Pleasantly Strange - Chapter 14
Everything hadn't quite worked out as Dina had planned.
For one thing, she had somehow become pregnant. At first she had told herself it must be food poisoning, but between the perfectionist butler, who never let any old food stay in the fridge, and Mortimer's own excellent cooking, the chances of that were slim. The pregnancy test confimed her suspicions.
She supposed she shouldn't be too surprised. She had done nothing to prevent it, really, but she honestly hadn't thought the old man still had it in him. Certainly not as often. In fact, she had completely expected her new husband to not last very long at all, in more ways than one.
But he had no intention of dying anytime soon.
Had Dina been aware of the secret Mortimer kept in the attic, she might have reconsidered her plan long ago.
It did explain a lot, though - like how he and his former wife had been around for so long, how they could have a son who was so much younger than their eldest daughter.
"It was my greatest invention, but the government keeps it quiet. It is only used sparingly, and only for very special occasions," Mortimer had explained. "I mean, imagine if no one ever grew old and died anymore! The world would be overpopulated in no time. But I know the recipe, of course. I can make more anytime I like, as long as I don't tell anyone I can not trust. Bella and I used it for years... But when she vanished... I stopped taking it."
He had failed to see the horrified expression on Dina's face, hidden under her faked smile, as he stroked her cheek lovingly with the back of his hand. "With you, I have reason to live again. The elixir won't make me younger, now that I've allowed myself to transition... but it will prevent me from getting any older. We can share a lifetime together, like husband and wife should!"
Obviously, Mortimer meant business. Not only was he taking the elixir again, he was working out and trying to 'get in shape', as he put it. Getting rid of him was going to be a real challenge.
Dina shuddered at the thought of having to share a bed with this man for years, to grow old with him... or worse - maybe he'd want her to stay young, want her to take the elixir too, and they could live forever, together... No. He would have to go - one way or another.
Her stomach was rapidly growing bigger. She became restless, had trouble sleeping at night, and began eating more than she probably should.
One late evening, just past midnight, she was lying awake, still fully dressed, next to a sleeping Mortimer. She was trying to come up with something, anything... it would have to look like an accident. The stairs, maybe? Would it be too obvious? The house would have to be empty, too, which was going to be hard. The butler was always there during the day, and the stupid kid was there during the night...
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. Mortimer grunted and rolled over to his other side, and Dina jumped up to fetch the phone before it could wake him. If he woke up, there was a good chance he'd try to be intimate with her again, and she was sick of making up excuses to avoid it.
"Hello?" She spoke quietly into the receiver.
"Dina, oh god, I need to talk to you!" said the voice on the other end, urgently.
"Nina? Calm down! What is it?"
"It's Don!" Nina said, sounding like she had just run a mile. "They... They took him!"
"What? Who took him? What are you talking about?"
"The aliens! Just now, a minute ago! He was out on the balcony with his old telescope, and...
...There was a bright light! And this loud humming noise! It knew instantly what it was, it was just like that night when-when...
...I ran outside as fast as I could, but I was too late. I couldn't get to him...
"...And then he was gone!" Nina sobbed.
It was quiet on the other end for a while.
"Dina?" Nina sniffed. "Sis, are you still there? Talk to me! What am I gonna do?"
"...Oops," was the only thing Dina said.
"Oops? What do you mean, oops!? Did you even hear what I just told you?"
"Well, you see..." Dina began. "Remember when good old grandpa's family came to see us, and I asked them to do me that favour...
...Turns out they wouldn't do it exactly for free. So I promised them a prize, a kind of two-for-one deal. They get the lovely red dressed lady and a handsome young bachelor, ready to bear their young. But I guess he must've dodged them the first time, and well, they've just come back to claim him." Dina smirked.
