Dymar is merged with Kansas, and has settled in and has moved to the city where humans are more plentiful.
Dymar Parts 4-6
(c) By Py, 10/22/98
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4. Breakfast at Steve's
For hours the huge mass of protoplasm lay on Steve's bed. It pulsed slightly from time to time, but otherwise it remained motionless. As dawn arrived, it slowly began to split down the middle, until within an hour their were 2 separate masses, one on either side of the bed, with only a few strands connecting them. Eventually, these strands also separated. One of the two masses began to change shape around the edges, molding and forming itself into Kansas. She swung her legs out and went into the bathroom for a shower. Upon returning from a refreshing hot shower, she went to the bed, and bending over with one hand on the other mass, she said in a sing song manner, "Come on, wake up now." Grabbing her clothes off the floor, she sat in a chair and began to dress. The other mass began to move at the edges, and slowly turned into Steve.
'Owww, What a headache!" Steve complained. Kansas grinned, "That's nothing, you should feel mine, or you will when you start merging and splitting at the same time." "What exactly does all that mean?" he asks as he holds one hand to his head. Kansas sighs, "You'll know it all in a little while, but let me try to explain. Remember last night?" Steve smiles, "How could I forget, it was great!" then he frowned, "Then there was all this jelly stuff, it covered us. No, you covered me, and I blacked out." Kansas grinned, "Very good, but think harder, you died, or should I say you should've died, but I merged with you, and then instead of the final step which would discard this merger in place of one with you, I split myself. Now, we are both merged, both part of Dymar." "I seem to recall something...." he said. Kansas stood and began leaving, "Get dressed, I'll throw something together for breakfast for both of us. A bit of food will replace mass, we lose a lot in splitting, It's so energy consuming, and we can't do it again for some time even if we immediately replace the mass." She smiled, "Give it time, it'll come to you, we always lose a few ancient memories permanently doing this, but most return quickly, and the rest will return in a week or two by this worlds calendar.
As they sat at the kitchen table eating fried eggs and toast, Steve asked, "I remember a bit now, so what's next, and what do we do?" Kansas drank some orange juice, "First thing is we lie low for a while. Just go about your normal routine, don't ever let anyone see your other form. Somewhere over a month from now, we will have recovered fully, and will be able to merge and split with someone else. But whatever you do, I cannot stress strongly enough, no one can know we exist. I doubt they can stop us, except by identifying us and keeping us at arms length, but it's not worth the risk either way. Oh yes, be careful of alcohol, and under no circumstances eat blueberries." Steve dunked his toast, and ate a mouthful, "What of absorbing, merging, and splitting? I remember the words, but don't understand them." Kansas chewed and swallowed, "Different aspects of the same thing. To absorb, you merely allow yourself to engulf something by letting all or part of yourself shift and come in contact. I could show you with the breakfast, but we can only do living things or very recently dead things. We otherwise can take in food normally." Kansas laughed, "Actually, it's good that we can't absorb dead things, or else if you shifted, you might merge with the chair, or the table also. Last night we could've merged with the bed, or the floor, then where would we be." Kansas swallowed more food, "Now, mostly it's pretty automatic, like a human reflex, and if you allow the absorption to continue, nothing will remain of the victim, and you get fed. You must in this case get rid of excess mass, in private, and in the same manner you used to relieve yourself before, and do not leave unsightly white puddles around unless there's no choice." "Mass?" He inquires. "Yes, yes, mass." she answers. "If you absorb something, you gain it's mass, which makes you heavier, restricts movement, and is a dead give away to anyone who notices the change, and is curious enough. We don't need any curious doctors or whatever poking around."
Wiping up egg yolk with her last bit of toast she continued, "Now, if you make the conscious effort, you can control the absorption, and it becomes merging. You become one with the living being, sharing minds forever, just as you and I are now part of Dymar. When merging is complete, the old body is consumed, and you forget how to duplicate it, while adding the total knowledge and mind of the new being, and a merging means you can simply shift from the new form to Dymar's form as needed. We can make minor alterations of an existing form, weather you duplicated or merged with it, such as a shark form I once added another shark eye to, and this form where I did some minor alterations to make it more attractive." Kansas put her dishes in the sink and turned around to face Steve, "Don't even think about merging with someone unless your ready to deal with the loss of the old body, taking a new disguise, and trying to avoid or deal with police looking for a missing person."
"in merged form, you still are you, mostly. Your you, but your not you, your Dymar also. Can't explain in words any better, you'll understand in time." Kansas says with a shrug. She sits back down, "Now, everything will come to you in a short while, you've already got a lot, and in about 2 weeks you'll know as much as I do." She sits straight, "Splitting is another subject, but you'll understand it fully before your able to do it. We must split, finding the best minds, adding them to our ranks, and eventually we will be able to build a starship. I added you because of your computer knowledge, and your contacts, otherwise I would have either absorbed you when no one would suspect me, or left you alone entirely.
As Steve put his dishes in the sink, Kansas continued, "Best thing to do is avoid it all right now. You can't split yet, you shouldn't merge until you fully understand, and absorbing is tricky to hide sometimes, and should only be used by you in emergencies, until you have all your memories. Just eat, do your waste in private, don't let your mass change enormously, and in a couple of weeks you'll understand everything fully, and be ready to proceed on your own. Steve thought a moment, "One question, who or what are Crashaw, and what happened to them?" Kansas got up and escorted Steve into the living room, and they sat side by side on the sofa, "Crashaw," she began, "live about 12 light years away. Peaceful crab like beings with an interplanetary capability, they met Dymar as it arrived in the system. They saw the tall reptiloid form Dymar was merged with, and attempted friendship, Dymar arranged an accident while alone with one other Crashaw, an explosion that isolated them from view, and allowed Dymar plenty of time to abandon it's other form, and merge with the Crashaw. It took many hours to get them out, all they found was a wounded Crashaw, and a puddle of white liquid they could not understand but assumed must be the remains of the reptiloid. Time passed, Eventually a faster and bigger ship was created for a long journey, Dymar was naturally on that ship, and here we are."
Kansas smiled, there's the mind talk also, later we can all talk to each other by a sort of telepathy. It's not to be used too often, and it does take some effort, but someone has to use it to keep things organized for the starship project. I'm the first, so I get the job. If I die, it falls to someone else, probably you. Don't worry, the Dymar side of your mind deals with all of that." Steve smiled, "Okay, I think I understand enough, the rest will wait as you say, except one more small question." He begins to bend towards her on the sofa, "Do we still enjoy sex?" She wrapped her arms around his neck, and playfully said, "I can't speak for you, but I do. Want to find out?"
