Doppelgänger 23

Alexis didn't get it. What in hell was her father doing way out here? She hadn't been able to raise him coming up on 2 years. It didn't help that she had chosen to spend every last penny she had on a ship-wide systems upgrade. That alone had cost her months. She'd ended up just sitting around doing almost nothing.

There was a benefit to that down time, however. Her ship's scanners, weapons, armor, communications, medical – almost everything on board – was working better than ever. A lot of what she now had was state of the art. It was only because of all those upgrades that she had been able to verify the coordinates she had for his last location.

Right now she was sitting in her upgraded science section and was analyzing the latest piece she had recovered from space. It was from her dad's ship, of that she had no doubt. "Okay, Dad, what did you do?"

"If I had a terminal breakdown, what would I do?" Alexis asked herself. "No, a better question is what did you do? What stupid thing did you do next?" She hated trying to think like her father; it usually gave her a headache.

"I told you to update, dammit. Would it have been so hard to listen?" She tapped the table with her finger. "Map, I need a map." That got her up and back into her cockpit where she started looking around where her ship currently was.

"Too far, everything was dying, all you had left was the pod. Not enough fuel, not enough fuel…" she muttered. "Only the pod with limited supplies and limited…" Suddenly she had a stupid idea.

"Just what you would do. Here." She tapped her screen. Alexis started looking up what her computer – that was also upgraded – had on this sector. "Nothing… just the place you would go to. The middle of nowhere." She began smiling. She had a lead; she strapped herself in and set a course.

"One big jump for you, Dad, and one little course correction for me." Alexis had her lead; her course was set and her ship started moving to get there.

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It had only taken a few short hours and all the while she was picking up transmissions coming from a single planet in the system. "Good grief, they're broadcasting all over the place. Video, audio over every low band there is. Yet nothing on the upper bands, let alone…" She could contact anyone she wanted outside of this system and it looked like everyone inside the system. She just had to adjust her broadcast frequencies.

Alexis wanted to call out for her father now, but decided to wait. It took just a couple of hours to get close enough to do a deep scan of the system.

"Interesting planet…" She started chuckling. "Completely surrounded by junk in orbit." It told her this planet was primitive yet had probably been trying for years to get out into space.

First she did a scan of the planet's natural satellite to determine if his pod had crashed there. Not finding anything, she chose to move her ship into a high orbit above the vast amount of junk that surrounded the planet.

"Sara, begin a scan of all of the objects that are in orbit. Specifically look for anything that might have been part of Dad's pod using the standard materials used for his class of ship."

"Beginning scan, estimated time to completion is six hours. Be advised that this planet has a primitive scanning capability that has likely already seen us," Sara announced.

"I doubt they can do anything about it. Please complete the scan. I'm going to set up and launch a couple of probes."

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Alexis was looking at the results of the first probe that she'd sent down into the atmosphere. "A little dirty, but based on their level of technology it's to be expected. The planet appears to be in the very early stages of an ice age. Their pollution's exposing them to various dangers. Typical." She'd seen it all before.

"This planet is apex. 73% water, most of it salt water. I'll bet this planet was amazing before they achieved this level of technology. Just think… a simple house on the beach with nothing to worry about." Alexis started dreaming.

Then Sara signaled her. "What have you got, Sara?" Alexis brought it up on her screen. "Damn it!" She pounded the table. "Daddy!" She felt her tears run down her face. "Analysis Sara?" Alexis wanted – no needed – more information.

"Designated piece is from the interior of the pod in question. There are indications that it is burnt," Sara informed her.

"Burnt? Speculate type of fire required to achieve this type of burn. It can't be from re-entry or it would have been completely burned up." It gave her a tiny amount of hope.

"Chemical composition would suggest that this piece was exposed to atmosphere prior to being burnt. How it was captured in orbit is unclear." Sara was good at being a cold-blooded scientist, though her ability to reach conclusions based on hope was severely limited.

"So Dad's pod made it to atmosphere before it exploded. The explosion threw debris everywhere including back into orbit where it was captured by this planet." Alexis tried to think of a possibility that meant her dad was still alive.

"Maybe he jumped!" She was all over that possibility since it meant he was alive somewhere, or at least had been at the time. It also meant she'd made up her mind.

"Sara, prep the shuttle. It's time to go lower and do some scanning." Alexis hoped to get lucky.

"Caution, this planet has the capability to track and follow your shuttle. It is also probable that they have the wherewithal to shoot you down," Sara warned.

Alexis knew her new shuttle was very capable and it was possible that anything this planet had couldn't keep up with her. Still she would need to be careful. "Acknowledged, I'm still going. If Dad's down there I'm going to find him."

Her first task was getting past all of the junk, made easier because her shuttle was not her dad's pod. It was much larger, being 14 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 6 feet tall, and was far more maneuverable. "Maybe if I'm not the only object that's leaving orbit…" Alexis pondered just as she detached from her ship. "Sara, fire the close in weapons and force a number of the items in orbit to lose orbit. I'm going to follow one or more of them down into the atmosphere." She had an idea on just how to hide.

