WhiteRabbit

by Barbie Lee

 

He clocked the car on his radar doing ninety-six. Hitting the lights and siren, Dana pulled out onto the interstate in pursuit as he keyed his radio. "Two eighteen. I have a silver sedan headed west on twenty, two miles west of the three ninety-seven ramp. Speed is…, I have a hundred and six on the gun."

Whoever the speeder was, Dana wasn’t closing the gap very quickly. He had the pedal all the way to the floor. His patrol car maxed out at a hundred and twenty one. He keyed his radio again. "The silver sedan is pulling away. I am clocking it at one hundred thirty six. Request help."

"Two eighteen, this is one sixty nine. I am approximately ten miles west from your location. I will try to intercept." Came back over the radio.

"Two eighteen, one fifty four. I am north of you on two eighty-one. I will drop down and intercept." Was the second message over the radio.

Dana knew this wouldn’t last too long. The speeder would find his world boxed in by the time the other two Texas Troopers slid into position and formed a rolling roadblock ahead of the speeder. Dana would close up the rear and the speeder would be finished.

"Damn, I dropped on twenty and the speeder jumped off, headed north on two eighty one."

Dana could see lots of smoke where the speeder had burned tires shutting it down. The other patrol car was making a turn across the grass median to get back up on two eighty-one in pursuit. Dana was shutting down to make the exit ramp; the other patrol car was blocking his path, still picking up speed. The third patrol car was headed their way from the east as he too made the exit ramp. All three patrol cars were quickly up on highway two eighty one headed north in pursuit, lights flashing, sirens blaring warning other motorist to move out of the way.

"Two eighteen, we have a silver sedan headed north on two eighty one speeding in excess of one hundred miles per hour." Dana keyed his mike again hoping Bud was up ahead of them and could cut the speeder off.

"Two eighteen, this is deputy Wills. I’m north of your location approximately twenty miles. Do you request spike strips?" Came in on the radio.

"Two eighteen, deputy Wills, lay out your spike strips. This speeder is not slowing down." Dana answered as he watched the silver car dodge out to pass a semi on a blind hill.

"Affirmative, I am laying out spike strips now." Was the reply. Wills knew if that speeder was running close to a hundred; the speeder would close the ten miles in less than five minutes. Wills had to hurry to get those spike strips in place before the speeder passed by his location. He jumped out of his car, ran to the trunk, and retrieved the spike strip with the attached rope. It took almost two minutes of that precious time to get the strip set up on the other side of the highway and the rope stretched back across. His adrenaline was pumping when he heard the sirens coming his direction. He heard the roar of engines screaming as they pushed the cars to the limits of speed.

It was unbelievable how quickly the little silver car popped up into view and closed the distance. At the last second, Wills remembered to pull the spike strip out onto the highway. The silver car ran across the strip and instantly the sound of rubber being thrown off rims could be heard as the tires went flat. Whoever was driving that little car was good because they didn’t lose control or hit the brakes and try to stop. They also knew it was useless to keep pushing the car without tires as they let off the gas.

Wills pulled the spike strip off the highway before the three Texas highway patrol cars flew past. They stacked up behind the silver car as it slowed. When it pulled off the highway onto the shoulder of the road and coasted to a stop, one patrol pulled in front, another pulled out to the side next to the highway, the last one pulled in behind it. The three patrolmen were out of their cruisers with weapons drawn.

"GET OUT OF THE CAR AND LIE DOWN ON THE GROUND!" Dana was the one on the highway. He stayed behind his cruiser as he focused on the driver’s door. The windows of the silver car were tinted too heavily to see the driver. "GET OUT OF THE CAR NOW! LIE DOWN ON THE GROUND!"

Slowly the door opened. A shapely leg wearing high heels came out and touched the ground. The other leg followed as the door swung wide open. She was a dark haired beauty. She stood up, brushed down her short skirt, and then pushed her long hair back over her shoulder."

"LIE FACE DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!" Dana had to cough that one out as he stared at the woman. It was procedure and now wasn’t the time to get lax. She could have a compatriot in the car. That friend could be holding a gun waiting for anyone to do something foolish.

The woman squatted, put her hands down on the ground in front of her, and laid down.

"ANYONE IN THE CAR COME OUT NOW AND LIE DOWN ON THE GROUND!" The officer behind the car was shouting as he held his position behind his car door.

"I’m alone." The woman’s muffled voice carried across the pavement.

Wills had pulled up and joined in. Slowly the officers closed in on the car. One opened the passenger door the same instant the other looked into the car from the driver’s side. It was empty.

Dana pulled the woman’s hands behind her back and put handcuffs on her before helping her to her feet. "You have the right to an attorney…," He wanted to make sure she understood her rights before she said anything. There were a half dozen laws she broke besides speeding. She was going to jail.

"You don’t understand. I’m late." She was trying to make them understand as she was led to the patrol car and placed in the rear seat.

"What’s your name?" Dana wanted a name.

"Please, I’m late. I have to get there or they will leave without me." The woman was pleading.

"What’s your name? Where do you live?" Dana wasn’t getting the answers he wanted.

"Please, you must understand. They will leave without me." Her eyes were begging.

Dana was in no mood for mercy after the chase. "Lady, I’m getting damn tired of this. What is your name and where do you live?"

"They won’t be back. Please, I must be there before they leave." She had tears in the corner of her eyes.

Dana shut the door knowing he wasn’t going to get any useful information from her. He looked over at the other troopers who were still searching her car. "Find her driver’s license or purse?"

Clay sighed as he stood up. "Clean as a whistle. No driver’s license, no purse, no ID, nothing. She say what her name was?"

Shaking his head, Dana walked over to the woman’s car. "No. She has White Rabbit Fever."

Clay blinked as he searched though his mind what that could be. It wasn’t any disease he recognized. "White Rabbit fever?"

"Yeah, she’s late. Alice in Wonderland and the White Rabbit. The Rabbit was always late." Dana laughed after he said it.

"Uh, okay. So she’s bonkers or she wants us to think she’s bonkers. Take her in and print her. I’m betting she comes up on someone’s radar." Clay shut the door to the car and headed for his patrol car. "Hank, call it in and have it picked up. What came back on the tags?"

The third patrolman hung up his radio. "Tags and vehicle identification number are listed to Lan Corporation out of Houston. Base is trying to call them now. No one is answering."

Dana looked at his passenger in the back seat. "I’ll run her back in. Shouldn’t take long to get a name on her if she works for that corporation."

The trip back into Fort Worth was quiet except for the radio chatter. The woman had stopped saying she was late somewhere halfway back to town. In the station they fingerprinted her and photographed her as Jane Doe because she had stopped talking.

Cindy led her back to a cell and locked her in. "Honey, you might as well tell us who you are. It would go a lot easier on you if you co-operate."

Receiving no answer, Cindy turned and left. "Not a good choice."

Hours later, it had been a long day and Dana returned to the station before he went off duty. Cindy was still on duty and he sat down in the chair by her desk. "Get anything back on the White Rabbit?"

"White Rabbit?" Cindy had no idea who Dana was talking about.

"Jane Doe I brought in earlier today. At first she kept claiming she was late before she clamed up and stopped talking." It brought a smile to his face as he remembered her.

"Oh her. No. She doesn’t have a record. No matches on the fingerprints or the photo." Cindy was filling in the arrest information on a drunk and disorderly brought in a few minutes earlier.

"I’m going back to see if she’s talking." Dana rose up and headed back to the holding cells.

Cindy had finished her report when Dana walked back up to her desk. "Where did you send her?"

"No where. She’s in cell nine." Cindy glanced up to see if Dana was joking. His face didn’t look like he was joking.

"She’s not there. Cell is empty." Dana wasn’t amused.

"Who pulled Jane Doe out of cell nine?" Cindy stood up and shouted to the rest of the officers and staff in the room.

Everyone was looking around at everyone else to see who had taken Jane Doe out of her cell.

"Okay, this is serious. Who moved Jane Doe out of cell nine?" Cindy thought the joke had gone far enough. She was headed back to the cellblock to check herself.

Dana followed Cindy into the cellblock. Cell nine was locked and empty. "I told you she wasn’t there."

