Kingdom Of The Blind by Hypatia

Another attempt at entertaining you with my depressing and disjointed ramblings. This one should not have as many grammatical error or spelling mistakes as The Oracle of New Delphi and for those of you who found that distracting I apologise, but typing until the sun rises causes some errors (So does leaving the proof reading to MS Word spellchecker but that is another matter). The Oracle was my first attempt at a story since I left school fifteen years ago and became an obsession with me as I needed to carry on writing it to find out what was going to happen. I was not an author merely a witness to the events typing as fast as I could to keep up with the action. In this we have a more sedate paced story, that I hope you will enjoy. This story owes, as do all my ideas, everything to the people that have become known over the years as those most strange of creatures ‘Science Fiction Authors’. There are few more obsessive cultures to break into, as a writer, than the Science Fiction Tribe we are hypercritical, obsessive, pedantic about details and let’s be honest as a fan since the age of 7 down right weird. If you recognise any of the authors you have loved and admired in the past in this story then I can not apologise they are all in my mind somewhere from Jules Verne to today’s authors. I thank everyone who has commented on The Oracle and those who compared it with Heinlein, there can be no comparison he was the Master I am just a poor fool following blindly. But to paraphrase Heinlein (as I don’t know which pile of books my copy of Time Enough For Love is in) "There is nothing up with writing, as long as you do it in private, close the door and wash your hands afterwards" Tell me what you think of it and above all ENJOY. HYPATIA

"With a bit of a mind flip, you’re into the time slip and nothing can ever be the same" Richard O’Brien, Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Blest is the man who cheats the stormy sea And safely moors beside the sheltering quay; So, blest is he who triumphs over trail. One man, by various means, in wealth or strength Outdoes his neighbour; hope in a thousand hearts Colours a thousand different dreams; at length Some find a dear fulfilment, some denial But this I say, That he who is best Enjoys each passing day Is truly blest Euripides, The Bacchae 407 BC

 

 

"Climb you bitch, climb" I muttered under my breath to the aircraft.

"Target still inbound speed fifteen hundred knots altitude thirty three thousand and dropping, range to you one two seven miles" came the steady female voice of the operator back on Illustrious.

"Red two" I called on the radio "time to intercept just under four minutes check your targets before you fire, we don’t want any civilian incidents out here"

"Roger that red leader" came Mike’s voice from the second Harrier on my port wing.

"Red leader two birds are in the air six minutes behind you, at the moment you have only one inbound contact but the size is still large it may be one big contact or more than one small one" The female voice said.

"Thank you Illustrious I copy that" I said switching on the master armament selector switch. "Weapons are now live"

"Orders are make a visual first if you are fired on you may return fire before visual is made" she informed me.

The sea in the Persian Gulf was below me another one of those little conflicts that plague the area had sparked up and we had been called in, well it beats being bored I thought as I checked everything one last time.

"Range thirty seven miles altitude now stable at twenty five thousand feet speed fifteen hundred, still not responding to attempts to communicate" Illustrious informed me.

"Red two we get one chance at this visual id then we have to decide if we engage it, from the rear it will be pulling away one mile every four seconds" I told Mike things he knew but nothing up with making sure less chance of an incident.

We had veered out to come in from the side to give a better look at the contact for the longest possible time.

 

"Ten miles, you should have visual now" the controllers voice said to me.

"Negative Illustrious no visual, wait we have something it is not any configuration I know. It is not a civilian aircraft it is more like, well I don’t know what it is like we have a large triangular craft grey in colour with what look like glowing engines underneath." I said as I got my first view of the strange craft it veered sharply.

"Contact has taken avoiding action still heading towards you though" I radioed

"Do you believe the contact has seen you and is still heading our way" came the male voice of the Commander Air back on HMS Illustrious

"Yes Sir" I replied

"Engage it then. Bring it down." came the order

"Roger engaging enemy sir" I said and selected the Phoenix air interception missiles.

"I have tone, I have lock two away" I said as a line of fire jetted away from both sides of the Harrier causing a minor buffet as we headed towards the strange craft.

"We have two impacts" I said as the missiles exploded filling the air near the craft with lethal metal fragments designed to rip an aircraft to shreds.

"Target is still flying, negative damage repeat negative damage" I shouted as we flew behind the vehicle taking it close on my starboard side. I rolled the Harrier on its starboard wing as I approached it and pulled back on the stick as we passed it ready to follow and all hell let lose. It felt like I had hit a hole in the air, suddenly I was tumbling end over end. The caution panel lit up, the altimeter indicated I was over sixty thousand feet, the air speed indicator indicated zero. The engine cut and all cautions and warnings started shouting.

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" I transmitted as an explosion caught my eye as Mike’s Harrier exploded and a jet of flame left the cockpit "Red two is down, he has ejected my aircraft is going down enemy is still inbound"

I started concentrating on my situation. The flight controls were doing bugger all to rectify the flying situation, I tried to relight the engine it wouldn’t catch, the aircraft was still spinning in impossible ways and the altimeter and airspeed indicator were not working. I glanced at the sea on its next trip over my head still plenty of height I can do this I thought and suddenly I was thrust into my seat as the Harrier decelerated. The airframe screamed. The altimeter started to work and as my hands and mind worked on automatic to try and get under control, but the tortured airframe started to break up.

I took one last look around me there was nothing else I could do.

"Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is Red leader ejecting" I told Illustrious as I reached down between my legs and prayed to the gods of Martin Baker to get me the hell out of here and pulled. My brain not designed for the accelerations and treatment it received over the next few seconds switched off.

"Itss isss awakess" came a voice through to my brain. The accent I couldn’t place more ss sounds than it should have had, I couldn’t place it anywhere.

"You are awakess yess no?" a second voice asked.

"Yeah I’m awake" I said as I opened my eyes to a blinding light I tried to sit up but I was restrained.

"Good why you fight?" came the voice I must be the Iranian/Iraqi coalition forces I must have been captured I thought.

"Lieutenant Commander Simon Williams D276554J" I recited. Name, rank and number is all that these bastards will get out of me.

"Why you all fight" I was asked again

"Lieutenant Commander Simon Williams D276554J" I said

"See itss like the other one the larger one is it sentient or is this a programmed response to stress." The voice said.

"Is Mike alive?" I asked

"It is sentient it shows concern over the other" the first voice said "that shows concern and compassion but why fight, what does internal conflict achieve?"

"Listen you can stop the weird shit I won’t crack just tell me if Mike is ok" I told them

"You wish to know about Lieutenant Michael Jennings D294663F. Why?" I was asked

"Because he’s my mate that’s why we have been together a hell of a long time" I shouted back.

"It is loud that indicates injury we will treat it first then question it more. Your mate is well do not worry" and I was unconscious again.

Time is irrelevant in the blackness of sleep but I think it was a long time before I opened my eyes again. Again the blinding light with nothing but blackness outside it, but I thought I could just see figures moving in the blackness.

"We have repaired you so now you are well we do not understand how the genetic injury occurred but with time you and Lieutenant Michael Jennings D294663F will be both well. Now you shall answer questions." The voice sounded like the first voice but the English was better less accent.

"Lieutenant Commander Simon Williams D276554J" I said

"No we do not want to know your designation, we want to know why your species seeks self destruction and conflict?" it asked. This stumped me I was expecting torture, humiliation and questions about forces and operations, but this was strange.

"What do you mean?" I asked

"Is your species genetically programmed to self destruction or is it a conditioned response to upbringing?" the voice asked me.

"How should I know?" I demanded

"This will have to be solved before we can go any further with your planets integration so you and your mate Lieutenant Michael Jennings D294663F will solve this for us. How long does it take to raise an infant to maturity?" I was asked

"Eighteen years" was my answer, they hadn’t prepared us for any interrogation on these lines in training.

"It is good it is such a short time you and your mate shall be provided for and shall comply in all ways or you shall receive pain" I was told. This was more like what I was expecting threats of torture.

"Lieutenant Commander Simon Williams D276554J" I said

"They are a strange species are we sure the sea creatures are not the dominant species or the large apes?" one voice said

"Yes these are the ones that are about to embark into interstellar space and if they do it could be the end of us all." A second voice answered.

The bed or what ever I was lying on moved I could feel it move and then I was lying on grass looking up at clouds and the sun. I was naked and I could feel the sun on my body. What the fuck was going on?

I sat up I was sitting in the garden of a large country cottage two stories, thatched roof and a well groomed garden with carefully tended roses. I looked around we appeared to be in a forest trees all around us I could hear birds singing I could smell the scents of the forest. I stood up and banged on the cottage door.

"Hello can anyone hear me let me in please" I covered myself as much as I could with my hands wondering how I would explain why I was naked when Mike answered the door dressed in jeans and a t shirt.

"What the fuck are you doing here? This is my nightmare" I told him

"I don’t think it’s a nightmare Simon I think its worse than that" he said "come on in"

I walked into the cottage to find a large living room decorated in pastel colours ornaments decorated an open fireplace with a fire laid ready ,with paper coal and wood, to light. There was a television on in the corner with BBC news on, a stereo was in a wall unit full of books and a thick carpet lay on the floor. I looked around in shock I just couldn’t understand what the hell was going on.

"Let me grab you some clothes they will be a bit big on you but you will feel less exposed" Mike said and disappeared out the door.

I looked at the television and saw a caption "Crisis in the Gulf" I found the remote controls and turned up the sound to hear that the eighteen survivors of HMS Illustrious were now being treated and would be shipped home in the next few days.

"Mike they got Lusty she’s gone" I shouted

"Yes I know I’ve been watching the news for the last two days about it" said Mike returning with a handful of clothes. "We were the first shot down then the Persian Confederacy attacked from the south the only survivors were on a rescue helicopter sent to pick us up with a news crew on board and a few in the water"

I struggled to understand what he was saying as I took the clothes off him. I looked at the clothes jeans, belt, T Shirt and underpants. I saw a label on the underpants still new, good I didn’t fancy putting my tackle where another mans had been. I started to put on the underpants when a voice came from everywhere around us.

"Those garments are not acceptable. Lieutenant Commander Simon Williams D276554J the purpose of this experiment will not be enhanced by them." The voice said.

"Who the fuck said that" I shouted

 

"That language is also unacceptable for this experiment further infractions on points you have been informed about will result in induction" the voice said firmly

"I don’t give a fuck I am getting dressed" I shouted and fell to the floor as every nerve in my body erupted in pain. I am sure my bladder would have cut loose except for the fact I couldn’t control any muscles in my body even to scream. I just lay there feeling like all of me was on fire and someone was using a file on my bones and teeth. I stopped and I was left gasping for breath in a heap on the floor.

"Come on Simon lets get you up stairs I have had that three times it really mucks you up. They don’t seem to like bad language or expressions of temper I even received one for sleeping on the incorrect side of the bed" Mike said and guided me up stairs into a bedroom with a large double bed.

"The clothes in the right hand receptacles are for Lieutenant Commander Simon Williams D276554J, as the genetic anomaly has now been corrected a new designation must be found before the correct form is achieved" said the voice that had caused my pain.

I looked at the right hand side of the bed there was a bedside light, chest of draws built into a dressing table with mirror and stool and a large wardrobe. I opened the wardrobe and looked in dresses, skirts, tops and lots of shoes all women’s.

"What the fuck ar…." I started and hit the floor again, Mike helped me up off the floor.

"Look Simon they know…" he was interrupted

"That designation is not conducive to the success of this experiment another must be chosen to allow a correct gender identification now the genetic anomaly has been corrected." The voice said

"I do not understand what you mean" I said

"Lieutenant Commander Simon Williams D276554J designation is masculine now that the anomaly has been corrected in your mate a feminine designation is required. If one cannot be found we can designate one for her" the voice said.

"Did you understand any of that?" I asked Mike

"No but I think were dealing with things outside our understanding, things that do not understand humans properly" Mike said.

"What little green men give me a break. This is all some sort of Psychological torture." I said to him and then I shouted "Go on do what you want we won’t break"

"Very well Lieutenant Commander Simon Williams D276554J designation shall now be Sarah Elizabeth Jennings, Mrs Michael Jennings or any combination of these will be acceptable. The appropriate metal bands may be found in a small pot on the flat surface two point seven meters in front of you they shall be placed on the appropriate digit by Lieutenant Michael Jennings D294663F as is the custom all appropriate customs shall be followed from now on." The voice said.

In the glass pot was a wedding band in plain gold and an engagement ring with a diamond and two sapphires. I looked at them as Mike did and the voice repeated he took them and started to place them on my finger.

"This is not the appropriate custom this should be done with the male on a bent knee then embracing and the meeting of the facial orifice with the flexible oral organs encountering each others" the voice said

"No" I started to say and had another jolt of pain.

I stood up again as Mike got down on one knee and took my left hand and placed a wedding band and engagement ring on my finger he then stood up to embrace me our height difference suddenly becoming apparent to me. Mike had just got in under the height limit I had just slipped over the lower limit for flying naval jets. He placed his arms around me and his mouth met mine, I refused to open my mouth and received a quick blast of pain. I complied and standing there naked I placed my arms around him and opened my mouth to kiss him back his tongue sought mine and we encountered each other for a moment.

We broke the kiss and I started to look through the clothes in the drawers, panties, slips, bras, stockings and tights even a few bikinis graced the drawers. Mike left me to it I was lost I didn’t know what to do with these things.

"Is Sarah in need of instruction on the use of these items? Is it because Sarah was an airborne warrior?" the voice asked

"Yes" I said keeping calm not wanting to get another jolt.

"The Sarah human shall only need to ask and assistance will be given. The first action is to bathe and remove the superfluous body hair by use of a metal cutting device dragged over the epidermis this body hair will be omitted with the genetic repairs"

I went into the bathroom and decided to shower I washed my hair which was a lot longer than I have ever had it down to the back of my neck then after being reminded again I shaved my body sort of.

"The inability of Sarah to remove the hair shall now be corrected" the voice said and all of a sudden there was a blinding light in the bathroom and a smell of ozone and burning. I looked down to find myself covered in a fine white ash I rinsed under the shower and I found except my head and eyebrows I had no hair on my body at all my penis and balls looked very strange without hair also the thicker dryer skin on my body at my elbows, knees, hands, and feet washed off. After drying I was then instructed to use talc which I did then to return to the bedroom on the bed were a blue summer dress, pale blue bra and panties and a pair of tights in a pale colour.

"The artificial facial embellishments are not required for today though tomorrow they shall be adornments shall be worn on the body as supplied and the coloration of the fibrous tissue at the end of the upper and lower digits is required." My tormentor informed me.

I looked around and found some jewellery on the dressing table also some red nail polish I translated the instructions to meant that these were required make up wasn’t. I painted my finger and toe nails with a few prompts from the unseen observer at times what it said seemed to have come straight out of a women’s magazine or TV program, then it would, after talking about how stunning red nails never go out of fashion, inform me to colour the fibrous tissue. I got them done though for some reason they seemed long I was suspecting that we had been here longer than we thought. I then started to put on the jewellery a gold charm bracelet, a woman’s watch a gold chain around my neck and dangly earrings in gold with four small balls increasing in size to about a centimetre across dangling about four centimetres long. I looked carefully in the mirror and saw I had pierced ears I slipped them through and attached the back the lower parts of the earring brushing my shoulders if I tilted my head, my hair also looked lighter no longer the mousy nondescript brown I was use to now longer and thicker was it shaped. I brushed it and it seemed to curl under at the ends someone has been playing silly bastards I thought.

I turned to the clothes after being told it was now time to dress and picked up the panties, not built for modesty or comfort. I slipped them up my smooth legs the rear slipped into the crack of my bum and my penis was barely covered at the front, half an erection and I would be out I thought. The lacy front irritated and hid nothing and the absorbent thicker bit between my legs felt strange. The bra was a matching bra again all lace but with wires at the bottom of the cups I got it fastened eventually with a lot of twisting and fiddling but it felt very uncomfortable. I opened the tights balled them up and pulled them on as I had seen my girlfriends do in the past, my legs felt super sensitive as they were snugly enclosed in the sheer material I was arranging them correctly when Mike walked in.

"I am sorry for disturbing you Sarah and I am sorry for any thing I might do, but I have just spent the last ten minutes arguing about this and being punished…" he dropped to the floor I helped him up onto the bed my embarrassment forgotten with my concern for my friend.

"Come here you beautiful woman" he said his eyes saying otherwise, he grabbed my hand to pull me to him.

"Appropriate behaviour Sarah" a voice reminded me and I let him pull me onto his knee. One hand caressed my bum through the tights while another stroked my leg making me tingle and feel nauseous as it moved over my knee and up my thigh to stop halfway up my thigh.

He rolled us both onto the bed and started kissing me over my face while his hand explored my encased legs avoiding my crotch and to my absolute horror I was starting to become erect from this perverse situation.

"Mike" I said "not at the moment I want to get dressed and have some food" I said he paused for a second no voice could be heard.

"Certainly Sarah" he said the relief obvious on his face we sat up and I picked up the dress and slipped it over my head, Mike fastened it for me at the back and I put on some shoes all straps with a heel about three inches high. Mike had to help me down the stairs and even walking was stumble from one foot to the other in a controlled fall.

"One of you will arrange food this is not the time for the main meal the other shall remain here" our invisible guard said.

I volunteered to sort out the food and walked into a large well equipped kitchen. Searching around I found some bread butter and a sliced meat that looked like pork. As I made sandwiches I looked out onto the rear garden again leading into this forest the rear garden looked more practical and less ornamental than the front with tomatoes, fruit trees and a vegetable patch. I was starting to wonder if we were in the southern hemisphere possibly somewhere in Indonesia as it was winter in England when we had been shot down a bad one at that this was a pleasant summer afternoon. I made two cups of coffee to go with the plate of sandwiches and I was wondering how to get them through to the living room when Mike appeared.

"I have just been having a chat and it was suggested I help you with the things" he said wincing in expectation of the pain.

"Do you mind carrying everything in I’m not use to these shoes." I asked

"Not at all" and he took the sandwiches and the coffee through. I made a show of washing my hands and then emptied the bowl in the sink watching to see which way the water turned on the way out.. It didn’t no spin at all we must be right on the equator I thought. I dried my hands adjusted the straps over my shoulders, bra and stupid dress and walked through into the living room. Mike was sat on the two seater sofa with the sandwiches and the coffee cups.

"Come and sit here Sarah the coffee table was out ready" he said his eyes again saying other than his voice. I sat next to him my skirt bunching up under me, I stood again and arranged it before I sat down next to him eating and watching the television. A lot of it was about Illustrious and the situation out there in the gulf, my concerns grew what if they thought we were already dead. I finished my drink and an arm slid around my shoulders I flinched and started to pull away until I remembered so I let him pull me close to him. His hand was on my bare upper arm I could feel his leg against mine.

"Do you fancy a walk?" I said trying to think of a way out of this.

"I don’t know if it’s allowed" Mike replied

"Are we allowed to go for a walk" I asked the thin air

"If appropriate behaviour is occurring then there are few if any restrictions on any actions you wish to do." The disembodied voice said "eventually we will only speak when called upon"

"What do you mean appropriate behaviour?" I asked

"You are mates therefore you will act like mates until we can observe how infants are raised to maturity so we know if your species is flawed through your society, through upbringing or genetics" I was told

"What we are mates, friends and I am a man" I said there was silence for a while

"In your language is there the possibility of one word meaning two separate items as in nail on a finger of a hand, not a clock, and nail as in a metal spike for attaching two pieces of wood?" we were asked

"Yes" I replied to be left in silence for a long time.

"Errors have occurred but the experiment shall proceed" I was told and then left in silence.

I stood up rather confused about what errors had been made and started towards the door.

"Upon leaving the house for recreational exercise it is required that one limb is around the torso of the other as seen in many visual electromagnetic signals received from your planet" the voice told me.

As we walked out of the gate onto a path Mike came up to me and put an arm around me I slipped an arm around his waist and we walked away from the house as fast as we could. The path was dead straight and we walked along it after about ten minutes my feet were hurting but I carried on, after another ten minutes according to my watch we saw a clearing in front of us. We walked into the clearing to see a house and a garden with a vegetable patch. We rushed around the front in the door and found our plates and coffee cups waiting on the little table. We sat down and watched the news for a while again sat next to each other thinking about what had just happened but unwilling to speak of it with the threat of pain.

"Sarah while this bonding process is taking place household tasks such as meals will be prepared for you, then at a later date you will be running the house between you" the voice said.

"What do you think of that?" I asked Mike

"Think of what?" he said

"The fact they are cooking for us while we bond" I replied

"What are you talking about?" he said

Mike hadn’t heard any thing and talking between the two of us we found that not all communications could be heard by the two of us most were just heard by one or the other. Mike decided it must be some form of telepathy and he said this could also account for the pain, direct stimulation of the pain receptors in the brain causing pain worse than anything man could do, I listened to him and eventually agreed with him his story made as much sense as any other explanation. I was prompted that dinner was ready by my personal voice and I told Mike we walked through together to the dining room.

We sat down at a small round table three courses where sat on a small table on wheels by the side of it the room was dark and candles were the only illumination I walked to my chair.

"Wait" the voice said

I stopped just before I sat and Mike pulled out my chair for me I sat as he pushed it under me. Mike served us a pate starter followed by a roast dinner and strawberries after and we sat there talking and drinking wine remembering old times despite the situation we were in.

"Move your foot forward" I was instructed, I did and my foot came in contact with Mike’s I started to move away.

"No hold your foot against his" I was told firmly I did, he could see the confusion on my face.

"Don’t worry Sarah I understand as I am sure you do too" he said reaching across to hold my hand looking at the red nails his thumb rubbing the back of my hand so smooth now. His foot started toying with mine his jean covered calf brushing my nylon encased calf sending tingles and guilt through me. Music started in the living room and I was guided through to the living room, I obeyed the voices in my head and held him close and tilted my head up to kiss him. We danced for a long time me being guided around by my large friend and as our bodies pressed together I could feel his hardness pressing into me.

"I’m sorry they keep flooding my brain with sensations and old memories" he said in my ear as one hand groped my bottom, I was reacting as well. I was led up stairs to the bedroom where a little white nightdress lay on the bed for me and nothing for him.

Mike undid the back of my dress and it slipped off me leaving me stood in front of him wearing bra, panties, tights and high heeled sandals.

"You are beautiful my dear wife" Mike said shocking me.

"Thank your husband" I was prompted

"Thank you my beloved husband" I said blushing at the words. He guided me back and sat me on the bed then lay me down. He removed my shoes and began rubbing my sore feet, that felt so good I glanced down my body to see my small feet in his large hands my red toes visible through the reinforced toe of the tights. His hands worked their way up my calves and to my knees as they reached my thighs I started to panic.

"Stay still, do not fight" I was ordered and as I continued to start to struggle I was given a quick bolt of pain. His hands moved up to my inner thighs stroking through the nylon was giving me the hardon of all hardons but looking down I could barely see it through the panties and tights, his fingers traced the edge of the v of my panties then moving up my hips slid into the waistband of the tights and started pulling them down. I raised my hips to assist him and the cooler air hit my legs, he pulled them off and discarded them on the floor.

"Slip into your nighty Sarah while I get undressed" Mike said I stood and started struggling to undo the bra he undid it for me kissing my shoulder as he did so. I slipped it off my arms and scratched at the red marks left by its presence then turning my back to him dropped the panties and screamed. My raging erection was all of three inches long I was expecting seven inches pushing eight.

"Don’t worry about it Sarah its not important now" my invisible companion said "get your nightdress on and slip into bed"

I did so the white satin material was only just enough to reach mid thigh with the last two inches lace. I slipped under the cool cotton covers not looking at Mike, I felt the bed sag as he climbed in and I rolled away from him facing my wardrobe.

"Move or pull away and you will know how bad pain can be" I was told

Mike’s hand was on my exposed arm caressing the smooth and sensitive skin, it moved up and stroked my face teasing the earrings I hadn’t removed, he moved closer I could feel his breath on the back of my neck and even though the only contact was his hand on my hip rubbing it through the satin.

"I am sorry about.." he stated and then tensed up as the pain caught him "I love you Sarah" he continued

He moved up close behind me kissing my hair as his body made contact with mine then kissing my neck as his arm slid around me. I could feel his hairy legs against my smooth ones, a large erection was pressing into my buttock through the thin satin. His hand was making circles on my stomach my nightdress was rising and he slid his hand under it to caress my bare thigh and move up over my nude groin avoiding my penis. It slid higher pulling the nightdress further up as his hand moved up to my chest toying with my nipples also causing the back of my nightdress to rise his hard cock touched my bare skin and I pulled away slightly. His hand found my hip and pulled me back the damp tip finding the crack of my bum. He forced between the cheeks moving slowly backward and forwards he felt hot and huge his arm was holding me tight and he was kissing my neck. The movement continued I was trembling with fear he pulled back for a moment his hand left me and he rolled away from me he fumbled around for a while and then rolled back one of his arms slid under the pillow my head was resting on, his other hand found my hip again his cock now slippery returned to my crack.

"Bring your knees up for him" I was told and I didn’t until the pain forced me to.

My knees curled up allowed him greater access to my buttocks and he took advantage of it till the head of his slippery shaft located my arsehole. He nuzzled my hair and whispered he would be gentle, then with his hand on my hip preventing me escaping he started moving backwards and forwards gaining a little ground with each movement. From my point of view it started feeling like I was having a crap then the pain started as more and more of the flared head forced its way into me. A harder push and the pain made me feel I was being split in two as the head of this intruder passed through my sphincter. Having made his entry he started making stronger movements in and out and within half a dozen strokes I could feel his pubic hair against my buttocks and it felt like a red hot telegraph pole was somewhere past my belly button. He was making sucking kisses on my neck and back his hand was exploring my body, he made a long slow withdrawal from me then a long thrust back in.

"Ughh" I started "ooooh" I finished my voice raising an octave as the pain hit as he reached his maximum depth his pubic bone pressing against my buttocks.

"Accept, relax and enjoy" my invisible friend said to me

His thrusts were starting to pick up pace now the pain easing and a warmth starting to build in me my erection was returning despite the situation. His hand was pulling my hips towards him each time he thrust towards me. I tried not to move but his strength made it impossible not to and tears ran down face as I started to move for him, meeting his thrust assisting in my own violation. The movements speeded up he was slapping against me the pleasure was building in my own groin his hand cupped my groin pressing my little erection into my nude pubic area his fingers between my legs forcing me back harder into his thrust. The pleasure was building for me and between kisses nips and moans Mike was telling me he loved me. His hand pulled out from under my head and the pillow, he was thrusting hard into me now I was meeting his thrusts hard and moaning. He grasped my shoulders one in each hand giving himself some more leverage and forcing my body onto him harder he seemed to be getting larger inside me. As he thrust into me hard I started to cum spurting over the sheet myself and my nightdress my muscles clamped down on his cock and he shouted.

"Oh yes, Oh my god yes" he shouted his hands clamping on my shoulders almost to the point of pain. He started twitching and firing jet after jet of hot liquid deep into my bowels.

"Oh thank you Sarah" he whispered in my ear.

He moved up close behind me his prick still in me though softening, his hairy legs against the backs of my legs, his chest against my back and his hot breath on the back of my neck. He held me tight against him, his breath dropping into the regular pattern that indicates sleep and his prick slipping from me to rest limp and wet against my buttock. I lay there trembling and sore yet empty from him leaving my body with his seed leaking out of me and my seed wetting the sheet which I lay on and my nightdress which now covered my upper thighs. I sobbed quietly not wanting to wake him up for a repeat performance until I fell asleep.

I woke to light streaming into the room and a hard slickness between my buttocks. Oh my god please not again. He slid into me without preparation and the tears filled my eyes as the pain hit me.

"Oh please" I whimpered meaning please stop but my voice sounded strange and I stopped as I felt his pubic hair. He started long hard thrusts into me taking me and only thinking of his pleasure, harder and harder faster and faster and just as my pleasure started to build he groaned loud and I again felt him jerk inside me as his hot fluid could be felt filling me.

I lay there until he slipped out of me then got out of the bed to go to the bathroom I could feel his sperm trickling down my leg and I stumbled catching myself on the wall.

"Wait Sarah I’m to come with you they say you’ll need me" Mike said following me.

"Piss off your all done aren’t you" I said as I reached the bathroom. My voice was high pitch going scratchy with my shouting. I turned around to ask him what was going on and found that I only came up to his chest. I looked up at his face and it was a face of shock. I looked down I appeared to have mounds under my nightdress it now came down to my knees, my arms were thinner delicate and freckled as was my hand. Something tickled my bum I reached back and found my hair reached to the tops of my buttocks and my bum felt larger as did my hips. I dragged the nightdress over my head my long hair getting tangled in it an eventually I let it drop to the floor. Red hair, Orphan Annie red hair blocked my vision and I brushed it back.. I glanced down and found two obviously immature breasts with large nipples my skin was pale and my waist tapered in before heading out to my wide hips which my wrists brushed against as I stood there. At the junction between my legs my best friend for at least sixteen of my twenty seven years was gone and a red pubic hair occupied the area where he used to live. I stumbled back and sat down on the toilet the cold seat greeting my arse and I spread my legs to look. I was damn near smooth between my legs a sort of Barby doll look except for a little lump the size of a pea, a small one at that and a hole a small one further down.

"Noooo" I screamed my high pitch scream breaking the silence.

Mike rushed forwards to comfort me his hands pulling me up to crush me against his hairy chest.

"We’ll be ok Sarah don’t worry we’ll survive this" he said his hands rubbing up and down my back. My nipples erected but I couldn’t pull away, then I felt his penis poking at my stomach and I did. I glanced down at the stiffening organ and feeling sick I sat back down. It was at eyelevel after I sat and I ignored it as sperm dripped from my buttocks into the toilet.

"Do you want to go now?" I asked him

"No we are supposed to have a shower together now" He said.

"At least let me pee in peace" I said and the ghost in my mind jumped in

"There is no modesty between you and you husband Sarah" it told me.

Wonderful I thought now I can’t pee in peace. I squeezed as much of his sperm out of my bowels as I could it dripped into the bowl making splashing sounds. Then I tried to figure out how to use my bladder. I felt my muscles release and a high pitch hiss as I emptied into the bowl when I finished I was wet between the legs I wadded up some toilet paper and wiped, the little pea sized object was too sensitive to touch for long though wiping it made me think that every erotic sensation on my body had been confined here. I stood up and flushed. Mike stood in front of the toilet with his now flaccid cock in his hand, even flaccid it was six inches and I couldn’t take my eyes off it as he started to pee the stream going straight into the water in the bowl. Mike turned on the shower and held my hand while I stepped into the bath, he followed.

"How tall am I now do you think?" I asked him while looking at his chest.

"Five foot exactly" he replied quickly

"That was quick how do you know?" I asked my voice sounding sweet and pleasant with only the slightest tremble

"Because Sarah you are turning into my fantasy woman a short but well curved red head who freckles in the sun, gorgeous legs and breasts that hang like teardrop shaped mounds of flesh from your chest with large nipples and aureoles that almost cover the whole tip of the breast." He said erecting again before me.

"That’s enough for now Mike" I said "I’m a bit sore from your attentions earlier"

"Whatever my beloved wife says shall be so" he said and proceeded to wash me everywhere. My small breasts enjoyed the attention but I did not like it as the soap stimulated the nipple. Between my buttocks was sore as the soap rubbed between them and between my legs was just too sensitive and ticklish it brought squeals from me. He didn’t make me wash him merely washed himself as I washed my long hair, taking an enormous amount of shampoo. After rinsing he turned off the water and I wrapped a towel around my chest and bundled up my hair in another towel.

As I dried I examined my body my muscle tone that I had was now gone leaving delicate limbs my hands and feet appeared smaller though my rings still fitted as did the charm bracelet which I now removed. The watch was loose on my wrist and it fitted well three holes tighter. I removed the earrings which were catching on the towel and fumbled with the necklace. I tried to think of my previous girlfriends in the shower and couldn’t remember if they wore any jewellery I didn’t think so but jewellery wasn’t what I was interested in at that time. I looked at the clothes laid on the bed for me by our invisible helpers bra, panties and tights again and this time a pale green dress with no sleeves and a v at the front and back. I slipped on the pink satin underwear less lace this time and more coverage on my buttocks and then the tights, the bra was even more strange than yesterday now it actually had something to put in it but with assistance from Mike I got it fastened. There was a trick to this I knew if I could just remember for tomorrow, I thought as Mikes hands molested my bum through the tights and panties.

"You put it on backwards and spin it around" my voice in my head said and I had a flash of Jenny a girlfriend from about five years ago doing the same thing.

"You can read minds" I thought back at it.

"Not read minds unless the thoughts are strong or directed at me" the voice said, I was sure I could actually hear it but Mike hadn’t taken his hands off me.

"That’s enough for now Mike rustle up some coffee and something for breakfast" I said pushing him away. He departed and I pulled the very pale green dress over my head then pulled my long hair through and glanced down to see it had a slit running up the front of my right thigh and the dress finished a few inches above the knee. I sat down on the bed feeling my weight distribute on my larger bottom as if I was sitting on a cushion.

"Right now" I thought at my invisible companion "Who are you?"

"Names in our language mean something unique about a person and involve body motions with parts of the body that you do not have, the easiest translation would be one who seeks or Seeker" it said

"And your companion?" I thought

"It is one who judges, the arbiter, the decider, the judge and the executioner" Seeker replied in my mind.

"What do you mean executioner?" I asked

"Life in this galaxy is rare. Many millions of years ago our people found a young race chillingly like your own this race had space flight and with our blessing we helped them get ready to take their place within our lager society. They came they joined and they learned. Less than a millennia after they had joined they decided that they should dominate all for some strange reason, that we later found was a genetic flaw. They started the Great War several species including some of the greatest and oldest were exterminated totally, trillions died and it became our task as the ones who first found them to stop them. This was a minor thing in terms of effort to wipe out a race on one hundred and thirty six planets, but the psychological effects of this on my people was terrible. We withdrew to our own planets for two thousand of your years over eighty percent of our population committed suicide from the grief. When we emerged from our self imposed exile we decided that such a situation could not be allowed to happen again." Seeker explained with flashes of pictures being fed into my brain at the same time, of dead bodies, people lying down to die with their families and ships attacking planets.

"Wait a second please Seeker I see the pictures in my mind but they are strange I see film and television images, Jonestown, the Second World War and Star Wars rather than what you are saying" I thought back

"You are sensitive, more sensitive than I thought" Seeker said "but your mind having not seen these things is interpreting it into things it knows. You have not and probably will never see one of our race so your mind places humans in the place of our people do you understand?" Seeker asked

"Yes I do" I thought back

"Well to continue I am a Seeker one who searches for the young races, as youth brings new ideas and a freshness of thought to life. If you are too young to join us I bring in a Watcher who will guide your race quietly in the right directions, a flash of inspiration for a scientist may be more than his own ideas fermenting. If I am concerned that you are a hazardous race I must bring in one who Judges if your people are declared too dangerous with no redeeming features and no chance of rehabilitation then it will be erased to allow the next species to develop. On your planet some of the other mammals other than the primates are very promising though I think the great apes other than the chimpanzee might prove eminently suitable. The Judge prefers your water based mammals but these are just personal bias on both our parts" Seeker flashed images of dolphins and whales.

"Wait a second how would a dolphin evolve underwater the basic concept of fire, the wheel and building are not possible underwater" I thought back hard

"Don’t shout, it is your own prejudices that make these concepts of civilisation hard to understand. The space flight issue is about if the race is a threat to our culture, races have been admitted that have no technology as you understand it due to the quality of their thought." Seeker was getting irritated with me.

"Never mind for the moment" I thought not fancying another burst of pain.

"Sarah the pain is necessary only with non-compliance in this experiment which shall decide the future of you race, freedom to think is always allowed the quality of your thoughts is good in you personally and your race as a whole which is why this experiment started." Seeker said in an apologetic tone.

"Well why are you doing this to me then?" I said

"At first we were using verbal communication with you and your verbal communication is an imprecise item we believed that the two of you were a pair, mates. So this experiment to find if the aggression was genetic or social was arranged by The Judge. If it fails your race will be as if it never existed if it succeeds then you will have admittance within a few generations. But the fact of you not being a couple was a failure of the experiment and it took all my pleading to allow this to continue. The fact that we are talking such a short time less than twenty years is the only reason The Judge hasn’t passed sentence on your race." Seeker explained chilling me to the bone with its words.

"Well how would you like to suddenly change into a woman." I replied

"The concept you speak about is alien to me I get flashes from you that you equate it to changing into an animal or something. We do not have sexes as such but the normal situation for reproduction is the mixing of genetic material from at least five people. It is possible with less but the thought of only two individuals involved is repulsive to me. You would equate it as a perversion like wanting to marry your own mother." Seeker said giving me flashes of my mother while of me making love.

"Yes I understand you can stop the movies" I said rather disturbed by this. "Lets talk again later I need to get ready and Mike will be wondering where I am."

I came out of my long conversation to hear Mike walking down stairs, the whole exchange had taken seconds if that.

"Ok what do you want me to do now" I asked

"Do you have any idea about hair and makeup?" Seeker asked

"No none at all" I admitted

"I will do it for you but you have to let me take control I can’t take over your actions I have to be allowed in. Sit on the stool and relax your mind" Seeker said

I sat there relaxing and concentrating on my breathing to calm myself, this was ruined at one point by my own reflection my face had gone. The ugly face that I shaved every morning had been replaced by a young woman twenty at the very most. She had a small nose and blue eyes she was lightly freckled over her face. The chin was small and the lips were fuller than my old ones, all in all at a bar I would have been all over her but possibly worried about her age. The most striking feature though was her long hair red very red and very long. I started to relax again and as my mind and my body went limp I felt a presence in my mind pushing me to one side my hands started moving on their own and started sorting my hair out with a brush and hairdryer that I hadn’t seen before. I couldn’t look away because I didn’t control my eyes. My panic built up and up as makeup was applied by my own hands. I could feel the lipstick in my fingers and on my lips but I didn’t control the lips that were contorting to allow it or the hand applying it. Face, lips and eyes were worked on and then my hands started working through a jewellery box pulling out earrings and a necklace.