Nina's heavy breathing seemed to become quicker, somehow more... angry. Her voice was suddenly icy cold moreso than desperate. "...Are you insane? How could you-"
"Oh please, this is exactly why I didn't tell you in the first place! Sure, you're fine when it's a random innocent victim who's in the way, but when it's your precious Don, you get all high and mighty about it, just because he makes you wet in the-"
Nina hung up. Dina stood there, seething, refusing to have her sister's pitiful attempts at moral indignation get to her. She had only done what any successful and ambitious sim would do - do whatever was necessary to achieve what she wanted. And it wasn't as if she had killed anyone...
"Mmm, Dina? Who was it?" Mortimer mumbled, stirring slightly.
Dina walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, caressing his grey hair gently with her hand. "No one, sweetie. You go back to sleep."
...Not yet, anyway.
Cassandra looked at the two unread e-mail messages in her inbox, trying to decide which one she should read first. She was glad to hear from them both, but at the same time, she knew there would be things in those e-mails that she would rather not know about. That was one of the reasons she had wanted to come to Strangetown... to be away from it all, to not know. But of course, she couldn't cut off all contact with those she knew and loved back home, either.
She clicked on the first e-mail and it opened.
'Hey big sis,
How are you doing? It's been a while since I heard anything from you now, and I thought I'd just drop you a line, ask if you're doing okay. Is the desert as hot as people say it is? Did you see any aliens? Did you find out anything about mum yet?
I've got some kind of bad news for you. I guess dad hasn't told you, he says he has no intention of contacting you before you contact him, and you're just as stubborn as him so I guess that's pretty much a lost cause.
Dina's pregnant. Yup, that's right. Dad is happy about it, but I don't think she is. I don't know how dad can't see her as the golddigging hyena she really is, but somehow she makes him happy, even if she's being even more grumpy and unpleasant now and is eating for at least three people. Oh god, I hope it's not twins. One hyena pup is bad enough. I'm glad I'm going to college soon, I really don't wanna be around for this.
So with that out of the way... Lucy and I are doing really well.
I know what you're going to say, we're still young and all, but... I could really see myself marrying her, someday. I really love her. Dad's not too pleased, he thinks we're too young to think about love and such, he wants me to focus on school and preparing for college. As if I'm gonna take any of his advice on relationships after what he's done.
Lucy had two little sisters not that long ago, too. Twins, Leah and Lori. Guess twins kind of runs in that family.
I went to their first birthday party just yesterday. I try to get out of the house as much as I can, even baby birthday parties are better than sitting around here with dad and the hyena.
They're such cute toddlers, Lucy's sisters I mean.
She told me that maybe we'll have cute kids like that someday too. That's getting kinda far ahead of ourselves, I think. I mean, who really knows what they want when they're just a teen, right? Maybe we won't even get married.
But I would really like to, I think. Someday.
I'd better get going, have homework to do.
Hope you're doing good, Cass. Write me back soon, okay?
Love,
Alex'
Cassandra smiled as she read about her brother and Lucy, but as she closed the mail she sighed. So Dina and her dad were going to have a baby. Terrific. This probably meant that her dad would be using the elixir again, he'd want to be there and raise this new baby. Start over, as if nothing had happened...
Biting her lip, she tried to force her thoughts over to something else, and clicked on the second e-mail.
'Dear Cassandra,
How are you? How is life in Strangetown? I know you haven't been gone for very long, but it feels like ages. We didn't see each other very much for a while before you left, either, but now that you're so far away it seems kind of empty without you.
So much has happened. Just after you left, I asked Brandi to marry me.
She said yes.
We had a lovely, small wedding... I only wish you could have been there. She's the best thing that's happened to me since Darleen, and since Dirk was born. I still miss Darleen, of course, but it's like the wound has healed now, and I can finally move on.
Brandi brought her three youngest boys with her, too, so it's kind of crowded in Dirk's old room now! But they're used to it, so they're managing. Maybe we could expand a little on the house too, eventually, since my painting has been going so well lately. Brandi's gotten herself a job, too, she works as a medical technician at the emergency.
Dirk came home for the wedding, but otherwise he's really busy at college, and it's quite a distance to travel. In fact, I guess he's closer to you than he is to home right now!
He and Lilith stuck together for a while, but turns out she wasn't really ready to make any commitments...