They walked back up to the office and ran the video monitors back to see when she had been removed from her cell. The video showed officers escorting prisoners to and from the cellblock but no one had gone into cell nine. By all rights, the woman should still be there. She had pulled a Houdini and disappeared without a trace.

"Put out an arrest warrant on her. I don’t know how she did it but she couldn’t be far." Dana wasn’t thrilled they had lost his prisoner.

"What did you get back on that Lan Corporation today?" Dana figured if they could get a name on the woman it would be simple enough finding where she lived and going after her.

Cindy shook her head. "Had someone in Houston check it out. It’s empty. They closed down their headquarters. I went through the directory and they had an office here in Wichita. Sent Merle over to check it out. Office is empty there too. Phone service still works as I called over there and it rang but Merle said there wasn’t anything inside."

She smiled as she raised her eyebrows. "Could be you stumbled onto something big. Caught one of them as she was escaping with government secrets."

Dana looked disgusted. "Sure and she was hiding it where? Car is as clean as a whistle. She wasn’t carrying any ID or papers. She was a speeder and nothing more."

"Your speeder was driving Lan Corporation company car. Lan has obviously closed up shop very recently. No one knows what Lan Corporation did. They don’t list any services or goods and they were only in the white pages. Sounds like what spy stuff is made up of to me." Cindy was smiling from ear to ear.

"Sure and I’m Bond…, James Bond. You’ve been seeing too many movies." Dana turned and headed for the door. He wasn’t happy his speeder had been misplaced.

Weeks changed to months, Dana forgot about the White Rabbit. Life went on even when a mystery or two was tossed in. His vacation came up and he was headed to Canada for some serious moose hunting south of Dawsons Creek. The Southwest Airlines flight out of Dallas to Los Angeles wasn’t bad. The Alaska Airways up to Seattle was a little rough. The Bush Freight Airways into Dawsons Creek was really rough with lots of air turbulence.

Dana was glad to get his feet on the ground at Dawsons Creek. He caught a cab into town. Settler’s Inn was almost empty but the season was several weeks old. Most hunters had come and gone already. Dana had hit the lull before the traffic picked up again.

"Welcome to Dawsons Creek, Mr. Cooper." The desk clerk pushed the registration book toward Dana.

"Thanks. Long trip. I’ll grab a bite and take a nap. Has Frank Cheksaka showed up yet?" Dana signed the register and handed over his visa card.

"You weren’t informed? Mr. Cheksaka had an unfortunate accident. Broke his leg when a snowmobile rolled over on him."

Dana looked up at the desk clerk and his nametag. "No, when did this happen? Why didn’t someone call me? I need a guide and Frank was it."

"I’m sorry Mr. Cooper. It happened early this morning. I’m sure you can find a suitable replacement for Mr. Cheksaka. Your room is one oh eight down the hall to your left." Eddie was holding up the Visa card for Mr. Cooper after he had scanned it. "We will add to your credit card during your stay. You may sign out when you leave."

"Sure." Dana wasn’t happy the way this hunting trip was starting out. No guide meant no moose.

Dana found a café and his bed in less than an hour. He was up before sunup the next morning looking for a guide. He had gone through the telephone book and most of the cafés before two hours were used up. Guides were either gone or they were already booked. In disgust, Dana leased a snowmobile when one of the locals told him where he might find moose.

Dana soon found he was lost. Either he had taken the wrong turn or he had gone too far but beyond doubt, he was lost. His only chance was to find his way back to town. He knew which direction Dawsons Creek was so he drove in that direction until he was almost out of gas. Then he smelled smoke. Where there was smoke, there were people. He followed the scent upwind until he came to a little cabin nesting up against an embankment. It was covered over with snow. If it hadn’t been for the smoke drifting lazily up out of the stovepipe he wouldn’t have ever seen it.

"HELLO, IS ANYONE HOME?" Dana didn’t want to get shot by someone thinking he was a bear.

"What do you need?" Was the feminine voice that answered him from the doorway.

"I’m out of gas and I think I’m lost. I was headed back to Dawsons Creek. I seem to have missed it somehow." He killed the snowmobile before he slid off and stood up.

"You certainly are lost. Dawsons Creek is thirty miles north east of here. You can’t make it tonight. You might as well come on in and wait for light tomorrow." The voice answered back.

Dana picked up his rifle and headed for the cabin. He was wishing he had brought some of his camping gear but he hadn’t planned on spending the night out in the woods. He kicked snow back away from the door before he opened it and walked into the cabin. The room was dimly lit by a kerosene lantern hanging by the fireplace.

His eyes hadn’t adjusted from the bright snow to the dark cabin but he could vaguely make out a woman with her back to him standing by a pot hanging in the fire.

"You hungry? I don’t have much but you’re welcome to share. I wasn’t expecting company." She dropped a ladle down in the pot and stirred it.

"I haven’t eaten all day. I was dumb enough to think I could go out and shoot a moose and be back before dinner. Getting lost wasn’t in my plans." The cabin felt toasty warm. Dana’s fingers and toes were starting to hurt as they warmed.

The woman reached over to a cabinet on her right and picked up a bowl. She ladled some food into it from the pot. "This will warm you up."

She picked up a box of crackers off the cabinet before she walked over and set the bowl and crackers down on the table in the middle of the room. "Here, go ahead. I’ll get mine."

Dana wasn’t looking when she walked toward him. He only caught a glimpse of her before she turned to get another bowl. She was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. She looked familiar.

She ladled up another bowl and walked back over to the table. She sat down, picked up her spoon, and stirred her food. "It’s hot. Don’t burn your mouth."

Dana did a double take and looked harder. "I know you!"

He grabbed his rifle. "You’re under arrest."

She blew on her spoon and took a small bite. "Not bad. Could use a pinch more salt and another clove of garlic."

"Didn’t you hear what I said? You’re under arrest." Dana pointed the rifle at her to get her attention.

She sighed as she looked at him. "I also remember you. You are the patrolman who made me miss my ship. Cooper was the nametag you were wearing at the time. Is it still Cooper? Look around you, Cooper. Where do you think we are? This isn’t Texas. Even if it was it still wouldn’t make any difference. There is four feet of snow outside, it’s growing dark, and it’s bitterly cold."

She took another bite after blowing on it. "I heard you the first time. I’m under arrest. Big deal. What now? Are you going to tie me on that snowmobile you said was out of gas and pull it and me back to town? I have some kerosene for my lantern. You want to try running that through your carbs? The engine may run but it wouldn’t move that vehicle. Kerosene doesn’t burn like gasoline."

She reached over and picked up several crackers before dipping one into her bowl. "You plan on standing there all night holding that rifle on me? Long nights up here."

Snapping her fingers she nodded. "I got it! You are going to handcuff me."

Shaking her head she curled up the corners of her mouth. "Small problem. You probably didn’t bring your handcuffs to go moose hunting. Hard to handcuff a moose."

Dana wasn’t amused. "You’re still under arrest. I’m taking you back to Dawsons Creek first thing in the morning."

"Great, you finally came up with a plan. If you aren’t eating, I’m going to put your stew back in the pot." She took another bite of stew and nibbled on a cracker.

Dana finally realized it was a ridiculous situation. He couldn’t watch her all night, he couldn’t tie her up, and he didn’t want to end up dead because he went to sleep. "I’m not taking my eye off you." He took the bullets and bolt out of his rifle before he sat down and took a bite of stew. On an empty stomach, it tasted great. When his stomach was full and he was warm, it only took minutes before he was nodding.

"Bed is over there in the corner. I didn’t plan on company so we share. You get any funny ideas in the middle of the night and I’ll toss you out into the snow." She pointed over to a dark corner of the cabin.

"I’m not sleepy. I’m only going to find a little softer place to sit. These wooden chairs are hard on the butt." Dana rose from the table and walked over to the bed. Minutes later snoring sounds were coming from the corner of the room.

"Oh swell! He snores. That’s just great! I can tell this is going to be a long night." She picked up the bowls and carried them over to the sink where she washed them before heading to the rocker beside the fire.

