Chapter Four

Edge of the Ocean

I don’t know what

They want from me

It’s like the more money

We come across the

More problems we see.

The bus didn’t move after that. Kemma only knew this because she couldn’t feel any vibrations underneath her cheek because for almost an hour she had laid on the floor listlessly. Things moved outside, she was sure of that. She could hear lots of vibrations coming from around the bus.

The whole time she hadn’t bothered to talk, move, or even get warm again. She really could care less if she died of hypothermia at the moment. In fact, dying of that would be all right with her! Then she wouldn’t be stuck doing some lame government project…

She admitted that she liked the government just as much as the next person. It was just that she didn’t feel a need to involve herself in it. She was a nice, happy citizen who had absolutely no desire to run other people’s lives. Correct lives, yes, but not run them. So having to be put in a government program with no real desire ruined the whole trip for her.

Zane attempted to send her a message, but she had shut off her software. Software, she decided, she would not need at the moment. Oh no, what she needed was a big shot of vodka. Speaking of something to drink, she needed a waffle to go along with it. That sounded really good, seeing how she must have missed breakfast.

Oh, and a hot bath. And new clothes. She really, really wanted some brand new clothes. Nice, warm cozy clothes fresh from the store. Was it so much to ask? Just to want a few simple pretty things?

Waiting for an hour, lying lifelessly on a floor isn’t the most comfortable position for a girl. Kemma could feel her neck and her legs cramping up, but she wasn’t about to make this easy for them. There was no way she was going to give in one bit! They could kiss her ass, for all she cared! It wasn’t like they actually needed her in the first place! Seriously, if someone had implied you were a dumb blonde, then of course you wouldn’t think this was very important. No one cares about anything if they’re going to get made fun of for it.

Fortunately, Kemma got an excuse to move after at least 20 pings had gone off in her head. Each ping meant someone had sent her a message, and Kemma knew exactly who had sent all of them-Zane. Rolling over onto her back-it felt so good to move!-Kemma twitched her index finger and closed her eyes even tighter. Her pink bubbly message screen-okay, so she had had a bit of time to personalize everything-popped up and she flipped through the screens, watching as each message presented itself. Almost every one asked the same thing-are you gonna move at all or not? Every other one or so also had some jokes or such in them, but that was about it. The last one though stated-if you’re going to play stupid through this whole ordeal, then at least tell me first so I don’t put myself in danger again.

Kemma grinned slightly and sent him a quick message back, saying-Sorry you almost got yourself killed, Ken doll. There won’t be another time though, because I won’t be doing this. She sent it and shut her system off again, opening her eyes. Looking to the door, she noticed that finally people were coming to get them out of there. She couldn’t wait to see what they thought of her rebellious idea to not move at all. She felt like a punk rocker, being so rad and all!

The bus door swung open with a creak. Zane and Kemma looked to see who it was, and now she was really frozen with fear. She was even too scared to scream for once. This was a new level of fear for her.

Outside was the woman in the navy blue suit, but this time she was accompanied by 2 garish looking things instead of the men in black. They looked like those generic aliens found in UFO-enthusiasts’ shops. They had big black almond eyes fitted onto a grey skull. Their bodies were lithe and grey and aside from a tracking bracelet on one of their arms, they had nothing on.

Kemma willed her eyes to shut and she forced herself to think she had seen nothing. All her muscles were on the brink of breaking they were so tense, but still she did not move. Zane on the other hand, had lost any words for an occasion like this. He could only open his mouth and try to say something, but nothing was coming out; not even his breath.

The woman looked at them both, a smug expression on her face. “If you can’t handle our neighbors the Grey’s, then obviously you two aren’t right for this job.”

Zane averted his eyes from the Grey’s big black blinking ones and looked at anything else in the bus that he could.

“Uh,” He stammered, not really sure what kind of words he could put together for these guys. “Um, well…it’s just…they probably think we’re pretty strange, hm?”

“We are to escort you to F.G.A. headquarters.” One said, completely scaring Kemma and Zane out of their wits. Zane just happened to be the one who didn’t scream.

“What’s up with her?” One of the Grey’s asked. The woman in navy shrugged superiorly. Oh goodness, Kemma wanted to pull the hair out of that lady’s scalp! She wanted to claw at her until she died!

“She’s not all put-together like you and I.” The woman said, the insult lingering in the air.

