A Star Journey

(This is a sequel to A Change From a Boring Life. You may want to read that one first before reading this one.)

It has been four months since Megan first hypnotized me. In that time she has taken me on some exciting journeys. She even had me be a female Maanek in the same reality as my first journey. In fact she even had me be the Maanek who had eaten me on my first journey. It was a strange feeling knowing that I was eating myself but I didn't hesitate. Now Megan had hinted that she had something special planned. The last two times she had hypnotized me she didn't take me on a journey. I had to wonder what she had planned.

Whatever Megan had planned it seemed to involve Wendy also. The two had been getting together on the weekends and Wendy had been telling me that Megan had been hypnotizing her and had taken her on her own journeys. Though a few times she hadn't gone on a journey. Both of us have tried to get her to tell us what she had planned but she was tightlipped about it. She wouldn't even tell us when she was going to take us on another journey. So it came as a surprise that on Sunday she had Wendy come over and told us that we would be having a journey today.

We had a little lunch and then it was time. I was sitting in my favorite chair while Wendy was sitting across from me and Megan beside me. I turned to Megan with a smile on my face and asked "So what journey are you taking us on?"

Megan returned my smile and said "You'll see. Right now I have a couple of words to say. Star journey."

My eyes closed and then opened again. I was in a bed instead of my chair and the room was done for a little girl. There was another bed in the room with someone sleeping in it. This girl woke up and smiled at me. Something in me said that this was Megan. That suspicion was born out as she said "Surprise. How are you liking your journey so far?"

"How are you in it?" I asked.

"Oh Wendy hypnotized me and implanted the same trigger in me as I did to you two" she replied. "Though I had her forget what she did to keep the surprise."

"So Wendy's here too?" I asked.

Megan nodded and said "She's our older sister here."

"What is her name and ours?" I asked curious.

Megan looked at the clock on a table beside her bed and said "We'll find out when the alarm goes off."

There was an alarm clock beside my bed too. I looked at it and when it said 0700 the alarm went off. The memories came in in a rush. My name was Victoria and Megan was Veronica and we were fraternal twins and we were eight. We had an older brother named Richard, or Richie as was his nickname, who was nineteen and an older sister named Margaret who was sixteen. Margaret had to be Wendy. I looked out the window and saw the familiar lake in the light of dawn. The thing was that we weren't on Earth. Instead we were on a spaceship. It was dome shaped and the main bridge was at the top of the dome and a central spire. There were four auxiliary bridges on the sides of the dome. Below us were the star- and hyper-drives and fighter bays. We needed those fighters since we were constantly hunted by aliens called Molnith. They had come to Earth a hundred years ago and just about wiped out all life. The survivors were able to build space ships and left Earth before the Molnith caused the sun to go supernova. Veronica and I had learned that in school just last week from a survivor of that invasion. Today we did not have school since we won a tour of the more restricted areas of the ship in a writing contest. Margaret also won along with a boy in her class named Chad.

I smiled back at Veronica/Megan and said "Well this could be exciting."

"I left things pretty open basically making sure we were twins and Wendy was our older sister" Veronica/Megan said. "We should get up and get ready. Our tour starts in a couple of hours after all."

I nodded and got out of bed. I needed to pee so I headed to the bathroom. I found Margaret/Wendy already in the bathroom the two rooms shared. She was just finishing brushing her teeth. She turned to me and said "Good morning Viki. I'll be done in a sec and then you can have the bathroom to yourself."

"That's ok Wendy" I said.

She froze and then slowly asked "H-how did you know?"

"Megan decided for all three of us to share a journey" I said pulling down my panties, hiking up my nightgown, and sitting down to pee. "She's Veronica by the way" I added as we heard a giggle.

Two hours later we were on the main bridge. The ride up was fast and I didn't notice the change in gravity direction. Standing on the bridge looking at the view screen the dome was behind us now. I had asked about it when we learned that and we were told that it was a gradual shift. The captain came up to us and said "Welcome to the bridge of the U.S.S. Santo. I am Captain Jones. You are here because you have won the opportunity to tour areas of the ship normally restricted to military personnel. The main bridge is where we pilot the ship."

Suddenly a siren sounded and one of the bridge personnel said "Twelve Molnith ships have just emerged from hyperspace on our port bow!"

"Implement Emergency Hyper-launch Delta Omega One!" Captain Jones barked out.

The view on the screen shifted toward open space. Though it wasn't open for long as more ships emerged from hyperspace. "Twelve more Molnith ships directly ahead sir!" the man who had spoken before said.

