Synopsis:

Scott was on his way west to meet up with his friends to start a new life in L A. What he came across in the desert after his car broke down would change him forever. He wondered if his friends would recognise him once they finally met again. He didn’t think this was what his friend’s intended when they said, "start a new life."

Chapter Sixteen

Kevin hung up, hoping the others knew what they were getting into. Sara smiled, saying they could take care of themselves, again catching his unspoken thought.

"You're starting to scare me with that mind reading trick of yours," Kevin laughed, as he turned out the light before turning to kiss her goodnight.

"I can read you like a book," she replied, sleepily, snuggling closer to him.

"Comic book, probably," he whispered in her ear.

He got no reply; Sara had fallen asleep, content to feel his protective body next to hers. Kevin smiled, feeling the love overflow for his life long friend. A silent prayer, thanking the gods for the alien's gift that had brought them together as lovers crossed his mind, as he too, succumbed to nights embrace. Kim, sleeping in the other room, had a smile on her face as she turned over in bed.

The next morning had the pair packing their stuff back into the Volvo along with the laptop. Talk was subdued, knowing that they were leaving Kim to an uncertain future. When it came time for them to leave, hankies were in demand as tears flowed.

"We'll be back," promised Sara, hugging Kim at the door.

"I know, good luck," was Kim's reply.

As the pair got into the car and drove away, Kim closed the front door, turning her back to it and whispered to herself. "Just one more."

The mood in the car soon lightened as they started thinking about the next destination. Kevin was driving again, because being shorter; Sara found the morning sun shinning into her eyes as distracting. Kevin didn't need the aid of the sun visor as the tinted area at the top of the windscreen cut the morning glare to tolerable limits.

Sara busied herself arranging the road maps in order to be used, so there would be no confusion. She navigated them back to the highway east and then brought out the laptop. Turning it on, she waited till it booted up, before accessing the menus.

Seeing an unfamiliar icon flashing, she clicked it, thinking it might be a message from William, but instead two distinct beeps were heard. One came from the laptop and the other from somewhere behind the dashboard on the car. Startled, she looked up and saw a light blinking near where the sound had come from. The laptop then opened a window showing a map of what seemed to be the area they were travelling. A single icon was glowing on the road marked on the displayed map.

"Looks like we don't need our maps," Sara laughed. "If I'm right, this is some sort of GPS. I wonder what resolution you can get," she wondered, clicking on an icon at the edge of the display.

The picture expanded showing the roads in more detail. The maximum resolution brought it up to a point that the individual roads were named. Sara happily played with the menu, trying to find out its limits.

"Hey, we can set the destination, and it will guide us there. There's even the option to take the most direct or the scenic route," she laughed.

""Let's take the shortest route. I want to get this over with. We can do the tourist thing on the way back, if you want," Kevin suggested.

Sara tapped some commands into the laptop, and then settled back, calling out directions as they left Kansas City. They stopped at St Louis for a morning coffee and a doughnut, before again hitting the road. They had lunch in Louisville, opting to eat there rather than in the car. On the way back to the car from the diner, Sara caught sight of someone familiar, or at least she thought she had. Hurrying to catch up when the other turned the corner ahead of her, she saw no sign of the person in question. When she stopped, looking puzzled, Kevin who had caught up to her asked her what the hurry was.

"I thought I saw Kim, I'm sure it was her, but she disappeared."

Our Kansas City Kim?" He asked, feeling a sense of foreboding about her answer. "But it can't be her, we left her without transport, and at the speed we've been doing, she'd have had to have flown to get here, before us."

"Yes, our Kim," Sara said seemingly not hearing Kevin speak.

"You're repeating yourself, I heard you the first time." Kevin replied, feeling weird.

"Huh, what are you talking about? I only said it once." Sara now felt a sense of confusion.

"But I heard you think it" Kevin started, before realising what he'd said.

There was silence, even though they stood on a busy sidewalk in the middle of the day, as those words, crashed into their brains, obliterating all other thoughts. Like an avalanche sweeping all before it, the idea of hearing each other's thoughts, pushed all the little coincidences in the past few days to the fore. This was more than guessing the other's thoughts. This was big, very big. To be able to communicate mind to mind was stuff of fiction, yet it made perfect sense, given the little clues of each answering the others questions, or knowing just what the other felt, without saying a word. They stood there, seemingly oblivious to the world as it passed them by.

'Let's talk about this in the car,' Sara thought, knowing that Kevin "heard" her plain as day, reaching for Kevin's hand as it reached for hers. They turned as one, their thoughts meshing as the last barriers fell. A million thoughts passed back and fro, searching and finding the souls of each other.