When Dana woke he knew it was still night so he went back to sleep. The second time he woke he wasn’t feeling sleepy but it was still dark so he went back to sleep. The third time he decided he couldn’t sleep any more. He would get up and wait out the night.

He slid out of bed as he looked for the woman. The cabin was dark and she could have been anywhere and he not see her. She might also have run while he was sleeping. At least she didn’t slit his throat or shoot him while he was out. He walked over to the fire.

She was sitting in the rocker. "I see you finally decided to get up."

"Why don’t you take the bed and I’ll spend the rest of the night here. I’m not sleepy any more." Dana stuck his hands out toward the fire to warm them.

"You shouldn’t be. You slept two days. Stew is hot if you want some. Sorry the breakfast menu isn’t up to your standards but stew is all there is." She rose out of the rocker and walked over to get him a bowl.

"Two days? You’re not serious? I slept all night and day and now it is night again?" Dana looked at his watch.

"No, it’s daylight outside. Snowed some more while you were sleeping. We are buried under about twenty feet of snow." She ladled up some stew in a bowl

"Twenty feet? It can’t snow twenty feet in one day. Can it?" Dana was aghast she could even suggest such a thing. She was playing with his mind.

She set the bowl down on the table along with a spoon and crackers. "Where we are it can. This cabin sits right up against a bluff. Snow is driven up against the bluff and settles down on the cabin since it can’t stick to a vertical cliff."

She pointed to a shovel by the door. "You can start digging your way out if you like as soon as you eat. Keep in mind, your snowmobile is at the bottom of that snow so it isn’t going to help you. Open the door and start digging up. Make a small tunnel because all that snow has to come back into the cabin. Too big a hole and you fill up the cabin before you reach daylight."

Dana was in shock. "Is that how you planned on getting out?"

"Why would I want out? I’m stranded here on your world until they come back. Where would I go if I was out? One place is as good as another. I don’t mind it here." She shrugged her shoulders.

Dana hadn’t missed the ‘your world’. The woman was crazy. She really was the White Rabbit in Alice. He didn’t relish the thought of being in close proximity with a crazy woman. "Uh, I think I’ll get to work on that tunnel now if you don’t mind."

"Why should I mind? It’s your muscles not mine. I think you are going to find out you are digging a mighty long tunnel if you don’t eat." She pointed at the bowl steaming on the table.

Somehow he was sure he didn’t want any more stew from a crazy woman. "No thanks. I’ll work on that tunnel."

An hour later Dana was dripping with sweat and exhausted. He had tried digging up but it was impossible once he needed to get up in the tunnel he was excavating. He kept sliding down and out. The heat from his body and the cabin was turning the inside of the tunnel into ice as slick as glass.

He found a chair by the table and was panting trying to catch his breath. "Is it me or is all the oxygen out of this room?"

"A little of both. You have been working hard and using up our oxygen. The fire is using some and what little seeps in from the cave and the snow has to replenish." She picked up a log to put on the fire.

"Cave?" He turned to focus on her.

She pointed to curtains beside the cabinet. "Cave is there. I keep my food stock in there."

As Dana rose up out of the chair he felt like he was going to faint. "Air, I gotta have air."

"You’re probably feeling claustrophobia. Not many people can stand the idea they are walled in. Kind of like tossing someone in a jail cell." She smiled as she looked at him.

He felt trapped. "You did this on purpose. I’m going to…,"

She watched as he fell to the floor. "I tried to tell him to not exert himself."

Dana opened an eye. It had been a bad dream. He was looking at walls and he was lying on a bed. A real bed not some bunk in some dark little cabin. He took a deep breath before he slid out of bed. Yes, there was plenty of air to breathe. Bad dreams. He looked around the room. No pants and not his hotel room. What was going on?

He found a white satin bathrobe on the chair beside his bed. He slipped it on before walking out the door. He was in a huge room. Something wasn’t quite right. The woman was over on a divan watching television or he supposed she was watching television.

She waved her hand in the air even though she had her back to him and never looked. "Up again I see."

"Where are we? What have you done? Where is this place?" Barefoot, Dana padded across the room.

"This place is my place. I was hoping you would tunnel out and leave to never darken my door again but it wasn’t to be. You might as well make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to eat? I promise it won’t be stew although I thought it was pretty good stew." She turned and put her arm up on the back of the divan and looked at him.

"Lady, you are under arrest. I demand you return my clothes and my gun." Dana was ready to leave this nuthouse.

"Why don’t you call me something besides Lady? My name can’t be pronounced in your language so call me Vicky. Vicky Sue Martin would work if you want a full name." She smiled as her eyes looked down at his bare feet.

"Listen, I plan on taking you back to the nearest authorities and having you held until I can get a warrant to transport you back to Texas for escaping jail among other charges." Dana focused in on the woman hoping to intimidate her.

She giggled and that infuriated him. "What’s your first name? I don’t plan on calling you Cooper forever. You seem to have a one-track mind. I suggest you get a new plan because the old one isn’t working."

"Where’s my clothes!" Dana was past mad. The woman had no respect for the law either in Texas or here in Canada.

She sighed as she pushed herself up off the divan. Shaking her head, she turned to face him. "You are starting to annoy the hell out of me. Let me explain a couple things to you, Mr. Cooper. You made me miss my ship."

"What are you talking about?" Dana was positive she was crazy. He was also positive he could handle her if she became a threat.

"Back in Texas when you stopped me. I was barely going to make it until that officer blew all the tires on my car." She walked over to a stuffed chair and sat down facing him.

"We had completed our research here. The ship has a window of opportunity to make the jump from your world to Rious. That window is open for six hours every ten years." She curled up her fingers on her left hand and studied her fingernails.

"Lady, you are as crazy as a rabid dog." Dana was positive she was the White Rabbit.

"Lan Corporation was our cover. The corporation did nothing except gather information. I was a field agent. My task was to monitor your nuclear experiments and how quickly humans were adapting to nuclear energy. Penny was my coworker. She monitored your nuclear arms. She did the estimates if humans were heading toward nuclear genocide." She smiled a sad smile. "Humans are awfully close to the middle of the nuclear genie. They are either going to eliminate themselves or they will find that unlimited energy resource."

Dana started to say something and then didn’t. Some of what she was saying was making sense.

"Our research files were loaded, we had cleaned out our offices, and everyone was either on the ship or headed that way. I was coming up from Galveston with plenty of time to spare. I received a call. Uagford had not destroyed the files in our Wichita office. I was driving through Wichita so all I had to do was stop and complete the task. I had four and one half-hours to spare. That was more than enough time."

She took a deep breath and looked at Cooper. "Stopping at the office I managed to get in and destroy all the records. I don’t think your government would have been able to decode the files but your progress in computer science is gaining quickly. Maybe they could break the code provided they ever found the files and realized it was code. That’s a lot of maybes but we don’t take chances of letting humans know they are being watched by alien life forms."

Dana was looking at her as he waffled back and forth between, was she crazy or was she on the up and up?

"I finished up and walked out to my car. All four tires had been slashed. Not an ideal situation. By now, all the earth vehicles besides mine had been destroyed. It would look kind of strange to have a couple dozen cars and vans parked in an open field and no drivers. Thus, I couldn’t call up anyone to come and get me. I also couldn’t drop in and lease a vehicle as I had destroyed all my earth identification. No credit cards, no money, no license, and no way of getting any in the short time I had."

"Believe it or not, I resorted to thievery. I took my car jack and went out scouring the parking garage two blocks east of our office. I stole tires from vehicles like mine. It took time but I finally had four tires again. I was late but I could still make the ship."

She raised her head and studied Cooper. "That is until you stopped me. I thought about stealing your vehicle at the time but I’m not good at dodging bullets. I either waited until I had the opportunity to escape and wait for the ship to return in ten years or I tried to catch it in your car. As you can see. I’m counting years now."

He was looking into her eyes. "You’re not the White Rabbit. You are as crazy as the Mad Hatter."

She waved her hand to indicate the room they were standing in. "I came up here to get away from those like you and wait. I am also still doing what I was trained to do. I am monitoring your nuclear experiments. We, my race, built all this for exactly this kind of contingency. Where do you think you are, Mr. Cooper?"

