It was 1996. Dr Ann O’Malley had recently approached 26 year old Martin in an inner Sydney City mall and asked if she could shrink him and eat him. Two weeks later, he had gone out dancing with her one night, enjoyed his first kisses, and then been reduced to tiny size, having agreed to be eaten by her. She had just explained the origin of the formula which she had used to shrink him. It was a derivation of the Super Schoolboy formula, that had once created Captain Miniature. This current formula could only reduce a person’s size permanently, without imparting any super powers.

“Wow!” said Martin, looking from her gentle fingers to her lovely huge beaming face in admiration, “You’re behind the origin of Captain Miniature.”

“I never told him or anyone else of my desire to eat someone. I’ve enjoyed learning about your life story. I’ll tell you mine, and you’ll understand why I chose to make him a super hero rather than asking him about eating him. Now that I’ve learned about women who can become giantesses to eat boys, and so on, I’ve always wished I had that power too. But by shrinking you, I’ve at least made it possible to eat you, thanks to your generous agreement. It’s only fair to tell you my life story first.”

“I’d love to hear it all,” said Martin.

“Well sit on my shoulder for a while, and then change to the lap of my dress when it suits you,” she said, and began to narrate her tale:

Perhaps an orphan lives in a world, which is smaller than even the world of an only child, for an orphan lives a life, which cannot be shared with any known relatives. The origin of an orphan could well be unknown, a secret that was never revealed to the orphan concerned. There have been some orphans who have followed the ways of foster children, searching for the secrets of their own past, and finding success or failure in their attempts to unravel the mysteries.

An orphan might also live in a world of many people, a world where everyone is an orphan, a world specifically for orphans, a world that derives its name accordingly, an orphanage.

Ann O’Malley was an orphan who had lived in an orphanage for as long as she could remember. She knew nothing of her past and was content to continue the life she had always known at Sydney's Freedom Fields Girls Orphanage in St Ives. The site was located on the eastern outskirts of St Ives, away from the urbanized North Shore line, but close enough to commute to Gordon on Mona Vale Road whenever it was necessary.

The orphanage had an abundance of land, partly covered by a swimming pool, a sporting oval and several trees, which decorated the land for miles around. Freedom Fields was a perfect compromise. The orphans of the colossal three storey monasterial structure could enjoy the beauty of the countryside with all of the modern conveniences as well. It was so named to reflect the policy of the orphanage, which was to allow the girls as much freedom as possible, without failing to discipline them whenever it was deemed necessary. The girls were required to attend school at the local high schools either in Gordon, St Ives, Pymble or Turramurra, and then return home by bus.

Ann O’Malley was in the midyear winter months of her first teenage year at Northern High School in Telegraph Road, Pymble. The girls could organize their own time, including the decision to skip a meal, if it suited them, from the age of twelve onwards. However, the younger girls would attend special schooling classes in the Freedom Fields hall, rather than catching a bus to a distant location. Teenage girls with poor performance records at school were counseled with a view to improving their efforts, but the decision to progress further in their endeavours remained their own to make.

The system at Freedom Fields had not achieved perfection. There were girls who abused their freedom and made no effort to complete their homework within the time periods allowed by their teachers at school. There were girls who had their own examples of various human problems: the occasional bully, the infrequent theft, and other troubles. The orphanage staff did their best to deal with problem girls as they became apparent, but the freedom of lifestyles enabled the majority of the girls to develop at their own pace and in their own way.

Sporting events were common, but not compulsory. The staff discouraged any negative treatment of girls who chose not to participate in social events.  The orphanage funds provided a small weekly allowance for each of the girls, the size of which depended on their age.

Ann O’Malley had turned thirteen in May 1953, two days prior to the school holidays. It was now July of that year, and Ann was in the middle of the long winter term, which was the second of the three divisions of the school year. She was working hard at her school work, but was able to utilize her considerable intelligence in order to accomplish her school tasks within the time possible. She enjoyed the liberties afforded her by the policies of Freedom Fields.

Having listened to stories told by her friends at school about their personal lives, Ann felt privileged to be allowed to make her own decisions, provided she behaved herself. She always did. It seemed illogical to do foolish things and face the consequences, when so much could be accomplished without foolishness.

One day, she had been playing baseball in the Freedom Fields grounds with friends after school, when a taller girl hit the ball so hard, that it disappeared into the bushes.

“I’ll get it!” called Ann, and ran in the direction of the ball.

Looking around, she eventually saw where it had landed, and reached down and grabbed it, just in time to see a tiny boy attempting to conceal himself behind a flower. She crawled over and gently picked him up and slipped him into her shirt pocket.

“I’ll talk to you later. We’re playing baseball,” she said quickly, and stood up and ran back out to the field and threw the ball to the pitcher.

During dinner, she managed to drop small bits of food into her shirt pocket, which the tiny boy could eat. Once she was in her own room, she took the boy from her pocket and introduced herself properly. He was not yet 9 years old, and was in fact a visitor from a parallel earth, which would later be known as Earth-T. Its people were miniscule, in comparison to Ann. He had somehow slipped from his own earth into hers. He had been orphaned in Earth-T’s world war two, when he was merely a baby. Ann was touched by the fact that they were both orphans, both for the same reason too. He had been on her world for weeks, and could not find his way back to his own. He did not know what had caused him to slip into her world. Maybe, he was one rare person of earth-T who possessed the teleportation power which was common to boys and men on Ann’s earth, who had the gts gene. Boys Ann’s size would later use the power to teleport to other earths, one where everyone was twice their size, one called Earth-G, where the people were all giants (relatively as large as Ann was in comparison to the boy from earth-T. Of course a far more detailed account can be found by reading the prequel “Captain Miniature and the Red Moll Conundrum”).

“You can stay here with me,” she said, “I’ll bring you food and hide you here, and some days I can take you to school with me secretly if you like. We’ll become great friends.”

“Thank you very much, Ann,” said the boy, “I’m Wendell.”

Ann had been working on a special project. The girls had their own private rooms, which were exceptionally small, but nevertheless completely private, another Freedom Fields policy which was yet to be threatened by the so far nonexistent possibility of a shortage of funds. In her room Ann had been compiling a book of knowledge relating to the site of Freedom Fields. She had copied information from a book, which she had found in the small library of Freedom Fields. The library only had a small sample of fiction, non-fiction and reference books to fill its tiny interior. The girls could borrow books from their own school libraries, or the ones in Gordon and Turramurra at their leisure.

Further research had enabled her to discover that the old building, with its beauty that fascinated Ann, was constructed in 1867, but not originally as an orphanage. Prior to 1922 it had been a monastery. It was called St Abel's Monastery in those days, but the time came, when the monks who inhabited St Abel's, for reasons not known to Ann, chose to sell it to the wealthy lady who founded an orphanage, whereupon its name was changed to Freedom Fields.

What of the bushland beyond the site? Where did the notion of private property end and the idea of public bush begin? Ann had been taken on many walks through the trees beyond, many of which were tall green pines, but had always turned around and gone back with the groups before exploring as far as she wanted to go. Perhaps there were more secrets out there, secrets associated with Freedom Fields, or even with St Abel's, and Ann wanted a chance to explore on her own without arousing the curiosity of the staff and the girls.

"I'll go tonight," she thought, as she finished her Wednesday afternoon homework and stared out at the start of the surrounding trees.

Ann had a room at the back of the orphanage on the second of its three storeys, which she liked. There were people above her and people below.

"St Abel's was white in the 19th Century," she thought, "because the green leaves are on the clinging vine which was not there in my copy of a 1926 photograph."

She had photocopied a book, producing an obscured but pleasing replica of the original picture.

"I don't think that the vines will support me all the way down, but they certainly make an attractive covering for the walls on this place. If I edge along the ledge past the next room, I can then use the jacaranda tree to climb down to the ground. The trick will be making sure that Wanda is fast asleep, and not waking her up," thought Ann.

She secretly told her tiny friend Wendell what she was going to do, and invited him to accompany her. He accepted, and looked forward to a nocturnal adventure.

Shortly after nine, Ann prepared to commence her explorations. She looked at the darkened area outside. Teenagers had no specified "lights out" time, but those who were wise allowed themselves no chance of being punished for breaking the eight o'clock silence curfew which allowed the girls to sleep unhindered if they so desired. The curfew ended each morning at eight o'clock. It was known as the "Hush between the Eights," and applied even on weekends. The staff of Freedom Fields believed that the girls had ample opportunity to make plenty of noise in the schoolyards and during the daytime of the weekends at Freedom Fields. There was no need for girls, who wanted to be sure of a healthy night's sleep, to face the frustration of lying in bed listening to an audible conversation in the next room. Any staff member who carried on a conversation from one end of the hallway to the other, rather than quietly whispering in the staff room, would be in danger of losing her job. The girls and the staff were expected to bathe or shower between six and eight in the morning, or between five and seven forty-five at night, or both, rather than running the water during the later evening hours.

Ann put on her stockings, a bright red skirt, a dark green jumper over another jumper, in order to stay warm during the coldest time of the year, and her dark blue sandshoes and white sox. She adjusted the strap of her torch, so that the device clung tightly to her neck. It would not bounce about as she made her way along the ledge to the branch of the jacaranda tree, which would lead her down to the ground. She slipped Wendell gently in behind the top of her outer jumper and let him hold onto the torch strap to steady himself.

According to more of the nocturnal policies at Freedom Fields, a girl could not knock on the door of another girl's room after eight at night. However, if the other girl was evidently not asleep, with her door open and the bedroom light switched on, then she would be permitted visitors who did not talk at a level above a whisper. If this situation was not in existence, then nobody, not even a member of the orphanage staff, could visit a girl's bedroom after eight o'clock. These extensive nighttime measures were enforced with strict consequences, in order to provide the quietest possible sleeping conditions for even the worst victim of insomnia.

Ann's jumper was in fact a long necked skivvy into which she tucked her thick red straight hair, deep down into the concealing material, so that it would not wave about or get caught on any small parts of the jacaranda tree. Wanda's door was closed and her bedroom light was evidently switched off. Ann had closed her own door and used the knowledge that she had, of where things were, in order to dress herself in the moonlight. She had opened the window as quietly as she could at eight o'clock, obscuring any faint sounds with the noise of her slight coughing, a biological necessity which was one of the exceptions to the rules of the Hush between the Eights.

Ann climbed silently out onto the ledge and stole over to the edge of Wanda's windowsill and peeked into the room. She could see Wanda's silhouette covered by a blanket and a sheet. Ann then reached the short distance to the near branch of the jacaranda tree and gripped it with her left hand. Then she maneuvered herself onto the branch, wrapping her legs around it. From there, she could work her way down to the fork and the lower branches like a monkey. Reversing this process later on would see her back in her room by morning.

She continually checked the building for nearby lights as she made her way to the bottom, also testing that each downward climbing movement had an upward climbing substitute motion which would enable her ascent to her room later on. She finally reached the bottom and then decided on a roundabout movement.

"The other walls may well have rooms with lights on even now. So my best bet is to go straight out to the bushes and trees now. I'm least likely to be seen if I stay on this side of the building," she said to her tiny audience of one.

Ann removed the torch from her neck, leaving Wendell to hold onto the top of her jumper, and put it into her right hand. Fortunately the batteries had been held in place by the powerful spring at the negative polarity end of the torch.

"And the rest is easier," said Ann, as she moved towards the trees at a fast but tiptoed pace, "Although there's always other trouble. Still I am not likely to get attacked anywhere near Freedom Fields. What sort of mugger would be out in that tonight? What sort of crazy person would inhabit a darkened bush? No fool would be wild enough to do that ... except me, of course."

Wendell laughed, but his tiny voice did not carry beyond Ann’s nearby ears.

Ann did not laugh. Even a soft giggle could be heard clearly in the still of night by anyone with an open window.

"With any luck, they all feel the cold enough to shut it out tonight," said Ann, "It's a good thing I wore stockings under my skirt and sox. They're a special kind of thick winter stockings."

Ann O’Malley made her way into the trees, still feeling her way in the dark until she was about ten meters in. Then she lit the torch briefly at the beginning of each stretch of pathway and then memorized the route she would take next, in order to travel in the dark as much as possible, which conserved her battery power in the torch.

"I could have brought spare batteries, but this way I don't need to... Ah, this is the way we often go, and tonight I am going to go further, much further, far enough to explore this forest properly... What about wild beasts?" said Ann, as she stopped and hesitated before going any further, "No. There couldn't be any really dangerous animals here, not even at night. Otherwise it would not be safe to take the younger girls for daytime trips in here."

Another flash of the torch.

Another walk for several meters.

Ann accepted the many thoughts going on in her mind. She may find nothing, just a dead end in the trees shortly beyond the orphanage's usual walking limits. On the other hand, she may explore vast hectares of forest and still find nothing. Those possibilities did not matter. At least she could tell herself that she had explored the forest thoroughly, and at night.

"Anyway, what could possibly happen to me out here?" thought Ann.

She passed the furthermost point of the orphanage's previous explorations and continued on into the forest.

Ann thought about the implications of what she was doing, her chances of making an interesting discovery, the likelihood of her disappearance being noticed, and the nature of the punishment that she would be expected to undergo. None of these matters would be likely to arise, at least not on the balance of probabilities.

She continued using the occasional spray of light from the torch in order to see a pathway and then remember it. The moon shone coldly above her. Ann could almost hear it saying, "Well don't expect me to help you. You're the one who wanted to do this."

"No, I won't," thought Ann, "but you will be gone by morning, and I shall not be out here by that time either."

Talking to the moon could not be considered as unusual as the things that happened next. Ann noticed a clearing where some branches of trees had been broken away, and then she saw a huge metal object, the width of a car's length and apparently shaped like the flying saucers she had seen on television. The structure was coloured in a shiny tint of grey. Ann Walked around the object, feeling its strength as she hit it with loose pieces of fallen branches.

"It's not a toy. It doesn't break," she thought, as she hammered at it with a club made of wood. The object had no foot holes or protruding extremities for climbing, and yet Ann knew she could sit or even lie on top of the device, if she could manage to climb up onto it. She shone the torch into the trees and located a branch, which would probably suit her desires perfectly.

"Now if you could climb up there, then it would be easy to jump down on top of it,” said Wendell.

“Well here goes my best effort," said Ann, as she pulled herself up onto a low branch.

The torch dangled from her neck. She had strapped it around her neck again, in order to leave it switched on while she climbed the tree. She reached the branch towards which she had endeavoured to climb, gripped it with her hands and maneuvered herself out to the end of the branch.

"Still not far enough," she thought, impatiently curious to know what the top of the object would feel like. If it made a resonating noise when she landed on it, she would know that the insides were hollow. Otherwise it would be a lump.

"That's right," thought Ann, "a solid, useless boring lump. Well I can't hold on here forever. So I will just have to swing my way over."

She kicked forward with her legs and then swung them backwards, kicking outwards again, forwards, backwards, forwards, backwards, forwards, and -

Ann let go, her hands arching over her head and down to her sides as her feet landed on the top of the object with a jarring effect. She felt the impact, but she had done no damage to herself.

"Oh, flying frozen fruitcakes," she said aloud, "It is just a boring piece of metal after all, and - wild, this is wild!"

A circular portion of the roof of the object upon which she stood lowered itself downwards into the object's center, activating a series of inner lights.

"It was hollow. It was just made of such tough metal that I thought it was solid. My standing on the panel must be the way to activate the opening sequence. I am inside it now. It looks like a spaceship," thought Ann.

The inner walls and the floor were all of the darkest shade of red. There was a compartment the size of a small cubicle. It appeared to be locked. Ann examined the ship's control panels and discovered a screen with buttons, flashing blue lights, words in a language she had never seen before. The symbols must have been completely alien. They were neither alphabetic nor numerical. Ann wandered around the main room.

"Prowling pixies! This is the grooviest thing I've ever seen. Hey, wait!"

The circular platform rose back to its original position, pushed upwards by a cylindrical mechanism from the floor, as Ann O’Malley could now observe. It was again a part of the roof, leaving a grey metal cylinder in the center of the main room.

"Bouncing buttercakes! I could be stuck in here!" said Ann.

"No you are not. This unit can open the platform to exit at any time. I am the computer of this craft."

Ann turned back to the computer. It was the screen with the flashing blue lights. More had appeared on the screen, this time in English, merely the words that the device had just spoken.

"You can speak!" said Ann.

"I have been programmed to comprehend all of the languages in this star system, as well as many beyond it."

"But how? There is nobody else. It's deserted here," said Wendell, sticking his head further out from the top of Ann’s jumper, until she removed him and introduced him to the computer.

"My constructor was Jeradd. He flew this ship to earth, hoping to explore your planet. It was the last one he had on his list, but he died of old age before he could leave the ship," said the computer.

"Why didn't he call for help, or head this ship towards a hospital? Maybe he could have been helped."

"No. For Jeradd's race, death comes instantly. He knew that he was too old to continue functioning, and then he died. There is no period of physical deterioration before death, not as you earth people would know."

"How did he get into this ship? It's a long jump to the ground from the top."

"Not for a ... Not for a ... Your planet's inhabitants have no dictional nomenclature for the beings of Jeradd's planet. Your people have never left this planet, except to explore its own moon."

"So what is going to happen to you now?"

"I could be programmed to override my previous loyalties, which have been rendered unproductive by the death of my constructor."
"What would happen then?"

"I would be programmed to serve you."

"But I don't know how to program anything."

"I shall instruct you in the correct sequence for altering my loyalties."

"This sounds like fun," said Ann.

"I have no comprehension of that word in my own experiences. However, it is an accepted emotion of sentient beings."

"Well let's do it. How do I start?"

"Press the button in the left hand bottom corner of the keyboard. You will not recognize the symbols, but I can guide your fingers across the keys from that corner button with quantified directional vectors expressed in units of keys."

"You mean you give directions across and up and down the keyboard?"

"That is correct."

*          *          *          *

"Reprogramming will conclude momentarily, Miss O’Malley."

The computer had requested her name during the reprogramming sequence.

"That's good. This would be awfully confusing, if I had to do it on my own. In fact, it has been rather confusing anyway."

"Reprogramming has concluded, Miss O’Malley. I am now under logical compulsion to obey your commands."

"So what happens when this ship runs out?" asked Wendell, relieved that his tiny size was of no apparent peculiarity to the computer.

"Eventually, both the ship and I will cease to function. Suggest, accounting for variables in usage, that we will last four to eight of your years," said the computer.

"Why not have the ship orbit the planet indefinitely, while I am at the orphanage? If I had a way to summon you, you could then bring it to this clearing or other places when I secretly needed your help."

"The compartment to your rear right contains thousands of gadgets, most of which would surpass the technology of your planet's people, Miss O’Malley. Few of them are larger than your hand. You may find them very useful. I believe you can find a portable communicator in amongst those devices. It is small enough to be attached to the undersides of your watch," said the computer.

"Then you can show me how to use them all. I can have adventures with them."

"Correct Miss O’Malley. I am familiar with all of the devices in that chamber. I can release the chamber's locking mechanism on your command."

"Sure. Do it."

"Security access codes have accepted my robotic influence, Miss O’Malley."

The door opened after a series of clicks. A room of shelves with gadgets awaited her.

"Angry amoebas!" said Ann, "What a collection! How could he ever find the gadgets he wanted?"

"Jeradd, my former owner knew them all by heart, having designed them himself. His major interest was exploration... Awaiting your commands, Miss O’Malley."

"Yes. I was thinking. I don't want to tell anyone else about you or any of the things in here. Oh my! I will have to head back to Freedom Fields orphanage soon."

"This ship's monitors can see through its own fuselage. I have been observing the orphanage on one of my scanners since Jeradd's landing in this clearing eight days ago. The logical inference is that the discovery of this unit by yourself has eliminated the wastage that would occur, were I to have remained in this ship unobserved."

"But you can fly this ship into space if you want to," said Wendell.

"Wanting is not possible for me. I am programmed to obey the instructions of another computer or a living being. I have only ever been used by the latter. So you see I cannot fly into outer space without a specific command to do so."

"I see. Well can you get me close to Freedom Fields by morning?"

"The request can be satisfied with your directions, Miss O’Malley."

"That's good. Anyway, you are the only one who will know about us, apart from me. So I will want to call you something, and make you mobile, if we can do it. Maybe we can join some of these gadgets together and convert you into a moving armed robot computer," said Ann.

"I am computing the possibilities... The best suggestion is to combine the wheeled base of the mobile dinner service unit, the console, which contains me, with its closing doors to hide my vulnerable screen and keys, the large stun cannon and the laser tube. The transparent plastifer orb could be held in place with support structures to act as a head. It would give me a more human appearance, although still essentially robotic, and my voice circuits could be connected to the bottom of the orb, causing it to glow and emit my sounds when I spoke. My own internal speakers could then be disconnected and discarded."

"We had better hurry."

"There is no cause for haste. Simply place my console on the dinner service unit, and then attach the other parts. I can bond them together with myself magnetically, allowing my laser tube and stun cannon to rotate freely like human arms. The bond will then be permanent. You must read the English words on my screen after you have disconnected my speakers. The words will tell you how to connect my voice circuits to the plastifer orb, after which you will hear a more metallic version of my voice. You will find the gadgets in the following locations...."

*          *          *          *

"Sorry I am taking so long. I have never used a soldering iron before."

"Impatience is not the attribute of a computer. Your apologies are unnecessary, Miss O’Malley," said the computer.

"That's just finished it. We have even attached wiring to the dinner service unit, as well as to the rotating weapons, and the probe sockets between your plastifer orb and your console. You can control all your own movements and firepower."

"But only at your command, Miss O’Malley."

"I am just lucky that you are such a polite computer robot. I'm still trying to think of a name for you, but do you know what else you could do?"

"Instruction is necessary for me to perform your tasks, Miss O’Malley," said the robot, while rolling around the main room on the mechanized wheels concealed under its structure.

"Of course. Well listen, is there any clothing material aboard this ship?"

"A limited supply exists and is kept under the secondary monitor, Miss O’Malley. It can be manipulated and shaped with the sewing device on this ship. It is not indestructible, but it does have absolute resistance to heat and cold, despite its resemblance to thin cloth," said the computer.

"What colours are there?"

"Orange, dark green, light blue, pink, and a significant amount of yellow."

"Don't worry about the yellow, but I'll use the pen from the gadget room to draw you an outfit for myself. Then could you prepare it?"

"It may take some time, Miss O’Malley, depending on the complexity of your design," said the computer.

"That's alright. How long do they usually take?"

"A task for the sewing device could take up to twenty minutes."

Ann completed her drawing.

"See what you can do with this."

"Analysis of visual scan indicates that the proportions in the colour scheme are compatible with the supplies of material available, although some parts will not be utilized. While operating the sewing device, I shall select the points of least waste on the materials," said the computer.

*          *          *          *

"It fits me perfectly, robot-friend."

"You will find that it also allows you to conceal many of the smaller gadgets on your person, Miss O’Malley."

"That's breezy!"
"Breezy? There is not wind."

"I mean, I like it. You're marvelous ... Butler One."

"Butler One. Confirm conclusion that I should adopt the words Butler One as a name for myself."

"That's right. It's confirmed," said Ann O’Malley.

The costume had an orange belt, which contained an orange square bisected by two diagonals and two perpendicular bisectors. The left glove was pink, to match the right boot, the left leg and the right arm sleeve and right half of the chest. The right glove was dark green, to match the left boot, the right leg and the left arm sleeve and left half of the chest. It reminded Ann of the dark green colour of Butler One's laser beam, which he had demonstrated at minimum intensity. The stun blast was light blue, which reminded Ann of the light blue segmented bracelets which concealed the points where the ends of Ann's gloves covered the ends of her sleeves. The orange mask had a slit for her hair to flow out of, as it normally flowed, although she decided to operate without the mask on occasions.

"Dazzling diamond mines! Thanks to you, I'm Ann O’Malley - Mistress of Scientific Wonders! What a thrill this is going to be!"

"Caution, Miss O’Malley. According to New South Wales time, which you have asked me to adopt in my memory, you have less than an hour before sunrise. It would be wise to return to the orphanage, if such a journey is still of importance to you."

"Well of course it is. I live there. We don't want the staff wondering what on earth has happened to me, do we?"

"As I have already told you, I do not 'want'. You have repeated a syntax error."

"Don't worry about it, Butler One. Just take us back."

Butler One rolled towards the ship's flight console, instructing Ann to fold out the anti-gravity triangles on her bracelets in order to get herself to ground level, as there would be no clearings in the trees closest to the orphanage. Ann put her original clothes on over the new outfit. Even the thin boots fit into her old sandshoes like sox. Her stockings had been removed, because the alien material in the suit would keep Ann amply warm. She unfolded the segmented metal triangular devices which formed part of her bracelets.

"Butler One, these things can't fly. They really can't make me fly. They don't have any power jets or anything."

"Incorrect, Miss O’Malley. They have a connection to a power pack in each of your bracelets. When you press the correct segment, it activates a flow of power which will last forever. It is not consumed. Instead it flows in a circular path, out of the power pack, into the anti-gravity triangles, and back into the power pack. While the power is in the triangles, it causes a temporary chemical reaction, which enables the triangles to resist gravity and carry you through the air. You control the direction of your flight by holding your hands above your head and pointing the intersections of the two pairs of equal sides of the isosceles triangles in the direction you wish to travel. You can gain greater height, or even use the triangles to ride the magnetic currents of the air, by turning the tiny dials under the panels in the bracelets. I will now instruct you precisely in how to do these things."

Ann was soon able to fly around the inside of the space ship. Butler One then opened the cylinder platform to the roof. Ann stepped onto it, holding her stockings and looking at the small signaling mechanism, which Butler One had attached to her watch. She wanted to be sure that all of this would continue.

"I don't want to wake up in the morning to find out that this was just an enjoyable dream. My, oh my, it's five fifty now. The sun starts to rise at about six thirty. It's a good thing that Butler One and I were able to do our work fast and get everything organized in the one night. To think that nine hours ago I never knew anything about this."

“You can always ask me to remind you that it was real,” said Wendell.

He began to wonder if the presence of all this alien technology had replaced his presence in her thoughts.

As if to answer his unspoken query, she found a small pouch, which could be attached to the costume.

“This is for you to ride in, my tiny sidekick,” she said, “What adventures we’ll have together now!”

He immediately felt better, and at peace again.

The platform rose to become part of the roof of the spaceship. Ann O’Malley looked down at the tops of the trees a few feet below the hovering souvenir of another planet. She did not even begin to wonder what Jeradd must have been like. She would never meet a being who no longer existed, not even in the earthly form of a corpse. She would be able to put his equipment to use, though she would take some time to learn about it.

Having programmed his computer with instructions to donate itself and Jeradd's other equipment to the first available recipient, the alien had unwittingly left his legacy of miniature equipment to a thirteen year old girl. She pondered on the possibilities of the spaceship being discovered by a criminal, instead of herself.

"Well that just would not be justice,"  thought Ann, "and I have always believed in justice. Freedom Fields is full of people working things out for the best."

She did not want to jump. She preferred to fly up from the roof of the spaceship in order to satisfy herself that she had mastered the controls of the anti-gravity triangles. Then she would fly down to the ground, stroll out from the trees and sneak back into Freedom Fields. She wondered whether or not she had been missed. Still, even if she were caught, it would be nothing.

Her real concern was to preserve the secrecy of her scientific wonders. She would continue going to school. It was the law, and she did not mind school anyway. She would also continue to live at Freedom Fields, but she would secretly enjoy many adventures; and she hoped that she would be able to do something to help other people as well.

Ann O’Malley emerged from the trees to see that all of the lights in the Freedom Fields orphanage were still switched off. Her decision was one of whether to climb the jacaranda tree or attempt a small flight from the ground using the anti-gravity triangles. She decided to climb the tree, just to prove that she could still do things like that, as well as to remove the risk of being seen from the windows by awakening girls, in the act of flying upwards from the ground.

Ann stretched out her arms, levered herself up to the lowest branch, swung her feet over a nearby branch and began to upright herself. Soon she reached the ledge and saw that Wanda was still sleeping soundly. She could wear her costume when she felt the need, but for now she would lock it in her room's private cupboard, to which she had the only keys, and then conceal some of the gadgets under her ordinairy clothes.

The world's new Mistress of Scientific Wonders climbed into bed and prepared to enjoy two hours of much needed sleep.

1996….

Ann had been telling Martin her story for over half an hour.

“That’s amazing!” said Martin, and then considered that here he was sitting on her hand at tiny size himself as she lowered him gently to her dress, “I was surprised enough to learn that you were responsible for Captain Miniature. But you had that adventure as a teenage girl with a guy who was as small as I am now, but he was from a parallel earth.”

“That was just the start of it,” said Ann, “I had many adventures with Wendell. I’d like to tell you all about them, before I gobble you down.”

“I’d love to hear them,” said Martin, “I feel like dancing with you and kissing you was my best adventure in itself, up until you eat me anyway.”

“Then I’ll continue …” said Ann.

Ann O’Malley awoke. It was Thursday morning, eight o'clock. Her alarm clock stopped ringing as her finger tapped the button into its slot. She remembered all of the events from the night that she had just experienced, and then remembered something else.

"Freedom Fields! I got so involved in everything else that I forgot about exploring the bush for anything relating to the history of Freedom Fields. I'll have to do some more night explorations another time. Right now I should have a quick breakfast and jump on the bus for school."

She felt her aching head and knew that she was tired.

"I cannot keep up these all night trips," she said, "I will not be much use at school today. I will have to try concentrating on work, with such a sore head. I think I will wait until the weekend, before Butler One and I go out on any more explorations. We teenagers are allowed out then. We will have to go on a flight into outer space starting just before sunrise on Saturday morning."

“I’ll probably fall asleep in your pocket half the time,” said Wendell.

*          *          *          *

"Definitely no more all night trips, well not during the school week anyway," thought Ann. She had missed her first bus and arrived late at school.

"I had to use the time eating lots of breakfast quickly, so I would have the energy to stay awake. I'm lucky that I only got a warning not to be late again. I have never been late for school before," she thought.
Ann was in her second year of high school at Northern High. She had little trouble with her schoolwork and did not wish to paint herself as an undisciplined tardy arrival on a regular basis. She made a decision never to be late for school again, even under circumstances involving her scientific wonders, except in the gravest situations.

*          *          *          *

When morning recess came Ann walked to a tall tree at the edge of the school grounds, climbed it quickly, and used the signaling device to contact Butler One. The device was concealed between her watch and her arm. She had added some of the spare links to the watch in order to enable the signaling device to be inconspicuously affixed to the watch.

"Ann O’Malley calling Butler One."

"Awaiting your next instructions, Miss O’Malley."

The computer robot was piloting the spaceship through its continuous orbit around the earth.

"Yes, well I've had an idea. Is it possible that you could construct a robot lookalike of myself?"

“I won’t need one, because nobody knows I’m here anyway,” said Wendell, “Except Ann.”

"Certainly, Miss O’Malley. I can easily locate some scrap metal on your planet and use it to build the basic structure of the body. I have already recorded all of the statistics concerning your bodily dimensions in my memory bank, based on an original visual scan taken last night. However, I shall need to place the shapeset cloth on your face, in order to create the perfect equivalent of a mold of your face. This will enable me to construct an identical likeness of yourself as a face for the robot."

"What is the shapeset cloth?"
"It is initially an artificial plyable plastifer towel-"

"Plastifer! That's the same stuff that you said your head was made of."

"Correct, Miss O’Malley, the plastifer orb. The shapeset cloth will harden and set in its place, doing no damage to your face, after I hold it in place on your face with two of my probes. I can then use another probe to activate a flow of electricity from the spaceship's power core. It will pass through the plastifer shapeset cloth and solidify it. I shall then remove it from your face. The solidification effect is permanent, and lasts even after I remove the power clips. I shall then trim the excess plastifer from the sides, and colour the mask to resemble your face. I can also use the materials available in the spaceship to duplicate some of your ordinairy clothes, or the special suit that you had me make for you."

"Don't copy the special suit, only the normal clothes I wear at school and Freedom Fields. I just need the robot to take my place on occasions, so that I don't need to be around all the time."

"Requests fully understood, Miss O’Malley."

"Good boy, Butler One."

"I shall need to know where to search for scrap metal, Miss O’Malley."

"You could try Turramurra Tip. If you land the spaceship in the tip, your motion console's anti-gravity unit will give you the chance to make sixty second flights from the spaceship's rising cylinder platform to the tip, for example. You had better go after our five o'clock time. That's when the sun sets here in winter. Then nobody will see you. I'll need to sleep after homework this afternoon."

"The remote control for the ship is in your left bracelet, Miss O’Malley."

"You had better teach me how to use it, when I call you back at lunch."

"I will, and I will teach you everything you really need to know about it in a short time. You only really need to know the flight controls and the switch that activates the opening and closing of the cylinder platform that enables you to go in and out of the spaceship," said Butler One.

"Good. See you later, Butler One."
"Have a pleasant morning, Miss O’Malley."

Ann heard the school bell ringing. It heralded the end of the recess break. She quickly descended the tree and ran to her classroom. She did not plan on making two late arrivals in the same day.

Lunch for Ann O’Malley consisted of a sandwich, an apple, and a drink of water from the school bubbler. This saved her having to buy one drink from the school tuckshop every day of the week. Water was good enough at school anyway, Ann had decided. Today she chose to save her lunch for the bus trip home, so that she could use her lunch hour to learn the instructions for commanding the movements of the spaceship. She still had energy left from her belated breakfast anyway.