Preoccupied with the discovery of their new talent, they failed to see a familiar face looking at their retreating backs with a smile on her face. Nor did they hear the, "So it begins."

Back in the car, the pair tried to verbalise their thoughts, in an attempt to slow down the jumble of questions that they both had.

"Do you think all our body swapping, is the cause of this?" Sara asked.

"Most likely, remember these bodies may look human, but they are the product of alien technology. They probably used telepathy as a part of normal life." Kevin answered.

"So you think we slowly gained the power to talk mind to mind, it would explain all the coincidences. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I knew this was happening." Sara finished.

"I think so, it might account for the odd feelings we've been picking up. Maybe there are still aliens here. It wouldn't surprise me if there were," Kevin postulated.

"Oh no, do you think it's happening to William and Julie? That may account for how I knew it was William even though he had Julie's body when we rang." Sara gasped.

"Probably, can you sense them, or hear their thoughts?" Asked Kevin, as he turned his mind to the task.

I think I've been feeling something, it's not thoughts yet, just a feeling of awareness." Sara tried to send her thoughts out to her friends. She sensed a warm fuzziness that seemed to be attached to the mental image of her friends. She sent the image to Kevin directly, and she heard his mind agree that he too, had felt that.

"Should we try ringing?" she verbalised.

"No, let's see if we can control this first. We'll ring at the agreed time," Kevin said.

"Control?"

"We need to figure out a way of shielding our thoughts from each other," Kevin replied.

"Oh course," Sara agreed, seeing the reason for it, form in Kevin's mind. "We can't be driving and concentrating while having another's thoughts filling your mind, plus having all the non essential stuff coming though as well."

"Yeah, I don't fancy experiencing your thoughts when you are having a period, or when you take a dump." Grinned Kevin, knowing he was heading for slap of some kind.

A gossamer slap was sent mind to mind, and Sara grinned, knowing he'd been expecting it. It was true, much of a person's thoughts were about body sensations and stuff that didn't need to be sent to another. She tried imagining a shield around her head to cut out the communication she was getting from Kevin's mind. At first she could feel him doing the same, as her caught her thought. It was hard, like trying to use a muscle that had never been used before. Slowly, she felt like she had achieved something.

"I think I have it," she spoke into the shared silence of their mental struggle.

"Don't give it to me, I'm healthy," quipped Kevin, making a joke while still struggling to achieve a shield.

Sara laughed, happy that she hadn't picked up the thought from Kevin as it had formed in his mind. It would be terrible not to be able to make jokes, when you'd know the punch line, before the joke was finished.

She relaxed her shield, feeling his thoughts return. She showed him mentally what she had done, and when his thoughts cut off suddenly, she knew he had achieved it.

"Wow it went silent all of a sudden." Kevin exclaimed. "Did you turn blonde?" he joked, looking at her blonde hair, while waiting to be thumped.

"Oh puhleeze, that is so like totally-whatever. Thuh only thought in my head is like wow! How totally gorgeous your bod is fer shuuuure," drawled Sara, in an exaggerated valley voice. Knowing this was better punishment, for subjecting her to the clique that blondes don't think, than an outright smack.

"Ouch! Just hit me next time, it's less painful," Kevin pleaded, covering his ears.

"Just remember that won't stop telepathy," chortled Sara, knowing she'd scored again. "Any more blonde jokes and you'll find yourself in skirts, twin sister." Sara threatened, grinning as he capitulated by raising his hands in surrender.

"Truce, truce." He called. "What do we try now, seeing as we have a shield?" he asked, changing the subject adroitly.

"Before we go into that, do you notice something?" Sara asked.

"What?"

"Can you hear any one else's thoughts, I think we've been attuned to each other, a type of selective telepathy if you will," Sara pointed out. "As for the shield, we need to see if we can make it so we can only 'hear' thoughts directed to each other, not just full on or fully blocked. Let's hit the road, while we practice achieving that."

On an impulse, Sara who had taken over the driving turned north heading towards Indianapolis, instead of towards Cincinnati.

"Um why are we going this way?" asked Kevin, curiously, opening up the laptop.

"Just curious, this is off our route to Washington DC. I wanted to see if we are being followed, seeing Kim knew we were heading that way."

"Ah, okay. Well I always wanted to go there and see the 'Brickyard,' Kevin grinned.

"Brickyard?" asked Sara looking puzzled.

"The Indianapolis speedway, it's called the Brickyard," Kevin explained.

"Uh huh, just in case you had any ideas, we aren't racing the car at the speedway," Sara warned.

