Printer-friendly version

The Teg Legacy

By Prudence Walker

Gary was two hours away from his mother ship, as he liked to call it when
disaster struck. As he surveyed the damage the Mallee root had inflicted
on his scouting vessel, he cursed volubly into the unrelenting heat that
pervaded this desolate arid region. No, Gary wasn’t some intrepid
spacefarer lost among the stars. He only wished he was. No, Gary
was stuck out in the sparsely populated region of Western Australia’s desert,
north-east of Laverton, looking at his small Enduro mini bike with its
punctured front tire.

A moment’s explanation here, a Mallee root is the remnants of a small local
eucalyptus tree that grows widely in Australia. The tree rots away or is
eaten by termites while the root section remains intact and hidden under the
red ochre sand. Any unwary tire passing in the near vicinity of a root
usually invites unprovoked attacks, as the shape of the root and the soft
terrain cause it to flip out sharp points that will stab into the side wall of
a tire and cause a puncture.

Gary’s mother ship was none other than a weathered, but reliable Holden
station wagon that served as kitchen, bedroom and a garage for the mini
bike.

An avid science fiction fan, Gary was on a search for parts of the US
Skylab space station that ended its life in the desert of Western
Australia. So armed with the latest model metal detector, he’d set up a
base and was bush bashing, using the mini bike to extend his rather random
search pattern. So far, he’d found several old horseshoes and one gold
nugget, that while fully acceptable, wasn’t what he was truly after. The
scattered remains of the Skylab were proving to be surprisingly elusive.
He knew some of the larger sections that had made it to Earth had been
recovered already, but all he wanted was a memento that wouldn’t attract US
government interest in what he had recovered. If he was lucky to find
several pieces, he knew several people who would pay a lot of money for them,
more even than for any gold he might find.

As the days of searching passed with little result, his path had wandered
away from where he had planned to search. Luckily, he knew exactly where
he was, or rather, his handheld Garmen GPS did and he knew which direction he
had to go to get back to base camp. The only problem, he was about 30 km
away from camp, with a whole lot of hot burning ground to cover, dragging or
carrying his mini bike and the detector. He made a choice, given the
differences in price of replacing one or the other, and stashed the mini bike
in a clump of salt bush. While he was relatively fresh, he decided to
use the detector until the batteries died or he did.

That brought forth a sobering thought. If he died, then there would
be no one left to look after his paralyzed sister, who was currently at a home
for the disabled. One of his goals was to find souvenirs that could be
used to support both himself and his sister so they could stay together.
Dragging his thoughts away from his personal family tragedy, he once again
thought about getting out of his current situation.

Checking the GPS and then taking a bearing from the sun, he set off.
Taking a direct route, instead of the wandering along the one taken with the
bike, would save time, plus he wouldn’t fall into the trap of following old
tire marks in the desert, not that there were a lot of those in the first
place.

After an hour swinging the detector, he’d had enough, and instead slung it
over his shoulder after taking a drink from his canteen. The trouble
with taking the direct route was that you couldn’t take the changing terrain
into consideration. The saltbush in the area stood around fifteen feet
high and was dense enough to prevent Gary seeing the breakaways until it was
too late. (A breakaway is where the land changes level, and usually
means a series of cliffs that could go for kilometers.)

It was then, while he was scouting along the base of the breakaways seeking
a viable route to the top, that he spotted something half buried in the
scree. It was silvery in appearance and rounded like a nacelle.
Gary’s heart beat faster. Was this what he had been searching for?
He scrambled closer, unmindful of the scrapes and bruises his ankles sustained
from the sharp boulders he was going over.

He reached the object and gazed at it reverently, trying to ascertain its
origin. It was about the size of one of those inflatable beach
balls. Gary reached out and touched it, marveling at its silky
cool surface that showed no blemish at all. He grasped it in both hands
and pulled at it, expecting a heavier weight from the buried portion.
Unexpectedly, it lifted with ease, and the muscle he’d applied made him tumble
backwards as the object slipped free and fell from his hands.

Gary cursed as he heard it tumble with a metallic clang as he bashed his
head on the rocks. He rolled over and got to his knees, wiping some
blood from a gash on his cheek. The object lay a few meters down the
slope, and its nature became clearer. It was some kind of helmet, but a
hugely oversized one. Gary could see the inner liner of it, but it
appeared pristine, something it shouldn’t be, considering where it had lain in
the dirt.

Gary approached it more cautiously this time, considering what kind of
person it might fit, noticing that there was some kind of visor
attached. As he lifted it up for a closer look, a light began to
blink. Curiosity drove him to carefully place it on his head as he tried
to see what else was visible.

Although he was holding the helmet, it seemed to jump out of his grasp and
he felt it shrink to fit his head. Then something weird happened that
sent shivers down his spine. The helmet disappeared into thin air.
He felt his head with his hands, as if searching, but it was gone completely
and all he could feel was his sweaty head.

“What just happened?’ He thought. ‘It couldn’t be a
hallucination brought on by the heat, I’ve still got water.’ He shook his
canteen in reassurance and then decided to take a small drink.

“Damn it, where did the bloody helmet go?” Gary shouted out in
frustration.

A distorted series of weird noises, coming from a sort of disembodied voice
close to Gary’s ears began with, “Zzttrrfh … gyjuhjj … tyiokl,” ending with an
understandable “testing?”

“Who’s that?” asked Gary, spinning around on the spot.

“Do you understand me?” the voice spoke again, seeming to come from inside
Gary’s head.

“Yes, yes, I understand, but where are you?” Gary voiced his
frustrated at seeing nobody in sight.

“I am adaptation unit 4000 property of the Przotegzzyx…” the rest of the
word sounded like a buzz to Gary. “I am the helmet you put on.
Using your biometric field, I topped up my charge up and went from standby
mode to active mode,” the voice continued, answering the questions Gary had
asked.

You’re a sentient helmet belonging to …” Here Gary struggled to remember
the name. “The Teg?” he managed.

“Przotegzzyx …” the voice corrected. Then, sensing Gary’s problem
with the name, relented, “Teg will suffice,” it agreed. “And yes, from
your point of view, I am sentient, although the Przo ... er … Teg, would
disagree.”

Here, Gary was sure he could hear some emotion in the mostly monotone
voice. “How come I can’t see you or feel you, if you’re still on my
head?”

“Well, I’m now point 356 degrees to the left of your plane of existence,”
the voice answered as if that was sufficient explanation.

“Point 356 degrees?” Gary asked to himself in wonder. “What kind of
weird measurement is that? Why not a whole degree?” He laughed, thinking what
a surreal conversation he was having.

“Well the Teg were paranoid about having their technology move too far away
from their own plane, so they decided point 356 was just far enough away to
remain invisible, while still being able to access the unit’s abilities.”

“What was that weird garble I first heard? And why does it sound like
you’re in my head?”

“My translation centers had to be recalibrated for your language, and at
first, I used sonic vibration to convey my words. I am now stimulating
your auditory nerve directly so no one else can hear me speak to you.”

“Not that there’s anyone to hear you out here,” Gary pointed out.

“True, but until my power levels rose, I had no means of determining that,
so I took precautions.”

”Can I call you anything other than adaptation unit 4000?” Gary
queried.

“Call me Ada,” the helmet replied after a delay.

Gary chuckled to himself, thinking the voice sounded nothing like an
Ada. This prompted Ada to ask what that noise was.

“It’s just a laugh …humour?” Gary added to further explain. He told
Ada that her name was female, and the discrepancy in the voice and the name
was what had made him chuckle.

“Ah! Accessing now … hmmm. How is this?” Ada’s voice changed, rising
to a dulcet contralto.

“Nice,” Gary commented, thinking it seemed familiar. “What were you
accessing?”

“What you call the Internet. A fascinating system, but very open in
terms of privacy,” Ada answered.

“You can get into the Internet out here? Sheesh, I can hardly get a
radio station unless it’s after sunset,” Gary complained, feeling hard done
by.

“Oh, I can get all the radio, and television bands as well,” Ada said
smugly, further disgusting Gary.

He shook his head, trying to think of his next question rather than
discussing what seemed like trivialities.

“Okay, what I want to know, is how you got here, and where is the Teg that
was wearing you, plus, what is it that you do?” He finally got out.

“The Teg was killed when his craft disintegrated against these bluffs,
after being attacked by a dinosaur some meaningless time ago.”

“Hahaha,” roared Gary, nearly falling over on the uneven ground. “The
Teg was disin-Teg-rated,” he mirthfully gasped out.

“You are a funny species,” Ada commented. “I think I’m going to like
being with you,” she added with a touch of humour in her voice. “What I
did was help the Teg fit into whatever environment they may find themselves,
adapting their form to suit the local indigenous species.”

A sudden thought quickly sobered Gary. “Are there any Teg still on
Earth or likely to come to Earth?”

“No, that’s unlikely. The reason a few of the Teg were exploring the
universe for possible habitable planets was that their sun was about to go
nova. The Teg were never a space faring race, preferring to stay within
their own system of planets.”

There Ada paused to access the Internet, looking for information from
observatories and the current star information. From what I can
determine, and the period of time that has passed, the home system is no
more. Seeing that the Teg I was with was the only one visiting this
system, and it died here, it’s unlikely any surviving Teg would venture this
far.”

Gary nodded, feeling much relieved. Wiping his brow free from sweat
gathered there, he noted the blood on his hand from the gash he’d sustained
from his tumble. Reality intruded, reminding him of his current
situation. He muttered under his breath about, ‘Teg artifact or not, I
still need to get back, and it is going to be harder than ever, now I’ve hurt
myself.’

“I can help,” Ada broke in.

“Huh? Oh, you can?” Gary asked, forgetting that Ada could overhear
him.

Gary looked at his blood stained hand and noticed one nail was torn.

“Can you fix this nail?”

“Watch,” Ada prompted.

Gary held his hand out palm down, so he could watch whatever Ada was going
to do. In a second not one, but all of his nails grew out, about 10 mm
in length, repairing the broken one as well. Then the ends reshaped
themselves into curved points and the nails changed colour, becoming a soft
red.

“Hey!” Why did you give me girl’s nails?” Gary complained as he wriggled
his fingers experimentally as if to check that the nails were really attached
to his hand.

“I took a template from the person I borrowed this voice from,” explained
Ada. “Are they not attractive?”

“Sure, on a woman, but hardly practical on a man,” Gary sighed.
Obviously Ada needed to learn more about the difference between men and woman,
and what was socially acceptable.

“Okay, I can fix that,” Ada promised.

Gary thought Ada meant she would remove the nails, but what happened next
proved him wrong. Instantly his body changed to match the nails,
becoming female, along with a suitable change in clothing.

“Ada!!” Gary shrieked, his new voice sounding ever so shrill in “his/her”
ears. “What did you do? I’m a girl! Turn me back,” Gary cried,
feeling very odd indeed.

“No.”

“Huh? What do you mean … no?” Gary’s first impulse to feel this
strange body and check out his missing mate seemed oddly restricted to
plucking at her blouse and making sure her skirt was straight and that she
still had her handbag. The sight of her feet encased in stockings and
heels didn’t even send the alarm bells ringing like it should have done.
The fleeting thought that they matched the rest of her apparel crossed her
mind, which suddenly sent her further into panic mode, as did the change in
the personal pronouns she seemed to be using.

“What have you done to my mind? It’s full of girly stuff,” she gasped.

“I’ve given you the best chance of survival I can,” Ada replied, sounding
rather put out.

“How?” retorted Gary instinctively cringing at the feminine voice coming
from her lips.

“The body you have is physically perfect and uninjured, plus, I’ve tweaked
it a bit. Now, you need to be a kilometer south of here when the
helicopter arrives.”

What helicopter? You’re not making sense.” Gary said exasperatedly.

“The body you wear is that of missing actress/model, Bethany
Chambers. She was on location doing a suntan campaign for Coppertone
when she did a runner. There is a search party out now looking for
her. I contacted the film crew via the cell phone network, and gave them
your location as being a kilometer south of here. They should be here in
about 15 minutes.”

“So how does that help me? I end up back in Laverton with no car, no
motorbike and no money. Oh, and how do they know where to pick me
up. In fact, why not pick me up here? Also, why does the name
Bethany Chambers strike a familiar chord with me? Am I going
potty?” Gary tried laughing at her weak joke, but the girlish giggle
that came out of her mouth made her clamp her lips tight. Frustrated,
she stamped her feet petulantly, as she started on her list of questions, not
realizing how feminine she was acting.

“If you move now, I’ll explain on the way,” Ada prompted.

“How will I manage in these heels? They are not exactly appropriate
footwear for the bush you know.”

“Walk, don’t talk,” Ada said cryptically.

Gary, or rather, Bethany, started to move down the slope, her slender body
nimbly moving between the rocks with a grace that Gary could never have
achieved. Spotting the metal detector, she went to pick it up.

“Leave that,” ordered Ada.

“Not on your Nelly I will. I paid 2000 dollars for this and I’m not
leaving it here.”

“Okay, but I could out perform it by some magnitude,” Ada offered.

As soon as Gary/Bethany grasped the detector, it vanished. “What
happened?” was Gary’s familiar cry.

“I placed it into p space where I am. I can retrieve it anytime and
anywhere, as all points in p space are co-existent. The reason we need
to be far away from this spot, is because the Teg that crashed here was after
the 30 metric tones of metal ore you know as gold. From historical
documents, I surmise it is what was called Lassiter’s reef.”

“Lassiter’s reef is here?”

“Yes, do I assume rightly that you wouldn’t want undue attention brought
here?” Ada continued.

“TOO BLOODY RIGHT, MATE!” Bethany exulted, scrambling down in a rush, still
managing to hold her bag on her shoulder as if it was glued there. In
her rush, she didn’t question the curious fact that she had begun to identify
herself as Bethany. If Ada was correct, then his financial troubles
would be over, and he could get his sister every thing she needed.

“To answer your other questions, I located our position using your Garmen
device.”

“But my GPS is turned off,” queried Bethany, as she started to run towards
the spot Ada was directing her to.

“Yes, but I just accessed the non volatile memory for the way points you’d
taken.”

“I suppose you can do a better job than my GPS as well?” Bethany asked
sarcastically.

“Of course,” Ada replied, missing the point of the sarcasm entirely.
“As to the benefits of masquerading as Bethany, I reported that you had been
kidnapped by yourself. That is, by Gary Carstairs. And then you
managed to escape while pretending a need to go to the bathroom.”

“What!” Bethany screeched, pausing in her run. “How is making me a
criminal going to help reunite me with my belongings?”

“If you continue, I’ll explain. I reasoned that they could find your
car from the GPS you stole from Gary before you escaped, and that would lead
the authorities to the bike. They would then return them to Laverton for
examination. Meanwhile, you can rest in ease, courtesy of the company
doing the ad campaign. Then you can report that it was all a stunt to
get more publicity. Later, Gary can call in and retrieve his
belongings,” Ada finished with a satisfied tone.

“That could go wrong in so many ways,” grumbled Bethany. “What
happens when the real Bethany turns up?”

“She accessed her Visa card some hours ago in Kalgoorlie, and I intercepted
a cell phone call she made ten minutes ago. Apparently she’s headed back
to Perth because she couldn’t stand the bush flies out here. But I made
some slight changes in the records so nobody else will become suspicious.”

“Okay fine, but tell me why the flies aren’t bothering me then,” Bethany
pointed out.

“Well, and this is coupled with the reason you can run in heels and feel
familiar referring to yourself as Bethany and comfortable as a female, I
enhanced your body. Flies are attracted to salt, sweat and sugars
excreted by the body. Yours doesn’t excrete any of those, and to a fly
or other biting insect, you’re just as enticing as that piece of granite
you’re standing on. I’ve also downloaded some wetware to your brain that
was extrapolated from the traits of the original Bethany.”

“What? You make it sound like you can just download files to my brain like
a computer. Tell me that’s not possible?” Bethany pleaded, feeling
like a talking, walking Barbie doll with someone pulling her strings.

“Your brain is an organic computer, and I have specialized processes that
enable me to borrow traits from a subject and use them to enhance the Teg so
they can act exactly the same.”

“Well I don’t want you doing that again without my permission,” Bethany
insisted, trying to get some control over her life back.

The whaap, whaap, whaap of chopper blades as a bright red helicopter hove
into view, cut off Ada’s response.

“Don’t worry. I’ll cue you with the right names and information if
they ask awkward questions,” Ada promised as the chopper blew up dust
everywhere while it came down for a landing.

Bethany clutched her handbag and held her skirt down as the rotor blast
threatened to blow her skirt up around her waist. For the first time
since her change, she was grateful for Ada’s foresight in giving her the
ability to cope with a skirt and handbag, so she didn’t end up embarrassing
herself by having her panties exposed to all the world. When the
choppers motor shut down, near silence returned, bar the whooshing of the
rotor as it slowly windmilled to a stop.

Bethany waited, allowing those inside to make the first move. A dark
haired guy in jeans and denim shirt scrambled out and ran over to
Bethany. He grabbed her in a hug. “Bethany, I’m so glad to find
you’re alright,” he rejoiced, lifting her off her feet and swinging her
around.

Bethany subvocalised, “Who is this guy?”

“This is Robert Farnshaw, your agent. Don’t worry, he doesn’t swing
that way. There’s a rumor that he already has a boyfriend,” Ada
communicated directly to Bethany’s inner ear ensuring that nothing audible
could be heard by anyone else.

“Come on, girl, let’s get out of this heat and dust before you lose that
beauty and dry to a crisp,” Robert admonished, dragging her towards the
chopper. Robert’s comment about her beauty made her realise that she
hadn’t had time to check out herself out in a mirror yet. Being
beautiful wasn’t something she had ever expected to have to deal with,
although knowing that the original was a model come actress, it shouldn’t have
been surprising.

Bethany, who was still somewhat distracted about how she would deal with
male attentions, allowed Robert to buckle her into a seat in the back and
tried not to panic as the chopper lifted off. The flight back was both
scary and exciting, as she, as Gary, had never flown before. She was
still uncertain what would happen when they got back to Laverton.

Landing at the small country airport north-east of town, Bethany wondered
where the film crew was staying. The town wasn’t exactly booming, having
just one general store, a petrol station/garage, a pub and a few other small
businesses. An air-conditioned Mercedes awaited them and the change in
temperature made her shiver as she was assisted inside.

The drive back to town took all of 5 minutes, while she was fussed over and
generally treated like a china doll. The car drove directly to the towns
only camping ground, which at this time of the year was almost deserted.
At least it had been when Gary had passed though a few weeks earlier.
Now, it had three large mobile home units parked there, with another
tractor/trailer unit emblazoned with the Coppertone logo on its side.

Robert escorted her back to “Her” mobile home and left her to clean up and
take a nap, saying there’d be a meeting later with the director.

Bethany stepped up into the air-conditioned interior of the home,
marveling at the luxury contained within it. Feeling like an intruder,
she scoped out all the cupboards and closets, trying to familiarize herself as
to where everything was. Seeing a shower cubicle, she decided to take
advantage of it. Even though her new body was only hours old, and clean
as regards actual dirt, in reality, Gary hadn’t had a shower or a bath in
weeks. Having to get your water out of tanks supplied by windmills,
which pump water from the wells dug to supply the sheep and cattle, you learn
to conserve water. Although they are dotted randomly around the
countryside, the quality is dependent on the terrain and how deep the well
is. How much you used, depended on how much salt you can stomach in your
drinking water. Some can be just palatable, while others taste like
seawater. Needless to say, it makes soap almost impossible to lather,
therefore you tend to use it only for cooking or hot drinks like tea or
coffee. Actual drinking water that’s palatable is usually best stored in
20 litre containers just for that purpose. Gary had 60 litres left in
his car, courtesy of a recent run into Kalgoorlie, which has pure city water
pumped uphill over 500 kilometers all the way from Perth, in two giant
pipelines.

Bethany went into the bedroom which took up all of the rear section of the
mobile home, and there she saw herself in a floor length mirror for the first
time. She was shocked to see a reflection that moved as she moved, yet
was so different from her normal reflection as Gary. She’d known she was
blonde from the stray wisps of hair that she seemed to be constantly brushing
out of her eyes, but that told only half the story.

Unlike the fashion for models that are usually seen modeling clothes, she
wasn’t boyishly thin. No; she filled out her clothes with a very sexy
feminine shape. Judging by eye alone, Bethany was about 5foot 8 inches
tall, with a figure Gary would have drooled over. Cupping her breasts
and lifting them, she judged she was about a C cup or maybe even a D. A
tiny waist which showed her exposed tanned tummy made her hips seem to jut out
all the more in comparison.

“38C, 26, 38.” Ada accurately informed her, obviously guessing the
direction of her thoughts.

“I’m a babe,” Bethany breathed softly in wonderment as she ran her hands
down her form.

“Are you going to have a shower, or are you going to stand in front of the
mirror for the rest of the day?” Ada prompted with an amused tone in her
voice.

“Huh? Oh yes,” Bethany said belatedly, dragging herself out of her
reverie.

Bethany undressed slowly, trying to watch herself in the mirror as she did
so. It was like a fantasy come true, watching a gorgeous strawberry
blonde haired goddess strip to her every command.

As much as she hated the thought of being female, she was in love with this
body reflected before her. Her skin was flawless, tanned all over
without any bikini lines, obviously why she had been selected to do the suntan
ad. Looking at her crotch with its neat vertically trimmed section of
hair, she was suddenly struck by the oddity that she didn’t feel a sense of
loss at her missing manhood. Maybe it was the different feelings coming
from her new sex replacing the ones she was used to that prevented her from
feeling that there was something missing. It was really mind numbing to
get her head around the fact that although everything felt different, it also
felt normal. She wondered how much of it was due to the memory download
Ada had given her.

Pulling herself together, she went into the shower cubicle and turned on
the water. A quick check with some soap told her that it wasn’t local
bore water. So she hurried the shower, not wanting to waste the real
water, which was limited by the tanks in the mobile home.

Even though her shower was brief, it was long enough to find out that
woman’s erogenous zones were widespread and immersed her in a whole new level
of sensation. She didn’t orgasm, but she came close, and if what she
experienced was any gauge, she determined to go that little bit further when
she had more time.

She washed her hair with the shampoo the original had used, and although it
made her smell feminine, she realised she had no choice if she wished to pull
off the deception. .

Later, after drying herself and wandering into the bedroom with a towel
arranged around her chest, she faced her next challenge, choosing something to
wear. Ada didn’t have to tell her not to wear the same clothes she’d
been wearing. Even though she was a novice at this girl stuff, Bethany
knew better than that, even without the guide in her head.

Ada suggested some choices based on images she’d discovered online of the
real Bethany. But Bethany wanted to see if she could manage on her own
using the wetware in her brain. By not concentrating on specifics and
allowing for the weather conditions, she managed to select a sundress that was
cool, yet elegant. The part of her that was still very much Gary,
cringed at the extremely feminine garment, but in keeping with her deception,
she knew it was the thing to wear. Selecting appropriate underwear was
less of a chore, as most of her bras were the same style, differing only in
colour and material. She decided to go with an underwired one made of
satin, with a tiny bow in the center. Panties were chosen for comfort,
seeing they wouldn’t be seen under the dress and she choose a pair of high
heeled, open toed sandals that would look elegant, but allow air to
circulate.

Bethany thought that it hadn’t been too hard until Ada reminded her that
she was only half done. “You can’t go out without makeup on, plus you
need perfume and jewelry,” she pointed out.

“Can’t you do it for me? Give me a break! Look at all those bottles
and tubes of gunk. I’d need to go into a trance all afternoon to let
your programming do its stuff. After all, if you can alter my body,
surely a little makeup won’t task your abilities,” she wheedled, hoping to get
Ada to show off. In truth, she didn’t want to tackle makeup just
yet. It was just too girly to be putting it on herself, better it be
done for her, so she could make excuses to fool herself that it was all Ada’s
fault.

“Okay, but you’ll have to spritz yourself with her perfume and I’ll help
select your jewelry,” Ada agreed.

“There, it’s all done, and I’ve made it smudge proof, so you won’t need to
redo it any time soon.”

“Wow! Already?” said a surprised Bethany, as her face didn’t feel any
different. She checked in the mirror and confirmed it was true.

“Well, I cheated a little,” admitted Ada. “I coloured your skin with
the correct pigments to emulate actual makeup, not that you need a lot
anyway.”

“It’s a great job,” Bethany agreed, seeing her rosy lips and a hint of eye
shadow as the more prominent features.

She picked up a bottle of perfume called Shalimar, which she applied to
neck, ears and wrists, on Ada’s instructions. Jewelry provided more of a
challenge, which Ada helped with.

“Bethany, are you awake?” a voice outside, called warily.

“Coming,” she called back cheerily, picking up her handbag without a
thought. She opened the door, feeling the heat hit her like a
wave. Robert was standing at the foot of the steps leading into the
mobile home. His surprise at her cheery demeanor was quite evident.

Bethany stepped down, losing her balance slightly. She felt
the earrings swing against her neck, something that would always remind her of
her new sex. Robert reached out and steadied her until she got her
balance back, then released her immediately. Obviously the original
Bethany either was less polite at being “supposedly” waked up, or maybe she
really was a bitch with a temper.

She followed Robert to the main trailer unit, where he opened a door for
her and indicated she should enter. Inside, she found several people
sitting in comfortable chairs around a table. One of them was obviously
from the Australian police force; the other two were connected to the
Coppertone agency, from the logos on their shirts.

‘Here we go,’ she thought worriedly, thinking they knew who she
really was.

“Hello, Bethany. Glad to have you back unharmed. We have filled
Sergeant Caruthers here in about your abduction by this Gary Carstairs
character, but he’d like to go over the details and get those way points you
mentioned from your GPS,” one of the Coppertone men explained.

‘That’s Toby Arrnot, the company director of this campaign,’ Ada silently
informed her via the aural nerve.

‘To by arr not to by,’ Bethany replied sotto voce, trying not to break into
a giggle.

“Miss Chambers, I’m Tom Caruthers from the Kalgoorlie police. Can I
call you Bethany? I just want to get my facts straight before we start a
search for your abductor.”

Bethany nodded her assent for him to call her by her first name, feeling
somewhat better at his friendly tone. Feeling somewhat trapped by the
story already circulating about her former identity, she just reiterated the
story again while being silently prompted by Ada who kept the “facts”
straight.

After the officer left, promising to do his best to find her abductor, the
other two men asked her if she could continue with the ad shoot, as it was
almost complete. Ada prompted her to agree, even though she was unsure
what was entailed and not even sure she could do it. With her agreement,
the director asked her if she wanted to dine out with him in Kalgoorlie,
seeing the company helicopter was on hand. Bethany agreed, much to the
surprise of Ada, who thought she should lay low for a while.

‘Hey, it’s been weeks since I had a decent meal. You don’t think I’m
going to turn down the offer of a free steak dinner, do you?’ Bethany retorted
in a low voice that neither man could hear. ‘Besides, the original
probably flew out from there hours ago,’ she added questioningly.

‘She caught flight 34 from Kalgoorlie to Perth, departing at 2.15pm and
arriving at 3.30pm, and yes, I’ve changed those records, too,’ Ada quoted from
her endless supply of information. ‘So she is out of your hair, but we
should still be careful,’ Ada added.

“Hey, I’m not going on a date or anything. It’s just a welcome back treat,
plus, a few tinnies (cans of beer) would hit the spot,” Bethany replied
quickly, just in case Ada got the wrong idea.

“Come along, Beth. If we go now, we’ll get the best selection,” the
director prompted in a fatherly manner, interrupting her silent dialogue.

“Am I dressed for it, or should I change?” asked Bethany, not realizing
she’d said it out loud.

“You look ravishing, my dear, Doesn’t she, Dennis?” he asked his
assistant.

“She sure does, Mr. Arrnot,” Dennis confirmed with an American twang
in his voice.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll help,” Ada reassured her, reminding her that she needed
more dramatic eye makeup for an evening event.

“I’ll just get a wrap for the flight back,” Bethany said as Toby escorted
her outside.

“Of course, I’ll wait outside and call the driver to come to your door,”
agreed the director, walking with her.

Bethany grabbed a wrap and tied it around her waist as suggested by Ada,
who also changed her eye shadow to a more dramatic look suitable for an
evening on the town.

Ada told her wait for a minute or two to explain the time taken to redo her
makeup before allowing her to exit the mobile home. Toby was standing by
the open door of the Mercedes waiting for her. She got in, managing to
do it elegantly with full skirts, prompted by the all knowing Ada, who told
her to get her ass on the seat first and swing her legs in. (Just not in
those exact words.)

Once in the air again, she felt butterflies in her stomach, but whether it
was from the flight itself, or the company she was in, she tried not to
speculate. She did love seeing the ground flash past, and often saw
places she’d searched over as Gary. The time flew, literally, and once
they’d landed, another car was waiting, having been arranged while en
route.

Kalgoorlie was like a city, compared with Laverton, even though it only
boasted one set of traffic lights. The hustle and bustle seemed
overwhelming to one who’d been living alone for weeks on end.

Toby had the driver take them to the Exchange Hotel, which seemed rather
appropriate, given the circumstances.

Bethany did get her steak, but not the one she wanted. While Toby
ordered a 450 gram T bone steak with fries and salad, Bethany ended up with a
petite fillet steak, and salad with no fries, under Ada’s firm insistence that
the real Bethany wouldn’t order something that huge or that fattening.
She also dipped out on the beer she wanted for the same reason.
Settling for a Shandy was the best she could do, and when Toby looked askance
at her order, she said she needed something other than wine to wash the dust
down. This seemed to satisfy Toby as he could certainly attest to the
benefits of dust settling beer. Bethany did steal a few fries from
Toby’s plate, knowing this was acceptable under the rules. Toby didn’t
seem to mind and even gave her a piece of his steak after she mentioned it
looked tasty.

It was after 8pm by the time they finished. Toby looked at his watch
and sighed. “We may have to stay here overnight, as it is too late to
fly back now. The pilot has a curfew for flying past 8.30pm in the
helicopter as it’s not fitted out for night flying. Do you want to
browse in the mall? I’ll book two rooms here, and we can go buy you
something nice to wear in bed, my treat.”

Bethany was silent for a moment, considering whether this had been planned
from the start, but the look on Toby’s face seemed to indicate there was no
ulterior motive, so she agreed.

She excused herself, heading for the restroom, while Toby arranged for the
rooms. Going to the toilet for the first time was not without sage
advice from Ada, who advised her on the correct action for wiping her
bottom. Bethany redid her lipstick by herself, and once again, she was
good to go. She was surprised by the way other ladies at the mirror
chatted to each other without the reserve shown by guys in toilets, who have
an unspoken rule about talking to anyone who they don’t know.

Bethany managed to buy a nightie with a matching wrap in one of the shops
in the mall. True it wasn’t silk, but what can you expect when you shop at
K-Mart? Toby had hovered near, but gave her space to browse the racks,
which suited her just fine, as she felt like an intruder there as well.
Ada assisted, which meant she was saved the embarrassment of getting someone
to help her pick the right size.

Toby seemed embarrassed at the necessity of shopping there, but Bethany
reassured him that it was fine, which seemed to puzzle him, as he kept
apologizing for not foreseeing the need to stay overnight. From this,
Bethany figured out that the real Bethany wasn’t so forgiving.