*          *          *          *

"Roll up your shirt sleeves and expose your bracelets, Miss O’Malley. I will explain which of the tiny buttons are used in each circumstance. However, if you press them now, you will run the risk of disrupting my current orbit and revealing the spaceship to the people of your planet," said Butler One.

It was lunch time.

"I will just take some notes to help me to memorise them, Butler One."

"First you unfold the door of the strip panel on your left bracelet. It is the one next to the panel which unfolds as your antigravity triangle for your left arm."

"Found it," said Ann, "Let's see if I can control Wildstar's moves with these tiny buttons."

"I might as well call it Wildstar," said Ann, "because I think that the spaceship should have a good name."

"Agreed, Miss O’Malley. I shall adopt your terminology. Now look closely at the control panel for Wildstar on your bracelet."

*          *          *          *

When Ann returned to her classroom after lunch, she sat down and quickly scribbled down notes about everything she had learned. The piece of paper would make no sense to anyone who found it, for she had written it in a form of shorthand that only she could understand. However, it would summarize Butler One's instructions for controlling Wildstar.

"I wonder if it can override his controls," thought Ann, "It doesn't matter anyway, because he has now been programmed with complete loyalty to me."

Ann then turned her attention to her schoolwork, feeling pleased that it was mathematics class, rather than English. Ann's English teacher would have demanded to see the sheet of paper and probably read its contents out aloud in order to embarrass her. Some teachers would employ this method as a means of discouraging their students from writing irrelevant material during class times.

Ann would not be able to use any of her special gadgets without incurring more trouble. It was wiser to avoid drawing any attention to herself. She thought of some of the gadgets which had already been concealed within her uniform. Her favourite was the collection of exolimb boosters. These were thin skeletal outlines of her arms and legs, which were made of a thin alien metal. The metal parts were so thin, that the skeleton parts could be worn concealed by her clothes. However, they had flexible joints at the knees and elbows, and there were even some attachments for her hands and feet, which she could wear under her gloves and boots.

The exolimbs gave Ann special strengths, because she would only have to make normal bodily movements, and the exolimbs would absorb the strain of lifting, pushing or assaulting various objects of considerable weight and density. These could be used secretly, and would make her someone physically greater than the equal of any male or female opponent. There was another benefit of the exolimbs. They could be removed.

"If I take them off, then anybody who saw me performing my feats of special strength when I was wearing them, could have my arms, hands, feet and legs examined by a doctor and not see anything out of the ordinairy, just a young girl who does not mind at all. He would be locked away in a padded cell for claiming that I could do such things," thought Ann.

She hastily worked her way through several exercises involving the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of negative numbers.

The lesson eventually drew near to its conclusion.

"Alright girls," said the teacher, "You now know most of the new properties of negative numbers. Subtracting a negative number is the same as adding its positive absolute value, and the converse applies. The product of two negative numbers is positive. The product of a positive number and a negative number will be negative. The same applies for division. If both the numerator and the denominator are negative, then the result is positive. If either one or the other is negative, then the result is negative. For homework, you can all have a read of page 155 of your books, and you will see how we can use the multiplication results from today to do indices."

Wendell found it interesting, learning high school work by eavesdropping from Ann’s pocket, now that he was often attending a school of relatively giant girls.

"Indices," thought Ann, "Powers of numbers. I have just been working ahead on that myself. It seems obvious to me that an odd number of negatives multiplied together will give a negative product, and an even number of negatives multiplied together will give a positive result. So therefore a negative number to the power of any even number gives a positive result, and a negative number to an odd power gives a negative product. That means that minus two can also be squared to equal four."

Ann O’Malley raised her hand.

"Yes Ann," said the teacher.

"Does that mean that positive numbers each have two square roots and two fourth roots and so on?"
"That's right. So from now on, your answers to 'square root of nine' for example will be 'plus or minus three'. You won't have any trouble with the homework, which is page 155 and the exercises on page 156."
Ann packed her mathematics books away, as the period's lesson came to an end, and prepared for the last lesson of the day, which was English. She hid the instructions for Wildstar in her coat pocket, and waited for class to commence.

Soon afterwards, her English teacher walked into the classroom and outlined what the class would be expected to do for the next forty minutes.

"Today, I want you all to write me a composition. You will each do either a story, a poem, a small play, or you can write about a recent news item in your own words. You will have to read your compositions out in class tomorrow."
"How long should it be?" asked one of the girls in Ann's class.

"As long as you like, but it should go for at least one page, and that doesn't mean one of your little twenty-five line exercise book pages. You should all be writing on the foolscap paper that was supplied for your folders at the beginning of the term. You'd better get started, and if I see any scribblings that aren't part of your compositions, I will read them to the class, before they go into the bin, won't I, Ann O’Malley?"

Ann decided that the comment was not warranted.

"Can I write a story about anything I like?" asked Ann.

"Of course you can, so long as it goes for at least one page of foolscap paper."

"Oh it will," thought Ann, "It certainly will."

Ann scribbled frantically for ten minutes, thought for five minutes and then scribbled again. She completed her story, and then gave it a title: 'A Visit to Rubbishland.'

Ann read through her story, checking each line for any mistakes:

Once there was a young girl called Anabel. She went for a walk around

the school grounds during her lunch hour, and found a secret passage

leading down below the ground. She walked down many dark steps, until

she finally emerged in a dimly lamplit cavern, which was one of a maze

of many caves, caverns and tunnels. There she met the Primitive Pixies

of Rubbishland. These little semi-human creatures were each about three

feet tall, and they told her of their plans to invade the school on the surface

                world the next morning.

"You will never succeed," she said, "There are many girls in that school, and

they are not about to stand by and let you invade the place," said Anabel.

"That's where you're wrong," said the leader of the pixies, as his pixies tied

Anabel to a stone pillar in one of the caverns, "We know all about the girls

in your school up there. We have discovered many things about every girl,

and we will have no trouble defeating them. We will leave you tied up here,

while we finish our plans for the invasion. We shall come back and tell you

of our successful victories tomorrow morning, late tomorrow morning."

The next morning, while the pixies were off raiding the school, Anabel

finally remembered that she had sharp fingernails, because she had not cut

them for days. So she twisted and turned her hands until she could use her

fingernails to weaken the rope enough to enable her to snap it. She broke

free of the ropes and ran back through the network of caverns until she

came to the steps leading up to the cave at the back of the school grounds.

She ran up the stairs and emerged in the schoolyard, where she saw all of

her fellow students, as well as the teachers, forced into serving as slave

                  labour for the leader of the Primitive Pixies of Rubbishland.

                  "But how did you do it?" she asked the leading pixie.

"I could ask the same question about your escape, but I won't bother,"

replied the leading pixie, before explaining how his team of emissaries

from Rubbishland had conquered the school, "You see, Miss Anabel, we

had obtained and studied many bits of documentary evidence about the

girls in this school. We knew all your weaknesses before we started our

raid. Our strategies were all designed to exploit your weaknesses to the

                  breaking point."

"But where could you have managed to find such evidence?" asked

Anabel, "Did you break into the staff room and look at the photocopies

                  of our report cards?"

"No, of course not. We didn't need to do that. Have you ever wondered why

                we call our subterranean caverns Rubbishland?"

"It does seem a little unusual," replied Anabel, hoping to find out a way to

                defeat these naughty pixies.

"I'll tell you why. It's because all of our mattresses, pillows, cushions,

furniture and other padded items are stuffed with newspaper and other bits

of paper which we have easily managed to steal from your school garbage

bins, where we found many pages of material written by the girls of this

school. We had to err... unscrunch it before we could read it, but it told us

all we needed to know to have an advantage in defeating you," said the Pixie.

"Now I get it," thought Anabel, "But it's too late to do anything about

stopping them. The pixies know all about us, because one of the teachers has

been confiscating our private scribblings and throwing them into the bin. We

have been defeated by the Primitive Pixies of Rubbishland, all because of

Miss Paperhurler, the teacher who threw our stuff away. All is now lost."

"Now you will join your fellow students and carry more of the school's

resources and equipment down into our caverns," said the leader of the

                  pixies.

Anabel could only obey them, fearing the worst, because she remembered

that she had had more pieces of paper confiscated by Miss Paperhurler

than most of the other students. The Primitive Pixies of Rubbishland

                    would have a huge dossier compiled about Anabel.

Anabel continued to obey the Pixies of Rubbishland for about an hour,

                   until she finally got an idea.

"I'll fight fire with fire, or fight paper with paper anyway. This will give

me a chance to develop some skills as an amateur pickpocket," she thought.

Anabel secretly picked the pockets of all the pixies that lived in the

caverns. Sifting through its contents, she found to her  delight, some

documentary evidence which showed that some of the pixies has various

grievances about the habits of other pixies. She then redistributed these

pieces of pixie paper in different pockets. This made sure that certain

items would be discovered. Later on, all of the pixies had assembled

their prisoners in the caverns of Rubbishland, below Anabel's school.

"Before you do anything to us," said Anabel, "you should empty out

                      your pockets."

The pixies did so out of curiosity, and read various compositions that

were written by each other. They started a civil war among themselves.

"We must leave now," shouted Anabel, leading the girls back to the

surface, while the pixies continued to fight each other savagely.

"We have nothing more to worry about from them," said Anabel, "If

they keep fighting like that, they will demolish one another."

"Let's hope we never have to face them again," said Miss Paperhurler.

"I doubt that we will," said Anabel, "I doubt it very much."

The End

Ann inserted a few missing commas, and then the alterations to the composition were complete.

"It's three o'clock, girls. Time is up then. How much have you written, Beth?"

"Nearly a page, Miss."

"How much is nearly?"
"I've got six lines to go."

"Try and write a little more than one page. How much have you written, Ann?"

"About two pages, Miss," said Ann, hoping that the teacher would not look at it and instruct her to write something else.

"Let's have a look," said the teacher, approaching Ann's desk.

Ann handed her the story, still worried.

"If she reads this one now and doesn't like it, then I will have to write another one for homework, and I really need to sleep. Writing that was easy enough, even while I am tired, but I do have to catch up on at least two hours of sleep, before I do anything else today."

"Yes, three pages of writing and no scribbling down little private material. Good. You can read yours tomorrow, but don't make it any longer," said the teacher.

"Thank goodness," thought Ann, "She did not read it, only glanced at the paper to see that I had written composition pages. Well I want to read it all."

Ann walked to the bus stop, caught the bus and fell asleep. Fortunately, she was awoken by a school friend on the same bus, who knew that Ann lived near the St Ives bus stop on Mona Vale Road. The girl woke Ann with a gentle tap on her forehead. Ann pulled the bell cord and the electronic combination of a 'stop' light and a bell heralded the bus stop's approach. Ann walked down the long driveway to the Freedom Fields building, thinking how fortunate she was, to be separated from the noise of cars on the roads, by a long dirt driveway.

Butler One would be preparing to visit a disused pile of rubbish, which would hopefully yield the required metal items for Ann's robot doppelganger. Ann walked into her room, climbed into bed and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Butler One was using the available equipment and spare parts within Wildstar the spaceship to construct the moving robotic insides of Ann's robot duplicate. The sun had set by five o'clock leaving Butler One free to land the spaceship in the middle of the tip. Butler One opened the cylinder doorway to the roof of Wildstar, using his own internal remote controls. He could later operate these from outside the spaceship, in order to return to Wildstar. Butler One rolled along until he was standing in the middle of the cylinder and then it rose to become part of Wildstar's roof.

Butler One used a short flow of current through his lower console's anti-gravity metal in order to fly gently down to the tip, and then released his probes from the sockets just below the plastifer orb which was his head. The metal coils snaked their way around the tip, searching for metal to be used until Butler One's probes had detected a sufficient supply of it. He used the ends of the probes to gather the metal together in a pile.

Had Ann been with him, she would have been thinking that the materials in a tip would otherwise be merely crushed, burnt or left to rot depending on what they were. Butler One was merely utilizing a metal which would otherwise be wasted.

Tap!

A bullet bounced off Butler One's plastifer orb. The computer turned to see four policemen approaching with guns. With pin-point accuracy, Butler One rotated his left arm around its vertical axis, and fired it like a cannon. It melted the end of a policeman's gun, doing no damage to the man's hand at all.

The officer turned and ran for the police car, instructing his men to keep shooting at the robot. Butler One fired his laser again and again, demolishing the guns and batons of the remaining three policemen. Meanwhile, the first officer used his baton to knock the mirror out from the inside of the car, detaching it from the roof. The rear view mirror could now be held in his hand, using his baton as bait. He returned to the scene of the action and managed to trick Butler One into firing at the mirror, which he held steady with his hand. The laser blast was reflected back at Butler One's control panel's doors. It burst through the doors, damaging Butler One's controls, and his computer mind.

The robot ceased to function, at least for the moment. To the policemen, it had just been apparently disarmed.

"We had a report of a flying saucer in this area, but I still didn't expect you, whatever you are. Still the tip workers weren't crazy after all. They really did see a flying saucer and a robot on their way home from here. You're going to be impounded until we find out who built you and your flying tin can."

Butler One gave no response. He was now just a collection of connected pieces of equipment controlled by an electronic brain which had been seriously damaged.

*          *          *          *

Butler One was standing motionless in the middle of the floor in the Pymble Police Station. The officers had carried him to the car and driven him back to the police station house, but had been unable to gain entry to Wildstar.

Ann O’Malley woke up shortly after six o'clock, and put in a radio call to Butler One.

"Calling Butler One, how's the salvage operation going?"
The policemen heard the message. It had been transmitted through the robot's two way speakers, which had escaped damage when the laser blast was reflected back at him. The policeman who had thought of that tactic managed to deduce that the voice was not that of the robot itself, but rather a girl who was attempting to contact the device that was responsible for the destruction of their police revolvers. He spoke to Butler One, hoping that the girl could hear him:

"Listen Miss, this is the police. We have impounded your robot for making a nuisance of itself, trespassing in a tip, and destroying police weapons. If you want it back, you had better come down to the station house at Pymble."

The message was relayed back to Ann.

Butler One's two way communication filters functioned even without the aid of his computer brain.

Ann O’Malley heard the message.

"I will have to have dinner first and then break into that police station and free Butler One. I wonder why he cannot get away. I'd better recall Wildstar first," she thought.

*          *          *          *

Four policemen had eventually defeated an unknown robot. Three of them were left to guard the spaceship, and they were each a little surprised, when Wildstar took off before their very eyes.

"Shoot it! There must be more of those robot things inside it."

The policemen's bullets bounced harmlessly off the side of the flying spaceship, as it disappeared from their sight, landing in the bushland forest near Freedom Fields. Ann O’Malley had worked out how to manipulate the controls correctly, having remembered the lesson, which she had received from Butler One.

She made her preparations, ensuring that her exolimbs and other devices were concealed either under or on her special outfit, slipped tiny Wendell into the belt pouch, and then put her usual clothes on over that outfit and left the mask under her bed while she went down to the dining room to have dinner with the other orphan girls.

At five past eight, she closed her bedroom door, removed her everyday clothes, put on her mask, letting her red hair flow from the slit at the top, and used her unique bracelet controls to unfold and activate the anti-gravity triangles. She waited until she knew that she had allowed a few seconds for the current to flow through the triangular metal shapes for the first time, and then flew out the window and floated towards the area where she had landed the spaceship by remote control. Hovering above the trees, unseen by any of the staff and orphans at Freedom Fields, Ann then used the Wildstar remote controls, to have the spaceship rise up from the forest clearing and come to a hover position of its own below her feet, before lowering the cylinder platform. Once inside the ship, Ann used her controls, as well as the ship's monitor, to fly Wildstar to an orbit position several meters above Pymble Police Station.

"Now the spaceship can hover silently up here, while I float down and sneak into the building," thought Ann.

She landed soundlessly on the roof and then floated down further, reaching the ground and locating an empty room. She used her exolimbs to tear off the door lock from the outside and entered the room, preparing to do battle with any policemen who had heard the noise. Two policemen ran into the room and saw what was obviously a teenage girl wearing a costume and a mask. They would see no need to draw their revolvers. That would be their first mistake.

"That's far enough, Miss," said one of them, walking towards Ann, whose left arm knocked him over with a sample of the true potential that the exolimb could offer to the limbs of its wearer.

Amazed at the treatment of his associate, the other policeman drew his baton and aimed to hit Ann lightly on the head to frighten her enough for her to choose to surrender.

Ann O’Malley's right arm blocked the approach of the baton. The exolimb absorbed the blow, and she felt no pain at all. She knocked the man over with her left arm, and then ran into the next room. It was empty, except for a still silent defenseless Butler One.

"Good. They must have been the only two guarding Butler One," thought Ann.

She carried the robot out into the street and brought the spaceship down to the street too. Then she, Wendell and Butler One floated up to the cylinder entrance, relying only on Ann's anti-gravity triangles set at a higher power level than would have been used to elevate Ann alone.

Ann flew the ship back to the Freedom Fields forest. There was no need for the ship to have a  control panel, when she could duplicate all of its controls from her bracelets, although the ship could be flown directly from its control panel, for better accuracy when so desired.

Ann opened the remains of Butler One's doors and located some loose wiring damaged by the reflected laser blast. She reconnected them, and Butler One then reactivated his memory circuits and instructed her, while she completed his repairs.

*          *          *          *

"I guess that's taken care of everything, Butler one."

"That is not correct, Miss O’Malley. I still require the metals for your robot's body. I can apply the plastifer cloth on the way to the tip."

"Oh no, not again, not after what you just told me... Well what have we got to lose? Those policemen would never expect us to make two trips to the tip during the same evening."

Ann O’Malley flew the spaceship back to the tip. From their infrared monitor, Ann, Wendell and Butler One could still see the metal pile below. The policemen had obviously given up the chase and departed. They would soon be awakening their friends at the police station.

"I do not want to fight the police force again," said Ann, as the spaceship landed beside the metal, "but we cannot take any chances with them capturing us or finding out who I really am under my mask."

Still wearing her mask, Ann led Butler One down to the pile of metal; and the two of them gathered it all up and took it to Wildstar. All that remained was to shaped it into a model copy of Ann, and then use the various materials and equipment in the spaceship to colour and dress the robot to resemble Ann O’Malley herself.

Ann dressed the completed robot and then pushed its jumper up, so that she could open its chest panel. Butler One had built a special socket into the chest panel, so that he could use one of his probes to interface with the robot duplicate of Ann O’Malley. Butler One connected his probe and began to program the robot's memory banks, by transmitting data, as Ann, the real Ann O’Malley, described herself to Butler One. The robot would then take its commands from Ann and be able to substitute for Ann whenever the need arose.

"Can the robot have showers without rusting?"
"Certainly, Miss O’Malley; because the chest panel is sealed when closed. Water and food can only enter the robot through the mouth and can then be discharged back through the mouth when the robot is alone in a bathroom."

"It doesn't sound too charming, but it will do the job."

Ann then laughed at the realisation that she would still have to attend her school medical examinations in person.

"I somehow just don't think that Ann II would be very convincing," she said, "but the robot only needs to be a temporary substitute. I would hate to think of this extraordinairy toy becoming my replacement. One thing is for sure. I had better not let anybody ever see the two of us together, unless I am in unfamiliar clothing with the mask as well."

Ann and Butler One finished working on the robot, and then put it on Jerradd's old pilot's seat that was used for the spaceship's original journeys.

"It has not been used for some time now," said Butler One.

Ann returned to Freedom Fields, entered her room through the open window and removed her special outfit. She climbed into bed and slept off the remainder of the night, waking at six-thirty the following morning: Friday.

She ate her breakfast, and caught the bus to school, and prepared to face her first lesson: English.

*          *          *          *

"Thank you Ann... err... well, I don't think we'll enter that one in the school's creative writing competition, but I'll have to say it was well written. Maybe somebody will write stories about you some time."

"Really Miss?" questioned Ann, "Now who could possibly write a story about me?"

1996…

“You ended that in a witty way,” said Martin, “I think Wendell was lucky to meet you when you were a teenager with all that time to explore the galaxy in that spaceship. Do you have any old photos of yourself?”

He looked across at her tummy, thinking about his upcoming journey to within it.

Ann reached over him to the table, and lifted up photo album, and moistened her finger with her tongue. She turned over a few blank pages, until she came to the photo sleeves. She picked him up and rested him on her shoulder. He could feel the moisture of the finger she had just licked, when her fingers enclosed him. It excited him immensely and warmed his heart.

“Here I am at Freedom Fields in 1956,” she said, “It’s a few years on from the story you just heard, but … ahh, here’s me in 1964.”

“They’re lovely, but I think you look even more excitingly beautiful now,” said Martin, “It’s been on my mind that it’ll be quite exciting to be eaten at this size, by a woman who was 30 a few months before I was born.”

“I’ll tell you more about my early days,” said Ann, smiling warmly down at him.

1953…

Ann O’Malley enjoyed the rest of her lessons for that day, but the discovery she made at lunchtime was somewhat disturbing. She was talking to Mary Wathlow, when the two of them noticed a tennis ball flying towards them. Ann instinctively put out her hand and caught the ball. She had her special outfit on under her school uniform. She had worn thick coloured stockings to cover the legs of the outfit. She was wearing all of her outfit and exolimbs, except for the mask, exohands, and gloves, because these would look rather conspicuous at school.

"Just as well I was not wearing my exohands," thought Ann, "It would have looked a little bit suspicious, if the tennis ball bounced rapidly off my hands by my not grabbing it quick enough."

A tall girl ran towards them to claim her ball.

"You ruined my long shot!" she shouted, "I was aiming real long distance."

"Well it would have hit us," said Ann.

"I didn't know it was going to fall so low. You should have jumped out of the way."

"Why should we?" asked Mary, "You should have aimed it in a safe direction, not near us."

The tall girl lumbered forward.

"Why is Mary taunting her?" thought Ann, "Mary's usually shy, and she is shorter than I am. That girl is huge."
Ann decided to apply the law of gravity to the tall girl, by kicking the tall girl's right leg back with her exoleg, causing the tall girl to lose balance and fall over; but before Ann could do anything, Mary surprised the other two considerably. Mary had been standing with her right foot leaning forward. Suddenly her left leg shot forward and upwards, putting a right-angled bend into her leg at the knee. She twisted her leg and kicked out, knocking the tall girl over with a kick that struck the tall girl's chest heavily. All of this had happened in a single second.

Ann almost said, "Do you have exolimbs too?"

She checked her thoughts and said, "How did you do that, Mary?"
"You, you're dangerous," groaned the tall girl, as she rose to her feet and staggered away.

"Between us, Ann, it was a simple roundhouse kick. We learn them at Karate College, a martial arts school which meets in the St Ives Community Hall near the shops on Mona Vale Road. I had a lesson yesterday afternoon. It's on every Thursday, and we learn to fight well. I could beat a boy, if he didn't do any karate. I've been learning it for months."

"You've convinced me," said Ann, "What are these classes like?"

"Good. We have warm up exercises, and then spend half the lesson learning techniques and the other half practicing by sparring."

"Sparring?"

"Fighting each other."

"Are they good teachers?"

"Oh they're alright as teachers, Josh and Adam, but they're bad at parties. They play the worst practical jokes on people, really destructive ones that wreck people's property, but nobody dares to stop them, because they both have high black belt gradings; and if anyone plays a similar practical joke on them, that person gets beaten up. Still, they're great at classes, if you don't fool around. They want you to put the effort in to learn the stuff properly," said Mary.

Ann got to thinking:

"I think that I should teach these black belt jokers a lesson, like how to get their minds above their black belts. Sure, why not? First I will go to classes as a raw beginner and use the exolimbs to beat them in front of their students. I'll have my special outfit on, gloves and all, with all the exolimbs underneath. They will never get hold of me to remove the stuff. I will have to spend this coming week's three dollars on a lesson, if it's enough."

"What's going through your thoughts, Ann?"

"Do you think I would be any good at the karate? I would like to try. It would be good to feel as confident as you around boys and girls like that one who just attacked us."

"You would have to start at the bottom."

Ann suddenly realized that if she defeated two high black belts, it would certainly arouse Mary Wathlow's suspicions.

"Don't worry," she said, "The truth is that I have been taught a few things too."

Ann wanted Mary to think that she had learned some martial arts. In reality, her statement referred to Butler One's having taught her to use the exolimbs.

"Why don't you use what you've learnt at school?" asked Mary.

"I've never needed to. There aren't many girls like that tall bully in this school."
"Let's test you out. You must have been kidding me when you asked about what sparring was. Do you want to spar with me?" asked Mary.

"I'll try," said Ann.

Mary bowed Ann copied her, and then dodged a forward kick, which was aimed at her right leg just below the thigh. Ann kicked out erratically with her right exoleg, and caught Mary's left thigh, knocking her over sideways with a terrific force that did not need any martial arts skills to assist it.

Within Ann’s pocket, tiny Wendell felt the sudden movements by Ann, and began to fear what would happen if Mary kicked Ann in the spot that concealed him.

"Alright, enough," said Mary, "I've never seen a kick like that before. Whatever you learned must be good stuff. You should come along to one class and get graded."

"I could come after school next Thursday," said Ann.

"Good. I'll see you at the hall at four o'clock."

"I'll see you at school before then," said Ann.

"Please don't tell anyone we do it though. I like the advantage of only revealing it as a surprise by using it when I really need to."

"Sure, I understand," said Ann, thinking, "And do I ever appreciate the idea of keeping it a secret. I wonder what she would say if she knew what really enabled me to kick her that hard."

Ann decided to leave Wendell behind, when she faced Adam and Josh, rather than risk him being seriously injured during her time at the martial arts class. The following Thursday, Mary took Ann in and introduced her to Josh and Adam. Ann had her exolimbs on under her gloved special uniform.

"Fall in with the rest today," said Josh, "and we will grade you as soon as we get around to it."

"I'll do my best," said Ann.

Adam called the class to attention and took them through a series of warm-up exercises:

"Nod your heads back and forth... now head side to side... wiggle your right wrist with your arm and hand out in front ... now wriggle it the other way ... and the left hand ... and the other way... roll your arms forward...now one arm forward and one arm backward. Start with one arm going forward, and then throw the other arm back.... Now swivel around at the hips, and then the other way ... pick a partner and join wrists, lock them together, stand in a forward leaning position and punch your arms out as hard as you can."

This was one time when exolimbs did not help. Ann's own arms were tired from initiating the movements. The other warm-ups were no problem, but this one taxed her energy.

Adam continued:

"Now climb onto your partner's shoulders, and have them bend their knees ten times ... then three cross steps to the right, then three cross steps to the left, and then swap positions and give the other partner a go at doing all those things....good. Now ten star jumps... ten sit ups ... ten knees to the chest jumps ... and ten push ups... Now down and do the splits if you can. That's it. Come on. Stretch as far as you can, and rise to your feet."

Ann and the class were then put through lessons in several techniques, and then some sparring between various combinations of people was supervised by the instructors.

Ann concentrated her efforts into avoiding any blows which she could not deflect with her exolimbs.

"If anyone ever strikes my chest or my back, I'll fall over and stay down, but they can strike straight at my arms or legs and do no damage. My kicks and punches will hurt, even if I am not using proper karate techniques, which is good," thought Ann, "because I don't really know any."

For a variation on free sparring, Ann was tied by her arm to the arm of her sparring partner with a belt.

"Now this is where I can use the exolimb to pull that girl with tremendous surprising force," thought Ann, and gave the belt a hard jerk, pulling the girl off her balance. She fell forward and Ann gave her a sideways kick to send her rolling across the floor.

Then Adam connected three people with belts, in a triangle. Each hand held a belt. Again they could only use their feet, or could they? Ann tried the same trick, pulling both partners towards her. They decided to team up against Ann, rather than also fight each other. Ann decided to stop one of them quickly and then concentrate on the other. So she used a powerful forward kick to knock over the girl on her right, and then blocked the approach of the boy on her left, while stepping out of the way. The two of them were pivoting and each trying to get in a good strong blow for a while, until Ann just aimed an exolimb kick straight at the foot which was attempting to kick her. The boy stepped back.

"Enough. I give up," he said.

"Okay, ease off, Ann. No need to kill each other," said Josh, "It's only light sparring."

Then Josh had the class sit down and take deep breaths.

"Any questions or complaints about the lesson?" he asked.

Mary could never remember a time when somebody had complained or even asked a question.

"I think you're afraid to grade me today, because you don't want to spar me yourselves," said Ann.

"Don't get cheeky, girlie," said Josh.

"Oh she's done it now," thought Mary, "Surely Ann can't beat a black belt."

"Don't call me cheeky, just because you are too scared to fight me," said Ann, "I came here for a challenge."

"Look, you will be graded later on. There's no time tonight," said Adam.

"No time, that's silly," said Ann, "It won't take me that long to win."

"Look you might be good," said Josh, "but don't get carried away into thinking you can beat us. We're not the instructors for nothing, you know."

"Look let me fight you, and I'll beat either of you," said Ann.

"Either of us?" laughed Adam, "Ann, you should know that you fight more than one person at a time when you go for a grading. You could fight five at once, but I don't think you would cope with that."

"I still think that you are just too scared to fight me, aren't you?" said Ann, hoping to anger them.

"Alright that's it," said Adam, "We'll fight you, one of us, then both of us right now, if you can survive one of us, which you won't. This lesson will go on a bit longer. For those of you that want to watch and learn not to be smart alecs, sit around in a circle while we fight in the centre. The rest of you can go home."
The students moved into a circle and sat down.

"So who's going in there with her first," laughed Josh, "I don't feel sadistic enough mate. You can finish her off. I'll just supervise."

Adam and Ann went into the circle, bowed and stood in a fighting stance.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you much, just enough to prove you're not ready for a grading yet," said Adam.

"I think you had better do more than that," said Ann, as Adam's forward kick crashed into her left shin before she could even finish her roundhouse kick. She felt no pain because of the exolimb.

"If you survive this, we will grade you equal to us," laughed Josh, and you can try for a job as a junior instructor at karate."

"You've got good staying power," said Adam, surprised that she had not reeled back from the pain that he believed must have affected her shin.

"I'll never out-karate him," thought Ann, "but I can use the strength of the exolimb if I get in close. He'll be expecting me to try an elbow effort."

She leaped towards him, blocking a high kick with her right arm, and then grabbed his thighs. Adam instinctively struck at her arms, but they did not move. Ann used her exolimbs to hurl him over her head to land two meters behind her, as two students rapidly moved out of his way.

"Oh that does it," said Adam, "Come on in Josh, and we'll still show this girl that us karate experts always support each other."

Adam climbed to his feet and moved in to face her again, as Josh entered the circle.

"Two of them will be tricky," thought Ann, "One can always act as a distraction for the other, so I will have to use one against the other."

Ann dodged and avoided both of them until she had jumped into a position where Adam was between herself and her other opponent. Then she deliberately left herself almost totally unguarded, so that Adam would try to punch her. He threw a fast chop at the back of her open hand, but the pain was felt by him, rather than her. The two karate black belts would continue to think that she was using special martial arts techniques, never suspecting her true secrets, because of their strong belief in the capabilities of their own martial arts skills. Now was her chance.

Adam had hurt his hand too badly to pull it away immediately after delivering his blow. Ann had to use this advantage to act fast, before Josh could finish his attempt to move around behind Ann and attack her. She twisted her open hand and gripped Adam's wrist tightly. He would never escape an exolimb hand grip. Then, using the properties of the exolimb arm, she pulled him rapidly forward, grabbing his same wrist with her other arm as well, and pivotted her body, and managed to throw Adam into the approaching Josh with an incredible force, which knocked them both over. They would feel the bruises for a long time to come.

"Hey this martial arts stuff is lots of fun," said Ann, "Get back up, so we can fight again."

Not one student had left the hall. They had all enjoyed the event.

"Not again Ann," groaned Josh, rubbing his chest in agony, "We'll give you black belt straight off. When do you want it ready?"
"Don't stop just yet," said Adam, "Mate, let's show her we're still the best. Nobody does this to us!"

"Oh you try showing her, mate," said Josh, "I know when it's time to give in."

"What? Are you afraid of a girl?" bellowed Adam, heaving Josh to his feet. Well you're at least going to fight her again, or fight me."

Adam was out of control, and putting a filthy smirk on his face in order to try to disguise his anger and fear of Ann.

"Oh, spurting spraycans," thought Ann, "I should never go near these two or anywhere where I just might run into them, without my exolimbs."

"Give it a rest, Adam. I can't beat you, and we can't beat her."

"You stupid baby," said Adam, "Beat this, if you won't help me fight her."

Adam started punching Josh repeatedly. Josh used his techniques to block many of them, but several other punches were hitting him solidly in the head and the chest. Adam's desired victory had been denied him for the very first time, and he was out of control. Ann saw the dirty grin on his face as he kept on hitting Josh, purely to try to offset the humiliation he had suffered from Ann.

Then Ann did something which had not been part of her plan for the evening. As she saw the fear in Josh's eyes, and again looked at Adam's unpleasant snickering face, she burst into furious tears, as she stepped between them, knocking Adam's fists away with the exolimbs.

"Stop it, just stop it now," she cried, and kicked Adam's left leg so hard that Adam's left foot lifted from the ground and slammed into his right leg, knocking him over. She dragged him upwards and knee struck him in the chest. He fell over terrified.

"Alright, alright, I've had enough. Stop it. I won't do anything else. You can have one grade above me, even."

