The Unofficial Biography Of Kimmay

Book 3: The Nature Of Time

by G. L. Hudson

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 

Valerie awoke in an empty bed. She crawled out of her warm bed and put on her robe. First she checked Kim's room, but found it empty. She walked around the house and couldn't find Kim anywhere. That left only one place, if she was even in the building. Valerie went into the kitchen and started the coffee maker. When it was ready she poured two steaming mugs and walked down to the salon. She found Kim in Melissa's office, sitting in her chair, legs crossed and huddling under an afghan.

"Kim? Coffee?"

A small smile peaked up at the corners of her mouth. "Valerie thanks."

"What're you doing?"

"Reading the morning news."

"On the Internet?"

"Yea. I've checked the BBC, Washington Post, New York Times, Financial Times and a couple more of the European business papers."

"So how's the news?"

She sipped her coffee and shuffled her feet under the afghan. "Pretty good so far. No one knows that I've returned."

"Hey Kim? Is that important?"

Kim looked dejected and flipped to another web site. "I don't know. When I first returned to Earth, I stood across the street and watched the salon." Her voice was barely a whisper. "I wanted to come home and grab everyone and hug the stuffing out of them. But then I thought, I wasn't allowed."

"Why not?" Valerie asked in a hushed voice.

"Because I'm not allowed to have a family. I'm not allowed to be happy."

Valerie could sense vast pain in Kim's voice. She walked to the opposite side of Melissa's desk and crawled into the corner of the couch, pulling her robe tight around her, and sat in a position where she could study Kim's face. Kim said nothing for several minutes, as she poured her attention into the computer screen.

Valerie tried to get Kim to open up, "Why aren't you allowed to be happy?"

"I don't know," she said wistfully. "I'm supposed to save the world. I don't have time."

"Save the world from what?"

Kim looked at Valerie with wide-open eyes and exclaimed, "I don't know!" The exasperation in her voice almost broke Valerie's heart.

"Kim, we've always been able to talk to each other. Even after you went to Stanford, we always managed to send secret messages to each other, and talk about our lives. You can still talk to me."

"Valerie, I don't know what to talk about. I feel so stupid and so ignorant. I feel like I've been given the most important task in the history of the world, and I don't have a single clue about what I'm supposed to do."

"What about last night? Do you want to talk about your nightmares?"

Her answer was almost totally lost under the soft sounds in the room, "No."

Kim seemed so utterly lost that a tear came to Valerie's eye. For once in her life, Valerie was going to have to be stronger than Kimmay the Magnificent. If Valerie didn't save her, Kimmay was going to lose her way and fail. Valerie had less of a clue than Kimmay, but she knew something important was at stake here.

"Kimmay." Valerie never called her Kimmay. She looked up from the computer and saw Valerie on her knees, leaning forward towards her. "Kimmay, tell me what you are supposed to do. I want to know."

Kim reached forward and hit the off switch on the computer. The room became totally quiet. She pulled her feet even tighter under her and squirmed in her chair to get a more comfortable position.

"I'm supposed to save the world. Linda was teaching me to open my mind and look for patterns in the world. We went from planet to planet and watched them survive the most difficult crises in their history. I was taken in by the families of the people most directly involved in those crises. I lived with them for upwards of a year, and I became friends and sat in on their most intimate conversations. I was best friends with the winners and the losers. For every winner there were two losers. Valerie, these weren't little crises. Planets were destroyed, people were stolen by interplanetary invaders and sold into slavery and butchered for fun and profit. The losers were sent into gruesome games of torture and death, while the winners cheered and filmed the proceedings for entertainment.

"I saw aliens do things that you can't possibly imagine. I learned that no matter how immoral, ugly or disgusting we might think something is some alien culture somewhere accepts it as normal and acceptable. Torture for the sake of torture is entertainment to some of those cultures. In one culture, destruction and death is acceptable, even expected, as long as you don't talk or look at the victim.

"And sometimes the destruction wasn't even from outside sources. One planet was so concentrated on … on themselves and their money that they allowed their planet to descend into a toxic pit. They killed themselves and were still so arrogant at the end that they couldn't even admit what they had done.

"I saw shamans march across a country and burn every book, destroy every artifact of science that they encountered. They were conquered by a smaller and weaker race that was undeniably inferior, except for one thing – they were curious. They struggled in the most inept ways to understand the universe, and in the end they conquered half a galaxy. They accomplished that only because they were curious; they never stopped trying to find answers and learn new things. They always asked why and were too stupid to be misled by techno-babble or condescending platitudes. And in the end they plowed through far superior civilizations.

"Valerie, there is no doubt about what Linda wants to accomplish. I'm supposed to re-shape earth. I have to." Kimmay stumbled for just a second, and then continued, "I have to, because no one else can. I have seen so many mistakes and their horrible consequences that I have to do something. I can see so many things that we are doing wrong … that I have to do something to help."

"Do you know what to do?"

"I know all kinds of things I can do. Yes I know what I should do."

"Then I'll help you, Kimmay. I will stand behind you and help you save the world."

Kim began to quietly laugh. Valerie was totally intimidated and frightened. Kim seemed to be laughing from somewhere else, from another time and place, but certainly not here in the intimate confines of Melissa's office. "Kim, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"

"Because I don't believe it for one minute."

"You don't believe me?"

"I don't believe Linda. This is all bull shit." Kim almost never swore. Valerie was even more frightened. "Do you think she showed me how to save Earth just because she is a good person? Valerie!" she yelled. "Do – you – believe – that?" She spit the words out like bullets.

"Kim, I don't know," she answered meekly.

Kim settled down and took a deep breath. "Neither do I. Should I believe her? What do you think, Valerie? Does she have any ulterior motives? Did she cross 300 million parsecs to save Earth just because she's a good guy?"

Valerie was stunned. Suddenly she understood. "Kimmay, what are you going to do?"

The sincerity in her voice made it perfectly clear to Kim that Valerie finally understood. She lowered her voice and eliminated her attitude. "I'm going to try and save Earth. I just wish I knew what was headed our way. It would really help. My problem, Valerie, is that I know I was brainwashed. Linda has imprinted her agenda on me. If I were smart enough to know what that agenda was, this would be easy. But the last thing I want to do is perform her dirty work."

"Kim, I understand. Linda is the wild card in all of this, but I know you – you have a plan. Right?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure. I've got this divided into two parts. One part I think is safe to proceed with. One of the things that I have learned is that you have to have solid basics, and that includes family and home. Earth is home. We have to convince our fellow Earthlings that Earth does matter." She rolled her eyes up and gave a motion like she was a ditz. "I swore that I would do this without sounding like a global-warming, tree hugging idiot. That's not what this is about. This isn't a Greenpeace advertisement, but we do have to save our planet. We have to throw out all the political garbage showered on us by political and environmental activists.

"For instance, global warming is pure idiocy. Anyone who looks at facts and can separate politics from facts can tell you its stupidity. But then we have the folks on the other side of the issue who want to discredit all science. You know the type – God's will be done – He will save us. I want to instill a pride and a care in the people. We do have to clean the air, not because of global warming but because there are toxins in the air. And we have to clean the water, not because it will save some silly, blood-sucking aquatic insect, but because it will save humanity.

"That, I think, is safe from Linda's agenda. I can't think of any reason why that would help her. But then things get sticky. The other half of saving us – or preparing us – is having a valid political leadership that people trust, believe and can follow. That's where I have no desire to tread. That is where you have to decide between messy democracies, or benevolent dictatorships. Moral, ethical and political judgments have to be made, and every time I've looked into that arena I've seen nothing but selfish corruption. Now you know the problem, right?"

"I think so. That's the really important and critical part, isn't it?"

"Absolutely. So Valerie, tell me, what do I do?"

Valerie was silent. Then she had a truly brilliant insight. "I'm not smart enough to know what to do, but I know someone who is – Krysallis. Go see Kristal, she'll know what to do."

"No she doesn't. I've already discussed some of this with her. I haven't discussed the details and only some of my fear of Linda's brainwashing, but Kristal already knows the basics. And she doesn't know what to do either."

Valerie was becoming truly frightened. Krysallis had been a solid, reassuring figure all of Valerie's life. She was a true friend to the family, a famous and international icon, and above all, she had always been there to help solve the family's most difficult problems. "Kimmay, did you tell her about your nightmares?"

Kim didn't want to tell anyone about her nightmares, especially her latest one. "No. And since when did you start calling me Kimmay? Mom hates that name."

"You are way beyond what mom christened you. You have talents beyond mortal men and you have talents that I can only imagine. I call you Kimmay because you are Kimmay." Valerie paused only long enough for that to sink in. "Maybe I'm totally naοve, but I think that when you're ready to tell your family about your nightmares, we'll find the answers – together."

 

When Kim and Valerie returned to the third floor, the smell of bacon and the aroma of coffee wafted through the apartment. Melissa was in the kitchen and cooking up a gourmet breakfast. "Omelets," she declared. "What do you want in yours?"

Tiffany wandered out half an hour later, after the others had finished breakfast. "Good timing Tiffany, what's your poison?" Melissa asked.

Tiffany was in an exceptionally happy mood. She lost her composure and hooted hilariously. "Melissa! What's my poison?"

"It's a joke. Get a grip girl!"

Even Kimmay smiled – for a second, before slipping back into her moody sulk.

Tiffany was excited and could hardly wait to start her shopping spree at Diane's Classic Dresses. Even Kim seemed interested in buying a new wardrobe. Somehow she seemed to have thrown off her burden and returned to a normal, if not care-free, mood. Valerie decided to join the entourage, but only because of Kim. She knew Kim needed a ton of support right now, and somehow Valerie knew it would be important to more people than just Kim.

Christmas came early for Diane, as Tiffany and Kim spent a fortune at the store. Tiffany bought skirts and blouses and sweaters and shoes and jewelry, and then she got serious and started trying on dresses. Diane had a room of very expensive, very elegant dresses and gowns and Tiffany went into a shopping frenzy when she saw them.

Kim concentrated on business suits with skirts. She bought only conservative suits and only the best. She was going to soon become a very important business woman, and she wanted to look the part. Melissa tried to convince Kim to also buy some very nice dresses for business. "Why can't you wear dresses?" Melissa asked. "Kristal does."