"GET OUT OF MY MIND" I screamed as the panic took over and I flung the presence from my mind instantly re-establishing control over my body.

"Sarah, Sarah calm yourself I am out" Seeker said

"I’m sorry I’m sorry" I thought back at it

"Child do not be sorry it is your mind I invaded and this was your first time. I was surprised at the length of time you were able to restrain yourself and by the power of your eviction, so don’t be sorry. But please no shouting for a while I’m a little tender after that. I need to discuss this mornings events if you have need of me please call but don’t shout." Seeker said did I detect humour in his/her/ its voice. I decided yes I did and I also decided to refer to it as her not because she was female but because she didn’t feel male.

I put in the stud earrings and placed the fine gold chain around my neck, slipped on the shoes and carefully negotiated the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

"My god you are beautiful Sarah" Mike said

"Oh thank you very much" I said sarcastically waiting for the pain, none came.

"I have coffee and toast ready" Mike replied ignoring the sarcasm

"Good lets sit and eat I need to talk to you" I told him

As I picked at a round of toast and drank the coffee I explained my conversation with Seeker at one point when I explained about the linguistic misunderstanding he laughed.

"What the hell are you laughing about it could have been you sat here like this now, a situation I don’t consider funny" I tried to make my voice roar as I used to when shouting orders as a man it just got shrill. He apologised and I continued with my explanations his face going grim as my story progressed through the possible fate of our race.

"What do we do?" he asked me

I just shrugged my shoulders and we sat there in silence. I eventually wandered through to the kitchen to wash up, not through any sense that it was my job but from the fact that he had made breakfast.

"You are lucky Sarah" Mike said behind me

"What do you mean lucky" I demanded

"I have just had a conversation sort of with my voice The Judge as you referred to him. He feels that except for essential conversation he should not interact with us on a personal level as his dislike of us as a race might make his decision less impartial. In other words he is there for orders and pain and that’s all." He said

"Oh Seeker seemed pleasant and eager to talk, to interact with me" I replied

"Just my luck years of reading about aliens we finally make contact and mine wont talk" he said

"Well I will swap with you any time if you can dig up away to swap bodies you can talk for hours" I offered

"No I don’t think so, you’re the flight leader so I will let you negotiate. Anyway I know your taste in women and if you think I’m going to have tits like you like, you’ve got another thing coming" he joked it didn’t impress me at all.

"Sarah" Speaker said "he does not know how to cope with this situation his dear friend who he would have died for has changed to the object of his deepest desires. He is also being forced to assume the role of a husband to his superior, if his mouth says the words they are not what he means"

I felt movement behind me hands slipped around my waist and met across my lower stomach just below the waist band of my tights, he kissed the top of my head and I tingled.

"Seeker are you playing with my mind at the moment?" I asked

"Yes Sarah but…" she said

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY FEELINGS EMOTIONS AND SENSATIONS DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" I bellowed

"Yes I do" Seeker answered voice devoid of emotion "I will not control any emotions, sensations or reactions of your mind unless you invite me to. You will still have to obey or pain will be applied"

"Fine" I said

Suddenly the calmness and the acceptance of the situation that I had had that morning dissolved. Was a man in a dress perched on high heels with a close friend behind me rubbing his crotch against my now feminine rear while kissing my head. I wanted to run and scream and punch. I didn’t, I breathed I contained my fear and revulsion and tried to calm down.

"I said I’m sorry I wasn’t thinking" Mike said

"That’s good Sarah you have more control than I would have thought. Turn and kiss him placing your arms around his neck" Seeker said I paused "SARAH" she warned.

I turned around my hips brushing a cupboard door and his crotch, I was now aware of everything.. My legs inside there nylons coverings brushed against my dress and each other causing a whispering sound, my feet in their unnatural position with the heels, the bra cupping my small mounds and the panties cupping my groin reminding me of my loss there. I turned to face Mike his chest met my view I looked up at him and placed my thin bare arms around his neck and tilted my head. His hands found my rear caressing it through the skirt and tights then pulling me hard against him so I could feel his erection pressing into my stomach. He kissed my lips his tongue forced its way into my mouth he hadn’t shaved and his face was rough on mine. I was aware of my skirt being raised and his hands under it on my bottom and upper thighs his fingers rubbing between my legs from the rear.

"More passion in your kiss Sarah" Seeker told me

I responded with faked passion my tongue toying with his as his hands found the waistband of my tights and slipped under my tights and knickers to cup my bare buttocks.

"Unzip his trousers and slide your hand in" I was ordered then warned as I didn’t respond.

I slid a small hand down to the front of his jeans tenting out from his passion, I pulled on the zip which was difficult at first then virtually opening itself as he sprang free. I felt the hard organ through the underpants, Christ it was big, and I slid my fingers up the shaft till I came to the waist band and my hand found the hot flesh emerging over the top of it I grasped it my small hand barely able to wrap around it.

"Lead him through to the living room by his penis" I was told and I did one of his hands slid out of my panties but the other didn’t and we walked through. The room had changed slightly all the furniture had moved back and the fire was lit. In front of the fire was a sheepskin rug and scattered cushions.

"What the hell is all this shit?" I thought

"This is one of his fantasies Sarah that’s all" Seeker said

"So why the hell am I playing to his fantasies then?" I threw back at her

"Listen Michael is in a fragile state he is having problems equating his feelings for you know with his memories and feelings for you as his friend Simon. This could cause the premature end of this experiment as with how bruised his ego is and how confused he is he could end up with a psychological sexual dysfunction. This would result in him being unable to perform his biological function and the end of the experiment according to The Judge." Seeker said I had flashes of Star Wars death star and limp dicks "are you sure you don’t want me to make things easier for you?" Seekers voice was full of concern

"No my mind and my feelings are my own every other aspect of my existence has been stolen. I know what I have to do and no one will make me enjoy it, it is just some thing that must be endured." I told her

"Very well if you change your mind just ask" Seeker said

I stood there in front of the fire, nine inches of cock in my hand and I had no choice I had been willing to risk my life to be able to fly for my country now I had to submit to this and make Mike happy for my species. He unbuttoned the dress I was wearing letting it fall to the floor at my feet and I stepped out of the circle it made at my feet he looked at me long and hard I couldn’t face looking at him with his passion for me sticking out of his trousers. I tilted my head down looking at my bra encased breasts not enough to talk about, my tights crossing my white belly, the panties cupping my groin and my little feet in their high heeled and nylon prison but with my red toes still visible. It was no wonder he had an erection like he had, I would have had one if I still had my prick. His arms encircled me holding me tight against him his hands roamed up my back as my face crushed into his chest, he smelt clean and masculine, his hands found their target and my bra was loose. He stepped back taking the bra with him pulling it off my arms exposing my small breasts, he guided me down onto the sheepskin rug making me lie back with my head on a cushion. He removed my shoes then ran his hands up my legs he hooked my tights and knickers with his fingers and in one swift movement I was naked. His hands were fumbling with his belt and his trousers joined my clothes on the floor he pulled his t shirt over his head and was left just wearing socks. I know from my own experiences as a man there is absolutely no way to suavely remove a pair of socks and to leave them on is even worse, Mike chose the stand on one foot technique and pull a sock off and fell on his arse with a bump. Oh god how was I supposed to pretend passion with Mike on his arse, prick deflated and wearing only one sock.

"I can help" Seeker offered

"PISS OFF THIS IS MY PROBLEM CAUSED BY YOU AND YOUR FUCKING RACE I DO NOT WANT YOU OR YOUR PEOPLE MESSING IN MY MIND" I threw back at her. She didn’t reply but I got a quick flash of disgust and pain.

"Are you ok" I asked he nodded "Then come over here and hold me tight I’m scared" I said, if that didn’t get him back on track nothing would.

He lay beside me I rolled towards him my little boobs swayed and bounced as I did, shit these things are going to be a lot bigger soon how will I cope then. I must admit I did cheat a little I referred to my own memories and used the kind of tricks that use to get me going. I kissed him passionately with a cool clinical detachment in my mind, the same sort of detachment I use in an emergency in the air I carefully planned and made every move. I ran my dainty little foot up the outside of his leg running my red toes up past his knee, then I let my foot slip behind his leg pulling his leg between mine with my heel then rocking my hips to force my flat groin onto his leg.

"Oh Mike" I said in husky voice, I thrust harder "Oh Mike" I said again trying not to laugh.

I could feel his prick pressing into my upper thigh it was starting to stiffen again. I tilted back and grabbed one of his hands and placed it on my boob, I placed my hands on his shoulders and used the leverage it gave me to hump his leg in earnest. I have to admit the combination of the friction of his leg and the teasing of my boobs didn’t feel bad not the intense sexual pleasure I use to know but it might be fun. I increased my tempo and increased my moans of fake pleasure, I slid my hand down between us and grasped his prick in my little hand.

"I want you and I need you NOW Mike" I told him squeezing his prick.

He rolled me onto my back and slipped a hand under the cushion my head was on and pulled out a tube of KY gel.

"Wonderful" I thought at Seeker "You think of everything don’t you. But why do I have to take him in my arse why not wait until you finish turning me into a woman"

"We can’t have him having time to think what he is doing at the moment. This is as repulsive to him as it is to you but his passion should keep him from thinking till the change is done. By then when he eventually starts thinking with his mind rather than his hormones he is going to be apologetic, feeling sorry for himself and in love with you" Seeker said

"And how long is this change going to take?" I asked of her

"Everything visible will be done by tomorrow morning just a couple of days playing with the internal organs and endocrine system and you will be finished" Seeker said happily

"Oh thank you that will be nice" I thought back sarcastically

"Why do your thoughts mean two things this is confusing?" Seeker said

"Now you know some of how I feel, I’ll explain sarcasm later I am a bit busy at the moment" I told Seeker

I turned my attention back to Mike, he was squeezing a blob of the clear jelly onto his prick. I reached up and spread it over him with my finger tips he twitched as my fingers coated him with the lubricant. He moved down my body with his hands down my slightly rounded stomach and into my silky pubic hair his fingers teased the little button that was left of my cock massaging around it never touching, I twitched my hips a few times to encourage him. This was going to be a cold calculated operation on my part without my mind being clouded by Seeker. I grasped his cock in my hand wrapping my fingers around it as much as I could, I moved my hand backwards and forward the slickness of the lubricant allowing me to put pressure on it and still move smoothly.

"That’s enough Sarah" he said and moved down my body taking his prick out of my grasp, removing the last chance of stopping this.

"Lift your bum up a second" I was asked and a cushion was shoved under my padded rear.

He moved my legs apart and positioned himself between them I felt his hot organ sliding between my buttocks again. He couldn’t get the angle to enter me I placed my small feet on the floor either side of him and pressed down to give me some leverage to tilt my pelvis up for him and with a rush of breath from both of us he slipped into me. The pain was almost as bad as the punishment pain that had been inflicted on us.

"Sarah why do you endure this pain it is not necessary" Seeker said in a concerned voice.

"Because this thing I do goes against my very nature, I know I must do it to save all I love but I will not enjoy it because it repulses me." I said back

"Do you hate him for this Sarah?" Seeker asked

"Of course not. I don’t like what he is doing but in the same position with the threats to us and our planet I would be doing the same." I replied sharply

"Do you hate us?" Seeker asked

"I don’t know you well enough to decide" I answered honestly

Mike had started to move in and out of me now building up speed, the pain was receding to be replaced by a general warmth. The thing I noticed most was my boobs bouncing up and down on my chest which was slightly painful. I wiped the last of the KY gel on Mikes back with the pretence of hugging him then dropped my hands down to cup my breasts to stop them bouncing. Mikes passion was really building now I started making appropriate noises of encouragement and squeezing him with my sphincter and his lips found mine. I kissed him back well aware with his weight on me that there was absolutely nothing I could do to escape him. I wrapped my legs around him and started to move to meet his thrusts and he suddenly stiffened and a warmth filled my bowels he sank down on top of me with his full weight driving the breath from my body. Eventually he was able to get up off me after kissing me and thanking me and leaving me lying there again dripping with his sperm.

"I am going to go up and get cleaned up again Mike you find something to do down here for a while" I said

"Like what?" he said

"I don’t know watch telly, read, start dinner, chop wood or get drunk while planning an escape whatever you like you can do" I said

"Sarah this isn’t appr…" Seeker started to say I cut her off

"Listen to me Seeker this experiment is the only hope my species has to survive, as you have seen I have cooperated and without any of your Jedi mind tricks." I told her

"Jedi is not a reference I understand" Seeker said

"What you don’t understand Jedi" I said

"No" She replied

"Well that is interesting my spider sense is tingling" I replied

"What that does not make sense" Seeker said

"Well listen to me Seeker I will say this so you can understand me. You do not understand human beings or their relationships, you couldn’t even tell male and female apart. Your idea of a relationship is not acceptable it is just sexual slavery forced upon both of us by you two. An abnormal relationship will make this experiment flawed from the start. Pain and threats of pain is no way to conduct yourselves. You are supposedly an advanced race how would you feel if I took the position that every time I spoke to you I did THIS HOW DO YOU LIKE IT HEY" I forced all of my pain, fear, disgust and hate be broadcast to her and I was hit by the pain for my transgression. I threw it straight back at her

"DO YOU LIKE THIS? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT? AS YOU SAY TO YOU EIGHTEEN YEARS IS A SHORT TIME DO YOU WANT EIGHTEEN YEARS OF THIS? THIS PAIN EVERY TIME YOU TOUCH MY MIND" I screamed out mentally and verbally forcing my mind to keep giving Seeker the full benefit of what she was doing to me until my mind lost consciousness.

"Sarah are you ok?" Mikes voice roused me

"Yes I feel like shit but I’m alive" I answered

"What happened?" He asked

"I gave Seeker a feel of what she was doing to me and I don’t think she liked it." I said

"Seeker are you there?" I thought quietly

"Yes I am Sarah" came Seekers voice

"You got there everything I have been getting off you can you live with eighteen years of that" I asked

"I feel I cannot live with what you have given me but I have been refused permission to suicide till this experiment is over" Seeker said

"Look there is no reason to go that far but I needed your attention totally and utterly have I got it" I enquired

"Yes" was the single word answer

"Right listen to me very carefully if you set up an experiment then start interfering in all aspects of that experiment then you end up with very flawed data with no meaning. You want this experiment to work you back off and let it run its course or you will end up with a relationship built on hate and fear. I will gladly listen to your advice but as for taking it that is my choice alone. I am not willing to put the fate of my whole planet on the whims of you two and you are screwing this up from the start." I said

"We have observed relationships since the start of the broadcasts in the middle of your last century, these have indicated along with the audio transmissions, what is and is not acceptable within a relationship" Seeker said

"So all your knowledge of our culture is from telly and radio?" I said

"Yes" Seeker admitted

"Well may god have mercy on our souls" I finished "Let me get cleaned up and then we have to have a long talk"

Mike was still hovering over me concerned about me and I let him help me up.

"Mike I am going to get cleaned up now and have a long talk with Seeker, you try explaining to The Judge that what you see on telly isn’t necessarily real life." I said and picked up my clothes and headed up to the bathroom.

I had a long bath and a long talk to Seeker about fact and fiction but the concept of pure fiction, something not based on a real event was beyond her understanding.

"Why would a lie be entertaining" she asked and I could find no answer that she could understand.

"Well we will have to just live with each other and try to understand each others point of view, like a marriage" I said "but you use that pain trick on me and you get it straight back and I will be teaching Mike that trick so warn your colleague"

"I will" she insisted

I dressed again and again allowed my self to be possessed for the make up, it was easier this time and as the panic built up to a crescendo I asked her to leave and she did. I felt clean again after the bath and reasonably happy despite the situation and I proceeded downstairs to Mike. I gave him the information on how to make his friend uncomfortable if necessary.

The television was showing the death of Illustrious the three explosions filmed from the rescue helicopter the last part of the large ship slipping beneath the waves and the few survivors being picked up. The only face I recognised was one of the aircraft handlers based on the flight deck. The rest of the squadron had fought to the last man causing critical damage to the combined Persian air force. The helicopter squadron 814 had placed themselves between the ship and the incoming missiles.

"Why have you got these emotions over a metal object" Seeker asked me

"The ship Illustrious is not just metal she is the whole community of people on board and nearly fourteen hundred people who I class as friends and family died there protecting a country called Saudi Arabia that most of them had never been to. They gave their lives because they were asked to because it was the right thing to do." I said

"But they killed people doing that" Seeker said

"And your people commit genocide against whole species because you feel it is the correct thing to do" I said

"But that is after much consideration and examination of the facts" She told me

"Yes and if you don’t have time to analyse the fact you have to do what you think is correct or many will die" I said

"You equate your actions to ours?" Seeker asked

"No but inaction over the years has cost many millions of lives, just take a look at history in Germany, Bosnia or Rwanda" I replied thinking of the pictures I had seen to give a taste of what I meant.

The day was uneventful boring in fact something I was not use to neither was Mike the only interesting thing we did was head off for a walk in different directions and meet in the middle. Seeker and The Judge were quiet for the day maybe it was a case we had given them something to think about. Food was again provided for us and we ate with very little conversation. The afternoon was spent watching different films together, after a few minutes of sitting there on the couch next to Mike I felt his hand sneaking around my shoulders I moved in close to him and found his presence was reassuring. One thing I did notice about my new female status was that I had lost the right to have the remote control for the television and had to ask Mike to change channels.

The day all in all was a nightmare afternoon television is not designed to be sat and watched it’s a sort of background noise as other things are being done. Mike wanted to get close and I wanted to run and hide, I put up with it the hugs the hand on my knee but that was the limit of what I was willing to endure. If Seeker ever talked to me again then we would have to see if we could actually sort out some activities around here.

"Why do you need things to do Sarah?" Seekers voice came as I was thinking this.

"Because left alone here with nothing to do is not healthy we are human beings and as such we seek challenges and things to do it is part of our nature to explore our environment and push ourselves that little bit further in search of knowledge" I answered.

"What knowledge do you seek and I will find it for you?" Seeker answered.

"No you have got the wrong end of the stick"

"I have no stick Sarah" Seeker replied confusion evident by the flashes of trees I was getting in my mind.

"That is not what I mean." I answered gently "We as a species are filled with an insatiable curiosity, we have to find out how things work, why they work and what is over the next hill. Without any challenges in life we are not living we are merely existing and that is not life"

"Is not your life and your changes that you are going through something to explore, a new challenge?" Seeker asked and for some reason I got a flash of Peter Pan saying something about an adventure.

"Growing up is a big adventure for a child and each new experience is a challenge but once the mind reaches a certain level of maturity it turns away from self exploration and broadens its horizons to encompass other interests. Do you understand what I am saying my interest was aviation and a greater interest in space exploration, one that couldn’t be fulfilled within my country so I stayed with aviation and became a Naval Aviator" I pushed at her images from my mind, my first flight, taking off from a carrier, the exhilaration of low level exercises full speed and many other emotions and experiences I have felt at various times in the air.

"The richness of your experiences are extraordinary for such a primitive and short lived race" Seeker said her tone envious.

"Could it be because we are a primitive and short lived race as you put it that we make the most of the time we have with less regard for danger and death than you, for as we know death comes to us all" I suggested

"You do seem to completely disregard the facts of a situation before doing it regardless of the risk as a species" Seeker answered "all such risks I take if ever must be carefully assessed beforehand if I even consider a course of action"

"Sounds a pretty poor way to live your life assessing everything before you do it"

"It is the prudent action that is the most successful in the end." Seeker gave me some images of people wining races and other images similar with some warm fuzzy feelings.

"But taking the risks make life worth living" I countered and gave her the thrill of rock climbing and the exhilaration of success after the fear has gone. This I overlaid with different images, the Mercury space flights, Wright brothers first flight and Hillary and Tensing on Everest.

"The richness of the experience is wonderful and you have done all these things"

"No, no, these are things done as a species I wasn’t even born for any of these events" I answered laughing

""How can you feel so strongly then about it?" Seeker said very confused.

"Welcome to one of the joys of fiction the ability to go places and do things that are impossible to me and yet still experience it" I answered projecting sympathy for her inability.

"No do not pity me I can experience what every member of my race does and still keep my individuality" Seeker answered

"Yes but I can experience things that none of my race has done and still have my own experiences" I got complete confusion back from Seeker "Look you can take control of my body and hear what I think when it is aimed at you if I relax can you sit in the background observing without taking over?"

"That is what is happening at the moment as we speak, a large proportion of your brain is not used so I am controlling a small portion to make the connection between us more solid and easier"

"Is this affecting me at all? Is it changing how I think how I feel?" I asked her projecting fear.

"No, no Sarah I promised I would not alter your thinking and it is I that is at risk from this connection not you as it is my mind that is vulnerable in this situation." She assured me.

"Fine then let us try a little experiment" I said standing up and walking over to the books and looking through them. "Not much of a selection here is there?"

"We have brought what are classed as the important books on your planet" Seeker said confused

"Yes these are important to many people but not to all people. I have little if any interest in the Koran or The Book of Mormon. They are important to lots of people but my beliefs are not the same and they are not exactly general reading." I told her as I carried on looking through the books.

"The concepts that you refer to I do not understand" Seeker admitted

"Never mind here is an old friend come to show you how we can enjoy the totally unreal" I said picking up a large book.

"I don’t understand you refer to this as an old friend and you have images of many people in your mind yet they never existed" Seeker responded

"Look Seeker stop analysing things back off in my mind a bit then you can just experience it rather than try and understand it. We will see how it goes then talk about it later" I sat down next to Mike again and rested the large volume on the arm of the sofa. I opened it and started to read about a party that was long expected in a place called the Shire.

"Sarah can I make a suggestion?" Seeker asked before I had read to the start of the first page.

"Yes what is it?"

"Well I gather from what you were thinking before that you are a fast reader compared to many people." She said cautiously

"Yes I can get through a book a day or even two at full speed" I admitted

"Well with just a small adjustment in your neural patterning we can bypass the multitude of ways it reaches the area of your brain for interpretation. Basically it would increase your reading speed drastically" she gave me an image of a switch turning on.

"Would this affect me in any other ways?" I asked cautiously

"You would probably find your reaction to visual signals generally will be enhanced but this is a side effect and would not be as great as the desired effect. But you will remain you and anything I do can be reversed immediately if you wish it so" Seeker answered confidently and again the switch but this time being turned off.

"Go on then lets try it" I said and I could feel Seeker in my mind the same sort of sensation you get before a really bad headache and then she was gone. I looked down at the first page of Lord of The Rings again and started reading. I finished the first page within ten seconds.

"It will improve with use to an acceptable level at the moment this is adequate" Seeker told me and faded back again out of my consciousness.

I started reading again and as always when I read within a couple of pages I forgot I was reading and was just an observer to the events unfolding before me as we left the Shire and met Tom Bombadil and then Aragon. The flight to the ford was in full colour for me with the ring wraiths in hot pursuit. I carried on with the book turning pages at a fantastic rate until I was wandering through the mines of Moria and Gandalf faced the Balrog on the bridge.

The old man on the bridge faced the fire demon and struck his staff breaking the bridge at his feet and turned to me.

"Flee you fools" he cried as he slipped into the chasm.

"NO, NO, NO" Seeker screamed causing me pain with the force of her protests and rudely ripping me away from my book.

"Seeker what is wrong?" I asked my thoughts full of concern as I dropped the book and clutched my head in pain.

"He should not die, he should have found another way assessed his possibilities before risking the mines. Gandalf should not have fallen" She cried to me.

"Seeker, there is and never has been a wizard called Gandalf he is a fiction a created character" I tried to project hugs and comfort though I am not sure how successful it was, my views on these concepts had radically been altered over the last couple of days.

"I must think over this for a while do you mind if I leave you?" Seeker asked

"No you go and think about it for a while and then come and talk it over again" I projected the feeling that she would be welcome and she was gone.

"Sarah what’s up? Have they punished you again?" came Mike’s voice and his hand was on my arm.

"No" I said as I sat up the concern evident on his face "just Seeker getting a bit emotional over the book we were reading. I’m fine" I sat back on the sofa my brain was feeling bruised from her outburst.

"Are you sure?" he asked his hand reaching up to touch my cheek and stroke it gently.

"Yes I’m sure, just a bit bruised" I answered and let myself be pulled in close to him by his arm which sneaked around me.

"Good" he said tilting his head down to kiss my lips, I returned the kiss with as much enthusiasm as I could fake.

Food arrived without comment and I was starting to get concerned over Seeker late in the evening when I still hadn’t heard anything from her.

"I am here Sarah, I have had to discuss things for a long time" She said.

"If conversation between your people is as fast as between you and me then that is a lot of talking" I joked

"It was we had a lot to talk about" She answered "May I ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead" I answered with a flash of a teacher I remembered from school who was always willing to answer questions.

"These people and events are not real, the use of magic is impossible yet you become totally involved with them, why?" She asked

"No it is not a case of why, it is a case of just do it and enjoy it" I said "To analyse the reason defeats the purpose of the entertainment"

"No we do not understand what you mean" Seeker answered after a pause of two or three seconds.

"Look from the start of the book you found yourself caught up in it to such an extent at Gandalf’s fall you shouted out loud enough to cause me pain"

"I am sorry about that, it was an accident it will not happen again" Seeker said interrupting me.

"No forget about that it just shows you were totally wrapped up with the book, despite the fact you knew from the start that it wasn’t real" I said projecting my emotions at some parts of the book.

"Sarah would you be willing to continue the book with others also…listening I think is the best analogy?" She asked.

"I’ll give it a go" I said and picked up the book I became aware of Seekers presence then others pushing into me grabbing on probing, questioning, welcoming and waiting it was too much my mind was being pulled in hundreds of different directions all at once trying to recognise each individual intruder and address each one of them individually.

"NO IT HURTS!" I screamed and lost control of my body. I woke with Mike standing over me.

"Sarah what happened? The Judge wont tell me anything and it looked like you were having an epileptic fit" He knelt down and I realised my head was on one of the cushions that had been pulled from the sofa.

"I’m not sure Seeker asked if I minded reading for some of her people then there was this flood of people into my mind all at once. I lost me for a while I know it sounds stupid but I was drowning under others." I said as I struggled to get up.

"Do you think you should be moving yet?" he asked

"Yes I don’t even have the pain from Seekers outburst earlier it wasn’t malicious it just happened" I answered.

"It wasn’t malicious" came Seekers voice "It was my error. It has been pleasant communicating with you Sarah and it will be the one thing I regret about my suicide. Take care another will be with you soon"

"Seeker what the hell are you talking about?" I shouted

"No I must go now" Seekers voice came back fainter.

"Like hell you are" I shouted I could feel her getting weaker in my mind I closed my eyes and focused on her. I could feel where she had been in my mind like a hole left by a tooth recently lost and to think about this area caused some pain. I focused hard and the world evaporated around me.

I was out in space alone no space suit, I looked down no body either so that wasn’t going to be a problem. I rotated around looking ain all directions and found a small yellow sun, I could see three bright objects near it. I wanted to get a closer look and I moved the sun getting larger as did the planets. The nearest I instantly recognised as Mars as I got close the red surface and its polar caps unmistakable. The Syrtis Major area a dark hook extending down past the equatorial region was something I had seen from a telescope as a child now it was below me. I turned my attention to a double star closer to the sun. I again willed myself to move wanting to get closer and the star split into the Earth and Moon I closed in on the Earth heading down and fast I could feel the voices on the planet millions of people whispering to my mind yet too quiet to be heard properly. I started skimming the surface of the sea sixty foot up at most as I swept across the Atlantic towards the coast of Ireland. I saw a town approaching ahead and slowed down coming to a crawl as I flew slowly over. Nothing was moving people were still frozen solid in mid action. I looked around a crow was in mid air not moving not falling.

What was going on here I landed an looked around cars were not moving though people were driving them I looked for any sign of what was happening. I saw a building with a digital clock out side the red neon letters proclaiming nine twenty six and twenty eight seconds. But the eight looked strange two of the segments seemed dimmer than the rest and as I watched it got dimmer and dimmer till after about ten minutes it red nine twenty six and twenty nine seconds.

Nothing was up with it, without the constraints of a body time did not relate to me the same I headed up straight up into the air the sky changing through the various shades of blue to black in an instant of my time and I looked at the earth receding as I headed out again.

"Seeker where are you?" I shouted with all my force at the blackness of space. I heard an answering moan of pain and headed towards it however distant it was I travelled at speeds that took me past Jupiter in a second as I tore out into the blackness the sun shrinking to be lost amongst the other stars. Up ahead I could sense Seeker not a physical form something there but intangible to touch like a mist or a fog. I swept through it gathering it in that part of my brain that I had felt her in puling her back to a firmer substance and turned back towards home. I looked at the myriad of different stars the constellations bent out of shape with the distance I had travelled but did not falter I could feel the Earth my race out there and I started back as fast as I could the star going from pinprick to disk in seconds as we got closer I seemed to be being pulled towards Jupiter and I followed the direction of the force into the elliptical plane of the planet the moons stretched out along this line as I came in close I could feel my body, The Judge and Mike and I headed to the grey sphere orbiting the planet from pole to pole. As I got close I threw Seeker out of my mind and opened my eyes to find Mike still kneeling beside me.

"Well?" he said

"Well what?" I asked confused

"Do you think you should be trying to move yet?"

"Yes but give me a hand up on these shoes otherwise I could break my neck" I answered

"Seeker?" I asked as he helped me up.

"Yes Sarah" came her voice filled with emotions of terror.

"What’s up?" I asked

"I had cast my self out of my body to die, you found me and forced me back. How?" She asked filled with confusion and terror.

"It was easy watch where you normally sit in my brain there is a hole I just need to concentrate and push my thoughts towards it and" I was interrupted by the fact I was in space again with the craft next to me. I dropped in altitude towards the atmosphere of the planet till the sky took on a pinkish tinge then rising again I matched speed with the spacecraft and opened my eyes.

"See" easy I said

"What is easy?" Seeker asked.

"What I just did step outside for a while" I answered

"What you took over another’s body?" Seeker asked her voice full of anger.

"No I just stepped out of mine" for a while

"That is not possible Sarah, now is not the time for your fictions" came an unknown voice in my mind filled with anger.

"Look Judge, if that is who you are, that is what I did so tough" I answered him

"This is fiction you will answer truthfully or I will inflict pain on you" He told me

"FUCK OFF THEN IF YOU WON’T BELIEVE ME" I screamed with all my force as I prepared for the pain it didn’t come.

"Sarah he has gone but didn’t do it himself. How can he suicide not do it himself?" Seeker said very confused.

"If he’s out there I will get him" I said and I was outside again. I felt around I could feel the Judges presence in all directions like a gaseous shell expanding becoming less and less tenuous with each moment that passed. I started moving through this shell drawing the remnants of what he was to me and then finding no more I headed back to the faint star that was Jupiter. It increased in size and as I got close I hurled him out of me and opened my eyes to find Mike starting to guide me back to the sofa.

"Seeker is he back?" I asked

"Yes" came the single word answer and she was quiet.

"Mike something is going on here they are scared of me I need to think about this for a while. If we head up to bed can we do nothing tonight?" I asked

"SARAH" came Seekers warning voice.

"SEEKER" I answered back in the same tone giving pictures of the gaseous shell that was the Judge and she was silent. We walked upstairs and I changed into the nightdress in the bathroom then slipped into the bed making sure I didn’t touch Mike.

"Mike if they start giving you any shit tell me. Anything you don’t want to do, that they try and make you, is now no go" I said as I lay there.

"Are you sure Sarah?" he asked his face worried.

"Yes very sure and Seeker and The Judge know what I can do" I answered.

"Does that mean I have to stay away from you?" he asked

"No it just means that the enforced cooperation is now not necessary as they will not be hurting you anymore. But for the moment their experiment will have to proceed as I don’t know how to stop them as a race" I answered "So if you want to hold me like you did last night I don’t mind but lets leave the sex for tonight"

"I don’t mind just holding you" he answered slipping an arm around me and pulling me close. I closed my eyes and stepped outside.

I was outside the spacecraft again at the moment over the pole of the planet the bands and colours of the bands making it look like a giant target for archery. I looked around and noticed something new a thread of light almost like a beam of an aurora flickering in contact with the craft and heading off into space. I started following it out into the void seeing where it came from and as I went further and further I found it was coming from thousands and thousands of planets each one sending a haze of individual fibres so thin as to be almost invisible then building up and up to form the river which was in contact with the ship. I edged in as close as I could to the light without touching it. I could feel the thoughts of millions of people not the specific thoughts just the feelings, touched the stream and I was in the middle of an argument of an unknown number of people talking to Seeker and Judge. Seeker was arguing that the experiment should be allowed to continue, the Judge was arguing that the risks were too great and even if we, as in Mike and me, were saved the prudent course was to destroy the population of the earth now. The general consensus was working up to an agreement to destroy the earth.

"WHO GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THE FATE OF MY PEOPLE" I shouted at them all and they all started fighting into my mind. I backed off from the beam of light as I perceived their thoughts and it blindly wriggled trying to search me out. It came too close and nearly touched me in it’s blind seeking and I struck out with it with my mind.

"Get away from me" I shouted and the beam shuddered then dissipated into nothing.. I backed off and floated in the orbit of Io looking at its red surface contemplating what I had heard then moved back to the ship and opened my eyes to find Mike looking at me a hand on my bare arm.

"How long was I gone?" I asked thinking about the distance I appeared to travel.

"Gone? Gone where? We have only just got into bed." Mike said confused.

"Seeker are you there" I asked

"Yes Sarah" came a miserable sounding voice

"Don’t be sad I could here you arguing for me unlike your colleague" I said

"Yes I felt that it was premature to pass sentence yet but the one you call the Judge felt that it was necessary, as we have no idea how you are doing the things you do." Seeker answered.

"You are an aberration and must be corrected" came the Judges voice as his presence pushed into my mind trying to take control of me as Seeker had for the make up routine.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" I said to him and stepped outside of my body within the ship this time above the bed I hovered between heartbeats and looked at what was now me. Two filaments of light were touching my head one of them was in passive contact the other was pulsating and twisting I flicked it gently with my mind and it withdrew rapidly and I opened my eyes and was back in bed.

"How did you do that Sarah" Seeker asked

"If you don’t know I wont tell you as any advantage I have I intend to keep" I answered her gently "but I will not be using it unnecessarily. I promise"

"Sarah you entered a Grand Communion without notice, then left by an unknown method before you destroyed the interlacing which makes the Communion stable, again by unknown methods. Now you have removed my companion from your mind by opening up fully and then removing him rather than by using force" She said her voice nervous. "I don’t think my skills could do anything to you that you did not allow and I ask you to not use these on me"

"Look I didn’t want you to suicide as I could of ended up with someone like the Judge in here so I went to find you. It is only since then that everything has got weird between us. I haven’t done anything to you that wasn’t in retaliation have I?" I asked

"You prevented me from completing my death" She answered angrily

"Yes because that death would have been pointless" I told her "I got a bit of feedback when you hooked me in at story time so what I have taken worse jolts off a badly earthed plug"

"You object to the pain we inflicted, yet the worse situation that caused much more potential damage to you is taken lightly" She answered very confused.

"It is not the pain or the potential damage that I object to it is the intent behind it. You did not intend to hurt me and because of that I didn’t worry about it. Shit happens" I projected reassurance and sympathy.

"This is strange you have no anger for a situation where my error may have killed you" Seeker answered

"Yes because it was an error" I said trying to think of another way of explaining it "I am sorry I have no other way of putting it"

"I will have to contemplate on this" She said "Sarah I have a request of you"

"Go on then I can only say no" I answered

"Then I will not ask you" she replied

"No go ahead ask, what I mean is if I don’t like it I can say no to you" I tried to project humour but it is a difficult concept to get across.

"Can we finish the book and find out what happens?" She asked

"Was it that good?" I asked

"The members of the Communion that you were the Prime Focus of are bombarding me with requests and I admit I want to know" She gave me flashes of Gandalf on the bridge.

"Fine but can we do it without the fireworks in my brain we had earlier?" I asked giving her a burst of pain and fear.

"I made you the Prime focus of a Communion only one level of magnitude less than a Grand Communion, my fears about hosting that number of people made me pass it over to you without thinking. I will host it and they can experience it from me" She told me projecting reassurance and comfort back at me.

"Why how many people were listening in?" I asked

"Sixteen billion three hundred and seventy two million eight hundred and sixty one thousand seven hundred and eleven" She told me

"Shit 16372861711" I put the verbally spoken number into digits in my mind that is a hell of a lot of people I thought "They wont try anything funny while I let them in will they?"

"No, they will not be in your mind I will be the Prime Focus of this and I will just be a passenger as last time" Seeker assured me.

"I will do it then how long do you need to make preparations?" I asked

"Five or ten of your minutes to get it interlaced into a firm structure"

"Fine do they know where we are up to?" I asked

"Yes I have given them my experiences but with time and the fact that you were feeding it, it is a pale shadow of the sensations you gave me" I got joy, fear and sadness from her.

"Fine I will go downstairs and make a drink, then I will settle down with the book. If I backtrack a little then you can sort of slip in without disturbing me" I suggested as I got out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" Mike asked

"Downstairs I have to read them a bedtime story" I told him "You stay here and I will be up later, I promise"

"Fine see you later and don’t stay up all night" He replied as I slipped on a long dressing gown.