Kemma couldn’t resist her urge to kill the lady anymore. She sat straight up and glared at the lady, her eyes like glowing silver coals.

“What are you talking about you fucking bitch?” Kemma mumbled at first, but her voice got louder. “I’m more put-together than you of all fucking people! You, on the other hand are a fucking whore!”

The woman appeared momentarily shocked. She put a hand to her navy suit. “Pardon me?”

“Oh, what?” Kemma said, kind of like an annoying politician. “What? You didn’t hear what I said?” She threw herself closer to the lady. “I called you a-!” Before she could get herself in any trouble, Zane reached out and clamped a hand over her mouth, so the ultimate effect was a muffled shriek. He kept his palm over her mouth to make sure she didn’t make any idiot of herself because that was the direction she was headed, Oxford graduate or not.

“Um,” Zane said desperately, “she didn’t mean that. Honest to god, she didn’t mean that.” Kemma tried to turn around and glare at him, furiously shaking her head, some more muffled shrieks coming from her.

The woman smirked. “I’m sure she didn’t. Miss Jessamine, your time on earth will be sorely missed; I can assure you on that.” Kemma could hear the insult in that too, and was sorely tempted to bite Zane in order to give the lady her comeback on that, but her lips was smashed to her teeth and it wasn’t possible.

She was trying to be good, honest! It was just that this bitch was making it really hard to accomplish! Kemma was getting slaughtered with insults! She had to do something to keep herself together!

So she decided to concentrate on the fact that aliens were standing in front of her and were waiting to escort her to the F.G.A.

Yep, that definitely did the trick. Freaking herself out was much better than having to focus on the mean lady’s snarky insults.

“Do not be alarmed.” One of the Grey’s said in perfect English. “We understand that meeting one of your brethren from the stars is unusual but in time you will come to think of us as friends.”

Friends, both Kemma and Zane thought, scared witless. Friends? No way! One of the Grey’s bent their rather large head down into the bus, leaning closer to them to get a better look at their faces. It squinted, examining Zane’s eyes. It would have taken a look at Kemma’s, but Kemma was busy doing a 33 and making sure he eyes were shut tight.

The Grey leaned back to the woman and its companion. “We do, however, need the contacts removed from their irises. Gold colored eyes attract more attention than what is necessary in the F.G.A.” It said, thinking obviously this was a very serious matter.

Kemma fortunately, had dealt with stuff like this. Having silver irises with ruby crystals implanted in her pupils had caused quite a bit of controversy back when she had first gotten them, when she had been working with the police. She had compromised with her chief though and gotten blackout contacts to make herself more normal. She kept spares of the blackout lenses in her makeup bag, so she had that problem taken care of for them already. Wriggling her face away from Zane’s hand wasn’t easy, but she managed.

“Um,” She said blindly, still struggling to get some fresh air that wasn’t filtered by Zane’s hand, “They’re our real eyes. I’ve got blackout lenses though, if that helps.” The Grey that had spoken appeared thoughtful.

“Yes.” It said. “Thank you. That helps us very much.”

“Time is not on our side tonight.” The other Grey said quietly, turning to its companion and the woman. “We must be getting along now. Thank you for your time, Sergeant Whar.”

“Whar?” Kemma snorted insultingly. “Jeez, no wonder why you’re such a-!” Zane clamped his hand back over Kemma’s mouth before she could even say what she intended. The woman, Sergeant Whar apparently, looked at Kemma smugly, as if daring her to say another word.

“Why, you’re very welcome.” She told the Greys icily. “I place these two in your custody as of now.”

Before Zane or Kemma knew it, one of the Grey’s had a giant thing in one of their hands that looked like a needle. Well, Kemma was oblivious to it because she still had her eyes shut. She only knew something bad was about to happen because, well, who didn’t see it coming? Plus Zane’s grip on her convulsed tightly for a second.

“Oh god,” He whispered to her. “You’re right. This is crazy for us to do.” His tight grip relaxed weakly just as suddenly as it had tightened, hinting to Kemma that something must’ve happened to him because he wasn’t babbling on and on about whatever. She opened one eye slightly just in time to see the Grey with the needle thing plunging it deep into her arm.

Oh, it didn’t hurt. Kemma had had worse. She’d been shot before with a real gun, unlike the stun gun she used. But the fact that she had just been injected with something-she could feel it oozing into her bloodstream-that she didn’t know made her panic and of course she screamed. Her vocal chords would be hoarse for days if she kept this up.

