A/N: Okay.... I know I haven't updated this thing in a while, but I've been doing Harry Potter stuffs.... So it's much more understandable that I'm now updating this thing because I'm too busy drawing first year for Harriet and I have finished seventh year for Harry.

I just want to say... thank you to all who reviewed on this story. To those of you who don't wish to give up any reviews.... get stuffed! ::joking:: I really want reviews!





Chapter Four





"I think we're a sufficient distance away...." said Goddard. He wiped the sweat off of his face.

Harlan stopped the ship and walked away from the console. "That was close! I thought for sure they would see us...."

"Don't be too sure about that..." came Suzee's voice.

Suzee was standing in the corridor with Freya beside her. Freya was playing with her green hair absent-mindedly. She was humming something unknown to herself. "What do you mean, Suzee?" asked Harlan.

"Meaning, that if what Freya here has told me of them, they will be coming after us again." Suzee said as she indicated Freya.

Freya looked up. "What? Did I say something?"

Suzee slapped herself in the forehead in frustration. "Freya...." she growled. Freya was beginning to get on her nerves with the constant switching of her personality.

"She's back in ditz mode again...." drawled Bova.

Freya's eyes suddenly went red. She walked toward Radu stiffly. Radu stared at her as she came toward him. "F-Freya...? What are you doing....?"

Then, he noticed that she wasn't looking at him. She was looking above him. He glanced up, but didn't see anything. Then, he saw a small crack in the bulkhead above him. "The virus is getting worse...." she said.

"Virus? What virus....." asked Goddard. "What are you talking about...."

"The Shekra's most powerful weapon is their ship virus. If they detect that a ship they are fighting has bio-tech systems.... They use it on the ship. It is a virus that tears a ship apart from the inside out." Freya said. Radu was beginning to be afraid of those red eyes of hers.

Then, they became blue again. She smiled at Radu cheerfully. "At any rate, we bolstered Christa's immune system, so it should help her battle the virus...." she giggled.

"I have a question...." said Goddard in his authoritative tone. "Why are those things out there after you....."

Freya stared at Commander Goddard blankly. "Are you addressing me?"

Goddard started feeling a vein throbbing in his forehead. "Yes... I am..."

"Well... what do you want to know?"

She was starting to do it to him again. "I asked why those Shekra people are after you...!" He said through gritted teeth.

Freya stared at him with the same blank look. "Um.... because I'm cute?" She shrugged.

"You mean you don't know?" Goddard said through grinding teeth.

"You know... you could do with a massage or something... you are entirely too high strung...." Freya said with a cheerful smile.

"I AM NOT HIGH STRUNG!" Goddard growled. He started massaging his temples. He then, said a mantra to keep his brain from giving him another migraine. "I'm not going crazy... I am not going crazy..." Then, he walked out of the command room.

"She did it again! She gave the commander a migraine!" Harlan laughed.



That night, THELMA made the extra bunk in the girls' quarters for Freya. "You have a bed now. Sleep tight!" THELMA said with a smile.

"I know I will!" Freya said cheerfully.

THELMA walked out of the quarters, leaving Rosie, Suzee and Elmira in the room. Suzee sat down on her bed and watched Freya with a suspicious eye. It unnerved her to have this girl in here.

Elmira watched Freya carefully. She sensed something about this girl that she had not anticipated. She couldn't pin point it, however. Then, the cleansing sea washed over her senses again.

"Why are you here....?" Elmira asked.

Freya turned and stared at Elmira blankly. "Is something wrong?"

"No... I was just curious....."

Freya hugged the stuffed animal Rosie had lent her. It was squishy and soft. "I..." Suzee suddenly saw something in her mind. It was coming from the malfunctioning brain of Freya. "I.... um...."

Suzee concentrated on what flashed in her mind. It was like a great sea washing over her, taking her under the water and raising her again. "I don't remember...." Freya said.

"Aw..." Rosie walked over to Freya and patted her on her back. "It's okay... you can sleep with him tonight...." she said as she poked the stuffed animal in Freya's arms.

Freya shook her head and handed the stuffed toy to Rosie. "I'm fine, Rosie... can anyone tell me where Hunter is?"

"What's that?" asked Suzee.

"My pet selcra.... He was on the ship with me...." Freya said. Then, she gasped. "Oh no! What if he burned up with my ship!"

"Are you talking about that cat-monkey thing that Harlan came on board with perched on his head?" asked Suzee.

"Oh good... he's alright, then... but where on this ship could he be....?" Freya said. She jumped down from her bed and started for the door.

"Well... I'm not ready to go to bed yet... I'll help you look..." said Suzee.

"I will too..." said Rosie.

"No... I'll be fine... nothing to worry about!" Freya beamed at them. "Go ahead and go back to bed..."

Suzee still had that nagging feeling that Freya had more going on about her than what she appeared to be. She watched as Freya walked out of the girls' quarters and disappeared. "There's something not quite right about her...." she said.

"I agree...."

Suzee turned to Elmira, who was sitting peacefully on her bunk. She stared at Suzee placidly. "Every time I get near her... I get an image of water washing me away...." Elmira stated.

"That's funny.... I wonder why?" said Rosie.

"I had the same flash when I was trying to probe her mind...." Suzee said. Rosie stared at Suzee oddly. "I know I don't do that.... but there's just something odd about her that she isn't telling us...."

"Or that she can't remember it..." said Rosie.

"Either way... we've got to be careful about her..." Suzee walked to the door and opened it. "I'm going to go out and look for her."



Freya walked along the corridor. She touched the ship's hull and felt the virus spreading. She sighed. It would take a while for the Christa to battle the virus before they could fully use her.

