A Gift from Grandpa

[TwoSwords]

(Note; This story in heavy sci-fi, slight mythology, in the genre of light romance/tragedy.  I've posted it elsewhere, but you'd have a hard time finding it.  Still, I like it, so I hope you will too.)

A Gift from Grandpa

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Chapter 1: A Surprise Gift

Alan Michaels was trying his hardest to keep from sweating bullets as he finally decided to just go for it, pulling the chair out, before moving to take his own.  Fortunately, Elsie didn't seem offended.  If anything, she looked pleased as she grabbed the back of the chair in one of her own hands, before moving it out another six inches, and slowly lowering herself into it.  Alan was already seated by that point, but he could see that even from where she was sitting, Elsie's stomach had pushed outward, against the edge of the table, and spilled over, to cover a little bit of the table in front of her.  She pushed herself back a little more, her whole body seeming to tremble in a single, wave-like motion, before Alan could even think about what to say or do next, so it was fortunate that Elsie spoke first.

"Did you work things out with your dad?"

The question snapped Alan back out of his daze, and for a moment, he glanced away, but it didn't take him long to reply.

"Sort of.  We talked about it, but I just don't think he'll ever understand.  He's kind of old-fashioned, you know...  Came from another country when he was a young man and all that."

"Really?" Elsie asked, "Which country?"

"Huh?" Alan asked, feeling a little taken aback by that question.  The truth was that he didn't think his father had ever told him directly, and he'd never been all that interested in knowing.  Still, after living with the man for years, he had enough data to offer an educated guess.

"Poland, I think.  Like I said, he..."

"Oh, yeah." Elsie replied, though at that point, their conversation was interrupted by the waiter, and after taking some drink orders, he vanished into the kitchen, and the two were left alone again.

"See, it's just that you always seemed kind of traditional yourself." Elsie admitted, "I was a little surprised to see you and your dad fighting like that."

"He never should have said those things." Alan replied, however, starting to feel his anger returning, even as he discussed the topic with Elsie, "Can we talk about something else?  How did that paper go, that you were working on?"

"I finished it yesterday morning." Elsie just said with something that could almost be called a shrug, though it was really more of a slight shake of her impressive shoulders, "Tell me something, Alan.  I've been talking to Jane in accounting, and she says she actually approached you with an extra movie ticket last month, and you didn't even seem interested."

Alan decided to return Elsie's gesture, and merely shrugged.

"I guess I wasn't."

"The thing is; from what I understand, half the men in the middle three floors have crushes on Jane.  You don't?"

"I don't."

"I see."

For a moment, Elsie looked a little uncomfortable, but in a couple more seconds, Alan asked, "Is that what you needed to know?"

"No." Elsie quickly replied, raising both of her big, thick arms just a bit, "Alan, why did you come here?"

Alan blinked a couple times before replying, "Because I asked you to come here with me.  It would have been really scummy to do that, then stand you up."

"I... I know that.  But what I mean is; why are you here... with me?"

"Because you said yes."

"Alan!  Stop dodging the question!"

"What?  What's the question?"

Elsie stopped talking for a moment, and rubbed the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger before she made any attempt to continue.

"Alan..." she said at last, almost moaning over having to put it so overtly, "What is it... about me in particular... that makes you think it's a good idea to approach me, and ask me out to eat?"

Alan had been dreading the approach of that question, but since it had been asked, he did have an answer ready, as he once again braced himself for what was coming.

"That's pretty much what you do, right?  I mean, you meet a pretty girl, talk to her, get to know her, and eventually you realize that you have enough in common, that...  What?  What's with that face?"

The truth was that Alan knew exactly why Elsie Hill's mouth and eyes had opened all the way just then, but feigned ignorance, and/or foolish optimism was one of the few things he'd never tried, when dealing with someone like Elsie.

"Did... Did you just say..." Elsie almost muttered, looking flabbergasted as she spoke, "Did you just call me pretty?"

"Yeah." Alan replied, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, I should have known.  I don't believe this." Elsie almost gasped, staring down at the glass of soda water that the waiter had just delivered, "You're one of those sickos, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?" Alan asked, immediately feeling irritable, "What did you just call me?"

However, just like that, Elsie had leaned forward, pushing against the table, and slowly lifting herself up off her chair, causing her torso, which had previously seemed to be scrunched up into a thick oblong, to smooth itself out into a large, roundish, coffee-bean-like shape, with occasional rolls all over.  Elsie Hill was one of, if not the fattest person working at the office where Alan worked, and it was going to end the same way as always.

"I keep thinking to myself, 'this guy must be interested in what I'm doing,' or 'this guy really wants to help me out,' like some child, and I keep ending up in these situations!" Elsie almost shouted, bracing both hands against the table, and almost spilling the drinks, "You're just another one of those weird fetishists, lusting after this lump of a body I have!"

Immediately, Alan was on his feet, slamming a few dollars down on the table.  He hadn't meant to be so forceful, and he hadn't thought he'd need the cash so soon, but Elsie had reacted much faster than most of the girls he'd tried dating in the past, and much more forcefully.  Many girls at least had the courtesy to wait until they were in a less public place, before telling him what they thought of him.  He was mortified and furious with her.

"That's enough!" Alan actually shouted, "If you didn't want to come here with me, you should have just said no, Elsie!"

Then, seething with rage, Alan had dislodged himself from the table, stormed right past Elsie and left by the front door, and he never so much as looked at her, or that restaurant again.

-----

Susan Chalmers was furiously typing out the final closing statement of the script she'd been working on, when she heard a knock on her apartment door.  Dreading yet another reminder about the rent, she rolled her chair back away from her computer desk and hopped to her feet, strolling slowly to the door, before looking out the peep-hole.  Fortunately, it wasn't her landlord, but the person on the other side didn't make her feel much better.  It was Alan Michaels, and he was once again alone.

Swallowing hard, Susan opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, inviting Alan inside.  He looked like the dark clouds over his head were big enough to cause citywide flooding, and he definitely needed some support.

"Messy one tonight, huh?" Susan asked, seating Alan down on the left side of her couch.

"It always gets messy when they start asking me about my feelings," Alan confessed, "but yeah.  Tonight was especially bad."

Susan had walked over to her kitchen counter while they'd been talking, and turned her kettle back on.  The water was lukewarm at best, but it wouldn't take it long to heat up, and she had a feeling it would be finished before Alan was.

"It's like almost all of them have some kind of illness, that makes them act self-destructively." Alan complained desperately, as Susan listened, "If somebody says they hate the way fat women look, they'll get sad, and maybe even angry, but pleasure, joy and delight over their beauty is even worse to them.  It's like Stockholm Syndrome or something.  They want to defend their tormentors, because they've gotten used to being tormented, so they hate people who only want to do right by them."

Susan waited for a couple of seconds before asking, "Did she say that?"

"She said I was a sicko for thinking she was pretty."

"Ah.  Well, it sounds more like self-loathing to me, but self-loathing that's projected outward.  I don't know.  I'm no psychologist.  Man, Alan.  You sure know how to pick the weird ones."

By that point, steam had started rising from Susan's kettle, so she turned it off and started pouring it into a couple of her cups, as Alan replied from behind her, seeming a little defensive at first.

"Wait.  Are you saying this is my fault?  I'm just trying to find somebody I can actually feel something for.  It's not my fault they all turn out to be weird."

"Relax, Alan." Susan said, sitting down on the couch next to him, and handing him one of her cups of tea, "You're my best friend.  I think I've got more in common with you than with my last boyfriend.  If anything, I feel sorry for you.  I mean, I've never been married, but I've at least had some long-lasting dating relationships."

"No girl's ever dated me for more than a week." Alan reminded her miserably.

"It's the weight thing." Susan confirmed, sipping from her tea briefly; a useful technique for keeping her cool, when dealing with emotionally-loaded topics, "I know it, you know it.  It's stupid, but it's way more taboo to be fat if you're a girl."

"I know *why* it's a problem." Alan replied bitterly, then changed gears entirely as he inhaled the steam from the tea, "What happened to Harold, anyway?"

In response, Susan put down her tea, and leaned back against the couch cushions with a deep, audible sigh.

"He was something, wasn't he?  Like the ultimate dream; tall, strong and round as a pumpkin.  Oh, I could have lost my arms in his rolls forever.  We dated for a while, but he eventually decided he wasn't happy with a computer geek.  I accept fat guys, and they've got to be able to accept me.  That's how it works, if it works at all.  It's too bad.  He was so... so... much."

Again, Susan sighed and leaned forward, resting one hand on her best friend's shoulder.

"It's too bad neither of us is fat." Susan noted as Alan dared his first sip of the hot liquid, which already seemed to be calming him down, "That soft, overwhelming sensation...  Oh!  If I had that, even if it was me who was the fat one, I'd never need to go looking for it in anybody else."

"Yeah." Alan said as he finished his sip and spent a couple seconds staring at the liquid in his cup, "I guess it's the same for me, but I always fantasized about finding that dream girl, you know..."

"Maybe you'll still find her." Susan replied with a slight shrug, "There's girls who can appreciate fatness.  I mean, look at me."

For some reason, that almost made Alan laugh.  He'd never met anyone as obsessed with softness or warmth as Susan Chalmers, and she enjoyed a good meal more than almost anyone he'd ever met, so they'd really hit it off after a while.  Still, the fact that both of them needed something that neither one could provide, meant that their friendship could only go so far.

"The worst part is having to face dad." Alan admitted at last, after several moments of silence, "He told me I'd regret it if I went out with her, and I got angry at him for it.  It was a pretty nasty fight too."

Susan seemed to have been just about to say something, but stopped herself after only a moment, and at last, she remarked, "Look, Alan.  I don't think your father merits an apology.  If you've disrespected him in some way, you can still try to patch things up, but I really have a hard time dealing with that man.  He's just so closed-minded, it's infuriating.  How did you ever put up with him for twenty years?"

For some reason, those remarks had made Alan feel a little better, and although he didn't want any rift between himself and his father to be his fault, and he probably would eventually apologize for his part in their fight, it was equally clear what he needed to do next.

-----

"Dad."

It took a few seconds before Hugo Michaels seemed to realize that someone was talking to him, but once he recognized that fact, it was only a second before he'd turned to face his son, who was standing nearby, with his phone in one hand.  Quickly, Hugo set a bookmark in the magazine he'd been reading, and put it off to one side, looking up at his son, who, he was a bit gratified to see, had a slightly sheepish expression on his face.

"Yes?" Hugo asked, "You wanted to talk about something?"

"I've made a decision." Alan said a bit shyly as he held up the phone, revealing the information displayed across its surface, "This is where I'm going to live.  Starting tomorrow."

For a moment, Hugo just blinked, not sure of how to respond, or what to say.  He looked over the little, one-bedroom apartment that Hugo was pointing to, and the statistics on the page, and it did look functional for just one person; even cheap compared to the going rate for apartments.  Still, Hugo was concerned.

"Of course, if you start living there, you'll be paying them a lot more than you pay us.  You won't be able to save up as much money."

"I got a raise a few days ago," Alan replied with a shrug, "I can afford it, and I can do extra work on the side.  Cathy gave me forty bucks for fixing her computer, and another five for getting her son's toy working again.  It's not much, but it all adds up."

"But what's the advantage?" Hugo asked, starting to feel genuinely worried, "Do you really think this is a good idea in the long term?"

Alan had known that question was coming, but he'd still hoped not to have to answer it, because the only answer he could give would be easy to misinterpret.

"Dad..." He said, "I want to do something to fix our relationship, and I think this might be the only way."

Hugo looked bewildered for a moment, but his only response was "Oh."

"We get into a lot of arguments when we're too close to one another for too long." Alan explained, "I notice, whenever I'm busy with work, and we only see each other for a few minutes a day, we usually don't... you know... bicker."

"There's no need for bickering at all, or even arguing." Hugo said, starting to feel very tense, "I just want what's best for you, Alan.  You're my son, and I don't want us to drift apart."

For the first time since the discussion had begun, Alan actually smiled just a little, but he couldn't back down anymore.

"You're my dad, and I don't want that to happen either," he said, "but the truth is, I just don't want the same things for my life that you want for yours.  Now that I'm an adult, I have to be free to make my own choices, and...  That means that if this is going to work, there needs to be some distance."

For a moment, it actually looked as though Hugo would let it go at that, but then he turned, to see his wife and Alan's mother, standing in the bedroom doorway, looking worried, and mouthing a word that reminded him of exactly what would happen if Alan moved away.  Yet, how could he prevent it?  Hugo knew he couldn't keep his son prisoner.  It was unthinkable, but the only things he still hadn't tried, apart from that were intimidation and mockery.  He didn't want to resort to those if it could be helped, because they could only damage his relationship with his son, and yet, if there was even a chance of keeping his son from leaving...

"Heaven help me." Hugo thought to himself silently as he gathered his courage.

"She dumped you, didn't she?"

At that moment, the color drained from Alan's face.

"Wh-What?"

"I told you she wasn't right for you, and I was expecting this to happen.  You've never noticed the warning signs.  You always wait for them to dump you first, Alan.  Quite frankly, I don't think you should leave, because I don't think you know how to make those kinds of decisions responsibly yet."