That brought a hoot from Kim. "Mom! She's Krysallis and she can wear dresses. She can make a gunnysack look elegant. In case you haven't notice, I'm no Krysallis." Melissa's motherly pride came out as she protested that Kim was just as pretty as Krysallis. Even Valerie laughed at that.

After they had made Diane rich, they took their new purchases home, and Kim immediately left again. She went over to her new office to do some clean up and organizing. She made a few AV calls and left a few messages reminding vendors that Kimmay expected them to be delivering equipment by 8:00 A.M. on Monday. She had no time to waste chasing down incompetent or lazy vendors. Then she went home to Melissa's office and spent the remainder of the evening on the Internet. She came upstairs long enough for dinner and returned to mom's office until everyone else had gone to bed.

She slept with Valerie again, and again had horrible nightmares. She woke Valerie three times with her screams and thrashing about. Kimmay's nightmares probably worried and scared Valerie as much as Kim. Valerie worshipped her younger sister. She knew that Kimmay was one-of-a-kind, a superior intellect and a power to be reckoned with. If Kimmay was having nightmares, Valerie was starting to imagine what that meant for the mere mortals of Earth. Valerie was becoming more frightened than she wanted to admit.

 

On Monday morning Kim was up, dressed and gone before anyone else was stirring. She borrowed Valerie's car and drove to her new office. She had already made several calls to Switzerland with her sat phone before the first vendor arrived. Office equipment and furniture soon arrived, but the delivery men claimed that they were not responsible for installation. Kim was on the phone immediately, chewing out anyone who would listen, and pointing out that she had agreed to premium prices for top priority. She sent her grandpa to one store to personally demand action. The girl was relentless and demanded non-stop action. By mid-afternoon she had only half of what she wanted, and that was totally unacceptable.

She called two corporate CEOs, announced who she was and demanded that their local franchises fulfill their promises that day. Some very red faces worked until almost ten that evening. She was supposed to have had dinner with Dr. Drum that evening, but instead he came to Kimmay's office with a bucket of chicken and soft drinks. They had their first working meeting while seated on the floor of Kim's new office, amidst scrambling technicians.

Dr. Drum was extremely tired due to the travel and time zone differences, and was relieved to escape before midnight. Kimmay, on the other hand, had no desire to go home. All that meant was the start of another night of horrible nightmares. They were getting worse and she didn't know why. After almost fifteen years of nightmares, she had reached the point where she recognized most of them for their symbolism and subliminal messages. But the new nightmares scared her more than anything she had encountered before. And now there was a picture that was starting to haunt her. She couldn't see what it was, but it frightened her like nothing before. Kimmay had no desire to endure it again. But eventually, even the Earth's most important citizen must succumb to the night. Hers was another pain-filled sleep.

 

The next morning, Kim was again awake before the rest of the house. She had fluffed out her new permanent (Simon had made it very user friendly), dressed in one of her new suits, and had already started breakfast when the others meandered into the kitchen. "How did you sleep last night?" mom asked.

"Ask her," and Kim pointed at Valerie as she strolled into the room. Her eyes were red, her hair still disheveled and she was yawning. Mom got the message.

Before Kim left, she gave her mom and Tiffany strict instructions to be finished with Tiffany's beauty routine by 9:00 A.M. Kim wanted Tiffany in mom's office and ready to teleconference with Switzerland by nine. Tiffany, Jason and Kim together needed to talk with their Swiss counterparts, but the new Tiffany wasn't ready to meet Jason or anyone else in person. Tiffany would work out of Melissa's office until she was ready to face the world.

Kimmay allowed Jason to sleep a bit later on Tuesday morning. She had told him he didn't have to arrive until nine. That gave Kimmay extra time to finish her daily Internet searches. The meeting began punctually at nine – Kimmay insisted! Kimmay explained that Todd was on special assignment and would be available only by phone. That way no one would have visuals of Todd during his transition to the new Tiffany. Not even Dr. Drum was informed of Todd's true situation. By five that evening they were only halfway through their meeting. One by one Kimmay had the top management give her a total and complete picture of the entire business. She wanted all the financial numbers not only for the company, but also for her and Todd's personal financial situation and then she wanted the full financials for their charity, Eleven Lights Foundation.

Next she wanted an update from manufacturing and she covered everything from vendor quality reports and JIT inventory performance to capacity situations and order backlogs. Kimmay was especially interested in incremental costs, and she wanted options on how cheap they could go. Later, that conversation led into how to encourage faster growth and the adoption of their chips into other industries. Her marketing and sales departments were instructed to come up with aggressive plans to go after industries that burned coal and oil. Most people thought she was interested only in expanding her business empire and profitability. No one realized her true motives to move the world to clean energy as fast as possible.

That was all that they were able to cover on Tuesday. Several people were given 48 hours to prepare plans and find answers to her multitude of questions. They were surprised at the new Kimmay, and just a bit irritated. Their workloads were increasing at astronomical rates, and their timetables were being accelerated.

On Wednesday, Kimmay started with her technical staff and the small R&D department that Todd had opened only a couple of months earlier. Kimmay started with personnel matters and went through everyone's resume. Then she reviewed every project that they were working on and told them to update every project plan that they had. She gave them one new, top priority project. Dr. Stevens, the head of the department, was instructed to set up safety equipment so that they could begin studying the limits of the energy storage chip. How much energy could it ultimately store, how long could it maintain that level, and how fast could it discharge that energy? And even more important, Kimmay wanted to know what would happen during a catastrophic failure.

With the rest of the day, at least what little was left, Kimmay concentrated on technical agreements with customers, and logistics. It was very late in Switzerland when Kimmay concluded the conference.

Thursday was just as long as Wednesday. She and Jason reviewed initial reports from the assignments handed out on Tuesday. Marketing research plans were analyzed and sent back for further refinements. Charts and graphs flew out of the printer non-stop for the entire day. Kimmay pinned the charts to the wall or squeezed them into full, 3-ring binders, and all the time she never lost her thought as she continued to lead the discussions. She negotiated commitments and timetables, set performance goals and targets and handed out authority to take project ownership and push for fast, concrete results.

The afternoon was devoted to the Eleven Lights Foundation. Kimmay wanted to know which governmental organizations they were monitoring, which were getting the most attention and resources, and where and how they intended to expand their monitoring. Late in the afternoon Kimmay gave them a new, high-priority target; world-wide religious organizations that were actively involved in politics and had high-profile advertising and money-raising campaigns. Although she did not share her reasons, Kimmay was sure that this was going to be important to her future plans.

Friday was only a half-day of teleconferencing. Because of the time difference, by noon in Milwaukee the Swiss were already well past quitting time and encroaching on their weekend drinking time. Kimmay didn't want to cut into their weekends – yet.

Friday was also the day that Tiffany accompanied Melissa to her gynecologist. Tiffany was going to have a complete physical and hopefully get her initial hormone injections and prescriptions. Tiffany was very excited.

Jason and Kimmay spent the afternoon talking. Kimmay started to open up with some of her new plans. She wanted to open some business ventures and she wanted to get Jason's opinions. "I'm going to be earning a substantial amount of money," she started. "And so are you Jason. I want to do something worthwhile with my share."

"You already are," Jason interrupted. "You and Todd are financing your Eleven Lights Foundation."

"Yes, I know. But in addition to that, I want to take some positive actions in some other areas. One of the side effects of our energy chips should be an improvement in the quality of our environment. There should be some very significant reductions in air pollution, and to a lesser extent, water pollution. Some of the projects that I have given to marketing should even accelerate those benefits. But I want to do something even further. I want to fund start-up companies that can attack other pollution sources and actually begin cleaning them up.

"Water is my biggest concern," she continued. "As the human race expands, it needs more and more water; not only for drinking, but for food production and manufacturing. I don't know much about these areas, so I need some experts. I want to bring these people in and listen to their ideas. I'm looking for a little academic study and a lot of real world projects. Adding these projects to our current mix is going to overwhelm our top management. What I would like to do is open a new subsidiary that will ultimately report to you, but I want them to be essentially self-managing. I want that subsidiary to be a source of venture capital for people with real ideas and inventions, and in exchange for start-up money we will take equity positions in those companies. Do you think you can handle additional ventures, or would you like to stick solely with the chip business?"

"I have to think about this and see how much time it will take. Can we consider a position where I will initially control the subsidiary, but hand it off to someone else if it begins to distract me from our core business?"

"Absolutely, Jason. I do want this to be a rather large undertaking. I want to fund pilot-scale projects that have the potential of quickly moving into large-scale applications. So we are going to need an expert reporting to you. I've been doing some research over the last couple of weeks and I have some candidates …"

Kimmay and Jason discussed the new venture throughout the afternoon and over dinner. Kim returned home around nine that evening. As usual she was exhausted from a full day of work and a lack of sleep. Tiffany greeted Kim and announced that she had seen the doctor and she had started her hormone therapy. Tiffany was so excited that she was ready to hyperventilate. Kim offered her congratulations and then tried to calm her down. Tiffany wasn't about to calm down though, as this was the culmination of every dream she had ever had.

Kim reviewed the afternoon discussions with Tiffany, and informed her of some of the new technologies that Kim was interested in pursuing. Kim had already chosen over fifteen new technologies that she would fund, and she had identified the leading experts in each field. On Monday she was going to start contacting the people. Tiffany liked Kim's idea of handing some of their money back to the community through these types of projects, and agreed to contribute some of her own money to the venture capital coffers. But Tiffany wasn't listening as closely as Kim thought. Tiffany was moving into an exciting new world, and her attention was going to wander from Kimmay's hard-nosed business discussions. Tiffany was becoming an adolescent again, and there was an exciting new world opening before her – much too interesting to worry about mundane things like osmosis, nano-filtration and clean water.

Eventually, Kim suggested that they turn in for the night. Kim was going to go into the office Saturday morning and she asked Tiffany to stop by after her morning beauty treatment. Kim wanted to show her the latest decorations and improvements. She also had some new ideas to run by Tiffany.

Valerie was still on a date when Kim climbed into Valerie's bed. Kim no longer slept by herself. Her nightmares were growing worse and she needed comforting when the truly ugly nightmares struck.