Was she trying to trick him? "I’m inside your cabin or someone’s cabin. You probably stole it too while the owner is in Florida."

"Not hardly. We are inside a mountain. The cabin is a façade or a false front if you want. It is there solely for the purpose of giving me a place to enter and exit from if anyone happen to be passing by. However that is highly unlikely considering how remote this place is." She motioned to a machine on the other side of the room. "That is my servant. It takes care of monitoring the place when it’s empty. It also takes care of house keeping when someone like me is here."

Dana was looking where she had pointed. The machine looked unlike anything resembling a useful piece of equipment. In fact it looked a lot like a box. A big gun metal blue box but a box never the less. He decided to pacify her. "Sure nice looking robot."

She laughed as she studied him. "That nice looking robot reads mind thought, Mr. Cooper. I don’t have to verbally speak to it for it to understand if I need anything."

"Okay, if you say so." He was positive she was the Mad Hatter.

The box moved out in front of Dana without making any noise. He took a step back and it moved forward. He took another step back and it moved forward. He had enough as he stepped forward and pushed. To his amazement it didn’t move. It was as solid as if he had pushed on a rock. He dropped to his knees and looked under it. There weren’t any rollers and it wasn’t floating on a cushion of air, yet it wasn’t on the floor either.

The woman walked over to the wall to her left. It opened up to reveal delicate crystal drinking glasses. She picked one up and walked out to the middle of the room. She opened her hand and turned lose of it.

When it hit the floor and shattered, Dana jumped back to his feet. "What did you do that for?"

The box moved over to where the shattered glass had spread out across the floor. To Dana’s amazement, the pieces seemed to swarm toward the box as if they were metal and it was a strong magnet. A perfect crystal glass appeared on top the box. It moved over to the cabinet and the glass floated back up in to place on the shelf. The wall closed shut.

Dana’s eyes were bugging out by now. "I don’t believe it. That was some trick."

"Yes, by human standards, I guess it was a trick. By human standards, I’m full of tricks. By Rious standards it’s dark ages stuff. The glass shouldn’t have ever broke. I am good but I haven’t been able to formulate silicone into clear carbon with the tools I have. If it was possible to do so, you could drive nails with that glass and it wouldn’t break."

She turned her attention toward him. "I’m explaining this to you because I want you to understand the reason for what I have done. I can’t let you go back home and talk about me. Although it would be possible to keep you here for the next ten years, it wouldn’t be right."

Dana got a cold feeling down in the pit of his stomach. She was planning on killing him. He knew he had to be quick before she carried out her plans. He sprang toward her. He would get her down, tie her up, and escape.

She saw him coming and didn’t try to evade his lunge. Dana body slammed her and they both went to the floor. He pulled her arms up and out as he sat on her stomach. He was surprised when she didn’t offer any resistance or try to escape. "I plan on leaving and you aren’t going to stop me."

She lay there looking back up at him. "I hadn’t planned on trying to stop you. You might consider it is thirty miles to town. You have no idea which direction that is. You might also consider you weren’t able to tunnel out that first time so what makes you think you are going to do a better job this time?"

He sat there thinking about it. "You’re going to show me the way. You’re under arrest. I’m taking you with me."

Her eyes were twinkling with amusement as she studied his face. "How did you ever make highway patrol trooper? You’re so dumb it’s not funny. You really expect me to help you dig out and lead you back to town so you can put me in a jail? I don’t think so. I’m not helping you dig out. Does that mean you are going to beat me until I become your prisoner and co-operate? Even if I did help you dig up to the surface, what makes you think I would lead you to town?"

She shook her head. "Did you miss the class where they were passing out brains or did yours come in a Cracker Jack Box? You don’t get it do you? I’m not your prisoner even if you tie me up and beat me until I’m dead. As bad as you might hate to admit it, your life belongs to me. I die, you die. Is that simple enough for you to comprehend?"

His eyes were blinking as his brain processed all the options. It wasn’t looking that great for him. "What makes you think I can’t last out the winter without you? Obviously you have food stores."

She wiggled her finger on her right hand as she pointed to her head. "This place is run by mind thought. Unless you think in Rious mind thought then you’re not going to appreciate the comforts very long. When I leave or die this place is going into hibernation mode. That means it is going to sterilize itself and cool down close to zero Celsius degrees."

She gave him a wink with her right eye. "If this place has been compromised with alien life forms, it will self destruct. Would you like to take a guess as to what the sensors in this place considers alien life? Let me give you a hint. It isn’t yours truly."

Grudgingly Dana got off her, stood up, and offered her his hand. "Your insanity is catching. I’m beginning to believe you."

She took his hand and he pulled her too her feet. "I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t bruise anything."

"I heal pretty fast. We might as well get on a first name basis. I’m Evaisa. You may call me Vicky. And you are?" She waited for a name.

"Dana. Are we really inside a mountain? Where’s your cabin?" Dana was fishing for answers since she seemed so open about everything.

Eve pointed over to her left. "Cabin is behind that wall. It wouldn’t do to have anyone stumble into the cabin and see a door into the mountain. Believe it or not, cabins are considered safe ports by anyone passing by in this part of the world. They stop in, warm themselves, replace what they use and move on when weather permits. My cabin doesn’t get many visitors since it’s usually buried but every couple of summers it may get a visitor or two."

Dana kept eyeing the wall for a door without trying to seem obvious about it. He pulled on the robe he was wearing. "I am missing my clothes. I would feel better if I had my pants back."

"Sorry, your pants were disposed of along with your other things. Please show Dana where he might find clothes." She was looking at something or someone behind him.

"gatechu fluac movus emekasume." Was the answer.

Dana jumped forward and spun on his heel when he heard someone speaking close to his ear. He was looking at a stunningly beautiful woman. Or was she a woman? She looked feminine. She had delicate features. She didn’t have defining body curves. She looked boyish in that respect.

"Speak English from now on. Dana does not understand Rious." Vicky stepped up beside Dana and nodded toward the person in front of them. "This is Umba. Umba is an android capable of independent thought or what your species calls artificial intelligence. Umba is not a living creature but an intelligent machine. You may address Umba as either male or female as your species tends to do to inanimate objects. She or he is a non issue."

"It’s not alive?" Dana choked that one out as he studied the creature in front of them.

"Depends on one’s definition of alive. Umba is capable of independent logic. Please show Dana where he might acquire body cover." Vicky turned and walked across the room.

"Follow me, please." Umba turned and waited on Dana to follow.

Dana watched as Vicky approached the wall. It turned transparent, she walked though it, and it returned to solid form again. "You got to be kidding!"

"No, if you want body cover then follow me please." Umba was waiting.

"I wasn’t talking to you. I mean I wasn’t talking to anyone in particular. I mean…, Did that woman walk through that wall or am I hallucinating?" Dana stepped up beside Umba.

Umba turned to look at Dana as she walked toward a solid looking wall. "We do not walk through walls. We go through portals or in your language, doorways. Evasia is capable of molecular transference if she has to. I guess that would be passing through a solid object in a loose sense."

"Some doorway. So that was how she escaped from the Texas jail. She walked through the wall straight to the outside." Dana watched the wall in front of him and Umba turn transparent before they stepped through.

They were in another room. "Damn, some door."

Umba walked over, opened a door, stepped in and came back with a white satin shirt and pants. "Your body cover."

"Not exactly what I had in mind. You have anything with a little more color? Something in jeans and denim shirt?" Dana was hesitating to take the offered clothes.

"Unless you prefer pink, teal, or pastel colors, this is your cover." Umba held up the shirt and pants and waited.

"Fine! Give me." Dana took them and turned his back to the android. He slipped the pants on and then the shirt. Funny shirt, it buttoned wrong.

"You want shoes and socks?"

"Sure." Dana turned around to take the shoes. He hesitated. Unless he was mistaken they were women’s shoes. "How about boots?"

"If you prefer." Umba retrieved fashion boots with a four-inch stiletto heel.

"Forget it. Shoes will work." Dana took them before sitting down on the bed to slip them on.

