent so much time with John, and he utterly brainwashed them.

My parents were no better. They had allowed Fredrik to monopolize their time and feelings. I had a way to take care of them, however. What I was building would accomplish that. And much more.

I finally finished my programming and pressed enter on my keyboard. It took very little time before my printer finished. I couldn't see what it had made, but I knew it was in a culture I had placed in a Petri dish. I had designed them to have an organic skin, with a simple pair of magnets that would provide power from Brownian motion. It wouldn't take long before it started multiplying. I did not doubt that it would work. After all, I had designed it!

I went over to my fridge and got something to drink, then came back and gazed down at the dish. There was nothing that I could see yet, but I knew it wouldn't be long before I could.

The next morning when I woke up, I went to my lab. I took the Petri dish out of the incubator and inspected it. As I expected, my printer had done a remarkable job. There was a gelatinous mix inside that had ingested all at the culture.

I knew there was little chance that anyone would have my exact DNA, so I scanned it into my computers. Then, I instructed it to ignore anyone who matched it, except to provide health. I injected the bots into my body and waited five days. My hate was fueling my actions now, and there was no more love for anyone. My parents had lied to me. The woman who had claimed to be my mother wasn't. She was Fred's mother, but not mine.

For the first time in several days, I opened the door to my lab secure in the knowledge that I had enough bots to infect two people. I went into the kitchen where my parents would fix their breakfast and put the mix onto the top three plates in the cupboard. I took the top one and fried up some eggs and bacon, plus a few extra ingredients. When my parents came in, they seemed impressed that I had made them breakfast. I enjoyed my breakfast.

I watched fascinated as first my "mother," then my father began to look queasy. A few minutes later, they both slipped from their chairs onto the floor. I happily touched them both with some memory crystals, which quickly started changing colors.

I was mesmerized at the sight of my parent's heads slowly separating from their bodies. I had programmed the bots to make the incisions slowly so that it was excruciating.

I saw my father’s eyes widen as he realized that he was very near death. My faux mother started to scream, but that was quickly cut off as her neck spine severed.

When the severing was complete, I glanced at the crystals in my hands and smiled. I would have fun with those later.

That night, I went into my lab, where the crystals were on the workbench. I smiled at them. Mother and Father were in there.

I had programmed the bots to transfer everything they found in the brain into the crystals. I expected that in so doing, they had moved the 'soul' of both of them into their matrix. I would soon find out.

I reached out to my "mother's" crystals and carefully touched them.

I dove into her memories and was gratified to see that she was, indeed, there. Her life was laid out before me.

I had known that my biological mother wasn't the dark-skinned woman who raised me. A simple genetic test showed that, but I wasn't sure who was.

I saw that, on a trip to visit Fredrik, my father had an affair with one of my brother's young students. She was a Nordic girl, very light, and only seventeen years old.

I was disgusted.

When he got home, he said nothing to my 'mother', although it wasn't long before she found out and pushed a meeting. They arranged that my 'mother' would raise me, and there would be no more contact for me or my father with her. In exchange, my birth mother would receive continual updates about me.

I worked hard for the next two years to create a situation where I was elected leader of Earth. My bots made it a foregone conclusion that I would be as people loved the effects of becoming themselves at the end of puberty and staying there.

I was able to arrange a meeting with my biological mother after that, with no problem. She was somewhat reluctant to agree, but I applied just a bit of pressure, and she complied. I wasn't sure what the outcome of the meeting was going to be, but there were a few options.

She entered my palace in Hawaii, and the guards quickly ushered into my office.

“Well, Mother. How long were you planning on keeping your existence from me?” I challenged immediately.

“It was not my idea to keep you isolated from me, Amos,” she said. “I could understand the wishes of your Father and Mother…”

I cut her off. “She’s not my mother. You are my biological mother!”

“Be that as it may, Amos, I could understand their wishes. I was a one night stand, and other people didn't need to know about me."

“Why didn’t you raise me then?”

“I could never have given you as much as your father did, and he was not going to leave his wife. They had been married for over a century.”

“Yet he had an affair with you. Why do you think that was?” My voice was deadly calm, and I had decided what I was going to do.

“I don't know. I guess your father needed a diversion. People sometimes get bored. Clearly, he didn't want to let go of what he already had."

“Obviously.”

I stood up, indicating that the meeting was over, and saw her to the door.

Once I was confident that she was home, I programmed her bots to make life miserable for her. Just mentally at first, however. I didn't want her to go to a doctor yet.

Just like my parents, or Carlson, she cared only for herself. I wasn’t going to put up with her.

I wrote some new programming and then tested it by putting it into my biological mother. I then summoned her to my palace again.

She sat down, and we began talking. I wanted to get a clear idea of what the bots could do with a person. After we had talked about the last couple of months, I suggested that we go for a walk outside.

We climbed the stairs to the top of the building. From there, a door opened to the ridge of the former volcanic cone.

We stepped out, and my mother was immediately affected by the daylight. Her bots started to change her body before my eyes. She became a small child, losing mass onto the ground, which the bots immediately cleaned. She ran to the edge of a cliff, climbed over the railing, and dove off.

The bots had done precisely as I wanted.

They were a success.

I was ready to distribute the nanobots to the population in general now, but I wanted one more thing. I wanted insurance. I refused to let the rest of the people win, so I intended to prepare a device which would I could activate if I needed to.

