Chapter One, page 1

My father, Pollination Tech#9 Smith.



 A strange little green man. After a fruitful career, of filling the universe of little Pollinations, he decided to retire on his favorite planet, earth.
Here he met and married the lovely and sweet Jenny Curious. My half sister.
And dear ole Dad Glarn, who couldn't the thought of half-alien daughters, gave his fully human daughter's hand in marriage to the father of his older two children.
Talk about Daddy Drama.
While I have met my siblings a few times, we aren't what you would call a close family.
Mama Glabe passed away a long time ago, I am convince of a broken heart. Glarn died, never knowing his two eldest children. And for Pollination, we don't even exist.
Now you know why I chase dark shadows during the day and wish upon stars at night.




 My story begins, in of all places, the Strangetown grave yard.
It was the beginning of May, an early summer had come to Strangetown along with several changes.

I had just received my captain's bars, a rank I had busted my butt to earn. My sister Chloe, after ending an relationship, moved back home from Pleasentview, coming to live with me and my two roommates, Erin Beaker and Kristen Loste. Kristen and Erin had gone into business together, opening a local dress shop with an Indian theme. With Kristen's business sense and Erin's flair for design, the shop was already a success.

Several new families had moved into StrangeTown, all alien families. The sun around Tello II went super nova and the planet, along with three surrounding planets had to be evacuated. The StrangeTown Parliament agreed to the settlement, feeling both the various races and their culture would be good for SimNation, as well as giving these new homes and new beginnings.
 Amoung the changes, Parliament had hired a developer, one Ajaya Loner, to make StrangeTown into a more, welcoming, attractive community.

His first project, a new community center had just open, ready to welcome all Strangetown to enjoy. His aim was to build up Strangetown, a vast desert place, similar to the desert beauty of Al Simhara, where he was from.

During this time, Ajaya had also met and fallen in love with a local girl and friend of my, Jessie Piferson.
 Jessie had been Sorority sisters, so I knew Jess quite well. And though I was happy for her upcoming marriage, I had concerns shared by all of our friends.
For lovely Jessie really wasn't the marrying type.




Jess was a brown haired beaut. Wild, free and untamed. Jessie was sass and sizzle to Ajaya's meek and quiet nature. Jessie loved a good party, a good drink, pumping music and  hot men.




 I just couldn't see Jessie giving up nightclubbing and hot tubs, to become the quiet housewife and mother Ajaya had in mind.

They had known each other just three short months, before then, Jessica had suddenly gone off to visit family in MoonVillage, a small town just outside the Strangetown Woods.
Since was odd because Jessie didn't get along with her family. She claimed that she had gone to patch things up with her family. A claim I found hard to believe. Maybe that's why the engagement to Loner. To prove she truly changed.
It was around this same time, just before Jessie's wedding that the rash of deaths began to occur.

May first dawn bright and sunny. I had made plans to meet Jessie, along with our Sorority sisters DJ Verse, Sara Love, and Monica Braford for lunch that afternoon. The girls were in town for Jessie's wedding and we were finally getting together to finalize the wedding plans.
But we never met.
That morning, all four women were still quite alive and healthy. By night fall, all four of my friends were dead. The hotel maid reported a vile smell coming from their room. When she open the door, a green mist floated out of the room, so thick, it literally took her breath away. Her body was found just outside the doorway to the hotel room where the four dead women laid. The appeared to have died the next morning.
Even before I could even fully take in the deaths of my four friends, the next evening, I received another call, reporting another series of deaths, this one hitting even closer to home
The Beaker family were a queer sort. Doctors Loki Beaker and Circe Beaker, lived with their foster son, Nervous Subject.

There always seem to be something strange goings on their home. There were rumours the Doctors were preforming strange experiments in their basement, but nothing that was ever proved.  It was the maid that found the bodies of the family. She too, was found lying  in a coma in the family courtyard by the mailman and hours later. died.
It was I who chose to tell Loki  Beaker's little sister, Erin, of her family's deaths, since Erin is one of my roommates.
The following week was a sad one. Instead of enjoying National Day, a day of picnics, cookouts and fireworks, the city was preparing to bury its dead. A huge mourner's shroud covered the town as daily there were funerals; for my four friends, for Erin's family and for the hotel maid.
Despite the warmth and light of Spring, Strangetown was in darkness. Someone or something was killing the good people of Strangetown.
It had been a hard week. Going to the City Morgue, looking at the bodies of my friends, of the Beaker family and of the maid, was amoung the hardest things I had ever done. I had known these four young women since college. They had so much to live for. And for their lives to be cut short....I had to find answers.
All had this slimy green film around their mouths, suggesting they ate or drank something that caused their deaths. Or it could have been some sort of air-borne virus. I was told it would take several weeks to get out that report.
"We don't have several weeks," I told Doctor Amir, head of the morgue. "if this is some sort of virus that has gone air-borne, Strangetown could very well be a Ghost town in several weeks."
I hated pressing Doctor Amir and his staff in such a matter, knowing they were doing the very best they could. But I needed answers. Strangetown had grown fearful over the nine sudden deaths of friends, family and neighours. The public was pressing the Police and City Leaders for answers. And the Police and City Leaders were in turn, pressing the Paranormal Department, my department for those very same answers.
One evening while I was going through the case flies, my friend Elanna White called.
"You sound tired girl,"
"I am. This case is giving my a major migraine."
"When's the last time you slept?"
"Who sleeps?
"As I thought. I'm sending Ira over to pick you up. You need to take the evening off, and my guess a good meal as well as a good night sleep."
Sure, like I could rest at Elanna's home. Elanna with the touchy-feely husband, his frisky parents, two overly acted sons and a busy toddler. Just the sort of evening I need to get my mind off this case.
It was that very night the dreams began...
I dreamt of a man, laying in a field. I had seem members of his race before, so I knew he was Vulcan. He was laying upon his back, staring up at the stars, when, suddenly! he sat up, as if spotting a new star or even a planet. His face was intense, as all Vulcans are. But there was something different about this Vulcan. His features were softer, he even appeared to laugh. Then, he laid back down and continue searching the night sky.
Night after night, for a week, I dreamt the very same dream; a Vulcan, laying upon his back, star glazing. Seeking. Searching.