When Dana walked back into the big room, he felt like he was wearing pajamas. The clothes were lightweight and soft against his skin. Vicky had already returned. He walked over in front of her. "What’s your plan? You going to keep me here till spring thaw?"

She smiled as she shook her head. "I hope not. Even though you are a liability, I have things I need to do. Staying here in the safe house for ten years is not a plan. I will be out monitoring your world and your science until the ship returns. I must plant receivers or as you know them, bugs to transmit information from strategic areas."

"And me?" Dana figured he was going to end up dead before this was all over.

"You may accompany me if you like when the time comes. I really have work to do, make yourself comfortable. If you need anything ask Umba." Vicky turned and walked through the wall and out of the room.

Dana decided to follow. He hesitated when he got to the wall and it didn’t change to transparent. He put his hand out and pushed on it. It was solid. He felt along the wall pushing but nothing was happening. "I’m in a prison."

"You are in a research safe house designed for contingencies if a Rious is stranded on your world. Evaisa is working in the lab. Because you do not think in Rious, I am to open the portals for you. Do you wish to go to a different part of the lab?" Umba had walked up behind Dana to explain why the walls weren’t opening for him.

"The woman won’t mind?" Dana was wondering if it was a trick?

"You may call her Vicky. Evaisa, said you may go any place you please except outside or back into the log cabin. Not because she is afraid you will escape but because it isn’t safe for you. The cabin is not heated. You would probably freeze to death. Outside the snow is six feet deep. Again, you would probably freeze to death." Umba patiently explained.

"I have a snowmobile…," Dana was thinking of escape if he could get the snowmobile going.

"Your snowmobile was destroyed. Evaisa, said it had a tracking device on it. When you didn’t return that first day a search party was sent out for you. The snowmobile was driven off a ridge where it crashed and burned. Your clothes were scattered around the wreckage. The rescuers would think you had been wounded and the animals dragged you off."

Dana’s eyes were getting bigger and bigger as he listened to Umba explain his death to the search and rescue party. "It wouldn’t work. They take any clothes back and do a DNA sample they will know it wasn’t me."

"DNA sample will prove it was you. Blood was splattered over your clothes and the DNA will match exactly." She was giving him the smallest detail of his faked death.

"You can do that? Match DNA?" Dana didn’t believe it.

"Evaisa can. Reports of your demise made the news the forth day. Your district has paid its respects in a ceremony. Evaisa recorded the events for you if you care to see them." Umba patiently waited for an answer.

Dana felt sick at his stomach. No one was searching for him any longer. To the world, he was dead. He wondered how long it would be before she made that a fact? "No, I think I’ll go sit down for awhile."

"As you wish. Do you wish entertainment or news? The receiver is capable of six hundred and ninety one of what you call television channels from all over your world." Umba led Dana back over to the divan where Eve had been sitting when he thought she was watching television.

"I don’t care. I’m not really interested in anything at the moment." In a funk, Dana flopped down on the divan.

"I will be available if you wish for anything." Umba walked over to the wall and passed through it.

"I’m dead! Everyone thinks I’m dead! I have to get out of here. No one will be looking for me. I have to escape." Dana stewed as he worked on an escape plan. There was a small problem with working on his escape plan. He had no idea how the place he was a prisoner at functioned. He had no provisions for making it to town once he made it outside. That left a lot of holes in his escape plan.

Dana walked the room and slept, and walked the room and slept. He had no idea how much time was passing, as there were no clocks. Days maybe? Weeks possibly? The rooms were constantly bathed in light from some source. It wasn’t bulbs because the whole room, including ceiling, walls, and floor were light. Out of boredom, he started following Vicky around. She didn’t seem to mind. She was constantly working on something or monitoring some program. Dana found out if he was right next to her when she passed through the wall or one of those portals he could walk through with her. If he was a couple steps behind, the wall was solid.

He was following her when he misjudged the distance and for the twenty-eighth time, he was blocked. He kicked the wall. "I’m tired of this. I feel like I’m on a leash. Stupid wall, open up!"

Vicky stepped back through. "Think in Rious. It’s more than sound; it’s a mental thought projection. Think and project, efate."

"Efate?" Dana looked doubtful as he talked to the wall.

"No, you only voiced it. You have to mentally project the thought. You may voice it too until you get the feeling for it but project. Think of an opening as you project your thought. Efate." Vicky was looking at Dana but the wall became transparent and then solid again.

Dana stared at the wall. "efate…"

Eve nodded her head. "You almost had it. The equipment doesn’t understand almost. With a portal it either opens or it doesn’t. Try again, efate."

Dana closed his eyes and concentrated on seeing the wall open in his mind. "efate."

When he opened his eyes he was amazed to see the wall transparent. "I did that?"

"You did. Not bad for someone who isn’t use to mind projection. If you get caught someplace and can’t get back, call for Umba." Vicky stepped through the portal and it closed behind her.

"Hey, wait for me." Dana concentrated on the wall again. "efate."

It opened up and he stepped through it. Vicky was already gone to one of the dozens of other rooms scattered throughout the complex. Dana thought about it for a second and decided this was the chance he had been waiting for. He turned and made it back through as he headed across the big room toward where Vicky told him the cabin was.

He tried his new skills on the wall and was rewarded with what looked like a tunnel leading into the cabin. He stepped through and the wall closed. It was more than dark. Dana felt his way down the walls toward the cabin. Something brushed his face. A curtain. That first day, Vicky had pointed toward a curtain inside the cabin and said it led back to the cave where she kept food stores. He pushed it aside and slowly edged forward in total darkness. His reaching fingers found the table in the middle of the cabin. Slowly he moved around it by feel and reached for where he thought the door should be. He had to keep reaching but he finally found it. He pulled it open and felt the mind numbing cold settle into his bones as he reached his hand out to feel packed snow. The tunnel he had dug earlier had either collapsed or Vicky had packed it back in.

Franticly he pushed at the snow and it gave under his hands. He fell forward into the tunnel. The snow had settled down at the bottom against the cabin door. Dana pushed his way up the tunnel until he came to the end. Try as he might he couldn’t push out. He tried clawing with his hand to pull the snow down.

Dana screamed up the tunnel. "HELP! I’M TRAPPED! SOMEONE HELP ME! HELP! ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME!"

Finally chilled to the bone and exhausted, he gave up and slid back down to the cabin. "I’m dead. No one knows I’m still alive."

The little cabin was flooded with light. Dana was blinded until his eyes accustom to the dark adjusted to the light. Umba was standing there holding a light. "Would you like to go back to the shelter now?"

"NO! I WANT TO GO OUT!" Dana pointed up the snow tunnel.

"That would be foolish. It is nighttime and the temperature is forty-one degrees below zero. You would freeze to death in less than fifteen minutes." Umba stared at him.

"I don’t care. I want out of this place. Don’t you understand? I want out!" Dana was looking for the shovel he had used the first time.

"Evaisa said you wouldn’t understand. As you wish. Please move away from the door." Umba was walking around the table.

"No, you can’t make me go back." Dana was determined he would fight it out with her.

"I do not intend to make you go back. I am going to open up the tunnel so you may go outside as you desire." Umba had pushed Dana back as she stepped up to the tunnel.

She shined the light up the tunnel and stepped back. "You may leave now."

"You think I’m stupid enough to start up that so you can shut the door behind me and leave me there to freeze to death trapped in a tunnel with no way out." Dana wasn’t moving.

"The tunnel reaches the surface. I will go first." Umba stepped into the door and disappeared.

Dana was sure she had crawled to the end. He took a look and it was pitch black at the end. Either it really did go out or Umba had disappeared into thin air. He started crawling up the tunnel. It seemed like it went forever before he stuck his head up above the snow. The stars were out and he could seen trees and snow all around him.

Umba was waist deep in snow standing beside the opening. "This is what you desired?"

"I’M FREE!" Dana was already trying to run. Each step he was up to his waist in snow. He could not get up on top of it. Finally he tried rolling and was on top but when he went to stand up, he buried down to his hips. The snow wasn’t supporting his weight and he was getting colder and more exhausted with each failed effort.

Exhaustion and hypothermia did him in. Dana had given it his all. He closed his eyes, as he needed to rest. When he opened his eyes, Umba was standing beside him and he was in his room. "I couldn’t escape."