However, the speech was empty, and Hugo knew it, as soon as he saw the look on his son's face.  Once the initial shock had faded, his look hadn't been one of anger or disgust, but a sort of passive look, tinged with something more like sadness.

Without another word to either of his parents, Alan had turned and left the living room, and when he left their house on the following day, a brief "goodbye" was all he said then.

-----

After the move, it had taken Alan a couple of days to get everything ironed out and set all of his things up in his new apartment, but his first objective had been his laptop, and the tools that he used for fixing things.  Alan had always been the sort of person who took the time to plan out what he was going to do next, which was just as well.  None of his relationships would have lasted as long as they had, if not for that aspect of his personality.

In fact, Alan had been so busy setting things up, that he didn't even bother trying to check his mail until it was dusk on his second day in the apartment.  Not many people had sent letters, of course, though there was an advertisement for a credit card, and some gym membership flier with those horrible "before" and "after" pictures that always made him nauseous.

"I know people are losing weight." Alan thought silently, as he threw the flier in the garbage, "Don't remind me."

However, there was one curious thing in Alan's mail; a small package, which had a local restaurant called "Pearl's Sweet Bites," as its return address.  It wasn't too uncommon for restaurants to send out fliers or even coupons, but that was the first time that Alan had ever heard of them sending out boxes of goods before; much less in the mail.

Alan went and got his knife to cut open the box and look at what had been sent to him, but as he pulled open the cardboard edges, the contents of the box merely filled him with confusion and curiosity.  He'd been expecting the box to contain some explanation of why it had been sent to him, but instead, all it had left him with was another, deeper mystery.

The box contained no receipt, no letter, no fliers, or papers of any kind to provide information.  The only thing in the box was a single, transparent globe, about the size of a baseball.  It was perfectly-round and smooth all across its surface, like an orb of colored glass, because although he could see directly through it, the orb was tinted blue.

For a few moments, Alan just looked at the little ball with boundless confusion, but at last, with a smile, he picked it up and held it in his left hand, feeling its smooth surface; very much like glass or crystal.  However, it was so smooth, that for a moment, he lost his grip on the ball, and it fell to the floor.

Alan had expected the ball to shatter the moment it hit the ground, but, in fact, when it collided with the hardwood of his apartment's floor, not much seemed to have happened to it.  Quickly, he picked it up, and on impulse. decided to try dropping it again.  Sure enough, there was no damage to the globe.  Feeling even more curious, Alan decided to try testing the strength of the little globe, throwing it hard at the floor, and once again, there wasn't even a single crack when he picked it up again.  Finally, he set the globe on a pillow, and put the pillow on the floor, then grabbed the largest and heaviest of his hammers and swung with all his might.

Alan felt the hammer make contact, but only just barely.  It almost felt as if his attack had lost all of its force, a split-second before hitting the orb.  However it had happened, Alan soon found himself laying the hammer down, right next to the blue orb of some crystal-like substance, which it had utterly failed to harm.  It was certainly enough to make him even more curious, but sadly, the imperviousness of his gift didn't provide him with any more clues, or tips on how to solve the new mystery that he'd been presented with.  In fact, there was only one clue, which Alan felt that he could follow.

Once again, Alan picked up the box that the globe had come in, and looked at the return address, pulling out his phone to look it up.

-----

Alan had been to Pearl's Sweet Bites once before on one of his earliest and shortest dates, and it didn't seem to have changed much since then, except, of course, that the customers were different.  The waiters and waitresses still wore bright colors as they served tables, though there was a bit of a morose air about the whole place, as if it had just suffered the death of a beloved leader.  However, as Alan scanned the visible sections of the restaurant, he promised himself that he would have to return some other time.

While most of the people eating and waiting tables weren't surprising, there was one older man, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, and sitting at one of the middle tables.  He had pure white hair with no gray at all, and a long beard, and he had to weigh at least four hundred pounds.  For some reason, Alan found him comforting to be around.

However, the middle-aged woman behind the front counter was no less impressive.  Though her hair was beginning to gray a bit, and she had a wrinkle or two, she was easily as wide standing up, as the older man was sitting down.  She also smiled in a very determined way as Alan entered, as if forcing herself to, which only made him more curious about her, so pretty soon, he'd approached the front counter, watching in amazement as she leaned over it to face him, making her look even wider.

"Good evening." the very wide lady said in a very good approximation of a chipper tone of voice, "What can I get you tonight?"

However, her smile instantly faltered, when Alan held up the globe that he'd gotten in the mail, and said, "Miss... Lilly?"

Her first name was, of course, on her name tag, so Alan continued, "I actually just got this globe in the mail, and it apparently came from here."

However, it had soon become apparent that Lilly's features hadn't fallen because of disappointment or sadness, but only in surprise, because suddenly, her smile had returned; more genuine-looking that time, before she mellowed out a bit, her expression changing to a slight grin.

"Um... It's Mrs., actually." Lilly said, holding up one hand to show Alan her wedding ring, and briefly causing his heart to sink, "Man, I'm happy for you, though.  Peter must have sent that.  Hey, Peter!"

At once, Alan turned around, to see the fat, older man in the leather jacket raise one hand with a friendly smile.

Thanking Lilly for her help, Alan moved over to where the old man was sitting and sat at the same table, opposite him.  Fortunately, he looked pleased by that, though his expression started turning a little grim as he leaned on the table with both elbows and spoke to Alan directly for the first time.  His voice was deep and strong.

"It's good to meet you, Alan.  I was starting to worry that you might never come."

However, Alan was already feeling very confused, and in a moment, he'd started asking questions.

"Alright." he said, "First of all, I only got your package today."

"Well, yes.  The most recent one." Peter replied, but at once, Alan shook his head and Peter's mouth began to hang open, stretching out his thick and pleasant cheeks.

"Wait." Peter said, starting to look very grave, "Are you telling me that until today, you never received any other packages from me?"

"Never.  Not one."

At once, Alan almost jumped in alarm, because a look of fiery anger had spread across Peter's face, and he'd brought his right fist down on the table with a crash.  The anger had soon faded from his expression, and he became a great deal calmer after that, but a lasting change had definitely come over him, because he wasn't smiling anymore.  At last, with a heavy sigh, he leaned back in his seat and turned to look out the window.

"I can barely even tell you how furious I am," Peter muttered at last, "but not with you.  Of course not.  None of this is your fault.  The problem, Alan, is that I'm not sure who to be furious with.  Perhaps Claire, perhaps Hugo...  Maybe just myself, for not checking up on you in person, when I noticed that you never replied to my messages."

"Um...  I'm still a little lost here." Alan admitted, "Should I know you?"

"Yes!" Peter almost roared for a moment, though he calmed down quickly, "Yes, you should.  That was taken from you, and now all I can do is try to make up for lost time.  You see, Alan...  Just a moment.  This is a very public venue for discussing matters of a personal nature."

"No, it's alright." Alan replied, just feeling more and more curious, "Go ahead."

"I'm your grandfather, Alan." Peter replied at last, "I was the father of that poor man Hugo Michaels; your dad."

[TwoSwords]

I'll be posting other chapters soon.

[Guest high]

Good intro. I'll be looking forward to those next chapters.

[TwoSwords]

Chapter 2: A Wish from the Stars

For a few moments, Alan wasn't sure what to make of that statement, but in spite of his recent outbursts of anger, he couldn't help but find the big man comforting.  He had a warmth of personality, which just somehow felt right, and although they didn't look very much alike, the idea that they could be related didn't seem unlikely.  After all, a simple genetic test could prove it conclusively, or expose Peter if he'd been lying about that.  The idea also didn't bother Alan in the slightest.  In fact, the revelation had only made him feel bad in one way.

"So why didn't dad ever talk about you?" Alan asked, "Why didn't he try to get in touch with you or introduce us?"

However, Peter's expression had turned just a shade sadder as he replied.

"I'm afraid I can only speculate.  Your father and I had a falling out when he was young, which is the reason why he moved to America.  Maybe he was still angry at me, and wanted to get back at me by keeping me out of your life.  Then again, maybe his motives were more noble.  It's possible that he still doesn't appreciate what I told him the last time we met, and thinks I'll be a bad influence on you.  I can't say for certain."

With all of that said, Alan thought, for a moment, about how much he wanted to ask his dad those questions himself, but even as he thought it over, he realized that in reality, they weren't questions that mattered all that much.  After all, no matter what his father's reasons had been, it wouldn't change the past, or give him the opportunity to have known his grandfather as a boy.  All that really mattered, at that moment, was that he had a chance to make up for lost time; the chance to get a few answers about how his dad had come to America in the first place.  They were the sorts of topics that he didn't think about much.  His father had never really talked about them.  Still, Alan was starting to feel a lot more curious, with the opportunity right in front of him.

"Dad used to talk about the reasons he came to America, but it always sounded weird to me.  I mean, our last name; Michaels, is about as American as they come."

"No doubt that's why your father chose it." Peter replied, "It's normal for many immigrants to adopt an English-sounding name, in place of the last name they've previously been using.  Before he came to America, your father's last name was Mikolaj.  It's a Polish name meaning 'victory for the people.'  I've always liked it, personally.  In fact, I haven't given up using it myself."

"So my dad is from Poland." Alan said, already feeling as though he really liked his grandpa, but the older man surprised him yet again.

"No.  Your father isn't from anywhere close to Poland.  In fact, if I told you just how far away he came from, well...  I don't think you'd believe me.  Still, if you'd like to know more, I can show you where your father comes from."

Alan was almost mesmerized as the large man pushed his chair back and got slowly to his feet, giving a friendly wave and a smile to the very wide woman behind the counter, and Alan didn't need any encouragement to do the same as he was led out of the restaurant, and into the open air.  The last light of the setting sun was still just barely visible on the horizon, but already, the stars had started to come out, and Peter Mikolaj was leading Alan down the sidewalk that bordered the restaurant, towards a park, which began about three blocks down.  There were lots of people in that park, going for walks, or walking dogs, but the view of the sky was much better from there.

At last, Peter stopped, and turned to face Alan again, remarking, "Yes, there's lots of catching up to do, alright.  Let's start with the blue globe you brought.  It should be enough.  Hold it up in front of you with both hands, then look through it, at that star right there."

Alan felt a little silly at first, but then again, his grandfather had never had the chance to play games with him when he'd been a kid, so he pulled out the blue orb and held it up to face the sky.

Almost at once, Alan gasped in alarm, dropping the globe harmlessly to the grassy ground beneath them, but Peter was smiling, even though Alan couldn't make any sense of what had just happened.

"Don't worry." Peter said, picking the ball up and handing it back to Alan, "No one else can see it; only you, because you're holding it.  To everyone else, it just looks like you're playing with a ball."

"What was that?" Alan almost gasped in shock, "Is this some new kind of TV?"

"Among other things." Peter replied, "What did you see?"

"It..." Alan muttered, not sure how to describe it at first, "It was like stars all around, zipping by so fast, I felt like I was about to be swept right off my feet."

For a moment, Peter just smiled, but at last, he replied, "You know, I'd forgotten how surprising it was the first time I used one of those, and I'd always known about them, ever since I was a boy.  It must be even more shocking for you, because all of this is new to you, isn't it?"

Alan didn't say a word in response.  He couldn't think of anything to say.  It was just as well that Peter continued to explain a moment later, because Alan would have had a hard time forming complete sentences on his own.

"This ball is a machine component.  It can do a lot of amazing things when it's attached to the larger machine, but on its own, it only has a few simple functions, and one of those is that it can operate as a powerful telescope.  Give it another try."

Alan's head was starting to fill with questions, but nonetheless, he lifted the ball up again, and once again, the stars seemed to rush through the globe.  While Alan was standing on firm, grassy ground, the orb looked like a blue-tinted window, through which a vast field of stars could be seen, zipping by in all directions around it.  Some stars were traveling in the blink of an eye, while others passed more slowly, and still others seemed to be entirely stationary as the vision in the orb sped on its way.  It wasn't like some video production or animated screen-saver.  The orb really did look like it was showing him the reality of outer space.  It was mesmerizing.

Finally, however, the motion within the globe began to slow, and a single star out of the countless billions dominated the center of it.  For a moment, it was so bright, that Alan couldn't look into the globe directly, but then, the edge of the star moved off to one side, until only the rays shining from it could be seen against the backdrop of space, revealing a few distant specks.  Then, those specks began to grow larger, until Alan could see that they were actually round, then that they were different sizes, and different distances from the star, then finally, the globe centered on just one of them, which had three smaller bodies circling it.  It was only then that Alan truly realized that what he was seeing was a planet, just before its continents became visible, and it certainly looked very different from Earth.  One continent looked a bit like an asymmetrical peanut, and another was surrounded by so many islands, it looked as though it were in a cloud of dust.

As he watched the sight passing before his eyes, Alan tried to describe some of it to Peter, but it didn't take long for Peter to realize what was going on.  He'd apparently seen that planet as well.

"The planet you're currently seeing is called Orhis." Peter explained, "It's mostly temperate, with slightly higher-than-normal temperatures, but nothing too unbearable, even during the summer.  It's also where I come from, Alan, and it's where your father was born."