She was more focused on her music than on him...
...and then she started seeing other boys. Someone who's not as 'serious' as my Dirk, apparently.
Dirk's okay with that, though, since he's had his eye on someone else, too.
He tells me her name is 'DJ'. I don't know what that is short for. He seems really happy with her, though, so I'm glad. I guess I'll learn her full name soon enough.
Well, hope everything is working out for you, Cassandra. Please write and tell me if you've found what you're looking for over there, or if you're still searching. Pleasantview isn't quite the same without you.
Darren'
Cassandra hadn't expected that Darren's mail would make her feel quite so depressed. She knew that him marrying Brandi was likely to happen, but she hadn't expected it to be so... soon. And then he wrote that he missed her! If only he knew how she felt... but no. It was too late for that, much too late.
"Hey, Cassie, ready to go?"
Erin's cheerful voice was a sharp contrast to how Cassandra felt at the moment. She didn't turn around, only nodded as she closed her browser and logged out of the public computer. "Yeah, I'm ready."
"We have some news for you!" Erin chirped. She turned to caress Lazlo's cheek.
"Last night, this lovely man finally asked me to marry him. Took me completely by surprise!"
Lazlo smiled. "If you hadn't been so busy pestering me about it, maybe you'd have noticed I was planning something."
"That's... great. Really, I'm happy for you." Cassandra managed a brief, forced smile, then she walked past them and headed down the stairs. "Come on, we don't want be be late."
Erin and Lazlo looked at each other in confusion, but Cassandra had had quite enough of happy couples for one day.
Together, the three of them crossed the street to the Smiths' house.
"Dinner will be ready soon," Jenny Smith said, as she chopped up vegetables and chicken. "At least the first batch will be... I'll have to do this twice with so many people!"
As she continued her work, PT9 turned to the guests around the dining table. "So how can I help you all, then?"
"Cassandra here was hoping you could tell her a little about, well, aliens," Erin said, awkwardly.
"Only what you're comfortable with, and allowed to share, of course," Lazlo added. "We know you can't tell everything. But like I told you on the phone, Cassandra believes her mother might have been taken, and she wants to know anything that can help her prove, or disprove, that."
Cassandra smiled at Lazlo's efforts, but decided she could speak for herself. The company of Chloe and Lola Curious over the past few weeks had made her almost get used to the green skin and black eyes. Almost. But PT9's appearance was quite different to that of his daughters, his features were very obviously different, very... alien. She still tried to maintain a straight face. "Mr. Smith, I really don't want to be a bother. I guess Lazlo has already described the lights and the possible UFO that were seen on the night my mother disappeared. I just want to know... do you think it could be possible?"
"Certainly," PT9 said. "Anything is possible. But the circumstances are highly... unusual, to say the least. First of all, we rarely take females. When we do, it's only for brief research. No pollination. Secondly, we always return the sims to their home within a few hours, a day at most. To take a sim and not return her... that's virtually unheard of."
"But it could have happened?" Erin asked.
"Of course. Anything can happen, but why, I cannot tell you."
"And the... the pollination," Cassandra continued. "You only do it to... to males?"
"Dinner's ready!" Jenny interrupted, just as the school bus pulled up outside. Moments later, two green children came inside, followed by two adult men. The children waved cheerfully at them and Cassandra raised her hand and waved back. They were oddly cute, despite their unusual looks.
"Hi mum, what's for dinner?" one of the children - the girl - asked.
"Fried chicken, but you'll have to wait your turn along with Jill and Buck. This is for our guests," Jenny replied.
"Smells delicious, Jenny," the man with the darker hair and smaller glasses said.
He was clearly related to Lazlo, Cassandra could tell. The other man, the blond one, had a very different face from his brothers and sisters as well, and if Cassandra hadn't been told beforehand who he was, she never would have guessed.
They were both very handsome.
"Let's play SSX, Jack!" June said, nearly tripping over Vidcund's legs as she tried to get to her twin brother before he ran outside to the back yard.
Jill glanced at her. "Not a chance, I'm busy kicking Buck's ass. You'll have to wait until after dinner."