"Acknowledged… firing now." Alexis watched several shots hit a number of the devices that in turn one or more struck another item and soon there were various units headed into the planet's atmosphere.

She could see that the objects she was following were headed for one of their larger bodies of water. It separated two of the larger continents.

"Now where are you, Dad?" She knew her father had skill even if he did spend his money on other things.

A quick scan of the life forms told her that this planet's locals, she, and her dad were far too similar to find him. It was like finding a needle in a hay stack.

"If he had time to get into his pod, then he would take everything with him. That meant he would have taken his wristbands with him." That had Alexis smiling since those she could scan for with her new scanners. "It's a big planet," she sighed, thinking it was going to take time.

Alexis halted her plummet toward the planet a little short of entering the water and just hovered there. "Sara, can you scan and send the scan results down to me?" Sara was in orbit meaning she could see more of the planet than Alexis could. Sara used the parameters of what Alexis had sent and left Alexis hanging there, waiting. Until finally she got a signal. "Yes! Analysis please, Sara."

"The material scanned is typical for the bracers you and Richard Rodgers utilize. Power reading suggests that both of them are still operational," Sara reported. Alexis set her course and applied power to get there as quickly as possible.

A moment later she heard, "Alexis, suggest you activate your rear video monitor," Sara advised. Alexis activated the monitor and saw that she was leaving behind a very large plume of water that sprayed high up into the sky.

"Oops." She reduced power till the spray was gone. Unfortunately it meant she wasn't going to get there as fast as she wanted. But she didn't need to advertise her location, either.

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Then came the next major challenge. The coordinates she had been given were in the middle of what was turning out to be a large city. And worse, the sun was still out. Meaning if she got any closer she would easily be spotted. Alexis decided to wait till the sun went down, so she reduced power, settled down onto the water, and set the controls to hover there just a couple of feet above the waves. "Roughly three hours till sunset." She dropped her head until her chin reached her chest. She was so near and had already waited such a long time. Being this close and not able to go to him made her heart ache.

She woke up to a beeping sound. She was on her little bed that was barely big enough for her. Looking out the viewport it told her it was dark. "Finally!" She swung her legs over the side, stood up, and stretched to get the blood moving again.

The city turned out to be interesting. It was filled with older buildings that ranged in size from tens of feet tall to hundreds of feet tall. They were actually a mix of brick and steel. And there were transportation units. She saw a lot of those as they traveled across black areas that were laid out in strips that went everywhere.

Finally her scans showed that she was directly above the location of the wristbands.

Alexis powered down and set the controls so that it would hover just a foot above the roof. She seriously doubted that this building could handle the shuttle's weight. "Right below me and just a few feet below that." She sighed in relief. Then she saw something that gave her hope. "He's moving." She felt her tears start to roll down her face. Logic told her that it was just the wristbands, but her heart told her that it was her dad.

Stepping out onto the roof told her that she was right. This roof would never have held the weight of her shuttle. She pulled out a weapon, shot the lock off of the door that was on the roof, and looked inside. It was a set of stairs leading down.

Once down to the floor below she pulled out her scanner and quickly found the wristbands; they'd moved yet again. In fact they were presently moving a little.

She was soon standing outside of a door which left her in a quandary. Should she blast it open and step inside or knock and wait for someone to answer? She chose to knock and watched her scanner that showed the wristbands headed right for her. Her dad was going to open the door. Her heart pounded. After almost two years he was just the other side of this door.

She retracted her scanner as the door opened. "DADDY!"Alexis launched herself at him, wrapped her arms around him, and started crying.

At first Rick was too shocked to even do anything. He knew that it was Alexis, but why had she knocked since she had a key? "Alexis?" He didn't understand what was going on, why she was behaving that way.

"Hi Dad," Alexis said into his shoulder and kept crying. "It's been two long horrible years, but I found you." Her tears doubled as she squeezed him even tighter.

"ALEXIS!" It finally dawned on him just which Alexis this was. "How… You…" Rick was at a loss as to what to say.

She let go of him and wiped furiously at her tears. "You've gone native." She began to chuckle. He was obviously wearing local clothing while she was wearing something that looked more like a uniform.

Alexis looked past him and saw the space filled with boxes stacked up all over the place. "Dad…?" She was curious and then her thoughts were interrupted.

A woman's voice rang out. "LILY ANN CASTLE! You come back here!" A completely naked small girl came running out of a room and around a box. She smiled gleefully and laughed; what she was doing was fun. Then she saw someone and ran toward her. She slammed right into Alexis and wrapped her arms around her legs. "LEXI!" Her voice sounded so happy to see her.