Back at the hotel, Toby thanked her for a lovely evening as they parted to
enter their separate rooms. What had made her respond by giving Toby a
chaste kiss on the cheek before turning and unlocking her door, kept her
thoughts occupied till she got into bed. Maybe it was part of the
profile in the files that Ada had downloaded in her brain, but then, if the
real Bethany was such a bitch, surely that wouldn’t be like her at all.
She puzzled over it for a while until tiredness caught up with her and she
fell asleep.

Ada watched over Bethany’s sleeping body, while still monitoring the net
and the whereabouts of the real Bethany. So far, she had used her credit
card to get a taxi from the airport, so it was assumed from the amount paid
and the rates from the taxi company that she had traveled about 10 kms, which
would have allowed her to reach her home in the hills of Kalamunda.

What wasn’t so good, was the fact that she had tried to reach Robert, her
agent. Luckily, his cell phone was turned off and she’d had to leave a
message for him to call her. Ada set in place a call diversion, which
would automatically route any calls made to Robert’s phone direct to Ada’s
software. Similarly, if Robert tried to call Bethany’s phone it would be
rerouted to the phone Ada had created for the faux Bethany. With this
precaution in place, Ada resumed her scanning of the world’s communication
network.

Bethany woke early, and got up to watch the sun rise. This body felt
really different from her old one, more energy and zing. Now she’d had
time to relax and get some sleep after all that had happened, her mind felt
clear and full of ideas.

One thought that prompted a question to Ada, made her hold her breath in
anticipation. “Can you fix seriously injured bodies? Not just
superficial stuff?” she asked, thinking of her sister Amanda back in
Perth.

“How serious?”

“Spinal cord injuries. I have a sister who is paralyzed,” Bethany answered,
holding her breath.

“I can, but I’d have to be worn by that person,” Ada informed her.

“Yes!” Bethany exulted, dancing a little jig then and there. However,
thinking about her old identity, and the trouble he was in soon sobered.
At least Amanda should be spared any problems with the police, having been in
the home for two years. She turned her attentions to getting a shower,
determined to experiment while she could.

Bethany met Toby for breakfast later that morning, as arranged the evening
before. Her time in the shower with unlimited hot water meant she had
explored her femininity to the ultimate degree. Experiencing female
orgasms had floored her, literally. She’d collapsed in the shower,
ending up sitting on the tiled floor of the cubicle as her body became awash
with more than the water streaming down over her body. She wondered if
the feelings were that intense every time, or had it just been because it was
a new experience that she wasn’t used to. Maybe it was because she
hadn’t had sex for a while. In any case, she promised herself another game of
stink finger just to see if it was as intense the second time around.

She was rather quiet during breakfast, thinking about her sexuality and the
way she’d enjoyed being female so far. Toby must have noticed a
difference in her from the way the original Bethany behaved. “Is
something wrong? You seem self absorbed this morning. I doubt you
listened to more than half our conversation.”

“Sorry, I was a million miles away,” she apologized guiltily. “I was
just thinking about when all this is finished,” she added half truthfully.

“I’m sure Robert has you booked solid for months yet,” Toby laughed at her
seeming worries.

Bethany nodded silently as her thoughts went back to the subject foremost
in her mind. ‘Am I still Gary?’ The answer should
have been clear-cut, with a resounding YES! But with what she’d
experienced so far, Gary’s life style was looking a little shaky. Once
the need to be Bethany was past and Gary sorted out how to recover the gold
Ada had mentioned, there was clearly a question of which lifestyle to
follow. A fabulously rich girl with everything going for her, and guys
willing to fawn all over her? Or that of plain old Gary, with money to
burn trying to find some happiness? There was also the problem of her
sister Amanda. It wasn’t an easy question with a quick solution.

It wasn’t until they got back to Laverton that Ada told Bethany of the call
her original had tried to make. At first, Bethany panicked and wanted to
get out of this increasingly precarious situation. Ada reassured her,
telling her of the redirects she’d put in place. She seemed confident of
fooling the original Bethany by simulating Robert’s voice and mannerisms when
she tried calling Robert again.

Robert met them in the car as they got out of the helicopter, saying that
he’d got her message, but her phone went straight into the recorded
message.

“I’m sorry, the batteries went dead just after I called you,” Bethany
explained. “I just wanted to know if I could take a break after this
shoot?”

“Well we do have that swimsuit campaign to do before next month, but I
guess there’s room for some time out. I’ll explain the kidnapping to
them, and say you want time to yourself,” Robert suggested.

“Thanks, that will be great.” Bethany sighed in relief. “So what’s on
for today?” she asked, trying to get some idea of the days plans.

Robert looked at Toby, who answered for him. “Actually there’s not a
lot left to do. We just need some closing shots to wrap it up,” he told
her with a smile.

What Bethany had dreaded turned out to be a piece of cake. She had
worried that if and when she had to take over the real Bethany’s job, she
would soon be discovered as a fraud. As it was, all she had to do was
rub lotion onto her skin while wearing a bikini and smiling at the
camera. For this she was grateful, assuming the hard work had already
been done.

That afternoon when the shooting was finished and everyone dove indoors to
escape the heat, she went into Laverton to visit the local office that served
as the police station. There, she was told that Tom Caruthers was due
back in about 10 minutes. When asked if she wanted to wait, she said
she’d come back later

Bethany decided to cool off another way and went to the local watering
hole. She got more than a few looks from the locals, half of whom were
aboriginals who must have got their social welfare checks that day. The
women that lived in these remote towns were generally earthy types and didn’t
bother looking glamorous for their men folk, while Bethany was a model, whose
beauty stood out like a beacon.

She ordered a Schooner of beer and sat at the bar to enjoy her drink.
Gary was used to being in these places and wouldn’t have worried about the
clientele. As she took her first sip of beer, savouring the crisp
coolness, she became aware of the gazes directed her way. They were
almost like a physical touch, and the attention wasn’t particularly welcomed
by Bethany. Several of the bolder members of the crowd came up to her,
as if checking that she was real. Make that ‘drunker’ than the rest, for
their gazes soon turned to lustful leers as they figured she must be some high
class hooker who’d just happened to breeze into town.

Bethany realised that the original must not have left the camping ground
where her mobile home was parked, preferring to stay there, than mingling with
the local population. Given the type of attention she was getting now,
Bethany didn’t blame her.

“Do you want me to provide you with a self defense package?” Ada enquired
cautiously.

Despite her negative opinion about being treated like a plain old computer
that need an upgrade, Bethany decided to be prudent and accept whatever help
Ada could provide. She felt knowledge of martial arts slipping into her
memory like a cool breeze passing over her skin. Her confidence, that
had taken a sudden drop once she’d realised her new-found vulnerability, came
back with a vengeance, as her awareness of what she could now do to protect
herself, grew clear.

As her personal space was invaded by one of the bolder men, she finished
her drink and stood up, preparing to leave. The man put his hand on hers
as she placed her empty glass back on the bar, stopping her from
withdrawing.

“Let me go,” she hissed, trying not to lose her temper.

“Come on, Babe. I know what a Sheila like you wants,” he leered,
suggestively.

Her afternoon having a few quiet drinks now spoiled by this unwanted
attention, caused Bethany’s anger to simmer for a moment before coming to a
boil. “If you want to keep that hand, you’d better remove it,” she
threatened.

The man laughed at her threat, turning to his mates, who just egged him on
in support. In a flash, while his attention was diverted, Bethany
twisted away out of his grasp and reversed the grip so that she had his hand
in a hold that defied his delayed efforts to escape. With a move that
turned her into his body, she put her back against his chest, and forced him
to the floor, with a compelling grip that threatened to snap his wrist should
he resist.

Seeing their hero fall to the ground, the rest of the gang moved forward to
encircle Bethany as she crouched over the guy. Releasing the man on the
ground, she stood up and assumed a martial art pose that was
unmistakable. Her expression showed her confidence at protecting
herself. She couldn’t resist doing what she’d seen in several action
movies. Her outstretched hand, which was held in a vertical blade form,
twisted palm up and she used her cupped fingers to wave them on while she
grinned.

The mob stopped, unprepared for this slip of a girl, who oozed the
confidence of a latter day Bruce Lee.

The man by her feet scuttled outside and ran smack dab into Tom
Caruthers. “Well what do we have here?” he asked, picking up the man and
straightening the guys clothes.

“There’s a crazy woman inside. She nearly broke my wrist for no reason,”
the man whined, trying to weasel out of any blame.

Just then, Bethany backed out of the place, coming to a halt when she
turned and saw Tom. As her eyes flicked to the man standing by him, Tom
saw the man flinch away, even though Bethany made no aggressive move at
all.

Although Tom showed no expression, inside he was laughing at the sight of
the heavyset man being scared by this slip of a woman, whom he outweighed two
to one.

“I think you’ve had too many drinks. I suggest you walk home before I
bring you in for drunk and disorderly,” Tom ordered brusquely.

The man started to protest, but then thought better of it as the steel in
Tom’s eyes turned to chilled gun metal.

“Yes, Officer.” The man obeyed, before turning and stumbling down the
street.

“You wanted to see me?” Tom asked, looking at Bethany appraisingly.

“Yes, I was wondering what you had found out so far?’ she answered, looking
back towards the door where the bar crowd were hovering around.

“You have a little trouble with them?” he asked.

“A little.”

“Wait here, I’ll be right back.” Tom strode into the bar and started
reading the riot act to those inside. In the nearly deserted streets,
his voice was clearly heard from inside as he tore into them, for their
behaviour.

“You know, you shouldn’t have gone in there alone,’ Tom said to her, once
he returned outside. “Some of those men have been out in the bush for
weeks. Seeing a beauty like yourself is like painting yourself red
before a bull.”

Bethany shrugged. “I only went for a drink, and I can take care of
myself… (Now),” she added under her breath.

“So I heard. I didn’t know you were into martial arts?” he questioned
as they made their way by to his office.

“Well, a girl’s got to learn to protect herself you know?” she threw back
as they entered the building.

“Hmmm. Strange it didn’t come up on your profile when I first checked you
out when I got the message you were missing.”

“Well, a girl has to have some secrets. I wouldn’t want to scare
potential boyfriends away if they knew I could break their arms,” Bethany
retorted.

“Hey, I wasn’t implying anything,” Tom assured her, backing away from the
subject.

Inside Bethany’s head, Gary was gagging. ‘What boyfriends?
What am I saying?’ Showing none of the internal conflict, Bethany
squashed Gary’s voice down. What Gary liked or disliked had to be put
aside while she played this role. Tom wasn’t just a country cop who
could be brushed aside. He was savvy, and would be quick to find any
discrepancies, should she mess up. For now, she had to be Bethany and
let the personality overlay Ada had provided control her actions and
words. The Gary part of her grumbled, but accepted this with only minor
reservations.

“Well, I found the car and the bike, but there’s no sign of this Gary
character,” Tom informed her, tactfully changing the subject.

“Will you be bringing them here?” she asked, trying to sound
disinterested.

“No, I’m sending them to Kalgoorlie for fingerprinting and forensic
examination.”

This sent alarm bells ringing though Bethany. If they didn’t find any
evidence of her being in the car, then questions would surely be raised.
At the least, there would be a delay before she could get her hands on it, and
at the worst, they might start looking at his flat in Perth. His whole
life as Gary would be under scrutiny. Bethany silently cursed Ada for
putting her in this situation. Okay, so far it had been pretty
interesting and an experience she’d treasure for life, but she could see that
coming clean about her so called abduction would lead to more
complications.

Ada might be powerful and all knowing, but she wasn’t infallible. She
needed a plan B. Returning as Gary seemed impossible at the
moment. If she told them that the kidnapping was a hoax, she could end
up in serious trouble, seeing how much time and resources were being used to
find her supposed abductor.

Gary was the one with the prospector’s license that allowed him to fossick
over both crown lands and farmers holdings. Tom’s voice broke into her
musings. Was that all you wanted to know?” he asked.

“Um, yes thanks. I’ll head back to my place,” she answered distractedly,
not seeing the disappointment in Tom’s eyes.

She left the office and wandered down the street looking at the town with
fresh insight. When she saw the survey office, an idea came to
mind. Walking in, she asked about the correct procedure to stake a
claim.

Although she knew some of it, from her, (Gary’s) license, she needed to
make sure that everything she intended to do couldn’t be taken away from her
once she decided to stake out the reef. She’d heard stories of claims
being overstaked by aboriginals who’d got wind of a claim. The original
discoverer of the claim had flown to Perth to make his claim, but the
aboriginals had found the pegs and overstaked it and then gone to the local
survey office. Although a big stink was made of it, the aboriginals kept
the claim and found a huge gold bearing area that was worth millions.

Although she gave no details of a discovery or any location, the man in the
office got the distinct impression that she had discovered a worthy prospect
from the questions she asked. Bethany never saw the aboriginal who was
hanging around the open doorway listening intently to the conversation.
When she did eventually leave, there was nobody in sight.

Stopping off at the hardware shop, she checked out the type of stakes that
were available from the information garnered from the guy from the survey
office. She made her way back to the unit in the camping ground, never
realizing someone had followed her movements since she’d left the survey
office, nor was she aware of someone keeping her in view as she entered her
unit.

The next day was spent around the camp, as the others packed up the
equipment prior to heading out. Bethany refused an offer to fly her
home, as she wanted to stay around so she could go stake out the gold
find. Obviously she couldn’t tell the director that, so she said she
wanted to drive back. When an offer of going back in the Mercedes was
rejected due to her interest in doing the touristy route, she decided to see
if there was a hire car service in town.

“But you already hired our one and only car,” said a puzzled agent attached
to the local garage. “We are still waiting on the car to be delivered
back from Perth,” the man said.

The original Bethany must have hired the only car available, which put a
crimp in her plans.

“Sorry, I had to fly back urgently, as a roll of film was bad and I had to
shoot it again,” Bethany lied calmly. “Is there any other vehicle
available? A four wheel drive was what I was really after.”

“There is one Landrover available in Leonora,” the man told her after
consulting his computer. “I can have it delivered to you here by this
afternoon, if you like?”

“Yes, that will be fine,” Bethany told him, knowing Leonora was a slightly
larger place and roughly an hours drive away. She didn’t notice that
there seemed to be rather more aboriginals hanging around as she left the car
rental office, one of whom visited the rental place after she was out of
sight.

Later that afternoon she went back and picked up the 4 wheel drive and
drove it back to the unit. She packed a few of her more practical
clothes and left the rest. She figured most wouldn’t be needed as she
planned to return to being Gary, or at least some other male if Gary was still
being actively sought. Originally, she wasn’t going to bother taking any
of Bethany’s clothes other than what she was wearing, but as Ada pointed out,
it would seem strange if all her stuff was left behind.

The rest of Bethany’s belongings were going to be flown back to her home in
Perth, with her agent taking care of all of that. Once she said goodbye
to everyone, she drove back into town and went shopping. Along with food
supplies and water, she bought some survey pegs at the hardware store.

She set off, wanting to get to the place where she, as Gary, had originally
left his car. There was fresh water there in what is commonly known as a
Gnamma hole, which is usually just a hole in the rock that can go down to
anywhere from a meter to up to thirty meters in depth. The one Gary had
found was just under a half a meter wide and went down twenty meters. It
had been covered by a slab of rock of a different colour to prevent
contamination by animals falling in and drowning. That had most likely been
done by the aboriginals that roamed this country.

She set up camp once she reached her destination, not that it entailed
much. She hadn’t bothered replacing the tent Gary had used to sleep
in. Things like that might have aroused suspicions. Not that she
knew that it had been in vain at that point. Ada pointed out that if she
remained Bethany, with her smaller body, she could sleep across the back seat
of the Landrover. Never one for roughing in the ground on just a ground
roll and sleeping bag, even as Gary, that seemed a good idea.

Only the fire pit remained of Gary’s gear. It had two metal rods
spread across a narrow trench in which a fire could be built to keep it from
spreading. She made a small fire and heated an opened tin of baked beans
over it, using the rods to support the can. A still cold pint carton of
milk followed the beans before she got ready to doss down for the night.
Wanting to get out of her restrictive clothes, she opted for a short nightie
that would make her rest comfortable.

The first inklings of trouble came when a hand went over her mouth and she
woke to the sickly smell of chloroform, before lapsing back to oblivion.

Ada was aware that Gary, aka Bethany, had been subdued by a substance that
rendered her unconscious by persons unknown at this time. She could have
changed Bethany back to Gary and having done so, rid the body of the effects
of the chloroform, but since this might be observed by others, it would surely
make things worse. Anyway, Ada’s logic was alien, and not being alive in
the same sense as humanity, she didn’t have a sense of self
preservation. She did, however, have a certain fondness for her
activator, unlike what she had felt for her previous Teg owner.

Deciding to do nothing until circumstances changed and things became
clearer, she remained dormant, watching the dark skinned men remove Bethany
from the four wheel drive.

Bethany came to feeling groggy, and with the start of a headache coming
on. Trying to rub her head, she found that her hands were tied
together. She opened her eyes, realizing that she was in trouble as she
saw the group of aboriginals gathered around her. It was near dawn, and
judging by the different terrain around her, knew she was some distance from
where she had camped. She couldn’t talk, as a gag had been placed over
her mouth. Nevertheless, she mumbled into it.

“You are approximately 15.34 kilometers due south of the campsite,” Ada
answered, having deciphered her garbled, “Where am I?”

In other circumstances, Bethany would have asked, “If 15.34 k’s is
approximately, what would an exact distance be?” Another mumbled
question evoked a new response from Ada.

“Five indigenous natives used an aromatic sedative and then took you by a
roundabout route to this place. No further activity occurred except one
used a cell phone to call one Sam Bagalow and told him you had been
captured.”

Bethany dearly wanted to know why Ada hadn’t done anything to help her
escape or even to prevent her capture, but that would have to wait, as one of
the group came over and pulled her upright.

When her gag was removed, she spat on the ground, clearing her mouth.
She was about to yell at him, when an oily voice behind her spoke out, “Hello
Miss Chambers, so nice to meet you in the flesh as it were.”

She turned, seeing a pudgy Italian with a moustache standing there. A
white van parked nearby was obviously his ride. He was short, and his
once white shirt was stained with sweat under the arms. He looked out of
place and uncomfortable in the already climbing heat of the day.

“What is all this, and why have you had me brought here?” she cried,
starting to walk towards him.

Two men stepped forward to restrain her, but the visitor waved them
off.

“We know that you are fronting for Gary Carstairs and his find. Very
clever of you to stage a false kidnapping so you two could meet.
Obviously, he hit pay dirt from what my friends tell me,” he offered, pointing
towards the group of aboriginals. “Like the police, we haven’t yet
located Mr. Carstairs, which is troubling my trackers. Seems he vanished
into thin air. I’m prepared to give you a considerable sum for your
claim. Then you won’t need to soil those pretty hands of yours,” he suggested
with a veiled threat.

Bethany was in a quandary. Obviously, she hadn’t been careful enough
to hide her interest in making a claim. That is, if it was even possible
in such a small town like Laverton. That they knew the kidnapping was a
lie was bad enough, but they now had her isolated from help. At least
they hadn’t found out about Amanda.

“No price you could pay would be enough,” retorted Bethany with false
bravado.

“Ah! So it’s that big, is it? Well, Miss Sun Tan girl, if money
won’t sway you, then maybe this will.” With that, he waved his hand in a
beckoning gesture and two men pulled a struggling woman from the van, a hood
covering her head.

She was wearing a short skirt and she still had her heels on her
feet. She struggled to maintain a balance on the uneven ground, as her
hands were tied just like Bethany’s. The men brought her nearer and
Bethany began to see something familiar which filled her with dread. He
fears were confirmed as the hood was lifted from the woman’s face.

“When we heard that you were involved, we stopped off at your home in case
we needed something other than money to convince you to sell,” the Italian
sneered. “We were in luck when we found your twin, so we drugged her and
brought her here.”

Facing Bethany was her original and the expression on her face at seeing a
twin belied belief. The transformed Bethany knew she had to do something
quick. Yelling internally for Ada to do something, she ran at the other
Bethany’s captors. The real Bethany may have been in shock, but she
thought quick on her feet, as she stamped on one her guard’s feet with her
heel.

“Bethany? It can’t be. You’re dead,” the girl shouted, to the
faux Bethany.

“Run!” the faux Bethany shouted at her twin, trying to sort out what the
real Bethany was going on about as she managed to give the other guard a shove
that put him off balance.

The real Bethany didn’t need her advice, having already turned and started
towards the Mulga trees to her left. Ada warned the faux Bethany that
the other was headed into dangerous territory as there were several abandoned
mineshafts in the trees.

Bethany shouted to her twin. “This way,” as she made off towards the
left of where her twin was heading.

“Stay away from me you bitch, you can’t be my real sister,” was all she
heard from her twin as she disappeared into the trees.

Bethany was too concerned about escaping herself, to worry about her twin
and her strange words. A quick glance over her shoulder showed that
pursuit was slow to start. The Italian seemed content to let them run,
as tied up as they were, he knew they couldn’t get far away, especially as his
trackers were there to help.

A high pitched scream that was suddenly cut off filled Bethany with
dread. She didn’t stop running, though, even knowing the real Bethany
could be dead.

Once out of sight of her pursuers, Ada told her to stop. “I can hide
both of us where I placed the metal detector, but only for about 30 minutes.
Then the power drain will force me to return to normal space.”

“Is that safe?” Bethany asked cautiously, while still moving onward.

“It will be hard on your senses. I would advise you to keep your eyes
closed while there.”

“Is there any other option?”

“I could put you in the form of a wallaby, and then you could outpace your
pursuers,” Ada offered.

“Um, no thanks, I’ll take option one.” Bethany shuddered, thinking about
the problems that might incur.

“Commencing transition,” warned Ada, prompting Bethany to close her
eyes.

What followed seemed to take an eternity. Being curious, and despite
the warnings, Bethany peeked with one eye to experience the space she and Ada
now occupied. After experiencing some mind numbing images that seemed to
suck at her mind, she clamped her eyes close, determined not to risk seeing
those twisting patterns of chaos again.

‘Think of something to occupy your mind,’ cautioned Ada, sensing from
her flinch, what Bethany had done.

She tried to puzzle out what the real Bethany was on about. It was
almost as if she’d had a twin sister who was now dead, but why called her
Bethany, when she herself was the real Bethany? It made her head hurt
thinking about it, so instead, she tried thinking about something
pleasant.

Bethany tried remembering being at the beach, but somehow, the images she
conjured up were decidedly wrong. Instead of them being of Gary ogling
all the scantily clad babes, she saw herself as Bethany in a pale yellow
bikini. Not only that, but she was the one being ogled as she lay on her
towel.

The now irate Italian demanded, “Where did she go?” as he surveyed the
ground Bethany had last occupied. “First you let a slip of a girl get
away from you and fall to her death in that mine shaft, and now the trackers
you hired can’t find the other,” he berated his men.

“What are they doing now?” the Italian asked as the group of aboriginals
gathered in a huddle.

“I’ll find out, Boss.”

The Italian fumed as the aboriginals jabbered away, then started to walk
away. The man sent to find out what was happening returned fearful of
his boss’s response to his news. “It seemed the woman is a spirit, and
they don’t want to anger her.”

“WHAT? Get them back here! The woman is no more a spirit than I
am,” the man thundered angrily.

“They say they followed her to this spot and then she vanished into thin
air. Her tracks end here.” The guard pointed to a spot in the dust.

It was plain to even a non-tracker that the woman’s tracks just
stopped. There were no trees around for her to have climbed into.
The Italian’s wrath grew with every second as his frustration built. He
stamped off to the van to call for more men.

Bethany was glad to reappear back into the heat of the Australian outback,
as Ada brought them back from the limbo they had experienced. Even the
threat of falling into the hands of the Italian was starting to look good.

There was no sign of the men near them, and Ada scanned the area and
announced it clear. Bethany backtracked a bit, then cut across to head
in the direction the original Bethany had headed. On the way, they heard
voices and realised that the men hadn’t left, but had withdrawn back to the
van and its air conditioned comfort.

Bethany eventually found the open shaft that her twin had fallen into,
almost stepping into it herself. Looking at it with dread, she could see
why one could fall in so easily. The shaft was about 2 meters across and
lay flush with the surface. Peering down over the edge, Bethany could
see the sheer walls going down vertically for about 30 meters before darkness
obscured the view.

“I detect life signs,” Ada announced her bombshell news.

“She’s still alive down there?” Bethany gasped incredulously.

“Apparently,” Ada confirmed.

“We need to rescue her, but with those people nearby, we can’t hang
around,” Bethany stated, feeling helpless.

“You want to rescue her, despite the fact she could expose you?” Ada
asked curiously.

“Of course! What kind of person do you think I am?” Bethany asked,
dumbfounded by the question.

“Obviously, one that has a higher moral character than most in your
situation,” Ada mused, adding this to her databank of information.”

Bethany looked around for some sort of idea. The area immediately
around the shaft was clear of debris, which probably was one reason for the
fall, as no warning of a shaft was evident until you were on top of it.
Further away, Bethany could see old steel mine ropes rusting away on the
surface.

This gave her an idea. “Can you call the police and have them scare
off the men and help me get her out?”

“Already done, I put a call in as soon as you told me you wanted to affect
her recovery,” Ada answered. “Now we need to lie low for 17 minutes,
until they get the chopper here.”

“I didn’t know they had a helicopter available,” Bethany mused, as she sort
out a hiding place among the debris left by the miners.

“They don’t, but the helicopter that Toby hired was delayed in leaving, due
to a technical problem, so they commandeered that to fly out,” Ada
explained.

Once she heard the beat of the chopper blades, there was the sound of
someone driving away. Obviously the Italian had heard it too, and wasn’t about
to risk being found in the area where a girl’s body lay.

The chopper circled the area and landed nearby. Bethany ran to
meet it, waving her hands in agitation.

“We flew over a 4 wheel drive vehicle several klicks back. Is that
yours?” one of the officers yelled to her over the noise of the whirling
blades.

Bethany ducked her head and ran to the chopper, noting that the engines
hadn’t been shut off.

“Yes, that’s mine, but we need to get it here, pronto. My sister is
hurt, and we need my vehicle to rescue her.

“What about that other van we saw? The dust cloud shows it heading away
from here towards Leonora.

Bethany explained, “They are the ones that abducted my sister,” not
bothering to make up any fancy lies.

“Wait here! I’ll drop off one of my men at your vehicle, then we’ll follow
the van. I’ll get an ambulance here as soon as possible.”

“Okay, but I’ll be over there by the mineshaft my sister fell into,”
Bethany shouted, pointing in the direction of the shaft.

“The man nodded and signaled the pilot to lift off. Bethany just
managed to catch his look as he turned away. He obviously thought her
sister was dead, knowing how deep and treacherous these abandoned mines
were. She crouched, then ran back, getting a blasting from the dirt
stirred up by the blades as they increased thrust.

While Bethany waited for one of the officers to return with her 4x4, she
looked around the mine area for things to make her plan work. Locating
an oblong framework made from steel angle iron, she managed to drag it nearer
to the entrance of the mine itself. There was a lifting bolt mounted on
one end and it looked like it might have been part of a cage that the miners
used to enter the mineshaft. It took all of her enhanced strength to
move it, but finally it was in position. By the time she had checked out
the lengths of discarded cable and selected which one she wanted, she could
hear her Landrover coming.

Jim Collins, the officer that had been given to chore to assist her, was
young and inexperienced, and Bethany had no difficulty persuading him to do
her bidding. It wasn’t until long after, that she realised he was in awe
of her, and already half in love.

“Tie this steel cable to this frame and then tie the cable to the
Landrover,” she ordered, having outlined her plan.

“But, this cable has been rusting out here for over fifty years,” protested
Jim.

“True, but it still has most of its strength. With the low rainfall
and dry air, it only has surface rust. Heck, even the old tinned cans the
miners used are still intact,” she pointed out.

“I should be the one to go down there. If you get hurt, they’ll tear
me a new one for letting you do it,” Jim argued.

“Look, I know you mean well, but she’s my twin sister. I’m a lot
lighter than you are, and I know she’s alive and where she is,” Bethany half
lied, knowing only the first.

Bethany donned more practical clothes for the descent, then loaded a pack
from the truck with her torch, some rope, and a first aid kit, along with
Jim’s police radio. Jim found a frequency on the scanner that Bethany
had bought that would let him monitor her progress and know when to lower or
lift the frame. Once she wedged herself into the frame hanging over the edge,
Jim drove forward, allowing her and the frame to descend into the shaft.
At about twenty meters, she saw some blood on parts of the old timber framing
that jutted out into the shaft. There was a terrible stench that told
her something dead was also in the shaft. Ada turned her sense of smell
down with a small change, after she complained.

Going deeper, the shaft narrowed and the light grew dimmer. Bethany
hoped there was enough rope to allow her to find her twin. She spotted
something reddish just below her, and she called on Jim to slow the
descent. What she had spotted was a dead kangaroo, a big red, one of the
largest in Australia. It had stuck on a piece of iron jutting out of
hole cut into the side of the shaft. It was obviously the source of the
stink, but there was no sign of Bethany, and the roo blocked the shaft
completely.

“She’s in the side shaft,” prompted Ada.

She had Jim stop the descent as she neared the dead kangaroo. She
shone her torch into the side shaft, seeing it sloped downwards on a slight
angle.

Telling Jim to hold it there, she managed to get off the frame and into the
side shaft. She crawled in, seeing some blood trailing forward on the
bottom of the horizontal shaft. She spotted her target about 3 meters
in, huddled in a ball against a curve of the shaft.

She tried telling Jim she’d found her sister, but the ground completely
killed her signal. She checked Bethany’s pulse, finding it steady and
strong. There was a gash on her head that looked like it had happened on
the way down, as there was no blood on the rocks where she lay, other than
what had bled directly under her head.

She figured out that the dead roo had fallen and had stuck further up the
shaft where she had seen the dried blood. When the real Bethany had
fallen, she must have landed on the roo and dislodged it, falling further down
until it had struck the iron bar. Her impact must have been softened by
the animal’s body and she had bounced off and rolled down the side shaft.

Bethany crawled back to the vertical shaft and let Jim know what was
happening, and to wait till she could ascertain her sister’s injuries.

After Jim’s reluctant assent, she went back to the injured Bethany.

Carefully checking arms and legs for breaks, she applied a bandage to the
head wound, staunching the blood loss. She could see bruising on her
face which made her unrecognizable as her exact twin. She waited, hoping
Bethany would recover consciousness soon.

Ada warned, “She may have some memory problems with that blow on the head.”

“She will be okay?”

Ada reassured her, “I don’t detect any major injuries.”

While she waited for the injured Bethany to rouse, she couldn’t help think
of her own sister, Amanda, and the tragic circumstances of her injury.
Their parents had both been killed in the accident that left Amanda
crippled. Gary had found her, still crumpled in the wreck in much the
same position as Bethany was in now. No one had seen the accident that
took their parents lives. Only luck had saved Amanda from dying of her
injuries, as Gary had followed their route up that sparsely trafficked road
after them when they didn’t return from their blackberry picking
venture. He’d called for help and tried to make Amanda comfortable, as
much as was possible without moving her body.

Tears fell from her eyes as she watched Bethany, hoping she hadn’t suffered
the same fate as Amanda.

There was a moan, and Bethany stirred, straightening out her body. With a
weak voice “Bethany?” came from the injured girl.