Later, Kansas told Steve of her reasoning about the slowness of merging while retaining the current merger. "So, it's much faster to absorb the current merger, then duplicate it, however you always lose something that way. The duplicate isn't as good, and you should try to stick with the merging for the best disguise and understanding of the local intelligent beings. That's not absolutely necessary unless a doctor checks you out, as when an injury occurs in front of witnesses, and you never get the chance to fix it in private. Keeping in a merged state means we can even fool doctors, but enveloping something while retaining a current merger, is much slower. That's why I had to get you into bed, so by the time you realized, it would be too late to escape." Kansas had Steve absorb a few plants for practice, and explained a few other things she thought he might need to know immediately. Finally, with him trying to coax her into the bedroom again, she broke away, and playfully said, "No, no, Janet is waiting for me, and she's going to be upset and curious enough."
Steve drove her home, escorted her into the building, and gave her a long kiss outside of Janet's apartment. As she watched Steve get into the elevator, she began fumbling in her purse for keys. She opened the door, and found Janet, wearing a long white bathrobe, and standing in the living room. Janet widely smiled, "Well, well, your not quite the strait-laced daughter the parents always wanted, now are you." She giggled, "Neither am I, how was he Sis?" Kansas threw her purse onto the sofa, "Wonderful, we were on the net all night." "The net, Right!?" Janet said with amusement. "Come on now, what do I look like? Tell me the details." Kansas told Janet about the places she and Steve had gone, the late night computer sessions, then the love making. She also told about breakfast, later events, but left out any references to Dymar."
Almost two weeks pass, Kansas spending most of her time with Janet, the rest with Steve, but finally Janet tells her that she must return to work. "We'll still have evenings together, and you know your way around pretty well without me, and what areas of the city to avoid." Janet smirks, "And I'm sure Steve will show you around if I can't." Kansas blushes, "Your terrible sis!" Later that first day she makes her first mental contact with Steve, so she heads over to his place. Laying next to each other in bed, she yawns, "The splitting took a lot out of me too, I was a bit weak for days, fuzzy headed, but I'm better now. How do you feel?" "Great!" he says as he begins to fondle her.
A week later, Kansas and Janet are returning to Janet's place. Janet is rambling on about her job, because several other employees are giving her a hard time about her recent promotion, and her relationship with Victor the owner. She continues in the apartment, her arms flailing as she gets louder. "Calm down Sis, they're jealous, that's all." soothes Kansas. Janet goes into the kitchen, "I know, but it still bugs the hell out of me. It's like, something in my head says they might be right. Maybe I am sleeping my way to the top." Kansas snaps, "No they're wrong! You've earned everything you have!" Janet begins chopping carrots with quick motions of a long kitchen knife. Janet begins to cry, and Kansas runs towards her. Janet cuts her finger with one chop, pulling her hands back with a yelp. She turns, and the knife plunges into Kansas's stomach. Kansas grabs the hilt of the knife, and Janet mumbles, "Oh my god, oh my god."
Kansas is shocked by the sudden pain. She grabs the knife, and sees red blood on her hands. Her legs begin to weaken, and she collapses to her knees, then backwards onto the floor. Janet bends over her, and in panic cries, "Oh my god!" Precious moments pass as Kansas lay bleeding, then quickly Janet runs to the phone. She dials, but gets no answer. Realizing she dialed wrong, she tries again. "Hang up the phone." a voice calls out. Janet swiftly turns to see a bloody Kansas struggling to her feet. "Hang up the phone, I'm fine." Kansas repeats again. Janet notices that the blood has stopped flowing, and what was outside of Kansas, except where it was on her clothes, was turning pink, then white with speckles of green. Janet stood with the phone in her hand, it began bleeping at her, and she reflexively hung it up. They stared at each other for nearly a minute, Janet whispered, approaching hysteria, "I stabbed you, your supposed to be dying." Kansas stepped towards her, "I'm not, it's a long story, I'm fine." Kansas slowly covered the distance between them, using soothing words and tones as she did. Janet tried to turn away as Kansas reached and held her. They embraced for many long moments, Janet crying into Kansas's shoulder as Kansas stroked her hair and spoke softly and soothingly. Eventually they worked their way into the living room, and sat on the sofa.
Holding each other as they sat, Kansas explained the whole thing. Somewhat calmer, Janet repeated, "So, your an alien named Dymar who crashed in the ocean. You live symbiotically by merging with another living being?" Kansas sat back, "Yes, my host was killed in the crash, his damage was too great for me to heal. I managed to survive, and reach land, but I had to take this host by force." Janet drew back, "Calm down." Kansas cooed, "We merged, and now that she understands, I will leave her unharmed whenever she chooses." Janet sniffed, "I'm not talking to my sister?" Kansas smiled, "Yes you are, but your talking to Dymar also. He, she, it, let's say he. He is part of me, so everything we do is both of us, but the host is still in charge." Kansas rose, "Oh dear, your still shaking. Let me get us some wine." She leaves and returns with 2 large glasses of wine.
She sits, and they drink, as she explains how she helps Kansas with health problems, keeping her safe from all diseases, while Kansas shelters the symbiote, and they each gain from a shared mind. Kansas then demonstrates her cleaning ability as she sends tiny tendrils into the fabric of her blouse, and the blood stains around her wound area all begin to change colors as before, then seem to seep into the clothing. Janet stares in amazement at Kansas's belly which now looks perfectly normal, except for a large hole in the material of her blouse. "I can't fix the blouse, I need a tailor for that sort of thing, or a new blouse." Janet giggles slightly, "Amazing, what you must save on cleaning bills." Kansas laughs, "Yes, but pronouns are a bitch."
They shared more wine, and Kansas explained other benefits they each get from the merging. She also explained how nobody else knows, and how Dymar planned to move from host to host, until eventually mankind made it into space, and then Dymar would hitch a ride back out into the void where it might one day reach home. Janet grew more and more comfortable with the idea, and after a long time of their talking technical stuff about Dymar, she began to ask about Steve. "No, Steve doesn't know." answered Kansas. "He has no idea, and yes if I had a child by him it would be his and Kansas's, Dymar would have no connection to the baby at all."
Janet's body began to relax and give in to the combination of stress, lack of sleep, and wine. Her head began to sag, and Kansas softly said, "Oh Sis, you've had a tough day, the people at the job, you stabbing me, the shock of Dymar, you need to rest." Kansas helped her to stand, then with one arm draped over her shoulders, she walked Janet into the bedroom. Janet was barely awake, and didn't argue as Kansas sat her down, removed her shoes, then stood her and removed her skirt and panties. Kansas sat her back down, and removed Janet's blouse and bra, then laid her down in the bed and covered her with the sheet.