"I don't want one," said Ann, as she turned and walked out of the room, "I hate all this violence."

As she wiped the tears from her eyes and walked the first few meters of the long pedestrian journey to the bus stop, she heard Mary catching her up, and then there was someone else running along towards her as well. She turned her head. It was Josh.

"Hey girlie, I want to say thanks, and sorry too. I don't deserve what you just did for me. We're complete bullies wherever we go, because Adam and I have always known we can get away with it. The power went to our heads, but that's the first time he's ever turned on me. You angered him, and then I knew from his outburst on me, for the first time, what it really does to you, being on the receiving end of it for a change. To think we've made other people feel that terror whenever we're around, just because we're black belts. You could have hurt us a lot more, but you helped me. If you knew what I'm really like, you wouldn't have bothered."

"I do know," said Ann, calming herself down, "Mary told me all about the parties and everything else. That's why I came along and challenged you both today."

"I'll try to reform myself, Ann, but I think that the class has had it. I'll teach them if they still want me to, but I am not going to enjoy working with Adam now. One of us might have to go."

"If only we could affect Adam the way your fabulous efforts have affected Josh," said Mary to Ann, and then she looked nervously at Josh. Had she unwittingly offended him, a black belt?

"It's alright Mary," said Josh, "You say what you want to from now on, to me, but be wary of Adam. He's still as crazy as a wild horse. Like I said, I'm really sorry for the way I have behaved. I don't want to have people afraid of me if it means they think of me the way I now think of Adam."

"What if I get him with a practical joke?" asked Ann, "What does he worry about the most?"

"You could do something to his car," said Josh, "That's what he really likes, but do not tell him that I gave you the idea. I'm staying away from him. Either he teaches the class or I do, or neither of us does. I can tell you where he lives."

"I am getting an idea," said Ann, "but I will need a friend I know to help me do it. Just tell me where Adam lives."

The address was in Artarmon. Ann also asked Josh about the sizes of the rooms in the house, and was assured that the garage and the billiard room were the largest rooms.

"I could switch on the spaceship to get there quickly when he's out," thought Ann, and then if Butler One wouldn't mind another switch..."

Wendell was keen to join her on this upcoming trip, and Ann gladly obliged.

*          *          *          *

Ann waited until the following night, Friday night. Adam always went out on Friday nights, for a few hours. Ann had caught a train to Artarmon and used the borrowed Freedom Fields library copy of a Sydney street directory to locate the house where Adam lived. She kept well hidden. That night she would certainly do a proper job of playing a practical joke on a certain bullying black belt practical joker.

*          *          *          *

She returned to Freedom Fields and found a message which had been slipped under her bedroom door:

            ANN O’MALLEY,

                                    Please call Mary Wathlow when you come home. She said

            that you have her number,

                                                            Wanda.

Ann walked into the telephone room and dialed the number. Mary soon answered the telephone.

"Hi, it's Ann O’Malley."

"Oh Ann, hello. What you did yesterday was terrific. When you gave Adam that final beating, he knew he was no longer the best."

"I'm not the best either. I can just beat Adam in a fight. I still think we're all equals."

"Sure. I agree. What are you going to do to Adam now?"

"Oh, I'll leave that to my friend. It's better if you don't know. Don't tell Adam and Josh about me and my plans. I don't want them knowing where I live or anything like that."

"I'll keep it a secret," said Mary, "but you've sure done well so far. If I had known what you were going to do, I would never have taken you along to classes, for fear that you would lose. However, I am glad that it worked out the way it did. Your two dollars fifty was well spent on that lesson. Why don't you let them give you the grading though? Josh thinks you could be one grade higher than him."

"I couldn't," thought Ann, "Not under false pretenses. I did not use karate or any other martial art to beat them. I used the super strength of the exolimbs. When I take them off, I am fair bait for anyone in a fight. I will just have to refuse the grading. The exolimbs are flexible and thin enough to hide, and they don't clank when they're hit, but they are an advantage that has nothing to do with any martial arts training that you could get."

She told Mary that she did not like wearing large belts and refused to take one.

"Well good luck with whatever it is you're going to unleash on Adam. I hope he learns his lesson," said Mary.

"I think he will. I'll see you on Monday," said Ann.

"Goodbye."

*          *          *          *

Ann enjoyed her dinner and then waited her chance to summon the spaceship Wildstar into a hover position high above Freedom Fields. Then she floated up to the cylinder doorway, by means of the anti-gravity triangles.

"Hello, Butler One."

"Good evening, earth time, St Ives, Miss O’Malley."

"Head for Artarmon, and I will need the infra red goggles to go over the eye slits in my mask, and you will need a few tools to go with your probes."

“I might be able to help from the inside of some of the car parts,” said Wendell.

They arrived over Adam's house at twenty past seven in the evening. Adam would have left the house at seven o'clock. Josh had told Ann that Adam always made it to the St Leonards Hotel by half past seven, to enjoy an evening there. It was within walking distance for a young fit healthy martial artist. So he never took the car. However, it was well away from the house, so that Ann O’Malley and Butler One could break into the house unnoticed. The car would be left in Adam's garage, which had a side door linking it to the kitchen.

Butler One gripped the tools in his probes, while Ann put on her infra red goggles. Then they left Wildstar in a hover position while using their anti-gravity devices to float down onto the back garden. Ann used her exohand to tear off the back door's locking mechanism, opened the door and led the way into the kitchen. She took some tools from Butler One, and then opened the door to the garage.

"There's the car. Get to it," said Ann.

"I shall commence my part of the operation immediately, Miss O’Malley."

Ann located another room in the house, and got to work with some tools of her own. They completed their tasks in an hour, and then closed the doors, and Butler One repaired and locked the mechanism that Ann had torn off the back door.

"Going... up!" said Ann, as the three of them floated back up into the night sky, to meet the awaiting spaceship Wildstar. To Wendell, the thought of flying over the suburbs at night, in a spaceship no less, was beyond the wildest dreams he’d had back on his own earth-T.

*          *          *          *

Later that evening Adam returned home in a state of relaxation. He walked into the house, and headed for the kitchen. Something was definitely just not right. He walked out to the garage.

"Oh it gets worse. I must really have had too much to drink. I'm going to sleep," thought Adam.

*          *          *          *

Adam slept soundly, but the subject matter of his dreams would have been considered by many psychology experts, as being realistically unsound. In his dreams, Adam was entering a strange land.

            "I'll just have to rely on my karate to survive here," he thought, "Oh, what's that?"

            A table came lumbering towards him, bending its apparently flexible wooden legs. He          aimed a roundhouse kick at the table's nearest leg, but it still seemed like he was      striking wood. He pulled his foot back in shock and turned and ran away. How could           it be that hard, when it looked like it was bending like rubber?

            He ran faster and faster, but the table was still after him.

            Suddenly the table stopped and grew more legs down to the floor on three of its sides,

            so that it became like a cage with one side open.

            "At least it's not moving now," thought Adam.

            He decided to keep running while he still had some chance to escape this haunted

            table. He heard a screech of brakes and turned to see a car coming towards him, but

            there was nobody driving it. The car horn honked away in various beeps, and Adam

            worked out that it was a morse code message telling him to get into the table cage. He

            ran faster and faster, but he could not escape the car, and it finally herded him into the

            cage, which then grew more legs on its fourth side.

            Adam was well and truly trapped.

            His karate could not help him. What would happen next?

            "Oh I wish this cage would go," he said.

            Suddenly the car drove away, made a U turn and then came charging straight at the

            cage, accelerating rapidly. Then the cage spoke.

            "So you wanted me to go," it said, "Alright, I will."

            The cage flew into the air and vanished, leaving Adam unprotected. He would never

            outrun the car. It was too late to even attempt to escape. The cage would have            protected him.

He woke up that morning just before he would have found out what the impact of the driverless car could do to him. Then he remembered the events of the preceding Friday night, and he walked out to the garage.

"Oh no, oh for Pete's sake, oh no!"

*          *          *          *

Adam collected his thoughts, had a shower and ate some breakfast. He had not spoken to Josh after Thursday's lesson, and he had not seen the man since then, but this morning Josh would be bringing some students over to his house for a private lesson. He hoped that Josh would arrive before any of the students. He really got to thinking about the last few days.

*          *          *          *

There was a knock on the door.

"Oh I hope that's Josh."

He opened the door and it was.

"Hey don't worry. I won't do anything to you, but you must have a look in my garage, and in my billiard room."

Adam showed both rooms to Josh, who gave nothing away of Ann's earlier comments. The car was in the billiard room, where Butler One had reassembled it at robotic speed, and the billiard table was in the garage, where Ann's exolimb strength and her tools had enabled her to reassemble it.

"It must have been completely disassembled and switched with the car taken apart. Then both could have been put back together, but how? I'm sure I locked all the doors, and nothing's broken. The switcheroo of those things is the only evidence that anyone could have been here. How am I going to get it back the way it was?"
"I guess you'll have to call someone in to fix the table back in its spot and have someone stripping the car down to its nuts and bolts at the same time. You'll have to arrange a time for both of them."

"But what if one says yes, and then the other can't make it?"

"You'd have to cancel the first yes."

"I know. I could have someone reassemble the car on the driveway, and then worry about the person I'll need to move the table from the garage to the billiard room. You know, when I got home, I thought I must have been drunk, but this morning, I saw the garage and the billiard room in that sort of state, and I nearly fainted. We had better spar outside. This just must not be seen by anyone. First Thursday and now this."

"Can I say something else, which you might not like to hear?"

"Yes, and I'll say that I'm glad you came today. When I calmed down, I thought that I might have ruined a friendship on Thursday."

"No, but I do think that all of this is an inspiration for us to start acting like humans, instead of bullies just because we're black belts. I mean, it's awful to have our only friends afraid of us too, just like all the students. I think we should only use our karate in important rescuing situations, not just to get away with murder all the time at parties and so on."

"I was thinking maybe you're right. Those kids must think I am the most idiotic show-off of all time, but they kept coming to classes, because they wanted to learn. I wonder if they still do."

"Let's find out."

"Alright. Let's make a deal that we both try to behave ourselves, but you'll have to help me. It's not natural for me to step down, when I can easily win a fight."

*          *          *          *

"Well Butler One," said Ann, "I think our little switch was a good idea. I had no trouble carrying the table, once I had dismantled it into sections, and you did a marvelous job on that car. I should think that Adam has just mildly got the spooks by now."

*          *          *          *

The following Friday, Ann and Mary were talking at school.

"Ann, you should have come to karate yesterday. Adam and Josh were like different people. They must have been expecting you to come back and take them apart."

"Well that's alright," said Ann, "because when I take things apart, I always put them back together again afterwards."

1996….

“So you went in and out of that house, and I’ll be going into your tummy,” said Martin, “It sounds like you were such a heroine, Ann. If I was in danger of being eaten by anyone else, I’d hope you saved me for yourself.”

“And I surely would,” said Ann.

It looks like things were different with Wendell. He had all those adventures with you instead of being eaten,” said Martin.

“I’ll tell you more about Wendell’s adventures then,” said Ann.

1953….

The August holidays were over a week away, and Ann O’Malley was thinking about the value of her robot doppelganger.

"It wouldn't have the same level of instinct, and the same quick responses that come from a human being's body," she thought, "So it could never take my place in a fight. Someone would easily be able to belt the robot, and then they might just find out that it's not me at all. Where are we now?"

Ann looked at the monitor. She and Wendell had climbed into Wildstar on a Thursday morning, and asked Butler One to pilot Wildstar on a slow flight over Sydney. The spaceship flew high above the ground, probably out of anyone's sight. However, Wildstar's monitor screen had a zoom lens feature, which enabled anybody to look down at the distant earth as if it were right below the viewer.

"Oh, aren't you very clever," said Ann, amused at Butler One's choice of flight plans.

"Your intonation reflects faint tones of cynicism, Miss O’Malley. Is this flight path allowable?"

"Oh sure," she mused, "but I should have guessed that your computer mind wants to pick something and follow it. You obviously picked the train line, because it links Pymble and the town quite well."
Ann laughed again. Ann O’Malley's face was never more alive than it was when she was laughing. Her brown eyes were in the same positions in which they would rest, were she to stare in horror; but the lower half of her face would be in an open-mouthed smile, which gave the impression that the eyes were laughing as well.

"I just can't believe that we're flying directly above the train line, but so far up that nobody can see us."

"With respect, Miss O’Malley, your limited human mind would have trouble believing a lot of things."

"Oh well, aren't you just a charming computer robot, Butler One?"
"Robots are not programmed to charm, Miss O’Malley."

"Do you really think I didn't know that?"
"There may be many things you do not know, Miss O’Malley."

"You are so... so...ooh!"

“Cheeky,” finished Wendell.

“I am incapable of such-“ began Butler One.

"Oh be quiet, Butler One. I would like to concentrate on where we are. Freedom Fields does not usually let girls in their early teens go out for very long trips, even in the holidays, but I know I am safe with you, and my robot is pretending to read books in my room at the orphanage. I have got to keep the orphanage staff convinced that it is me, so that I can keep going for trips in Wildstar whenever I feel like it. Ah, there's North Sydney below. Stop here and rotate the monitor screen, Butler One."

The robot obeyed her instructions.

"You can talk now, but no more being cheeky," said Ann.

"Understood, Miss O’Malley."

"Why, Butler One, that's a new building below! It's taller than any other building in North Sydney. It wasn't there when I was once driven past there in a car a few years ago. Let's look for its name... There it is: Computer Contact. It sounds worth looking at, well at least to satisfy my curiosity. Land on top of the building, and I will get out quickly. Then you can take off again."

Butler One lowered Wildstar to the upper surface of the building.

Ann left the spaceship and found a stairwell leading down into building. It started from a box-like structure, which was jutting out upwards from the roof.

"Well of course," she thought, "If the roof was completely flat, then nobody could get out onto it, but I have the feeling that I am not supposed to be up here. I only came this way, because the area's crowded with enough buildings. Nobody saw Butler One's quick landing with Wildstar on the roof."

Ann opened the door and went down the stairs. She decided to take the time to walk all of the way down to the ground floor.

"It will look suspicious if I come from above," she thought. She put her arm on the stair rail and slid, jumping several steps at a turn, and then ran around the flat levels where the stairs changed direction. All the stairs descended, but every second small flight of stairs was facing in the opposite horizontal direction thought Ann, which was a naturally sensible thing for flights of stairs to do.

Ann slipped Wendell into his hidden pouch, reached the ground floor and stepped out into a lobby. She looked at a directory of the building, which was illuminated by a series of small lights around its framework:

            Level 0:            lobby, entrance.

            Level 1:            enquiries.

            Level 2:            school year five students.

            Level 3:            school year six students.

            Level 4:            school year seven students.

            Level 5:            school year eight students.

            Level 6:            school year nine students.

            Levels 7-18:     school children not allowed. Company employees only.

            All visitors please report to level 1.

Ann read it all and then stepped towards the elevator. She pressed the 'up' button and waited, watching the lights change from one number to the next,  on the display above the elevator doors. The elevator admitted Ann to its rectangular structure, and she looked at the man in his business suit, who had not stepped out at the ground floor.

"Aren't you getting out here?" she asked, "It doesn't go any lower. It just goes up now."

"I am the lift attendant. Where are you going to?"

"Oh, of course, the lift attendant. Sorry. I think I should go to level one."

The elevator ascended, and Ann was soon speaking to a lady who worked at the enquiry desk.

"I was wondering what Computer Contact is all about," said Ann.

"Well it's a special company for school children in their last two years of primary school, or in their first three years in high school. We test your intelligence, if you're interested, and then if you're able to do your homework early in the afternoons, you can come here and learn and work with computers. We think that every office  in Australia will have its own computers in about ten years time. So we are offering our special weeknight training now. We don't think that all children should have to wait until they leave school, to learn about all of this, when some of the brighter kids can do their homework in no time and then spend the afternoon and evening feeling bored. Our classes are from five until eight, but it's not all hard learning. You can join in a computer wargame simulation with several other girls. You actually design weaponery on the screen and test it against the computer's mind. We provide you with dinner. So all you have to do is bring your brains and turn up. Your parents pick you up at eight."

"I'm an orphan," said Ann, "but I think it all sounds rather exciting, being up in a tall building, learning about computers at night. I'm only in year eight. So I'm still young enough to start, if you think it's alright."

"Sure. We're always looking for more, but you'll have to get in quick. If you start tonight, you've only a week and two days until the end of this term."

"I'll give it my best," thought Ann, knowing that it couldn't hurt to try something for a week and a half. The robot could replace her at Freedom Fields. She could even still go to school herself, and at this stage in the term they would not be given a great deal of homework. Teachers usually relaxed the workload once the end-of-term exams had been dealt with.

"I would like to come along then," she said.

"Well you will have to take an intelligence test first," said the lady, "I'm not trying to make you feel bad if you don't get enough marks, but you would be wasting your nights here, and our time, if you can't cope with the brainwork that we require of our students."

Ann sat at a desk in an almost empty room and worked her way through the test.

"My robot's probably answering history questions at school," she thought.

*          *          *          *

The test lasted for half an hour.

"My oh my," she said to the lady, as she handed her paper over for marking, "That's nothing like the Intelligence Quotient tests I have done at school."

"That's because the computer classes will be nothing like the work you've done at school. Now I'll just have the computer mark the questions. That's why you used lead pencil. The computer just marks your multiple choice responses and calculates your score."

The lady fed Ann's pages into the machine, and Ann noticed the numbers ticking up a score out of one hundred, as the small shreds of paper were ejected into a garbage bin.

"The computer also has a mulching machine attached to it," thought Ann.

"The computer destroys the hard copy of the test after it has recorded the marks," said the lady, "and you don't need to feel too disappointed about your result. That's good. It's one of the higher marks we've had here. You can start tonight."

"Via the roof again," thought Ann.

 She was given a laminated plastic card with her name below the Computer Contact membership insignia: a double C in a circle. The card also stated her school year, age, and her mark in the test.

"You wear that badge always when you come," said the lady, "That way you can look at anyone's badge and grade yourself as a comparison to their mark."

"Sure," said Ann, "Well I'll just be leaving on the train each night. I don't want the orphanage staff to have to come and get me each time. They wouldn't let me come here then."

"That's fine," said the lady, "We'll see you tonight then. You go to level five."

Ann nodded her head and departed, signalling for Butler One to land the spacecraft on the roof. As she ascended the flights of stairs, one by one with her hidden anti-gravity controls, and the exposed anti-gravity triangles, she checked the doors above level six. They were all locked, and the lift attendant would probably ensure that nobody from the schools went above level six as well. The door to the roof would be locked as well, from the outside,

"opened only by keys on the inside, no less," thought Ann, "or by my Remote Control Trembler Device. Butler One's a good teacher with these bracelets and other gimics I use."
The door was locked, but Ann had no trouble with it. She was able to press the button and watch the door unlock itself.

"Thanks to the R.C.T.D.," thought Ann.

"It's just as if there was a pair of hands on the other side of the door out there; activated by the device," thought Ann, "and just as well too. I would hate to go all the way down and out into the street and arrange another place to meet up with Wildstar again."

*          *          *          *

Ann attended the classes each night, wearing her special outfit, although most of it was concealed by a dark blue coat, which reached down to her knees. It would be easy to slip it off if she needed to go into action as the Mistress of Scientific Wonders. Each night she would attend the classes and then sneak out to the roof, where Wildstar would be waiting, with Butler One at the controls. On the second last night of the course, things were particularly clear in Ann's mind.

"I've learnt a lot, Butler One, especially today. I think they are going to wrap it all up, tomorrow. I would like to test it out against you. We could use your computer as a screen and brain to replicate the things I remember from classes."

"Ann started with a blank screen and defined various combat zones and then created various devices for herself and others for Butler One. In reality, they were only two dimensional electrical impulses on a computer screen, but they would provide an innovative simulation exercise for the two of them.

*          *          *          *

"Oh, I made a mistake," said Ann, "You win again. I was just beginning to think that I was becoming very clever, and then I made a silly mistake, under the panic of wanting to be sure I would win for the first time."
"Even a silver lining has a few black spots, Miss O’Malley."

"You know, you're right. Let's stop hoverring over Computer Contact and land on that other building. I feel like testing my anti-gravity in a fun sort of way."

Ann stepped out of Wildstar and stood on the edge of a tall building's rooftop. Wendell had climbed out of his pouch and been placed just beside her neck, with the top of her clothing to hold firmly onto. Then Ann turned on her anti-gravity triangles and stepped out into thin air.  Manipulating the controls enabled her to float slowly down to the deserted street below. They then floated upwards again, and then down, enjoying the feeling of doing it at different speeds. They would watch the views become apparently smaller or larger, as they floated upwards or downwards. Then she turned around and watched the windows of the building moving past her as they floated upwards, and then down again.

"Well, it's about time I learnt to control these things for precision movements, rather than just jumping into my Freedom Fields bedroom window, or using them to go in and out of Wildstar," said Ann, "So tonight I felt like a far more extensive training session. That will do for enough practicing the speeds in the vertical direction. To fall faster, you just reduce the amount of current flowing into the anti-gravity triangles, but not too much, of course. To rise faster, you just increase it. Now I want to try some other directional vectors."

Ann had learnt about directional vectors, including the meanings of the words themselves, as part of the early lessons in moving cursors around the computer screen by pressing the correct buttons.

There were occasional moments when Wendell wished that a tiny set of exolimbs and anti-gravity triangles could have been created for him too, but most of the time he was glad that he could ride snuggled against Ann’s soft neck. She was his special friend from a new dimension, which he was enjoying seeing from his tiny perspective.

"Now I will try using it to leap from building to building. If I jump up at an angle and use the devices at the same time, they will amplify my angular outward leap and help me to reach the roof of that building over there."

Ann practiced the technique successfully, using several different heights and angles.

"Jumping giant jellybeans!" said Ann, "This really works very well!"

Ann practiced for about twenty minutes, before she had satisfied herself that she knew every possible leap in North Sydney had been achieved successfully at least once, and with enough confidence to know that she could not mess it up.

"I cannot have any lucky landings. They must all be planned and then done according to plans."

There are people who believe that the absence of a plan is the freedom from the frustration of divergence from one's plans, but Ann believed in having a plan and working towards it. If she jumped and failed to reach a building, then she would have to float upwards and make another attempt. There were even a few times when she jumped not nearly far enough and ended up floating down to the street, with no other choice but to do that and then walk across to the side of a building, float upwards and have another attempt at it.

"It's a good thing that these bracelets can help me to ride the horizontal magnetic currents of the air, if I really want to go for short flights," thought Ann, "but I should still learn to jump like this, relying only on my own agility training skills, and the anti-gravity powers of the triangles."

Ann chose a tall building and sat down on the edge of it, with her legs dangling over the side of the building.

"Hmm, nine o'clock. Tomorrow is the last day of school term two, and of the Computer Contact lessons for this time anyway, and here I am sitting on top of a building. I have had so much practice using these bracelets, since I first met Butler One, that I have fully overcome my natural fear of heights. I don't know why I was the one to find all these gadgets in a spaceship in a forest near an orphanage, but I do think that I should train myself, rather than just relying on special gadgets to do everything for me," thought Ann.

Ann turned on her communicator.

"Hey, Butler One, land on the roof and come out to join me."

"Coming and landing, Miss O’Malley."

Wildstar stopped quietly on the roof, and Butler One emerged from the top of Wildstar and floated down to the roof. Then he rolled towards Ann and stopped.

"I know that your electronic brain can't really enjoy it, Butler One," said Ann, "but the lights and the water out in Sydney Harbour are beautiful. Let's sit here and watch it for a while, before we go back to Freedom Fields."

Ann and Wendell looked at the beauty of the city lights.

"I'd much rather live at Freedom Fields than in the town somewhere," said Ann, "but it is nice to visit the town, especially at night. I wonder how other thirteen-year-old girls enjoy themselves on nights like this. They must have things to do, but I do not think that I could go back to my old hobbies alone, not after all this. Some day I will have to work out who I can trust with these secrets, some other girl who would know about Butler One, Wildstar and my adventures and gadgets, without telling anyone. Butler One's primary loyalties are programmed to me with a similar legacy routine, if I die, to the one that Jeradd left me. Oh well, I should go to bed."

“There aren’t any other eight-year-old tiny boys here,” said Wendell.

*          *          *          *

The next day, Friday, Ann said farewell to her school friends and went to Computer Contact inside Wildstar. She could have caught the train from Pymble Station, but it would cost her money which she did not have. It would have to be Butler One's usual method of transportation again, but that didn't matter. She entered the stairwell and attended her class. Butler One took Wildstar into outer space, and orbited the earth as usual, waiting for Ann O’Malley's signal. Wildstar could not be invited to merely land on the roof at eight, because Ann had to sneak out, using the Remote Control Trembler Device (R.C.T.D.) and then check for people on the roof.

The final lessons included the storing of newly created weaponry concepts as visual graphical entries on a special mixture of graphics and database management. The database management system could store pictures generated by the computer.

"So the computer mind stores pictures like a box of slides, instead of storing words like a dictionary," said Ann.

"That's right," said one of the teachers. Well, if you've got everything stored, you are all ready for tonight's little surprise."

“I’d be the littlest surprise of all, if they knew I’m hidden on Ann’s outfit,” thought Wendell.

Ann was pleased that she had again been able to show that she understood something, by saying it in her own different words, removing the jargon to prove that she understood what was really going on.

"Surprise?" she asked.

"Yes," said the teacher, and four men entered the room with guns.

"If this is a planned surprise, it must be happening on every level between and including levels two and six," thought Ann.

"Nothing comes completely free to those who use it," said the teacher, "and you're all going to find out that you will have to do a lot more to deserve this set of computer classes, than just being born with big brains. We have dismissed all of the staff on every level except two to six. You will all file out into the stairwell and walk up to the roof. There you will see some starcrafts coming in to land. We have altogether thirty-five students in our courses, roughly seven on each level.

"You will be divided into two groups, one of seventeen, the other of eighteen. Then you will file into the starcrafts. We have been promised diamonds, rubies and emeralds from an alien warrior, who intends to train you all even more, using the most intelligent brains in the universe to further his efforts to design and use many war weapons. He is an alien child living on another planet. His brain is well developed, and you will all be trained to work under his super-intelligent guidance; working on and designing war weaponery. He will eventually distribute it to two weak and oppressed planets in a distant star system, and become famous for starting and creating a legendary war. His ambition is childish, but he has promised us an abundance of diamonds, rubies and emeralds for recruiting and training you. He has gathered teenagers from all over the universe; or people of equivalent alien youthfulness.

"They will be trained and will work until they are all the equivalent of a twenty-year-old earthling. Then their minds will be developed to keep the long war going, and continue selling the weaponery to any other planets who wish to be involved in the war. That will be too far away to concern us. A year ago, we did not even know about or believe in all this, but now we are going to profit from it. You will all file out now."

Ann had turned on her secret communicator shortly after the man had started talking. Butler One would hear enough to see the need to follow them to the distant planet of the youthful war monger, that was if all of this was true.

'And having seen Butler One and Wildstar, I will believe anything is true," thought Ann.

*          *          *          *

Ann was not surprised to find that the doorway to the roof had been unlocked. There was a large spacecraft outside on the roof, with another one hovering nearby, waiting for its turn to fill up with passengers. There was also a small party of aliens, with basically human appearances, except that their skin was light purple, and their hair colours were either blue, dark purple or a genuine red. Ann always thought it silly, that people described hair like hers as being red.

"Surely it is orange to me," she thought, "but the hair on those two aliens there is red as a tomato."

She thought of the parents arriving in the street below. They would probably find the building locked up, and dimly lit if at all visible.

"I am beginning to wonder about all this," thought Ann, "They have probably organized a helicopter to act as an escape for the Computer Contact staff involved in this crime, and the helicopter can take them and their loot to a safe hideout .... Those bags must have the gems. If they did all this only to find those sacks almost empty by the time they got home, it would teach them a good lesson. They would think that the aliens cheated them. It's better than sending them to prison."

Ann took out a rectangular prism from one of her bracelets. It was actually a container full of a powerful acid in the form of a powder. When released from the special prism, it would eat through the gems and bags in a few hours. She ran to the bags, avoiding their efforts to stop her with exolimb blows from her hands, and poured the powder. They may not even see it in the relative darkness, but she knew that it would strike the sacks and do its work.

“I wonder if we can pull this off,” said Wendell from concealment.

"Well when we’ve saved them all, if we do," said Ann, "I wonder if their mothers will tell them off for being late for dinner."

The powder had hit its mark and would probably even eat through a little of whatever the sacks were resting on at the time. They could only warn her.

They did.

"Don't you chuck anything again, girlie, not even powder, or we'll use our guns next time!" said one of the men.

"No, I won't chuck anything at all," thought Ann, "but we'll see what happens when Butler One reaches wherever we're going. He'll follow these two starcrafts back to the planet where they came from."

Ann and the other seventeen girls chosen as the first group walked together into the first starcraft, and felt it rising into the air, as they were strapped into various seating positions. Below them, the second starcraft landed, and Ann could see the second group of passengers preparing to make their involuntary journey into the stars.

The two starcraft were soon side-by-side, high above the streets of North Sydney. Ann hoped that Butler One had heard her signal. Of course he would. It was not so much a matter of hearing it as electronically receiving it. Wildstar would be headed for the new planet.

"I don't suppose you will tell us where we're going," said Ann.

The earthmen were now nowhere to be seen, presumably making an exit of their own, but not to another planet.

The aliens ignored Ann's comment and spoke to each other in language of their own.

"Hey, if language doesn't matter," thought Ann, "then there must be other crafts taking off from other countries, with more victims, all being recruited for this wicked training process. It's just as well that nobody from Northern High School knew about Computer Contact. I do not want anyone who knows me to see Butler One and me in action. There is nobody from Freedom Fields here either."

The starcraft flew on a journey which seemed to last many hours. Ann did not know, because she fell asleep and retained no concept of night or day in outer space, except for the fact that she awoke hours later to see the numbers 5:32 on her watch.

"It must be morning, on earth anyway, but not here," thought Ann, as she stared out at the distant coloured spheres, which were actually planets.

She began to think about what to do.

"There are two good reasons not to attack the aliens just yet. Firstly, they have weapons, which they could use on us, and secondly it would be better to fight the source of the problem, or I can't help the other victims from other worlds. They will all be together with us when we get to the War Design World."

Eventually the darkness of deep space began to be replaced by an orange atmosphere, and then the two starcraft made vertical landings on a small runway surrounded by rocky terrain, with an abundance of scattered bushes. Ann saw that the sky was bright orange in colour.

"Beautiful to look at, but we won't really get the chance to enjoy it," thought Ann.

A hangar opened up, and Ann wondered how the starcraft would move into it. Then she looked further and realized that it was actually a huge, long passage. They would have to walk all of the way along it, until they reached the headquarters.

They were shown inside and Ann saw that there was a series of moving crates on a line, like a primitive open monorail. She soon discovered that it was not at all primitive. The vehicles moved at a greater speed than the Sydney suburban limits. She almost feared that she would fall out the back of her speeding crate, but the box-like car moved rapidly and with stable balance along the rail below it.

The cars could only take one passenger each, but their movement was so rapid, that Ann could barely notice the passing walls of the passage. She would not even contemplate jumping from one of the cars. With an alien in the first car, and another in the last, the children would be delivered to their captor like goods on a rapidly moving conveyor belt.

"Wait! There's still one thing I can do," thought Ann, "If I activate the anti-gravity triangles and float straight up, then it won't matter how dazed I am from the speed of those cars. I can just float up there until I get my head together, and, using their own speedy monocars against them, I can watch them flash past below me so fast that they cannot even aim straight to shoot at me. I'll have to work up the courage to take the leap. It's a good thing I had the stationary practice from those buildings in North Sydney."

She coiled her legs, by sitting on them with her feet flat on the floor of the monocar. There were schoolchildren in front of her, as well as behind. She would not be seen preparing for the jump. It would be over and done with before they could take any action. She unfolded the triangles, locked them in position, gripped the controls and leaped into the air. She looked down, and thought that the cars appeared to move even faster than they were going when she was riding on one of them. It was merely the effect of relative velocities. She then made an exhausting flight until she located a hatch in the roof, which she opened. She climbed out onto the roof and then flew along above the tunnel, heading in the same direction as the cars below. She would find a way into the headquarters, a different way, and surprise them.

*          *          *          *

Meanwhile Butler One had traced the path of the starcraft and landed nearby, close to the runway. He opened the cylinder and floated down to the ground and rolled out towards the hangar, which was now closed. Butler One tilted his left arm into position and fired its laser tube at the hangar doorway, and had soon cut out a small opening. He extended his probes outwards and knocked the artificial door in. He was met by three aliens, who proved to be no match for his right arm stun blaster.

Then he had only to examine the near end control deck for the monocars. He used his own anti-gravity to float into the nearest car, and then extended his probe. He was following the others from a distance.

*          *          *          *

Ann located an entry to the complex at the end of the passageway. She stole in and soon located a purple skinned boy working a master computer in a large control bridge.

"So you control things and give your orders from here," said Ann.

"...."

His speech was not of any benefit to Ann. She did not understand the language. She was able to knock him unconscious with her exolimbs, and did so. Now she could use her bracelet communicator to contact Butler One. They had soon explained their situations to each other and formulated a plan. Butler One told Ann how to rewire a small detonator on her costume to be activated by a time program on the computer. Ann connected the two, leaving the detonator disk in the main complex. Then she grabbed the purple skinned war child and waited to hear from Butler One.

