<b>Passion of Erika Christensen, Chapter 4:
Sailing with the Hudsons,</b>
			an erotic tale by AchtungNight.

Tagline: Sailing with Kate & Sarah Hudson, Erika experiences
growth.

<b>Celebs:</b> Erika Christensen, Kate Hudson, Sarah Hudson,
Jesse Bradford.
<b>Codes:</b> MF, FF, threesome, orgy, oral, anal, interracial,
incest, dp, exh, voy.

<I>Standard disclaimer- This story is a satirical fantasy.  It is
fictional, even though its plot and characters are based on real
events and people.  All characters based on real people are
fictionalized.  All celebrities in the story are impersonated --
poorly.  I, the author, have no actual connection to any
celebrity mentioned in this story other than being their fan, and
I acknowledge that they do not act in real life the way my
characters based on them do. I did not write this tale for
financial profit and I expect none from it.  This story contains
controversial adult themes and situations, so it should not be
read by those who are close-minded or under age 18.</I>

<b>Intro:</b> <I>Welcome, readers.  This story is part of a
series that burned me out a while back.  The burnout is over now
and I have resumed writing.  Time and the responses of readers
have made some changes in my original plans but the story 
retains the same themes.  This chapter is one of the two left to
publish.  I thank all who have aided me in completing it and
getting through the burnout.  I appreciate all my fans and
friends.  I also appreciate feedback.  Please send all you can. 
(DougElder21@yahoo.com)

Some notes on this story.  First, this is not just an erotic
fanfic.  It is also a coming-of-age philosophical allegory.  I
recognize that stories such as this are not often found in this
genre but I do not think that means I should put aside my vision.
 I believe this story is one that needs to be told.

All opinions expressed within this story are mine.  My goal in
expressing them is no more than tolerance, writing a good plot
and honoring my characters.  I always try to maintain the utmost
respect for the people behind my characters even if my definition
of respect sometimes differs from the most common one.  If what I
write offends you, you are free to send me feedback about it and
discuss things.  I pride myself on my open compassionate mind.  I
also try to give attention to both sides of a controversial issue
whenever I write a story about one.  This tale is one of those.

Second note: I am aware that some of the music in this story may
not have been around at the same time in real life.  This music
works to get readers into the characters, though, so I have
changed history a little for my fictional story and included this
music.  You don't need to correct me on this detail.

Third, with this story I drop the flashback format I used in the
previous 'Passion' chapters.  It just didn't work for this one. 
I don't think anyone will miss it that much.

If you want an order in which all my Erika stories can be read
chronologically, try the following:  "Passion Ch.1-3" (keep in
mind these stories also have scenes that take place after "The
Rendezvous"), "Passion Ch.4" (this story), "The Rendezvous",
"Closer Than Six Degrees", and "Rekindled".  You don't have to
read any of these other stories first to get this one, but you
can if you want to be keyed in to plot elements on which this
story does not concentrate.  You can also read the connected
stories "Inside Out" and "The Beijing Streakers" for more
information on the Friendship.

There will be a final "Passion" chapter that takes place after
all these other stories that will resolve the dangling threads
and the conflict of Erika vs. her religion's most famous zealot.
I hope all will look forward to it.  Let's get the final
necessary developments out of the way first.</I>

***
<b>Passion of Erika Christensen, Chapter 4: Sailing with the
Hudsons
Los Angeles, California.  March 2002. </b>

	"Welcome to Hollywood!"

	The Rastafarian grinned, opening his arms to all around him. 
"Everybody who comes to Hollywood's got a dream!  Some dreams
come true, some don't."  He pointed at random people on the
street around him.  "What's your dream?  What's your dream?  Hey,
pretty woman!  What's your dream?"

	"I'm still figuring that out," Erika Christensen replied with
caution.  The man was one of many strange people moving around
her on Hollywood Boulevard.  He nodded at her answer and then
moved on with his ever-present toothy smile.

	"What's your dream?  Hey mister!  Hey!  What's your dream?"

	Erika ran a hand through her long golden curls and hurried to
catch up with her two companions.  Like them, she was dressed
casually in a bright-hued blouse and skirt that highlighted her
voluptuous bust and firm legs.  Her hair tumbled down her back
and around her cherubic face and indigo eyes.  Her porcelain skin
gleamed in the streetlights.  Several of the ladies of the night
walking the Boulevard had been giving her harsh looks throughout
the evening.  Erika ignored them as best she could.

	She wasn't getting nearly as many harsh looks as her companions.
 The taller and older of the pair, Kate Hudson, looked like a
Greek goddess with her bony statuesque features and white
alabaster flesh.  Straight blonde hair a shade lighter than
Erika's hung about her shoulders.  She appraised the people
walking past them with sky blue orbs behind sunglasses, casting a
cool smile at anyone who looked back.

	The other girl, Sarah Hudson, was a shapely woman with a
handsome face and deep makeup.  Long brick red hair accented her
hazel eyes and laughing smirk.  Any woman who stared at her
received an answering look of challenge.  So far, that look had
also frightened off a few guys.

	Oh well, Erika thought, the guys in question didn't seem like
much anyway.  The night's still young.  If it goes sour, we can
always head home and have fun with each other.

	"You see these stars on the sidewalk?" a scantily clad skank
asked, stepping into their path.  She pointed at several other
girls with her.  "This is our turf, bitch!"

	"We're not hookers," Kate coolly informed the skank.  "Far be it
from us to steal your business."

	"Don't fuck with us," Sarah added with a glare.  The hookers
nodded and backed off.  Kate and Sarah walked on.

	I wish I could give them some advice; Erika paused in thought,
looking at the prostitutes.  So many of these girls have such
messed-up lives, I would try to help them if they'd listen to me.
 I know people don't always appreciate help, though.  I don't
think it would be appreciated here.

	She smiled at the hookers and several flashed her upraised
middle fingers that confirmed her conjecture.  Erika sighed and
tucked her Scientology cross pendant out of view under her blouse
as she headed away.

	"Just ignore them," Kate advised her.  "Those whores give Sarah
and me trouble every time we come down this way.  People like
them are the main reason I've donated thousands to clean this
area up."

	Erika nodded.  She did the same with the money she earned as an
actress. It's working, she thought, looking around at the
Boulevard.  The people on this street look mostly content here in
the week before college spring break.  The crooks of this area
are still evident but there aren't nearly as many as when I last
walked the Boulevard.  That's good.  This is L.A.'s main
thoroughfare of the arts.  It has the Walk of Fame and many
theaters and restaurants.  I don't appreciate that it also has
crime.

	A large black van drove past, making her feel better.  Kate's
adopted father and another man were inside the vehicle watching
over the girls and patrolling the area.  Erika had requested
their presence.  I have a bad feeling about tonight, she had told
Kate and Sarah.  You never know what will happen.  Sometimes
pepper spray and fast feet aren't enough.  It was Erika's first
time picking up guys with them on the Boulevard, so the other two
women had acquiesced to her demand.

	Erika was nineteen years old.  Kate and Sarah were in their
early twenties.  Erika had met them while filming a movie with
Kate's mother Goldie Hawn.  "The Banger Sisters" was a comedy
about two best friends who reunited in the present after sleeping
with dozens of rock stars in the 1960s.  One of them, Goldie, was
still into the groupie lifestyle.  The other, played by Susan
Sarandon, had settled down in the suburbs and become a mother of
two.  Erika played the older daughter whose drunken prom night
revelry brought Goldie back into Susan's life.

	In reality, Susan and Goldie had known each other for decades. 
Geena Davis, one of Erika's mentors as an actress and sexual
being, had introduced Erika to them.  Some months ago, Erika had
discovered she was bisexual and wanted to be a happy swinger. 
Geena had pointed out Susan and Goldie as the two most
experienced female celebrity swingers she knew.  They had both
grown up during the sexual revolution and first become famous in
Hollywood during the 1970s and 1980s.  If anyone could teach
Erika to manage swinging and the acting career she also wanted,
it was them.

	Geena's "Thelma and Louise" co-star, Susan, had been thrilled to
meet Erika.  She had admired Erika's work playing an addict in
the anti-drug thriller "Traffic" and gotten her a similar part in
"The Banger Sisters".  Both Susan and Goldie were veteran
actresses who lived with common-law husbands.  Erika had learned
they were also still living the 1960s free love movement in the
new millennium.  They were decades older than Erika, though, so
they did not find themselves attracted to her.  She had shrugged
that off and accepted the inspiration and advice they offered
instead.  Goldie had also introduced Erika to two girls her own
age who wanted the same lifestyle as Goldie and Susan had:
Goldie's niece Sarah and her daughter Kate.

	Kate was a new famous face in Hollywood.  Recently she had wowed
critics in the drama "Almost Famous".  Her role as a rock groupie
named Penny Lane had won her an Oscar nomination and a Golden
Globe.  She was married to a musician but both lived open
sexually.  Her cousin Sarah was a year younger and starting a
rock music career.  She managed a small record label and produced
several albums for herself and other artists.  Both girls had
grown up in Hollywood like Erika.  However, their childhood had
been far more open than hers had.

	Erika had grown up sheltered.  Her parents kept her isolated and
home-schooled her when she wasn't attending classes for her
religion.  Acting was her only escape and she had become further
excited about it as she grew more adept.  Where is this going,
her family would often ask as they watched her star in
commercials and small press movies.  Erika had answered them when
she got multiple awards for her performance in "Traffic" and then
embarked on a movie star's life.

	I will always want this life, she told herself, thinking back on
it.  Never have I been that content with myself.  I've always
been told I'm a point of light, a supreme being who just needs to
awaken the powers inside her the way I'm shown.  I never have
seen that working perfect, though.  I know that when someone says
they have all the answers they are always misinformed or lying. 
However, I can't tell them that.  They get mad at me if I do. 
It's far better to be someone else, someone other than me.  I
love other people too much to forever step outside their lives.

	Fame had not been easy.  At first, Erika was not comfortable
with the world outside her church and family.  Life's lessons had
hit her fast and hard.  Scientology preached self-reliance but it
was also big on motivating its followers to seek nothing other
than its teachings as guidelines for development.  Erika had
always somehow known that was wrong.

	Watching many of her friends turn away from the church over the
years had supported her doubts.  She was confident she would
never leave the church herself, as she accepted the basic beliefs
and would always be grateful for the things her religion had
taught her about communication and emotion.  However, Erika knew
she did not want to be forced to live a life that was in but not
of the real world.

	I know our mistakes too, she pondered, recalling the anger the
hookers had shown her.  I have to be careful about voicing my
thoughts to the wrong people sometimes but I still have knowledge
and opinions.  I see over half the world confused by our strange
ways and much of the rest despising us for things we've done. 
The lawsuits and censorship, the greed, the people we've injured
on both physical and spiritual levels.  It all disturbs me so
much.  I have a larger conscience than many people in my
religion, especially the leaders.

	Unlike them, I am not selfish and I will never believe our way
is all there is.  We've only come along in recent years while
other truths including psychology have been around for centuries.
 I don't like using and manipulating others, either.  I think
it's better to show someone the reality of the person you are if
they're against you rather than just hate them and do whatever
you can to mislead and dispose of them.  Sometimes people need
assistance to open their minds and if you give that aid, it helps
clear the planet of its troubles.  Aren't we supposed to be doing
that?

	We shouldn't separate ourselves from the rest of the world
either.  There are no truly evil life-suppressing people except
those who are unwilling to see reality and change their minds. 
At least that's what I think.  I also don't believe one should
put a price on enlightenment and long for the day my church stops
charging money for its deepest truths.

	Erika knew she was not alone in these thoughts.  Others had them
and had left her church to practice their own Scientology
denominations or seek answers elsewhere.  Some had departed of
their own volition while others got forced out.  These included
several people Erika knew.  She sympathized with them and missed
them.  Erika did not want to join these people in anything other
than spirit, though.  To do more would mean shunning from the
zealots among her friends and family still inside Scientology's
main organization.  It was better to stay inside and walk on
eggshells, she believed.