Alan was amazed by what he was hearing, although that time, he kept hold of the ball as he asked the first question that came into his mind.

"Wait.  You mean you and dad are aliens?"

"No.  No, we're human, but humans live on lots of other planets in the cosmos besides Earth.  In fact, Earth is considered something of a backwater location on a galactic scale."

"Of course," Peter continued, "I don't expect you to believe me; not until you've seen my ship.  After that, we can talk about what to do next.  Still, if you'd like to take a break and spend some time thinking about all this, I..."

"No." Alan interrupted quickly, "No, I don't want to stretch this out.  You might as well just show me everything now."

-----

Alan Michaels felt half dead as he collapsed into bed that night.  It had certainly been a long evening, and so many thoughts had been swirling through his head, that it was impossible to keep track of them all, or express even half of them.  Partly, he was thinking about the planets he'd been shown, and how many strange and interesting people might live there.  He was really curious about what the universe might be like, but he also felt conflicted, because Earth was the only home he'd ever known.  Traveling to some other planet would mean leaving his job behind, and his friends, and Susan.  Susan had always been a good friend to Alan, and he didn't feel right about just going off on some space ship and leaving her on Earth.

Peter's ship had been a sight to behold, however.  Every surface seemed to glitter with silver and gold, and yet, it was covered in baubles like the one that he'd mailed to Alan.  He hadn't even been able to count them.  There might have been hundreds, or even thousands of the things, but all of them were components of the larger ship, and when they were in their sockets, they would sometimes emanate light, as they interfaced with the ship's central computer.

It had been a night full of impossible revelations and amazing sights, but by far, what had left the strongest impact on Alan's mind was the final offer that Peter had made him, just before the two had parted ways.

"You're at the age when you're ready to start making decisions about the path you want your life to take, so you should be able to make this choice responsibly." Peter had said, "My ship is very powerful, and I can accomplish a lot with it.  As a gift, to commemorate our first meeting, I'm going to offer you any one wish that I have the power to grant.  Don't make your decision yet.  Think about it for a while, then get back to me with your ideas, alright?"

For a few moments, some very wild ideas filled Alan's head, but it was, he decided, still too soon to make his choice, and at last, he drifted off to sleep, feeling simultaneously both overjoyed and overwhelmed.

-----

Hugo Michaels was skimming a few recent news articles online, when he heard a knock at his front door, then a moment later, the sound of his son and wife talking in agitated voices from the hallway.  Of course, Hugo had hoped it might not happen, but it had been inevitable.  His son had learned the truth, and was coming by to rub it in his face.

However, when Alan stepped into the room, there was no gloating tone in his voice.  In fact, he sounded more worried than triumphant.

"Dad?  Can we talk?"

Hugo was facing him by the time he'd finished his sentence, but even as the older man stood up, he began to feel concerned.  What had Alan learned?  Had he really met Peter?  Had he learned everything, or only a little?  For the moment, Hugo decided to play it safe.

"Alright.  Let's talk."

"I met your father yesterday."

The remark hit Hugo like a ton of lead weights, but even so, he didn't dare to let on any more than he needed to.

"Your grandfather?"

"Yes.  He told me everything."

"Everything?" Hugo asked probingly, but that time, Alan was becoming impatient.

"Yeah, everything.  He told me that he was from outer space, and that you were too, and he even showed me his spaceship.  Everything, and you'll never guess what else he told me.  Apparently, he's been sending me messages for a while, and they never got to me."

By that point, Claire was right there, and the imploring look on her face sent a very clear message to Hugo; there was no point in trying to keep it from him anymore.  Still, Hugo wasn't about to volunteer more information than he had to, and for the time being, it seemed like Alan was only concerned with the missing messages.

Soon, Hugo had led Alan through the living room, to where the bedrooms were, and there, passed into Hugo's own bedroom, which Alan almost never entered.  There, he opened the closet, and with a snap, opened a tiny latch, which had been invisible to Alan in the darkness of the closet.  At once, a small door opened up in the side of the closet; about the size of a dumb waiter, but concealed by its remote location, and the fact that there was no light in the closet to illuminate it.  The moment the door was open, however, many flashes of color flooded into the closet in a sparkling wave, like a tiny aurora.

At once, Alan rushed into the closet and reached down inside the small passage beyond; too small for a adult to fit into it.  Sure enough, his hand had quickly come into contact with no less than five orbs; as smooth as glass, and then, pushing down further, he felt even more.  It was from those orbs that the little flashes of light were coming, and at once, Alan turned to face his father again.

Alan didn't ask the question that must have been on his mind then, but he didn't need to.  Hugo was ready to tell him the truth.

"As I'm sure you've been told, I had an argument with my father, Alan.  Let's just say that we never saw things the same way, and that chasm has never gotten any narrower.  I always expected him to be a bad influence on you, but it's more than that.  I was worried he was going to try to get between us, or even use you against me.  I know it sounds selfish, but as you grew older, I saw the kind of man you were becoming.  Your skills, your talents, and even your emotional state are all much more similar to your grandfather's than they are to mine.  I didn't want you to be his son, Alan.  I wanted you to be mine."

Alan looked confused for a few moments, but at last, he did genuinely seem concerned about how his father was feeling.

"Dad, kids don't always get along with their parents.  I mean, you should know that better than anybody, right?"

That question actually did touch Hugo for a moment, and his grim expression cracked just a bit, as Alan continued.

"I wish you'd told me the truth on your own, Dad.  I still don't think we'd ever be able to see things the same way, but maybe it would have helped if you'd been the one to introduce us."

Then, peering into the passage in the wall, and seeing the many orbs down there, Alan pulled a yellow ball out of his pocket; a ball which had been given to him by Peter for that purpose.  He tapped the ball three times as he'd been asked to, then dropped it into the passage.  In seconds, the balls all vanished from the passage, and the lights had gone out.

"Look, Dad..." Alan said as he headed back out of the closet, "I'm still not completely sure I can trust Grandpa, but I do sort of like him, and I'm going to give him a chance.  Still, I'm glad you explained all that to me just now.  Maybe we can talk about it later.  Good night."

Then, with those words, Alan Michaels left the bedroom, and Hugo felt absolutely sick.

-----

One of Alan's biggest purchases over the course of his life had been a relatively-small car, and that was the car he was headed towards, but as soon as he was in the driver's seat and moved to check his mirrors, he noticed that his mother was standing nearby, and looking in the driver's side window.  Though she'd never tried very hard to stop the fights between Hugo and Alan over the years, Alan couldn't help feeling that she was the most important person in the world to him.  She was certainly very different from the sorts of people who he usually found beautiful, but it didn't make him feel any less affection for her.  After all, she was his mom.

"I wanted to say how sorry I am." Claire Michaels said, once Alan had opened his window, "I knew about the messages, just like your father did, but I never tried to talk him into sharing them with you."

"I'm a little confused about that." Alan admitted, "You never seemed like Dad.  I mean, you didn't argue with me about my feelings, like Dad did.  I always thought you were secretly on my side."

"I... tried not to take sides." his mother replied sadly, looking away, "I didn't want you to fight him, but when it happened, I just wanted it to stop, so we could continue as a family.  I guess, in the end, I was worried about losing you; just like your father was.  That's probably why I never told you.  That was my fault, and like I said, I'm sorry.  I just didn't take it as personally as your father did, when you... started...  You know."

Alan felt a building warmth in his chest as he opened the car door slowly, to give his mother the chance to back away, then in a moment, he'd wrapped his arms around her, and she was hugging him back, still looking sad.  However, while the warmth in his chest was still there, and he still wanted her to feel better, if possible, he was also experiencing the problem that he always faced when hugging his close friends or relatives.  She felt a bit like a person-shaped brick in his arms.

-----

In spite of his personal worries, Alan had spent the next couple of days thinking about his grandfather, even while he was working.  Part of him; a small part, was still wondering if he could be sure that he could trust him.  After all, on television and in books, the devil sometimes showed up, offering people wishes, so he could stab them in the back later.

However, the thing that had really been occupying his mind was what sorts of things to wish for, and he'd managed to come up with a short list, with the most important first, and moving through to the least.  It was the work of a great deal of on-and-off note-taking, and when he got out of work on Wednesday, he felt at least partly ready to talk to his grandfather about some of his ideas.

Quickly, he removed a green ball from one of his pockets and clapped both hands over it in the way he'd been told to.  The moment he did that, the ball began to glow, emitting a light, musical sound, until he released it.  At that point, he placed it up to his eyes, and as he looked into it, a shimmering trail of light revealed itself in front of him; a path, showing the way to his grandfather's ship.  The last time they'd met, Peter had explained that "beaming" people from one place to another wasn't possible, and that homing beams were used by explorers, to help them find the way back to their ships if they got lost.  Since the people of the universe had learned to use their technology to alter the force of gravity on isolated objects, landing a ship, or taking off, was much easier and more efficient than trying to send people down individually.

Peter's ship wasn't far; just a few blocks away, concealed from view by some kind of camouflage technology.  It revealed itself through the ball that Alan had been using to find it, and soon, the hidden ship had opened to plainly reveal the entrance.  Quickly, Alan hopped up the steps to the ship entrance, and sure enough, Peter was there, watching his grandson enter with a smile, and holding a small, tablet-like device in one hand.

"It's good to see you again, Alan." Peter said, waving to the door, which caused it to close, "Have you thought about what we were talking about?"

"Almost nonstop." Alan admitted with a sigh, "I need to know a few things before I choose anything, though."

"Naturally."

Quickly, Alan removed the small list from his pocket, and began asking the questions that had occurred to him over the last couple of days.

"To start with, if I wished for anything really large-scale, it'd be bound to cause trouble, since people can get pretty greedy.  Whenever something really valuable shows up, people tend to fight over it.  However, I'm betting that I can't just wish for world peace."

Peter shook his head sadly.

"I'm afraid not." he replied, "As long as there's free will, any lack of peace is a direct consequence of that free will; free people making free choices.  Even if I had the technology to tamper with free will like that, on a global scale, I wouldn't dare attempt it.  The consequences of using that kind of technology can be crushing.  That's why it's been outlawed in most star systems."

"Consequences?"

"Yes.  For instance, people with no free will slide into chains of repetitive tasks, which they perform by routine, but never invent anything new or produce any good artwork.  For that to happen on a planetary scale would turn the whole planet into a machine of sorts; well-oiled and efficient, perhaps, but too gray and lifeless for anyone to appreciate it.

Alan swallowed.  He'd never really thought that those kinds of consequences might result from something as simple as "world peace," and yet, it all made perfect sense.

"I guess a cure for world hunger would be out of the question too, wouldn't it?"

"No..." Peter replied, frowning, "Not out of the question; not even remotely.  Still, again, there are consequences to eradicating hunger.  There are only a few ways to do it, and all of them destroy the ability of people to appreciate food when they have it.  Foodless people can destroy entire ecosystems out of simple callousness, when they don't need to eat anymore.  Besides, on Earth, curing hunger would have other; more psychological consequences, which would probably lead to massive mental and emotional upheaval.  Again, the consequences would be bigger than I could even describe."

"So big wishes, meant to help lots of other people would probably face a lot of the same problems overall, then." Alan guessed, and once again, Peter nodded.

"Good fortune leads to jealousy, which leads to fighting, unless, of course, the person receiving the good fortune slips under the radar somehow.  Now, you can certainly still use your wish to help someone else, if that's what you want to do, but try to be careful, and make sure it's not likely to cause that person more harm than good."

However, with those guidelines established, Alan had made his decision.  Though half of him was afraid that Peter would just laugh at him for suggesting it, he steeled himself, looked up into the face of his grandfather, and muttered his wish.

Peter hadn't been sure he'd heard it right the first time, and needed to have the wish repeated.  Even then, he asked Alan one more time, if he was sure that was what he wanted.

"There's nothing else." Alan replied, and in seconds, Peter had reached into a small alcove in one of the walls of the ship, retrieving a tiny bottle, filled with red powder of some sort.

"Only use a dash of this." Peter said, "It's a powerful formula, and it can have large effects on someone's life."

However, there was no arguing Alan away from that bottle anymore.  He'd made his decision about what to wish for, and he was not about to back out.

-----

When Alan arrived at the Silver Chicken buffet, it didn't take long for Susan Chalmers to do likewise.  They'd arranged to meet there earlier that day, and it was, after all, the place they'd first met; each seeking prospective dates, and instead, finding each other; kindred spirits on a lonely road, but neither one able to find fulfillment in the other, or in themselves.

Among other things, however, Susan was a genuine lover of good food, which was one reason why Alan had put so much effort into cultivating a friendship with her at first.  It had continued until he'd realized that he needed her as a confidant, even more than as a girl who eats, and the former role was one that she was better-suited for, because despite her blazing passion for both food and fat, Susan was still a very thin young lady.

Susan still hadn't found any more promising guys to date, and she admitted it as she sat down in one of the booths on the edges of the buffet.  However, just as she was about to get up and start looking for a plate, Alan asked the question that he felt he needed to.

"Susan, I need you to tell me something very important.  When you said the other day that you wished you could have the sensation of fatness, even if it meant being fat yourself, were you trying to tell me that you wanted to gain weight?"