She just knew that whatever happened to her next clearly wouldn’t be good since she was getting all shot up with something unidentifiable for it.

Fortunately for both Kemma and Zane, blacking out in the middle of a conversation wasn’t unusual. Both had had it happen a few times in their great career choices. It wasn’t like this was so tough. Besides, if they had seen exactly where they were, they probably would have managed to make their hearts stop.

Being moved into a different sector of the universe isn’t something you exactly want to take pictures of. It’s really more of a battleground than anything.

Chapter Five

This is how a heart breaks

I’ll protect you from the night

It will never fall

I’ll protect you from the truth

You won’t hear it at all

Oh I’m too young to be this old

Waking up for them was like entering just another nightmare, really. A sick, cruel and twisted nightmare that wasn’t about to let one escape from its clutches.

Zane woke up in an operating room. He didn’t know why. He was guessing that obviously these sick freaks thought something was wrong with him. He also guessed he was still drugged a bit, because he really didn’t care all that much.

However, lying naked on a cold metal table might not be as embarrassing as one thought.

A grey came in a few moments after he had woken up. This was the only reason why he had panicked since he had opened his eyes. Grey’s, to him, meant that he was not safe in a comfortable place like a hotel room or a nice beach house. Oh no, it meant some kind of searing pain must have happened to him.

“Do not be alarmed.” Said the grey as it plucked some kind of wiry looking tool from a brightly lit wall. This reminded Zane of a fancy hardware store more than anything. One that may have been built in an 8 story mall or something.

“We have only done what is necessary to your human frame. You will be able to tolerate more strenuous work than before.”

“That’s it?” Zane asked, after a pause from the Grey’s words. The Grey nodded.

“That is it.” It complied.

“Oh…well, Thanks, then.” Zane said. “Can I…can I get some clothes?”

“Clothes?” The Grey repeated, as if it wasn’t sure what clothes were. “What do you do with…clothes?” Zane shook his head.

“I’m not leaving here until I’m dressed. Seriously buddy, nobody with my kind of physique goes out in public like this.” That was technically a stretch, but Zane just wanted to make sure he would have proper clothes to wear.

“I shall ask my supervisor for these…clothes.” The Grey said with its perfect English, causing Zane to wince. It was just so weird hearing these things speak English!

“Will the other one need these…clothes as well?” The Grey asked carefully, as if maybe clothes weren’t something everybody wore. Zane let out a short bark of laughter, imagining what a riot that would be if they didn’t provide Kemma with clothing. She’d probably have a major melt-down.

Suddenly the thought of Kemma brought concern to Zane’s face. “Um, she will definitely need clothing. Speaking of her though, is she all right?”

“Yes.” The Grey said slowly. “Why would she not be all right?”

Well I don’t know, she kind of dunked herself in the ocean yesterday night, Zane thought bitterly. What he said though was, “It’s just I don’t think that she takes to traveling all that well.”

Kemma didn’t take to traveling well at all. Oh no, she really hated it. The instant she opened her eyes, naked-frightening for any girl-and stretched out on a metal table, she pretty much had a heart attack. Never mind that two Grey’s were in the room with her, she felt like the most solitary person in the world!

Scrambling to sit up and cover herself, Kemma looked around and watched as the two Grey’s rushed to her side.

“Please lie back down.” One said, making Kemma wince from its perfect English. “Your organs may not be ready for rapid movement just yet.”

Rapid movement? Kemma thought. Sitting up was nothing compared to how rapid a move she would be making once she escaped from this room! But first she would need clothes. Glancing around in all directions sent distress signals to her brain though.

“Where are my clothes?!” Kemma asked shrilly.

“Your outer skin is in detoxification for now.” One Grey said. Our advisor said you may have them back once they are free of all human debris.” Kemma’ right eyes twitched at the thought of her clothing being dipped in acid or something to get rid of anything human on it. That sweater was a one of a kind! They couldn’t do this to her! It was a cheap shot, directly to her heart!

Speaking of her heart, Kemma felt an odd tugging sensation just above it. Putting a hand to her chest, she discovered a raised scar stretching from her just below her collar bone to beneath her left arm. She didn’t even have a chance to scream before one of the Grey’s began to explain.

“Your anatomy is something the F.G.A. has not seen for a while. We are still processing what those are used for.” The Grey pointed to Kemma’s chest, making Kemma feel like the most exploited person ever.