	I can handle it, she reminded herself again.  I am an actress. 
I lie for a living.  Many people lie to me and tell me that it's
okay.  So easy to lie also about the person I am within.

	"What's the matter?" Sarah asked, walking beside her.  "You were
the one who wanted to come out here."

	I did, Erika mused.  It's been a while since I got with a guy. 
Girls are fun, Kate and Sarah included, but guys are the people
with whom I started and they also give me something I need. 
Almost every woman I know is the same.  Kate and Sarah knew I was
missing guy sex, so they invited me out to troll for boys with
them.  It would be fun, I thought.  I usually go boy hunting with
Alicia Witt but she and I are at odds right now.  I made the
mistake of kissing her two weeks ago and she's still a little mad
at me.  I told her I thought she was into girls and apologized. 
She forgave me but it's taking her time to warm up to me again. 
Alicia has a lot of resentment.  I hope one day that she and I
can find a way to work it out.

	Deciding to distract herself, Erika turned to Kate.  "Are you
sure your husband's okay with you doing this?"

	"He can fuck groupies all he wants," Kate answered, chuckling. 
"He's off on tour right now doing just that.  I let him fuck whom
he wants, so I get to fuck whom I want.  We're only married
because he asked."

	"You should have stayed unmarried like Aunt G," Sarah suggested.

	Kate shook her head.  "I'm not one hundred percent like my
mother.  I love Chris, so I married him.  These other guys are
just ... guys."  She made a dismissive wave.  "You'll understand
when you find someone."

	My mother tells me the same thing, Erika thought.  She and my
father were both hippies before they found each other and
Scientology.  They know about the swinging lifestyle I've chosen
and are okay with it for now.  I'm glad.  I could never deceive
them.  I don't want to deceive my friends either.  It's too
difficult and wrong.

	"Are you sure we should be doing this?" she asked her
companions, ignoring all the times she had done it before and
never had such concerns.  "We don't know who we'll be meeting."

	"We'll get to know them before we take them home," Sarah
replied.  "Just like we always do.  We had our monthly checkups
at the clinic yesterday.  We can go again tomorrow if you're that
worried.  We picked up pills and condoms before we came out."

	"I know," Erika said with a sigh.  "I'm just nervous.  I don't
want us to wind up with some losers."

	"I agree," said Kate.  "I've had enough of those."  She put a
hand on her hip and frowned as she watched a carful of guys pick
up some of the hookers who had sneered at them earlier.  "You
know, I really think we should have picked a different area."

	"Maybe," Erika replied.  She looked around for other guys,
frowning when she saw none nearby.  Erika, Kate and Sarah had
been wandering for just over an hour so far and had yet to catch
any intriguing bites.

	Erika cringed as she spotted three of her church's volunteer
ministers across the street handing out pamphlets.  They were a
fat, short, and lean trio of brothers named Boggis, Bunce, and
Bean Feshbach.  Erika knew they were equally mean zealots despite
their personable facades and different looks.  She quickly turned
her face away from them and let out a relieved gasp when they did
not call out to her.

Having the wrong people recognize her was Erika's greatest fear.
Her church frowned on promiscuity just like all other religions
and Erika did not want to have to explain herself to the
fanatics.  None of them really liked her chosen way of life. 
Some urged her to stay at home instead of acting, concentrate on
her family.  Others told her she needed to give more money to the
church now that she was a celebrity millionaire.  Erika never
wanted those people to find out she donated a lot of her earnings
to charities for the environment, victims of persecution, mental
illness and other causes many within her church ignored.  Most of
the donations were not in her name since she didn't make them for
recognition, but if discovered by the fanatics they would still
be of concern.

	The celebrity zealots are the worst, Erika thought. 
Scientology's a Hollywood fad with many who like to draw
attention to themselves by practicing it.  Just last winter, the
great actor Tom Cruise got in my face and told me I was wasting
my talent refusing to be an evangelist like he's thinking of
becoming.  I told him I see living the good in my beliefs as more
respectful to others and that his plans scare me.  I just know
they're going to ruin the good public standing he's built over
the past twenty years.

	Tom still hasn't forgiven me for lashing out at him.  He told me
a month ago that he was willing to agree to disagree and that he
had enjoyed "Home Room", the movie I made about a shooting victim
who sees psychiatrists for posttraumatic stress disorder.  I'm
sure he's still mad at me on some level, though.  The only good
thing that came of our fight was that Alicia overheard us and
decided she wanted to be my friend.

	"Don't worry," Kate told her.  "If those guys saw you and go
crying to your church's intelligence agency, Isaac will take care
of it.  You know he will."

	Erika grimaced.  The very existence of her church's intelligence
agency and all she knew it had done both frightened and angered
her.  The first director of the agency had gone to prison for
fraud and other serious crimes and so had several other
operatives over the past five decades.  Many more were
responsible for motivating people Erika knew to leave the church
behind.

	The agency's current director, Mike Rinder, had pledged that the
bad days were over and he was changing things for the better. 
Erika had taken courses taught by Rinder as part of her church
studies, so she knew his intentions were sincere.  However, she
was not sure he could deliver what he promised.  She had seen too
many people harmed by things her church did and too many other
people, Rinder included, give in to the constantly angry fanatics
who held the real power in the ministry.  Erika knew that in all
likelihood the hurt would continue to go on.

	I can't leave, though, she thought.  I still believe in the good
of my church.  I'm also frightened of the people who are against
us.  I lurk sometimes in the places where they congregate.  I
have listened to their words and seen so much anger and
bitterness.  I don't blame some of them for it but I don't think
others should feel so awful.  It's as if they still want to be
like the worst of us even though they left our church for good
reason.  They shout down and alienate anyone who disagrees with
their generally confused and hateful words.  They don't know any
other way to live their lives but working their antipathy out
over and over again.  Some of them even spread disinformation and
create new conflicts.  I can't see any of them as nice.  It's all
so hard for me to understand.  Better to stay inside, where I
know what to expect and can manage things.  My family is with me
here and my friends are helping, too.

	Isaac Hayes was one of those friends.  A celebrity Scientologist
like Erika, he had long been active in the entertainment industry
as an actor and soul musician.  He was also the one who had
introduced Erika to the swinging lifestyle and "Clear Rainbow",
her church's network of followers who were into alternative
sexuality.  Isaac had enough contacts in the church to keep Clear
Rainbow tolerated by those who could accept its existence and
hidden from most of the rest.  Erika knew she had Isaac watching
over her, and her parents also, but this did not keep her from
being afraid much of the time.

	"The tabloids are no concern either," Kate broke into her
thoughts, smirking at a group of nearby photographers.  A
weasel-faced blond man stood in the forefront, snapping a camera
away.  "Like I've told you before, just stay busy and don't stand
out and they hardly notice you as anything more than a name."

	"Right," Erika said.  Geena had given her the same advice and
she followed it.  I'm with my career one hundred percent, Erika
told reporters.  When I'm not shooting films, I'm reading scripts
or rehearsing.  I don't have time for boyfriends.  So far, the
press had all appeared to believe her words.  There seemed no
threat of exposure on that front.

	"If things get really bad, we also have an ace in the hole,"
said Sarah.  She made an odd gesture.

	The Friendship, Erika thought, recognizing the motion.  She and
most of her friends were members of this group, a secret society
similar to the Masons but far more powerful and less known. 
Their tendrils extended into every sector of the world and
benefitted everyone they touched, sometimes in unexpected ways. 
Geena, Isaac and Erika's parents had initiated her a month ago. 
The society's goals were simple -- gathering and sharing
knowledge and giving freedom and charity to all people.

They did not have a clear overall plan to achieve these goals but
they did have many ongoing programs and strategies.  Reforming
Erika's church was among these.  The church leaders might be
against change, like most religious leaders, but they could not
stop people from having opinions and reacting to being hurt. 
Some of these people still believed in Scientology despite all
its misdeeds and wanted to be proactive and fix it rather than
leave their religion and let it die.  We have the power to do
this, they said, if we truly are supreme beings.  Because of
their belief and honest desire to help others, they stayed inside
the church if they could and tried to inspire other followers to
a better level of ethics and public opinion.

The Friendship, which had long observed the development of
various people and helped them along to secure its own goals, was
aiding these would-be reformers.  Erika doubted whether the
Friendship was all good sometimes but she was willing to stay
within and find out for herself.  The advantages the society gave
her were also great and came at no cost.

	Kate used the Friendship last year to kill a tabloid story about
her eating disorder, Erika remembered.  Goldie, Susan, Isaac and
Geena use them for swinging and career connections.  I've been
doing the same to a degree.  Like Sarah, I don't want to depend
on the Friendship for my career, but they are nice.  I hope that
as time goes on I learn more of their plan for my church and that
it turns out to be as good as my parents and Isaac believe it
will.

	"It's a long term plan," Isaac told her.  "We think it will
probably take years.  Religions are difficult to reform, you see.
 Every one in history has needed it and the Friendship has few
adversaries that can be more dangerous.  I don't think I'm going
to live to see the plans the Friendship has for our church
conclude.  I hope you do, Erika, and if I must die before then I
just hope I die well."

	Erika worried he would not.  Isaac voiced a cartoon chef on a
show that often satirized religion.  Though he and Erika were
okay with such a theme, others within their church disapproved. 
These fanatics' ranks included Isaac's publicist.  The show,
"South Park", was a huge hit and showed no sign of ending any
time soon.  If the elderly Isaac should fall into poor health,
Erika had a feeling that the fanatics in their religion would
seize the opportunity to make him quit his show in a disturbing
way.

	Isaac knows that might happen too, Erika reminded herself.  He
is aware of the negative side of our church.  He edits it out of
the way he lives his beliefs just like my family and I do.  We're
far from the only ones.  The Friendship has a long road to
reforming Scientology and we're helping it along.  We hate it
whenever the actions of some fanatic who thinks they know how we
should be push us back.  However, we soldier on.  I hope Isaac
will also continue to soldier on, even if the worst should
happen.

	Most of the people opposed to her religion, Erika knew, did not
want that.  They wanted to destroy her church and everything it
had built.  Never mind the good things they had done.  The people
they had helped educate and those they had turned away from crime
and addiction.  The many artists, Erika included, whom they had
taught to be better communicators.  The companies they had built;
the artworks and communities; the mental health reforms and
alternatives.  So many of the people against them could only see
the bad they had done as well.

	We're learning, Erika wanted to tell these haters.  We're
getting away from our infamy slowly but surely.  Yes, some people
may never change but we can't let them stop the rest of us.  The
majority of Scientologists want reform.  We want a better world.
Why can't you help us find one instead of just reminding us of
all the mistakes we've made over and over?  Why do you let us
continue to live in fear?  I would ask you this question if I
honestly thought you would listen to me.  I've seen others ask
you and you always respond with derision and disgust.

	She also wanted to tell the haters about a Christian-themed
horror movie she'd seen once called "The Prophecy".  In it, an
archangel had rebelled against God, believing he knew a better
way for the world and humanity.  In one climactic scene, the
Devil visited the archangel and offered aid.

	"What are you doing here, Satan?" the archangel asked in
surprise.  "This isn't your war."

	"On the contrary," the Devil answered.  "You are too blind to
see that your actions are not motivated by compassion, truth and
understanding as much as they are by suspicion, ignorance and
arrogance.  That makes your war evil and that makes it mine."

	There's evil on my side of this war too, Erika recalled.  Again,
she was thinking of people like the Feshbach brothers and her
church's intelligence agency.  Of course knowing that doesn't
help me much.  Oh well, I should just forget it and take things
as they come.  I know I have to stay firm in my ethics and get
through whatever happens to me.  I've been doing that.  Nothing
too awful has occurred yet, thankfully.  It could be worse.

	"Ladies, fucking ladies!" a nearby voice yelled in a Jersey
twang.  "You wanna buy some weed?"

	Frowning, Erika turned and saw a tall man with long blond hair
standing a few feet up the sidewalk.  He wore a yellow rain
slicker and a black knit cap.  Another man was leaning against
the wall beside him.  This fellow was stout, dark-bearded and
dressed in a black overcoat and a white baseball cap turned
backwards.  Erika at once pegged him as the quiet type.

