Part One: An Unexpected Encounter

Commander Seth Goddard stood on the command post of the Christa, staring out at the view of space. Three years of travel and hardships on the route back to the Starcademy had left marks of weariness on his face. The kids- no, he couldn't call them kids anymore; they'd matured more in three years than most would in ten years- seemed to be losing heart these days, even Rosie. Miss Davenport was so depressed she had isolated herself in her quarters for almost a week now. Thelma, of course, was the same as ever. Goddard wondered if anything that had happened affected Thelma in any way...

He knew that if something good didn't happen soon, they might all just give up, and that would mean death.

As the Christa entered an unknown system, another ship began to show on her sensors.

"Another Lumanian ship!" Goddard exlaimed. "This one looks exactly like the Christa does now!"

Goddard was right. This Lumanian ship was the same silvery colour as the Christa, and had lost the same portion of its topside. The crew of the Christa, however, were too excited by the possibility of learning something about the mysterious creators of these ships to notice the startling similarities. The hope of even meeting one of the Lumanians had stirred the depressed students into a flurry of action. Thelma, however had some bad news.

"The ship is dead in space, Commander." She said. "It has only basic system functions, mostly life support, but I cannot detect a transponder signal to identify her. I am also detecting only two life signs."

Goddard was about to say something, but an overexcited Rosie didn't give him a chance.

"Signal coming through from the other ship, Commander. It's audio only."

"Punch it up."

The message started. And Commander Goddard couldn't believe his ears.

"Mayday, mayday. This is Commander Seth Goddard of the Christa. We are in dire need of assistance. Please send help."

It was his own voice.

"Is this some sort of prank?" He demanded, turning to his crew.

If their expressions were any indication, it wasn't.

"Great, just great. This should be very interesting. Come on, team. Let's go help ourselves."

It dawned on him that that wasn't very witty.

Commander Goddard, Thelma, Harlan, Radu and Suzee crossed over to the other ship, with what happened last time they'd come across another Lumanian ship foremost in their minds. The interior of the vessel was a horrible mess, with parts and rubble strewn everywhere.

"Heh," laughed Harlan, "looks familiar."

"No kidding," replied Radu, "let's just hope that what happened last time doesn't happen now."

Goddard looked over at Suzee. She seemed very uncomfortable.

"Okay, knock it off, you two. We'd better split up. Suzee, check the engine room. Harlan, Radu, check the living areas and the cargo bays. Thelma, you're with me. Everybody meet at the command post when you're done. Got it?"

"Got it." They replied in unison.

In the boys' bunkroom, Harlan had given up hope of finding anyone.

"We've checked both bunkrooms, the lounge, the medlab and the classroom," Harlan complained, " we're probably not going to find anyone at all."

"Listen to you. You're stating to sound like Bova," Radu replied, "I'm sure we'll find somebody. Thelma did detect two life signs."

"And anyway," Harlan went on, "if this is just a copy of the Christa, where's all our stuff? I mean, I don't recognize any of these clothes or nothin'!"

"We did find that bear I gave Rosie," Radu countered, "and some of that Bova merchandise from Neon. Maybe they... uh, I mean... we were doing laundry, or had gotten some new clothes and other stuff... somehow."

"Yeah, well, I don't like it. Nothin' here says 'Harlan Band was here' or anything like that. It's like I didn't even exist on this Christa." He stopped, shuddered, and continued. "I'm creeping myself out. Let's go check out the cargo bay."

"I'm with you."

In the engine room, Suzee was alone.

Too alone.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she thought aloud, "the main power should be online, but... Hey!"

She couldn't believe what she saw, lying across the power conduit.

It was a girl who looked just like Catalina, or at least, what she would look like as an Earth human. Her long hair definitely wasn't rainbow coloured, and her Starcademy uniform was an odd colour, but the face was the same. And there she was, lying unconscious on the conduit, with a bad cut on her forehead. Her breathing was shallow, but it was there. And that was enough.

"I've gotta get you back to the Christa! Well, wait 'till the others see this! If... they can see this, that is. I'll just take you to the medlab, and we'll see what happens there."

Carrying the unconscious girl on her back, Suzee set out for the airlock.

The command post was in shambles. Most of the stations were either toppled or melted, except for the helm, which had a pile of debris on top of it. However, Commander Goddard and Thelma did find something of importance. Another Thelma. As Goddard continued searching the area, Thelma was busy interfacing with her other self.

