Blood Sisters
Chapter 3

JennyGoldstar had turned 16 and was being interviewed for a book about hermother, this one supposedly going more into depth about her marriageand family. Jenny was sitting across from the author in her family'sliving room at the Goldstar Ranch. Jenny was wearing a whitebeta-cloth body suit which displayed the bronze skin of her upperback and shoulders, a modest decolletage and matching elbow-lengthwhite gloves. Her golden blonde hair was loose in the front, framingher face with wisps of hair and pulled back into a wide ponytail inback.

Justwhat the world needs Jenny thought ANOTHERbook about my mom... “Actually, it does”she continued answering the interviewer's question about herforce-field; “I kinda see the world the way you might if you sawthrough... amber colored lenses, everything is yellowish.” Theauthor nodded. His name was Robert Burke, a former newsman turnedauthor who was well past sixty. He smiled at Jenny, his teeth brightin contrast with his rich black skin. He asked “and this is the wayit has always been for you I am told... you were born trapped insidethere as you are now.” Jenny frowned. “The way you say it makesit seem so... gloomy, I don’t feel trapped in here...” Burke cutin “but to have never known another persons touch... a first kiss,a hug...” Jenny shrugged. “Other people have said that same thingto me, but hey, look up at the sun! Its never been kissed either, butits perfectly happy floating out there being sunny. I am who I am!”.Robert offered a dry smirk. The old newsman saw something in Jenny'smanner, her eyes, that made him doubt the sincerity of her cheeryresponse. But he let it pass for now. He went along with the girl andsaid wryly “are you saying you are like the Sun.. a star?”

Jennynodded “yes, but not a Hollywood star... more like a groovy SPACEstar”. Robert tapped a sharp pencil on his pad, mildly amused “a..groovy space star, groovy is a slang term I have not heard ina while, it sounds more like a word your father would use.” Jennysmiled brightly “You better believe it! groovy rocks! I think itstime has come again, its charmingly retro.”

“Isthat how you think of your father, charming and retro?”Jenny laughed “No, my dad is hopeless, I love him, I mean that heis COMPLETELY out of touch.” Burke cut in again “except for theword groovy?.” Jenny scoffed “that, tie die, bell bottom jeansand the other three things that were a good idea last century”.Robert retorted “those of us who were alive back then have somepretty fond memories of it.”

Jennysnorted “and we were talking about me seeing the world in a strangeway?” Burke studied the young woman for a moment before saying“when I first mentioned that you were using a word that your fatherwould, you... puffed up proudly, you seemed quite pleased about suchan observation, yet then you described your father as beinghopeless?”

Jennytwisted a lip as she knocked that around in her head for a fewmoments. “I am proud of my father, I love him! He is the best. Hehas always been there for me, always. In every way that matters, hehas been there. I am just saying, that when he helped me with myhomework he put on the Moody Blues. People did come up with musicafter 1979, that’s all.” Jenny smiled wistfully. “But Iwouldn’t change him really. He’s my dad. He’s Goldstar! And I’mhis...” she blushed, which is a little hard to tell through herforce-field. “Your his what?” asked Burke. “Sparkle.” Jennysaid softly. “He calls me Sparkle”.

Burkescratched his close-cropped salt and pepper hair and waited a fewmoments while Jenny composed herself. The Golden Girl reached downtowards a box of tissues, there was a brief flash, and then thetissue was inside her force-field with her. She dabbed at her eyesand cleared her nose. Burke's eyebrows rose as he watched this, itwas rare to see any display of powers up close. Jenny pressed thetissue into her energy field, somehow making a spark at the point ofcontact that instantly vaporized the tissue with a hint of smoke. Robert blinked his eyes and shook his head involuntarily. Jenny,oblivious to his reaction, just looked back at Robert with her bigblue eyes (which had a touch of green through her golden halo ofenergy) and smiled.

Burkecleared his throat and continued after a moment, nonplussed. “Doyou mind if... I get some additional information about you, I wouldlike to include some of your background in my book and... I admit tosome curiosity.” Jenny beamed. “Sure! I am my favorite subject!”Burke chuckled and then considered a few moments. “Lets go back toyour force... field for a moment.” Burke tapped his pencil.

“So,you can't turn the force-field off, but as I just saw you do seem tobe able to... stretch it slightly and change its shape”. Jennynodded and replied “Yeah, I can stretch it out several arm-lengths actually, but only if I focus on a small area, not much more then thewidth of my hand, otherwise I can only contract or expand the fieldby a few inches.” Burke asked “and what was that spark, the onethat burned up the tissue just now.” Jenny grinned “Oh that, wellI can focus some of the force-field energy for a second or two,enough to generate a fair bit of heat and such, kinda like a smalllightning bolt. But its not electricity, its what the, um.. brainguys we work with call bio-mutant energy. With practice I'velearned to time it with a punch or a kick, the force-field transfersthe um.. physical energy of my strike and at the same time I canspark my force-field. Which kicks serious butt by-the-way” Jennybounced happily.