*          *          *          *

The robot took a short time to reach the end of the long passageway, and a little longer to stun the aliens with his blaster stun cannon. Ann then directed him into the main control complex, where he was able to interface with the master computer. Butler One then sent orders in many languages, commanding the aliens to return the captives to their own planets and then return to the War Design World. It turned out that there were other long passages and other starcrafts. The aliens obeyed, not knowing that Butler One was in control of their master computer with its communication circuits.

"They have all been ordered to return after delivering their passengers, Miss O’Malley."

"Good. Now if you can send a message through space, using that master computer, to reach the authorities of the more influential worlds in this area, they can be here to round up these people pirates afterwards, when they return."

"I can also take eighteen of our own students back to earth in the starcraft, while you use your remote controls to follow in Wildstar with the others, Miss O’Malley.

"That will be good, Butler One."

*          *          *          *

Many hours later, the students were delivered to the airport in Sydney. They had been able to make vertical landings on an unoccupied airstrip, and Ann had put her mask on, in order to avoid recognition. It covered her entire face and provided her with the necessary anonymity.

*          *          *          *

"The people of your planet will have no problem believing in alien life forms now, Miss O’Malley."

Ann felt too tired to answer. Wildstar was flying towards the Freedom Fields forest.

"Why do you not speak to me, Miss O’Malley?"

"Somebody stole my voice," said Ann jokingly, "Oh no, don't you say anything. Just don't. I'll say it first. How can anyone say 'Somebody stole my voice,' if they don't have a voice with which to say it?"

1996….

Ann took Martin into her bedroom and lay down and put him on the pillow beside her face.

“I’ll go on with the story, but this is more comfortable,” she said.

“And I can see into your mouth while you’re talking,” said Martin, “Which is a nice preview for being eaten later.”

1953…

The school holidays had arrived, for everyone.

At the beginning and end of each school term, there would be some difference between the holiday commencement dates of the various schools, but there was always a large portion of the holidays which was common to every school. In the first week of this common vacation period, the schoolgirls at Freedom Fields were enjoying a game of softball on the oval. Ann thought of the bush beyond the oval. That forest of pines and other trees had always fascinated Ann, both before and after her discovery of Wildstar and Butler One. There was the natural beauty of the trees, the thrill of navigating a definite pathway through to various places, and the mystique of not being able to see thorough to the other sides, but yet knowing that something was there.

"Maybe that forest has more surprises," thought Ann, "I only found Wildstar by accident while searching for anything to do with Freedom Fields, or St Abel's. Who knows what else is in there? I feel like a daytime exploration of that bush."

Ann stood up and spoke to the other girls on her team, who were waiting for their turn to bat.

"I think I might drop out of the game and go for a walk in the forest," she said, mentally reassuring herself: "It's not slack. They've got plenty of players, and I really don't want to be stuck here playing softball today."

She also thought that it would give her more time to talk privately with her tiny friend Wendell from earth-T.

"Can I go with you?" asked Arella.

Arella Kayne was twelve years old, in year seven at school. She had blond hair, with some rich round waves, which ended in a pair of concave upwards curls, which rested on her shoulders. Her hair was parted in the center of her head, which made her face perfectly symmetrical. Today she was wearing a bright pink pullover and a matching pair of tracksuit pants, with white sox and sandshoes.

Ann was wearing a red skivvy and a dark green skirt, with stockings underneath. Everything seemed so peaceful that morning, and Ann decided to enjoy a day without even contemplating the notion of wearing a long trousers outfit with her special costume underneath it. Arella sounded exceptionally keen to join the walk. Ann agreed. Arella could walk in the forest in the company of a teenager. Ann would be the one to take responsibility for Arella's safety.

"Are we going to lose two of you then?" asked the team's captain.

"Don't worry," said Ann, "Just borrow somebody from their side, or two of you can bat twice."

Ann and Arella wandered away into the bushes.

"I had the craziest dream about you, the other night," said Arella.

"Sounds breezy. Tell me about it," said Ann.

"It isn't really possible for any of this to happen, but in the dream, I knew that you had snuck out of the building one night and-"

"Snuck out of Freedom Fields?"

"That's right, and get this! You found a tiny boy, and then you both walked into the forest, just like we are now, and found a spaceship in the dark. Then you got your own computer robot built and found countless gadgets and devices as well."

"Yes, well, that's certainly an unusual dream," said Ann, secretly thinking, "It's more unusual than you could possibly imagine, Arella Kayne!"
"Still, I guess that's ridiculous," said Arella, "I have lots of wild dreams about things that I could never have known about or expected to happen, and some time in the future, they often do. Still I guess there's no chance of you turning into the Galactic Gadget Girl, so it must have been one of the weirdies that just don't come true or even mean anything."

Ann remembered her night with Butler One on the tops of the buildings at North Sydney. She had wanted to share that moment with somebody; to share it with a regular sized human girl who was capable of thinking and feeling the same thrills and excitement that come to any young girl who suddenly has the technical means to create artificial super powers for herself.  As special as her friendship with Wendell was, it would be nice to have another girl roughly her own age in on their little secret. It would be particularly nice to have a friend among the orphan girls at Freedom Fields who shared her secret; and Arella Kayne had just demonstrated the likely existence of a certain real super power of her own. Ann decided to take a risk.

"Arella, what if I told you that your dream about me was absolutely true?"

"You're kidding. That sounds wild."

"No. Come back to my room. I can show you."

Ann took Arella back to Freedom Fields and locked the two of them safely inside Ann's bedroom. She showed her exolimbs, costume and bracelets to Arella, who marvelled at it all. Ann put the bracelets on over her ordinairy clothes and floated up to the ceiling with the aid of the unfolding triangles.

"This is just too much! Does this mean that we're partners?"

"Keep your voice down," said Ann, "I don't want anyone else to know about this at all, ever."

"I understand," said Arella.

"As for partners, we’d be more of a trio,” said Ann, “Your dream was more accurate than you thought. Meet Wendell.”

She took the tiny boy out and showed him to Arella, who was amazed, even though she had dreamt of his existence herself.

“He’s real!” she whispered.

“I sure am,” said Wendell.

“Well maybe we should look into your powers. You will have to meet Butler One, the robot computer, and Wildstar the spaceship," said Ann.

"Butler One was... is a computer robot made from the spaceship's computer and some of the gadgets in the gadget room, isn't he?"

"Yes, that's amazing," said Ann.

"And Wildstar is the spaceship, but you chose that name, didn't you?"
"I did, but not straight away. Did you dream all of this in one night?"
"Yes, it just went on like a story."
Ann put her special outfit into her backpack, including the exolegs and exogloves. She took off her pullover and put on a shirt, over which she put the exolimb arms, and then the pullover. She also wore the exofeet under her sox.

"Now we walk out into the bushes and summon Butler One."

The two girls and Wendell were soon seated on the floor of Wildstar, which was orbiting the earth with Butler One at the controls. Ann had lifted Arella into the spaceship by holding Arella and increasing the power flow in the anti-gravity triangles.

"Tell me about some of your other dreams," said Ann.

"Well once, a few years ago, I had a dream that I was involved in a kidnapping. I was kidnapped with several of my school friends and we were all put into a room, and we found a hole in the back of a cupboard, which led to a hole in the wall behind it. We could explore the passageway and get out. Suddenly I woke up, because I needed to cough. I was disappointed, because I had been enjoying the excitement of the dream, which had suddenly stopped. I was so lucky though, because I then fell asleep, and the dream continued. We crept through the hole, into the passageway and came out in another room, which had a door to the garden outside. Then all we had to do was run for the police station, which we did, and then I just woke up thinking that the police would get them and everything would be all right. That dream never came true, but it was weird, because it's the only time I have woken up and then continued the same dream.

"It would be understandable if I had just been having hazy visions about one simple thing like kidnappings and then woke up and then went back to sleep thinking about kidnappings. I would probably expect to dream them again, but this dream I had years ago had such a definite flowing story with a coughing break interlude in the middle. It all made sense. It's the sort of thing that could happen. It wasn't just a strange mixture of images the way some dreams are.

"Like everyone else, I have heaps of dreams which are just ordinairy with no strange part twos or real life predictions or anything; but I sure have some weird ones too."

"I think there's definitely something weird about it, but that's what I like. Don't stop and think 'Oh, it's all just a few coincidences to get a little schoolgirl thrilled silly about nothing.' Believe in what's happening, and it will probably happen again and again. I hope we can find out how and why as well.”

“Tell us about other dreams," said Wendell.

"The funny thing is that I have always enjoyed watching the thrilling science fiction movies and shows on television. Six years ago, I had a dream that I met a lady next door. This was when I was living as a foster child. I never knew who my parents were. The lady had special magic powers, not gadgets but real magic. She would take me on many secret adventures, and the dream stopped with me wondering what the next one would be. Four years later, I came to Freedom Fields and met you, and now a little further on I have this dream about you, and then you show me all of the gadgets and this spaceship. It was only today that I remembered the dream I had six years ago. I had forgotten it until now, but the incredible coincidence is in the fact that that lady's name, the name of the lady next door in the dream, was Ann."

"Ann who?"
"I don't know. I never did, but it was Ann."

"That's quite extraordinairy. Don't worry. I believe you. Even if you had not dreamt my origin story, I would still believe it was possible to have powers like yours. After what I have found in this spaceship, I would believe in anything. You probably had a pre-something. It was before it happened anyway."

"Suggestion, Miss O’Malley," said Butler One, "It would be wise if you referred to Miss Kayne's experience as a vision."

"Alright, Butler One," said Ann.

"Miss Kayne," said Butler One, "What other dreams have you had involving real world implications?"

"I had a dream about three years ago, where I met a boy from down the street, and he led me up a hill. We used to live in Gordon in my real life days before Freedom Fields. We were climbing up a fresh green mountainside with many bushes and trees. In reality, there is no such place, but I dreamt it. Eventually it leveled out on a plateau, a green, grassy plateau, and somehow I could see into the backyard of another neighbouring friend of mine. It was ridiculous, because in reality his backyard would be down at street level like mine. Then I looked again, and there was a small grassy cliff between our plateau and the mountain's highest level.

"Somehow the boy and I both climbed it, and then we could look out from this big mountainside and see right across the world to where we actually saw people skiing on the snowfields in Switzerland. Then suddenly I sensed that the boy was planning some sort of trap for me. So I turned and ran down the mountainside, leaping fast and avoiding trees, knowing that he must be behind me. I had almost used super speed on that downward trip. There was no possible way he could have gotten there first. I would have heard him running through the mountain bushes, if he had been anywhere close. I finally reached the bottom and rushed out.

The area was different to the way it had looked when we started, and the boy was waiting with four girls, all ready to fight me. I felt that I had been shown this beautiful place only to be tricked by the person who showed it to me. Then I woke up and wished that it had been real.

"Three months later I happened to find a small storybook for children in the school library. It had one page of big print writing, then a photograph of a scene relevant to the story, then another page of print and so on. I decided to enjoy its photography. I had only picked it up to fill in time for a few minutes at the end of lunchtime, and you can flash through a children's book pretty fast."

"Why did you think the bookmaking publisher had gone to the trouble of taking and reproducing photographs, instead of just drawing pictures?" asked Ann, "That really is unusual in real life, for a kid's storybook. I would expect it in an encyclopedia or something, but this is a surprise, and I would love to know what it has to do with the dream that you had."

"I did not think much about the fact that the book had photographs. I just enjoyed them," said Arella.

"Expensive bookmaking," thought Ann.

She was too young to know that the word 'bookmaking' actually had connotations related to gambling. However, these two young girls would be unlikely to cause any trouble by using the word to mean publishing or binding with covers.

"Anyway I turned the pages of this book, ignoring all the words and looking only at the pictures, and I came to one which looked exactly like that view over the side of the mountain from the plateau. I don't mean every fine detail, but the likeness was staggering. I just could not believe it. I was still standing there staring at it when the bell rang, and lunch was over. I put the book down and ran off to class, but I came back the next day and could not find the book. It had been a paperback on a stand. I checked all the stands and simply could not find it. Paperbacks always go back on the stands. I have never found that book since, but I have surely checked the library often enough. If only I had looked at the title instead of just assuming I could come back and it would still be there."

"Well don't be disappointed," said Ann, "not about the fact that the book mysteriously disappeared. That's part of what makes the whole thing sound so fantastic."

"Another dream I had a few weeks ago was weird too. I watch 'Power Woman' after my homework on the television each weekday at half past five. I love that show. Anyway, I woke up one Tuesday morning, went to school, played a lot of wild games at lunch, did my homework after school, and then was so tired and physically sick from a developing flu symptom, that I accidentally fell asleep in my chair. I dreamt that I was living an episode of Power Woman and rescuing a man who looked like Garth from earlier episodes, but his hair and face looked neater and more streamlined than Garth's. I woke up thinking that I would really enjoy watching Power Woman that day, after dreaming about it. I had done my homework fast enough, faster than usual.

"Then I looked at my clock and panicked. It was ten to six. I had missed most of it! However, then as I sat there telling myself that it was hardly worth going down to see the last ten minutes of a story that I had mostly missed, I felt haunted by the effect of the dream and then missing it for the first time since episode one. Then I heard Sally laughing, and it turned out that she had snuck in and put my clock an hour fast while I slept. She said she would have woken me up by quarter past five for Power Woman if I had stayed asleep, but she just wanted the fun of frightening the wits out of me, because she knows I take that show seriously.

"So it was only five to five then. I watched it as usual, and again each day. Four episodes later, I saw an episode which did have a man who looked very much like Garth, except that his hair was neater, and his face was more streamlined. The surprise of dreaming the future, and the panic I had before, was sensational. I had never seen the actor on that episode before, but there he was! People would say that's just a coincidence, but no way. We're special people now, Ann."

"I guess we are."

"I checked the credits at the end. The actor was a totally different name to the person who played Garth in the earlier episodes."

"I would like to hear more of your dreams," said Ann.

“Did you ever have any about me when I was back on my own earth?” asked Wendell.

“None at all,” said Arella, but I did have a vision just before I came to Freedom Fields. I was starting to get into lots of arguments with my foster parents, and it seemed that no matter what I tried to do, I would still end up getting them more and more off side. Then one day I had a friend visiting, who was a bit of a trouble causer at school. I was her only friend, because she made so many enemies by bullying and trying to steal things. I thought I could help her just by being kind to her, but when we got to my house, she just kept trying to cook some stuff that she took from my foster mother's pantry. I told her we were not allowed to have it and then managed to hide the box of matches that she needed to light the stove. She beat me up until I showed her the matches. I went into my old living room and noticed the rain start to pelt down outside. I then saw her stride past me, without the food, and into the rain. I didn't know why she had beaten me up to get the stuff and then just suddenly stopped. Maybe it was a guilty conscience, but she didn't really seem to use her conscience by that stage in her life.

When my foster parents heard what had happened, they both said 'We're so sorry,' and for a few weeks I got on well with them. All of that was real life happenings. Then I dreamt, one Wednesday night, that it was a Friday night and I had been asked to leave home. They wanted to be rid of me in the dream. Then I was at another friend's place telling her about it, and she said 'It's cold. Have you got a coat?' I sadly said that I would be alright, and the dream ended on that unhappy note."

"And let me guess. That is what really happened," said Ann.

"It did too. It happened two nights later, on a Friday night. I'm better off here anyway. They just decided I was not their little girl anymore that night, and I would have to leave. I went out into the street to cry, and there I saw the friend I had dreamt about, walking towards me. She was older. So she was allowed to go out walking at night. She was the one who in the dream had said 'It's cold. Have you got a coat?'."

"Have you ever had any dreams and somehow known at the time, that they were only dreams?" asked Ann.

“That almost happened to me once,” said Wendell, “But in the dream, I wasn’t really sure.”

"No, and I do not think that things like that would be true dreams anyway. A dream is deceptive enough that you think it's real. What you asked would be like us sitting here now knowing that we're not real. This could be a dream, in which case we wouldn't know what our real selves would be doing with their lives when they awoke. They may not live in a world like this; but I think that this is the reality from which all dreams are derived or experienced.

"Still I did have a dream once, where the opposite happened. I was out on a farm standing by a wooden fence, and I thought to myself 'I know that this is real. This is not a dream. It has to be real. I can see the fence posts and lean against them.' Later I woke up and of course it had not been real. My dream self had been wrong. The other significant dream I had was about that 'Warp flight' science fiction television series four years ago. I had watched all of the episodes on television and then one night I dreamt of an ultimate episode, where the Warpflight spaceships went out on a special journey, and the narrator's voice said that they were going 'right through a black hole'; which they had never done in any of the television episodes I had seen in real life.

"Last month that movie came out, a Warpflight movie which had not been shown in the cinemas for three years. I had never heard of it before last month. I went to see it, and they did indeed go right through a black hole. I guess that's all the dreams with weird developments in real life that I can remember."

"They seem to all be about either people or television shows or places. What do you think about all this, Butler One? How does Arella have these special powers with her dreams?"

"I shall search my memory banks for possible relevant information, Miss O’Malley..."

The two girls waited, while Ann O’Malley's computer robot examined its own electronic programming in search of a clue.

"The most likely answer is that Arella Kayne is the only known survivor from a race of specially gifted earthlings called the Dream Sensitives. All of them have special powers with either having extraordinairy dreams or interpreting the dreams of others. However, a true dream sensitive infallibly dreams the future. Arella can only do that sometimes. Her other dreams are irrelevant to reality."

"We don't know that yet," said Ann, "She's had some rather delayed revelations. It may be that some of her dreams have not come true yet, but they will come true some time in the future, or it may be that they won't."

"The conclusion suggests that Arella Kayne is a mutant half breed. If a dream sensitive had married an ordinairy earthling, their offspring would be most likely to have the levels of mental subconscious energies exhibited by Arella Kayne."

"Of course!" said Arella, "I would inherit a mixture of my mother's normal dreaming habits and my father's dream sensitive sleeping, or maybe it was my mother who was the dream sensitive."

"Where did the dream sensitives live, Butler One?"
"No known places of origin or residence, Miss O’Malley. They were simply known on earth in the nineteenth century because of their special powers. Few people had heard of them, but my former owner Jeradd programmed me with a limited degree of knowledge of the dream sensitives."

"It might be a special power which depends on the type of mind one person has," said Arella,           "I have been reading lots of books about dreams, and apparently, the heavy dreaming that you do in the night is called the R.E.M. phase of dreaming or sleep. R.E.M. stands for Rapid Eye Movement. Some people think that it's just a wishful thinking and subconscious fantasizing time of the night. However,  the books say that if you wake somebody up during their rapid eye movement phase, you are likely to make the person upset and tired for the rest of the day.”

“It’s certainly not psychic power. That comes from the occult, and I wouldn’t have anything to do with that,” Ann added, “But dreams and visions are known to happen for other reasons.”

"I like to study, remember and think about my dreams. It's such a fascinating phenomenon, the way I dream something and find out later that the dream was not the end of it. It is good to be able to tell all of this to you and Butler One, Ann. I never wanted to tell the people at the orphanage, but that's because I did not want people thinking that I was crazy or mixed up. After I had the dream about your origin, I thought about it a lot, and noticed that you often go off on your own. Then I decided to find out whether or not I had dreamt one of your secrets," said Arella.

"It's almost like mind reading," said Ann.

"Oh yes," replied Arella emphatically, "It's not nearly as accurate as reading somebody's mind, but it does have one advantage. You can use it to know what will happen in advance, or at least what might happen in advance. I never know whether or not my dreams will come true, or when. It's like I said before: I know I have a special talent with my dreams, because the ones that do come true do it in such a hauntingly science fictional way, like the precise details of the episodes of 'Power Woman' and 'Warpflight.' I suppose I could investigate whether any significantly memorable dream could be true, like I did when I told you about my dream of your origin. Or I could know the end of a sequence of events, if it starts by repeating something that happened at the beginning of a dream. Then there are the surprises of associated real world objects, like the book in the school library and its mysterious disappearance."

"We could go on a global search for other dream sensitives," said Ann, "Maybe your mind would go wild when there's another one around."

"No, I don't think so," said Arella, "The chances are very slim."
"Arella's response is correct, Miss O’Malley," said Butler One, "Dream Sensitives do not exhibit any telepathic or telekinetic powers... Miss O’Malley, my monitors indicate that our vehicle is being approached by an alien spacecraft cruising around the earth. Shall I leave Wildstar in its present orbital path?"

“What do you think, Wendell?” asked Arella.

“He’s fallen asleep!” said Ann, “He’s not even 9 yet. Isn’t he cute?”

Ann heard a series of strange sounds from the Wildstar communicator. It sounded like high pitched gibberish.

"The noise is an attempt to communicate with us, Miss O’Malley. I could teach you their language from Jeradd's programming of my memory, but for now it would be better for me to interpret their speeches for you, and act as a translator for them also," said Butler One.

"Good idea. What are they saying?"
"They are members of Space Force, which is an interstellar group of planet protectors with special abilities. They are based on planet Saturn, and are currently pursuing a collection of space bandits, who killed and robbed on Saturn's capital city of Safyr. They have put up a radar cloaking effect and apparently hidden their spacecraft somewhere on earth. They suspect that we are representatives of earth and are seeking our help and guidance."

"Well if those raiders have killed people, then they're definitely not to be let off the hook," said Ann, "Tell Space Force that I will put on a space helmet and board their craft, if it is alright with them."

The suggestion was approved, and Ann prepared to attempt her first spacewalk. She attached an oxygen cylinder to her shoulders, and connected it to a space helmet, and then stepped into the room with the sealed airlock, after it was opened by Butler One. She could not leave the ship using Wildstar's cylinder doorway in airless space, for it would suffocate Arella Kayne. She would also have to rely on the thrust boots kept in the sealed room, because the anti-gravity triangles would be useless. She put on the boots, and then realized that she had been a little too keen.

Soon afterwards she was again in the sealed room wearing her special outfit, as well as her spacewalking equipment, which now included a full spacesuit. Now she could safely enter their ship and stand a greater chance of holding her ground, should she discover any insincerity from the Space Force members from Saturn. She stepped out of Wildstar and watched the airlock closing again. She soon found that she could control her movement by activating the thrust boots and pointing her feet away from the direction in which she wished to go. She reached the cruiser's airlock and entered the other spaceship through its sealed room. Wendell had stayed behind in Wildstar. He was over the moon at the seemingly endless supply of scientific adventures he was having with the relative giantess Ann O’Malley.

*          *          *          *

A conversation, using Butler One as an interpreter from Wildstar, provided Ann with a description of the space bandits. They had basically human appearances, except that their hands each had four fingers and two thumbs. There was a thumb at the end of the fingers and another thumb at the other end. They had shapeless heads with dark blue skin, with no eyes, mouth, nose or ears, but apparently they could absorb food and water into their heads and bodies like a sponge, and their sight and hearing were compatible with the corresponding attributes of earthlings.

"We'll stop them, Butler One," said Ann, "Tell these Space Force people to make me their avenger. We will track those space bandits on earth and then capture them all. They may have planned to escape Space Force, but they could not have anticipated the likelihood of meeting an earthling or two with some special powers on this their latest choice of target planets. We will just have to see where the space bandits attack first."

"I think I would know," said Arella.

"You?" said Ann.

"Yes. I dreamt of an attack on London, last week, an attack by dark blue skinned people with shapeless heads."

"I would believe that," said Ann.

The two spaceships managed to enter the earth's atmosphere and land on the outskirts of London. Ann arranged for a triple contact communication link to be created and held between herself, Wildstar and the Space Force members, so that she could use Butler One as a means of communicating continuously with the team from Saturn.

"We were not all born on Saturn, but we all live there now," explained one of them.

Ann and the others soon noticed a police force fighting a losing battle against the swift nimble visitors from outer space. Arella stayed inside Wildstar with Butler One to accompany her, while Ann joined the Space Force team in pursuing the bandits either on foot or by flight. Ann noticed an unusual dark pink cloud floating through the city of London.

For the moment she chose to ignore the cloud. One of the Space Force heroes managed to shoot small green energy balls from his hands, as they were created by his unique body radiation. They struck the bandits' guns with precision aiming, knocking the guns far out of reach of the space bandits.

"Good," thought Ann, "Now that he's disarmed the bandits, we can finish them off by hand, or by exolimb in my case."

Using her anti-gravity triangles, Ann flew at the bandits, using the force of her movement and the power of her exolimbs to knock them over three at a time. Only four bandits had escaped to their own cruiser, and were suddenly invisible, but so was Ann, and so was everything in London. It did not happen instantaneously. So hopefully the cars would have a chance to stop. The drivers would realize that it would be far too dangerous to continue driving an invisible car with one's invisible body.

The space bandits sent a message to the Space Force team's communicators, and Butler One translated it for Ann.

"So they plan to keep the city invisible using that cloud until and unless we let them escape," said Ann, "Well use your sound and homing sensors to guide me towards Wildstar, and we will see what we can do about that."

"Miss O’Malley, we are being blackmailed by a technique called 'bluffing' on your planet. My scanners indicate that the invisibility effect is a temporary result of some unique radiation, which is emanating from a cloud of pink vapour, which floated through the city. Its effects will soon pass, and the cloud will drift back into outer space. It may drift for hundreds of years, radiating temporary invisibility, or it may drift towards a black hole and therefore leave our known universe," said Butler One.

"So the bandits just noticed it and decided to take the blame for it, so that they could threaten us," said Arella.

"That's exactly what Butler One means," said Ann, "We won't wait for it to end, now that we know they are not controlling it. They are as weakened by this as we are, in fact more so, because now their cloaking device advantage is irrelevant. They cannot see us any more than we can see them, but you can track them, can't you Butler One, unless Arella dreamt their destination."

"No. I only dreamt to the middle of the attack. I did not even know that you and Space Force would be involved in defending the city."

"Hmm," said Ann.

“Huh?” said Wendell.

"Well Ann," said Arella.

"Hmm," said Ann.

“Huh?” said Wendell.

"Destination, Miss O’Malley? Should I track the bandits?"
"Hmm," said Ann O’Malley.

“Huh?” said Wendell.

"Well what?" said Arella Kayne, "Where are we going to head for now?"

"Hmm," said Ann.

“Huh?” said Wendell.

"Well aren't you going to answer us, Ann?" asked Arella, frustrated at the thought that Ann could not see the confusion in her eyes.

"Hmm," said Ann, "You know that this could be rather funny. Somewhere, somebody has dropped a coin, and they'll be wondering if they will ever find it; and imagine somebody watching television, who suddenly says, 'Mummy, I can't see what's on television any more. I can't even see the television set any more, but I can still hear it'."

Arella laughed.

"Yes you're right, and it could be funny, but hadn't we better track the raiders?"

"Of course. Butler One, start tracking."

"We're on our way, Miss O’Malley. I can feel the controls of Wildstar with my own probes."

"Just think of the implications of this, Arella. Someone could be under the shower and suddenly they're still getting wet, but they cannot see the water. People will think that they have gone blind. In fact, that's what it's like. You just see nothing, nothing but pink, which is like the nothing but black that you would see if you closed your eyes."
Ann and Arella could not even see the floor of Wildstar. Ann thought of Butler One. He would not need to see anything. He could fly the spacecraft just as well by feeling with his probes.

*          *          *          *

Ann waited until she heard Butler One's calm mechanical warning, heralding the fact that Wildstar was approaching the spacecraft belonging to the bandits.

"What are we going to do when we get to them?" asked Arella, "We'll probably crash into them or something."

"Not correct, Miss Kayne. I can detect them and steer to avoid them."

Butler One decided that to battle the starcruiser in the pink invisibility plague would be futile. Butler One would be the only member of the Wildstar crew who could use other means of locating his opponents.

"It will be impossible to win this battle in the invisibility cloud, Miss O’Malley. We are the victims of a temporary stalemate."

"Well let's follow them until we're all out of the cloud and then see how those three or four stand up against us three," said Ann.

So began a long game of invisible tag, which lasted for over an hour. When the space bandits finally left the cloud in order to avoid the risk of striking any tall objects, they suddenly noticed the near presence of Wildstar, and re-cloaked their vehicle.

"It's still a stalemate, Butler One," said Ann, "We're still just chasing them. I think you had better find another gadget that I can use to board that starcruiser. It's a good thing that I have had the practice to improve my head for heights. Now I will have to cope with phenomenal speeds as well."

Butler One located a magnetic clamp which was attached to a cosmic spear gun. This was effectively a spear with a small magnet on the end of it. He also found a set of radar imaging goggles, that would enable Ann to see the starcruiser.

"I'll keep in contact with you while we're doing this, Butler One," said Ann.

Ann stepped onto the lowered cylinder and reversed the power of the anti-gravity triangles. She could stay steady until she released it. She would have to snare the spacecraft, rather than attempting to fly as fast as the starcruiser itself. Ann was raised to the roof of Wildstar, as the cylinder rose to its usual position. She felt the incredible rush of wind as Wildstar kept pace with the fleeing starcruiser.

"Alright, get in really close, Butler One," said Ann, "I've changed into my exolimbs. I can easily feel something that I'm used to wearing. I've still got my special outfit on over the exolimbs as usual. I would hate to have stayed in my Freedom Fields skivvy and skirt for this little exercise."

Ann reached out with the cosmic speargun and gripped the gun with her right hand. Then she gripped her right arm just above the elbow with her left hand. The exolimbs would steady her grip.

The wind rushed past.

Ann steadied her balance.

The starcruiser suddenly changed its angle of flight and went into a steep climb.

"Blast!" thought Ann, except that it was only a thought. She did not think the word 'blast.' Perhaps she thought the words "Sizzling Samurai swords!"

Ann dropped to her knees and pressed the power current button on the gun, which powered the electromagnet. The gun held her steady with its magnetic attraction to Wildstar's roof. When the spaceships had steadied their flight again, Ann released the magnet's power button and rose to her feet. She may not have a better chance.

She fired the cosmic speargun, and the magnet hit the upper rear part of the starcruiser. Had the backward thrusters been on the rear, instead of on the protruding wings, she would have had to alter her aim, but now she had her chance.

She pressed the rewind button, and was pulled towards the starcruiser. Without her exolimbs, she would most likely have damaged her arms. Fortunately she reached the starcruiser, climbed onto the roof and managed to smash through a portion of the hull. It was then a simple matter of battling the space bandits to a standstill with her exolimbs and then forcing them to land the starcruiser.

"And I really thought Butler One would have to be doing this earlier on in the cloud. Still it was his idea to play chasings and then have me make the jump."

*          *          *          *

"Well you certainly did a good job of catching the space bandits," was Butler One's translation of the Space Force's Saturnian dialect.

Further comments were exchanged, with the final result that Arella and Ann and Wendell accepted an offer to join the Space Force team with voluntary involvement status, rather than twenty-four hour alert each day. They were considered to be a part of the team, but did not wish to become completely devoted to an organization, which had its headquarters on another planet.

"Well well Ann," said Arella, "Who would have thought that my dream powers would qualify me for a Saturn team of planet protectors."

"Oh, you should be a member," said Ann, "You were born with your powers. I'm just an orphan girl who got lucky and found a gadget arsenal with a computer robot, so that I could hold my own against several opponents."

"You know, Ann, I think that we are really going to make a great little trio of our own, as well as being honorary members of Space Force."

"I'll bet you did not dream this one, Arella," said Ann.

"Well I'm glad. If it had been the other way around, I don't think I would feel too good waking up and finding out that all this just wasn't true."

"Maybe you will in the morning," said Ann.

"Morning, indeed? It's mid-afternoon," said Arella.

"We're just leaving London. That makes it about three in the morning over here," said Ann, pleased to have beaten Butler One to the punch.

1996…

“Did Arella ever dream about me in advance of you meeting me?” asked Martin.

“It would have been over 40 years in advance, and she never saw anything like that far ahead. Her visions were more of things that would happen within a year of seeing them,” said Ann.

“So you and Wendell had another team member … apart from the robot,” said Martin, “What did you guys do next?”

1953…

It was November, and Ann would soon have completed her year eight studies at Northern High School. The holidays would arrive again, and some of the orphan girls at Freedom Fields would have other places to visit for the summer holidays. Although orphans, they had friends to accommodate them. The others would stay at the orphanage, as Ann would be doing.

After a whole day of school, Ann was often eagerly awaiting an opportunity for adventure. On one particular Wednesday afternoon this opportunity arose without warning. Ann was riding home from school on the bus as usual, when she noticed that one of the two storey houses was on fire.

Ann pulled the cord, which activated a small light and bell beside the driver, signaling him to stop the bus and open the doors for passengers to alight at the next bus stop. Clutching her schoolbag in her hand, Ann stepped out of the bus, hid her schoolbag in a nearby tree's convenient branches, and ran back to the scene of the fire.

In the garden, some distance away from the flames, a frantic lady was talking to one of the spectators who had been drawn to the scene by the sight of the flames.

"My little girl's asleep up there!" she said, "I've called the fire department, and the house is insured, but what about my little girl?"
The flames were billowing out amidst the smoke, both of which emanated from the downstairs rooms of the house. There was no time to wait for the fire engine to arrive. The flames could spread to the upper rooms. They could even burn through the floorboards of the room where the girl was sleeping.

"Which room is she in?" asked Ann.

"Oh, the one at the back," shrieked the lady in a tone of voice which was hinting at the words            "How could you help? You're only a young schoolgirl."

