Stacey>
It was another holiday with absolutely nothing to do. There was nothing
worth watching on the tube so I decided to go see Darrax. He's sort of
my boyfriend, if you can call a six-foot walking hedge trimmer a boyfriend.
At first my sister Nicole wasn't all that psyched about me having a relationship
with an alien, but she finally accepted the fact that we were going to
be together no matter what. I even threatened to trap myself in Hork-Bajir
morph so she would chill out. I morphed to golden eagle and flew to Yellowstone
Park (or as my brother Jason calls it: Jellystone Park). Darrax was sitting
in a tree eating some tree bark when I arrived.
"Hey Dar," I said as I finished morphing. "Eating lunch?"
"I'd ask you to join me, but you're metabolism is different from mine."
"I've eaten anyway."
Darrax finished his piece of bark and jumped down from his branch.
"What are you doing here I thought you had school?"
"Holiday. Columbus Day or something."
"Glad you've come, there's a... problem. Erek the Chee is here."
I didn't like the hesitation on the word "problem". If Erek was here
then the news definitely wasn't good. I followed him to where Toby was
and saw a boy standing next to her. But I knew the "boy" was actually a
holographic projection that was disguising an android underneath. He turned
and smiled.
"Hey Stacey."
"Erek. What's the matter?"
"A spacecraft has landed in Kansas. We don't know if the occupants
are friend or foe yet. Some of my people are keeping watch now," he said.
"Let me guess, you want me and the others to investigate, right?"
"You know the Chee are programmed for nonviolence, so if they do get
hostile we have no way of stopping them."
I sighed. "Okay, I'll go get them."
"I'll come with you," Darrax said.
I morphed golden eagle and he morphed red-tail hawk. We flew back to
the city and split off into different directions to save time. I stopped
at Cheyenne's house first. Her mother came to the door.
"Oh hi Stacey," she smiled as she greeted me.
"Hi Aunt Lihn. Is Cheyenne home?"
"She's upstairs. Come on in."
"Thanks. How's the baby doing?"
"Fine. Marco's trying to feed him now if you want to see him."
I went into the kitchen as Lihn went upstairs to get Cheyenne. Marco
was sitting in a chair bottle-feeding the new baby. His shirt and pants
looked like they had been used as target practice for a flock of condors.
We're talking baby barf city.
"Hi Uncle Marco."
Okay, I know what you're thinking. No we're not related in any way.
But my dad was such good friends with him and the others that they're like
a family to all of us, so we just call them Aunt or Uncle. The only one's
I'm related to are Dad's cousin Rachel and her husband Tobias, making them
my second-cousins. But I like calling them Aunt Rachel and Uncle Tobias.
"How you doing Stace?" he asked.
"Fine," I walked over and looked down at the baby. "Hi Mark."
"Wanna hold him?"
"As long as you didn't shake him up."
"Nah. I like you."
Marco had a habit of shaking Mark after he had just ate and handing
him to people he didn't like. That kid spewed like a fire hydrant too.
I took him carefully in my arms. He had his dad's Hispanic skin tone and
hair and his mother's Asian eyes. The name Mark was short for Marco Jr.
Cheyenne came down to the kitchen. "What's up?"
I gave the baby back to Marco and took her into the living room where
we could have some privacy. "We need to go to Kansas," I told her.
"Kansas? Why?"
"Erek said a ship landed there and he doesn't know if it will be trouble.
Darrax is getting Travis and Ketara. I'm going to get Michael and we'll
meet back at my place."
Cheyenne went back into the kitchen and hugged her parents and kissed
the baby. It has become sort of a pre-battle tradition just in case some
of us didn't make it back. We've had one too many close encounters with
death, especially me. They knew why she was doing what she was and knew
what to possibly expect.
"Stacey? You bring her home safely," Lihn told me.
"It's against my better judgment, but I'll do what I can do."
Cheyenne punched me in the shoulder. "Thanks a lot!"
We flew to Michael's apartment. Tobias and Rachel were sitting on the
couch as Michael came to the door. I explained everything and he gave his
parents a hug and kiss and told them he loved them, then we went back to
my house and waited for the others. One by one they flew through my window
and demorphed.
"I thought I was never gonna get to leave," Travis complained. "My
mom just kept hugging me. I nearly suffocated, she was squeezing me so
hard."
"Are there any other complaints that need to be noted? If not then
let's get started."
"Are you ill cause you sure are being a major bitch," Jason said.
I glared at him. "Shut up or I'll tell Dad about your weekend at the
lake with what's-her-name."
"Her name's Lisa and nothing happened."
"You can't fool eagle eyes," I said.
"You spied on us?!"
"If nothing happened then why are you so worried?"
He let it drop, but I could hear him cursing me under his breath. I
laid out the plan: we would go to Kansas and investigate the new arrival.
If they were looking to cause trouble then we would run them off the planet.
It seemed simple enough. I dismissed everyone and went downstairs with
Jason and Nicole. Mom was in the kitchen fixing dinner while Dad was fixing
the VCR. I knelt down and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"What's this for?" he asked. I pulled away and looked at him. I didn't
have to say anything, my eyes had said it all. He nodded. "Be careful."
"Always," was all I said to him.
I stood up and went to give my mother a hug good-bye. Hopefully it
wouldn't mean good-bye. We headed towards Kansas in bird morph, stopping
long enough to remorph every couple of hours. It took many hours for us
to get to our final destination and by then I severely exhausted from changing
shape so many times. Plus I really had to pee.