"Aw, man!"
Vidcund turned and looked at Pascal. "Tell me again why it was a bad idea to not bring the children?"
Pascal smiled. "They're just being kids, Vidcund."
"Exactly."
"Come on, let's go say hello to the newest citizen of Strangetown."
After introductions, all the adults - sans Jenny - settled down to eat. There was a slightly uncomfortable silence as everyone seemed just a little too busy with cutting their meat and chewing (or not chewing, as was the case with Lazlo).
Vidcund tried not to let the noise his nieces and nephew were making get to him. He told himself he should be used to it by now, but generally Kallisto and Victor weren't quite as loud as Jenny's children. If they were, Vidcund would simply tell them to keep it down. He didn't feel that it was his place to do so now, though.
"So, Lazlo tells me you work as a botanist?"
Vidcund was taken by surprise. The new woman, Cassandra, was trying to make conversation with him. It was not something he was very good at. Especially not with strangers, and especially not with strangers of the opposite sex. Very good looking strangers of the opposite sex. "Er... yes, I do. I'm especially interested in... unusual plants."
Cassandra smiled. "I work in the science field myself, as a researcher... Though it was always more my father's passion than my own. I haven't been able to find an open position here yet, though."
"Maybe Pascal can help you with that," Erin offered.
Lazlo looked to his eldest brother. "Yeah, haven't you been looking for some help down at the facility?"
"That is true...," said Pascal. "We've had a lot to do lately, researching those samples from the crashed spaceship."
"What?" Cassandra blinked.
Vidcund looked at her in surprise. "Lazlo didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"Lazlo, you didn't tell her?"
"I forgot!"
"How can you possibly forget-"
"An alien spaceship crashed at the edge of the town some time back," PT9 said, attempting to cut off the argument before it could begin. "It belongs to my people. Pascal and Vidcund managed to get some samples from it before the military came in and closed off the whole area. No one has been allowed near it since."
"Of course, the research would've gone a lot faster if you had helped us, PT9," Pascal said quietly.
"Pas, you know he can't," Lazlo chided him.
"That is very interesting," Cassandra said. "I'd love to help out if I can."
Pascal nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
"I really want to know as much about aliens as I can learn," Cassandra continued. "It's very important to me to know... to understand how my mother might be involved in all this."
"Well, you have Strangetown's foremost experts on the topic right around the table here," Lazlo said.
"And yet it feels like we know so little," said Pascal, with a small edge to his voice. PT9 sighed.
"Would you stop it, Pascal?" Vidcund felt himself getting increasingly annoyed. Pascal had acted like this ever since he started working on those crashsite findings.
"Why don't you just tell her the things you can tell her?" Jenny suggested as she served the second load of fried chicken. "She didn't come here to listen to you argue."
"You were going to tell me about the pollination," Cassandra said. "Why only males are pollinated. If that's the case, then I don't really understand what they'd want my mother for."
"We don't know what their plan is, though we do know the pollination is more than random experiments... It has a purpose, one that will lead to a greater existence for both sims and aliens," Pascal spoke with great enthusiasm, his bitterness seemingly gone again. "They wish us no harm. That's why they don't pollinate females..."
"That's right," PT9 agreed. "We don't want to interrupt the normal reproductive cycle of the sim females, or interfere with their breeding. My marrying Jenny is merely an exception, and a choice made out of love, not part of our work... Your males have very little part in the creation of a new life normally, so you see, therefore, by pollinating them, we aren't disrupting normal sim breeding and keeping the drastic life changes to a minimum."
Vidcund snorted, but said nothing. Many things could be said about his son, and Pascal's daughter, and their father's alien twin girls, and while many of them were good, 'disruptive' and 'drastically changing life' could also very easily be applied to them.
Even so, he knew that whatever had happened to Cassandra's mother, it hadn't been a normal alien abduction. Suddenly he felt the need to help her on her quest, in whatever way he could. Maybe on the way he could find some answers, as well. Answers that even Pascal hadn't found yet.