“Y-you, you…” She stammered, trying to cover herself up the best she could. “You opened me up to see what my breasts do?”

“Yes.” They replied. “Would you mind explaining what exactly they do? We cannot figure them out.”

Speechless. That was the only word Kemma could describe what she was feeling. But that was before fury bubbled up her throat and she screamed at them.

“Get out!” She shrieked as she hopped off the table and grabbed both of the Grey’s by their spindly arms. They were unsurprisingly light, in her opinion. She dragged them to what she prayed was a door and grabbed the handle.

“Get out of here!” She screamed at them again. “Get out and don’t come back until you have clothes for me! If you don’t, then don’t bother coming back! Leave me to die for all I care!”

Throwing open the door into a stark hallway, Kemma shoved them both outside in it. Then she quickly shut the door again and sat down in front of it so no one could come in.

Barricading herself was the only thing that she could think up before bursting into tears.

Because really, who wants their own body messed with before they even know where they happen to be?

Zane managed to get himself together before Kemma had even thought of getting herself ready, so he walked out into the brightly lit halls of the F.G.A. in style. Okay, well, what the F.G.A. thought was suitable clothing. That happened to be a dark grey suit with a white, button down, collared dress shirt, complete with fancy cuffs. They had given him pressed slacks to go with it, but Zane wasn’t a slacks kind of guy. Even in Army intelligence, when he had been required to dress formally, he had never been much for it. He was forever readjusting his collar or where exactly the presses were on his slacks. It just wasn’t his fancy. It was part of the reason his family thought he wasn’t serious about owning up to his name.

However, having to dress up like a penguin did not appeal to him in the slightest, so he had been willing to take a risk when his mother had asked him if he really cared about the family business. Saying no to his dear old mother may have broken her heart, but Zane knew that somewhere out in this giant world we live in there was something better for him than possessing one of the largest Hydrogen Companies in the world.

After the Oil companies had run out of profits and action was finally taken to rebalance the economy as well as the environment. Thus, companies started coming out with Hydrogen based products. They were clean-burning, environmentally friendly and were even cheaper to produce than oil based products. Why this spectacular natural phenomenon hadn’t come to these companies earlier was a feat in itself.

He was wondering why on earth he hadn’t said yes to his mother instead of ending up here as he was fiddling with the two buttons on his suit. Of course, it had been his fault that he had been in a hotel room the exact moment that the government had decided to pick him up. If he had been married, he decided, and living back home in the Southern Sector with a nice family-possibly a big terrier in the mix-in a picket fenced house in some giant suburb without a care in the world, none of this would have happened. It was entirely his own fault that he had decided to enjoy the army’s intelligence and had been forced to go to an intelligence meeting in New New York or else his job wouldn’t be his job anymore. Well, he had been faithful to his job, and look where it had gotten him.

Stuck somewhere with a bunch of people who kept on saying ‘Do not worry’, which quite frankly worried him anyway.

Zane was just about to shell some more pity out to himself when he spied someone walking down the hall, who didn’t happen to be a Grey. They, in fact, happened to be wearing clothing, which was a relief to Zane. He honestly had no idea where to look at these Grey’s. Was it improper to stare below the belt when clearly they had nothing down there, as well as not even owning a belt in the first place? Or was anything private in some area that Zane dared not to ask about? He really, really disliked having nowhere else to look besides their eyes.

“Excuse me,” Zane called out, hurrying to go meet whoever this was. “Would you happen to know where…?” He trailed off as he realized it was Kemma. Kemma only shot him a look and continued down the hallway she had been tramping down in the first place. It was even lucky Zane recognized her though, because she had absolutely no pink on. Even when he had spent the night at her house, everything about her had been pink. Her makeup was insufferably pink, as well as lipstick and nail polish.

Instead she had a sky blue gown on-the ruffled, hoop skirt of a hem must have been what Kemma was annoyed about, Zane decided-and her hair had no ponytail to speak of, leaving her looking just a bit on the elegant side instead of her usual cute self.

“Christ Barbie,” Zane commented rather cheerily as he followed her down the hallway. “What’ve they done to you now? Where’s that dreadful color you’re so keen on wearing?”

“Shut it.” Kemma snapped back at him, continuing her march like he wasn’t even following her. Zane wondered if she was just in a bad mood because they had been traveling and maybe she was one of those people who got sick when they traveled-

He almost ran into her when she abruptly stopped and turned around to face him, her face a vision of fury.