Valerie returned from her date in the wee hours of the morning. She tossed her coat on the couch and was heading for her bedroom when she heard Kim scream. She ran to the bedroom and saw Kim crawling across the bed and desperately crying out her name. "Kim, I'm here, it's ok. Shhhhh. I'm with you."

Melissa and Tiffany came running into the room right after Valerie. "What's wrong?" Melissa asked. "Kim, are you ok?"

Kim latched onto Valerie and clung to her. Valerie continued to try and calm her down but Kim was shaking and unable to speak. She kept mumbling and reaching for her mother. Melissa sat next to them on the bed and Kim reached for her hand. Melissa also tried to calm her down, but Kim was out of control. Tiffany went for a glass of milk and handed it to Valerie. She held the glass as Kim took a sip. It took close to twenty minutes before Kim had calmed enough to drink the rest of the milk.

After she had regained her composure she began apologizing. Eventually Melissa asked her if she wanted to return to bed. She reluctantly agreed and climbed into the center of Valerie's bed and curled up under the blankets. Valerie changed clothes and quickly returned from the bathroom. She crawled next to Kim and tried to sleep. As late as it was, and as tired as she was, Valerie couldn't sleep. Lying in the dark she could hear Kim's breathing and knew she wasn't asleep either.

"Kim?" she whispered. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Valerie," she answered, "I'm scared. I'm really scared. There is something going on, something is totally wrong, but I can't understand it. I think I'm seeing the future. I think my dreams are real."

Valerie listened quietly, only half surprised considering it was Kimmay that was speaking. "What are they about?"

"Valerie, it was the worst possible thing I can imagine. It was mom – she was dead." Valerie gasped but said nothing. "And there is this picture – it's really important. I know it's important, but I can't see it. I can't look at it." Kim took a deep breath and continued, "It's in mom's hand. She's dead, but she's still clutching this picture. I have to see that picture, but I can't force myself to take it out of mom's hand. And I stand there and just look at mom, trying to see the picture, and then they come and I wake up."

"Who comes?" Valerie asked quietly.

"The soldiers. There is going to be a war."

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

Kimmay was sitting behind the desk in her office, and reviewing her notes when Tiffany and Valerie arrived. "Tiffany, welcome to our home away from home. How do you like it?"

"Nice, you've done a lot of work. It's got all of the latest teleconference equipment, I presume?"

"It has everything I could think of. Listen, I've had a change of plans. I know I said that I wanted to talk about these new eco-ventures, but will you go see Kristal with me?"

"Now?"

"Right now. As soon as Linda can take us. I've already called Kristal and she has cleared her appointments for us." Valerie looked at Kimmay and it was clear that she wanted to go along. "I'm sorry Valerie, only Tiffany and me."

"Does this have to do with your nightmare?"

"Yes."

"I understand. I'll leave you two alone." Kimmay began rubbing her ring before Valerie had closed the door behind her.

 

Linda, Kimmay and Tiffany popped into Kristal's office. Linda stayed just long enough to compliment Kristal on her dress and then popped out again. "I understand you have a new name," she said to Tiffany. "Tiffany, I like the sound of it. And you look very pretty."

"Thanks Kristal, I really appreciate your kindness."

"Tiffany, I mean every word of it."

"Ahem," Kimmay cleared her throat. "We need to talk."

Kristal led them to the comfortable chairs and motioned for Kimmay to begin. "Let's start from the beginning with my trip with Linda. There is no doubt in my mind why she took me and what her motives were." Kimmay quickly recapped some of the planets she had visited and their stories. Both Kristal and Tiffany had heard bits and pieces of Kimmay's ordeal.

"But things have gotten worse. Since I have returned home the nightmares have been changing. They're getting worse, more personal and more violent. I can't explain why, but I'm convinced they're real. I think I'm seeing the future."

Kristal interjected, "Kimmay, do mean you can't or won't say why you think they're real?"

"I don't know why. I feel it though. I know it somehow. And if I'm right, the future is bleak. War is coming"

"War with whom?"

"I don't know for sure, but I don't think it is between people or nations. I'm worried that it might be with aliens. I know that sounds preposterous, but I'm afraid that Earth will be attacked by extra-terrestrials."

"Linda's people maybe?"

"I don't think so, but I'm not sure. I don't know enough. I'm hoping that my visions are far in the future and that's why I can't see the details yet. And I'm also hoping they're far enough in the future that we have time to do something about it."

"Like what?"

"We have to prepare for war. We have to develop weapons. We'll need the help of every country in the world. We have to cooperate and coordinate communications and make sure that we can fight side by side."

Tiffany and Kristal looked at each other. Kimmay saw their glances and proclaimed, "I'm not crazy! This has to be what Linda was preparing me for. I have to prepare the world for war. That has to be it. Why else would she have spent fifteen years teaching me?"

Kristal took out her sat phone and ordered 3 coffees. "Kimmay, I don't doubt you for one minute. But I've got several problems here. The biggest problem is that I can't call the various heads of state and tell them that we are about to be invaded, and we need to prepare to defend the planet. No one is going to believe me. They will all be convinced that I have ulterior motives. Kimmay, while your word is good enough for me, it's not going to be good enough for the others. We can't afford to approach anyone else until we have more substantive evidence. We have to retain our credibility for later."

There was a knock at the door and Kristal gave her permission to enter. The butler was surprised a little to see these two particular people in the room with the President. He served the coffee then promptly left.

"Kimmay, you think Linda has both prepared you and brainwashed you. You've been given the knowledge that you need to prepare for this war, but you admit that you are afraid to act. You're afraid that there are ulterior motives behind Linda's training and you don't know what those motives are. Correct?"

"Yes."

"So how do you know that these dreams haven't been planted to provoke you into quick actions that are not thoroughly thought through? How do you know that she isn't trying to push you right into her agenda?"

"I have only my experiences to rely on. It's instinctual and I can't offer any better evidence. But let me ask you a question. How do you know that everything that you have done and everything else that has happened so far isn't part of her grand scheme?"

"I don't," Kristal answered. "I've thought about that also. But I have looked back at everything that I've done and I can't think of anything that I would have done differently. All along my path, I don't see any inconsistent or incongruous moves. Not that I myself haven't made mistakes, but taken on a global scale I think I have generally accomplished what I always wanted."

"And that doesn't worry you?" Kristal said nothing. "Kristal, what if you were created for this path?"

"What do you mean?"

"Kristal, look at you and me. We are similar in so many extraordinary ways, that it can't be just coincidence. We're both transsexuals. We both had …"

"Wait," Tiffany interrupted. "Kristal, you're a transsexual also?"

"Yes, Tiffany. Are you surprised?"

"No, not at all. I'm shocked, stunned and flabbergasted! But surprised? No that's too mild a word!"

Kristal and Kimmay both laughed quietly. "So is Jennifer," Kristal added. "You of course understand the need to keep this just between us, right?"

"But you're too beautiful to be a transsexual. You're the epitome of feminine beauty. Every man in the world has been in love with you. You were the greatest model of all time, and a movie star, and …"

"I get the point Tiffany, but it's true none-the-less."

"Exactly my point," Kimmay said as she took back the conversation. "Everything has been perfect for both of us. Like I was saying, not only were we born with a predisposition towards becoming transsexuals, we were surrounded by family that actively promoted the concept. In fact, they led us into this lifestyle before we were able to make the decision ourselves. Then look what happened; we both started as musical prodigies and after that moved into math. We followed the exact same path. Only when we reached puberty did we start to divert into our adult specialties. I went into science and you went into public service. And both of those specialties were exactly what Linda and Amanda needed. It's what they nurtured."

"There is only one problem with your scenario, Kimmay. Linda was never with us. She was with Tiffany. Tiffany has definite talents also, but she didn't grow up as a girl. She doesn't fit your mold."

"But I wanted to," Tiffany interjected. "I've kept it secret all of my life, but I've always dreamed of becoming a girl."

"Tiffany, were you any good at music when you were little?" Kimmay asked.

"I liked music. I was a very good singer and dancer. In fact, I was always disappointed that I couldn't be a ballerina. But as I got older I became less interested in dancing and more interested in science fiction. Science fiction is what led me into physics."

"See Kristal, she is similar. It's not exact but close, and the fact that Linda was protecting her is proof in my book."

"So what is your point, Kimmay?"

"That most of this was orchestrated to bring us here today, and my dreams are the next extension."

"I admit that there is a great deal of coincidence and some strong circumferential evidence, but I can't see how Linda and Amanda could have predicted all of this. They have told us many times that the future is not pre-determined, and that we can influence that future. If that is really true, and I really want to believe that it's true, then I don't buy your conspiracy theory. It would have been too difficult for them to plan all of this and then make it work," Kristal explained.

"Are you willing to put it to an ultimate test?"

"What? Call Linda on this conspiracy?"

"Not at all, she wouldn't tell us the truth. But what do you think we would find if we both, if all three of us, had a full DNA analysis?"

Kristal's eyes squinted and it was obvious that she was struggling with something. "I don't think we should that."

"And why not?" Kimmay asked.

"Yea, why not?" added Tiffany.

"Do you really want to know the answer to that test? I can't think of anything positive coming from it. First, if we test totally normal what does that prove? Your conspiracy theory could still be valid. And if we test abnormal, what can you do about it? What would you want to do? What would it possibly change?"

"Knowledge and facts are crucial to any intelligent decision. We could at least make more intelligent decisions." Kimmay smiled, she knew Kristal couldn't argue against that premise.

"What about Tiffany? She doesn't fit your scenario, how would she fit into this?"

"First we get the facts, then we speculate. You're reaching, Kristal."

Kristal thought about it still longer. "Ok, here is the real reason I don't want to do it. I'm afraid you might be right and we really are genetically enhanced humans. And when the analysis is completed, and we have the blueprint for enhancing the human genome, how do we put the genie back in the bottle? Don't you think someone will ask questions and start wondering what would happen if they tried to duplicate those enhancements?"

Now it was Kimmay's turn to think about the idea. "Kristal, you're the President of the United States, you have enormous resources and you have the ability to declare something top secret. I'm sure that it can be done and kept secret. The samples can be double-blind identified along with 20 or 30 other samples. You compartmentalize so that no one person has an overview of the entire results. You use only the most secure laboratories in the country, and when you're done you make sure everyone that worked on the samples is reassigned far away from everyone else. You tell the CIA or FBI to monitor them and make sure that they never talk to each other or anyone outside. After we see the results we destroy everything. I know it sounds like a lot, but I'll bet your guys do it twelve times a day."

