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| Story: A New Life - Conclusion Sunday, 04-Jun-2000 00:54:18
Well, you know what they say: "All good things must come to an end."..... I don't know if this story can be classified as one of those good things or not, but the second part is definitely right. I hope everyone here has enjoyed Sarah Carter and her friends. I will be sending this story in its entirety to both Unzipped and Insanity for their story archives. The next series I'm working on is going to be different from what I usually do. I will be delving into the Marvel Universe for a series covering the actual and one-and-only Jennifer Walters. I don't want to give away anything about it, since it's in the late planning stage. But I hope to have the first part up sometime next week. Thanks for reading! :) “Hello, Sarah.” Xris’ voice, once a comforting source of compassion and advice, had been, in the short span of a few minutes, irrevocably altered to one of mockery. The journalist had no idea of the fox within the henhouse; he had been so sweet and caring to her- especially after the death of her surrogate human parents. Now, with the spoken evidence from Beth, a fellow Gammonian, he had transformed into a cold-as-steel tyrant who cared nothing about her - - just as long as she served his purposes…… Sarah had forgone turning back into her human form. As Beth waited outside the door to her apartment, Sarah had walked in to confront Xris – alone. She wanted to deal with this her own way - - but she wasn’t at all afraid to call for reinforcements. She knew her friends, too, were present, as well. But she had instructed Beth to keep everyone except Amy away from the apartment. Sarah had no idea if or how the computerized version of her late brother would react, and she was afraid that he wasn’t the helpless little ebony box that he appeared to be. Not if the guardian’s story had been even half-true. No, he was a ruthless man, capable of unspeakable atrocities. She knew that now; Beth had taken her to the small craft that had brought the two Gammonian guardians here to Earth. Inside the utilitarian ship, she had been shown the true history and events of her family’s life. Sarah – actually Kara – was indeed a princess of her homeworld. When Beth (Mora, as she was called on Gammon) had first told the journalist of her royal heritage, it had seemed more than a little bizarre. Yet, at the same time, there was the clear ring of truth about her statement. And as she watched a condensed version of Beth’s story, it sounded even truer. Indeed, Xris was a criminal, albeit a very powerful and inventive one. His thoughts and plans also verged on the brink of that of a megalomaniac. He only cared about the preservation and amplification of his twisted views, and would stop at nothing to see his goals achieved. Sarah wasn’t sure if there would be any reasoning with him…. But she realized that she still had to try. Something inside of her told her that it was her duty to try. She slowly walked up to the bookshelf upon which his intricate computer core rested. She couldn’t even greet him in return. ‘Bets to get it out now; it may give him less time to react – if he does at all.’, she decided to herself. “Xris, I know what you’ve been trying to do.” He didn’t respond immediately. When he did, several seconds later, his deep, modulated voice contained a trace of inquisitiveness about it (which she was positive was false). “Sarah, what exactly do you mean? I have been here, awaiting your return from Mr. Harris’ office.” That clenched it. “Xris, I never told you I was going to his office.” Silence again. Sarah watched as a few lights flashed across the polished surface of her brother’s core. “I am sure you mentioned it to me. I have a log of the event.” Sarah shook her green head, taking another step closer to him. “No, Xris, I never did. How did you know I was going there? I left directly from The Denver Post’s offices.” She took yet another step closer, planting her bare feet firmly into the carpeting, making sure she was balanced. “The game’s up. I know what you’ve been planning. Michael Harris wasn’t trying to kill me. You wanted it to appear that way, so that I would kill him out of my own rage, thus ridding yourself of a troublesome ‘business’ partner. I found out too late that he wasn’t the one who had hired all of those assassins.” More lights flashed. “Sarah, whatever do you mean? Why would I want to kill you? You are my sister - - my only living link left to my past. Where did you get such false information?” Sarah’s left hand slowly raised up in the air, her long, graceful, strong green fingers wiggling gradually, beckoning towards the door. It opened up, and Beth stepped inside, once