"If I race back to take my mask from my schoolbag, then that girl might die in the meantime," thought Ann, "So I will have to take a risk on being identified and do things differently."

She asked Wendell if he minded the risk she was about to take, and he said no. To him it was one more exciting adventure, and the girl’s mother was now out of earshot.

Ann ran around the corner, unfolding the anti-gravity triangles attached to her bracelets. At school, they were folded into the shape of a decorative ornament. However, now they would enable her to float towards the house. She waited nearly a minute to be sure that there were no passing cars or pedestrian spectators, and then touched the hidden controls and began to rise into the air. Soon she was able to see over the rooftops, and caught a glimpse of the smoke which was pouring out of the endangered house. She put her hands out in front of her and - as she had been practicing for some time now - floated over the rooftops of several houses. The movement was almost like the flight of an aeroplane. The clouds of smoke would probably hide her from the view of the people in the front yard, but she stayed behind the house and faced towards it in order to prevent the neighbours form identifying her.

"There's bound to be someone looking at the scene," thought Ann, as she lowered herself to a hover position outside the closest upstairs back window. The room was full of toys, books, and a rocking horse.

"No girl asleep in there. So she must be in the other one," thought Ann. She flew over to the other window and saw the girl asleep. For many seconds Ann knocked loudly on the glass, until the girl finally stirred and looked up at Ann in amazement.

"Open the window!" called Ann, "Your house is on fire!"

The girl opened the window as instructed, and marvelled at Ann's apparant ability to fly.

You're in a lot of danger if you stay up here," said Ann, "And you cannot walk down the stairs, because there are lots of flames in the downstairs rooms."

"Where's my mummy?"

"She's in the front garden, but she is very worried about you. So why don't you climb out the window and I'll carry you down to the ground?"
"Yes, thank you."

The girl would have been only six or seven years old. Ann could easily carry her, but she needed her hands free to work the controls of the triangles.

"You climb onto the windowsill. That's it," said Ann.

She reached over and lifted the girl into her arms, and slowly found herself sinking.

"Of course," thought the young heroinne, "I don't need to work the controls. I was going to swing this little darling into a piggy back position, so I could have my hands free. However, the extra weight is causing us to sink slowly. It is not fast enough to be like falling, but we will soon be down."

As a precaution, Ann kicked out at the wall of the house with one of her legs. The movement propelled the two of them away from the house. When they reached the ground they were safely away from any of the flames in the downstairs room.

"Now what's your name little girl?"

"Kay."

"Well Kay, I have to go now, but you should go to your mummy. Don't go near the house. Walk around near the side fence over there."

Ann pointed towards the fence.

"Then go to where Mummy is out the front. Do you understand what to do?"

The girl nodded and ran towards the fence.

"Well I do not know what she will tell her mother," said Ann, as she rose aloft and floated back the way that she had flown before, "But it's a good thing that I found her asleep. Her mother will never come up with her own explanation for her rescue, but she will never believe Kay's story about me either. She will have to think that Kay dreamed about the flying girl and was in fact rescued another way. The fire department had better get here soon, or they will never save the house."

“She can’t tell her mother about ME,” said Wendell.

Ann came to rest on the roof of a house just next to the street. She did not wish to risk floating down to the ground. Kay's immediate danger was over, and it would now be worth spending some time on concealing her identity. Ann waited for a break in the traffic and then floated over to a tall tree on the footpath.

"Now this would only look ridiculously brave, rather than very impossible," she thought as she slid down the trunk, using the reassurance that she could always slow her fall with the bracelets. The tree forked only once and had two tall trunks emerging from the singular one at its base. There were no branches for climbing purposes. So Ann could only slide.

When she reached the fork, her feet received a small jolt of impact, because she had just brought them around to help cushion her fall. She had made the entire slide with her hands linked together. She had briefly touched the controls of her bracelets to slow her descent only slightly.

"Any more than that, and it would have looked suspicious to any passers by," she thought,   "So I still had to bump my feet a little on this bit here."

She waited a few seconds, glanced around and then jumped down to the footpath. Then she walked back to Mona Vale Road, crossed at some traffic lights, and returned to her hidden schoolbag.

"I'm glad I am not a grown up. I do not have to buy bus tickets. I can use my free bus pas," she thought, as she waited for the next bus to arrive, "So I will tell people that I was delayed coming home, because of something that happened while I was on the bus. They do not need to know the full story. It will explain why I was a little late though."

Ann enjoyed sitting at the back of a bus. She could turn around and look out at the traffic behind her, which was much easier to watch, than it would have been at a side-on angle. As she reveled in a further manifestation of this pleasurable habit, she noticed a dark green car following the bus.

"I hope it stays behind us," she thought, "I love those cars. I don't even know what brand they are, but they are nice to watch, just breezy."
Fortunately the car remained behind the bus until it reached Freedom Fields.

"Lucky for me," thought Ann, "It's a wonder he didn't try to overtake every time we stopped. Well there was a lot of traffic in the other lanes. Maybe that man in the green car likes watching buses, the way I like watching cars."

The man did not like watching buses. He did have an interest in red haired schoolgirls. The man was a reporter, who had followed a fire engine to a burning house in Mona Vale Road. When he arrived, he had listened to the impossible story of a small girl called Kay, of how a flying girl with red hair had rescued her from her burning house.

"Now you must have had a dream," said her mother, "You were asleep for a while before you got out of there, you said. It was probably a neighbour who found our ladder in the shed when she saw the house on fire."

"But it was after I woke up. I was awake when she carried me, Mummy."

"She's an excitable little bundle," said her mother to the fireman.

"That's alright Madam. I think you'll still be needing us to put this blaze out. Whoever saved your little girl here has made our job a lot easier, and not quite as urgent, now that we're only rushing to save property, rather than lives."

The reporter snapped the shutter button of his camera, and took a photograph of the burning house. Then he returned to his car ignoring the distant words of one of the firemen:

"She might have snuck outside to play in the first place, and then dreamed up the story of the flying rescue when she saw the fire, so that she would never be in any trouble for sneaking out."

As the reporter noticed a red haired girl crossing Mona Vale Road, the reporter had slowly followed her in his car, intrigued by the coincidence.

"A good reporter always follows up a wild and unusual lead," he had decided.

"Freedom Fields, eh. An unusual orphanage, by what little I have heard of its reputation. I'll need some sleep, if I am going to stake that area out tonight," thought the reporter, as he watched Ann alight from the bus.

After returning home, having some rest, and enjoying his dinner; the reporter took out a backpack and put into it a sleeping bag, a torch, some biscuits,  a blue balaclava and his camera.

"I only go skiing once a year. So I should now be able to get my money's worth from that balaclava. I hope it doesn't rain tonight, because if it does I'm going to be stuck in a very wet forest," he thought.

*          *          *          *

The reporter parked his car in a side street that ran off Mona Vale Road. It was ten o'clock, when he had left his own home, so he could be sure that even the eldest girls would have gone to bed by the time he had arrived.

"Then there are the staff. I will have to be quiet. If I don't see anything to confirm my suspicions tonight, I will have to sleep until four thirty and then get out of here before sunup. With daylight saving, that's a bit later than it was, but it's still early at this time of year. The whole thing's extraordinairy. Any red haired girl could have used a ladder and saved the girl, but why the persistence with that story about flight? Why the hidden schoolbag? How did she end up approaching the crossing from a side street? I must be onto something, but I don't know what. That  Freedom Fields girl I followed must be the mysterious heroine. Red's not the most common colour for hair."

The reporter stole down the driveway, and was pleased to see that all of the lights were off in the orphanage.

"So all I need to do is be quiet," he thought.

He walked past the building, crossed the oval at the back and carried his load into the forest.

He unrolled his sleeping bag, lay down on his stomach, placed his hands under his chin, and looked out, at the area where the house should be, from the edge of the forest.

"Just in case I drop off, I should be ready in the morning," he thought.

The reporter set the alarm on his watch for four thirty in the morning and continued to watch the house.

It had been a nice building to observe from the street that afternoon. It was a large white building with dark green leaves growing from the vines, which clung to its outer walls. In the daytime, the reporter had appreciated the sheer beauty of the property. Now he waited for about half an hour, and then he saw a figure approaching from the house. As it reached the oval, he rolled into the bushes, taking his sleeping bag with him. His backpack was already well concealed. He could now lie comfortably on his side and hope that his intuition had served him well.

He saw a short child-like figure approaching the forest, and he could soon see that it was a girl. It was too dark to determine the colour of her hair, but it had the shape of the hair he had seen that afternoon, the hair of the girl on Mona Vale Road.

She walked past his hiding place oblivious to his presence and continued into the forest.

"That's an odd costume she's wearing. It has mixtures of colours: dark green, pink, orange, and those light blue bracelets I saw her wearing this afternoon, if the moonlight is anything to rely on. I took a good look at her arms after hearing little Kay tell her story. So assuming that she did use a ladder after creeping through the backdoor neighbour's property, and assuming that she cannot fly around in the sky; what then is she doing on her own in this forest at night?" thought the reporter.

When she was out of his hearing, he wriggled quietly out of his sleeping bag, reached for his torch, slid out of the bushes and followed her from a distance. She came to a small clearing and pressed a button on one of her bracelets.

"You can come down and get me, Butler One," he heard her say.

"Well so far nothing impossible or scientifically unprecedented," thought the reporter.

He had only to be patient. Within minutes he saw a shiny grey spaceship descending to land in the clearing. He then saw Ann float up onto its roof and ride a sinking platform down inside the spaceship.

"Too dark for a believable photograph, but I am certainly going to follow this story up," thought the reporter. He watched the spaceship disappear into the night sky, and then returned to his backpack.

"It's worth looking for her room while she's out. I might find a clue to tell me more about her. One thing's for sure. There's no explanation for this afternoon's rescue, which I will find more plausible than Kay's, after what I have just seen. Somehow this girl genius or whatever she is has got a lot of scientifically unprecedented equipment at her disposal, including that giant cruising sugar bowl in grey."

The reporter walked quietly over to the orphanage building, and walked around searching for open windows. He had pocketed his balaclava and clipped his torch to the belt of his trousers. There was little value in bringing his camera along for the trip. It would slow him down, and serve no purpose. It would be impossible to take a photograph - even if he found something interesting - without turning a light on and alerting the orphanage staff to his presence.

He soon located Ann's open window.

"The others would have closed their windows like I do, to keep out the noise of the cicadas. It is that time of the year. Well look at that. A jacaranda tree. Just what I need to get me up to that window. I can make it to the ledge from that tree."

The reporter began to climb the tree and had soon gained a height from which he could step down to the window ledge. He stood on the ledge, let go of the jacaranda branch and then gripped the bottom of the window (which was now level with the top half).

Holding the frame for support, he bent his left leg and stepped into the room with his right.

His foot came to rest on Ann's soft bed, and he soon slid into the unoccupied bedroom. He began to search around, relying mainly on the moonlight. When this proved to be unsatisfactory, he would cover most of the torch with his hand, and switch it on. There would be a minimum of light emitted, enough to assist his optical scrutiny without giving his presence away to anyone else. Had Wendell been there alone, would most likely have been found and caught.

"Well aside from the fact that she goes to Northern High School, I have found absolutely nothing," he thought, "and all of her cupboard doors are locked. I'll bet she is wearing the keys as she rollicks around in that spaceship. That means I've uncovered something that she has kept secret from everybody else here too. I think I will get myself out of here before she comes back."

The reporter stepped out of the window and reached for a branch. As he made his way along the branch like a monkey, he thought about the ease with which Ann would probably have made the trip.

"A floating teenager in an orphanage. What a perfect cover for the extraordinairy life she seems to be leading!"

Snap!

"That branch looked alright for my feet, but it turns out to be a dead one. I'd better get down before anyone finds me. Someone might have heard that."

The reporter descended the tree, feeling at least fortunate that he had retained his hold on the upper branch with his hands.

"Otherwise I would be in no condition to run out of here."

The reporter returned to his sleeping bag and waited to see what would become of Ann O’Malley.

"I now know her name too."

The room beside Ann's belonged to Wanda, a girl who had no idea about the secret life of Ann O’Malley. The breaking of the branch had awoken her. She had reached her bedroom window in time to see a man disappearing behind the building.

"He must have been trying to get into my room or Ann's," she thought, "Well I'll bet he ran off scared when that branch broke. I don't think he'll come back to try again now, but I'll tell Ann about this in the morning. She'll be surprised to know that I saw a burglar. Then Ann and I can tell the staff, when the hush between the eights is over. Maybe we will have a policeman waiting to catch him if he comes back tomorrow night. That would be an exciting thing to see!"

Wanda returned to her bed and went back to sleep.

It was a quarter to twelve when the reporter saw Ann walk past his hiding place and return to the orphanage.

"Well somehow I miraculously didn't wake anybody up with my jacaranda tree antics. So I had better see that she gets in undetected, and then get home. If I confront her now, she's got to know that I illegally staked this place out. Why don't I catch her after school tomorrow instead? It will be easy now that I know that she goes to Northern High School. I could not tell this afternoon, because she wasn't wearing her voluntary school uniform."

He watched her cross the oval, and then rolled up his sleeping bag and packed everything back into his bag. He left the balaclava out and put it on his head.

"After the noise I made with that jacaranda tree before, I want to take no chances. If I get seen, I'll be heading for the car anyway. There won't be anyone in that building who's game to chase me down that driveway I'm sure, but the important thing is to leave no chance of being recognized."

*          *          *          *

"I almost wish I had been game enough to watch her doing that flying trick with her open window," he thought as he drove back to his house, "but I had to avoid any more risks and just vacate that site rapidly. Besides, I saw her fly up over the ship, and that was enough for one night."

"Ann," said Wanda, "Can I come in for a minute?"

"Sure. The Hush between the Eights is just over, but I have to be off soon. So be quick."

Wanda entered the room and closed the door. Glancing around anxiously, Ann made sure that Wendell was concealed in the makeshift tiny room she had set up for him on the shelf.

"You must have slept through it, but I heard a burglar snap the branch of the tree outside our windows last night. He must have been climbing up to break into one of our rooms. Did he ever leave quickly, when he snapped that branch? It cracked like an egg!"

"Well it wasn't me," thought Ann, "Wanda, what time was this?"

"I didn't look at the time. I was too excited. You're the only one I've told. Let's announce it at breakfast."

"Good idea. We don't want any more night trip visits from this man, whoever he is."

They told the staff at breakfast, which was a brief meal before the school bus arrived.

"We'll be ready to call the police if anything else happens tonight. All girls must shut their windows and go to sleep as usual. I shall stay up and see if I can catch any surprise visitors before they attempt to come in. I'll ring the police today, just to let them know about last night. Ann, did you two have your windows open?"

"Well I did for the fresh air," said Ann, "But Wanda said she kept hers closed."

"Oh" said the Lady, "Are you sure nothing's missing or disturbed in your room?"

"As far as I can see: yes," said Ann.

She didn’t want the staff searching and finding Wendell.

*          *          *          *

As she rode to school in the bus, she knew that she had made the right choice. A police investigation would restrict her activity for a while, but there was nothing in Wanda's story to arouse suspicion about Ann herself. If there was another attempted burglary, then Ann might be able to secretly help the others at the orphanage, but the police would indeed be interested.

"I would have aroused suspicion if I had attempted to keep it quiet. I checked out the window when Wanda was telling me about it. The branch was broken, that dead one that I always avoid hitting as I float up and down. Whoever it was wouldn't have known, especially at night. He probably started climbing, reached for it with his hand, fell out of the tree and ran  for his life. If I had stayed home instead of going flying in Wildstar, I might have caught the man myself."

*          *          *          *

The school bell rang loudly, heralding the final lesson for the day, and Ann soon waited outside for the bus. A man approached and spoke to her.

"Hello Ann, I'm Mark Logan from the local newspaper. I understand you were watching the blaze in Mona Vale Road yesterday."

"Why yes," said Ann, "Did you see me there?"

"I saw you leaving as I arrived. If you walk with me for a while, I'll buy you an ice cream at the milk bar, and maybe you could answer some of my questions about the fire."

Remembering him as the man who had been driving the green car, Ann agreed.

"He must have followed my bus to find out where I live, and then tried to break in to see me last night. Well I'm safe. If I get into real trouble, then I can always fly away with my unfolding bracelet triangles."

"Wow, Ann's going to be in the newspapers," said one of Ann's friends from Northern High School.

"Can we come too?" asked another.

"Well I just wanted to talk to Ann, because she is a witness to the fire. I can drive her home afterwards, but you other young ladies do not want to miss your bus."

They walked away, and Mark Logan paid for a large strawberry gelato ice in a double sized cone.

"Hmm, maybe it is not strawberry," thought Ann, "Well it's pink anyway. I had better play along with him and find out what he is up to."

They continued along the street, and Mark spoke some surprising words.

"Actually I don't need to ask you about the fire. I know all of that story already, and that is old news now. I know you made that strange floating flight because I saw you. I thought you would be there yesterday, because I have seen you before. You have a special costume, and a voice controlled grey spaceship called Butler One."

Ann guessed that Mark Logan must have been spying on her on the night that had just passed and that he had attempted the reconnaissance of her bedroom while she had been travelling in Wildstar. She saw no need at this stage, to tell him that Wildstar was the name of the spaceship, and that Butler One was the robot computer who piloted the ship.

"We could be a team, or maybe I could print a story about you and make you famous. We could do whatever you wanted to do Ann, and I'll go along with it, but you have got to trust me now, because I know your secrets. Think of the adventures that we could have. You could help people and save lives, and even catch criminals. You could lead me to the scenes of the action, and I could get some great stories out of it."

"What if I don't want to do any of those things with him? What if I don't like teaming up with a nosey parker who cannot even climb trees properly like I first did when I snuck out and found Wildstar in May?" thought Ann, "If I don't pretend to be grateful for his ice cream and thrilled by his idea of us as a team, he'll cause a lot of trouble. That would make life a real mess for me. Why did he have to be such a pig and go creeping about in Freedom Fields like... like I do?" she admitted to herself, "Well maybe I am as sneaky as he is, but I still cannot trust him. There has to be another way to get myself out of this mess."

"Well, any ideas Ann?" he asked, "When you have finished your ice cream, I would like to hear what you think about all this."

"I won't ask him where he thinks that he has seen me before, because I know that he saw me after the fire, last night in the forest. I need to let this foolish man think that I do trust him," she thought.

"You've got some flashy ideas!" she exclaimed, "So I had better let you have a look inside Butler One. Actually, the spaceship is called Wildstar. Butler One is the robot who works the controls from inside it."

She had to tell him that, and it would let him think that she had taken him into her confidence.

"I can meet your Butler One tonight, if you like," suggested Mark with an eager look appearing on his face.

"Well I cannot stay up late tonight, because I did it last night. I will need a good night's sleep to catch up. Tomorrow is a Friday night. How about then?"

"That sounds fine. A growing girl does need her sleep, but you can sleep in on Saturdays, can't you?"

"Yes, well can I land Wildstar in the park? No, actually, how about St Ives Golf Course? Nobody would be there late at night. I will try to be there at eleven o'clock tomorrow night, Mark."

"I'm looking forward to it already," said Mark, "Well I had better drive you home. Where do you live, by the way?"

"Freedom Fields Orphanage," said Ann, thinking that there was no harm in giving away an address that was already known, probably to the precise details of the location of her bedroom window.

They returned to Mark's car, which he had parked around the corner from the bus stop, and the reporter opened his passenger door for Ann.

"So how long have you had your secret spaceship and flying bracelets?" asked Mark, as they drove along Mona Vale Road.

"About two months, I think," said Ann, pleased at the opportunity to start misleading him.

"Where did you get hold of such toys?"

"I found the spaceship on a beach one day, when I was there early on a Sunday morning. I was spending a weekend at a beach house with some friends from school. Well they had their curtains closed, so they slept in until eight o'clock, but I was woken up by the early sunshine at half past five. We didn't have daylight saving then, you see."

"Sure," encouraged Mark.

"So I went down to the beach. There was nobody else up and about, but I found the spaceship. Butler One the robot pilot had crashed it and was making repairs. We became friends. He's a friendly robot. Now he takes me for rides and lets me use his flying bracelets," said Ann, proud of the speed with which she manufactured the incorrect story. She knew that Mark would have seen her boarding Wildstar the previous night, but avoided telling him the true origin of her secrets, in order to divert his attention away from Freedom Fields. If there was no sign of a burglar during the night ahead - and she knew that Mark would be unlikely to return now - then she could confidently slip out and meet Butler One in the forest on Friday night.

Then she wished she hadn’t said all that. It was an out and out lie about the origin of her abilities. She’d been so panicked that she hadn’t been thinking straight. From now on, she would solve her problems truthfully, she decided.

"We're near Freedom Fields now," she said.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow night," said Mark, slowing down to a halt.

"Yes. If I am late, please wait for me. You've been nice and all, buying me an ice cream. I'd love to have a friend to show around Wildstar. If I arrive late, it will be because I have trouble sneaking out of here on time. Nobody at the orphanage knows about Wildstar and me."

"Okay Ann, I'll look forward to seeing you tomorrow night," said the reporter, as she stepped out of the car.

"I think my little gift worked," he thought, "It's not surprising. Most children cannot resist a free ice cream. I will have to keep on spoiling her, now that I know she responds to it."

*          *          *          *

“Oh Wendell, what am I going to do?” asked Ann that night, when they were able to talk privately in her room, “Mark’s news story is like another fire, and we have to put it out before it spreads.”

“We just need a way to make him forget everything,” said Wendell.

“You are too young to be so brilliant,” said Ann.

He assumed correctly, that it was a compliment.

The following day Ann was greeted by a talkative crowd of children in the playground at school. Word had spread of her 'interview' with Mark Logan.

"So what did he ask you?" said one girl.

"How I came to know about the fire."

"So what did you say? How did you know?"

"I saw it from the bus on my way home. So I got off and had a look. It was on television news, but they only showed pictures of the remains after the fire was put out. I left ages before that. There was lots of flame and smoke. The firemen must have done lots of work to put that out. The news reporter said that he had spoken to the lady who owned the house. Then he saw her explaining how some neighbour had rescued her daughter from an upstairs room with a ladder. I only saw the fire, which was all that I could tell Mister Logan. I do not think that I will be in the papers," said Ann.

"I would have stayed to watch the whole thing," said another girl.

"Well I did not want to get into trouble for coming home late. So I caught the next bus, and that was it," said Ann.

The girls soon found other subjects for conversation, and Ann was somewhat relieved.

"Well they're easily tricked, but dealing with Mark Logan will be a lot harder than fooling the girls from the school. Kay must have told her story. For some reason, Mark believed it, and then followed the first red haired girl that he saw, me. I watched his green car all the way home and never thought that it was somebody who would cause all this trouble. If I had only stayed inside last night, I might have gotten away with my secrets. How was I to know that he would do this to me? Well I had to save little Kay, no matter what happened afterwards. I still would have done so, even if I had known that I would be found out. So tonight I will be showing him everything. At least Butler One will stop him, if he tries to take over Wildstar. Butler One takes all of his orders from me now. Maybe Jeradd somehow knew that Wildstar would be found by a harmless young girl."

Jeradd was the previous owner of Wildstar, an alien. He had died of old age while attempting to explore planet earth.

All efforts to catch the burglar of Wednesday night had been abandoned by the orphanage staff. Ann was able to meet Butler One in the forest, while the other girls slept soundly. She left Wendell in her room, lest Mark Logan somehow discover his hidden presence in the belt pouch too. She reached the golf course on time, and floated down to stand outside her spaceship on the grass. She heard footsteps running towards her, and soon heard a voice:

'"Don't worry Ann. It's only Mark Logan. I didn't know exactly where you'd land. I was waiting over there, and ran across when I saw you float down. I thought you'd be landing the ship on the grass."

He slowed his tread to a walk and stepped towards her, holding out a small but expensive bag of sweets.

"Why thank you!" said Ann.

"I've just had a thought. How can I get into Wildstar? Your bracelets might not negate the effect of gravity on our combined weight. I weigh a lot more than Kay."

"Well you could climb that tree and wait on the overhanging branch. I'll go into Wildstar and have Butler One move the spaceship over until it's just under your branch. Do you think that would work?"

"Let's try it," said Mark.

Soon he was standing on top of the spaceship. The cylindrical tube lowered before his very eyes, and he heard Ann call up to him:

"Stand on the circle when I send it up again. That's how you ride down into Wildstar, Mister Logan."

Ann was taking no chances. As well as Butler One's protection, she was equipped with her own defences. She had the special strength of the flexible exolimbs which she was now wearing underneath her pink and green costume. Mark Logan would be no match for her. He was soon standing beside her.

"Well this is quite a sight, Ann."

"Thank you for the sweets."

"You're welcome. So where are we going?"

"How about a ride into space?"

"That does sound like fun. Can I sit down somewhere and enjoy the ride in comfort?"

"Sure. There's two passenger seats over there by that monitor screen. So you'll be in the best place to see what's going on. Alright then Butler One, take our ship to the prettiest planet I know, Saturn."

*          *          *          *

"You know Mister Logan, being a mistress of Scientific wonders enabled me to join a group of super heroes called Space Force. They have a home base on Saturn. How would you like to see some of their special powers?"

"It's too good to be true!" said Mark Logan, "I'd be delighted!"

"Alright then Butler One, would you prepare hailing frequencies for Space Force?"

"Opening hailing frequencies at once, Miss O’Malley."

"Thank you. Ann O’Malley to Space Force headquarters."

"This is Space Force Headquarters," was Butler One's translation of the response, "Miss O’Malley, I advise using the translation earphones I recently helped you to perfect."

"Oh yes. I was so nervous about Mark Logan, that I forgot. He can use Arella Kayne's pair. They have a microphone attachment too, so that our words are projected out in Saturnian when we have the microphones in front of our mouths," thought Ann.

 She offered a pair to Mark, and put her own on as well.

"This is Ann O’Malley again," she said.

"Nice to hear our own language this time," said the voice, "How can we be of service to you?"

"I was bringing a visitor to see you. Can I land Wildstar in the docking bay?"

"That will be possible. You'll see some space when you come in."

"Thank you. Tell me, is Ragel with you at the moment?" asked Ann.

Although only a teenager, Ann was pleased that her  formal english was progressing rapidly, because of her frequent conversations with Butler One, who was programmed to speak fluently in many of the languages on earth and other worlds as well.

"Well I could find him if you like."

"It would help. I think that my friend Mister Logan would find him really interesting,"
said Ann.

Wildstar touched down, and Ann showed Mark Logan to the lounge facility rooms inside the headquarters of Space Force. Butler One was asked to give Mark a tour of the headquarters, while Ann spoke to Ragol.

She explained her problem to him and added, "I think that your amazing powers of extranormal hypnotism are my only chance. With you, he would completely forget everything."

Ragol agreed to help, and had soon placed Mark Logan in a trance. With the translator headphones on, Mark could be hypnotized by a speaker of fluent Saturnian.

"You will forget about everything that has happened since you first saw the fire. You will only remember going home to bed, because you felt sick. You spent two days in bed, and did not recover until the third day. You will be taken back with Ann O’Malley. You will return home from the golf course and change into your bedclothes. Then you will forget everything, remembering only what I have instructed you to remember."

*          *          *          *

"And that is the end of Mark Logan's story," thought Ann O’Malley as she opened a bag of expensive sweets.

1996…

“I loved having those sweets in my mouth,” said Ann, “Especially the boiled ones. Would you like to climb inside for a while? I can enjoy the taste of you for an hour or so, and then fall asleep, and go on with my story when I’ve had an hour or so to dream.”

“Sure,” said Martin.

Ann opened her mouth wide, and he climbed in to rest against her soft slippery tongue until she awoke later and continued her story.

1953…

A few weeks later, Ragol was piloting the Space Force patrol craft, as it was his turn to patrol the solar system. His scanners detected a vessel approaching his quadrant. Members of Space Force were equipped with extremely modern equipment. The translator headpieces would take only seconds to determine which language was being spoken and translate it into the programmed language of the wearer, which was in this case Saturnian. Using his own translator headpiece, Ragol attempted to make contact with the approaching vessel.

"This is Space Force. Please identify."

The voice spoke back:
"Excuse us for not understanding your message. This is the touring space vessel from Kadrom, a planet outside your solar system."

"Well that's not unexplored, and my translator works. Now I can use my microphone to reply in their own language," thought Ragol.

They had soon exchanged their greetings, and Ragol bade them an enjoyable tour of Saturn's solar system. Shortly afterwards he noticed a strange warning on his instrument panel.

"My missiles! I haven't fired them, and the instruments prove that they have not been fired; but these missiles - all of them - are leaving their tubes by themselves. What could be causing this? Oh no! The monitor! They're heading straight for the touring vessel from Kadrom! There's not a thing that I can do to stop them!"

In desperation, he managed to make contact with the Kadrom vessel, but was unable to say anything in time, because the missiles destroyed the vessel before it could be prevented.

"I didn't have time to communicate a warning, and now there's nothing. They've all been lost, every tourist aboard that ship. I must report this to Space Force Headquarters immediately," thought Ragol. He contacted the Saturn headquarters and explained what had happened.

"This is very serious, Ragol. You'd better return here at once to have your patrol ship thoroughly investigated. We take you at your word about it being a freak accident beyond your control, but we must investigate the possibility of sabotage, and we'd better do it before they lodge complaints. The people of Kadrom will not believe our story easily."

So Ragol's patrol craft was recalled and searched from top to bottom. There was no trace of a sabotage attempt, and yet the instruments could only continue to display two conflicting items of recorded data: The missiles had not been fired, and yet they were no longer in their tubes. They soon recieved a request from the supreme ruler of Kadrom. It was a request to speak to the leader of Space Force.

"At the moment you are our elected leader, Nezz Narf," said Ragol.

The two leading representatives, worlds apart but nonetheless as close as a long distance radio signal, were soon in contact with each other.

"I am Kibok, supreme ruler of Kadrom. A short while ago, one of your patrol ships made contact with our touring vessel. After the pleasantries were exchanged, the vessel reported being pulled sideways in space, perhaps by a tractor beam. It was then confronted by armed warheads, and that was the last that we heard of it."

"What I have to say will shock you Kibok, but you must believe we are as confused by this whole incident as you are. I regret to say that an unexplained accident caused our patrol craft's missiles to leave the craft by themselves. The instrument bank shows that they were not fired. However our pilot Ragol monitored the missiles exploding upon contact with the touring vessel. We have since been investigating the possibility of sabotage, but we have yet to come up with any answers. We do not know why the missiles left the craft, when the firing buttons had not been pressed. Nor do we know why they homed in on your touring vessel. We will do anything possible to make amends for this unintended destruction, and we will be running extensive tests on our patrol crafts before using any of them again," said Nezz Narf.

"Oh come on Nezz Narf. I have listened to your pathetic excuse for the deaths of our visiting tourists. I find it impossible to believe. Such a responsible team as Space Force would never let such an accident occur. Your pilot has committed a deliberately aggressive act against our people. You Saturnians have obviously not come to learn the value of truly welcoming new citizens. So your pilot makes a friendly gesture of greeting my own, and then blows the vessel out of existence."

"That's not true," pleaded Nezz Narf.

"How can you persist with these lies? I will personally order an attack on your home planet Saturn. It will teach you the folly of your prejudices."

"But how could it have been deliberate? Any one missile would have destroyed the touring vessel. Why should our pilot have deliberately fired all of them and thus left the ship unarmed and unable to defend itself?"

"Because it would help corroborate his story," said Kibok, "I am ending transmissions momentarily, but you can expect to pay dearly for your pilot's behaviour."

The message was over, and all radio contact was then gone.

"This is exceptionally serious, Ragol," said Nezz Narf, "Contact our honourary members and tell them that we'll be needing any help that they are willing to give us. In the meantime, I'll put all of our active members on standby, in anticipation of the attack from Kadrom."

*          *          *          *

Ann O’Malley felt a tiny surge of electrical impulse under her left bracelet. This was Butler One's way of signaling her even in the company of other people. Nobody else could see or hear what Ann O’Malley felt. She had explained her constant wearing of the bracelets away by telling people that they were a gift from an old man who soon after died.

"He was one of the few very close adult friends I have ever known," she had said. The story was partly true. They were the legacy of an aged and dying alien.

Ann was currently enjoying the first week of her school holidays. She closed her bedroom door and spoke softly into the receiver in her bracelet.

"I am alone Butler One, apart from Wendell. What is it?"

"An urgent call from Space Force, Miss O’Malley. I can give you more details if you wish to hear them, but the crucial factor is an impending attack on Saturn from a race outside our own solar system. It seems that a Space Force patrol craft accidentally destroyed a visiting Kadrom touring vessel."

"That's serious!" said Ann, "If it's a trip to Saturn, I think you'd better send my robot double into the forest. Tell her to await me in the clearing. I'll be with you myself there soon."

"At once, Miss O’Malley."

“I’ve always wanted to go on another adventure with Space Force,” said Wendell.

“This’ll be more than an adventure. It’s a mission of dire urgency, by the sound of things,” said Ann.

Ann O’Malley set out from Freedom Fields and soon reached the clearing. She instructed the robot to take her place at the orphanage until Ann returned. Then she boarded Wildstar and spoke to Butler One:

"Take off quickly. We've no time to waste, and it takes a fast departure to avoid being seen."

"I will use maximum escape velocity, Miss O’Malley. Do you wish to know more about the problem?"
"Yes, please tell us on the way."