"Oh!" Susan exclaimed, looking surprised by the question, but then, with just a little more color entering her face, she replied with some enthusiasm, "You know, I usually take it for granted that the only way I'd find that sensation was to date a fat guy, you know?  But now, I just wish I could be the fat one, because then, I could feel that sensation *all the time,* and not have to wait for my guy friend to get home from work.  Plus, I wouldn't have to hold off on the cuddles when he's sad or snippy.  You know what I mean.  Still, I've been trying to put on weight for years, and it never works, so back to the grind."

However, Alan had made his final decision.  Just as Susan was about to get up, Alan got to his feet with a jump, and held up one hand in her direction with a smile.

"You know what?" he said, "I know what you like.  Let me get it.  Don't waste precious energy running around to pick it up."

"Thank you, kind sir." Susan replied with an amused bob of her head, "You're a gentleman and a scholar."

They both chuckled as Alan rushed off to the buffet to pick up a plate and began filling it with the things that Susan most loved, but when no one was watching, he made his move, removing from his pocket the small bottle that he'd been given, and allowed a light dash of it to spill out onto the food he'd been gathering for her, where, to his amazement, it seemed to fade from sight almost at once.  Corking the bottle again, he headed back for the booth where Susan was sitting, and although he didn't really expect the formula to work, he was determined to enjoy the rest of the evening with his best friend.

-----

Alan usually got up very early to prepare for work, and after combing his hair, he'd go on an early morning walk.  However, on that day, he'd been just about to head out the door, when he heard the sound of the phone ringing in the other room, and quickly ran in to pick it up.  His eyes widened as soon as he recognized the voice of Susan Chalmers on the other end, sounding a bit breathless and very excited, but filled with energy and life.

"Alan!  Alan!  It's...  It's...  It's incredible!"

[TwoSwords]

4 hours ago, high said:

Good intro. I'll be looking forward to those next chapters.

Thanks!  I'll try to get chapter 3 posted within a day or two.

[TwoSwords]

Chapter 3: Gain

Alan hadn't been sure whether he'd need to call in late for work or not, but when he'd gotten the call from Sue, he'd rushed through the rest of his morning routine and driven right over to her apartment, hardly daring to believe that the formula his grandpa had given him had done its work so quickly.  Soon, he'd given a nice, hard knock on her apartment door, and had barely lowered his hand before the door had swung open.

Of course, Alan hadn't really been expecting it to have worked, but he had expected something to have changed when she'd called to tell him that something incredible had happened.  While Susan looked excited and full of energy, she didn't really look any different than she had the night before.

"Come in!  Come in!" Susan exclaimed excitedly, practically pulling Alan, with surprising force, into her apartment, "I want you to bear witness to this moment of glory!  I've broken my record!  Look!"

Then, Susan had put both hands on her hips, but Alan still couldn't tell what she was talking about.

"Um..." Alan muttered, but in response, Susan ran her hands up and down her hips, then moved them in and out, and Alan could see a slight contracting and expanding of her hips when she did that.  She still had her shirt on, so it was barely noticeable; not even remotely obvious, even if you knew what to look for, but there was no question that it was a step forward for Susan.  Still, it didn't necessarily mean she'd gained weight.  It could have just been her body weight redistributing itself.

"Are you sure you've put on weight?" Alan asked, causing Susan's expression to turn into a slightly-upset one.

"What a horrible thing to ask a woman like me." Sue objected, perhaps jokingly, though it was hard to tell, with her.  Then, with one foot, she pulled her scale out from under her couch where she usually kept it.  It was a very precise scale with a wide base and a large upper limit, but it also displayed the weight it bore to the nearest tenth of a pound.  Susan had, for the last five years, fluctuated between 103 and 115, and had never been able to get any heavier than that.  However, as she stepped onto that scale, and the number display climbed, there was no question anymore that the formula had worked.

"125!" Susan exclaimed with a proud smile, "I've never been 125 before!  We've got to celebrate this; maybe have dinner together again tonight, if you're not busy with anybody else."

"You know me." Alan replied with a shrug, "Sometimes, it can take me months to find somebody I think is dating material."

"Okay.  Okay." Susan said, still visibly excited by her discovery, "Oh.  And there's one more thing.  Look at this."

In just a second, she'd grabbed the bottom of her couch, and stood partway up, effortlessly tipping it on its side, before letting it down again, just as easily.

That, at least, had come completely out of the blue, and genuinely shocked Alan.  He'd never expected the formula to increase Susan's strength like that, though if it was a result of the formula, it sort of made sense.  Gaining weight meant carrying more weight around, which required greater strength.  However, if Susan's recent feat with the couch was an indication of how much she was going to gain...

Alan was starting to feel very warm in his face and chest, as he remarked, "Whoa!  That's amazing!"

"I have no idea how it happened, either." Susan replied in amusement, "I don't exercise my arms, so it couldn't be natural.  Like I said, it's incredible.  Like a miracle."

"A really good one." Alan observed, "We could do with a couple more around here."

"If not a couple dozen." Susan replied, her bright, chipper smile revealing how she felt about the whole situation, even as her hands went back to feeling her slightly-softened hips, "Well, you've got work.  I won't keep you, but I wanted to share this with you, since you asked about it last night."

Alan could have sworn that he'd seen Susan wink for a moment as well, but if so, it was only in passing, and soon, he'd left her there in her apartment, still overjoyed by her discovery.  Part of Alan was incredibly happy that Susan was so delighted, and also happy that she'd gotten past the weight barrier that she'd wrestled with for so long.  However, there was also a part of him that was a little worried.  Would she continue growing?  If so, how big?

-----

Alan had tried to put his thoughts about Susan out of his mind while he'd worked that day, but of course, they were always there, simmering on the back burner of his brain as he considered the amazing change that he'd apparently set in motion.  He didn't even check his phone until the work day was over, and it was just as well that he didn't, because the first thing he saw when he turned his phone on was a string of a dozen or so texts, most with multiple exclamation points, all from Susan, and all saying things that would definitely have distracted him from his work, like "Upper arms soft now!  Can't believe it!" or "Belly touching legs when I sit!  Wonderful!"

As Alan got into his car, he got another text that read "I'm an idiot.  I'll be late tonight.  Let's meet at Cafe Hendrick at 7:30.  Can't make it earlier.  Sorry."

Alan had no idea what she meant by that, but he just decided to go along with it and arrive at the time requested.  Sure enough, Susan had been right.  She didn't show up at the restaurant before 7:30.  In fact, it was after 7:45 before Alan heard Susan's voice from right nearby, saying, "Hey, Alan!"

Alan had been lost in his own thoughts, but even if he hadn't been, it's doubtful that he would have recognized Susan right away.  Her hair, her eyes, and most of her face were the same, but every other part of her was larger and plumper than it had been that morning, by quite a bit.  Her arms were thicker and softer, her shoulders a little bit higher, her chest, hips and stomach more pronounced, and her legs were quite a bit thicker too.  Even her face had larger cheeks, and was starting to look somewhat round.  However, she was also dressed in a completely new outfit, which was the real reason why Alan hadn't noticed her at first.  Still, it made sense.  She was already big enough, that her old clothes probably wouldn't fit her anymore.  If he'd needed to guess, Alan would have supposed she weighed somewhere between two hundred pounds and two-fifty.

"Sue?!" Alan asked, looking her over in amazement, "Is that you?"

Susan clenched her teeth and closed her eyes in the brightest, most overjoyed smile that Alan had ever seen on her, almost hopping up and down with glee, before she responded.

"Can't believe it, can you?  After all this time, my wish is finally coming true.  Well, one of them, anyway."

"Well, you look great." Alan said, meaning every word as he and his friend stepped into the cafe.  Of course, Alan held the door as she went first, which gave him a fuller view of her back, and sure enough, she'd filled out there as well.  Alan was thrilled by the whole experience, because there was no question that she was already large enough to be soft and comforting to the touch; the biggest wall that had separated Alan from romantic expression in the past, and she seemed to love it even more.

"How many sets of new clothes did you get?" Alan asked as they waited to be seated.

"A whole bunch, but for now, just the one in this size." Susan explained cheerfully, "For all I know, I might still be growing."

-----

Alan and Susan spent the rest of the dinner in more or less the same way they had the night before; talking about their jobs, their hobbies and whatever concerns they might have been dealing with recently, with, of course, one exception.  Alan didn't say a word about his apprehension regarding Susan's weight gain.  Some part of him still expected it to go wrong somehow, but if Susan had any concerns about her new figure, she didn't let on.  In fact, if anything, she seemed even more relaxed and casual than usual, rattling off recent job experiences, clothes-shopping experiences, and even tidbits about the computer coding and online gaming that she sometimes did at home for fun.

It was, Alan thought, strange that she was acting so normal, as if the last hundred-or-so pounds had made absolutely no difference in her life, but to Alan, it made a big difference.  Instead of the instinctive, emotional distance that he usually felt when talking with his best friend, he was suddenly experiencing a much fuller range of emotions as the two of them talked.  His sadness was stronger when she mentioned some tragic occurrence, his affection more powerful, when she talked about some accomplishment she'd made, and when she expressed her concerns, Alan felt a sympathy that was totally different from the kind that he usually felt for his best friend, and the one person in his world who seemed most similar to himself.  It was, in a sense, the same as every other discussion they'd ever had, and yet, it was also new, fresh and potent, like tasting chocolate, if all you've ever eaten is Monterey Jack cheese.

However, it was more than that.  Though she still acted, talked and laughed in pretty much the same way, there was a greater feeling of maturity around Susan, as if she'd previously been like a little girl, and suddenly had transformed into a full-grown woman over one day's time, possibly with the potential to transcend even that.  By the time the meal was over, and Susan made a joke about how, at this rate, they needed twenty or thirty more celebrations to catch up, Alan could have sworn that her stomach and hips had grown wider, just over the course of that one dinner.

Alan still had worries by the time the evening was over, but they were much smaller, and his feelings of eager anticipation were much more dominant.

-----

The next day was Friday; the day when Susan did her grocery shopping, so Alan wasn't surprised not to hear from her then, but he had expected to hear from her at some time over the weekend.  When Sunday came and went, and no word from Susan came; not even a single text, Alan started to worry, so on Monday morning, he tried sending her a text instead, asking how she was doing, and if they could talk again.  Her response was as clear as could be; "Please don't come over yet!  Busy.  Will contact you ASAP."

However, as the next week wore on, Alan's worries grew, and his enthusiasm faded.  It wasn't until Thursday of the following week that he received even a single text, which said anything except that he should stay away.

The text read "You may as well come over now.  I've had some problems.  I may need a hand."

Alan had received that text at 11:30 in the morning, and in seconds, he'd put in for a half-day off, worked for the next half hour, then immediately took off.  The whole process of getting to Susan's apartment only took about an hour and a half, total, but that time, when he knocked on her door, there was no response.  Quickly, he knocked again, louder, and thought he heard something from inside, so he knocked a third time.

That time, he definitely heard something; a sharp thud, followed by another.  After a short pause, the thudding noises continued, until at last, there was a scuffling sound on the other side of the door, then more thuds, more scuffling, and more thuds.  At last, the door swung open, and Alan's eyes opened all the way, his heart nearly jumping into his throat.

Once again, it was a challenge to even recognize Susan.  Each of her legs was more than a foot across, though it was hard to see their tops.  Her arms were more than three times wider than his, and her cheeks were very big; puffy and noticeable.  She had a very large double chin, and possibly even a third concealed from view, though it was a bit hard to tell, and her shoulders rose all the way up to the same elevation, behind her neck, as the bottoms of her ears.

However, all of that was outside of Susan's torso, and every feature of that torso had truly ballooned.  Her chest was much larger than it had been before, and her stomach, right in the middle of her body, was at least two and a half feet wide, and sticking out quite some distance in front of her.  However, what really blew Alan away was the way her hips flared outward on both sides, even beyond the width of her amazing tummy, pushing her elbows out just a little, and perhaps even a little bit up.  Her hips and her tummy also drooped a bit, covering up the tops of her legs like a mini-skirt.  Of the few girls who Alan had dated over the course of his life, none of them could match her for size; not even one.  She was more than his best friend, or even his girlfriend; she was his most imaginative, audacious dream, brought suddenly and shockingly to life, in the person of someone who he already knew and cared for.

For a few moments, they just stared at each other, as if unsure of just how to address their situation, or even of what questions to ask, but at last, a gleeful smile started spreading across Susan's face, and relief filled Alan's heart as he rushed forward to wrap his arms across her.  She reached for him at the same time, and her arms grabbed his hips from both sides as the two of them hugged.  It wasn't really so strange.  They'd been sharing friendly hugs for years.  However, that particular hug was amazingly different as well.

Wrapping your arms around a small person, who feels like cloth-covered stone is a very different experience from nearly losing sight of your arms in the soft, flowing expanse of a person so big and fluffy, that the whole front of your torso hides itself in hers, and as tightly as you squeeze, you can't even come close to reaching all the way around her.  None of Alan's romantic relationships of the past had ever really gotten to the hugging stage, and he suddenly found that it was everything he'd ever dreamed of, and much, much more.  It took all of his strength of will to detach himself from Susan's pillow-like embrace, and after such a moving experience, it took several more seconds, before he remembered the last text that he'd received.

