Sisterly Love
by Selma McCrory
copyright 1998
part 2

"Earth Ranger station here. Hello, Astro Megaship. It's good to hear your voice again. May we be of any assistance?"

A couple of seconds' pause indicated that the person on the other hand was no doubt stunned. She could almost see him blinking. "Thank you, Earth Ranger station. I'm following up on some data that was sent from your station, and I would like to speak to the person responsible."

Poor Andros. Probably still stunned by the news, and wary of the possibility that it was a trap. Well, no trap, but he was going to be *very* surprised to find out who his sister was. "Astro Megaship, that person is unavailiable right now. I believe I'm familiar with the data you're referring to, would you like to meet at the usual spot and then we can go somewhere to discuss it?"

She could be formal right back at him. Admittedly, she felt nervous too. What if he didn't take her up on her offer? He was taking his sweet time. Finally, he answered. "Certainly, Earth Ranger station. I'l meet you there."

Ashley activated what little defenses were availiable and then set herself to teleport near to the Surf Spot. Andros was waiting by the door by the time she had slipped out of the bushes surrounding the teleport spot. He was wearing a red shirt and jeans that he'd often worn when they were unmorphed on Earth. The shirt had been T.J.'s, but she suspected that it had been given to him by his predecessor and maybe fit Andros a bit better than it had T.J.

"Ashley," he greeted her, standing stiffly, almost at attention.

"Andros," she replied, hopefully a little more warmly. "Do you want to discuss this here or somewhere else? Maybe you'd be a bit more comfortable someplace else."

"Someplace else, please," he said. He wasn't as stiff as he'd been a minute before, but she wouldn't call him relaxed, either.

"Here, I know a good private spot," she said. "Come on!"

She took him into the bushes. "Follow my teleport stream," she instructed. He nodded, and she set her communicator to get into the base, along with leaving the way for Andros to enter.

"Sorry about that," she said. "I had to make sure it was you."

"I could have been a shapechanger with the ability to read minds," he said, rather sharply.

She flushed. "Maybe," she countered, "But you wouldn't be here if you weren't you."

Andros looked like he was about to retort, but stopped. "My sister is here."

Okay, he was going to be blunt. "I know," she replied. Two could play at that game. She indicated the monitor. "I found that out just before you got here."

Andros turned to look at the monitor, and then punched a few controls. "Whose scan is this?" he asked, or rather, Ashley thought, demanded. He'd brought up her original scan. She just hoped he wouldn't have a heart attack when he heard the answer.

"It's mine. Justin scanned and sent it at my request."

"This-" Andros started, and then stopped. "This is your scan? You're my *sister*?"

Well, so far, so good. She rolled the chair in behind him. "Sit down, before you faint."

He plopped down on the chair. He was gaping, or at least giving a good impression of a fish, for his jaw kept moving up and down. "Andros, calm down. Give us both a chance to get used to this without me worrying about you."

Andros seemed to have finally found his voice. "You're my sister," he repeated. "You're Karone."

"Uh, yeah, according to this," she said, indicating the monitor. "You're right, though, it's near impossible that I could be your sister. Wouldn't someone have noticed?"

Andros straightened up. "Not if nobody thought to check," he said, leaving his seat. "If we go up to the Megaship, we can scan you. I have my own copy of Karone's scans. It shouldn't be too hard to check."

He held out his hand to her tenatively. She took it.

* * *

She sat on the bed in the Astro Megaship's medical center. Andros had gone to upload a copy of something having to do with his sister, to prove or disprove the theory that she was Karone.

Ashley almost hoped that his files would say that she wasn't. Still, the whole purpose of getting that scan sent out was to see if she was Andros' sister without getting Andros involved, just in case she wasn't. She should be happy that there was a good possibility that she was. Andros needed to be able to stop his search. He'd been at it too long already.

Andros came back in the room. He was still staring at something. He looked up as if he was finally realizing he'd come in for a reason. "Well?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Same results," he said. He was frowning, as if he thought if he frowned hard enough, the results would change. She didn't blame him.

"So you're my big brother."

"Apparently," Andros said. "I guess I shouldn't be so surprised: you've been very good learning telekinesis."

She blushed. "Thanks. So, what do we do now?"

"We go home," Andros said with certainty. "Everybody's been waiting for your return."

"Home?" Ashley asked. It was only then she realized that Andros was already seeing her not as a native of Earth, but his stranded sister, a native of KO-35.

"Home. The colony's resettled. We're on Verbeni, in the Novbruna system. I'll set a course immediately."

"Andros, wait."

Andros was already halfway out of the room when he stopped. He swung around. "What?"