"She's right," Tiffany added. "We need to know."

Kristal wasn't happy, and she thought about it for several minutes before she acquiesced. "Give me some time to set it up. I don't like this idea, but I'm going to do it because you both have a right to know. But damn it …!"

Kristal took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. "Ok Kimmay, so what does this accomplish for us concerning the topic at hand. How does this affect a potential war?"

"It merely validates the probability that I am correct. And if I am correct, then some of my suggestions are viable. But those suggestions are also suspect and that is why I needed to talk with you. You Kristal and you also Tiffany, have to be the final arbiters on the validity of my ideas."

"I'll accept the premise. Go ahead, what are your ideas?" Kristal leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She opened her mind and prepared for Kimmay's recommendations.

"First, I see the solution as having two parts, and by coincidence or plan, they have distinctly different time scales. The first part I thought was valid and highly unlikely to be part of Linda's needs, so I have actually begun working on it. One of the things I learned about surviving was the need for strong roots and a sense of pride. Strong family ties serve many purposes, not the least being emotional and mental support to help people through the most difficult of situations. When fighting for the tribal family, people can accomplish far greater feats than when fighting for ones self. You are less likely to give up in the face of extreme adversity.

"So I have wondered how you develop that sense of family or connection. And especially, how do you accomplish that when you have so many ethnic and religious rivalries on earth. For beginners, we share one planet. Pride in that planet might be a first start. I actually saw one race pollute its self into oblivion. With a planet not worth saving, a force that was at best only their equal in strength easily defeated them.

"I've already started researching technologies that will help clean and preserve our planet's ecology. Does any of that sound like aid to Linda?"

Neither Kristal nor Tiffany could see potential conflicts. "But it's very long term, isn't it?" asked Tiffany.

"Yea, but it's a starting point for us. The other part of planetary pride, from a strategic point that is how I refer to this, is the politics of cooperation. How to eliminate tribal, ethnic and religious differences is too dangerous for me to touch. I have ideas, but I'm reluctant to even mention them, especially since you inherently recognize them already."

"I can agree with your assessment of the political dangers," Kristal commented. "I like your recognition of planetary coherence and its value as a strategic strength – or weakness as it may well currently be. And I also see some significant time requirements. What else can you offer?"

"Military strength is probably the next strongest requirement. Military strength envelops command and communication, strategic intelligence, numbers and weapons. Intelligence is most important in my book. One thing you can't do is allow a spy to have full access to all of your knowledge and plans, and that is the one big problem that we already have. Linda can come and go as she likes. We have no control and no knowledge of anything that she does. We have to first learn how to track her and determine her activities, and second we need to be prepared to stop her when the need arises."

"Your talking about our Linda," Tiffany said as she emphasized the our. "She knows everything that we do, I'm sure of it. And even if we could plot behind her back, her technical level is light years ahead of us. Do you have even a clue on how to track or stop her from popping around whenever she wants?"

"Nope, not a clue. I didn't say it was going to be easy, I merely pointed out that it is highly desirable."

"You assume that Linda is the enemy. She may be on our side. But I agree with your premise and the need to control our own borders." Kristal was impressed with some of Kimmay's thinking. "Can you even speculate on how to control Linda's technical advantage?"

"Ok, this is only a thought and I haven't had anytime to work on the physics, but she must be passing through adjacent dimensions to come and go as she pleases. If we could monitor those dimensions we might be able to sense energy fluctuations that would indicate travel."

"Can you do that?" Kristal asked.

"I have no idea how to do that, but it is now something that I will move up on my priority list. One other thing we can work on is weapons. This is one area where I think we can all help. I can provide enormous amounts of energy in very high densities. I have already instructed our R&D people to begin seeing how much energy we can pump into one chip, and how fast we can dump it back out.

"One possibility that I have given thought to is high energy radiation at extremely short wavelengths. Coherent x-rays or cosmic waves could deliver enormous amounts of energy in very concentrated beams. An x-ray laser would be a plausible weapon with our current technology, and with the proper chips we might be able to pump enough energy to destroy almost anything.

"This is where your people, the Pentagon or whoever, have to help if not actually lead. One item that you should ask them about is free electron lasers. They can be tuned by using something called a wiggler. It's a magnetic device that bunches the electrons and then tunes them to whatever wavelength that you want to lase at. The key to the instrument is a source of electrons. The physicists are currently using linear accelerators that are miles in length to accelerate the electrons up to relativistic speeds. Their velocity is what gives them their energy.

"Electrons are something I can produce in excess. And with reasonable advances, I think I can squirt them out in prodigious quantities and at relativistic speeds. But I don't know the technology for actually lasing, aiming, and firing. I hope your people do."

Kimmay pulled out her sat phone and called the Secretary of Defense. "Admiral Ondreyka, this is the President. I want you in here first thing tomorrow morning with a full briefing on high-energy weapons, including free electron lasers. Bring your experts. Yes sir I'm sorry about that, but you can record your football game. This is high priority – 8:30 sharp." Kristal clicked off and looked at Kimmay. "Can you be here by then?"

"Absolutely."

"What else can you recommend?"

"We should have a presence off-world. We can use Tiffany's teleportation technology and begin with a moon colony. I would recommend that it be totally hidden under the surface of the moon. We can use it as a staging place for future moves, plus we can use it as a military base. We can place our weapons there, and have a clear view of orbiting spaceships."

"You're talking about a huge venture requiring more money than we have. Tiffany eliminates the problem of getting materials there, but we still have to get people there. I don't think this is within our reach right now."

"I agree, but I'm throwing out all of my ideas. One thing you can do is start planning for such a base. They can try and make it modular and we could start building modules here on Earth. That would save time."

"Agreed. I'll put it to the secretary tomorrow. What else do you have?" Kimmay shrugged and held up her hands. "Ok, I'll see you tomorrow morning. Tiffany, good luck with your transition, you're going to be beautiful."

Kristal may have dismissed them abruptly, but she was thinking as fast as Kimmay and she already had some additional tasks that she wanted to initiate. Kristal appreciated physics and she agreed with much of what Kimmay had said, but Kristal's expertise was with politics and people, and she knew that there was much more to be done.

Kimmay called Linda and the four of them had a short chat before Linda returned Kimmay and Tiffany to their new office in Milwaukee. After Linda left, Kimmay began asking Tiffany questions about her teleportation technology. "Tiffany, are you in the position to send things to the moon?"

"Not really. I can probably send small items but I have no way to validate the result. I could be dropping items a kilometer over the surface or ten meters inside solid rock. And I don't have a large enough facility to send anything larger than a basketball at this time. I'll have to build a large-scale facility. And then there is a small problem with power requirements, but I know who to talk with about that problem," and she smiled at her partner.

"That I can help you with. I think we need to build a pilot plant facility so that we can start doing some customized chip work. What do you think?"

"I agree. Where do we put it?"

"I'd say right next to the current plant, that way we have chemicals and materials at our fingertips. One other item Tiffany, do you think you could teleport items into or close to the sun?"

"Probably. It depends on the size and I'll need a more powerful facility, but I think the technology is here now. Why?"

"As part of the planetary pride idea, we could use it to transport toxic or dangerous items off the planet. It would be just a small contribution to the overall plan, but it would be helpful."

"I think it sounds like a good idea. I'll work it into our new facility. I should probably consider a large-scale mobile unit, so we can go to the source of the materials and not have to risk transporting them to our facility."

Kimmay and Tiffany spent the better part of the afternoon discussing several items and fine tuning plans. Kimmay started putting financial numbers together. Even with their prodigious cash flow, Tiffany and Kimmay were organizing a lot of cash hungry projects, and it was evident that they couldn't do everything.

 

 

CHAPTER NINE

 

George Terrance Winch was born in the heart of the Bible Belt - Pascagoula, Mississippi. Luck did not appear to be an early partner of George, as his father Adam was a strict disciplinarian and Bible quoting, blue-collar worker. Drinking and misogyny were hard wired into Adam Winch.

Although he professed love for his wife when he married her, it was never evident by any of his actions. Young and too naοve to understand her situation, George's mother fell in love with Adam and ran away with him. He met her at a revival meeting in the fall of 1993. Under a harvest moon he wooed Cheryl and convinced her that he would hold her best interests in his heart. Desperate to quickly grow up and leave home for the wonders of the adult world, Cheryl managed to overlook all of the warning signs. She fell in love with his machismo and his good looks, and thought him to be the perfect candidate for her future husband. Only there was a slight problem; Adam was good at hiding his faults, and Cheryl had no idea how abusive he was when he had been drinking. No friends or family were available to help her see the inevitable warning signs. All that Cheryl saw were his looks and religious proclivities. She married him less than a year after they met. Cheryl had her first child barely nine months later.

Adam moved the family into low rent apartments on the north side of Pascagoula. He found work as a carpenter and managed to stay employed most of the time. His pay was fair and he could have made a good living for his family; but he did like his liquor. He almost always stopped after work for three or four beers with the boys. On weekends the drinking increased and it was a miracle that he made it to church on Sunday, but he was always there. Sitting half way back he proudly displayed his religion and morals on his shirtsleeve.

It was on the weekends when the drinking increased that Cheryl and the boy suffered most of Adam's humiliation and abuse. It was the driving force in convincing Cheryl to take the boy and perform community work at the church on weekends. The neighbors were good people, and down to the meanest old man on the block, they all liked Cheryl and George. They went out of their way to look after the boy when he was out playing, and they were always kind to Cheryl when they dropped by with a casserole or pie to make up for the food money lost to drink.

George made it very easy for people to like him. He was small and effeminate, but he was also the most gregarious extrovert anyone had ever met. Everyone he met quickly liked the boy. He always had time to stop and talk with people, and he had a tremendous ability to remember and repeat jokes. He could do the most hilarious imitation of accents and mannerisms as he told the jokes, and he always laughed at the end. George never failed to compliment people on how nice they were. He smiled at everyone and played with anyone. He especially liked playing with the girls, and the girls favored him. He had no preconceived notions of social or sexual stereotypes, and was a favorite target of the little girls when they wanted to dress someone in heels and makeup.