I went to my lab and started to build another type of bot. This one would simply eat any carbon-based life form to create more of itself. Because the power generation units in the bots used a magnet, they also needed to produce iron and steel. For this, they would eat refined metal.

I designed these bots to explore the entire biosphere looking for food. If none was, they would go dormant until more arrived. If they produced enough bots, they would then establish a network between them to become intelligent. They would use the mental patterns of any crystals they found on the planet. Still, they were programmed to give my mental patterns dominance over all others, so I would always be in control if I had to activate my fail-safe.

I needed people to help me, and I needed test subjects. The test subjects weren't as necessary as other people or things, but I needed workers.

I was under no illusions that people would help me as I wanted, so I decided I would take what I needed. I programmed some different bots for my purposes and went to a small city in what used to be the southwest United States. I set my craft down in the center of the town and stepped out.

These bots were let loose into the town as soon as I opened my door, so I was looking forward to programming them.

I had put a supply in myself as well. These were to keep me healthy and young, but I gave them a different job as well. If they found themselves in a person with different DNA than me, they would adjust to the new DNA, then start reproducing at a high rate. This process would increase speed geometrically because every subsequent bot would do the same. Once they had a healthy colony in the person, usually about four hours after the initial infestation, they would keep them healthy until I issued my orders.

In Las Vegas, New Mexico, the people recognized me, and I used it to my advantage. I started shaking hands. I didn't enjoy touching other people, but my new supply of bots would take care of any germs these people carried. Even so, I only wanted the touch of one other person, and he wasn’t here.

It wasn't long before they seemed to be wearing down. I knew that supplying the raw material for ten pounds of bots would suck a lot out of them. By necessity, they would use fat and muscle mass.

I pulled a remote out of my pocket and had it send a signal to all of the bots, and the people started grouping around me.

As soon as they were there, I pressed another button, and they froze in place. The only motion was their breathing and occasional blink.

I went around the population, assigning purposes to each person. Some would be domestic help, some security, some builders, some engineers. One particularly attractive young boy, I enhanced to be my toy each night. He looked much like Gene, and with a few modifications, the bots were able to make his DNA match. They also instilled in him a desire to be as feminine as possible.

It wasn’t the same, but with the correct DNA, I could stand it.

It wasn't long before I started working on my plans to get revenge on Carlson.

I went to the safe in my lab and took out the picture of the station that Carlson had drawn for Eugene and Perl. I knew that he was working on getting a team ready to build the station, so I took some of my engineers and readied them to talk to Carlson.

I didn't want him to know my plans yet, but when I finished, I was going to take great pleasure in horrifying him.

I set up a dummy corporation in a few minutes and then sent out my engineers. They purchased the rights to the station, and Carlson never knew what had happened.

I readied my builders, and they built two stations. One was smaller, and I named it N21, which was what Carlson's original blueprints named it. The second one, called N22, used almost the same plans, though it was substantially larger. Rather than twenty-four bays, it had thirty, and each bay was longer. They could each hold fifteen missiles armed with twenty independent guided canisters filled with my doomsday bots. I would not lose.

Suddenly, a feeling of dizziness and exhaustion overwhelmed me, and I was Rose again. Amos and I were standing in the black room. My breathing was heavy, and I had a horrible headache. Absorbing so much of Amos' memories exhausted me. I had to get through this and out of the memories, however.

A moment later, Carla was standing beside me. It had been her! I was ecstatic that she had helped me keep my sense of self throughout this hell.

Chapter 2

Amos glared at me. He tried to retake control of the situation, but I was very determined. Carla was helping as well, and between us, we were able to keep control.

"If you feel the way about me that you claim, why don't you look at my memories?"

He stared at me for a moment. "Do they have Carlson in them?" He asked.

"Of course," I answered.

"Then I'm not interested," He told me.

I was confused. "Then, what's your purpose in keeping me here?"

"Control."

Carla spoke up. "So you aren't interested in Rose at all. It's all about you!"

"Shut up," he screamed at her. You are mine and have been for years. You serve me!"

"Really? You've never even noticed me in here. I hid all those years."

I was surprised at that. How could Carla be both in her body and here? It didn't make sense to me.

I couldn't focus on that right now. I had to keep up my concentration as Carla couldn't control the situation on her own.

"Why?" I asked.

He turned back to me.

"Why don't you want to look at my memories?"

"You are brainwashed by Carlson. I've seen the effects."

"What?" I was indignant. "John has never brainwashed me."

"Of course he has. You would never have married him if he hadn't."

"Why?"

"He has had control of you since you were children. We were friends, but then you suddenly became friends with Carlson, and our friendship ended.

"Is that what you think?" I asked him. "I tried to include you, but you wanted nothing more to do with me."

He stared at me for a moment. "Show me."

We dove into my memories this time and went back to school with him experiencing my emotions. He saw things from my point of view this time. He saw that I had tried to include him many times. Even when John showed us the drawings of his station, he saw that Amos was there, and when I beckoned Amos over, John's face was sad when he refused to join us.

Amos was confused, and he pulled us from one memory to another of times with John. It was true that on a fishing trip, I was happy not to have Amos along. And when John built me a kite for my thirteenth birthday, my memories shocked Amos.

I had never seen a kite before. I didn't even know what it was, but I went out to a field near our homes with him. He told me to hold it until the string was taut, then to let go. He took off running, and I watched as the kite flew up and up. It caught in the wind, and John stopped running. I ran to where he was and watched. He handed me the spool of string, and as I took it, there was too much slack, and the kite started dropping. John grabbed onto my hands and pulled out the slack, and the kite went back up.

