Metamorphosis (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 7) Read online

  "Mike," he insisted and sat down in the co-pilot chair. "I just wanted you to know that everyone is resting quietly. Caroline finished her test. Joanne helped her with the math equations. Caroline passed, and the professor awarded her degree after all this time."

  "Oh that's great." I was truly relieved and even more so by Joanne's cooperation. "Maybe things will turn out alright after all."

  "They always do," Mike said with a shy smile that looked oddly familiar. He lowered his eyes and refused to look at me. "Sometimes, we're too blind to see it when it happens. Sometimes, it takes years to truly understand why we feel and act the way we do. Time has to happen in the way it has to happen or things won't turn out the way they are supposed to be."

  "Michael?" I gasped as my heart suddenly stood still. It couldn't be. That would be way too weird. On the other hand, weird was par for the course right now. "Is it you?" I was about to say, leaning closer to look in his eyes when all of a sudden the cockpit door burst open.

  "What the fuck is going on here now?" Zork roared. "Instead of tackling her, you're trying to mash lips?" He reached for Michael and yanked him out of his chair. "Listen Doc, I've got dibs on the girl. You touch her, and you'll have my fist in the place where your face used to be."

  "I'm sorry!" Michael squeaked and squirmed. "Can you let me down before you break my neck? I didn't mean to do anything untoward with the Captain."

  It couldn’t be, I sighed with relief. He was just some dorky doctor who was extremely well read. He probably memorized every word Senya said and repeated it verbatim.

  "Get going." Zork dropped the doctor on the floor and slammed the door as the poor man scrambled out. "You can thank me later since that guy won't be bothering you again."

  "Thanks, Zork, I'll thank you now."

  "No problem, Princess." He punched my arm. "This old Zork is here to be your knight in shining armor."

  "I actually don't need any knights." I turned back to the console. "I've got plenty of those guys back home, and for the record, I haven't been a princess in a number of years. In fact, I'm a queen and an empress of a whole bunch of planets and stars."

  "Right," Zork laughed, "and I'm Flash Gordon. Hey, Goldie, you know what we haven't done? You promised me a game of strip chess. Let's set the board and start those pieces falling."

  "Zork." I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I'll play chess, but no stripping included."

  "Close enough.” Zork shrugged and ordered a chest set to appear on the vid.

  I was about to make my first move which was to place my pawn at white king E4 when a scream interrupted again from the passenger cabin.

  Chapter 15

  Joanne

  "Elton!" Caroline was screaming. "Elton, move out of the way!"

  She pushed herself up in bed and start thrashing around. RJ, Taner and I tried to calm her, but she just kept yelling at that dude Elton even though nobody else was in the room.

  "You!" she turned on Taner batting at his hands and pointing her finger. "You're a Rehnorian. You killed my beau!"

  "I didn't," Taner protested. "I don’t know what you're talking about. Please Caroline, you're pulling out your IV's. Calm down. There's nobody here but the girls."

  "Katie!" Caroline shrieked at the top of her lungs. "Katie! Save Katie! They're taking her away." Then she collapsed in my arms and sobbed so much her oxygen level dropped.

  "We need to get her in a mask," I ordered RJ. "Quick, before she passes out." RJ handed me the mask and together we tried to slip it over Caroline's head as her eyes rolled back and her skin turned grey. "Get the doctor, Taner," I snapped as the door to the cabin opened and both Katie and the doctor ran through, crashing into each other again.

  "Get away from me!" Katie roared, slapping at the Doc's hands. "She called for me, you idiot. Caroline, I'm right here."

  "Elton's dead, Katie," Caroline wept, her voice growing weak. "He killed him with his lightsword." She pointed her finger at Taner.

  Taner looked helplessly at Katie, his face crumbling as if he too might start to cry.

  "I don't know what she means."

  "It's alright, Taner. I do. I remember. I was there." Katie took Caroline's hands and looked her in the eye. "It's all over, honey. We're safe here aboard the ship."

  "He murdered Elton and then they took you away. I hate those evil Rehnorians. Do something, Captain. Get rid of that evil man."