It was no surprise that little George adored his mother and followed her everywhere. As soon as he was able to walk, he would follow Cheryl into her bedroom each morning as she dressed for the day. George would curl up under the blankets on his mother's bed or slide into one of his mother's bathrobes and watch her brush her hair and put on her makeup. As he got older, he would ask his mom to put a little blush or lipstick on his face. Cheryl would always indulge the love of her life. When George wanted to tromp around the house in mom's heels or wear her apron when helping in the kitchen, Cheryl always encouraged him.

Like all of the little boys in Pascagoula, George wore his hair very short. Dad had bought a home barber kit with an electric razor, and every 3 or 4 weeks he took George out on the back patio and gave him a buzz. George was barely three when he began to rebel against the haircuts. There were two very ugly incidents when George was spanked severely and sent to his room. After the second incident Cheryl had no choice but to protect her child. She told Adam that she would handle little George's hair care from then on. There was a third ugly confrontation, but unlike so many earlier fights, Cheryl refused to back down this time. Adam left and went to the bar, while Cheryl went to comfort her child.

Cheryl allowed George to grow his hair long; like hers. She enjoyed brushing out his hair in the morning, and whenever she curled her hair, she would also curl his. George was very cute and more than a bit feminine whenever he wore his hair curled and Cheryl had applied a bit of lipstick on his lips. She eventually started calling him Ginger when Adam wasn't around. Ginger had no trouble in the neighborhood with his curled hair or a bit of makeup. He was still the friendliest, most talkative and pleasant child anyone had ever met.

At the age of three Ginger discovered that he could sing. He was quickly drafted into the church choir and became a featured singer. Mrs. Borchardt, the lady across the street, loved opera and owned a large collection of CDs. Ginger soon discovered Mrs. Borchardt's collection, and spent many an afternoon listening to opera with her. Within a couple of weeks, Ginger was singing opera songs in their original language. Cheryl soon discovered that Ginger had a penchant for singing and languages. Cheryl introduced Ginger to another neighbor who spoke French, and Ginger amazed everyone with how quickly he became fluent in the language. Several months later, Cheryl found him a Spanish speaker, and Ginger quickly mastered that language also.

By the time kindergarten entered Ginger's life, he was fluent in three languages and could sing German and Italian operas faultlessly. Kindergarten worried Cheryl because of Ginger's effeminate tendencies. She stopped curling his hair and refused to let him wear a splash of makeup when he went to school. But small boys are resourceful, and he learned how to curl his hair with Cheryl's hot iron. He snuck some of her makeup out of her room and would apply it in the bathroom at school. Cheryl's concerns turned out to be warrantless. As usual, everyone at school liked Ginger. The boy started the school year as George, but everyone, including the teachers, were calling him Ginger by Halloween. By the time he reached first grade, only a small handful of teachers even remembered what Ginger's real name was.

In retrospect, Cheryl was in awe as to how the boy survived. His dress and mannerisms were very effeminate and at times it was difficult to tell there was even a little boy inside him. Yet he never had trouble at school or with the neighborhood kids. The neighborhood parents even protected him from Adam. If Ginger was out playing and didn't get home before Adam, they would take him into their homes and let him wash off his makeup and tie his hair back in a 'boyish' ponytail. Once or twice they even loaned him jeans or a t-shirt to replace something feminine that he was wearing.

As first grade turned into second turned into third, Cheryl became more comfortable with Ginger's sexuality and gender reversal. While at first it was done merely to indulge a child that she loved very much, it eventually morphed into a desire to help him become more of a girl and live life on new terms. It was evident to anyone who met Ginger that he was very special in many different ways, and he should be allowed to break some stereotypes. No one could begrudge him something that he had so obviously adopted and embraced.

After her acceptance of Ginger's desires, Cheryl never had any doubts or second thoughts. She never even considered if he was gay, since it was totally irrelevant and unimportant. Ginger was just another pretty girl. By fourth grade Cheryl was buying Ginger only girls clothing. She allowed Ginger to dress however she pleased and would actively assist her with choosing the right combinations of colors and styles. In every way but one, Cheryl thought of Ginger as her daughter.

That one exception was when Adam was present. Adam knew that George was usually called Ginger, and he knew that Ginger preferred to wear girls clothing, curl his hair and even wear makeup. It bothered him greatly and the first couple of years he yelled and beat the boy, and threatened George's mother in his macho attempt to put a stop to it. But nothing helped. George changed from Adam's little boy into Cheryl's little girl. Adam eventually realized that he could change nothing, and the easiest thing to do was ignore it. Cheryl and Ginger also realized the same thing, and they did everything they could to accommodate Adam and his lost pride. Ginger always tried to look and dress masculine, or at least gender neutral, around his dad. It was an uneasy truce, but it worked.

On Ginger's tenth birthday when Cheryl asked her what she wanted for a gift, she said, "Estrogen." Cheryl was half expecting the request and had no qualms about helping her, but she was very nervous as she took Ginger to New Orleans. Cheryl had called ahead and thought she had found a competent doctor that would help her and not laugh at her. Cheryl need not have worried. She had done her homework successfully and the doctor that she had picked for Ginger was sympathetic, competent and helpful. He even located a doctor back in their hometown of Pascagoula who agreed to quietly help them. Ginger left the doctor's office with an injection, a prescription and an office appointment two days later with her new doctor. Cheryl was able to shed a great weight that day.

Ginger was soon on a daily regimen of estrogen and anti-androgens, and never happier in her life. She began to blossom not only into a beautiful, female adolescent, but her other talents grew. Her ability with languages seemed to surge with her new life. In the following year she added German, Italian and Russian to her repertoire. By the time she was thirteen she was fluent in twelve languages.

There was one other noticeable effect in Ginger, although it wasn't actually a change. Her popularity soared and climbed at even a faster rate than before. She made friends instantly, as people universally trusted her and admired her. Unlike most teenagers, she never became involved in a clique because she was friendly with everyone. She was turning into a natural born leader; everyone was willing to follow her and she felt comfortable in the role.

As Ginger turned fifteen, Cheryl had a birthday party for her. Ginger had too many friends and didn't want to alienate anyone by inviting just a few to a private party, so her party became public. She had a large contingent of friends stopping throughout the day, as Cheryl held an open house. Both male and female friends from school came to the open house, as well as many of the neighbors. It was a warm day, and people spilled into the yard, talking and laughing together.

Adam was on a week long assignment in Jackson, finishing the cabinetry in a large apartment complex. He unfortunately finished early and returned home earlier than the girls expected. Ginger was still in full girl dress-mode. Her hair was set in tight curls and draped to her shoulders. Like most teenage girls she was wearing too much makeup and her perfume was too heavy.

When Adam returned and saw her, he couldn't hold his anger and frustration any longer. The guests scattered and ran for the doors as Adam exploded. A huge screaming argument erupted and resulted in a harsh slap across the face of Ginger. The slap knocked her to the floor where she sat crying while her father became even angrier. He turned his rage on Cheryl, and with a closed fist he splintered her cheekbone and broke her jaw. Ginger ran to her mother and tried to shield her from Adam, but that infuriated him even more. He pulled Ginger off Cheryl and tossed her across the room, and then kicked Cheryl so hard that he broke two of her ribs.

Ginger ran from the house screaming and quickly had a neighbor call the police. Adam was arrested and Cheryl was taken to the hospital. Ginger refused to return home that evening and slept on the neighbor's couch. The next morning Ginger returned to the vacant house. She quickly packed a few clothes, collected her prescriptions and left. She walked to the closest truck stop and found a ride north. She caught several rides and didn't stop until she had reached Buffalo, New York.

Ginger began putting her enormous talents to use, and within 24 hours had found a job as an au pair. She was given a small bedroom in the back of the house and three good meals a day. In addition, she negotiated $25 per week. It wasn't much money, but it paid for her hormones and some cosmetics. Ginger stayed there only three months before she became bored. She packed her meager belongings and went to Canada. She had no identification and yet had no trouble entering a foreign country. She surprised herself at how easily she could manipulate people and get what she wanted.

The young Ginger traveled to Montreal because she wanted to use her French. Her language skills were amazing, and she was able to quickly pick up another job as an au pair. Her new family was very rich and very interesting. They took Ginger and their two children on trips to the Canadian Rockies and out east to the shore. Ginger was treated as one of the family and she enjoyed the travel. She soon became hooked on the joys of traveling and the opportunity to meet different people. Her people skills made it very easy to meet and talk with people about their lives. Her encounters with new people whetted her appetite for more travel and more contacts.

After a year in Montreal, Ginger decided to go to Europe. With only a Canadian drivers license and no passport she easily gained passage to Amsterdam. She had very little money, but managed to find room and board as she traveled across Germany until she reached Berlin. In Berlin she again found work as an au pair, this time with the family of a successful banker. She picked this particular family because they also traveled. Ginger particularly enjoyed their trips to Sweden and Iceland. Even though she had the burden of watching and caring for two spoiled children, she always managed to meet people and talk with them about their cultures and churches, their governments and politics.

From Germany she traveled to Greece. Greece was the first time that she settled down in a country before she knew the language. She did it as a challenge to herself, but found the challenge extremely easy. Her ability to learn languages was almost effortless. She again enjoyed life with a friendly family, but stayed only four months. Ginger was hungry for something more exotic and difficult. She traveled through Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran before settling down in Tbilisi, Georgia. She again found a wealthy family to live with, and she started to study Islam.

Ginger had always been religious. Cheryl and Ginger had been regulars at church every Saturday and Sunday. Saturday had always been devoted to charity work and Sunday to worship. The Islamic culture was very different and intriguing to Ginger. She was fascinated with the differences and surprised at the similarities with Christianity. She spent two years with her Georgian family.

At the start of her second year in Tbilisi, the family traveled to a resort in the Caucasus Mountains for skiing. It was here that Ginger had a life defining moment; a metanoia. It was late in the day and the children she was watching were tired. Their mother took the children back to the lodge where they warmed up. The father asked Ginger to make one more trip down the slopes. He led Ginger to the farthest ski lift and traveled as far up the slopes as they could go. The father fancied himself an expert skier and decided to lead Ginger down a back trail that had gone unused all day. The trail was half cross country and half downhill. The downhill portion was extremely treacherous as it followed the edge of a sharp cliff.