I was thrilled, not so much in the kite, although it was the vehicle I was using to fuel my imagination. There, I was not a thirteen-year-old boy, but a girl, in a sundress with long hair blowing in the breeze. My boyfriend had his arms around me, holding onto my hands and guiding them as we had a wonderful time together.

Amos pulled us back to my very young days, and we sped through my memories until we found the point he wanted.

He pulled us out of the dive, and we were once again separate and facing each other. "You are a girl," he said flatly.

I giggled slightly. "Looks that way doesn't it," I said, gesturing at my body.

He scowled. "You always have been."

"Yes," I told him. "I have always been."

He retook control, and we dove through my life. I could feel him soaking up what I perceived as he experienced my life.

I was in my restaurant, where I loved to play with different recipes. I was working on an idea where I did a pork marinade in lime juice kicked with several types of hot peppers, and I saw John stick his head in the door to my kitchen, and I smiled at him.

He gave me his typical cocky grin, then went to sit down.

I dished up three of my day's specials, put them on a tray, and set them in the dumbwaiter to carry them to the second floor.

By the time I arrived on the second floor, they had been carried out to the table that was always reserved for John, Perl, and me. It was in a special alcove, and my hosts were told that they were not to use that table unless absolutely necessary and then only with my direct approval.

From that table, I could see all of the restaurant below, and on the second-floor balcony. There was one-way glass between us and the rest of the dining area. The lights in the alcove would have to be turned up, and that was never allowed.

We started to eat, and both John and Perl commented that they enjoyed the pork chops I had made. French Fries were not on my menu, but I knew that they were John’s favorite type of potato, followed closely by tater tots. He loved fried potatoes of any kind, actually, so I made fries for him every night, as both of them had a standing invite to dine with me. John always did, unless he was on a date, which he rarely was.

I always wondered why that was. He was a handsome man, but the only dating he did was to take Perl out occasionally, telling me that they weren't an item.

He urged me to take her out as well, and I did once, but it felt so strange. We had a good time, but it was more like a girls night out than a date.

I glanced out at the restaurant, and I saw the familiar white head of Amos enter one of the expensive rooms on the far side of the second floor.

John and Perl saw me looking to the other side, and saw him too.

“I’ll never understand how he managed to become the head of the government,” Perl said.

“He's brilliant," I said quietly.

“Being smart doesn’t get you elected,” John told me.

They were seated across the table from me, and I gave them a sad smile, saying, "I always felt bad for him growing up. It was like one of those – oh, what did they call them – savants. I've tried to get him to join us time and time again, but he just doesn't want to."

“Well, I’m glad he doesn’t want to. I’m fed up with his policies,” Perl remarked. “I might be tempted to tell him what I think.”

John was looking at me strangely. “Do you have a thing for him?”

“What?! Of course not! I’m not homosexual,” I told him vehemently.”

“Just checking,” he said. “I mean, it wouldn’t matter if you were -- I’d just be surprised if you were interested in him.”

“I don't like his policies any better than Perl."

“I just call ‘em as I see ‘em,” she said flippantly.

I didn’t respond to her. I was giving an interested stare at John. “So tell me, John. Who do you see me with?”

He didn't say anything but kept my eye as he very slowly took a bite of a French fry.

I raised an eyebrow and resumed eating myself.

Perl snorted at us and looked across the room again. A waitress walked in and set down his food. I noticed that she was showing a bit more leg than usual, and had actually opened her top to show some cleavage. Amos, however, didn't react. He never did.

“It wouldn’t matter if you were interested or not,” Perl commented. “Val is a looker, but he doesn’t give a damn.”

John was still looking as well, but I think he might have been looking at Val, not Amos. “So Gene isn’t gay. Are you?”

“No. Bi.”

We both turned to stare at her.

“And when were you going to tell us?” I asked. Of course, it didn’t matter to either of us, but we were surprised.

“It never came up,” she said as she ate the last piece of food from her plate, then pulled her dessert in front of her. She loved cheesecake, and I never understood how she could eat as much as she did. She did work out, however, as she owned a very lucrative security business.

I hadn’t finished everything on my plate, but my dessert of choice was there as well; pecan pie. I had a bit of a sweet tooth, and my mother had taught me to make a lot of candies and desserts while I was growing up. For a sweet pie, you just couldn’t do any better than a pecan pie.

Amos finished his meal before we left our alcove. After he did, he spent several minutes staring at the glass we were hidden behind. Once, when I invited him to join us, I had told him where we ate, and I now felt like he was looking directly at me. It made my skin crawl. We knew what had happened to the town of Las Vegas. I couldn’t believe he would transform people like that. It just seemed so sick.

I had genuinely liked him until he did that. I knew he didn’t have any social skills, but that was farther than anything I had ever anticipated.

That night, I went to bed thinking about Amos. What made him do those things. I couldn’t understand it, but I knew that my admiration for him was gone. I couldn’t wait until he was overthrown, and I knew it wouldn’t be very long. He had brought it on himself.

I was jarred awake by the sound of my front door, then the bedroom door breaking open. I was quickly handcuffed and taken onto a transport. My abductors pushed me out in the middle of Diamond Head along with thousands of people. We listened to a speech that Amos gave, in which he offered amnesty for those who agreed to abide by his rules. Many took the offer, but I knew they would be killed.