"The snow is too deep and it is too cold for you to be hiking. You should have known that. Would you like some soup?" Umba stared at him.

"You brought me back?" Dana wasn’t sure he was glad to be alive or not. He almost wished he had died out there.

"No, MVU carried you back. I could not as I also was not properly attired for moving in snow that deep. If you do not require soup or attention, I will return to my duties." Umba stepped over to the door and waited.

"Thanks, I can take care of myself." Dana rolled over on his back to stare at the ceiling.

"You were not doing a good job of taking care of self six hours earlier. Evaisa said when humans become emotional; their rational thinking is lost. You are the only human I have come in contact with. I must agree with her. Logic and emotion don’t seem compatible in humans." Umba walked out of the room.

Dana slammed his fist into the pillow as he rolled over to face the wall. "They should have let me die."

Time passed. Dana had no idea how much time, which was as maddening as being a prisoner. He would follow Umba or Vicky around to kill the boredom. The two women were always working on or with equipment he had no concept of. He figured part of his problem was the information on the equipment or on the monitors was Rious.

He was following Vicky as she stopped in front of the big monitor on the wall. "Would you like to watch television? Umba mentioned to you we could receive six hundred and ninety one television channels."

"Why not? I seem to be as useful around here as a pet fish." Dana was ready for anything to occupy his time and his mind.

The monitor flicked on and he was looking at a Spencer for Hire rerun. "How do I change channels?"

He held up his hand. "Never mind, think Rious. I’m afraid I won’t be able to remember six hundred numbers in Rious."

"You would if you wanted. It seems you either don’t care to learn or you refuse to learn my language and writing so Umba fixed you up what you call a remote. We also have needs for mechanical controls at times. The concept is not new to us." Vicky motioned for Umba.

Umba walked up to Dana and held out what would seem like a very simple remote control. "Up arrow scan will switch channels every minute going up to the higher numbers. Down arrow scan will switch going down. You press any sequence of numbers and the channel will come on the monitor."

Dana gladly accepted the remote. "Thank you."

"You are welcome." Umba turned and followed Vicky out of the room.

Dana pushed the scan and the stations started changing every minute to a new channel. When a news channel came on, Dana hit stop and stared. It was a station in Hawaii. When the woman news anchor gave the date, Dana choked. He had been in captivity for more than sixty-one days. He found it hard to believe it wasn’t longer than that. With no way of knowing day from night it seemed like…? Certainly more than a couple months. He had to escape but he had to make sure when he did he was prepared. He had to let the world know about these aliens who were watching humans.

Days turned into weeks as Dana watched the monitor to keep his mind occupied and keep track of time.

Evaisa was watching him as the woman turned to smile at him. "You think she’s pretty?"

"Yeah, I mean, she’s okay. Where did she come from?" Dana couldn’t take his eyes off the woman. He had been sitting on the divan watching CNN news on the monitor when Vicky and the woman walked in front of him.

She was a stunner to say the least. Beautiful high arched eyebrows, blue eyes, small upturned cute nose, high cheekbones, soft platinum blond hair framed an angelic face as it lay softly on her shoulders and accented her abundant breasts. She was wearing a black knit sweater dress with a turtle neck collar. Long silver dangle earrings, long multi strand silver necklace, and silver bracelets emphasized her stunning beauty.

Dana’s eyes darted down the sweeping curves of her body to long sexy legs. She was standing on four inch stiletto black heels. She put her right hand on her right hip and smiled at him.

"Is she another one who was left behind?" Dana’s mind was racing trying to figure out where she came from? If she came in then there must be a way out. All he had to do was find her transportation.

Vicky’s eyes danced with delight as she shook her head. "No, she is a project."

Dana’s heart fell. "A project? You…, you made her?"

"I had something to do with it, yes. She meets your approval?" Vicky was staring at him as if she was trying to read his mind.

"A damn bot! I’m looking at a damn robot!" Dana growled as he pushed up off the divan and headed for his room. He couldn’t believe it. He almost had an escape plan but if she didn’t come in from the outside he was no nearer to escaping than he was that first day.

Umba walked up to the blond and studied her. "This is the design that turns men on?"

"No Umba, this design is what Dana desires. All men would not see the same desires in a female form. After studying Dana while he was watching the monitor we have designed his idea of the sensual woman." Vicky looked over at the room where Dana had gone to sulk. "Integrate them."

Vicky headed back to the lab in another part of the complex. A soft hum filled the bedroom Dana had gone to sulk in. He never heard it as his mind shut down.

"Follow me." Umba walked over to Dana’s room with the blond walking close behind. She stepped into the room where Dana was stretched out on the bed.

"Undress." Umba walked over to the bed and removed the clothes off the comatose Dana as the blond undressed.

"Integrate."

The blond padded softly on bare feet to the bed. She looked down at the body before leveraging herself up on the bed and lying down on her back on top of Dana. Slowly, ever so slowly she began sinking down onto his body.

Umba kept watch as the blond absorbed Dana into her own body. Seconds changed to minutes and became hours as the last of Dana was absorbed into the blond. And Umba watched with the patience of an android, never moving, only watching.

Dana woke with a ringing headache. "Ohhhhhhhh. Someone stop the bus. I want off."

He put his hand up to his head and brushed the hair back out of his face. "Gotta get a haircut. I’m starting to look like a damn hippy."

With a lot of effort he sat up in bed and swung his legs off the side without focusing his eyes. "I’m in serious pain. What in the world did I do to deserve this?"

Pushing his hair back out of his face with his left hand as he held his balance on the bed with his right, he stood up and finally focused on Umba who was watching him. "I have one big fucking migraine and it has affected my hearing. You got any aspirin?"

She slowly shook her head. "We have no need of chemical addictives. Your pain will reside in one of your cycles you call a week."

"A week? My head is killing me along with everything else. I don’t have any place on my body that isn’t screaming in pain. How about a stiff drink?" Dana closed his eyes to try and deal with the pain.

"Fermented juice is not in our food stores. I can supply you with a substitute. The chemical composition of alcohol is not a complex molecule bonding. Walk to the divan and I will have MVU bring you some." Umba backed up to the doorway as it opened.

"Sure." Dana pushed off the bed with his right hand as he headed past Umba for the divan. The sooner he made the trip the quicker he would get that drink. Something wasn’t quite right as he walked to the divan but his pain fogged brain couldn’t figure it out. Something wasn’t quite right when he sat down but his mind was in too much pain to care about what ever it was. Something wasn’t quite right when box floated over in front of him and held up a glass and he reached out to take it.

He was bringing the glass back to his lips when his mind found a clearing in the pain fog. Dana’s eyes snapped open as he stared at the arm and hand holding the glass. The glass dropped out of his or her hand and shattered on the floor. Dana’s eyes had followed the falling glass. It disappeared under his vision as two perfect female breasts blocked his downward view.

"noooooooo" He grabbed his throat with both hands. "noooooooo" The sound was coming from him even if it wasn’t his voice. "nooooooooo"

He sprang up to his feet not thinking of the broken glass. Luckily, MVU had already pulled in the shards and the liquid.

Dana looked down at her body. NOT HIS BODY BUT HER BODY!!! "noooooooooo"

"why?" Her eyes were pleading as she looked at Umba. "why?"

"Evaisa had limited options. She would not kill you. She also could not turn him loose. If he convinced someone he had seen an alien and they returned with mining equipment, this place could be compromised. She would not keep you here until the ship returned. What would be the purpose? You would either have to return to Rious with her or be turned lose at which time, again it could be compromised." Umba looked into the sad frightened eyes of Dana.

"Believe it or not, we did not have plans for containing a security breech. We also did not have the technology for changing you into female form. Evasia was able to design a plastoid you thought was the perfect female form."

"Plastoid?" Dana had to cough it out.

"Plastoids are the beginning of those like me. They are the designs or shapes with intelligence installed. Plastoids have semi form. It is fluid and easily absorbed by living cells. You absorbed the plastoid you were looking at."

"She turned me into an android?" Dana held out her hand to look at the small hand and long slender fingers.