I wonder what it meant.

Somewhere, Out there. The Beginning/

My name is Lola Curious .
My mother always called me the practical one. Not given to wishful thinking or dreaming. I, the older of the two Smith twins, was the level headed one, the one who has both feet upon the ground. The logical one.
So, it would be understand able that I, Miss Lola Curious, half alien-half human, would be more interested in seeking New Life and amoung the stars, not looking for love out there.
But I was. Oh, I would never admit it. Not even to my twin sister, Chloe.
Life is as dull as dishwater in this little desert town. This little place in the middle of nowhere.
You would think a town with the name of Strangetown would have some excitement to it. Some kicks, some thrills.
But it doesn't. Not even elements of Magic Town.
Now that would make for some fun times. But as long as StrangeTown is under the stern thumb of one General Buzz Grunt, it's not to be.
Oh there is the usual drama; who is cheating on whom, who is getting married, who is expecting an alien child. But then, we do have the added attraction of being one of those little out of the way places, noted for its ghost and aliens.
Yes, we have aliens.
I should know. One of my dad's is a Alien from somewhere, out there.
Then again, there is the nutty old lady, Olive Specter and her niece Ophelia Nigmos, who live at the edge of town. Married several times, her front yard was littered with the headstones of all of the late husbands, as well as several servants and friends. Many said she actually killed all of those people buried in her front yard, but that rumour has never been proven true. Seems my little brother Johnnie is interested in her niece.
Wonder how dear ole dad feels about that little love affair.
Even my job as a Captain of the Outer Force, the Paranormal branch of the army, doesn't thrill me these days as it once did. My twin sister Chloe, however, had all the fun. She always got the most interesting, exciting assignments amoung the sub-culture of StrangeTown, Vampires and such.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's time for me to kick the sand off my shoes and sign up for the next Star Ship leaving out to the Milky Way. After all, Star Fleet has been begging me to join the next crew their sending in a few months.
I was so ready to sign up.
But then, all of that changed one night.

Chapter One To truly understand how I feel about my dad, about my dads, is to go back into time... Most children are born into this world, into the home of two loving parents, eagerly awaiting their bundle of joy. But not so with Glarn and Glabe Curious. A childless couple, Glarn struggled with the fact his wife couldn't have children. A fact that caused much heartache in Glabe. One night, while star glazing, Glarn was abducted by Pollination Tech#9, taken away to the Mother ship, were the unimaginable sort of test were performed. After several hours, Glarn was returned to earth, but very much a changed man. Dark, moody and brooding, sick all the time, he began to pull away from his wife. Then soon, both Glarn and Glabe learned the truth behind Glarn's illness. Glarn was pregnant. While Glabe was somewhat delighted, for at least they could now have a family, Glarn was furious. This was not how things were to be! His anger did a slow boil up until the day of my and Chloe's birth. That night after we were born, Glabe just cried, while Glarn spend the night vomiting. He wouldn't even look at us. The disgust and embarrassment of giving birth to twin alien hybrids, let alone how me and my sister were conceived, was just too much for Glarn. Shortly after we were born, Glarn left both his wife and daughters, to create a 'normal" family, never once looking back.  Normal? In StrangeTown? Glarn went on to remarry a lady named Kitty. Together they went on to have my half siblings, sister Jenny and brothers, Pascal, Vidcund and Lazio. Little sister Jenny grew up and actually married my other father, Pollination Tech#9 Smith, making Jenny's kids Johnny and Jill my half-siblings as well as my nephew and niece. Crazy, huh? Despite not being our biological mother, Glabe raised Chloe and me as her daughters. Neither Glarn or Pollination were in our lives, so we knew nothing of a father's love. So Chloe sought love and attention where-ever she could find it. Me? I had no time for such nonsense as love or marriage. What did it get Mama Glabe but a divorce, raising kids neither parent wanted alone on her own. "Intelligent and focused, Lola knows what she wants and how to get it." Mama would often say about me. I guess that's why I move quickly up the ranks in the Paranormal field. No time for daydreaming or wishful thinking. No time to think about the fathers' love that was missing or siblings I really didn't know. But at night, when the moon was high and full, I would dream. And wonder what it was like to be loved. As a daughter. As a woman.