	"Jay and Silent Bob got what you need, ladies!" shouted the more
vocal of the pair.  "We got horse, crack, doobies and meds!  Step
right up and get it!  Snootchie Bootchies!"  He grinned at Erika
and grabbed his crotch.

	"Keep walking," Kate whispered in Erika's ear.  "Act natural. 
Do not make eye contact."

	Erika nodded.  She disliked drug dealers but knew better than to
get close to them outside a film role.

	Wait, she thought as she was about to turn.  I want to say
something to these guys.  I really should.  I got into playing
drug addicts because I wanted to show people the damage drugs can
do to their lives.  My church has helped so many people get off
drugs, Kirstie Alley and thousands of others.  Maybe these guys
just need a little help too, and if I say the right things ...

	No, she decided, I can't risk it.  They would see me the same as
those hookers earlier saw me, maybe even worse.  I can't take the
chance.  She glared at Jay and Silent Bob and then walked away
from them as they traded confused frowns.

	Never mind that those guys might be able to help me through my
quandary, Erika thought as she headed on down the sidewalk.  For
some reason I get the feeling they've aided troubled religious
women before.

	Several laughing teenagers on roller skates sped past her as she
again caught up with Sarah and Kate.  "This is getting us
nowhere," Erika told her friends.  "I think we have too much
clutter.  You want to try Sunset?"

	"Nah," Sarah said with a bored exhale.  "That area's just as bad
as this one.  Maybe we should go in there.  It's served me well a
few times."

	Erika looked where the redhead was pointing.  A sign flashing
neon lights read "Blue Banana".  Below the sign was a pool hall
with several people wandering in and out.  I've walked past that
place a few times, Erika thought.  I've never gone inside,
though.  Oh well, no time like the present.  She shrugged and
followed Kate and Sarah across the street.

	Kate put a hand on her arm when they reached the other side. 
"Relax," she said.  "You remember what you said in the movie you
just finished, right?  'Don't feel fake, live life true?'  You
need to start doing that, Erika."

	"I know.  It's harder than it sounds, though."  Erika pulled
herself out of Kate's grasp and looked back towards all the
people they had passed.

	"You know what Aunt G says?" asked Sarah.  "Forget anything else
but your present moment.  It's all you have control over.  Only
worry about other people if you really need to.  You can make
yourself happy at any time if you just open your eyes and find a
way."

	The wisdom of a devout Buddhist, Erika thought with a sigh. 
"Goldie's said that to me before.  It's not easy advice to
follow."

	"Yes, it is," Kate countered.  "Just put your troubles away and
worry about them later, if ever.  They're not who you are.  It's
easy, Erika.  Decide to do it and it's done."

	"Okay," Erika said, nodding.  She would try.  She stabilized her
mind and followed Kate and Sarah into the pool hall.  A bouncer
nodded at them as they entered.  The room was dark, steamy and
full of people having a good time.  Some were talking in small
groups or dancing to rock music.  Others were around game tables
and the bar at the far end.  Kate worked her way through the
crowds to the bar and asked the old man behind it for two
martinis and a soda.  Erika felt relieved this wasn't going to be
one of the nights she was forced to drink.

	"Ahoy!" Sarah called out just then.

	Erika looked and saw the redhead was pointing at two Caucasian
men in short-sleeved and well-ironed US Navy whites sitting in a
booth ten feet away.  Cute guys, Erika thought at once.  Both
were in their mid-twenties, well muscled and tall.  They had
faces that belonged on recruitment posters.  One of the pair was
large with thin carrot-colored curls and a playful grin.  The
other sailor was slim, dark-haired and resembled a young Mark
Harmon.  He gazed about the room with steady intensity.  Erika
squinted at their nametags and read "C. Kurgan" and "Z. Metz".

	"Uniforms," Kate said.  "They're alone.  Nice."

	Uniforms are often good, Erika thought.  Guys look great in them
and the military weeds out lots of undesirables.  These sailors
are probably ethical and healthy just like Kate, Sarah and me. 
They'd make perfect targets if they weren't only two.

	"Hail!" C. Kurgan stood up and shouted.  "Hail, Torrence!"

	Erika looked to see a third man in naval whites approaching from
the restroom.  He was as tall and good-looking as the first two,
a firmly robust black youth with a large nose and a flat
buzz-cut.  His eyes were brown like the other two sailors'.  "T.
Hale", his nameplate said.

	"Stop that, Chas," Torrence said as he reached his friends. 
"You know that I don't like it."

	"I'm just giving you a good ribbing, man!  Chill!"  Chas and the
other sailor both chuckled as Torrence sat down with a roll of
his eyes.

	"Okay," Kate said.  "There are three of them and three of us. 
Approach?"

	Sarah and Erika both smiled in agreement.  They sipped down
their drinks and paid for them, then sauntered over to the
sailors.  The trio stopped talking when Chas saw the girls and
caught his friends' attention.  "Hey, ladies," he said.

	"Hi," Kate replied. "You boys looking for some fun?"

	"Um, no," Torrence said.  "Thank you.  We're kind of short on
money right now."

	"We aren't hookers," Sarah told him.  "Our services come free."
She walked up to Torrence.  "You're probably shipping out soon,
right?"

	"Yeah," the black sailor answered.  "Day after tomorrow, we're
going to Pakistan."

	"Well then," Kate asked, "do you want a night to remember before
you go?"

	The sailors looked at each other, unable to believe their good
fortune.  Erika beamed at them along with her girlfriends.  A
fine catch, she thought, three great looking guys in uniform. 
Their personalities seem acceptable too, so far.  This could be
better than I hoped for tonight, better than I've had in a while.

	"Why don't you ladies sit down?" Z. Metz said, waving at them
and scooting over.  "I'm Zechariah.  Call me Zeck.  This is Chas
and Torrence."

	"I'm Kate," Kate replied, taking a seat.  "The redhead's Sarah
and that's Erika.  What do you boys do in the Navy?"

	"Boatswain's mate," Torrence answered, "first class."

	"First class," Sarah said with a grin.  She leaned into his
shoulder.  "Wow."

	"I'm a navigational technician," Zeck said.  "I do intelligence,
communications and radar."  He looked Kate and Erika up and down
and smiled.  "Chas is in the engine room.  He's a bilge-cleaning
specialist."

	"Not for much longer," Chas countered.  He pulled up his left
sleeve and showed the girls a winged anchor and trident tattooed
on his bicep.  "I'm trying out for the SEALs after my current
tour is over.  I'm gonna be among the best of the best."

	"Don't tell them that!" Torrence cautioned.  "You'll never get
in.  You shouldn't even try.  All seals are good for is bouncing
balls on their noses."

	"Shut up, Torrence," said Zeck.  "You want him to demonstrate
that with your balls?"

	"Good one, Zeck," said Chas.

	Erika grimaced at Kate and Sarah.  She didn't entirely
appreciate the sailors' sense of humor.  Relax, Kate flashed back
with her face.  They seem like okay guys.

	"So who gets who?" Torrence inquired, looking at the girls. 
"That is, if you don't mind me asking."

	"Sarah and I are cousins," Kate replied.  "Erika's our friend. 
We share everything.  Is that alright with you?"  She gave the
men a suggestive smirk and put her hand on Chas's arm.  Sarah
beamed at Torrence.  Erika took the odd man out and scooted
closer to Zeck while keeping her eyes on Sarah and Kate.

	The three sailors gave each other another look of incredulity. 
"No problem!" Torrence spoke for all of them.  "You girls got
transportation?"

	Kate nodded and pulled out her cell phone.  "My dad's outside. 
I'll call him to pick us up."

	"Your dad?"  Zeck raised his eyebrows.  "None of you look
underage."

	"We're not, we're in a swinging family," Sarah explained. 
"Don't worry, Uncle Kurt's cool with us going fishing.  You'll be
okay as long as you treat us right."  She leaned across Torrence
and rubbed the navigator's cheek.

	"I have to ask," Zeck said with a frown.  "I think I know at
least two of you from somewhere.  Are you girls famous?"

	"I am," Kate replied, taking off her sunglasses.  "'Almost
Famous'."

	"Oh my God," Chas said with a blink.  "You're Kate Hudson,
Goldie Hawn's daughter!"

	"Correct," Kate confirmed with a nod.

	"And you're the girl from that drug movie 'Traffic'," Zeck said.
 "Erika..."

	"Christensen," Erika answered.  "Did you like the movie?"

	"I loved it.  You're great.  You really deserved all those
awards."  He grinned at her, then looked at Sarah.  "You I don't
recognize."

	"Sarah Hudson," the redhead introduced herself.  She then
started singing.  <I>"It's getting under me, behind the front of
me, head up on top of me!  A hot, hot riot!  They're hanging over
me, trying to get a hold of me!  It's only causing me a hot, hot
riot!"</I>

	The sailors looked at each other, then back at her and shrugged.
 "Sorry," Torrence spoke for them.  "That song ain't familiar. 
You are cute, though."

	"Thanks," Sarah replied.  "I'm still working on becoming a rock
star."

	"I think you're there already," Chas said.  "That sounded like a
pretty good song."  He laughed.  "So, uh, you girls know my bros
and I don't share each other, right?  We're not into that."

	Kate smirked.  "I bet that disappoints a lot of guys on your
ship."

	"Not that many," Zeck said with a shrug.  "It's only a small
destroyer.  Then there's the whole 'don't ask, don't tell'
thing."  He looked at Erika's neck.  "That gold chain, is it what
I think it is?"

	Erika took the pendant out of her blouse and showed it to him. 
"It's just my cross."  She noticed a similar chain under Zeck's
collar.  "Do you also wear one?"

	The navigator nodded and displayed a small gold ankh.  "Yeah, I
wear it for faith.  I like to believe I have God supporting me. 
I know the enemy claims the same thing but that doesn't bother
me.  I tell myself no just and loving god would want people to be
killing each other.  No just and loving man should want that,
either.  I don't fight because I want to fight but because I have
to.  Their people are harming mine.  I will put down my weapons
the instant they show me they want to stop hurting others and
extend the hand of peace."

	"That's beautiful," Erika said, smiling.  America's war in the
Middle East was often on her mind, even though she had no friends
or family fighting in it.  She looked at the sailors again and
decided that had just changed.

	"Thanks," Zeck replied.  "It keeps me going over there."  He
looked at Chas and Torrence.  "This is our second tour.  We grew
up in the same Virginia town working around ships.  My dad served
in Vietnam.  Chas's uncle and Torrence's mother were in the first
Gulf War."

	"Nice," Kate said with a nod.  "Sarah's a singer and Erika and I
are actresses, as you know."  She turned from them and spoke into
her phone.  "Dad?  Pick us up outside the Banana.  Plus three
guys."  Putting away her cell, she turned back to the sailors. 
"You boys know not to brag about being with us, right?"

	"Of course we won't brag!" Zeck responded immediately.  "I
understand if you want to keep this on the down low.  I think
you're married, though."

	"She is," said Erika, "but it's no reason she can't have a
little fun.  Neither is religion."  She wiggled her cross at Zeck
and then tucked it back inside her shirt.

	"I agree on that," Zeck said.  He put away his own cross.  "I
just don't want the lead singer of the Black Crowes mad at me. 
I'm a big fan."

	"He won't be mad," Kate declared.  "Chris is off on tour fucking
groupies.  I'm free to sleep around until he gets back.  No
worries."

	"Well, all right then," Chas said, standing up.  "Let's head
out, ladies!"  He grinned at Kate and offered her his elbow. 
Kate stood and slipped her arm into his while Erika did the same
with Zeck and Sarah followed suit with Torrence.  They walked to
the door, ignoring jealous stares from all around.  The black van
sat outside the club waiting to meet them.

	"Greetings," said the huge blond man behind the wheel as they
opened the vehicle's back door and got inside.