Kansas stepped away, flipping off the light as she left Janet's room. She went to her own room, and changed into a new blouse, throwing the old one into the trash. Walking to the kitchen she began cleaning up the mess, then moved to the living room. A knock on the door, and Kansas let Steve in. "I came as soon as I heard your mental call, how much does she know." Steve asked. Their hands touched for several seconds as Kansas connected herself to him and transferred the memories of the entire evening. They separated and sat in the living room, Steve steepled his hands, "This makes her very dangerous, and neither of us can incorporate her into Dymar for at least 3 weeks. We should eliminate her." Kansas shouts, "I know that! Don't you think I know that!" Steve touches her arm, "Easy, I meant no offense, I was just thinking out loud. But quiet down, we don't want to wake her." Kansas lowered her voice, "No chance, she had plenty of wine, and her body doesn't hold it well, she'll sleep soundly for hours, perhaps longer as she hasn't slept well lately." Steve sighed, "So, you told her a lot of half truths, she seemed to buy it all, and you think she'll keep it quiet." "yes, I do." Kansas replied, "She'll help." Steve offers, "I've traveled much more than you on this world, people are funny. Sometimes they believe almost anything with only a person's word. Other times they don't believe undeniable facts before their noses."
They argue back and forth for an hour. As Kansas paces, Steve sits back and says, "Okay, here's what we're down to. We both agree that this is a very potentially dangerous situation. If one of us absorbs her, we can't split yet, so she's gone." Kansas steps towards him, "Dead, not gone, not eliminated, not disappeared, DEAD!!" "Shhhh" he quiets her, "Okay, then she's dead, and there will be police investigating her disappearance. On the other hand we can risk having her around for 3 weeks, then you or I..." "Me!" Kansas snaps. "Okay then, you can incorporate her into Dymar." He shakes his head, "Problem here is if she talks before then, and if anyone believes her, or tries to have her committed." He exhales deeply, "And of course, you could merge now, discarding your current body and taking hers, but there's still bound to be police around in that case also." Kansas sits, "Don't forget, we'd like to get Victor, and she's got a great chance to get him. As part of Dymar she has little to offer towards the starship project, neither have I, but she does meet people like Victor, like I brought you in, and that's gotta count for something." Steve holds her hand, "Sure it does, we need a number of people like that, to reach the people with the things we need, but consider the risk. Kansas, your the first, your the one to lead, it feels right, I guess first always leads. As first, and because she's your family, it's your choice." Kansas gets up, then walks to the bedroom door and stares at Janet.
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5. Aspects
Kansas enters the apartment, closing the door behind her, and hooking her purse on the back of a chair. She goes into the kitchen and gets a can of soda out of the fridge. Flipping through the paper, she looks at the daily reports on various mostly violent crimes and accidents in it's pages. She takes her drink and the paper to the living room, and sits in an overstuffed chair with large arms. After a while, a key rattles in the lock, and Janet enters the room carrying a bag of groceries, "Hi Kans, anything good in the paper. Like, maybe we won the lottery or something!?" Kansas smiles back at her, "Nope, nothing like that, but there's a sale at Victor's store!" Janet puts the bag on the bar between kitchen and living room, "Yeah, clearing out some old stuff to make room for new stuff. Want to go check it out? I don't get a store discount on sale items, but when it's gone the new things are more expensive." "No thanks." Kansas replies.
Kansas joins her in the kitchen, and grabs her hands, "Listen, you work all day, and all I do is hang around, let me put the groceries away, you go relax." Janet protests, but leaves after a while to sit in the living room. Kansas calls out, "Oh, there's a can of soda there, I just opened it, but you can have it. I'll get another when I finish here." "Thanks Sis." Janet says as she looks at the paper. When done, Kansas comes into the living room, and finding Janet on the sofa, she sits back in the chair she held before, and opens her new can of soda. After swallowing some soda, Janet smiles, "I can't believe how hard it is to keep this secret. I keep wanting to blurt it out, but I don't because people will think I'm nuts or something." "You haven't told anyone, not even Victor?" Kansas asks. "Nope, even though holding it in is really tough, especially when Victor talks about possible life in outer space. These last 3 weeks have been torture!" Janet drinks some more, "Funny thing is I could easily stab you in front of people, but I can't imagine doing that, so I can't prove anything. And, even if I could, I can't turn my sister into some sort of freak show for the scientists. You know them, even after Dymar moves on, they'd want to study every inch of you."
Janet flips through the paper as Kansas tilts her head, "I'm ready to move on now." Janet stares, "You mean leave my sister?" Kansas smiles, "Yes, Steve knows now, and he's agreed to take the symbiote Dymar for a while. It'll be sorta lonely in this body all by myself again, but Dymar says he'd rather not stay in any one body too long. He says it's not good for him, and he doesn't want the host to become dependent." Janet yawns slightly, "How does he switch?" Kansas smiles, "We have to get close, so Steve and I will make love. Afterwards, while we're asleep, Dymar will seep out of me, and into him. Simple really, but we'll have something to quiet our nerves and make sure we stay asleep during the transfer." Janet yawns, prompting Kansas to say, "I think you ought to take a nap Sis, your beat." "No." Janet responds, "and drinks some more." After a while Janet begins to droop in her seat, she drops the paper. Kansas stands, "Come on Sis, your out on your feet!" Kansas helps her up, and guides her to the bedroom. Standing her up she removes all of her clothes, and opening the sheets, she gently pushes Janet onto the bed. Kansas pushes her backwards onto the pillow, then picks up her knees and places her legs also on the bed.
Janet groggily says, "This is twice now you've put me to bed, I can't be drunk, I haven't been drinking at all." Kansas closes the door, and begins cleaning up clothes. Placing the clothes in a hamper, she kneels down next to Janet, "That's because I put something in the soda to help you relax. I left it there where you could find it, I knew you'd be home shortly." Janet's eyes widened slightly, but her body didn't move. "Why?" she asked. Kansas hesitated, "Because you needed the rest, and you wouldn't do it otherwise. It's a good drug, Steve found out about it from people on the web. It's a strong muscle relaxant, I'll bet you can barely move your body now." With hooded eyes, Janet moved her arms and legs slightly, "A little, not much, why did you do this? I don't need to relax that much." Kansas frowned, and raised the sheet to Janet's neck, "You'll be fine in the morning." Kansas left the room, silently closing the door. She sat in the large living room chair, to see Steve in the opposite chair. Softly he said, "Hope you don't mind my letting myself in. You chose this course of action. You must carry it through now, or give up on the whole idea and leave us exposed to danger forever more on this world." "They can't stop us." she said, dreading the words as she said them. "Maybe not now, but perhaps next year they will be able too. Remember the Razinn, they couldn't stop us either, until they found out about us, then they figured out how to, and would've killed us all if we hadn't wiped them out first." Kansas began pacing, "I'm just waiting for the drug to work better, she's still conscious and mobile enough to be a problem."