Downstairs I found the fireplace lit again and the kettle boiling. I made a coffee to try to keep me awake for them and curled up on the sofa tucking my feet under me without a second thought. With the use of a few cushions I was comfortable and I opened the book again flipping through I backtracked to the entrance to the mine and Gandalf gaining entrance by speaking the word friend. Within moments I was with them in the dark and we watched Gandalf fall again as Seeker snuggled herself comfortably in my mind. Then as I continued I noticed a difference I was not just immersing myself in my book despite Seeker acting as a buffer taking the Prime Focus as she called it I was getting feedback heightening my emotions and responses almost as if I was drugged or drunk. At the breaking of the fellowship I took a moment.

"Seeker" I thought

"Yes Sarah" came her warm thought

"Is this addictive?" I asked

"What do you mean" I got a very confused blur of images.

"I seem to be getting some feedback, not that I am complaining but it is heightening everything that I am reading making it even more real" I explained

"That is possible since you started reading again the Communion has increased by two orders of magnitude. It is not my race that is with you now three other races who are equipped are now involved. This is an unusual occasion I would never have dreamed of hosting a Grand Communion of this size and for it to include other races is unheard of." She gave me a sense of pride with a little fear.

"Well to all the civilised life forms out there, I would like to say a big hello and to all you none civilised life forms, keep banging the rocks together guys" I said paraphrasing the late great Douglas Adams.

"The *&$*^%$£ she said a word that meant nothing to my mind.

"What?" I interrupted

"One of the races has found that highly humorous but I am afraid that most of us are just left wondering about them" Seeker said confusion evident again in her tone.

"Never mid a lot of humour is an acquired thing" I assured her "maybe you will like things they don’t"

"Perhaps but the concept of humour" I got a long burst of slapstick humour "Is rather confusing. Can you explain it?"

"No, not tonight lets carry on with this book" I said as the thought of explaining humour to an alien race was rather beyond me.

Two hours later Sam returned to his wife after seeing Frodo off and I placed the book down.

"Well what do you think?" I asked Seeker and was suddenly in tremendous pain from an unbelievable number of people trying to answer me. I focused on that area of my mind that let me slip outside and I looked at the ship. I could see the ship was bathed in the light from their massed minds and there were differences between this and the Grand Communion I saw earlier. The most obvious difference was the size it was as if the Grand Communion was a stream and this was a great river. Secondly were the textures the different races produced different shades of light as my senses saw it. I edged up close to it and touched the beam.

"Hello everyone" I thought to them and there was a stunned silence, some of them retreated others sent probing thoughts at me none malicious.

"Sarah" came Seekers voice "where are you?"

"I’m outside looking at the Communion I just decided to join in it is less painful this way" I said to her

"What do you mean outside? What do you mean looking at the Communion?" came her urgent thoughts.

"I am outside the ship looking at the Communion touching the ship and I decided to join it out here" I said

"That does not make sense you cant be outside as outside your body you have no existence and die" Seeker answered. That is how we suicide, by leaving our bodies as empty shells."

"Why would that kill you? You are an energy pattern and energy can not be destroyed" I asked her.

"You can not be outside. It must be a psychological aberration" Seeker informed me.

I followed the light of the Communion out into space as fast as I could. Then as it split into various streams coming from different areas I followed one smaller thread down and down to a red sun. The three nearest planets to the cool star had the threads coming off and I headed down to what I presumed was the most populated due to the number of threads coming off.

I headed into the second planet of the red sun and approaching it on the night side I could see the lights of great cities. I moved in closer and closer the thicker atmosphere having no effect on my passing and moved in to the apparently large buildings. I had no reference for scale and it may have been a giant city or it might have been a miniature world but the large cylindrical buildings were big to me. I now could see individual threads coming from the city being interwoven each one adding support to its neighbour allowing one small thread to head out into the void and not lose substance or direction.

"Sarah I can not feel you any more are you safe?" Came Seekers voice echoed through the network amplified through the immense distance, yet still filled with the concern.

"Yes I’m fine I am here" I projected the image of the planet I had seen and the threads withdrew. I headed up again concerned that I would not be able to find my way back.

In the darkness of the interstellar void far away from any star I could feel my way back to my body and I knew which way it was. I willed my self to move and did slowing as the familiar yellow star started to grow in magnitude. I could see the microscopic filament that was Seeker’s consciousness searching me out in the void I touched it and I was in communication with her.

"Sarah where are you?" She asked as I approached the ship and opened my eyes.

"Sitting here" I told her.

"What did you do?"

"I don’t know I just did it. Don’t you know?" I queried

"No what you did is not what we do to form a Communion we use people who know the host and follow their sense of the host to guide us as more people get involved it makes it easier. You however didn’t"

"Well I don’t think I have a frame of reference to work from." I admitted "did they like the book?"

"Yes they did very much but this thing that you do needs to be explored more" She protested

"But I do not understand what I do and neither do you. I would find it easier to try to explain humour. This is something I need to explore more before I try to explain it." I stood up and remembered my present situation "If there is any reason why I should"

"What do you mean this is a momentous discovery it can’t be withheld" She started pushing guilt and duty on me.

"Look Seeker, you blew my aircraft out of the sky, kidnap me, turn me into this fucking creature you see now then by use of pain decide I am a fucking love slave for Mike against both our wishes. Now you say that something I do is important and I read stories to billions. Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do as you have no idea at all of what I can do." I shouted

"Sarah please" she again tried the guilt on me

"No. I want certain considerations made before I even think about talking to you" I said firmly.

"That information can be taken by force if certain individuals decide it is necessary" She told me reminding me of their opinion of us and our place. I stepped out again.

I looked at the filament seeking me out in the darkness and touched it.

"You have to be able to find me to use the force. I can see you but can you see me? I think not" I moved away and headed into the void out and out. I could feel where minds were as if a static charge was causing the hairs to rise on my body and my own body was like a weight pulling on me. I drifted towards a double sun a hot blue star striping material from a red giant or was it the other way I didn’t know and came to rest on a bare planet orbiting some part of the binary system. I was on the surface of the bare planetoid but I couldn’t feel the ground beneath me or the gravity pulling me down. I looked at the ground a fine dust and thought of how I could move it. I moved in close to the surface and the fine dust grew into large boulders and these grew into giant mountains. As I moved into a huge valley the surface became indistinct and fuzzy seeming to make up a regular pattern. I moved into the atomic structure of the atoms with electrons forming a cloud far above the surface. I concentrated on one of these atoms and with something akin to a sneeze I hit out and the structure shuddered. I moved out and tried again, concentrated on a single grain of dust and I watched the structure rock. I moved out to a more normal view the individual grains of dust receding into the sand like substance and I saw something. A depression was forming in the dust where I had come from and as I stood there watching a pressure ridge moved creeping so slow away from the point of impact. I watched a single grain of dust amongst many rise to the grand height of about an inch above the surface as the pressure ridge threw it in the air. Then taking an eternity it dropped back to the surface, to my perspective I must have been watching for about half an hour on its long tortuous journey. I could effect things in this form but in this form time was different for me and I had to take that into account with my actions.

I gained altitude and left the planet and the suns far behind as I headed back to my body feeling tired but exhilarated as the light of the sun took away the darkness between the stars. I found my body in its Jovian orbit and approached the grey sphere. I examined the craft it was not a craft I could see but a pattern of forces enclosing a small round object. I slipped between the fabrics of the forces and broke into an atmosphere above a forest as I skimmed the forest in the light of an illusion of the moon I found the cottage. I slid through the roof and was in the bedroom looking at Mike asleep drooling slightly from the mouth. I could see a thread of light playing over his head and touched it stealthily to find the Judge still playing games trying to program his sexual responses to me. I backed off and slapped the thread hard and as it tried to retreat I grabbed it.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I shouted at him with as much force as I could.

"Aieee No" he screamed as he tried to escape his body and the pain by flinging himself into the void the oblivion of death preferable to the pain I caused him.

"NO" I roared "You did not give me that option and that option is now denied to you. This is the end of your experiment and you shall return me to my old form and leave Mike alone."

"No please let me die" he screamed as I refused to let his pattern expand into the void.

"No. Reverse the damage you have done to me and return us to Earth." I said with less violence in my request.

"We can’t, we corrected what we perceived was a genetic anomaly by removing that of you that makes you male. A difficult task, but the basis of what you are now was there. With that gone we have nothing to build on so it would be impossible to reverse this process" He said trying to wriggle from my grasp and escape the pain I was causing him.

"You mean I am stuck like this?" I said applying a little more pressure just to make sure I got the truth.

"We can not lie, as with fiction the concept is alien to us" He screamed.

"Well then I need to think on this for a while. If you assure me you will not interfere with Mike’s mind or suicide the pain will stop" I told him easing up slightly.

"I agree, I agree" He screamed and I released him watching the thread head down beneath the surface of the island in space that we lived on. I headed down to follow but the call of my body was too great as I passed it and I opened my eyes.

"Seeker I want your and Judges assurance that nothing will happen to us while we sleep or I will wipe out a planets population" I said firmly

"Can you do that?" Seeker asked the fear obvious in her voice

"I think so, what I did with the Judge earlier was an accident I didn’t even try to do it. I think with enough rage and force pumped back through a Communion or a Grand Communion I could cause significant casualties. The sensations that the Communion feels are not decreased by the sharing if anything they are enhanced" I told her.

"Yes Sarah I assure you that nothing will be done to you or Mike while you sleep" She answered

"That includes the Earth as well" I said and she agreed again. I slipped up stairs and placed the dressing gown on the chair and slipped into the bed. Mike’s presence was strangely reassuring as he slept there next to me, perhaps they have been playing with my mind while I slept and I rolled on my side facing away from him. He mumbled in his sleep and I felt him move in the bed an arm slipping around me underneath my small breasts as he slipped closer to me holding me tight and I closed my eyes to sleep.

I woke up first the next morning and I could feel the changes immediately that the day brought. The sweaty feeling where one breast rested on the other was the first thing to get my attention and as I rolled on my back and sat up their movement was strange. Between my legs was different too where yesterday I had had a complete absence of anything down there, today I could feel the unfamiliar folds and crevices moving causing slippery membrane to slide on slippery membrane as I moved my legs.

"Is it done?" came Mike’s voice from the side of me.

"Yes though I believe there will be some internal changes over the next few days" I told him my voice betraying the terror and disgust I felt.

"You seem to have some power over them perhaps you can force them to change you back?" He said apprehensively waiting for the pain to follow.

"That will not be possible I have been reliably told and forget about the pain that will not be happening either"

"Oh I am so sorry for you" he said placing a hand on my bare arm.

"Mike I need some time to come to terms with this, I know they have made me into your fantasy woman and they have also been playing with our minds." I told him "You are attracted to me because of how I look and because of what they have done to your mind. I am attracted to you because of what they have played around with in my mind, but I am still Simon in here and how you look has no effect at all on him"

"I’m sorry" he said slipping his hand off my arm.

"Don’t be. The part of me which is most definitely part of me now wants you to hold me tight as I am scared" I admitted to him and I rolled to face him. His arm slipped round me pulling him into his chest hard crushing my breasts between us and I cried for what I had lost and what I had become.

"What do we do know?" he asked gently a long time later when I finished weeping.

"I am fed up with this game are you?"

"Yes I don’t want eighteen years living under a microscope" he admitted.

"Fine so we see about going home. But what do I do then?" I asked the thought of going home like this bringing tears to my eyes.

"Whatever happens I will always look after you Sarah" He promised pulling me tight to him again.

I got up and dressed without Mike’s presence and tried to ignore my new anatomical features. Though when I took a pee this was rather difficult as I had to figure out where I was wiping and how to do it. I dressed in long, baggy pink shorts and a white t shirt with a pale blue yacht design on it. Then I just tied my hair back and slipped on a pair of low heeled sandals. The underwear reminded me as I arranged my breasts in the bra that this was going to be a way of life for me from now on.

"Mike if we get out of here how do we explain what has happened to me and why they couldn’t find you?" I asked

"Well you we couldn’t explain at all, we would have to play it that you where a civilian caught up in the middle of everything. Me if we could get me onto one of the beaches near Ad-Dammam then I could have been picked up by a fishing boat and just dumped there" Mike suggested.

"Look if you think I am being left in the middle of Saudi Arabia without you, looking like this you have got another thing coming. I am not letting you out of my sight no matter what happens, I can be suffering from amnesia. I was on a yacht that was attacked on the Gulf by the aircraft flying over and I was picked up by the same fishing boat"

"That’s a bit corny isn’t it?" Mike said

"Let them prove otherwise as I’m not an Iraqi spy looking like this and I am sure you can embellish things a bit" I suggested "because I’m not exactly sure what happened, when I woke up in the boat you were there already"

"Might work, what about your name?" he asked

"Well we went through all the names we could think of until we found one that I thought sounded right."

"Fine now how do we get there?" he looked at me

"I will sort that out" I assured him.

"Good morning Seeker are you listening?" I asked with my mind.

"Yes I am Sarah" came Seekers sad reply

"Look kid stop being so bloody depressed and listen to me as I have a few ideas that you might be interested in" I told her broadcasting excitement and wonder.

"Yes Sarah I am just sad that you will be leaving us" She broadcast her sadness.

"Look you have been in Earth orbit for many years, haven’t you" I asked.

"Yes" She admitted

"So if we do go back you can still be in contact with me as I try to develop and figure out this talent I have that you have awoken. It is something that I can’t explain at the moment but given a few years study I am sure we can work out how I am doing it" I broadcast companionship and friendship as despite all that I had been put through by Seeker I could not hate her.

"But I am a Seeker not a scientist" she protested with a wave of disappointment.

"I don’t give a toss because if your people want to learn what I do then they will have to work through me and I refuse to work without you. Though if others are necessary then I will cooperate as long as you are there" I assured her.

"It would be pleasant to carry on our relationship" She admitted "but I will need to communicate this to others and get permission"

"Fine start talking to who you need to but remember the fact of us going home is non negotiable" I told her and turned back to Mike.

"It’s being sorted so let’s sort some breakfast out and don’t shave today or they will ask how you did" I told Mike and we walked into the kitchen.

"Sarah it is arranged but we request that we take you there of a night time rather than local day time" Seeker said as we ate.

"Fine by me how long does that leave us?" I asked her

"We must leave in six hours to make it tonight" She said

"Fine we will need Mike’s flight suit though and Seeker thanks" I told her broadcasting my appreciation

"Sarah the discussions that you have caused are wide reaching but you are now an important political figurehead for those who feel our policies might destroy that which we seek’ it is they who have forced this issue" she gave me the impression of many people arguing for me.

"Thank them for me and I promise them another book when I first get the chance" I said

"That would be appreciated" Seeker said

"Mike we have six hours till we move" I told him

"Good"

The flight back to Earth was uneventful after following directions we were given we followed a tunnel hidden in the trees and entered a dark room. We sat on the floor against a wall and nothing appeared to happen. I had a look outside after a few minutes and was surprised to find that we had left Jupiter far behind even with my altered time sense in this form I could see the fact that the ship was moving fast.

"Mike we are in the ship that brought us down and we are on our way back home" I told him

"How do you know, Seeker?" he asked from the darkness beside me.

"No I can go outside and look, with my mind" I told him and I felt his hand on my bare leg then it moved till it found my hand.

"Sarah are you ok? You know we have been through a lot." He said as he grasped my hand his voice full of concern.

"Look Mike after the incredible shit we have been through since we started that sortie are you going to tell me that what I have just said is impossible? Why do you think they are letting us go?" I told him firmly

"Well I wasn’t sure" he admitted

"They don’t understand what I can do, it scares them and they would like to do the same. The other side is when I read them Lord of The Rings the other night Mr Tolkien gained more than a few billions fans"

"Oh how many of them are there?" he asked

"I was reading to over sixteen billion and three different species" I said

"Oh" and he was silent and his hand left mine. I grabbed it again in the dark and just held it the human contact in the complete absence of light reassuring.

"Time to leave Sarah we are here" came Seekers voice as one wall of the room disappeared to show a beach.

"Fine how do I contact you if you are not close?" I asked her

"I will be monitoring you from orbit just speak and I shall answer" She said "But you have to move now we are getting some unwanted attention from a large ship some hundred and fifty miles away"

"Come on Mike this is a quick drop and dust off lets move" I told him pulling him up and heading onto the beach.

"Do not look at the craft it may damage your eyes" Seeker said and I hit the floor pulling Mike down too. A warmth was felt on my exposed skin and with no noise the craft was gone.

"Which way?" Mike asked as we looked around the deserted beach.

"Give me a moment" I said and stepped out of my mind for a second. I climbed slowly gaining a better view of the area which even though it was dark seemed well lit but with an absence of colour to me. I looked out to sea and headed out to see how far away the large ship was and found a large American carrier large enough to make Illustrious look like a toy. But it was too far away and showing no interest in us. I headed inland and came to a road off to the south I could see lights of a town and there was traffic along this road.

"Inland till we hit the road then we turn left and as soon as we can we bum a lift" I told him.

"Great now we have to get wet and dirty" Mike said "Come on we have been on a smugglers tub for days then been dumped on the beach and we both have been swimming before we were picked up"

"Fine, though I just think you like playing silly games" I told him as I walked down to the water and swam in the shallows for a minute or two, the large breasts severely affecting my method of swimming.

I got out of the water and tried to do something with my hair, it was too long to do much with and I just pulled it away from my face. The bra and the knickers now wet were causing me intense discomfort in areas that last week I didn’t have areas. Mike came out in his green flight suit looking slightly damp.

"Fine shall we move then?" he asked and we started walking inland.

At dawn we were still heading inland my feet were a mass of blisters due to the shoes I was wearing and I was covered in cuts and scratches from losing my footing in the dark. Now as the sun rose I was relying totally on Mike to help me walk.

"How far do you think it is now" Mike asked as he seemed to be flagging as well.

"We are over three quarters of the way there and there are plenty of cars on the road" I told him after a quick check.

"I hope so because if you are wrong we are dead when this sun gets high" he stated bluntly

"Look at the top of that hill ahead we can see the road" I told him "and if we can’t I am as nutty as a fruitcake and you die confident in the fact that you were right"

As we crested the ridge a few miles in the distance a black ribbon could be seen against the light landscape and the movement of cars of all sorts could be seen.

"Jesus Christ you were right Sarah" Mike shouted hugging me tight and kissing me before apologising profusely.

"Don’t worry this is what I saw and proves that I am not crazy if it is not inherently part of being female" I said hugging him back and we made are way down towards the road.

I don’t think I would have made it without Mike I was burning in the sun and all I could taste was the salt from the sea. The last four miles or so down to the road must have taken us two hours and that was hard going for me. The road was quite busy and as I slumped down by the side of the highway. Mike rushed out into the road and waved a large four wheel drive vehicle down. I stood up again and shuffled over to Mike as the window opened and a blast of cool air came from the interior.

"Can you help us I am a British Naval pilot I was shot down a number of days ago during a Persian attack. We have been stuck on a boat for days and they just dumped us on the beach and left us can you please take us into town?" He pleaded with the bearded man in classic Arab robes.

"My dear chap of course" came an educated English accent from this man "but first let me get a drink for you and your companion"

"Oh thank you" I said as he pulled out two bottles of mineral water from somewhere inside the car, it was icy cold.

"Sip it dear don’t gulp it down or it will make you sick" he said sounding like some Oxford professor and I sipped the water gently and then was helped into the back of the car.

"So which ship are you from?" the man asked

"Illustrious" Mike answered "but from what I picked up from the little radio they had on board I gather she’s gone"

"Yes I’m afraid that is right but how did you survive out there?" he asked

"I was picked up by a small boat just four men on board and none of them seemed to speak English. I am not sure what they were doing out there but they weren’t fishing" He told the Arab gentleman.

"Later the next day we came across the wreckage of what looked like a yacht. It had been ripped to bits by thirty millimetre cannon, there were two older people a man and a woman dead in the water but Sarah here was alive but unconscious. I don’t know exactly what happened but she was unconscious for days"

"What happened my dear?" he asked me.

"I honestly don’t know the furthest I remember back is to waking up with Mike here looking after me. I don’t even know if Sarah is my name but it sounded right for some reason and I wouldn’t have been here now except Mike kicked up a fuss when they tried to let him of the boat but keep me there" I answered

"You might have had a lucky escape both of you as smuggling and slavery is not unknown in some of the countries of this area" he answered "and with the ships they hit in the Straits of Hormuz it is probably a case that they decided to shoot your vessel up for the sheer hell of it"

"I don’t think we went as far as the Straits of Hormuz but I think we met another ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates" Mike said taking a long drink from his water.

"Yes smugglers then and with where they dropped you it was not with the intention of you surviving. You have both walked over twenty miles in the only direction that you would have found help. Any other way and you would have died before you reached help. Now rest we will be in Az-Zahran that is Dhahran to you in a just a few hours and then I will assist you with the local authorities" he said

"But you have done so much for us already" I answered

"Sarah in my country two strangers could be lost amongst an avalanche of paperwork and petty officials who want to be important. Unless you have someone from the right family to smooth the way. Mike here was defending my country when he was shot down, you we think were a visitor to my beautiful country, so there is an obligation on my part to make amends." He said firmly "also my duties take me to Dhahran and though I wish it was otherwise I think it may not be the safest place for the two of you"

"Why not is the situation building?" I asked

"Yes all that stands between us and disaster at the moment is one American ship and a shaky ceasefire. Though thanks to the sacrifice made by Illustrious and her crew my nation still exists." He said sadly.

We approached the city a mixture of old and new put together in the way that only the cities of the Middle East seem to be able to do.

"Where are you dropping us the local police station?" I asked

"No we get you sorted out first and let them come to you, so a hotel first" He said

"Look I’m sorry I don’t know your name but I haven’t got anything but the clothes I am wearing and I don’t think Mike has any money hidden in his suit" I said suddenly concerned about owing money in an Arab nation.

"Look you can call me Billy, that is what they called me at Eton and Oxford. My Uncle owns a hotel here and as my guest you do not have to worry about money. If there are any complaints I will bill the consulate but I don’t think it will be an issue" he said laughing at something he said.

"Billy thank you for your hospitality you have helped two filthy wretches and sort nothing for yourself" I said remembering how important hospitality is in the Arab culture.

"I am glad to be able to help and when you are cleaned up and your injuries tended I claim the company of both of you for dinner" he said smiling at me in the mirror.

"I would be honoured but I worry about us being a burden to you" I replied

"Nonsense think nothing of it" and he would hear no more.

"What’s this place?" Mike asked as we pulled up outside a hotel the like of which I would have not been able to afford even as a bachelor on flying pay.

"This is one of my Uncle’s many hotels this is one of my favourite but some of the ones in the United States are comparable" he said as he parked outside the doors "Now worry later when you have your injuries tended and you have eaten"

A man who obviously wasn’t a local opened my door and I stepped out of the car the pain as my heavily blistered feet making me scream for a moment and fall to my knees.

"You can’t come in here looking like that" the man who opened my door said with a heavily accented voice "go away."

"Who do you think you are telling my guests, one of them a visitor to our country who was attacked at sea, the other a hero of Illustrious shot down defending us from the Persian Confederacy that they should go away?" Billy roared from the other side of the car.

"Sorry your Highness I didn’t realise it was your car or your guests" the man protested and there was a rapid exchange in Arabic as Mike and his Highness Billy helped me inside. Inside the air conditioned reception people came running from all directions at a few words from our host and I was helped into a lift.

"Billy who are you" I asked as the lift rose.

"A minor son of a minor son but one of my grandfathers favourites because I will not hesitate but do what I feel is right. I will tell you of my family later for now I have arranged for the hotel doctor to see both of you as I have a few duties and obligations to attend to first" he said and I was led off to a room by a young lady.

"Ma’am His Highness said I am to help you" she said making me support my weight on her rather than my abused feet. The reality of being called Ma’am was also a drastic shock to my system.

"Thank you I am sorry to be a trouble but we had to walk from the coast to the road and after walking all night over rough ground in these shoes, my feet are a mess" I said apologetically as I had to use her to walk.

"Yes if the doctor is not here yet he will be in a moment" she said as she opened the door on a huge room sort of the ground floor of a normal house.

"There you are can I help you?" a man in a shirt and tie asked from a large sofa as he stood up to help.

"Yes my feet are a bit of a mess" I said

"And you seem to have a terrible case of sunburn as well" he said as he guided me to sit down.

"Possibly we were walking in the sun from dawn till a couple of hours ago" I said

"Yes and with your skin colouration and hair colour sun is not a good idea" he said as he looked me over "What’s the story then how come you’re walking around the countryside dressed like that?"

"I was picked up from the wreckage of a yacht in the Persian Gulf" I said "I believe there were two dead bodies in the wreckage an older man and woman. I don’t know what happened Mike said there were hole’s in the wreckage from a cannon on an aircraft and I was unconscious for a few days. I don’t even know if Sarah is my name but it sounds sort of right" I told the concerned man.

"Yes despite popular fiction this sort of thing isn’t that common. It is more likely to be due to shock than a head injury. How long had you been in the water?" he asked as he examined my eyes with a torch

"I have no idea but I remember things I have learnt though" I told him

"Yes different sort of memory we will get you checked out at the hospital but odds are your memory will return of its own accord when you are ready" He said "Now lets have a look at those feet"

Twenty minutes later he declared me extremely blistered and sunburnt but in no danger of falling down dead and gave me some cream for the sunburn and told me to wear sensible shoes.

"I don’t think I was planning on hiking when I dressed like this" I protested.

"No probably not I will make arrangements at the hospital for you tomorrow to have you checked out possibly a CAT scan" He said as he thought about it for a moment.

"Wait isn’t this all costing money that I don’t know if I have" I said again concerned about my lack of finances in this identity.

"Look Sarah you have hit some luck His Highness is here at his grandfathers request to coordinate and oversee things here if the shit hits the fan. As Saudi Royalty goes he is about as eccentric as they come, no staff no great displays of wealth and a most pleasant person. But be under no illusions he could spend a million a day of his personal wealth and not notice it was gone. He tends to live modestly put his money into other peoples good ideas, letting them make a lot of money and him a hell of a lot more. Then he keeps reinvesting it. He probably paid for the hospital here so don’t worry about cost" he said with a grin

"But I do" I said honestly "I don’t like the thought of owing someone I have only just met"

"Look in publicity for his branch of the family alone you are worth your weight in trade agreements with Britain and America so don’t worry about it. He is generous as to him it’s only money but he is shrewd as well" the doctor said "and do I have your permission to tell him how you are as he will be asking me and I don’t think he will understand doctor, patient confidentiality?"

"Fine I have no secrets here as you can see" I said with a smile and he left me with the girl in uniform.

"Ma’am can I help you undress as I have ran a bath for you" she asked.

"No I can cope" I said with a smile "It’s the walking that hurts"

"Yes Ma’am your feet look sore." She said sympathetically "Do you want anything to eat or drink while you bathe?"

"I don’t think alcohol would be a good idea with how dehydrated I feel but a Coke would go down very nicely" I admitted

"I will get it for you then I will put your clothes away" She looked around "are your bags downstairs?"

"No what you see me in is what I have" I admitted "and it is a bit dirty"

"Well we have a full ladies boutique in the hotel" she said

"No that would mean presuming on His Highness’s hospitality" I said "I will make do with these"

"What ever you say Ma’am" She said as she left me to go into the bathroom.

The bath was big enough for communal bathing and I slipped out of my clothes eager to soak aching muscles and sore parts all over. I caught sight of myself in the mirror on one wall. My face looked like a beetroot as did every part of my body that had been exposed to the sun. My legs were red up to mid thigh and the tops of my breasts, that had caught the sun so badly, were incredibly sore. I slipped into the warm water and just lay there letting the heat work on muscles that shouldn’t be aching like this from twenty miles. The girl came in with a glass of Coke I panicked for a second then realised the bubbles covered everything.

"Thank you very much" I said "I’m sorry I don’t know your name"

"Alex Ma’am" she said

"I can’t place your accent it is only very slight but I get he idea you are multilingual and highly educated for this game" I said

"Yes Ma’am I am Italian and I am fluent in Spanish, English, French and German and I can get by with Turkish, Greek and Arabic" She said with a smile

"So sit down for a moment" I said as she didn’t seem to want to leave me to bathe alone "What brings you here? Working as hotel staff?"

"Money Ma’am" she said

"Look Alex can you drop the Ma’am I keep looking over my shoulder to see who your talking to" I said with a little bit of pleading in my voice.

"But Ma’am" she said looking uncomfortable

"At least in private Sarah please" I said

"Yes Sarah" she said sitting down and relaxing for a moment.

"So come on spill it what brings you here?" I asked

"Well I come with the room and I am a bit of everything basically I am a personal assistant for whoever can afford these rooms and some of them get the wrong idea on that title" She said with a grimace "But His Highnesses cousin who runs this place will not stand any messing us about he is a decent employer who pays very very well"

"Oh so you basically take up full secretarial duties for the richest and most powerful people in the county then act as a maid for me" I said "I think I am a waste of your talents"

"Oh no Sarah" she said with a big grin "You are a special job for His Highness, if I make sure you are completely happy I am in for a big bonus. But the other thing is you are treating me like a person too many of the people who stay here see people as an item to be used"

"No I don’t think I could be like that having just been rescued on the highway" I admitted.

"Sarah as I got your drink His Highness grabbed me and he is making arrangements for the shop in the foyer to visit you when you are bathed" Alex said

"I don’t know if I like that idea. What do you know about Billy?" I asked and she gave me a blank look "His Highness"

"Oh his grandfathers the King I believe his title is Prince" she said watching my mouth fall open.

"Prince and King?" I said rather flustered

"Don’t worry I have had him staying many times he is a nice man to work for always a gentleman and he asked for me personally for you" she said with a smile "and he is doing what he is doing for you first of all because that is the type of person he is and secondly when you are well this will be used all over the British and American television as Dr Andrews said he is a keen businessman"

"Fine but I am not going to go mad though he can treat me to one outfit. But I will need your help as with my memory at the moment clothes mean nothing to me" I admitted.

"Fine we will get you sorted but I don’t think you will get away with one outfit" she said.

"We’ll see" I told her "now I better make myself socially acceptable again. Hours walking in the desert doesn’t make for good company in a car especially having been dumped in the sea to start with"

"Your alive though which in itself is a lucky thing I will take these things and see what the laundry can do with them" Alex said as she picked up my clothes.

"I think burn them might be the best idea" I admitted

"Yes I don’t think these can be saved what about the shoes?"

"I never want those near my poor feet again" I said "they aren’t shoes they are and item of torture"

"No not designed for walking" she said as she disappeared with my dirty clothes.

I drank my drink then washed myself and my hair then I let the water run out of the bath as I dried myself. With the filth off me the young woman in the mirror would have looked good without the lobster effect on my face arms and legs a thin waist leading to wide hips with that read thatch of hair over my pussy. That was an area that I didn’t pay too much attention in the bath. As I found out as I was walking tight wet shorts chafe something awful and it was sore. I wrapped a towel around my hair and another just over my breasts and walked to the shelf over the sink lots and lots of complimentary bottles of things none of which I understood what they were or what to do with them.

"Alex is there such a thing as a deodorant amongst these things?" I asked

"No" came Alex’s voice "most people bring their own. Do you have a preference?"

"I couldn’t tell you" I admitted "I am totally lost here I keep hitting holes in my memory"

"Let me get you a few on the room account from down stairs and I will be back in a minute" she said sticking her head around the door "Put on one of the dressing gowns and make yourself comfortable there are orders for no visitors without your say so first, so you wont be disturbed"

"Thanks. Your idea?" I said

"Yes and it was agreed on by Billy as you know him. I like that name it suits him" she said as she headed off.

I sat there lost in the large room and found the controls for the large television and flicked through till I found an English language broadcast of CNN news reporting that the Carrier John F. Kennedy had been under repeated attack by the combined Iranian, Iraqi, Pakistani and Afghanistani forces that made up the Persian Confederacy.

"Sarah are you in danger?" came Seekers voice from my mind the first time I had heard her since we landed

"No I don’t think so but I will keep my head down I promise" I gave her a blast of reassurance

"Sarah the abilities you poses are too valuable for us to lose in a barbaric squabble over complex hydrocarbons and I would not like anything to happen to you either as you are…" she paused for a moment "a friend"

"As are you Seeker if any aircraft are heading towards this city can you give me a shout?"

"Yes I will do that for you but please take care" she answered

"I will and I will speak to you later tonight properly" I promised and her contact was gone.

"Sarah I brought three different ones for you to try and the manageress of the shop will be up shortly" Alex said entering the room again.

"Thanks Alex do you mind if I ask a slightly personal question?" I said

"No not at all" she said with a slightly suspicious look on her face.

"When you work as a personal assistant for guests do you wear that maid get up?"

"No but that is just some of my duties if we have guests who have no need of a personal assistant then I am a maid" she answered

"Look Alex I don’t need a Personal Assistant or a maid I could do with a friend to give me help and advice as I am just totally lost at the moment. Do you want to change into something more comfortable and give it a go. For me please?" I asked

"If it is what you want" Alex said

"No it is what I would like if you are willing. I only know Mike and Billy they aren’t the ones to ask and I don’t know anyone else in the world besides you that I can ask stupid questions. My mind is so full of holes in areas I know I should be able to remember, like my hair what the hell do I do with it?" I said pointing towards the towel.

"I can help Sarah" came Seeker’s voice

"No Seeker I want this girl to be comfortable with me as then I have some help and support here" I told her

"Yes I understand" she said and was gone

"Well yes fine" Alex said with a smile without noticing my brief conversation.

"Friends?" I said holding out my hand.

"Yes friends" she said shaking it "though I will have to be careful around Management and His Highness"

"Look any problems, tell them I was very emotional and you comforted me and I made you promise to call me Sarah rather than Ma’am. Its not that far from the truth is it?" I asked

"No but I will still be careful" she said "Back in ten minutes I will make them wait for me before they come up"

An hour later she had me dressed in a white linen trouser suit as most of the things she suggested I refused and the things I suggested she vetoed. The suit and the silk blouse were comfortable on my burnt skin the underwear was another matter. I think it must be something to do with the price the more expensive the underwear the less there is of it and the more uncomfortable it gets especially around the crack of the bum. Make up was not a possibility with how sore my face was and after ten minutes working on my hair she declared me fit to be seen. I slipped on a large pair of white trainers that were about the only things I could cope with on my feet.

"Well how do I look a tomato in a white suit?" I asked

"Its cream and considering all you have been through very good" she said diplomatically.

"In other words if I hadn’t been through all this bloody awful" I said

"Well, er I think" Alex started

"I’m teasing you Alex. Thank you for your help and I mean that" I said grasping her hand

"Sarah it’s been fun and I have enjoyed it because you have listened to me as a person rather than just doing your own thing" she said hugging me "and to let you into a secret I dread having female guests staying here because they can be such bitches"

"I’m not a bitch I’m just a dressed up lobster with nowhere to go" I said

"Oh yes you do. You are expected downstairs for drinks when you are ready" She said suddenly

"Are you coming?" I asked

"Well I shouldn’t socialise with the guests but this is not the situation that was expected when that rule was created" she said "More with the male guests"

"Tell you what we both head down, you helping me and we play it by ear when we get there" I said slipping my arm through hers as we left the room.

Downstairs in an extravagant bar area we were welcomed by Billy and Mike. Mike was now in a suit but looking sunburnt Billy still dressed in his robes.

"Billy, Mike this is Alex she has been a lifesaver for me helping me get sorted. There are so many holes in my memory that I would have ended up looking like a clown instead of a tomato in a suit" I said to the two of them

"Your Highness" Alex said curtsying

"Tonight Alex you are my guest as you have made Sarah here look beautiful and happy so please call me Billy and join us" Billy said with a huge grin.

"Your Highness?" Alex said again rather flustered

"No Billy, Alex. Why do you think I asked for you to help Sarah because I always depend on you when I am here so tonight have fun and relax" he said and I squeezed her hand in reassurance

"Yes Billy" she said meekly

"Come drinks for the ladies" he said to a barman who was hovering "and we shall claim a table"

As I sat there sipping a Bacardi and Coke I listened to Mike talking about flying the harrier to the prince and I envied him. Alex must have seen the sad look on my face.

"Sarah what’s up?" She asked

"Just the news that’s all" I said indicating a television that was on at one end of the bar saying that negotiations had broken down.

"It may come to nothing yet. These things always come and go in this area" She said trying to reassure me.

"No this is different they want to wipe out the power in the region first by taking out Saudi Arabia then probably Egypt. If those two states fall then all others will have no hope but to do as they are told" I explained

"What do you mean there is Jordan, the UAE and Syria all of which have there own forces"

"They wont commit themselves against the Confederacy as their view is if Saudi falls with the British and American forces backing them then they stand no chance"

"You are right Sarah but we may yet prevail" Billy said

"I hope so because it isn’t that many miles to…."

"SARAH" came Seekers voice urgently "The large ship is hit and sinks many are dead"

"SHIT" I shouted in the middle of my comments to Billy "They have got the JFK"

"What!" Billy said

"They have hit the John F. Kennedy" I said and closed my eyes for a second to step out of my body and head out across the Persian Gulf to look for the large ship.

I found her on her side men clinging to her and others in the water. I looked carefully an aircraft had opened up with its cannon to spray the side of the ship where men clung for their lives. The cannon shells destroying the bodies they came in contact with were frozen in mid air.

"Oh shit the bastards are shooting them in the water and the ones clinging to the hull" I said the emotion of terror and grief hitting me like a hammer.

"Sarah relax" Billy said "you have had too much sun today. That is all"

"No it is real oh god it is real" I said tears streaming down my face "You’re a Prince if you don’t believe me ring up and ask"

"Sarah there is nothing to worry about she has a full escort and not much will get past them but for you I will check just so you will stop crying" he told me in a kindly voice

"But I think it is just the sun it can do strange things" He stood up and walked over to the bar and a phone was produced at his request.

"Mike it’s true the bastards are shooting them in the water" I cried to him.

"I believe you Sarah but where is their next attack heading?" he asked grabbing my hand and leaving Alex very confused.

