‘Pregnant,’ Jason skidded around the corner, almost taking out the doctor, ‘who thinks they’re pregnant.’

‘Joe!’ Jane flew onto the new comers’ arms.  ‘Not me, I promise.’

Folding the woman in an ugly olive green dress into his embrace, blue eyes examined the scene.  Nodding towards Mark, Joe/Jason offered his attention back to Jane.  Uncaring of the company, he kissed her senseless.  It left Princess in no doubt as to the depth of their relationship.

‘Some privacy,’ Mark commented sarcastically, still hunched protectively over his wife ‘would be nice.’

‘I agree,’ the doctor looked unimpressed, ‘out,’ she ordered.  Reluctantly the members of G-Force trouped out.  Joe, arm slung around Jane looked back over his shoulder.  Giving Mark a wink, he herded the rest of the group out of the hospital room. 

‘All of you,’ the doctor glared at Mark, pointing to the door.

‘I’m not leaving,’ he returned aggressively.

‘Mark,’ Princess felt a shiver run the length of her spine.  The commander had never been so possessive of her and she liked it.  Just as the merest whisper of his breath on her face excited her earlier, yet the overall situation confused Princess.  She needed to get a grip, understand what happened to land her in this alternative reality.  ‘I need to talk to the doctor, alone.’

‘I’ll call you in from the waiting room the minute we’re finished,’ the doctor reiterated.

Reluctantly, eyes imploring, Mark lent in and kissed her.  It might have been gentle but still demanded her complete involvement.  His tongue swept her lower lip.  Shocked at the liberty, Princess opened her mouth in surprise.  It gave him the opportunity to deepen the kiss.  Once he’d explored, Mark pulled away slowly, a smile covering his face and lighting his eyes.

‘Now,’ he whisper to her alone, fingers still entwined as he stood, ‘I at least feel like I’ve greeted my wife properly.’

Moving away from the bed, Mark kept contact until the very last moment.  When their fingers couldn’t touch any longer, Princess found her arm hanging in mid-air.  Feeling surreal, she brought it to her swollen lips.

He called me his wife, Princess sighed with contentment.  Never in her wildest dreams had she considered marriage to Mark.  In her reality it just wouldn’t happen.  Pregnancy a very distant dream, not that she’d ever considered it.

Brought rudely back to the present moment in time, the doctor held a strange looking device in her hand.  Shaped like a rectangle with a handle on the short side, she waved the wand over Princess.  Grunting, the doctor concentrated on her head.

‘You can see the implant,’ Princess guessed.

‘I can see something metallic,’ she stated, ‘which looks like it’s integrated into your cerebrum.  Do you mind shimmering into civilian clothing so I don’t have to get through your skull cap?’

Reaching up to her head, Princess made yet another discovered.  The helmets they wore while in birdstyle had been replaced by a material covering.  She’d missed so many little changes.  Putting it down to the horrendous headache, she took the time to analyse everything that had occurred in the last hour and a half.

Remembering how the other girls changed into normal attire, she explored the same region.  In the middle of her breast bone, the Swan discovered a small indentation.  At the centre, a button, when pressed caused an immediate prickling sensation.  It quickly spread to her limbs and head.  Less than a second later, Princess looked down at a maroon smock dress covering her body.  Obviously here they shimmered.

‘That’s better,’ the doctor remarked, waving the wand over her temple.  ‘What can you tell me about this?’

‘The implant, it’s surgically inserted.  Just after my tenth birthday I’d been selected to join G-Force,’ Princess recalled, ‘we all have them.’

Astounded, the doctor stopped.  Taking a step back she looked her patient over.  ‘We…G-Force?’