Shortly after, Kansas entered the bedroom, and approached the bed. Steve stood leaning against the closed bedroom door watching, as Kansas removed all of her clothes. She raised the entire sheet, pulling it to the bottom of the bed,, and climbed into the bed on the opposite side from Janet. She stretched out alongside, freezing several times as Janet's breathing changed. She stretched her arm and one leg over Janet's naked body, then began to shift to her protoplasmic form. It took many moments but she finally had drawn her mass over Janet's entire body, when Janet began to stir. Janet coughed, tried to breathe deep, but found it difficult as if a heavy weight were on her chest. She tried to move, but felt like her body was weighed down. She opened her eyes, and was horrified to see herself encased from her chest downward as far as she could see. She struggled, but couldn't break free. A face began to form in the mass, it became clearer with every second. It stared at her, "This won't hurt a bit Sis, it's for your own good, and ours." "Your going to kill me! kill me and eat me!" Janet weakly screamed, suddenly finding herself totally awake." The mass covered up to Janet's neck, "No, I won't kill you, you'll be one of us. Sis, I won't lie to you, this procedure can go wrong, and you might die anyway, but I won't let it go wrong, that's a promise." "No, I don't want to be part of you." Janet stammered as her hand reached the table top phone beside the bed." As she pulled off the receiver, and tried to dial, Steve hung up the phone with a finger, and gently took the receiver away from her. Janet groaned at him, "Noooo.", then screamed as the protoplasm climbed the sides of her head. The face in the green and white mass gave a sad expression as it melted away, Janet's screams turned to sobs, as the protoplasm quickly covered her face. Steve pushed Janet's one loose arm inward, and held it until it was captured, then he easily removed his own fingers. He stood back and watched as the mass spread to envelop the entire length of each leg. The bucking of Janet's body inside the mass slowly decreased, then stopped. After a few moments with no sign of movement from Janet, Steve left the room, closing the door behind him.
Night came, and several hours before sunrise, the large mass of protoplasm on the bed slowly began to separate. After a while, thin connections remaining between the two halves broke, completing the separation. One began to shimmer and shake around the edges, slowly changing shape, and Kansas rose from the bed, "Headache isn't so bad this time, but still could use some Aspirin." Kansas walked out of the room, greeted Steve, and went into the bathroom for a shower. She returned to the bedroom to find Janet lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Come on, it's nothing to freak out about, let's get you into the shower." Janet let's herself be led to the shower, and Kansas continues to try and get her to talk, suddenly becoming concerned. "Janet, hello. Are you in there? Earth to Janet! Speaka de English?" she says jokingly. Janet continues acting like a zombie as she follows orders to get into the shower. Kansas stands outside the shower, holding Janet who seems weak. She decides to talk even with no responses, "You don't really need a shower, the Dymar side can take care of all that, I just like showers after something like this, I've done the same on other worlds, or should I say Dymar's hosts have. You wouldn't believe how virtually universal showers are throughout the stars, even if the plumbing is very different. Anyway, the stimulation from the water after a merging or a splitting feels wonderful. Don't you agree." Janet does not answer as Kansas dries her off, and leads her back to the bedroom, where she dresses and assists Janet to dress.
Kansas leads Janet into the kitchen where Steve has made breakfast for them. Kansas kisses him on the cheek and sits Janet in a chair at the table. Kansas and Steve sit on opposite ends, with Janet in the middle, but she makes no move to eat as the others do. Kansas swallows a bite, "Janet, you really should eat, it'll build up your mass a bit. Turning someone into part of Dymar really takes it out of both of you." Janet's head swivels, and abruptly she lunges at Kansas. The table moves several inches and chairs fall, as the women hit the floor. Janet has her hands wrapped around Kansas's throat, squeezing it, and pounding her head against the kitchen floor. "You Bitch!" Janet screams. Steve watches, "You can't kill her that way." he calmly states. Kansas struggles for breath, then breathes deeply as Janet releases the hold, and collapses into a sobbing heap in the corner. "How could you do this, How could you." Janet murmurs as Kansas sits up.
Kansas moves to Janet, and hugs her from behind. After a long time, sobbing slows to sniffles, and Kansas coaxes her back to the chairs. Kansas has her own body go to work on fixing the bump on her head, and several bruises, she looks at Steve, "She'll be alright, things will improve as the memories come, and the closer the bond gets." "Why did you do it, I told you not to." Janet whimpers. Kansas sighs, "I made a choice, you found out about us when you stabbed me 3 weeks ago. At that point I either had to kill you by absorbing you, or wait until I had the strength to make you one of us. You can still live normally, have a career, kids, whatever, only occasionally will we want you to do something for Dymar. It's the best of both worlds." She drank some juice, "Seriously Sis, can you honestly tell me you'd rather I had allowed my engulfing of you to continue, and thus breaking your flesh into easy to digest molecules? I don't think so, besides what would I tell the parents? She raises her voice a bit, "Hi Ma, Hi Dad, Good to be home. Janet? Oh sorry, she found out I have an alien sharing my body, so I had to kill and eat her. No problem, you can keep her Christmas gift." Janet smiled and laughed slightly. "That's better, I like that smile Sis."
Kansas had deliberately chosen a Friday night to turn her sister into an aspect of Dymar, so as to give her some time at home to grow used to things before having to deal with the return to work question. On Sunday, because Janet still had insufficient control, Kansas pressed her hands to Janet's leg, and with her cooperation, Kansas extruded tendrils into the lower limb, and took control of it. Janet's head snapped back in pain as Kansas forced the bone in the leg to break itself slightly. Kansas reminded her not to heal her leg, that she wouldn't automatically for a while, she could with conscious effort, but she mustn't. The paramedics took her to the hospital, and Janet was treated for a fractured leg. Kansas knew doctors shouldn't see anything medically abnormal in a merged aspect when they're not looking for it, but found herself holding her breath too many times during the visit. Once home, Kansas told her to go ahead and heal, but keep the cast on in front of other people, and this would be a perfect excuse to stay home from her job for a while. Since Janet did a lot of standing and walking around in her job, this did work out, although it used up her remaining sick leave and vacation time.