“Do you have a clip?” Kemma asked grudgingly. Zane shrugged.

“Well, I have this cuff clip, but I highly doubt that kind of ensemble needs it.” He said, indicating her gown.

“Give me your clip now.” She growled to him. Zane removed a silver cuff clip and handed it to her outstretched hand.

“Fine.” Zane replied, taunting her. “It seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the table, didn’t they?”

Kemma ignored him and grabbed her hair like she was going to make a ponytail but instead she clipped it up and spun back around, resuming her pace.

Exasperated-as well as not knowing what he was supposed to do now that he was dressed-he had no choice but to follow her down this certain hallway.

“Jesus, Kemma,” Zane said seriously after a few twists and turns in the hallway. “Where are we going?”

“Wherever there is someone to whom I can complain to.” She replied darkly. “I want to make sure that this isn’t some giant joke. Even you can understand something as simple as that, can’t you?” She asked.

Choosing to ignore Kemma’s insult, Zane thought about her complaints for a moment. Boy, she must’ve really hated that dress she had on.

“What kind of joke are we talking about then?” Zane asked politely, wanting to make sure they were on the same page. “I mean, it doesn’t look half bad, honest.”

“Yes it does!” Kemma shouted back at him. But then she stopped and took a deep breath, calming herself down. “No see, you are not a girl.” She explained. “You couldn’t possibly understand how ugly it is. Really, it doesn’t even look modest on me! I feel as if I’ve been exposed!”

“Exposed?” Zane repeated. “But Kemma, it’s not like you have to live with it! You could just ask those Grey’s to fix it. They’ve got to have better ones.”

“Better ones?” Kemma squealed. “What, you want them to just pick any body part to examine then?”

Well, Zane thought as soon as he heard that, obviously they weren’t on the same page. “Wait, what are you talking about?” He asked, confused. “Your dress seriously doesn’t look bad…”

Kemma opened her mouth to say something, but at the last moment she decided it was too private at the moment. She shut her mouth quickly and shrugged.

“Oh, yeah, my dress.” She said hurriedly. “I just meant…” she checked out her dress to figure out some type of lie. “Um, that…that it’s bearing my shoulders and I really don’t like dressed like that, so I’m kind of ticked because I’m a fashionista if you haven’t noticed, and this really, really looks terrible.”

Zane had honestly thought she was pretty intelligent before, but now he was beginning to have his doubts.

“Your shoulders.” He repeated skeptically. Kemma faked a giggle.

“Yea, my shoulders.” She confirmed. “Aren’t they just hideous?”

You can’t blame girls. We play stupid, and we aren’t ashamed of it. It helps us keep things to ourselves, as well as keeping nosy people out of business they shouldn’t be dealing with.

“Oh yea, they’re just ugly.” Zane replied sarcastically as she began to go forward into the depths of some hallway again. “I mean, I haven’t seen such, I don’t know, tanned shoulders in all my life.”

“Oh give it a rest.” Kemma told him. “You wouldn’t understand because you’re not a girl.”

“If I was a girl,” Zane said, “I’d be one of those tom-boys. I’d be running around with perfect sense in my head. None of this fluffy stuff.”

“It’s not fluffy!” She cried defensively. “It’s an entire business! If the fashion industry didn’t exist, you wouldn’t be wearing that nice suit right now. You’d be wearing something like a toga probably!”

“A toga would at least be more comfortable.” He argued, already starting to fiddle with the buttons on his suit again. “I feel like a show-dog in suits like this!” Kemma let out another giggle, her anger slowly starting to evaporate.

“Do you expect to get a treat if you follow me to wherever this F.G.A. is?” She teased with a smile. Zane had to smile as well, because he expected this was the only smile he would be getting all day.

Or was it night? It didn’t really matter, did it? They decided though that as long as they were awake, it would be day, and whenever they were asleep, it was night.

After a few more turns and stops, looks of confusion and arguments about which way to turn-surely they wouldn’t be finding their way back to where they had come from now-they managed to find other life forms. The life forms didn’t appear to be Greys or Humans though. Oh no, they were more like the disfigured version of a grey but with sallow white skin and overly large human eyes. Thankfully for Zane, they wore clothes, although it was hardly anything like the clothing he and Kemma were wearing.