"Implement Emergency Hyper-launch Alpha Beta Niner!" Captain Jones barked.

The Molnith started firing before the captain's order could be carried out. With each hit we took the ship would shake. "Return fire!" Captain Jones ordered.

We didn't get to see if any of our shots hit or destroyed any of the Molnith ships. The view was shifting toward open space. The Molnith didn't let up and with every hit the ship would shake more. Chad, Margaret/Wendy, Veronica/Megan, and I fell to the floor at some point and then some of the electrical stuff on the bridge exploded in a shower of sparks. One of the bridge personnel was burned by it and another fell over. It was all very confusing. Looking at the view screen I saw the stars become lines and then shoot past as the screen was filled with a mottled blue. It reminded me of the hyperspace effects of Star Wars.

"Damage report" Captain Jones said.

"Helm is slow but responsive" a woman said from a position in front of the view screen.

"Navigation is offline" another woman said from a position beside the other.

"Shields are down eighty percent" the man who had spoken before said. "Reports coming in of several injuries and a couple fatalities. Hull breach in Fighter Bay Two. Auxiliary Bridges are offline. Tower lift inoperable."

"Engineering to Bridge" a female voice said over speakers.

"Go ahead" Captain Jones said.

"Captain, the Hyperdrive Engines have taken some damage" the female said. "If we stay in hyperspace for more than an hour we risk losing containment. If we emerge from hyperspace we risk losing containment with another Hyper-launch."

"Can you repair the engines while we are in hyperspace?" Captain Jones asked.

"I need the engines disengaged to repair them" the female said.

"Can you gives us more time in hyperspace?" Captain Jones asked.

"If we reduce speed to forty percent that should give us an extra three hours" the voice said.

"Understood" Captain Jones said. "Helm, reduce speed to forty percent and remain on our present course."

"Aye sir" the woman said. "Reducing speed to forty percent."

I looked over to my right and saw the woman who had fallen. There where shards of Plastian sticking out of her chest and neck. Her eyes were open but it was plain to see that she was dead. I let out a little gasp and covered my mouth. This drew the attention of a few of the bridge personnel. One of them went over to the woman and closed her eyes before looking up and shaking his head.

Captain Jones came over to us and said "Follow me please." He led us to a room off to the side and had us sit. "Are any of you injured?" He asked.

We shook our heads and Captain Jones offered us something to drink or eat. We accepted and after that we were able to go back on the bridge. By that time they had navigation working again. We were allowed to watch the bridge personnel work and we learned a lot about how the bridge operated. The lift wasn't repaired until six hours later. By that time we had been in normal space for three hours. Our tour was rescheduled in two weeks.

Two weeks later I woke up very excited. We would be going on our delayed tour. Getting out of bed I ran into the bathroom and got ready. I had just hoped that nothing would happen today. Margaret/Wendy came in just as I was finishing and said "Ready for today I see."

"I'm looking forward to it" I said enthusiastically.

"I have a bit of a question" Margaret/Wendy asked. "When do we wake up out of this trance? We've been experiencing this for two weeks now. It seems to be a nice vacation but we need to get back to work."

"We won't come out of trance until we die" I said. "At least that's the way it's been every time before when I've been in trance and on a journey."

"You couldn't have died since you're still alive and have been to work" Margaret/Wendy said.

"That's because our bodies that we know don't die" I said. "It's only the bodies we have on our journey that will die."

"You keep saying that this is a journey" Margaret/Wendy said. "Why is that?"

"Because we journey to a different reality" I said.

"But different realities do not exist" Margaret/Wendy said.

"Then how do you explain that we are sharing a journey?" I asked.

"I don't know" Margaret/Wendy admitted.

"Our minds are not bound by space and time" Veronica/Megan said coming in. "They can slip into any alternate reality that there is. In fact many really good writers slip into alternate realities at least partially and write what they see."

"Are you sure about that?" Margaret/Wendy asked.

"I am" Veronica/Megan said. "Once you wake from trance you will see."

"I hope it's soon" Margaret/Wendy said.

"We can be here for an entire lifetime and back in our reality only an hour will have passed" Veronica/Megan said.

I giggled at the surprised look on Margaret/Wendy's face and left as it was a bit too crowded in the bathroom for the three of us. I went to my closet and picked out a nice yellow dress. It put me in a good mood and I was hoping that it would put others in a good mood too.