Two weeks passed, and Janet was feeling pretty comfortable with the idea of Dymar, and had begun to fully accept. She had stopped having bouts of depression, and Kansas stopped finding tear stains on the pillow. Kansas had decided that they'd take things slow, and Janet seemed shocked by every new revelation. She learned slow, taking twice as long to learn what Steve had, the memories from Dymar's long history coming to consciousness just as slow, Kansas and Steve agreed this was probably something to do with her fear index.
One morning, Steve did not show up, and Kansas would not say where he was. Janet still had not developed the mind talk, and was shocked when 3 days later Steve showed up with a woman. Her name was Tracy, she was about 29, tall, with average looks, dark black skin, and held a PHD in astronomy. Kansas already understood the situation from mind talk with Steve, but he introduced everyone, then explained to Janet that he had made Tracy an aspect when they made love in the mountain observatory. He had been there to do some computer calibrations, they had known each other for years, and since they were alone, during love making he did a splitting with her. He expressed concern that Tracy might not have what they needed, but Kansas assured him that her astronomy knowledge might come in useful, and even if not her connections would, and what they needed most right now were bodies, hopefully with connections. The next 2 weeks passed swiftly, occasionally with visits from Steve or Tracy, or both. Steve reported that Tracy was learning fast, and was almost equal in knowledge and ability to Janet.
Six weeks after Janet had been treated for her injury, she had to shift her leg, and slip it back into the cast in the manner she slipped on sox. She used crutches, while Kansas escorted her downstairs to the car. Steve drove them to the hospital, and they went through the routine of having her cast removed, and her leg checked by a doctor. Pronouncing her fine, he gave her some orders for the next few weeks, then sent them on their way.
Janet got right back into her job the next work day. She jumped in with gusto, becoming so busy she didn't think once all day of Dymar. Her friends were all glad to see her, even those she had considered coldly were somewhat nicer, although she still heard a few mutterings about her and Victor. At lunch Victor called her into the executive lunch room, where he and several other people sat around and talked, mainly about the last 6 weeks without her on the job.
Weeks flew by, when in the middle of one day she got a phone call from Kansas. "I called you instead of mind talk so people would know why your suddenly upset." Kansas said. "I have to go home immediately. Mother has taken ill. Dad's working hard bringing in the crops, so I've got to go." They talked for a long time, and finally hung up. Janet pushed her luck and got off work early, explaining the problem. She rushed home, and arrived in time to help Kansas finish packing. They talked in the back seat of the taxi to the bus station, and Janet waved goodbye as the bus drove away with Kansas.
When she was almost home, Kansas considered her body. She decided that she liked her new shape, and figured nobody knew her well enough to really notice and be sure of the changes, except for her parents, and Billy. She decided she could just say that Janet had shown her how to exercise, and some beauty treatments. With trust in her, the human ability to not believe their eyes, and with a reasonable story, she figured that anybody would believe her, or invent something equally harmless. She sent a mind talk message to Janet to tell her of this, and noted that they were approaching the bus stop.
At the bus stop in the small town, Kansas got off and jumped into the waiting embrace of Billy. They kissed for a long time, "God! It's good to see you again. I was wondering if you might have fallen for some city man, and forgotten all about us farm folks." Billy softly said as he smiled. "Never! And you really mean forgotten you, don't you." They kissed again, and after getting her luggage, they climbed into his car. Kansas arrived home to find her father in the fields working with some hired hands, and her mother lying on the couch, wearing a bathrobe, and with a wet rag on her head."
That night, she and her Father talked alone, as they sat on the porch. "Cancer, they're sure?!" Kansas whispered. Her father sighed, "Yep, it's cancer. The doctor said it's moving fast, and she's got only a few more months. He says it's her liver, and there's nothing to do about it." Kansas walked to her father and sat in his lap, "oh Daddy." They sat like that for a long time with no words spoken.
The following day, Kansas was awakened by the sound of her mother being ill in the bathroom. After cleaning the house of places where her mother had been sick on the floor, they all tried to eat something for breakfast, but none of them seemed to have much of an appetite. After the usual morning chores, Her father had to take the truck into town for some supplies. Kansas waved goodbye, and found her mother resting on the couch, complaining of a terrible headache. Kansas walked to her, "Ma, I learned some great tricks in the city for a headache, let me try." Her mother groaned, "Okay Kansas, you might as well try, I've tried everything else." Kansas had her mother raise up her body, then lower it so that she was laying on the couch with her head in Kansas's lap. Kansas put a hand on either side of her mother's head, and rubbed circles. As her mother relaxed and drifted off into sleep, she stopped the motion, and extruded extremely thin tendrils into her mother's head. She found the brain, and located the pain centers. She found them inflamed, and calmed them. She then located the areas responsible for sleep, and triggered them into a deeper and more restful cycle. Retracting the tendrils back out through tiny holes she had made in the skull, then through the pours of her mothers skin, and trying to make sure little or no blood followed, she looked down on her mother to see her face relaxed, and more at peace than it had been since she returned home.
Kansas slipped out from under her mother, trying not to wake her, and slipped a small pillow under her head. She then began to leave, noticing the picture of her mother and father, that stood above the fireplace. She looked at them, and at pictures of the rest of the family. She went to the kitchen, looked out the door, closed and locked it, then checked the time. "Plenty of time." she thought to herself.
Kansas went to her mother, and quietly moved the coffee table away from the couch. She then knelt down next to her mother's upper body, and opened her mother's bathrobe. She exposed her mother's abdomen, and reaching with her hands, she touched her mother's belly area, and rested her hands flat there. She extruded extremely thin segments of herself as before, entering the body, and probing around. Doubt began to cross her mind, and Kansas thought to herself, "Now that I'm in here, what the hell do I think I'm doing?! I'm no doctor!" She grew determined however, deciding that she might as well try since she was in here, also knowing her mother was dying anyway, and hoping her mother wouldn't wake up in the middle. Kansas couldn't see inside her mother since there was no light, but realized that Dymar's natural form required it to see without eyes. She began using those senses, and with that problem solved she tried to figure out what she saw. Finding what she thought was the liver, she found many cells that seemed odd, and after much double checking and soul searching, she decided that these were the cells she wanted. The tendrils moved around quickly, located odd cells, and absorbed them. Halfway through, the bodies own immune system began attacking her, and she ended up absorbing many of her mother's cells also. Finally, she could find no more odd cells, she double checked, triple checked, then checked again. With her mother's immune system preparing to mount another assault, she withdrew her tendrils, quickly but carefully.