“Excuse me,” Zane called to them, “Could you help us for a moment.” One of these things turned and looked at him…

And promptly let out an ear-splitting scream. Zane and Kemma covered their ears, wincing from the hideous sound. Kemma screamed herself, to try to drown out the other thing’s sound, but it wasn’t really helping.

After that failed attempt, Zane risked his own hearing and grabbed one of Kemma’s arms. He pulled her down the hallway with her towards the things, trying his best to ignore the ugly beings.

“Thanks a lot for the help!” He screamed at them as they passed the ugly little things, with Kemma still screaming too, except her voice was starting to crack from all this screaming she’d been doing.

That being said, she stopped screaming and put a hand to her throat to poke at it and make sure nothing was going to snap or whatever throats did when they felt sore. But as soon as she stopped screaming, the ugly thing stopped screaming too. Now it was just staring at the two humans as they hurried past them.

“Oh my gosh, would you slow down?” Kemma hollered hoarsely at Zane as they turned down a differently lit hallway. This one seemed a bit more serious and official, leading them to believe that they had to be getting closer to wherever they wanted to be. “It’s not very easy to run around barefoot with a dress on! God,” She remarked, “it’s like they have no sense of coordination. Or what’s practical.” She added.

Zane rolled his eyes, rethinking just about everything he had known about Kemma before this. Basically that meant, better start treating her like the fourteen year old she was acting like instead of the mature adult he thought she had been. To Kemma, that was probably just as well. She liked keeping her options open. It was just one of those perks that came with being a pretty blonde who happened to be single-nobody trusted that you could be a trustworthy match for marriage since you were so flirty and all. I mean, obviously the fact that you were a decent human being and a college graduate counted for nothing when it came to relationships. What were you thinking?

But still, being a polite man, Zane slowed down for Kemma. It wasn’t like he was going to treat her like a parasite, if that’s what you were thinking.

“Do you think you’re going to trip or something?” He asked sarcastically, just as Kemma happened to almost trip on the hem of her gown. She didn’t get the sarcasm.

“Um, well…” She began, “I don’t know really. It’s just definitely hard to run about in this.”

“Since we’ve got that established good and well,” Zane quipped, “Why don’t we keep on moving? It looks more official around here then where we had been, so we’ve got to be close to something.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kemma said, “Of course. Let’s keep moving.”

And so they made their way down this more official looking hallway, though Kemma couldn’t tell why exactly it was so official. It just looked a whole lot uglier than the rest.

But the moment they rounded one final corner, it was like they had entered some kind of god-like city! Okay, well, like a city of blinding lights, anyway.

You know those movies that always show the world council sitting in this giant official looking room, with plenty of rows of seating in a horseshoe style? And they usually happen to be speaking about some dire matter or another?

Well, what you’re picturing is the exact room that Kemma and Zane happened upon.

Kemma gasped and covered her own mouth to keep from saying something entirely stupid, while Zane’s jaw dropped and stared at this giant crowd of alien beings. He even went so far as look down at his feet to make sure they were still on the ground and he wasn’t somehow dreaming.

Somehow it became clear that they may have been interrupting something very important.

“Do you have an appointment to see us?” Some ugly being in the front of the room barked at them. Zane and Kemma shook their heads fervently. “Then you have interrupted us. We advise that you wait in General Stein’s office until noted otherwise.”

And as if their interruption was just as important as a bug being squashed, the council disregarded them.

Zane thought this was perfectly acceptable, seeing how they really had intruded. He got a hold of Kemma again.

“Come on,” He whispered as he started to drag her back down the hall, “We’ll handle this professionally later.” Kemma would have willingly gone with him at any other time, but she had remembered exactly why she had been hunting these freaks down in the first place. She wasn’t about to be persuaded otherwise. Not when those jerks had been messing around with the anatomy of her body! Oh no, you weren’t allowed to get away with things like that!

That is, you weren’t allowed to get away with things like that if you lived in the more patrolled area of a city. If you grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, well…god help you.

“Now just a minute!” Kemma cried, managing to shake Zane’s hold off her and head back for the council room. The council turned their eyes-if they had eyes-back to her while Zane stood back a bit, wondering if he would get arrested or something if they angered the council at all.