"You said you had some problems?"

"Um...  Yes.  Yes."

"Alright.  Like what?"

There was silence between them for several seconds, before Susan spoke again, her gleeful smile having turned into a calmer, more subdued one, as if the manic enthusiasm over her sudden transformation had just passed, and inner peace had taken its place.

"You know, Alan..." Susan said at last, "I really want to just chat and chat about how it feels now, and how these whole last couple weeks have been so different; the crippling issues I've had to deal with and the mesmerizing wonders I've been comforted by.  I could go on for hours about that, but...  I'm glad you asked me about my problems first.  It's nice to know you're having an easier time keeping your head than I am; that you've been really concerned about what I need help with."

Alan could feel his whole face growing very warm, but he didn't say anything, so in a few seconds, Susan explained.

"Even when you're strong enough, being this big comes with a lot of challenges.  I've already dealt with a lot of them; furniture supports, new techniques for cooking, washing dishes and so on...  The clothes took the longest.  I had to wait for them to arrive in the mail."

Once again, Alan could see that Susan was dressed in a completely new suit of clothes, with a pair of stretchy pants, a large t-shirt, and an open vest, which, if anything, further accentuated the size of her belly and chest, surrounding them like a picture frame.

"There's one more thing, though, that I might need some help with." Susan admitted, "I figured that you, being a handyman of sorts, might be able to...  You know...  You see, every time I take a shower, the whole bathroom floor gets soaked."

Alan rushed to cover up his mouth, in a futile attempt to keep Susan from seeing that he'd giggled a little when she said that, but as it turned out, he didn't need to have bothered.  She only smiled more broadly when she saw that he was laughing from genuine happiness; not scorn.

"It's the shower curtain, isn't it?" Alan asked at last, full of relief once he realized that Susan wasn't going to get upset.

"Yes.  It's not long enough." Susan explained, "I mean, it was long enough before, but now, I...  Well, it has to spread further outward and...  You're loving this, aren't you?"

"We're both going to look back on this and laugh some day," Alan replied with an undisguised smile, "but for now, let's see if we can fix your problem.  Now, you need a longer shower curtain, right?  That shouldn't be too much trouble.  Anything else?"

"Well, it's probably a tall order," Susan continued with a slight sigh, "but I sort of miss being able to take actual baths.  I... um...  I don't dare try to lower myself into the bathtub.  You know what I mean."

Alan did indeed.  Susan was significantly wider than the bathtub already.  It was far too small for someone her size.  Alan didn't have any experience with altering the size of bathtubs, and doubted that he would have been allowed to in any case, given the rules that governed renovations in Susan's apartment.  Still, a couple of ideas had occurred to him almost at once, and he had the whole rest of the day to put them into action.  As much as he wanted to just spend time with Susan, talking to her eagerly about her recent experiences, he was determined to do whatever he could, to make her feel more comfortable with her new self.

-----

Alan spent the next half hour making calls to the apartment's owner, then to a couple of representatives of construction companies, until he was satisfied that his plan had a good chance of working.  Over the next two hours, he made calls to his various suppliers, picking up the necessary parts for the job; a shower head, a water pump, a metal coat-rack, a shower curtain, a kiddie pool, two lengths of hose; about fifteen feet each, and from his own tool kit, he produced some scissors, a thick, metal sheet and a plastic welder, as well as some strong glue.  With all of that equipment, he set himself up in Susan's bathroom, and within about another half hour, he emerged again, warning Susan not to touch the shower curtain for at least another hour.  Then, he spent the next fifteen minutes using the rest of his equipment to set up the pool in a corner of Susan's living room, right next to the bathroom door.

The whole procedure amazed and delighted Susan, watching the assembly of her new bathtub with rapt attention.  When it was done, she was so pleased, that she almost jumped into the kiddie pool and started turning around in it, like a little girl with a brand new toy.  Alan had hoped to make her happy, but he hadn't expected her to get that excited over it.

Apparently as an experiment, Susan lowered herself down into the pool, and although she spread out in all directions when she reached the floor, no part of her impressive waistline reached the plastic pool's edge.  Looking positively giddy, Susan slowly lifted herself back up, then stepped out of the kiddie pool again, and gave Alan another big hug.  The task had cost Alan just over a hundred and fifty dollars to complete, but he considered it more than a worthwhile investment.

"Is there a reason why it needs to be this close to the wall?" Susan asked, but Alan was ready with his answer.

"The weight of the water it'll be holding is enough to place some stress on floor supports unless they're near one of the walls." Alan explained, "It's why big pools like this are usually put on the ground outside.  It's not a glamorous solution, but it should be able to do what you wanted it to."

"Not glamorous!" Susan exclaimed in apparent exasperation, "Alan, I think I've misjudged you.  What about this situation isn't glamorous, huh?"

That remark, however, brought about another change in Alan.  Up to that point, some part of him had been afraid that things would go wrong between himself and Susan, like they had with all the other girls he'd ever been in a relationship with, but with those words, Susan had dispelled his remaining fears.  Alan Michaels wasn't afraid anymore.  He was sure she was the one for him.  There was no question anymore.  In a way, she always had been; the one girl in the world who had enough in common with him, to make life together bearable; even enjoyable.  With the final obstacle removed, Alan held out one hand, and found, in delight, that she was reaching her own chubby hand out to take his.  Soon, his other hand was right on her soft, comforting shoulder, and he said, "Let's go out again tonight.  This very evening."

"Um..." Susan said, looking a little hesitant, "Another cafe?  Maybe back to the Silver Chicken?"

"Actually, I thought we'd go someplace with a lot of people." Alan said, "Are you up for some mini-golf and ice cream?  They've got a bench for every hole."

"Yeah.  Yeah.  Sounds fun." Susan replied, having calmed down just a little, but still looking very much as though she were swimming in her feelings of happiness, and too overwhelmed to hesitate.

-----

Alan had had a feeling that even with a sport like mini-golf, there would be challenges that needed to be overcome; those little issues that reminded them both of the change that their lives had gone through.  Sure enough, getting both hands around the club, and the club to the ground, proved to be slightly more of an ordeal for Susan than she had, at first, expected it to be, but she eventually realized that she just needed to bend over further, and after that, the rest was easy.  In fact, her final score was lower than Alan's, which just made him feel even better, because it obviously made Susan feel better too, and that was what mattered to him.

Susan had never been shy about her food intake when she'd been thin, and if anything, growing a belly bigger than three watermelons had further reduced her shame in that area.  The three big scoops that she'd ordered on her cone after mini-golfing were all colorful, frosty-looking, and according to Susan, delicious, and more than once, someone in the line for the ice cream stared at her, or even cast her a dirty look, but if anything, those looks and glances seemed to bolster Susan's confidence, rather than reducing it, as though she was convinced that they were merely jealous of her figure.  In fact, she seemed very much as though she was only becoming more and more thrilled with every time she moved, or every time she ran her fingers over her skin, or even every time she noticed some inconvenience associated with her increased size.  It was as though those things had no effect on her at all, except to remind her that one of her dreams had recently come true, and by extension, to fill her with good cheer at the mere thought.

Susan had ridden in the back seat of Alan's car on the way over, and that was where she sat as they got into the car for the return trip.  However, as the car pulled back up to Susan's apartment, Alan could see one particular person staring at him, standing on the nearby sidewalk, and watching intently as Alan helped his round, new girlfriend out of the back seat of his vehicle.  It was his father; Hugo Michaels.

Susan gave Hugo a slight glance as she closed the car door behind her; just enough to let Alan know that she'd seen him.  Alan wondered, for a moment, what to do about him; whether he should try to explain what had happened to Susan, or how much they cared for each other.  Those sorts of explanations had always been dismissed as "excuses" by his father in the past, but maybe...

However, just then, Susan grabbed Alan with her ponderously-strong arms and gave him a very passionate kiss, practically lifting him right off his feet as she leaned back against his car.  The eyes of both Alan and Hugo widened in astonishment as Susan took Alan by the hand, and led him into the apartment building where she lived, slipping sideways through the front door, then letting Alan close it behind them.

"I can't believe you just did that!" Alan gasped out with a laugh, as soon as the door was closed.

"Well, he'll have to get used to seeing us together eventually." Susan replied, her shoulders rising even higher in a shrug.

"It's just that he always gets mad when I date fat girls." Alan explained.

"You're not worried about that, are you?"

"No, and I'm glad you're not either.  That's just one more thing we have in common."

Moving pretty quickly, Susan had opened her apartment and led Alan inside, then slowly took a seat on her couch.  She inched herself as far to the right as she'd go, but there still wasn't very much room left on the couch cushions once she'd settled into them.  Still, she invited Alan to sit down on the two-thirds of a cushion that remained, and he was more than happy to do so.  The time had finally come to talk seriously about Susan's recent experiences.

[TwoSwords]

This is the "fun chapter."  I'll post chapter 4 during the weekend.

[TwoSwords]

Chapter 4: Despair

"So, have you stopped growing?" Alan asked, once the two of them were seated together, Susan's hip pressing against his own, and with a laugh that shook both of them, she put one hand on his shoulder with a clap.

"What?  I'm not fat enough for you?"

"No!  No, I just mean..."

Susan laughed again, reassuring Alan that she'd only meant that last question as a tease before she continued.

"I'd finished growing by about the end of Sunday.  Of course, I can't tell how heavy I am anymore; my scale doesn't go that high.  Still, I've been keeping tabs on my waistline measurement, and it's been the same since Sunday night."

"That's good.  That's good."

"I'll say.  I was getting sick of having to order new clothes."

"Is it hard to drive like... you know?"

"With this belly, you mean?" Susan asked with a laugh, and in that moment, Alan became aware that Susan had been stroking her belly with one hand, the whole time that they'd been seated.  That told him that her overwhelming softness was as much of a joy for her as it was for him; perhaps even more so.

"I have to push the seat all the way back, and lean it back all the way too." Susan explained, "Plus, I kind of have to lean to one side when I'm driving.  Still, my truck's big enough in every other respect.  Considering some of the guys I used to date, it sort of had to be."

Alan was still very glad that Susan was enjoying her new size so much, but when, after several seconds, he hadn't said a word in reply, she continued with some words that actually sent a slight chill through his bones.

"By the way, I don't know how you did it, but I know you had something to do with this.  I owe you big time."

"Uh... Don't... Don't mention it."

-----

Alan had spent a few more minutes in Sue's apartment, talking to her about other topics before he left for the evening, hoping that the passage of time would have discouraged his father from sticking around.  However, there was no such luck.  As soon as he left by the front door of the apartment complex, there was Hugo Michaels, with a sour expression on his face.  Soon, Alan had walked right over to him, and said just one word.

"Well?"

"You know how I feel about it, Alan."

"She's not your girlfriend.  Your feelings aren't the important ones."

"Alan, you have no idea how much trouble you're in for." Hugo replied, looking genuinely upset, "It's not just my feelings.  Most men feel the way I do about this.  Now, you've always had a tough time making friends, and I don't want you to keep doing things like this, that tempt people to treat you like an outcast."

"No, you don't." Alan observed, "You just want me to sit on my real feelings for the rest of my life, and either get into a loveless relationship, or just curry favor with people I can't stand as a bachelor.  Tell me something, Dad.  Suppose that someone told you that if you wanted to be popular and successful, you needed to be seen only with fat girls from now on."

"I'm not going to be drawn into some hypothetical argument." Hugo retorted, though that last remark had clearly made him very angry.

"You've always wanted me to find some way to change my feelings, Dad," Alan continued, "but you're wasting your time, because it's not going to happen.  When I was younger, you used to talk about how you wanted, more than anything else, for us to be able to get along.  Well, in that case, why didn't you put some effort into appreciating my feelings; appreciating the beauty of fat ladies?  Was your sentimental revulsion really that important to you?  Why couldn't you be the one to change how you felt?"

"Because it's absurd!" Hugo almost shouted, then he seemed to put a lot of effort into mastering his temper, and finally spoke slowly, and in measured tones, saying, "Look, Alan.  You ask me to put aside my feelings, even though they're deep in my heart, and supported by the vast majority of other people.  If I did that, I'd be an outcast from the larger world, just because of your arrogance.  What kind of incentive could you possibly offer me, that would be worth that?"

However, Alan had decided long ago that no matter what, he could never accept that there was anything wrong with his feelings.  That decision had been his only means of survival under his dad's rule, and he couldn't go back on that decision, even though, sadly, his father had a point.  While a sacrifice like that should have been possible for Hugo, it would have been a much smaller sacrifice if Alan could have somehow made it.  He wasn't really sure what to say, so eventually, with a sigh, he replied, "Good night, Dad."

Then, he'd gotten into his car and headed for his own apartment.