  "He's gone, Caroline. I killed him. Don't you remember? I used a lightsword and sliced Prince Akan in two. You saw, remember? You were with Ron. Taner was far away."

  "Dr. Ron.” Caroline sighed, and a smile lit up her face. The color came back into her cheeks as her oxygen level returned to normal. She lay back on her pillows and dreamily closed her eyes. "My word, how I do love that man."

  "You're obviously still delusional," Taner grumbled. He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed his worn, whiskered face.

  "Taner." I came over and knelt down beside him. "She doesn't mean what she's saying. We all know how much she loves you."

  "There was Jeremy and Elton and of course, Ron throughout it all. Then your father and maybe a few more until at last, she settled on me."

  "Listen Taner," Katie snapped while Caroline muttered something about truffles and chocolate cake. "Caroline always had a bunch of boyfriends. She was gorgeous just like Joanne. She always was the sweetest nurse and the best friend anyone could ever have. She made everyone around her happy, and she cared about everyone else before herself. You may have been last in line, but you won the lottery in the end."

  "Why are you talking about her as if she is already dead?" I shrieked, standing up to yell at Katie. "She's alive, and she's going to stay alive. Right Dr. Michael? Isn't that why we're going on this trip?"

  "Of course, I'm sorry," Katie nodded, "I misspoke by using the past tense. I apologize, Joanne and to you, Taner. Caroline's going to be around for a long time yet."

  Taner nodded his head, his eyes now on Caroline's sleeping face.

  "Michael?" I inquired as the doctor ignored my questions.

  He fiddled with the monitor, adjusted the IV's then scratched at the bald spot on the back of his head. "You did a good job, Joanne. Oxygen was just what she needed. You too, RJ. Thanks for responding so quick."

  "Michael?" I persisted.

  "Joanne." He cut me off and indicated with his finger that I should follow him out the door. "How are you feeling? Are you getting enough rest?"

  "I'm fine," I snapped, then smiled contritely. "I mean, there's no reason to worry about me. What about Caroline? Will you tell me the truth?"

  Michael frowned and looked away while at the same time, he pushed his glasses up his nose.

  I realized my mom was going to die, and I didn't really know her. She had lived a whole life that didn't include me and I had always assumed that was because I wasn't wanted. Maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe it was truly a choice she didn't have, and now it was going to be too late to try and catch up.

  "It's not too late." Michael shook his head even though I never said those words. "We still have a long way to travel until we get to the place we need to go." Something strange happened to me right then. It was as if a dam had just burst, and I started to cry as if I had never cried before in my life. Michael pulled me against his chest even though I made his shirt all wet and soggy. "Sometimes healing has to happen in a lot of different ways."

  "What does that mean?" I sobbed, glancing up in his pale grey eyes. "How can she heal if she's really just going to die?"

  "I wasn't talking about Caroline." He offered me a clean handkerchief. "Now, go sit with your mom and learn everything about her that you can."

  "Okay." Drying my eyes, I tried to hand the handkerchief back.

  "It's for you," Michael said and winked as if it was something special. I returned to Caroline's room where Katie and Taner were still sitting by her bed.

  "I'll sit here for a while," I told RJ who was nodding off in the one remaining chair. "Go
back to our cabin and you try to get some sleep."

  Taking my cousin’s place, I listened quietly as Caroline murmured in her dreams about some old guy named Jerry, and how when Katie was pregnant they teased her and made her think she had contracted a space worm.

  Katie looked like she too was going to start bawling, so I offered Michael's handkerchief to her. She took it in her hand and then dropped it as if it were alive.

  "Where did you get this?" she shrieked, rising up and pointing at the cloth on the floor.

  "Blessed Saint," Taner cried as he came over to look at it.

  "Michael gave it to me," I replied innocently. "It's just a handkerchief made of cotton."

  "Except it's trimmed in cloth of gold with an embroidered Imperial crest." Taner picked it up between two fingers and showed me the fancy design in the corner while Katie bolted out the door screaming "Michael!" as if the ship was on fire.

  "I don't understand." I looked to Taner. Caroline laughed and shook her head.

  "That crazy man," she giggled. "He's just full of surprises."

  I headed out after Katie while at the same Captain Zork came from the bridge.