I closed my eyes again and headed out further past the pain and suffering of the stricken ship looking for the aircraft that have to be coming in I found them three sets of them two hundred and ten aircraft in total.

"I’ve got them Mike I need a map though we have three lots of seventy. Two have what look like five hundred pound bombs the other is carrying cluster munitions and something I can only think is for cracking runways" I said as I tried to rationalise what I saw with the munitions I knew from my own experience. Billy was shouting on the phone and slammed it down coming back to us ashen faced.

"How did you know? How could you know?" He asked of me

"What do you mean?" Alex asked

"Seven minutes ago the American Carrier was hit and last report was that she was going down" He said to her loudly

"Look I felt it. I could see the men in the water" I said to him

"Yes I have heard of these things and in my culture they are believed but not so in your culture" he said suspiciously

"Look I don’t know how I did it but you have a bigger problem three lots of seventy aircraft two lots with five hundred pound bombs the other lot is after airfields" I told him.

"But how do I know this is true?" he asked. I closed my eyes a second and again headed out to the aircraft over the blue water of the Gulf and climbed in height to get a better view something caught my eye it was an American Aircraft still flying.

"There is still an American airborne early warning aircraft flying, an E-2c Hawkeye, they should be able to give you confirmation" I told him and he shouted at the man behind the bar who came over with a cordless phone. Again for about four minutes he had a conversation in Arabic on the phone.

"Yes they confirm it but they just lost contact with it" he said to me and I again headed out to the aircraft to find it had been hit but was still flying a lone American fighter having taken out the attacking aircraft.

"They are hit but still flying" I said to him "I need a map of the Gulf area I don’t know the terrain. The airborne command aircraft is still flying but it is making for land with a lot of extra holes in it"

Billy said something again in Arabic and a young man ran off urgently.

"Sarah how accurate is this information?" he asked

"Well I have been right so far haven’t I?" I said to him he again got on the phone and the sirens began to wail.

"We should head down to the shelter to safety" he said

"No the depth will make things difficult" I said to him remembering the claustrophobic sensation of my only venture below ground level with my mind "Where is that map?"

"It will be here in a moment" he said reassuringly as I checked again on the inbound aircraft.

"They have split up" I said "the ones with the five hundred pound bombs are now in four groups of thirty five the ones after the airfields are seven lots of ten" again Billy was on the phone quickly

"Medina, Riyadh and here" he said "but which will be the fourth city as I don’t think even they would dare attack Mecca"

"Kuwait City I know that area one group is heading towards Kuwait" I said. "One is heading towards the coast north of us the other two are coming this way" I said after tracking the direction the aircraft heading towards us.

"We are going to get it first then Kuwait City" I said as I gained some height to see the situation.

"We have to defend the airfields as at this stage if we lose them we are finished" he said his face showing his conflict of interests.

"Mike do you want to go and get cover?" I asked as Mike was looking rather pale.

"No I am fine" he answered sharply

"Alex go and take shelter" I told the young woman

"But Sarah…" she said protesting

"Now I can’t concentrate if I am worried about you" I said rather too nastily to the woman "For me please as a friend?" I added gently

"Go Alex I will make sure Sarah is safe" Billy said pushing her towards a man who was standing there waiting for us to head to the shelter and saying something to him.

"Shit I need a drink" I said as I sat there trembling with my inability to head off the inevitable.

"What would you like?" Billy asked climbing over the bar.

"Scotch neat" I said as I checked again "we need that map they are only minutes out from here now and if they take out the phones we cant get this information where it’s needed"

As Billy filled the glass with a dark liquid he shouted at a man who had returned to see why the Prince had not taken shelter and he ran off.

I took a sip of the scotch and closed my eyes again and headed north to see what the targets were for the seven flights after the airfields. I headed inland and something caught my eye from the height I was at.

"Billy we have mechanised infantry and tanks and lots of shit on the border of Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi all moving south" I said to him. "The cities are just a diversion they want to take out your airpower to give them free run on land" I said as I pieced together the information and again Billy was on the phone. This time there was lots of shouting and he slammed the phone onto the table when he finished. Mike and I looked at him.

"One of my grandfathers Generals wanted to know how I was getting this information and I told him none of his business. I couldn’t tell him I am sitting in a bar with a sunburnt English girl could I?" he gave a forced laugh

"Billy I don’t know how I am doing this but it is how we found the road when we were lost" I admitted to him

"Allah has provided a most fortuitous meeting for both of us and I for one do not care how you do it" He said grasping my hand "Just keep doing it please.

"They are close two minutes out at most from us here" I told him after a quick check "Where is that map?"

He started shouting again and a man arrived with a large map very breathless.

"Spread it out on that table" I shouted and closed my eyes again "Pen quickly" I shouted an one was thrust in my hand I started flashing backwards and forwards between the map and a high level view of the area and drew on the forces I had seen and the directions of travel Billy was rapidly talking on the phone as the anti aircraft fire started and shortly after the first thump of distant high explosive detonations.

 

"We need to take cover" Billy shouted after sending the man who got the map away.

"One more check first" I shouted at him over the increasing noise and again I left my mind to wander. It was a surreal sight the tracer of the anti aircraft guns frozen in the sky and an explosion expanding slowly in the distance. I headed out to sea to see if I had missed any of the incoming forces I couldn’t see any more of them. I came back in and examined the explosions the destructive forces frozen as they were, where a thing of beauty a pressure wave expanding out from the orange bloom and windows frozen in mid shatter. I moved in closer to see more and saw what the building was.

"Billy the hospital has just taken two hits" I said my voice flat and emotionless as I headed out again to see what damage had been done after a few seconds the large multi floored building was frozen as it collapsed into itself and I left it heading back to the hotel. I looked up and saw two bombs heading in the direction of the hotel.

"Take cover under the table now" I screamed as I returned and Mike immediately did and the two of us pulled Billy under as a enormous rush of air filled the room with a deafening roar of an explosion, shattering bottles, glasses and mirrors and bringing down some of the ceiling. We stayed there cowering under the tables until the roar died down and the sound of the explosions became slightly less intense.

"Fuck this game" I shouted at no one and came out from under the table and stood up in the ruined bar. I left my body again and went up to an aircraft now heading out of the city area after dropping its payload. I screamed my rage at the pilot to no effect and wondered what I could do to stop them with what little force I could apply I examined the aircraft and like all military craft a couple of pounds of force which was the most I could hope for wouldn’t do any damage. I entered the cockpit again with the thought of possibly incapacitating the pilot and something caught my eye. I pushed upwards with my mind on it from the floor of the cockpit as I could see no way of pulling with my mind and left back towards my body. I paused a second or two then went outside with my mind to witness the effects if any and found the pilot separated from his aircraft by the ejection mechanism.

"Right you bastards" I shouted "try this you fuckers"

I headed out and repeated the same thing on the other thirty four aircraft and again returned to my body. I slumped on the table with the effort it had taken then looked at the results and found all thirty four pilots separated from the planes.

"Fly now you bastards" I shouted staggering with the effort and Mike and Billy were at my side supporting me and guiding me to a chair.

"Sarah are you hurt?" Billy asked his voice full of concern

"No I have just caused the pilots here to bang out" I said as I closed my eyes again. The ones near Kuwait City were my next concern and after another thirty five pilots left their aircraft and I was more than reeling I could barely stand.

"Sarah" Mike said "can you hear me?"

"Yes" I whispered "Kuwait City force are swimming now" I composed my self for a moment and again searched for the next group of aircraft and again using the ejection mechanism I disabled the force. I headed south looking for the last group and found them stationary in the air again I applied force to the ejection mechanism and headed back to where my body waited.

"Sarah can you hear me" came Mike’s voice to my befuddled brain

"Yes" rasped "the cities are safe get me something to drink please"

Mike went rummaging through the rubble of the bar and came up with a can of coke which he brought to me the ice cold fluid rousing me from my stupor.

"The forces attacking the cities have all banged out they are in the interior I need to get the ones attacking the airfields" I said as I prepared to leave my body again.

"Sarah you are not strong enough it may kill you" came Seekers voice

"I have to try" I said and I headed north I encountered the first group of ten aircraft and dealt with them and then ejected five of the next group before floating somewhere in the upper atmosphere for a while I followed the pull back to my body and lay there gasping for breath for a moment.

"Mike figure out how much longer I have before they reach their targets. My mind will not work" I said as I spoke without opening my eyes.

"How Sarah which aircraft?" he asked.

"The map the southern most two groups of the flights of ten the lower one is all gone the upper is down to five aircraft I need to know which ones to hit next" I told him my voice weak with the effort that it had taken.

"The one here is nearest to an airfield" came Billy’s voice

"Get me to the map, let me see"

I looked at the map and I could see which group he meant and headed up vertically the fires and ruins of the city again visible after gaining a view of the whole gulf area I headed down to the area that Billy said and managed to take out six of the force I struggled back to my body and blackness engulfed me.

"Sarah for Christ sake start breathing" came a voice and I took in a deep breath my ears were pounding and my chest hurt. I was on the floor for some reason. I opened my eyes and found Billy and Mike bending over me.

"I could only get six of them you still have aircraft attacking I don’t know how many though my brain wont do the numbers and I don’t think I can get anymore it’s too difficult I’m scared I might lose myself" I said and started crying.

"No, no more" Mike said firmly "your heart stopped for a moment you can’t take anymore" he said his arm around me as he helped me to sit up.

I heard Billy shouting in Arabic and saw a man leave the bar as I opened my eyes and he returned moments later with a mobile phone. It seemed to work as within moments Billy was shouting loudly into it as I was helped into a chair.

"Mike I think I need sugar this was so much effort I feel like I have just run a marathon" I said to him and he was across the bar searching.

"Coke and peanuts is about all I can do" he said pushing a few peanuts out of a bag into my mouth with dirty fingers. I chewed and swallowed then took a drink of the new can and again closed my eyes.

"Don’t you fucking dare" came Mike’s voice before I could head out and he was forcibly shaking me.

"They are still coming in" I said to him opening my eyes

"No Sarah do no more" came Billy’s voice "you now risk too much for a matter my people can deal with"

"But" I said

"No I have spoken to my Grandfathers people and aircraft are falling out of the sky across the country. The last fifty are a simple matter" he said as he slumped down in a chair next to me. "Now please tell me what you did to bring them down"

"I made them bang out" I said shoving more nuts into my mouth my eyes closed again.

"Sarah is saying she set off the ejection mechanism and the aircraft just kicked them out" Mike explained to the confused man.

"How?" he asked

"I don’t know" I mumbled "but please what I did here please keep between us and those members of your family you think need to know. I don’t know how I did what I did but no bastard will believe that if it gets out"

"Sarah other than my father and my grandfather who I feel I must tell what occurred here. I shall tell no one and if you wish me to keep it from them I will" he said firmly

"No you must explain to them what happened" I said as I shoved more nuts in my mouth and took another drink of the coke starting to feel alive again. I headed out again trying to go out over the Gulf to look for more enemies but I wasn’t strong enough. I looked at the ruins of what was the hospital and as I floated over the rubble smoke and flames immobilised by the difference in time rates I could sense pain and suffering.

"Seeker are there any more aircraft coming in" I asked as I reached my body again.

"No Sarah" she answered

"I want to know if any cross the coast" I told her firmly

"Billy we need to get people to the hospital it has crumbled and many are trapped in the rubble" I said to him

"What if more attacks come?" he asked

"I will have notice don’t worry" I assured him and he started off in the direction that the people of the hotel had headed for shelter.

A large group of men and women from the hotel made their way to the hospital in many different vehicles from the underground car park where they had gone for shelter. I was helped to Billy’s four wheel drive and as we left I saw how close a thing it had been two bombs had hit a building only a couple of hundred yards from the hotel. Every window on that side was broken. We headed to the area I had seen the hospital hit and we were stopped by a police road block on the way.

"He says no one could have survived at the hospital" Billy said after much animated discussion I closed my eyes and travelled the last quarter of a mile to the ruined building. I slipped beneath the rubble and I could feel life all around me in the claustrophobic rubble, many hurt all terrified and in one area I could feel the incomprehensible thoughts of babies alive in the dark and hurt. I tried to project reassurance to them but just got terror of the situation back.

"They are alive in there Billy hundreds of them including lots of babies did you have a maternity ward there?" I asked

"Yes and a Neonatal paediatrics" he said and shouted something at the police man who moved out of the way.

We arrived at the smouldering rubble heap that was a state of the art hospital and I jumped out of the car and felt with my mind. I found some one alive near the surface and started pulling rubble off them with my bare hands Billy and Mike joined me and in a matter of moments a nurse possibly in her fifties was uncovered bloody but breathing. Billy shouted something at the police and members of the hotel staff who had come to help and two police officers came to carry the woman to safety. I started scrabbling at another spot the bricks and rubble tearing at my hands and a foot was exposed and in short time a man was uncovered again police came and helped carry him off.

"Sarah this does not work" Billy said firmly as I started to dig again and he stopped me and called a couple of his men in.

"ALEX" he shouted and the ashen faced girl appeared "you translate for Sarah" he said "and take care of her. You Sarah tell us where to dig and we will dig" he said firmly.

"Here shallow about a foot down is someone and another person just below them. Over there are a lot of babies but they are very deep under the rubble at least twelve foot down" I said and thus began my first full night back on earth.

At some point in the night the first of the press pushed through into the crowd Billy came tearing away from where he was digging, with his white robes filthy from the dirt and blood, he made it very clear with the cameras rolling on him that this was no place for observers and arranged a police escort away. We now had more people working than we could use as efforts to rescue one person could harm another buried beneath the rubble so a shift rota was worked out with only a certain number of people digging at each time while I was needed all the time.

"Eat Sarah" some one said at some point and a chocolate bar was thrust into my hand.

"What I haven’t got time" I started to say.

"No eat now I order you I am a Prince you know" I looked up into Billy’s filthy face and he had a strained smile on his face "for me please" and I did followed by a drink of some warm liquid that didn’t quite taste totally different to coffee.

"Sarah we have one aircraft taking off" came Seeker into my mind as I finished the foul tasting coffee.

"Where?" I thought and she gave me a aerial view of the area I headed out to it and found it was an unarmed reconnaissance aircraft stripped down for high altitude work.

"Billy we have a reconnaissance flight heading this way high altitude bird do you want it down and when?" I asked

"Give me a moment" and he grabbed a mobile phone from out of his robes and spoke in his language to someone "Sarah can you bring it down when it is over our coast so that they do not know what happened. Without any more risk to yourself?"

"One no problem before it was the quantity all at once" I said "it seems to drain me totally of all energy"

"Fine I will get some more chocolate and drinks here for you" he said a concerned look on his face.

"Any chance of someone being able to rustle up a can of coke or orange as I think that coffee might just kill me" I said

"For you anything in my power is yours" he said with a elaborate bow ruined by the fact he was covered in filth "and that brew tasted like camel shit to me and believe me I am an expert on camel shit" he said in a very English accent making me laugh out loud.

"Good I like that it is the first time I have heard you laugh do it some more entertain me" he said with a big grin making me laugh even more.

"Stop it everyone will be looking" I said rather embarrassed by the attention I was receiving.

"And no one shall speak of what happened here because I have commanded it that you are just someone who helped that is all" he said trying to ease my fears

"Thank you" I replied and I checked on our reconnaissance aircraft.

"Where is it?" he asked as I opened my eyes.

"Crossing the coast there" I pointed up into the sky and tracked it till it was directly above us and pushed with my mind. As I opened my eyes a small light could be seen high up as his ejection seat lifted him out of the aircraft and the aircraft continued flying. I slumped down as the effort took its toll on me again and I rested there for a long while and he had an arm around me supporting me.

"That was a wondrous thing I have just seen a miracle some might say but having seen what it takes out of you each time I feel that this gift from Allah must be treated with respect. I do not wish to watch you kill yourself, after saving so many" Billy said firmly "So no more for you today"

"Billy the finding people is no effort physically it just has an emotional impact" I told him "It is the forcing the ejection system with my mind that seems to drain me and doing so many in such a short time was just too much for me earlier"

"If you think you can continue then I will not forbid it but if I hear you have lifted one handful of earth I will have you escorted back to the hotel, or what is left of it" he said grinning again "Alex watch her" and he was gone back into the rubble.

As dawn approached the babies, I had heard, were reached the lack of space due to a roof that had fallen meant they could be seen and heard but not reached. If they cut through the ceiling it was feared the even distribution of the weight which had protected them in their cots would be lost.

"Alex us two can get in there we’re small these big apes don’t stand a chance come on" I said and we struggled up the rubble to the point where the children could be seen.

"I need a torch" I shouted and Alex translated and one was passed to me.

"Sarah what are you doing?" came Billy’s voice as I slipped into the narrow space.

I ignored him and slid into the space between the floor and the ceiling that was possibly a foot wide and made my way to the first of the infants in the crushed cots. I made sure my eyes never lingered on the bodies of the dead children. The ceiling above me was groaning and the rubble on the floor was cutting through the clothes that Billy had bought me such a short time ago. I managed to get the infant out of the bent bars without disturbing too much. It was healthy, loud and apparently unhurt I turned around and made my way back to the gap and passed the screaming child out.

"Sarah it is too dangerous what if the gap closes in?" Billy said as he found his hands full of child.

"Exactly" I said sliding back into the gap. I repeated this seventeen more times three of the children were badly injured and I had to take extra care with them Billy received each one from me and I could see Mike standing next to him.

"Billy I need a hacksaw the last child is tied up in what is left of the cot I cant get him out" I said and moments later a small hacksaw was thrust into my hands.

"Carefully please Sarah" he said with emotion in his voice "this rubble is not stable"

"I promise" I told him as I slid back along and started cutting.

"Sarah the rubble is shifting with your motion" Billy shouted to me

"One more moment" I said back to him

"Sarah it is slipping" He screamed

"One second" I said as I pulled on one end of the bar that I had cut through the top of.

"Get out now" screamed Mike and I slid myself backwards dragging the child by an arm. The child screamed in pain and I could feel the ceiling moving down onto me some one grabbed my feet and me and the child came out like a cork out of a bottle with Mike and Billy pulling on my feet the gap that I had been in crumpled with a puff of dust. I stood up in the shocked silence afterwards picking up the child I had so cruelly dragged along to cheers all around and screams from the child.

I passed the child over and probed the rubble with my mind trying to find where anyone might still be alive.

"No one else alive there Billy. Their all gone now" I said and sat down and sobbed for a long time with both men trying to comfort me.

"Sarah we pulled one hundred and seventy six people alive from this rubble that no one could have survived in according to the police officers. Then you pull out nineteen children there is no more you could have done" he said as he guided me to his car and sat me down in it. He had a few more words with the men and women outside and then Mike and Alex got in Mike next to me and Alex next to Billy.

"I couldn’t see anyway of saving those people very deep" I said rather bewildered "we would of lost the children if we tried"

"Sarah none of those people would have probably survived if it wasn’t for you so relax" Mike said

"Now we go to the second best hotel in this city and we shall have four rooms one each seeing the bet hotel is now in ruins" Billy said and then grinned at Alex "See my dear one night with me and you get drinks, excitement, action, adventure, a lousy breakfast and a decent room"

"Your Highness" she said remembering who she was talking to

"Billy and relax I have a post on my staff that I think you would suit very well in an international business, public relations department. No strings attached and no funny stuff as my cousin likes to call it. A straight job as head of department with a decent wage for a hell of a lot of work" he said looking at her "interested?"

"Is this because of the last twenty four hours" she asked him seriously

"No it is something I wanted last year when I stayed but my cousin made me promise not to approach you with the offer till you had decided to leave his employment. Now he has no hotel so no problem. Think about it for a while I will discuss it with you later" he said as he pulled up outside an ultra modern hotel all glass and concrete with none of the charm of the previous one.

The four of us got out looking like we had never seen a bath in our lives blood and filth was caked on us and I knew at least Mike didn’t smell too good after his nights efforts and neither did I. A man on the door was shoved out of the way by Billy as we entered the hotel and he told us to go to the bar and order drinks and food as he arranged the rooms.

"Coffee and what do you have for breakfast here?" I asked

"Ma’am you are not dressed for this establishment" the man said indicating the room where a few well dressed Europeans were enjoying a drink early this morning.

Alex took over the conversation which was very heated and very animated right up to the point where Billy walked in and ended all conversation.

"Have you taken this brave ladies order yet" he said to the man in English

"No sir this isn’t the dining room and well look at them sir" he answered

Billy cocked his finger and the man moved closer "The correct method of addressing me is not sir but Your Royal Highness so if I was you I would have plenty of coffee, good coffee over to that empty table in the corner. Then you will bring three full English breakfasts and keep on bringing them until I say stop. While you have been cowering afraid of the explosions these ladies and this British Officer have been pulling the wounded out of the rubble of the hospital. That lady there who you keep looking down your nose at pulled nineteen children, infants out of a gap only this high and nearly died as it collapsed getting the last one out. So after working all night we would like to eat before we bathe and sleep"

"Yes Your Royal Highness" he said and was gone.

"What’s up why is everyone looking at me and no one else?" I asked as we walked over to the table Billy had indicated.

"Well we look dirty from pulling people out of the rubble, you decided to go inside the rubble and I cant tell what colour that suit was" Billy said smiling "though it covers your suntan wonderfully"

"Come on Sarah lets go to the toilet and see if we can clean you up" she said leading the way.

Inside I studied the apparition in the mirror I could hear comments from two ladies behind me and I ignored them. My face was black at some point I had put my face in oil or grease covering one side of it, my cream suit was a uniform grey with a pattern of brown, red and black depending on what that area had been resting in. It was torn in many places and my hands were even worse. I started to wash my face with the soap and water when Alex came through with some towels.

"Use these to wash it off with and there are a couple there to dry with" she said seeing me struggling to get the filth off. After a few minutes I managed to be able to see my skin colour and declared myself fit to eat.

"We are talking an hour in the bath to get this off Alex" I said as she was still soldiering on.

"Yes I think you are right we eat then we get clean. Look at your hands" she said indicating my cut and scratched hands with the nails ragged from scrabbling at the rubble.

"I’ll live and yours aren’t much better" I said and the two of us walked out together like two refugees from a war zone. As we shuffled across the room at the only pace I could manage now, my feet were hurting again as the adrenalin had now left me I could hear comments from other guests.

"What the hell is that?"

"Will you look at the state of those two"

"George if they are dropping the standards this low I am not coming back again"

"Hold your head up high Sarah" Alex whispered as we walked "You are better than them in all ways" and she grasped my hand.

"Thank you" I whispered as I took her advice.

"This is why I never stay here" Billy said as we sat down "Nothing against your people or your country but in between those that are rich from working hard for it and those who work hard and survive there is a culture of inherited semi rich. They are ignorant, obnoxious and rude, thinking that all revolves around their comfort and well being."

"No I can understand that totally" I said "after the shit of last night they are worried about who is allowed in their bar and what they look like"

"Totally unbelievable" Mike said meeting the stares eye to eye "you would think that nothing had happened to this city"

"Yes as it is beneath their notice except when it inconveniences them" Billy muttered "and this is what some of my family aspire to be like English Gentlemen"

"We aren’t all like this" I said quickly in defence of a nation

"No but during my schooling I met many like this and too few like you three" he indicated Alex in this conversation "the country that brought Lawrence to our country who my great great grandfather rode with at Akaba now sends us too many like them and not enough with the spirit that you show. Food is here enough talk eat"

We ate till I could eat no more then as I sat there dozing Billy woke me up.

"Bed now after a bath then I shall arrange clothes for you two ladies to put all others here to shame and for you Michael I will arrange full dress uniform we shall show these pretenders how things should be done" he said grinning "It will be fun"

"Billy I’m no use when it comes to clothes and things I think it is one of the things I have lost" I said quickly

"I’ll help Sarah" Alex said with a hand on my arm "don’t worry"

"See Sarah we will help you through this as you have helped us at are time of need" Billy said and stood up "Now come bath and bed as I don’t know how either of you are still awake"

I looked at the time on the clock as we passed through reception and saw that it was only ten in the morning though I had missed two nights sleep.

"What if they attack again?" I asked Billy "perhaps I should stay awake"

"No they have nothing left to fight with the battle is over on land, sea and air it is now time for you to rest he said and guided me into a lift.

Again the rooms were huge not quite on the same style of luxury as the last one but still extremely large. A woman in a uniform greeted me without the helpfulness that Alex had shown at our first meeting.

"Bath and Bed" Billy said to her and she nodded as we went inside and he headed off to his room.

The woman ran the bath without a word and I said thank you and got a nod as I shut the door and again slipped into the hot water. I could hardly keep my eyes open in the bath and when I was clean and dry I walked across to the bedroom and found a long silky cream coloured nightdress on the bed I slipped it on and slid under the covers to be asleep in seconds.

"Sarah are you awake?" came Alex’s voice waking me up from my deep sleep.

"Oh yes I think so" I said opening my eyes.

"Good with Billy’s plans we need you awake I’m afraid even though you have only had five hours sleep" she apologised "Clothing first then hair, nails and makeup and with a bit of luck we might be ready for half eight nine o’clock"

"Why what time is it now?" I asked

"Just after three" she said "and the first one is here now"

"Oh god" I said sitting up "I could do with a coffee before I get dressed and see him"

"Look don’t worry about getting dressed he is here at the Prince’s orders to dress us let him work around you" Alex said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"That’s easy for you your dressed in jeans and a t shirt I’m in a nightdress" I protested

"Sarah, Mike is a lot more to his taste, you are just a body to clothe though I snagged you a new pair of knickers on the way here" she said pulling out a bag from her side "something a bit more covering than last time"

"Thank you, you are a lifesaver can you ring down for some strong coffee as I get myself more human?" I asked her

"Sure don’t go back to sleep though" she said firmly.

I sat up and my poor abused breasts bounced without their restraint of a bra I looked down at them through the top of the nightdress and saw they were scratched and bruised from crawling through the rubble. I slipped on the dressing gown and with the knickers in the pocket I walked through to the bathroom and after a pee and a quick wash and look at my still very red face I was ready to face the world with the added protection of my panties.

"Here you go coffee" Alex said as I came through from the bathroom "and this is Charles one of the best designers in the world"

"Pleased to meet you" he said standing there looking at me in a very strange way.

"Why don’t you start with me then Sarah can wake up a bit before we let you loose on her" Alex’s suggested

"Yes that is fine by me but time is of the essence here as this is a special job and His Highness wants both of you perfect. Though looking at the two of you I have a lot of help from you" he said standing still now looking at Alex. "you should see some of my customers that I get. They would make two of His Highness and they expect to look like you do now"

"Oh" I said still not awake properly.

"Right lets measure you and see what I am working with" He said to Alex pulling a tape measure out of his pocket "take off the t shirt" Alex hesitated for a moment "Look Alex is it you are a very beautiful woman and you will be a pleasure to work with, that Mediterranean skin colouration is fantastic but that is my interest in your body. I’m spoken for and Philip gets very jealous"

Alex stripped off her top half showing a pair of very firm breasts smaller than mine and due to Mikes taste I had no chance of ever looking like she did. I then realised that I was taking less pleasure than Charles in the sight of Alex’s breasts, I was just comparing how they looked too mine, which I had only known two days. He took lots of measurements of her body then turned his attention to me.

"Come on Sarah let me see what you have hidden there" he said with a smile and I stood up dropping the dressing gown on the couch.

"I will need the nightdress off as well please" he said gently and I lifted it over my head smelling the unmistakable warm smell of woman on the fabric and that smell was mine.

"Well despite a fantastic figure we have a few problems here" Charles said standing with one hand on his hip and the other on his chin. I glanced down at my two tone body from the sunburn and the scratches and bruises from the rescue work covering almost all of my body but especially visible on the areas of my body that hadn’t seen the sun yet.

"Sorry" I said looking at the floor.

"No nonsense my dear His Highness explained about your arrival in this country and your rescue of those children this is just another challenge" he opened a mobile phone and made a phone call.

"Put your robe back on I have a lady from the beauticians on her way up we will see what magic she can perform to conceal your injuries. I don’t think that my idea of make the miserable bastards downstairs know you have more guts than all of them will go down too well with his highness" he announced

I sat there in my dressing gown with Alex and Charles as they talked about his boyfriend who had helped in the rescue operations, but not at the hospital. A knock at the door interrupted us and a woman in her thirties made up to the eyeballs came in and started talking with Charles in what I presume was Arabic. I sat there as Alex then joined in and I was told to stand up and lose the robe. I stood there with the three of them discussed me in a language I didn’t understand then they started rubbing creams and powders into different parts of my virtually nude body.

"Sarah what we have decided is that for tonight only we are going to tone down the red area’s and bring up the white as that should get rid of the scratches and bruises visible on your body" Alex said as I was starting to feel rather uncomfortable "The wonders of makeup can hide a multitude of sins"

"Not with those hands though" the beautician said in a German accent, a look of disgust on her face. I looked down at my hands the dirt ingrained in places scratched and the nails torn, I felt ashamed of then. This must have shown on my face and an argument started between Alex and this woman switching languages repeatedly. It culminated with Charles on the phone and passing it to the beautician who left soon after.

"Do not worry" Charles said "she is an ignorant person" and he started measuring me all over.

"Is that it?" I asked as he finished noting down figures.

"What underclothes have you got at the moment" he asked

"None" Alex said before I could answer "the only clothes Sarah has are what she was wearing last night"

"Fine I will sort everything" and he was gone.

"I thought we would be choosing clothes" I said confused

"No Charles will decide what you should wear and that is how he works" She said with a giggle "he says that who wears which of his clothes reflects as much on his business as what he designs. Getting an appointment with him for just a consultation is more than I earn in a month"

"How much?" I asked suddenly serious she answered with a figure roughly two and a half times my monthly wage.

"and that is just for a consultation the clothes are expensive" she finished

"This isn’t right I can’t go around living off Billy’s charity" I said as I slipped the robe back on.

"Why not? You have earned it many times over" Alex said

"No this won’t do call him back and stop him" I said and Alex walked to the phone and dialled a number after a minutes talking there was a knock at the door and Billy entered.

"What is this nonsense I hear you talking" he demanded as he came striding across the floor in sandals shorts and a t shirt leaving me open mouthed

"Yes I like to be comfortable under the theatrical outfit now what is up my dear" he said more gently.

"I cant live off your charity Billy" I said "and all this is too much"

"Listen you took out one hundred and sixty one aircraft attacking my country and one reconnaissance aircraft. You gave us time to intercept the few you left flying and warned us of an attack on our northern border. Then you help pull all those people, irreplaceable doctors and nurses most of them, out of the rubble and personally rescue those children despite the risk. Just one of those children saved is a price we can never repay" he said to me his eyes full of emotion

"But" I started to say.

"No try it this way then. What my Grandfather is now spending on you here is less than one sortie to stop those bastards that you took out, without expending weapons so this is a minor price to pay for what you did" he moved round in front of me. I was looking down at my feet and knelt before me taking my small sore hands in his huge ones. "Please Sarah let us do this for me as nothing we ever could do would repay what you did last night. Please?" he said his voice imploring me I nodded.

"Good" said Alex from behind him

"Alex not all women have your confidence and bearing, and Sarah is a lot younger than you" Billy said

"I know it is just a little difficult to make you understand what you did last night and to be honest it scares me and confuses me a little" Alex said

"Tell me about it" Billy said with a look at her "I have no idea what happened but I thank god it did. So" he said as he turned back to me "this is on my Grandfather who spends more than this on cars for his distant relations and you will be stunning"

"Fine but I don’t know if I agree with your reasoning" I said honestly "I just did what I could"

"But those downstairs did nothing so enjoy it" he said as he left.

For what seemed like hours I was subjected to the ministrations of men and women makeup, hair, false nails over my own tattered nails and more make up. When Charles returned at half seven it was a relief to get away from them.

"Here you are dear slip these on and then I will help you with the dress" he said passing me a bag inside I saw black underwear. I walked to my bedroom and looked at it all.

"Seeker see what you have reduced me to" I said as I pulled out a bra with no straps from the bag.

"Sarah despite your words you seem to be enjoying it" Seeker said strongly in my mind

"I think I am" I admitted "but I was starting to get concerned about you"

"I have been with you except when you leave your mind but I have been silent as with the situations you have faced it would not be wise to distract you" she answered

"Fine but it is nice to know you are there. So give me a hand with this stuff" I said as I emptied the bag on the bed.

"Are you reasonably decent?" Came Charles voice from outside the door

I looked down at myself in strapless bra, garter belt, panties which hid nothing and stockings with sparkly embroidery at the ankle "In this lot I don’t think so" I said back and he came in with a dress on a hanger and a pair of shoes black with high heels.

"Slip the shoes on first dear, I have some others but these are my first choice if your feet can stand them" he said passing me a pair of black strappy sandals with a heel of at least four inches.

I fumbled with the buckles and found that my sore fingers and the false nails made this almost impossible.

"Come here I forgot the state your poor hands were in let me do it" he said slipping the shoe on my blistered foot.

"Sss" I said as it slid on causing me pain.

"Can I help at all Sarah?" came Seekers voice

"Yes go on if you don’t mind" I said and the pain suddenly died "thanks" I said

"Can you cope with that Sarah?" Charles asked

"Yes try the other one" I said and he did I stood up carefully and practiced the controlled fall that is needed to walk in heels and soon I felt reasonably confident and let go of the wall.

"That’s a good girl Sarah" Charles said encouragingly as I managed to walk across the room a few times. I didn’t like the way they seemed to make my bum and boobs stick out but that is part of the idea of the things I’m sure.

"Do you think I can cope?" I asked Charles and he looked at me for a couple more trips.

"Yes you’re a bit stiff but that is only to be expected. I’m surprised you can walk having seen your feet" he said as he stripped a plastic bag off a black item.

"What’s that?" I asked

"Your dress for tonight" he said with no humour in his voice.

"Where is the rest of it?" I asked

"Come on don’t be silly step into it and that way we can avoid messing up any one else’s work" and he unzipped the item and I carefully stepped into it at his insistence.

"Lets have a look at you" he said after he zipped me up "Yes that works my dear, that works" he said and I looked at the black dress that left my shoulders and arms bare. My cleavage was on view and my breasts covered by triangular pieces which rose from the line of the dress. Length on one side it possibly touched my knee and the other side was just below my stocking top.

"I don’t think I can go out looking like this" I told Charles.

"Look dear you look fantastic nearly enough to make a life long queer wish he was straight. But then again thinking of Philip maybe not" he said making me giggle

"That’s better into the other room and we will finish you off" he said and I carefully walked into the living area.

"Can I remove your ear rings for you as I don’t think you can with how your hands are?" he asked and I nodded he removed the little studs that I had forgotten about then replaced them with something large pulling at my ears. Then he put something on my head and around my neck.

"Yes that works he was right" Charles said making some adjustments to me "and just the watch now"

I took a small gold woman’s watch off him and put it around my wrist then he fastened the clasp for me.

"A bag for you dear, there are some bits and pieces in there for you" he said passing me a small thing not much larger than a wallet "but something is missing"

"The rest of my clothes or possibly my mind?" I said to him.

"My god perfume. Do you have any perfume?" he asked.

"I haven’t even got my own clothes or most of my memories" I said "Perfume is something that never crossed my mind"

"I will sort it out do you have any preferences?" he asked and I shrugged my shoulders as he walked across to the phone I switched on the television to try and take my mind off what had been done to me. CNN came up and I saw the caption Crisis In The Gulf.

The reporters were discussing what appears to have been a mass defection by the Confederacy Pilots and were dismissing the reports of a new Saudi weapon that caused the aircraft to eject. Then they crossed to the damage that the city had taken showing explosions as bombs hit their targets. Then from a long shot from high up they showed Billy pulling people out of the rubble saying that a member of the Saudi Royal family coordinated the rescue which pulled over a hundred people out of the wreckage.

"The work of the Prince though admiral was eclipsed by the actions of an unknown young woman" the reporter said as they showed a picture of me scrambling up the rubble then from a different angle high up they showed a baby being pulled out "She rescued nineteen infants from the rubble despite its instability only getting out with a fraction of a second to spare" They showed the puff of dust as the rubble started to collapse then the panic of Mike and Billy and the great cloud of dust which I emerged from grasping the child to me before relinquishing it to a man.

"The unknown woman believed to be British or American was then comforted by the Prince as she wept for those she couldn’t get out" the reporter finished.

"I am sorry Sarah they climbed into nearby buildings and filmed that way" Came Billy’s voice from behind me "I should have thought of it"

"At least they haven’t figured out any weird shit" I said as I turned around to face him. His face was a mask of anguish.

"I was not able to do as you asked" he said

"Look as long as they don’t link me with mass defections I’m happy so relax" I said smiling at him "and aren’t we all dressed up" He was in what I presume were dress robes with gold accessories such as belt and knife and the belt which held his headgear on.

"But all the attention will be on you my dear" he said looking me up and down

"Yes who’s the lobster in the black" I said joking

"No Charles why isn’t she happy with this?" he asked his voice serious for a moment.

"Your Highness you know how I work and when I have finished she can see how she looks" He answered with little or no deference to Billy’s position.

"She looks ready what else?" Billy asked

"Here it is now" Charles said taking a package off the boy who knocked at the door "This girl hadn’t any perfume" he told Billy

"Well when I met them yesterday morning though it seems a lifetime ago she was lucky to have a life" Billy said firmly and Charles just nodded spraying me with a large bottle of perfume that I would have considered pleasant on anyone else but me. I was lead into the large bathroom my dirty clothes from earlier still on the floor. I tried to kick them out of the way.

"Forget them" Billy said "they are of no consequence. It just shows how unimportant they consider service here for their guests. Now look"

I looked at the mirror and the reflection stunned me. A red head in a small black dress with a bad suntan had been manipulated into a stunning young woman with a slightly red complexion but otherwise absolutely stunning from the sparkling tiara in her hair which was piled up in intricate patterns to the flash of the embroidery at the ankle on the black stocking

"My god is that me?" I gasped

"You like?" Charles asked

"Yes I like" I admitted

"Then it’s you" he said giving me a careful hug making sure he didn’t smudge or crease anything.