	"Whoa," Chas breathed.  "It's Snake Plissken.  I thought he was
dead."

	"Kurt," Kate's adopted father corrected.  "Kurt Russell.  This
is..."  He trailed off.

	"Tim Robbins," the unassuming brown-haired man in the van's
front seat completed.  "You may remember me from such films as
--"

	"'Shawshank Redemption'!" interrupted Zeck.  "I guess you girls
really are famous.  Love your work, man."  He laughed and leaned
across Kurt to shake hands with Tim.

	"Thanks," Tim said, smiling as they settled into the van's seats
and buckled themselves down.  Erika got in last and closed the
door.  Kurt put the van in gear and pulled out.  "Now you sailors
know the rules, right?" Tim asked.  "You're drug and disease
free, this is a one night deal and you'll tell no one about it."

	"Right," said Torrence.  "We already covered that in the club."
He looked at Kate and Erika.  "I didn't know movie stars picked
up guys like this."

	"It happens now and then," Erika answered with a shrug.  "I got
picked up by Katherine Heigl in a lesbian bar myself a while
back."

	"Whoa," Chas said with a surprised tone.  "The 'Under Siege 2'
girl?  She's a lesbian?"

	"Bi, actually.  I can give you her number if you want it." Erika
winked.  "Majandra Delfino, Emilie de Ravin and Alicia Witt's
numbers too."  Katherine had introduced Erika to Majandra and
Emilie, whom Katherine had acted alongside and befriended on the
TV series "Roswell".  All three young actresses were
free-spirited and bisexual.  Unlike them, Alicia was not Erika's
lover but Erika nevertheless knew she was always thrilled to meet
new men.

	"Maybe when we get back from Karachi," Chas said.  He and the
other two sailors grinned wide.  "Do lots of celebrities just
pick up people in bars?"

	"It doesn't happen as often as you think," replied Kurt.  "You
boys are lucky.  Don't forget that or abuse it.  Do I have to
tell you what will happen if you do?"

	"No, sir," Torrence said, saluting.  He then made an odd
gesture.  "Don't worry.  We're all into freedom of the body and
mind here."

	Erika smiled, recognizing a Friendship credo in his words.  She
and the other celebrities in the van returned the sailor's
gesture.  We scored very well tonight, Erika thought.  Now I know
these guys are okay.  The Friendship doesn't let anyone in
without a full background investigation.  She frowned at a look
Zeck was giving her.  "What's the matter?"

	The navigator paused.  He motioned Erika to scoot a bit away
from the others and followed her as she did so.  "That cross
you're wearing," he said in a low tone.  "I've never seen it
before.  What church do you attend?"

	"I'm a Scientologist," Erika replied.  She frowned as he went
pale.  "Is there a problem?"

	Zeck did not answer for a long instant.  "May I speak freely?"

	"Go ahead."  This guy is cute, Erika prayed to herself, and he
seemed nice up until now.  Please don't let him be a jerk!

	"I have this hobby," Zeck said.  "When I'm not manning the
ship's radar or radio, I like to mess around on the computers. 
I'm a hacker, part of a loose internet coalition called
'Anonymous'.  We like to work for freedom of speech and fight
oppression."

	Erika scowled.  "I think I've heard of you guys.  Aren't you
pranksters that take over chat rooms and argue with everyone?"

	"Yeah.  We goof around when we get bored.  Some call us
criminals, and I have to admit a few of us are.  Most of us are
just well meaning do-gooders, though.  I helped some cops bust a
pedophile on Craigslist last month."  The navigator smiled
briefly and then grimaced again.  "We're not that big yet,
however we are growing.  I hate to tell you this, but your church
is one of the Internet groups we're planning to target one of
these days.  A lot of us don't like what they've done to break up
families and force certain websites offline."

	"I'm not part of that."

	"I didn't say you were.  You are part of the main Scientology
church, though, right?  My people don't like your people.  You've
done a lot of bad things over the years.  Some of the hackers I
know think you're a cult that only exists to charge people to
impair their own bodies and minds."

	"Do you agree with them?"  Erika was growing more unsettled with
his every word.  She noticed that everyone else in the van was
listening.

	"Sometimes," Zeck replied.  "Most of the time, I think you've
grown into a religion, like it or not, and that you are all
people and therefore deserve respect.  I'm willing to admit I'm
often entertained by some of you too, despite the bad views I
know your church holds.  I'm in the minority on all that, though,
and sometimes I have to go along to get along."

	Erika stared at him as he exhaled before continuing.  Damn it,
she thought.  This guy is one of Scientology's vehement critics.
I've seen them protesting our services and online but I've never
been this close to one before.  Shit!

"We're not really lined up against you yet," Zeck went on, "but
in the future it may escalate.  I've seen the attitudes my fellow
Anons and others display towards your people and I know the
reasons behind them.  Your side has shown a lot of venom too.  I
personally consider your church as dangerous a foe as any I've
fought in the Middle East."

	I don't want to throw this guy and his friends out of the van,
Erika thought.  I really liked them before now.  She looked at
Kate and Sarah, who were clenching their fists but silently
telling Erika the decision was hers to make.  The three of them
had picked up guys together enough times to enjoy a sort of
telepathy.  Kurt and Tim were looking away, their eyes on the
road.  If the girls told them to stop, they would.  Erika turned
back to Zeck and racked her brain for an idea.

	"What about what you said in the bar?" she asked when one came
to her.  "About wanting to make peace with your enemies?"

	Zeck gave her a strange expression.  "There's no way I can ever
forget all the things your people have done.  I also don't think
your people could ever want peace with their opponents."

	"But what if one of us did?" Erika contradicted.  She recognized
the opportunity to address a lot of angst she'd been feeling
lately.  "I'm not a hater or a fanatic like a lot of
Scientologists are.  Our code of honor means something to me and
I follow it.  I don't subscribe to the abusive practices of my
religion and I have vowed not to continue them.  I even donate
money to help our victims without giving my name or telling
anyone besides my friends.  I know others who are the same way."


	She mentally pushed her irritation into her stomach.  "A few
months ago Tom Cruise told me I wasn't doing enough to promote
our church to the public.  I told him that I find it better to
just live my beliefs and respect those of others without
proselytizing.  You can call Alicia to confirm that if you need
to.  She was there when it happened.  I do my best to only live
the good in my beliefs and avoid the bad.  I just endorse my
church if prompted, I don't evangelize.  You didn't even know
what religion I was before now, right?"

	Zeck nodded, doubt in his eyes.

	"Two houses," Chas quoted, mocking them, "both alike in dignity.
 In fair Los Angeles where we lay our scene..."

	"Shut up, Chas!" Torrence yelled, glaring at Zeck.  "You better
not ruin this for us, bro!  Secure your bigotry up your shit
chute.  This girl seems okay to me."  He smiled at Erika, who
beamed thanks back at him.

	"I am not a bigot!" Zeck spat.  He turned back to Erika and
frowned.  "I apologize if what I say offends you.  You would know
why I say it if you would look at the websites I've seen about
your church."

	"I have seen them," Erika hissed.  "I lurk a lot on their
message boards.  Those sites are a good way to find out why some
people I meet treat me as they do.  I'm sorry that my religion
bothers you, Zeck."  She took off her pendant and dangled it at
him.  "I have to say something, though.  If this is all you see,
you don't see me.  I'm not what you think I am."  She rolled up
her pendant's chain and stuck the cross in the left pocket of her
blouse.  "I'm a good person."

	Zeck was silent for a moment.  He frowned as everyone but Kurt
and Tim looked at him.  "Are you sincere?  You're not trying to
mess with me or convert me?"

	"Convert you?"  Erika gaped.  "Why would I want to do that?  A
person's religion is their business.  Why would I want to deny
them freedom of choice?  Neither Kate nor Sarah nor Kurt nor Tim
is Scientologist.  Neither are any of the girls whose numbers I
said I'd give you.  I have no problem hanging out with them. 
They're more fun than a lot of my church's followers, as you
probably know."  She put her hand on Zeck's wrist and looked
directly at him.  "All we want is to give you and your friends
the night to remember Kate was talking about earlier.  If you'd
rather be bitter, that's your choice.  Do you not trust me?  Then
how about this?"

	She unfastened her seat belt and lunged at Zeck, grabbing his
face before he could stop her.  The navigator gasped as Erika
kissed him hard on the lips, ruffling his hair in the same
motion.  I am speaking the truth, Erika tried to tell him with
her every move.  Please stop thinking I'm some evil demon
succubus!

	Zeck opened his jaws at the tap of her tongue, his hands
gripping her shoulders.  Erika licked the inside of his mouth
once and then withdrew.  "Well?" she asked, smiling.  Their
contact had been electric.  "What do you think now?"

	"I think I may need to re-evaluate you," Zeck said after another
pause, scratching his head.  He sighed and looked away.  "I'm
really sorry."

	"You should be," Erika fumed.  She leaned away from the
navigator and crossed her arms while keeping her eyes on his. 
"We're not all drones.  I'm certainly not.  I'm a little
disgusted with you now but I'm willing to put it aside if you
just give me a chance to prove I am what I say I am."

	"All right," Zeck said.  He looked at his fellow sailors, who
were both glowering.  "I will give you that chance.  I honestly
liked you before I knew what religion you were.  Maybe you're
right.  I could be in the wrong here."

	"You're not completely in the wrong," Sarah said.  "Erika knows
what her church has done.  Kate and I can both vouch that she's
not involved with any of that.  If she was, we never would allow
her to be part of our lives."

	"Let alone our lover," Kate added.

	"You mentioned my prison film a few minutes ago," said Tim, who
had turned towards them.  "Let me give you some metaphors from
it.  Erika's only guilty by association.  She's also a bit
institutionalized.  We're trying to cure her of that.  You've
probably had fantasies about such things, right sailor?"

	"Uh, yeah," Zeck confessed.  "Mostly about Catherine Bell,
though.  I didn't know she was..."  He pointed at Erika and then
dropped his arm.  "Never mind.  If you really want to make peace,
I can accept that.  Unlike many Anons, I have a forgiving
nature."

	"Good," Erika replied.  She offered him her hand and smiled when
he shook it.  "Don't preach any more to me, okay?  I don't need
or want to hear it."

	"I won't," the navigator promised.  "Can you please kiss me
again?"

	Erika laughed, then leaned towards him and did as requested. 
Zeck fully returned her emotion this time, touching her tongue
with his own.  Chas gave them a round of applause and then turned
and kissed Kate.  Torrence did the same with Sarah.

	"Drive faster, Snake," Tim said to Kurt, grinning.  "I think
these kids need rooms."  The other actor nodded and increased the
van's speed.

***

	They drove through L.A.'s downtown and freeways into the suburbs
of Encino.  Traffic was heavy as always, so the trip took just
over three hours.  Eventually they entered the grounds of a large
cream-colored mansion ringed by a white stone and black iron
wall.  Two German Shepherds and a Chihuahua barked at their
vehicle from the lawn.  The dogs ran around the van as it pulled
into the driveway.  Kurt parked, then got out and gave the
animals each a pat and a whisper that settled them down.

	The sailors and celebrities had talked more during their journey
and gotten to know each other better.  They had exchanged stories
about life at sea and life in the spotlight.  Erika had given
Chas, Zeck and Torrence her other girlfriends' phone numbers
while Kate had provided contact information for Liv Tyler, Anna
Paquin and Fairuza Balk.  Erika and Zeck also talked more about
Erika's religion.  She nodded and took in what he said about the
bad side while he gave similar reactions as she described the
good.  When Erika mentioned the Friendship's plans for reforming
Scientology, Zeck smiled at this news and asked if Anonymous
could help.

	"Maybe," Erika replied.  "You'll have to be careful, though. 
Not every one of us appreciates people like you.  If you want to
contact the viceroy in charge, his name is..."

	Zeck looked surprised at the name.  Then he smiled.  "I should
have known.  I've talked to that guy online.  He always has
seemed a bit over-tolerant.  In fact, up until now I thought for
sure he was one of your people."

	"He is," said Erika.  "Mutual friends are everywhere, you know."