  "Where did you get that handkerchief?" Katie demanded of the doctor who was lying on the couch.

  He had his arms crossed over his chest and glasses perched on the top of his head. He yawned as if he had been sleeping, even though I only left him five minutes ago.

  "Do you need one?" Michael inquired, his eyes twinkling in a humorous way. "I think I've got another clean one right here in my pocket."

  "Just tell me where you got it?" Katie shrieked at the top of her lungs.

  "Calm down, Goldie." Captain Zork covered his ears while Michael just shook his head and laughed at Katie's antics.

  "I just bought them at the mall before this trip," he replied. "They were on sale, no wait, they were reduced. Come to think of it maybe they weren't, maybe I got them somewhere else."

  "Where?" Katie pulled out her gun. She pointed it right at the center of Michael's nose. "You tell me the truth, Michael Silverman, or I'm going to shoot a hole in your face."

  Michael raised his arms in surrender. "I swear, Captain, I didn't do whatever you think I did. I didn't steal those hankies from anywhere or anybody at all."

  "Goldie.” Captain Zork sighed, running his hand through his crew cut. "I almost wish I was carrying a load of rocks instead of all of you. This trip is dragging on too long, and I'm beginning to think every one of you is crazy."

  "Shut up, Zork," Katie hissed and waved the gun at Michael. "Those hankies are my husband's. They have his Imperial Crest. They even have his initials embroidered in the upper right hand corner. No one else in this Universe has got them, just like no one else has his fancy gold-tipped cigarettes. Now either you're lying, Michael, or you're actually not Michael Silverman after all. Let me tell you, if you're not, I don't think this is funny. This is probably the worst practical joke you've ever played. If you didn't want me leaving, then you shouldn't have acted like you did."

  "I don't know what you're talking about." Michael blushed with his eyebrows raised. "I don't think anything is funny with you waving that gun at me. Please, just calm down and maybe we can talk this out."

  "Do you know what's going on here?" Captain Zork looked at me.

  I just shrugged, more confused than ever before.

  "There is only one way to tell just exactly who you are." She put the gun back in her pants and strutted over to the couch to where Michael sat. Then, she bent down and kissed him really hard on the lips.

  "Oh my," Michael gasped when she pulled away. He touched his mouth as if he had been stunned.

  "Oh ewww," Katie muttered and wiped her mouth with her hand as if Michael had given her germs.

  "My turn?" Zork said and caught her in his arms. He bent her back and kissed her hard on the mouth just as she had done to Michael.

  I glanced at Michael's face as he watched and something strange happened in his eyes. For a millisecond, they looked like they turned bright silver, but maybe I was wrong. He cleared his throat and fumbled on his head for his glasses.

  "I'm not sure what this is all about." He smiled and looked at me with a puzzled expression.

  "I think it has something to do with your handkerchiefs."

  "That's enough, Zork," Katie gasped. "Thanks anyway, but I'm done kissing strange men for the night." She pushed herself out of his arms and walked away.

  "But we're just getting started, Goldie," Zork protested. "Come on, baby, let's continue this in my cabin. Sorry Doc, too bad you have just a couch out here in the salon."

  "Forget it," Katie cried and ran down the hall. "Luci, unlock the door, I'm coming in."

  Chapter 16

  Zork

  That Goldie was a tease. One kiss and I was ready to carry her off to bed. The only thing stopping me was that dorky doctor and that girl watching my every move. I didn't even pay attention to Andy who was obviously not unbiased when she yelled at me to get back to the bridge. I just cooled my jets, which didn't take a whole lot of cold water at my age. Then I got myself a beer and headed back to the cockpit to continue driving this tub through this blasted worm tunnel.

  When I got to my bridge and opened the door, I nearly jumped out of my skin as I spied a strange guy sitting in my chair. I should clarify that, I suppose, since everybody aboard this ship could now be certified as strange. I discovered a guy I hadn't seen before which meant he materialized out of thin air just like all the other creatures that had visited us lately.

  He was dressed in an old style Spaceforce uniform, that spandex red thing we had to wear at the Academy. He had three stripes on his sleeves, which indicated a commander, and he wore long sideburns and a thick mustache, a style that was considered groovy some thirty years ago.