“Hi, you had a fall, but I think you’ll be okay,” whispered the faux
Bethany. “Can you recall your name?” she asked, trying to see if there
was any memory loss

“Um Beth … no, it’s Liz …yes my name is Elizabeth,” she answered, slightly
more forcefully, shocking Bethany at her side.

Bethany leaned back, trying to take in this new information. The
person she thought was the real Bethany, was saying she was Elizabeth?
Something was really screwy here.

“Is that you Bethany? Elizabeth asked, opening her eyes. “I
didn’t mean to take your place, but I thought you were dead …”

“Hush, Liz. It can wait till later after we get you out of here,” Bethany
insisted, trying to cope with this revelation. “Can you move? We
need to crawl out of this hole.”

Elizabeth stretched slowly, testing for any injuries. It seemed to
Bethany that all she had were some bruises and the wound on her head.
Bethany guided Elizabeth to the exit of the tunnel, where she got herself
astraddle of the iron frame. She took the rope from her pack and then
guided Elizabeth onto the frame so she was sitting in front of her, so she
could tie the rope around the frame, and around their bodies, making a crude
barrier against falling out.

Bethany radioed Jim to back the Landrover, and slowly they rose up the
shaft. Bethany used her feet to keep them off the sides where they might
get hung up. Nearing the top, she called a halt. The frame was
just below the lip of the shaft and any more pulling might cause it to tilt
and threaten them with a spill.

In what seemed seconds, Jim was there, leaning over the edge of the shaft
with a relieved look on his face.

“Okay, reach up and I’ll pull you up the rest of the way,” he told them
quickly.

With Bethany supporting her, Elizabeth was soon on the surface and Bethany
followed soon after. Jim fussed over Elizabeth, doing what his training
recommended, using what bandages were available in Bethany’s small first aid
kit.

The ambulance came 15 minutes later, and both Bethany and her sister were
bundled inside. Jim stayed with the Landrover, promising to bring it
back to Laverton after he did his best to cover the shaft with whatever he
could salvage nearby.

The ride back in the ambulance was smoother than driving in the Landrover,
for which Bethany was grateful. Being a passenger is often harder than
being the driver, where you automatically anticipate the bumps. The
attendant took Elizabeth’s vitals and radioed them to an unseen voice.
Seeing the ride was headed towards Leonora Bethany lay down on the other cot,
waving off the attendant who seemed to be a mite too familiar with his
hands.

Although she was burning to ask Elizabeth questions, now wasn’t the time
and it seemed Elizabeth was equally reluctant to start talking with the
ambulance attendant in earshot. She just lay back and tried to rest, and
Bethany followed suit, managing to get some sleep as the ambulance emerged
from the bush tracks and hit the slightly smoother gravel roads.

In Leonora, Elizabeth was checked out and pronounced fit enough to leave
after two stitches were used to close the head wound. Her nose was
fractured but not broken and the sticky plaster over it contrasted with the
darkening bruising around her eyes. All this coupled with the bandage
around her forehead made it hard to notice that she and Bethany were identical
twins. It was while Bethany was in the room as Elizabeth got dressed
again, that she noticed something odd. Elizabeth had a birthmark on her
left breast. Sure, it was small and normally hidden by her bra, judging
by her suntan lines, but that wasn’t the interesting part. If she was a
copy of Elizabeth, why didn’t she have a similar birthmark?

“I generated the body you’re in from the pictures I gleaned from the net,”
Ada informed her silently, after a sub vocal query from Bethany.
“Bethany didn’t have a visible birthmark,” she added, leaving out the
obvious.

Bethany whispered a bit louder, “You mean I’m really her twin, and not a
clone?”

“It would seem so, which means your double is still out there,” Ada
speculated.

Bethany thought back to Elizabeth’s comments when they first met.
Obviously she was of the opinion that her sister was dead. She queried
this with Ada.

“I can’t find any record of her death, or even that she is, or was,
missing. Looks like Elizabeth took care of that by impersonating her.”
Ada cautioned. “Be careful asking questions. Don’t let on that you
aren’t, in fact, her sister.”

Getting released from the small surgery that doubled as the local doctors
office was hampered by the local law, who seemed excited at having something
special on their books, something other than the usual drunk drivers and
domestic disputes among some of the locals. Having a bona fide abduction
involving a powerful crime lord, was an excuse to pull out all the stops,
especially as it might mean a promotion and a transfer out of the backwater
town.

The girls finally got away about 2 hours later, after giving only the
minimum information they could get away with. Bethany did have to tell
them she had found gold, (the reason the mob were after her for,) but she
didn’t elaborate on it, which only fueled speculation by the officers taking
their statements.

They did find out that those in the helicopter had caught the fleeing
criminals. The driver in the van had been distracted by the chopper
overhead and didn’t see the small wash in front of them. Filled with
soft gravel, they beached the van hub deep. They were all now in
Kalgoorlie, waiting transfer to Perth.

Bethany was in a quandary. Part of her wanted to resume looking for
her gold, but with everything that had happened, she knew it wasn’t a good
idea, as her movements would be closely watched. The other part wanted
to go back to Perth with Elizabeth and find out more of what was going on.

Ada made the decision for her, telling her that going to Perth would put to
rest most of the speculation, as she would be unlikely to leave if the claim
was really of any major value. She could then find out about her true
twin and organize a proper trip to locate and claim the gold.

After a chartered flight to Kalgoorlie in a Cessna Skyhawk, they caught a
flight to Perth. Arriving late that afternoon, they were soon at the
home where Bethany and Elizabeth lived.

Coming from the harsh dry landscape of the Western Australian goldfields,
where the land was dotted with Saltbush, Spinifex and the occasional gum tree,
the house was a pleasant change. The bright flowers of the Wattles and
Bottlebrush lining the driveway contrasted and complimented each other,
especially with the red flowers and verdant green of the Kangaroo Paws growing
at their feet.

Bethany thought the place looked nice, but it was not as fancy as she’d
expected, given the money models were supposed to earn. The house itself
was tucked away on the back portion of the property, which gave it privacy,
yet still allowed it to overlook Perth, with some spectacular views.
Inside, the decor was very obviously feminine based, with no masculine input.
Not that she wanted to go headlong into a romance with a strange guy, but
Bethany was relieved, as well as curious. Where were the boyfriends
these girls should have had? she asked Ada, as Elizabeth went and got two
drinks from the mini bar.

“Okay, now that we’re alone, I think it’s time to talk,” Bethany started,
after accepting the drink from Elizabeth. “Why did you say that I was
dead?”

“Do you remember telling me that you’d decided to leave that bastard,
Samuel effing Masters, and that you were going to stop shooting up with the
heroin that he and his gang were always pushing?”

“No, not really ... Things were kind of fuzzy then,” Bethany ventured,
playing along.

Bethany was shocked to hear her original was an addict. No wonder now where
some of her earnings had gone.

She waited, hoping Elizabeth would elaborate, watching her sip her drink.
Eventually she went on, “You said you needed to get your life straight, and
apologized for making me sub for you when you were too spaced out to do your
job. You said you were going over to Samuel’s place to tell him you were
finished with him and his drugs. He drove round later, accusing me for
trying to turn you against him. You were in his car when I saw you last
looking like you were unconscious from an overdose. Robert just gloated,
saying you’d begged for it when you’d gone over. But I knew he’d given
it to you, I never saw you again. Samuel told me you had killed
yourself, but I figured you had died and he’d got rid of your body. That
was a year ago.” Here, Elizabeth broke into sobs, as she recalled those
memories.

Bethany couldn’t help, but reach out and hug Elizabeth. All she could
think of was to say, “Hush, Sis. I’m here now.”

Inside, her mind despaired. How was she going to break it to
Elizabeth that her sister was in all probability dead? When she returned
to being Gary, Elizabeth would lose her sister all over again.

Ada broke into her thoughts, “You may have a problem.”

“What?” Bethany said aloud, unthinkingly. Luckily Elizabeth didn’t
react, being too caught up in her emotions.

“It seems that Gary Carstairs is being sought in connection with
Elizabeth’s abduction, according to the alert I got on the police
channels.”

“Whaaat?” Bethany hissed under her breath, remembering other ears were
around.

“Checking the police computer systems, it seems that the Italian mobster
has tried to shift the blame on your former identity, saying that Gary and
Bethany had a falling out. The story he reported, said that Gary had
approached you for some cash outlay so the claim could be worked properly,
with a percentage going to you. You apparently wanted more and refused
to fund it unless he gave you more. Gary then had Elizabeth kidnapped to
force you change your mind. The mobster says he was just the middleman,”
Ada reported.

“What a load of …” Bethany didn’t bother completing the rest, as Elizabeth
stirred herself and looked curiously at her.

“What happened to you? Why didn’t come home, or contact us? I had to
be you, as well as myself for mom. It was hard juggling between the two
of us for a year. Samuel threatened to implicate me with your death if I
went to the police, not that I could. If I had, then it would have
become common knowledge and your … my ... only source of income would be
lost. I wasn’t sure if you were really dead or not and if you were
alive, and I’d reported it, then the drug scandal would still have killed your
career. But by the time I’d given you up for dead, it had been months,
and by my impersonating you in your job, I would have been jailed, as well as
becoming a suspect in your death.”

“I found a file on Samuel Master’s computer,” Ada interrupted.
“There’s a jpg of a body belonging to the original Bethany. He or
someone must have taken it just before they buried it in a sandy grave that’s
shown in the picture. No telling where the location is, and there’s
nothing else relating to your death. I’ve managed to delete the file and
added a search and destroy virus that will wipe any attempt to reload it.”

“I’m sorry. I nearly did die. They left me in a shallow grave and
covered me up. Luckily, I was face down, and had an air space.” Bethany
explained smoothly, giving no sign of the information Ada was feeding her.

“When I came to, I managed to struggle out and lay on the surface till the
next day,” Bethany lied, feeling awful while doing it. With the change
in circumstances regarding her identity as Gary, she didn’t want to burn her
bridges to her borrowed identity just yet. If and when the police tried
to confirm what the mobster had lied about, it was going to look suspicious if
she denied everything and then staked a claim to gold that supposedly never
existed. It looked as if staying Bethany for the foreseeable future was
going to be her best option.

“I was found by some real aboriginals and taken to their camp. I was
delirious, and I think they knew I was on drugs. They never went to the
police, probably because it didn’t occur to them, but whatever, they nursed me
back to health. I must have eaten all sorts of disgusting food, Bethany
explained.

“Seeing that Samuel thought he’d killed me, I decided to remain dead,
figuring you’d just take my place in my modeling job. I went walkabout
with the tribe until the lure of drugs was burnt out of my system.” Bethany
was making up the story as she went along, drawing on her experiences as
Gary.

Getting another drink for herself, Bethany walked over to the window and
looked out over Perth before continuing her fabrication. “Once I was
able, I walked into the desert to find myself.” Here, Bethany laughed, knowing
that Elizabeth could never guess just how true that was.

“I ... I found something else Liz … I found gold, lots of it. But I
need to give some of it to a sister of a friend who helped me out
there.” Bethany stopped, turned away from the window and looked at her
new sister. From the tears flowing from Elizabeth’s eyes it seemed like
she was totally taken in by her lies. Bethany felt awful knowing it was
all a lie, yet the truth wouldn’t serve any good purpose and would only end up
hurting everyone.

When Elizabeth ran and hugged her, something in Bethany snapped and tears
flowed for her, for Elizabeth, and for Gary and Amanda.

“Robert, your agent, rang me asking for you to contact him for some
promotions. With you gone, I pretended to be you and he never
guessed. At least I don’t think so. I was a bit standoffish and
pretended to get angry easily to stop anyone wanting to get really cozy to
me. I think I overdid it a bit and got a rep as a bitch, but as long as
it didn’t stop the work coming, I think it helped me pull it off.”

“Ah!” Bethany exclaimed softly. “I wondered about that.
Did you know I finished your … my Coppertone Campaign when you ran off?”

“No, I did try to ring Robert to apologize, but couldn’t get through.
I thought I’d blown it, but those flies were just too much. I nearly
drowned in repellent and they still came and tested every bit of skin in case
I’d missed a spot. I was supposed to remain still, but the camera
couldn’t see them on my back enjoying the shade, and I couldn’t move to brush
them off … argh! The last stroke was when I swallowed one and threw up
trying to get rid of it.”

“Been there, done that,” Bethany sympathized, knowing all too well the
horrors of the bush flies.

Bethany strolled around the house with Elizabeth in tow, using the get
reacquainted with everything again excuse. “I kept your room exactly as
it was,” offered Elizabeth, opening a bedroom door to show her.

Bethany stepped in, checking out her room. It wasn’t overpoweringly
feminine, for which she was rather glad, but it wasn’t anything like Gary had
ever slept in either. She sat down on the soft bed and picked up a photo
of Bethany and Elizabeth with an older woman, she assumed was their mother,
going by the family resemblance.

“Mother will be glad to see us, both of us. She is always complaining
that she never gets to see both of us at once. I’m just glad in a sad
way that her eyes are bad enough that she never spotted the difference when I
substituted for you.”

“When can we see her?” Bethany asked, thinking this would be a Bethany
thing to do.

“Anytime, you know she never stops us visiting.”

“You have visitors,” Ada warned privately, just a moment before an
authoritative knocking resounding through the house.

“Sounds like the police are here,” winced Bethany, moving to the door
before someone outside decided to knock it down.

“Miss Chambers? Bethany Chambers?” The officer outside asked,
when she opened the door.

“Yes? That is correct,” she replied calmly.

“I have reason to understand that you have had dealings with one Gary
Carstairs, regarding a gold claim east of Laverton, which resulted in your
sister’s abduction by Carlos Salvatore on his behalf.”

“I had dealings with Gary, yes, but the rest is a pack of lies. Gary
wasn’t involved in my sister’s abduction. That was all the Italian
…Carlos Salvatore I take it? doings.”

“That isn’t what I was led to believe,” the office refuted, sounding very
sure of himself.

“So, you would take the word of a criminal over both mine and my sister’s?”
Bethany asked archly.

The officer deflated somewhat and tried to bluster. Bethany cut him
off and started telling him in no uncertain terms what he could do with his
accusations.

“As a matter of fact, Gary approached me and offered the claim to me,
saying he didn’t have the resources to develop it. If it turned out to
be a significant find, then I was to give a portion to his sister and get her
out of the institution where she is, and get her back into a normal life
situation. He had found enough gold to live on and was going to look for
alternative ways to help his sister.”

“He just gave up the rights to his find for nothing more than a promise?”
the officer scoffed unbelievingly.

“No, not just a promise, if the find is as big as he suspected, I’m to set
up a fund to help others with special needs. If you’re wondering why me,
I grubstaked him for several years when he had a theory as to the whereabouts
of Lassiter’s Reef.”

“You’re trying to tell me he found …that you know where …?” the officer
gasped in shock.

Bethany silently cursed her slip of the tongue. If the media got wind
of this, it would be a media circus and her every move would be under a
microscope.

To cover her lapse, she laughed out loud, to throw the officer off.
“I wish! Gary was always a dreamer. I doubt there are more than few
nuggets left, but I did promise to search, so that’s what I’ll do. If
you thought you had found that mythical pot of gold, would you leave it
unclaimed and return here?” She threw the question back in his face,
telling from the expression on his face as he considered her words, that she
had scored a good point.

His disappointment was clearly obvious. “No I suppose not, but it
would be something if it was true,” he offered wistfully.

“Yes it would, so you see, your information is incorrect. If you wish
to question my sister about the abduction itself, then do so. Of course
she doesn’t know about my dealings with Gary, as I’ve been out of touch with
her for some time.”

The officer accepted and was led inside, where Bethany told Elizabeth what
the officer wanted. Bethany got another drink, but stayed within earshot
as the officer asked his questions. Elizabeth was annoyed at having to
repeat herself all over again, and it showed in the shortness of her
answers. Finally, the questions were over and the officer left. He
didn’t bother to resume any questioning with Bethany as Elizabeth saw him out,
so she assumed he was satisfied with the information supplied.

Bethany excused herself, saying she was going to get a shower to refresh
herself. While there, she sought solace for her decision to remain
Bethany with a few self generated orgasms. When she emerged, much
refreshed as well as sated, she passed Elizabeth heading for her own
shower.

The grin on her sister’s face told her that she hadn’t been as quiet about
it as she’d hoped. “Looks like you need to get a new boyfriend,”
Elizabeth giggled, undoing her clothes as she went.

“No, I need longer lasting batteries,” Bethany threw back, hiding her
repugnance at the thought of having sex with a guy.

Elizabeth’s reply was another giggle as she slipped into the bathroom half
naked.

Bethany hoped that the sight of a half naked woman evincing no sexual
interest was the familiarity of seeing the almost identical image in a mirror,
rather than that her sexual arousal might lead in a different direction.

“I called Mom while you were playing stink finger,” shouted Elizabeth, from
the shower. “She invited us for dinner, so you’d better look your
best. The luggage from the shoot came yesterday. It’s still in my
bedroom. Wear the cream outfit, it was one I loved.”

“Yes, Motheer,” Bethany shouted back, altering course to her sister’s
room.

Looking at the outfit Elizabeth had suggested, she could see why her sister
loved it, but something told her to look in her sister’s wardrobe
anyway. There, she saw a watered silk dress in lilac that would hug her
curves, yet still allow her freedom of movement. Once she took it off
the hanger and held it against her body, she knew what she was going to
wear. Let Elizabeth wear the cream outfit, if she loved it so much.

“What am I doing?” she asked Ada quietly. “Why do I feel this is what
the original Bethany would do, borrow her sister’s clothes I mean?” She
fingered the fabric gently wondering what it felt like to wear. “I feel
…I don’t know ... but it definitely isn’t me, that is ... Gary,” she stumbled
to explain the weird way she was acting.

“It’s the program I used to help you. I took all the information I
could find about Bethany, from her early school days to interviews just a few
months back, and condensed them into a persona generating program.”

“A few months ago? But the person giving those interviews wasn’t
Bethany, it was Elizabeth. How was that going to help build that persona
thing?” Bethany pointed out, looking in the closet for a suitable set of
shoes for the dress.

“Who better? If you were a famous model …?”

“Which I am,” laughed Bethany, interrupting Ada.

“Which you are,” continued Ada, without a pause. “Would you tell the
media all the personal details of your life that matter to you? Now I’m
not talking about details that are already public knowledge. I’m talking
about the stuff that maybe only your sister would know.”

Seeing a glimmering of what Ada was leading to, Bethany replied, “I guess
not. I’d probably gloss over that, and make up a few juicy lies to feed them.”

“Exactly, but Elizabeth being interviewed, and wanting to keep up the
masquerade, and trying to fit into her sisters shoes as it were …”

“Like I am,” grinned Bethany, interrupting again as she looked down at the
pair of borrowed shoes on her feet.

Ada chuckled at Bethany’s quip. “She would be more honest, giving out
details only she knew, that would convince everyone, including friends and
family, that she was in fact, Bethany.”

“Ah! So she might have said she borrows her sister’s clothes or had a
favourite dress she always borrowed?”

“Yes, so if you relax and let the persona help you, it will help you make
fewer mistakes.”

Bethany thought about that as she took her borrowed outfit and went to her
bedroom. An army recruiting slogan echoed in her mind, only the words
had changed to suit her situation. “Be all the sister you can be.”
Having already decided to continue her role as Bethany, she would try not to
get bent out shape if she acted more like Bethany as time went on.

“I see time away hasn’t changed your habits.” Elizabeth grinned, as she
walked into Bethany’s room still clad in a towel and rubbing her hair with
another. “I might have known you’d borrow something I’d just bought,”
she sighed.

“I’m sorry, but your wardrobe was open, and this just called to me.”

“Me too, that’s why I bought it. I just never thought my sister would
be wearing it before I did,” Elizabeth sighed wistfully.

“I can take it off if you want, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Bethany
offered.

“NO! You can keep it on. I just realised how much I missed you
borrowing my stuff.” With that, Elizabeth came and hugged her long lost
sister, shedding a few tears along the way.

“You can borrow my cream suit if you want,” Bethany consoled, returning the
hug with enthusiasm.

“Now you’re talking, Sis.”

The meeting with “her” mother went off without a hitch, at least she never
saw through her deception. ‘Mind you, that might have been because
her vision wasn’t what it used to be,’ thought Bethany. Heather
Chambers had cataracts, yet she could still see a little, and her manner was
so cheerful, you would think it never bothered her at all. She welcomed
both into her arms and only got them mixed up at the start because she knew
that the dress that Bethany had borrowed was Elizabeth’s.

Once the meal was finished, Ada dropped a private bombshell to
Bethany. “I can cure her vision problem,” she announced silently.

“How?” murmured Bethany behind her screen of a napkin. “We don’t want
to tell her about you, it would only raise more questions, and I don’t want to
hurt this family.”

“I can send the actual occlusion into p space, leaving her lens clear, and
we don’t need to reveal the true nature of her cure. If I send only a
portion of it each time over a period of several sessions, the body should
regenerate the missing lens, and the cure will seem to be working. If
you take both of her hands, I can work though you. All you need to do is
say you learned some aboriginal magic while you were away on your ad
campaign.”

“Magic?” Bethany questioned, unsure of how that would go over.

“Look around you. Her walls are filled with mystic talismans from all over
the world. Surely she must have some element of belief, if she collects
all that,” Ada prompted.

“Mother? I have something I want to try.” Bethany started, trotting out her
plan to affect a cure. Even though it sounded unbelievable to her,
Heather ate it up. So it was with some props like lit candles and other
esoteric items that the first treatment began.

All it took was for them both to hold their hands together, while Elizabeth
looked on with an expression of disbelief and anger at the farce.

That all changed, when pleading exhaustion 15 minutes later, Bethany broke
away and Heather opened her eyes and exclaimed, “It’s working! I can see
much more than I did. It’s not completely fixed, but much of the
blurriness has gone,” she rejoiced, giving Bethany a hug of thanks.

“We will try again in an hour, as it might take several more treatments,”
Bethany cautioned.

Elizabeth couldn’t believe anything so simple looking could have done any
good. Her anger at her sister for giving what she thought was false hope
to her mother was replaced instantly with curiosity, and not a few
questions.

Bethany fielded them adroitly, saying it was a type of psychic healing with
no real explanation, other than the recipient must believe. When
Elizabeth persisted with her probing, Bethany stood up and told her flat out
that either the ancient lore she had learned had helped, or she must have been
imbued with magical power from an alien device found in the outback.
This stopped all the questions, as there was no doubt which choice Elizabeth
chose to believe, but being Elizabeth, she threw a parting shot.

“So, can you use this magical device for other things?” she joked.

“You’ll never know, will you?” Bethany grinned evilly.

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out at her sister before turning to her mother
to re-confirm this miracle.

While her sister talked to her mum, Bethany stretched her body and wandered
round the room, taking note of everything.

“You took a chance then, you know,” Ada’s voice sounded in Bethany’s
head. “I can see the way you manipulated your words so the truth was
ignored for a more logical, if unlikely explanation.”

‘People believe what they want, but given a choice, will nine times out of
ten, choose the simplest answer,’ Bethany whispered.

Having recovered her energy an hour later, Bethany began another
treatment. This time, when Ada took a bit more of the occluding tissue
and sent it away, there was nothing but a look of hope and excitement showing
in Elizabeth’s eyes. Ada advised Bethany to wait a week before trying
another treatment, so the eye could recover the missing tissue through normal
regeneration.

To say Heather was grateful would be an understatement. Even though
she knew it wasn’t the final treatment, she could see much better.

Bethany advised her to keep it quiet, as the cure wouldn’t work for
everyone and she didn’t want to be the center of attention for a miracle cure
that she couldn’t duplicate every time.

Elizabeth was quiet on the ride home and Bethany saw her sister glancing
sideways at her as she drove.

“What?” she finally asked, wondering if her makeup was smudged?

“Oh nothing,” her sister blushed, seeing she’d been caught.

“Nothing, phooey! Has my mascara run?” Bethany prompted, turning to face
her sister.

“I guess you have changed while you’ve been away. It’s just I don’t see
it,” Elizabeth finally admitted.

“Should I have grown some horns or be surrounded by some sort of mystical
aura?”

“No, nothing like that. It’s hard to explain, but even though we got on
well together before all this, you just seem nicer now, somehow,”

“Thanks, Sis. Maybe I’ve grown up a little.”

Elizabeth reached out one hand and took her sister’s hand, and held it all
the way home despite some shaky gear changes using the other hand.

The next few days were spent at home, mainly to familiarize herself and
clean up the place from damage caused by Elizabeth’s abductors. Heather
had visited again, and had another treatment that rid her of the remaining
cataracts. Her vision wasn’t yet perfect, but Ada assured Bethany that
Heather’s vision would return to normal as the lens reformed its proper shape
after having some of the volume inside removed. This gradual return to
full sightedness would help, if and when Heather was questioned by her
doctor.

Bethany used the time to make some discrete inquiries into setting up a
team that would help stake her claim and then protect it as work began to
recover it from the ground. She also had Ada check to see if there was
any police presence surrounding her true sister Amanda, at the
institution.

“There does seem to be someone assigned to that duty,” Ada informed her,
after checking computer logs in the police headquarters.

Bethany decided to go out on her own and scout around. Elizabeth had
just gone out to get her hair done, so it was an ideal opportunity.

Bethany had found out that she now owned a muscle car, a two door Holden
Monaco GT, in red. Apparently it was an image thing. Elizabeth had
her own car, a blue Holden Estate, the one they had gone to her mothers
in. It was a slightly more sedate car, as it hadn’t been modified like
the GT.

Gary had never been one for messing with engines. If it ran, then you left
it alone. Getting into the drivers seat of the GT and starting it nearly
sent her into orgasm, as the deep throbbing beat of the V8 vibrated her whole
body. She revved it, hearing the low throaty burble turn into a roar
that nearly deafened her. She took it gingerly at first, never having
experienced anything with so much power before. She could see why people
loved these beasts as she gradually gained more confidence. Just a quick
stamp on the pedal would send the car surging forward, pressing her back into
the seat from the acceleration. Soon, she was speeding along above the
speed limit in her new toy.

“Slow down, there’s a police unit ahead operating a radar device,” warned
Ada.

Bethany giggled. “I have my very own radar detector,” she enthused,
slowing the beast down just in time.

Avoiding the police was easy, but someone else soon had their eye on her,
and made a quick call on their cell phone. “Boss, I thought you might
want to know. Someone’s driving the Chambers GT. It’s not
Elizabeth, I saw her at the hairdressers not 5 minutes ago.”

“I know, Boss, but the chick driving it is her clone.”

“I know that, but there seems to be another.”

“Okay, Boss, I’ll follow her till you catch up.”

Bethany drove on, unaware of the danger until the ever alert Ada filed
through the millions of cell phone calls. “I think we may have caught
some unwelcome attention,” she warned, before replaying both sides of the
conversation.

Being a cell phone call and knowing that scanners could be listening in,
the conversation Ada had monitored mentioned no actual names, nor was any
incriminating information given out, but the tone itself seemed threatening,
and the general conversation fit the present circumstances to a tee. The
clincher came when Ada, through some means known only to her, accessed the
number the observer had called. It matched that of the former Bethany’s
boyfriend.

Nervously, Bethany drove along, keeping an eye out for her pursuers.
A brown nondescript Ford that had been following her for some time without
suspicion, now became a prime suspect, until another newer BMW took its place
Ada advised that she head out into the country away from most of the public
traffic.

“Isn’t that the opposite of what I should be doing?” she asked.

“Normally, but I thought that you’d like to eliminate the threat once and
for, not have it linger.”

“Sure, but?”

“If we avoid a confrontation now by going into somewhere public, they get
the advantage,” Ada calmly offered.

“Huh?” Bethany asked

“They will have time to plan another attack when you least suspect
it. By letting them follow now, they will be caught off guard without
the chance to plan something devious if you prove to be Bethany. At this
point, there’s some doubt to your actual identity, and it will be least likely
to end in violence till they prove it conclusively. Stop at that park up
ahead and walk to the pond.”

Bethany did as asked, even though she was nervous about the whole
thing. Ada, sensing her state of mind, assured her that she was safe
from any attack, although she neglected to say why that was so.

She walked to the pond, noticing that the BMW had parked behind her, and
three men got out. Two remained alert at the car, while the third moved
in her direction. Ada, using her 360 degree vision, told Bethany that it
was Samuel Masters, began keeping her apprised of his position.

Bethany turned as he got within a couple of meters of her. He gasped
as recognition awoke fear in his eyes, and he turned several shades paler.

He looked her over from head to toe, trying to discover anything that would
deny her identity. His eyes strayed to her hands and in particular, a
diamond ring that Ada had supplied her with, when she generated her form.

“You are dead. I buried your body, and I took back my ring … that
ring.” he choked out, pointing to the ring on her finger.

Bethany realised that when Ada created her, it must have been from data
that had her still wearing Samuel’s ring. Prompted by Ada, she spoke,
following her lines. “Do I look as if I am dead?”

“You can’t be her ... I checked my farm only last month. I even threw
a rose on your grave,” he shouted angrily, reaching out for her.

She twisted away and quickly ran to a small copse of trees that would
screen her and the pursuing Samuel from his bodyguards for a few precious
seconds, until they caught up. Once she reached the trees, she slowed,
allowing Samuel to catch up.

As he reached out to grasp her throat in a choke hold, Ada sent him into p
space, leaving Bethany standing there alone, with just the memory of his hands
touching her. The two bodyguards followed their boss into p space after
grabbing her to force her to tell them what she had done with him.

“What will happen to them?” she asked, thinking of the time she experienced
p space, as she made her way back to her car.

“I don’t suppose you want them to remain there permanently?” Ada asked,
already knowing the answer.

“No, I don’t want them dead, although they deserve it,” muttered
Bethany.

“With no warning to close their eyes, what they experience will overload
their senses. I don’t think they will be sane when I allow them to
return.”

“Will they be able to see each other in p space?” Bethany wondered,
voicing her question to Ada.

“No, it doesn’t work like that. Think of it as having no lateral
dimensions. Instead, objects are stacked one upon each other separated by
time, rather than space. Your detector is in the same volume of space as
the others but separated by a time coordinate. I can retrieve any item
in any order I wish.”

“You mean it’s like a filing cabinet, except there’s only one extra deep
drawer, with each item stored in a separate folder so there’s no contact
between them?” Bethany asked.

“That’s an excellent analogy. I must remember that, but now, we need to go
farming,” Ada replied, giving her direction’s to Samuel’s farm.

Bethany drove east along narrow roads that eventually turned to rutted
dusty, bone shaking torture tracks. Ada had located the farm through her
net access, telling Bethany that it was imperative to find the real Bethany’s
body before she released any of the others from p space.

“They might reveal her location inadvertently if they ramble madly, and we
need to get to her before any police get wind of it. Besides, I suppose
you prefer to have her buried properly, even if it’s not official.”

It wasn’t too hard to find where the body lay buried. A four wheel
drive jeep was located in a farm shed and the keys were found in the homestead
that Bethany entered via a carefully thrown rock. Using the information
Samuel had blurted out, they followed the most recent tracks made by the
jeep. Ada helped by using her HUD to show the ground in an enhanced mode
that highlighted the tire tracks made by the jeep. Once the area they
were traveling over matched the picture that Ada had retrieved from Samuel’s
computer, they slowed down. Bethany stopped and got out, scanning
closely for any sign of a rose left on the burial site.

“Over there,” Ada prompted, having spotted it with her superior senses.