Two hours later we were once again on the bridge and Captain Jones came up to us. "Welcome back to the bridge of the U.S.S. Santo" he said with a smile. "Which one of you is Victoria?" I raised my hand and he continued "I have been told that you have handled the situation you experienced two weeks ago very well. Or at least you appear to be handling it that way. I would like you to see the counselor more often. She's concerned about you." Smiling broadly he continued "Now you are in for a treat. I would wager that you have not seen another spaceship like ours. We will be rendezvousing with the U.S.S. Conga in a few minutes for an exchange of crew and supplies. Please watch the view screen."

We watched as the mottled blue of hyperspace dissolved into star lines and then shrank into stars again. Some of the stars flew past fast as the U.S.S. Conga quickly filled the view screen. We could see the habitation dome with the bridge on top. The four auxiliary bridges on the sides. The cylindrical section below the habitation dome housing the fighter bays and engines. It should have been a beautiful sight but for some reason it wasn't to me. "Something's wrong" I said out loud.

"I believe you're right" Captain Jones said in a low voice. "Lt. Morgan?"

The man who was there last time began tapping on his panel and looking up said "There are no energy signatures coming from the ship. It appears to be dead."

"Any sign of an attack?" Captain Jones asked.

"None sir" Lt. Morgan said.

"What happened then?" Captain Jones asked. Just as he asked that the lights on the bridge began to flicker and dim. The panels we could see were blinking in random patterns.

One man was touching the surface of the panel that was the Helm and said "Helm is unresponsive sir."

The woman at navigation said "Navigation is offline."

"Shields are down" Lt. Morgan said. "Weapons seem to be offline."

The lights continue to flicker and eventually they went off completely. In a few seconds emergency lighting came on. We could see that all the panels on the bridge were dark and not working. Even the view screen was dark. Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and then darkness.

I slowly came to and realized that I was naked and strapped down to some table. I opened my eyes and screamed. Standing above me was a horrible creature. It had little flesh on it's bones and I could even see black bone in places. There were horns on it's head and it's face was pushed out in a short muzzle. It was smiling which scared me even more since it's mouth was filled with sharp, pointed teeth. It stuck out it's putrid green tongue and licked me from my groin to my mouth. Once it got to my mouth it forced it's tongue into my mouth, I think it was kissing me. It's tongue tasted terrible and I gagged. Once it withdrew it's tongue from my mouth I realized that I could not move or blink. I could not move my eyes and I was barely breathing.

The creature unstrapped me and showed me it's bony hand with long fingernails. It caressed my cheek with one then I felt the fingernail dig into my cheek. It hurt and I tried to scream in pain but all that came out was a little "ugh". The creature held up a strip of what I realized was my skin so I could see it. It then opened it's mouth and ate it. It continued to strip off my skin and the pain became unbearable. I was hoping that this would end soon but it did not. It took it's own sweet time eating my skin. With every strip it ate I could swear that it was gaining skin over it's own skeleton. At one point it had flipped me over and started stripping my backside. After it was done it flipped me back over and pushed a mirror over me. I wanted to scream again upon seeing my body. All of my skin had been removed.

The creature left the mirror over me so I could watch it slice my muscle and eat what it sliced off. This was just as painful if not more so than my skin being sliced off. The creature took it's time eating my muscle down to the bone and I could see it gaining more skin with each slice of muscle it ate. Still I did not die. I did not die when it sliced into my heart. After what I assumed was hours or maybe days the creature was finished eating me. I was now nothing more than a skeleton held together with ligaments with eyes and a brain.

The creature had filled out a bit from eating me. It picked my skeleton up in a motherly fashion and kissed my forehead. It took me into a room and laid me down in some type of tub. It stroked my forehead and smiled. It then left.

I have no idea how long I was in that tub before the creature came back in carrying another skeleton. It placed that one beside me and stroked the forehead and smiled as it had done to me. The creature just stayed smiling at us as a thick, black ooze started to fill the tub. It wasn't long before the ooze covered my vision and all I could see was darkness.

I opened my eyes in the familiar surroundings of my house. I could see that Wendy and Megan were also awake.

"That was not the way I would have liked to die" Wendy said.

"Try being eaten by yourself" I said.

"How did you eat yourself?" Wendy asked.

I told her about my first journey then my journey as the Maanek that had eaten me in my first journey. After Wendy said "Well we'll have to do this again sometime."

"Oh I'm sure we will" Megan said with a wicked grin and I found myself wondering what she was planning. I guess I'll find out later.