The father led as he broke a trail across the flat plateau leading to the downhill slope. Ginger struggled behind him, as the snow was very deep. Father reached the downhill portion and waited for Ginger to catch up. After she caught her breath, he pushed off and led the way along the cliff and towards the bottom. Ginger was physically tired and had lost much of her strength. She began to follow down the steep and treacherous path, but before she realized what was happening she lost her balance and fell, quickly sliding towards the cliff. She screamed as she splayed out trying to control the slide, but it was to no use. Ginger blacked out just as she went over the edge of the 100-meter cliff.

It was night when she regained consciousness. The sky was filled with stars and a full moon outlined the tops of the mountains and ridges above her. She quickly realized what had happened, but she felt strangely at ease. There was no panic in her. As she flexed her legs and arms she could feel neither pain nor fatigue. She felt totally relaxed, comfortable and even warm.

A most unusual sensation came over her and she sat up to look behind her. An angel was kneeling in the snow and smiling. "Hello Ginger. How are you feeling?" Ginger couldn't speak. She was in total disbelief. "You must be very thirsty," and the angel handed her a goblet to drink from. It was salty and sweet at the same time. "Here," she said as she handed a brown square piece of food to her. "Eat it. It will give you strength and the courage to speak." Ginger took the square and put it in her mouth. It was chocolate – the best she had ever eaten. The angel handed her several more, which she quickly ate.

Ginger studied the angel. She looked just like an angel should look – wearing a long, glowing dress that shimmered like silver in the moonlight. Her hair was a golden blonde, long and curly, and framing a beautiful face with ruby red lips. And behind her, peaking over her shoulders was the silhouette of what looked like wings. "Who are you?" Ginger finally asked.

"I am your guardian angel, Ginger. I follow you everywhere you go and I protect you."

"Are you really an angel?" The angel unfolded her wings and spread them to their full length. Her wingtips must have been 5 meters tip to tip. "What happened?" Ginger asked.

"You fell Ginger. You were tired and didn't have enough leg strength to maintain your balance. When you fell, you began sliding towards the cliff behind me. You lost consciousness when you went over the cliff and into freefall."

"Then what happened?"

"Then I saved you, Ginger. That is why I am here."

"Am I dead?"

The angel smiled the warmest, most beautiful smile Ginger had ever seen. "No, Ginger you are alive."

"But there is no way that I could have survived that fall."

"You survived Ginger. And I will protect you again if the need arises."

"Why?"

"Because you have a mission to perform, Ginger."

"What?"

"You are to bring all of God's people to together. You will bond every believer with his brother and cast out every doubter. Ginger, restore the people and bring them back to Eden."

"I don't understand."

"You will. Good bye for now, Ginger." There was a barely audible pop as the angel disappeared. Ginger could hear people shouting in the distance, and eventually a group of them found her still sitting in the snow.

Ginger never told anyone the story about the angel. She wasn't sure that she believed it had happened, and there was certainly no way anyone else would believe her. It was way too fantastic a story. People speculated that she had slid down the powdery snow and it had acted as a cushion to break her fall. Anyone with two eyes could have looked at that cliff and known there was no way she could have survived. But the powdery snow scenario was easier to believe than guardian angels.

Ginger's life was changed forever. When they returned to Tbilisi, Ginger began reading the Koran. She studied it as if her very existence depended on understanding its contents. Whenever the opportunity arose, she questioned scholars about the true meaning written on the pages. She asked people what their personal beliefs were, and she deliberately searched out the religious fanatics and extremists as she tried to understand not only the Koran, but Islam itself.

After another year in Tbilisi, Ginger traveled to Pakistan and found another family to stay with. The family was expatriated from London and she again served as nanny for a pair of spoiled, rich children. She used her spare time to stroll through the poorest parts of town to find people to talk with. She never once feared for her life, even as she walked as an infidel among the most extreme religious fanatics that she could find. She used her enormous talents to make friends and discuss the meaning of God's word. She talked with the mainstream mullahs and the violent revolutionaries. Ginger could walk anywhere and talk with anyone.

Ginger enjoyed talking with the extremists and revolutionaries. It wasn't because she approved of their violent tendencies; she had seen enough of that as she was growing up. Rather, it was their passion that she found interesting. They lacked the scholarly knowledge of the mullahs, and they were easily swayed by inflammatory or emotional rhetoric rather than sensible or logical arguments. Ginger sensed that they could be easily controlled and led. Ginger often tested and teased them by making the most outrageous statements, to see what they would buy and what they would reject. She used them to hone her manipulation skills.

After Pakistan she traveled to Delhi and began to study Hinduism. She again sought out the experts in the temples and the extremists on the street. She read everything she could place her hands on, as she sought the sources of the legends and stories. She immersed herself in the religion so that she could totally understand as much as possible. Ginger particularly looked for common ground between the various religions that she studied. The commonality not only came from shared experiences in the Holy books, but in the beliefs and activities of the people on the street and in the back alleys.

From Delhi she traveled to Kathmandu, where she spent less than half a year. Another short stop in Dacca and then she left for Bangkok. She split a year and a half between Bangkok and Shanghai studying Buddhism before she left for her final stop in Jerusalem.

On her 28^th birthday she returned to the United States. Ginger had reached several conclusions in her travels and studies. She now knew her purpose in life and the best place to start was in the heart of the devil's lair. She would unite the world's religions into one powerful voice. War and violence between religions would have to end. They would all have to bond together to defeat Satan and his minions. Secularists would have to first be marginalized and then eliminated. Governments would have to shift their resources away from capitalism and towards serving the pious. The capitalists were destroying the world and only by returning to God could humanity be preserved. It was the only way to return to Eden. Ginger's immense talents would be tested in her jihad against the godless. She had no doubts about her purpose or her ultimate success.

Her first thrust into politics came in Washington D.C. She despised the greed, dishonesty and hypocrisy in the Christian Conservative Party for an Ethical and Moral America, but it was an existing tool that she could use for her purposes. For once in her life, she had difficulty taking control of a group of people. Ginger was too naοve about the power behind politics in the United States. It took half a year before she understood who truly controlled the country. The handful of ultra-rich families were beyond Ginger's reach and would never have been swayed by her personality and talents. Their wealth and greed protected them from everyone. The CC-PEMA belonged to those wealthy families, and Ginger was welcomed only for the abilities she could bring to bear on their selfish goals. Any other goals, such as Ginger's, were totally irrelevant.

They did provide a training ground for Ginger. Their attempt to hold power in the face of Krysallis' assault taught Ginger much, but she soon realized that their dedication to God was a sham. The CC-PEMA needed the religious right for their votes, not their ideology.

Ginger decided that she would have to bypass the CC-PEMA in her pursuit of power. She maintained her contacts for future credibility, but started her own evangelical organization and began to buy television time to spread her word. Through donations, she was able to collect huge amounts of money, and all of it went into her organization and her public message.

At the same time, she re-opened contact with some of the people that she had met on her travels. They formed a loose network of believers, and set up secret cells in most of the world's population centers. In the underground she began to spread rumors of a messiah returning to earth. She wove her meeting with the angel into the legend that she was forming. She sowed the seeds for the strongest propaganda campaign in the history of the world.

Fanatics with no money and family absorbed her legend and planned for the return of God, and the melding of humanity into One. She attacked the hostility of the Rapture and its selfish infatuation with its own cult-like aura. She discredited the personality-driven rhetoric of the ultra-extremists throughout Europe and the Middle East. She prophesized about her vision of universal tolerance – tolerance of all religions, all Gods and one Earthly leader. One Earthly phenomenon wrapped in the message of truth, tolerance and God. Not my God, but our God. The God of the Jews, the Christians the Muslims and Hindis and everyone. The Messiah's messenger was coming and her name was Ginger.

Ginger was very careful as she began to extend her popularity in the United States. She wanted cult-like fanaticism in her followers, but knew that she had to reach beyond the popularity of a cult figure. She would need mainstream support for her purposes. She kept her public image clean, respectful and pious. In the United States she professed her solid support for Christianity, while in the underground cells the Messiah's messenger reflected the religion of the followers. As she collected additional followers and power, she would slowly begin weaving the common ground of their religions together. In her mind, she had a strategy extending for many years. Her goals had the support of the highest power in the universe. She was setting the table for eternity and she knew that time was on her side.

Ginger Winch gained invaluable experience in the 2032 presidential campaign. While she detested the secular beliefs of Krysallis, she admired her strategies, her beliefs and her help. It was obvious that Krysallis had an angel on her shoulder also. The difference was that Krysallis' angel was the dark angel himself. In the upcoming 2036 election, Ginger would finally be 35 and qualified to run for president. The ultimate conflict between good and evil was coming. It would shape the destiny of humanity!

 

 

CHAPTER TEN

 

Christmas was approaching and Tiffany was worried. Her transition was proceeding nicely and she was beginning to blossom. Her hips and face were beginning to add weight and her breasts were showing the first signs of enlargement. She was feeling comfortable with her new femininity and she was preparing to announce the new Tiffany to the world. But first she had to tell her family. She was worried that her mother would not accept her and would react as Melissa's mother had. Tiffany did not want the rejection that Melissa had experienced.

Kimmay was immersing herself in the details and execution of her various projects. She visited Switzerland once or twice a month to review the progress of the plant capacity expansions and the addition of their R&D and pilot plant. She always stopped in to review Dr. Stevens' progress. He had built large test stands for the chip testing. Huge cages of copper wires, mesh and bars surrounded the lab tables and chips, then extended twenty feet into bedrock for grounding. The test stands were designed much like seismic-isolation test platforms.

Kimmay had taken Valerie's suggestion and had purchased a large building several blocks away from Melissa's. She was in the process of revamping the old building on Tulane into her western hemisphere headquarters. She kept in contact with Kristal and they routinely reviewed their work on high-energy weapons. Kimmay still used Linda for most of her travel, but never for her trips to Washington D.C., and especially not for her trips to see her Pentagon counterparts.