again dressed in a stylish business suit (the same one she and her partner always seemed to wear). Sarah’s green-eyed gaze never wavered from Xris’ cube. “I believe you know my guest, Xris. After all, how do you forget the face of someone you thought dead by your own hand?” Xris’ sensors scanned the human female that had just entered the apartment. “No, I do not believe I have ever met her before, Sarah. Although, I must admit, there is something familiar in her face.” Beth stopped halfway from the front door to where Sarah was standing. She closed her eyes, her hands curling into loose fists. Suddenly she began to grow, her skin altering into a rich emerald color, her body reforming itself. As the seconds passed, green skin began to roughly rip through seams and burst through leather. She grew taller and stronger, the failing suit covering less and less of Beth’s emerging muscled, sexy body. Then it was completed, and another Gammonian stood behind Sarah, both green women looking at Xris’ computer module. “Now do you recognize her, Xris?”, Sarah asked, scorn evident in her husky voice. A violently blinking series of lights played around the small black cube. Then he spoke – but it was not the same voice that the journalist had come to recognize as her brother’s. This one was harsh, grating - - evil. “Mora.”, he spoke matter-of-factly. “I thought you had perished along with the rest of my accursed family, save Kara.” Sarah sensed his sensors coming back to rest upon her. “And you. You have no idea how glad I am to rid myself of that horrid personality matrix. I created it on the journey to this miserable planet, designed to put you at ease and to make me indispensable to you. I thought all of my planning had been wasted when you disappeared after those puny old humans died. But then you returned and brought me here - - and brought my plan that much closer to fruition!” He laughed; gone was the rich laughter Sarah had come to know. In its place was a harsh sound: the laughter of a madman. “Once here, I was able to strengthen the alliances I made during your absence. Harris was one of the most important. His corporation was immense, and had the influence necessary to carry out my glorious task.” Then the two women heard a note of anger rapidly crawl into Xris’ speech. “But then the idiot had the gall to demand me – ME – for some of the weapons designs I had hinted at. Those were the payment I had promised in return for his company’s acquisition and placement of the parts necessary to build a high-powered communications dish to contact my movement back on Gammon. But the greedy cretin wanted them now! In addition, he had come to the unwanted attention of local authority forces, and had placed the entire operation in jeopardy. So I devised a clever scheme to rid myself of his meddling - - and the method of his execution lived right here with me…..” Sarah glared at him, anger burning in her emerald eyes. Xris laughed. “Yes, I see you have caught on! You, Sarah, were to be my hand of vengeance! And you succeeded brilliantly. I cannot thank you enough. How terrible it must feel for you to realize that you have been played for a fool.” The derision in her brother’s callous voice only reinforced the mock sympathy he had just spouted. But Sarah hadn’t dropped the bomb on him yet, and she thought it was about time to do so. “Xris, your plan was a very credible one, almost living up to the reputation you seemingly have earned on Gammon. But it has one small fault: it failed.” She smiled at him, crossing her powerful green arms in front of her semi-covered chest, feeling the firmness of her green breasts beneath her crossed arms. “Mora was able to stop me in time before I killed Harris. He is alive and in the hands of the authorities. Your shipments have ceased - - the communications dish will not be built. And Mora has told me one other thing. Your movement on Gammon has ended, as well. There are no more followers of any significance left; only a handful of worn-out and disillusioned followers remain. There is no one left to follow you, Xris. Your entire plan has failed.” She looked back at Beth, who nodded. Turning again towards Xris, Sarah continued. “Mora and Rana arrived here on Earth several days ago after picking up Gammonian-style signals coming from here. They contacted their superiors, and were granted permission to investigate. Up to that point, they thought us all dead. That immediately changed when they found out about the ‘superwoman’ roaming about Denver from television and radio signals radiating from Earth, and the remains of our escape pod. They also found out about this scheme of yours, and finally contacted me. Now they have been ordered to detain you and bring you back to Gammon