-----

Over the week that followed, Alan didn't talk to his father at all.  He had a couple of phone conversations with his mom, but most of his free time was either spent with Susan Chalmers or with his grandfather.  Alan got to know a lot more about Peter during that time.  The older man had explained that he was a missionary of sorts, who did charity work for people of other planets, who were in need, and that Earth was only one of many worlds that he visited on a frequent basis.  He'd also explained that he was much older than he looked.  Peter Mikolaj only looked about fifty-five or sixty, in spite of his white hair, but apparently, he was more than ten times that old; the result of a special medicine, invented on a far-off planet, and designed to lengthen lives.  Peter had visited Japan in the days of the feudal lords, and been mistaken for a kami because of his powerful ship and weapons.  He'd been spotted several times in Europe and the Americas during the intervening centuries, and every time, he'd done his best to help those who needed it, with food, clothing and whatever else they needed.  With his machines, the production of goods was a simple matter.

Alan found some of the stories a bit far-fetched, but they were fun to listen to; and a chance he'd never gotten as a child.  In the end, he was glad he'd had the chance to hear them.  However, one day, as the two of them were talking, Peter made one remark that worried Alan a little.

"I was surprised by your wish."

"Why?" asked Alan.

"Well, you just seem like the sort who makes his plans far in advance, so that nothing goes wrong.  Now, it's been a few weeks, and things don't seem to have gone too badly.  Admittedly, I don't know this girl like you do.  Still, that wish you made was a bit of a risk."

"Sometimes you need to take a risk if you want to find happiness." Alan replied.

After a short pause, Peter noted aloud, "Yes, I support that's true enough."

Then their discussion, for the time being, was over.

-----

Over those two weeks, Alan and Susan had gone on a number of dates as boyfriend and girlfriend, usually to places with lots of people.  They went to a food court together, a chinese food buffet, and a drive-in theater, and at one point, even went out for a short walk in the park, but the formula seemed to have given Susan an endurance beyond the norm, because even during their most active times together, she never seemed to be having any problem getting around, and at her size, that was a bit abnormal.

Susan, for her part, only wanted to further exaggerate the experience that had brought so much joy into her life, so her date suggestions were usually to do with eating out, watching a movie, or just playing video games together at her place.  Susan had always been an obsessive gamer, and although it wasn't Alan's favorite activity, he was perfectly willing to take part in it if she was there.

One day, however, when Susan had stepped into her office and taken her seat as slowly as she could, (to, she thought in amusement, keep from hurting the poor chair more than necessary,) she heard someone outside, making some remark that she found really annoying.

"Yeah.  It's just that as fast as it happened to Su...  Uh...  Well, anyway, you never know when you might need a good gym, you know?"

Susan was anything but stupid.  She knew exactly what those young ladies had been discussing as they passed her office, before she'd turned on the light.  One of them had bought a gym membership, because she was worried that she'd end up looking like Susan if she didn't.

"Foolishness." Susan muttered to herself, then started work for the day.

-----

However, two days later, Susan decided to take her lunch to one of the tables outside, and there were Megan, Lucy and Pan, all sitting around one side of one of the tables, talking.  None of them were especially thin, and Pan in particular was quite large; only a little smaller than Susan herself.  It was one of many reasons why Susan had always felt so comfortable around her.  Soon, Susan had seated herself at the other side of the table, waiting for a pause in the discussion, where she could say something.  However, as she dug her lunch out of her bag, she quickly discovered that the pause had already begun, and had continued for over five seconds.

"Huh?" Susan asked, not sure how to take the sudden silence, "Is something wrong?  Do I have something on my face?"

Again, deafening silence was the reply, until a few more seconds had passed.  At that point, Lucy remarked, "Oh, this is foolish!" and looked Susan right in the eye before continuing.

"I'm sorry, Susan." she said, "We were talking about you just now.  We shouldn't have been gossiping.  Again, I'm sorry."

"Gossiping?" Susan asked, starting to feel a little uncomfortable, "What about?"

"Your new boyfriend." Megan explained, "Ever since you... you know... changed, you've been going out with this guy, and people say he's a weird fetishist; maybe even one of those gross feeder types."

"Alan's a good guy who wants me to be happy," Susan replied, feeling a little upset, "and I want him to be happy too.  Isn't that how good relationships work?"

"You must know that what you've just gone through is the furthest thing from normal." Pan said, "I mean, you...  Well, maybe we should talk about it later."

"No." Susan replied, starting to get angry, "You're insecure.  You've always been insecure, and you want me to be insecure too, but I'm not.  I'm perfectly happy with the way I look.  In fact, I've never been happier.  I'm not going to change, and none of you can make me.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish lunch in my office."

Then Susan got up and stomped off angrily, but that wasn't the end of it.

-----

The very next day, Susan went outside after work, and decided to go for a walk in the park, tipping from one foot to the other, and swinging her arms from side to side in that way that drove Alan wild.  She felt like she could have waddled down the entirety of main street without tiring, but it was such a cool, beautiful day, that she decided to take a seat on one of the park benches and enjoy the scenery for a few minutes.

Fortunately, the park benches were made from thick, solid beams of wood, which didn't even creak when she placed her full weight on them.  She leaned back on the bench and took in the surrounding sights; the sunlight shining through the bows of the nearby trees and filtering through the bright, green leaves, the occasional twitter of a hidden bird, and the only-rarely-visible squirrel and other, smaller rodents.  With her back rolls sliding in between the wooden beams of the back of the bench, and the bottom of the bench leaving impressions on her thighs, Susan felt like all of the wonderful beauty of nature was orbiting around her, and once again, it made her feel as precious and beautiful as a planet made of gold.

Then, suddenly, she heard a little boy's voice asking "Why, mommy?"

And then came the reply, in hushed, but still audible tones, "Well, some people don't care how they look, dear."

Blazing with anger, Susan tried to turn around and see who was behind her, but too much of her was already embedded in the gaps of the park bench, and trying to shift her position too quickly just pinched her in a few places.  So, pretty soon, Susan stood up, but the woman and her child were gone, and in their place were two young joggers; a man and a woman, both of whom were shooting her dirty looks.

Susan tried to leave the park quickly after that, heading back the way she'd come; the shorter route to the exit, but on the way out, she had to stop short to avoid crashing into a middle-aged, thin woman, who was on her way into the park, apologizing politely for what had almost happened.  Susan might have just left the park that day, and not thought twice about it, if she hadn't heard a slight muttering as the woman turned to leave.  Susan couldn't make it all out, but she did hear the words "...man would ever touch me again."

Finally, her anger at the sheer wrongness and unfairness of it all came boiling out, and Susan spun around and shouted to the woman, "Hey, you!  Jerk!"

The woman turned on impulse, seemingly in subconscious recognition of her own shortcomings, and found Susan standing with the end of her tummy just a foot or so from the middle-aged woman's own.  Susan had one hand up with her forefinger raised, and the look on her face was livid.

"Even if you were right, I'd still want to look like this!" Susan shouted in the woman's face, "And you know what else?  You're dead, rotting, skeletal wrong!  Look at this!"

In a flash, Susan had dug a photograph out of her purse and held it up for the middle-aged woman.  It was a photograph taken the week before, of herself and Alan, posing for a camera; her own large body dwarfing his as they made funny gestures together, and one of his elbows was in her right hip.

"I've got the best boyfriend ever in the world, who wants to hug me and cuddle me all day long, and you'd be lucky to do so well!" Susan yelled, then turned around in a huff and took off for her truck, leaving the older woman looking flabbergasted.

However, though she'd gotten the final word in that exchange, as Susan squeezed herself into the truck, there was still something very wrong.  The problem wasn't just one idiot with loose lips.  It was bigger than that.  The fact was, that there would always be another idiot to make stupid assumptions about her, and to judge her and try to control her.  She was happy with Alan, and with her weight, and he was happy with her just the way she was, and that had been all that mattered for weeks.

"So why am I so scared?" she muttered to herself as she turned the key in the ignition.

-----

Three Thursdays after the bathtub incident, Alan had texted Sue to ask if she was up for another date, but hadn't received a reply, so he didn't press her.  However, the following day, he repeated his offer, and still received no response.  On the following Saturday, he sent her a text, asking if she was alright, and that time, he got a response.

"We should talk in person.  Please come to my place."

For the first time in weeks, a hint of worry entered Alan's mind, but soon, he'd arrived at Susan's apartment and knocked firmly on her door.  It didn't take her long to open it up and let him in, and soon, the two of them were sitting, tightly packed together on her couch again.  It was an experience that Alan always enjoyed, but that time, there was such a look of gravity on Susan's features, that he couldn't bring himself to feel anything but dread.

"I'm worried, Alan." Susan said, validating at least some of his fears, "I don't know if it's enough."

"You... want to get bigger?" Alan asked, not sure he'd heard that right.

"No.  Not... not really.  I like how I look, and I love how I feel, but Alan..."

Her sentence just kind of faded out midway through at that point, so Alan rushed to try to fix it, saying, "Maybe you should tell me what's been bothering you."

"It's every... Well, no.  It's not everything." Susan admitted, "You're fine, I'm fine, and my weight is fine squared, but...  But...  Alan, everything else is wrong!"

"What do you mean?"

"Before I put on all this weight, I was the weird one in any group." Susan tried to explain, "People knew I was crazy about fat guys, and some even knew that I'd even wanted to be fat myself.  Whenever I'd talk to people, they'd shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes, like I was asking them to talk to me in some obscure programming language.  But, Alan...  They talked to me.  They shared their thoughts with me directly, and even though I disagreed with a lot of what they said, they still treated me like a person.  Alan; they're not doing that anymore!  I'm an outcast now.  They just talk about me behind my back; like I'm some kind of alien thing!"

"Do I do that to you?" Alan asked, trying to be reassuring, but he could already tell that it wasn't completely working.

"No." She admitted, "You're the only other alien on this planet, as far as I can tell, Alan.  Do people treat you like that?"

Alan was sure the answer to that question wouldn't do any good, but he loved Susan too much to hide the truth from her.

"Yes." he admitted, "Some of them; the ones who've been by my desk and seen the pictures of us together.  They don't understand, and they don't want to, but I don't take it personally."

For a few moments, there was dead silence in that room, but finally, Susan looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"I... I don't... either... mostly." she stammered, "But once in a while, somebody does something or says something, and it really gets under my skin, you know?  And every time it happens, it gets worse, and I worry more and more.  Yes, I'm happy that you love how I look.  I love it too, but I don't know if it's going to be enough to make up for this.  I felt empty and impoverished before, like a starving member of a big, dismissive family.  Now I feel like the rich lady in the mansion on top of the hill, who only gets one visitor."

"Is there anything I can do?" Alan asked, "Maybe we could move somewhere else, where people are more accepting and nicer."

"No, I...  I don't want to leave my whole world behind." Susan responded with a fierce shake of her plump head, "I liked my friends; really.  I enjoyed spending time with them, but Alan; I'm afraid I'm going to have to choose between this," at which point she clapped both hands against her belly, "or the rest of the world.  I don't think I'm strong enough for this kind of life, Alan.  I thought I was.  I want it more than almost anything, but I...  I didn't realize what I'd be losing.  Is there any way I could change back for a while, just to see if it fixes things?  Maybe if I could do that..."

"Listen to yourself!" Alan exclaimed, dislodging himself forcefully from between her hip and the arm of the couch, "You told me this was what you wanted, and now you're telling me that instead, you just want to be like everybody else?!"

"Not...  Not exactly like everybody else," Susan replied, "just not so... distant, you know?  Not so alien."

Alan and Susan continued to talk for the next five minutes about the causes and factors involved in the problems she'd been noticing, but the longer that Susan spent talking about her worries, the stronger of a hold they seemed to take upon her thoughts, until finally, she stamped one big, thick shoe against the floor in anger.

"Alan, I thought you loved me!  Why can't you support me?"

Alan wanted to answer that question; wanted to tell her that it was because she was turning her back on his interests, in favor of new ones, that seemed to yield a result she wanted more, but he didn't say a word of it.  The truth was, he simply wasn't angry enough to say anything really mean, so he just left her apartment with a sad shake of his head, and went outside to go sit in his car.

-----

As Alan sat in the dark blue motor vehicle that he called his own, he was reflecting on the problems that he and Susan were facing, and remembered a passage that he'd read once in a book, though he couldn't remember who had written it.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

It was the one thought that Alan was reminded of, as he considered the problems that Susan had been suffering under.  However, the more he thought about it, the more the horrible, oppressive feelings that had just assaulted him seemed to fade like a puff of smoke in the air, and one more thought occurred to him, of something he could try to salvage things.

Quickly, Alan pulled a notebook and pen out of his glove compartment, and began writing out a note, then as quietly as possible, he crept back into the apartment building, and slid the note under the door to Susan's rooms.

-----

Susan Chalmers had a very fitful sleep that night, for the first time since her weight gain had concluded, and on the following morning, she still felt half asleep.  Nonetheless, she crawled out of bed, determined to somehow make it to work on time, when she noticed the tiny slip of paper, peeking out from beneath her apartment doorway.  As she was pulling her coat over her expansive shoulders, Susan read the letter carefully, swallowing as she saw what it contained.

-----

Dear Susan,

Almost everything you said last night reminded me of my own early struggles.  Ever since I was a kid, my feelings have always been different, just like yours were, but I always felt as though I were an alien, being left out of everything, and as offended by the tastes of others as they were by mine.  I've never felt like I belonged with anyone, until the day I met you.