"I’m happy Your Highness are you?" he asked Billy

"Oh yes you have made a beautiful woman beaten and scratched from her efforts to help people into a work of art" Billy said bowing to him "You are a master of your craft"

"Yes your Highness but except for her lack of confidence Sarah has been a pleasure to work with" Charles said to him

"I’m sorry" I apologised

"and her misplaced humility of course" Charles said as he turned towards the door.

"The bill will be paid by my Grandfather at his instance" Billy said

"Yes Your Highness and the rest of the things will be here later" Charles said as he left with a smile to me on the way out.

"What other things?" I asked

"Grandfathers insistence, you should at least have a few clothes while you stay with us as that though beautiful on you is a bit impractical for everyday wear" he said with a smile

"What are you up to Billy?" I demanded

"Me nothing but my Grandfather is worse than me for little idiosyncrasies" He said and led me out of the room.

Mike was waiting for us in the corridor talking to Alex. He was dressed in dress uniform with a fancy sword, something neither of us normally bothered with and Alex was in black but covering a little more than mine. It had straps and touched her knees on both sides and it sparkled in the light.

"Come on Michael now we will make these stuck up little people feel very small by having a drink in their bar before we leave them to eat" Billy said taking Alex’s arm

"I think between us we are going to be the envy of every man in there" Mike said taking my arm.

"Well I we have got the best of it" I said "a rich handsome prince on one side and a dashing and brave pilot equally handsome on the other what do you say Alex?"

"I think between all four of us there are going to be a lot of very upset people down there" and we swept along the corridor to a lift and descended to the foyer.

I watched the doors open and Billy swept out of the lift as if he was a king taking no notice of those before him and expecting them to move out of our way which they did. We went into the bar and a table in a corner was reserved for us within moments they had drinks for all of us and the attention of the room was now fixed on us.

"Turn the sound up on the television" Billy shouted at the barman above the discrete tones of the gathered people in the bar. People started to look our way openly.

"Sarah look you are on television again" he said loudly "turn it up more so I may hear"

This time it was Sky News saying about the rescue and the fact that the Prince led and directed all rescue operations and then they showed a picture of him dressed as he was now against the film they had of the rescue with him pulling a nurse out of the rubble.

"As dawn approached" the reporter was saying "a number of newborn children were found in a space too small for any of the men to enter. An unknown young woman who had been helping dig people out of the rubble ran up to the gap and forced her way in despite the Princes protests. She then passed eighteen children out from underneath the unstable rubble before being dragged out by the Prince and another man moments before the rubble came down clutching another child. The rescue at the hospital pulled almost two hundred men women and children out despite the fact that all wear feared dead at first"

It then showed me crying again and saying their all gone now and Billy comforting me.

"You can turn it down now" Billy said loudly and we returned to our drinks.

"You did that just to embarrass me didn’t you?" I said

"No Sarah" he said grasping my hand across the table "I did it to shame them, never to upset you"

"Fine but I think this lot are to thick to notice" I said "When do we leave to eat?"

"Another drink at least so they do not think we leave because of them" he said

"Wait a second your faith means that you can’t drink and how can we drink here?" I asked

"I do not drink alcohol but it is permitted for infidels to drink in certain areas such as this hotel" he explained "We realise that not all people are of our faith which is why we allow it" he said

"What about me dressed like this then?" I asked

"Well I am a weak and sinful man who is the first to admit that a pretty young woman is a pleasure to see. But Allah knows I am weak as he made me as I am and all I can hope is that he is merciful" Billy said with his usual grin

"I wont offend anyone out and about like this?" I asked him

"No we are a progressive Muslim nation but that has caused resentment in our fundamentalist neighbours" Billy said "and from this position, in the company of you two ladies, I think it is their loss"

We went out in a chauffeured car a long one and were taken to a small restaurant where the four of us ate and talked into the early hours. I was use to being looked at out and about due to the fact that a uniformed run ashore was always getting lots of attention. This though was completely different I wasn’t just on show I was exposed and on display. The whole outfit from the underwear to the jewellery emphasising what I was. I begged off the option of dancing after the food due to my feet and the truth is I was sort of sad I did. Later back at the hotel as we sat in the bar again Mike slipped an arm around me and I moved in closer to him enjoying the feeling of security I felt with him holding me. I caught Billy looking and smiling at me.

"What are you grinning at?" I asked

"I am smiling at a beautiful woman who for the first time since I met her seems happy and relaxed" He said "and thinking how lucky Michael is"

"Come on you have Alex as company" I said

"No me and Alex are friends and I enjoy the company of a woman as beautiful and intelligent as her, but I sometimes long for what seems to be developing between you two" he looked at Alex

"No disrespect to you my dear I feel that given time something might come of us two, but they have something. I have been watching the two of you all night it is as if you have known each other a lifetime" he said wistfully

"Well we have been through a lot together and she is rather special" Mike said squeezing me a little tighter.

"Yes we have all been through a lot on in the last twenty four hours" I said "What has happened to the attack from the North?" I asked changing the subject.

"The land forces did not cross the border when the initial air attack failed" Billy replied "but we are still carrying out rescue operations in the Gulf for members of Kennedy’s crew. This was a tragedy of the worst order but it has focused Western attention on the situation here"

"How many lost?" Mike asked

"Over seven hundred, not as many as with the valiant Illustrious but no less a sacrifice for that" Billy said sadly "and there sacrifice will be remembered"

"I should bloody well hope so Mustapha" came a loud voice from a nearby table

"Shouldn’t you be out fighting the other towel heads rather than pissing up in here with tarts?"

I have never seen Mike move so fast in my life. He was always the laid back sort of guy and his ability to sleep through anything was legend on Lusty but he was up and had the man with the mouth by the throat in a second..

"Listen here you southern stuck up twat" he shouted at the man "While you were pissing your pants in the shelters that man and those two ladies were coordinating the defences that stopped this city and your worthless skin being blown to Kingdom Come. Then as you tried to sleep in your bed scared of the noises that Lady there, who you dare refer to as a Tart, pulled nineteen children out of the rubble of the hospital. She got out of the rubble before it collapsed only by virtue of His Highness and I pulling her out by her feet. She still had the baby in her arms as she came out"

"Look I know all you navy boys are a bit edgy since you lost your boat so I wont report this and get you in bother" the man said the booze obviously making him not realise the predicament he was in.

"Listen shit head it was a ship and she was Illustrious, remember that name and remember it with pride because every man on that ship earned his pay that day and they were all friends and family to me" Mike said making the mans face go purple as he squeezed at his neck with a huge hand.

"Michael please sit down this is my country please sit down and let me deal with this as you are my honoured guest" Billy said rising

"I realise you are a visitor to my county and may not be aware of customs and traditions here so I will educate you a little" Billy said standing over the sunburnt little man in his fifties.

"You do not refer to a Crown Prince of a country you are visiting as Mustapha, as with my Grandfather the King visiting tomorrow it might be prejudicial to your ability to draw breath. Secondly if you had brains enough to wipe your own arse without help you may have noticed Sarah here, who to my utmost shame after meeting you is a British person as you are, on the television" The man started to open his mouth

"Before you speak please consider Lieutenant Jennings behind me has a very large and very sharp sword. Good." Billy said as the man decided not to speak.

"Now as I was saying Sarah has been on television all day as the mystery heroine of the hospital. The Lady who rescued all those children and is recognised worldwide for her bravery and selfless action. Where as you are a jumped up little man with bigoted ideas and very little brains who probably spent his night trying not to soil himself at every bang he heard. So if you want to continue with your little holiday amongst the barbarians and the towel heads and get through customs in any airport worldwide without an hour of body cavity searches for the rest of your life you will apologise to the ladies. Now" Billy roared the last word

"You can’t talk to me like that I am a British Subject" he said quickly

"Oh are you from my experiences of your Royal Family I expected more of a British Subject. Last time I played Polo with Charles he insisted that even in these times being British meant certain standards and bearing about a person" Billy dropped the name into the silence of the bar.

"I am sorry" the man said quietly and Billy sat down leaving the man to his drink.

"I am sorry about that Ladies, you can see why I do not like this hotel" Billy said to me and Alex.

"Watch him a moment Billy" I said and closed my eyes and left my body to rest in front of the man who was just raising a pint of lager. I gave it a tap underneath and opened my eyes just in time to watch the man throw half a pint in his own face

"My dear Sir" Billy said Loudly "Though I am forbidden from using alcohol by my faith, I believed the idea was to drink it not wear it" The man stood up alcohol defeating common sense and I closed my eyes again and thrust the remainder of his drink into his crotch and for good measure gave his wife’s lap a glass of red wine that she was drinking.

All hell let loose he grabbed at his wet crotch and his wife started screaming and hitting him as the red wine didn’t go with her pale green skirt and he was shouting at her to stop hitting him, which had no effect.

Billy had tears running down his face with laughter and shouted to the man and his wife as they left "Sir if you ever wish to earn some decent money speak to my Grandfather they need some decent entertainment at the Palace and you are better than Norman Wisdom."

The man turned back towards us to say something and was suddenly stopped by his wife hitting him with her handbag and grabbing his arm getting laughter all around the bar.

"Good riddance" Alex said viciously "That is the sort of guest that I used to dread. Malicious narrow minded jerks who think the world revolves about them"

"Well you will not be dealing with such as him on that footing again" Billy said "In your new position you will have the edge over them due to the size of the organisation. Money is power in many cultures especially the American and British cultures"

"What happens now with the hostilities?" I asked "because all the money in the world will not reduce the tensions in this area"

"Well I gather the Americans are sending us another carrier" Billy said

"I hope its one of the improved Nimitz class ones as no disrespect to the Kennedy she was one of the make do Kitty Hawk class carriers designed after the Enterprise was decided on being the only nuclear boat. The fact that she was oil fired meant that her top speed was limited" I told him

"Why would that make a difference?" Billy asked

"Well nothing against Illustrious but she didn’t have a chance in the situation here alone she was an anti submarine warfare boat that is all. The Yank carriers are an air superiority force and with one of the Nimitz boats and all its escort ships they could have put a big enough dent in the Persian forces to make them think twice. The Aegis Ticondderoga class cruisers and the Arleigh Burke Destroyers would have had some hope of protecting the carrier. The Kennedy’s escort just wasn’t up to the task that they ended up facing, the odds were just too great against them." I said thinking about the number of aircraft in the air at the time.

"Could that have stopped them?" Alex asked

"The number of aircraft up there, no. But it might have put the price a little too high for them to be willing to pay" I answered

"Sarah how do you know such things?" Billy asked

"Don’t ask me. But I am right aren’t I?"

"Yes and my Grandfather had pushed for a Nimitz class ship. But the American response was that the Kennedy would be enough of a deterrent." He answered

"Bull! They decided to give you the oil fired ship and let you keep her supplied and stuck the Nuclear boat in the Med watching Egypt. The Confederacy will still want to sell oil no matter who controls it. The control of the Suez canal though could compromise the whole area" I said to him. "The Americans have never been happy over the fact that Saudi plays such an important roll in the price of oil where as they play almost no part of it. It is just speculation on my part but is it possible that the American Government feels that it might get better prices from the money hungry Persian Confederacy and therefore ease the problems at home, give the people cheap fuel and they will be happy for the next election"

"That is much of what we had decided" Billy admitted "The British government sent out everything they had to help us. The American’s have given us very little in comparison and while saying there is no danger had been advising it’s population not to travel here for weeks"

"Well obviously they thought something was going to happen why don’t you put the squeeze on the Political structure over there and see who squeals?" I suggested

"It isn’t likely to bring anything out that is true and might antagonise the situation. We don’t need help now, thanks to you but we might at another date"

"Well there has to be a way to encourage them" I said thinking about it for a while "Are the Americans over flying your borders at the moment"

"Yes. But why?" He asked intrigued.

"Well how about a message to them saying your radar systems are screwed at the moment and then I bang out a few of them. Then you apologise profusely for the incident and deny any knowledge of a weapon to cause a pilot to eject" I suggested and a big grin came across his face.

"Yes that could give us some leverage but I need to talk to my Grandfather about that first before taking any radical action" He said "Why are you so anti American at the moment?"

"Well if they had sent a Nimitz class ship then they would have been here before Illustrious was hit and probably prevented it with a Carrier Air Group off your coast" I explained "I dislike people playing politics with essentials to life but when people play politics with lives it irritates me"

"You are not the person to irritate and you are also an anomaly" Billy said looking at me seriously.

"Why because I have taken an interest in the political situation here?"

"No because you are right about what you are saying and to look at you I wouldn’t expect it" He answered and I decided to shut up.

"Have I said something to offend you Sarah?" he asked at my silence.

"No. It’s just that the biggest anomaly in my life is what the hell I am and what the hell do I do? I have no identity no past and a hell of a lot of weird shit going on in my head that I don’t understand." I told him

"Well the fact of no identity is no problem if there is a problem with you getting back into Britain we can easily make you a Saudi National and if necessary adopt you within my family. This is speculation though we should be able to come up with something on who you are" He answered

"I think that may be a problem, I can’t say anymore at the moment but I feel my identity may never be fully revealed"

"You feel that you have no identity, why?" Billy asked

"I can’t explain it to you but I know that there will be no record of me anywhere before I met you" I said to him "and the thought of being without an identity and a country scares me"

"Sarah I need to know now so I can help you, are you on the run from something or someone?" Billy asked

"No it is not that" I assured him quickly "You have taken a lot about me at face value and you have seen what I can do. So I must ask you to take this at face value as well, I did not exist before so there will be no records of me."

"You did not exist before. What do you mean, before what?" He asked

"Just leave it at that I am a non-person, no records anywhere" I said

"I will accept what you say but that can be sorted out. You wish to be a British National that will take a few records at this end and no more problems. If you wish to be a Saudi National, I can arrange that now" Billy answered

"I don’t know I need to think about it when I haven’t had a drink and I am more awake" I said "Perhaps I have said too much?"

"No, here you have said nothing and if you do not wish to talk about it we" Billy indicated him and Alex "will not speak of it again. But if you wish help, just mention it and it will be done quietly with no fuss"

"Thank you" I said "and now I think I need to sleep for a long time" I was exhausted the efforts and the events of the last forty eight hours having taken there toll on me.

"Well go and sleep and even if my grandfather wishes to speak with you I will say he has to wait for you to awake" Billy said grinning.

"Good Night then I thank you for a wonderful evening and I will see you all tomorrow" I said

"Do you mind if I walk you upstairs?" Mike asked

"Not at all" I said and he slipped an arm around me as Billy and Alex said goodnight.

We reached my room door and I removed my key from the handbag and fumbled with the lock on the door.

"Can I help?" Mike asked

"Yes my hands are too sore to do anything" I admitted

"There you go" he said unlocking the door "are you ok now?"

"Well this is going to sound stupid but I don’t think I can do the buckles on my shoes" I admitted blushing

"Can I help?" he asked again

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all" he said as we entered the large living area of the suite.

I sat down on a sofa and he knelt before me picking up his foot in his large hands and working the little gold buckle. He then slipped the shoe off and started caressing my foot through the sheer nylon, my nipples hardened as his hand slid up to my calf then he moved to the other foot. Again he undid the buckle and caressed the foot before starting to work on the calf of my leg. I could feel a moisture starting in my groin and a swelling down there, I closed my eyes enjoying the sensations. I felt his hands work further up now on my knee stroking that sensitive area behind it.

He stopped and I opened my eyes to find him bending over me his lips found mine and I opened my mouth to his. He sat down next to me without removing his lip from mine, one arm went around me the uniform coarse on my bare shoulders and his other returned to my knee. It started sliding further up reaching the reinforced part where the suspenders attached, then it found my bare skin and I parted my legs slightly to allow him better access to the part of me that was burning with heat. I kissed him harder as he rubbed his hand over the crotch of my panties causing my body to jerk as he did so. His fingers traced each side of my panties tickling that little crease where the edge of the panties met my leg. I squirmed trying to get him back in contact with my sex and he stopped breaking off the kiss and sat up his head in his hands.

"Mike what’s up" I asked

"I shouldn’t be doing this" he said

"Mike please look at me" I said and he did reluctantly

"I want it too, I want you and I want you to hold me tight and do these things to me, that you want to" I said breathless from the desire and the need I felt.

Mike was silent and I stood up before him offering my hand to him.

"Come at least hold me for a while. Please" I asked and he took my hand and I led him through to the bedroom.

"Lose the sword before we have an accident" I suggested and he undid the sword and placed it on the chair.

"Now help me with this dress, I don’t think I can do the zip on my own" I told him my heart pounding and my mouth dry.

He moved behind me and undid the zip. I let it fall to the floor before stepping out of it then picking it up to place it on the dressing table.

"Can you get my bra?" I asked walking in front of him and turning my back to him. I could feel his trembling hands fumble with the tight clasp then my breasts swing free.

His hands came around me letting the bra fall to the floor and he kissed my neck. His hands were beneath my breasts and I lifted them up to them, pleasure making me gasp as he traced the nipples. He then squeezed almost to the point of pain and the pleasure made me squeeze my thighs together.

"Oh Mike" I gasped and his hands slid down my belly to the waistband of my knickers, then slid down between my legs.

"Yes" I said pushing my groin against his hand and he kept rubbing at the front. Then in one swift movement he moved to either side of my hips and pulled the panties down, I stepped out of them and his hand teased my pubic hair.

"Are you sure Sarah?" he asked breathless now with his own passion.

"Oh yes" I said turning around to face him and then backing up to the bed pulling him along by the hand.

I lay on the bed as he stripped his clothes off dropping them all where he stood. He joined me on the bed his erection huge. As he lay there on his side he slid a hand down over my body till again his hand found my pubic hair and slid between my legs feeling the heat and the moisture there. He started kissing my nipples puling on them gently then sucking hard my crotch twitched in response to this. He started kissing his way down my belly then he slid down the bed, his strong hands parting my knees and raising them so I was totally exposed to him. He kissed my knee then my thigh.

"Oh god" I said as his tongue slid along the swollen lips of my pussy diving in to touch a sensitive spot.

"Oh Mike yes" I said as I felt his hands part my sex to his view and his tongue start attacking my clitoris in earnest.

"Oh, oh, oh" I was panting as he teased but I was unable to move my pelvis due to his strong hands, the pleasure was building up and up and he stopped.

"Mike No" I gasped out as the sensation stopped and I became aware of him climbing up my body.

His huge cock, slightly sticky, touched my thigh then I felt it between my legs sliding over my sopping pussy but not finding its target. I slid a hand between us the fear and disgust returning momentarily as I grasped it and slid it between the lips to lodge at the entrance to my vagina.

"Oh Sarah you are so beautiful" Mike said as he started to slide forward between my fingers. I was being stretched in places I shouldn’t have places let alone be stretched.

A little more of him slid between my fingers and there was a little pain. I moved my hand back up and reached up to stroke his face above me with his eyes closed and biting his bottom lip. As I stroked his cheek he started moving backwards and forwards inside me, his invasion getting deeper and deeper filling me more than I ever could have believed possible, forcing my internal organs aside to allow his deeper penetration of me.

After a minute I could feel his pubic hair against mine, the entrance to my vagina stretched tight against the fleshy invader. He started a long stroke out then in, my vaginal lips being pulled and pushed with every stroke and my pleasure building as our pelvises met. Shockwaves seemed to radiate out from my groin with every impact and then his mouth found my nipple.

"Oh Shit Mike, Yes Oh yes" I said throwing an arm around his head while my fingers dug in to his shoulder.

His pace was building up and he left my nipple to find my mouth and I responded hungrily biting at his bottom lip. My hips were now trying to dictate the rhythm of our coupling and he slipped out as I pulled away at the same time as him.

"Oh" I said scrabbling to find him with my hand but he was on his knees and raising my legs up before I had a chance. He forced my legs up and while holding them high and wide apart he slid back into me hard. I gasped as he thrust then his full weight was on me driving the gasp from my lips as his lips and teeth found my neck as his speed built up faster and faster. His breath was ragged and he was panting my name as pleasure built up and up. Then it hit my groin exploded in a delightful sensation that encompassed my whole body. I tried to grasp him to me with my legs just to keep him there while it happened and a second one hit me stronger.

"Ooooh Yes" I said and the muscles in my body seemed to go rigid forcing my groin up against him hard. His mad race for his climax continued as I tried to recover from my second orgasm, I felt a third build up as he sank down on me and groaned. I could feel his cock expand as his fluids erupted inside me in jet after jet deep within me. Then he lay there on top of me pinning me to the bed helplessly as his cock softened and slipped out of me, leaving fluids running down between my buttocks. Finally he slid over and lay on his side looking at me while toying with one of my rapidly softening nipples.

"Thank you" he said and I rolled to face him my thighs closing smearing the combined juices everywhere.

"Thank you but can you run and get me a towel as after that I don’t think I will be walking for a while?" I said

Then I considered all the aches and pains in all parts of my body, not just my used and abused pussy and added "If ever"

"Seeker are you there?" I asked in my mind

"Yes I’m here Sarah" Came the reply in the dark.

"Tell me more about your people I know so little, I don’t even know what you look like" I said

"We are an old race, not the oldest as there are many who we call ancient, but those ancient ones seldom communicate with young races. Our culture has developed over the years into a caste system, as you would call it. This means everyone of us is created to fulfil the task that will become ours at maturity" Seeker explained

"So you don’t have free will to do as you want?" I asked

"No it is not a case of free will to do anything else, it is more a case of wanting to do what I was designed and created for. When I wish to do anything else I can experience it if one of my race has done it" Seeker continued.

"I can see where that would be useful in some respects, people here can wander around all their lives and never find what they are good at, hating everything that they do. But the idea of being pre-programmed for life before your life starts is scary" I admitted.

"Yes our culture is closer to some of the Oriental societies than to yours but in other ways the difference between us is immense"

"What about how you look?" I asked

"Sarah human beings have a natural fear for that that is different from them. The further away from the known you get, the more fear, hate and revulsion is generated. Just look how snakes and spiders are treated and they are a totally natural occurrence on your planet. For the moment I will just say that we do not have bi-lateral symmetry and we are not bipeds" Sarah replied

"Your worried if I saw you we wouldn’t be able to carry on with our relationship like this"

"Yes" She admitted

"I’ll leave it be for the moment, but I think you might be a little harsh on me" I informed her.

I broke off contact for a while and I could hear Mike snoring softly behind me and I concentrated on that part of my mind where Seeker resided and pushed. I was in the bedroom a few feet from my body.

I headed up into the night climbing slowly with the lights of the city visible first, then climbing till the disk of the earth was visible the terminator from night to day paused in its relentless journey over India. Here close in to the Earth I could hear the whispers of the people on the planet, always too quiet to hear properly or make out what was being said. I found the thin filament of light that was Seekers presence and touched it.

"Can you hear it, the whispers of millions of people sleeping?" I asked

"No I can not" Seeker asked "but I can feel it through your experience"

"Do any of the other races experience what I can hear now" I asked Seeker

"I do not know of the Ancient races, but of the races I have contact with no. Your people are so different when they sleep to when they are awake, do you feel it the absence of hate or malice?"

"Yes, it is almost a warm pleasant sensation coming from the hemisphere" I replied enjoying basking in the sensations.

"I am leaving for a little bit I will be back soon" I told seeker and climbed. Leaving the twin disks behind I headed out towards Sagittarius.

Behind the great star clouds in Sagittarius lies the Galactic Centre, I headed in this direction feeling for anyone out there. I felt prickles on my body as I approached one system and headed in. It was a strange looking system I thought as I approached closer only five planet but two asteroid belts. Close in nearest to the sun was a huge gas giant, but the bands associated with Jupiter were nowhere to be seen. Instead this had such a dynamic atmosphere that bands would be impossible to survive. I felt around trying to find the planet that had life and paused for a moment to admire the huge nebula dominating half the sky. There it was I could feel and see the reason I was drawn to this system. I moved in close.

Orbiting the planet was a sphere of grey with the recognisable tendril of light of one of seekers races mind contact heading down. I touched it gently.

"I am sorry to intrude and please do not be alarmed" I said.

"Who are you? What do you want of me?" the contact said sharply then more curiosity came into the voice "Where are you?"

"Forgive me for intruding I am known as Sarah and I am known to your race" I gave a flash of the Earth from orbit.

"Sarah?" came the reply with a flash of an Elf then a dwarf.

"Yes that’s me" I admitted "Do you mind if I have a look around?"

"No not at all, this is a fascinating planet. The species I watch are a subterranean species with little technology but their thoughts are rich in quality" I got a long burst of intense happiness and sadness of joy and fear.

"This is what the one I know as Seeker searches for?" I asked

"Yes, Oh yes. The power of these feelings and expressions of emotions in a young race indicates the potential a race has for development." The individual said "and as one who watches, I must admit they are sensations to be savoured."

"You enjoy your work?"

"Oh this isn’t my work this is my life" The Watcher replied.

"Is this system unusual with such a large gas giant so close in to the star?" I asked giving images of our own solar system.

"This is more like a double system where one of the primaries failed to develop properly, this is a normal system the single primary of a system is in the minority" The Watcher informed me.

"If I have a look around down there do you mind telling the one I know as Seeker where I am?" I asked and I got a flash of how Seeker felt in my mind from The Watcher.

"Yes that is her" I said

"Her?" came the confused reply.

"Within my species it seems that we find it easier to relate to an object, even inanimate objects, if we give it human characteristics such as a sex. One of our languages bases it’s grammatical structure around the premise that all objects are either masculine or feminine" I told The Watcher

"I feel Seeker is more female than male. The Judge" I gave a blast of the feel of The Judge in my mind "Is a masculine personality"

"So you associate the empathic ties Seeker forms with races in her searching with females. The Judge who is a being who’s function forbids emotional ties with the creatures he must assess you consider masculine. This is interesting are these attributes you would associate with males and females on your planet?" The Watcher asked

"Yes I suppose it is" I admitted

"In my experience it is usually the other way around, the females, the ones who bare the young, are the most aggressive. In most cultures the protection of the young is the greatest inherited instinct and to that effect they are the aggressive sex willing to die protecting them. Males tend to be more deferential and more peaceful as aggression against a female can have fatal consequences" Watcher explained.

"Oh, with the bonding situation within our species the male tends to be the protector of both the female and the young" I answered.

"That is unusual, very unusual has this situation been reported?" Watcher asked

"Not that I know of why?" I asked

"Because this changes the whole outlook on the case against your planet. We accept that inherited instincts are hard to overcome but they are treatable, females on most planets will come into conflict for resources and to protect their young. If these facts aren’t known this could change the whole viewpoint on your planet" The Watcher was getting excited now.

"What do you mean? The Seeker and The Judge misunderstood the situation on our planet so much that they have turned me into a female, not understanding the sexual situation that existed on the planet" I said giving flashes of what had been done to me and the pain that had been inflicted.

"This is what the Council of Watchers has been arguing for, the inclusion of a Watcher with every planet that is called to judgement. The one you know as a Seeker is sensitive to races but has little understanding of them, besides their technological level. The one you know as The Judge well" Watcher gave me a blast of disgust with hate mixed in as well.

"So it may be we have been falsely accused and brought to Judgement?" I said astounded at this information.

"Yes" Watcher admitted.

"I need to talk to The Judge and Seeker" I said and broke off the contact.

I headed back to the Earth as fast as I could, no instantaneous movement from one place to another. I had to cover the distance between the two points but that I could do in a little time and the yellow rays of the sun became visible.

I approached the Earth and the Moon and came down on the Arabian Peninsula in the darkness and headed to my body, using the gravitational attraction my body seemed to have to me in this form rather than seeking it out. I opened my eyes and I was back Mike still sleeping next to me.

I got out of the bed, picked up a nightdress that had been left for me and walked through to the living area, closing the bedroom door behind me. The pain in my feet was less than it had been last time I walked without Seeker’s assistance. The slight pain and stickiness between my thighs reminded me of what I had done and enjoyed such a short time ago. I walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, the dishevelled young woman in the mirror, still wearing jewellery surprising me slightly.

I cleaned up between my legs while sat on the toilet, the still puffy lips were sore with the chafing that they had received from our long walk. I stood up and walked across to the sink and looked in the mirror on the wall there. The makeup that had been so carefully applied had been smeared and in places my sunburn was clearly visible, I decided a shower was needed to clean it off and make myself look more normal if extremely burnt. I removed the jewellery that had been provided for me to use and slipped into the shower washing myself carefully.

I sat down on the sofa the lights of the city providing the only illumination to the room the towels wrapped around my body soft and fluffy against my sensitive and abused skin. I sat there for a while composing myself trying to figure out why I was not angry over what had been done to me, though my anger over what was nearly done to my planet was immense.

"Seeker are you there?" I asked

"Yes Sarah, something troubles you" Seeker said

"Yes I need your companion to listen to this can you link with The Judge?" I asked

"Yes…He is here now" Seeker said

"What the hell do you two think you are doing judging my people, from the information I have received you shouldn’t have even started this process, let alone be thinking about the extinction of a race. I wouldn’t trust you two to judge a dog show" I roared at them

"I have no experience of canines Sarah so I would not be an effective judge" Seeker answered nearly making me lose the determination I had built up with laughter.

"Look you two I have been talking to a watcher" I said giving them the feel of the watcher I had spoken to and a picture of the system and the planet I had visited.

"How can you have been there?" Demanded The Judge his presence forcing it’s way into my mind.

"Listen you" I said firmly forcing him back "you will be pleasant with me and I will be pleasant with you. Because if we both get nasty then I guarantee I am a lot nastier than you. I have been trained to be nasty and kill people who I have no hate for, you I could quite easily hate"

"I am not a politician or a diplomat I have no need for such qualities" came The Judges voice back and the personality forced its way back into my head. I surrounded it and squeezed hard for a moment.

"Listen to me very carefully" I said while holding The Judge "You will be polite you will be pleasant or I will keep you here like this for a very long time. I will not even leave you the option of suicide to escape me, because if you do I will be there waiting to find you and drag you back.

"I will comply for the moment Sarah" he answered the hate evident in the voice in my mind.

"Good now listen to me very carefully from what I gather my race should not be being judged" I told them and outlined the conversation that had taken place.

"We need to confer with others" The Judge announced and he left my mind

"Oh Sarah, I am so sorry. How could we have made such a basic error" Seeker announced her voice full of grief.

"Look I am not happy about the situation that we as a race faced from you and your people. The situation with me now is strange I do not hate it and I must admit I have enjoyed it" I said giving her a quick flash of the pleasure I felt with Mike.

"Your adaptability has been remarkable and I wonder if this has something to do with the ability you have to believe in events that have never taken place, your fiction." Seeker answered

"Maybe it is this adaptability that creates the fiction" I said back.

"Perhaps" Seeker mused for a moment or two "What is the value of the crystallised carbon products that are attached as ornaments to your body, for they were the object of much emotion in your evening"

I thought about this for a moment or two "I think that you might be mistaken as others may have been. I think they are very good copies which have fooled other people and that might have cause the envy" I answered and then thought a moment.

I walked through to the bathroom again and picked up the jewellery and the watch and coming back into the living area I switched on the light. I looked at the large, what I had presumed to be glass or cubic zirconia pendant earrings. They looked real and I placed them on the table then the tiara and again it looked very real. Finally I looked at the small watch which I now noticed bore the legend Rolex.

"Billy you sneaky bastard "I thought "Well tomorrow you get all this lot back"

"Sarah are you alright?" came Mike’s voice.

"Yes" I said "I have just had a lot of things happening tonight" I admitted looking around to find Mike in his trousers and his shirt.

"Leaving me?" I asked

"Well I didn’t want you to have any embarrassment tomorrow morning as we have only met a few days ago" Mike said sitting down next to me.

"Yes that might be better for now but I wish it was otherwise" I admitted "Though you probably think it is sick"

"Sarah, I know the situation is strange and neither one of us would have chosen this a week ago." He said holding my hand

"The thing is except for a few moments tonight when I felt I would be taking advantage of you, I wouldn’t have it any other way. You are everything I ever wanted in a woman looks wise, I am prejudiced but I think you are perfect. But more importantly than that you are still everything I ever wanted from my best friend, you are still intelligent, brave and selfless in your actions. I think I love you Sarah" Mike admitted the final words barely a whisper.

My stomach went into somersaults at this point, my nipples tightened and I felt the moisture start in my groin again. I moved over and sat on his knee throwing my arms around him and kissing long and passionately.

"I guess I shouldn’t have been so worried about saying it" Mike said when I released him.

"No, you had every reason to worry about my reactions and if I am honest I should be very concerned about it. But with all the things that have been going on the reassurance of having you near, having you care for me and the contact when you touch me or hold me has helped me keep it together, to stay somewhat focused" I explained his arms surrounding me as I sat there.

"Look Sarah as Simon you were one of the most together people I knew. Why do you think I was always willing to fly your wing? I’ll tell you, because I wouldn’t trust anyone else watching your arse and at least behind you I could hope to learn something" Mike said squeezing me tighter.

I sat there the pressure on my body felt good, I could smell both the smell of his aftershave and the musky smell of his sweat from our earlier activities. Both were pleasant to me now and I leant my head into his chest. I breathed deeply of his scent and I felt my body respond to it. Beneath my buttocks I could feel him responding to my presence.

I admit we were too wrapped up in our own little world to notice much going on. Some people later reported the flash in the sky and lots of people gave reports of the sound. It is believed that the Taliban controlled government of the Persian Confederacy was intending to take out the government, the Royal Family and cause mass panic and disruption. This had worked prior to the invasion of Iran by Pakistan and Afghanistan. Watching their long time neighbour and enemy falling Iraq was only too glad to help. Iran with its political structure destroyed in a wave of suicide attacks was left in no position to respond fully.

It is still not clear how many people died as I sat there on Mike’s knee and I don’t know what I could of done to stop it but at least a million people in the city of Ar-Riyad died in a second as for a short time the fury of the sun burnt on the planets face.

"Sarah something’s happened" Seeker shouted urgently and I was out of my body to see what she meant. I didn’t have to climb far before it became visible a fire on the ground consuming and destroying the city. I didn’t want to get too close but the power of this weapon was awesome and despite the horror and disaster of the moment it was beautiful in it’s slow motion crawl. I moved in close skirting the fireball that was expanding in the city. I could do nothing here and ran for my body.

"Mike we have a ground burst nuclear detonation in Riyadh" I screamed as I ran for the door leaving him sitting there.

"Billy" I screamed as loud as I could in the hall

"BILLY QUICK" I shouted and a European man emerged from a room opposite.

"Will you shut up now young lady as some of us are trying to sleep" he said standing there in his pyjamas.

"FUCK OFF ARSEHOLE" I snarled at him and continued to walk along the corridor.

"BILLY GET OUT HERE NOW" I screamed my voice sounding shrill.

"Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?" the man said behind me pulling me around to face him. I reacted on instinct my forehead found his nose with a crunch and I carried on along the corridor ignoring the pain it caused.

"BILLY GET YOUR FUCKING BUM OUT HERE NOW" I screamed

"Sarah what is up?" He said appearing wearing just boxer shorts.

"Riyadh has been hit by a nuclear ground burst" I shouted as behind me I heard a scuffle.

I turned around to find Mike fighting with the man who I had argued with.

"Listen will you stop it" I screamed as they rolled around.

"Listen they just fucking nuked a city. We could be next." I said turning back to Billy.

"What?" he said

"I had no warning of this so it wasn’t a missile that delivered it. It was a ground burst as well, I think it might have been a suicide bomb" I said to him and opened my mind to Seeker.

"Yes Sarah?" she asked her ‘voice’ seemed stunned.

"Can you detect a bomb before it blows?" I asked rapidly

"Possibly" she said "It will take some time to reconfigure though"

"Time may be the one thing we don’t have" I answered breaking off contact.

"Billy there could be other devices hidden. Pakistan has nuclear devices and Russian hardware isn’t exactly difficult to come by for the right price…" I paused thinking for a moment could I detect nuclear devices? I didn’t know exactly what I saw when I was out of my mind, I had no eyes to see with yet I saw and I saw things it would be impossible to see with visible light.

I focused on that portion of my brain where Seeker resided and left the hotel. I ignored the huge glowing monstrosity which hung over the burning ruins of the city to the north west and headed towards Britain. I needed to know what radiation looked like to me no matter what breed. Alpha, Beta or Gamma. Or even if I could see it at all. I worked quickly up the west coast over the Bristol Channel and the mountains of Wales. I crossed the River Dee and Mersey then started to slow down as I worked up the coast of Lancashire and into Cumbria. If you live in Britain and you hear the word radiation odds are you would think of this place. A factory with a reputation so bad they renamed it.

Windscale it used to be called but that was a name that became synonymous with scares and leaks. So doing the thing that people expected least they renamed it. ‘No more disasters at Windscale, we have changed the name to Selafield’.

As I approached the factory I could see a bluish glow. As I looked carefully I could see as it got nearer to the factory I could see a second colour merging with the blue, a greenish light. Was this the Beta radiation I wondered for a fraction of a second. I turned climbed and returned to the east. From the height I was at the fireball of the blast was clearly visible far below. I could also now differentiate the visible light from the other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that I now recognised.

I move close to the city of Dhahran and started searching for any sign of the radiation signature. I crossed the city backwards and forwards searching out any sign of the bluish light but getting some interference from the fireball now visible over the horizon as it climbed into the sky. I was just on the point of giving up when something caught my eye. I moved in close to have a look at it.

Deep in the cellar of a house sat a man alone with a box. Not a huge thing only about three feet by three feet. On the side was an open panel with a key in it and the numerals on the side said 16:37.