  "Can I help you?" I asked, trying not to get too alarmed. In fact, I just stood at the door nursing my beer and watching the fellow as he played with my controls.

  "You realize you're way off course, Captain," he said.

  "Oh, I know that. We’re so off course, we wouldn't recognize our course if it slammed right into us."

  "I've adjusted our track and switched us to an alternate vector. Unless we hit another tunnel, we should be out of here in a few hours. In the meantime, I'm going to take a pod and investigate that asteroid. I've got a life force reading on it which seems oddly out of place."

  "Commander, you are oddly out of place. There's no asteroid out there. There certainly aren't any life forms either. You're better off just investigating what's in here. You wouldn’t happen to be looking for Caroline, would you?"

  "Caroline?" he gasped. "Is she aboard?"

  "Bingo." I applauded myself for being so perceptive and smart. "Down that hall, second door on the left. Please try not to start her screaming. We've had more than enough of that today."

  He ran out of the cockpit and raced down the hall while yelling for Caroline, which woke up everybody else. Bursting into Caroline's cabin, I heard her cry "Joe!" After that, I handed the controls back over to Andy and went to see what was going to happen next.

  "Joe," Caroline wept, yet again for this guy. "Joe, my true love, I've missed you so much."

  "How many more are there?" Taner muttered. "She's had more true loves than I can count."

  "Who's here now?" Katie stumbled in, her eyes half closed and sleepy.

  "Jo?" Joanne followed. "Did someone call my name?"

  "Joe Anderson," Katie gasped, apparently recognizing the man. Then her brow furrowed, and she started to say, "Weren't you killed when your shuttle crashed?"

  "Shhh!" Michael hissed, showing up at the door and nodding his head toward Joanne. "She doesn't need the details. You can spare her at least that."

  "Is that my father?" Joanne cried, while Caroline and Joe hugged and kissed.

  "I'm pregnant," Caroline announced.

  "We'll be married right away," Joe declared. "Oh Caroline, you've just made me the happiest man alive."


  "You're not alive," Taner grumbled. "You've been dead for twenty-five years. Has this plane been diverted to Hell, or is this all in my imagination?"

  "Let's tell the Captain," Caroline suggested. "We'll get a new cabin so the three of us can share. Tell her, Joe. She's standing right there. Captain Katie, can you help us out?"

  "Uh, sure," Katie replied and glanced at Michael and then at me. "I think we've got an open unit on Deck 14 in the aft. I'll need to check the records. Uh, can I get back to you later on this?"

  "That'd be awesome, Captain." Joe stood up and offered his hand to Katie. "And let me congratulate you on your promotion and the recent birth of your son. You're looking remarkably fit for having just delivered."

  "Uh, yeah." Katie nodded. "That pregnancy weight fell off just like that. It only took twenty-seven years to get back down to a size six."

  "I'll see you tonight, Caroline, my love. I've got to investigate the asteroid outside the ship."

  "Don't go!" Caroline screamed. "No, Joe! Don't do it."

  "Sorry, babe. I've got orders and you know I can't disobey."

  "Joe, please," Caroline wept. "I can't raise this baby all by myself. I need you. It's gotta be us three."

  Joe shook his head and made a noise with his lips. "Duty comes first, Caroline, not family."

  "Stop him, Katie," Caroline hissed. "If our friendship means anything to you, order another red shirt to check out that asteroid."

  Katie backed against the wall and put her hands on the top of her head. "It was my fault. I sent him on his mission. Oh god, Caroline, I'm so sorry. I never knew about you and him. Forgive me, I wish I could do it all over."

  "Would you send someone else to his death instead?" Michael asked. "Would your friendship with Caroline dictate you condemn another crewman?"

  "I don't know," Katie gulped as Joe departed the room.

  Joanne followed him out in the hall and held out her hand. "Dad," she called softly in a voice that only I heard.

  Then, Joe disappeared in the hole that all the other guys and dogs went through. Joanne buried her face in her hands and cried. Caroline sat in her bed and wept, while Katie leaned against the wall and clutching her stomach.