Just over an hours driving, saw them in Indianapolis. Along the way, they had managed to perfect their mind shields to the point where only a directed thought to each other could be received. Just so it wouldn't bring unwanted attention, they decided to use speech in public unless it was an emergency, or very important. Getting off the main highway, they started looking for lodgings. Although they had the laptop to guide them, it didn't show things like hotels, which for tonight, Sara insisted that was what she wanted. The problem was, she didn't want to be in the downtown area. They drove aimlessly, not bothering to use the computer, just cruising the quieter streets seeing as they had plenty of time. Sara chuckled seeing the sign reading East South Street as they headed west along it.

"Let's stop and ask a local for the nearest hotel," Kevin suggested.

Sara agreed, seeing they hadn't spotted anywhere suitable. She slowed, but not enough, as a woman on a bicycle shot out in front of them at the intersection on Alabama Street. Sara braked hard, squealing the tires in a painful protest to no avail. Then came a sickening crunch, as the pushbike impacted into the side and a shape flew over the hood, and tumbled heavily to the road.

Sara and Kevin were out of the car in a flash, the instant it halted. They ran back to the huddled form that was curled over in pain. A man in another car, which had been coming from the same direction as the woman, just wound down his window and yelled out, 'good riddance to bad rubbish,' before speeding off.

Sara and Kevin were shocked at the callousness of it, as they crouched over the meter maid. Obviously, the man in the car must have been chasing her after getting a parking ticket. No wonder why she crashed into them. The woman groaned, showing she was still alive at least. Kevin picked the woman up gently, after checking to see if anything was broken. Sara opened the car door so Kevin could slide her in. So far, no one had bothered to stop, just driving around the obstruction of the mangled bike. Kevin went back and picked it up, placing it in the trunk of the car, and tied the lid down, leaving one wheel hanging out.

They drove down Alabama Street, seeing this was the direction that the woman was headed. They stopped a bit further on and checked the tall red haired woman. To a question of where she lived, they heard a mumbled address, as the woman tried to struggle up. Restraining her gently, Sara got the laptop running and gave Kevin directions from the back seat, where she sat with the injured woman.

It turned out that she lived on Alabama street but further down past the highway 70. They had to turn down East South Street, to get to Terrace Ave, where again they found where Alabama Street continued. They stopped outside her home and transferred the woman inside, using the keys found in her purse, to unlock the place.

Once inside, Sara did a quick search to find the bedroom, directing Kevin who was carrying the woman in his arms. Laying her on the bed, Sara undid the woman's clothes, directing Kevin to get some bandages and to find something to clean her injuries.

The woman roused, feeling the attentions given to her ravaged body.

"Who are you?" she asked dazedly.

"You hit our car, so we brought you home. You have a few bruised ribs I think, looking at your chest. There are some abrasions, but nothing that won't heal by themselves." Sara spoke gently, trying not to alarm the woman. "My name is Sara, and I'm here with Kevin, my boyfriend," she added, introducing herself.

"Maggie O'Malley," replied Maggie, doing the same. Maggie blushed seeing that her chest was bare. Moving brought pain, as she attempted to cover herself.

"Don't move please. You're completely safe with us," soothed Sara, holding her still. Sara ran her fingers gently over the bruising that was beginning to show, pressing to check for fractures. Kevin returned with some warm water mixed with a pungent antiseptic that was easily smelled. Maggie tensed seeing a man, then she relaxed as she realised she was in no danger. Kevin lathed her scrapes with a soft sponge, gently teasing the dirt from her wounds. Maggie sucked air as the antiseptic stung on her abused skin, but made no sound as she toughed it out.

Finding nothing broken, Sara went and rummaged in the fridge, returning with some ice, which she had placed in a plastic bag. She laid the bag on the bruises, to try and reduce the bruising and swelling.

Sara got an idea and used the bracelet to take a sample of blood from Maggie. Maybe using that, she could change Maggie back to her uninjured self, as it should replicate her body using the DNA profile and give her a healthy body again. She slipped off her bracelet and put it on Maggie's wrist, and activated the correct setting.

Maggie's body morphed instantly, but instead of returning to a healthy female form, to Sara's horror, it changed into a male form albeit being healthy.

"Oh no!" gasped Sara, seeing the young man clad in a skirt and hose.

Maggie, or the young man who used to be Maggie gasped as well, seeing her form change.

"What did you do to me? I'm a male again," he cried, fighting to get up.

The "male again," struck horror into Sara. She realised that Maggie was a transsexual, possibly having transitioned. Using the DNA had returned her to her original form, having ignored the hormone changed woman.

Sara thought fast.

"Don't worry, we can give you back your body, but it may be slightly different." She temporised, as Maggie sat up.