The rest of us, still numbering in the thousands we're transported to the station. I looked around for John, but I didn’t see him. My parents were there, as was Perl, but my older brother Paul, and my sister Carla were not.

We were horrified when the guards ejected those of us with a medical background, right before they left for Earth.

Shortly after, I felt vaguely sick when the station started to accelerate in a different direction. We were leaving the orbit of Earth.

John had been led in shortly before the engines fired. He and an electrical engineer, Marc Dodson, were working on the door, trying to get it unsealed, so I joined them.

Finally, John got the wheel to move. He stopped just before the locking dogs freed. He looked up at us. "Well?" He asked.

The people repeated the question throughout the bay.

"Open it," I said. There were many echoes of agreement from the crowd.

"What if they evacuated the air?" He asked.

"Is there any way to remedy that situation from here?" I asked in return.

"The hatch isn't electrically operated," Marc told me.

"So if they left it open," I said, not finishing my statement.

He nodded.

"What is they didn't?" I asked.

"I still can't do anything from here. There isn't any access to the wiring from here. All of the circuitry for the air circulation is on the other side of the circular corridor."

"So you're saying we have nothing to lose, " said my father from behind me.

Again, Marc nodded.

"Open it," my father said.

"Yes, Sir."

John spun the wheel the rest of the way. The dogs released, and he sighed as the door didn't burst open. He pushed it out and stepped through, followed by Marc. The corridor was dark, and I saw a hand torch come on. I was a bit scared, though I tried not to show it, but I didn't step through the hatch.

A few minutes later, lights came on; then, I stepped through. John and Marc were disappearing around the curve of the circle. I walked back into the bay and went to help some people.

I was nervous as hell, but I tried to steady myself, as I went around trying to help calm people. I wasn't sure how long it had been, but I noticed people looking expectantly at the door. I turned, and John and Marc were back. I went over to hear what they had found, and John announced to the room, "We shouldn't have any problems surviving. It appears that we were meant to."

I started to ask how, but he held up a hand. "We need to set up a few things. We're going to need someone to take charge. To be the leader for all of us, I would like to recommend Gene."

"What?!?"

John ignored my outburst and told everyone, "He can think and act rationally, even under pressure. We need that in a leader."

"Why not you? Or Marc?"

He shook his head as he answered me. "We will both be needed to maintain the station. You are the logical choice to be the commander."

"Not from where I'm standing," I told him.

He turned to the crowd. "All in favor?"

Almost everyone raised their hands.

I started to object, but John grabbed my arm and pulled me into the corridor. "I would offer to lead," he explained," but I really do need to maintain this station. It wasn't meant to operate with engines. It has thrusters, and they are all the stress it's designed to handle. I know and trust you. Please."

I mulled it over for a few minutes, then nodded. I didn't trust myself to speak.

Amos, Carla, and I sped up. We hurried through the memories of the building of our community, and the following year. Somewhere during that time, John discovered that the engines, while powerful, kept the station, or rather, the ship, accelerating at a rate the superstructure could handle. In that year, we arrived at the edge of the galaxy, then the engines separated from the ship and fell away. We would coast from then on.

Again, I felt exhausted and dizzy as we separated. We pulled back to the black room again.

This time Amos said nothing, so I asked, "you seem to have changed somewhat. Why?"

"I'm reconsidering what to do."

I started to see a glimmer of hope. Did all this really rest on me? "What are you considering?"

"For the first time in my life, I'm unsure." He looked at me, and I realized that there was some emotion in his eyes that I hadn't seen since we were children. The hate had left, and in its place was something that appeared to be confusion.

I had learned that confusion was not desirable in him. Any choice he made could be as bad or even worse than what we had seen before.

I looked at my sister, and she seemed to recognize it too.

I pulled us into a dive again. I was going to take Amos into the horrors he had caused, whether he liked it or not. He was going to experience my dreams and my frustrations. He would see his own actions from my perspective.

We went to the beginning of what he considered fun. His program in the ship had slammed several cargo doors shut on people, cutting them into multiple pieces. After a year as the commander of these people, I had gotten to know many of them. I still didn't know all fifteen thousand, two hundred ninety-eight of them, but I was working on that.

There were many horrors that I let him feel as I did. And through it all, he saw that I was concerned for those under my charge. I showed him that I took responsibility for them.

I pulled us out right before the full extent of the bots was released, and I wouldn't take him any further.

"Why did you stop?" he asked.

"Wasn't that enough?"

"Amos, beyond that, is something personal that you don't need to see," Carla supplied.

He shook his head. "We have seen parts of each others lives that were extremely personal. You understand the feelings that I had for you, Rose. I have decided to let you go to live your life with Carlson because of what I've seen. I had no idea how much hurt I had caused."

"I made a huge mistake, Amos."

He cocked his head. "Why do you say that?" He asked.

"I focused on myself. Not my people."

"Show me," he commanded.

I did.

We dove, and I was on the bridge. We were well into the second year of our trip to nowhere when things suddenly changed. John, Marc, and Perl were there with me. Suddenly Perl shot up from the computer where she had been working. She spun around, and a look of horror covered her face.

I saw that, but I was scared as well. I was scared of my friends. All three of them were frightening me for some reason. I was closest to the door, and I started to back toward it. I had to get out of there! Away from them. I didn't know why, just that I did!

I had almost made it out of the room when Perl bolted. She ran to my right, and I tried to move out of her way, but her hand touched mine. I spun away, and she fled out the door.

