Chapter 63: Clara and the Aliens
Several years had passed since Clara's return to Felicity and her marriage to Fiona. The years had been happy until recently. Clara found herself grieving for family members that had ceased to be.
Clara was disconsolate from the death of her Aunt Martha and her Uncle Jim, she knew they should not have died. Clara had given them a large cup of her chicken soup and both should have remained healthy for another fifty years.
The rapid deterioration of both her Aunts Allison and Sophie forced Clara to decide that every one she loved would drink the magic potion in her presence.
However when Clara and Fiona got to her Aunt Allison's house they found both dead in their bed. They were in very fine night gowns and were in an embrace, smiling at each other. Fiona went across the willows to get Aunt Wendy and Clara went up two houses to get her Mom.
Neither was surprised. Sophie had become more and more demented and had gotten to the point she did not always recognize Allison.
Allison had hinted to her sisters that the next time Sophie knew who she was and remembered their life together they were going to celebrate with a special tea. Both were seventy-seven years old.
Their sisters took the tea cups to the kitchen and washed them then called their little sister Amanda. The three then talked to Allison and Sophie for about twenty minutes before Wendy called Allison's son and daughters. They were not surprised either. Connie and Joe came over and they all told stories about the loving couple until the coroner came to get them.
Clara was devastated because she had not visited with them for a long time and did not know the extent of Sophie's condition.
It made her more determined to make sure no one around her would die, ever.
She began before Allison and Sophie were taken away. She made Aunt Wendy and Aunt Amanda drink the soup she had brought for Allison and Sophie. She knew her Mom had drunk hers, she had watched her do so.
Both Amanda and Wendy said it was not as good as it had been the first time they tasted it. Clara learned that was her Aunt Wendy's third cup.
"Did Uncle Jim give you his?" Clara asked.
"Yes, I had broken a cold and he said I could use it more than he did. That was just before Die Fliedermaus."
Clara decided not to tell her about the potion. If she knew her Jim had died because she had a bit part in an opera she would drink whatever tea Aunt Allison had brewed.
Clara made sure that everyone she or Fiona loved was now protected from illness and would live a long life. But they also knew that they had been too reserved in their friendships and knew that there were many her sisters and her cousins knew and loved they had little contact with.
The began to attend every get together they had been invited to. The more get togethers they attended the more they were invited to attend.
They attended a Christmas party at the home of Fiona's little sister Bobbi. All there drank the soup. One of the guests was pregnant and Clara gave her a second but smaller cup telling her it was for the baby.
Before Clara and Fiona left Clara loved all of them and was happy they had attended.
Soon over eighty people had been dosed, she would not need to attend any funerals for a long time.
All were aging on average one year for every five. Her Mother Mo and her Aunt Wendy were doing much better than that. They were both in their mid sixties but looked and acted as if they were in their mid forties. She and her partner Fiona looked and felt like they were in their late twenties but were already in their late-forties. She and Fiona were happy.
Then Clara had surprise visitors, Grandma and Grandpa from the planet Akkad. She was very happy to see them, it had been years since their last visit. Grandma was a cousin of Empress Ohm who Clara had loved dearly and had led the rescue expedition to her lake house.
Fiona had met them while they were attending the succession ceremony for the present Emperor. She and Fiona had sex with four alien species and had a lot of fun which abruptly ceased when they learned the ceremony required for the Empress to cease to be.
They had not felt like playing with others after the ceremony and had requested to be taken back immediately. Grandma had commanded the ship that did.
In fact the memory of the event brought Clara to tears for several years afterwards.
She decided that this time she was ready to resume the love making. The Akkad had amazing tongues that sent Clara and Fiona into orgasmic spasms easily. The four spent a day making love and catching up with gossip.
On the second day Grandma filled them in on the future of Earth. It was as grim as could be, an almost complete extinction episode. She told Clara that as First Friend the Emperor Ohnling had commanded that she and all she designated would survive.
"That would be all of Felicity," Clara said.
"The Emperor loves everyone you love, especially your Aunt Wendy, your Mom, Martina and Paloma. He however wishes for you to decide who you would be happy with living inside a bubble because that is what you will be doing. He also wants you to think in terms of genetic legacy.
There will be just four shelters one of which will be a large island with a smaller bay island reserved for the people of Felicity. He hopes you will find at least two hundred people to bring with you but there is room for five hundred."
Clara thought about it for a couple of minutes then said, "Right now I can think of only about eighty people. I will need help on this."
"My daughter Ahn, Sehel the daughter of your Devl friend Tal, and the Sprite Ashel will be here tomorrow to help with that. The Kindred Rah may be with with them since her father Pehr will be working here in Felicity.
You need to recruit others to help you, think of the people that know JB's, Ruthie's Fiona's and Paloma's secrets. We know they can be trusted."
"How many people total will be saved?"
"We hope at least half a million. We are meeting with the recruiting team next week. We hope we may all stay here with you until then. Our daughter and Sehel will be upset if you don't invite them to stay with you."
"We have room but I better put bigger beds in the two other bedrooms," Clara said with a giggle.
"We will try to find recruiters starting today. I request that you two give them the news and their tasks. They will believe the seriousness of the situation much faster that way."
"Well, Grandpa can do that. I'm a bit leery of humans," Grandma said.
"Right," Grandpa said.
Before their argument began Clara said, "Do us a favor and visit Felice, we know she has had contact with others, we know her son is special."
"How do you know that?"