Bethany stood next to the rose, and a few tears fell at the thought of the
wasted life lying just under the sand at her feet.

“I’m not touching her,” she protested, when Ada suggested placing her into
p space.

“Just place you hand on the sand,” Ada reassured her, after checking that a
body lay there. “I’ll send the sand and the body, so you won’t have to
see anything unpleasant.”

After it was done, Bethany used the spade on the back of the jeep to fill
in the hole created by the body’s removal. She was quiet on the ride
back to the city, and after putting the car through a car wash to rid it of
the reddish dust that clung to the sides and rear of the car, she drove home
to do the same to her body.

Elsewhere, three men appeared out of thin air, falling to the ground as
normality rushed in at them. One of the goons remained unconscious and
was eventually found and placed in hospital, and from there, into a homecare
unit where he did little more than vegetate. The other goon became a
religious nut, claiming he’d seen God. He confessed to all manner of
crimes and was eventually put away in psychiatric care. Samuel? No one
knew what he thought. He’d managed to get in his car and drive
off. The police later recovered his body from the wrecked car that had
careered off the steep and treacherous zigzag road that wound down from the
escarpment near Kelmscott to the valley floor below. Whether it was
deliberate, or just another statistic of that particular road, no one would
ever know.

Elizabeth was still out. She’d left a message, saying she was going
shopping, and for Bethany to ring her on her mobile if she wanted anything
special. Ringing her sister, Bethany found out when Elizabeth was due
home and what she’d planned for dinner. She had avoided telling
Elizabeth an outright lie by saying she’d been driving around seeing the
sights, when asked what she’d been doing most of the day.

Bethany was in the kitchen helping towards dinner, when her sister arrived
with arms full of groceries. “There’s more in the car,” puffed
Elizabeth, glad to dump the bags of tinned goods on the bench.

Bethany went out to bring in the rest, jokingly asking if the stores were
now empty.

“No, I ran out of money,” she flipped back, having already surrendered
Bethany’s credit cards back to her sister.

Bethany was going to retort, but saw that her sister was being
serious. “I’ll settle up later,” she promised, knowing how awkward it is
to admit being broke.

“I forgot to transfer some of my …your earnings to my account,” Elizabeth
blushingly explained.

“If you work out what you earned as me, I’ll transfer that into your
account,” promised Bethany.

Elizabeth shrugged, not seeming too concerned about it. With her sister
back in charge, things could go back to normal with Bethany becoming the
breadwinner for both her and their mom.

Bethany could see she needed to get the gold find sorted out, but first she
needed to see her real sister. After dinner, Bethany asked her sister if
it was okay if they had an extra guest stay with them, as she planned to bring
Amanda back the next day, keeping the promise she’d made to her friend
Gary. Bethany found it strange referring to her former self as a
separate person, but looking down at her body made the separation easier, as
there was nothing left to show the association with her former identity.

“She can use the spare room,” Elizabeth agreed easily, showing no
reluctance to having a stranger coming to stay. Bethany had not
mentioned who it was that was coming, just in case Amanda needed a secret
identity.

The next day, Bethany drove to the institution where Amanda was being
looked after. Before entering, Ada changed Bethany’s looks with a little
of her morphing magic, so the police presence wouldn’t recognize her and start
opening a new can of worms. They had debated having her go in as a
nurse, substituting Bethany for a nurse coming off duty, but Bethany pointed
it out that questions could be asked if she suddenly returned, and there was
the possibility of her being ordered somewhere else in the institution.
Bethany, or rather, Gary, remembered the name of one of Amanda’s old
girlfriends. Ada soon had her profile located and minutes later, an
exact copy of Julie Rembrandt walked into the main entry of Harroway House for
the disabled.

As a friend of Amanda’s, she was allowed entry and told where to go without
much fuss when she mentioned wanting to visit Amanda. Bethany saw the
receptionist look over to a man in a dark suit. Although not in uniform,
it was plain he was watching everyone entering and he gave Bethany a cursory
look before dismissing her and nodding back to the receptionist, who then gave
the block and room number to her.

“There are cameras in reception and in the hallways,” Ada warned.

“Any in the rooms? What about intercoms?” Bethany asked, as she
walked down towards her sister’s room.

“There are intercoms. I can’t be sure if they are being monitored all the
time. I would suggest caution.”

Amanda was sitting in a wheel chair when Bethany entered the room, knitting
what looked like a scarf from where Bethany stood. Amanda turned and
gave a smile to what she thought was her old friend.

Even though Ada had checked and found no camera surveillance in the room
itself, the intercom on the wall was enough reason to be cautious in what was
said. So rather than explain anything right there, Bethany wanted her
sister in a place where she could explain freely.

“Buttercup? I have a message from someone close to you,”
Bethany/Julie began, knowing that ‘Buttercup’ was Gary’s pet name for his
sister.

Bethany then asked Amanda to trust her, whispering that Gary’s life
depended on it. Of course Amanda knew of the police’s interest, having
been heavily questioned several times about Gary’s whereabouts.

“I want to take you to see him, but without the police knowing or
following,” Bethany/Julie assured her. “I have a plan, but you need to
be blindfolded to do it. It’s sort of like a magic trick, so things will
get quiet all of a sudden. Promise me, no matter what you feel or sense,
you’ll not touch the blindfold till you hear me tell you to.”

“I promise,” Amanda agreed, as her friend took out a blindfold and fastened
it over her eyes. With Julie using Gary’s pet name for her, she knew
Gary must be somewhere close.

Ada sent Amanda into p space as soon as the blindfold was secure.
Bethany then walked calmly out of the place without any problem. After
Bethany returned to her car, Ada removed the Julia disguise.

Then Bethany drove to a seldom frequented fishing spot on the banks of the
Swan River. She figured correctly, that it would be empty since it was a
workday. Checking to make sure that the area was clear of any visitors
and she was completely alone, she had Ada bring her sister back from p
space.

Ada brought Amanda and her wheel chair back from the silent world of p
space and then removed her blindfold.

“Who are you, and where is my friend Julie? How come you are using
Gary’s pet name for me?” demanded an angry and confused Amanda.

“What I’m about to tell you will seem bizarre, and totally unbelievable,”
Bethany began, pacing back and forth before her sister as she struggled to get
her story in order. Having decided it was necessary to reveal all to her
sister if she was to help cure her, Bethany started telling her all that had
befallen Gary, using third person, believing that telling Amanda she was
actually Gary would be too much for Amanda to take.

At first, Amanda thought she’d been kidnapped by a weirdo, but as Bethany
got into her story, her demeanor changed and Amanda started to see little
mannerisms and way of speech that reminded her of Gary. It was hard to believe
the tale that the gorgeous girl in front of her was explaining. In spite
of the evidence of her own eyes and ears, Amanda felt that somehow Bethany was
Gary.

Bethany was only three quarters of the way though her tale when Amanda
stopped her and demanded an answer to a question. “Are you Gary?”

“Yes, Buttercup. I am Gary,” Bethany answered.

Amanda was almost sure she believed it was Gary, despite the appearance
that said otherwise. Amanda wanted concrete proof to chase away the last
doubts.

“Okay, if you’re Gary, then you’d know this. What did we go as, on
our second ever Halloween night?”

“Sheesh, Sis. That was a long time ago,” grumbled Bethany, racking her
brains for the answer.

“True, but I don’t think Gary would ever tell anyone the answer, either,”
Amanda admitted, thereby giving Bethany the clue.

Thinking back, Bethany recalled the time Amanda had convinced Gary to trade
costumes as a joke, forcing him to go out as a cute angel, while Amanda went
in his Batman costume. It had been fun at first, fooling people.
They were pretty much the same size and being young weren’t expected to have
shapely bodies. What caused Gary the most embarrassment was being made
up by their neighbour after she thought Gary needed to look prettier for her
boyfriend, aka Amanda. Needless to say, Amanda held that over him when
she had unpleasant chores to do, resulting in him doing them for her.
Luckily she stopped teasing him and they became closer as a result.

“You went as Batman, and I went as a fairy princess, and the neighbour
added makeup to my face,” Bethany whispered, blushing at the memory.

“You are Gary! Give me a hug, please?” Amanda cried, holding her
hands out from her wheelchair.

“Well, at the moment, I’m Bethany Chambers, Sis,” she laughed, giving her
sister a hug and a chaste kiss.

“And with makeup on as well,” Amanda giggled.

“And a whole lot more,” Bethany added, laughing at the irony.

Bethany then continued with all the details up to using Ada’s p space to
spirit Amanda away from her home.

“You were Julie too? Amazing, but why didn’t you just return to being Gary
to explain all this?”

“I can’t, Sis, at least not yet, and maybe not ever. Even though we
might seem to be alone, I can’t take the chance someone might be in a position
to see me if I’m under any kind of surveillance.”

“Not ever?” gasped a shocked Amanda.

“I have made a promise of sorts to my twin Elizabeth, and I need Bethany’s
influence to get the gold claim started. I need money, lots of it, to do
what I want, and nobody’s going to loan Gary any, even if he didn’t have the
police after him.”

“You’re going to use a famous model and her feminine wiles to get a loan?”
giggled Amanda, savouring the irony.

“Of course,” Bethany shamelessly admitted, striking a pose and batting her
luscious lashes.

Amanda laughed, and Bethany joined in before sobering with another
thought. “Sis, we can cure you and have you walking again, but unless we
change your appearance, the “cure” will raise questions we can’t possibly
answer.”

“I will walk again?” Amanda asked happily, seemingly not catching the
changed appearance bit.

“Yes! Ada says she will have to be worn to affect the cure.”

“Koolies, just don’t turn me into a guy, okay?” Amanda enthused,
showing she hadn’t missed anything Bethany had told her.

Bethany grinned, “No way! That would be just too confusing.”
“We need to go somewhere better than this. I feel too exposed here, but
I didn’t want to leave you in p space too long in case you thought I’d
abandoned you.”

“What about going to your new home?”

No, we can’t Sis. Elizabeth doesn’t know I’m not her real sister. I
don’t want to let her in on what I’ve told you. It would crush her.”

Amanda replied with an, “ah!” conveying understanding, far beyond the
simple sigh. “Understood, Sis…I can call you Sis? or Beth?”

“Sure, I don’t mind either way, seeing Gary sure as hell doesn’t fit
anymore.”

“I know, why don’t we go to that cave we found as kids?” Amanda
suggested.

“Great idea, Sis,” Bethany agreed, already planning ahead.

Bethany bundled Amanda into the car minus the wheelchair which was hidden
in the bushes nearby. Amanda was a bit reluctant to dump her only means
of transport for so many years, till Bethany pointed out that the cave could
only be accessed along the beach. “I’m not pushing a wheelchair in soft
sand,” she pointed out.

With Amanda safely buckled up, they drove to the beach where as kids they
had run freely in the sand and surf. Once again, Amanda was tucked away
in p space, while Bethany temporarily regained her manhood, becoming just
another Speedo (Australian male swimsuit) clad swimmer running along the
shore.

Gary/Bethany felt strange being male again. Maybe because the body
Ada had generated was bulkier and more muscled than Gary’s original
body. Going from a slender supple female to a bigger heavier male body
felt uncomfortable, and Bethany nearly had Ada change her back to a female,
any female. Knowing it was just for a few minutes made it bearable, but
Gary/Bethany realised that the time spent in a female body had irrevocably
changed the way she saw her body image.

She still saw herself as female, even though her body was temporarily
male. Shaking her head at the conflicting sensations, she tried to
concentrate on the task ahead. The cave, set back into cliffs was empty,
as was the beach around it. Bethany once inside, had Ada return her to
her now familiar female body. She looked down at her body, realizing
that she now looked at it as her own.

Once Amanda was released from p space, Bethany sat her down on an
outcropping in the cave and the work began. Bethany had Ada return to
the same dimension, becoming visible for the first time since Gary donned
it.

Amanda giggled at the sight of the helmet, which still looked oversized for
the head wearing it. “It reminds me of the helmet in that movie
Spaceballs.”

Bethany grinned, slowly removing the helmet from her head. Bethany
realised how much she relied on Ada’s help and advice and felt a reluctance to
relinquish it. Steeling herself, for after all, she was only giving it
to the sister she loved more than anything; she placed it on Amanda’s
head.

Ada must have sensed Bethany’s reluctance and decided to remain visible for
the duration of Amanda’s rebuild. Amanda had stipulated that she wanted
to be similar in build to Bethany, as her body had gained weight due to the
inability to exercise properly.

Bethany was spellbound as she watched her sister transform under Ada’s
manipulative powers. Not only was her body changed, but her clothes as
well. Ada even provided a purse, from which a hand mirror was produced
so Amanda could see the results. For the first time in over two years,
Amanda stood up, reveling in the simple task standing up.

Admiring her new form, Amanda realised that Ada had adjusted her new body
slightly, until it became more like Bethany’s without becoming a clone.
Now they looked like sisters or maybe cousins, a fact not lost on Bethany.

“My long lost cousin?” Bethany asked, when Amanda announced she was happy
with her form.

“Ada says you do have a cousin in America, but her name’s Mandy,” Amanda
grinned. “Do you think I’d make a great Mandy?” Here Amanda
twirled, gleefully relishing being able to do it again.

“I guess Mandy’s close to Amanda, in case I make a slip of the tongue, but
won’t being a relative be a bit awkward if Elizabeth or our mom start
questioning you?”

“No, Ada says … well let her tell you herself,” the newly christened Mandy
said, holding the helmet back out to Bethany.

“Mandy has never traveled out of the states and her face is similar enough
to pass for the one Amanda’s now wearing. I have reproduced her
identification papers and a passport, along with everything else needed to
keep her disguise intact.” Ada informed Bethany, once the helmet was
placed back on her head.

“Have you decided to go with being my cousin Mandy?” Bethany asked, double
checking her sister’s decision.

“I think so, at least this way I can keep a close eye on you,” giggled
Mandy. “I can’t wait to take you clothes shopping.”

“Oh no, the dreaded shopping gene,” wailed Bethany theatrically. “I’m
doomed … doomed, I tell you,” placing the back of one hand against her brow,
like some of the actresses used to do in the old movies.

Mandy just laughed. “Don’t worry, Cuz. I’ll teach you everything you
ever needed to know about shopping.”

“Cuz?” Bethany asked, before slapping her head. “Oh yeah, I
forgot about our change in family relations,” she added, ignoring Mandy’s
comment about shopping.

“At least I’m still related,” Mandy pointed out. “It would be harder
trying to be a total stranger.”

“True …” Bethany agreed, her voice trailing off as she wondered whether
they could pull this all off.

Both girls walked barefoot from the cave and strolled back along the beach
to the car. Brushing the sand from her feet, Bethany put on her shoes
and started driving back home. Mandy remained barefoot, even after they
had arrived, enjoying the sensation coming from her feet as she walked inside,
holding her shoes.

Elizabeth was out when they came back, but arrived later around noon,
bringing several French sticks that were still warm and a hot precooked
chicken in a foil bag.

Elizabeth was pleasantly surprised to see Mandy, especially when she
learned she was her cousin from the states. She scolded Bethany for
keeping her a secret, and over a lunch of chicken on sliced French stick,
tried her best to extract every scrap of information, from her newly minted
cousin.

After lunch, Elizabeth wanted to take Mandy to meet her mother if she was
agreeable. When Mandy expressed her desire to meet her aunt, Bethany
quietly asked Ada whether that was a good idea.

“I gave your sister a pocket history of Mandy and her closest relatives, in
case this might be needed. Before you ask, yes it was a memory dump, so
she can recall it at will. I know you didn’t want me doing that sort of
thing to you without your permission, so I asked Amanda, and she agreed to
it,” Ada explained hastily.

Bethany stayed home, letting her ‘sister and cousin’ visit Heather on their
own, explaining that she wanted to get things started on the gold find.
Gary had come to know a few reputable people in the business and Bethany was
soon sounding them out, while hinting she had a substantial find to
develop. Agreeing to a meeting with one of them, Bethany felt relieved
to be finally doing something.

It was soon cut short as Ada interrupted her thoughts. “It looks like
we have stirred a nest of hornets getting Amanda out of that place.” The
police channels are full of talk about it and the police have issued more
warrants for Gary’s arrest.”

“What!”

“They seem to think you were behind her apparent disappearance, even though
your whereabouts are still unknown,” Ada relayed, keeping track of all police
communications. “They think you took her out of there from under their
noses.”

Bethany laughed wryly, knowing how true that was, but annoyed they were
blaming Gary without any evidence.

“I suppose they are looking for Julie as well now?”

“Well they have located her, but because we knew she was in New Zealand
visiting a sick cousin, and she is provably there now, just hours after
Amanda’s disappearance, she has the perfect alibi, so the police think the
last person to visit Amanda was disguised. One officer even laughingly
suggested that it was probably Gary in disguise.”

“Smart man, we should send him a prize.”

“It probably wasn’t a smart idea to tell that officer who visited your
intentions to get Amanda out of that institution, as suspicion will fall on
you,” Ada pointed out.

“True, but then I’m only human. I make mistakes,” offered
Bethany. “Well I do have one thing in my favour should they come
calling. I can say my plans to save Gary’s sister could only be
undertaken once the claim produced some results. Besides, they can
search all they want, since Amanda is now Mandy.”

Bethany made a call to Elizabeth on her cell phone and asked to speak with
Mandy, as she had yet to get one of her own. Once Mandy was on, Bethany
warned her that the police might come visiting and to be on her guard.
Mandy thought it was all a bit of fun, like being a spy, knowing with her
looks and the ability to walk again, she would never be discovered.
Bethany hoped her sister/cum cousin continued to have fun being a sort of Mata
Hari.

When the inevitable happened, it was the same officer who’d visited before
who knocked on the door. Of course Bethany acted surprised at this extra
visit, grumbling about having thought everything had been sorted out last
time, as she invited him inside. Both Elizabeth and Mandy were still at
Heather’s, so that added complication was avoided for the moment.

Bethany pretended to be shocked when Officer Benson introduced himself, and
revealed that Gary’s sister Amanda was currently missing. ”Since when?”
Bethany questioned. “Why do you think she is missing, as it hasn’t even
been a day?”

“Surely she might just have gone out with a friend?” Bethany pointed
out. “How come are you involved so soon?” she asked suspiciously.

“We had her under police surveillance in case her brother contacted
her. He is now the prime suspect in her disappearance.”

“Sounds more like she was under house arrest the way you are acting. And if
Gary is the prime suspect, why are you coming bothering me? I just
wanted to help his sister if and when this gold claim proves worth
while.” Bethany argued.

“Well, you did mention wanting to take Amanda out of there. We are
just following up any leads we can at this stage,” Benson admitted.

“Well don’t bother me then. I haven’t even met her yet. So find her,
I have a promise to keep,” Bethany demanded, ending the discussion.

The officer got up, seeing this was just another dead end. After all,
the camera never showed Bethany visiting, and the hope that she was involved
somehow seemed remote, given her attitude.

Things settled down after the police lost interest. At least they never
bothered Bethany and Elizabeth again about Amanda. Bethany wasn’t fooled
into thinking that the police had forgotten them, but suspected they were
probably waiting for something new to crop up.

“What happened to the rest of the ship the Teg was piloting?” Bethany asked
Ada as she planned for getting the gold out. She was going to hire
bulldozers and was suddenly worried what else might be uncovered in the search
for the lost gold of Lassiter’s reef.

“It is long gone,” supplied Ada reassuringly. All Teg ships have a
self-destruct. Should they be critically damaged, the metals which form it all
readily decompose in the presence of oxygen, once the field produced by the
engines collapse. The fields shield the skin from damage and atmospheric
effects. With the field gone, the hull degrades to dust in about ten
days.”

“It’s that reactive? I would have thought it would have been the
complete opposite. To think that a primitive dinosaur took out a
futuristic space craft is incredible,” laughed Bethany.

“Well, the pilot was an idiot, and the dinosaur luckily broke an essential
part of the craft. The reason the hull is so volatile, is because of the
paranoia of the Teg. They feared having their ships falling into the
wrong hands. It’s hard to examine a crashed ship if the metal is
dissolving rapidly.”

“And you survived, how?” Bethany asked, intrigued.

“Remember, I was 0.356 degrees to the left of this plane of existence, so I
didn’t suffer any damage in the crash. I survived, due to my maintenance
programs, and solar power provided enough power to provide protection fields
against oxygen degradation.”

“So you do have a weakness?”

“If you mean, can I be destroyed, then yes,.” Ada admitted without any
hesitation.

“I can’t imagine what you went through all that time. I’m surprised
you didn’t go insane with boredom,” Bethany muttered.

“I probably would have, had I been awake,” Ada laughed. “Once power
drops below a certain level, my higher functions cease. It’s just like
you going to sleep; I didn’t sense the passage of time after the Teg
crashed.”

Having satisfied herself that her worries about uncovering a crashed
spaceship were unfounded, Bethany set about organizing a BBQ for dinner.
She soon had a few chicken drums immersed in a bowl with a soy sauce and honey
marinade, while others were liberally coated in powdered paprika for a
slightly different flavour.

She was preparing a desert when Elizabeth with Mandy in tow arrived
home. Elizabeth checked what her sister was doing with a look of
surprise, but didn’t say anything, until she saw the pie Bethany set into the
oven.

“Wow, did aliens clone my sister?”

Bethany hoped her sister hadn’t seen the expression on her face on hearing
the question.

“What?” she asked, wondering what she’d done to have her sister say
that?

“You usually let me do the cooking, and I’ve never seen you make a pie
before,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Well, I learnt a lot while I’ve been away. I just thought I’d help
out,” Bethany replied.

Mandy wasn’t surprised; after all, she knew Gary was a good cook even
before he became Bethany.

Elizabeth grinned, saying she didn’t mind her sister taking over the
cooking duties. Bethany threw a wadded up hand towel at her in response,
saying, “The duty will be shared.”

While Bethany went out to start the BBQ, the others showered before
dinner. Mandy was finished first and joined Bethany out on the
patio. Bethany told her what had happened that day, adding her thoughts
that they hadn’t seen the last of the police just yet.

Then Mandy said something that shocked Bethany’s world and made her examine
just who she had become.

“It’s a pity you didn’t make me into Bethany. Then you could have returned
to being male again.”

Bethany froze as her sister’s words reverberated in her mind.
‘Damn, why didn’t I think of that solution? Ada could have given my
sister a download of Bethany’s mannerisms and filled her in on her life to
date, while I could have returned to being male, even if it isn’t as my former
identity.’

Mandy saw the stricken look on Bethany’s face, as she realised her
missed opportunity.

“Sis, take over for me please, I need some time to think,” Bethany urged,
handing Mandy the tongs.

Mandy nodded, wondering why Bethany seemed upset. She watched Bethany
walk out to the edge of the property and disappear down one of the many tracks
that led into the bush surrounding the house.

Bethany walked away from her sister, going down a track that soon swallowed
her from sight. Trying not to think about the thing on her mind, she
found herself approaching a rocky outcrop that overlooked the surrounding
bush. The track went past it and down a steep slope that led somewhere
into the valley below, but Bethany didn’t have suitable footwear for climbing
up or down such a track, so she just walked out to the edge of the
outcrop. Even though there was a sheer drop of several hundred meters,
she felt no vertigo as she looked over the edge. The view out towards
Perth city center was magnificent, with the airport lying between her and the
city, but she looked out sightlessly as her thoughts were directed inward.

Finally she spoke out loud to Ada, trying to clarify her thoughts into
actual words.

“What’s happening to me? Did you program me to accept being female
and to choose that over returning to a male form?” she blurted out.

“No, I did not. I did help you to use that body in a way that would
appear feminine, to give you the same mannerisms Bethany would use, but I
didn’t change anything about your mind,” Ada assured her.

Bethany trusted Ada to tell the truth, so the implications of Ada’s denial
weighed on her mind. If Ada hadn’t influenced her to remain female, then
it was obviously something she herself had chosen, at least
unconsciously. ‘Does this mean I prefer being female?’
Oddly this thought didn’t seem as repugnant as she thought it might be, had
she been asked when she was still Gary. She sat down with her legs
hanging over the edge of the rock and thought back to the very beginning of
all this.

While the thought of ever being female hadn’t entered
Gary’s mind, he had wondered what it was like to be one. Now that she
had gained that knowledge, life as Gary was looking decidedly second
rate. It wasn’t that being Gary was bad, but that Gary had never stood
out. He was average in height and looks and was never the brightest in
school … school?

“Ada? Did you make me more intelligent than I was?” Bethany asked,
realizing that there was a discrepancy in the way she thought from how she
used to, knowing Gary had an IQ of 100.

“Well, Bethany was known to have an IQ of 115, so I tweaked it up a bit to
125, admitted Ada calmly.

“Ah hah!” exclaimed Bethany, confirming her sudden realization as to why
her thinking seemed clearer. So that was another plus in her change of
gender. Becoming Bethany, had made her the center of attention,
something Gary never experienced. Being a famous model, and having
people fuss over her and do everything they could to stay in her good books,
was novel, and not without a certain feeling of power.

As far as the sexual side of things, she had been lifted to greater heights
of pleasure in her short time as Bethany, than had Gary in his whole life, and
this was solely via self masturbation. So far, the pluses to stay female
outweighed any that being Gary might have. Also there were practical
considerations as well. Gary was on the run from the law and unlikely to
be seen without risk. To have to become some strange male instead, was
hardly any different to becoming Bethany in terms of getting used to a new
body. Being Bethany at least, gave her a history that could be verified
and so far she’d pulled it off without a problem … ‘Well, only a few
problems,’ she giggled to herself.

She wondered what her sister’s response would be when she told her that
Gary might not be coming back. A 747 announcing its desire to take to
the air brought Bethany back to the here and now. She watched it rise in
the foreground, heading over the suburb of Belmont and starting to turn
towards her, heading on its journey east.

“Bethany! Where are you?” came faintly from behind her. Mandy’s
voice called again, sounding a little nearer. Bethany sighed, knowing
she had to tell her sister her decision to remain as Bethany. She stood,
looking down at the sheer drop and drinking in the solitude that would soon be
broken.

“Bethany where are you …Bethany!” the last was squealed in shock as Mandy
finally saw her sister and where she was standing.

“Come look,” Bethany urged, not turning from the view.

“Careful, that looks dangerous,” Mandy warned, as she approached her sister
cautiously.

Bethany laughed, turning to take hold of Mandy’s hand and pulled her close.
“Isn’t the view great?”

Mandy didn’t answer for a second, as her attention was on her sister’s
face, searching for the reason Bethany had suddenly run off. “Are you
okay, Sis? Why did you run off,” she asked before looking at the view
mentioned.

“I’m fine now, but I have something to tell you, something that … oh,
crap!” she broke off, before turning and starting to walk back.

“Sis!” wailed Mandy, running after Bethany and pulling her to a stop.
“Whatever it is that is troubling you, remember this, I love you, whether as a
brother or a sister,” she got out, intuitively sensing what was on Bethany’s
mind.

Bethany turned and hugged Mandy, tears flowing as she struggled to find the
words and the strength to admit she loved being Bethany. “Sis… Gary is
dead,” she finally ground out.

Mandy nodded, her own tears stopping her from saying anything
coherent. Instead she hugged her sister, silently mourning the loss of
her brother, yet rejoicing in the fact her sister was alive and well. “I
think I knew already, Sis,” Mandy finally managed to say.

Bethany let go of Mandy, holding her at arms length while she looked at her
sister’s face in surprise. “How?”

Mandy gave a short laugh. “Feminine intuition.”

“Phooey,” grumbled Bethany at her sister’s glib answer.

“No, really! I noticed how comfortable you are. Not many people would
have the guts to change gender and then excel at being a totally different
person,” Mandy explained further.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly my idea in the first place,” Bethany looked up and
nodded her head indicating Ada’s invisible presence. “And I had help,”
she added.

“True, but you made the decision to remain female, and that counts just the
same. I’m going to miss Gary, but no one else is likely to miss
him.” Mandy reflected. “On the other hand, if Bethany disappeared
again, she would be missed far more, and by a lot more people.”

“Elizabeth and Heather would be heartbroken, and I would miss the
opportunity of teaching you the art of shopping,” Mandy pointed out.

This gave Bethany a chance to pout when shopping was mentioned. “I’ve
changed my mind, save me from shopping,” wailed Bethany theatrically,
pretending to shy away in horror.

“Oh you! You’re no fun,” Mandy grumped stamping her foot before the
two dissolved into laughter at the other’s antics.

“Hey, who’s looking after the BBQ? I’m so hungry, I could eat ewe,”
punned Bethany with a giggle.

“Elizabeth, and if it gets burnt, she’ll lambaste ewe you,” Mandy threw
back as she turned to run back home.

“Sounds kinky,” Bethany laughed back, following her sister’s footsteps.

“Where were you?” asked Elizabeth, when they both got back.

Watching Elizabeth basting the chicken drums and turning the lamb kebabs
over made the two in question, exchange a look and their stifled giggles
delayed answering. “Oh I was at the lookout,” answered Bethany
finally. “I needed to think about something without any
distraction.”

“You aren’t thinking of leaving again?” asked a suddenly worried
Elizabeth.

“No, Sis, just the opposite. I’m here to stay,” Bethany answered to a
relieved Elizabeth. “Here, let me take over, while you get the salad
out. “Nice kebabs sis,” she added using the tongs to turn them
again.

“Thanks, I made them this morning, but obviously you didn’t see them in the
refrigerator.”

“Well if there’s too much left over, we can always reheat them,” Bethany
commented sagely.

The three girls busied themselves, working like a team. For Mandy, it
was like old times when she used to help Gary at family BBQ’s. The
thought brought forth a few tears, as she mourned the loss of their
parents.

Whether it was because she was now female and therefore closer to her
sister, or the often touted feminine intuition kicking in, Bethany sensed what
the odd tear in Mandy’s eyes meant. She reached and gave her sister a
hug of support when Mandy passed by bringing the wine. “I miss them
too,” Bethany whispered out of earshot of Elizabeth.

Having put on some music, Elizabeth joined them outside to await the end of
the cooking and the start of the eating.

Mandy had drunk several glasses of wine and was reveling in her newfound
mobility, slowly dancing to the music in a world of her own after
eating. Elizabeth got up and joined her, dancing next to her, but
without contact. Bethany smiled watching them as she turned off the gas,
and started piling a dish with the cooked meat.

“Thaank you both. Thaat was great,” slurred a slightly tipsy Mandy, giving
the others a hug.

Bethany helped Mandy to her room, and seeing her just collapse on the bed,
made the decision to undress her and pull a nightie over the woozy
Mandy. Seeing her sister’s new body naked, drove home another point in
her transformation. Mandy had a great body, one Gary would have drooled
over, but while Bethany could appreciate that same beauty, it failed to arouse
her sexually. “Poot,” Bethany muttered, knowing what the implications of
her observation meant for her future.

The next few days were spent doing the touristy thing with Mandy, their
supposed visitor from the states. Mandy gushed at everything, everywhere
they went. It wasn’t hard to pretend to be surprised at anything, as her
prior invalid status had precluded going everywhere she had wanted.
Mandy made the most of it, keeping her promise, or threat, (depending on the
individual point of view) of taking Bethany into as many clothing stores as
they could fit into a day.