"The Kadrom vessel reported a sideways movement in space just before their scanners detected missiles approaching the vessel. Then it exploded as the warheads made contact. Ragol, who was piloting the patrol craft, detected the movement of the missiles; but his instruments confirmed his knowledge that he had not fired the missiles. They left under some unexplained action of their own which is at present beyond the comprehension of this unit."

"That's alright. I don't understand it either, but if the Kadrom war fleet is on its way, then we should be quick about finding some answers. We're honourary members. We can make our own choices about what to do. I think we should forget about helping with the defense, manning ships and dodging attacks, that is. We're only one more spacecraft in a fleet of many. I think that we should do some investigations. It's going to mean going to Kadrom. Wow! A planet outside our solar system. That's a whale of an idea. Can our defense shields survive a Kadrom attack if we get caught on the way there?"

"Indeed, Miss O’Malley, but it would be wise to select an unfamiliar route, rather than using the conventional space lanes."

"The conventional routes will be cluttered with warships, I'm sure, but we'll be safe if we can get to Kadrom another way. First we need to go to Saturn and store an analysis of one of their Space Force missiles in your own memory bank, Butler One."

"Is there a reason for that, Miss O’Malley?"

"The sideways jolt of the touring vessel is what confuses me. Something else must have caused that, because it happened before the missiles took off. Still I would like to analyze the missiles anyway. Maybe it will give us a clue."

*          *          *          *

Butler One soon announced that their request to dock at Space Force Headquarters had been accepted. When they had docked, Ann and Butler One left Wildstar and met some of the members of Space Force, including Nezz Narf.

"We are glad to have your help, Ann O’Malley of Earth. I fear that we may not survive the battle ahead. We are up against an alien race about whom we know very little."

"I would like to travel secretly to Kadrom and try to have Butler One examine their touring vessels."

"But Ann, the journey is long and dangerous. Trying to break into their touring vessel depots and study their ships is even more risky," said Nezz Narf, "What could you gain from doing so?"
"If we can prove that it was not deliberate, then it will be a well spent period of time," said Butler One, speaking to reinforce the intentions of Ann O’Malley, "Ann suspects a connection between the missiles and the touring vessel itself. It could be possible for example, that those ships have some means of firing one of our missiles by remote control. This would account for the inconsistencies we have experienced."

"Why would they do that to destroy their own ship?" asked Wendell.

"It might have been a suicide mission, with the goal being to start a war with us," said Butler One, "We must explore the possibility, rather than leave ourselves open to certain defeat in a direct conflict above planet Saturn."

"We appreciate your making this effort and your concern for us will not be forgotten. I can only hope that you can achieve your mission safely," said Nezz Narf.

"I hope it works too" said Ann, "May we see one of your patrol craft missiles?"

"Ragol will show you the way to the patrol docking bay."

Ann, Wendell, Butler One and Ragol made their way and were soon removing a missile from the stationary patrol craft.

"Just put it down on the trolley and we'll take it to the laboratory," said Ragol.

"That will not be necessary," said Butler One.

"Not necessary?" queried Ragol.

"It's true" said Ann O’Malley "Butler One's own probes will enable him to analyze the missile and store a complete record of the device in his computer memory bank."

"Correct, Miss O’Malley. So I shall now commence the analysis."

From Butler One's robotic structure extended a long pliable arm with a probe at the end of it. The probe had a hemispherical shape. Butler One's head was a plastifer orb, which would glow in various changing colours as he began to store data.

“This is so exciting!” said Wendell.

"We'd better not interrupt him" said Ann.

"At the risk of sounding rude, why don't we just load a missile shell into your spaceship and you can take it with you?" said Nezz Narf.

"Because we might repeat the accident, whatever it was, as soon as we arrive on Kadrom," said Ann, "If we simply take a computer record along, we can compare it with his analysis of the tourist vessel."

"Analysis concluded, Miss O’Malley. I have stored the data," said Butler One.

"Then let's go. We don't know when the Kadrom warships will arrive here" said Ann.

Wildstar was soon under way, and travelled into outer space at an incredible velocity.

"Clearing Saturn's atmosphere, Miss O’Malley."

"So what's the best way?" asked Ann.

"I shall attempt to guide us through gaseous nebulae and other obstructed but navigable paths" said Butler One, "We can travel in places where a fleet of warships could not safely fit."

"Good. Do you think we'll be safe if they do find us? We're not an official Space Force vessel. Maybe we could bluff it out."

"We could try. My previous owner Jeradd was not well known in any galaxy, so we could easily say that we are a private vessel."

"And even if they search us! That's another good reason that I am glad we did not bring that live warhead with us. The Kadromians will never find a computer record in your memory bank, but we can reveal it to them later, if we discover anything useful on their world.

Let's avoid the obstructed routes until we detect the Kadrom ships approaching."

"A wise suggestion, Miss O’Malley."

"Yes. It means that we can travel faster for most of the journey."

They accelerated to light speed and sped through space. To Ann it was the thrill of a lifetime to pass the planets that she had studied in science classes at school.

"In school books they just looked like coloured marbles, but out here they're one of the best things I've ever seen," said Wendell, “And my planets must be smaller than these ones.”

“What’s he talking about?” asked Ann.

“He comes from a parallel universe, where everything is smaller than its counterparts here,” said Butler One, “Presumably his universe’s planet Saturn is as small in comparison to ours as he is in comparison to you.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” said Ann, “Just enjoying the trip before we have to solve this mess.”

I am pleased that you are enjoying such an important journey, Miss O’Malley."
"So Jeradd did program some etiquette into your otherwise emotionless brain. What is it, do you think, that makes people always believe the worst?"

"You must excuse me, Miss O’Malley. I suspect that your question stems from your possession of such human qualities as emotion and morality. I know of these concepts, but I cannot incorporate them into my speculations. I would be incapable of conducting a conversation based on these characteristics."

"Well maybe I could try to explain."

"Such attempts may be futile Miss O’Malley. Do you wish to risk wasting the energy?"

"Yes I do. We have a long trip. We need to talk about something."

"But you should know that the amount of vocal energy expended various according to certain quanifiable factors-"

"Be quiet and listen, even if your computer mind cannot appreciate everything. Right now you are the only one to whom I can talk. I did not bring any human friends with me from earth."

"Mark Logan was human."

"Mark Logan was a nosey blackmailing stickybeak. He could hardly-"

"That does not alter the fact that Mark Logan is human, Miss O’Malley."

"But he was hardly a friend. I could never rely on him."

"Understood, Miss O’Malley."

"Thank you. Now what I was starting to ask is the reason that people always believe the worst. I know that it looked very bad for Space Force, but why couldn't Kibok have spared a tiny hope that Nezz Narf might not have lied?"

"He was looking only at the facts."

"Like a robot. Like you? But you can see things my way."

"Yes, but I am bound to follow your instructions."

"It all reminds me of the wars we have had on earth. We did not need to have them, but people misunderstood each other, and so they fought. If a whole country fights, it means that people die, and that is awful."

"Miss O’Malley, your knowledge is valuable, but we must consider the options open to Kibok the supreme ruler of Kadrom. What would happen if he were to ignore the explosion of Kadrom's touring vessel?"

"We don't know."

"Why not? We know more than they do, Miss O’Malley?"

"Yes, but we don't know what really happened. We know it was not Ragol's fault, but we don't know what was responsible."

"Then you have the advantage of Kibok."

"How do you mean?"

"We at least know it was an accident. Kibok has no proof of that. If faced with the fear of losing another vessel, should a similar incident be allowed to arise, what would he do?"

"He would think of any way to stop the same thing happening again."

"Correct."

"So where does that leave us?"

"Well, if you were Kibok, what would you do to prevent a recurrence of the same incident, Miss O’Malley?"

"I'd have to withdraw touring vessels the way Space Force withdrew patrol crafts."

"Why should you take the same action? It was a Space Force missile that destroyed one of your vessels."

"I see. So Kibok should have the right to continue touring in our solar system."

"Correct Miss O’Malley."

"Then I would continue to send touring vessels."
"But they might then be accidentally or deliberately destroyed also. If it could happen the first time, it can happen again."

"Well now I'm getting flustered. I cannot send more touring vessels, and I should not have to give them up either. I don't know what to do."

"Well now you will be experiencing the same concerns as Kibok. He too would have been - to use your colloquial expression - flustered. In his human state, he chose to inaugurate a war."

"You know, for a computer who wanted to back out of this conversation, you have just taught me a lot about human psychology."

"I can barely comprehend the meaning of the phrase 'human psychology' Miss O’Malley."

Ann giggled.

"You're just breezy, Butler One."

"I will assume that was a compliment."

"Where did Jeradd come from?"

"Another solar system, Miss O’Malley, even further away than the location of Kadrom."

"So why was it so important for him to explore our solar system?"

"Jeradd was devoted exclusively to increasing his knowledge. He made it his goal to visit as many planets in as many solar systems as possible in his life."

"Did he ever go to Kadrom?"

"I do have a small file in my memory bank, but my knowledge of that planet is limited. When Jeradd was short of time, he would suddenly leave a planet and hurry away to the next one. He spent many lengthy conversations attempting to explain his feelings (about outer space explorations), but I had to repeatedly remind him that he had created me as a robot. I simply did not have any feelings. I can barely comprehend them even existing, let alone having any of my own."

“I sometimes wonder what’s stranger: a being from another solar system connected to our own universe, or a being in an entirely parallel dimension but from a smaller version of exactly the same planet as my own,” said Ann, “Not to say that you’re strange in a bad way, Wendell. You’re too cute for that.”

*          *          *          *

"We are starting to run out of things to talk about."

"I do not need things to talk about, but I could list some subjects if you are interested" said the robot pilot of Wildstar.

Before Ann could answer, Butler One made an important announcement.

"There is a fleet of ships on the port side, approaching from several quadrants away."

"Steer to avoid spacecraft" said Ann.

"Steering to starboard."

"Can you start navigating an alternative route?"

"Immediately, Miss O’Malley."

Butler One sent Wildstar through a cluster of white dwarf star fragments.

"What's special about this route, Butler One? Can you explain how it helps us?"

"The white dwarf star fragments will confuse and severely impair their scanners. As you can see, we are losing the steady blip signals on our own screen."

"Hurray for white dwarf stars!" said Ann.

"When emerging from the cluster, we will be away from the conventional space lanes used by the Kadrom fleet."

"I hope that Space Force can hold the fort" said Ann, "I'd hate to see any harm come to Saturn."

"We shall emerge from the white dwarf fragment area in fifty seconds, Miss O’Malley."

"I wouldn't know where we are. It's a scary thought that without you I'd be in all sorts of trouble."

"True Miss O’Malley."

"Computer minds don't need to be modest, but then they don't object to human immodesty either. I could tell you how clever I am, and you would make no discouraging comments. I won't though. Have we left the cluster of fragments yet?"

"Yes."
"Then full speed for Kadrom's galaxy."

After some few hours, the spaceship was approaching the Kadrom sector of the neighbouring galaxy.

"Your earth rocket ships would never travel this distance" said Butler One.

"They could never travel this quickly either. They take weeks and weeks to put a man on the moon. Then they've got to get the man back to earth. Are we so far behind the technology of other worlds?"

"Not all other worlds. There are some planets whose inhabitants are even more primitive than your own."

"Primitive? Primitive! Thank you for that, Butler One. We should make our plans. Do you think we'll be allowed to land on Kadrom?"

"It would be wise to pretend that we are from Jeradd's galaxy, rather than your own."

"Good idea."

"It will still be dangerous. I am unable to calculate all of the risks."

"I don't want you to calculate the risks, because I just want you to help me take them. I wonder.... Yes. I wonder how the other girls from Northern High School and Freedom Fields would react if they knew how  far away from earth I am, and where we are."

"Approaching Kadrom, Miss O’Malley."

"Let's keep going until they ask us to identify ourselves. I'll have my translator headpiece on."

"Proceding into the atmosphere."

The atmosphere was bright pink, because of the pink colouring of the planet's sky. As they travelled further, they noticed that the clouds on this strange world were of an ochre colour. (To the thirteen year old Ann O’Malley, the words 'pale yellow' were used to describe the colour of the clouds).

"I guess it's daytime where we are" said Ann "But where on earth - or should I say on Kadrom - are we going to find a touring vessel? I think we'll have to ask somebody. Let's land and pretend that we'd like to board a touring vessel."

"It may be better to ensure your safety, if I let you fly down from a low height and question the inhabitants yourself. That would enable me to search from above and effect a surprise rescue if you got into any trouble."

"The way we do it on earth. Yes, I'll try that. Let's hope that one of us comes up with something."

Ann left the spaceship, which was then cruising only ten meters above the surface of the planet. She used her antigravity triangles to float down to ground level. There were a few humanoid beings walking casually in the area.

"They must be the inhabitants of Kadrom. Butler One has programmed the translator device to receive and project the Kadrom language."

She approached the nearest person and asked "Excuse me, do you know where I can ride in a touring vessel?"

"Do you wish to go to Saturn's solar system?"

"No. I was planning to go the other way actually. Is there any special reason to visit Saturn?"

asked Ann.

"Well Emperor Kibok has bAnnd space travel to Saturn's galaxy, excluding the war fleet of course. They're the only ones going."

The Kadrom humanoid directed Ann to the nearest touring vessel depot.

"I don't understand their system of measures, but if we continue in the direction that I've been shown, we could yet find it" thought Ann. She raised a hand and touched the controls on her bracelet with the other hand.

"Ann O’Malley calling Butler One."

"This is Butler One."

"I have found out which direction to fly Wildstar. Home in on my signal and then lower Wildstar until you are ten feet above me."

"Am proceeding in your direction, Miss O’Malley."

Ann waited until she saw the spaceship approaching. She wondered what the local Kadromians would think of a girl who floated in the air and boarded a hovering spaceship. Whatever they thought, it could not be helped.

"There's little time left with that fleet approaching Saturn. At least we were more than half way here when we detected them. Our ship is faster than theirs."

Once aboard the spacecraft, Ann O’Malley flew towards the depot's direction, staring persistently at Wildstar's monitor screens until she saw a large raised platform with several spacecraft spread out on top of it.

"We shall have to land this time, so that you can leave the ship as well."

"I shall land on that grass behind the platform, Miss O’Malley."

"Did you say grass? Butler One, it's blue!"

"Not all planets have the same physical properties as earth."

"I wonder if maybe that could be a clue to solving this mystery about the touring vessel's explosion."

Wendell was wondering if there’d be any likelihood of taking Ann back to meet the people of his own world. There she’d be a giantess on earth-T. Then for the first time it occurred to his young mind that she might have a double on his world, and vice versa. Not that he’d ever know if earth-T had an Ann O’Malley, unless he could ever get back there. Yet he was in no hurry to. Being with a friendly giantess was fun.

Back in earth's solar system, Space Force had detected the fleet of approaching warships.

"We have no other options now" said Nezz Narf, addressing the members of Space Force,

            "You may all feel free to use your individual special powers to defend this planet, but you should each be equipped with a Space Force attack vessel."

"Does that include me?" said Kolam, "I can fly and breathe in space under my own power, and I don't need a space ship's defence shields for protection."

"I know, but those special powers should be concealed from the Kadromians. If you at least approach them initially in a standard attack vessel, you would have the element of surprise. As the battle progresses, we may need you as a secret weapon."
"I understand," said Kolam.

"I have made the same decision about Altha. With her powers of camouflage, she could easily blend in with the view of outer space, but this would only increase her chances of being unwittingly destroyed by either our own firepower or that of the Kadrom warfleet. Are there any other questions about your task?" said Nezz Narf.

There were none.

"Then I must make one more announcement. It has always been Space Force's policy that a leader should supervise a mission from headquarters, rather than involving himself in the midst of a mission. However, as you know, I have the power to turn myself into an unseen molecule of any known element. This would give me the opportunity to secretly enter the leading Kadrom warship and attempt to avert any further tragedies. I propose to make it my own mission to discern which of their ships is leading the battle, and execute my plan. I therefore appoint our deputy leader Relak to replace me here."

There were no objections, and the members of Space Force entered their fighting spacecraft and prepared to meet the Kadrom onslaught. They expected to be outnumbered, but the Kadromians had only their armed warships to rely on. The members of Space Force had their own individual unique bodily abnormalities, which gave them their special powers. They had not yet explained to Ann, that something in the rings of Saturn affected the bodies of Saturnians in infancy and adolescence, developing different super powers in each inhabitant of the planet.  Those with a special dedication had formed Space Force, and welcomed heroes from other worlds in the team as well.

*          *          *          *

"There are guards on that platform," said Ann, "So I'll really need this costume and every gadget that I've perfected so far. But you stay well hidden, Wendell. At your tiny size, you’d make an excellent hostage for them, if they wanted one. Can you try to get close to a vessel on this near corner, while I create a scene to draw the guards away from it?"

"I shall endeavour to do so, Miss O’Malley."
"Good. Let's start, now."

Ann floated up to the platform and surprised a guard with an exolimb strike to the back of his head. Before the guard could collapse, Ann put an arm around his neck and ran across the platform, using her captive as a silent sleeping shield.

"They don't dare to fire at me, but they'll come after me. I'll head away from this area and let Butler One approach the ship that this humanoid was guarding."

There were four guards pursuing her.

"The more the merrier," she thought. Her exolimb enabled her to carry the guard without exerting a lot of energy. She would not be slowed down by the weight of the humanoid. She ran in a diagonal direction, heading for the opposite corner of the platform. There would be guards over there as well, but at least she would give Butler One a chance to analyze the spacecraft.

The robot used his own anti-gravity abilities to float up to the platform and set down beside the tourist vessel. He attached his probe and began to store data. When he had completed his task he returned to Wildstar, and lowered the cylindrical boarding platform.

Once aboard he piloted Wildstar into the air and lowered the spacecraft into a position just above the place where the humanoids were closing in on Ann O’Malley.

"My spaceship will attack all of you, unless you let me leave safely," said Ann using her translator headpiece. The guards submitted, and watched her float into the air and board Wildstar.

"The guard will recover," said Ann, "Did you get what we need?"

"Yes. I have achieved our first goal satisfactorily, Miss O’Malley."

"Then perhaps we should simply wait until emperor Kibok sends something out to capture us. It's a lot easier than looking for his palace or whatever he lives in."

"I shall cruise around above the depot, Miss O’Malley."

"Yes do that, and see what you can work out. You've got the computer records of both metals now: the missile and the tourist vessel."

"Assimilating data as instructed, Miss O’Malley."

Four spacecraft appeared in the distance and were soon surrounding Wildstar.
"Attention alien spacecraft. You will not resist. You will allow us to escort you to the chancellory on our planet. Failure to comply will result in annihilation of your vessel."

"Could we survive the firepower of their four ships combined?"

"With our defense shield it is assured, Miss O’Malley."

"That's nice, but let's do it their way."

Ann communicated her willingness to comply.

The Kadromians sent one craft to escort them from in front. The other three would follow from behind.

"Nice of them to show us the way," said Ann, "Do you have the answer now?"

"Confirmed, Miss O’Malley. I can present proof of our allies' innocence to emperor Kibok."

*          *          *          *

Ann O’Malley and Butler One were shown to the throne room of emperor Kibok.

"Now earthling, explain why you attacked my guards at the touring depot."

"I am a friend of Space Force. I came here on a desperate reconnaissance mission, to discover why your touring vessel exploded. I would do anything to stop the war that you must have started. My robot was able to analyze and record data about a Space Force missile. When I distracted your guards, my robot could also analyze one of your touring vessels. He could explain his analysis to you himself. Do it, Butler One."

"Emperor Kibok, the metal shells of the Space Force missiles and the metal hull of your touring vessel have a special property in relation to each other. They attract each other like earth magnets. It can now be understood that the sideways movement of the vessel reported by your captain before his unfortunate demise was the magnetic pull of the missiles. Your vessel was displaced only slightly by the force of the attraction. Being a larger heavier object, the vessel soon exerted the greater pseudo-magnetic force and sucked the nearby missiles out of the Space Force patrol craft. Your vessel drew the missiles towards it, resulting in the unfortunate but inevitable explosion of your vessel."

"We were afraid it might happen again right here, if we brought the missile with us, so we analyzed both objects and compared their chemical properties using Butler One's computer mind. So it was really an unfortunate accident."

"Then we are as much to blame as your Space Force for the accident. Our ignorance of science has caused us to make an error of judgment. Communications officer! Contact the leader of the attack fleet at once."

Kibok made contact.

"Kadrom leader here, emperor Kibok. We are about to engage the Saturnians in battle. We appear to outnumber their approaching defense ships."

"Leader you will disperse and return to Kadrom. I am given to understand, that the explosion of our vessel was an accident. I have been given proof of this by a visitor to our planet."

"Yes your excellency."

"Ann O’Malley, please accept our apologies. I will make contact with the Space Force headquarters and explain what you have done for our two planets. You can rest assured that we will stop to think before hurrying into any future wars."

*          *          *          *

"Before you leave us, Ann O’Malley, I was curious when I first saw you. You do seem rather small for a human being."

"Well that's because I am only a young girl on my home planet, earth as your excellency already guessed."

"A mere youth has saved the relationship between two distant planets. Amazing!" said Kibok.

"We'll have to go now. I'm wanted back at the fields where I live," said Ann, wondering if anyone had spoken to her robot double, "So farewell to the people of Kadrom."

*          *          *          *

"Approaching earth, Miss O’Malley."

"I'll soon see the blue sky again."

"Negative, Miss O’Malley. It is night time in your continent."

"Of course. We were right, you know. The different colours of clouds and sky on Kadrom is like the unusual fact that their hulls would be like magnets to Space Force's missiles. We must never want everything to be the same as the things to which we are accustomed."

1996…

“Wow! I know I’ve said stuff like this earlier tonight,” said Martin, “But I’m going to be eaten by a secret super hero who saved two planets from war in her high school years. Can I run my arm over your tongue water?”

“Sure,” said Ann, “I’d like that.”

He reached into her mouth and slid both his arms over her tongue a few times and then removed them.

“You picked a good time,” said Ann, “The next adventure was largely underwater.”

1953…

Ann O’Malley enjoyed a two-week holiday of uninterrupted relaxation after her adventure on Kadrom. It was a period of enjoying one of the most cooperative climates to be offered by the recurring month of December.

"I love this weather. It's not cold like winter, but it's a mild summer. The sun is warm enough to enjoy, without being as hot as it usually is in December. I have not needed to stay inside to be cool enough this year. I think I shall wait until January before I go swimming. I do not need the pool just yet. I did last year," said Ann.

“I wish I could go swimming,” said Wendell.

Ann went to the Freedom Fields kitchen and came back with a huge discarded ice cream container, which she had almost completely filled with water. She took out a rubber ducky that she had once used (because of its ability to squeak when pressed) to play a prank, placed it in the ice cream bucket, and then took the swimming costume off an old doll of hers and gave it to Wendell.

“I’ll set some books up next to it like steps, while you go into your little room and change,” said Ann, “Just don’t splash water out onto the books. I’ll give you a handkerchief to use as a towel. It’ll be just like having your private baths in the little bowl I put in your room, only you’ll have the length of one of your earth-T pools to swim around in, and you can always rest on the rubber ducky when you need to.”

“Thank you, Ann!” said Wendell, and was soon doing laps.

Ann's decision to avoid water was soon to be altered. That evening, a Saturday actually, she was watching the television news program and heard an astounding report:

"American naval exercises in the South Pacific have been interrupted by a series of vicious attacks from an unknown source. Naval officers say that the barrage of ammunition must have been fired from beneath the surface of the ocean. A diving submarine attempted to investigate, but its crew barely escaped with their lives, when the submarine was bombarded by another mysterious torpedo. The ship was badly damaged, but the crew were able to escape in diving suits. The commander of the American Navy refused to be interviewed on television, but responded to a telephone inquiry by saying that all naval exercises in the South Pacific would have to be suspended until a safe investigation could be planned."

*          *          *          *

"I think that Butler One and I will have to make that investigation using Wildstar as a submarine" thought Ann O’Malley, "Wildstar was designed for things like that, as well as its air and space flights. Let's see those mysterious attackers try to finish off Wildstar."

Ann went to bed early on Saturday evening and arose at six o'clock on the Sunday morning. There was no formal breakfast time on a Sunday. The girls could help themselves to a certain amount of food. Ann enjoyed a brief meal, and then wandered across the Freedom Fields oval and into the forest to keep an appointment with her robot double. She found her twin waiting below a hovering Wildstar in the clearing.

"You will replace me at Freedom Fields and behave as I would," said Ann.

"Yes Mistress O’Malley," replied the robot, in  a mechanical simulation of Ann's own speaking voice.

Ann activated her antigravity triangles, floated up to Wildstar and stood on the circular platform which was a part of the roof of the spaceship. She was lowered aboard and instructed Butler One to head for the South Pacific.

Since the formation of their peculiar alliance, Ann's robot companion had familiarized his memory banks with earth's geography and was able to pilot Wildstar to the specified destination. Wildstar's speed was phenomenal. Ann could barely recognize any of the scenery far below them. It went by at such a speed, that she could only rely on the safe knowledge that Butler One was in full control of the spaceship.

*          *          *          *

"Approaching the area of the naval exercises, Miss O’Malley. Do you require us to submerge?"

"No. Just land on the surface and we'll float about like a naval submarine that has surfaced, until something happens."

It was not long before something happened.

"Scanners detect underwater torpedoes approaching, Miss O’Malley."

"Switch on defense shield."

"Yes."

"Do you know which direction those torpedoes are coming from?"

"Yes Miss O’Malley."

"Then let them hit us, and follow the path that they took. We'll trace them back to wherever they originated."

"Impact in three seconds, Miss O’Malley."

Wildstar did not even move an inch off its course as the torpedoes exploded harmlessly against the shield.

"Nice to know we're safe, isn't it, Butler One?"

"Indeed."

"Pinpoint and direct us to the source of that batch of incoming torpedoes we just survived" said Ann.

"Second wave of torpedoes detected on approach for this craft, Miss O’Malley."

"Then keep the shields on and start diving."

Again the torpedoes had no effect on Wildstar. A further round of wasted ammunition was expended, before Ann sighted their quarry on Wildstar's monitor screens.

"It's turning!” said Wendell

“Follow it!" said Ann.

Wildstar pursued the fleeing underwater craft, diving deeper and deeper as the pursuit led into the depths of the ocean.

"Don't lose it!" said Ann, "We're really onto something now."

Wendell did not know about the need for deep diving vessels to be able to withstand the pressures of the depths. Butler One did not mention these facts, because Wildstar was capable of withstanding even greater pressures anyway.

"Now that we're going after them, instead of the other way around, you can turn the shield off," said Ann, "We'll detect anything else before it hits us."

Ann followed the other craft until a doorway opened at  the bottom of the sea.  The other vessel was rapidly approaching it.

"Quickly, catch them up before they reach the door. We'll go in behind them before it can close up again. It's our only chance to get in there."

Wildstar accelerated its motion and was soon directly behind the other sea craft. Both ships passed through, and then the doorway closed. There was a city built in the watery domain below the ocean floor.

"Tricky teenagers!" exclaimed Ann, "An entire civilization below the ocean bed!"

They continued to follow the other vessel until it landed on a stretch of hard flat coral.

There was also room for Ann to land there in Wildstar.

Ann prepared herself by donning her translator headpiece. Butler One cautioned her that earth subterranean languages had not been programmed into the device's capabilities. However, it worked.

"Do not leave your vessel!" came an alien translation.

The language spoken by the subterranean beings must have been either alien to earth, or an earth foreign language, which meant that the subterraneans had not always lived there.

Butler One also cautioned Ann about the dangers of leaving the ship:

"The water pressure might prove fatal to your body, even with your exolimbs, Miss O’Malley. Do not leave the ship."

The subterranean message came through again.

"We repeat. Do not leave your vessel. We have an awesome weapon aimed at your vessel, dwellers of the continents above. Your vessel has shown a greater resistance than the ones we successfully destroyed. You are a threat to our invasion plans for the world above. We cannot be restricted by such threats. We must eliminate all such threats. If you cannot be destroyed, you will be sent to a destination where you cannot harm us.  The beam which is even now being aimed at your vessel will send it and you thousands of years into the past."

"Hey they're right! We're fading. Everything's changing outside and - ouch!"

"Turbulence can be caused by travel in the time path, Miss O’Malley. We will soon be stranded in your historical past."

"That weird flow of colours out there! It's a wonder that it shows up on the monitor screens! It looks like the televisions at Freedom Fields when both the vertical and horizontal holds are not working properly. What are we going to do....At last. It's stopped."

"Scanners indicate that we are in a surface jungle, Miss O’Malley. The subterraneans must have displaced as well."

"They needn't have bothered. I wonder how far we are into the past," said Ann.

"I am unable to answer that. This vessel is capable of time travel, but Wildstar has no instruments for quantifying the number of years traversed."

"Oh great. So we don't even know how far we've-. Did you say this spaceship can travel through time under its own power?"

"Correct, Miss O’Malley."

"In both directions?"

"Yes."

"We know we're somewhere thousands of years in the past. Couldn't we just travel forward in time, until things begin to look familiar again?"

"Visual accuracy would not be precise, but we would recognize the correct era when we are again under the water's surface. Your theory is a practical solution to our demise."

"Well if we err... 'time' it right, then we could get back to 1953 and destroy their time ray before they could use it on us again."

"Yes Miss O’Malley. Believing that they had removed us from our own time, they would be susceptible to a surprise attack."

"Then let's do it."

Butler One activated the time travel controls of the spaceship, and Ann noticed another mixture of colours and shapes appearing on the monitor screens. She waited for some time.

"Okay stop!" she said, "I think that's about as long as we spent in the time stream when the ray delivered us into the past. Let's have a look outside."

After a glance, Ann was confused.

"I don't understand. If anything we're in the same jungle, only those plants and trees have grown a bit. There's still no sign of urban development or water. Let's fly up and out of here."

"The jungle around us is dense, Miss O’Malley. Our very arrival has damaged some of it. We would have to break some overhead branches in order to break free of this jungle."

"Well then break them. This jungle is so dense that it can survive without a few branches. I doubt that we will have changed history by doing it. I wonder when on earth we are" said Ann.

Wildstar rose into the trees. Ann noticed the branches snapping, as she studied the monitor screens. Wildstar was a powerful spaceship.

When they broke out of the jungle, Ann instructed Butler One to cruise around in search of signs of civilization.

*          *          *          *

"We've been all over the earth, and all we've found is some nomad tribes in primitive tents. There's just nothing. No cities. No towns. We should have found something by now. It's not even like history as I remember it. We should have found an ancient city like a part of Italy or something."

"I am unable to offer any answers, Miss O’Malley."

"Well if this whole earth is just a mixture of jungle and deserts and open fields, could we use a stone scan to locate buildings? No that would see mountains too. We need a way of detecting something which is only found in cities. I just cannot think of anything. Let's ask that tribe we passed a while back. If they're hostile, they'll be no match for our futuristic powers."

*          *          *          *

Although equipped with her translator headpiece, Ann found that the tribes people spoke a near fluent form of English.

"We do not know of any existing cities. There were some a few decades ago," said an old and weary gentleman, "But their ruins are hidden deep in that jungle behind our fields over there."

The old man pointed to yet another jungle.

"Wow! Cities built and destroyed way back in our past, before the cities of Rome and Greece," thought Ann, "Maybe we could at least find a clue to our whenabouts there."

Ann thanked them for their guidance and returned to Wildstar.

"Alright Butler One, we're going to crash through that shrubbery until we find those ruins. Maybe we'll find a clue to 'when' we are at the moment. Scan the area as you approach."

"Yes Miss O’Malley."

After an extensive search, Butler One detected some modern technological equipment with the ship's scanners.

"There must be ruins nearby, but are you sure it's modern? What is it?"

"Computer technology, Miss O’Malley. We are approaching the relevant area now."

"Computers way back in the past! I wonder if we haven't uncovered somebody else who has time travelled before us. Are we even still on earth at all? Maybe they teleported us to another planet, as well as sending us into the past. Maybe that planet was very advanced for a while, before it was overgrown by jungle."

Wildstar came to rest beside some concrete ruins. There were also materials of steel, plastic, iron and others, according to Wildstar's elemental scanner.

"It's the ruins of an old city. We've found something at last" said Ann.

They located an opening and began to explore.

Butler One had to float above the rubble, because the use of his wheels was impossible. Ann walked beside, using a powerful torch, which she had taken from Wildstar's room of gadgets (part of the legacy left to her by the late Jeradd).

Wendell rode on her shoulder. He was so young, and had trouble understanding teenage dialogue at the best of times, which often left him with nothing to say in reponse.

"My robot might be replacing me at Freedom Fields forever. People would start to suspect things in a few years, when the robot did not grow any taller or show any other signs of ageing. We must get back somehow" thought Ann.

They came to a room which was full of computer hardware, and discovered a reel of tape in a box. On the outside of the box were the words:

            THE LAST RECORD OF OUR PLIGHT

Ann had been expecting to see skeletons. So she tried to ignore their frightening appearance.

"There aren't that many. A lot of them must have made it out into the fields and become the tribes we discovered. We cannot play that tape without any working equipment. There's no more electricity I suppose. How could all this be on earth's past?" thought Ann.

Butler One confirmed that the tape could be played back using Wildstar's facilities.

"Well that might help us. Hey look at this. The computer sticker says 'MADE IN 5522'. could that be the year we've reached?" asked Ann.