Kansas replaced her mother's clothes, checked her pulse, and made sure she was still breathing, then put a fresh cloth over her forehead. She sat on the porch, "I've either destroyed something important to her body, or I've hopefully gotten all of the cancer." She sighed, "Well, she would've died anyway, but what about Dymar, have I been stupid and put us in danger again?"
The next two days were miraculous. Her mother was ill in the morning, but steadily improved all the first day. The second day all seemed to go well, and she still became stronger. On the morning of the third day, her father bundled her into the truck, and took her to see the doctor in the nearby small town. The doctor had much of the best equipment, and he tested and tested. Finally he announced that he could find no trace of the cancer anywhere. He gave her some medication for her still upset stomach, and general aches she was still having, and they drove off singing, leaving the doctor scratching his head.
They celebrated that night, inviting friends from all around. As night fell, most people went home, but a small group of very close friends gathered in the kitchen. The next morning the family woke late, and tried to keep a normal routine, Kansas marveling that as they ate breakfast her mother's would all stay down this time. After finishing the late breakfast, Kansas sped through her morning chores, then ran to meet Billy by the lake, as they had discussed the previous night. At the lake, she found Billy sitting on the blanket that was spread across the ground. He was looking at his watch, clearly wondering if she would show up. She was suddenly next to him, then kissing and rolling with him. She pulled back a bit, "I've thought about it all night. I want to marry you! I want to be Mrs. Billy Raston, and have all your children." Billy was stunned, then his eyes glinted as he smiled, "All of them?!" Kansas smiled back, "Yes, although not 7 or 8 like you tell me, maybe 1 or 2, 3 if your good to me." "She trailed off a bit and looked thoughtful, "4 is a possibility, 5 is unlikely, and we'll go from there." They kissed and made passionate love.
Afterwards, Billy lay breathing heavily, "What changed your mind?" Kansas used her finger to play with the hairs on his chest, "My Moms alive, we all could die, I could lose you in a snap, and I don't want that. I also want to have your children because it will make us both happy, and I never wanted to leave the country life, and you and your father may be the richest people around, but your still country folk, and I'll still be right here in the country. So, what do you say, your farm or mine." Billy gently pulled her towards him, "Yes, I'll marry you, and as for who's farm, I like it right here at the moment."
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6. Searchers
Time passed, Billy and Kansas were married, and a few more aspects were added to Dymar. Janet and Victor attended the wedding, and a few months later Victor asked Janet to marry him. Janet agreed, and kept finding excuses to put the wedding off, but finally married Victor, and they honeymooned on a private island he owned. As planned, Janet made Victor into an aspect of Dymar on their 3rd night alone on the island. Kansas had explained over and over how spouses had to be made into aspects because they were so close, they would find out eventually. She had explained that they could still have children, and that the children would be born quite normal, not as aspects, nor need they be made into aspects unless they learned of Dymar. She finally consoled Janet by reminding her that she had done the same with Billy as he slept on their wedding night, and that it was necessary for the security and future of Dymar.
As more months passed, Kansas kept in regular contact by mind talk with all the other aspects. The others had been busy knowing this early growth was important, and they were up to 10 aspects now. Kansas had been pregnant since a few weeks after her wedding, and now Janet announced she was also. Kansas wasn't sure how shifting would effect a pregnancy, but to be safe she spread the word that no pregnant aspect was to shift her form in any way, except for protection.
When the time came, Kansas delivered an 8 pound baby boy, and named him Jonathan. Janet later had a 7.6 pound girl she named Victoria. Each was thrilled, and the entirety of Dymar rejoiced with them. Twice in the next year, Janet came to visit Kansas who still lived in her old home with Billy, and her parents.
In their 3rd year, they were up to 34 aspects, including a few in technical areas outside the United States, and overseas. Kansas now had 2 sons, and another child on the way. The farm flourished, and all was going well. Sitting on the porch, she groaned with the impact of a mental scream. Billy carried her into the house, and helped her calm down. "I barely felt that, your the hub of things. What was it?" he demanded. Kansas put down her glass of water, "Oh, it was horrible. One of our pregnant aspects. She was caught in a fire, and forced to shift to escape." She hung her head, "She lost the baby... Her body just.... just.... absorbed it." The entirety of Dymar was given the news, and a terrible gloom prevailed.
That spring, Jacob Tanner was standing on the deck of his small boat. He was a diver, and his partner was a tall redhead named Tallia, they had been diving for fun and profit for years. Now, they were on the trail of a mystery. Tallia had brought him the info about this area. It told how people diving for an old wreck in this general location, too often would vanish. In the last nearly 4 years, 8 divers had dove in this 5 mile radius area, and only 2 had returned. The 2 returning divers reported nothing of interest, they saw no old wreck, and nothing out of the ordinary. This was a mystery Jacob couldn't ignore, how could 6 experienced divers simply disappear, leaving no trace, and the one small boat recovered had a broken anchor line.
They suited up, checked each others air tanks and other gear, and they shared a short kiss. They put on their face masks and mouthpieces, then fell backwards into the water one at a time. The water was warm, so they wore no special insulation under their wet suits, and Jacob couldn't help admiring Tallia's form as they dove, but he quickly snapped himself back to concentrating on the dive. He knew he was in no danger being an aspect of Dymar, but Tallia was not, and he knew he must keep up the pretense with her.
They reached the bottom, Jacob noting it was mostly sandy, and surrounded by ridges of rocks, much as it had been on there previous 2 dives in the area. He chose a direction, and using hand signals to communicate, they began searching for something. Jacob wasn't quite sure where to look, the memories of Dymar were unclear in this area as to how far off shore the ship was, and in what general direction. Dymar hadn't had any clear comparison to make measurements, and perceptions were so different between it's original form, and the current merged form and it's senses. Add to that the fact that Dymar had to merge with a shark and other creatures, and had it's perceptions confused more with each, and no wonder the ship was lost. He wondered what Tallia would think if they found the starship instead of dead divers, or the old wreck. He was concerned that he might have to merge with her, and make her an aspect, it was something he had so far avoided. He also worried that he might not have time, that he might not be able to knock her out, and she'd fight to much in which case he'd have to kill her, then get rid of the body.