Burkesmiled at the girl's enthusiasm then asked “If you'll indulge mefor a moment... how do you, bathe or even get dressed?” Jennysmiled “I get that question a lot actually. My force-field is notair tight” she took a deep breath to demonstrate “and if I let itwater can get in as well, slowly. I basically take a bath in here,then I either let it leak out, or if I am in a hurry I just teleport”there was the same flash Burke saw earlier as Jenny teleported acrossthe room, then back into her chair “and I leave the water behind.”Jenny continued “as far as getting dressed, I have been trying tojust teleport into my clothes, but no luck with that yet. So I justkind of do a little 'port like this...” Jenny reached towards abowl of fruit on the coffee table, there was a flash as Jenny seemedto just 'blink' away for a second and then she was holding an applein her hand inside the force-field. Jenny smiled ruefully “as youcan imagine, that took a LOT of practice; getting dressed or gettinganything inside my force-field has been quite a chore.”

Burkenodded “I'll bet” he said with sympathy. His pencil tapped. “Iwas told that the energy that powers your force-field also sustainsyour body, so... can you eat that apple?” Jenny shrugged “I CANbut, I don't have too. Eating or drinking anything eventually createsan... issue I would rather not deal with thank you very much, bathingis tricky enough as it is” her face blushed red and she laughedawkwardly. With a flash the apple was again back in the bowl.“Beforeyou ask, I can tell you that the brain guys have no idea how I canteleport, so don't bother asking.” She smiled impertinently.

Burketook a moment to regard the lovely young woman, all clad in white,surrounded by her halo of gold. “So, I know that you are somewhat..stronger and tougher then a... non-powered person, though not as muchas your mother. I understand that up until now nothing has been ableto penetrate your force-field” Jenny interrupted “Yes, but ifsomeone hits the field hard enough I can feel it. If it's hit REALLYhard I can even get hurt... as I learned one day when I jumped offthat big tree in the yard” she pointed and smirked. “Good thingit was just a bruise, I have no idea how I would set a bone or put acast on myself” Jenny gave a small laugh. Burke said “Yes, soyour field transfers... kinetic energy more efficiently outward thenfrom the outside in, fortunately for you...” Jenny just nodded,trying to remember how her trainers explained all this “um... yeathat’s right I guess.”

Burkemade a few notes on his pad, then said “Now, please correct me if Ihave any of this wrong. Both of your parents can fly, in fact, yourfather can move very fast in his energy form; both your mother andfather can project their... bio-mutant energy at range. Your motherprojects her energy in its raw form, and your father creates intenserays of light and heat, which are golden in hue, as you would expectfrom his adopted name. Your father's energy discharge has been saidto have the same destructive capacity as artillery, even cruisemissiles...” Jenny smirked “yup, he can shoot and scoot, that'shis thing. He's got the big guns.”

Burkenodded and continued “your father has a powerful force-field,similar to yours in color, but even more resilient. He can canproject it around himself, or someone else that is close, andGoldstar can deactivate his.” Robert caught a frown from Jenny atthat, but just went on “and... your father can sense...” helooked down at his notes, then continued “...the full range of theEM spectrum, and your mother can sense the location, type andintensity of bio-mutant energies at considerable range” Jennysnorted and rolled her eyes “I'd say, so annoying...”

Robertlooked amused and continued “Okay so, again tell me if I have anyof this wrong; unlike your parents you have no special senses, can'tfly or... project your bio-mutant energy except with yourforce-field. You have trained in hand to hand combat, your strong,you can teleport short distances.” The newsman paused, consideringhow to frame his next question. “This brings me to what is perhapsyour most mysterious ability. I understand that you are amazinglylucky, that you almost always win a game of chance, have never had anaccident, even just a slip and fall...”

Jennysmiled impishly “You forgot that I am super-adorable and haveamazing reflexes” she giggled lightly. “I once guessed the rightside on a coin toss like... five hundred times in a row before theygave up on it” she smirked “and actually your wrong, I don'talmost always win a game, I have NEVER lost a game of chance.No one even plays me anymore except my dad. “Its too bad peopleknow about your luck” he has told me “otherwise we couldclean up in Vegas.” Jenny brightened and said “hey did youknow my dad has one of those Vegas Elvis suits? It is SO funny! Hewears it on New Years Eve.” Burke chuckled and replied “I'll besure to ask him about it”.

Theold reporter asked “do the metaphysicians, the brain guys as youcall them have any explanation for your incredible luck? Neither ofyour parents have any powers like that, for that matter, no New HumanI've ever heard of has that talent.” Jenny thought a moment thensaid “the best guess I have heard the guys talk about is what theycall an, um... unknown variable or something maybe 'cause my folksare both Omegas... um, yeah they don't know.” Jenny shrugged,yawned, then gave a long, slow stretch like a kitten inside hergolden cocoon.