"It is possible, Miss O’Malley."

"But they said we would be sent into the past! Let us go back to Wildstar and play that tape. I'm suspecting deception now."

*          *          *          *

Butler One prepared the tape for playback, and then listened with Ann to the message:

            "This is the last record of our plight. This message was recorded in the year 5551.

            This is the last of earth's great cities. All of the valuable resources which enabled

            us to enjoy the wonders of modern technology have been depleted. We are now

            without the simple benefits of light and power. What remains of our scientific

            equipment is useless. A few of us have survived thus far, and we will make our

            way into the fields to join the other tribes who have abandoned our cities before

            us. There was indeed enough evidence to avert this tragedy, but our world leaders

            continued to waste money and resources on developing weapons of war. Trust was

            replaced by measures of security in all periods of recorded history. Inefficient uses

            of vital resources was commonplace, and now there is nothing left. The irony is

            that, in trying to reach the forefront of technology, we have left ourselves with no

            more resources. Our final fate is to lead a lifestyle which will be even more  

            primitive than that of our predecessors of thousands of years ago. If anyone finds

            this record, it will be too late to prevent the awful losses which have already been

            suffered. We have only been able to explain the tragedy, rather than prevent it.

            Maybe one day it would be possible for the earthlings of the future to be

            transported to a new world as rich in resources as ours once was, but would they

            learn from our mistakes? Only time will tell. This message is now completed."

"So that's it. We weren't sent to the past. We were sent to the future. Could the subterraneans have made a mistake, and set their machine incorrectly, when they used it on us?" asked Ann.

"My observations of their behaviour when we were in 1953 would suggest that this deception was deliberate, Miss O’Malley."

"Of course! Maybe they somehow knew that we might have time travel capabilities, or at least be able to build our own device to travel one direction in time, and wanted us to make the futile effort of building a device that would take us in the wrong direction on the time path, further away from our own time. Maybe they somehow knew about this future depleted world. Maybe the oceans dried up, and we weren't transported to the surface after all. Maybe that area where we materialized was actually once the area below the sea bed. They tricked us very well. If they could guess that we would attempt time travel ourselves, then they made sure we'd go the wrong way, travelling forward in time, trying to approach 1953, when we were tricked into thinking we were in the past!" exclaimed the young adventuress.

"That could be true, Miss O’Malley."

"So now we need to travel back in time. Let's activate the time travel controls."

"But Miss O’Malley, since arriving at this point in time, we have displaced from our original jungle position."

"Oh yes. If we travel back, we might end up in the middle of a rock or something."

"Correct, and since two bodies cannot occupy the same space simultaneously, the results could be disastrous."

"Then you shall pilot Wildstar back to our jungle position, before we travel back to 1953, Butler One."

*          *          *          *

"We are in our original location, and also even facing the same directional vector, Miss O’Malley."

"Good."

"I shall activate time travel circuits."

"No don't! I just thought of something. If we materialize in the same spot, then they'll just use their ray to send us away again. They erected that device in the perfect place to trap a vessel from the surface. Why don't we move a little to the left, a little straight up, and then turn Wildstar around? If we do that, then we'll materialize just behind their weapon of time travel. We can destroy it completely by surprising them. Then they'll never be able to turn that device on us again."

"I shall make the required displacements before departure from this time period, Miss O’Malley."

"Good. I guess the jungle is about to have some more damage, but since we're actually from its past, we won't be changing history at all."

"If it had been a mountain, rather than a jungle, then the damage would have affected Wildstar too, when we first arrived Miss O’Malley."

"Then it's lucky for us that it wasn't a mountain. I was expecting it to be water."

"Displacements completed Miss O’Malley."

"Hey, before we go, I just thought of something funny. They used time to trick us. Why don't we use it to trick them? Could you ease off the power on the time travel circuits when we're getting closer to December 1953?"

"Yes Miss O’Malley. Visual monitoring of slower time travel would be far more familiar than the distorted maze of colours and shapes we have so far experienced while moving in the time path."

"Then do that, will you? I want us to see our own ship being sent into the future. As we look across at ourselves fading away, we'll slow down even further and arrive a little earlier. No actually, that would be confusing. If we arrive before and destroy the weapon before it is used on our past selves, we'll have two slightly younger passengers in an identical Wildstar, as we will have prevented our own original time trip. We'd also meet ourselves. We cannot allow that much confusion. We'll have to get back just after our past selves fade away. It should surprise them, and we'll destroy the weapon."

"Understood, Miss O’Malley."

"There was nobody manning it. Nobody will die when we destroy it, as it was fired by remote control from within the subterranean city. However, they will be surprised."

"It will give the appearance of our having displaced marginally, rather than travelling in time."

"Yes. They'll think we just moved a bit. They won't realise that we spent ages in this future time and then arrived back minutes later from their perspective.  That's marvelous. We could let them think that there must be a fault in their machine. They would really be discouraged by that. They'd see no point in building a new machine, after we destroy that one, if they're led to think that the machine doesn't work properly" said Ann.

"I will comply with your intended deception. Shall I operate the time travel controls now, Miss O’Malley?"
"Yes. Operate them. We have a long backwards journey through the time path. Have Wildstar's laser ready to fire at their weapon the moment we have materialized in the new position back in 1953. Will it function well underwater?"

"Yes Miss O’Malley."
"Here we go. There's that weird time path again. I wish I had a camera."

*          *          *          *

"Now that we're slowing down, I can see a shaky picture of the underwater city. Can they see us?"

"To the subterraneans, we would look like an optical illusion or a disturbance in the water. We would not be solid. They will only see us for a brief instant, if they do at all."

"There we are fading away," said Ann, seeing the past version of Wildstar being struck by the time ray, "Go forward a bit in time.... That's it. Stop!"

"Firing laser, Miss O’Malley."

The laser beam totally obliterated the time travel device. Within moments their radio receiver provided Ann with another message from the subterraneans.

"Impossible! You dwellers of the upper continents have even defied the laws of time and space. If you can teleport out of our time ray, then we have no hope of defeating you, or even of removing you. We will have to abandon our plans to conquer your race."
"I'm glad of that. So what happens next?" said Ann.

"Oh dwellers of the upper continents, please listen to our problem. We have not always lived under your ocean. We were once descended from a small party on a world in another galaxy. Our world was completely covered by water, and we would breathe water as you earthlings breathe oxygen. Our ancestors had to flee our own world because of political problems on our own world. They fled the planet in a small water filled spaceship and landed on a planet rich in oceans, your own earth. They bred and multiplied and built this hidden city, but we are anxious to return to our own world. The small spacecraft that brought our ancestors here is no longer functioning. Neither is it large enough to take our increased population back to our home world. Is there any way that we could obtain some water filled rocket ships from your upper continental friends?"

"I don't think so. Do you mean that you only wanted to capture some of our rocket bases and fill some rocket ships with enough water to take you home?" asked Ann.

"Yes that was our intention."

"Well it would never have worked anyway. Our rockets could not function properly in water as your equipment has been designed to do."

"But your own vessel does so even now" said a subterranean voice.

"It's a special craft, not of this earth either" said Ann.

"It is too small for our purposes. It seems that all hope is lost for us" said the subterranean leader.

"Maybe not. Your people would never have seen it, but there's a planet in our solar system called Saturn. It has gaseous rings around it. On Saturn there is the headquarters of a team called Space Force. They may be able to communicate with your home world and arrange for a larger water filled collection of ships to come to earth and collect you. In fact, I'll make the trip myself in Wildstar and ask your new leader, whoever he is, to help us get you back to your own world."

*          *          *          *

After further discussions, the subterraneans agreed, and supplied Butler One with the information needed to locate their world.
"Jeradd charted it once, but he never landed on that world, because of the water on the surface of the planet," said Butler One, as he piloted Wildstar through the hidden doorway. Wildstar began to surface, and would soon after be airborne.

“That sure beats the ice cream bucket on your shelf, Ann,” said Wendell.

After a lengthy flight into outer space and beyond earth's galaxy, Wildstar finally dived into the water world of Anthos.

"Goodness knows how they spell it. They cannot even write on paper in a water world, but it sounded like Anthos when the subterranean said it back on earth. It's a long trip, like the ride to Kadrom. I'm glad that we keep this spaceship well stocked with food supplies," thought Ann. She was able to visit nearby planets and load Wildstar regularly with food from their abundant supplies. (Wildstar had its own refrigeration facilities, as well as strange cabinets and the more modern equivalent of an earth oven and stove).          

"Here go all sorts of things," thought Ann as she watched the monitor screens changing to an orange colour, "I'm amazed at the way things are different on other planets. Earth's water is blue, or perhaps a little green. It's a wonder that the fleeing Anthos people of long ago felt sure that they could survive in our oceans. Maybe they landed at night and didn't know the difference until daybreak. Maybe they had no choice."

She thought of communication and said aloud, "I hope that the language on Anthos hasn't changed from what we were translating from the subterraneans on earth."

"Your headpiece should cope with the linguistic matters, Miss O’Malley."

"Let's look for an underwater city, under orange water at that," she giggled.

“We saw an orange sky once before,” said Wendell.

After a series of radio messages, Ann had finally received directions to the location of the ruling monarch of Anthos, King Murta. When they approached this watery residence, Ann explained that all communications would have to be conducted by radio signals, because she did not wish to leave the ship, being an air breather.

"I am Ann O’Malley of earth. Several decades ago, a small party of refugees from your world landed on earth, in one of our oceans. They grew into a large population and built a city beneath our ocean floor. However the legends of Anthos were told to the newer generations, and the descendants of the refugees would anxiously like to live on their true home planet."

"Our history confirms that you speak the truth about those refugees. Political conditions on this planet were once much worse than they should have been. However we cannot justify travelling billions of miles to help a small population of those who abandoned our planet."

"They didn't abandon your planet" said Ann, "It was their ancestors who did that. The ancestors had good reason to. You said that just now. The descendants have great respect and longing for the world of Anthos."

"Then I pity them, but they must fend for themselves now. My decision is final. Ending transmissions."

*          *          *          *

"Well that was hours ago, and we still cannot do anything to help. If only that King Murta knew how the Anthosians on earth felt."
"I could design a container by adapting Jeradd's old tank" said Butler One.

"Do you mean he used a tank of water on this ship?"

"For bathing purposes. It was only the size of an earth coffin."

"We'd never get it through the exit. How did he get all this in here to start with?"

"There is a lengthy process to open the side wall, but it would be unwise. I would have to disconnect much of the circuitry first."

"Underwater? No thanks. I'll use Jeradd's old breathing tanks to go into Murta's palace and kidnap him. With my exolimbs I can get him into a water filled tank and carry him, if I can find a water filled tank. Then I can board Wildstar again later. The tank will have to be constructed to survive deep space travel with the aid of our tractor beam."

Butler One carried Ann to the surface. She stepped out of Wildstar and dived into the orange water. She could not have exited the ship below the surface without causing a flood of water to enter into Wildstar.

"I'm glad Jeradd's special tanks last for thirty hours, instead of one or two; but that's because of the special filter which can extract extra oxygen from the water molecules. Butler One said it would even work in orange Anthos water. I'll have my exolimbs to help me under my special costume. I'm glad it's still waterproof," thought Ann.

Ann dived deeper until she came to the water filled palace of King Murta.

"I'm rather suspicious looking, firstly because of the breathing gear and secondly because of my earthly appearance," thought Ann. She located the living quarters of King Murta, after making a series of enquiries.

"If you have come to plead your cause for those Anthos citizens on earth again, then you will find that your time and words will be wasted," said Murta.

"That idea has been forgotten," said Ann, "but I would like to take back a tank full of orange water to deliver to their city below our ocean. I'm sure they'd appreciate it. It would have to be able to survive being towed by a tractor beam, as the entrance to my ship is too small to accommodate a water tank."

"It will be my pleasure to provide you with a tank of our water and help you to transport it to your vessel on the surface," said Murta, thinking that it would be worth the effort to get rid of her. He wanted to be left in peace. She seemed like a harmless earthling youth, but young girls could talk and giggle for hours on end.

"That will be ideal," thought Ann.

"What colour is your planet's water?" asked Murta.

"It's blue. So they'll really love to see your orange water."

Murta produced a cube shaped tank. Ann was pleased to see that it was large enough to temporarily accommodate the king. Murta attached some propellant cylinders to the tank, and told Ann to accompany him by lying on the top. He then switched the cylinders on, and they were carried to the surface. Using her exolimbs, Ann forced the king into the tank and sealed it perfectly.

"Tractor beam and open up, Butler One," said Ann.

She broke the surface and boarded Wildstar. Soon they had left the planet and were on their way to another neighbouring world.

*          *          *          *

"We are over the ocean, Miss O’Malley."

"Then steer towards the shore and release the tractor beam when the tank is resting in shallow water."

When Murta was freed from the tank, he sat in the water and demanded that Ann return him to his home planet.

"Not today," said Ann, "We're going to explore this planet and then go back to earth."

"No, you cannot!"

Ann boarded Wildstar and took off."

*          *          *          *

"It's an interesting planet. Let us see how Murta's doing" said Ann.

Wildstar landed on the surface. Ann quickly emerged.

"How are you enjoying this orange ocean?" she asked.

"It's just not like home."

"Oh you'll grow used to it. You'll be happy here one day."

"But it's just not like my own home. I want to be back with my people."

"Well how do you think the Anthosians on earth feel?"
"Worse than me, I suppose."

"Their water is not orange. At least you have that."

"I understand now. You have shown me the importance of sending some space arks to earth. We will rescue our people from the confines of your planet."

"Then climb back into the tank, and we'll return you to Anthos."

*          *          *          *

So it came to pass that Wildstar led a convoy of space arks, all filled with water, to eventually land in the oceans of earth; and escorted them to a meeting place below the water's surface.

"I don't know what the navy thinks about this, but they'll never learn the real story" thought Ann.

The space arks would not escape the notice of the navy's radar, but they could depart with their passengers and some souveneirs from the earth subterranean city in time to be written off in naval reports as unidentified flying objects.

*          *          *          *

"We'll they've all gone. I'm the only person on earth who knows the location of that deserted undersea city. I can explore the city in Wildstar, but the water pressure would kill me, if I left the spaceship. We'll have to watch some television tonight."

“Imagine what the pressure would do to me,” said Wendell.

“Come to think of it, the pressure in my school pool might do the same to you,” said Ann, “I’m glad we’ve got the ice cream bucket.”

Ann explored the city that day, and marveled at the many aquatic wonders.

"They've made all of the common surface conveniences they ever needed out of waterproof materials, just like the places on Anthos!" she thought.

It had been an interesting way to spend a week. Travelling into the past and discovering that it was actually the future had been exciting enough; but the events to follow were astounding.

Ann decided that there was an analogous similarity between the future of earth and the possible future of the Anthos race.

"Earth will be like that in the future, because people don't care what happens to this planet now. The other problem occurred because Murta didn't care what happened to the Anthos descendants on earth. It's all been like a long confusing lesson in history."

*          *          *          *

Ann returned to Freedom Fields, having arranged to change places with her robot doppelganger in the nearby forest.

"It's only three days until Christmas!" she realised, "How extraordinairy. After exploring thousands of years of time, I am now in a panic to send all my Christmas cards. At least the robot was able to simulate my behaviour. The secrets of Ann O’Malley are still secrets. I shall have to to buy cards, stamps, and even one or two presents quickly. Arella Kayne, my partner the dream sensitive should have a present. She's the only other person on earth who knows about Wildstar, Butler One and Space Force."

*          *          *          *

Sunday evening came, and Ann watched a news broadcast:

            "After a hive of possible U.F.O. sightings in the South Pacific, the naval commander

            in America has finally decided to resume navy investigations into the attacks which

            interrupted naval exercises as recently as two weeks ago. The commander said, 'It is

            always difficult to give credence to a person who reports sighting a U.F.O. The

            difficulty increases, when one considers that the U.F.O. apparently just disappeared

            into the ocean. We will be investigating the area, but cannot ignore the chances of

            another spate of vicious attacks from below the water surface. The navy will be

            standing by to return the fire of any future mysterious attackers.' "

"And they won't need to," thought the young Mistress of Scientific Wonders.

1996….

“I’m running out of things to say that don’t repeat myself,” said Martin, “But I’ll never tire of your story.”

“It makes the anticipation all the more fun, doesn’t it?” said Ann, and continued.

1953…

It was the largest scale operation that Ann O’Malley had ever heard anything about, she decided, as she watched the special space program report on television.

She had enjoyed a pleasant Christmas period, and a new space program was finally announced on the second of January, 1954. Ann and her friend Arella Kayne were watching with interest.

            "A new organization has been formed to investigate a yellow and white radiation       cloud, which our satellites say is approaching earth. The organization is in fact a

            temporary alliance of NASA and other similar units devoted to the space front in

            other countries. There has been a need for secrecy so far, in order to avert a

            possible panic, but latest satellite reports indicate that the cloud although

            extraordinairy in nature, is in fact harmless. The temporary U.C.S.E. (United

            Continents Space Explorations) alliance will attempt to send a rocket with a

            camera to film the cloud. It will be necessary to combat the possible radiation

            effects on the camera; so special film will have to be used. The radiation will

            not be harmful to human beings, but it is expected to be detrimental to camera

            film."

"I think I should have a look myself," thought Ann. She waited for an opportunity to talk to Arella Kayne in privacy.

"I am going to explore that cloud in Wildstar. I can get there much faster than a rocket."

"I'd love to come with you," said the twelve-year-old blonde haired girl who could dream the future on numerous occasions.

"Have you had any dreams about that cloud lately?"

"I have had dreams that I cannot understand, confused images, colours and shapes that don't make any sense."

"Maybe you dreamt about my experiences in the time path," said Ann.

"No, my dreams were after you got back, mainly over Christmas. They could have something to do with that cloud."

"I was hoping that you would like to come for the trip anyway. The cloud is now so close to earth that we can reach it overnight. You won't be missed here. Let's go tonight," said Ann, “Wendell’s going to love this.”

*          *          *          *

Arella slept in a downstairs room. She had only to leave her window open before turning her lights out. Ann used her anti-gravity triangles to float down to the ground at quarter past eleven.

"I think we'll both be sleeping in tomorrow, " thought Ann as she walked around to Arella's window. She reached in and tapped Arella's shoulder until the girl stirred from her sleep.

"Ann is it time to go?"

"Yes. Climb out quietly. Have you got your door locked?"

"Of course, for privacy."

"Then it's time to head for the forest, and meet up with Wildstar."

Arella stepped out and accompanied Ann to the forest. They walked to the clearing, and Ann asked Arella to climb onto her back.

"I'll use my bracelets to piggyback you up to the roof of Wildstar. Then we'll board the spaceship one at a time."

Arella enjoyed the ride into outer space.

"We're making good time. It's not even midnight yet, and there's the cloud now. Let's get in real close," said Ann.

"Yes we must. There is something interesting there, for me to see," said Arella.

"She sounds even more enthusiastic than I am," said Ann.

“I want to see it too,” said Wendell.

"I wonder how close we can get," thought Arella. She asked Butler One.

"I am not familiar with the radiation of the cloud, Miss Kayne, but this spaceship's hull would be an adequate protection anyway."

"Don't worry Arella. We're going to touch that cloud if we get the chance, and we'll be quite safe," said Ann.

"That's good."

"Steer towards the center of the cloud," said Ann.

"That is not necessary, Miss O’Malley," said Butler One.

"Why not?" asked Ann.

"Because the cloud is drawing us towards it."

"Is there any chance that we could get hurt?" asked Ann.

"None. There will be no impact," said Butler One.

"Then we'll just pass harmlessly through the cloud and end up floating in space again?"

"Correct."

"Unless it has a suction effect on the other side," said Ann.

"If it does, then we will keep bouncing back and forth forever. This cloud is like a big yoyo using us," said Arella.

"We could pull away. Wildstar would be stronger, wouldn't it?"

"Possibly not Miss O’Malley," said Butler One.

"We're going through it now," said Ann.

"It's just a mixture of yellow and white all around us," said Arella.

The sensational experience continued for two minutes, and then they emerged, but not in space.

"We seem to be over another planet," said Ann.

"Computations and observations indicate that the radiation cloud was in fact a warp. We have passed into another dimension," said Butler One.

"But there's almost nothing. Just a white sky everywhere," said Arella.

"I think you should stay up here, Butler One. I'd like to float Arella down to the surface."

"As you instruct, Miss O’Malley."

"Open departure cylinder."

The robot obeyed, and Arella and Ann took it in turns to leave the ship's rooms and stand on the deck above.

"Hey Ann, I can use these steps," said Arella.

"Steps! I can see a slippery dip going off the edge of Wildstar, but no steps."

"Well you use the slide, and I'll use the steps. I cannot see the slide," said Arella. She walked up the steps.

"You are walking on thin air," said Ann, "This place is crazy."

"I think it's wonderful sometimes," said Arella.

"Arella Kayne's thoughts are not making much sense, considering what she is saying," thought Ann as she slid down and down. The slide seemed to go below the surface of the planet, down and down, further and further, until suddenly she came to rest at the top of the imaginary staircase that Arella had somehow climbed.

"But you went down," said Arella.

"And you went up!" said Ann.

"This is an impossible adventure."

Suddenly Wendell was no longer in his travelling pouch. He was standing right in front of them, and was now the size of a nine year old boy from their own earth.

“This can’t be,” said Ann!

“I’m big, like you two!” said Wendell.
"But it's all here Arella. We cannot all be imagining it."
"Well I didn't see the slide, and you didn't see the steps."

"What's happening here, and where is here anyway?"

“I don’t know,” said Wendell, and put his arms around Ann, “I want to give you a cuddle before I get small again.”

“That’s IF you get small again,” said Ann.

"We can walk around, Ann; don't worry about Wildstar."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. Come for a walk with me."

"She seems to feel more comfortable here than I do," thought Ann.

"Yes I do," said Arella aloud.

"I did not say that. I thought it," said Ann.

"I know."

"So how did you know I was thinking it?"

"It seems that instead of dreaming the future here, I can read minds in this dimension," said Arella.

"Maybe the warp has changed your powers, or maybe it is one of the weird things about this dimension."

"There's Mark Logan!" said Arella.

"How do you know him?" asked Ann, "Did you read my mind when we just saw him?"
"No. I just know him."

"But you never met him. What did he do to end up here? He doesn't even have his own spaceship, let alone the means to travel through a warp into another dimension, although I guess any ship could be sucked through as we were."

"Maybe he stowed away in Wildstar."

"Not possible," thought Ann.

"Anything's possible here," said Arella, reading Ann's mind again.

"But to get here, he must have stowed away back on earth in our own dimension, where it would have been impossible to trick Butler One into opening the hatch. Maybe he's not the Mark Logan we know. I've watched science fiction television shows about parallel universes. Do you think we might be in a parallel world, where things are different?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it," said Arella, "I don't even think that it is a dimension. It seems to be a realm outside of time and space. It is more than you get with time and space, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, but Mark is taking a long time to get close to us. It's like he has been walking those same five meters towards us for several minutes."

"Ann, he has a knife. I know he wants to kill us."

"Run!"

As they ran away from the man with the knife, the white void turned into an alley.

"Something familiar to run on," thought Ann, "Arella, if you're reading my mind, we're going to try to climb up that outside staircase when we get to it. We'll see where we can run to at the top of the building. Tap me if you agree."

Ann turned to see Arella tap her. She saw the tap but felt nothing. They reached the staircase and began to climb. Ann was in front of the entire ascent of the staircase, but when she reached the roof she saw Arella standing there.

"How did you beat me up here?"
"I don't know. I just knew I could do it. I knew I could get here first."
"There's Mark coming after us. Let's go across the rooftops," said Ann.

They found that the buildings were far apart. Despite this they had no trouble leaping from roof to roof. As they looked back, they saw Mark Logan attempting to make the leap. He fell short and they could see him hit the street, even though they weren't on the edge of the roof.

"He's taller than us. His legs are longer. He should have made it," said Ann.

"Well he did not. So we are safe now."

"Why is it that none of this weirdness seems to worry you the way it does to me?" thought Ann.

"Maybe it's because I can read minds."

"Could you read Mark's mind?"

"No. Only yours. Maybe he doesn't have a real mind here. Maybe he wasn't really here at all."

"That could be right, but how did you know he was going to try to kill us, if you could not read his mind?"
"I just know. Do you just know things sometimes?"

"I feel that I might be able to here."

"Well I already can," said Arella, "I've never stopped feeling a strange happiness since we came through the warp."

"I've never stopped feeling a strange mixture of confusion and fear since we got out of Wildstar and saw the things that the other one couldn't see. Do you agree?"

"I didn't see anything."

"You saw the steps, and I saw the slide. You couldn't see the slide, and I couldn't see the steps, but when I went down the slide, I ended up at the top of the steps, where you had walked to at that time."

"I'm sure that never happened. We're in the park behind St Ives Shopping Centre. Can't you see it? Look around," said Arella.

"Yes we are, but I was trying to remember something. What was I trying to -... A balloon, a huge hot air balloon. There's nobody else around. Let's go for a ride."

"Yes let's," said Arella.
They ran across the grass and jumped into the balloon. All of a sudden the balloon rose into the air and was soon floating over Northern High School. There were children, girls only in the playground. It was not lunchtime, but the girls were all staring up at the balloon.

"Land, Ann, land!" they called.

"That's impossible too. It's holidays," said Ann.

"Maybe it's not on this world, Ann," said Arella.

The balloon floated past the school and began to follow in a path above the trains that used the railway line.

"We're staying above the tracks and heading in the city direction," said Arella.

Below them a red train stopped at Gordon station.

"That's it. Now I know why we're up here," said Arella, "We're on a mission. There's a bomb on the North Shore line somewhere, and we're the ones who have to find it."

"On the train line?"
"No Ann, anywhere. It might be near the railway line, but it could be anywhere. The train line is just a way of letting us know that it's on the North Shore line."

"So how do we work out where it is?"

"We need to find out who planted it and why. We should find a ransom note soon," said Arella.

"There's a piece of paper on the top of that church steeple," said Ann, "I'll reach out and grab it as we go past."

She seized the message and read it:

                        THIS IS OUR MESSAGE:

                        THERE MUST BE NO MORE GIGGLING GIRLS.

                        WE THINK THAT GIRLS GIGGLE TOO MUCH.

                        IF THE MAYOR OF KURINGAI DOES NOT

                        PROMISE THAT THERE WILL BE NO MORE

                        FOOLISH GIGGLING, THEN WE WILL LEAVE

                        THE BOMB TO EXPLODE.

                                                                        L.O.S.A.

                                                (Legion Of Sensible Adults).

                        PS. THE MAYOR MUST PROMISE ON TELEVISION

                        TONIGHT THAT FOOLISH GIGGLING WILL BE

                        MADE ILLEGAL, AND THAT GIGGLING GIRLS

                        WILL BE PUT IN PRISON, FOR THREE AND A HALF

                        MONTHS.

"It was night when we left the St Ives that I know," thought Ann.

"We'll have to help find that bomb, but we're the ones in the most danger," said Arella.

"Yes, because we're young girls, and we giggle sometimes."

"I wonder where the Legion Of Sensible Adults can be found."

"I think that you should let the police arrest you and be put into jail. That would make this legion happy. I could keep searching, and you could still use your mindreading powers in jail" said Ann.

"No. It works better if you be arrested. Just trust me Ann. I know what we should do now."

"Alright. I can be arrested and then use the exolimbs under my costume to break out of jail," thought Ann.

The two girls went to the Kuringai Council chambers and requested the urgent attention of the mayor.

"It's about the bomb threat," said Ann.

*          *          *          *

"It might work. I'll arrange to have you picked up for giggling in the middle of St Ives Shopping Centre. Word will spread of your arrest and imprisonment. Meanwhile, let's hope your friend can find the Legion Of Sensible Adults, as well as the bomb," said the mayor of Kuringai.

It never occurred to Ann to wonder how they had suddenly appeared outside the Council chambers, or what had happened to the balloon. It was as though they were at the Council chambers as soon as they had formulated their plan.

Ann was soon at the shopping mall, where she looked at a poster and forced herself to giggle loudly. The mayor had tipped off a television station, so that Ann was arrested in front of a news camera. Plans were made to show the arrest on the evening news program, as well as a promise from the mayor to abide by the demands of the Legion Of Sensible Adults.

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, Arella was walking past some shops in Gordon, when she somehow sensed the presence of people below her.

"But the only thing below could be... drains! They're in the drains."

Arella managed to contact a man from the water board, with help from the manager, and the man, Timothy McClaine agreed to show her through the underground network of drains, so that they could find the Legion.

"It will also be good to have you around when we find them, because you are an adult," said Arella.

Equipped with torches, the two of them entered the network, using a storm water drain outlet in the eastern outskirts of Gordon. They walked for nearly an hour before they heard some voices and located the Legion Of Sensible Adults.

"You dare bring a girl here!" said a middle aged lady.

"It's alright. I won't giggle at all" said Arella, "You've won. The mayor agreed to your letter. It will be on the news tonight."
"One of us will go to the surface and watch the news tonight," said a man.

"I shall go," said another, "I have a television set, and my house is closest to our secret exit."

"I'll go with you" said Arella.

"No. You will stay here where we can keep an eye on you," said the middle aged lady. She added that her name was Wilma Reebil.

"If I find that you have lied, when I watch the news, the bomb will still go off at midnight."

"Well I have not lied, so long as Ann's arrest went according to plan. Once we find the bomb, we are going to have to talk to these people about giggling. It can be lots of fun, and they shouldn't be allowed to ban it," thought Arella.

*          *          *          *

The man returned just after seven o'clock and announced that, "the mayor has made good on Arella's words."

"Well I am not satisfied," said the middle-aged lady, "You allow a young girl of all people into our secret headquarters. She could have giggled at any moment."

"Well we do trust her," said the man who had gone to watch the evening news, "Our message about children giggling has been received and accepted by the adults of the North Shore line. So we must reveal the location of the bomb and assist with disarming it."

(In this warp zone version of earth, the Kuringai Council jurisdiction included the entire North Shore suburban area from Hornsby to North Sydney. Milson's Point was part of the area governed by the Sydney City Council. Asquith and the next several suburbs came under, of all things, the Shire of Mount Colah).

"No. I still don't trust young girls. I am going now , and you'll never find the bomb," said the middle aged lady, as she disappeared further into the underground network, "I took it from our original hiding spot, and put it somewhere else. So I fooled all of you."

"She's far more devoted to this than any of the others in the Legion Of Sensible Adults. I must try to read her mind and find out why," thought Arella.

Arella ran after the fleeing lady. As a child she had the advantage. Like the man from the water board, the middle aged lady had to stoop downwards, bent over a little to avoid bumping her head on the upper part of the drain. Arella was too short to be hindered in that way. So she ran after Wilma Reebil and soon caught up with her.

"It's no use. I cannot read her mind either. It is only Ann's mind that I can read," thought the dream sensitive from earth.

"Look, tell me why you're upset," said Arella.

"You wouldn't know anything. You think I am just a fussy fun-spoiling adult. Well you're wrong. I had a little girl once, a twelve-year-old girl who looked a bit like you, because of her blonde hair. She used to giggle so much that I was afraid that she would end up in a lot of trouble for it, and one day she laughed herself to death! Now I have lost her," said Wilma.

"I'm so sorry, but we're running out of time. Don't you know that if you don't stop the bomb, then we'll all lose lots of other people as well, when the bomb explodes in the middle of tonight," said Arella.

"I'm not going to help you. You're a tricky little girl yourself."

"She hates giggling, and she hates the death of her little girl, and I remind her of her little girl. So what can I do?"

'"You've got to help us," she said as she burst into tears, "Without that bomb being found, you will kill a lot of innocent people."

The lady stared in amazement and smiled for the first time.

"You are crying. Don't say that people will die. I'll show you where the bomb is and disarm it," said Wilma.

Ann had already escaped the prison cell and was surprised to learn of Arella's story.

"But how did you know where to find them?"

"I just sensed it. I didn't read any minds. I just knew they were in the drains. I tried to read Wilma's mind later, but it did not work."

"I'm glad that you were upset. It was a lucky break. You got her to understand."

"It was no lucky break. I had to make myself unhappy enough to cry. It was the only way to help that lady. Giggling is a kind of laughing; and the opposite of laughing is crying. I figured out that if she hated giggling, she might do anything for a girl who was crying."

"That's brilliant," said Ann, "You were right. You were the best person to look for the Legion, for more reasons than one. What on earth? Everything's changing."

"No it's not changing," said Arella, "We're having a swim at the beach just like we've been doing all day. The water's lovely, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, and my costume is a good swimsuit. I'm glad it's waterproof," said Ann.

“Hey, where’s Wendell?” asked Arella.

“I don’t know. I haven’t even thought about him since he first grew and gave me a cuddle.”

“He wasn’t on our other adventures here after that,” said Arella.

“It’s funny that we didn’t even think of him until now,” said Ann.

"I'll give you a race," said Arella.

"Back to shore?" asked Ann.

"No, the opposite way. Let's see who can swim the furthest out. We can call Wildstar down to get us if we get tired."
"Alright, you're on," said Ann.

"Ready, set -"

"Hang on. You're starting a bit in front of me."

"Not from this angle. I lined up with the rocks on your side of the beach."

"Well I lined up with the rocks on your side."

"Yes, but I don't think that they are level. Well let's just start off close side by side."