In Kimmay's opinion, the most interesting development had been Tiffany's intellectual curiosity. Tiffany's interest in string theory and energy tunneling had begun growing to the point where Tiffany spent more time on the theory than on her own work. She had turned most of her teleportation development over to Dr. Stevens, and helped Stevens only when asked. Her expertise on Kimmay's new theories had reached Kimmay's own level, and she was now pushing past Kimmay's contributions. At least once or twice a week, Tiffany would storm into Kimmay's office and demand she drop everything while Tiffany bounced a new idea off her, or laid out the math for a new variation of their latest equations.

When Kimmay first returned to Earth, she had reviewed all of the progress made in physics and had been very disappointed. Even though she had been gone only nine months, she thought someone would offer up a new idea. She had been utterly disappointed and frustrated to find nothing new upon her return. Now Tiffany was doing exactly what Kimmay had been searching for. Although Kimmay was often irritated by Tifffany's interruptions, she took great interest in their work. She expected the two of them to make some important breakthroughs in the near future. Perhaps they could counter Linda's advantages.

One thing that had not changed was Kimmay's nightmares. They had turned much darker and more violent after she had returned home, and at times reached intolerable levels. She had begun taking short naps during the day to make up for the sleep that she lost at night. She reluctantly had returned to her own room at home, knowing that Valerie also desperately needed her sleep. The nightmares haunted Kimmay, and one item in particular deeply disturbed her. She had seen her mother and sister and everyone she knew brutally killed in her dreams. Night after night, all of their deaths were always the same. Her fear that she was viewing the future grew stronger as details of each death became more and more vivid.

But what worried her the most was that picture. Her mother clutched the picture in her dead hand, and night after night Kimmay reached for the picture, but at the last minute always withdrew or woke up. The picture was key to something – Kimmay was certain of this. But she feared what it might show. For some reason she feared that her face might be on that picture. What it would mean she had no idea, but that was her worst fear.

Christmas was just around the corner, and Kimmay had no idea what to buy for everyone. She was too preoccupied with her own business and she could never remember to ask people for their lists. She decided that she needed a Jennifer. She wanted to have Traci back, fully trained and ready to handle everything that Kimmay needed. She decided to call Jennifer after the holidays and see when Traci would be available. The day before Christmas she forced herself out of her office and finally started her shopping. Somehow Kimmay found a few items for everyone on her list.

 

Tiffany decided to return to her parents for Christmas and she asked Linda to take her there. She timed her arrival so that no one was home when she popped in. Mom and dad were completing some last minute shopping. Melissa and Tiffany had gone out of their way to prepare Tiffany for her first meeting with her parents. She had her hair permed, her first ever, in soft curls that framed her face and tickled her neck. She wore two inch gold earrings and a small gold necklace lay against her white skin. A festive, red cashmere sweater and gray skirt with black two-inch pumps completed her wardrobe. A light application of makeup gave her a youthful appearance.

When she heard her parents drive up, she stood in the middle of the room, facing the door and awaiting their judgment. Her father walked in with his arms full of bags and her mother closed the door behind them. "Todd is going to be here shortly, if we work together we can get these wrapped before he arrives," he said to his wife. He entered the room and almost dropped the gifts when he saw Tiffany. He did not recognize her, and immediately demanded, "What are you doing in my house? Who are you?"

"My new name is Tiffany dad. Hi mom!" she said as her mother entered the room. She was rocking back and forth from her heels to her toes, her fingers nervously twitching by her hips. She bit her lower lip, waiting for an acknowledgment from her parents.

Her mother was the first to catch on, "Todd? Is that you?" she asked suspiciously.

"It's me." Tiffany continued to stand in the middle of the room as an awkward silence descended.

Tiffany's mom finally broke the silence, "You look very nice … Tiffany. Is that a perm?"

"Yes, it is."

"Well come here so I can give you a hug and look at you." Tiffany walked to her mother and received a hug.

Her father set down the bags and waited for his turn. "You look very pretty, Tiffany. Welcome home." After another short and awkward silence dad looked to mom, "Honey, I think we're going to have to return some presents." They both smiled and then started laughing.

"Tiffany, I want to hear the entire story," mom said. "Sit and tell us what you've been doing."

"Mom? Dad? Are you ok with this?"

"Of course we are dear. You surprised us and caught us off guard is all. Now tell me who did your hair, I love it."

Tiffany spent two hours talking about her transition, her work and her entire life for the last several months. Mom prepared dinner for them, and they continued their conversation through dinner and an entire bottle of wine. Tiffany was totally relieved by her open reception, and had no trouble spilling out her activities. She was especially proud of her recent work on energy tunneling theories. She bragged about pushing beyond Kimmay's expertise and breaking new ground.

That reminded mom of something, "Tiffany, now that Kimmay has returned will Linda take you to her planet? Will you go to another planet?"

Tiffany's mood become more serious and somber, "No, I won't. Things have changed, mom. I'm not exactly sure what is happening, but we're not sure about Linda anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not allowed to say too much, and part of the problem is that we just don't know what is happening. Kristal, Kimmay and I have been talking about this ever since Kimmay returned. I can say that Kimmay didn't go to Linda's planet. She spent the time being given various lessons concerning … people and civilizations and politics … and we're not sure what all. We're not even sure what the purpose was. Kimmay believes that she was being brainwashed for some purpose."

Mom gave a slight jump. "Brainwashed? Is she ok now?"

"I think so, but it was a terrible ordeal. She has nightmares every night. They're getting worse every night and she gets almost no sleep at night. She wakes us two or three times every night with her screams. Originally we tried to comfort her, but now she just wants to be left alone."

"What are the nightmares about," dad asked.

"I don't think she has told us one percent of what she is going through. Mostly death. She has seen all of us dead. Her mom, Melissa, Valerie, Kristal me, everyone. It sounds horrible. But the worst part seems to be a picture. There is some picture that terrifies her and she can't see it. So now she hardly sleeps at night. She put both a bed and a recliner in her office and catches naps throughout the day."

Tiffany's mom gave her dad a horrified look. "It can't be the same one, honey. That's impossible."

Tiffany saw the look in her parent's eyes. "Mom, dad what are you talking about?"

"Dad, should we tell her?" mom asked.

"Yes. Tiffany you have a right to hear this." He cleared his throat. "Tiffany, your desire to become a girl is not totally new to your mother and me. Mom started dressing you as a girl when you were very little. We don't need to go into how it started or why, but suffice it to say that you loved being a little girl. And we enjoyed treating you as a girl. You were very cute by the way. But then something happened when you turned two. A picture came. We have no idea where it came from, but it changed everything. It scared us, Tiffany. It really sacred us."

"What was it?"

"Mom, do you still have it?" Tiffany's father asked. Mom left the room and went to her bedroom. She opened her dresser drawer and reached under her folded clothes and found it. She never looked at it as she carried it to Tiffany and handed it to her.

Tiffany looked at the picture and disgust crossed her face. "It's horrible, but I don't understand the significance."

"If there is one thing a mother knows, it is the face of her child; especially the eyes. Even though the woman in that picture is well into her twenties I knew exactly who it was when I saw it. Even at age two, I knew that was you."

"What?" Tiffany was startled at the accusation.

Her mom could barely speak, so dad finished, "When we saw that picture we knew something horrible was going to happen one day. That night we threw away all of your girl's clothes and toys. The next day I cut your hair and we never again dressed you as a girl. Whatever that picture is we decided that we couldn't standby and do nothing. If there was someway to make sure that picture never happened, we had to act."

 

Melissa had prepared a wonderful meal and everyone had stuffed themselves well beyond their capacity. Dishes had been stacked in the sink and left to wait until morning. Everyone filed into the living room and exchanged presents. They took turns going around the room, each person opening one present at a time. Grandma and grandpa had gone crazy spending money and buying gifts. Kimmay's last minute buying spree had been successful, as everyone appreciated his or her gift.

Everyone talked and enjoyed the company of family, as they relaxed around the room until midnight. Grandpa finally announced that they had to start packing up and head home. Wrapping paper was stuffed into bloated plastic bags, and gifts were consolidated and stacked together. After grandpa and grandma left, Melissa and Valerie retired to bed. Kim had no desire to start her nightly horror show, so she spent another hour in the kitchen, cleaning all of the dishes.

Eventually, Kim couldn't put it off any longer. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, changed into her negligee and reluctantly climbed into bed. It took a while to fall asleep, but the nightmares started almost immediately. The sky was filled flashes of light, as weapons were being fired in rapid fashion. The city was burning and the stench was nauseating. Kim was in a torn and ragged bathrobe, digging through the rubble, looking for her family. She found the remains of her sister and grandparents, each buried under the rubble and horribly disfigured. But she couldn't find her mother. She started screaming for help, but none came. Then she remembered where her mother was. How she knew was a mystery, but she walked over to the back of the rubble and began pulling the bricks and broken timbers off the pile.

Kim finally reached her mother. The sight was terrifying. She knelt next to her mother's body and saw the picture in her hand. She began reaching for the picture, knowing full well that she would not be allowed to see it. But tonight was different. Her fingers reached the edge of the picture and gently pulled it from her mother's grasp. The picture was facing down as she slid it closer to her. With trembling hands she turned the picture over and looked at it. It didn't make any sense. It was a young woman, rather pretty and wearing a white dress. She was kneeling on the ground, her dress splattered with blood. There was blood covering her hands and soaking her sleeves up to the elbows. Above her was a misshapen full moon. It had lines crisscrossing over its surface. It wasn't even round, but more oblong.

The picture made no sense. Kim didn't even know who the girl was. But as she continued to look at the picture she realized that the eyes were familiar. That was the key! Who was the girl? Kim knew her. Kim knew her and she in turn would know the answer to the dreams. Kim would have to find her.

Kim opened her eyes and blinked. She lay perfectly still in the dark and didn't move. She tried to reconstruct the entire dream in her mind. She tried to freeze the woman's face on her memory, etch it so strongly that she would never fail to recognize that girl when she next saw her. But like all dreams and nightmares, they have the solidity of smoke. They slowly and smoothly curl into unrecognizable shapes and patterns. As hard as Kim tried she couldn't pull the girl's face back into her consciousness. The face was lost.

Before she realized it, she had again fallen asleep. But this time there were no nightmares. Not that Christmas Eve nor ever again. Kim was free.