"No, you are human. As a human, your body had a certain shape. You have a different shape. I see no difference." Umba carefully watched Dana’s eyes.

"NO DIFFERNCE! YOU CALL THIS NO DIFFERENCE!" A frightening thought came to him. If he had breasts and hips. Did that mean…? He grabbed between his legs and fainted.

"Umba stepped up and grabbed her before she fell. "Evaisa said some women lose blood flow to their brain and faint."

Dana felt a terrible grinding headache before he opened his eyes. He was dreading to open his eyes, afraid the nightmare might not have been a dream. It was better to know rather than lying there not knowing. He opened his eyes and focused on the room. Umba was there.

"Tell me I had a nightmare." He held up his right hand and looked at it. Unless he could no longer see, what he was looking at was smaller than what he remembered.

"You can’t do this. It’s not right." Dana sat up and stared at his two perfect breasts. He had to know. Slowly he brought his hands up and cupped them. They had feeling and they were transmitting that feeling to him. Why did they look so much bigger looking down at them when they were his rather than when they were on…?

"OH SHIT!" He remembered the big buxom blonde he had been looking at before he headed to his room. His pleading eyes looked at Umba. "Why?"

"This is what you desired in a woman. As you watched the monitor, certain images registered desire in your mind and eyes." She patiently explained.

"On a woman but not me. I can’t believe I liked them this big…," He realized he did like them this big. What had he told the other guys in the station? A woman needs big tits so there couldn’t be any doubt she’s a woman.

Dana realized he was the recipient of his own lust. Life was a cruel teacher. Clumsily he struggled to stand up. "You can’t do this to me."

He was going to do everything he could to end this nightmare. Even if it meant killing himself. "I’m going to destroy everything I can. Vicky made the mistake of her life. I can’t live like this."

"You don’t seem to understand. You have absorbed a plastoid. She was fully programmed. In time her desires will become your desires…," Umba was trying to explain.

"Her desires? What do you mean her desires? I am not an android." Dana refused to accept what Umba was saying.

"You have your mind. Mind is capable of adapting and accepting. With time, you will accept her emotions and desires. Her name is Dee Dee McBain. That will be your name." Umba looked at Dana and waited.

"Fuck Dee Dee what’s her name. I’m Dana Cooper and I’ll always be Dana Cooper." He tried to growl back at her. Dana realized with the voice he now possessed, women don’t growl. They shout or scream but not growl.

Evaisa walked into the room and smiled at Dee Dee. "Perfect."

"Fuck perfect. I don’t like your game. Get this plastoid or whatever the fuck it is off of me and out of me." Dana turned her attention on Vicky.

"Not possible. Once integrated then it’s not possible to separate plastoid and living tissue. You have to understand, Dee Dee…,"

"I’m not Dee Dee, I’m Dana Cooper." He insisted as he unconsciously put his hands on his hips.

"Dana Cooper is dead. If Dana had escaped it could have compromised our situation. Dee Dee can escape and who is going to believe she was Dana Cooper? It was the only solution to the problem." Vicky walked over beside Umba as she was talking.

"I’ll make them believe it. I’ll figure out a way to make them believe it." Dana knew what his goal in life was.

"Why don’t you get dressed? It would seem the thing to do rather than running around here naked." Vicky nodded toward the bedroom.

Dana’s face flushed. He had been unconscious of the fact he was indeed naked until Vicky pointed it out. "Pants and shirt. None of that sissy stuff."

"I think this calls for a meal together. Please dress appropriately." Vicky glanced over at Umba who nodded her approval.

"Not in my lifetime, I won’t. You can kiss my ass if you think I’m going to wear anything besides pants." Dana was going to make sure they regretted doing this to him.

Vicky’s eyes closed slightly as she focused on Dee Dee.

"Yes, I think I would like that too. A reason for dressing up sounds lovely." Dana turned and walked to the bedroom thinking how wonderful it would be to dress for an evening.

"She will learn with time." Umba watched her walk into the bedroom.

Vicky crossed her arms as she turned her attention to Umba. "I’ve always wondered what it was like to be like you? Do you ever get frustrated or disgusted as an android? You have cognitive thinking so you are able to think independently. Giving Dee Dee a mind thought she wanted to dress up this evening made Dana think it was his idea. She feels it is her own desire is to dress up. She doesn’t realize it was my request for her to act like Dee Dee."

Umba returned the attention. "Do I feel like a machine or an android? I can’t answer that. I don’t have anything to relate feelings as anything but what I am. I do not get frustrated or disgusted. I can’t answer for what Dee Dee feels. I’m positive with time her desires and his will be one. I am also positive at some point in the transition he will regret all the physical attributes and emotional desires he wanted in a woman."

"Why do men lust women with huge breasts? Except for very short periods in life when females are nursing their young, breasts serve no purpose other than design. Why is a small waist desirable by men? For lifting purposes the smaller the waist the more strain placed on the backbone. I guess I fail to compute the human emotions of lust and desire." Umba pulled up the corners of her mouth in thought.

"That makes two of us. It seems only a man could answer that question. Or maybe they don’t know either? It makes no difference. It was what Dana desired and what he received. Let’s dress up for Dee Dee’s formal event. Ask MVU to set a table arraignment for dining." Evaisa was walking toward the wall as she spoke. It opened up before she reached it and closed behind her.

MVU moved out to the middle of the room with table and chairs floating along beside it.

Dee Dee left her bedroom to walk to the equipment room. She didn’t think about the portals opening up as she passed through. She didn’t struggle to understand the strange symbols on the console of the equipment as she programmed in her desire for proper attire. She understood all the functions of the shelter perfectly. Dana knew what he was doing wasn’t him but the end result was what he desired. He wanted to be dressed properly.

Dee Dee admired her form in the hologram replication she was looking at. It was an image of herself. She was wearing a mauve sleeveless gown with a matching jacket. The dress hugged every curve of her sensuous body. The hem was floor length. The straight skirt had a slit up to her thigh on her left leg. The matching heels had a five-inch stiletto heel. She had styled her blond hair where it lay softly across her shoulders accenting her face. The large multi hoop earrings would have been brassy on anyone but her.

Dana was having a raging conflict within his mind. After Dee Dee had dressed up the desire had been accomplished. He liked what he had become, he hated what he knew was her desire controlling his desires. Her body was sensitive to the slightest touch and it was driving him wild. With each fluid step her hips swayed. The soft material brushing against her hips and thighs was caressing his passion.

A beautiful woman entered the room. When she spoke the voice was soft as black velvet in the night. "Vicky darling, what have you done with my mind? I’m in love with myself and I can’t stand myself."

Vicky was waiting at the table along with Umba. "Dee Dee, please have a seat and join us. You look ravishing. The dress is beautiful and I love your hair."

There was the conflict again. Dee Dee appreciated the compliments. No he didn’t. Dana hated them. He didn’t want to be beautiful. He was going to escape or kill himself.

Vicky noticed the hesitation and the momentary pained look on Dee Dee’s face. She concentrated as she closed her eyes for a few seconds.

"Why thank you, Vicky. You look nice and I love your dress." Dee Dee’s emotions were becoming his emotions. He was thrilled he looked beautiful. Escape or killing himself wasn’t in his thoughts. He knew Vicky had adjusted his attitude but it felt wonderful when he felt beautiful. He was trying to fight the idea of becoming Dee Dee but somehow it wasn’t working. The mental pleasure he felt when he allowed his desires to be her desires was too great to resist.

Dee Dee gracefully sat down at the table. When she spoke the voice was soft and sexy. "Thank you for what you have done for me."

Vicky smiled and nodded. "It was your idea not mine, Dee Dee. This wouldn’t have worked if you hadn’t desired it."

"What so ever do you mean, darling?" Dee Dee brought her right hand up and touched her right breast. "Not in a million years would I ever desire to be a woman."

There he had finally said something he wanted to say!

Vicky laughed as she shook her head. "You misunderstood. This is the woman you desired. Now you have her. Because she is everything you desired in a woman you are her no matter how much you want to deny it."

"Thank you. I am the woman I desired." She smiled sweetly as she realized it was the truth.