The box must have been heavily shielded as the glow was not exactly strong outside but inside was alive with fire. Within the centre of the box was a sphere surrounded by small plates with a wire from each. I examined it closely and tried with all my force to pull one of these plates off. I couldn’t they were tight on the Plutonium sphere a second structure was also in the box.

"Shit Billy we have one here" I screamed at him "Plutonium sphere surrounded by shaped charges, I can’t do anything to them I can’t apply enough force"

"Where?" he demanded

"Close I can show you we only have sixteen minutes" I said.

"Mike was dragged off the man with who he was fighting and Billy ran into his room. Returning a matter of seconds later with his phone and two of the flowing robes he normally wore. He bundled the two of us in the lift and as the lift descended he threw one of them to me.

"The phones are not working" he said as he put on his own robe and I tried not to be lost inside the one I was putting on.

In the foyer of the hotel was a scene of some panic for those who were still awake. Billy roared in his own language and a set of keys was shoved in his hand. We ran to the door my feet again sore with the lack of footwear and Mike saw me stumble. He had me up in his arms and was running carrying me before I had time to object. I was shoved in the back of a car and Billy screamed away from the hotel.

"Which way?" He demanded

I started flicking backwards and forwards between an aerial view of the city and the back of the car. Shouting directions we arrived outside the house in a matter of five minutes.

"Billy not yet" I shouted as he ran to the door "There is someone in there"

I left my body and entered the house ignoring the frozen figure of Billy. I searched the house first knowing that the time differential was in my favour. No one else was in the house, I descended into the cellar.

The man was still there he now appeared to be trying to see what the fuss was through a small window. I glanced at the clock 8:03 it now said. I turned my attention to the man and hovered over his motionless form. I dropped down into his skull, I could feel his fear, anger and an acceptance for what was about to happen to him. Though there was no light inside his skull I could see the structure of the cells around me. I moved through wondering where would cause the most damage to at least incapacitate this man. I came to the channel separating the two halves of the brain. I had heard something about damage to this causing death in car crashes, with no apparent damage elsewhere. I hit the interconnecting tissue with all the force I could muster. Then for good measure I repeated the operation on both frontal portions of the separate hemispheres.

"One second" I shouted at Billy returning to my body for a second to let the results of my actions take effect then returned to find the man sinking to the floor.

"He’s down. Go, only eight minutes" I shouted and Mike and Billy took down the door as I stumbled following in the oversize robe.

"In the cellar" I shouted and they were gone as I reached the door.

I made my way to the cellar and found Billy and Mike examining the large box.

"Look this thing is counting down despite the key being turned back" Mike was shouting.

"What if we rip out the electrics?" Billy asked

"If it is a device they don’t want stopped they will have it on a collapsing circuit. Pull the wires and it goes bang" He said "But…" he paused

"Get that fucker out of here he may be some use" Mike said to Billy who obliged dragging the fallen man.

"Get going Sarah" Mike said after looking around the room.

"No. Why?" I demanded of him as Billy returned having dumped my victim.

"Billy get her out and get as far away as you can" Mike said to him looking at the selection of tools in the basement.

"Mike what are you doing?" Billy asked.

"Look if I can vent the tritium the secondary part of the blast won’t occur but you still have a big bang. Not one tenth of the full device going up you two can survive now get her away from here quickly. MOVE" Mike shouted

"MIKE NO!" I screamed as Billy started dragging me away from him and up the stairs. As we left the house with me still kicking and screaming I could hear him going to work.

"Billy no. Mike please" I was crying as I was shoved into the car. Billy shouted something in Arabic before jumping in and putting his foot down hard. I wept in the seat next to him.

"Maybe he can stop it all together" Billy said gently.

"He might be able to" I answered "but it will cost him his life"

"Why?" Billy asked his face suddenly worried.

"The radiation that is going to be in that cellar just from the tritium might kill him. Then he will have a go at the primary system which will mean dismantling the shaped charge and possibly the plutonium sphere. With that he stands no chance." I said to him and returned to my tears.

"You mean he knew that there was no chance?" Billy said his face ashen and I just nodded.

"How long?" he asked as the engine roared

"I don’t know and I can’t look and see him there" I protested through my tears.

"Don’t try" he said gently

We drove for over seven miles at roughly fifty to sixty miles an hour and there was no explosion.

"You can stop" I said

"Are you sure?"

"Yes he did it. But I don’t want to look and see him" I said firmly

"But we might be able to do something for him" Billy answered

"We might be able to make him comfortable" I said "But I can’t look there to see what has happened to him"

"Don’t then" he said gently "I will make some phone calls"

He pulled over into a petrol station forecourt and stopped, we both went inside as I didn’t wish to be left with the man in the car. Billy had a swift argument with the young man in there and was passed the phone where he had a long conversation, followed by three shorter ones. I stood there numb and shaking, I kept breaking into tears and the young man said something I presume was comforting which I couldn’t understand. He offered me his chair indicating I should sit down. As I walked around the counter I glanced out of the window and saw our prisoner was out of the car stumbling around holding his head.

Picking up a baseball bat that was hidden behind the counter I walked out and over to the stumbling man. With all my force I swung bringing it across his kneecap on the left hand side. The force of the blow drove it from my grasp, but the man still went down hard.

"Please Sarah no" came Billy’s voice behind me.

"This fucker wants to meet his god, I will help him on his way" I said walking over to the bat again.

"Do not give him that honour" Billy said

"What?" I said confused

"If he dies now at your hands then we can’t interrogate him and he dies on his mission. If we get information from him then later he is executed his beliefs are that he will not find his place with god" Billy said gently to me.

"But this fucker tried to kill us, he killed Mike" I screamed back at him.

"This man will pay for that but not this way" Billy insisted holding out his hand for the bat that I now held again.

"No" I shouted and brought it down hard on the mans legs again. I stood up for another swing and Billy grabbed me from behind.

"You can’t we need to know if there are more out there" he said as his huge arms encompassed me.

"I can find out just let me finish" I screamed

"No" he said his hands preventing me from swinging and my struggles pointless against his strength.

"Sarah he is right" came Seekers voice in my mind projecting sorrow and comfort in my mind.

"No" I thought back at her but now with little conviction in my voice.

"Yes he is and I have just been informed that two more devices have been found" She answered drawing me out of my misery.

"Where?" I demanded and she showed me.

"We have another two of them Kuwait city and Jiddah" I told Billy then went out to find them.

Again I followed my view of the radiation to home in on the devices. The one in Kuwait City was in a disused factory a man was standing over it. I looked at the clock it hadn’t been activated yet. I entered his mind and with all the force I could muster I repeatedly hit at the structure of his brain, ignoring the effort I was now finding it I kept battering away. I left the man and headed to the Red Sea and followed the coast down. As I approached the city I could see the blue glow of the radiation as I approached it started to brighten significantly.

I dove in through the casing into weapon the primary was compressing to produce the initial fission reaction before my eyes. I looked there was no way to stop the primary so I placed myself between the primary and the secondary enveloping the secondary and trying to force back all I couldn’t see. The effort was immense though I couldn’t see what I was holding back.

"Oh god somebody help me" I screamed as I felt the energy flow from me with the effort.

I was suddenly aware of a second presence then a third and more all giving me a bit of their energy. Like many people pushing a car the effort required was less as now thousands and hundreds of thousands joined me. The fury was building up now in front of me the reaction building up rapidly as I watched, even in my distorted time sense this was happening quickly. As I forced everything away from me I could feel all those helping me getting weaker as they gave me all they could.

The casing of the device was starting to dissolve around me it seemed to be sublimating directly to a gaseous form, I couldn’t keep this force up for much longer even with the help I was getting from the unknown minds helping me. I threw them free of me not wanting to take them with me and I was lost in the expanding fireball.

I floated semi-aware of my existence for what seemed like days or possibly weeks. As I gradually started pulling myself together, I realised I was high in the atmosphere over the Pacific. I slowly started moving towards the west crossing the Indian Ocean and then the sub continent before crossing the Arabian Sea and working my way up the coast. I floated over the city trying to feel the pull of my body.

I could barely feel it just a slight sensation of being drawn to a large building. I moved in close, it was another hospital. I moved amongst the frozen people searching for myself. I dropped down to ground level and came to a casualty department. I was close now I could feel the pull stronger. But nowhere near as strong as what I felt even faraway from the earth. I slid through a wall into a room five people were in here.

I looked at them the two doctors a man and a woman, two nurses both women and Billy stood in a corner frozen. I didn’t want to go back to my body and face life like this without Mike, but he looked so worried. His face was a mask of anguish, a tear frozen running down his cheek. I thought about slipping into his mind to feel what was going through him at this moment and decided against it, I would not invade the privacy of a friend like this. I slid over the table looking down at the sun burned form of my body, the clothes cut open exposing me to the view of these people. I dropped down into myself and for a moment or two I panicked as I couldn’t reintegrate myself.

I relaxed for a moment and I felt myself being drawn down and suddenly I was back in. I took a deep breath and my ears could hear the panic around me. I tried to sit up and was pushed roughly down onto the bed again. I could hear urgent shouting and I tried to push the hands on me away.

"Sarah can you hear me?" came a heavily accented voice. I opened my eyes and looked into the face of a doctor working on me.

"Yes I can" I rasped "get off me"

"No you have been down for twenty seven minutes. Do you have any medical history as we can find no cause for this?" he asked

"Need sugar" I said "exhaustion"

Again there was confused talking and I felt blood being taken. I lay there, eyes closed, trying to regain my senses I felt a sheet being pulled over me.

"Sarah, how are you?" came Billy’s voice and I opened my eyes.

"Not with these here" I said looking at the people still in the room. Billy spoke there was a minor argument and the four left the room.

"Billy any news over Mike?" I asked

"Not yet it has been less than an hour and over half of that time you were not breathing" he answered

"Look there were two more bombs one in Kuwait City the other…" I tried to think of the cities name "Shit I can’t think my mind won’t work" I wanted to weep for a moment about this apparent inability to think and then pulled myself back together.

"City on the coast near Mecca" I said still unable to make my mind work properly

"Gidda?" he asked

"I don’t know. I got there too late and the detonation was in progress, I tried to protect the secondary but it was too much. I couldn’t stop it" I started weeping at the memory and Billy stood there holding my hand.

The doctor came bursting back in the room with a nurse.

"Sarah are you a diabetic, have you been taking insulin?" he demanded.

"No, just too much effort" I mumbled stating to drift off again as I could hear arguments around me. There was movement for a few minutes then I could feel myself getting slightly stronger.

"Sarah, your blood sugar was very low do you know why?" came the doctors insistent question.

"Too difficult, it was too hard" I said and again I was shaken, I roused a little more this time and opened my eyes.

"Have you been taking insulin?" the doctor asked.

"No" I said firmly "Billy do something please, I can’t explain to him"

Billy immediately jumped in to my defence and a long argument ensued. Eventually the doctor gave up and started nodding at what Billy was saying.

"Sarah there will be no more questions but they would like to keep you in for a night" Billy announced

"No I don’t need to" I protested

"For me will you? Please?" he asked

"Look I will stay here for a few hours but that is it. You have to keep me informed what is going on" I insisted.

"I will, but I need to find out what the situation is at the moment. I don’t know if any of my family survived yet" he said sadly.

"Look go do what you have to I will be fine" I insisted ashamed for keeping him at a time like this.

"I must go but I will send Alex" he said as he left.

I was left there amongst strangers, in a country and culture foreign to me and a body I had yet to accept. Mike had helped me with that to the extent I would have been happy with him, but I had failed. I was the senior officer it was my job to make sure he came back and if anyone had to do what he did it should have been me. I couldn’t criticise his decision, it was the only one to make but it was my job.

I left my body and headed towards the house where the bomb had been hidden. A massive police presence was frozen whilst cordoning off the area, clearing people away. I looked at the house and decided I had to know.

I slipped through the walls and floor into the room and was not given the luxury of being able to close my eyes. It looked like Mike had been working on the device up until it blew. His body had been blown across the room when the high explosive charge had gone off, near him lay a screwdriver. I could feel nothing from him and decided I couldn’t look too closely. I looked inside the device and found the reason it hadn’t gone off. He had been prying the explosives clear of the primary fission package as it had fired. The fact that half the charges were off had prevented the initial blast. I left and headed back to myself, the attraction of my body firmer now and reintegration instantaneous.

Back in my body I rolled onto my side carefully with the drip in me and cried for a long time.

"I have something here to help you rest" The doctor said approaching the bed.

"No I don’t need it" I said

"Young lady you need what I decide you need, I don’t know what exactly is going on but you need rest" he answered

I rolled on my back so I could see him approaching.

"No" I said again quietly.

"Now stop being silly" he said still approaching me.

"No" I shouted at him furious for being treated as if my opinion didn’t count.

What happened next was almost like a sneeze my mind struck out in defence and the syringe was knocked from his hand. I could feel his confusion and some fear over what had happened.

"Perhaps you should leave" I suggested and applied a little pressure to him with my mind, he couldn’t move fast enough.

"Seeker what is happening?" I asked in my mind

"Sarah we are lost we have no idea what is happening within your mind. All we do know is normally your species uses but a small proportion of your mind, you now seem aware of the other parts and are starting to utilise them. With the nuclear device you cried out to the stars and grasped those who offered to help. When you were done you cast them off as if they were nothing" she answered.

"I didn’t want to risk taking anyone with me if I died" I protested.

"Sarah we realise that, but this was a situation that has not been known before. You took the energy of millions and used it yourself to complete a task that we could not see" she said

"Can you see when you talk to others remotely?" I asked

"We can see what they see that is all. If nobody is at a location we can not see"

"You poor things it is beautiful when I travel the void choosing where to visit" I told her honestly.

"You see where you are?" she asked confused.

"Yes I lift above myself and I am away, free to go where I want" I said

"We cannot, we can only go where others are before us" she answered

"Oh" was my only reply for a moment "Can you see the minds in a communion?"

"No"

"They are beautiful each race has a different texture and colour" I explained

"No we feel the contact that is all" Seeker admitted

"What about the moving of objects with the mind, the telekinesis?" I asked

"Oh many races have that ability but to try and hold back a fission reaction is something new, as was the method of drawing force from others. This will have to be investigated more" She said and paused for a long while.

"I know a lot has happened and you have been through a lot, but many individuals are requesting that you read again. When you have time will you please?" she asked

"I will see what I can do" I assured her.

I lay there for a long time trying to keep my temper with Seeker and all those out there who seemed to be oblivious to what I was going through. All they wanted was their entertainment not to be disturbed, rather like the people here I thought.

Billy came back in and disturbed me from my thoughts.

"Sarah did you say you tried to intervene with the bomb in Gidda?" He asked

"Yes the primary was compressing as I arrived I tried to prevent the secondary firing. But I wasn’t strong enough to stop it" I said

"You were. I have been told it was a fizzle, the secondary didn’t catch" he eagerly explained.

"So we were talking kilotons instead of megatons, people still died didn’t they?" I shouted back angrily.

"Yes and we are talking tens of thousands instead of hundreds of thousands. It is a tragedy but a far lesser tragedy than might have occurred"

"How did they get them here so quickly?" I demanded.

"It wasn’t quickly. It is over thirty six hours ago that you destroyed the aircraft attacking. Pakistan has the nuclear weapons and sneaking them across the border is no problem. I don’t think they even needed to leave a man with them except for the fact the devices might have been found" he answered

"What about Riyadh?" I asked

"There is not a lot left of the city, most of my family were there" he said his voice flat without emotion.

""What is the situation now? How are the other nations reacting? Are we alone here?" I asked rapidly.

"At the moment I don’t know, I have been trying to organise rescue operations and the search for any more bombs" he answered.

"Get me some clothes. I can warn you of any more bombs, I know what they look like now. You need to start telling the world what has happened and get some help" I said firmly.

"But you should stay here" he said

"Look, what help have you got here now?" I asked

"None, I was here alone as you have seen" he answered.

"Right. You are in charge until we find if anyone else survived, so lets start things moving. Get Alex here with some clothes for me and claim somewhere for a temporary HQ. You can not do everything alone" I insisted.

Fifteen minutes later Alex arrived with some clothes for me. I carefully removed the drip and then I dressed with her help.

"What happens now?" she asked her face scared.

"I can find anymore bombs on their way in. But Billy is suddenly dumped in charge in a crisis like this, he needs all the help he can get" I told her

"Sarah, I am not strong like you. I am more scared than I ever have been in my life. When you went to help those children I couldn’t, I was too scared, what hope do I have now?" she said the tears on her face.

"Look if the job has to be done, then you do it. Mike knew that and he was the only one who could have had a hope in hell of stopping that bomb. He loved Star Trek and as Spock used to say ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one’. He would have been glad to have a heroic death, one that will be remembered" I was crying again now.

"He will be remembered" she said holding me tight.

"Do I look presentable?" I asked as I managed to stop the tears. I stood up so she could see me in the white linen skirt and top she had brought.

"Come here let me do something with your hair" she said "It is not exactly what I think suits you but if we are working with Billy you need to be taken seriously today. There are some of Billy’s staff that are rather fundamental in their beliefs. You as a woman are a problem, but if you are displaying too much flesh…"

"I keep forgetting we are in a Muslim nation" I said ", Billy seems so accepting of everything"

"He is different, very different. He is a good Muslim but he is more tolerant of other cultures and beliefs than any other high ranking Muslim I have met. He would rather irritate a few of the old timers than change his views and opinions" She said

"Well he is going to need help" I said and I walked out of the room in the casualty unit that I had been left in. The doctor didn’t object too hard to my leaving, in fact he seemed glad to see me go.

The three of us stepped out into the early light of the sun, just rising in the east. If it was not for the general panic in the city it would look like nothing had ever happened last night. Millions of people had probably died and the world kept on going. Mike had died yet I kept on living.

"What do we do first?" Billy asked me drawing me out of my contemplation.

"Tell the world first. Not just of the bombs that went off but the ones that didn’t" I said "they can’t hide from this the fuel used for the bomb here is as individual as a fingerprint. They should be able to tell you where it was manufactured and probably when. If we contact the big news services BBC, CNN, SKY, NBC and whoever else you can think of then you start working on the other countries. With CNN if you play on the heroic efforts of the JFK and the callous disregard for all nationalities in Riyadh. With SKY and the Beeb concentrate on the actions of Mike. With all of them ask the question, what will happen if they decide to take out the oil fields. Whatever the governments foreign policy is, with the loss of their own nationals and the possibility of a fuel crisis, public pressure will do the rest" I told him.

"Should I start with the foreign leaders before the news services?" he asked.

"No use the public opinion first then talk to the leaders" I insisted.

"But…" he protested.

"Look Billy, you are now in control of this country until we find someone else who can relive you of the position. The majority of the western leaders have their eyes on the next election. You know the American Presidents dislike of foreign squabbles ‘America can no longer be the police force and the conscience of the world’, was what he said in his election campaign. It worked he has lower taxes, but the people will accept slightly higher taxes if it means the petrol prices stay low" I said

"What of Britain?" he asked.

"Play on the heroic efforts of Mike, a man who survived the Illustrious incident, then gave his life knowingly to try to stop a bomb. Play on the bombing of the hospital and the efforts of you, Mike and myself in saving the children. Then you hit them with the fact that despite the aircraft you took out, you did with minimal loss of life and the fact that you haven’t launched any attacks against Persian soil. That they had no compunctions about killing hundreds of thousand, if not millions in their anger at their impotence against you", I said after some thought about how the British public would react.

"Are you sure? It might reveal your part in this" he asked

"This has got beyond my concerns or wishes. Let the governments think you have some new weapon, if necessary I will claim asylum here. I can’t think of better company to be exiled in", I answered, with a little forced smile.

"Is Mike dead?" Alex asked

"Yes, I checked earlier. He was still working on the device when it went off. I don’t know if it was the radiation, the blast or the plutonium that killed him. I couldn’t look that closely at him" I said the tears in my eyes again. I sniffed a few times then managed to force my grief back inside.

"Well lets start making phone calls and telling the world" I said.

"I have an official of the Saudi Government who wishes to make a statement" I explained to the switchboard at the BBC.

"What?" the voice at the other end asked

"The Saudi Arabian Government wishes to make a statement. The question is who gets it first you, Sky or CNN" I said

"One moment please", the voice said, and I was transferred.

"You say you have a surviving member of the Saudi government wanting to make a statement. We have been told none could have survived the blast in Riyadh" A mans voice said.

"Look it has been on the news all day that not all of the royal family was in Riyadh. If you want to speak to the prince, call me on this number, but I think CNN will be more interested", I gave him the number and despite his protests, put the phone down.

It rang again less than a minute later.

"Billy you answer that and I will play with CNN" I said taking the phone off him.

"We have no proof of who you are and what your official position is within the Saudi Arabian Royal Family now" came an American mans voice from the phone.

"Listen don’t worry your little head about it" I said

"Who is this?" he demanded.

"I am no one, just a filthy girl who crawls through rubble with a British Naval Officer, now dead after disarming a device here in Dhahran", I answered "Don’t worry about it I prefer to work with an organisation like the BBC and they are interviewing the prince at the moment. If you want to talk later, give us a call on this number and we may be able to fit you in somewhere", I said to them, and gave them the number before putting the phone down. I heard Alex using similar tactics as I waited for the phone to ring again.

We had more people working with us as Billy finished his last interview on the phone, and sat there for a moment.

"What’s up?" I asked

"I am trying to figure out how a Muslim could commit this massacre if he was a good Muslim" He said

"It has little to do with beliefs", I answered, "It is usually for other reasons and Islam is not the only faith that does these things. Look at the Christian faiths over the years"

"I know it is just for years I have been trying to change the view of the Islamic faith, these people have destroyed all that in a moment. In the name of Allah they have destroyed my family and my people with no thought for the innocent", he answered, the magnitude of his loss just starting to sink in.

"Look Billy, now is the time to get things done, we have time to grieve later", I said.

"Yes", he said with a shudder, "I have things to do"

Seeker interrupted me at this point in the proceedings.

"Sarah we have aircraft coming in from the north" she said

"Show me where" I thought at her.

I left my body and headed north to the area that Seeker had shown me. I found the first of them, Black aircraft heading towards the southern Mediterranean coast, American stealth aircraft.

"Billy we have a retaliation attack coming in from the US, stealth aircraft. They had to be launched before the bombs went off" I said

"Well let us start with the Americans and thank them for their help, "Billy said ", how many are there?"

"Nine", I answered after a quick conference with Seeker.

You do not want to know how long it takes for anyone to get through the switchboards to talk to the American President.

"Mr President, first of all I would like to thank you for the nine stealth bombers you have authorised, but to avoid any unnecessary incidents, can you keep me informed of such action when it over flies Saudi Arabian territory", Billy said, and there was a pause where I could not hear the other side of the conversation.

"I realise the line of succession is compromised here at the moment, but I assure you that nine Stealth Bombers are approaching and if you wish I will give exact positions. But please remember that I am not working on a secure phone line", Billy said and again a pause.

"Yes, I realise that you would have authorised steps to be taken in response to the aggression against American military assets in the Persian Gulf. But, we are beyond the needs of the American people for a visible revenge now. The situation now impinges on the safety and prosperity of the world, we have had three nuclear devices in this country and one in Kuwait City", Billy announced, and again paused.

"Mr President, thanks to actions by people in my country, the one here in Dhahran did not explode, though it cost a brave British Naval Officer his life. The Jiddah bomb was interfered with enough that it was a fizzle, and the Kuwait City one was not initiated", Billy spoke into the phone.

"Mr President, they were willing to waste a bomb on Kuwait City, a city of less than fifty thousand people. This is a direct statement to the western nations, that is the only reason that a bomb was placed there. If you look to the west this is what happens. So as for your condemnation of these actions, as much as I welcome this, I feel I must ask for more firm propositions about your response", Billy was getting quite irritated now and again there was a pause.

"Mr President I need your backing now. You waited a week and a half longer than it took to get a response from the British, and this is a situation that has polarised since western intervention during the Gulf War", Billy shouted and again a pause.

"Look, we have a death toll in the millions here, and you tell me you can do nothing at the moment, yet you launch a strike against these nations for the loss of a carrier? We had more women and children die than that in the bombing of Dhahran", he shouted.

"Well then Mr President, I refuse permission for your forces to enter Saudi Arabian airspace, as a minor attack as you are suggesting will only add to the tensions here and increase the risk to my people", Billy said firmly.

"Well then on entry to our territorial airspace one aircraft will have its crew separated from it. We shall pick up the crew and they shall be returned to you immediately. If the aircraft continue to cross our airspace then we will repeat this with all of them. I will not allow you to provoke this situation further with a minor show of force for your own popularity. You either go all the way or not at all, you know where I am if you wish to talk to me further", Billy slammed the phone down.

"Problems?", I asked

"The most powerful and well informed country on earth and who do they elect for president this time, not a leader, not a warrior, not even a wise man. This time of all times they have to elect a professional politician", he shouted.

"Wait till you deal with the British Governmental structure", I said, "We have something worse than politicians, we have Civil Servants"

Within minutes Billy had hit the British political subsystem and bounced a few times with several different avenues of approach.

"Damn, I am going to have to call on some names here", he said, and started dialling another number.

"Yes can I please talk to his highness it is extremely urgent please?" Billy said calmly

"Yes I realise the time…Is that you Wendy?", he said with a grin

"Yes I always know that voice, it’s Billy, can you put me through as you have heard what’s going on here…Yes I know, but I can’t talk as I need to get through to the Prime Minister and I keep getting Civil Servants. Yes, thanks Wendy", he said and looked at me and covered the mouthpiece with one hand.

"An eye and a ear for the pretty ladies sometimes is in my favour", he said, "though I don’t know what she looks like, I have had many conversations with the lady, as I have waited for an answer"

"Yes Wendy thank you…No, we don’t know if any of my family made it, we don’t even know who was in the city…thank you, it is most appreciated and I know you mean it", he said back on the phone.

I checked on the incoming aircraft and found the first ones crossing Sinai Peninsula, about to cross the Gulf of Aqaba and down into the Arabian Peninsular.

"Billy the first aircraft have crossed the coast" I said

"Can you take one out without risk to yourself?", he asked, and I nodded and was gone.

The cockpit layout was unfamiliar but is always near enough to grab when necessary was the ejection system. It was getting easier, I thought, as I applied the pressure and came back to my body.

"Its done", I said, and he nodded, I closed my eyes for a moment as I was still weak from my earlier efforts.

"Sarah are you ok?", came Alex’s concerned voice.

"Yes I am, just weak that’s all. All these games take their toll", I explained, without telling her anything.

"I thank you for your concern", I heard Billy saying, "But it would have been much worse without the sacrifice of a British Naval Officer…Yes, he gave his life while disarming the bomb here…No, he didn’t, he used hand tools…Yes, he knew but didn’t hesitate"

I could feel my suppressed grief re-emerging as I listened to this one sided conversation about Mike.

"Lieutenant Michael Jennings a pilot off Illustrious. I picked him and a young lady up on the coast road the day of the air raid here, they had been picked up by a boat, probably smugglers and dropped off on the coast…We believe she is British but she has some memory problems, the yacht she was on was attacked, with all but her killed. She is the young lady who saved those children at the hospital…I know, but I need to talk to the Prime Minister but I keep hitting red tape, can you do anything?" Billy asked, his eyes turning heavenward.

"Yes, thank you and I promise to talk to you properly as soon as we stabilise things here. Thank you again, good night", he finished and put the phone down.

"Are you sorted then?" I asked

"Yes, though I thought I was going to be there all day. You British put your Royalty on a pedestal and then send all your press out to find the dirt on them. This means they have very few people they can trust to speak to, and to most of the world they talk about the most inane things. Whenever I get talking to any member of the Windsor family they never want to stop", He said

"No it is just you Billy", I said, "you are easy to talk to"

The phone rang and Alex answered it.

"One moment please sir he is on the other line", She said and mouthed the word ‘Presidents Office’. We sat there for a couple of minutes and then Billy took the phone.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Mr President but as you can probably gather a lot of things are happening here…You say one of your aircraft has come down…Well I did warn you that they did not have permission to cross into our airspace…Yes, as soon as the aircrew is located they will be immediately returned…Well I am sure you wouldn’t share such interesting military developments with us, if you had them, and with your reluctance to involve your forces here, I can see no reason to explain it. But I am not a malicious man and will never try to kill men obeying orders…I don’t care, you either respond or you do not, no half measures are acceptable. These people have used nuclear devices against my people…Terrorists? Well that can be checked out as we have two devices intact and from that, you can identify the place, time and probably the reactor the plutonium came from…Well if you can’t risk military intervention on what might be an act of terrorism, then I can not guarantee oil supplies as I am going to have to try and help those people helping me…Yes, just like Faisal did in the seventies…Goodbye", again the phone was put down.

"He is a good man but as you British say ‘he farts around’. He will make the right decision eventually, but at the moment, eventually might be too late", Billy said, the strain of the situation on his face.

"He was elected for his lack of foreign policies and his single minded attention to America", I said, "America needed the attention and the money being ploughed back into its own people for a while. They had been neglected for too long. But he is unwilling to change this attitude as the situation dictates"

"Yes, I know, but time is the one thing I do not have in my favour", he shouted at me.

"Listen, you are under strain and you haven’t eaten yet. You did well with The President there, but you are going to make a mistake unless you calm down and eat something", I said gently.

"Calm down and eat", he shouted standing up from his chair, "Do you know what is happening to my family, my people and my country?"

I pushed hard with my mind sending him back into his chair, and I kept the force on him as I stood up and spoke.

"Listen Billy, you are a nice bloke under an unimaginable stress at the moment. But remember, I am the reason that your city here isn’t radioactive dust. I have more of an idea than you what has happened, I have seen it. Mike stopped the bomb going off, and I have also seen him dead in that basement. You calm yourself down, because an angry and emotional leader is a bad leader", I shouted at him, then I let up on the pressure, "Now, Alex and I will try and sort out some food and you shall eat, as I would not like to have to get angry with you"

"Sarah…", he said

"Don’t, I am angry with you at the moment", I said, "I will speak with you after you have eaten. Come on Alex"

Alex stood there for a moment indecision on her face.

"Go Alex, Sarah is right", Billy said, "and I apologise for my attitude with you"

"Don’t worry about it, but both of us need some food", I said, "Have either of you got any money as I have none?"

As Alex and I started walking through the streets of the city, the feeling of fear was perceptible to me, but these people also had a fierce determination not to give in. Yes, people were in a state of shock at the violation of their nation, but the shops and businesses were opening as normal.

"Alex we need to get Billy out here", I said

"Why?" she asked confused.

"He needs to open his eyes and see", I said

We walked back inside, and Billy was back on the phone, I think to a member of the British government, he eventually put the phone down.

"We at least have support", he said, slightly happier than he had been when we left.

"Come on outside with us for a few minutes", I said

"What do you mean, I have things to do", he said

"Look, come outside with me for a while. Alex, do you mind putting calls on hold for half an hour at the most?" I asked

"I don’t mind, what if something else starts?" she asked

"I will know first", I said, and grabbed Billy’s hand ignoring his protests.

Outside Billy looked around, but didn’t feel the determination of the people in the city. I tried to concentrate what I was feeling and give it to him, it is a weird sensation trying to tune your mind to do something it has never done before. By chance, and the fact I could see Billy’s face suddenly change I managed to hit the right combination and hold it.

"What is this?", He asked, a look of shock and wonder on his face.

"It is how the people of this city feel, their fear, their anger and above all their determination to survive", I said, projecting it stronger now.

"Which people?", He asked.

"I don’t know, I feel it but I can’t identify if it is from near or far", I said honestly.

An elderly man stopped in passing and looked at Billy. He asked a question in Arabic and Billy answered nodding, eliciting a burst of happiness and pride from the old man, before a short conversation and he continued on his way.

"He fought during the Six Day War, and he is ready to fight again, for me", Billy said, sounding awed.

We continued walking till we found a small bar type affair which appeared to be serving coffee and a selection of pastries, we walked into the darker interior and found it was full of men. I could feel the suspicion I was being regarded with and was still broadcasting the emotions to Billy. Billy said something to them and I could make out Sarah in the speech and suddenly the emotions changed to gratitude. It was honest gratitude from the bottom of their hearts, at the girl who had risked herself for the children, I was overwhelmed and tried to block it out.

"Sarah are you well", Billy asked

"Yes it is just rough, this much pure emotion being directed at me", I said honestly

"We are an emotional people unlike the British, by nature, I think that may be the reason I have found it so difficult this morning, I have been treating this as if I was British", He said

"Look you have been doing a wonderful job, you just needed to get some food in you and a little perspective", I said, as I climbed up onto a bar stool that had been vacated for me, rather a problem in a long skirt.

"You are the lady who saved the babies?", a man asked to my left in poor English

"Yes", I said.

"You are a brave woman and I thank you for your efforts for the children of my city", he said, holding out a hand uncertainly.

"I could not leave them there while I could help", I said honestly, shaking it and suddenly, I was besieged by men wanting to speak to me.

"Billy this is getting a little much for me", I said, as the emotions battered at me sending me from joy to sadness and back to joy in a matter of seconds. Tears were freely running down my face

"Sarah what is it?" he asked, and I re-established the link that had broken between us with the first emotional battering.

Billy said something again in Arabic, I heard my name and Michael Jennings spoken and suddenly a wave of compassion flooded from these people to me.

"You told them what Mike did", I said more tears running down my face.

"Yes", he said

"Your companion was a hero and we shall remember him", said the man who had spoken to me in English first.

"Thank you", I mumbled back

After the coffee, I did not feel like eating the pastries, Billy looked concerned at me.

"Sarah you should eat", he said

"I don’t feel like it now", I said, "are you going to cope now?"

"Yes, things are in perspective again now, I know what I need to do", he said

"Do you mind if I escape to the hotel, I am not feeling too good"

"Go, you should be resting anyway", he said, escorting me outside, where he found a taxi and paid for it to drive me back.

I entered the hotel foyer after sitting silently in the taxi, lots of activity was taking place, lots of people leaving quickly. I managed to explain my key had been left in my room and it was arranged that the room would be opened for me if I went up. As I exited the lift, I was met by the man from last night bruises evident on his face from Mike, and a swollen nose from me.

"You young lady", he shouted, "You and that man I am going to report to the police"

"Fuck off", I said walking away and again his hand was on my shoulder to stop me.

I turned around and felt power flood through my brain. I slammed him against the wall, his head near the ceiling and I looked at him.

"Mike, that man, died last night disarming a nuke that would have blown you to shit before you had time to wonder what hit you. Now fuck off and go", I said with a flat voice, and let him slide down the wall. He ran for the still open lift, leaving his bag behind. I walked round the corner to the room where the maid was waiting disapprovingly for me, with a key, she opened the door for me.

"Thank you", I said as I entered the room and looked around. Mike’s jacket and the sword from Billy were there from last night and I sank down clutching the jacket sobbing for a long time. I didn’t leave the room again physically for two weeks.

Over that two week period, the Middle East fell to shit.

The instability left by the lack of an effective air force in the Persian Confederacy territories, left them wide open. The Shiites revolted in Iran, breaking away from the Confederacy before the retaliation started. The western nations, under UN sanction and led by the US proceeded to destroy all military, communications and control structures within the remaining countries of the Confederacy. Despite having no sanction for their action India and Syria started expanding their borders into Pakistan and Iraq. China, the big power, watching all this action so close grumbled, and the world held its breath for a while, then breathed as nothing was forthcoming. Israel for no particular reason other than the instability at the time and the strength of the Arab nations moved back into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

I lay in my room, the curtains closed, watching these events not interfering just observing the madness within the world. Billy and Alex tried to get me up and about but I refused. I didn’t even talk to Seeker in this time.

"Sarah, we are having Michael’s funeral tomorrow and it is going ahead if you like it or not", Billy said one morning.

"Fine go ahead", I said, without opening my eyes to look at him. I had been in the depths of space away from the emotions of the real world. I was living out of my body long enough for each day to seem like a month, so Mikes death seemed like a distant memory.

"Are you going to come?" he demanded, and I though about it for a while, whilst examining the cratered surface of the moon. I was looking for the various Apollo landing sites. As I left the surface and returned after what seemed like an hour or two, I answered.

"No I don’t think so"

"You are going to come", he said firmly.

"No I don’t want to, he’s gone. I can’t find him" I said.

"Sarah listen to…", he started to say, as I escaped over the Pacific Ocean. I had always enjoyed flying over the sea. Probably why I joined the Navy to fly. Why else take off and land from a small hunk of metal bouncing up and down, as you try to put her down gently. I entered a cloudy area, and rose above it high enough to see the circular pattern of the clouds, then turned my attention to the sky, climbing till the stars became visible.

"ARE YOU OUT THERE?" I screamed, as I left the solar system. In the void I sat listening for a response, none came.

"…me", Billy said, as I returned. "You can not spend your life in here and you should be there to say goodbye, for Mike"

"The man is dead", I said callously, "I wasn’t able to help him then, he doesn’t need me now"

"Listen to me, you will be there", he shouted at me, reaching towards me. I could feel his actions and his intent without opening my eyes. I stopped him and raised him up from the floor, his legs kicking. Living out of my body for the years of subjective time, had strengthened my skills and control significantly.

"I don’t care, Sarah, if you kill me, I won’t let you do this to yourself" he shouted, causing me to open my eyes.

"Billy, I would never hurt you. You are a good man and to that end you are a rare thing that needs to be protected. There are not enough like you and…", I paused unable to say his name.

"Come on say it", he shouted at me, "Let it out"

I lowered him down but still prevented him approaching me.

"Listen to me. You haven’t grieved yet, you have just locked yourself away from the world ignoring everything" He said

"No, I have watched every thing", I said, "Why do you think there is so little collateral damage? I am there as they drop their ordinance, watching and guiding. When necessary, disarming" I said.