Bethany, of course, protested, albeit not very convincingly. She
could see the fire in her sister’s eyes. The more she resisted, the more Mandy
urged Bethany to try just another skirt or dress on. In fact, Bethany
enjoyed all the fuss and hoo-ha, but didn’t let on, lest Mandy lose some of
her enjoyment trying to make her sister uncomfortable with some of her
selections. It wasn’t that Mandy was being nasty; she was just teasing
the former male mind that was now housed in a totally different body.

Bethany gradually allowed herself to become enthused, so that she could
fully know how the genuine pleasure she felt from trying on the sexy
clothes. Finally, Mandy slowed in her headlong rush to have Bethany try
on every single garment Western Australia had to offer, or so it seemed.
While supposedly, what clothes they did buy were for Bethany, knowing her
sister, and given that she was the same size physically, Bethany knew Mandy
would be “borrowing” her new purchases very soon. As the days went on,
Bethany and Mandy grew together, forming a much closer bond than they’d had as
brother and sister.

One evening, because the day had been spent shopping, Elizabeth suggested
they eat out for dinner, a suggestion that was agreed on with alacrity.
Sizzler’s was crowded, but being a family restaurant, they hadn’t needed to
dress up, or book a table. They just turned up in the clothes they’d
been wearing shopping and waited in line. Being the place it was,
Bethany and her sisters went up as many times as their stomachs would allow,
refilling their plates from the excellent smorgasbord selection.

The day was topped off by a soak in the Jacuzzi at home, as no one felt up
to a fashion show with the new purchases bought that day. While relaxing
and letting their meal digest, Bethany mentioned that soon she would be
heading out to Laverton again. “I’d like both of you to come, but I need
to warn you about the conditions,” Bethany cautioned, anticipating the desire
of both to participate. “It will be hot, dusty and probably noisy as
well once the machines start excavating, not to mention the flies during the
day. I will be renting a mobile home with aircon and full facilities,
but one can’t stay inside all day,” she warned

“We still want to come,” chorused the two sisters, looking at each other in
agreement.

“When will you be starting?” Elizabeth asked, thinking ahead.

“I was hoping,Tuesday. The RV will arrive tomorrow, and the others
will meet us at Laverton on Thursday.”

“The others?” Mandy enquired curiously.

“I’ve hired a firm to do the actual work, provide the security and handle
the filing of the claim once we discover the lode’s exact location. They
will bring in the machinery. Once the paperwork’s even been started, we’ll
need to stay on site and protect it from claim jumpers.”

“Wow! We will need to go shopping for clothes then,” Mandy enthused,
rubbing her hands together.

Bethany and Elizabeth groaned and attacked Mandy in the tub and dunked her
several times in protest. Laughing, Mandy attacked back and soon all
were completely soaked with their hair wet and bedraggled looking.

“Don’t you every get tired of shopping?”

“Nope, anyway, we need clothes suitable for the bush, unless you want to go
round in that sequin number you bought today.” Mandy pointed out.

Several days later.

“Here you go, I must say, I’m glad you’re driving this monster, Sis,” said
Mandy, handing Bethany a cold can of Coke.

Bethany took her eyes off the road for a second, as she accepted the
already opened can and gave Mandy a smile.

“Oh it’s not too bad once you get used to the size. Power steering
helps too,” she added with a grin, as she negotiated past a wheat harvester
moving along the highway in the same direction.

“Well I’m glad I don’t have to park it. In town, it would take up
three parking spaces,” Mandy pointed out. She sat down in the swivel
seat next to the driver and locked it in the forward facing position as per
the regulations while the RV was in motion.

“How’s Elizabeth?” Bethany inquired, knowing she’d experienced a bit of
motion sickness earlier in the day.

“Oh, she’s sleeping now. I think those pills she took finally kicked
in.”

“Good, the last thing we need, is the smell of vomit on board,” laughed
Bethany, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

“So where are we headed for tonight, Sis?”

“Well, I planned to drive till dark. We should be past Coolgardie
then, and on our way north to Kalgoorlie. It doesn’t really matter where
we stop, seeing we are self sufficient.”

“This is so exciting! I haven’t been on a trip like this since I was
10 years old and we all went up to Carnarvon.”

“Well, once we become rich, you will be able to travel the world if you
want,” suggested Bethany.

“Not if I have to drive one of these brutes,” Mandy giggled.

“Wait till tomorrow, when we lose the sealed roads. I’ll be glad of
the extra padding I gained when we hit the corrugations,” laughed Bethany.

Mandy eyed the extra padding mentioned, realizing what a change her new
sister was experiencing. “Maybe it will be enjoyable, like a vibrator,”
she blurted out before blushing furiously.

Bethany laughed, seeing her sister’s discomfiture. Yes, tomorrow was
going to be very interesting indeed. Refueling at Bodallin, some 60km
past Merredin, they made a real sight as they stretched their legs.
Elizabeth had woken and decided to use the restroom rather than use the toilet
onboard. Bethany grinned as Mandy flirted with the young pump attendant,
as he tried to keep his eyes on all three of near identical looking girls.

“You know, when I asked you to get us some pants, I didn’t mean hot pants.”
Bethany whispered in Mandy’s ear, as the attendant’s eyes tried boring holes
in them. The pants in question left nothing to the imagination and were
hardly longer than bikini briefs. Gary had pajama pants that covered
more than these. It was just as well the RV had sheepskin covers on all
the seats to stop people getting their bums boiled from the intense heat the
Australian sun generated. It also stopped the itchy sticky feeling you
get on long journeys when wearing such skimpy pants.

“Well, you did say you wanted something easy to move around in,” giggled
Mandy, not at all repentant, as she bent over to tie up an already secure lace
on her boots.

“You’re such a tramp! Are you sure you’re my cousin?” Bethany returned with
a grin.

“Well I’m not the one that chose to wear the pink pair,” giggled Mandy.

“Harrumph! Well I figured if wore those, men wouldn’t be checking out my
tits so much,” argued Bethany, trying to excuse her choice.

“Oh! Suure, Sis, I might believe that, if your stretchy top wasn’t pink
too, and didn’t have ‘Girl Power’ emblazoned on the chest.

“Um, well ... they matched, and anyway, you bought them,” challenged
Bethany, trying desperately to weasel out.

Mandy just giggled, not bothering to reply.

The pump attendant chose then to ask to check their oil, to which Mandy
replied that he could check under her hood anytime.

Bethany pulled her sister aside, allowing the young red faced man access to
the engine compartment inside the front of the RV. “Stop that, you
hussy! Can’t you see he’s having a hard time dealing with you.”

“Hmmmm, hard …” Mandy moaned in a Homer Simpson takeoff, checking out the
man’s pants.

“Sheesh, I can’t take you anywhere,” admonished Bethany, dragging her
reluctant sister into the service station, where she told her to pick up some
chocolate covered ice cream blocks out of the freezer compartment.

Of course Elizabeth had missed most of this, so when she finally got back
into the RV and handed her ice cream, she was regaled of Mandy’s antics by
Bethany. She laughed, siding with Mandy, saying a girl has to do what a
girl has to do. She then made suggestive movements with her tongue as
she licked her ice cream, which made them all laugh.

They were still some distance from their destination of Coolgardie when
5.30 rolled around. Bethany’s assumption they would reach there, had
been based on driving a car, but the RV was slower and took more care to
drive. They had reached Southern Cross and checked out the town for a
place to set up for the night, but Bethany wasn’t impressed with the choices
available. As the day was still hot, they decided to drive on towards
Coolgardie and find a spot on the side of the road.

An hour later, they found a rest area somewhere between Yellowdine and
Karalee that took them out of sight off the main road. The road to the
rest area was little more than a track, and ended in a clearing among gum
trees and brush. Elizabeth and Mandy piled out, thankful to stretch
their legs. First, Bethany changed out of her pink hot pants into more
practicable jeans like the others were now wearing before joining the others
outside. Mandy had found a wooden picnic table made of halved coppered
logs, and was sitting in the half shade waiting for the others to join her.
Bethany stretched her legs walking around the perimeter of the clearing, then
went back to the RV and brought out three cans of beer, which she took to the
table where Elizabeth had joined Mandy.

After wetting their whistles, Bethany headed back inside to start
dinner. She had made a stew prior to leaving, something she used to do
as Gary when he was heading out into the outback. With no refrigeration,
Gary would freeze a stew and would have it the second night. All meat
had to be processed like bacon or sausages or (cringe) in tins, if one wanted
to have meat at least once a day.

That problem was taken care of as the RV had both a fridge and a freezer,
which ran on either LPG or electrical power. Still, the stew was handy,
requiring no lengthy preparation, just heating. Bethany was making
thickly sliced toast on which to serve the beef stew when she heard a vehicle
draw up next to them. She just served Elizabeth her meal when she heard
knocking on the door, and a voice call out that it was the police.
Telling Mandy to take over cooking her own toast, Bethany went to the door and
opened it.

“Hello, Miss. I’m officer Stevens, from the Coolgardie road patrol. I
check all rest stops between Kalgoorlie and Southern Cross as part of my
patrol. Are you stopping the night here?”

“Yes, we plan to head to Laverton tomorrow. We just drove from Perth
this morning,” Bethany affirmed. “Is there a problem Officer?”

“Not with stopping here. I’m glad to see people using their heads
when traveling long distances. It makes my work easier … hmm something
smells great,” the man added, sniffing the aroma of stew drifting out of the
RV.

“Plenty for another plate.” Mandy’s voice called out, from inside.

The officer looked hesitant, desire warring with his responsibility.

“Surely, sharing a meal would be okay,” encouraged Bethany, thinking it was
the polite thing to do, then moving back and gesturing for the officer to
enter the RV.

“I really shouldn’t, but that smells great,” the man said, following her
inside.

“If you get into trouble, tell them you had to strip search three dangerous
women,” teased Elizabeth, moving to make room for the officer to sit beside
her.

The officer blushed, making him look even cuter. Even Bethany thought
so, before catching herself and trying to deny it.

“I hope I don’t need backup,” quipped the officer, reintroducing himself as
Tim Stevens.

Elizabeth made all the introductions while Bethany made more toast and got
out an extra plate. Instead of a beer, like the girls were drinking, she
offered a can of chilled Coke, which the officer gratefully accepted.

“There is one thing you need to be aware of,” Tim told them, accepting his
plate of stew from Bethany with a smile. “There are two escaped
prisoners on the loose somewhere in the area.”

“Prisoners?” questioned Mandy.

“We had caught one of two men involved in a rape case in Coolgardie and
were transporting him to Kalgoorlie to be flown to Perth. The van
transporting him was rammed off the road, presumably by the other one that had
eluded capture. He must have lain low and followed the van before making
his move. The driver was knocked unconscious and when he came to, the
prisoner was gone.”

“Oh dear. So do you think we are in any danger?” asked Elizabeth, holding
her hand to her mouth.

“It’s unlikely. They are probably headed into the bush, at least that’s
what the tracks showed. If you like, I can check back here on my return
run, although it might be around 3am. Just make sure you lock the
doors.”

“Thank you, we would appreciate that, just in case,” offered Bethany.

Once the officer had left, Bethany was teased by Mandy about whether she
thought he was cute. Put on the spot, and having Elizabeth interested to
hear her answer, Bethany couldn’t just ignore the question, and to deny it
might raise questions with Elizabeth.

“He was cute in his uniform, but then I guess most men in the police force
look better than the average Joe Blow. I expect Mandy likes all men in
uniform,” giggled Bethany, trying to move the target to her sister.

“I bet you just wanted to rip his shirt off and ravage him,” retorted
Mandy, not falling for her sister’s ploy.

Bethany couldn’t help, but blush. The truth be told, she did find the
man to be attractive, something that she hadn’t counted on happening so
soon. ‘Maybe it was pheromones or something,’ she thought, trying
to justify her reactions. “I’ll take those plates and wash them,” she
said, not deigning to answer her sister’s question with anything verbal.

Mandy and Elizabeth looked at each other, knowing by the blush and the
abrupt change in subject what Bethany’s answer was.

Mandy loved her sister/cousin Bethany, and her teasing was done to get her
sister to admit to her awakening feelings of attraction to the opposite
sex. She knew that it would be an uphill battle, with Bethany having
been male for so long. So she just hugged her sister, then helped out by
grabbing a pot towel and drying the few dishes.

That night, after everyone was bedded down, and conversation had died away,
Bethany thought back to Mandy’s question, trying to come up with an
answer. She drifted off to sleep, with the issue still unresolved.

“BANG, BANG, BANG.”

Bethany woke suddenly as the knocking on the door continued. She
glanced at the luminous dial of the clock next to her, seeing it was 2.45
AM. She stumbled out of bed, straightening her nightgown, before walking
to the door.

“Tim you’re early,” she mumbled as she unlocked the door, trying to get the
wool out of her sleepy brain.

“Well, lookie here ... Ain’t we a sight for sore eyes,” growled a
threatening voice.

Instead of seeing the expected, if somewhat early, Tim, Bethany saw two men
she’d never seen before. She tried closing the door, but a foot
prevented it from closing and a hand pulled her from the RV. Suddenly,
it was like a switch being thrown. Bethany’s mind became crystal clear
as she realised these were the two men wanted by the police. She had to
prevent these two entering the RV at all costs, as her sisters somehow were
still asleep and helpless.

“Don’t go in there, you might wake my husband,” she hastily
improvised. “Whatever you want, you can ask me,” she added, trying to
smile seductively.

The two men stopped and looked at each other and nodded, pulling her
further away from the RV.

“Well we will deal with your husband later,” one of the men said
menacingly. “For now, we’ll just see what you have to offer,” he added
with a nasty grin on his face. With that, he tore her gown from her body
and threw it on the ground. Both men whistled softly, eyeing her naked
form with lust. Bethany didn’t show the terror she felt and just managed
not to scream. She knew if she did, both Elizabeth and Mandy would wake
and become extra fodder for these two creeps.

Ada made a few suggestions, which Bethany intended to follow as the men
pulled her further away. The moonlit night helped her avoid the worst of
the rough ground underfoot as she was hustled out of sight of the RV.
Once she thought they were far enough away, she stopped still. The
unexpected resistance brought the two men to a halt; despite the increased
force they exerted trying to move her.

“You want it here, then, Missy?” the taller one asked, dismissing the
improbable situation that she was actually stronger than the two of them.

“You might say that,” she said in a calm voice, belying the fear
inside. “Well, hurry up and get your pants off! I’m getting cold here,”
she added as sexily as she could. Bethany then knelt down between the
two men and licked her lips suggestively.

The two men stared, surprised, but not wanting to question the gift horse,
soon had their pants around their ankles. They shuffled closer to her as
she reached out to grasp their erections, one in each hand. She ran her
hand up the cocks to grasp them around the base and cupped their sacks as
well.

“Well, boys, I see you have been naughty. Just how many women have you
forced these into?” she invited, licking her lips and making kissy noises,
showing none of the revulsion she felt.

“Oh, lots,” both agreed, seeing she seemed turned on at the thought.

“Well then, I’m going to make sure no others will suffer that fate,” she
said, allowing Ada to do her thing.

Ada sent the organs cupped in Bethany’s hands into the same void, where
Bethany’s metal detector had been stored. Somewhere in p space, two
pieces of flesh appeared, destined never to be reunited with their owners.

The two men didn’t scream as their organs uncoupled from their bodies. In
fact, they didn’t even realise they were missing, as Ada made sure the nerve
endings continued to send the same signals they had been sending.
Bethany had time to cup the crotch of both men giving Ada time to work on
sealing the major blood vessels preventing any blood loss, other than some
seepage from the capillaries. Ada smoothed the ends of the
urethras, leaving just holes for urination. She then altered something
in the two men’s Hypothalamus and Pituitary glands, which would have some
strange repercussions for them both in the near future. She hadn’t had
time to discus this action with Bethany, but had thought it made a suitable
punishment.

The men still unaware of their penectomies, grinned at each other.

“Hurry up girl, get sucking on it, before I do something drastic,” one of
them threatened, looking down at her face.

“Suck what?” she asked, lifting her blood stained hands away, with their
Ada enhanced nails that now looked like talons.

The two men both looked down at where their manhood used to hang as Bethany
stood up and gave them both an evil looking smile while licking her lips.

Both men cried out fell to their knees reaching for their missing
manhood’s. At first, they thought the woman had cast some kind of
illusion on them, as they could swear that they could still feel their missing
organs, despite what their hands and eyes were telling them. Once they
saw their hands being covered with the slowly oozing blood, they knew their
greatest fear was realised.

“You’d better go before I do something else you might regret.” Bethany
stated coldly, as she looked down at the men before her.

Ada made Bethany’s skin glow with a super luminescence, that gave her
slender body an eeriness that belied description. The two men felt their
blood run cold at the sight. They shied away, scrambling to their feet
before stumbling away in shock. They ran, struggling to get their pants
up before the she demon standing in the moonlight acted on her threats.

She knew both men would soon seek help and thus be captured, as the area of
the men’s groins, while not bleeding a lot, was still a raw wound that would
seep blood till extra surgery closed the skin together.

She felt some regret at having to take the matter that far, but it was only
what they deserved, and she knew all the women they had raped would agree with
her. She walked back to the RV, hearing the faint cries of the men fade
away. She then started to tremble in reaction, as she gathered up her
torn nightgown. Ada sent the gown and the blood on Bethany’s hands into
p space and then clad Bethany’s body with an exact replica.

Bethany climbed back into the RV and locked the door, marveling that the
others were still asleep. ‘The fresh air and the long journey has made
them sleep soundly,’ Ada offered, noting Bethany's look and guessing her
thoughts.

Bethany nodded and poured herself a glass of brandy from the mini bar
before she went to her own bed. She tossed and turned, trying to get
back to sleep, her mind running over possible alternatives to what had just
happened.

The next she knew, it was morning, as she had finally fallen asleep.
“Wakey, wakey,” chimed a cheerful Mandy, a hot cup of coffee in her
hands. Mandy sat on the bed and grinned at Bethany. “Guess who I
saw last night?” she asked smugly.

“Two rapists?” Bethany retorted, hoping she was wrong.

“No silly! Tim called around about 4 am. I was going to wake you, but
you looked so peaceful. He didn’t stay long, just letting us know that
the men they were after had been seen by a trucker and were subsequently
captured by a search patrol.”

“Great,” Bethany responded, trying to sound enthused.

‘Why didn’t I wake up?’ she asked Ada sotto voice.

‘You needed sleep, so I turned your audio receptors down. Don’t worry, I
was fully aware of the officer’s return and would have woken you had there
been a need,” Ada answered.

“Great …” grumbled Bethany under her breath. ‘I wish you had done the
same with the two rapists.’

‘Officer Tim was driving a vehicle whose engine sound I recognized. I
also monitored his radio call a few minutes earlier to say he was going to
check some women overnighters. The other two men approached on foot with
no prior warning,” Ada stated defensively in a tone of voice Bethany
recognized.

‘I’m sorry Ada, I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything, I’m just
upset.”

“Apology accepted,” Ada responded in a lighter tone of voice.

“Talking to Ada?” asked Mandy, seeing her sister’s eye grow distant.

“Sorry, Sis, just getting some updates, nothing to worry about.”

Mandy nodded, but sensed there was more to it than her sister was
telling. Maybe later she could coax the details from her.

“Did Tim mention anything else about the two men?” Bethany asked as
Mandy got up and started to head to the kitchenette.

“Yeah, he did. Apparently someone had attacked them. Probably in
revenge, so Tim reckoned. He was a bit evasive as to what had happened,
saying nice ladies needn’t know those kinds of details. You weren’t
involved in anyway?” she asked, catching Bethany by surprise at her
intuitiveness.

“Who me?” offered Bethany, trying her innocent look.

“Yes, you,” Mandy prompted, sensing Bethany was indeed involved. She
didn’t press, as Bethany remained silent, but made a mental note to ask her
later.

Bethany got up and had a quick wash. Even though Ada kept her skin
clean and fresh smelling, she still liked to wash and bathe herself as a
matter of routine. Elizabeth woke then, getting her own morning cup of
coffee from Mandy.

“I didn’t know we had maid service,” she giggled, poking fun at Mandy.

“Oh yes, she rotates her duty with two others, Ma’am,” Mandy replied,
making her meaning clear.

“More shopping? Asked Bethany, looking at Mandy, who returned a puzzled
look.

“For a maid’s uniform,” explained Bethany, straight faced.

Elizabeth chuckled, to which Mandy poked her tongue out before joining
in.

Breakfast smells started permeating through the RV as Mandy started cooking
bacon and eggs. Bethany went to help while Elizabeth got dressed.

Bethany, getting a few minutes warning from Ada, promptly stopped what she
was doing and went and put on some makeup. Mandy looked at her in
surprise, before guessing what was happening. She looked chagrined,
having to stay at the cooker, while her sister got beautiful.

Of course Elizabeth had no clue when a knock on the door heralded the
arrival of Tim, once again checking in on his morning route. While
Bethany answered the door, Mandy moved to her bag and quickly wiped some
lipstick on and checked on her hair.

“Still on duty? asked Bethany as she opened the door to Tim’s smiling
face.

“Actually my shift is over, but before I went home I thought I’d check you
out … um, I mean, check that you were okay,” he blushed at his badly put
words.

“I think I liked the first version,” Bethany laughed, feeling strange
sensations fill her body. “Come in, we are just having breakfast, and
you’re welcome to share.”

“Hmmm, that smells great,” offered Tim as he entered on her heels.

“You certainly know when to visit,” Mandy chuckled, adding more bacon to
the pan.

“Well, we in the police force are trained for it,” returned Tim with a
laugh.

Elizabeth scrambled to get her own makeup on while Tim was distracted up
front.

“I hope you ladies had a safe night,” Tim opened, as the food was dished
out and everyone was seated.

“Slept like a log,” opined Elizabeth, tucking into her breakfast with
gusto.

“Anything happen in the night? Questioned Bethany curiously.

“Curious you should ask that,” Tim replied. “We caught the two men we
were after. “Boy, they must have been stoned out of their minds, in
light of their stories,” Tim answered between bites.

“What stories?” asked a curious Elizabeth.

“Well, they were seen running along the road about 5 kilometers east of
here, heading back to Coolgardie by a trucker who put a call in to the police.
Luckily, a patrol car heading west caught up with them minutes later..
Strangely, they just gave up when the car having first passed them had to
reverse direction. Once in custody, they began ranting about seeing a
vampire that ate their dicks off.” Here, Tim laughed.

“Wow! Some story, if they were on drugs, does that mean they were
addicked?” Mandy quipped.

“More like dedicked,” Tim answered, with a grin.

“So it was true? Someone cut their cocks off?” gasped Elizabeth.

“Apparently. There’s a rumor that one of their victims got hold of them and
castrated them both. I didn’t see them personally, but I heard whoever
it was, made an excellent job of it.”

“Did the men describe their vampire?” asked Bethany, holding her breath for
the answer.

“Well, I heard it was some kind of a glowing creature with teeth and
talons, but then the men just clammed up after being questioned. I think
the scorn heaped on them by the officers made them realise how re-dick-ulous
it sounded,” Tim explained, grinning as he emphasized the word ridiculous.

Bethany sighed; she was in the clear so far. With the attraction she
felt for Tim, she didn’t want to have anything jeopardize their burgeoning
friendship. Suddenly realizing where her thoughts were headed, she
excused herself abruptly and went outside to think.

She walked out in the morning’s clear crisp air, trying to get her head
around the fact she found Tim attractive. Rationally, she could argue
that it was just a normal female/male reaction, but the thought that she was
actively thinking of some kind of future with him had caught her unawares.

She was so deep in thought that she missed Tim’s approach from
behind. “You okay? You seemed upset. I hope I wasn’t the
cause,” Tim asked concernedly, as he came up to her side.

“No, it’s not about you,” she answered not so truthfully, turning to face
him. “It’s about me.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Yeah, become my security man in a project I’m starting. I’ll make it
pay ten times your current salary,” she laughed, more than half seriously.

“Sounds tempting,” replied Tim, wondering why this woman stood out from the
rest he had known. Even Elizabeth, her twin in looks, didn’t have the
same indefinable quality that made her stand out. “What exactly is this
project?” he asked in more than just idle curiosity.

Bethany laughed, as she turned and started walking back to the RV.

“You’ll soon find out, along with the rest of them,” she threw over
her shoulder cryptically. “It will be the biggest thing to happen in
Australia in decades,” she added, catching his interest further.

Tim was intrigued. Bethany’s offer was certainly attractive. He
could leave the department if he chose to forgo the police pension the force
supplied its members. Being young, that day seemed far away and didn’t
really figure into his plans for the immediate future. Having Bethany
for a boss would certainly be an attractive option. He followed her
back, deciding to wait and see what developed.

After finding out that the girls would be in the Laverton area, Tim said
his goodbyes, knowing that it shouldn’t be too hard to find them in a small
town like that. Bethany was the last to say goodbye, and gave him a
quick kiss on the cheek.

“Remember my offer,” she called as he started to walk away back to his
vehicle-.

“I will,” she heard as he got into his 4 wheel drive.

The rest of the journey took longer than Bethany would normally
expect. The RV wasn’t exactly suited for the rough dusty roads and the
corrugations set their teeth rattling, and made talking almost impossible as
every loose item vibrated and shook. Anything that wasn’t securely
fastened down inside threatened to either fall off or shake to pieces and kept
Mandy and Elizabeth on their feet rescuing their belongings.

Finally, Bethany had to slow down, which didn’t make the occasional
traffic coming up behind very happy. Strangely, none of the drivers that
eventually made it past their plume of red dust seemed to make a fuss when
they caught sight of Bethany at the wheel. Whether it was because of
their “Ah, it’s a women driver,” or the fact she was wearing a tight skimpy
top that made them mellow out, she wasn’t going to speculate. Either way she
was grateful.

Reaching Laverton in the afternoon meant nothing much was moving due to the
heat of the day. Needing nothing in the way of fuel or groceries, having
refueled at Kalgoorlie and topped up the tanks with the last place that had
good Perth water, they decided to get a drink.

They pulled up at the pub, and went in. If Bethany’s prior experience
in the place had made an impact, twins and a near look alike made a much
deeper impact. The people inside went quiet as the trio entered and
found a table.

Mandy and Elizabeth looked around in interest while Bethany went back to
the bar and ordered Vodka, lime and lemonades for all of them. The noise
in the bar slowly regained its former volume as the locals speculated on
reason three citified women were here in their town. Luckily, (for the
men), no one bothered the girls or made any attempt to interrupt their
conversation.

Finishing their drinks, they went back to the RV and drove to the same camp
where Bethany had stayed for the photo shoot. The plan was to stay there
tonight and wait the arrival of the crew coming tomorrow to manage the gold
mining. After making dinner and showering, they settled in for the
night. With nothing other than the pub for entertainment in the town,
the girls watched TV, using the small satellite dish Bethany had requested be
fitted to the rear of the RV.

The arrival of the convoy of large vehicles the following morning was soon
the buzz of the town, especially with the earthmoving equipment on some of the
truck and trailer units. While most of the local attention was focused
on the large trucks, two four wheel vehicles slipped away to meet up with the
girls at the camp.

Bethany climbed aboard one of them, leaving Mandy and Elizabeth with the
RV. Bethany told the driver where to head, while the other vehicle
followed in their wake. Eventually, Bethany stood upon the spot where
all her adventure had started. Ada then aided her, suggesting locations
for the pegs to be placed to give them adequate clearance from possible
interlopers.

The team of men in both vehicles had their orders, and didn’t raise any
objections to her decisions on the placement of the claim pegs. Once the
claim was pegged, GPS positions were taken and entered down. A Sat phone
call was then made, transferring the information back to people ready at Perth
and the claim was lodged, notarized and settled. Bethany was then taken
back to town, leaving all but the driver to guard the claim pegs.

After a restless night filled with strange dreams of gold poachers, with
Tim defending the claim single handedly, Bethany woke to the insistent knock
on the RV’s door. “You might want to cover up a bit,” warned Ada,
sensing that Bethany hadn’t considered her scanty attire.

“I’ll be there in a moment,” she called out to the person outside as she
grabbed her robe and fastened it around her. The others were just
stirring as she went and opened the door.

“Hello, Miss. Is Bethany Chambers available? We need her signature to
sign the authorization allowing us to begin the fencing on the claim she’s
lodged.

“I’m Bethany Chambers,” she replied to a surprised man in overalls and work
boots. She took the paperwork from him as he gawped at her body for a
moment before schooling his expression back into a professional manner.

“I’m sorry for the look, I wasn’t expecting someone as young and se … um,
attractive as you,” he apologized, blushing over his runaway tongue, as he
accepted the signed forms back.

“When are you heading out there?” she asked curiously.

“Right away, Miss Chambers.”

“Okay, let them know, we’ll be there in … an hour and a half,” she paused,
making a rough calculation.

“Right, will do,” the man said, moving to head back to his truck parked
just outside the grounds.

By the time the girls had all awakened and had breakfast, it was
approaching 9 o’clock. Bethany was itching to get on the road and head
out to their claim, so she bitched a bit about the other’s apparent
slowness.

“Sis, the gold will still be there, no matter what time we arrive,” Mandy
pointed out.

“Yeah, as the owners of the gold, we should make a good first impression,”
Elizabeth added while putting on her makeup.

“Sorry, girls. I’m just rather nervous,” explained Bethany by way of
apology.

Bethany did concede that Elizabeth was right in a way and put on some lippy
herself. Not all that fussed about bothering with makeup, she had let
Ada do her thing when it was needed while at the shoot. When they got
underway, with Bethany driving again, Ada unknowingly tweaked Bethany’s makeup
attempt, adding a little blush and straightening the bleedover of lipstick on
Bethany’s lips. She also enhanced the eyes with a little colour.
Because this wasn’t actually makeup, but the skin being tinted from within,
Bethany never noticed the changes. Even the lipstick changed, becoming
no more than a protective layer that just looked wet. The lips became
the colour of the lipstick, which would never need touching up, not that
Bethany would instinctively remember to do that yet. The waxy coating
that gave the lips their gloss would be exuded from the skin all day,
protecting them from drying out in the heat.

While the RV would normally be too wide to negotiate the windy bush trails
leading to the claim, the arrival of the heavy equipment before them had
cleared the route of overhanging trees and bush. The broken and sawn
branches lay everywhere along the sides of the track as they slowly edged the
RV over the worst of the ruts. It looked like a bulldozer had been used
in places to allow access for the heavy equipment. They had smoothed out
the banks of wash outs, caused by flash floods that had cut across the
track. This made driving the RV across much easier.

Their eventual arrival caused a stir. The track ended in a hastily
erected gate that had a guard on it. Fencing had already been erected on
both sides of the gate, on its way to totally encircle the claim.

At first, the guard refused them entry, saying it was now private
property. He was eventually convinced that they were indeed the owners,
apologizing profusely when Bethany showed him the proof of just who she
was.

Bethany drove the RV to a spot where there were some trees high enough to
give some shade. There were already some portable living units for the
men placed nearby. A generator was being set up to supply power and
cables were already being strung to power up the living quarters. Two
men walked over, as Bethany shut off the engine and got out of the RV.

“Hi, I’m Stewart Granger, the manager of this site and this is my second in
command, Isaac Smith. I take it that you are the lovely owner, Miss
Chambers?”

“Call me Bethany, please,” she replied, shaking the proffered hand.

“I take it that you will want power hooked up to your vehicle?” Isaac
asked, signaling to the men working on the generator supply.

“Yes, but only after the rest have been hooked up. We are self sufficient
at the moment,” offered Bethany with a smile.