 

Tiffany returned two days later. Everyone was eager to hear how about her trip. Did her parents accept Tiffany? Yes! Tiffany was ebullient as she told the story of Tiffany meeting her parents for the first time. Then she told a most bizarre story. Her parents had actually dressed her as a girl when she was very little. She was a little cutey; adored by her parents and friends and totally happy in her feminine persona. Life was pink and frilly and happy until something strange happened. A picture arrived at their house one day. It terrified her parents and they threw away all of her clothes and never again allowed her to dress as a girl.

"What was the picture? Valerie asked.

"It's a horrible picture, but I don't understand it at all. I brought it with me." She took the picture from her purse and held it up. Kim immediately snatched it out of her hand and stared at it. Her face turned white and her eyes widened in horror. Now she knew who the girl was.

 

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

The three of them talked and talked about the picture. What could it possibly mean? How could her parents have gotten it? Where was it taken? When? Over and over Kristal, Tiffany, and Kimmay threw up multitudes of theories and quickly shot them all down. There was no explanation. The message was totally hidden from them. And even stranger, all of Kimmay's nightmares had ended. Kimmay had been partly right, they all agreed. The picture was key to something, and if nothing else could be determined, it was at least the key to Kimmay's nightmares.

The end of her nightmares led to lighter, but strange dreams. Her future dreams turned to flights of fantasy and magic. In the months to come, she dreamed of baseball of all things. She dreamed of hitting towering home runs out of the stadium. Once in a while she found herself on a podium in front of a huge orchestra extending for miles around her. She tapped her baton on the music stand and the acres of musicians became stone quiet as they waited for her to raise her baton. With one swoop of the baton, a million musicians poured heavenly music into the air. And on still other nights, she tapped her baton on the rim of a large hat, and reached in to pull out a rabbit. What did all of that mean? If she was seeing the future, what could baseball possibly portend?

After hours of useless debate, they had to leave the picture and nightmares for another time. There was other business on the table. Kimmay gave them a brief update on her last meeting with Kristal's weapons experts. They were pursing not only Kimmay's free electron x-ray laser, but also a handful of other high-energy, directed particle-beam weapons. Progress was frustratingly slow on both sides of the ocean. Kimmay's chip research was moving ahead, but strange anomalies were interfering with a successful push to the extreme energy levels they wanted. Without eliminating the anomalies, they feared that the required system stability was out of reach.

Kristal briefly discussed the political situation. She always held her cards close and seldom shared the full story. But she did admit that she was becoming worried with the growth of religious fanaticism. Their numbers were growing fast and large amounts of money were being poured into media attacks against Kristal. A central figure was controlling the situation, and she was looking like a formidable adversary – Ginger Winch. She was smart, she was ruthless and she was a born leader. The people flocked to her like their next savior. And she didn't dissuade them from that idea. In fact, she added undertones to her speeches that encouraged that exact thinking. She used key words to give her an almost biblical authenticity.

Kristal knew she had many domestic issues that had to be improved. With a bad economy, high unemployment, and increasing terrorist crimes, she wasn't going to control the common opinion. She now realized how tenuous her position was becoming and was reluctantly accepting Kimmay's advice. She would have to become more aggressive and fight fire with fire.

Finally, and for what seemed like the hundredth time, Kimmay asked about the DNA analysis. Kristal had stalled for weeks, claiming the work was still in progress, but she had finally run out of time. She had to share the results with Kimmay and Tiffany.

"Ok Kimmay, the results have arrived," Kristal admitted. "I was briefed on them yesterday."

"And?"

"And it seems that in the group of forty specimens, there were three that were very unusual."

"I knew it!" Kimmay cried out. "What else did they say?"

"Not much actually. In all three specimens, the anomalies were similar, but not exact. And the doctor thought that was to be expected. No two humans have the exact same DNA sequences and so these anomalies shouldn't be expected to be the same."

"But they were similar?"

"Yes."

"And could they be linked to any expected physical changes in the people?"

"No, he couldn't speculate on how those differences might manifest themselves. In fact, he asked me the same question. He wanted to know what they might be. Kimmay this is exactly what I feared. He is now curious about the 3 specimens and wants to continue his studies."

"But you can stop that right?"

"I can try, but I'll never be sure unless I have him killed, and we don't do that. Kimmay, this was a dangerous maneuver on our part. I never should have agreed to the analysis."

"But now we know. We know more than we did. We know that we were deliberately created by Linda and her people, and we can certainly assume they had a reason for it."

"Ahh, but there lies the question," Tiffany said. "What are their motives? And I have some other questions. Such as, why are we all transsexuals?"

"I've known the answer to that question from day one," Kimmay answered. "So that we can't breed."

"Not good enough," Tiffany responded. "Why not just make us sterile, then?"

"I can't speculate as to the mechanism they decided to use when they made us sterile, but that has to be the ultimate reason. Right, Kristal?"

"Probably. They might have the same concerns that I have. Let's assume that we are correct, that they want to affect some change on our civilization. Changing the genome for the entire species would throw way too many variables into the mix, so it is best that those alterations don't continue."

"What do you think might happen if those DNA alterations did find their way into the general population?" Kimmay asked a little too nonchalantly.

Kristal stood and pointed her finger at Kimmay, "Don't you even think about it! It's an abomination and I will not allow it. Drop it Kimmay. Drop it and don't ever think about it again." Kristal was extremely angry and she didn't try to hide it. She wanted Kimmay to feel the full weight of her anger. "Right here and right now, I want you to swear that you will never follow up on that idea. Do you hear me?"

But it was too late. Kimmay had already made up her mind; she would clone herself. Not just once or twice. She had already thought this through very carefully. She would allow some to transition from male to female, but she wanted to keep some of the clones male. If they stayed male they might be fertile. Her genes would be given to humanity. There was little doubt in Kimmay's mind that the human race needed every advantage it could find. She had seen the future, and she knew this.

Kimmay nodded her head yes. She heard Kristal.

 

At the end of the meeting, Kimmay asked about Traci and her progress. "Let's find out," Kristal answered as she pulled out her phone and called Jennifer. Jennifer and Traci arrived thirty minutes later.

"Hi Kimmay," Traci said. Traci's "Hello Ms. President," earned her a reprimand from Kristal.

"We're all friends her and my name is Kristal."

Tiffany surprised Traci. Traci had seen Tiffany only once since she had begun her transition. "Tiffany, you look very pretty. Wow! I really like your new hair color. Is it hi-lighted?"

After Jennifer had greeted everyone, Kimmay asked how Traci's training was progressing. Jennifer gave Traci a smile and announced, "Traci is doing moderately well. She has some small amount of natural talent."

"I kicked your butt in the gym," Traci shot back.

"Oh wow," Jennifer answered sarcastically. "You were able to keep up with an old woman, who was thirty years your senior. That's something to be really proud of." The humor was lost on no one and they all enjoyed a laugh. It was a relief to have a bit of levity interjected on an otherwise somber meeting.

Jennifer returned her attention to Kimmay, "Actually, I think Traci is ready for her new assignment. She has the talent, now she needs the experience, and there is only one good way to get that. I respectively grant Traci her diploma from Jennifer's crash course on 'How to be a Bodyguard'."

"Congratulations Traci, and thank you Jennifer. Traci, are you ready to assume your new duties?" Kimmay asked.

"I can hardly wait. What's my first assignment?"

"A complete make over. I want you to look the part of a helpless executive secretary. Your first task will be to face Simon."

 

Simon was certainly up to the task. Traci spent the entire following morning under Simon's artistic care. The first step was to convert Traci's hair to a rich auburn color, followed by a rather short haircut and permanent. Simon was still emphasizing lots of curls for his latest styles, and Traci received her fair share. Once again, Simon used his dual roller technique for matching one very tight curl with one slightly larger curl. It gave Traci's hair a soft and feminine look, and a blur of curls. He parted her hair down the middle with no bangs and extended the curls out and over her ears and around the back of her head. The curls were kept off Traci's neck and gave her an almost pixie-ish look.

During one of Traci's numerous sessions under the dryer, during her coloring and permanent, Susan gave her a short manicure. Traci insisted that her new duties would not allow her to have nails that were very long. To complete the illusion, Melissa finished Traci with a new look in makeup. Since Traci was going to play the frilly-girl secretary role, Melissa showed her how to apply a heavier amount of makeup with extra color. Traci looked like a model-wannabe. It was a bit over the top but gave her the look that Kim wanted. Kim didn't want anyone to consider Traci a physical threat.

Kim reinforced the image by taking Traci to Diane's Classic Dresses. Traci was not a prissy little girl and wasn't very enthralled with the look that Kim was giving her, but she had learned her lessons from Jennifer. She would do whatever Kim asked. Traci bought several pant and skirted suits. Her coats were loose fitting and slightly larger than necessary. It was important to have extra room for her weapon. She bought numerous pastel colored blouses and a few sweaters. Diane gave Traci only her best pantyhose, most of them with designs or back seams to add to her new image.

Kim did concede to Traci's desires on footwear and purses. Footwear was kept to low-heeled shoes in which Traci could run. She even bought Traci a couple pairs of black sneakers that passed for reasonable dress shoes. Traci's purse was large enough to carry a small gun, but not too big to get in the way.

By the end of the day Traci looked like a beautiful, over-dressed secretary with slight traces of bimbo. She was pretty, and certainly not to be mistaken as a physical threat to anyone. Traci was now ready to become Kimmay's constant companion, and hopefully a confidant on par with Kristal's Jennifer.

Kimmay made sure that Traci always carried the same sat phone as hers and Tiffany's. They were the only three people outside the United States government that had such secure and reliable communications.

Diane arranged for Traci's clothes to be delivered to her new home. In anticipation of the opening of their regional headquarters, Kimmay and Tiffany had bought the top two floors of a new luxury condominium. There were four condos on the 15^th floor of the building. Kimmay took one condo, Tiffany the second, Tracey moved into the third and the fourth was set-aside for Dr. Jason Drum. The floor below was set up as a group of four guesthouses. One of the elevators was modified to serve just the top two floors, and a special key was required to call the elevator. Kimmay and her group had the privacy that they required.

 

(continued)

  

  

  

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