As their swim fins propelled them around some rocks, he wondered as to his position in the whole of Dymar. Certainly he knew he was no genius, and knew nothing of what would be needed to build a starship. It was clear to him that he had been incorporated because of his diving skills and independent life style, thus being able to hunt for the previous starship's resting place without calling attention to himself. He wondered though what he would do after finding it, he had no special connections, no special knowledge, he saw no need for himself in the future. Still, the human side of him argued that he should continue anyway, so he figured that he would, and maybe Dymar would find something they needed him for.
They used there arms for protection as they swam by some rocks, Jacob used his spear gun to ward off a shark, but it swam off seemingly uninterested in them. They came over a small rise in the sea floor and they found themselves looking into a wide but dim chasm. Something about this rang a bell in his head, and as Tallia signaled that they should check it out, he noted the light was reasonable, and agreed.
He noted that the bottom was also sandy here, and that there was a huge boulder in the center of the chasm, but he saw no starship. He began to wonder if maybe the boulder were the starship, when a movement caught his eye. A small rock had suddenly flipped open revealing a small metal machine about the size of his hand. Three bolts of light and water bubbles came towards him, then past him. He turned to see Tallia, Her body bleeding from a whole in her side, another in her stomach, and bubbles flowing freely from a cut air hose. Jacob turned back, and fired his spear into the microbot, splitting it in half, and causing small flashes of light and a puff of bubbles.
He swam to meet Tallia's sinking body, she had immediately struggled wildly, but now barely moved. He knew he could not save her, even if he managed to get her to the surface, and avoid sharks along the way. As he held her limp form, he shifted, his last thoughts being that he was glad she hadn't been hit in the head, and also hoping that it wouldn't be too late to do this. As soon as he was partly shifted into the green and white protoplasmic form of Dymar, he began flowing out of his wet suit, and enveloping Tallia. She struggled weakly and reflexively, but had little effect on him. He noted that it was easier to do this in the water, and promised to spread the word later. Finally with her head and body encased, he began finishing the legs, noting that the body still seemed to have a flicker of life in it.
The protoplasmic mass lay undisturbed on the bottom all night, air bubbles from the open valves of the air tanks all around, until the tanks were empty, and one by one pieces of there wet suits floated up and away. When the morning light streamed into the chasm, the mass began to split, then broke the last connecting tendrils. One side reformed, and Jacob sat up. He gazed at his naked body, giggling slightly that he had thought they'd wake up fully clothed. He could not speak to Tallia underwater, and she was nowhere near having the mind talk ability yet, so he gently dipped his fingers into the other mass, and spoke directly to Tallia's mind. He told her to wake up, and explained in basic terms what had happened, so hopefully she wouldn't panic at being suddenly naked underwater, after having been shot to death by some small metal robot.
Many things concerned him, why Tallia had not answered his mental call when he made physical contact, and that maybe she had been too far gone. He also worried that having been shocked by so much so fast, that her mind might have snapped. Dymar had dealt with such crazed aspects before, she would have to be killed by absorbing her before she was strong enough to fight back, or later getting others to help him. He didn't want to do this, but if he had to it would present no problem for him since it would be absolutely necessary, and he hoped with all his being that he wouldn't have to do it.. Finally Tallia's body began to form, and when done, she sat up and let out a water muffled scream. He held her, and they sat on the sandy bottom for a long time, her motions indicating her silent sobbing, as fish swam around them.
When she seemed calmer, he pushed her away slightly and made signs to her that they should go to the surface. She shook her head and indicated the broken mass of microbot. As he looked, he saw 3 other microbots, all working away at salvaging what they could, one even looking over the spear embedded in the sand. He swam over and picked one up and brought it to her. She recoiled at first, then seemed fascinated as she turned the microbot over and over. Jacob knew her memories were hardly there so far, and wondered how she could accept things so easily. Hadn't she realized that she had been underwater all this time, and what would her reaction be when she did. It was almost as if she heard his thoughts, as her eyes widened, and dropping the microbot she bolted for the surface. He swam after her as fast as he could, finally reaching the boat after her and climbing the ladder aboard. She sat in a deck chair crying, strands of short red hair sticking to her face and neck.
He comforted her all morning, remembering how difficult his own transformation had been, and she had so many other thoughts to deal with also, such as why she hadn't drowned, and why she had been sitting naked on the bottom of the ocean, examining some little machine. His only consolations were that she didn't seem out of control more than many others after a transformation, and she was alive.
They got dressed in some spare shorts and T-shirts he kept on board, and they ate some food. She grew confident enough that he showed her some shifting tricks with his arm and fingers, then she tried to copy them. Finally knowing that she had only his word on many things, and that they were totally alone on the ocean after some very strange occurrences, he decided to do something about it. So he contacted Kansas with his mind talk, and held Tallia's hand, extruding tendrils into her, so that she could use him as a temporary bridge to speak to Kansas. It was inefficient and tiresome, but it worked to calm her down even more.
Kansas was thrilled to hear of the discovery of the ship's location. She began sending mind talk messages to all of the others to let them know. She was pleased also to here of the new addition, she knew that at any time there were always those who were already added to the whole of Dymar, and had not developed the mind talk yet. She was distressed to here of how she had almost died, and had scolded Jacob for bringing a human along, when he should've remembered the microbot defenses were programed to defend against all life forms except Dymar. This would include aspects of Dymar, but a human would be attacked, which seemed to be the likely answer to what happened to the other humans who had gone to that area of the ocean.
After talking to Kansas, he talked Tallia into a swim. They took off their clothes to keep them dry, and dove in. Try as he might, he couldn't get her to attempt to stay under without breathing like a human, so he played with her, splashing, and circling the boat. Then he cheated and dove under the boat, which led to her cheating in their play, and suddenly they had stayed under for a long time. This time when she realized, she did not panic. Instead she followed him back to the chasm, and down to the bottom. He knew they could speak simply by touching and sharing thoughts directly, but he didn't want to push too hard in one day, so he made hand signals to indicate the big rock.
As they got close, he could see what the microbots had done, and thought it was ingenious, and had believed something like this was beyond a microbot's capability to create, but thought that maybe it was in the library resource and they just made normal adaptations for this planet. The microbots had covered the entire upper portion of the ship with materials found around them, sand and rocks were held in place by clamps, and small shallow holders similar to plates. The effect was that any diver looking down would see only normal sand and rocks, and if they got close enough to see underneath, then the microbots used other means to defend the ship.