	"Right, I should remember that."

	"Let's drop this subject, okay?" Torrence asked.  "I'm sick of
it."

	"I just want to say one last thing," Zeck replied.  "Erika, I
don't believe I will ever understand your people.  However, I now
like at least one of them.  Thank you."

	"Don't mention it," Erika said, thinking of the message boards
they both visited.  "Seriously, don't."  She didn't think she
would mention him to too many people either.  It would be too
easy for others to take her acquaintance with Zeck the wrong way.

	"I too have something to say," Chas broke in.  "It is better to
burn out than fade away."

	Laughter was shared all around as they exited the van and headed
towards the mansion.  Kurt and Tim's common-law wives were
waiting for them on the porch.

	Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon were a pair of middle-aged blonde
and brunette women clad in white dresses.  They smiled as they
looked over the sailors.  "Hey boys," Susan said.  "You fresh
from the war?"

	"We're on leave from it," replied Torrence.  "We're headed back
day after tomorrow."

	Susan frowned.  "I see.  Kick some ass for me, okay?  I want our
troops to all come home soon."

	"We will," said Zeck.  "By the way, I've always enjoyed watching
you both in films.  My favorite movie of yours is `Dead Man
Walking'."  He looked at Goldie.  "I like you best in
`Overboard'."

	"Yeah," Chas added with a grin.  "You two are awesome MILFs."

	"Thanks," Goldie said.  "You seamen are welcome to come upstairs
later if my daughter and her friends don't take all your energy."
 Susan beamed in concurrence.

	Kurt and Tim stepped to their women's sides.  Their expressions
told the sailors that Goldie and Susan would be quite fatigued if
and when the younger men came to visit them.  Zeck and his
friends nodded and did not approach.

	"You kids are welcome to use the pool area out back," said
Susan.  "Refreshments are in the kitchen if you need them.  The
guest cottage has enough rooms for everyone to stay over.  Girls,
Eva wanted me to tell you all not to scream too much.  She has an
essay due tomorrow and is upstairs working hard on it."

	Erika rolled her eyes.  "Okay, Mom."  Eva Amurri was Susan's
real-life daughter and had acted onscreen with Susan and Erika in
"The Banger Sisters".  She was a high school senior and a bit
more conservative than her mother was, so she wasn't that into
swinging or dating yet.  Everyone respected her wishes, as Eva
had a bad temper and her rages were truly something to dread.

	The four older celebrities stepped away from the front door so
that the young people could enter.  They then said farewell and
walked away.  Kate led the others through the house to the
kitchen, where they observed the fruit, drinks and sandwiches
laid out.  They did not touch them for the moment, other things
on their minds.

	Sarah unlocked the mansion's back door and led them into the
rear patio area.  A large swimming pool flanked by two palm trees
and several shrubs dominated the gray-walled courtyard.  It had a
Jacuzzi at one end and a diving board at the other.  Chairs and a
picnic table were set up on the wooden deck around the pool. 
Towels, floats and other swimming-related devices lay scattered
about on the ground.  Sarah turned to the sailors and gave them a
sly expression.  "You Navy boys are okay with doing things in the
water, right?"

	"That depends," said Torrence.  "Did you bring condoms?"

	"Right here," Erika said, taking a box out of her purse and
holding it up.  "You get two each.  Susan has more inside for
later."  She grinned as Chas took the box from her and passed it
around.

	The sailors got into a huddle and whispered at each other. 
Erika frowned as she looked on while the more experienced Kate
and Sarah beamed in anticipation.  "Get undressed," Kate advised
Erika when she saw the guys unbuttoning their uniform shirts and
pants.

	Erika shrugged and took her clothes off while observing everyone
else do likewise.  No one seemed embarrassed or over-excited. 
Erika had fucked Kate, Sarah and other people in outdoor and
indoor swimming pools before.  She was not nervous about doing it
again.  She was anxious to add the sailors to her conquests but
she also knew that things would be best if they took their time.
Thus, she suppressed her emotions and kept herself calm until
everyone had removed their garments and piled them on the deck's
chairs.  Soon they were all naked and standing before each other.
 Erika tweaked her thick red nipples and then ran two fingers
through her fertile and itching blonde bush.

	Zeck had the longest cock of the three sailors, she noted. 
Chas's was smallest and widest and Torrence's was somewhere in
between.  None of them had anything larger than Erika had taken
before, or so it appeared at the moment.  All the men had donned
condoms in preparation for what lay ahead.  They put their spares
on the side of the pool and stood at ready attention.

	Kate's cunt was shaven while her breasts were small with peach
colored aureoles.  Her body was thin and pale in the moonlight. 
Sarah had pert tits with dark puffy nipples and a vermillion
airstrip over her pussy.  Plenty of curves showed around her
stomach and waist.  Each girl put her hands on her hips and gave
the other two content smiles before turning to the men standing
beside them.

	"Let's fuck!" Sarah said.  She crooked a finger and beckoned
Torrence close.

	Erika stepped towards Zeck, feeling his eyes on her.  Chas shook
his head and blocked her path.  "I think my bro's still nervous
about you.  Can I have you first?"

	"Okay," Erika said with a shrug.  She let the large sailor take
her in his arms and kissed him when he leaned down towards her. 
In her peripheral vision, she could see Kate exchanging similar
gestures with Zeck.

	Sarah was doing the same with Torrence, hugging him tight and
running her tongue over his dark skin.  Her red hair shook and
her eyes flashed.  Erika could hear her moaning as the black
sailor stroked her breasts, leaning down between kisses to lick
her neck and nipples.  Sarah returned Torrence's fondles, panting
like an engine as he pressed himself against her front.

	Chas was moving his lips across Erika's face and throat while
his hands caressed the curves of her back.  Erika could feel a
heat rising inside her body.  She threw back her head and let out
a cheer.  The neighbors wouldn't care, she believed.  Susan's
property had a reputation for producing strange noises in the
evening.  No one would be disturbed to hear more such sounds. 
The older couples in the house knew what the young people were
doing.  Brown University had accepted Eva last semester.  She did
not need to study that much, Erika thought.

	Zeck muttered something as Kate hugged him.  "Wait," she said in
reply.  Kate then kissed the top of the shorter man's head and
pushed his lips towards her breasts.  The navigator nodded and
followed her instructions.  Erika could feel his thoughts on her,
though.  Maybe he really does fantasize about saving me, she told
herself.  He wants to violate the "Star Trek" Prime Directive, to
boldly go where none of his kind has gone before.

	She decided to ignore him for now.  Never mind that she could
handle her own life and didn't need to be saved.  Erika had
always been one to focus on the lover immediately in front of
her.  Right now, that was Chas.

	"Let's get in the water," Chas suggested, stopping his kisses
and looking at her.  "I love it there."

	Erika nodded.  She did too.  In her childhood and early teenage
years, she had won several swimming competitions.  These days
water was among her favorite environments for exercise and sex. 
She beamed at Chas and stepped out of his arms, then ran off and
leapt into the pool's deep end with a whooping laugh.  He dashed
to the diving board and used it to pursue her.

	Kate motioned Zeck towards the Jacuzzi.  It was separated from
the pool and had enough heat to warm them up to each other.  He
nodded and followed her lead.  Hand in hand, they walked to the
warm tub and entered it.  They then resumed their cuddling and
making out.

	Meanwhile Sarah moved away from Torrence and activated a small
portable stereo beside a deck chair.  Her song "Spin it like a
DJ" came on and she grinned at the black sailor.  "Nice tune," he
told her as they embraced once more.  Torrence spun Sarah around
and stepped with her into the pool's shallow end.

	The three couples moved around in the water, drenching their
naked bodies and frolicking at ease.  Sarah and Torrence laughed
and hugged, fingers traveling over each other's torsos.  Kate
pushed herself against Zeck and kissed him while reaching over
his shoulders to turn on the Jacuzzi's jets.  Erika swum one lap
of the pool's width to mock Chas and then came up for air,
treading water and beaming like a mermaid.  The large sailor
paced her and then surfaced beside her.  He lunged at her but she
dodged away and splashed him with a chuckle.  He threw up a
forearm to block, then smirked and splashed Erika back.

	Zeck gave voice to a groan as Kate pushed him onto a jet stream.
 Warm bubbles were shooting up his rear and tickling his insides.
 Kate was teasing his cock and nipples with her fingers, her lips
sneering as she moved.  Zeck laughed and gave her several gasps
of pleasure.  His hands found and fondled her clit and aureoles.
Kate clutched him around the neck and kissed him as he brought
her to ecstasy.  When she was moaning as hard as he was, he moved
his hands to her rear and squeezed it before pushing her sheath
forward and onto his rock-hard sword.  Kate smiled at the
impalement and kissed Zeck, her body returning his every thrust.

	Torrence and Sarah coordinated their making out to Sarah's
music.  The black sailor spun the redhead around in the shallow
water with every high note and pushed her towards the wall at
repetitive chords.  Sarah let him lead, caught up in the moment.
She was a girl on the verge of orgasm and pushed her partner
towards the same.  He returned her affections.  They kissed and
stroked each other as the custom-mixed CD switched to the next
song, too busy causing spasms within their bodies to notice
anything else.

	Chas and Erika ceased their splashing duel and embraced, kicking
their legs to keep themselves afloat.  Chas kissed Erika's lips
and his arms came around her.  Erika found herself thinking back
to all the sexual things she had done in pools before.

	First she had swam and skinny-dipped with her brothers as a
child.  Erika had never done anything else with them, as she and
her siblings weren't attracted to each other.  Still, none had
minded swimming together nude.

	As she got older, Erika's hobby of swimming developed alongside
that of her acting.  When she matured, Erika began looking at
other men and women who swam alongside her and thinking about
what it would be like to be with them.  Time passed and she got
curioser and curioser.  Her third coupling with her first
boyfriend was in a pool and she had tried to get almost every
lover she had since into the water also.  Some were afraid of the
idea and rejected it.  Others leapt in with both feet but then
found themselves hopeless at maneuvering in the medium.  Erika
was glad Chas was neither of these.

	She stroked the tattoo on the large sailor's arm and kissed his
neck.  Looking over his chest and back, she spied several more
tattoos.  Dates and logos were beside the names and faces of
women she was sure he had in other ports.  Erika added the latter
images to her own fantasies.  She did not need to be alone in the
heart of this explorer.  She did give him treasure to remember
her by, though, stroking his cock and his muscles.  From Chas's
whispers and sighs, Erika knew she would soon be added to his
body's list.

	Kate cried out from the Jacuzzi.  Zeck was pushing a jet up her
ass now and had her seated over it as he thrust his manhood into
her tingling pussy.  She moaned at the double penetration and
squeezed his neck.  The navigator slapped her shoulders, asking
her if he was better than her husband was at loving.  Kate shook
her head and upset Zeck, causing him to stroke her harder and
deepen his thrusts.

	Sarah continued her dance with Torrence in the shallows.  The
new song on the radio did not have a melody conducive to
lovemaking, so now their motions had little rhyme or reason. 
They excited each other nonetheless.

	As they moved, Sarah reflected on how she often saw her swinging
as a bad habit, a mistake that got her carried away and then too
often left her in the dust.  She kept doing it, though, as she
was both addicted to sex and holding out hope that one day she
would find someone special.  Groupies, other rock stars, family
members such as Kate and Kate's brother Oliver, boyfriends and
girlfriends of every stripe had succumbed to her advances.  Sarah
loved them all and kept looking for the person who sparked her
heart.  Torrence was not that person, she knew, but he would do
fine for the meantime.  She let out a moan as he stabbed his cock
into her snatch and pushed her into the wall of the pool.

	Erika and Chas continued to create waves in each other while the
water lashed around them.  They bobbed up and down on the surface
of the deep end, hitting the pool's floor on occasion, as they
stroked one another.  The music thrummed from the stereo, Sarah's
voice fading and that of Chris Daughtry taking over.  Erika
fucked Chas at the speed of sound, taking his organ into her
tunnel and rolling with him on the swells of the pool.  They
crashed into each other and went up in emotional flames,
caressing nerves with flesh and fingers while breathing into one
another's mouths and hair.  The water around them was resisting
their movements and deadening their sensations, so they were able
to take things slow.