My world continued spinning as I felt like every bit of my body was torn apart. It was excruciating! A moment later, the pain disappeared, along with all my senses, and I seemed to be floating. I'm not sure how long it was until sensation returned, but it couldn't have been long. John and Marc were still staring at me. They backed away, and I took advantage of their fear and ran.

I ran to a storage closet and hid myself away and took stock. My body had changed. No longer was I a male. It was evident to me that I was now a female. I looked down at myself, and my emotions were a jumbled mess.

On the one hand, I was scared crazy about the change. It was the bots inside me, obviously. They were the only rational explanation. On the other hand, I was elated. I finally had what I had always wanted. I felt like I was now myself.

My only problem was that my clothes didn't fit anymore. My pants were tight around my hips but loose around my waist. The act of running had pulled them down a bit. My belt wouldn't tighten anymore, so I took some wire off a shelf and discarded the belt. I threaded the wire through the belt loops and tied it. The pants scrunched up, but at least they'd get me back to my apartment.

My shirt hung loose around my stomach, but I had burst a button right over my breasts. It felt good to say that, even if only in my mind. I had breasts! At the moment they were a nuisance, but I had them!

On the way to the closet, I had thrown a shoe. I started to giggle at the thought. I wasn't a horse! I sat down on the floor of the closet, hoping to get my emotions under control. Instead, I heard and felt a rip right at my butt. Lovely! This was just what I needed! I was happy about the new me, but why all the curves?

I started to cry at my predicament. I had my breasts peaking through a shirt with a missing button, and a ripped open backside in my pants. Plus, I had to get home through a station with lots of men, and they would all be looking at me! They'd see my breasts and my ass!

I was scared to death of men! The only man I wanted to see me was… I suddenly realized that while I had some of what I'd always wanted, I didn't have it all. Not by a long shot. There was a part of me that longed for John. It was an ache that I couldn't get out of my heart. But I was scared of him. Not just a little bit. No, this was a cold, irrational fear that didn't seem to come from anything. It was just there!

I sat there for a long time, and eventually, the light dimmed. It had been about three PM when the changes happened. I'd been huddled in this closet for seven hours, and I had to get home, so I reached down and removed my one remaining shoe. I'd been so terrified that I hadn't even thought about it until that moment. I stood up, opened the door a crack, and glanced out. Carefully, I eased out of the closet and started down the corridor.

Suddenly I heard someone around the curve, and I broke into a run. I hurried through the connecting tube, and out of the command center.

I stopped Amos, Carla, and myself for a moment. I knew what came next, and I didn't want Amos to experience it. He didn't need to see my discovery of my new self.

“Why did you stop us?” Amos demanded again.

“Because you don’t need to see what happens next.”

He didn’t push, for which I was grateful.

“I know what I programmed into the bots. What happened during those changes?"

I sighed. I really didn't want to talk about a lot of things, particularly since it was all based on physical changes and sex.

Every change brought more heartache. Even my relationship with John, although it blossomed into our eventual marriage, was loaded with questions.

Where I took him next was the death of my friend, Perl.

I was in my apartment, sitting down to my morning cup of coffee. I took a sip and closed my eyes as I felt the caffeine coursing through my body. I always started a day like this. As a male, caffeine affected me, but it didn't feel like this.

We were about two months into the time of fear. I still was afraid of John, but I wanted to get to know him like I never had before.

I pushed those thoughts away. I didn’t need them right now.

I moved my coffee mug off to the side and touched the tabletop in a particular spot. The surface changed from cherry wood to a screen showing reports from departments onboard the ship.

The first one was from John. I stared at the screen. The thoughts I had just pushed away came back immediately. I sighed and was about to touch a different report when I received a beep on my phone. I picked it up and looked.

Oh, good grief! It was John! I answered it, holding my breath.

“Rose, I need you to come to the command level now." His voice sounded strange.

“What is it?” I asked. “You know I never go there.”

“You need to now. There’s been a death. I’ll clear the way for you.” Now I recognized the odd sound in his voice. It was anguish.

“I’ll be right there,” I said, mystified.

I forgot about the reports and my coffee and quickly changed, then I hurried out of my apartment building. When I got to the bridge access corridor, I saw something partway through it. John was there, and he blocked my way.

“No!” he said forcefully.

“What's going on?" I asked. "First, you insist that I'm needed, then you won't let me near the scene!"

“It’s Perl,” he said simply.

I stared, then pushed by him, not realizing the significance and consequence of my action.

I got closer and simply collapsed to my knees. Perl's body was lying where it fell, but her head was about five feet down the corridor, resting on its left side, its short blonde hair turning a rusty red from the blood collecting in it.

I turned my head to one side and tried to empty my stomach.

I felt someone gently grasp my upper arms and help me to my feet. Instinctively, I buried my head in John’s chest and cried. “Why was she here?” I sobbed. “Neither of us ever come up here, so why now?”

It took a few minutes of crying for me to realize what I was doing. I pushed away and stared at him. There was no fear!

He was staring at me, utterly perplexed. He couldn't explain it either.

Slowly, I backed up a bit more. “What’s going on here?” I asked.

Suddenly, another of the command crew rounded the corner into the corridor. “Perl!”

It was Kari, another friend from high school. I didn't know her as well, but she had been Perl's roommate for years. Marc, who had been examining the body, stood and hurried to block her way.