That was why he was so easily becoming her. She was all he desired. The logic was so simple it was beyond belief. How could one resist becoming the sum total of their desires? In his own flawed mind he lusted a woman with all the sweeping curves he now possessed as his own. His own mind had betrayed him. He desired a tall statuesque, big buxom woman with a tiny waist, wide sexy hips, and long sexy legs who could set men’s minds on fire with lust as she strolled across a room. And now…, He possessed that woman. She was all his, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

DAMN HIS MIND FOR BETRAYING HIM!

The tall sexy blond was a man magnet. At six foot one, her height would have intimidated most men even without heels. Unlike most tall girls who always wore flats she always wore heels. Ninety percent of the men looked up to her in more ways than one. Today she was wearing a soft, form fitting, polyester dress. The dress had full sleeves and a tight skirt. She drove up to the security gate and stopped.

Brian knew her well. Miss McBain had been working for Dellvic Labs for a year now. He could have waved her though without stopping her as he did most of those he knew. The reason he didn’t was he wanted to get a good look and hear her soft velvet voice. Even after a year of passing through his gate she still made his knees go weak when she spoke to him.

"Morning Miss McBain. No passengers this morning?" He knew she didn’t have any passengers before he asked. It was small talk and nothing else.

"Hello Brian, good to see you are alert this morning. No, it’s only me." She smiled as she looked up at the gate guard she knew so well. Dee Dee knew why he had stopped her. She didn’t mind. It was such a small inconvenience to her when it meant so much to Brian who had a lonely job as security.

"Have a good day then, Miss McBain." Brian never took his eyes off her as he nodded for her to drive on through.

"Thank you. You have a good day too, Brian." Dee Dee knew Brian liked it when she addressed him by his name. It was one of the small things that meant a lot to people, especially gate guards who are bored silly most of the time.

In the fourteen months she had been working for Dellvic Labs the company assigned her a parking space close to the front entrance. It was a reward for several reasons. Dee Dee was a research specialist the likes of which they had never seen before. The company had four medical patents come out of her department since she started work. It was rumored she was working on a neurological computer memory system capable of infinite memory storage in a baseball size container.

Many of the men worked to time their arrival at the same time Miss McBain arrived so they could walk into the building with her. Those long shapely legs of hers looked mighty fine in those four or five inch heels she always wore.

Dee Dee pulled into her parking space. She killed her BMW when someone opened her door. She looked up and smiled. "Morning Albert. You still trying to solve that puzzle on Alzheimer’s?"

Albert stared as one beautiful leg slid out of the car and put a heel down on the pavement before the other followed. Dee Dee stood up, adjusted her dress, and picked up her purse before stepping back out of the way of the door.

He sighed. He was in love. But then so was every unmarried man at Dellvic Labs and probably all the married ones if the truth be known. And not only to their wives. "I’m not gaining on it. I inoculated ten mice last month. They went ahead and developed Alzheimer’s."

She headed toward the building. He shut the door and hurried to keep up with her. "I heard you are going to shove another patent out the door this week. How many will that be?"

She glanced in his direction as he stepped up beside her. "Too many rumors floating around this place. Don’t believe everything you hear. Why don’t you try RU 453 with the drugs you are already trying?"

"An abortion drug? What in the world for?" Albert blinked as he was trying to figure out what that could possibly do for Alzheimer’s.

"Just a suggestion. You are trying to stop a mental function from developing. Instead of trying to supplement what you feel is the drug those patients lack, stop it from developing instead." Dee Dee stopped at the entrance as he opened the door for her.

Albert was running the possibility through his mind as he opened the door. "Stopping it from developing is what everyone has been trying to do from day one."

She walked up to the security desk with Albert close beside her. "Yes by adding more drugs to feed what you think the mind is lacking. The mind may not be lacking anything. What if Alzheimer’s is like a child who gets tired of working? They lack ambition not energy or food. You can’t feed them enough to make them want to work. Maybe all those researchers are wrong? Maybe all you need to do is abort the desire in the mind where it decides to get lazy? It’s only a guess but give RU 453 some thought."

"Morning Doctor McBain." The guards at the desk had been watching as Dee Dee and Albert entered the building.

"You too Pat." She looked over at the other guard to her left and smiled. "How are you this morning, Larry?"

Larry smiled from ear to ear. He was betting Dee Dee knew the name of everyone in Dellvic Labs. "I’m fine doctor. You look awfully pretty this morning." Of course Dee Dee looked awfully pretty every morning.

"Thank you Larry. That was kind of you." Dee Dee turned and left the men standing there as she headed down the hall toward her end of the building and her lab.

The doctor title was Evaisa’s doing. Dee Dee McBain had a PhD in chemistry. She had grown up in Scotland and graduated Magna Cum Lodi from Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College. She had worked for pharmaceutical companies in the United States, France, Scotland, and England for nine years before applying for a job at Dellvic Labs. Evaisa said all the papers were there if anyone inquired. Dee Dee checked herself and was more than slightly surprised to find, on paper, she was as real as anyone.

As Dee Dee walked down the hall her hips gently swayed with each graceful step. Her stiletto heels made a taping noise. Her long glamorous legs were wrapped in nylon and looked breath taking. Her long silky, blond hair lay softly on her shoulders. Larry, Pat, and Albert were all eyes. They were in love. No researcher had a right to be as beautiful as Dee Dee and still be smart.

Albert shook his head as Dee Dee entered her lab and closed the door. "Damn, that woman is a moving violation of physics." He headed off to his own lab as he tried to remember what it was she had been explaining to him about his own research. An abortion drub to stop Alzheimer’s? It was an interesting theory. Albert was betting Dee Dee was right.

Larry and Pat turned to look at one another. Pat shook his head. "Back to the grind. The show is over for the morning."

Larry smiled as he turned his attention back to those coming in the door.

Dee Dee had accepted her fate in life. She no longer tried to figure out if it was her desires or his desires. It didn’t matter. The plastoid she had absorbed was programmed with knowledge humans would take hundreds of years to figure out. That knowledge was hers. Dee Dee’s main problem was pacing herself so she didn’t bring that knowledge to mankind too quickly. She hadn’t decided if she wanted to go back to Rious with Evasia in nine years or stay here. She had plenty of time to decide. Right now, she needed to concentrate on the moment. The compounds available to her from earth resources were different from Rious compounds. Her mind worked with Rious formulas not earth formulas and it wasn’t easy substituting.

Her phone rang and she picked it up. "Dee Dee."

"Miss McBain, this is the Sheriff Association. We appreciate you applying for enrollment in our cadet program. I must say, your test scores were some of the highest we have ever seen. I had a talk with Governor Staily. He suggested with the research you are involved in we make a waver in our enrollment program to accommodate your research. If you could come in from six to ten every evening and give us your weekends, I’m positive you would make the grade to deputy in three months." The voice on the other end answered her.

"That sounds like a workable plan. When can we start?" Dee Dee was delighted to have the chance to become a member of law enforcement again. She was sure she could work her way up from deputy to Highway Patrol in a couple years.

A new class starts in two weeks but since you are working, come in a week from today and we will start you early." The voice answered.

"I’ll be there." Dee Dee hung up the phone. High speed pursuit was in her blood and if there was any way possible she was going to be a lawman again. In pursuit of that speed she had designed and built a rail that summer. It was a full blown nitro rail dragster. The cost of building it was horrendous but she could afford it. She named it the Black Widow. She won both races she ran in but it didn’t fill the desire for speed inside her. Drag racing was over too quickly. Twelve seconds to two hundred and forty mile per hour, then decelerate and wait half an hour to do it again. She sold her rail to Budweiser. They put Laura Saska in as a driver. Laura was a good driver but she didn’t have the reflexes Dee Dee possessed. Laura’s selling point was the fact she was a beautiful woman. She made those Budweiser commercials look fabulous even when she wasn’t winning.

She held out her hand and looked at the long fingers, sharp fingernails and delicate hand. Sometimes life had to rough you up a little to make you appreciate it. Dana had no idea how to appreciate life. Dee Dee smiled as she thought about it and put on her lab coat.

 

 

 

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© 2002 by Barbie Lee. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.