They passed around the outside, finding the external damage had some repairs done, but there was still a gaping whole that hadn't yet been fixed, and probably wouldn't be in these conditions. They found the air lock, and entered. They had to stoop a bit since Crashaw were short and wide, but the door closed behind them, and the overhead light came on, sending an odd yellowish glow over everything. Jacob found the button which emptied the water, and as the water level lowered letting breathable air fill the chamber, Tallia gasped as if she had been desperate for it.
As the inner door opened they stepped inside. They found it reasonably warm, and all things still working. A microbot came out and began cleaning up the puddles of sea water they were leaving, but it never got too close to them. As Jacob looked around, he showed the ship to Tallia since she still did not have the memories. They both hit there heads several times, especially while trying to pass through doors from one room to another. Even though he was using human eyes now, Jacob grew satisfied that all was well. He then went to the main control panel, and reshaping his hand to fit the controls, he began contacting the computer. He had never felt comfortable around computers, but he knew from shared memories how to reprogram the microbots. Once instructed not to defend the ship, and a confirmation was received from all operational microbots, he closed the panel, and removed and reshaped his hand back to it's normal form. He smiled, explained what he had done, then took Tallia to the air lock, but she hesitated to get in. Once in with the doors shut, she held her breath as the water rose. She panicked as it climbed over her head, but she quickly realized that she was fine. Jacob opened the outer door, and it closed behind them automatically as they checked around the sandy sea floor. They found little of there equipment that had escaped the microbot scavengers, and they swam away.
Two weeks later, some friends of Jacob's kept getting some anonymous tips of an interesting wreck, the exact coordinates and even a detailed map had arrived in the mail. As specific as it all was, they didn't want to divert the big salvage vessel, but did send a pair of divers out in a small speedboat. They found nothing, and a week later received another package with more details, and pictures of the area as seen from above. They saw nothing in the pictures of interest, and became extremely skeptical, but figured the hoaxer had put so much work into this that it might not be a hoax. Another 2 divers were sent out, this time finding the exact spot, and descending to the bottom.
At dawn 2 days later, the big salvage vessel arrived at the spot, loaded with their best research equipment and men. They spent all day measuring, and photographing. Despite their best efforts to keep things secret, much of their data and images found it's way onto the internet. They suspected a spy, but couldn't catch anyone. By that evening they were so frustrated with the spy, they were ready to release all their data on the alien spacecraft.
A navy ship then approached, and blocking all their radio wave lengths, ordered them to prepare to be boarded. All of their paper records were taken, all computer files were copied. Finally, all of the ship's crew were taken into custody, and the empty ship was taken out to sea, where it suffered an engine fire which caused it to explode, and sink.
The next day, Washington DC was being flooded with calls from concerned citizens, and diplomatic representatives from around the world. Every country insisted on one thing or another regarding the alien spacecraft. Top most was the desire to view it to prove it wasn't a hoax. Washington insisted that there was no such spacecraft, but some powerful countries that refused to believe the disclaiming, used the huge amount of data from the internet as an arguing point. The United States government found it had some leaks at the highest levels, as many internal memos, and documents of all kinds concerning the alien spacecraft somehow leaked. The government also suspected a spy in their ranks, but had no luck in tracking the spy down, nor plugging the leak. Between the world governments, the UFO people claiming this was another example of a huge cover up, and the constant leaks of classified information, the government eventually relented.
Two 3 year old boys, one 2 year old boy and one 1 year old girl, play together in the living room as their grandparents, along with Steve and Tracy watched over them. Kansas sat in the kitchen, nursing her 6 month old daughter, and talking to her sister Janet. "So, where's Victor?" Kansas asked. "Oh, he's watching over the business, something big came up regarding the Japanese trying to take over the chain, and he just couldn't make it." Janet then added, "He really wanted to come and see his nephews and the niece he's never seen." Kansas smiled, "Tell him to get moving, they're all growing fast." Janet grinned, "Plan on any others Sis? I think 2 is good enough for Victor and I." "You know Billy, the more the merrier." Kansas smiled. "However, I've about had it, 2 sons, and one daughter, that's 3 more than I planned when I was growing up. Still, maybe one more, but probably not." Janet tickled the baby girls ear slightly, "So, it's been months, and you never bothered to tell me her name." Kansas smiled sheepishly, "Ooops, well I didn't want to tell you by mind talk, and this is the first time you've come by since the birth." Janet waved a finger, "Don't you go trying to blame your oversight on me, now spill it! What's the name?" Kansas chuckled, "It's Roxanne, Roxy for short." Janet sat back, "Roxanne Raston, well those 2 R's are kinda nice sounding, but I hope she doesn't want to be something macho." Kansas laughed, "Yes, but she'll survive. It was her father's mother's name, I got to name the first 2 so I let him name her as long as it wasn't ridiculous or something.
Janet tickled one of Roxy's feet, "So, how goes it?" Kansas looked to make sure her parents were out of earshot, "Very well. An aspect named Jacob found the ship, his partner a woman named Tallia was mortally wounded by a microbot defending the ship, and he turned her into an aspect. He then shut down the defense protocol, and anonymously gave the ship's position to a research and salvage group. They found it, but only after a second tip. We had an aspect on the ship who leaked information all over the net." Kansas took a deep breath, "Now it gets complicated, but you know most of it from the news. The navy got involved, took all the records, jailed the ship's crew for a while, and blew up the ship making it look like an accident. Well, we had another aspect on the navy ship, and the leaks of data just kept happening, and you know we can be pretty good at covering our spies." She waved a hand, "Well the government tried to deny, but things kept persisting, and they wisely gave in before it totally blew up in their faces. Now everyone knows, and the government is leading international groups through the data they collect on the starship, even allowing some actual viewings of the starship and systems by the international representatives, but our spies tell me that they're still holding back a few things, and in a few weeks another leak will stop that."
Janet smiled, "Things should move fast now." Kansas smiled back, "Yes, these humans are clever, they'll figure it all out in no time. Especially with some of our aspects guiding the research teams." Janet tilted her head, "We have aspects with scientific groups already? How can you be sure that they will be in on it?" Kansas answered, "No, our few people even close to that area are like Tracy, astronomers and such. However, they have contacts with other types of scientists. Tracy knows a man who is highly likely to get to study the ship's engines, and Steve knows some brilliant computer people who'll probably get that particular job. In Tracy's case there's a romantic involvement, and Steve can get close enough in private to knock one of them out, or seduce a female if he can. They both could add aspects if these people get the jobs studying ship system's. We also need head's of projects and government people who run the show, Victor has some ideas there, you and some others can help with that. It's still going to take a long time, but with our covert help, perhaps we'll see it done in a human lifetime."
To be continued
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By Py