"Please let us explain, this wasn't supposed to happen. I took a DNA sample from your body to bring it back to its undamaged form not realising you had once been a man. The device on your wrist cured you of your injuries, but also cured you from the hormone changes. It thought those were injuries as well. But we can fix it I'm sure." Sara explained, hoping Maggie would accept that without getting angry.

"Just my luck, I get abused and chased by an irate driver, crash into a car and injure myself, then to top off the rest of the shitty day, I get turned into a guy. What more can happen?" S/he wailed, scooping up one of her stuffed dolls and hugging it to her/his chest.

Sara felt her heart go out to this forlorn figure, hugging a stuffed doll for comfort. How would she feel in the same circumstances? She looked around at the tidy but sparsely decorated room. Obviously, the money wasn't very plentiful, and even as a guy, s/he looked very thin.

Maggie I want to tell you a story, in return, I want you to tell us yours, okay?"

With Maggie's nod, Sara gave her a brief run down on what the bracelet could do and where it had come from, leaving out the rest as unnecessary. Then it was Maggie's turn, and both Sara and Kevin wept inside at her tale of woe. How her adult body had a little girl child inside just waiting to be released from the terrible injustice of being born to a male body. She told how at the age of three, she knew she should have been a girl, and that denied growing up in her rightful form, had preserved that girl child inside her, not willing to let her grow up a boy. As soon as she was able, she changed her body to fit the mind inside, but her girl self had been left behind, locked inside a body that was already an adult. Only at special times was she allowed to peak out and play, before the harsh realities of life had her scurry back into hiding again.

Sara and Kevin both hugged her as the story unfolded, tears running freely down their cheeks. Sara directed a thought towards Kevin. She smiled as Kevin answered her in same.

Maggie had been telling them about her job as a meter maid, and how awful it was. The abuse from motorists was a constant nightmare, as she went around just doing her duty. She didn't make the rules; she just enforced them, like any other public servant. She didn't make the drivers park illegally or overstay their welcome. She only made enough money to survive, and sometimes that was not enough.

While this was being said, another level of conversation was flowing between Sara and Kevin.

'Remember when we first experimented with the bracelets,' Sara thought at Kevin.

'Yes.'

'Remember when we took partial images of bodies and changed only that part,'

'Ah yes.'

'If we can marry a picture of Maggie's head and the torso of mine, we could give her a proper female body.'

'True, I'll get right on it, are you going to tell her the rest of your idea?' Kevin thought back, standing to go get the laptop.

'Yes, but not until we explain this,' Sara finished.

"Maggie, do you like this body of mine?" Sara asked.

"Well it’s a lovely body, but it doesn't do anything for me sexually, if that's what you’re asking," Maggie replied.

"What if I could give you this body with your female head on it, would that do for a temporary solution?"

"You can do that? Give me a real female body,"

"Yes, if you'd accept it."

"Wait, you said temporary solution?"

"Well, we are on the trip right now and can't look after a toddler, but on the way back, we could come and take you with us."

"Me a toddler! You mean that?" Maggie screamed jumping almost onto Sara's lap.

"Yes if you want, we will adopt you as our child. In the mean time clear up any loose ends, and get what you want to take with you together."

Maggie's eyes widened and tears of joy spilled from her eyes, as she tried to take in the wonder of the moment.

Kevin was back in a jiffy, and set up the laptop. He found the program that was part of the image capture used for sending images and sound to another laptop. Sara stripped off her clothes; not worrying that Maggie was currently male. Standing in front of the screen, Kevin captured an image of her naked form. Saving the image, he asked Maggie for a picture of her female form. Maggie found one and handed it to Kevin, who held it in front of the screen.

He worked with a popular program to manipulate and join the two images, cutting and pasting a resized head to fit Sara's torso, minus the head. Then Kevin used an airbrush technique to blend the union of the two. He tweaked Maggie's face a little, making it even more feminine, before saving.

Sara touched the bracelet that was still on Maggie's wrist, bringing up the image capture function. Within a minute, Maggie was again female, but this time, she was the genuine article, able to bear babies.

All this took time, and it was now getting late and stomachs were rumbling. Maggie offered to feed them and for them to stay the night, but looking in her cupboards, Sara came up with a better idea.

Telling Maggie to get changed and pack a nightie, they took her with them to a hotel for the night. Maggie made the most of the meal that the hotel provided. That night, they shared one bedroom with a king size bed, Kevin having taken on the smaller female body of Julie, so that they all fit on it comfortably. Needless to say, Maggie was over the moon with her changes and that of her promised form.

To be continued.

    

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 © 2005 by Prudence Walker. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without the express written consent of the copyright holder.