"Okay, you say go."
"Ready set go!"
The two young girls swam out, further and further, until Ann had finally exhausted Arella. When Arella stopped, Ann turned around and swam back towards her.

"Don't worry Arella. I'm a year older than you. Hey, I cannot see the beach. Look!"

Arella turned her head and said, "It's gone. We must have swum a great distance. There's nothing but water all around us, and I am tired."

"Let's float on our backs for a while until we think what to do."

"We cannot swim back," said Arella.

"Why not? We will have the energy after we have floated calmly for a while."

"Energy to go where? We cannot work out which way the beach is. There is just water everywhere. How do we know what to do?"
"Well I guess we just lie here and don't," said Ann.
"I am good at don'ting," said Arella, "School is full of 'don't' things. So don't start on any of the things that are not allowed."

"Hey Arella, look up there. There's a helicopter coming down to meet us."

The helicopter assumed a hover position above them and lowered a rubber ring on a rope.

"That's to rescue us. You go first," said Ann.

Arella waited for the ring and then sat inside it. Her legs dangled out as her arms gave her the strength to grip the rope with both hands.

"It was worth resting my arms after all that swimming. Floating was such a good idea," she thought.

Ann watched the ascent of Arella, and then the rubber ring was again lowered to the water on the end of the rope.

"There must be a winch inside that helicopter," thought Ann, "I'm so glad that somebody decided to rescue us. I wonder how they knew we were missing. I wonder how they knew how to find us out here."

She climbed into the ring and was winched aboard the helicopter. She sat down beside Arella as the passenger who had been operating the winch pointed a gun at the girls and said,     "We've been looking for you two all day. You're going to show us how to get to the secret passageway under Freedom Fields and dig up the lost treasure of St Abel's monastery. After all those years of pretending to be a monk, I could never find the secret passageway, and then I had to leave when the new owner changed the place to Freedom Fields orphanage. I want to be rich before I turn fifty."

"But there isn't a secret passage. I don't know of one," said Ann.

"Don't think to fool me. I have got a gun. Pilot, head for Freedom Fields in St Ives," said the man.

In front of them the pilot steered the helicopter to the right and began to fly them towards a familiar suburb.

"Yes there is a passageway in this Freedom  Fields," said Arella.

"Oh yes, this Freedom Fields, and I know where the passageway is. Somehow I just know, but I cannot tell these criminals, can I Arella?" said Ann.

"What choice do you have?" said the man with the gun.

"None at the moment, because I don't know how to fly a helicopter, but when we get to the orphanage, things will be different for all of us," thought Ann.

Arella nodded her head.

"What are you two up to?" asked the man.

"I had an ache in my neck. Ann once told me that a good nod gets rid of it," said Arella, "So I smiled at her."

"You'll have a bullet in your neck if you don't show me that passageway when we get to Freedom Fields. You know that, don't you?"

*          *          *          *

The helicopter landed on the Freedom Fields oval and its four occupants emerged when the blades had ceased their rotation. They approached the building and found it locked up and empty.

"There's nobody here," said Ann.

"Of course not. They're all still at the beach. Today's our beach outing. That's why we were at the beach. If only we hadn't been such strong swimmers," said Arella.

"If only you'd both get on with it," snarled the man with the gun, "Reynolds, get that window out of our way!"
The pilot looked around and found a garbage can. He threw it at the window, and an unusual thing happened. As Ann stared in bewilderment, the whole window, including its frame was knocked inwards by the garbage can, until both items fell on the floor.

"The glass did not break," she said.

"Of course not. Do you think we want to cut ourselves climbing through?" snarled the gunman.

"Come on Peters, let's go," said Reynolds.

"Well you go first, just in case the girls are thinking of running free inside. Then the girls can follow you, telling you which way to go. I will follow behind with the gun" said Peters.

Reynolds climbed through the window. Arella was next, then Ann and finally Peters.

"The whole thing's ridiculous," thought Ann O’Malley, "Why do they think they need guns to handle two young schoolgirls? I am thirteen, and Arella is only twelve."

"Just remember not to use your super strong arms and legs on us, Ann, because I can still blow your head off with my gun," said Peters.

"How could they have possibly known that?" thought Ann, "Maybe they can read minds like Arella."

"No they cannot, but do not worry. I am beginning to understand what's been happening to us. Even if they get the treasure, it won't matter, because we won't have lost it," said Arella.

"Yes you seem to be right. I'm quite sure now, for some reason I cannot fully make sense of, that it won't matter at all. We'll show them the treasure," said Ann.

*          *          *          *

Ann led them into the room beside Arella's and pulled the carpet from the floor. She rolled it up and tossed it onto a bed. Below them was a trapdoor. Ann opened it and saw a rope ladder dangling down a hole. There was also a light switch just under a floorboard. The four of them descended the rope ladder and saw a dimly lit passage at the bottom. The light switch had turned on the lamps in the passage, when Ann had pressed the switch.

After half an hour of underground wandering, they came to an empty room with two shovels hanging from a hook in the wall at the end of the passageway.

"Alright, Ann use both shovels. Your special arms can dig it up fast. All you need to do is dig with all your strength in the middle of the floor."

Ann went to work. Each hand had to hold the shovel near its base and scoop out a large pile of dirt. She obeyed Peters' instructions.

*          *          *          *

It seemed as though fifteen minutes had passed, before she unearthed a large chest.

"Now grab the handle on the top and pull it up," said Peters.

Ann obeyed.

"Open it and the treasure will be ours," said Reynolds.

Ann opened the chest and stared in awe. The treasure was familiar. It was Butler One's original computer console, before Ann had converted him to an armed mobile robot.

"That's not possible!" she said.

"Oh yes it is, and now it's ours with all its secrets," said Peters.

"No, you cannot take Butler One. You cannot!" said Ann.

"Don't scream so loud. You'll bring the whole place down, if you don't break my eardrums first," said Arella.

"But they want to steal Butler One before I even made him last year," yelled Ann in an even louder voice, and then they heard it.

"You were right," said Ann, "I don't believe it, but you were right. Freedom Fields is falling in, right on top of us."

They could not see it, but in their minds' eyes, they both knew that the roof of Freedom Fields had collapsed. The upstairs floor would then collapse as the roof fell on it, then the downstairs floor, and then the walls. All of it would come crashing down on their little room.

"But we walked for half an hour to get here," said Peters, "How can we still be under Freedom Fields now?"

"I don't know but we are. I can hear it," said Arella.

"We don't want to be here. I cannot think of a way out, but all I keep thinking is that we don't want to be here," thought Ann.

"You're right Ann," said Arella, and suddenly they weren't there.

"The Freedom Fields annual fair is good this year," said Ann, noticing the bright coloured balloons and streamers tied up all around the grounds of the orphanage.

"Yes. Let's play the hoopla," said Arella.

The sun shone brightly, and the day seemed as though it could not present them with any problems.

"Arella, I can vaguely remember other things, things that seeemed to happen to us yesterday and the day before."

"Like the orphanage falling in yesterday?" asked Arella.

"Yes. Do you think that we just have nothing in this world at night, instead of long hours of sleeping? If that happens, then we just suddenly go from one day to the next," said Ann.

"I don't think so, but I am still getting closer to working it all out."

"How are we going to find Wildstar and Butler One?"
"Well let's not look yet. Let's play hoopla."

"I have to go into the forest and see if Wildstar's in the clearing, our usual meeting place" said Ann as she ran off.

"Somehow nobody else heard her secrets then," thought Arella, "But even if she finds Wildstar in that forest, it won't be the Wildstar that we both know. It'll be something different."

Arella began to throw hoops at the stands and eventually won a prize.

"It's wrapped up. They've combined the hoopla with the lucky dip, so each present that we win is a surprise. I see now. I didn't read the sign before. It says 'Lucky Hoopla. Good throwing arms make sure that you don't dip out on this one.' Well let's see what I've won," Arella thought.

She tore off the wrapping paper and saw a tiny dolls house bed, complete with a miniature mattress and a pillow.

"That's it. I know it all now!" she thought.

Ann came running out of the forest in tears.

"There's no Wildstar, just a big purple grizzly bear chasing me," she cried.

"Don't worry Ann. You got away."

"Yes, but he said he would come back and punch me tonight. He was wearing blue boxing gloves."

"Ann, we'll be alright. I've figured out this dimensional place. We need to go into the building quick."

Arella led Ann into the first aid cabinet's room in the orphanage.

"Now take a sleeping pill and then go to your room."

"Arella, no. If we fall asleep we may never get back to our own dimension."

"Ann trust me. If we fall asleep, it's the only way we'll ever get back to our own dimension. Now swallow the pill and go to your room and sleep on your bed."

Ann obeyed and Arella did the same.

No sooner had they fallen asleep, than they were standing on the roof of Wildstar, but not looking at a white void as they had originally been doing when they first arrived. Wildstar was hovering over a clear and concise view of the Freedom Fields forest.

Furthermore, Wendell was resting against Ann’s neck, back at his familiar tiny size.

"Arella, it's as if none of the other things happened," said Ann, "They all seemed like a dream, all hazy and confused and disjointed, with scenes changing all the time. Now everything's clear and safe and certain."

"That's because we're asleep," said Arella, "It must be my dream sensitive powers that helped me to work it out. The realms of dreamworld and reality are reversed in this dimension. When we were awake, everything was a confused stream of insane events, like a dream to us. When we went to sleep, it became solid and tangible and realistic."

"Yes! I can stamp my foot on the roof of Wildstar. I can feel it and hear the noise. Let's ask Butler One to float us down to the clearing."

"That should work," said Arella, "being a robot, he won't be affected because he cannot sleep or dream. He may be having trouble comprehending this dimension though. I don't know."

Ann contacted Butler One on her bracelet communicator and asked the robot to lower Wildstar to the clearing.

"Sit down. It's a safer ride now that gravity is real to us," said Arella.

“We could call this world Earth-D for dreams,” said Wendell, and his suggestion was accepted.

Wildstar came to rest beside an identical Wildstar spaceship in the clearing. Standing on top of Wildstar were two girls. One had a costume like Ann's and the facial features of Ann O’Malley. However, she had the blonde hair of Arella Kayne.

"Hello, I'm Arella O’Malley," she said.

The other girl wore clothes like Arella Kayne's, and had similar features to Arella Kayne's, but she had red hair flowing like Ann O’Malley's. She announced her name as Ann Kayne.

"I'm Ann O’Malley and this is Arella Kayne," said Ann O’Malley.

"You must be from the dimension beyond the warp," said Arella O’Malley, "We were going to explore it, but then you arrived."

"We need to return to our own dimension," said Arella Kayne, "If we flew back in our own Wildstar, would the warp let us through? Would that work?"

"If you got close enough the warp would pull you through," said Ann Kayne, "But then you'll have to close the warp. There is only one way. We should both have the knowledge of Ann & Arella O’Malleys' friends the Jeradds of both dimensions, who are now dead. Our Jeradd left a thought transponder. It has an imperfection in it. After it's been used once, it will disintegrate itself into nothingness, but once will be enough for us."

"I know it too," said Arella Kayne, and we have our own thought transponder. So we each use our transponder to bombard the warp from our own sides at safe distances (to avoid being sucked into it) and the combined effect will close the warp forever. That would put an end to this interesting but dangerous rift linking our two dimensions."

"Yes," said "Arella O’Malley, "Imagine the chaos it could cause. In our dimension the warp's just above the Freedom Fields forest."

"In ours it's in outer space," said Ann O’Malley, "We O’Malleys can operate the transponders, while the Butler One robots hold them firmly in front of the Kaynes' foreheads."

"And the thought energy will pass harmlessly through the hulls of the Wildstars and strike the warp form both sides," said Ann Kayne, "Let's do it."

"There's one more thing," said Arella Kayne, "We'll need to ask Butler One to wake us up after we've passed through the warp, because we'll then be in our dreams in our own dimension, if we're asleep in your real world now."

"Alright," said Arella O’Malley, "We'll order both Butler One robots to wait five minutes after you enter the warp. Then we'll start preparing our transponders, and then in another five minutes, we'll both fire. You'll also have to wake up at the beginning of your second five minutes."
Both crews boarded their Wildstars and the two Butler One robots made radio contact and synchronized their computer watches.

Ann O’Malley's Wildstar was soon drawn back through the warp, and the two familiar adventuresses began to dream, until their Butler One woke them up, tapping their shoulders with his probes.

"We slept while we were standing up," said Ann, "We've got five minutes. I'll get the thought transponder out."

The device was soon prepared, and Arella Kayne awaited Ann's signal.

"That's our second five minutes now!" said Ann.

She pressed the trigger switch and held it down. Arella concentrated all of her thoughts into a single objective: to close the warp. The thought transponder harnessed this desire, and sent a beam of concentrated mental energy through the hull of Wildstar and into the centre of the warp. The entire sensational operation lasted three minutes, and then Butler One reported that the warp had closed and vanished.

Ann released the trigger, and the thought transponder device dissolved into a cloud of dust.

"Ours had an imperfection as well. I can sweep up the dust later," she said.

"There's nothing out there on the monitor screen now, just the usual view of outer space," said Arella.

"Well your powers certainly saved us a lot of trouble. You were able to work out the most incredible switcheroo of dreams and reality. Fancy a world where people dream while they're wide awake, and experience reality while they're asleep,” said Ann.

"Yes, and when we were dreaming, I must have been able to read your thoughts, because you were still real relative to me, in the same state as I was. It must have been a side effect of my being in that strange dimension, with my dream sensitive powers."

"Yes I guess so. Perhaps we'll never know. I don't suppose we could have left the warp open."

"No, we had to close it. Could you just imagine all the chaotic things we'd have in both dimensions, if we had people and objects from each other's dimensions being pulled through a moving warp. We'd never sort it all out. We're lucky you and I found it long before conventional earth spacecraft from either dimension could reach it," said Arella.

"Yes. It's just as well you had a chance to figure it all out, instead of it being inflicted upon those astronauts from the United Continents Space Explorations alliance," said Ann, "Which reminds me. We'll have to watch the news tonight. It's ..... Arella, it's only three in the morning!"

Ann yawned suddenly, and Wendell felt the movement of her neck. It seemed more exciting than anything that had happened to them on Earth-D. He began to think about that.

"Well most of our adventure was like a dream, once we entered the warp world. We only had about twenty minutes of real time at the most."

"We'll be home by four o'clock. Then we'll sleep in," said Ann.

*          *          *          *

Arella Kayne slipped into her bedroom and was soon asleep. What happened in her dreams could only be explained as a lingering effect of the warp, combined with the dual effect of the powers of both Kaynes. In her dream, Arella could see the face of Ann Kayne saying,      "Thank you. It worked from our side. Did you close your warp side up too?"
"Yes," said Arella Kayne in her sleeping thoughts, "Thank you. Maybe somehow we'll meet again some time."

"Yes maybe," said Ann Kayne, "But even now you are fading away from my sight, and -"

"You're fading too. Goodbye dream twin," said Arella.

"Goodbye to you too dream twin," said Ann Kayne, and then Arella's dreams were of the usual subject matter, such as what she had done on her christmas holidays.

*          *          *          *

When she awoke at eleven o'clock, she ran to Ann's room and asked "Was it real, or was it all just a dream?"

"That's funny" laughed Ann.

"What is?"

"You asking me a question like that. You are the expert on whether things are real or a dream. You are the expert on dreams, and you asked me if last night was real."

Ann laughed again.

"But it seemed real. Did you fly up to the warp last night with me, or did I dream it?"

"It was real, Arella. I've been up since nine o'clock. I went out to the forest and saw Wildstar. When I boarded it, I found the transponder missing, and Butler One confirmed as much of it as he had experienced. It was all real, on our side of the warp anyway. What happened on their side was mostly like a dream, as you explained."

"So we did meet Arella O’Malley and Ann Kayne. Guess what. When I dreamt, I could see and talk to Arella Kayne just for a while, before we both knew we would fade out of each other's sights forever. We thanked each other. They closed their side of the warp too."

“We never saw another Wendell in that dimension,” said Ann.

“We never saw our own Wendell half the time we were there,” said Arella, “But that’s because people cease to exist in dreams, when you’re not thinking about them. Since we weren’t thinking about our Wendell, even subconsciously, then we wouldn’t have seen theirs. Besides, maybe there’s only one dimension with tiny people and its Wendell came to our earth, not earth-D.”

"Did you dream this in bed here, the real here?" asked Ann.

"Yes."

"How wonderful."

"Yes. I guess that ends it."

"Not quite."

“

*          *          *          *

Ann and Arella were watching the news:

            "Good evening. This is a special report about the cloud which was approaching

            our planet. All satelites recorded a disappearance of the yellow and white

            radiation cloud at two fifty five am, Sydney time, this morning. While the

            people of Australia were asleep, the cloud just vanished from existence. We are

            all to be made aware of the fact that U.C.S.E. , the special alliance set up to

            investigate the cloud, will now be disbanded. There will be more details in the

            late edition news."

Arella giggled at the word 'asleep' in reference to the people of Australia.

"After all that, how will you ever know when you're asleep again?" she asked.

"Better not let Wilma Reebil hear you giggling. The Freedom Fields orphanage staff is full of sensible adults, although I suppose there are no counterparts of Wilma, Peters and Reynolds here, because they were only imaginary characters in our dreams in that dimension."

"Fancy laughing oneself to death," said Arella, "Could you just picture such a foolish thing?"

"Possibly" said Ann "because you look rather close to it yourself."

The two girls sat alone in the Freedom Fields television room and enjoyed five uninterrupted minutes of continued giggling.

1996…

“Wendell grew to normal size on earth-D! I guess I’ve made the reverse transition, except that mine is permanent.”

“Even then I didn’t dream I’d be eating someone in my fifties,” said Ann, “I did have one more adventure that’s worth telling you before I pop you in and swallow you.”

1953…

"Have you heard the stories about that farm two properties away from here?" asked Wanda.

Wanda slept in the room next to Ann O’Malley's.

"I have heard about it," said Ann.

"The whole family says that they have seen this glowing ghost walking around in one of the paddocks. They've moved all their sheep into another paddock now. They're too scared to let anything in the paddock where the ghost was."

"Ghost, they think," said Ann.

"Well a bright glowing man shape walking around in the paddock at night. They're all too frightened to do anything."

"I'm not, but if I am this close to home, I must not take a chance on being recognized. I shall  have to wear my mask as well as my costume, but I will take a look at that 'ghost' tonight," thought Ann.

*          *          *          *

Evening came and Ann waited for her chance to leave the orphanage unnoticed. When everyone seemed to be sleeping, she quietly unlocked her cupboard, using a key, which she would keep hidden inside an ornament, which could attach to her left bracelet. She took out her costume and mask, and slipped into them, discarding her bedclothes. Once she was dressed, she whispered to Wendell that it was OK to look, and he came out and joined her for their departure from the orphanage building.

"Another good thing about the hush between the eights is that nobody, not even the staff can open my door while I am supposed to be asleep between those times (eight pm and eight am) or enjoying quiet reading, or early morning quiet activities. It's a good thing that the hush rule still happens in the holidays."

She locked the door, replaced the key in the ornament, closed the ornament and attached it to her bracelet.

"I am also glad that my doors have small keys," she thought as she stepped out and sat on the ledge of the open window. She unfolded the anti-gravity triangles and used the controls on her bracelets to float off the ledge and down to the garden below.

The masked young adventuress walked quietly out to the oval, crossed its rich grass and disappeared into the Freedom Fields forest until she came to a small clearing.

There she met Wildstar, the fabulous spaceship with its robot pilot Butler One, a mobile computer armed with lasers, stun beams and an extensive memory bank assisted by retractable probes.

Ann boarded the spaceship and instructed the robot to make Wildstar's shortest ever flight, to land two properties away from Freedom Fields. The robot complied.

"Good. We have some trees between us and the house. You're coming into the next paddock with me, Butler One. Float! It's quieter that way."

They left the spaceship, and Ann noticed several sleeping sheep.

"I am glad that you picked a free patch of grass to land on," said Ann.

"I assumed that you would not wish me to crush any sheep, Miss O’Malley," said Butler One.

"And we'll just float harmlessly over them and into the next-"

Ann stopped her sentence and stared in astonishment.

"There it is, the glowing man!"
"I observe a human shaped light silhouette only, Miss O’Malley. What you see is not solid."

"Let's set down beside it."

Ann floated to the ground and ran towards the glowing man. She found herself running straight through him.

"He's just like a disco light. Extend your probe towards him and see if you can work out what he is, Butler One."

The robot's probe arm passed through the glowing man, and Butler One said, "This being, by its behaviour appears to be alive but in a form of light which is intangible to us."

“Maybe he’s from earth-D somehow,” said Wendell.

“His mouth is attempting speech, but we are unable to hear anything, Miss O’Malley."

"And he keeps pacing around with his hands moving in unusual ways. Can you work out what he's trying to say, Butler One?"

"I can attempt to analyze the repeated pattern of the lip movements that we have noticed, Miss O’Malley. If I combine this analysis with a study of his gestures, I may be able to comprehend the light being's behaviour."

"Well try it then, while I have a float around the farm. I'm going to look for other clues that might explain this. There might be someone projecting it from somewhere, to trick the people in that house and scare them."

"Impossible, Miss O’Malley. My analysis already confirms that this light being is not being projected from another source. It exists of its own accord."

"Well I'll still have a look around. Go to work Butler One."

"Yes Miss O’Malley."

Ann floated around the farm, paying special attention to the windows of the house.

"They all have their curtains drawn, even the windows on the far side," she noticed, "They must be really scared. Still, it means that they cannot see us."

"So how are you making out, Butler One?"
"Miss O’Malley, the pattern of movements appears to be a request that we remove this small portion of land around which he has been pacing. In anticipation of your request, I used my probe scanner to detect that there is something buried below. I have pinpointed it to be under the centre of the circle he paces."

"Well it's only dirt, and we could pull off a plate sized circle of grass if it would help solve the mystery that's frightening those people," thought Ann.

She flew over to the shed and returned with a shovel. Using her exolimbs, she had soon unearthed a small spherical container at the bottom of the three feet deep cylindrical hole that she had made in the ground.

"Butler One analyze this, and find out how to open it."

The robot had soon opened the chest, and Ann found that it contained a cube. On one side was an arrow pointing to the edge which linked with another side. She turned the cube, so that the first side was the 'top'. The arrow pointed down to one of the four 'wall' sides. This side had an arrow which pointed to the second wall.

The arrows were only small marks carved into the far side of the squares. The second wall had an arrow pointing to the third. The third wall had an arrow pointing to the bottom. The arrows only occupied a small place. The rest of each square was like a page of symbols.

"What does it mean, Butler One?"

"Both the sphere and the cube are made of an infinitely durable metal, Miss O’Malley. It will take me some time to study the symbols, and help you to understand the message."

I'll start filling in this hole, before I grow impatient," said Ann, "You go to work on the cube. Do the arrows suggest the order of the pages, if the sides are pages to be read, I mean?"

"Yes, Miss O’Malley."

Ann found some extra dirt from an old mud pile,  and used it to make up for the space which had been occuppied by the sphere. She even managed to put the slice of grassy dirt back on the top, where the hole had briefly been. She waited another ten minutes before Butler One spoke. He had translated the complex symbols.

"Translations complete, Miss O’Malley."

"Read the message, Butler One."
Ann had learnt that politeness and gratitude were wasted on a robot.

"The message reads as follows:

            'I am of alien origin. I landed on earth thousands of years before this message will be

            read. My landing was an accident. During my long life of about forty earth days, I

            spent most of them stranded on your planet. So I dug a place to leave the message you

            are now finding. I hope you have been able to translate it. I will soon be unable to

            continue to appear and point to its location. We beings have a luminescent exterior

            which is normal on our world, but on earth it would not be seen until it passed

            through thousands of your earth years. On my visit to earth I am invisible to the       people of this time, but for nearly forty days, I will be seen here in the future. It is             important that my message be found, because my spaceship was destroyed in the      accident which brought me here. I barely escaped with my life. Because of the    enormous amounts of energy our bodies expend, to create this involuntary    luminescence, we are unable to live for more than forty earth days. Our bodies burn       themselves out because of a compulsory freak of nature.

            However my message to you earth people is important. You who have found this

            should know that there will always be unusual wonders for people whose minds are

            open to them. The store of amazing, extraordinary anomalies is available only to a

            few, but to those few, it will never expire.'

"The message ends there, Miss O’Malley."

"Butler One, that means, if you've read it correctly, that our glowing man will just vanish in less than a month from now. We've had a few weeks of him already. Forty days is only ten more than a month."

"Correct, Miss O’Malley."

"I wonder if we should tell the people in the house anything. I think I'd probably cause less trouble if I just let them forget about it when the days are up. I hope they do forget. We shall keep the sphere and the cube inside Wildstar. It will be a wonderful memory. Our alien friend of long ago could not have known that his message would reach me. He just walked that circle for the rest of his short life and made gestures, which he hoped would be found thousands of years later. It's incredible to think that he would have been invisible on earth back then, but solid, so he could be touched. Someone back then could have shaken hands with a person that they couldn't see. Right now we can see him, but we cannot touch him."

"Remember Miss O’Malley, that we are only seeing the residual after image of a being which has been dead for thousands of years."

"Yes, but that's hardly possible."

"What do you mean, Miss O’Malley?"

"Well how can light travel through time and be seen later like that, in the future, his future, our present?"
"The light is of an alien nature, and not subject to the laws of your own solar system, Miss O’Malley."

"Oh, I'm only thirteen, Butler One. I just cannot think of a way to explain it to myself. Could you help me?"
"Certainly, Miss O’Malley. Look above you, into the sky."

"I'm looking."

"What do you see?"
"Stars."

"How do you know that the stars are there? You cannot touch them."

"But they must be, to shine like that."

"The light being could shine long after he was dead on our planet."

"I see, well sort of," said Ann.

"Let me continue, Miss O’Malley. Some scientists on your world have the theory that those distant stars are dead. They may have been dead for millions of years. We are seeing light from those stars, which has taken millions of years to reach earth. We are seeing the light, even though the stars have been dead for millions of years."

"Yes, I remember our science teacher saying that once at school. So this alien light from our glowing man could pass through time in the one spot and reach us. It is a bit like the stars. Thank you, Butler One."
The two floated back to Wildstar, and Ann O’Malley returned to the orphanage at Freedom Fields for some much needed sleep.

*          *          *          *

1959 came along, and Ann turned 19.  She awoke the one morning, and wondered about the alien's message. She was fascinated by the promise that wonderful things would always happen to those whose minds were open to them. The experience had excited her mind so much, that she felt the need to travel a long distance and visit a fresh environment, just to allow some of the emotional hyperactivity of her mind to run its course.

Wendell had never found a way back to his own planet. Ann had finished school, left Freedom Fields, and moved into a university, where she had started a science degree. Butler One and Wildstar had both broken down beyond her ability to reactivate them, but she had learned a lot of science from Butler One, which would never be taught in her university classes.

Wendell was now 14. The move to Ann’s private university dormitory had not been nearly as much of an adjustment as the exposure to all of the adventures he had enjoyed with her, since first coming to her world from earth-T.

One day, Ann was working on an assignment in her dormitory. She finished it and said, “I don’t have as much time as I did in my high school days, but I think I can keep you company for the evening now. Is there anything you’d like to do?”

“I … I’d really like to kiss you, Ann,” said Wendell, “If you don’t mind, that is.”

“I don’t mind at all, Wendell. Would you like me to hold you up to my mouth?”

“Yes,” said Wendell.

He felt her hand gently surround him, and Ann raised him towards her lips. He rubbed her lower lip with his hands, and then rested his cheek on it, and then turned and pressed his tiny mouth against her huge lower lip.

“That was lovely,” she said at last.

“It was so much better than anything we used to do with Butler One and Wildstar,” said Wendell, “I love you, Ann.”

She smiled gently, and then pressed her own huge lips to his entire head and shoulders.

Suddenly she saw her door opening, courtesy of someone who hadn’t knocked. Wendell saw her suddenly open her mouth wide in front of him, and felt her fingers quickly pushing him into her mouth. Ann closed her mouth, leaving the confused boy in darkness, and saw another girl rounding the opening door.

“Hey Ann, some of us are going to the movies. Wanna come?” asked the girl.

Ann pointed to her throat.

“Are you sick?” asked the girl.

Ann motioned the girl to leave, using her hand, and an intense stare.

“Do you want me to go then?” asked the girl.

Ann nodded, and locked the door as soon as the girl had gone. She opened her mouth and extended her tongue, so that he slid out onto her palm. She dried him on the top of her dress.

“She almost saw you,” said Ann, “I should have locked that door all the time.”

“All I knew was that I was suddenly in your mouth,” said Wendell.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get you back to your little earth, especially without Butler One and Wildstar,” said Ann, “But we could have one last amazing adventure. There’s one place you haven’t explored yet.”

“Where?” asked Wendell.

“Inner space. We’ve been to outer space many times, but you could go further than my mouth, down into my tummy. You could become part of it. You gave me such a lovely kiss. I enjoyed kissing you too, and now I think I’d love to eat you even more.”

“I felt your neck moving when you yawned that night that we saw the alien’s light and learned his message,” said Wendell, “I’ve been thinking about the inside of your neck, and your mouth ever since. I think I’d love to be eaten … by you.”

“I’ve got so many plans for after I graduate,” said Ann, “But eating you is something I can really enjoy right now. Since tomorrow’s a Saturday, I could do it in the middle of the night and then sleep in. Would that be okay with you?”

“I think so,” said Wendell.

“What would you like to do tonight then?”

“Could we have a real date together first?”

“Of course, you little darling boy. It’ll be your one and only date, won’t it? Where should we go, where we won’t be seen?”

“I was in a dream experience of my own on earth-D, while you were swimming with Arella Kayne. I never saw you in your swimmers. Maybe … if we could stay right here….”

“Of course. I’ll slip into a two-piece swimsuit. It’ll give you a chance to lie on the outside of my tummy too, for a while.”

“I’d like that.”

She went into the bathroom and came out wearing a nice pink two piece swimming costume, and lay down on her bed, and rested him on her belly. He felt it moving up and down below him as she breathed, and wondered what it would be like that night, when he was eventually inside it. They talked and kissed for hours until it was two in the morning. Then she put on a bedside light, and looked him closely in the eye.

 “Can I start on you now, my sweet little middle of the night treat?” she asked.

“Of course,” said Wendell.

He saw her huge tongue come slowly out of her mouth this time. It reached down and touched his own belly and slowly slid up and over his forehead. She repeated this gesture slowly many times, and then moved her tongue in different directions, sliding the side of it slowly against his tiny neck.

“I’ll put you into my mouth now, little darling,” she said, “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye my love,” said Wendell.

He felt her hand moving again, much slower than it had when she had abruptly slipped him into her mouth to avoid his being seen hours earlier. Her fingers were still around him as her mouth opened wide and his head entered her huge maw. Then he felt her releasing her grip, as his head and then his upper body were slid gently onto her tongue, followed by the rest of him. He lay on her tongue in her mouth and thought back to the day he had first met her. He realised that he had briefly wondered if she would eat him, at that very moment when she’d first spotted him while retrieving the baseball. He could not understand back then why the idea had never frightened him. Yet now he knew how much he wanted this experience. He rolled over a few times slowly and then lay on his chest again.

Then slowly he felt Ann’s tongue easing him towards her throat. He was about to make a journey of even greater significance than his unexplained move from earth-T to Ann’s earth.

He felt himself sliding into a vertical position, and could feel her throat around him, but nothing below his head now, just space. He felt himself being slowly gulped downward in the dark, and then he felt the tingling of her stomach acids, as he was painlessly digested.

That had been in 1959.

It was now 1996, and Ann had explained how she graduated, and ended up working on the Super Schoolboy Formula in 1964, and then using it to originate another Super Hero to replace both her scientific wonders with super powers, and Wendell’s tiny size with his shrinking ability. That boy would be Captain Miniature. She had thought of eating him, but dismissed it, especially in 1995, when he re-emerged from frozen suspended animation to be the returning nemesis of the girl who had aged and become Red Moll.

“So that’s the whole story, Martin,” said Ann, “At last I have another chance to eat someone, and I’m very happy that it will be you.”

“It was an exciting life you led,” said Martin, “And I like your mouth a lot, from what I’ve already seen of it. I never guessed throughout your story, that you ate Wendell first. I thought he might have grown up to become your husband, and maybe gained full size somehow.”

“I was married from the 1960s until last year,” said Ann, “It was a very happy time, and I still have a surviving family as a result. There were five years between me and Wendell. There are thirty years between your age and mine. You look so young and tender and tasty,” she said, and ran her tongue over his face and shoulders, “… oh you’re delicious! Thank you, Martin, thank you from the bottom of my heart and from the top of my tongue.”

“Thank you too. I really liked that,” said Martin, “I’m ready for you to eat me any time you like.”

“I’d like to do it now,” said Ann.

“I saw you licking your lips when you first talked to me, and then I liked the way you opened your mouth wide the first time you laughed. I knew I’d love to be inside there,” he said.

“You’re so sweet to say that,” said Ann, “I’ll put you in right now.”

She licked him a few more times, and then slid him into her mouth. It felt incredible, feeling her fingers release their pressure on him and feeling her tongue receive him with such enthusiasm. Like Wendell, decades earlier, he enjoyed every moment of the thrilling time in her mouth, and then felt the magnificent gulping power of her full sized neck as he was drawn down inside her on a one way journey.