	Water was the element that brought life, though, and both Erika
and Chas enjoyed being inside it.  They let the heat of each
other overcome the low temperature of the pool as they cuddled
close.  He motioned her towards a ladder near the diving board
and she moved with him.  Taking up position on one of the
ladder's steps, Erika opened her legs as Chas clutched her
shoulders and shoved his manhood in and out of her cunt.

	Laughter and dumb dirty jokes came off Chas's lips as he fucked
Erika.  She ignored them for the most part.  The large sailor was
not her first lover with an odd sense of humor.  At least he
still seems to care deep down, she thought, for his friends and
for me.

	Zeck shook as he pushed his body into Kate's.  He and the other
two sailors had enjoyed girls on shore leave many times but this
was a new experience.  The navigator had been a fan of the Black
Crowes' music until a roommate at his first duty station had
played it too much and turned him off to it.  Eventually that
sailor was mustered out, so Zeck relaxed.  Soon he was able to
enjoy the Black Crowes again.  Then he saw Kate in "Almost
Famous" and got attracted to her.  He felt insanely jealous when
he found out she was married to the Crowes' lead singer Chris
Robinson but put it aside.  There was no way he and Kate would
ever meet.

	Now we have, though, Zeck reflected, and we're fucking.  Another
one of my fantasies is nearby and I am sure I will get her before
the night is over.  I'll get Sarah, too.  These girls are
man-eaters, I think.  Chew them up and spit them out, then move
on and do it again.  Maybe they enjoy it.  Perhaps they remember
every lover and like amassing more.  I want to hate people like
them but I can't find it in myself to do that.  Better just to
respond to each moment as it comes and enjoy what I can.

	He was unaware that Erika often had similar thoughts about her
lovers.  She was having such thoughts now as Chas fucked her
against the ladder.  The cold metal vibrated against her skin,
distracting her.  Chas pushed into her every time she moved away,
daring and relentless.  She fucked back, trying to concentrate on
him and nothing else.

	My beast of lust is always the same, Erika said to herself.  It
rises inside and I cannot ignore it.  Sometimes it scares people.
 It scares me, too.  My first boyfriend found he preferred
someone else to me and so have other lovers.  Alicia hasn't been
the only one to outright reject me either.  I try to brush it off
even though it still bothers me a lot of the time.  I take what I
want and can get and then I keep looking for more.  It is not in
my beast or in me to ever be satisfied.  Laughing at her
realization, Erika leaned into Chas and returned his strokes.

	The lovers steered each other on a course of pleasure, rubbing
each other and crying out.  Zeck climaxed first, proud to stake
his claim on another man's territory.

	Kate followed the navigator seconds later.  As she reached
orgasm, she wondered if Chris would ever get pissed off that she
insisted he not be her only man.  She would deal with that when
and if it happened, Kate told herself.  She just hoped they would
be able to stay friends no matter what and raise any children
they might have together too.

	Sarah was next to come, thrashing around and wailing as Torrence
pushed back and forth inside her and pinched her nipples.  This
sailor is fun, she thought.  His hands are strong from constant
tying of knots and other shipboard tasks.  He's also very adept
in the water, as all sailors should be.  I hope his friends are
the same.

	In the deep end, Chas grunted and pushed his cock into Erika. 
She nodded, sensing his intent.  Letting go of the ladder, the
couple moved underwater to the deepest part of the pool.  Once
they arrived, Chas clenched Erika tight and shook as his flare
went off.  Erika responded seconds later and let out several
bubbles as demolition boomed inside her body.  She smiled and
kissed Chas hard when they both came up for air, giggling freely
when he made a jest about what he had just done.

	"That should have cleared your bilge," Chas said.

	"It did," Erika whispered in his ear.  "Thank you."  She moved
her lips back to the large sailor's and touched his tongue with
her own.

	Torrence reached his own orgasm a few seconds later and pulled
out of Sarah.  He exited the pool and shook himself dry, then
turned and gave the redhead a raised thumb.  "Thanks, babe.  You
are as intense as your music."

	"Thank you too," Sarah told him with a smile.  She looked around
and saw that the other two couples were also separating.  "So,
who's next?"

	The men caught their breath and smiled at the women.  Kate and
Zeck got out of the Jacuzzi and nodded at each other, then walked
to the side of the pool.  Erika and Chas looked up as their
friends stood over them.

	"I want you, Penny Lane," Chas told Kate.  "Not in the water,
though.  You look more like bed candy to me."

	"Fine," Kate replied, shrugging.  "You can sleep with me in my
room later.  For now, I'll take the girl you just screwed."

	She jumped into the pool and swam towards Erika as Chas dropped
his jaw.  Erika laughed and accepted Kate's hug.  They kissed and
moved into each other, hands roaming over each other's backs as
tongues buffed lips and necks.

	Sarah saw what Kate and Erika were doing and got excited.  She
had enjoyed lesbian loving with them and many other girls.  This
included Aimee and Kelly Osbourne, who were both spitfires with
few limits to their kinks.  Sarah had her own kinks also. 
Fucking girls in direct view of guys was one of them.  She knew
there were few things that helped guys recover more quickly and
was also turned on by it herself.

	Calling out to Kate and Erika like a mythic Siren, she swam over
to them.  They stopped fondling each other's breasts and turned
to embrace Sarah while treading water.  The girls exchanged a
three-way kiss and then moved to the shallow end of the pool
while continuing to give each other synchronized strokes.  Erika
was not as experienced with Sarah as Kate was but she was still
good at finding her nerves.  They stood together once they found
stable ground beneath their feet and moved their bodies against
each other, caressing in cadence.  Zeck, Chas and Torrence
watched them, clapping and chuckling in glee.

	Shaking his head, Chas exited the water and took off his used
condom.  He put the balloon in a trash bin and then strode back
to the side of the pool.  His eyes on the Sapphic exchange in the
shallows, he stroked himself back to full erection.  Zeck and
Torrence followed his example and disposed of their soggy
balloons.  All the sailors put their spare condoms on once their
organs were prepared.

	Kate, Sarah and Erika paid them little attention, intent on
their own loving.  They traded hot kisses and nips at each
other's breasts and necks, taking turns sticking two or three
fingers up each other's aching cunts and stroking vigorously. 
The water around them loosened up their bodies but they still
clenched each other hard.  Cries of joy split the air,
accompanying the music from the stereo.  The three girls spun
around and shook against one another, growing more and more
excited.

	Erika gyrated in orgasm first as Kate and Sarah sucked at her
left and right nipples respectively.  They also each crooked two
fingers in her folds, their other hands rubbing each other's
torsos and legs.  Erika's hands were fondling their legs and
tits.  Erika waited until she had calmed down and then pressed
Sarah's clit with her left hand and Kate's with her right.  Her
girlfriends both shook with multiple small explosions.  They
beamed at her in thanks and kissed her cheeks.

	"Ready again, boys?" Kate asked, turning back to the sailors. 
Zeck, Torrence and Chas chorused hurrahs, all eager to get back
in the action.  They leapt into the pool as one and swam over to
join the girls.

	Zeck pointed at Erika and she nodded, ready to be with him now.
Kate stayed beside them like a guardian angel.  Chas and Torrence
both swam towards Sarah.  Torrence wanted Erika and Kate too, but
he knew he could get them later.  The night was young and they
also had tomorrow.

	If these girls are willing, Torrence thought, my bros and I
would be happy to stay with them and then hurry back to our ship
at the last minute.  I'm not going AWOL for them, it's too
important to me to serve my country, but I will enjoy myself as
much as possible while I am free.  I would want anyone whose
freedom I secure by fighting to do the same.  He smiled at his
thoughts and moved to take Sarah's ass while Chas kissed her and
thrust his cock into her twitching pussy.

	At the other end of the pool's shallows, Erika stood before Zeck
while Kate covered her back.  Just go with this, she told
herself.  He doesn't hate you.  You don't hate him.  Neither one
of you is a threat to the other.  You could even help each other
if you would just both open your eyes.

	A Nickelback song came on the radio as Erika and Zeck stared at
each other.  Kate laughed when she heard it.  <I>Prison gates
won't open up for me.  On these hands and knees I'm crawling... 
Oh, I reach for you...  All I need is you!  Come please, I'm
calling...</I>

	Nodding at the words, Erika and Zeck swam towards each other and
embraced.  Zeck returned her expressions of acceptance and opened
his mouth to admit her tongue.  Her nipples stabbed into his
chest while his cock speared her loins.  Each was very sensitive
in body and mind.  They still feared each other to a degree but
were willing to work things out as they needed to.  Kate stood
beside them like a moderator, pushing her lips and fingers
against their muscles when she saw things getting too hot between
them or within herself.

	"You both need to do something," she advised them during the
caressing.  "Look for truth as it is, not as other people tell
you it should be perceived.  Drop all your expectations and take
things as they come.  Give yourselves to each other if that's
what you want.  Don't be afraid.  Men and women cannot grow
together and become better people if they won't put their
differences away and listen to each other.  I heard my mother
tell men this several times growing up.  I continue to pass it
on."

	Zeck and Erika acknowledged Kate's words and thanked her by each
squeezing one of her tits.  Kate kissed each of them on the cheek
and then let them get back to their own coupling.

	Erika argued with Zeck using her hands and the motions of her
body.  She insisted that she knew best for herself and that she
would listen to him but not let him change her without her
cooperation.  Zeck directed her attention to various locations on
his body and hers repeatedly, giving her counterpoints and
reminding her that she did not know everything.  Erika did not
respond well when he mocked her or showed anger but she
appreciated it when he was nice to her and reasonably fulfilled
her needs.  Most of these moments were after-effects of direction
Kate gave the navigator.

	The music swelled in their ears.  <I>Show me what it's like to
be the last one standing.  Teach me wrong from right, and I'll
show you what I can be!

	Say it for me, say it to me, and I'll leave this life behind me.
 Save me it if it's worth saving me... Hurry, I'm falling...</I>

	Erika and Zeck massaged each other with the emotion of the song,
fondling arms and chests.  Their legs rubbed into each other and
their heartbeats swelled with the motion of the pool.

	Kate followed their exchanges, intent on forcing them to get
along by whatever means necessary.  She had enjoyed Zeck's
attentions towards her earlier and did not want him to leave
Erika or her upset.  Zeck was a good observer, Kate thought, save
for the fact that he also needed to learn to lighten up.  The
world did not revolve around his views or his desires.  The same
was true for Erika but she had learned that lesson long ago. 
Kate pushed her breasts into Erika's side as she reflected on
this, rubbing the heat of her pussy on her girlfriend's thigh.

	Zeck and Erika tasted one another's mouths, pinching each other
and moaning.  They increasingly moved in sync, their emotions
exuding and washing away on the water around.  Their love organs
hardened, their minds and bodies aroused.  Soon they were
screaming for each other instead of at each other, both fully
into the other person's mindset and ready to move away from their
initial impressions of each other if not forget them.  They were
joined now, flesh and spirit.  Moods struck them but they were
able to predict and respond as needed.  Kate gave them her
goddess's smile and clapped them each on the back.

	Sarah, Chas and Torrence had their own storm going on nearby. 
The two sailors launched their organs into Sarah's holes and she
vibrated against them.  The water lubricated both her slots along
with her own nectar, keeping her body open to both men.  She had
her arms around Chas's neck as she moved.  First she shoved
herself forward into Chas and then she let herself collapse back
into Torrence.  They followed her motions and caressed her
breasts, torso and hair.

	Each man felt good and Sarah would love to be with either alone
but both together was even more wonderful.  The redhead had not
enjoyed two men in a long while, as not all men were willing to
share a bed or a woman with other men.  She was pleased these
sailors had no problem doing either.

	Too bad they aren't into each other, though, Sarah thought.  I
would have loved to see that, too.