Robertgave a long pause, considering his next question carefully. “I justwanted to ask you about something that happened to your family a fewyears back.” Jenny tensed, she knew where this was going. “Youraunt Winter, your Mother's sister was born with no New Humanabilities...” Jenny looked out the window, frowning. “Your familyhas spoken very little of what occurred after the Splicerincident...” Jenny swallowed, and a flash of anger played over heryoung face. “My aunt was not responsible for what she did asFrostbite and...”Robert interrupted, talking gently “I know that Jenny, and I haveno doubt that it is true...” Jenny shot back “Why are you evenasking me about this, I was like five when that happened, you thinkI'm gonna talk about it? I don't like to even thinkabout it. That creep almost took my one and only aunt from me, andshe has never been...” Jenny looked away and choked back, closingher eyes. Robert noted that Jenny's force-field brightened and itshum became louder as Jenny became upset. He decided to let thesilence sit and he waited. Jenny calmed and looked back at him “Iam not gonna talk about this, OK? She is North Star now, she is oneof those US Special Marshalsnow and I barely get to see her anymore.” Burke nodded “Yes, sheand her fellow Marshals are doing a lot of good.” Jenny grimaced“Its not fair, it was not her fault, she has never forgivenherself, and they still watch her like they expect Frostbite to comeback any moment. I hate it, I hate it.”

Again,the old Newsman let the silence stretch out. This time Jenny let thesilence settle.

Burkechanged subjects “I read in my press kit that once you are 18 youplan to follow in your parents footsteps in the hero businessgoing by the nom de plumeshall we say, of Miracle”. Jenny nodded with a forced smile, stillfeeling upset “Yup, that’s the plan. It's kinda because I like towear white, and my force-field kinda looks like a halo... you know,the whole um... angel thing, and being so lucky... yeah, Miracle.”She blushed self-consciously. “I wish I could say I came up withit, but actually a friend of mine did”.

“Youdo look a little like an angel I will admit” Robert said with asmile. Jenny blushed redder “thanks Mr. Burke.” Burke cleared histhroat and took a sip of water “What is your friends name?” Jennyquickly replied, suddenly wary again “Um, lets not go there either,I don't share stuff like that.” Burke seemed to understand and wenton. Jenny really was just 16.

“Manyof your generation of New Humans have told me that they plan be...basically a superhero as their occupation. Your mother is acountry music star and your father is actually a fairly accomplishedscientist, he has earned at least one PhD in physics has done work atFermilab, CERN and worked with the JPL on some planetary explorationprojects.” Burke cleared his throat again “you... and many yourage, just want to be a hero.” He pointed his pencil “are yougoing to charge for that, is someone going to fund you? How does onemake a living being a superhero?”

Jennyshrugged inside her field. “Huh, that's a good point, I guess Ican't just live on my allowance” Jenny smirked “Just kidding, myparents are loaded, they have told me that they and some other peopleare establishing a... foundation or something to um fund ah...”Jenny smacked her head. “...actually that's something else I am notreally supposed to talk about.”

RobertBurke thought about that a few moments with a furrowed brow. He hadbasically struck out on the three topics he was hoping get someinformation on from her. He decided not to press it, the betterinstincts of his integrity taking hold. “Interesting, well letsjust move on shall we young lady?” he smiled and tapped hispencil. Jenny nodded and stifled another yawn. With a sour grin theaged newsman decided to have some fun with his young subject and tryto lighten the mood. He spoke using his old radio talk-show hostvoice “Okay so, while we still have some time, lets go back to theFACINATING subject of your mother, Allison Ashton; the FAMOUSAmerican SUPER-hero Miss Liberty!” Burke hammed it up and watchedJenny squirm and roll her eyes “sure, OK.” Burke pulled a sharpnew pencil from his bag and they kept talking into the afternoon.Jenny slouched lower into her chair with every question that wasn'tabout her.

***

Afterwhat Jenny thought could have been a few years, Marty came to herrescue. He walked into the living room with his usual big grin.Bright below the bushy mustache he was currently sporting. With aquick twist of his head he got his long dirty blond hair out of hisface. Jenny smiled and waved “Hi Dad!” Marty winked at her givingthe gun click wave. Mr. Burke stood “Hello Dr. Goldstar, I did notexpect to see you on this visit, I pleased to have been wrong.”Marty nodded “Hey, just Marty, okay man?” Robert smiled at theshorter man. “And just Robert for me.” “Right on.” Marty waswearing his usual bell-bottoms and a new black t-shirt that showed acracked disco-ball globe with the caption “The world ended the daydisco died.”

“Hey,you two have been at this for a while, thought you might like to havesome eats, I got some sandwiches and stuff made up that Jenny canwatch us eat. Robert, would you like a beer?” The old newsmannodded, he was pretty hungry actually. “That sounds great Marty,you mind if we talk while we....” “Hey man, lets just hang outalright? Leave your pad here man!” Robert grinned “Fair enough.”Jenny flashed to her feet “wow... you two just go on, I am sure Ihave some homework or something I have to do...” Marty laughed“Yeah that, or boys to talk too or Facebook to surf or anything buthanging out with your old man.” Jenny pouted “C'mon...” Martygot her in a quick hug and noogied her force-field causing it to hum.“C'ya kid.” He looked over at Robert and the two walked towardsthe kitchen, the flash of light behind them giving notice of Jenny'sescape.