Kemma stalked farther into the room to face what looked like a judge’s desk. Glaring up at some kind of skinny looking Grey-only this one had 3 fingers and a longer neck than the Greys and wore a robe of some sort-she stuck her hands on her hips, trying to edit her speech beforehand so there wouldn’t be as many curses in it as she was making up in her head.

“I’m sorry if we are intruding on some sort of important matter for you beings, but excuse me, it isn’t as if you had the same courtesy for us!” The Grey looking thing leaned forward to look at Kemma.

“Are you one of the new representatives from Earth?” It asked pointedly as it laced its fingers.

“No.” Kemma replied curtly. “I’m a candidate of Earth, not a representative. As I was saying though, you’ve done me a great dishonor this evening. You have violated my privacy and you have violated my rights as a living being with the term, ‘informed consent’. I believe that this is a heinous crime on your part, and as an enforcer of the law, I am ensured that you beings are the criminals.”

“What is the matter you speak of?” The judge looking being asked as Zane hissed at Kemma to shut up and get out of there, thinking clearly she had no business getting so defensive about what he thought was about a dress.

“There is a scar running from here,” Kemma pointed to her chest, “to here.” She ran her finger under her arm to show the being. “Two Greys told me they had conducted research on my body. Can you tell me a little something about this?”

“Research?” The Judge thing said. “Of course you would not know it was being conducted. You were unconscious. We decided that it was be the opportune time to examine the Female Anatomy at this time. You cannot deny that that was the best course of action.”

“Ha! Hah, hah ha!” Kemma shouted up at it bitterly. “I can imagine you all love waking up with a giant scar on your body and you have no idea where it came from?”

That certainly brought an onslaught of talk in the crowd. Kemma glanced around to see her desired effect.

“It’s just as I thought.” She continued. “You blatantly went ahead with something you knew no one could possibly approve of in their sleep! I can’t believe you are as dim-witted as your actions seem to be, if you beg my pardon. From all this talk I’ve heard about the F.G.A, it doesn’t sound that incompetent! I’m willing to believe that this was a mistake. A mistake that many of you overlooked! I expect that this will never happen again, do you understand?” With a final glance at Zane-who was pretty dumbstruck-she nervously added, “And I’d like a different dress.” She mumbled, “It shows my shoulders and I don’t like that. And it’s blue. I prefer pink.”

She waited for someone’s response rather patiently. Personally, all Kemma really wanted to do was rip some heads off and see if these freaks liked that, but she didn’t want to get blood all over her. So she waited instead, to see if she would be taken seriously or not. It was an age old trick, practiced by many a Barbie look-alikes.

Finally the judge being leaned closer down to Kemma after some thought. “Are you aware that you interrupted a highly important meeting to tell us about your woes?”

“Yes.” Kemma shot back, dully noting her lack of respect. “Yes, I’m just as aware of that as I am sure you are aware that you have wasted a lot of your time with me.”

“We have wasted our time?” The judge mused. “What makes you say that?”

“Because,” Kemma replied as she crossed her arms over her chest protectively, “Judging from the way you’re treating me, I would rather die than be a part of this unforgivably rude association.”

If you had been in the room, you would have to admit it was quite a stand off. Someone was going to have the last word, and it obviously wasn’t going to be the judge being. It tried to keep itself on top anyway.

“Where,” The judge asked, “were you educated?” Kemma grinned smugly.

“Yves St. Laurence Prep Academy from Grades 1 through 12. After that, I attended Oxford University and graduated 2 years ago with a degree in Physics and Philosophy. I stayed one more semester in their superb Police Academy and underwent a great deal more training than I’d expect many Marines goes through. I take my work very seriously and I would greatly appreciate it if I was taken back this instant to my blossoming career. It’s not exactly helping that I am missing work without so much as an excuse.”

“Oxford University?” The judge wondered aloud. “It has been ages since we have heard anything from Oxford. Are you sure someone like you went there?” Kemma, outraged that someone would be so blunt about her appearance and her fine education, glared right back up at him.

“Excuse me Sir,” She cried, “but what happened to make you say that? Do I sound like I’m coming from a bog or something? No, I am very serious! How dare you demean me without even knowing who I am exactly! I’ll have you know that I was probably one of the most educated people in New New York! I moved there for lack of anything better to do in New Boston besides win Beauty pageants which, mind you, I have won quite a few in my days! I’m no slacker!” Okay, so the beauty pageant part was a lie, but it was believable and it made her sound like she was an Einstein who just happened to care about her appearance, which she did, in fact.