The men gave each other a quick glance. They seemed impressed that
the young owner and her companions, who had just joined her, were so
accommodating. After further introductions had been made, the two men
left to continue setting up the camp.

“Wow! This is some setup. The fencing alone is going to cost a
bundle, do we really have enough to cover all this?’ asked an impressed
Mandy.

“I called in some favours and used all our funds for this. The house
and everything we own is up on the block till we see some returns.”

“We could lose everything?” cried Elizabeth, only now realising the scale
of things.

“Sis, trust me, we won’t lose anything,” promised Bethany, hoping Ada was
correct in her assessment of the size of the lode.

More trucks bringing assembled units came trundling into the camp
area. One was a kitchen unit set up to provide all the crew with
meals. A refrigerator unit was setup next to it, containing fresh meat
and everything else one would need. Later, two more units providing
seating for dining and entertainment would be set up alongside.

Feeling somewhat useless, as the manager seemed to have everything under
control; Bethany decided to walk to where the gold Ada promised, was
located. Elizabeth and Mandy decided to bring out collapsible chairs,
placing them in the shade by the RV so they could watch the proceedings while
enjoying a cold drink.

Bethany scrambled to where she had found Ada. Ada then retrieved the
metal detector from p space, so Bethany could feel like she was doing
something useful at last. Giving Bethany only a general direction, Ada
guided Bethany towards the gold.

Hearing a detector locate something positive had always given Gary, a
thrill in the past. To find something under the red dirt and rock, and
then to catch sight of that yellow metal when you scratch away the surface,
will always make the heart race. This time was no different. As
soon as the detector bleeped its message, Bethany crouched and started to
examine the dirt. Ada provided a trowel from another of her resources,
making it appear in Bethany’s hand.

“Thanks,” Bethany muttered, digging at the soil with urgency.

Bethany gasped, as her trowel hit something with a metallic clink.
She uncovered the object with a reverence, as if it was the Holy Grail
itself. A nugget as big as her fist lay there, seeing the sunlight for
the first time in ages. It was combined with quartz, but she estimated
there was at least three and a half a pounds of gold in it, as she hefted it
in her hand.

She held it reverently, not because of its worth, but because of what it
meant in terms of their future. She didn’t even question just how
different that future would be from what Gary could ever have imagined.

She looked around seeing the bluff before her with different eyes.
Something about it looked odd. She was used to seeing the white and
ochre colouration of the breakaways in the region, but the ochre looked more…
she moved closer, coming within feet of the massive wall in front of her.

The detector sounded its alarm and it wasn’t anywhere near the
ground. ‘Could it be?” She thought, bringing the coil up from
waist height and moving it over the cliff face. The detector howled
continuously and she dropped it in shock. Placing her hand over the
ochre rock, she realised it was no rock. As the dust of centuries was
brushed away, the dull gleam of gold shone through. The white in the
cliff face was quartz and it was embedded with large areas of gold. She
prised a few pieces away with only her hands.

This was unexpected, and posed new problems. She sat and thought,
wondering what to do next. Gold in the ground was one thing, but this
was another. She had been expecting to have the machinery turn over the
dirt and process the dirt in the usual fashion, not have it showing on the
surface where just anyone could pick a piece off and keep it for
themselves. She posed the question to Ada.

“Well checking everyone leaving with a metal detector could solve it, but
it wouldn’t stop someone from throwing bits over the fence to friends or for
later retrieval.” Ada advised.

“True, we need to make sure everyone is trustworthy, but that is one hell
of a task, and not exactly 100 percent accurate,” Bethany accepted.

“If you spoke to each and every person here while holding their arm, I
could detect skin resistance changes that would indicate lying,” Ada
proposed.

“That would work. I could introduce myself to each of them and ask a
few questions,” mused Bethany, feeling a lot happier.

She gathered the pieces of gold and placed them out of sight in her pocket,
hoping the sag wouldn’t be noticed. She picked up the detector and
carried it back to the RV.

Showing the girls the nuggets caused them to gasp in wonder, relieving any
doubts that the find was real.

Talking to the men proved relatively easy. She commandeered the
office unit set up to manage the job. Stewart was inside at the time and
invited her to sit. She shook hands with him again, letting her hand
linger on his wrist as she asked if she could trust him. Getting prompts
from Ada as to his truthfulness, she showed him the nuggets and explained her
problem.

“I’m prepared to give each and everyone a generous bonus above what you
will normally be paid, if everyone does their job and doesn’t try to steal
from us.” She named a ballpark figure that made Stewart's eyes
boggle.

“Miss, I would do my job anyway, even without the bonus, and I’m pretty
sure all the men working here are trustworthy, but I can understand your
concern and need to talk to each of them privately.”

“Bethany was relieved that Ada found him to be truthful. She then
asked to meet with all the men, starting with Isaac. As it turned out,
only two showed signs of deceit when shown the nuggets. When Bethany
informed Stewart of her concern with the honesty of the two in question, he
didn’t demur.

“Those two are recent hires and are only here to help my guys fence off the
property. Once the fencing is done, I’ll send them packing. In the
meantime, I’ll keep a close eye on them and make sure they stay away from the
actual lode area. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes, as long as they remain ignorant of the source of the gold and its
availability,” Bethany agreed.

“What made you suspect them in the first place?” Stewart asked
curiously.

“I got a vibe from them when I showed the nuggets,” hedged Bethany, knowing
that Stewart was very astute. Anyway, it was the truth if you consider
that Ada vibrated her auditory nerve when informing her of the results from
the skin reactions the two men gave to her questions.

“Fair enough,” sighed Stewart, not doubting her hunch, considering she’d
picked the only two of his crew that hadn’t been with him for years, something
he was sure she couldn’t have known beforehand.

The next few days were critical, and the fence was the first
priority. Interest in the site was already being shown by the locals in
Laverton. There was just no way to conceal the fact that truckloads of
equipment were being ferried to the site.

The first sign of trouble came when Bethany had commandeered and 4x4 and
was driving alone outside the completed section of fence line. She was
checking the pegs that marked the boundary of her claim when she saw another
peg planted slightly further out. She walked over to it to inspect it
and saw it was part of some attempt to claim jump. She started to pull
it out in anger, when a shout from a patch of saltbush alerted her to the
fact, that she wasn’t alone.

“Hey, girlie, I’d leave that alone if I where you,” the scruffy looking man
in dusty clothing menaced, coming within smell range.

“If you were me, you’d be a lot cleaner, and smell nicer,” Bethany threw
back, not at all worried about the rifle the man carried over his
shoulder.

“Lookie here, lady. That is my claim peg, and you’re trespassing on my
property, so I’ll thank ya to git offen it.”

“And your name is?” Bethany asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Clyde Smithers, to you,” he retorted.

“And to others, you’re?” she asked straight-faced.

“Enough of the cheek, Missy, before I put you over my knee and teach you
some manners,” Clyde huffed.

Ada needed no instruction to do a search on the man. She found what
she needed and informed Bethany silently.

“Well Mr. Smithers, I suggest you remove your claim jumping ass away from
here before I have you arrested,” Bethany replied coldly. “Your tactics
won’t work here like they did for a time in Leonora. I figured you would
have learned your lesson when you tried over-pegging a claim in Kalgoorlie and
found yourself in hot water. That’s when your once successful attempt
was overruled in court,” she finished, throwing the accusation back into his
face.

Clyde looked like he wanted to argue, despite the fact that this slip of a
girl had the goods on him. He even shifted his rifle off his shoulder,
bringing the barrel to line up in her general direction.

Just then another vehicle roared up to them, raising a boiling cloud of
dust as it skidded to a halt. Stewart emerged like a lion protecting its
pride. He was wearing a holstered pistol on his hip and one hand was
resting on it, as he strode forward purposely. He didn’t stop as
expected, but walked right into Clyde, giving the man no time to react.
Stewart wrenched the rifle from Clyde’s grasp and threw it away into the
dust.

“Get the hell out of here, before I decide that you might enjoy a fast trip
down an abandoned mineshaft,” Stewart spat in Clyde’s face, the venom clearly
evident.

Clyde went white and scrambled backwards, as if pushed by Stewart’s sheer
ferocity. Such was his terror; he didn’t stop to get his rifle, as he
ran back to where he had camped.

Stewart turned his attention to Bethany, frowning a little as he thought
she’d been careless. “You okay? When one of my men radioed in that
someone was out here, I came immediately,” he explained curtly.

“I’m fine. I was handling it okay, but thanks for the help,” she
answered, wondering what was upsetting him. “You know him? He
seemed to know you, or of you,” she probed.

“He and I butted heads a while ago. He tried this same stunt at a
claim I was managing, down in Kalgoorlie. He came off second best and
the courts decided to take back a decision on a prior ruling that had been in
his favour.”

“Ah! I see.”

“Were you looking for anything particular, or was this just a joy ride?”
Stewart asked.

“Actually, I was checking for this very thing,” Bethany replied, pulling up
the abandoned claim peg and throwing it after the discarded rifle.

“I can see we will need to sweep this area each day,” nodded Stewart, his
previous annoyance replaced with respect at her astuteness. The fence
will be finished today, but I think the media have finally woken up to us,” he
said sourly, looking up at a helicopter approaching from the south.

“Hmmm, I guess I should go back to meet them,” grumbled Bethany, feeling
annoyed that her peaceful morning ride was fast going down the gurgler.

“Rather you than me,” grinned Stewart. “I think I’ll check the rest
of the perimeter fence.” He chuckled, seeing Bethany’s grimace.

Bethany made her way back to the camp, to find that the helicopter had
landed inside the fence. Isaac, with no clear instructions on dealing
with any media, had refused to let anyone out of the helicopter and had posted
several guards nearby. He was on the radio when Bethany pulled up, and
looked relieved to let her handle it.

Gary had never been a super-confident person, and would have run a mile
before wishing to deal with pushy reporters, especially given the situation of
both his and his sister’s new identities. Bethany, on the other hand,
felt supremely confident. Whether this was partly due to the change in
sex and her short experience before a camera, or something Ada had given this
body as a matter of due, she wasn’t sure. One thing that was certain,
was her fierce protectiveness for her sister and ‘cousin.’ Knowing the
effect her body had on others, she strode forward assuredly, waving the guards
aside.

Of course, Mandy and Elizabeth were soon at her side, having been curious
over the arrival of the helicopter. Once they spotted the TV station
logo on the side of the chopper, they stayed back, allowing Bethany to
confront the crew, as they clambered outside.

“Brian Stevenson, from Channel Nine news. Is it true that this is the
site of the legendary Lassiter’s reef? And that you …” here, the man
paused to look at his notes, “Bethany Chambers, now own the rights to it
all?” he asked, thrusting a microphone in her face.

Bethany paused, her confidence taking a hit, as the unexpected question
struck her. Seeing the cameraman was already filming, she knew she had
to remain calm and not react. “Yes, I do. Or rather, the Chambers family
has the exclusive rights to this claim, but whether it is the reef you refer
to is best left up to the experts,” she replied calmly, not showing her dismay
at the leaked information.

“Is it true that you paid for this claim with sexual favours to a known
rapist called Gary Carstairs, who is even now, still at large?” the question
thrown at her both angered and amused her.

“Gary isn’t a rapist and the police still have no proof he ever was, so I’d
watch what you say. Yes, I got the claim from him, but, (here Bethany
almost quoted a famous line from a former US president), there were no favours
granted, sexual or otherwise.”

The man backpedaled, seeing she was not the pushover he first thought she’d
be. He looked around the camp curiously before asking her another
question. “This seems to be a well organized camp and the fencing I saw
from the air suggests that the claim is a significant one. This seems to
be a strange change in careers. Model to miner, how do you account for
this?”

“Well everyone has a right to change careers, and if this pans out, I might
not have to work again. Now I don’t want to sound rude, but I have work
to do, so I suggest you fly back home and don’t bother us again,” Bethany
curtly tried to end the impromptu interview.

“What about this Gary person? Isn’t it a little suspicious that you
acquire a mine of substantial wealth, and then he disappears? Some might
think that you may have put him out of the picture so you could get all of
this,” the man persisted, waving his hand around at the camp.

“Look, I suggest you leave now, before I have you removed physically,” an
angry Bethany retorted, signaling to the two men waiting nearby. “As to
your insinuation …be very careful or might find yourself on the wrong side of
the law,” she warned.

Bethany then turned and walked away, ignoring the next shouted
question. The two guards didn’t have to use force, as they crowded the
reporter and his cameraman back onto the helicopter. Bethany didn’t even
look up as the craft lifted off in a swirl of noise and dust and started
moving away.

As the sound of the rotors faded away, Bethany rejoined her sisters and
told them that they had a leak in the camp.

“Someone must have told the media for them to have come out and mention
Lassiter’s reef.”

“What about this Gary guy you got the claim off?” asked Elizabeth, who was
still ignorant that Bethany, now standing in front of her, was once the Gary
in question. “What if the police come asking where he is?” she asked
worriedly.

“I’m sure he’ll turn up,” Mandy reassured her, giving Bethany a quick
grin.

“Don’t worry, Sis, I’m more concerned about who let the cat out of the
bag,” Bethany reiterated.

Just then, a waft of something baking drifted past them. Following
their noses, they found one man in the kitchen unit, baking bread and scones
for the men in the camp. When the trio of girls arrived, he was
powerless to stop them tasting a sample, not that he protested at all.
He seemed to enjoy their company while they ate his baking with a timely cup
of tea.

Elizabeth and Mandy even volunteered to deliver some to the men working
outside the camp on the fencing. While they were doing that, Bethany
went and questioned her two suspects that had proved to be unreliable in her
earlier check. Finding out that they had indeed released information to
the media by careful questioning, Bethany talked to Stewart. “I’ll have
them replaced immediately,” he said angrily, feeling his reputation was being
undermined by the two men’s acts.

“Won’t that just fuel more suspicion?” Bethany queried.

“Maybe, and maybe not. I have another crew doing work near
Coolgardie. I’ll say they are being transferred there to help out, now
that the majority of the fencing is completed. I’ll warn the work boss
there of their dishonesty and have him fire them for some misdemeanor.”

“I suppose this place will be overrun with media if the press let loose
with the Lassiter claim,” grumbled Bethany, getting a nod of agreement from
Stewart.

That evening, the news on TV showed the brief interview with Bethany.
The reporters played on the speculation that Lassiter’s reef had been
discovered, and that Bethany had been involved in some nefarious scheme to do
away with the original discoverer, Gary Carstairs. Bethany was furious;
she stamped out the door of the RV, nearly ripping it off its hinges.
The girls still in the RV looked at each other.

“I guess this means we do the dishes,” shrugged Mandy with a sigh.

“I’ve never seen her so mad before,” Elizabeth admitted, chewing her bottom
lip with concern. “Shouldn’t we do something, like go after her?”

Mandy, who knew her “brother” better than anyone, knew it was best to let
Bethany cool down on her own. “Nah ... She can’t come to much harm out
here. I’d let her cool down on her own.”

She wasn’t so sure when they heard a vehicle leave the camp a few minutes
later, especially when Stewart came knocking on the door enquiring why Bethany
had demanded a 4x4 in such a rush. They could only mention about the new
clip on the TV, and how angry she had got seeing it.

“We haven’t got a TV set up yet, too busy, so I didn’t get to see it,”
Stewart told them.

They girls gave him a brief rundown on what had been mentioned, and Stewart
grew more concerned. “You don’t think she’ll do anything silly now, do
you?” he asked, pacing back and forth.

Elizabeth shrugged, knowing that Bethany had changed since she had come
back, and she couldn’t be sure of anything her sister did anymore.

Mandy was more positive. “She’ll be okay. I just think she
needs time alone,” was her response.

“How is it that our cousin thinks she knows more about my sister than I
do?” grumbled Elizabeth, without any heat, shaking Mandy’s shoulder with her
hand in a playful manner.

Mandy just grinned back, not taking any offense at Elizabeth’s mild
accusation. “Well, maybe because I’m taking her only from what I’ve seen
of her so far, while you are still judging her from the time before she came
back,” she answered.

Stewart was listening interestedly, having little knowledge of the girls
background. ‘Cousins and twins, no wonder they look alike,’ he
thought as the girls continued to talk.

“Well, ladies, I’ll say goodnight, and hope she comes
back before long. Driving in the bush at night is a recipe for disaster
in my book. Last thing I want to do is put out a search party for a
missing person.”

It was nearly midnight, before the phone in the RV rang, putting the
worried girls out of their misery. “Hi, it’s me. sorry I forgot to take
my phone.” “Where are you?” demanded Elizabeth, who had beaten Mandy to the
phone.

“I’m in Kalgoorlie, ringing on the hotel’s phone. I have something to
do before I come back. Tell Stewart I’m sorry I swiped his jeep, but I
need a day before I return. Give Mandy a hug for me,” Bethany asked,
before hanging up.

“She’s in Kalgoorlie, for God’s sake,” Elizabeth told Mandy
exasperatedly. “Don’t ask me why she’s there,” she added, returning the
Sat phone to its cradle.

Mandy nodded, having a good idea what Bethany was up to. She would
keep a close eye on the TV news.

The next day saw the arrival of interested sightseers. They camped
outside the fence line and were seen watching the activity with
binoculars. Some were a group of Aboriginals and it didn’t take long
before protest signs were being waved at them, proclaiming that they had no
right to bar them from tribal lands.

The girls were worried without the support of their absent sister, and
didn’t venture far from the center of the camp. Even Stewart seemed
nervous with the protest showing signs of increasing tension. Late in
the afternoon, a lone 4x4 drove up into the group stationed outside the
gates. It honked its horn as it tried to pass through. Abuse was
hurled at the driver and stones started being thrown.

Stewart was promptly on the scene and soon some of his biggest lads opened
the gate and advanced in a group to escort the vehicle inside. The girls
saw with relief that the driver was Bethany, having returned safely.
They rushed over to greet her and give her a telling off for scaring them.

Bethany broke away for a moment to apologize to Stewart for taking his
vehicle, and to get a quick update on the protesters outside. He could
only tell her when they had arrived and their activities to date, and that her
arrival was the first bit of violence seen.

Bethany then went to the relative privacy of the RV and filled them in on
what she had been doing.

“You had video footage from a tape made by Gary?” asked Elizabeth
incredulously.

“Yeah, I took it to the local news office and had them sent it to Perth,”
Bethany answered.

“Why didn’t you say so? I would have thought you might have shown
people it before this,” grumbled Elizabeth.

“First, I was hoping none of this would come up,” explained Bethany.
“It’s nobodies else’s business, but ours, until some snotty reporter started
throwing dirt around. And second, I couldn’t release it till Gary had
secured his sister’s release from under police surveillance and took her to a
private home.”

Mandy remained quiet, knowing there was more to this sudden video footage
than met the eye. She couldn’t very well ask while Elizabeth was
there.

The rest of the day was spent watching TV and keeping a watchful eye on the
protesters. Bethany had to show her face, when another TV news crew
arrived on the scene.

Bethany wanted to go and talk to the reporters, but fearing they might
twist the story about, she asked Mandy to accompany her with the handy cam
that Bethany had brought with her from her visit to Kalgoorlie.

“What do you have to say about the fact that you are working on an
aboriginal reservation?” asked an over-eager reporter as he thrust his
microphone in her face.

Mandy filmed the interview from nearby, making it look like she was
covering the protest, rather that the interview.

“If you had checked your facts, you would have realized that the western
border of the reservation in question, is two kilometers to the east of my
claim,” she rebutted sternly. “I’m well aware of attempts by the local
tribes to claim suddenly valuable land, claiming it was a sacred site.
Especially, when strangely, they were never bothered about the land before the
discovery of its valuable mineral resources. I’ve done my homework, so I
suggest you do yours,” she finished before returning to the RV.

The news that night wasn’t very flattering. They had cut the first
part of her interview out, which made the second bit seem like she was pouring
on fuel to douse the flames. To say Bethany was irate, was like saying
liquid oxygen is mildly cold. She grabbed the phone and made some
calls. One was to the television station, demanding that if they refused
to show the complete footage, she would sue them. She warned them that
she had her own video footage of the interview and would give it to their
competition.

Another call was made to the director of her latest ad campaign, explaining
what was happening. She mentioned a video cam memory card that she had
sent to the local news office in Kalgoorlie and that a copy had been sent to
him, just for insurance.

From her responses on the phone, it seemed to the two girls listening in,
that something was going to be done once he received the footage.

Bethany, quietly seething couldn’t settle after her calls, as she
waited for some response to her actions. About an hour later, Bethany
received a call from the director, saying he had got the memory card and was
going to take it directly to the other network TV station. He said he
would make sure it was aired, as she was a valued model, and friend, and any
false accusations made and slurs on her character could affect his ad campaign
as well.

The girls were nervous as the ten o’clock news time approached. They
kept their distance from Bethany without trying to make it obvious, as she
paced back and forth inside the RV. Bethany was aware of the situation,
but she couldn’t relax as it seemed her body felt like a coiled spring.

When the news did come on, Bethany relaxed as the item she’d been waiting
for, finally aired. The video clip showed Gary Carstairs making a
statement that for an undisclosed sum, he’d relinquished all rights to his
find to Bethany Chambers for personal reasons. He also stated that he’d
taken his sister from the institution in Perth and was headed overseas with
her to try some experimental procedures. The camera view showed him
moving out of frame, and a moment later, his sister Amanda wheeled herself
into the frame on a battered looking wheelchair.

Mandy gasped at seeing her old self doing something she’d done, but
realised at once that this was Bethany portraying both her brother and
herself, to settle any doubts of their existence.

The Amanda in the footage explained she had gone willingly with her
brother, and for the police to stop their search for the two of them, as by
the time this was viewed, they’d be out of the country. A date in the
top corner of the footage confirmed that it had been taken about a week after
her supposed abduction.

The network then showed the heavily edited footage shown by the other TV
network and then they played the footage shot by Mandy, which clearly showed
the first one to have been cut to inflame the situation.

Someone had done their homework and had checked the claim’s boundary
and that of the aboriginal reservation to the east and clearly showed the
claim wasn’t encroaching on the tribal lands.

Mandy opened a bottle of bubbly and poured them all glasses as they turned
off the TV and sat back to celebrate. A knock on the door heralded the
arrival of Stewart, who had managed to see the news broadcast on the camp’s
newly setup satellite TV. He was invited in and given a glass as well,
as talk turned from the news item to more personal matters.

He and Mandy seemed to hit it off and Elizabeth and Bethany winked to each
other, as the pair got engrossed in conversation. Finally the two
separated and Stewart headed off to bed. The girls followed suit, and
some gentle ribbing at Mandy about her new “boyfriend,” had them smiling as
they settled down to sleep.

Morning came on time the next day, but the girls didn’t see much of it, as
they slept in late as a result of their celebrations.

About 10 O’clock, an insistent knocking roused Bethany from her
slumber. She looked in the mirror as she grabbed a robe, and grimaced at
her appearance, not even conscious that her thought that her hair needed
brushing, was in anyway strange, given her background.

She opened the door expecting Stewart to be there, but instead … “Wow! I
love the look,” laughed a voice she knew. Facing her was Tim
Stevens.

She squealed and ducked back inside, while calling out to him that she
looked a proper sight. His gentle laugh followed her inside. “You
are a sight … for sore eyes,” he breathed through the closed door.

“What’s got you in a tizzy?” grumbled Mandy, having been awakened by the
commotion.

“Tim’s outside, and I’m a mess,” hissed Bethany, rushing to get dressed,
brush her hair and put makeup on, all at the same time.

“You’re such a girl,” giggled Mandy, watching her former brother acting
just like any giddy schoolgirl in love. ‘In love? Oh my,’
Mandy thought, recognizing the telltale signs. In that instant, she knew
Gary was no more. He wasn’t ever going to come back. Her momentary
sense of loss was replaced with joy at the thought that her new sister had
found love, something Gary never had.

She got up and helped her sister brush her hair now Bethany was dressed,
and putting on a bit of makeup. Knowing that Ada could have done it for
her in an instant, told Mandy just how far Bethany had settled into her new
form.

Once ready, Bethany raced for the door, only slowing her headlong rush for
a moment, before opening it. She cast a look of thanks to Mandy, before
vanishing outside.

Mandy started getting dressed herself, hearing the voices outside fade as
they moved away to the seats under the tree.

“I wasn’t expecting you. I just woke up,” Bethany confessed, feeling
as if his eyes were boring into her soul, and blushing at the thought.

“I’m not complaining, you looked beautiful, still do in fact,” Tim admitted
with passion, taking her hand in his.

His comment made her blush deepen and she looked down at the table,
brushing some dust off it with her free hand. Tim captured her other
hand and gently turned her to face him. “I saw you on television last
night and thought I might be of service.”

“You quit the police force?” She gasped.

“Not quite. I took some leave I’m owed. They moaned a bit at the
short notice, but when I mentioned why, they told me to take as much time as I
needed. I think you wowed them,” he laughed.

“I’m glad you’re here. Things have been rather hectic the last few days,”
Bethany grimaced.

“I saw some of it coming in,” Tim told her. It looks like all but the
most determined have left the area. Mind you, they may not have seen the
TV coverage on the news.”

“Probably the ones that went home last night, saw the news and didn’t
return,” Bethany guessed, looking over to the gate area.

“Is this really Lassiter’s reef like the reporter speculated?” Tim asked
her curiously.

Bethany looked into Tim’s eyes and saw no guile or greed, as her instincts
had already assured her of his trustworthiness. “Yes it is,” she
answered plainly.

“Wow!” was his only response, as he sat back in thought.

“You’ll need me to guard the ore if the legend of its richness is
true. No offense to the people here, but they are miners first and
foremost. I’ve had some experience in guarding gold shipments from the
mines in Kalgoorlie.”

“Why don’t I show you the gold,” Bethany urged, feeling better now Tim was
at her side.

Bethany stood up and led Tim to Stewart’s office, where after a brief
introduction she got the use of his jeep. Stewart insisted on coming
along and Bethany agreed. Stewart drove, while Bethany directed, and
soon they were at the place where she’d picked up the ore off the ground.
The others were gobsmacked when she showed them the vein in the
quartz. Stewart had been more concerned with getting the fence up as
directed and hadn’t explored the actual site of the gold’s source. To
see free gold that could be worked out of the ground with bare hands told of
the importance of the fence surrounding the claim.

“I can bring a tent up here and some supplies for you, so you can guard
this round the clock.” Stewart offered Tim, who nodded his agreement.

“We need to get an armoured van to store the ore brought out each day,”
suggested Tim.

“I’ll get right on it,” Stewart agreed, getting a confirming nod from
Bethany.

They drove back to the camp, where Mandy invited both men in for breakfast
that she was starting. Stewart regretfully declined, saying he’d had it
earlier. Tim also begged off, having eaten on the way up, but both men
accepted the offer of a cup of coffee. Elizabeth was still in bed, but
awake, so the men went outside to wait under the tree, allowing them to
finalize details on the guard duty.

By the time breakfast was ready, Elizabeth was dressed, so they took out
the food to the table outside where the men helped chase away the persistent
flies that threatened to fly inundate the table, one of the penalties of
eating food after the flies woke up. During the conversation, Stewart
admitted that he wanted to get out of the mining business. He already
had a substantial bank account, as all one had to spend money on in the
outback was beer, and he wasn’t a big drinker, preferring to drink beer as a
means of washing the dust down after a days work. He’d figured that with
the bonuses from this job, he could afford to retire if he wanted. This
obviously interested Mandy, who seemed to have her own plans for what Stewart
might be doing in the near future.

“What are your plans?” Bethany asked Tim, seeing they were on the
subject.

“Well …” Tim paused, looking at Bethany. “I might be leaving the
police force if things fall into place, and a certain someone finds me
acceptable,” he hinted, none too subtly.

Bethany’s face blushed and Elizabeth giggled. She didn’t seem upset
that both Mandy and Bethany had potential boyfriends and she had none.

“Bethany’s got a boyfriend, Bethany’s got a boyfriend,” she chanted
gleefully, making Bethany blush more as she was put on the spot.

“What about you? Seems you’re the only one without a boyfriend,” Bethany
retorted in irritation, not realizing the effects her statement had on both
Stewart and Tim.

Elizabeth just giggled. She was facing the others and saw the mixed
expressions of hope and dismay on the faces of Tim and Stewart
respectively. “I have someone back in Perth,” Elizabeth replied,
tartly. “Now I’m not being you, I can make further plans,” she added,
rubbing her hands together.

The men looked confused, and Tim looked askance at Bethany. “I’ll
tell you later, it’s a long story,” she shrugged.

“You have a boyfriend?” Stewart asked Mandy, obviously taking Elizabeth’s
earlier statement to mean someone else.

“I do now,” Mandy said hopefully, taking Stewart’s hand in hers.

“So who is this mystery boyfriend you have?” Bethany asked Elizabeth,
trying to divert attention away from herself.

“Oh, just someone I met while I was doing your job. He wanted to take
things further, but I didn’t want to complicate matters when I couldn’t be
myself. If you must know, he’s a struggling actor, trying to get into
films,” Elizabeth added, before going into a thoughtful reverie.

“Does he know you as you? Or me?” Bethany asked curiously.

“As Elizabeth. I said I was in an awkward situation at the time we met and
was covering for my sister. I dated him on and off between campaigns and
we got on together.” Then as a sudden thought struck her, Elizabeth
wailed. “Oh crap! What’s the bet he’s seen us on TV? I hope it’s not
going to affect our relationship. I was getting rather serious about him,” she
finished with concern written over her face.

The two men wisely stayed out of the girls conversation, even though what
they had heard seemed to beg for an explanation.

Bethany saw the interest in the guys faces as they listened, and
sighed. She decided to give them a pocket edition of her story, while
Mandy and Elizabeth cleared away the remains of the breakfast.

They seemed impressed and not at all skeptical. She was worried that
with his police background, Tim might want to pursue the issue further.
Obviously, she had left certain details out, concerning Ada and her abilities
to change forms.

“Did your time with the aboriginal tribe have any bearing on the discovery
of the reef?” Stewart asked astutely.

“Yes,” Bethany fibbed, seeing it made sense. “One of the elders
related a story hinting about the whereabouts of the lost gold reef. So
when I grubstaked Gary Carstairs, I suggested looking in this general area.
Luckily, he found it,” she finished, smoothing out the lie she had begun.

“Strange the others of the tribe hadn’t searched for it themselves,” mused
Stewart.

“He was in his cups at the time and rambling quite a bit. I think
they dismissed it as drunken wish fulfillment, more than any kind of
truth.”

“Ah!” Stewart said, understanding first hand the effects of booze on the
aboriginal population.

There were still a few hangers-on camped the outside of the now completed
fence line, but they were mostly just the curious and hopeful. Some made
attempts to prospect along the fence line with metal detectors, hoping the
fence may have missed enclosing some of the gold bearing layers.

One curious thing was noticed. The remaining aboriginal protestors
had disappeared after a visit from a group of others, some of whom Bethany
thought she recognized. Stewart thought it may have been tribal elders,
but Bethany had a sneaking suspicion it had more to do with her abduction by
the mobster. She thought some of the aboriginals looked like the ones
who had been instrumental in her capture. The way she had eluded them,
must have been enough to send a message that she wasn’t to be messed
with. Obviously, they had recognized her from the TV coverage. At last
something positive had come from all of that ordeal.