For the first time, I had a friend who understood what it meant to be alone; really isolated from the world and forbidden to find the enjoyment that others receive everywhere, just because your feelings are the kind that can't enjoy what others do.  We shared similar tastes, problems, records of success and failure in social situations; even similar dreams.  However, last night, you showed me a side of yourself that I've never seen before.  You showed me that as much as you enjoy spending time with me, there's also a part of yourself that wants to find validation in others as well; wants to join in the fun that the rest of the world takes for granted.

I'm writing to explain that this one element is something that I don't share, and I'm afraid I can't understand it completely.  However, the reason why we became friends, then later started dating was always the common ground we had; that each of us shared common feelings and desires, and understood what it meant to detest what society had to offer.  It's been a precious, irreplaceable experience, and I will do whatever I need to do, to make sure I don't lose that.  If you want to spend time with other people, I'll support you in that.  I'll even support you if you want to try to lose weight.  However, there will always be a part of me that's worried that you'll turn against me, and towards the world.

If you understand and sympathize with what I'm saying, or if you think I'm making too much out of this, and that we still share the same things in common that we did back then, please text me later in the day, and I'll come over.  I don't place anything in my life in a higher priority than resolving this problem.  Please accept my apologies if I was rude last night, and I hope to hear from you again soon.

Sincerely yours, Alan Michaels.

-----

That very night, Alan was shivering in worry as he ascended the steps to Susan's apartment again.  He could see that the letter had been removed from where he'd left it, but she hadn't sent him a text.  He almost wanted to just turn and go home, but he'd meant what he'd said in the letter.  He'd be willing to do anything to mend their relationship.

Quickly, before he had time to second-guess his decision, Alan gave a sharp knock on the door, and at once, it was opened from the inside, revealing a very sad, dejected-looking Susan.  However, there was a firmness in her posture, which was different from her normal, frantic energy.

"Susan..." Alan said as she filled the door frame from the other side, looking down at his small tummy, as if merely to avoid his eyes.

"Alan," she said, "I still want this more than you can realize.  I've always wanted it, and I want it now, but...  But I can't have it!  Don't you understand?  I can't have it!"

"No." Alan mouthed without thinking, but Susan wasn't finished.

"Alan, I don't want this to come between us!  I don't want that at all!  But if I'm going to face my life the way I need to now, I need...  I need...  I need for us to not see each o... each oth..."

There were tears in Susan's eyes as she spoke, but Alan was in too much shock to weep.  Of all the people in the world, there was only one who shared his heart, and that one was dying before his eyes.

"I can't be with you anymore, Alan." Susan said at last, composing herself and looking him right in the eyes with a firm glare, "I like you, and we have so much in common, but you're poison to me."

Then, the door closed in Alan's face, and as his eyes shot downward, he saw, at the very top of the waste basket in the hallway, a few scraps of paper, containing pieces of the note that had been written by him the night before.

-----

When Alan got back to his own apartment building, he felt like the walking dead; moving and shambling, but with no real spark of life or intelligence in his step.  At last, he parked his car in its usual spot, and was dismayed to see his father standing right nearby, looking worried about something.

Alan got out of his car slowly, giving Hugo Michaels plenty of time to approach, and Alan was certainly in no condition to say the first words.

"I've seen that look before." Hugo noted, "Somehow, I knew you'd need to see me tonight."

However, Alan didn't reply, so Hugo continued, "Alan, there's a reason why I always advised you not to follow your heart in this area.  People like her don't get that way because it's what they want, so they can never appreciate your affections for something they hate."

"Themselves." Alan almost moaned under his breath.

"Some people are born with natural feelings that aim them in that direction." Hugo explained, "I guess you're one of them.  But Alan; it's not normal.  It's not natural.  There's just something wrong with it, Alan."

However, the moment that those words passed Hugo's lips, an old fire rose up inside of Alan Michaels again; a fire he'd stoked as a child to keep from buckling under the oppressive influence of the man who was standing next to him, and in the face of such crushing adversity; when it was him against the whole world, the message of that fire shone out with the power of a star.

"There.  Is.  Nothing!  Wrong!  With!  ME!" Alan shouted, turning to glare at his father in anger, "There's nothing wrong with me!  I know that, as sure as I know anything, and no matter what, you can't stop me from knowing I'm right!  You say fat girls hate themselves; hate being fat, but Susan was never like that!  She loved it!  She loved everything about it!  The only reason she turned on me was because of the stupid prejudices of the world!"

"Don't be stubborn, Alan."

"Stubborn?!  Have you ever offered me one good reason not to feel the way I do, besides some decades-old surveys and popular opinion?!  What is there for me to resist?  I have no reason at all to think I'm wrong!"

"No..." Alan continued, muttering to himself angrily, "No, I'm not wrong.  I can't be.  It's got to be everyone else; this whole planet.  There's some kind of sickness, all over the world, making people see malnourishment as beauty, and abundance as illness.  The world is wrong; not me!"

However, in that moment, a look came over Hugo's face, which Alan had never seen before; a look resembling a cross between blazing anger and mortal terror.  He'd seized Alan by both arms in a hard, uncomfortable, icy grip, and suddenly, he was shaking him, shouting, "No, Alan!  No!  Don't say that!  Never say that!  Never, do you understand?"

However, all of a sudden, there was a flash of green and blue, which seemed to split the darkness of the night like a sword, and Hugo was driven back in horror and, Alan thought, revulsion.  The blue and green lights pulsated in place, eventually changing color and hue, until the only color that remained was red, and as that red light shone on Hugo and Alan alike, a voice like thunder echoed through the night, shocking both men with its volume and the intensity of its anger.

"Enough!"

[TwoSwords]

There's one more chapter to go, which I'll be posting either Monday or Tuesday.  However soon I can get to it.  This story will conclude with Chapter 5: What's in the Stars?

[TwoSwords]

Chapter 5: What's in the Stars?

The pulsating red light was all that could be seen by Hugo and Alan for several seconds, but at last, the light began to fade as both men retreated away from it, and away from each other.  The red started changing, taking on shadows and hues, and resolving itself into a form.  It was a form that both Hugo and Alan recognized, and which filled Alan with wonder and amazement, though there was only horror on the face of Hugo Michaels.

Soon, arms had become visible, then a long bottom part that swayed from one side to the other, and at last, two black boots stood out against the sea of red, then patches of white became visible, until at last, the figure stood before them in all his glory.  He was dressed in a long, red robe, which reached all the way down to his ankles, with white fur along the bottom of the robe and around the ends of the sleeves.  Around the figure's wide waist, there was tied a long, white rope, which he used for a belt, and his long, white beard and hair were unmistakable.

"I don't...  I don't..." Alan muttered, but at last, as the truth dawned on him, he muttered, "I should have known.  How could I have missed it?"

"Yes, Alan." Peter said, turning to face him again, "You're right.  Truthfully, only the people in and around this city call me Peter.  On any other planet in the cosmos, I am called Swiety Mikolaj.  It's a name I prefer, though the people of Earth call me many other things as well.  Julenisse, Ded Moroz, Tomten, Kanakaloka, Pere Noel, Father Christmas, and perhaps the one you're most familiar with; Santa Claus."

Alan's head was reeling as the tall, broad man explained to him what was going on, and he was still having a hard time believing it.

"Then, you were lying, when you said you were..." Alan guessed, but Swiety shook his head somberly.

"I never lied to you, Alan.  It's all true.  I'm human, as you are, but much older.  I'm from space, just as I said, and yes; I do missionary work, giving to those who need the most on many planets.  And I am indeed your grandfather, just as I told you."

"But why did...  Why did you put me through all this?" Alan asked, feeling a little betrayed.  However, Swiety's face turned even graver when Alan asked that.

"I?  It was your wish.  Didn't I grant it, just as you asked me to?"

"Yes.  Yes, you did." Alan admitted, "Still, you could have warned me about how it would turn out."

"I didn't know." Swiety objected with a shrug, "Not for certain.  Remember, I'm still human, just like you, and I did try to get you to reconsider your wish, if you'll recall."

Alan was starting to feel very sheepish.  There was something truly intimidating about talking with Santa Claus; a figure of both ancient and modern legend, whom he'd always secretly envied.  Besides, Swiety had a point.

"Yes.  You're right." Alan admitted, "All of this was my fault."

"Not all of it." Swiety corrected him, "Your mother and your father both bear some responsibility for what happened, and a lot of other people do as well.  Even Susan herself is not fully innocent, though I won't tell you what she's guilty of.  That's her business.  Your part in all this was just that you didn't realize the truth about this world, and with Hugo in your life, that must have been a challenge indeed."

"Well, I know the truth now." Alan said, looking at the ground, "There's no happiness to be found on Earth.  If there's some great fountain or source that happiness flows from, we're far away from it.  I know that much."

"So," Swiety said, putting one hand on Alan's shoulder, "if I were to give you another wish..."

"Don't you dare, Dad!" Hugo exclaimed, getting up from the ground, "Alan is my son, and you have no right to come here and..."

However, in that moment, Swiety turned on Hugo with a look of such rage, that he shrank back in fear and didn't interrupt again.

"Alan." the old man said, turning back to face him, "You're your own man now.  If I were to grant you another wish, what would you choose?"

Alan thought about that for a few moments, but ultimately, as horrible as the consequences might be, and as lousy as it made him feel personally, there was only one option.

"I'd choose to turn Susan back to the way she was."

"Really?" Swiety asked, looking curious, "Why?"

"I feel I should.  After all, I did this to her to begin with, and I don't want her to be unhappy."

Swiety looked Alan up and down curiously for several moments, before replying, "Yes.  That's probably what I would choose in your place as well."

"At least we agree on something." Hugo remarked softly from behind them.

"And then?" Swiety asked, "What would be your next move after that?"

"I'd try to find you again," Alan said without a moment's hesitation, "and do whatever I needed to, to book passage on your ship, to any other place; any planet, any moon, or even any asteroid, that would get me away from Earth.  There's nothing for me here."

Hugo was starting to look truly horrified; even despairing and morose, but there was a gleam in Swiety's eye.

"You'd come with me?  Traveling on my ship would require you to work very hard, and learn many new skills.  You'd be willing to commit to all that, without even knowing what you're about to face?  We might have to fight for our lives, you know.  Against monsters, meteors, aliens, our fellow human beings...  Will you give up everything for that?"

"I just told you; there's nothing here to give up."

At that point, Swiety Mikolaj, still with an expression of the utmost seriousness, removed a device from inside his robe.  It unfolded as Alan watched, into a visor, that seemed designed to fit over his eyes and ears, and soon, the old man had handed it to Alan.

"Now that you've decided to embrace the universe, Alan," Swiety explained, "you should see some of what you're about to encounter.  This won't take more than a fraction of a second, though for you, it will feel longer.  Oh.  And try to keep your head.  It's a lot to take in all at once."

Not sure what to expect, Alan held the visor briefly over his eyes...

-----

Everything was darkness all around for a moment, but suddenly, a tiny star, off in the distance, began to rush at Alan.  As he got closer to it, he saw that it wasn't just a single star, but a cluster of over fifty smaller ones, each one vast distances from the others.  His course took him through the cluster, to one of the stars near the far end, and it was only once it was almost on top of him, that he saw a tiny planet beyond it; a little, brown dot in the light of the star.  Still, he was traveling so fast, that he was on top of it in seconds, descending through a cloudy atmosphere, to observe the vast landscapes below.  Something like a huge spider-web, with droplets of water all along it seemed to cover the landscape, but as he got lower, Alan could see that it was nothing of the kind.  The things that he'd assumed to be webs were actually roads, and the droplets were large structures of some kind.

As Alan reached one structure, he could see, in amazement, that it was a massive dome, like a planetarium, but many hundreds of times larger, and soon, he was through the outer wall, looking down at the busy traffic below.  The sight truly took his breath away, however, because of two major things.

The first was a statue at the edge of the dome, where anyone who entered would see it, of two men and a woman, using their hands to hold up a massive globe, which looked like one of the domes.  All three; the men and the woman, were almost as fat-looking as Susan, and down in the streets, Alan could see that the roads were filled with a mix of many types of people.  Some were taller, some shorter, and they had different colors of skin and hair, but Alan could see that most of the people walking those roads were at least a little bit fat.  He passed some of the larger ones once or twice; each perhaps a little bigger than Susan, and saw them talking and laughing freely, sharing tips, words, food and drinks with their thinner friends, and one plump young woman was reading from a magazine with a picture of a very fat woman on the cover, holding a rose and a pair of scissors in her hands.  It was a world in which fat people had a prominent place, and the sight faded in seconds, to be replaced by another.

-----

There was a large mat of some sort in the middle of a floor, with a red circle of about twelve feet wide, in the middle of it.  Around the mat, there was a circle of solid concrete, which made up the floor, and around that circle, huge rows of bleachers, inhabited by people of many different sizes and shapes; from people smaller than Alan, to people fatter than Susan.  The bleachers seemed to stretch on without end, and there were camera-looking devices around the center ring, where two very fat men were holding up their arms, circling each other, dressed in colorful costumes.  Alan could even hear echoes of the crowd cheering for the two fighters, as one young lady with a very large tummy, which was further exaggerated by the unbuttoned jacket she was wearing over her shirt, and the bright, pink color of her shirt itself, shouted in exhilaration, "Get him, Thunderleg!  Split him in two!"