They didn’t touch as John and I had, but they stood face to face. I wondered who would back down first. Marc was a bit stocky but well built. He often used those muscles to his advantage. Kari was incredibly beautiful, and her creamy brown skin always seemed to glow. Both knew how to use their assets, but neither seemed about to back down now.

Finally, Kari growled, “Move out of my way.”

I could tell that Marc wanted to give in, but he simply shook his head.

Kari tried to duck around, but he placed himself squarely in front of her again.

"I know you want to see her. To pay your respects, but now isn’t the time,” he told her.

“Why not?” she asked.

Marc sighed and looked to John for help. When none was forthcoming, he slowly stepped aside. Kari walked resolutely down the hall until she was able to see clearly. Then she lost it as I had. Unfortunately, where I had only had a single sip of coffee, Kari had eaten breakfast in a restaurant.

Marc was by her side in a moment. My stomach almost flipped when his bare hands touched her equally bare shoulders, but he didn’t change. Neither did she.

What was going on?

This time, I felt just as sick as I was in the memory as we pulled out of the dive. We stood in the dark room again.

“Have you made a decision?” I asked Amos. I hoped my voice didn’t betray my condition.

He stood there for a few minutes. “Yes,” he told me. He appeared thoughtful, then walked up to me. “I will promise you something, Rose."

“Because I still hold a place for you in my heart, I will not harm you, and by extension, your family. I see that harming them would harm you.”

“What about other people?” I asked.

“I will make no promises regarding others.”

“Will you let Carla go?”

“She is the one who is the sum total of her memories in here. Not me.”

The next thing I knew, I was shooting out of the dark hole I had been in.

Chapter 1.3

I opened my eyes and looked around. Carla was not in sight.

I contacted John, and when he came in, I told him what had happened.

"Let me get this straight, Rose. You voluntarily scanned the memories of Amos Goodwin? What is wrong with you?"

I knew he was right, but I wanted to defend my actions. "I wanted to be able to say to Carla, either she was wrong, or I was."

"That's not Carla, Rose!"

"I know that now, John, but you wondered why I did what I did!"

He stared at me for a long moment, then asked me, "Do you think he'll keep his word?"

I thought about what I had learned of Amos. He seemed to have changed at the end. "Yes, John, I do."

He looked down, then touched the intercom switch. "Marc and Kari Dodson: please report to Carla Richards' lab."

I knew what he was doing, and I glared at him. He was going to remove me from command.

When Marc and Kari arrived, that's precisely what he did. I felt somewhat sick as it was my husband who was doing it.

"Marc and Kari," he said, and I could see that he wasn't enjoying this anymore than I was. "I am fulfilling my responsibilities as second in command of this vessel, and removing Rose from command."

Marc and Kari stared at him as tears came to both our eyes. "I want you to see a psychologist, Rose."

"I'm not debating that he might hurt someone else, John. He needs capturing: or Carla does."

"Uh... Would it be too much to ask that someone explain what's going on here?" Marc asked. "Carla needs to be captured? And what 'he' are we talking about?"

"Rose touched Amos' memory crystals which Carla brought on board the ship when she transferred from N22."

"What?" Kari screamed! "What the hell were you thinking, Rose?"

Marc was shocked as well. "Why would you want to experience his memories?"

I didn't have anything to say. "I'm tired," I said. "I need to lie down."

"In the hospital."

"John, I'll be fine."

"The hospital. Please don't make me escort you there."

For some reason, that he would threaten to make sure I went to the hospital was the last straw. "I suppose it's better than sharing a bed with you," I said acidly. Then I was out the door.

I regretted what I said immediately, but my pride wouldn't allow me to go back and apologize. I kept walking with my head held high. I wanted to run to someplace I could hide from everyone, but I couldn't do it. Again, my pride got in the way.

Why did John have to relieve me? Dammit, I loved him more than life itself, and now I was furious with him! I didn't hate him. I still loved him. In fact, I loved him more. He did something that I didn't think I would have been able to do in his place. He had removed his wife from her position. I don't think I would ever be strong enough to do the same to him.

I entered the hospital, and Doctor Sylvia met me at the door. "Hi, Rose. I've heard what happened. Rachel is waiting in room five."

She allowed me the dignity of walking to the room myself, at least. I entered, and there was a hospital gown lying across the bed. I guess I was going to be staying for a while.

I didn't change as Rachel was sitting in a chair beside the bed. She offered to leave the room, but I was adamant. I had lost my command. I'd be damned if I was going to lose my dignity.

I sat down on the bed and looked at her. "I'm exhausted. I'd rather talk later."

She considered a moment, then stood up. She squeezed my hand, then left. "I'll be back later," she told me as she left.

I looked around and grimaced. There was no decoration in the room. It was sterile, and I hated it immediately. I stood and picked up the gown. I thought of putting it on, but then a feeling of rage came over me. I wanted to rip the gown to shreds, but that would only give them ammunition. I decided instead to fold it and set it on the tray. I had to try twice to get it folded neatly; my hands were shaking so badly.

I lay down and had a hard time getting to sleep, even though I was telling the truth when I said I was exhausted. Finally, I did fall asleep. I dreamed about Amos' memories, which wasn't surprising considered what had happened that day. When I woke up, I sensed a presence in the room and was scared out of my mind. I looked at the chair and expected to see Carla. Instead, I saw John sitting there.