"Give me a couple of days to get used to this," she pleaded. "I've only gotten the news. I need some time to pack and to think, and you need to tell me a whole lot more about our home. I have no memory of home at all."

Andros' shoulders seemed to drop a bit, but he nodded. "All right," he said. "But I want to go home soon."

"We will," Ashley said.

He smiled a little at that.

* * *

"Hey, Ashley!" T.J. greeted her as she sat down at the Surf Spot. "Did you get your results back yet?"

"Yeah, I got them back all right," she said. "They were a doozy. I am related to who I thought I was related to."

T.J. frowned, and placed his hand on hers. "Have you given him a call yet?"

"I didn't need to. He somehow found out about the transmission before the results came back, which means that I found out that I'm Karone about half a minute before he came calling for his sister."

"How'd it go?" T.J. said, dropping his voice even lower and leaning closer to her. She complied, leaning closer to him.

"You could have knocked him over with a feather when he found out. He couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe it, but when he checked against his own copy, we found out that I truly was his sister."

T.J. nodded. "It must be a shock to him. What are you going to do now?"

"Get used to each other, I'd guess," Ashley replied. "I have a bunch of memories hiding somewhere, and he's got to get used to me in other ways than the girl who spent the first week or so on the same team hitting on him. And then he has to remember that I don't remember him, our family, home, or customs."

"And you have to get used to the fact that he's your brother," T.J. offered.

"That too," Ashley admitted. "It's not going to be easy. I'm an only child! I have no idea on how to deal with a sibling, much less one that's from another planet."

"You know each other, that's a start. It's not like he's a complete stranger, Ashley. He's a guy you spent a year or so fighting on the same team with. You're just going to learn more about him in different ways now. You always did want to know what made him tick."

Ashley sighed. "These weren't the circumstances I had in mind, T.J. If I'd married him or something, and we couldn't get along in a close, non-Ranger environment, that's one thing. But he's my *brother*, and I'm afraid something is going to go wrong and make things even worse than they are."

"You want my advice?" T.J. asked. She nodded. "Spend a lot of time about him. Find out about him and his world. Maybe you can start off with a picnic lunch or something. Get him relaxed."

Ashley nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

* * *

It looked like Angel Grove park, if you ignored the metallic walls.

Ashley's original idea had been to meet at the Park, but Andros had wanted her aboard the ship. Since there was little she could do about that, plus the fact that Andros had promised to introduce her to the foods of her "home", she accepted.

Still, the picnic blanket looked sadly out of place. She couldn't put her finger on why, exactly, but it did. Maybe it was because she was sitting in an alien spacecraft, in a simulation of a park that she knew very well. She wondered what was taking Andros so long. Maybe he'd actually made something instead of using the replicator. The foods from that were nutritious, but didn't taste so good. They'd always been one of the few reasons she didn't like being in space.

Another was that she'd spend a long time away from her family. Well, it wasn't as if she'd get much of a chance to stay *away* from her family now, her real brother at least. And she didn't doubt that she'd get to see her adopted one on a fairly common basis. Unless Andros was planning on retiring after finding her, at which point she'd be stuck on wherever the colony had relocated to. She hoped she could make Andros understand that her adoptive family on Earth was just as important as he was.

The door swished open, and Andros came in with a tray. He'd pinned his hair back into a ponytail, much as he had when they were on the same team. The food that he had smelled good, but then so had the bacon and eggs that the ship had attempted to replicate all evening. No wonder T.J. had always drowned his meals, whenever possible, in katsup.

"That smells good," she said, as he sat down. He'd been at enough picnics to at least know that you sat down on the blanket.

"Thank you," Andros responded. "This is sube. It's a dish mother's always enjoyed making and eating. You always liked it, too."

Ashley accepted the dish, and took a bite. Whatever was in it, the taste exploded in her mouth. Some kind of vegetable dish, she judged. She took a few more bites, reveling in the taste. Even without Andros telling her about it, she knew that she'd had it before. "It's very good," she said. "I think I remember it."

Andros' shoulders relaxed. "I was hoping you would. You must remember something, then."

"The taste of the food, maybe. I still don't have any memories of you prior to meeting you on that planet."

"It's a good sign," Andros insisted. "Once you get used to things, we can go home, and we have people there who can significantly aid in recovering your memories. At the very least, you'll be among family and friends, all of whom would love to help you remember who you were."

"Let's take it slowly, okay?" Ashley asked. "I barely know *you*, and I was with you for a year. I haven't really had time to get used to the fact that I'm adopted, much less that my real parents are a few lightyears away. And that I spent a year with the brother I never knew I had."

"Okay," Andros said. She could see his longing to go home, and was thankful of his high principles. Without them, they'd be on the way to the colony by now.

(End of Part 2)