	Beside them in the pool, Zeck and Erika continued to respond to
each other and Kate's projections.  Erika fully opened her legs
at last and Zeck shoved his cock into her slit.  Erika screamed
in both joy and pain as the spear split her apart, shaking around
it and clinging to Zeck.  He beamed at her and hugged her, his
hopes fulfilled.

	Maybe not all my hopes, he thought.  Never mind, though.  I'll
take this for now.  Erika's changed my mind quite a bit with her
very presence.  I don't know if I'll ever again look at anyone
the way I did before.

	Erika sobbed into his shoulder, feeling a similar transition. 
From now on, I will anticipate people who feel about me the way
Zeck did initially and not worry so much about them, she decided.
 He's the first serious case like him to which I've been
attracted and he became my friend.  I think I needed to go
through this.  There could be many more people like him down the
road, guys and girls.  Especially if news of my religion's bad
side spreads.  I have to be ready to show people I'm not messed
up or sinister.  Zeck, you will help me with that, right?

	Kate pressed her torso against Erika's back, wrapping her arms
about Erika and Zeck's bodies.  Helping them learn to cooperate
was a good aphrodisiac for her.  Kate's nipples and clit were
taut and her cunt was leaking like a sieve.  The water of the
pool flowed around them, its motion sparking new sensations in
Kate's body.  The slow steady chill of the pool followed the firm
speedy heat of the Jacuzzi.  Combined with the emotion around her
and Erika and Zeck's touches, the change in tempo was enough to
give Kate another powerful orgasm once she was able to settle
herself down.

	Zeck followed Kate after a few more seconds.  Erika gasped with
each of his spurts, holding her own climax back.  Zeck was giving
her an enormous sense of accomplishment and she wanted to
appreciate that.  She tried to ignore that both Zeck and Kate
were coming beside her and that Sarah and the other two sailors
were also gasping and shaking as they exploded nearby.

	Sarah shook her red hair and moaned deep in her throat,
exchanging kisses with Chas and Torrence in her afterglow. 
Enough, Erika decided as she heard Sarah thanking them.  I will
abandon myself now.

	"Yes!" she cried as Zeck fired his final burst.  "Yes!  Thank
you!"  Erika cried her emotion again as Zeck and Kate grinned and
kissed her cheeks.

	The sailors and celebrities split off from each other and got
out of the pool.  They passed towels around and dried off one
another's bodies.  The group, especially Zeck and Erika,
exchanged many smiles and nods.  They were content with each
other now and both knew it would be difficult for them to
conflict again.  They beamed at their friends and each other,
proud with this knowledge.  Nickelback hit a chord of victory on
the radio nearby.

	"I should give you my e-mail and user names," Zeck told Erika. 
"I'm probably on a lot of those message boards where you lurk. 
Other forgiving Anons are also.  I think we could learn a lot
from you."

	"Communication is the key to improving life," Erika concurred,
quoting her church's scripture.  "I think I can give you guys
some perspective."

	"I'd like that," said Zeck.  "Just never lie to us, okay?  We
really don't appreciate lies."

	"I hope you can tell the difference between lies and truth,"
Erika replied.  "Sometimes that's difficult on the Net, even more
so than in real life.  It takes effort many people aren't willing
to put forward.  Sometimes perception has everything to do with
reality."  Zeck nodded in agreement with her words.

	They all took deep breaths and calmed down, panting with the
emotions they had just traded.  "Okay," Chas said after a few
minutes.  "I think I'm ready again."  He checked his cock and
frowned.  "No, wait.  I'm not.  Sorry."

	"Can I get you next, Torrence?" Erika asked.  "I haven't had
very many black guys."

	"Sure," Torrence said, grinning at her.  "Just give me another
second or two to get back my strength.  I think I may also need
another condom."

	"No, you don't," Kate replied.  "You're wearing a heavy duty
brand.  Did you not notice that before now?"

	The sailors each looked at their groins and raised their
eyebrows.  Their condoms were indeed still firm around their
cocks and had not slipped off even as the organs deflated.

	"Whoa," said Chas.  "I may have to recommend this brand to the
SEALs.  You know, for our guns?"

	"Shut up, Chas!" Torrence snapped, bristling.  "You're making me
nauseous."

	"I think we need to get these guys excited again," Erika said to
Kate and Sarah.  She moved close to her girlfriends and spread
out a large beach towel.  Then she lay her body down, beckoning
with her fingers.  "Triangle?"

	The two cousins grinned and joined Erika on the towel.  After
kissing one another, they settled into the named shape.  Each
girl pressed her face into the closest pussy while also reaching
to caress hips, rumps, and breasts.  The sailors sat on the deck
beside them as they looked on.  Erika was licking Kate's snatch,
Kate lapped Sarah's, and Sarah tasted Erika's.  They exchanged
gasps, touches and moans throughout the coupling, their skin
shining as their sensations increased.

	"Damn!" Chas said.  "This is really getting me ready."  He
turned to Zeck and made another quip.  "Improving one facet also
helps the others, huh?"

	The navigator frowned and shook his head.  "Whatever."

	"Yeah, man," Torrence agreed.  "I don't think anyone but you got
that!  Enough with your crap jesting, okay?"  He stroked his
cock, watching the girls.

	Erika was meanwhile shaking under Sarah's attentions.  Another
song of Sarah's was on the radio now and Erika found it very
appealing.  This is my freedom, she sang along in her mind.  The
sun comes out from hiding, and I still can't get enough.  I'm in
love with this, with life and pleasure.  I forever want to get
caught up in the moment, enjoy it till the day I die.

	<I>Swimming in the sheer vibrations, strip away your
limitations!</I>

	Nodding, Erika gave in to the new waves of rapture in her cunt.
Sarah and Kate did the same.  The girls smiled at each other as
their triangle broke up after they had climaxed.

	Always at times like these, Erika felt herself as present and
yet as an observer.  She was a creator of ecstasy and had it in
her own body, too.  She was grateful for both what she had done
and how others had assisted her.  She was comfortable with all
they had done together, not disturbed at all.  I was bothered
before, she thought, but I have advanced now.  Never shall I be
how I was again.

	Kate leaned in and kissed Erika's smile of satisfaction.  "You
need to remember your speech from the film you did with Mom," she
said when their kiss broke.  "Whatever you do, do it true.  Be
who you are and let others see it.  Just like you have today."

	"Right," Erika said.  She felt in sync with her environment,
powerful and on a high tone.  I will survive, she said to
herself.  I will survive whether or not I continue doing this. 
But surviving alone is not what I want.  That is no way to exist.

	Garth Brooks agreed with her from the stereo.  <I>Life is not
trying, it's merely surviving, if you're standing outside the
fire!</I>

	"You hear that?" Kate asked.  "Those are words to live by."

	Erika roared her agreement.  Inside the mansion, in Eva Amurri's
room on the second floor, something shattered with high volume
against a wall.

***
<b>June 2002.</b>

	Three months later, Erika was still following Kate's advice.  It
had been of great benefit to her, more so than any other
teachings she had heard in life.  She stayed true to herself and
encouraged others to do the same.  This greatly improved her
life.  Now she was surer of herself when she spoke to others and
found it easier to get along with them.  She left her cross at
home and that helped.  Erika still had her beliefs but she had
now embraced the idea that it was easier to express herself and
live her morals without all the baggage that went with making
things specific to her religion.  She had always known this and
now she was living it as much as she could.  The benefits were
evident all around.

	Alicia was still resisting her advances but at least they were
speaking to each other and going out together again.  They had
even gotten lucky a few times.  Erika was also continuing to see
Kate, Sarah and her other girlfriends.  She dated men too,
including TV actor Michael Rosenbaum and his Playboy photographer
acquaintances.  Many people wanted to get to know her, guys and
girls.  Erika gave herself to those she found worthy and enjoyed
the satisfaction.  She made numerous new non-sexual friends as
well.

	Her circle even expanded to include other members of her church.
 Parishioners and ministers alike appreciated her sunny
confidence and cheerful disposition.  She did not attend services
as much; she was too faithful and happy in living as her true
self to feel the need; but that did not seem to matter.  Many
opportunities to reach out through her church and celebrity and
support the causes in which she was interested were coming
Erika's way.  She took each in stride and helped as best she
could, always pushing aside her fear.  It got easier as days
passed.  Fewer people were expressing disapproval towards Erika
now and she felt better about handling things when they did.  The
most uncompromising extremists avoided Erika as if she was the
plague and she quickly got used to it.  Rarely did she look over
her shoulder.

	Once enough gossip got around about her hobbies, some other
celebrity Scientologists started asking Erika if they could be
with her.  Jason Dohring, Jason Lee, Kelly Preston and Leah
Remini -- all members of Clear Rainbow -- gave Erika invitations
to join them and their significant others.  Erika accepted
Dohring's and Lee's offers without condition, as she liked both
of them and their tastes in women.  She told Kelly and Leah that
she was not interested in their husbands sexually but would be
happy to be with either of them alone if they were okay with
that.  Both women said yes.  Their spouses became Erika's friends
also, though neither John Travolta nor Leah's husband Angelo
Pagan shared Erika's bed.

	Some weeks after that, five other women approached Erika in one
of the church purification saunas.  Catherine Bell and Juliette
Lewis were older actresses who found Erika reminded them of the
person they wanted to be.  Lynsey Bartilson and Laura Prepon were
rising young stars who also wished to emulate her.  Marisol
Nichols was the older girlfriend of Taron Lexton, the teenage boy
genius who directed most of the church's motivational videos. 
Marisol wanted to see more people like Erika among these
productions' casts.  All five were eager to hear her teachings
and wash her body with their fingers, tongues and hair.

	Erika accepted these celebrities as disciples and enlisted them
in the church reformation movement along with several other
Scientologists.  The recruitment continued with everyone pitching
in.  Soon the reformers' membership roster became quite large. 
They had to approach an additional Friendship viceroy,
intelligence agency director Mike Rinder, in order to keep their
intentions and identities hidden from prying eyes.  Erika had not
known of Rinder's Friendship office until Isaac revealed it to
her and was pleased when she found out.

	"I know this plan will take a long time," Rinder told Erika and
her associates.  "Our aims are good, but we are not in power in
our church or even in the majority.  I have lived with ambition,
persecution and paranoia all my life.  They breed deeply ignorant
and eternal foes."

	Rinder's warnings heightened when the viceroy Erika had told
Zeck about was exposed and forced to leave the church and his
family.  Soon others who noticed this incident became worried and
stepped away from the call to reform.  The bubble had burst. 
This is not the time, the general mood proclaimed.  Change is too
dangerous and may not even be necessary.  Our church is good,
right?  We think it is and we want to stay part of it.

	Erika, Isaac and the other celebrities were still in, as was
their executive contact Rinder, but this was only because of
their determination and the established double standards with
which they were treated.  They pretty much had to stay quiet and
remain in the shadows.  They weren't very effectual even when
they spoke up, as so many people saw them as just faces and not
real voices for motivation.  Fanatic evangelists like Tom Cruise
and most of the church leaders were also watching their every
move.

	The circle stayed in touch but was reduced to informality. 
Erika was unsure what anyone could do to make them rise again.

	Then another event of great impact happened.  Erika had stayed
in touch with Zeck as he crossed the Pacific, exchanging e-mails
and information that each felt the other needed to know.  They
had remained associates and occasional cyber-lovers.  Each had
learned tolerance from the other and grown in response to this
gift.  Zeck supported Erika as she stayed in her church and tried
to help make it better.  He also reminded her he was always there
if she reached the breaking point.  Erika told him she
appreciated this and that she would continue to work towards his
hopes for peace.

	Zeck was the only online anti-Scientologist Erika trusted and
was willing to reach out to, though.  All the others she saw
seemed too caught up in their own viewpoints or lacking in proper
direction.  The members of Anonymous for the most part did not
even know one another's real names.  They were so divided into
uncoordinated networks of friends and foes that Erika could not
find herself at all interested in approaching them.  Zeck was no
help either, as he was isolated on board his ship and mistrusted
by anyone on the Internet to whom he mentioned his support for
Erika's cause.