‘The team,’ Princess remarked, hoping the truth issuing form her lips would transmute her back home.  Feeling like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, she tried to explain.  ‘Where I come from, things are very different.  I’m the only female member of the team.  The Eagle – Mark, he’s the commander and there’s no way in hell Chief Anderson would allow a relationship between us.  Nor would Mark, he’s far too professional.  The Condor - Jason’s his second and the gunner.  You call him Joe here.  My name is Princess, not Sam and I specialize in programming and explosives.  That leaves Keyop and Tiny the pilot.  Tiny’s the only one with family.  Mark, Jason and I are orphans, which is why the ISO could experiment with the implants in our cerebrum.’

‘It’s essentially a computer constructed of a bio-metallic alloy, designed to grow with us.  Reaching its peak potential when we turn eighteen, it gives us the ability to transmute to Birdstyle.  I gather your girls shimmer.  I’m not sure what’s happened but where I come from we’re G-Force, defenders of the galaxy presently at war with Spectra not Sparta.’

‘Have you fallen recently,’ the doctor asked, quite obviously shocked at the tale.  ‘Taken a blow to the head?’ she suggested.

‘Not to the best of my knowledge,’ Princess returned, realising the woman thought she suffered a brain injury.  Maybe I need to keep quiet, she silently considered, or they might turn me over to the psychiatrists.

‘I’m going to call your husband back in,’ the doctor now looked more concerned than ever.

‘No need,’ a woman, dressed in a muted red power suit appeared.  She’d over heard enough of the conversation without making herself obvious.  Coming to stand beside Princess, she asked, ‘do you know who I am?’

Careful not to shake her head too vigorously, the Swan answered no.  The blinding pain didn’t return.

‘What’s the last thing you remember?’ she questioned.

Realising this person took the place of security Chief Anderson, Princess though about her response.  ‘We were on a mission.  Spectra launched a millipede like mech, an improved version of one we’d destroyed before.  It broke into pieces.  Mark ordered me to take the galacti-cycle and lure them towards the Phoenix.’

‘What happed?’ the woman and doctor glanced at each other, a silent understanding between them.

‘Fast approaching a wall, the rest to the team hiding behind it, I found a launch site,’ Princess explained.  ‘Sailing over it, I couldn’t see the Phoenix, only a black tornado.  Its vortex swept me up.  I tried to hang onto my cycle.  Being heavier the winds tore it out of my hands.  I saw it ejected and knew I wouldn’t be far behind it.’

‘How far did you glide?’ the doctor asked.

‘The wind tore my wings to shreds.  I fell about a hundred meters,’ Princess supposed, ‘like a stone.  I remember thinking, this is going to hurt.  Then, I came to at my console but,’ shaking her head, she wondered, ‘Mark had become Jen, the rest of the team women and they told me I’d been married for two years.  If Sam’s taken my place, I wonder how she’s coping.  The Commander won’t lay a hand on her.’

‘What about the pregnancy?’ the woman asked the doctor, now ignoring Princess.

‘I’m not pregnant,’ Princess stated firmly, ‘believe me there’s no way I can be.’

Waiving the wand over her stomach, the doctor sighed.  ‘You don’t have to tell your son-in-law off, or report this to the world council.’

‘Son-in-law,’ Princess’s eye became the size of saucers, ‘you mean Mark?  You’re my mother?’

‘Yes, Sam,’ she remarked, keeping her distance.

‘My name is Princess,’ fury laced the young woman’s words.

‘Your husband is the only one who calls you that, Sam,’ eyebrow raised, the woman used her tone as a rebuke.  ‘You were eight years old the first time you met.  I invited Mark and Joe’s parents over to discuss the formation of this team.  The boys noticed you at the top of the stairs, wearing a green fairy dress with wings and a tiara.  Mark said you looked like a princess while Joe,’ this brought a smile to her face, ‘wondered if you’d only act like one.’

‘That,’ Princess managed, ‘sounds like Jason.’

‘If what you say is correct,’ the red suited woman considered, ‘then were the hell is my daughter?’

'Trapped in my universe,’ Princess offered.  A shiver ran the length of her spine.  If Sam tried to kiss Mark, to tell him they’d been married, well she didn’t want to know the outcome of the battle.