She heard something down the corridor in front of her. It sounded like the mew of a selcra. She smiled. Hunter would be near. She missed her pet.

She walked along until she came to a door. It looked like the girls' quarters, but she knew she couldn't be back at the door yet. The ship didn't run in a circle.

She opened the door and walked in. The room was a complete disaster zone. "Where am I...." she said. "Hunter? Are you in here?"

"No.... but I am...." came Radu's voice. He sat up in bed and stared at Freya. She was wearing one of the issued pajamas. "What are you doing in here.... If Miss Davenport catches you...." He yawned and rubbed some sleep out of his eyes.

"Who? Oh... you mean the high strung lady with the bob?" Freya said. She came into the room further. "I doubt she could do much to me...."

Freya glanced around the room. Harlan wasn't in his bed and Bova was fast asleep. "Where's that kid, Harlan?"

"No clue... I heard him get up not too long ago and go out the door...." Radu said. He scooted over on his bed and leaned back on his hands.

Freya sat on his bed and pulled her legs up so that she sat Indian style, her hands holding onto her ankles. "I met your girlfriend, Elmira.... she's cute... for a reptile..." Freya said with a grin.

Radu blushed. "Well... she isn't exactly my girlfriend..." Radu regained his composure and coughed.

Freya turned to him. "How old is everyone on board? Where are they from?"

Radu was startled by the question. "Er... well... I'm from Andromeda and how old I am.... well... I've somewhat lost count.... By Earth standards, though... I'm not that old..."

"Oh... well... what about Suzee?"

"Her?", Radu blushed, "Well... I don't know... she never said anything and as far as where she's from... she already said she was from a planet called Yesnid."

"Harlan?"

"Why don't you just plug into the computer and find out? Or ask THELMA... she'll tell you..." Radu suddenly thought of something. "Why are you asking anyway...."

"Call it curiosity...."

Radu considered her. "What about you... can you calculate how old you are in Earth years?"

"I don't have a standard...., but... If I..." She turned to Radu and stared at him. He felt something in his mind and he immediately shut her out. She grimaced. "Don't worry... I won't peek into your private thoughts... I'm surprised, though... you've gotten really good at shutting me out...."

Radu regarded her a moment. Then, he sighed. "All right... go ahead..."

The sensation came into his brain again. Her blue eyes, like water, seemed to seep into his own. He felt as though he was getting a nice shower inside his head. Then, almost as soon as it started, it disappeared. He shook his head a moment to bring himself back into reality.

"Fifteen...."

Radu stared at her. "What?"

"The Earth moves almost the same speed as my own planet, so it wasn't too hard for me to calculate the time. According to the Earth's rotation and the calender they use, I am Fifteen..." she said.

Then, suddenly, a blue cat like creature jumped up onto Freya's shoulders. It purred as it nuzzled her neck. "Hunter! There you are!"

"This is Hunter? That's that strange thing we brought aboard when we brought you here...." Radu said. Upon closer inspection, Radu saw that Hunter had scales on his neck and feet.

"Don't worry... he won't bite you..." Freya coaxed Radu. She took one of his hands and placed it on Hunter. "Go on and pet him...."

Radu patted the creature. The cat thing purred and it's tail lazily swept around Freya. "He's much nicer to me now than he was when I came aboard your ship..."

Freya gazed at Radu. "What did you think of my ship?"

Radu looked up at her and blushed. "U-Um... I-I....I guess you could say it was n-nice.... I.. I mean there were only a bunch of wires sparking and you were passed out on your console completely drenched. There was a fire and smoke... I couldn't see too clearly...." Radu stammered out.

She was silent. She just stared into space like it was the most interesting thing in the galaxy. Radu realized that she wasn't acting as she had been. She wasn't ditzy like she was that afternoon. What is she hiding..., he thought.

"Suzee's lookin' for me... That girl just doesn't trust me..." Freya said in irritation. A smile played across her lips suddenly. "Maybe she thinks I'm going to take you and Harlan away from her....." She leaned in close to Radu.

"U-Um..." Radu started to say something, but thought better of it. He leaned back to widen the gap that she was trying to close between them. "I'm sure she's just curious about where you were going...."

The grin widened. She leaned in closer to him. He scooted back until his head hit the bulkhead. Then, almost too quickly, she kissed the tip of his nose and jerked back. Harlan had walked in when she got off of Radu's bed.

He grinned at Radu. "Really... And should I congratulate you now, or later, Radu....?"

Radu was shaking. He glared at Harlan as Freya walked past him, ramming her shoulder into his. Harlan massaged his shoulder in pain, but kept his grin. "Should I tell Elmira now or later about your new girlfriend....?"

Radu glared at Harlan. "Oh.. Shut up!"

"No... seriously! What did you do while sleeping beauty here snored away...?" Harlan said as he got onto his bunk and indicated Bova.

"She was just asking me questions... Like... how old we all are..." Radu said as he laid down in his bed.

"And?"

"I told her that she should go look into the computer..." Radu growled.

"I wonder how old she is...." Harlan said. "Like it matters, though... her planet could have inhabitants like you... grow old quickly."

"She's fifteen... and she said her planet's rotation period is similar to yours..." Radu said sharply. He pulled the blanket up over his head. It was uncomfortable, but he didn't feel like being questioned by the Cheshire cat in the next bunk.

"So... did she kiss you good night or something?" Harlan grinned at the back of Radu. He didn't even need to see Radu. He knew that he was turning about as red as an apple right now.

"N-No!" Radu hunkered into his blanket even more. "N-Now... Go to sleep!"

"Sure... Radu.... Whatever...."