	One hundred days after they met, she received the final e-mail
from him.  The navigator told Erika she should not worry about
her reform circle's collapse.  As long as she stayed true to
herself and lived the good in her beliefs, as long as she helped
others do the same, there was still hope.  Zeck also expressed
excitement about Erika's upcoming slasher movie and asked her to
check out a rumor that Sarah was coming to entertain the troops
in Karachi.

Erika was ready to answer the next morning.  A look at the
red-tinted sky out the window made her recall an old sea proverb.
 When she looked at her computer, another message confirmed her
worst fears.

	"Dear Erika," the letter read.  "This is Torrence.  I regret to
inform you that at 0723 hours today a small sailboat collided
with our destroyer.  We thought they were in distress, but they
weren't.

	"On board this vessel were several pounds of C4 and ammonium
nitrate, an improvised explosive device, and some idiot camel
jockey who screamed 'Allahu Akbar!' right before he blew himself
up.  Thirty-one of my shipmates are wounded.  Seventeen are dead,
including your pal and mine Zeck Metz.

	"Zeck could be an obstinate moron sometimes, as you know. 
However, to Chas and me he was a brother.  Guys like him keep you
on point.  Those godless rag-heads killed our best friend.  We
will never forgive them.  I have decided to join the SEALs.  The
man who took Zeck's life is gone but others like him are still
out there.  Chas and I will hunt them down until they all have
paid."

	Once she had stopped crying, Erika's reply took a few minutes to
compose.  "Thank you," she told Torrence.  "I mourn Zeck.  Please
express my condolences to Chas and all his other friends.  Now
listen to me very carefully.

	"A few days ago Zeck and I were discussing the writings of
Friedrich Nietzsche.  I want to share with you one of that
philosopher's famous lines.  'He who fights with monsters should
take care that he himself does not become a monster, and when you
gaze long into an abyss the abyss gazes also into you.'

	"Zeck was a good man.  He touched my heart, as he did yours.  I
especially remember that he dreamed of peace, a dream I share.  I
understand and sympathize with your anger at his death but you
should not let that anger consume you.  Go after the enemy and
stop them from hurting others, as I know you must.  But remember
they are people too.  Some of them may be willing to make peace
with you.  Be ready for that.  Zeck would not want you to betray
him by falling into the abyss of hate he spurned."

	The next day Torrence's answer was in her mailbox.  "What you
say is true.  We will remember it.  Thank you."

	Chas also sent an email with appreciation and several jokes. 
Erika wished them both luck.  That was four days ago.

	I hope you will indeed remember, she thought in the present.  I
also pray that Zeck was not the only one of his kind among
Anonymous and the others opposing my church.  My allies and I
could resume our reform efforts again someday if the right things
occurred and the right people were willing to listen to and work
with us.  Even now, we're lying in wait, ready to aid anyone who
reaches out to us.  My studies of history have taught me never to
give up.  I will not do so now.

	She smiled as she thought again of Zeck and all he had done for
her.  Erika missed him, but she would not crumble.  She was still
alive.  Erika was not raised to let herself be haunted by the
dead.  I will learn from Zeck instead, she told herself.  I
believe that what he taught me could be useful again someday.

	Erika closed the thriller novel she was reading, "Faraway
Reality" by Doug Ramsay, and sighed as she heard director John
Polson calling her name.  Erika's career was the only thing that
had so far not been affected positively by her new life outlook.
She was picking and choosing parts that inspired her instead of
films that guaranteed big money.  Her weekly Friendship stipend
and stock market forecast sheets gave her riches enough.  Erika
also did not care about becoming a major Hollywood player as much
as she did about helping others and finding new friends.  Thus,
she was turning down many scripts and being passed over for even
more.  Her current project, "Swimfan", was lacking in writing
quality.  The story was filled with plot holes and deus ex
machina.

	"Erika!" the director said.  He was a tall black-haired man of
middle age with an Australian accent.  "We're ready.  I need you
on set."

	"I hear you," Erika answered, rising to her feet.  She dropped
her book beside her chair and walked towards Polson.

	Her co-star lovers Jason Ritter and Shiri Appleby gave her
encouraging smiles from the set's sidelines.  Both were in their
early twenties with firm well-shaped bodies and thick dark hair.
Erika reflected on these new friends as she grinned back at them.
 Jason was the son of comedian John Ritter and had grown up
acting on stage like Erika had.  He was very happy to acquire a
friend with benefits who enjoyed both his father's humor and his
own personal acting style.  His longtime companion Marianna Palka
liked Erika too.  Shiri was another actress who had become
intimate with Katherine Heigl while on the cast of "Roswell". 
She and Erika had connected right off.

	The only leading member of the "Swimfan" cast who was not yet
Erika's lover was Jesse Bradford.  He played a high school
swimming ace that Erika's character became obsessed with and
stalked.  He rejected her onslaught of affection and she
proceeded to ruin his life.  She turned his best friend Jason
against him and almost killed his girlfriend Shiri.  Even though
her character drowned at the film's climax, Erika still damaged
Jesse enough to leave him forever scarred.

	The role's violent streak and psychotic dementia had appealed to
Erika at once.  It was so not her!  Even though she doubted the
film would get much positive critical or public attention, she
knew starring in it would help her grow as an actress.

	There was one problem, however.  Erika was attracted to Jesse
but they had very little chemistry.  Jesse was a sweet young hunk
who freely admitted that he was in the film to kiss Erika and
Shiri.  Kissing was all he wanted to do, though.  He had a steady
girlfriend in real life and wanted to stay true to her.  Thus, he
had rejected Erika's every approach.  The resulting feelings this
gave Erika had been useful for her acting, but on a personal
level, Jesse was driving her up the wall.

	He stood in the middle of the pool set now, waiting for her in
his swimsuit.  Their characters had one love-scene together
before he pushed her away and made her go insane.  Jesse and
Erika had tried to film the scene several times.  They could not
get the emotions right.

	"Today is the love-scene's last take," Polson had told them that
morning.  "If you can't get it correct, we're going to have to
scrap this film.  I know none of us wants that.  You've gotten
every other scene across perfect.  Let's finish this one!"

	Erika was intent on fulfilling Polson's wishes.  She wore her
skimpiest red bikini top and shorts.  Her hair was in the same
style Jesse's girlfriend usually wore and she had once again
prepared her most eager emotions for the love-scene with Jesse.

Polson had given Jesse a stern counseling earlier in the day at
her request.  "You're an actor," the director had said.  "Forget
about your personal life.  You like Erika.  I know it, she knows
it and you know it too.  Just give in to your attraction and
forget about everything else for one take.  One take.  Be with
her!"

	He seems interested in me now, Erika thought as she gazed upon
Jesse.  The tanned dark-haired youth had shaved and prettied
himself.  His body was taut and ready.  The set was dark blue all
around, punctuating the moment.  Erika whispered a prayer to
herself that appearances were not deceiving as she slipped into
the pool.

	She and Jesse spoke their lines as they swam towards one
another.  Erika had to make effort to appear slow and hesitant,
not because she was patient but because her character was
supposed to be incompetent in the water.  Erika hated that aspect
of the role.  It made no sense since her character was obsessed
with athletes.  Erika was also a superb swimmer in real life and
had to forget all about that.  She stumbled as she moved and let
Jesse catch her, asking him to teach her how to do what her
character could not.

	His catching her turned into a hug and they began making out. 
The set darkened around them.  "It's okay," Erika told Jesse as
he hesitated to kiss her.  "I want you to."

	He nodded and kissed her a second time.  Then he pulled back. 
"Wait.  Wait, wait.  Wait!  We can't do this."

	"It's okay," Erika repeated.  "Don't worry.  It will be our
little secret... hmm, maybe not so little."  She grinned as she
touched his groin, pleased her words were as true as they had
been every time she'd spoken the line before.

	Jesse took her in his arms and pulled her into deeper waters. 
"All right," he said, giving in.  He kissed Erika hard and she
responded with full emotion.  They turned around as they moved
towards the wall, shaking as the water flowed around their
bodies.  Erika could feel her nipples growing hard and warmth
rising in her loins.  She smiled at both and continued making out
with Jesse.  He pushed her into the wall near a ladder, leaning
down and moving his chest against hers.

	"Ben!" she said as a light cue hit her.  "Tell me you love me."
She kissed him again as he questioned her words.  "You don't have
to mean it, but just say it for me."  The blue spotlights on the
set hit them, adding tension to her words.  She was breathing
heavily and her heart was beating very fast.

	"I love you," Jesse answered after a pause.  Then he leaned
close and touched her lips with his.

	A nearby radio came alive as they kissed.  Jesse frowned,
looking at Erika.  She raised her eyebrows too, surprised by the
music's deep thrumming bass.

	"We'll edit this out later!" Polson shouted.  "Go with it!"

	As Polson instructed his actors, the voice of Marvin Gaye began
singing.  <I>I've been really trying, baby... Trying to hold back
this feeling for so long.  And if you feel like I feel, baby,
then come on, oh, come on!  Whoo!  Let's get it on...</I>

	Erika laughed and hugged Jesse again before he could slip away
from her.  She recognized the song now and was pleased that
Polson had chosen it.  Kissing Jesse with all her might, she
motivated him to stay in her arms.  Soon he was returning her
fervor and chuckling as the music throbbed.  Shiri, Jason and the
director clapped bravos along with several other members of the
film crew.  Erika felt Jesse's hands roaming over her body. Her
shorts were pushed to the side and Jesse's fingers were tracing
her pussy.  His manhood was hard against her tingling thigh.

	"Whoa there," she whispered as Jason buffed her neck.  "What
about your girlfriend?"

	"What about her?" he whispered back with a shrug.  Erika laughed
again as she accepted his next kiss.

Yes! Erika thought.  You're finally accepting me!  You want to do
me in front of everybody and the cameras, I'm fine with that. 
Polson will have to edit the take for a PG-13 rating, but that's
his problem.  I want you, Jesse.  I will have you, here and now.
She stroked his chest and kissed his face.

	"Cut!" Polson yelled.  "That's enough!  We got it!  Thank you!"

	Shiri and Jason snickered as Erika and Jesse refused to stop
kissing.  Finally, the new couple broke apart and smiled at one
another.  You're still hard, Erika thought.  I didn't come
either.  We're going to finish this soon, though, right?  Jesse
echoed her question with his eyes and she widened her grin and
nodded in reply.

	<I>Nothing wrong with love if you want to love me, baby... Just
let yourself go... Oh baby... let's get it on...

	Gonna get it on...</I>

***
<b>The End</b>
****

<b>Afterword</b>:  <I>I was inspired to write this story by the
massive amount of discrimination against the woman behind my
heroine and her people which I see on the Internet every day.  I
know that there are reasons behind this discrimination and agree
that Scientologists have a negative history in their religion and
need to step away from it.  However, I also think those who would
criticize Scientologists need to realize that these people are
not all the same.  Critics also need to learn to refrain from
hatred and dehumanization.  People on both sides of the conflict
need to learn to reach out and that just because someone is
criticizing your arguments does not mean they are your enemy. 
Both sides also need to remember the nature of change in history
and learn to get along.  I have depicted all that herein.

If you're wondering about my place in the war over Scientology,
well, in the years I've been writing this series I've been on
both sides of the war.  I've seen each side making what I
consider terrible mistakes and I don't entirely agree with
either.  This fictional story has summed up my reasons.  Writing
stories such as this is the best way I know to fight back against
the mistakes I see in the world.  I apologize if I have offended
anyone and remind people they don't have to agree with my
opinions.  I hope they will still see the intended lessons
regardless.  Should you desire further information about the
research that went into this story, I highly encourage you to
drop me some feedback and ask.  It doesn't matter what side of
the war you're on.

There will be more sex scenes in this series' concluding episode.
 I will also continue Erika's development.  Coming Soon: 'Passion
of Erika Christensen Ch. 5- Free Katie'.  Stay tuned.</I>