-----

Once again, the scene was gone, and another took its place; a stage in the middle of a crowded field, full of people either standing or sitting, but all of them bopping around to the extremely catchy-sounding music that Alan could just make out.  Up on stage, there were four men, each well-muscled, but larger than normal in the tummy area, and all of them dressed in suits, dancing.  In the midst of them was one of the most beautiful women who Alan had ever seen; a girl with bright red, flowing hair, the color of a fire engine, who tossed her hair from one side to the other as she hopped heavily from one foot to the other, singing to the crowd, through a device that was attached to her head on one side.  She was dressed in a psychedelic, multi-colored outfit that was very flamboyant, and covered her from throat to toe, but was quite form-fitting.  That was impressive in itself, since, as she hopped around on stage in rhythmic dance patterns, Alan couldn't help but notice that she was easily as fat as Susan had been, if not more so; especially in the hip areas.

-----

The next thing that Alan saw was a vast library; bigger than any that he'd ever seen, with books arrayed all up and down its length, on free-standing bookshelves, and in recesses in the walls.  The shelves and recesses seemed to climb like skyscrapers, as if height made no difference in whether the books could be reached, and yet, almost no one was there; only one blond girl sitting in one corner of the room, who barely looked like she should be able to stand up at all.  She was dressed in a flowing robe of some sort, but it didn't conceal her great width, or how far her belly protruded in front of her, and she seemed to be reading as someone else entered the scene.

The new young lady was brown-haired, wearing a robe like the blond girl's robe, except considerably smaller.  She was fat too, but more conventionally-so; perhaps two-fifty or three-hundred pounds at the most, and she jogged up to where the much larger girl was sitting, who turned her head to look at the new arrival, revealing that she was wearing large spectacles.

"The queen would like to consult the text of the treaty of the Malarin sector again." the brown-haired woman said, and in almost an instant, the very wide girl flew into the air like a balloon, muttering to herself "Malarin sector treaty; case 147A, shelf 12, middle of the shelf."

Soon, she'd twisted around in mid-air, snatched the book, and descended back to the ground, to hand it over to the smaller woman with the calm, friendly smile of a person who had found their calling in life.

"I'll be here for any other books or references needed by her majesty." the bespectacled girl concluded, handing over the book, and then the scene faded again.

-----

The scenes played, one after another, for what felt like hours, and the final scene impressed Alan most, because it was such a simple thing.  It was a young couple, standing together in a bedroom; a chubby man, and his slightly-fatter girlfriend or wife.  If Alan had to guess, he would have placed her weight at about three hundred pounds or so.  They were both dressed modestly, but lightly, as if for summer.

"Honey..." the man uttered from across the room as the young woman brushed her hair.

"Yes?" she asked, shooting him a sidelong glance.

"Honey, did..."

At that, the man inched closer, until he was right next to her, with his chin adjacent to her shoulder.

"Did you put on weight this week?"

There was no sign that the remark had alarmed or surprised, or offended her.  In fact, the woman's reply was to casually turn her head to face him, and kiss him full on the lips for just a second.  Once the kiss was over, the woman chuckled just a bit, jiggling in what looked like an intentional way, as she said, "I was hoping you'd notice, dear.  You're amazing."

-----

The final scene didn't fade.  Instead, Alan found himself speeding through the roof and away from the house, the town, the county, the country and the continent in which the scene had apparently taken place.  After that, again and again, Alan saw things receding away from him; first the planet, then the star, then the planet's orbit, then the whole star system, then the star cluster, then the sector of stars, then the galaxy, and finally, the galactic cluster, until he could see the clusters and super-clusters of galaxies, swirling in their motions around the central origin-point; the middle of the universe, where all material things were born, in smaller and smaller circles and globes around it.  It was only then, faced with the incredible weight of what he'd just seen, that Alan Michaels really began to accept the truth.  He understood his feelings then, and had some inkling of the nature of the universe, and it was all so simple and obvious, that he couldn't believe it had never occurred to him before.

-----

Finally, the vision of the universe faded to black, and Alan removed the visor that had projected so many amazing sights and sounds into his mind.  He found it almost impossible to speak.

"These are only a few of the many wonders of the universe, which..." Swiety began, but Hugo quickly interrupted him.

"What did he show you, Alan?  What did you see?!"

"He saw the circle cities of Wibotiv, the heavyweight fighters of Oswaz, watched Callilai sing and dance on stage, observed the great library of Oetvi, and its keeper Latildy, and probably saw many other wonderful things.  Am I right?"

Alan finally found the strength to speak at that point.  After all he'd been through, he wasn't too ready to be convinced by good news, and said, "But that's not the whole story, is it?  The whole universe can't be like that, can it?"

"It's not." Swiety replied, "Those are just peaceful, primarily-human worlds.  There are many other worlds, which don't value peace so highly, and many alien species, not all of which are friendly, and not all of which outshine humanity in their beauty.  As for telling you what the whole universe is like, no one can do that.  Myself, I've only been to three galaxies, and can't report the contents of those exhaustively either.  However, this much I can tell you.  In all my centuries traveling the stars, I have never, ever been to a world where it was normal to see fatness in a negative light, except once.  In fact, the love of size, nourishment and roundness are foundation-points of language comprehension in most cultures throughout the stars.  It makes communication a relatively-simple matter, everywhere but here."

"But why didn't you tell me this from the start?" Alan asked, "You must have known how I'd feel about it."

"Because I didn't want it to feel like our relationship was beginning with bribery or coercion, Alan." Swiety replied, "I wanted you to have some time to get to know me first, and not be too distracted by the endless possibilities out there."

"Alan, think about this." Hugo objected, "Are you really going to trust some movie that that machine showed you?  Who knows if what you just saw was real?"

"You do, don't you, Dad?" Alan asked directly, looking his father in the face again, his anger completely gone, and replaced by sadness and pity.

"Yes, he knows." Swiety said in response, "Hugo received his education in space-based affairs before you were born, but he still remembers what it was like.  However, something was wrong.  His feelings were so different from our own, and I'm afraid we pushed him a bit too hard, to be like other people.  Eventually, he rebelled, and fled our world for the one place in the known universe, which could serve as a sanctuary to him; protect and support him in his prejudice; Earth.  Over the years, I've realized how strongly he felt, and come to think that maybe his decision was the only one available to him.  For his own sake, and his own involvement in a civilized society, Earth might well have been his only option.  I used to be angry at him for choosing to live here, but not anymore.  Now, I'm only angry with him for trying to trick you into thinking that you needed to live your life here with him."

There was silence between them for a second or two, but Hugo was the next one to speak up.

"Alan, you're still my son, and I still care about you.  We can find some way to fix this.  You don't need to go with him.  There must be something I can do; some concession I can make, that would convince you to stay here with me."

Swiety looked as if he wanted to reply to that, but instead, he kept his mouth closed, and looked over at Alan, expectantly.  Indeed, it took Alan only a couple of seconds to decide on what he had to say in reply.  They were words that had been spoken to him not long before, by a hypocrite.

"Look, Dad.  You asked me to put aside my feelings, even though they're deep in my heart, and supported by the vast majority of other people.  If I did that, I'd be an outcast from the larger world, just because of your arrogance.  What kind of incentive could you possibly offer me, that would be worth that?"

Hugo's teeth were gritted as he heard his own words used against him, but his final arguments had already been spent.  There was nothing more to be said.

"Tomorrow morning, when Susan wakes up..." Alan began, turning to face Swiety again, who replied to him with a warm smile.

"She will be the way she was, but she will never have this chance again, I'm afraid.  Unless, of course, you'd like to tell her all this; perhaps offer her the chance to come with us."

That suggestion gave Alan pause, as he remembered all the good times the two of them had had, sharing each other's feelings and observations, but finally, he shook his head.

"I think I understand why you waited so long to tell me, Grandpa." Alan said, "I don't want to bribe or coerce her either.  Besides, she's already told me that she doesn't want to leave her world behind for a better, more accepting one.  She's made her choice, just like me."

Then, Swiety clapped his hands, and bright, red lights surrounded himself and his grandson.  At once, Hugo was hiding his face, and a few seconds later, was looking around for them, as though they'd disappeared, fuming with rage over the turn that events had taken.

"Don't worry." Swiety said, "This technology involves light-bending and sound-masking, and you'll learn all about them soon.  It was how I appeared before you a moment ago.  No one will be able to see us or hear us until we're back on the ship, and by then, it will be impossible for anyone to prevent us from getting away, even if they had any sensors that could track a ship like mine."

Still, Alan glanced back, to see his father stumbling around with his arms outstretched, as if hoping to catch hold of one of them.  It was only then that Alan caught just a glimmer of what must have been going through the head of his father, over the course of his entire childhood.

Hugo had fled his world to seek validation on a planet that the other worlds of the cosmos thought of as backward; even contrary to their whole understanding of life and happiness.  Yet, even once he was there, immersed in the culture and its propaganda, and surrounded by like-minded people, that sense that the judgment of Earth-people should be taken with skepticism had still lurked in the back of his mind; casting doubts on all the reassurances that the Earth and its people gave him.

Then, one day, he found that he was a father.

"Here is someone who's not fully an Earth-man." he must have thought, "If I can just teach him right; raise him to be like me, my doubts about the judgment of the people of this world won't apply to him at all.  He'll support me clearly and unambiguously.  He'll be my son; the heir to my path, and I'll really be his father; teaching him everything I know."

The opening of a means of escape from Earth had made it hard for Alan to be angry with his father anymore, but thinking about him in that light made it even harder.  Still, it didn't change anything about the decision that Alan had made.

"Sorry, Dad." Alan said, though he knew his father couldn't hear him, "Good-bye."

Then he turned and followed his grandfather towards the ship that only the two of them could see, and a life among the big, round, warm, unflinching, beautiful stars.

[TwoSwords]

Epilogue

Colonel Clark Stephenson received the customary salute from the sergeant on guard duty as he passed him to reach the large, gray door, pressing his thumb against the security pad, then entering his access code.  Soon, the door had slid open to let him through, and sure enough, there before his eyes was a woman whose face he hadn't seen in five years.  Captain Elaine Markett of the U.S. Air Force.

The moment that he'd entered the room, Elaine practically jumped from her bed with a cry of delight, running up to him and grabbing him by the arms.

"Clark!" Elaine shouted, "You're still alive!  I can't believe it!  I thought you and the whole crew were dead for sure!"

"We thought the same about you, Ell." Colonel Stephenson replied, "I have to say, it's a breath of fresh air, just seeing you again, after all this time.  NASA reported that you were the only one who didn't get back from the Verifier accident."

"I was in space the whole time." Elaine replied, sitting back down on her bed, "So they all made it out alive.  I was expecting much worse news when I got back.  Still, Clark, I do have to tell you something important.  You need to tell the **...  Oh!  You've been promoted!"

"I'm a full colonel now," Clark replied, "but I won't stand on ceremony if you won't.  At least not in private.  Now, go on.  You had something important to say.  What is it?"

"The thing that collided with the Verifier wasn't some meteor." Elaine began, but Clark interrupted her.

"I was there, remember?  It was giving off fluctuating magnetic and electrical fields, and radio static.  It had to be an alien ship of some kind; we just never got a clear picture of it."

"I've been living on that ship, traveling with the woman who owns it for the last five years." Elaine said, "We've been across half of this spiral arm of the galaxy, and seen all sorts of planets, full of strange things.  I could, of course, report everything I've seen, but if my news can effect policy decisions, only one piece of information is important."

"Which is?"

"We need to shut down the space program immediately.  The rest of the universe is determined not to make contact with Earth, and they're all insane; stark, raving mad!  They have no sense of how to do science, or promote good health; no understanding about beauty and fulfillment..."

"Wait!" Clark replied, his expression suddenly growing grave, "They must know how to do science, or else, how could they get from one solar system to another?"

"Clark, please!" Elaine implored him, "I've seen what their cultures are like.  We have nothing in common with them!  We can't let them influence us; not even a little!  We're alone in the universe, Clark!  Utterly alone!  There's nowhere... absolutely nowhere for us!"

-----

As the ship reached orbit, the modules around it glowing, each with their own color and light, Swiety Mikolaj smiled at his new crewman; his grandson, who'd already mastered the manual communication controls, and was working on memorizing master computer commands.

"Where would you like to go first?" Swiety asked with a jolly smile changing the shape of his plump, rosy cheeks.

"Where can we go?" Alan asked, feeling a little lost, with so many options that he'd never heard of, but Swiety's reply was almost immediate.

"Us?  We can go absolutely anywhere."

Then, the engines started up, and in a flash, the ship had taken off for a nearby stream of energy, and was zipping through the cosmos in its wake.  Alan Mikolaj's life had only just begun.

-----

"Windmills, remember, if you fight with them, may swing 'round their huge arms and cast you down into the mire.  Or up among the stars."
Cyrano de Bergerac

The End

[TwoSwords]

Well, that's the end of this particular story.  Please let me know what you thought of it, and if you'd like to hear more from the Universe.  If so, are any of the characters or settings in Alan's visions particularly interesting to you?

Or, I could do a more grounded story in the future, if there's interest in that.  Thanks for reading.