"You have been doing that", he said

"SAM, anti aircraft fire and radar systems as well. But for what?" I asked

"To make sure this doesn’t happen again", he answered.

"It will though, it is all pointless, in the end we will just find another reason to kill each other", I said

"But is that any reason for you to die?" he said

"Is there any reason to live?" I asked him

Millions or possibly Billions of voices suddenly answered me through Seeker.

"Yes, because we have shared your pain and we feel it too", they said, filling me with emotions of hope and sorrow. Hints of wonders to see and experience, if I lived.

"But he has gone", I shouted at them, feeling the structure of the communion shudder at the force of my reply. But it held solid.

"Sarah please", they pleaded, and I felt all the emotions I had held at bay, trying to break free.

"No", I shouted with my mind, but the force of the people out there damped it to nothing.

One voice came through stronger, sharing his/her/its loss of a family with me. Then another and another, all who had lost those they loved. They had felt their world had ended. The grief in me overflowed and I forced Seeker and the communion from my mind.

"Billy he’s gone and I couldn’t do anything to save him", I cried, "An hour later he wouldn’t have had to do it but I didn’t know how. It was my fault he had to die…"

Billy held me for a long time as I cried. Fed by the sadness and compassion this man had for me I let loose the feelings I had been repressing. I cried for a long time.

The funeral the next day was a simple affair in theory. In practice with television encroachment into the outskirts of the small cemetery and the crowds who appeared, it was a circus. Every thing I feared came to pass it wasn’t a funeral, it was a platform for many people to express their outrage at the recent events in the Middle East and to assure all who were listening it would stop with the addition of their forces into the chaos. The thing was, they didn’t even believe what they were saying.

The representative from the Admiralty an unknown Commodore did believe his words that this was in the truest traditions of the British Navy, but he was scared silly about fallout and the risk of another attack. He felt he had drawn the short straw having to appear here.

Mike’s parents had been flown in at Billy’s expense and I concentrated my attentions on giving them a feel of what was coming from the crowds and people in the city. Honest sadness, gratitude and compassion for their loss. I was introduced at the end and I left it at that, not wishing to intrude on their sadness and unwilling to explain my existence.

I didn’t cry. My crying had been done the day before and I had nothing left to give for him.

"Billy I have nothing against you, your hospitality or your country, but I need to get away from here", I told him as we returned to the hotel.

"I haven’t made any enquiries yet as to getting you repatriated", Billy said honestly.

"Well do you mind? I need to be far away from here and the emotions in this city", I answered.

"I will make enquiries straight away and see how soon we can get you moving. Though I will be sad to see you go", he admitted.

"I promise to keep in touch, this isn’t a case of I wont see you again just a case that I need to go for a while", I tried to explain to him how I felt in this city, though I could tell from his emotions, that this was unsuccessful.

"Look Billy you are my friend, a very dear friend, who loves me as a friend", I said

"But…", he started to protest, and I interrupted him.

"Billy it is nothing more than friendship as I feel the same towards you. I know you love me as a friend but you are deeply in love with Alex", I said

"You can tell much", he said.

"Yes I can and I know she feels deeply for you. If anything comes of it, it is up to you two alone, I can not tell the future", I said.

"We will have to see", he said gently.

"I need to go and find myself, I don’t think England is the place to do that but it is a place to start from"

"What about your family?" he asked.

"No family will be found. It will be as if Sarah did not exist before I arrived on your shores"

"How do you know? Have you got your memories back?" I could feel his confusion.

"By a lucky set of coincidences, the person who I am, came into being with these gifts I have, just at the right time", I said to him .

"And Mike?" he asked.

"Was a brave man who gave his life for a lot of people", I assured him.

We were silent for the rest of the journey back and as I got out of the long black dress provided for me, he began the process of getting me back to a home where I had never existed.

It was as difficult to cut through the British red tape as trying to stop the nuclear device. I was merely an irritation in the ordered lives of the diplomatic staff. The first problem they faced was the fact that the British Embassy had disappeared with a large proportion of the city of Riyadh. I had no proof that I had ever existed and it was suggested I might be the daughter of an expatriate or possibly an Australian, American, New Zealander and any other country with any European white speaking population. Three weeks on and I was getting more and more depressed.

"Sarah", Billy said one evening. He visited me often but I refused to eat with him and Alex, as despite their kind words and assurances, I was in the way.

"Yes, Your Highness", I said, he was in full working dress which he disliked and it was fun to tease him.

"Sarah I have tried all ways to try and sort your repatriation to the United Kingdom. But what I am finding is that due to the system this is not something that will be sorted quickly. If you were starving on the street possibly you would be repatriated then they would sort it out in Britain but as it is…", He paused and I took over.

"I am trapped in this deluxe suite of five star hotel, all expenses paid, at the behest of the King of Saudi Arabia", I said.

"Yes exactly", he announced, "I had thought of just putting you on a plane to England and seeing what happens. But on further thought they might admit you into the country then not issue another passport. In effect stranding you there"

"No, I want to go home, but it is a point to start from rather than a destination", I admitted.

"There is one other way we may do this", he said, his voice sounding unsure.

"Come on out with it", I said with a smile.

"Well you realise that I am an absolute ruler", He started and I nodded, "Well laws are things I make up and I decide. If I was to adopt you into my family I could then issue you with Saudi Arabian Nationality and Passport. But odds are, you would never be a British National again"

"Let me think about it overnight", I said, "How much work would it involve?"

"About as long as it takes me to say it and get a photograph taken", he said smiling.

"What about the fact that I am not a Muslim?" I asked.

"Sarah, over a forty eight hour period, you saved my country and more Muslims than anyone else before of any faith. I believe your arrival and the timing of it has Allah written all over it. So if you believe in a god by any name or even if you have no faith, I know from my faith that Allah believes in you. I don’t care what your faith or lack of faith is, I can always pray you will be enlightened", He finished with a smile.

"What and give up the bacon sandwiches, that is a tough one Billy" I said

"Yes that is one of the things that makes me convinced you are British, bacon, sausage and tomato sauce. Only the British call that cuisine. You have a wonderful history, fantastic traditions and the total lack of taste as far as food goes"

"Yes I know", I said as I though of Alex’s face as she watched me shovel the food away.

"Billy do you mind contacting the appropriate authorities for the last time. If there is no progress, then yes, I will accept your offer, though it is not my reluctance to be part of your family that makes me hesitate", I said, not wanting him to think that I felt his offer was second best.

"I understand Sarah and I will try again and tell you the situation first", he assured me.

The next day I was officially, Sarah ibn Abd al-Aziz Saud. Not actually part of the governmental structure, but part of the family. With the ink barely dry on my new passport, I decided it was time to move.

"Billy it is time for me to leave for a while", I said.

"I know. Though I am sad that you go, I will be overjoyed when you return", he said.

"I know, you have done much for me, but I must ask you for money for a flight as I have nothing", I said

"What do you mean you have nothing? What do you mean, I have done much for you?" he said leaving me rather confused.

"Well I have the clothes and things that you or your grandfather gave to me that is it", I said.

"Has Alex not told you…No, she wouldn’t she has been busy and I didn’t think of it with all that happened", Billy said.

"What?" I asked, even more confused.

"Well, my grandfather transferred money to an account for your use on the day I told him of your actions. The clothes and jewellery were a gift, but he felt that you would need some money during your stay with us", Billy answered.

"I can’t accept that", I said.

"You expect me to take back a gift made by my Grandfather only hours before he died", Billy said, extremely seriously.

"How much is it?" I asked.

"Not much, around one hundred thousand pounds", he said, "But as part of my family you do get an annual allowance"

"No Billy, I will accept the gift from your Grandfather but I will not live off you", I said firmly.

"Well arrangements have been made already", he said.

"Well unmake them", I said.

"No, I cannot unmake them", he said firmly.

"Well invest the capital and give the profit to charity", I said.

"I will do that for you, but the money is yours for the taking whenever you ask"

The money was converted to dollars and suitcases were purchased for me. Due to the situation in the area flights to and from Britain were limited. We decided it would be easier for me to fly to Jordan then get a flight from there. The ties between Jordan and Britain had kept the air link open despite the hostilities. I refused Billy’s offer of a private flight all the way home but accepted for the short flight to Jordan.

At the airport in Amman, in a private room, I kissed Alex and wept as she did and I then kissed a sad looking Billy goodbye before boarding a British Airways flight to London Heathrow.

"Excuse me miss", I said as I was led along the Jet to first class, "I am travelling standard, rather than first class"

"One moment Ma’am, let me check", she said and returned a moment later.

"Yes, your family have changed your booking arrangements. There is a message, to the affect that as a member of the Kings family you travel first class", she said, surprise radiating from her.

"That’s Billy for you", I said as I sat down in the seat and waited for take off.

The flight was uneventful I eat little and read most of the way, my audience at the moment were having the works of Anne Mc Caffrey read for them. In the time since Mike’s funeral I had tried them with various books. Horror they understood and enjoyed, Science Fiction, if it was emotional they liked and Fantasy was wonderful. The work of Raymond Fiest was particularly liked. I had tried comedy and found it was a rather subjective thing. Douglas Adams was loved by one race out there but the rest of them just didn’t understand it.

I was just about half way through Morreta’s Ride, one about self sacrifice and bravery during a time of plague when I was interrupted from my reading, causing a ripple of protest to echo back to me from the communion.

"What have you been doing in Jordan then dear?" came a mans voice.

"I haven’t been in Jordan I have been in Saudi Arabia", I said looking at an overweight business man in his late forties.

"Yes well what can you say about that, you put them in charge of their own countries and they fall to bits. You see it in the African countries and just look at India. They were better off when they were colonies", he said.

"I think you will find that Saudi Arabia was never a colony of anywhere. It was invaded by the Turkish-Ottoman Empire for a while but that is all", I said, having listened to Billy talking about his countries history while I was there.

"Well you know what their like over there, no idea of how to run a country, it just falls to shit when they are left to their own devices. I think its something to do with the fact they are all family, too much interbreeding. Have you noticed how alike they all are", Welcome to Britain I thought, land of cultural tolerance, understanding and love to all men. I also wished the irritating man would stop looking at my legs.

As he kept on talking to me, I started gradually altering his perceptions. In his eyes my legs which he was so enamoured with, thickened and grew more muscular, black hair also sprouted on them beneath the stockings. I could see his confusion as he was now openly staring at my legs and he looked up to my face.

He shouted as he saw Billy’s bearded face smiling at him and stood up in the aisle staring at me.

"Can I help you sir?" The Stewardess said as he was pointing and mumbling at her then me. She could only see me a sunburnt redhead.

"Look at her, did you know one of those was on board dressed like, like that?" he shouted.

"Look, I know I caught the sun a bit much but there is no reason to be like that. You couldn’t take your eyes of my legs a minute ago", I protested in Billy’s voice to him.

"Just look, and in a dress too…What are you doing, letting them on board, amongst decent people and she suddenly changed to that thing", he had a lot of attention now.

I decided enough was enough and I let him see me as I was, his face was a picture, total confusion. He dropped his hand and walked back towards his seat.

"Are you ill at all Sir?" the Stewardess asked in Billy’s voice and he was backing up the Aisle away from her. I let the illusion drop and suddenly he saw her again in her uniform, rather than Billy.

He stood there for a moment, looking at her.

"Excuse me miss, is there another seat you can put him in? I would suggest away from women, as he was damn near drooling, before he went strange", I asked

"Yes, we will put him in a corner out of the way Ma’am", she said, then walked towards the man.

"Sorry, I thought you were a man", he said as she approached him, he was studying her intently.

"Come on sir we have a quiet seat over here out of the way", she suggested, and led him away.

She returned minutes later with a smile, "Sorry about that we occasionally get people, who with a little too much alcohol in them, get rather funny while flying"

"Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind the lack of company", I said

"Yes, he was a bit greasy in his manner wasn’t he", She said

"Yes, not exactly a nice man", I admitted, and she was gone.

Turbulence announced the start of our decent towards London and I admit I tensed up for a while. I never could stand anyone else flying me around. As we touched down, I felt relived that I was down.

Immigration was the next problem.

"Miss ibn Abd al-Aziz Saud", the man said stumbling over the words.

"Sarah please", I said

"Sarah, you have arrived in Britain on a Saudi passport, would you like to explain that for me please", the officer said

"Not really. I have accepted an offer of Saudi Citizenship and I am travelling on my passport", I said

"I have to think that this is a way to sneak into Britain through another means", he told me.

"Yes, I sneaked in first class then presented my passport at the desk", I answered.

"That sort of attitude is not going to get you very far young lady"

"Look, before we take this little game to a conclusion that would be rather unsatisfying for you, please look carefully at the name on that passport and find someone who knows anything about Saudi Arabia", I told him.

"Can you speak the language, are you a Sunni Muslim, are you even born in that country?" he asked

"No, no and no. My citizenship was granted for services rendered to the people of Saudi Arabia and if you want to make this an international incident you are heading in the right direction. I wish the representation of my embassy here before I answer any more of your questions", I said firmly

"Three weeks ago you were claiming you were a British Citizen with no memory of who you were. Now you arrive first class on a new passport, how should we feel about this Sarah", He asked

"I wish to make a phone call to the Saudi Arabian Embassy", I stated

"And what exactly do you expect that to achieve?" he asked, then continued without a pause. "You are carrying an extremely valuable collection of jewellery with you, how did you acquire this"

"What are you insinuating? It is stolen, or perhaps I prostituted myself for it?" I said, getting angry with this man now.

"I don’t know, perhaps you should tell me", he said

"You haven’t commented on the little under one hundred and fifty thousand dollars I have on me", I replied and closed my eyes for a moment.

I lifted up through the shambles that was the airport and headed up and east. Over the clear Arab peninsular, I dove down seeking out the familiar feel of Billy. I couldn’t though, Seeker could tell where people where I couldn’t, my sensations were of the whole area I could see and I couldn’t differentiate between people.

I looked for Seeker’s trace and found it.

"Seeker, do you know where Billy is", I asked

"He is in the city here", she said, giving me Amman as his location.

"Can you give me a closer fix?" I asked and she obliged.

I entered the hotel and started in the suites looking for Billy, I couldn’t find him down in the restaurant, I found him sitting down to dinner with Alex. I pushed hard at each of the items on the table and for good measure pushed at a few empty chairs around the place. That should grab his attention I thought.

I returned to my body only a moment having passed.

"I think I want a drink", I stated.

"What?" he said.

"I have now been here for two hours, most of that time sitting and waiting. Now I want a drink before you start getting some very angry phone calls", I informed him.

"Listen Sara, it is I who decides if you are allowed into Britain or not, and as yet I am not satisfied by your answers. Don’t start getting any ideas that someone is going to come running to your rescue. I don’t believe this amnesia game and a large number of people involved in your case, feel the same", He said.

"Am I or am I not entitled to a drink?" I asked

"I will get you a drink then I need some serious answers", he said, standing up and walking out of the interview room. Minutes later he returned with a plastic cup that may have contained tea or coffee. The taste wasn’t enough to allow it to be distinguished beyond a warm wet and sweet drink that was undrinkable.

"Now can I have some answers please?" he asked

"Well it is like this the aliens kidnapped me and since then I just haven’t been the same man I once was"

"Listen, enough is enough", he shouted, standing up from his chair, "do you realise what can happen to you if I let customs loose on you?"

"Probably a lot less than is going to happen to you very, very soon", I answered. I could feel confusion and panic starting to radiate from other people in the offices. Billy had been quick.

The door opened and a man came in, obviously, this mans superior.

"McCain what is the situation here?" he asked sharply

"Well it is rather confused at the moment, Sarah here isn’t giving me any answers sir. All I get is flimsy stories", he answered

"Well there is an urgent phone call for her I will get it put through here", he said picking up the phone, saying a few words then passing it to me.

"Hello", I said

"Sarah, what is happening why are you still at the airport?" came Billy’s voice.

"Well, Mr McCain here feels it might be unwise to let me into the country, bad influence, dodgy passport and unwilling to answer his personal questions about how I earned the jewellery. He also decided to try a few hints about what customs let loose on me may be able to do. That is why I decided to get your attention", I said glad to hear a friendly and familiar voice.

"I will sort this out now, then we can talk", he said

"Sort it out for me and we can talk tomorrow. I don’t want to ruin your meal totally", I said with a chuckle.

"You knew?" his voice sounding astonished

"Yes but don’t worry Billy I don’t peek, I just needed some help. Say the magic words O mighty king and go enjoy yourself"

"Fine put the nice man in charge back on please and I will speak to you tomorrow", he promised. I did and for a long time he was talking to McCain’s boss, with the man just saying yes sir repeatedly.

"McCain what do you know of Saudi Arabia?", he asked.

"Very little sir. Deserts, oil, camels and a lot of people trying to get away from there at the moment", McCain answered.

"Well does the name Saud, mean anything to you?" he asked

"No Sir"

"The country is named after the Family Saud, and you have been holding here the kings adopted daughter. Questioning her how she got jewellery given to her by the late King and threatening her with body cavity searches", He shouted

"I have had my arse chewed off by a minister who was spoken to harshly by the Prime Minister after a certain royal with a love for Polo rang him. As you can see, as it works it way down the line things get nastier. You can imagine how your life is going to be for a while. Ma’am I am sorry The Embassy has a car waiting outside for you", he said to me

"No problem, thank you for sorting this little misunderstanding out", I said standing.

Waiting for me outside was an Embassy car with diplomatic plates. I was escorted into the car by an Arab gentleman who sat down opposite me as my bags were loaded.

"His highness has arranged accommodation for you, for as long as you need it. He suggests you find your feet again before you think of moving out." He said

"Oh I didn’t want him to go to any trouble", I protested

"It is no trouble, His Highnesses cousin owns the hotel. So I believe you are family", He said with a smile.

"You are Billy’s cousin?" I asked.

"Yes, I am Fayed and I believe you have had the pleasure of one of my establishments before", he said

"Yes, just before it was redesigned", I admitted.

"Buildings can be repaired, the lives lost can never be brought back. Though many are alive thanks to you", he replied, I looked at him for a moment wondering what Billy had told him.

"Those children you saved are irreplaceable, we owe you more than we can ever repay", he said studying my face.

"It had to be done", I answered. I was convinced he suspected more but wouldn’t voice his opinions openly.

"Yes, well you are the one who did", he paused for a moment seeing if I could be drawn any further. I could feel his curiosity above all other feelings he had. Lust, guilt and sadness were there but these were subdued.

"I am taking you to one of my other places, it is classed as an airport hotel, but Billy felt you would be more comfortable out of the city", he finished

"Yes, I would, it would be too much, all those people", I agreed as the car started moving.

We were silent for the rest of the journey as I knew that his main interest was what had gone on between me and Billy. I was soon safe in a large room rather than a suite and I slept till morning.

The next morning I looked through the clothes I had and realised how out of place most of these would look here in Britain. I decided on a dark blue dress which left my arms bare then came the problem of which shoes and which handbag.

Eventually I was dressed and with a lot of help from Seeker I had a face that worked. Alex had tried to show me what to do and probably with more time I would get a style of my own, but for the moment I was happy enough to let Seeker decide.

Breakfast though was a totally unnerving sensation. I was being judged by every man and woman in there from the moment I walked in. Yes I know that men look at women and compare, as do women. But the feelings they radiate while they do this. Lust, jealousy and even hate was tangible in the dining room, I nearly turned around and walked out.

With advice from the reception about where to change money at a proper exchange rate and my valuables and most of my money locked in the safe, I headed out of the hotel. I could again feel the interest in me as I entered the taxi.

I was dropped off in the city outside a Midland Bank advertising tourist currency exchange. As I entered the bank I suddenly felt interest in me again, an anticipation edged with fear, but it was the same feel as the hotel. Someone had followed me.

"I would like to change some money please, Dollars for Pounds", I said to the man, when my turn came up. Back to the world of waiting in line was not good on my feet.

"Certainly how much would you like to exchange?" he said rather bored

"Fifteen thousand Dollars please", I said.

A burst of joy came from near me as I said this, someone had marked me at the hotel. I was a target.

"That is a large amount of currency to change miss, I will need some form of identification and a few minutes", he said

"Fine can we do this in an office then please, as my feet are in no fit state to stand on waiting", I asked

"Yes certainly", he said after a moments hesitation and indecision, I was directed into a little room.

A man was sitting in there, ‘assistant manager’ was the title proudly displayed on his desk.

"Yes, I believe you wish to exchange a large amount of currency", Mr Gibbons asked me according to the name badge, that was out of place on the pinstripe suit.

"Yes", I said, placing one hundred and fifty hundred dollar bills on his desk with my passport.

"Yes Miss Saud", he said after a glance at the passport, "are you any relation to the Saudi Arabian family of the same name"

"Yes, I was adopted", I said, and some confusion could be felt, but he said no more.

As he left with the money I closed my eyes and looked around the bank everyone was frozen in their actions. I found the man examining some of the literature in plastic holders around the walls. I could feel the greed and a little fear. He looked like a normal business man in a suit, possibly mid forties a little overweight.

Mr Gibbons returned, "That is a large amount to be carrying around with you", he said

"Yes, I know and I have been followed by a man since I placed the rest in the hotel safe", I told him

"You have?" he asked

"Yes, a man near the door pretending to look at the leaflets"

"One moment", he said and picked up the phone.

"John, casually look over at the door here. Is there anyone there?" He asked

"Mid forties, blue suit and a bit thin on top", I said.

"Yes, that’s him John. He’s following the customer I have here, yes put them through to me", he said

"We are going to take as long as we can over your money, and John there, the other assistant manager is contacting the police", He said as his phone rang. After a short conversation he passed the phone to me.

"Hello Miss Saud, we have a plain clothes officer on the way but what makes you think you are being followed?" a mans voice asked.

"I noticed him hanging around the hotel. He took an interest in me when I deposited things in the safe and then he appears here at the same bank I visit, just looking around rather than having business", I explained

"Fair enough just give me a description please", and I did.

Five minutes later I was walking out of the bank, my money being held safe by Mr Gibbons with a padded brown paper envelope in the bag. I started walking along the street as if I was unaware of his presence behind me. I tried to leave my body to check he was still following. He was close behind. I returned to my body and stumbled slightly on the return.

"Watch yourself dear", came a voice as a hand steadied me and the man helped me then continued walking past me. For a moment I thought I was mistaken about the whole thing, when my hand bag was ripped from me and I was shoved to the floor by a young man in a crash helmet. As I was trying to figure out what the hell was going on he ran to a waiting motorbike and jumped on a pillion.

I ripped the ignition lead away with my mind leaving the bike immobile, then looked for the first man. He was glancing back in my direction before he started moving quickly. With a savage blow I knocked his feet out from under him as police, uniformed and un-uniformed started appearing all around.

"Are you hurt Miss Saud?" came the voice of a woman in her late twenties.

"No, and how do you know my name?" I asked

"I am D.I. Kirby your escort for today", she said with a smile as she helped me up.

"Have you got them all?" I asked

"We have the two there and the man who marked you. Some days you just hit it lucky, if they had got that bike going we would have lost them. Then he falls over his own feet", she said, as I brushed myself down.

"Well, he was too busy looking back at what was happening here to watch what he was doing", I said, just making sure that she wasn’t suspicious.

"Yes, well we got them" she said, as I watched the men being led away, "Sorry it got a bit physical, but we thought he was just going to lift the money as you were walking. If we had known it was a snatch…well we would have found another way"

"Look, I am a bit bruised, a bit dusty and these stockings are ruined. Otherwise I am fine" I assured her, "Just a rather rough welcome to London"

"Yes, they pick the hotels to stakeout and the better the hotel the better the pickings" she explained as we walked back towards the bank.

Mr Gibbons was waiting for us there and immediately started fussing over me. The two of us were led into his office.

"Here is your money Miss Saud." He said after he had assured himself I wasn’t hurt.

"That is a lot of money to be carrying around" D.I. Kirby said, looking at over ten thousand pounds on the desk.

"I am just here from abroad and what I have to wear isn’t exactly fit for a British summer. I don’t even have a decent coat" I said

"Well do you have to carry it in cash?" she asked

"I don’t have plastic or a bank account. I am staying with a relative at the moment" I explained

"Well we can sort you out with an account though it will be a few days before we have, cheque book and guarantee card" Mr Gibbons said, "What is your relatives name?"

"Fayed ibn Abd al-Aziz Saud" I answered

"The hotels?" he asked

"Yes"

"We will hurry things along then" he said, "How much would you like to open it with?"

"Well it will only be a token deposit today" I said, "a thousand or so. But I have one hundred and thirty five thousand dollars in the hotel safe. I am concerned about moving it though" I admitted.

"Too bloody right" said D.I. Kirby, "Look you have done us a favour, how about we do you one. If I get a car here we can get you back, you can get cleaned up and then we can drop you and the rest of the money here safe"

"Are you sure?" I asked, "I don’t want to put you to any trouble"

"Yes Miss Saud" she said firmly, and I could feel her concern for me.

"Yes then, if you call me Sarah" I said.

"Sarah what has happened to you?" Fayed demanded as I entered the hotel.

"She spotted someone staking out your hotel lobby for potential targets" Kirby said

"Again you make an impression on your first day" Fayed said, "What would you do given a week?"

Kirby and I headed upstairs where I started looking for something to wear.

"You have a lot of nice things and a nice room" she said pleasantly, but beneath I could feel jealousy surfacing.

"You should have seen me a few weeks ago, I had nothing but the clothes I wore and a bad sunburn" I said to her

"What do you mean?" she asked

"I arrived in Dhahran with nothing at all" I answered

"Oh shit that’s where I know you from" Kirby said, "the kids in the hospital"

"Yes" I admitted

"I have to apologise, I thought you were just a rich kid" Kirby said

"Oh no, definitely not. All this is just courtesy of the Saudi Royal Family, otherwise I would be living on charity in Dhahran"

"From what I saw they have got a good deal" She announced, and I could feel the jealousy dissipate.

"Thank you, now what the hell am I going to wear out of this lot in Britain?" I asked, indicating the clothes I had.

"You have lots of nice things" she said

"But no memory to work with"

"No memory?" she said

"Yes I was pulled from the sea, the boat I was on was shot up. They say it may come back at any time or maybe never"

"Oh, how about this" she pointed to a pale blue dress with a large floral print.

"Do you think so?" I asked

"It’s not exactly Britain but it will do for the moment. More what I might wear on holiday" she admitted.

"I know that is what I was heading out for, some decent clothes to wear" I said, as I grabbed another pair of stockings out of the drawer and walked into the bathroom. Five minutes later and a change of shoes, I was fit for the public again.

"Yes that looks good on you" Kirby said.

"Fine now lets get that money safe, I didn’t realise how bad things were in London" I said

"They work the hotels, airports train stations and anywhere else that strangers to the city frequent. As a tourist to the city, you tend to have money, camera and jewellery" Kirby explained, as she watched me check the door was locked.

"Well they didn’t catch me out the first time and I will be paying more attention now" I assured her.

The money deposited and my goodbyes said to Kirby with an assurance that I would be in to make a full statement. I wandered around shops totally lost in the emotions of the city, fear, anger, loneliness, greed, jealousy and lust. The city was a cesspit of the most basic of human emotions and I was receiving them all without anyone shielding me from them I did not linger in the shops or the streets.

I grabbed the most basic clothes I was missing, jeans, leggings, tops and trainers and finally went into a bookshop for the essential supplies.

Fiest, Herbert, King, Miller and McCaffrey were about the limit of what I could carry and finally getting a taxi, I made my way back to the hotel.

Settling down with Dragonsong I spoke to Seeker.

"Seeker. Is there anyway I can tune out the emotions of the city?"

"Sarah you should not be able to sense the city, to what extent you can repress that ability I can’t say" she answered apologetically.

"Well I don’t think I am going to be staying in London for long" I said as I opened the book, I could feel the anticipation of the minds linking with Seeker. Even her impatience was perceptible.

"Is everyone sitting comfortably?" I asked, and an unknown number of people echoed her eagerness "Then we shall begin" and I started to tell them about Pern. The sensations produced for me were incredible as I ran to escape thread and was rescued at the last moment by a Dragonrider. I was no longer reading these books. I was experiencing and it was as addictive as drugs. I took a break at the end of the book to catch my breath.

"Did you enjoy that one?" I asked, and the echoes of joy came back to me. I sat there luxuriating in the sensations and the feelings washing over me.

"Look I am going to have to eat" I said to them all, and received some subdued protest but mainly acceptance.

I made my way downstairs to the restaurant and as I entered Fayed arrived, as if by magic, except I had felt him waiting in the office behind the reception.

"Sarah do you mind if I join you for some food?" he asked

"Not at all. I don’t mind you saving me from the horrors of eating alone" I said with a smile.

"How are you finding being home?" he asked

"I want to get away, this was but a starting point for me and to that end now is the time to start" I told him as he pulled out a chair for me, "Thank you"

"Where do you intend to go?"

"Anywhere away from people. I can’t cope with the feel of the city" I answered.

"Possibly the countryside somewhere?" he asked.

"No I think further away, I wouldn’t mind doing some island hopping in the Med"

"Billy has a yacht which he has no use of I am sure you can make use of it and it’s crew" Fayed said happily.

"No I want to do it myself. Something over thirty foot, rigged up for solo operation with a decent engine as well. I want to get away from everything for a while" I said to him.

"That will take a large chunk of your money and not leave you much capital. Have a word with Billy see what he can do" Fayed said

"No Fayed. I am not willing to live off he charity of your family, I am grateful for all they have done though" I said to him, then took a more gentle approach feeling his sadness, that I wouldn’t accept help.

"Look you would accept help off me for as long as you needed to. Once that initial need was over, you would be as I am, unwilling to keep taking off you" I said.

"Well how will you survive?" he asked

"I am not willing to part with the jewellery given by your grandfather. So I need to start earning some money. You don’t know of a decent poker game do you?" I said joking.

"Yes you need twenty five thousand to enter and an invitation" he said, not catching my humour. I thought about it for a moment.

"Fayed, this game, is anyone going to be hurt badly if they lose that much money?" I asked him

"No, it is a backroom game at a local casino" he explained "I have been invited, but gambling is one thing I do not do. My faith and my common sense forbid it" he emphasised the last few words.

"You have never seen me play cards, it is not gambling it is theft" I assured him "How soon could you get me an invite?"

"Tomorrow, but I do not think you will have access to your stake money by then. You know how long banks take to process things" He said

"Damn. I had forgotten about that" I told him.

"Look I will arrange the game and the stake money. But if you lose, I cover your losses and you promise me you wont play again" He said firmly.

"But if I wipe the floor with them, I repay your stake and we see what we can do to arrange a couple of other games. Bigger money though" I said.

"Fair enough but I know some of these people. They will not be easily beaten. Now let us eat" he said.

We ate and talked for a few hours and eventually I said my goodnight and escaped back to my room. I gave the expectant masses Dragonsinger and Dragondrums before I escaped to bed.

The next morning I started making enquiries about decent yachts. Once in the Mediterranean sailing would be easy and it would probably make more sense to buy a vessel somewhere in the Mediterranean, but I wanted a decent survey and probably a refitting to my specifications. I had no need of numerous cabins perhaps one visitor room but the rest would be for my use. I had no worries about the technicalities of sailing, I had been sailing for years. But to work a reasonable size yacht some muscle is desirable. Muscle is something I would not have in this body, the telekinesis would help but I wanted something with as much automation as possible. Roller reefing and self steering gear were essential. I had found a few possibilities when there was a knock at the door. I opened it and Fayed was there.

"We have a game on tonight but it is fifty thousand entry winner takes all. It could be a long game" He said

"Do you mind staking me that amount?" I asked.

"No if you lose you will have learnt something very important. If you win, well…" He said

"Oh, I will win. Have no doubt over that, I just worry about the people I am going to be taking the money off" I said.

"Don’t worry, the five other people are playing this for fun and will not be hurt by the loss of money" Fayed said and I could feel his concern for me.

"Don’t worry, as Billy knows I am full of surprises" I assured him and he left me to my plans.

As evening grew near I went down and collected the jewellery that was in the hotel safe and with Seekers help I dressed in the same outfit that I had worn out the night Mike died. Then I headed down to meet Fayed.

"Sarah you look beautiful" he said taking my hand and kissing it.

"Thank you" I said, tingles spreading over me unbidden, "It might just give me a little advantage"

"It might just do that. You will most assuredly be the most beautiful player there" he said.

"Right, you can stop that now" I said firmly, "Tonight is business"

We headed out to his car. This time a rather nice Jaguar E type, rather than the diplomatic car.

"Very nice" I said, "But I would of though you would be more into the all singing all dancing modern things"

"No" he said opening the door for me, "I like classic designs and for tonight this little bit of history isn’t too flashy"

"Oh and what would you consider too flashy?" I said trying to get in and retain some modesty.

"Oh, the Aston Martin DB6" he answered as he closed he door, "I would have come on one of my bikes, but I felt that it would be a problem for you"

"What bike would you have come on then?" I asked him as he started the car.

"The Brough"

"SS80 or SS100" I asked.

"SS100 of course reputed to be one of the many Lawrence owned" he said with a grin.

"For that, I would have put up with the problem" I told him firmly.

We made our way to a small casino and Fayed parked up. Taking my arm we walked into the noise and the emotions of the building. As Fayed disappeared and went to talk to a man, I watched the roulette for a while. I could feel the desperation of some of these people putting everyone into the belief that it would be their time for some luck next.

"Sarah it is time" Fayed said and we were led into a back room where five people were waiting. I looked round them three were classic older businessmen types one was a younger rich brat and the fifth was mid thirties and unremarkable. An empty chair awaited me and chips were waiting for me.

"So this is your secret weapon Fayed" the unremarkable man said.

"Yes this is Sarah" Fayed replied.

"Good evening gentlemen" I said "If you can’t afford to lose it I would suggest you leave now"

"Oooh, aren’t we the cocky young thing" One of the businessmen types said in an extremely effeminate voice.

"Cocky no. Confident yes" the unremarkable man said.

"We will see Daniel won’t we" effeminate voiced man said.

"Well Sarah we have a slight difference of opinion. I feel you are confident Russell over there feels you are cocky. James, Howard and Stephen aren’t willing to give that much away at this stage" He said pointing to the other three men in turn.

"But then again they are here for the thrill of playing Russell and I" he said as I took my chair.

"What’s the game here?" I asked.

"No wild cards, aces are high and a grand in to start" He said "to ensure no cheating is accused, Antonia here has been provided by the house to deal"

An older woman in her forties sat down opposite me.

"Right you all know the game or you wouldn’t be here. No messing around and will the other people in the room remain seated while hands are being played" Antonia said firmly.

We put in our thousand apiece and the first hand was dealt. Two sevens, an ace, a six and a two. We had a round of betting and as the pot filled I felt the emotions of each of the people. Only Stephen was happy. We drew cards I took two and as Stephen received his one card I felt his disappointment. I took a quick peak at his cards. Six, seven, nine and ten in various suits. The last card he received was the three of clubs. I took two and received a queen and another seven.

The pot increased to twenty seven thousand and there was just me and Daniel left in. I had checked his cards and he had two pair and he was trying to force me to fold.

"Eight thousand in so it will cost you sixteen to see me Sarah" he said

"Oh and what if I don’t want to see you, I just want to match your eight thousand?" I said and I could feel the indecision hit him.

"That means it is sixteen to you to see me dear" I said, and he took a long last look at his cards.

"I fold" he said and the first pot was mine.

"Fayed any chance of a drink?" I asked as I sorted out the chips.

"Certainly what can I get you?" he asked.

"Just a coke please" I said.

"We are adventurous aren’t we" Russell said

"There is money involved, alcohol and money are never found together" I said firmly.

"Bravo another person with sense" Daniel said "any chance of a mineral water Fayed?"

We continued playing. The next few hands I folded early until I got a nice flush which again I played up the pot and took it. I carried on in this vein for a while playing when I had the hand and folding when I didn’t. At the same time I analysed each players style. Stephen was rash with no thought of the odds he would play for the bigger hand, which he rarely got. James and Howard were playing steady and losing steady. Russell was about even and wasn’t taking much notice of the cards and Daniel like me was well up.

After about two hours playing and seeing the departure of Stephen I requested a two minute break.

"Yes, why not" said Daniel and everyone else nodded. I grabbed my hand bag and asked Antonia where the toilet was.

I made my way in and remembered to go in the ladies hiked up my dress and sat down. For the last hour or so my stomach had been bloody awful. I had a pee and wiped. I was just about to flush when I noticed blood on the tissue in the toilet. I wiped again and again there was blood.

"Seeker is this what I think it is?" I asked in my mind.

"Yes Sarah it is what you think it is, if what you think it is, is your menstrual flow" Seeker answered.

"Fucking brilliant" I said

"Yes it is amazing how your species procreates" Seeker said missing the sarcasm.

I left my body and checked the toilets for the necessary machine. They had one. I checked my bag on my return and found I had no change. I walked over and stood before the machine I examined its workings applied a little pressure in the right place and pulled the knob to receive one sanitary towel. I repeated it three more times shoving the spares in my hand bag for later. I then made my way back into the toilet and managed to get the thing stuck in my panties and then headed back out to the game trying not to walk funny with the object shoved between my legs.

I sat down again feeling the centre of attention thinking everyone must know what I had been doing. I felt around and all I could feel was some impatience to start again.

"Sorry about that gentlemen. Shall we continue?" I said pleasantly and the game resumed.

Howard and James were soon dispatched leaving Russell, Daniel and I. I was slightly better off than Russell and thanks to a couple of big bluffs Daniel was doing best. With a low straight in spades I made a big dent in Daniel’s winnings as he had to pay thirty thousand to see me. He had a flush at the time and was feeling confident, with the loss of this hand his confidence evaporated. He didn’t make anymore big plays and Russell and I whittled him away to nothing, he left the table smiling at both of us. I could feel no resentment at all.