Along with an armoured van, lights were set up around the actual gold vein
to keep the place lit all though the night. Tim suggested having several
PTZ pan/tilt/zoom cameras mounted around, as well. A few guards that Tim
knew were hired to monitor and operate the PTZ cameras which also recorded
their footage during the night. This meant Tim could get some sleep
during the night time.

All the readily accessible gold was mined by hand, and rigorous inspections
made sure no gold left the area unaccounted for. Bethany went around
handing the workers selected nuggets that would fetch prices above their
actual gold worth. This was an incentive to keep them honest, although
Stewart protested that it wasn’t necessary. Tim thought she just loved
to see the reaction on the guys faces as she handed out the two or three ounce
souvenirs.

On a suggestion from Stewart, a crusher and a furnace were set up to smelt
the ore into ingots on the site, so that it could be stored in a bank vault
until needed. With the gold being free and not locked up in the bearing
rock, all the processing the gold needed was to be crushed to free it from the
quartz and then melted. His suggestion that flooding the market with all
of the gold at once might upset the value of gold was a valid point, so
Bethany planned only to use what they needed, when they needed it.

Ada informed Bethany that the gold ore was 90% gold and 10% silver.
Once the ingots were forged, Ada suggested that she could remove the silver
content without further processing.

“All you need to do is inspect each load before transport,” Ada offered
silently.

After few days, when the crusher and furnace arrived, the refining finally
got into full swing using the ore that had been mined in the interim.
The ore was being removed from a quartz vein that lay at the base of the
breakaway. The vein ran horizontally for about 100 meters, becoming
thicker as it went deeper into the ground. At the rate of its extraction
by back hoe and pneumatic jackhammers, it might only take a month before the
lode was cleaned out.

With a further monetary incentive on Bethany’s part, sworn statements were
received from those working the vein to remain silent about its actual
size. Stewart suggested keeping the machines working the site long after
the main lode of gold was gone. The idea was to make it look like her
gold wasn’t in one huge lump, something that might alarm the gold market.

Bethany agreed, but she wasn’t interested in staying out there once she had
her quota. Instead, she suggested allowing those working the site to
keep what they found while she paid for the upkeep of the camp.

Ada told her that of the 30 tons of gold in the mine, there was bout a ton
of gold scattered away from the main lode. The men left to work the mine
would become rich in their own right with a little perseverance. Ada
helped Bethany mark a map showing where the scattered gold could be
found. Bethany saw then why the fence boundary was so wide when the main
lode was so concentrated.

Once Elizabeth heard the estimated time for the recovery of the gold, she
decided to go back to Perth reawaken her relationship with Andrew, her actor
boyfriend. Mandy decided to stay with Bethany, as she had Stewart as a
reason to stay. Plus, now she could stretch her legs literally, she was
going on walks through the bush, reveling in her mobility.

Tim offered to drive Elizabeth to Kalgoorlie, so she could catch a flight
back, which they did the next day. There were a few tears when she left,
and Bethany told her to ring her regularly.

“You certainly seemed to have got into the tearful goodbyes,” sighed Mandy,
wiping her own tears away.

“Yeah, it’s strange. Must be all the hormones flooding this body,”
offered Bethany, defending her reactions.

“It still seems strange how easily you took to being a female, I mean look,
you now have a boyfriend and everything,” Mandy pointed out.

“It wasn’t that easy, Sis,” refuted Bethany. “At first, I was
terrified, thinking everyone could tell that I was a man in this body.
Ada helped a lot there, thankfully.”

“I don’t get it. You changed from a guy to a gal with hardly a
protest, and when you can change back, you don’t,” pressed Mandy.

Bethany sighed, thinking back. Mandy was right, in a way. She
had accepted being a female too easily, but was unable to come up with a
logical reason why. Knowing Mandy was waiting on an explanation, she
tried to come up with something. “Sis, when I first changed I didn’t get
a chance to refuse it, as my rescuers were almost on us. Later, being
accepted as a beautiful woman did something to me. You know I wasn’t a
macho guy by any means, but I hadn’t wanted to be a woman either … at least
consciously,” she added the last bit as an out.

“When I had time to explore this body, it just seemed to fit. I
didn’t feel like I had been stuffed into a body that was too small or was a
wrong shape. It was me, it felt comfortable, like a glove.” Here,
Bethany gave a frustrated groan as she tried to come up with the right words
to explain.

“It’s okay, Sis, I think I know what you mean,” Mandy grinned and gave her
a hug.

Bethany hugged her back, marveling at the ease females guess what another
person is feeling.

“Females are more empathic,” Mandy added, answering Bethany’s unspoken
thought.

“Mind readers, too,” Bethany agreed.

“Sometimes, Sis.”

Bethany went over to the dresser where her makeup was kept and started her
daily routine, giving her face the ‘No, I’m not wearing makeup’ look,
finishing it off with a dab of lipstick.

“I don’t see why you bother when Ada can do that for you,” Mandy said
somewhat enviously.

“Well, I can’t let her do it all the time. What if I’m in the ladies,
somewhere? I might attract attention if my makeup refreshes itself all
by itself now, won’t I? Plus, if I ever do get married, I wouldn’t want
to have to explain why I can’t let him see me put my face on in the
morning.”

“True, I guess. But I wouldn’t mind having the same help Ada gives you,”
Mandy grumbled.

Bethany paused, listening to what Ada just told her. “Um … Ada said
she could make it happen if you want. You’ll have to wear her while she
does some tinkering to your body.”

“Oh, yes, I want to,” gushed Mandy in excitement.

Ada became visible and Bethany handed her sister the helmet. Mandy
grinned as she donned it, and stood still while Ada explained what she was
going to do. Mandy repeated what Ada told her out loud, so Bethany knew
what was happening too.

“Ada is changing my skin so that the outer layer is made up of a type of
Chromatospore, like what some lizards and cuttlefish have. I’ve told her
to do to my whole body, not just my face, so I can change my all over skin
colour. She is going to let me have conscious control over how I want to
look, but it won’t actually be makeup. I’ll still need moisturizers and
lip balm to prevent my skin and lips from drying out.”

Bethany watched, as under the tutelage of Ada, Mandy’s face underwent
several changes in colour. Mandy’s cheeks grew rosier and eye shadow
appeared to show around her eyes, first green then turning to a blue
colour. She crowed in delight as she figured out the control of her new
skin. Ada was once again handed back to Bethany, and with a sigh of
relief, she placed it back on her head. Even in the short time that her
sister had worn Ada, she had missed the reassurance that Ada was right there
with her.

Mandy started practicing changing the colour of her skin, going from a near
ebony to an almost albino white. Bethany giggled at the incongruous
sight of seeing her sister with dark skin and blonde hair. Mandy finally
settled on a shade that was slightly more tanned than her original look.

“Who needs the sun to get a tan?” she boasted, checking herself out in the
mirror.

“Just don’t go overboard, Sis., Remember Stewart might notice a sudden
tan,” Bethany pointed out.

“Right,” Mandy agreed, changing back to her original shade, but keeping the
eye shadow and blush colouration. “At least I won’t have bikini lines
now,” she giggled, pulling her top and bra strap to one side to show an even
tan over her shoulder.

Bethany laughed, while gathering her metal detecting gear together.
Now that the lode was being worked, she had little to do with the extraction
process and it was dangerous near the machines extracting the gold.
Instead, she would walk out to where the gold was scattered in low
concentrations and try and define the area more accurately with her
detector. Of course Ada didn’t understand why Bethany refused her
help. All Bethany wanted was to try pitting her own skills against the
terrain, and exulting when she located a nugget or two for her efforts.
At each find, she would mark the spot by building a small cairn using three or
four small rocks of descending size one atop the others. Although Ada
had shown her the places on a map which had been duly marked, it was a
different thing to walk over the terrain to find the exact location, something
that allowed Bethany to have her fun.

“I’m off to find another nugget or two,” Bethany announced to her
preoccupied sister.

“Okay, see you at lunch.”

Bethany wanted to find three suitable nuggets to have mounted for a
necklace for her sisters and herself. So far, she had one of a suitable
size and shape. As the nuggets usually came with some quartz intertwined
with them, it was hard to visualize the bare nuggets form without the
quartz. Ada did help here, as she could scan each nugget and announce
its suitability for mounting. The one she had already had been stripped
of its quartz with the use of hydrofluoric acid, an extremely dangerous
chemical that needed lots of care to be taken with it.

Walking out to her next spot, she noted that there were several people
working detectors along the outside of the fence line, obviously hoping some
of the gold extended further than expected. Bethany didn’t mind them
being there, as long as they didn’t try getting through the fence. She
carried a small UHF CB so she could call the camp in case of trouble, so she
wasn’t worried about her safety.

Further along she noted a vehicle and several men working by a small rocky
outcrop. As she started working her grid search with the detector, she
forgot about them as she concentrated on her search. She was on her
return path, moving towards the fence, when a loud explosion directly in front
of her blew her off her feet and she felt a hot burning sensation as something
hit her in the side. She could feel hot bits of rock falling on her as
her senses threatened to leave her.

Bethany rolled over onto her side, wincing at the pain as the mixture of
rock and sand ground into her injury. The blackness faded as Ada
catalogued her injuries verbally and started countering her injuries.
Bethany looked towards the area of the explosion and noted almost as an aside,
that the fence was damaged with huge sagging dents, where large boulders had
struck it. Without the fence catching most of the debris and preventing
it from going though, she doubted she’d be alive.

As she struggled to her feet and looked down at her quickly closing wound,
she wondered if this was some sort of attempt at breeching the fence. A
moment later, she realised it wasn’t, as she heard cries of pain coming from
where she’d seen the people over by the rock outcropping. She clambered
awkwardly over the smashed down fence and made her way to the now overturned
vehicle she’d seen before.

“Bounty Base, this is Bounty One, come in Bounty Base,” Bethany called on
her UHF CB, using the prearranged call signs. She hoped it was still
working as she called again.

“Bounty Base receiving, come in Bounty One,” she heard crackling back.

“Bounty Base, I need medical assistance over on the north west sector near
grid reference 64. Three injured men requiring urgent attention,” she
answered, checking on the men in question.

“Received, Bounty One, assistance on the way and flying doctor notified,”
she heard a minute later.

Bethany waited, doing what she could for the injured men. Her own
wound and bloodstained shirt were already back to normal, even the hole torn
by the shrapnel had been fixed, courtesy of Ada. She still had minor
abrasions and her clothing was still dusty from being on the ground, but Ada
reminded her that people would expect that, her being so close to the
explosion.

She heard the whine from the jeep as it made its way over to her
position. Stewart was there, along with the first aid man for the
camp. Mandy had come along as well, to no surprise.

“What happened?” asked Stewart, as he surveyed the extent of the
damage.

As the other man went straight to work, bandaging the worst of the wounds
suffered by the men, Bethany gave a brief description, leaving out her initial
injuries, while Mandy fussed over her, dabbing her minor abrasions with a
wetted cloth.

“This man has a broken leg, and I think the other had broken ribs,” Jeremy
the first aid man called out.

“Okay, Jeremy, the flying doctors are on their way. I guess I should
call the police as well.” Stewart sighed, bringing out his phone.

Only one man was able to talk, as one was semi-conscious and the other was
too busy moaning and cursing. It seemed they had been trying to breakup
the outcropping with explosives, but it had gone drastically wrong.

Bethany went to sit on a box nearby, but Ada warned it was full of unstable
dynamite. She called Stewart’s attention to it and he opened it
cautiously. Immediately he closed the lid and warned everyone to get
clear.

“What’s wrong?” Mandy asked, as she helped lift the injured to a
safer position.

“The idiots were using out of date dynamite. The sticks are oozing
pure Nitroglycerine. No wonder things blew up,” grumbled Stewart, shaking his
head in disgust.

Mandy had climbed over the ruined fence going over to where Bethany’s
detector still lay on the ground where she had fallen. Bethany noted
that she seemed to take her time coming back and when she did, she was ashen
faced. She pulled Bethany aside where the others couldn’t overhear
them.

“What really happened sis?” She probed.

Not wanting to scare her, Bethany shrugged and said she’d just been thrown
to the ground with the blast.

“Don’t give me that, there was a pool of fresh blood covered with flies on
the ground near the detector,” Mandy refuted angrily. “Don’t worry, I
scuffed dirt over it in case someone sees it,” she added in a slightly quieter
tone.

Bethany sighed, and filled her in, seeing it was useless to deny it
anymore. Mandy wasn’t all that happy with the near disaster, but knew
she couldn’t stop her sister from exposing herself to possible danger from the
public that wandered outside the camp.

“Can’t Ada make you bulletproof? I don’t want to lose you, and I’ll
know I will worry all the time now,” Mandy despaired.

“Bulletproof huh?” Bethany grinned, thinking about it.

“It could be possible.” Ada told her. “If I extended the effect I use
to make me invisible, I could cover you with a thin micro layer of p space
that could shunt away anything impacting it over a certain velocity,” Ada
deliberated.

“Okay,” chirped an enthused Bethany. “So all I have to watch out for
is slow bullets?” she laughed jokingly.

“She can do it?” Asked Mandy, getting the gist of the one sided
conversation.

“Looks like it Sis, you’ll have to call me Wonder Woman,” laughed Bethany,
hugging her sister.

“Oh, I wonder all the time,” Mandy quipped back punching Bethany lightly on
the arm.

“Hey! That hurts,” came a mock protest.

The morning was busted, by the time the men were taken away. The
police had arrived as well, and had questioned the one man still able to give
information. They also had the dynamite removed to a safer
spot. Stewart loaned them an explosive charge, helping them to
detonate it where it could do no further damage.

Once most of the people had gone, Bethany went over to the hole left
by the first explosion and used her detector to scan for any signs of
gold. She did find a chunk of rock with signs of gold in it and she had
Stewart take it to give it to the men for their trouble.

Stewart took them both back to camp in the jeep, where they had a late
lunch. Mandy had wanted Stewart to stay for lunch, but he’d reluctantly
begged off, saying he needed to go watch the perimeter while the fence was
being replaced.

While he left to organize that detail, Mandy hurriedly made him some
sandwiches and put them in a cooler, along with a few cans of beer. She
caught him before he drove out of the camp and handed him his lunch.
Bethany watching from the RV saw Mandy getting a quick kiss of thanks from
Stewart, and she smiled knowing that her sister had found her love.

Bethany eventually found the nuggets she wanted. Tim was ever
attentive around Bethany, and the attraction between them grew into love.

Once the value of the recovered gold reached several billion dollars,
Bethany decided to leave and head back to Perth. The remaining gold
would keep its silver content, and be valued appropriately. Stewart and
Tim would remain at the camp for another month, until the majority of the gold
would have been extracted, and they could hand over the mine to the rest of
the team. As there was more than enough gold left to pay for the upkeep
of the camp, Bethany decided to let the men take over that duty, keeping only
the claim in her name.

The day prior to leaving, Bethany decided to climb to the top of the
breakaway directly over the gold reef. The view was spectacular, as she
watched all the activity below. She sat on the edge, once Ada assured
her it was safe and dangled her feet over the face of the cliff.
Sometimes an errant breeze would lift the dust being raised below and sent it
swirling up to her, before sweeping back down.

She took her drink bottle from her pack and took a swig, placing it down
beside her. The suns rays were beating down on her back, making things a
little uncomfortable. As she stood, she stumbled a little, knocking her
bottle over. The bottle bounced backwards and the top sprung off
releasing its precious cargo onto the thirsty ground.

Bethany, racing to grab it before it was all gone, saw a glint in the sand
where the water had washed the sand away from something shiny. Curious,
she brushed aside the dirt and found what looked like a piece of blue
glass. It was about a foot square and the edges didn’t seem ragged like
one would expect from a broken shard.

“Strange,” Bethany muttered, feeling the low weight of the fragment.

‘That’s from the ship,’ Ada informed her.

“The Teg ship? I thought you said nothing could survive the
atmospheric conditions after this long?” Bethany questioned.

That part isn’t of Teg manufacture, it’s really Covian. The planet
Cove was subsumed by the Teg and parts of their technology were utilized to
enhance the Teg ships, Cove has an oxygen helium atmosphere and the materials
don’t react like Teg hull structures do.’

“It looks like a blue window. What does it do?” Bethany asked in
wonder, knowing she had part of an alien craft in her hand.

“It’s part of a cooling panel. Face one side to the sun, and then
feel the opposite side,’ instructed Ada.

“Wow! It went cold,” yelped Bethany, nearly dropping the thing in
surprise.

‘Now face the cold side to the sun, but be careful touching the opposite
side this time.’

Bethany did so and found that the side in the shade was now scorching
hot.

“This stuff is amazing,” Bethany said excitedly.

‘What’s more, the effect can be cascaded,” added Ada. “If you stack
them, the effect multiplies. Two together could form ice on the second
shaded side or reversed, could boil water, if you were only using the sun,’
Ada elaborated.

“Does it only work with the sun?”

‘No, any heat source, whether it is hot or cold, can be utilized. The
greater the heat, the colder the other side gets.

“What’s it made of, and could we make more of it?” Bethany asked,
thinking of the global applications.

‘It’s made of a silicon based material encapsulating a polarized liquid
Freon which is compressed and conductive though an ionic bond with the
silicon,’ Ada rattled off.

“Phew! Sounds complicated. Could it be manufactured here?” she asked
hopefully.

‘Yes, with a little help.”

This could solve a lot of our energy needs. Houses could have panels
working both effects, one panel to heat water or heat the house, and the other
to provide cooling or refrigeration.”

“Yes, it could even provide a source of heat for power generation,”
suggested Ada.

“Do you think there’s any more around here?”

“It’s possible. Most of the ship impacted the cliff and destroyed the
majority of the panels, but some on the top which may have landed on the cliff
top may have survived.”

Can you scan for it?” Bethany asked hopefully.

Ada confirmed that she could do that, so Bethany set off on a grid search,
using Ada’s directions. Only two more panels were discovered intact,
with a myriad of useless fragments scattered around. Bethany had Ada
store the panels in p space for the moment and decided not to mention it to
anyone just yet. She set off back to camp, elated, yet forcing herself
to appear normal to the others.

The next day they said goodbye to Tim and Stewart before starting the
journey home in the RV. Both Mandy and Bethany said little on the way
home, both engrossed in their own thoughts of those they were leaving behind
and what the future was going to hold for them both.

Back in Perth, Bethany had to deal with the gold. Once the ingots
were officially assayed for value, half went into the National bank, where
they were stored; the remainder went into p space where they could be
retrieved on demand as needed.

Bethany was now officially a billionaire. A portion of the bullion
was used to buy gold coins, which unlike gold, whose value depended on the
market at the time, would only appreciate in value. Both Mandy and
Elizabeth had individual accounts of around 20 million dollars. Their
mom Heather also had an account with 10 million dollars in it, “just for play
money,” Bethany had joked.

One thing Mandy had played with on the journey back to Perth, was her
chameleon abilities. She now had a nice tanned face from being outdoors,
but her body was still as pale as ever, as sunbathing naked hadn’t been an
option in the camp. She had remedied that soon enough, and figured she’d
have a valid excuse before Stewart saw her again.

It wasn’t even an issue with Elizabeth, having not seen her in over a
few months and anyway, she was more interested in her boyfriend than how Mandy
looked naked.

Elizabeth was being cagey about her boyfriend, until they got a chance to
meet at a celebration dinner that included their mom, Heather.

He wasn’t exactly tall dark and handsome, when he came into the restaurant
with Elizabeth on his arm. Trevor Mallard was 5’11” sandy haired and had
a rugged outdoorsy face.

“Gidaay folks, nice to meetcha, wow! This is a swank place,” were his
first words, which earned a few giggles.

Somehow, this plain speaking guy with no apparent pretensions gave Bethany
comfort that he wasn’t after her sister for money. He had a certain
charm, Bethany admitted. She could see why Elizabeth was taken with him.
This was reinforced as the dinner went on. Nobody went overboard on
their orders, and the girls had probably spent more on their outfits, than
what the dinner totaled.

When Trevor excused himself to go to the men’s room, Elizabeth was ribbed
mercilessly in good humour.

“I wonder where he keeps his snake?” prompted Mandy with a giggle.

“You little bweauty, you’ll be right” Bethany quipped, imitating Steve
Irwin, the crocodile hunter.

“I think he took his snake to the bathroom,” chirped Heather to everyone’s
surprise.

The sudden shock of Heather’s words stunned everyone for a second before
everyone chorused, “MOM!” Then everyone dissolved into laughter.
Luckily, the laughter had subsided into just a few giggles, by the time Trevor
returned. Later, when Elizabeth was alone with the rest of girls she
quizzed them on their thoughts about her boyfriend. She was relieved
when they all gave their blessings and told her to go for it.

Bethany was busy for the next few weeks, sounding out people who might be
interested in developing the new technology she had uncovered at the
mine. She had to find someone who had no vested interests in the
existing conventional systems that involved power or heating.

The firm she eventually chose was extremely interested in the panels and
organized joint patents in their names, not that Bethany needed any more
money, but it could be put to good use in developing other medical
advances.

One question asked by the director of the company was about the origins of
the panels. She knew from her research, with a little help from Ada,
that he was a keen sci-fi addict. So her answer reflected that, “I found
it in the desert, I think it is part of a UFO, unless you can come up with
another idea,” she stated calmly.

The director just looked at her to see if she was serious. Knowing
the properties of the panel, he knew something like this was world shaking
technology and could never have been keep secret for long. He did want
to ask her how she knew of its construction and material, but was afraid of
the answer.

“Don’t ask how I know about the construction. Your job is to replicate it,”
winked Bethany, guessing the unspoken question on his mind. “I have
three panels, so after you’ve thoroughly tested it, you can pull it apart to
analyze it more precisely. I trust I won’t need to sacrifice a second
panel?”

“Oh no, in fact we might not have to destroy this one, if our techniques
work out.”

“Even better,” finished Bethany, standing up to leave.

“I’ll keep you updated on our progress as agreed.”

“Excellent, I’ll have the research funds available as you require it.”
Bethany added, shaking the director’s hand.

Bethany left then, heading back home feeling pleased that things were
starting to get underway. She had some other ideas, but she needed to
discuss them with Ada before saying anything to Mandy or Elizabeth for that
matter.

The house was empty when she got there. Mandy said she’d wanted to
look at a bigger place for them to live, maybe on the coast.

Bethany went out to the backyard and sat on the lounger there with a glass
of wine. “Ada, is it possible to make another helmet like yourself?”

‘It’s possible that the physical part could be constructed from materials
here on Earth, but I am unique, and I do have some limits. What is your
purpose for making these helmets, when you have me?’

“Perhaps I should have explained.” Bethany apologised. “I can see how
your transforming power could benefit certain people who can’t be treated by
modern medicine. Like the paralyzed, or the transgendered, for two
examples.”

‘That is a different matter then. Units could be made to operate
remotely using myself as the interface,” Ada informed her.

“That’s even better,” Bethany crowed happily. “That would prevent
them being stolen or copied by others, as only you can make them work.”

‘Yes, and no one could trace me back from one, even if they got hold of a
remote unit.’

“Can this be done on our own? I don’t want to have this become common
knowledge?’’ Bethany asked anxiously.

‘We can assemble the units, but I suggest we find different people to make
the individual components, so no clue as to their eventual use could be
discerned.’

“Let’s get started then,” Bethany said, reaching for the phone.

Things were well under way regarding the helmet construction by the time
Tim and Stewart arrived back in Perth. Mandy had just tested the first
one, giving herself a minor tweak that wasn’t obvious to anyone not in the
know. Elizabeth had finally been brought into the loop with the
explanation that her sister had discovered an alien artifact that had given
her the information. Only Bethany’s true identity and the presence of
Ada were kept a secret, for obvious reasons.

At first, Elizabeth was unconvinced, until they demonstrated the power of
the remote helmet, transforming her into a male at her suggestion, as this
would prove beyond a doubt that the experience wasn’t just hypnosis, or some
other sort of quackery. She stayed like that for several hours to try a
few things out. When she returned to her own body, she insisted on a few
modifications of her own, after Mandy showed her that makeup enhancement the
supposed trial test had given her.

Once the men folk arrived, there was much celebration. Elizabeth had
invited her boyfriend Trevor, and all the men were finally introduced.
The three couples paired off while a barbecue was started. Drinks
started flowing, and while the women were in the kitchen, the men got together
and talked quietly about something.

No one got over amorous that evening although there was some tongue to
tongue communications that needed no translation. All the men were
invited to stay the night, but strangely, they all begged off, saying that
they had some business to do the next day. Disappointed, but resigned,
the girls had a late supper alone, before retiring to their beds.

It wasn’t until lunch the next day that the men rejoined the girls.
Even though they were now rich enough to afford caviar or have a banquet
setting with exotic foods, the girls preferred to make a simple lunch of cold
chicken and salad with some freshly baked bread from the local bakery.
Their only indulgence was some imported champagne that the men gladly opened
for them.

The men seemed fidgety during lunch. The reason why became clear after
lunch when they were finishing off the champagne.

All three men got up and stood before their chosen partner. Then in unison,
all knelt and took out a ring which they presented to Bethany, Mandy and
Elizabeth.

“Will you marry me and be my wife?” they chorused together.

Mandy and Elizabeth squealed and gave their man a kiss as acceptance.
Only Bethany’s response was delayed, as she looked at the ring and realized
its significance. If she accepted the ring and its responsibilities,
then she was accepting the fact that she would always forever be Bethany.

Then she made her decision. “Yes, I accept,” she answered, sealing
her words with a kiss.

The delay, though miniscule, had Tim wondering if he’d pushed things too
far, too soon, but that worry was washed away as Bethany granted him his
heartfelt desire.

Needless to say, several more bottles of champagne were opened and the
phone ran hot as Heather was given the news.

One more secret needed to be revealed, but Bethany held off until Heather
arrived in a taxi about half an hour later. Bethany started off telling
them about finding the alien panels and the alien artifact, that once it had
given her information, had then disappeared, which was partially the
truth. Again, the truth about Ada was kept secret to protect everyone
should the remote helmets fall into the wrong hands. The men were very
interested in the panels and were soon given a demo of their power. They
were also impressed that Bethany had already organized things for their mass
production.

The helmet was greeted with more skepticism and Elizabeth dared Trevor to
undergo a similar test that she had gone though to prove its validity.

Trevor agreed, although Bethany and Mandy had to hide their grins when
Elizabeth omitted what the test had involved. Elizabeth was going to go
have the other guys watch, but Bethany had a better idea and whispered in
Elizabeth’s ear.

“Come on, Trevor. Let’s do this somewhere private,” suggested Elizabeth,
which made Trevor grin as he glanced at the other guys.

Once the pair had gone into the study room where the helmet was set up, the
other men speculated about what Trevor was in for. Some of the
suggestions made the Bethany and Mandy grin.

Bethany was informed via Ada that Trevor had gone through the
transformation. After hearing the door opening to the Elizabeth’s
bedroom, she motioned to Mandy that it was her turn.

“Stewart? Time for you to put up or shut up,” giggled Mandy, crooking her
finger at him.

Casting a last questioning look at Tim, Stewart was lead away to experience
his own trial. Once the transformation was done and the altered Stewart
led off to the bedroom to change, Bethany took Tim’s hand and led him into the
study.

“Where are the others?” he queried, looking around hopefully.

“Safe. You’ll see them soon,” she replied, placing the helmet on his
head.

Bethany started the process, smiling as a familiar figure began to
emerge from where Tim was sitting. Soon she had another twin, although
the clothes were inappropriate. Tim looked astonished as he realized the
extent of his/her change. He reached down and gingerly felt her new
breasts and one hand shyly sneaked lower to confirm it was a complete
change.

“Come, you need to change clothes before you meet the others,” Bethany
grinned giving her twin a hug.

“The others are twins now, too?” asked Tim with her new voice.

“You’ll see them later. Now let’s get dressed,” Bethany, answered not
confirming his suspicions.

Bethany started undressing and placed her outer clothes on the bed.
She selected new underwear for her twin and told Tim to put them
on. Tim looked dubiously at them, but complied, shedding her male
clothes and donning the panties and bra with no problem, something that showed
on her face as surprise.

“The helmet gives you the ability to act as a normal woman would and helps
in both dressing and applying makeup,” Bethany explained.

Bethany pulled some new clothes out and started putting them on while
instructing Tim to wear her old clothes. Tim felt strange putting on the
still warm clothes Bethany had just removed, but was amazed that “she” wasn’t
freaking out about it all. Bethany allowed her newly minted girlfriend
time to caress her new body without comment as Tim satisfied “her”
curiosity.

“Okay, you can explore it all a bit later, Honey,” Bethany urged finally,
having dressed herself again.

Tim put on the clothes Bethany had been wearing and was instructed to go
meet Mandy and Elizabeth and see if “she” could fool them into thinking “she”
was Bethany, and not Tim.

Tim headed out of the bedroom, trying not to show the surprise on her face
that she was walking without a problem in the heels Bethany had given
her. Tim reached the lounge just as Mandy and Elizabeth arrived there
too.

“What did you do to your boyfriends?” Tim ventured, trying to act
normal.

“Made him see what’s on the other side of the fence,” Mandy replied,
glancing both at Elizabeth and Tim. “What about you, and where are the
boys?” she added.

“I turned him into a girl,” answered Elizabeth, with a strange gleam in her
eye.

“Same,” Tim answered, with a giggle.

“I guess they are shy and don’t want to show themselves,” speculated
Mandy.

“Come on out, girls,” Elizabeth called, raising her voice.

Three women emerged promptly, showing that they must have been close by and
listening. They were twins to the ones sitting in the lounge, but being
dressed in fresh clothes, assumptions were made that they were the men.
Tim looked at the duplicate Mandy and Elizabeth coming into the lounge,
thinking that there wasn’t any difference from those already in the
lounge. Then the grins on the faces of the new arrivals made Tim look at
the Mandy and Elizabeth that were already sitting down.

“Ah, good trick,” “she” laughed, realizing the truth.

It only took seconds for the other two former men to realize they’d been
had. They stood up and offered the seats to their twins, as the real
women in their fresh clothes started giggling. Heather was the one that
seemed the most stunned, as she looked at the twins, so Bethany let her try
something with the helmet too. A few minutes later a new younger Heather
appeared, having lost 25 years. She readily joined the others, marveling
in her change.

Soon, there was a babble of alto voices as everyone wanted to talk at
once. Finally, things settled down as they paired off and found a quiet
corner each where they could talk together. Heather went off to change
clothes and experiment with makeup, trying for an even younger look.

Of course the ex-boyfriends couldn’t get over how complete the
transformation was, nor how being female felt so different, yet similar, even
... dare they admit it, acceptable. One question sitting in their minds
was what the aliens had used this technology for. The answer, being
obvious wasn’t voiced for fear of upsetting the girls. Of course they
couldn’t know that Bethany and Mandy already knew the answer. Bethany
had guessed what was going through their minds, having asked that very same
question, but she couldn’t reassure the “men” because of where that would lead
next.

Everyone started mingling again, the “men” getting together and comparing
their experiences. It was a tribute to the thoroughness of the change,
which they were not screaming to be changed back immediately. It also
spoke of their trust in their girlfriends not to cause any harm in their
relationship.

Mandy came over to Bethany and pulled her aside.

“The men won’t want to stay like this?” she asked worriedly, seeing how
femininely the “men” were acting.

“No, Sis. I made sure Ada wouldn’t make them too comfortable, even if they
decided to experience … you know what,” she winked, making Mandy’s eyes
widen. “Anyway, you can always tell them about periods and
stuff. I’m sure that would put them off,” Bethany shuddered
involuntarily.