It wasn't that Alexis hated being hugged. The little girl was clearly not a danger though her contact lens was giving her a warning about the child, just not a very urgent one. "Dad?" Alexis was confused.

"Lily, sweetheart, come to Daddy." Rick bent down, rescued his daughter's legs from his younger daughter, and picked the little girl up. Lily, however, only had eyes for her big sister.

"DADDY?!" Alexis was now really confused.

"Lily Ann Castle," the same woman's voice called. Rick and Alexis turned their heads to see Kate step out of the room still holding the diaper from which Lily had escaped.

"DEMON!" Alexis was fast as she reacted to the warning that showed up in her left contact lens. She lifted her right arm, pulled out a weapon, and fired.

"ALEXIS!" Rick was almost as fast. He slapped her arm up and the shot missed Kate, but not by much. Since it wasn't a death round and simply a capture round, it hit the empty shelves and dissipated.

"What the hell, Dad?" Alexis was shocked yet again.

Lily clapped her hands over her ears. "Bad." She knew her sister had said a bad word.

"That's… That's my wife." He knew what this looked like to her. She just didn't know what had happened since he'd been gone.

"Your WHAT?!"Surely she had heard wrong. Her dad would never marry a demon. Unless… Alexis raised her weapon again only to have her dad smack her arm.

"Yes, wife. Now put it away." Rick hated to be abrupt with her but he couldn't let her kill or attempt to capture Kate. Especially with Lily watching everything. "Alexis."

"Rick, babe?" Kate was equally confused. Why had Alexis attempted to shoot her? She thought Alexis loved her. They had grown very close over the last two years.

"Come take Lily and get her dressed." Rick offered up their little girl, waiting for Kate to move closer and take her from him. "Just give us a minute."

Kate walked very slowly and warily then took Lily from Rick. Once she was closer she became aware that there was something off about Alexis. She stared at an Alexis who was staring at her. "You're Alexis. Rick's Alexis." She looked at her husband while keeping a wary eye on the young woman. "I'm… I mean, I didn't… It's nice to meet you. I'll let you two talk. Come on Lil, let's get you dressed then we can go see Gramps."

Lily's thoughts were now off her big sister and onto her grandfather. "Gramp!" She was excited to go see him. She waved at Alexis as her mother carried her back into the bedroom to dress her.

Alexis was all over her father the second Kate and Lily were gone from view. "What the hell, Dad?!"

"It's a long story." And he wasn't sure just where to begin.

"Make it short before I shoot both of you." Shoot the demon and take her in for the reward and shoot her father so she could take him to a facility and have him reconditioned to escape being charmed by a succubus.

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Kate had taken her time getting her daughter dressed and was now on the bed tickling her in an attempt to distract her from what was happening with Alexis and her father. Going to her father's for dinner tonight was most likely canceled now which presented a problem for all of them. They had little to no food in the house. Maybe a little something for Lily but that was about it.

She was hugging and kissing her daughter, doing her best to eavesdrop on what was happening in the other room. She didn't hear anything which was beginning to worry her. Kate picked up Lily and went to the doorway. "Is it safe?"

Rick answered her call. "You can join us, Kate." She cautiously walked into the living room where she found her husband and Alexis sitting on the sectional. They were facing each other with maybe a bit too much space between them.

Kate chose a chair in front of them. "What do you know?" she asked looking at Alexis.

"That my crazy father…"

Rick growled, "Alexis!" He glared a warning at her.

"That my dad fell in love with a succubus, married her, and had a child with her." Alexis wasn't happy about any of that.

"I swear I didn't charm him; your father married me willingly. I'm not evil, even if the rest of my kind are. I escaped from my world and ended up here. I love your father, Alexis, with all of my heart and would do anything to defend him," Kate told her, hoping against hope that the young woman would believe her.

"She has – more than once, too." Their last two years of working in the 12th Precinct hadn't been easy for either of them.

"I love him too much to lose him. Has he explained how we came to be who we are?" Kate queried, meaning did she know that Kate was living the life of someone else as was her father.

"A little, yes. You, I can understand since you can change your shape. Dad, however… It's hard to believe that there are or were two of him." Alexis was still trying to process that and everything else.

"Hey!" Rick felt insulted and listened to his wife laugh a little at his expense.

"So what now? I love your father and I'm not giving him up, or our child." Kate hugged Lily who was still staring at her big sister.

"Lexi?" Lily reached out her arms since she wanted to be held by her big sister.

"She thinks that you're her sister, Alexis. The other Alexis," Kate said and held onto Lily.

"Another me." That had Alexis chuckling softly which seemed to break some of the ice. "What's all this?" She waved her hand at all the boxes.

"We're moving, we need the space," Rick replied.

Alexis glanced around, puzzled. This place looked more than big enough for the three of them. And just when had she accepted that her dad was involved with a succubus and that she wasn't doing anything about it?

Kate dropped her bomb. "I'm pregnant again." Alexis's eyes widened in shock.