"That was fun, we must do it again some time when luck is more on my side" He said as he left.

"Well dear just you and me now, I think they let their good sense be lost with your looks. Well I don’t work that way" Russell said.

"Fayed do you want to sit here?" I asked and Russell laughed.

"Fair enough we aren’t talking blood here just money. Lets play" he said and we carried on.

Even with my unfair advantage it was tough to get money out of him, he was unwilling to play a weak hand. The good hands I had coincided with his weak ones. Then my chance came he had two pair after a lean run. I had a full house and I wiped him out.

"Dear that was a most enjoyable game. We must do it again some time and give me a chance to win it back" Russell said.

"I will look forward to reliving you of some more money" I said shaking his hand and he smiled.

"Congratulations how would you like your money?" Antonia asked and I looked at Fayed.

"They play cash here so twenties or fifties" he said

"Make it fifties then" I said "if you don’t mind driving me to the bank tomorrow?"

"I would have today but I was detained elsewhere when you left. Billy feels he needs me as part of the new government" he said

"What is your view on a important position like that?" I asked.

"Well if I must, I will. But I would rather not" he said.

"Get yourself a job as foreign minister. Then you might have some freedom" I suggested.

"Well the problem you get as a government official, you can not be quite as ruthless in your dealings" Fayed answered

"It is not the money your into it is the game, like these men today" I said

"Yes. Money is just a way of keeping score" he admitted "I also lack Billy’s social conscience"

"What you will rip people off?" I asked

"No, but I will not stop them making big mistakes through greed" he said

The money arrived in a suitcase provided by the establishment, where from I don’t know and we made our way to the car. We made our way back to the hotel and after depositing the suitcase in the safe I made my way to my room. After finding the biggest pair of panties I had, I changed into them with a fresh pad and slipped into bed for a rather bad night of guilt wracked sleep.

The next morning dressed in the new jeans and having spent twenty minutes trying to decide if the pad was visible through the jeans then I went hunting for my new home.

The first major decision, wood or fibreglass. Wood is nice, very nice, high maintenance, expensive, susceptible to rot and is heavy. Fibreglass is light and practical easy to maintain but with very little character before it is shaped.

I decided on GRP as practicality had to be addressed and after Fayed took me to the bank to make Mr Gibbons very happy with the deposit of quarter of a million pounds. I then got a good selection of magazines and returned to the hotel, I spent two days deciding what I wanted to look at then three days on the British railway system.

I was starting to get very disillusioned the craft were there but nothing was catching my eye. Nothing up with them, they just did nothing for me, then I saw her.

I had been down in Southampton looking at a Moody 39, a nice cruiser, something I would have gone for in a second if I wasn’t planning living on board. Then as I was starting to leave I spotted her.

I had decided that practicality was the most important thing in my purchase, this was not. It was, big, old, wooden, gaff rigged and beautiful. The Eleanor was her name and I just stopped and looked. I walked around the brokers yard trying to find someone to talk to.

I waited patiently while a elderly man was shown around a small 24 foot boat and as the man walked off with indecision the broker came to me.

"Hello what can I do for you?" He asked looking at me up and down.

"What can you tell me about ‘The Eleanor’?"

"Bristol Pilot Cutter built in Cardiff in 1902, pine on an oak frame, pine decks. Sleeps eight, four in the bow, two on settees and two in the skippers cabin" he said rather bored.

"Show me" I said

Two hours later we motored out of the Hamble onto the Solent. The mainsail took a lot of my effort to raise but I insisted on doing it myself. I then set just the single jib and took her bows out of the wind. She chuckled as the water of the Solent lapped against her hull.

"Are you willing to crew for a while?" I asked the salesman.

"Yes Ma’am" he said

"Good. Ready about" I shouted and the man got ready on the jib.

"Ready" he shouted.

"Lee Ho" I shouted and pushed the tiller away from me. The Eleanor swung her bows through the wind without a complaint and we were away on the opposite tack.

"Lets take her towards Portsmouth" I said, taking her round so we were on a run with the wind behind us.

"Well what do you think?" The salesman asked.

"Well I was after something over thirty five foot in GRP to go hopping around the Med in" I said, trying to adjust my course without having to jibe.

"Watch it your sailing by the lee" He shouted, warning me that the boom could do with being over the other side of the vessel and at any moment it might just come flying across.

"Well keep your head down then" I shouted back as I worked my way around some of the small craft on the Solent. He relaxed slightly as we came out of them and I stopped weaving.

"I have nothing against GRP but why are you set on it?" He asked me moving aft towards me.

"Well I am looking at sailing solo" I said "The one advantage of GRP is the lack of maintenance needed. A fifty foot wooden gaff rigged craft of this age is a lot of hard work, to run solo. But…"

"Yes she is nice isn’t she" he said smiling "been in the same hands for the last thirty years. It is only that the owner is now too old to handle her that he is getting rid of her. Have you seen the motor cruiser off your port?"

"Yes I’ve got him" I said "When was she last surveyed?"

"That is something I would suggest you get done yourself. I could show you bits and pieces saying she was the safest craft since the QE II, but it would still be people doing work for me not you"

"In other words, she hasn’t been inspected since she last changed hands, she has been maintained by the owner and you are acting as broker alone, getting your cut for the sale" I said.

"No if you choose your surveyor then you only have yourself to blame, she’s been maintained at a yard in Fareham. She is big and heavy to solo, but not impossible, at the end of the day it depends on your abilities" He answered.

"Lets head back, I am sorely tempted, but not before a survey and a discussion with the yard" I said and swung her around close to the wind. We tacked back up the Solent until we reached the mouth of the Hamble and we motored back to the brokerage.

"Are you interested then?" he said.

"Possibly" I lied through my teeth.

"Have a think about it and here is the name and address of the yard that she has been maintained at, the owners son runs it now" he said passing me a sheet of paper. Forty eight hours later I was sixty-five thousand pounds worse off and the proud owner of The Eleanor.

Three weeks in refit and two weeks of preparation and I was ready to move out. If it was replaceable, it was replaced. Modernisation was done discreetly and below decks, I kept the same layout, leaving me with a small cabin with a chart table and a lot of storage space, with room for six other people.

Early in the morning I said my goodbye’s to Fayed and after the night before having a long conversation with Billy on the phone, I promised to keep in touch. I motored out of Portsmouth Harbour past the naval dockyard and HMS Warrior, Clearing the Spit Sand Fort I was out into the Solent making passage for the Cherbourg peninsular.

"Sarah you seem happier already" Seeker said, as I was clear of the Solent.

"Yes, I have never been happy amongst lots of people, even before this. But now with the echoes of everyone in the city impinging on my thoughts it is damn near impossible to cope" I explained to her.

"What is your fascination with this vessel?" She asked

"It is just the peace and serenity of sailing, being away from everyone and the total dependency on the elements" I said.

"Yes I understand that" she said "Why did you choose something that you had decided was not suitable and then endow it with sentience in your mind?"

"Most man made machines get treated as if they had intelligence, usually because they decide to act up at the most inopportune moment. As for why I decided on The Eleanor, just look at her she is beautiful isn’t she?" I exclaimed eagerly.

"No" Seeker said bluntly, "The vessel is a number of dead trees held together by iron spikes"

"No imagination you lot" I replied, "Just no sense of romance or adventure"

"No we haven’t, that is why we enjoy your fiction" Seeker said.

"That’s all you want me for isn’t it?"

"No, but we do enjoy it" Seeker answered with some guilt.

"Relax I’m just teasing" I said, "hitch a ride and feel what I do while I am out here"

"Do you mind, as though I am always close to you I rarely spy on you"

"Not at all" I assured her and felt her snuggle down inside my mind, something she had avoided doing except at story time.

Hours later we entered a small harbour called Port Racine on the Cherbourg peninsular and I dropped anchor. Absolutely exhausted by the days events I went below decks to sort out some dinner and fell asleep on the couch before I even started cooking.

I was woken from my deep sleep by a harsh London accent.

"Ahoy Eleanor is there anyone aboard?" I stood up and climbed up the still open hatchway onto the deck where the sun was now setting. Nearby was another yacht a smaller thirty foot or so fibreglass craft. On the deck was a couple in their fifties the man was shouting me.

"Ahoy there Eleanor where do you hail from and where are you making for?" he shouted.

"I have just made passage from Portsmouth and I am heading into the Med" I shouted back.

"We are too would you like to come across for a drink?" he asked.

"Well I haven’t eaten yet, I was going to start cooking but I fell asleep" I shouted back.

"Fine come and eat with us, how many do we expect?" He asked

"Just me" I said sensing he would not accept no for an answer.

"I will come over for you in about an hour" he said and they both waved as I slipped back below deck.

This I didn’t need, all I wanted to do at the moment was sleep for a long time.

"Why didn’t you say no?" Seeker asked reminding me that she was still with me.

"Some people you can’t say no to and those two have nothing but good intentions. However little I fancy their company" I explained, Seeker was silent while she digested this.

I dressed in jeans and a T-shirt after a wash and put some makeup on, I was now able to do a half decent job without Seekers help. I was just slipping on some trainers when I heard the London accent again.

"Ahoy Eleanor"

I slipped up on deck and found the man in a small inflatable at my stern. I shut the main hatch and climbed a small ladder down to him.

"Hello I’m Barry" he said.

"Sarah" I answered as he rowed us back to his yacht.

"Is your crew ashore?" he asked as we approached his yacht which proudly proclaimed the name Jackie.

"No I am solo" I said.

"Jackie grab the tether" Barry shouted at the woman on board and she did.

"Sarah this is my wife Jackie who The Jackie is named for. Jackie this is Sarah who is alone on The Eleanor" Barry said.

"Oh you poor thing" Jackie replied radiating concern for me.

"No it’s hard work, but nice to be on my own" I said quickly and I could see she wasn’t convinced.

"A little large for one to handle isn’t she?" Barry said.

"Possibly but with all the mod-cons she isn’t too bad. Besides it is nice to have the room and be a little different" I answered and again I could feel his concern.

We sat down to eat in the cramped saloon area a pleasant meal with a nice red wine I brought across and we talked for a long time. A large proportion of our conversation was about The Gulf situation which they knew very little about. But their hearts were in the right place.

"I am going to have to love you and leave you" I said as a break in the conversation came up "I am making an early start in the morning"

"So are we" Jackie said quickly giving her husband a glance.

"Yes we are" he said quickly at her glance.

"I might see you out there then" I answered, disguising my reluctance.

"Yes we will, we are heading in the same direction. Company is always welcome" Barry said. I kissed Jackie goodbye as she seemed to be expecting it and Barry rowed me back. I slipped into bed wondering how long they would be with me for. An hour was spent on Thomas Harris and Red Dragon for Seeker and my fans and I slipped off to sleep.

My alarm woke me up shortly after dawn. With some cereal inside me I slipped into some shorts and a T-shirt and made my way onto the deck. Barry and Jackie were already up and about.

"Sarah we suggest you make for Perros-Guirec there is a nice marina near there. Unless you can suggest anywhere else?" Barry shouted.

"No that’s fine" I shouted back. I might have to put up with them for a couple of days, but I could lose them over the Bay of Biscay.

I motored out of the little bay and with the self steering gear keeping her head to wind I raised the sails. It was a pleasant days sail except for the fact of the sight of the Jackie over my shoulder all the way. The Eleanor though she carried a lot more sail was a big heavy bitch. In the light winds that we had I could not lose them.

I moored in the Marina visitors section and shortly after The Jackie moored alongside.

"Get yourself ready there is a nice restaurant in town we always visit" Barry said as he made sure of my knots.

"I don’t want to impose on you" I protested.

"Nonsense" Jackie said loudly "If you think we are going to leave you to eat alone you have another thing coming. As you said this is your first run down to the Med, we know all the places to visit. Its always nice to have company"

My heart sank at this and I decided no matter what I had to escape these people. Before I killed them.

That night we ate in a restaurant offering an all British menu as it was ‘just like at home’. Later on we had drinks on board The Eleanor and tried to arrange an amicable separation.

"Barry how are you planning to do Biscay?" I asked

"We normally just run around the coast for three or four days. Why?" he asked.

"Oh I’m planning to just cut across, live on coffee for thirty six hours and get me down to Gijon. I can sleep there" I said.

"Oh we have never done that have we Barry?" Jackie said.

"No it always seemed a long run over a rather uncertain stretch of water" he answered.

"Yes though there is a rather large difference in yacht size between us" I said "I just feel like testing her a little, the costal hops are fun but if I venture further at any point I need to know what she is like at sea"

"Yes I can see that, I just worry about you being out there alone" Barry said.

"Look I don’t step on deck without a harness and if it gets rough I chuck on a life jacket and ride it out" I said to him feeling like I was arguing with my father.

"Yes. She’s just so big for such a small thing as you" Barry said as he sipped on a drink.

"Size isn’t everything" I said as I grabbed another drink for each of us.

"True" Barry said.

The next night just around the coast from Brest we had a last meal together and Barry said he would make a move as I did the next morning. Under an overcast sky and with a rather heavy swell I waved goodbye and headed out into the bay.

Late evening I was starting to doubt the wisdom of trying to do Biscay in one jump. It was getting lumpy and the wind was gusting force nine. The weather forecast was still telling me five to six occasionally seven but as I reefed down the mainsail and stuck up the storm jib I was worried.

Then about ten in the evening the tone of the weather forecast changed totally, force nine to ten gusting eleven. I was in shit. I took her head to wind and just hoped to ride it out.

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday this is yacht Jackie, Jackie, Jackie" came from the radio. It suddenly had my full attention.

"Go ahead Jackie this is Brest Coastguard" came a heavily accented voice.

"We have hit what we think is a submerged container, we are taking on water in rough seas. I can not start the engine and the seas are getting worse" came Barry’s voice.

"What is your position and compliment?" came the Coastguards voice.

"Oh yes sorry" Barry said, radio procedure having deserted him in the heat of the situation.

"We have two people on board and we are roughly one hundred and ten miles out of Brest heading for Gijon" Barry said, he had tried to follow me.

"Do you have an accurate position Yacht Jackie? Over" the Coastguard asked.

"No our GPS is out with our electrics, this radio is on batteries" Barry answered.

"Hold on channel Yacht Jackie" The Coastguard said.

"Brest Coastguard this is Yacht Eleanor, Yacht Eleanor, Yacht Eleanor. I am roughly twenty miles south of Jackie’s position and I am responding to her Mayday. Over" I said.

"Yacht Eleanor what is your situation? Over" the Coastguard asked.

"I’m a fifty foot cutter with a decent engine, its rough but I am in no danger. Over"

"Roger Eleanor. Monitor this channel. Out"

"Yacht Jackie this is Brest coastguard, the weather prohibits the use of air rescue at this time. But The Eleanor is responding to your Mayday. Over"

"Yacht Jackie do you read me? Over. Yacht Jackie do you read me? Over" there was no response just silence.

"Brest Coastguard calling Yacht Jackie" again silence.

"Brest Coastguard calling Yacht Eleanor"

"Go ahead. Over" I said.

"Can you raise her at all? Over"

"Yacht Jackie, do you read me? Over" I said into the mike again nothing.

"Brest Coastguard, I get nothing. I am going to have to leave you as I am out here alone I will call you with any news" I told them "This is Yacht Eleanor out"

I took her around onto a run the wind right up my rear and started surfing the waves trying to keep her from jibing on the way down. I set the self steering gear and risked a little more on the mainsail letting a little out from the roller reefing and then taking the tiller again. Making sure my safety harness was fastened tightly and attached I settled down.

Letting my conciseness leave my body I searched ahead in the dark for the little craft. I felt their fear before I saw them immobile in the stationary waves. I moved in close and looked them over carefully, I couldn’t see any obvious damage and returned to my body after finding both of them alive.

I adjusted course slightly and wedged myself in so I wasn’t sliding about as much, tightened up the fastenings on my waterproofs and watched the waves as she climbed them then would suddenly drop with a bone shaking crash as her centre of gravity passed over the crest and she fell. I stayed like this for almost two hours. Then as I got close I reefed in the main all the way let the jib flap and started the engine. I eventually caught sight of them and flashed a torch at them to get attention, just in case they hadn’t seen my navigation lights.

"Eleanor is that you?" came a weak radio signal.

"Yes it is me what is your situation Jackie as we couldn’t hear you?" I asked.

"We rolled and lost the aerial with a big wave. The rudder is damaged and we are still taking on water, though the manual bilge pump is working. My engine wont start and my electrics are down" Barry said his voice strained.

"Right prepare to receive my line and we will see if we can stay head to wind" I said and returned to the deck. When we were reasonably close I threw a line and gave it an assist with my mind taking it directly to Barry he made fast and I took us both into the wind on a long line to try to absorb some of the shock between the two craft. I got us into the wind but was making no headway. I headed down onto the radio again and called the coastguard.

"Brest Coastguard, Brest Coastguard, Brest Coastguard, This is Yacht Eleanor, Yacht Eleanor, Yacht Eleanor. Pan. Pan. Pan." I said "Position forty six degrees thirty four minutes north four degrees seventeen minutes west. I am a fifty foot cutter one person on board and I have yacht Jackie in tow two people on board"

"Good work Eleanor what is your situation? Over" came the Coastguards voice.

"I can keep us into the wind but if it gets much worse I don’t know" I said honestly.

"Eleanor the weather shouldn’t get much worse but it is going to be morning before it eases. Can you cope?" came the concerned voice.

"If I cant I will call you. Eleanor out" I said heading back on deck to take the tiller again.

The night was rough, the anemometer said fifty knots over the deck and the sea was mountainous. I started playing the throttle easing off down the huge grey waves letting the Jackie climb slowly over the wave, trying not to pull her bows under then powering up as she came down towards my stern. The spray worked its way inside my waterproofs. I was cold, wet and bruised from the tiller.

"Sarah do you want our help?" Seeker asked.

"How long will it take for you to get here and pick us up if we need it?" I asked

"Five minutes at most" she said

"Standby just in case it all falls to pieces but I do not want to abandon her" I said.

"We standby Sarah and I am with you" Seeker said and I felt her enter my mind.

"Can I regulate your bodies systems a little?" she asked.

"Be my guest. Anything to make me feel a bit better" I told her and suddenly the sore and aching parts of me weren’t so sore and aching. I also felt slightly warmer.

"Thank you" I said and concentrated on the task at hand again.

Just as dawn started to break the fury of the storm increased for a while and I was scared. It seemed as we crested the huge waves that we would just be swallowed by one. It was only Seekers reassurances that the storm was nearly over that kept me on course. Then suddenly the seas started to ease and the wind dropped significantly down to force five to six in a matter of minutes we were through. I headed down to the radio again.

"Brest coastguard, this is Yacht Eleanor. Over" I said.

"Go ahead Eleanor. Over" came the voice back.

"The wind is dropping and we are now out of danger. Thank you for monitoring us all night. Over" I said to the man who had been there since the night before.

"You did the work mademoiselle not me. It is good to hear you are safe, I have a large charter yacht approaching your position. Do you still need any assistance?" he asked.

"I’m dead on my feet if they have a body I can borrow to help me get the two of us in it would be appreciated. It is going to be a long trip in towing. Over" I said.

"I will see what I can arrange" he said.

"Eleanor, The Sea Dreamer is going to meet up with you, they have a body you can use as you wish. Their words not mine and now I wish you au revoir and I will see you when you make port. This is Brest Coastguard Out" he said and was gone.

I carried on heading north towards Brest for another hour when I got a shout on the radio.

"Eleanor, this is Sea Dreamer do you read me? Over" came an English voice.

"Yes Sea Dreamer, I read you and you are a welcome sound" I said.

"Well if you look off your port bow you can see us we will be alongside soon" said the voice, I stuck my head out of the hatch and looked. I could see the white sail.

"Yes I see you Sea Dreamer" I said

"I am a charter yacht with a decent charter on board. I can let you have the crew who has been bumming around with me for the last few months. He is a good seaman but like a rope around your propeller he is difficult to rid yourself of. You have been warned Eleanor" the man said with a chuckle.

"After last night any help is welcome as I am way behind on sleep and food Sea Dreamer. I think I will risk it" I said back.

"Your choice Eleanor be with you soon. This is Sea Dreamer out" he finished. Soon after the white yacht was along side as I chugged into wind again. Fenders out she came in close and I looked at the six people on deck.

At the wheel was a man with a beard who smiled at me and nodded as he matched with me carefully. Two couples were also on deck all in their forties. These were obviously the paying guests.

The last one was a long blond haired young man in his twenties wearing a t-shirt with no arms, deck shoes with no socks and obscenely short shorts. He was clutching a large carryall bag and waiting for his moment to jump. He launched himself across and hit the deck hard. He was on his feet in a few seconds and we separated with a wave.

"Strewth, I thought you were on a yacht not a bloody antique" the man said with a strong Australian accent.

"Well she did better than the modern one I picked up on the way" I said feeling slightly hurt by his comment.

"True but I was expecting something built in the twentieth century" he said looking around the deck.

"Look if you don’t like it I can chuck you onto the modern wreck back there and I will cope without you. Otherwise shut your gob" I shouted at him.

"Don’t get so worked up" he said "I like old things I was just taken by surprise that’s all. I’m Russell by the way"

"Sarah" I said back "Do you want to dump your kit down below as I wouldn’t mind grabbing something to eat and a drink. I haven’t had anything to eat since yesterday morning"

"No worries. I can happily take her" he said

"Well I will see how you do for a bit then decide if you can handle her" I said.

"Fair enough, though I am Australian" he said

"Yes and you can shear a sheep, cook a barbie and find a beer in the desert as well" I said

"Yes as I said I’m an Auzzie" he said with a smile as he headed below decks. Moments later he returned.

"Get some food and a drink. If I hit any problems I will shout" he said taking the tiller off me.

"Thanks" I answered honestly and slipped down below.

Fed watered and with a change of clothing I headed back on deck to find him coping very well. I wedged myself in a corner and just relaxed for a while.

"How does a Sheila like you end up out here alone on a yacht like this?" he asked.

"I like my own company and I like wooden ships" I said.

"Yes but out here alone?" he said "Why didn’t you hug the coast?"

"I was trying to get away from those two so I decided to try the hop across Biscay. I was doing quite well till they decided to follow" I said nodding back at the Jackie.

"Why what’s up with them?" he asked.

"I became their adoptive daughter for a while and I had visions of them following me all around the Med" I said and he smiled.

"Yes I can understand that" he said "You say your heading for the Med. Any chance of dropping me off somewhere warmer, The Balearics, Greece or Turkey?"

"Lets see how it goes" I said and he didn’t push it.

I dozed as we made our way in towards Brest and eventually the harbour entrance became visible. I took the tiller and we made our way in as directed. Mooring alongside a jetty we pulled Jackie in along side us and when she was secure Barry and Jackie came across.

"Sarah thank you" Jackie said hugging me tight "I don’t know what would have happened without you"

"You would have made it" I said

"No I don’t think so" Barry said "before you turned up we had rolled. I couldn’t keep her head into the wind" he gave me a hug also.

"Don’t worry about it. All done now and nobody hurt. What condition is The Jackie in?"

"A few weeks work and she will be as good as new" Barry answered "But I think we stick to coastal hopping from now on"

"Yes" Jackie said firmly.

"Can I have permission to come on board?" asked a heavily accented French voice.

"Brest Coastguard radio?" I asked.

"Yes I am Pierre. I had to see you make port" he said

"I’m Sarah. Did you get some sleep?" I asked

"A little but overnight you became news. The solo Englishwoman sailing through the storm to rescue the Yacht in distress. Then holding them on course through the gale till the dawn came" he said, "Did you see the cameras as you came in?"

"No, and though The Eleanor is British registered and I am British by birth, I am a Saudi National" I said.

"It makes little difference. The harbourmaster is keeping all press out for the moment but we will have to let them in eventually. Can I have all your details it may keep them quiet for a while?" he asked.

"We are Barry and Jackie Simon from Sussex and Sarah here saved our lives" Barry said.

"Where are you from and what is your full name?" Pierre asked me.

"Sarah Saud and just leave it as of The Eleanor" I said.

"Fine it should quiet them down for a while after you have sorted yourselves out we will let them come down" he said as he left.

"TV cameras Jackie" Barry said, "we are going to be on telly"

Wonderful I thought a nice quiet cruise turns to shit. I was tempted to slip my mooring and make a run for it. If I had been moored outside The Jackie and with more fuel I would have.

"They are coming now" Pierre said running back down, "as your last port was France customs do not need to bother with you"

Behind him could be seen four or five TV cameras and about two dozen people approaching. One of the first to approach started to climb onto The Eleanor.

"I wouldn’t do that if I was you mate" came Russell’s Australian twang.

"Why not" demanded the man in a southern English accent.

"Because it would be a shame to throw you and that expensive camera in the water" Russell said.

"But we were told we could come down here by the man at the entrance" he protested loudly from the ladder.

"That mans responsibilities end at the bottom of the ladder. You do not set foot here without the owners permission. You lay one foot on this deck and I guarantee before the other one touches the deck, you will be swimming. Any sharks around here Sarah?" he asked loudly.

"I don’t think so" I said.

"Pity but the waters deep anyway you can easily drown. So don’t be such a drongo and wait at the top like all the rest"

The man thought about it for a moment and then decided to climb back up.

"Thank you" I said to Russell.

"If he thought you were going to let him loose on this decking in those shoes he had another thing coming" Russell said, glancing up at the cameras now pointing down towards us. Barry headed up to talk to them for a while, his head appeared back over the side after a few minutes.

"Sarah, Jackie they would like you two up" he said. Jackie climbed up and I slowly followed her.

"What was it like out there last night?" a man with a microphone asked me.

"Dark, wet and windy" I answered getting a few laughs.

"Where you scared at all?" he asked.

"I was too busy to be scared" I said.

"The Eleanor looks old how old is she?" another man asked.

"She is a 1902 Bristol Pilot Cutter" I said happily, this was one question I didn’t mind answering.

"Why were you out there alone?" He then asked.

"Because I dislike crowds" I answered, I let them wrap it up with a few photographs then slipped back down to The Eleanor and went below decks. I cooked some beans on toast and sat down dozing again.

"You need some sleep" Russell said.

"I know but I need to watch the mooring lines" I said.

"Look sleep, I can do that" He said.

"Get what you want to eat, there is food and beer in the fridge. Are you sure you are alright?" I asked worried about leaving this man alone in charge.

"Just sleep" he said and even with my tiredness, I could feel his sincerity.

"Thank you" I said, and slipped into my cabin. I stripped down to just my panties and I was asleep.

The smell of bacon cooking woke me from a deep sleep. For a moment or two I panicked wondering where I was and who was here. Then it came back to me. I slipped on some shorts and a top and opened my cabin door.

"G’day" came Russell’s happy voice.

"What time is it and where is some coffee?" I asked.

"Its nearly midday local time and if you sit down I will sort you a coffee" he said. I did and I looked up to see his rear in too tight and too short shorts again.

I don’t know what it is about Australian men but there seems to be a competition going on. Who can wear the biggest, silliest shorts and who can wear the shortest, tightest ones. Russell was well on the way for at least a honourable mention for his shorts.

"Any problems last night?" I asked.

"Nah, just kept checking every hour. Though I did get through a few of your tinnies though" he said.

"Don’t worry about it. That was what they were there for" I said receiving a cup from him and a bag of sugar. I put some sugar in and headed up on deck.

The mess that I had left the day before when I entered the port had been cleaned up and generally Eleanor had been put back into order again.

"Russell did you clean up on deck?" I asked.

"Yes, but its Russ only my mother calls me Russell. Normally when I have done something wrong" he shouted from below decks. "Any sauce on your bacon sandwich?"

"No as it stands" I said and he came on deck with a plate and four rounds.

"Ok Russ, where are you heading?" I asked.

"I was heading down to the Mediterranean, trying to get to the Greek islands. I was going to do some bumming around down there for a while till I got bored and decided to try something else" he said

"Well I’m going that way, I was planning on going solo but if you want to crew for a while your welcome" I told him "But you start saying strewth, bonza, drongo’s, dunnys or anything else like that before I am awake. I will throw you overboard"

"That is fine with me" he said carefully laying on a bad English accent.

"Have you got any decent shorts?" I asked.

"You want me in something daggy?" he said his face dropping.

"Just a little less revealing, they are a little too much to go with breakfast. But you can add daggy to that list" I said.

"These are my decent pair" he said looking down at them.

"Can’t you get some ashore?" I asked.

"Well I was due some money for crewing on that charter. But I left before we hit port" he said uncomfortably.

"What if I buy you some?"

"No way. I work for my money I don’t scrounge off women" he said firmly.

"Look. How about if I treat you to some clothes for last nights work and donate a few quid to the stranded Australians fund, due to the fact that helping me got you stuck here without cash?"

He didn’t look convinced.

"But of course I will get my moneys worth on the hop across Biscay. I’m am still intending to cross it in one go" I said

"You are?"

"Of course I am. But it will be a lot easier with your help" I told him with a smile.

"So this is a business deal then?" he asked.

"No I am just after your body. I intend to use you, abuse you then dump you leaving you heartbroken for the rest of your life" I said laughing.

"Travelling in a VW kombi, On a hippy trail head full of zombies" he sang with a smile on his face.

"I met a strange lady she made me nervous. She took me in and gave me breakfast. She said" he continued.

"Do you come from a land down under?" I answered and he smiled.

"Yes I’ll play" he said with a smile.

"Good I would hate to see my crew arrested for indecent exposure. It reflects badly on the ship" I told him.

"After your performance with The Jackie I could run around with no strides on and just The Eleanor tattooed on my arse and they wouldn’t touch me. You have made an impression on people around here. We even had some Arab around first thing this morning full robes the lot asking for you." Russ said.

"Did he leave a name? What did you tell him?" I asked urgently.

"I told him you needed your sleep and I wouldn’t wake you up no matter what. I think he said his name was Bill"

"Shit" I exclaimed loudly, "Did he say where he was staying?"

"No. Have I done something wrong? We had people around all night and I told them to come back when you were awake also" he said concerned.

"No I just would have like to see Billy that’s all. Let me get sorted and we can see if we can find him"

Ten minutes later after a quick wash, the addition of a bra under my t-shirt, sandals and my hair tied back I reappeared on deck with a handbag.

"Jeese that was quick" Russ said looking me up and down "I expected you to be at least another half hour"

"Why is something up?" I asked suddenly self conscious.

"No not at all" he assured me "I’m just use to British girls taking forever to get ready. Not like the girls back home"

"Where exactly is home?"

"A little place called Broome in north west Australia" He said as we climbed onto the jetty.

"Sorry it means nothing to me" I admitted.

"Means nothing to me either" he said leaving me wondering.

"Have you seen Barry and Jackie this morning?" I asked changing the subject.

"Yes they headed off early to talk about repairs. Most of the water they took on board was through the damage to the rudder. Turning turtle just messed things up down below, no real damage" he replied as we walked through the dock complex. The area seemed to be dominated by the naval base and many people in the area seemed to be naval personnel. Again I appeared to be the centre of attention from the emotional responses not all of it was due to my looks. Though one emotional flash was very much centred on Russ. A man in a suit approached us from a waiting black Mercedes

"Miss Saud?" he asked.

"Yes"

"His highness asked me to pick you up when you awoke" he said indicating the car.

"Fine" I said and I pushed a confused Russ towards the car.

"What is going on?" he whispered in the car.

"I think I am going to get some grief. You are coming along as backup" I said leaving him none the wiser. Our destination was a rather fancy hotel which I wondered if it was one of Fayed’s. The door was opened for me and suddenly I was engulfed by Billy’s arms. I admit I stayed there for a minute enjoying it before breaking away.

"What brings you here then?" I said looking up at him.

"What brings me here?" he roared "I am informed by my cousin that your vessel is involved in an incident during one of the worst storms for years. The rescue aircraft cannot reach you, so I came to see what I could arrange. Only I arrive here in time to find that you have turned the situation around and come sailing in as the heroine who braved the storm alone to rescue others"

"Well I have my uses, I just wish it was less public" I said, smiling at him.

"Well publicity has found you this time and I want you to come back with me. Stop this dangerous and foolish venture now, you have nothing to prove" he said taking one of my hands in both of his.

"No Billy" I said gently "I will come and visit often and I may live there someday but for now I need this"

"Sarah please, don’t make me forbid you to do this" He said and despite his concern for me that he was broadcasting my anger flared.

"Billy, you don’t want to say things like that, we are friends and I wish to remain friends. But if you start throwing your weight around with me I will respond in the same manner. Who do you think will win?" I asked him.

"I am sorry Sarah, I do not mean it as it sounds. I just worry about you" he said, and I hugged him back.

"That is part of friendship" I told him as I hugged him, "But I am not he same wretch you pulled off the road mere months ago"

"No you are not" he admitted and turned to Russ, "Who is this?" Do I have reason to be jealous?"

"This is Russ, Russ this is Billy." I introduced them "Russ helped me bring Eleanor in last night. As he lost his berth to help me he is bumming a ride down to the Mediterranean with me"

"Good. I will sleep easier knowing you are not out there alone. Now come eat with me I have not eaten due to worry and anticipation." He said.

"Well we are supposed to be shopping for supplies and some decent clothes for Russ here" I said.

"Look let one of my people get what you need and eat with me. I have flown far and have but a short time here" he said with sad eyes that I was unable to refuse.

After a nice dinner, where I felt very out of place and Russell’s discomfort was even greater at our eloquent surroundings, we talked for a while.

"How come you have the entourage now?" I asked.

"In my new position I have to take precautions. Gone are the days of travelling alone at will. Now it is a major exercise to do anything" He said sadly, "I envy you"

"How is Alex?" I asked changing the subject as I had no response for him.

"She is well and sends her love. She is running my business enterprises as my responsibilities are elsewhere now" he said again sadly.

"If you don’t like your job change it or get another one?" Russ said.

"It is not that easy" Billy protested.

"It is if you are not enjoying life then you are doing something wrong. You have but one life if you look back at the end and say what a bloody miserable time you had it is wasted" Russ answered.

"True" Billy said

"What is your job anyway?" Russ asked

"King" Billy answered. Russell was quiet for a long time afterwards.

We made our way back to ‘The Eleanor’ and all went on deck.

"So this is what you were seeking" Billy said, looking around the deck "I approve"

"You like her then?" I asked.

"Oh yes, though we are a people of the desert, we do not love it. We have existed there for centuries and it is our home. This though I could love and get use to" he said sinking down in the cockpit.

"Do you want to play for a few hours?" I asked.

"Do you mind?" he said, a twinkle in his eye that had been missing for a long time.

"Come on lets move The Jackie and we can head out for a while. Your bodyguards and staff are going to have to wait here though" I said as we started to walk The Jackie along to our stern.

"If you are in your usual rig under the robes, strip below decks. No passengers allowed here, you want to play, you work" I said and he headed down below. A few minutes later, he reappeared in shorts, sandals and a Mettalica T-shirt.

"What’s with the t-shirt?" I asked

"My own form of rebellion" he answered smiling.

"Good, there is still hope for you" I said, "Cast off bow line, cast off stern line" and we motored out.

It was fun. ‘The Eleanor’ on my own was hard work. With these two big men at work, it was easy, and soon we had her under full sail with her heeling over nicely. This is not exactly efficient sailing but for the newcomer there is nothing quite like it. As I eased her so she was running before the wind, Russ headed down below and came up with two cans of beer and a can of coke.

"Well then what has been happening to get you so tensed up?" I asked.

"Politics" he said as he drank his can of coke, "While my country is mortally wounded they still play politics with me"

"Well don’t play politics" I said, "Politics are beneath you, but you should have no worries about using the media as you need to. You have no popularity contests to win, they do"

"I am" he said, "But that is enough of that. Teach me what to do with the stick you steer with" he said with a smile.

"Tiller" I said, with some pain in my voice.

That night, after the goodbyes, Russ and I sat on the deck talking.

"What is it with you?" he asked

"What do you mean?" I said suddenly worried that something had slipped.

"Look you have kings running around after you and you are arguing about paying your share of the bill" he answered, "let him pay for dinner next time, he can afford it"

"Is that why you didn’t object to he clothes he bought you?" I asked with a smile.

"Look he has sent someone with decent taste for them, though have you seen these shorts?" he asked.

"Seen them? There may be people somewhere in France that aren’t being blinded by those things. But at least they’re longer" I said with a smile.

"I don’t know what was up with the other ones" he said, "when do we move? I’m bored with France"

"Tomorrow we get ready, the next day, at dawn, we take Biscay" I told him and he grinned.

"Good night and I will see you in the morning" I told him and slipped down into my cabin.

"Sarah, you seem happy" Seeker said as I started to get undressed.

"I think I am, sort of, at least for the moment" I admitted.

"Sarah despite all the things that have happened to you because of me and my people, do you think you could help us?" Seeker asked meekly.

"What are you after another book?" I said.

"No my people need your help" she said.

"What is the problem?" I asked.

"Something is happening to my people. It started not long before I first met you a seeker was lost. Normally if one of our race is in danger we know all about it. The seeker in question just went silent and nothing has been heard since" Seeker explained.

"So you have lost a man and need me to try and find him" I said

"No that was the first occasion it has happened again and again since" Seeker said "but I have only just been given permission to talk to you about it"

"How many have you lost?"

"Over twelve thousand" she replied.

"How many have you lost before this?" I asked her.

"Seven in one hundred of your years" she answered.

"You, my dear, have a problem" I said, "Someone has declared war on your race, any idea who you may have pissed off?"

"No" she answered.

"Why has my life got so complex since I met you?" I asked.

"I have no reply to that Sarah" Seeker said.

"Never mind, tell me about it"

To Be Continued...?



~Kingdom Of The Blind~ © 2002 by Hypatia
~Illustratiosn~ © Original Artists
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.

Tell me if it’s worth continuing as I would hate to end up doing 1.5MB only to find every one hates it. Thanks, Hypatia

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