I started to cry, and he practically jumped to my side. I didn't say anything when he told me to move over. I just did it, then he lay down beside me and wrapped his arms around me. It felt so good. I buried my face in his chest and cried myself to sleep.

When I awoke, John was still there.

"Hey, sleepyhead. How are you doing now?"

I couldn't have slept very long. John had responsibilities as Commander. He wouldn't neglect that, would he?

"John, how long was I asleep?"

"About eighteen hours," he told me.

"Eighteen hours!? You were here that long? What about finding Amos?"

He sighed. "I'm not in command, Rose."

I pushed away from him. "What? Why!?"

"You think, with you stuck here after what you experienced, that I could keep focused on command? I needed to be here with you."

"John, Amos needs to be caught! Who's in command?"

"After you left, I briefed Marc and Kari and then handed command to Kari. She accepted the position with the provision that, as soon as you were deemed ready, you would resume your place."

I mulled that over. He made perfect sense. I knew I wouldn't have been able to keep my mind on command with John in the hospital. We had always wondered if the bots had augmented our feelings for each other, and now I knew they had. John would have the same problems focusing on his responsibilities.

"So, what are your duties now?" I asked him.

"Just one. To stay with you."

"So, you're relieved as well?"

"Yes and no." He grinned at my look of confusion. "If I remember right, Kari said, 'Go be with Rose. That's an order.'" He paused a moment. "That was her first order too. She's got the command thing down."

I grinned and lightly punched him on the shoulder.

A few minutes later, Dr. Sylvia brought some food in for us. I looked at her strangely. "How come you're serving..."I glanced at the plates. "Dinner?"

"Have you looked at the clock?" She asked me.

"It says two."

"That's AM, Rose."

"Oh." I was taken aback. I guess when John told me eighteen hours, I hadn't realized what that meant. I hadn't even glanced at the clock since I entered the hospital.

I thought over the time in those memories turned to John. "How long was I in the crystals?"

"No more than ten minutes as far as I can tell. We checked over the video and audio logs of that office. Carla left about thirty seconds before you came out of it. You were almost motionless for that entire time."

I know my jaw dropped. It felt like hours! I had gone through most of Amos' memories from childhood. How was it only such a short time?

I realized that Sylvia and John were both staring at me.

"What?" John wondered.

"I experienced Amos' childhood, John. Almost all of it!"

"You know that a dream can feel like it took hours, but they only last about twenty to thirty minutes. I'm guessing that you experienced what you did because the bots put things in your mind as a collective."

I thought about Carla, and I wondered how long she felt she had been there. I knew what Amos had told me about her, but I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth. Why would he tell the truth about his intentions but not about her? Was she really dead? I sighed and pushed my plate away. I'd only eaten about half of it, but I wasn't hungry any longer.

In just ten minutes, my life had been turned upside down. I learned that my little sister hadn't actually been my little sister for several centuries. Instead, she had been an automaton who could only do what Amos told her. I learned that much of what Amos had done was because of me. I leaned against John again and started to cry. This time, though, it was too much, and I wept. All those people killed because a madman was infatuated with me. The entire world had been wiped out because he couldn't have me. I wasn't sure I could live with it.

Sylvia slipped out, and a few minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. I still had my face buried in John's chest, and I just said, "Go away!"

Whoever it was ignored me, and I could hear them sit down. I looked up and saw that it was Rachel. I sighed. I didn't want to talk to her, but I knew it was best if I did. I sat up and gripped John's hand tightly. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Do you want me to..." He started to ask.

"That's up to Rose," she said.

"Stay here," I told him. "I need you to stay here."

"I guess I'm staying, Doc."

Rachel smiled, then said to me, "I'm guessing that what you saw in Amos' mind was terrible."

I could barely speak as I thought of what he had done. "He had no remorse at all! It was indescribable."

I told her what I had seen. A lot of what I said, John hadn't heard, and he was shocked. He had started in on the food I hadn't finished, but partway through my narrative, he slid the plate away and looked somewhat green. He slipped off the bed and out of the room. I stopped speaking, and Rachel nodded.

"We can wait," she said. "I think you need him to hear this. He needs to know what you are dealing with."

When John came back in, I was quiet. He sat down beside me, then said, "I'm alright, Hon. Go ahead and continue."

I carefully gauged his expression. I knew he was anything but alright, but he needed to hear the rest.

"When Carla and I got control, I was determined to show him my side. To show him what he had done to the person he supposedly cared for."

I explained what I had shown him and how he had apparently changed. When I was done, I looked down at my hands, which had been nervously picking at the blanket. "He wasn't truthful, was he? He doesn't care who he hurts. Even me."

"I doubt he was, Rose."

I suddenly realized what that meant. "What about Paula and Fred? Mom and Dad?"

"It's already taken care of. There are guards outside of their apartments, and wherever they go, they'll be accompanied.

"I was a fool." As neither one said anything, I knew I was right.

Finally, Rachel asked, "Why did you hold out hope that he had changed?"

"When he realized that I was trans, he was shocked. He hadn't known that. I know he never realized. We went through so much. He had to have felt my emotions, so I hoped that he would realize what he had done to me. The person he supposedly..." The words tasted foul in my mouth. "Loved."

"Is there any way he could keep from receiving your emotions?" Rachel wondered.

"I didn't see anything, but I suppose anything is possible. He invented both the bots and the crystals, so I suppose he could have invented some way of making up memories or changing them. For that matter, I don't know if Carla was real, or something to make me think I had more control in a dive than I really did."

