Garden in Space

Astra shrugged and pressed the button. The doors slid shut and the elevator lurched, not up or down, but sideways. Stacy fell sideways into Astra and ended up clutching the side rail with both hands with Astra between her and the wall.

"Oh hello," said Astra putting her arms around Stacy. "Fancy meeting you here."

Stacy smiled and gave her a long wet kiss. They were interrupted when the elevator came to an abrupt stop and the doors slid open. Stacy let Astra go but gave her a slap on the butt as Astra walked out of the elevator. Astra looked over her shoulder and gave Stacy a cheeky smirk and Stacy followed her.

They found themselves in a dark forest. Through the leafy canopy, Stacy could see black starry night. Underfoot she felt the soft surface of the lush grassy turf.

"Wow," said Stacy. The contrast with the hard metal interior of the space station was so great that she felt like she had walked through a Gateway. "This is more impressive than I had imagined. And a lot more spooky."

"It will be day soon," said a voice from somewhere ahead of them in the dark. "Day and night come every couple of minutes up here."

Right on cue the sun started rising, it's light dancing through the foliage off to their right. Ahead of them Stacy saw a slender figure with straight black hair that fell below her shoulders like a veil.

"Michiko!" said Astra. "So good to see you again."

The sun had already risen just above the tree line and Stacy saw that Michiko was wearing a jumpsuit just like theirs but hers was pure white.

Michiko crossed her arms. "You shouldn't have come."

"I needed to warn you," said Astra. "Someone's out to get us and I've no doubt it has something to do with the Gateways."

"I have no doubt about that either, Astra," said Michiko. "We took it all too far."

"We think Stacy made a break-through," said Astra.

"Michiko raised and eyebrow. "Go on."

"But I lost my memory," said Stacy.

Michiko frowned and walked up and gently held the sides Stacy's head. She looked into Stacy's eyes and spoke in a quietly. "I might be able to help. How much memory loss?"

"Pretty much all of it. I just knew me first name."

"I do wish you two would be more careful," said Michiko in a gentle voice.

Stacy looked into Michiko's dark eyes. Strands of straight black hair framed her face which was as delicate as china with pale skin and pink lips that glistened. She looked genuinely concerned.

Michiko gently stroked Stacy's cheeks and drew near to her. "I've missed you Stacy. You always were the best of us." She put her hands behind Stacy's head and very gently kissed her on the lips. She followed it by another kiss just on Stacy's lower lip. She tasted of bubblegum but smelled of roses. "I'll do my best to help you. I promise."

1. Michiko took them to her lab
2. They were interrupted by someone

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