"Hello, Thelma... I am Thelma." The more-functional Thelma said.

"Hello, Thelma... I am also Thelma." the other replied.

"Would you mind, Thelma, if we interfaced so I could learn what happened here, and download some of your Christa's Infocore into our own?"

"Certainly, Thelma," the other replied, "I am always willing to aid myself."

Thelma plugged herself into her counterpart, and the exchange began.

"Oh my." Thelma said.

Rosie and Bova sat in the command post, a deck of card between themselves and the gizbot.

"Got any fives?" Bova asked, fully expecting a no.

"Go fish." The mercurian replied.

"So, Rosie," Bova went on, pulling an ace from the pile, "what do you suppose is going on over on the other Christa?"

As if in response, the comm light flashed on. It was Suzee.

"Rosie, can you meet me in the medlab? I found somebody."

Rosie looked at Bova. The gizbot had already taken its turn, and put down a pair of kings.

"Sorry. We'll pick this up later, okay? I've really got to go and help Suzee."

With that, she took off for the jump tubes, and disappeared inside.

"Figures," Bova said. He turned to the gizbot. "Got any aces?"

Harlan and Radu were on their way to the command post. Their search of the cargo bay had turned up a bigger mess than either of them had ever seen before, but nothing of any real interest, and no people, either. But they weren't talking about that now. They were dicussing Suzee.

"She's been awfully quiet and withdrawn lately, Harlan. Do you suppose that... That maybe she's homesick?"

"We're all homesick, Radu. But I guess she's just more so... Because she really can't go home, right?"

"Right."

"Oh, wow... Suzee, she looks just like Catalina!"

Rosie and Suzee were in the medlab, and the Earther-Catalina was lying, still unconscious, on the bed. Rosie was performing various scans of her, but hadn't found anything really bad yet.

"So Rosie," Suzee asked anxiously, "how is she?"

Rosie looked up at the older girl, worry in her eyes. Suzee hadn't been able to contact Catalina in her dimension in over a year, and had gotten more and more distraught every day. If this really was Cat, somehow, then this might bring up everybody's spirits.

"Well, except for the cut on her head, she's pretty much fine. She should come around in a few hours."

Suzee smiled, weakly.

"Great."

"Commander Goddard, my counterpart has ceased functioning."

Thelma and the other Thelma had been interfacing for nearly a half-hour, while Radu, Harlan and Commander Goddard were buy clearing the debris in the command post. The other Thelma, however, had suddenly run down.

"Well, what did you find?"

"Apparently, Commander, this Christa was pulled here fom a parallel reality... One in which many of the same things that happened to us occurred... However, it would appear that things did not go as well for them as they did for us."

Goddard looked about the post again.

"I guess you're right."

"There is something else, Commander... It would appear that this Christa had a slightly different crew from ours... and our Christa has accepted these variations as additional crew!"

Radu and Harlan had begun clearing debris from on top of the helm. Thelma continued:

"First, there is no mention of Suzee, either as a real or imagined person... Catalina on this Christa was from Earth, no Saturn... And... Oh my! There is also no mention of Harlan Band! There is, however, someone else..."

Thelma never got to finish that sentence, because Harlan shouted out:

"Commander, we found somebody!"

More debris was shifted aside, revealing a tall young man in a coatless Starcademy uniform. The uniform was almost identical to Harlan's, but his shirt was black, and his pants and vest were darker grey than the other's uniforms. His short, dark hair was slightly matted with blood. He was alive, however, and starting to come around...

When he saw the Commander, Radu and Harlan looking down at him, he looked at first shocked, then confused.

"Wha...huh?" He stammered, licking his parched lips.

"Who are you?" Goddard asked.

"Commander, don't you recognize me? Hey... How are you and Radu here, anyway? And," he said, looking at Harlan, "who's he?"

"Me?!" Harlan asked, flustered. "Who are you?"

"Why, I'm..." The young man trailed off, losing concsiousness.

Goddard acted immediately.

"Come on, team. Let's get him to the medlab."

Radu picked the unconscious pilot up easily, and carried him over his shoulder as they headed out toward the airlock.

Well, Radu thought, this guy's probably going to have a very interesting story to tell...

The end of Part One: An Unexpected Encounter

Next- Part Two: Names

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