There was another hushed pause in the crowd, and in that time Kemma managed to shift her weight from bare foot to bare foot and get rather nervous again. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to go confront these people about their wrongdoings. You never knew; sometimes messing around in the risky parts of town just wasn’t worth it.

“I wouldn’t believe for a second that you are a…slacker.” The judge finally alleged. “However, your speech being done, I must dismiss you. Of course, not before my given word that from here on out you will have our utmost guarantee that your privacy will never again be intruded upon. We will also, from now on, always ask for informed consent.” It sighed and waved a hand at her. “Now, pink dress, you say? We will get on that right away. Would you please wait in General Stein’s room now?”

A sense of triumph overcame Kemma, and she would have done a little jump-hop-skip trio of happiness if she wasn’t in public. That being said though, she grinned even broader than before and uncrossed her arms.

“It would be my pleasure.” She replied pleasantly. “Of course, we will need a guide. For you see, you have given us no directions and it’s fairly impossible to get anywhere in here.”

“I’ll see to that, your Honor.” Said a deep voice from an area of the room Kemma hadn’t noticed before. She watched as-finally!-a human being jumped down from one of the seats on the sideline walls and walked towards her. She had to swallow a lump in her throat in order not to squeal like the 14 year old girl she was inside sometimes.

Taking one of Kemma’s delicately manicured hands in his own, he introduced himself. “I believe that was one of the most fascinating points they have covered all day, miss.” He said demurely. “Allow me to introduce myself to such a creature of grace.” Kemma could hardly keep herself from giggling, so she settled with a blush as he led her out of the room and towards Zane, who didn’t appear at all happy about this.

“I am Commander Irving, but please call me Turk. I am a descendant of the great Australians.” Which was probably why Kemma didn’t recognize his accent. “Being an Oxford graduate, I assume you know of the downfall of my people.”

“Yes.” Kemma said brightly, happy to know somebody was-possibly-taking her seriously. “It was a shame, you know. Before the Global Tilt, Australia really appeared to be one of the popular places to be.”

“Yes,” Turk said, just as brightly, “you know, one of my ancestors happened to be one of the first settlers on the continent. My father says his name was Percival Tunstall, and that they considered naming me Percival? Luckily, my grandmother persuaded them to name me after one of the famous lost empires.”

“Aren’t you lucky then?” Kemma replied, and it was even clear to Zane that this wasn’t harmless flirting. Oh no, harmless flirting would have been something like, ‘hey you’re cute can I get your number?’, but this was the kind of flirting where you were serious about the other person. Personally, Zane was offended that Kemma hadn’t acted as serious with him as she was acting with Turk. Really, it wasn’t as if he cared or anything…It was just, well, how come no girls were ever very serious with him? Was it the fact that he had kicked himself out of his family fortune? That he worked for a living instead of his not-so-motivated brothers?

His irritation over that was most likely why he felt a need to penalize Kemma after her little scene.

“You lied to me!” Zane whined audibly, interrupting Kemma and Turk’s flirting. “I thought you were really that stupid for a second there!”

Wide eyed and innocent, Kemma shook her head. “What?” She asked, confused. “I didn’t lie. I really don’t like this dress! Besides, it’s none of your concern. I didn’t need any help.”

“But that was serious!” Zane sputtered. “You should have told me!”

“Fine!” Kemma replied, tired of listening to him. “Next time something serious happens, you’ll be the first to know!” Zane waited, expecting some sort of snarky comment, but Kemma was infatuated with Turk at the moment and had no inclination to get in an argument about that.

“Good.” Zane finally said, trying to sound all official. “Turk, if you would show us the way to General Stein’s waiting room, it would be greatly appreciated. I’m Zane Hestler by the way.” Turk didn’t seem to be at all hostile or anything towards Zane. He just smiled and shook his hand.

“Ah, so we have a Hestler boy aboard? Well, welcome to the crew.” Putting an arm around Kemma’s waist, he pointed down the hallway. “Shall we?” He asked her, much to Zane’s chagrin-and he didn’t even know why he was so angry about it! Kemma giggled and nodded her head.

“Yes, let’s.” She replied.

If this kind of romance continued much longer, Zane decided, he was going to be very sick. He really didn’t think his stomach could handle such polite and mushy love.

 33-vb., counting to the number 33, starting from one. A 33 is a technique to calm oneself down and gather their thoughts.