for trial - - for the death of our parents and sister.” Sarah had to blink back a stray tear; she just couldn’t believe that anyone could be so cruel and heartless as to sacrifice their own family just to further their own twisted ends. For that reason alone, Xris deserved whatever his sentence handed down to him. “I see…..” Sarah thought she saw a small series of muted glows come from the ebony cube. Then his voice returned, subdued, but having lost none of its scorn. “You two have forced me to implement my backup plan. I have now activated a thermonuclear device within my own housing. It is quite crude by Gammonian standards, as it was a last-minute addition to this module. But it is sufficient to level this entire city. And it will detonate in less than five Earth minutes.” A soft, evil chuckle came forth from Xris’ now-quietly humming black cube. “I wish it had not come to this, but you have forced my hand. If, as you say, my ideals have perished on Gammon, then the humans that inhabit this city will perish, as well as you and your friends. It is an acceptable trade. I lose my ‘life’ and my future. You lose your life, as well as the life of your precious Andrew and five million other pitiful humans.” With lightning-fast reflexes, Sarah’s powerful green hands reached out to grab a hold of the cube. But they were stopped about six inches short of their goal by an invisible wall. She moved her hands about, and traced out a perfect invisible sphere that surrounded Xris. But it seemed to pass through the faux wood of the bookshelf, as well as part of the stereo system’s left speaker. “I thought you might try something such as this.”, Xris’ mocking voice spoke. “I have surrounded myself with a force field attuned to Gammonian bio-patterns. Neither one of you can penetrate this shielding, and only ones of your strength can possibly rupture the strong material my computer matrix is composed of. Even in this last act, my genius has shown through. I will die with the knowledge that none of you could truly defeat me.” Sarah knew that there was little time to act. There was no time at all to bring his cube somewhere where it could be crushed by a manmade machine. And she couldn’t let the bomb detonate, wiping out Denver’s population, not to mention herself and all of her friends. Gripping the invisible walls of the shield as best she could, Sarah picked the cube from the shelf and held it, her mind racing. ‘I have to do something!’, she mentally screamed. Xris sensed her helplessness and laughed cruelly. “How does it feel, ‘superwoman’, to know that there is something that you are powerless to prevent? Just like the death of that gang member. You killed him in cold blood, Sarah. When you committed that act, you became like me. You are no better than I am, Sarah. How does it feel to die knowing that you have sunk to my level?” His laughter echoed through the apartment’s living room. Sarah fought back the panic and denial that his words welled up within her. ‘That was different!’, she wanted to tell him. ‘He was trying to kill me! It was self-defense!’ What kept her from saying that was the bit of doubt that still lingered inside her mind. Maybe there was a part of her that enjoyed killing that young man after what he wanted to do to her. Maybe her brother was right: deep down, she was just like him….. NO!! She was nothing like him! She would never kill for the advancement of her beliefs, no matter how strongly she believed in them. ‘I’ve got to concentrate on diffusing this bomb before it detonates. I don’t have time to wallow in self-recrimination and doubt. If I do so, Xris wins. I will NOT allow that to happen!!’ Abruptly, something he had said edged its way back into her mind. ‘Wait - - he said something about Gammonian physiology not being able to penetrate the shielding. Yet it passed easily through the shelf and speaker……’ An idea sprouted and took root inside Sarah’s racing brain. ‘I just hope it works. It HAS to work!’ She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the time she knew was slipping away from her as the countdown proceeded, and focused upon her transformation. She began to feel her body start to shrink, losing it’s powerful and sexy green Gammonian physique, turning more and more human. As she did so, she felt the force field’s resistance to her hands dissipating. ‘It is working!’, Sarah discovered. Xris had said the force field he had created was attuned to Gammonian physiology, and thus she had been unable to penetrate it. But, as she became human once more, the field was losing its effectiveness. As the now-pale green hue of her skin changed into a lightly-tanned one, Sarah’s hands passed through the field to gain solid purchase upon the glossy black material