I suddenly thought of something that terrified me. "How do I know I'm really outside of the crystals now? I might still be there!"

John reached out, but I slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me! How do I know it's really you?" My fear skyrocketed as I considered what may be happening.

As I thought of my situation, I realized that there was no way I could determine where I was. How could I ever know for sure? I wouldn't.

John looked me in the eyes. There was something there that seemed to indicate he was authentic. At least, I didn’t know how anyone would imitate that quality. It was something intangible that I felt.

I talked for a while with both John and Rachel, then I spoke only to Rachel for a little while. We determined that there was no reason for me to stay in the hospital. I would go home with John, and Rachel would visit daily. It seemed like my counseling would be compressed into a short amount of time, but I was the commander, and the quicker I could get back to my position, the better.

John and I went home soon after I finished talking to Rachel. Later that day, my parents stopped by, wondering why they had heard that Kari was in command. We sat down, and I started explaining when there was a knock on the door. Paula and Fred entered our apartment, and I had to restart my tale.

When I finished, I had a problem. Four people were absolutely glaring at me. I looked at John for help, and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say “You got yourself into this mess. You can get yourself out.”

I tried many different ways to work my way back into everyone’s good graces, but it seemed as though it just wasn’t going to happen.

I spoke with Rachel several times over the next couple of weeks until she grudgingly told me I could resume command. On the condition that I let her know if I had any doubts.

I agreed. “Yeah, right!”

On the bridge, the following day, Kari and Marc were happy to see John and me. We went into the briefing room on the command deck, and they filled me in on what had happened while I was gone.

A search for Amos was running, but no one had seen anything of him. I felt like such a fool for believing that he had changed. Why couldn't we find him? He was in Carla's body for crying out loud. She and I looked so much alike, I didn't think anyone could miss her. So why were we?

I asked the others what they thought, and honestly, they didn't know. It seemed so strange. This ship was a lot bigger than both the others we had been on, and its technology was much superior. Still, none of the internal monitors seemed to be picking him up.

Of course, it could have to do with the length of time he had been aboard. Waiting for us to return from outside the galaxy. The time to memorize every nook and cranny of the ship was there.

I sighed as we seemed to be getting nowhere in our discussion. Kari had worked in security since before we left Earth, and she had organized a meticulous search. I couldn't fault her for anything she had done.

At the end of the day, our relief crew came to the bridge, and we exited. John and I made our way to a beautiful spot on board where we could be alone.

N21 and N22 had was no means to go from one bay to another, except by going to the inner rings. This ship, the Neo22, had a ring that circled outside the bays as well. A "U" corridor went from one set of bays to the others while connecting it. Each "U" had three levels, including the corridor. The others were observation areas.

The floors of the ship were dependent on its artificial gravity, so walking through the "U" was a strange experience. It was a seventy-foot wide corridor that always looked like it was curving downward. Still, you continually felt like you were walking on a level surface.

To reach the observation area below was even more confusing. Rather than the floor being oriented the same way, walking down the ramp took you in a spiral where you standing one hundred and eighty degrees to the level above, or rather, below. What was now above you, was an enormous, arched ceiling to the outside, looking toward the ship.

The other level was much easier to understand. There was simply a ramp up to it. There, the only thing to mar the view was at the midpoint of the floor. Another tube stretched off in both ways as it made its way around the outer perimeter of the ship.

There were twenty-four such observation areas, and each one had its own function. The one that connected to the bay our home was in was ours. We had absconded with it shortly after coming on board the ship. My husband, with his engineering skills, had turned it into a new restaurant for me. Both the inward-looking and outward-looking fell under the name Heaven's Rose. The inside looking side was a much more casual, while the outer was a very classy dining room.

Above the kitchen, was a completely private place, sealed off from everything. It was about thirty feet from side to side and took up the entire width of the ring. There was about fifty feet from floor to ceiling in the center part, and somehow, with the use of holograms, the stars that you couldn't see were projected. It seemed that you were standing in the middle of space, with nothing around to hold in an atmosphere. Only the feel of the firm deck below provided any sense of security.

We entered the space and looked around. I felt so small every time I walked in with the vastness of space stretching out before me. In the middle of the room was a pair of chairs, and we made our way to them. We weren't in a hurry. I wanted to unwind after a hard day. We had almost made it to the chairs when I stopped. John was talking about the view when he saw what I did. Seated in one of the chairs was Carla. She was looking away from us, but she had to have heard our talking. There was no escape for us, so we stepped into her view. Her eyes were closed, and if it hadn't been for her breathing, I would have thought she was dead.

I looked her up and down and realized that she was holding Amos' memory crystals. What was going on?

"John, call Kari. Let's get Carla into a stasis pod until we can figure this out."

He didn't reply, which was different. He simply took my hand and pulled me with him.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You think I'm leaving you alone with that madman? You've got another thing comin'."

"John, I'll be okay."

"Yeah, you will. You're not staying here without me. I'm saying that not as 2nd in command, but as your husband. There is no way I'm allowing that."

I glared at him for a moment, but then I realized he was being very wise. We had no idea what was going on. Anything could happen.

It was just a few minutes until Kari, and a contingent of guards arrived.

Carla hadn't moved the entire time, and they moved her to a gurney to be transferred to the medical bay. A little while later, we received word that she was in a stasis pod, and cooling down.

Amos was out of our lives.

End of Part 1.
Part 2 will be coming soon! Stay tuned!