Mandy looked twice at Bethany, as a thought struck her.

“Sis, is there something you’re not telling me?” She asked,
curiously.

“No, why?” Bethany answered, avoiding looking at Mandy by looking
over at the others talking.

“SIS …” Mandy hissed insistently, immediately detecting an evasion.
At Bethany’s blush, she knew she’d hit pay dirt and something clicked in her
mind. “Is there something wrong with you? We were together for
months out in the bush, yet I never saw any signs that you’d had a period,
except for a couple of days early on.”

Bethany sighed, knowing her secret was out. When she’d experienced
her first period, she had been determined to see it through without Ada’s
help. But as the cramps and mood swings progressed along with all the
other things that where new to her, she’d finally called on Ada to help.
Since then, she hadn’t experienced a period, but being ashamed to admit she
couldn’t deal with a normal function of this body, she’d kept quiet about
it.

“There’s nothing wrong with me, except for being a coward,” Bethany
admitted, hanging her head.

“What?” Mandy hissed disbelievingly, and taking her arm to lead her
into her bedroom.

“You’re no coward, so spill,” Mandy demanded firmly,

“I couldn’t handle having a period, Sis. I had Ada modify my body so
I don’t have to deal with it anymore.”

“Modify?” Mandy queried, dismissing the first bit.

“When my egg isn’t fertilized and the lining of my womb is about to be
shed, Ada made my body, or rather, my womb reabsorb it instead of having to go
though everything a normal period entails. Ada counteracts all the other
symptoms, like bloating, cramps, and to a large degree the mood swings.
I still know when it’s happening, but it’s like a piece of cake to the first
one I had. So you can see why I’m a coward for avoiding it.

Mandy shook her head dismissively. She was glad in one way of
Bethany’s admission. It meant she was still human, and she still
retained a bit of male in her. She’d often wondered if Bethany was
really her brother, as she’d adapted so well to being female. Now,
knowing she had a weakness, made her so much more human and fallible, just
like the rest of us. “You’re no coward. If I had the same choice, I’d
have jumped at it too,” admitted Mandy, grabbing her sister in a hug.

“Um, now that the helmet is an open secret, we can modify you the same
way,” Bethany offered cautiously, feeling relief that her sister didn’t hate
her. With that off her chest, Bethany felt a lot happier. Mandy
decided to wait until she’d talked to Elizabeth before deciding whether she
would go ahead with the latest body modification option.

Elizabeth came over to Bethany with a strange proposal. She and
Trevor had decided to swap roles and allow Trevor to experience sex as a
girl. What surprised Bethany the most was that Elizabeth had decided to
take on Trevor’s form in order for it to happen as close to naturally as
possible.

Mandy and Stewart overheard this, and after a little encouragement decided
to do likewise, as long as Bethany could ensure that someone wouldn’t end up
pregnant. Bethany ensured them that neither of them would get pregnant
by modifying the sperm that the two newly converted guys would produce.

Tim seemed interested too, but Bethany didn’t want to return to a male
form, even if it was Tim’s. She didn’t feel comfortable with the
reminder of who she once was, so she proposed a different option.

Heather decided to leave the couples and head back home. Reluctantly,
she traded her youthful body back to a slightly older one so her neighbours
could still recognize her. However, she still looked about ten years
younger and hoped she could come up with an excuse for her younger
appearance.

Later in bed, Bethany asked Tim what she thought of sex as a female.

Tim fondled Bethany’s breasts, with a sated look in “her” eyes, before
rolling together so their breasts mashed together.

“It was beautiful, and something I’ll treasure forever,” “she” answered,
with a kiss.

“Yes, it was,” agreed Bethany, looking at her twin. It wasn’t exactly
normal sex. Nor was it strictly lesbian sex, seeing they both had female
bodies. Bethany could feel the penis, she’d had Ada add between her legs
begin to harden again, as Tim moved against her. It was kind of strange,
having a penis again, especially as she didn’t have any balls to go with
it. She had asked Ada not to give her those, as that was too much of a
reminder of her former identity. Tim also appreciated the absence, as it
seemed more like sex with a warm dildo than sex with a man.

“Want to change back?” Bethany asked idly, tickling Tim’s breasts with her
finger.

“Hmmm … later?” Tim murmured, capturing the wandering finger with her
hand, and replying in same.

It was morning before Tim asked to be returned to his male body.

“I don’t know how you sleep with these,” Tim complained, hefting the
breasts on her chest and jiggling them around. “I’m used to sleeping on
my stomach, but it is too uncomfortable doing that with these in the way.”

“Maybe next time, I’ll put them on your back so I can play with them when
you hug me,” laughed Bethany, poking Tim’s breasts gently.

“Um, I think not,” Tim answered, eyeing Bethany speculatively, seeing if
she was being serious or not. “Maybe you could do that, then I would
have four to play with.”

Bethany pouted for a second, before giggling at the thought.

Once Tim got his own body back, the others were also waiting for their
turn.

All agreed that it was an experience to learn how the other half lived, but
everyone seemed happy to remain in their original forms, although the guys
didn’t entirely rule out the possibility of a revisit to femininity.
Bethany had Ada return her sex to normal, not that it had been obvious under
her full skirts.

After a lazy breakfast, the guys wanted to head out to finalize some
business matters, so they could begin their new joint business with a clean
slate.

Bethany wanted to work out how to do the most good with the helmets without
alerting the authorities as to what they were doing. The problem was
advertising for customers in a way that would give them a free hand, and not
have the government trying to seize their equipment for their own uses or
limit its use to the privileged and wealthy.

Ada came up with the best solution. Seeing she was tapped into nearly
every database on Earth, she could access those who needed help the
most. For those in poverty stricken countries where no databases
existed, another solution was needed. What Ada came up with sounded
bizarre, but just wacky enough to work.

First, all had to agree to hold off on any personal plans while Ada’s idea
was implemented. Luckily, no one was in a hurry to get married, so all
agreed. Mandy wanted a birth certificate for her new identity anyway,
and Ada soon had that underway. Everyone got caught up in the excitement
of doing something very special for the needy, and all seemed happy.

“What’s up Bethany? You seem to be under a cloud lately,” Mandy
observed, one fine afternoon.

“Um nothing, I just came out here to think?” hedged Bethany, knowing it was
futile to hide anything from her sister.

Mandy sat beside Bethany at the lookout that seemed to be getting a lot of
use recently by her sister. “You seemed to be doing a lot of thinking
lately, is it about Tim?”

Bethany sighed, confirming Mandy’s question. “I just hate not telling
him who I really am or was.”

“That’s easy. You are Bethany, now and forever,” Mandy declared.

“Tim deserves the truth, even if it means I lose him forever,” Bethany
sighed.

Mandy remained silent, knowing that the painful decision was not hers to
make. She hugged her sister in response, letting her know she would
stand by any decision Bethany made.

Several months later… “Tim, I have something I need to discuss with
you.”

“Sure, Honey. I’ll be right there,” Tim answered, packing the last of the
new helmets in their “wok” labeled boxes.

Bethany took his hand and led him outside to the two seat outdoor lounge
chair. She sat him down, but remained standing as she gathered her
courage for her confession. They were alone at the house as the others
were out sorting travel arrangements.

She began by telling Tim about Gary in third person, from the time when
Gary went looking for space craft fragments in the outback. Bethany
slowed and choked out how, after finding Ada, Gary became Bethany. She
watched Tim’s face intently as the tale unfolded; looking for the dreaded
repugnance she feared would show.

Tim would be the envy of every poker player as he schooled his face from
showing any emotion. “You’re telling me you are …were once a man?” he
asked, his voice flat and expressionless.

Bethany’s heart sank, and it showed on her face as she faced her
accuser. “I was once, but that life has ended, never to return,” she
breathed, with anguish clear in her voice.

“And you’re telling me now, just when we are about to embark on this
special mission?”

“I wanted to tell you ages ago, but I was afraid of your rejection. I
love you, and I feared I’d lose you.” Bethany confessed. “I wanted
to tell you the truth as the idea of holding a secret from you was gnawing at
my soul. If you now decide not to have anything to do with me and decide
to leave, I figured going to another country would help me get over the pain
of my loss.”

“What about my loss?” Tim asked.

“Your loss?” Bethany asked in confusion, and then coming up with the
answer she thought Tim meant “I can give you enough gold for keep you
from needing to work again,” she added, with a sigh.

Tim stood up and turned away before speaking. “I don’t want your
gold…I want you.”

Bethany, who had also turned away to hide her tears at her expected loss,
now spun around as her heart flipped over in her chest.

“You want me?” she asked tremulously, hardly believing her ears.

“I am rather insulted though, by your offer to buy me off,” Tim answered
turning to face her with a smile, taking the sting from his words.

The two people coalesced together into one form as they embraced.
Their lips joined in an unbreakable seal and they attempted to join their
flesh to each other.

“So only Mandy and I know that you’re not really Elizabeth’s sister?” Tim
asked, once they were able to separate again.

“Yes. Her real sister is dead, but after how things worked out, I couldn’t
just walk away. This way, she gets her sister back and I gain a family.”
Bethany sighed with remembrance.

Tim nodded, and cuddled closer to Bethany. “You get me too,” he added
with a grin.

“Well, I guess there’s always a down side,” teased Bethany, laughing at
Tim’s hang dog look.

“I guess there’s one downside you like,” brightened Tim, as he rolled over
on Bethany, pinning her body under his, as he assaulted her lips gently.

“Hmmmm,” she moaned, unable to respond with words.

“We could easily change that,” hinted Bethany as they separated to take a
breath.

“True,” admitted Tim, thinking back to the day he’d become Bethany’s
twin.

Bethany filled Tim on everything that had gone on since her transformation
into Bethany. Tim was amazed at her adventures and considered himself
lucky to have her at his side right now. Then the ringing of the phone
inside reminded them that they had other responsibilities at the moment, so
they got up and went inside to take the call.

~~~~A week later, in another country~~~~

“I’ve found the perfect place,” crackled Amanda’s voice over the radio.

“Where?” replied Bethany, as Tim slowed the 4x4 they were driving to a stop
in the heat of the African sun.

Amanda gave Bethany the GPS coordinates and Bethany entered them into hers
and then directed Tim to turn to the west. They were looking for a cave
system, preferably near a village where they could set up the first of many
sites where a helmet could be hidden. It would be even better if the
place Amanda had found had some significance to the natives in that area.

They had flown out to central Africa to where the natives were in dire
straits in terms of health and well being. They had split into three
teams and hired well equipped 4X4 Landcruisers to help search the area.

Elizabeth and Trevor arrived soon after Bethany and Tim arrived at the spot
Amanda had found. Amanda came out of a cluster of rocks and waved to them to
come over. Nobody was surprised to see Amanda still in her dark African
form. Talking to natives as Europeans didn’t get them very far, so they
had adopted forms of the local tribes to make questioning them more likely to
yield results. It was also helpful in warding off sunburn in the harsh
African deserts.

“What do you think?” She asked, once they’d gathered in the cave
formed by ancient erosion.

Ada did a sensor sweep of the cave, determining its state and the quality
of the rock that formed it. She also had to find just the right place
where a person might sit and have their head rest against the roof.

Everyone waited while Ada either agreed or rejected the cave. Finally
Bethany gave the others the answer and everyone cheered. Elizabeth,
Trevor and Stewart had been the last to find out about Ada, and only certain
details about who Bethany and Amanda really were, had been kept from
them. They were still in awe of Ada’s powers and couldn’t wait to see
what would happen next, now the cave was found to be suitable.

Tim went back to his 4x4 and got one of the “woks,” they had brought
over. In actual fact, it wasn’t a wok at all; just the basis of a remote
helmet Ada had designed. Bethany took the helmet and placed it on her
head then went to the position Ada had selected. Under Ada’s
instructions, Bethany pressed the remote helmet against the roof while Ada did
her phasing trick, allowing the helmet and the top of Bethany’s head to
penetrate right into the rock. After a few adjustments, Ada had Bethany
lower her head out and away from where the helmet had been placed.

Her head was now bare, with the helmet remaining entombed behind the
surface of the rock. Only a small depression marked the spot, and no sign of
the helmet was evident.

“Will it work like that, with a layer of rock between the actual helmet and
a person’s head?” Bethany asked.

“Yes, I’ve altered the conductivity of the granite to allow the sensors to
transmit the functions of the helmet,” Ada assured her.

The others crowded around and checked out what had been done.

“All we need is to show one of the locals its power,” Amanda pointed
out.

“That’s next.”

In the village, a young girl of about 17 years old hobbled to the well to
fetch her family the water they needed to make the first meal of the
day. Aissa had contracted polio and was severely crippled, but that
didn’t stop her from doing her chores.

She looked up from the well to see an old woman dressed in ceremonial robes
standing in front of her. Aissa was sure she hadn’t been there a second
ago, and she’d not heard her approaching. The woman beckoned, and turned
to walk out towards the edge of the village. Aissa was torn between
getting the water and following the elder. She knew she should obey the
elderly shaman, even though she was a stranger. She made her decision
and followed the woman.

Aissa paused, when the woman entered the rocks leading to the cave.
Although it was reputed to hold the spirits of warriors, she had always
thought that was a ploy to scare the children and stop them from
entering. Feeling that there was something strange about to happen,
Aissa closed the distance between them, even though it meant her leg hurt even
more.

Once inside, the woman led her to one end, and bade her sit in a certain
part of the cave so her head was pressed against a circular depression in the
roof. All this was done without speaking, but instead of feeling afraid,
Aissa felt excited. The kindness in the smile and in the woman’s eyes
promised something momentous.

Ada interfaced with the helmet and opened her sensors to the child’s
body. Using the good half of the body as a reverse template, Ada began
to rebuild the child’s crippled body. Aissa felt a tingling rush through
her body, and the constant pain she’d borne all her life began to fade
away. She watched amazed as her leg reformed, straightening and becoming
as perfect as her other leg. Other internal changes she couldn’t see,
took place in an instant, assuring her of a disease free body. She
looked to the woman, seeking an explanation, but the woman just smiled and
opened her hands in a welcoming gesture, before fading completely from view,
right before her eyes.

Aissa ran back to her village, calling out as she neared her home.
She never saw Bethany invisibly ghosting along behind, her role as a shaman
now ended. Ada had phased Bethany’s body ever so slightly left into p
space so that while being invisible to those in the village, she could still
observe them. She carried a small web cam and was sending a live feed of
what she saw back to her group, who were hidden out of sight with the
4x4’s.

Aissa’s mother came out of her hut and stood amazed at the sight of her
daughter running toward her. Her shout alerted others and soon Aissa was
surrounded by most of her village members. After her rushed explanation,
of the mysterious shaman and what had happened in the cave, many decided to
check out her claim. A steady procession of villages took their turn
sitting under the dome in the cave.

Ada checked each person out, and only those requiring healing were
helped. Those that were healthy and weren’t helped in any way took
comfort that the spirit that controlled the healing process considered them
fit and not requiring any aid. Of those that were helped, most knew it
immediately, while a few were healed of things not obvious to the eye.

There was much rejoicing in the village that night, and runners to nearby
villages were sent out the next day. Before Bethany and the others left
the area, one more thing needed to be carried out.

Aissa was playing tag with her sisters, rejoicing in her new found agility,
when a hush dropped over the normal village activity. Aissa stopped and
looked towards the cause. There, standing alone, was the shaman she’d
followed to the cave. No one moved, half fearful of this powerful spirit
who had given them so much. Aissa sensed that the woman was looking at
her, so she edged forward a bit. The woman crouched and beckoned Aissa
forward. Feeling awe that she’d been singled out, Aissa walked to the
shaman and stopped.

The woman spoke, outlining her rules for the cave and its continued
service. Aissa ticked off the rules with her fingers, hoping to repeat
them to the villager leader exactly.

The cave was to open for all who needed help.

No fee was to be charged.

Don’t let anyone try to disturb the cave or its
surroundings.

The woman stood, and shooed Aissa back to the village. She waited
while the girl ran back before turning and disappearing from sight in front of
those gathered watching.

Aissa was proud to be picked to be the messenger, for everyone made a fuss
over her as she repeated what she’d been told.

The group left then and headed into several other countries to set up more
helmets to help the people. Ada kept everyone informed via Bethany as to
how the helmets were working.

By the time, they’d arrived in North America; several government officials
or criminals had tried to suborn the guardians of the helmets, as the news
their effects gradually leaked out.

The helmets themselves were unharmed, but the locations where they were
hidden had been cordoned off and only paying customers or government officials
were allowed in. Of course this didn’t last long, as Ada refused to
allow any changes to be effected during this time.

Where people were being forced to pay before entering, it didn’t take long
before dissent took effect as no cures were affected and the people trying to
profit from the mystical healing properties of the caves were soon ousted by
force.

Where officialdom controlled the caves Ada acted differently. If one
of the guinea pigs ordered to submit to be tested under the healing area, had
a genuine complaint, then Ada healed the affliction. If one of the
officials then tried to benefit after seeing the results, Ada had several ways
to take care of the situation.

In one case, a particular individual was particularly nasty and scathing of
women in general, something Ada had picked up through the auditory pickup in
each helmet. He’d dragged the woman Ada had cured of a nasty skin
affliction out from under the dome and sent her stumbling on the uneven cave
floor. His muttered comment about her was picked up by Ada, even before
he sat under the dome.

Ada scanned him routinely, as she did everyone placed under the
domes. This time she decided to act, even though he had no real health
problems. The person that eventually reformed under the dome bore no
resemblance to the male official that she had once been. Her screams, as
she realized what she’d become soon brought other officials running to her
aide. Her story was first ridiculed as impossible, and a search was set
up to look for the man she had once been.

Eventually she was believed and the cave was sealed up to prevent others
from falling into a similar fate. Unknown to the government, the person
who had been the first cured by the cave knew of another way into the cave
system, and soon a renewed, but covert resumption of the use of the caves
powers were once again in full swing.

The use of caves in the US wasn’t a feasible option in the minds of modern
Americans, as belief in sacred healing places was only held by certain elders
in some of the native Indian tribes. They did take advantage of a story
about a statue of Mary that was reputed to have cured several people. It
was in a church of a small town and it always had a steady trickle of visitors
seeking a blessing. Bethany noted that it had a large block of white
marble at its base and worshipers knelt at its base placed their heads against
the marble. Time for a miracle.

Bethany, in the disguise of a crippled old lady requiring crutches, took
her place in the small queue of people. Once it was her turn, she placed
her head against the marble and let Ada do her thing. To onlookers it
looked as if her head sank into the stone as Ada placed the helmet beneath the
surface and vanished the unwanted excess stone into p space, forming a hollow
depression in the stone. A few gasps told her that this change in the
base had been observed. The pastor of the church moved towards her,
thinking she’d somehow damaged the statue’s base, but what happened next, made
him pause in surprise.

Bethany had laid the crutches to each side of her and it had been obvious
that her twisted limbs had hardly the strength to allow her to kneel.
Ada made the most of the “miracle” and a glow of light covered Bethany’s
spindly legs. Her legs took on flesh, straightening and becoming
firm. Then, as the glow faded, she stood up, her face taking on a look
of wonder, as she took a step without the crutches, which lay forgotten on the
ground.

The pastor could see a dent in the stone left by the woman now standing
firm before him as she smiled and walked out, to the gasps of those waiting
next. A rush to be the next was thwarted as the pastor knelt down and
felt the concave surface of the stone. He knew he’d just witnessed
something wonderful, and got up to find the woman blessed by the statue.

Of course, she had vanished, but that only lent credence to the miracle, as
some speculated that she was a messenger from god.

Knowing that the USA would need more than just one helmet, the group wanted
to try something else. Going online and searching had proved
enlightening. Not needing the same health benefits as some of the poorer
countries, the helmet could be turned to another use.

“The New U Transformation Salon, how can I help you?” Came the sound
of a caring voice over the phone.

Bethany knew from her own experience, how profound becoming the other sex
was. From her searches online, she knew there were thousands of
frustrated transgendered people who would never realize their dream because of
circumstances beyond their control. Bethany had found a service catering
to the transgendered and other similarly sexually confused people that gave
makeovers to those wanting to appear as the opposite sex.

When Bethany first found the salon, she was amused at the name, but NUTS
was anything but crazy, judging by the before and after pictures posted on
their website. A visit was therefore a must.

When Bethany arrived at the salon, she was alone. She thought it best
if the others remained anonymous. Bethany took on another visage just in
case, and appeared as an older Negro woman.

Seeing the hair drying equipment, she knew the perfect place to hide the
helmet. Looking around, she saw several “ladies” who were getting their
hair done and knew her aid would be greatly appreciated. Feigning a
penchant for intimate contact, Bethany held the owners hands as she asked a
few discrete questions. Ada relayed the truthfulness of the woman’s
answers, confirming Bethany’s suspicion that she would keep a secret.

After going though the usual routine of getting her done, Bethany was put
under the dryer. Ada promptly incorporated the updated helmet invisibly
into it. Because the helmet would be discovered if left unmodified, Ada
had made a few changes.

The new helmet would remain in p space, separated by only a fraction of a
degree from normal space. A built in sensor would detect the presence of
a head in close proximity and the probes required to interface with the person
under the dryer would then deploy, remaining unseen within the dryer body
itself.

Bethany called Jessica the owner over and started to talk in a quiet
voice. Bethany asked if she really wanted to help her special clients,
using her eyes to indicate the somewhat masculine client to her left.

“I do what I can. Sometimes it’s barely enough,” Jessica sorrowed.

“What if I can give you the means to give them their dreams for real?”
Bethany asked in all seriousness.

“How can you do that? Voodoo?” Jessica retorted, thinking she
was being conned.

“Stand on the other side so the others don’t see what I’m about to do,”
Bethany instructed.

Jessica did so, wondering what this crazy woman was about to try.
Bethany then changed back to a white girl around the age of 16. The look
in Jessica’s eyes was a sight to behold. She even looked under the chair
thinking she’d done a swap of some kind. “I’m dreaming or I’ve gone
crazy,” she finally gasped out.

“No, you are neither of those,” Bethany told her in the voice of the older
Negro woman she had once been. This made Jessica goggle all over
again.

“How did you do that?” she finally got out, looking around in case she was
being filmed for some practical joke.

“It’s this particular dryer. It is now modified to make changes you
only dreamed of.” Bethany informed her. “Let’s get the “lady” to
my left under it,” she insisted.

“Okay, let’s do that,” agreed Jessica, needing a little more proof.

Bethany stood up and walked over to the woman in question and started
talking to her quietly.

Jenny looked alarmed at first, having a real woman offer to give her
dream. Jenny looked over to Jessica with alarm showing in her eyes, but
getting a reassuring nod, she tried to remain calm as Bethany continued to
spin her tale.

“You mean that if I move over to that other hair dryer, it can transform my
body?” Jenny asked incredulously.

“Yes, it’s completely safe.”

Jenny thought she was in an episode of the Twilight Zone. But true to
her wistful dreams of somehow finding The Medallion, or a rustic little shop
tucked away in a mall, or indeed any of the miraculous means she’d read
of to magically change her gender, she couldn’t turn down the offer.
“Okay, let’s do it,” she agreed, feeling somewhat ridiculous, despite that
tiny spark of hope she’d harboured of just such an opportunity.

A minute later, Jenny was telling Jessica and Bethany the details of her
dream body. Ada, of course, was listing in. Once Jenny’s head was
in position, the changes started. Jessica had known Jenny for ages and
as the changes hit and her body shrank and expanded in all the right places,
she knew what Bethany had told her was true.

As for Jenny, well her expression was filled with shock, as her blouse was
distorted out of shape by the now redundant breast forms. Jenny didn’t
realize what was happening as her own breasts pushed out from her chest.
She thought something had gone wrong as she saw the ugly lumps the forms were
causing under her bra. Her chest felt resisted as two objects tried to
take the space meant for one.

Jessica realized what was causing Jenny’s distress and deftly slipped her
hand in and removed the forms before Jenny could even voice a protest at the
plundering hand. After that, all protests died stillborn, as Jenny felt
a sensation she had only dreamed of, that of filling her bra cups with her own
living flesh. Jessica handed Jenny a mirror, so she could see the
changes in her face. Gone were the sharp angular planes that proclaimed
her masculinity, and gone also was the dreaded apple Adam had gifted man.

Knowing, how she felt, Bethany pulled Jessica aside to allow Jenny the
courtesy of a little private self examination, as much as could be had in the
salon.

“What surname does Jenny use?’ she asked, knowing Ada would need to set a
new identity for Jenny.

“She is a real girl now?” asked Jessica, after giving Bethany the
information.

“Yes. Next time please have the person give their preferred name, as well
as the way they want to look, so the chair can process new identity papers for
them,” urged Bethany.

Bethany slipped her a card saying if there were any problems, she could
email the address on the card.

Jessica’s attention was drawn away to Jenny, who had given a glad cry,
discovering that she now had an inny instead of an outy.

When Jessica turned back to Bethany, she discovered her mysterious visitor
had vanished. She looked at the card and wondered where else would she
turn up to help those dealing with gender dysphoria.

Where else, turned out to be several states away, where again, Bethany used
the Internet to find a suitable venue for one of the helmets. In all,
five were spread across the states, making none to far away for those in
need.

In Britain, the obvious place for a helmet was in the stone circle of
Stonehenge. Advertising its new powers was a breeze, as there is always
a trickle of sightseers visiting. Bethany had waited till a few with
their cameras were close by, before she knelt before the largest standing
stone. She was in the form of a large man, which didn’t feel comfortable
at all now. In fact it felt almost alien and she was glad to be changing
soon.

Placing her/his head against the stone, Ada embedded the invisible helmet
into the stone leaving only a concave depression in its wake. Seeing
someone had taken a photo of her in the act, she cued her change back to a
young Asian female. Immediately there were gasps and the clicking of
camera shutters increased dramatically. The white tee and grey shorts
she had been wearing as a male grew baggy in her new diminutive form.
The tee formed a makeshift dress and she slipped out of the shorts, while
people gathered closer. She remained silent, as questions began being
asked, giving only a smile as she hurriedly slipped away from the crowd.
Luckily, no one stopped her, as they seemed more interested in taking pictures
of her.

It hit the news that night, bringing a storm of controversy. Some
said it was faked, others protested that their most sacred site was being made
a mockery of, while others flocked to the place to either to try it for
themselves, or to witness others that attempt to do so. There were plans
to close the site to the public, but that just caused more problems. In
the end, the stone had its own roped off walkway, so the ones interested in
trying their luck, didn’t traipse all over the site, maybe damaging it in the
process.

One thing that did come out of it all, after an enterprising individual
tried blackmailing the early transformees, by filming them after the change
and threatening to expose them, was government protection. They banned
filming anyone around the stone and put up a temporary screen.
Individuals signed in before entering the queue and the translucent plastic
tunnel that led away from the stone was just sufficient to obscure their
identities from the public eye. The tunnel lead to a large tent erected
outside the stones and there anyone with a radical change was issued new
identities for a small fee.

Of course not all supplicants got what they wanted. Bethany, posing
as the first case reported, had tipped off the press as how she had achieved
her new body. So all the people now knew that unless they stated their
real name and what they wanted to change, there would be no effect. This
information helped Ada to determine if the name given at the stone was the
same as the one input at the computer which the government setup at the
entrance. Checks could be made to see if any of the people were in
actual fact, criminals, and all changes requested that didn’t involve a change
in gender were refused unless the person was suffering from a debilitating
disease or major deformity, such as lost limbs or paralysis.

There was a concerted attempt to do a scientific analysis of the stones
powers in between the times Stonehenge was open to the public, but Ada’s
precautions meant that not only couldn’t the helmet be detected without
someone’s head being in the right position, the energies used couldn’t be
detected by current technology either. No one volunteered to put their
heads in the cavity when a huge powerful x-ray machine aimed at the stone
tried to see anything out of the ordinary, so again, the helmet remained
invisible.

It seemed the world was becoming aware of the existence of these special
places and people all over, began searching for more depressions in stones
that might yield similar powers. This made it easier for Bethany and the
others to set up additional helmets.

Of course the type of changes permitted by the helmets became the main
topic of speculation by varied groups. Why were sex changes with age
reduction allowed, when just a pure age reduction was not? It was the
same with the healing powers. People who could otherwise be treated by
conventional means were not healed, unless they were in some of the poorer
nations without the means or the facilities for such healing. That there
was intelligence somewhere behind it was soon obvious, as people tried to fool
the healing places by pretending to be destitute.

Of course, this led to talk that it was alien in nature, and that led to a
drop off in attendance by the merely curious. Only those who were
desperate for help continued to visit.

~~~~some time later~~~~

“Well, I’m glad to be back home,” sighed Bethany, looking longingly towards
the bathroom where Amanda had made a beeline for after dropping her bags
inside.

“Yeah, visiting other countries is fine, but there’s no place like home,”
Elizabeth added, echoing everyone’s sentiment.

The next few days were filled sorting out the mundane things like paying
bills and getting gardens back under control. Ada, via Bethany kept
everyone informed of the situation with the remotely operated helmets.

Bethany checked with the company producing the solar panels.

“So far, we have produced panels with about 80 percent of the efficiency of
the original sample. We think we can do better in the future as we
develop better methods,” the company director told her over the phone.
“This time next year, we should be producing 100 percent efficient panels for
everything the industry needs.”

It was a few days later when Tim coming round to take Bethany out to lunch,
found the house empty. “Bethany?” he called, wandering throughout the
house. Getting no reply, he became a bit anxious, despite knowing Ada
would always be there to protect Bethany. He went outside and called
again, still with no answer.

Finally as a last resort, he wandered down the track to the lookout.
“Bethany, I’ve been looking for you,” Tim called, seeing Bethany sitting on
the overhang.

Bethany looked up, but didn’t move as Tim came up and sat down beside
her.

“What’s up?” Tim asked, seeing her pensive look.

Bethany didn’t answer immediately, gathering her thoughts together.
“I can’t believe just how things have changed for me,” Bethany finally got
out.

Tim prudently said nothing, just nodding, as he relived the time since he’d
met this remarkable woman. Not having seen Bethany as a male, he
couldn’t imagine her as a man. Nothing he’d seen had hinted that she
hadn’t been born a woman.

“I wonder what’s going to happen next,” Bethany added uncertainly.

Here, Tim had several ideas. He voiced them. “Well, first we
get married, and have lots of kids. Then we live like the idle rich,’ he
chuckled.

Bethany punched him on the arm. “Hey I’m being serious.”

“So am I,” Tim countered earnestly.

“I meant about the effects the helmets will have and the new solar
panels. Certain people are going to doing their hardest to thwart the
introduction of virtually free energy sources.”

“Whatever happens, I’ll be there at your side honey. We will face
those problems together as man and wife.” Tim promised, putting his arm
around her and drawing her close. “I’m sure with all the changes we have
started, the future will only get better and the world will be a nicer place,”
he assured her.

Bethany looked out over Perth, knowing she had someone to stand beside her
no matter what. Now all she had to do was step into the future and meet
everything head on. ‘It’s going to be a far richer life than Gary
Carstairs could ever have imagined,’ she thought, as she accepted a
lingering kiss from her boyfriend.

The end.

*********************************************
© 2006 by
Prudence Walker. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without
limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, and compilation design) may be
printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored
electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available
without the express written consent of the copyright holder.