of Xris’ cube. He spoke, still sounding confident - - but she also thought she heard the slightest hesitancy there, as well. “So, you have found a way to penetrate my shielding. But in that puny human body, you are unable to damage me. And if you should try to change back, the field will force your hands away again. Face it, Kara – you cannot stop the destruction of this city. The deaths of all these humans shall be upon your head.” But Sarah Carter wasn’t listening to him any longer. She needed her full concentration now, and she didn’t want to be distracted by her brother’s ramblings. She focused again on her transformation, and once again began to feel her body increasing in size and musculature. And once again, she could feel the invisible wall of the force field starting to push her growing hands away from the black material. But she fought against the field with all of her increasing strength. Her lengthening light-green fingers pressed against the shiny ebony of Xris’ cube; her widening palms spread across the perfectly square shape of the module. She felt pain shooting up her hands and forearms as the field began to form around them, cutting them off from the rest of her body. Grimacing, Sarah continued to strain against the field. Just as she thought that she could go no further, she felt her hands starting to warp the cube, her strength now sufficient enough to damage it. With a an almost invisible flicker of light surrounding Xris, Sarah felt the field instantly disappear. The pain ended, as well – she must have damaged the projector during her struggling. As she felt her change wind down, Sarah went about the task of stopping the bomb. She had no idea where it was hidden inside Xris, and she knew it would be no use asking him. That left only one option….. She began squeezing again; her large, powerful green feminine hands began to warp the cube further. “What are you doing??”, Xris asked, his voice now wild. “There’s only one way to stop you, Xris.”, she grunted, continuing to squeeze. She then heard something inside being crushed, and the humming stopped. “You - - You’ve destroyed the arming device!” Xris was absolutely shocked. “How?? How did you know where to find it??” Sarah let out a loud sigh of relief, sensing Beth behind her doing the same. The danger was over. Andrew and Dana were safe, as well as the entire population of Denver. She looked down at the small, slightly twisted cube in her hands. “Actually, Xris, I didn’t know. I was going to just crush you into oblivion. You don’t deserve to live.” But then she closed her eyes, thinking back to a time in the recent past. “But I’m not like you. I don’t kill on a whim, or to do so for revenge. You may be right: there are actions in my past that I do regret, and I will carry those regrets with me for the rest of my life. But I learn from my mistakes. You, obviously, have not.” She handed the cube to Beth, who took it, pride easily evident in her beautiful green eyes. “Kara, you have proven yourself worthy of your parents’ legacy. Your father would have been proud. We will take Xris back to Gammon to stand trial for his crimes.” She hesitated a second, and then pushed on. “Kara, you are more than welcome to return with us. There are many people who would be happy to see you. Who can tell? The current ruler might even abdicate in your favor.” Sarah shook her head. “I don’t think I’m cut out for leadership, Beth, errh, Mora.” She smiled, resting a hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “I’m happy to stay where I am. This is my home now. I have friends whom I care about here.” She heard the front door open up behind Mora, and she looked over the guardian’s shoulder to see Andrew standing there, a questioning but relieved expression upon his face. She smiled at him, then looked back at Beth. “I’m sorry, but I think I’m needed here more so than Gammon.” Beth glanced over her shoulder, saw Andrew, and then looked back at Sarah, an understanding smile curling her thick green lips. “I understand, Kara. You will be missed, but I wish you the best. Your father would have approved….” The smile still on her face, she turned around and, after giving her farewell to Andrew, walked through the door, Sarah losing sight of her large green form. “What happened here?”, Andrew asked, walking right up to Sarah. But she just smiled, wrapping her strong green arms around his waist. “Not right now, Andy. Right now, I just want you to hold me.” She bent down and placed her lips upon his. This simple kiss seemed to last forever, and was the sweetest thing in the world to Sarah Carter - - superwoman………. Fin Terry |
| Story: A New Life - Conclusion (Terry) (04-Jun-2000 00:54:18) |
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