MAU- Collisions Part 2

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"Positive, sir." The E5 had been almost as shocked as her boss. She even asked the contact with the Seoul police to repeat it back to her three times. "Mrs. Powers was struck by a car and is in stable condition. Major Powers is unhurt."

"Do you know how we can reach him?"

Marie Vallero was about to answer when another line rang. Putting her boss on hold for a moment, she answered it. Then, after discovering who was calling, the E5 got back on line with her superior. "Sir, it's Major Powers on line two."

The LTC immediately punched the button for line two. "Steve, what is going on?"

MAU- Collisions Part Two

Synopsis- As Robert Pike recovers from his injuries in a Seoul Hospital, police and military authorities begin to look into how a woman declared dead is suddenly alive.

The ambulance carrying the Powers backed into the emergency bay at SUNH. With Major Powers beside her, Myung was wheeled into the emergency room and taken directly to an examination area.

Major Powers was not allowed in the trauma area. Instead, a hospital employee began taking the vital information from the accident victim's husband. Once done with the employee, the Major was told to take a seat. A doctor would see him as soon as they were done examining his wife. In the meantime, a nurse began to take information from Steve about his wife.

Steve was still reeling from the events from his last hour. It was almost like a dream. His wife, his beloved Myung, was alive.

A badly shaken Sharon Pike had just arrived at the Dongbu bus terminal. The next bus to Tongduchon wasn't leaving for another forty minutes.

'What do I do now?' Sharon asked herself, as she found a quiet corner of the terminal in which to sit. She almost instantly began blaming herself for the accident that had befallen Robert.

The combination of the fear of what happened to her husband and guilt over panicking and dashing from the scene just proved too much for the woman. She began openly crying.

'What do I do now? Where did they take Robert?' Sharon had lots of questions, but very few answers. How she would get those answers was going to be a big problem for Mrs. Pike. Through her sobbing she tried to think clearly. There was no question she needed help now, but where would she get it?

A half hour later, Sharon Pike climbed on board a bus headed to Tongduchon. She would return to the apartment of Linda and Jack McGee. She hoped the McGees would be able to help her; if not, there was the US embassy and the Army, but Mrs. Pike preferred not to go to either except as a last resort.

'Besides, that blasted machine is there. Why was I ever so dumb to use it,' Sharon thought as she took her seat for the two hour ride to Tongduchon.

Dr. Seunghoh Hong, only twenty-seven-years old and one year out of medical school, was in the early hours of a 36-hour shift at SUNH when Myung Powers was wheeled into the trauma area. He had been forewarned that a MVA was on the way in.

A paramedic gave Dr. Hong a clipboard. Myung Powers, 26, married, husband Steven Powers, Major, US Army, plus a brief description of the auto accident.

At once, Dr. Hong began the woman's examination.

Slowly, Robert Pike began to regain consciousness. The first thing the E6 felt was an almost blinding pain emanating from his head. Almost as bad was the fact that he hurt almost every inch from head to toe.

As Robert regained consciousness, he realized he was in a room full of people. The people were talking, and it appeared they were examining him.

Then someone shined a light in his eyes. Immediately Robert began to flinch.

"Mrs. Powers, my name is Dr. Hong. You are at Seoul University National Hospital. Can you tell me your first name?"

"Robert." Why was this doctor calling him Mrs. Powers?

"Can you tell me your first name?"

"Robert." The strange reaction from his patient didn't faze Dr. Hong. Many trauma patients were disoriented when first regaining consciousness.

Dr. Hong was already assessing his patient's condition. He had already ordered a series of X-rays and a cat scan to be performed on the woman. A nurse had already drawn blood work. Dr. Hong believed the woman was just suffering from a concussion and a broken clavicle/collarbone; the tests would confirm the diagnosis and rule out any other injuries.

"Mrs. Powers, where were you at the time of your accident?" asked Dr. Hong. A nurse then entered the trauma room and showed the doctor something that was circled on a clipboard.

"Coffee shop...near US embassy." Again, the Mrs. Powers comment. The E6 was only just beginning to remember what happened that day when his head started aching again, and he passed back into unconsciousness.

Detective Bokyuk Yim and two accident investigators were already on the scene of the traffic accident involving Myung Powers. Bokyuk was a fourteen-year veteran of the Seoul police force, only recently promoted to detective. Beginning as an ordinary patrolman, he had spent the last five years investigating vehicular accidents.

'She was a lucky woman,' Bokyuk thought as his investigators were working the scene. One was carefully examining the place the Powers woman had fallen, while another was examining the Hyundai involved in the accident.

Bokyuk hadn't drawn any final conclusions yet, but the detective was beginning to believe the accident was the pedestrian's fault. According to three eyewitnesses, the woman named Myung Powers had stepped out into the traffic and into the path of the Hyundai.

Patrolmen were still conducting interviews with witnesses. Two of them had mentioned a Caucasian woman leaving the scene shortly afterwards, but the detective thought this was unimportant.

In his five years working them, Bokyuk had done more accident investigations than he cared to remember. Many, like the Powers accident, were minor with no one seriously harmed. Unfortunately, the detective had seen too many of the other variety. Broken and smashed bodies. The human body was fragile and wasn't meant to be struck by any vehicle, no matter the speed.

No matter what the type of accident, the detective took his job seriously. The work was painstaking, often tedious, but somehow Bokyuk thought the work may be of a benefit to someone. People could learn from others' mistakes and try to avoid repeating them.

With luck, Bokyuk could close the file on the Power's woman by early the following week.

Major Steve Powers had been waiting in Seoul University National Hospital's waiting room approximately an hour when he heard someone calling his name.

Before this, the Major had been in a state he had never experienced before. Finding Myung alive overjoyed him. He didn't know how or why she was alive, but she was alive and that was all that mattered now.

Then there was the accident and Myung's injuries. The Major was sick with worry for his wife and felt the accident was partially his own fault.

Getting up from his chair, Steve Powers approached the doctor that called his name. "I am Steve Powers."

"Hello, Mr. Powers, my name is Dr. Hong. I was the doctor responsible for examining your wife."

"How is she?"

"We are still doing tests, but I believe Mrs. Powers has only suffered a broken collarbone and concussion."

'Thank God!' Steve thought, taking his head into his hands. Myung would be okay.

"How about the baby?"

"Your wife's injuries were not too severe. There is a good chance the unborn fetus is uninjured. How many weeks was your wife?"

"I'm not sure. Eleven or twelve, I think. Can I see her now?"

"She is having a cat scan and ultrasound done upstairs right now. When she is back, a nurse will come get you."

"Thank you, doctor," Steve said, then returned to his chair in the waiting area.

Another thought began to cross Steve's mind almost the moment he sat down. What about Myung's parents? They would be delighted to know their daughter was still alive. Should he call them now?

The Major pondered this for a few minutes, but decided to wait till he knew more about Myung's condition.

Robert had been semiconscious throughout the CAT scan. With his head still hurting, he was only slowly beginning to realize where he was. His right arm and shoulder were already in a sling so as to limit movement and let his broken collarbone heal. He was also wearing a hospital gown; his, or rather Myung's clothing had been taken off.

'The accident, I'm in a hospital. I'm still that dead woman,' Robert began to recall, as 'she' realized she was on a hospital gurney that was being wheeled away from radiology toward a set of elevators.

Robert just lay quietly thinking as whoever was pushing the gurney did an abrupt left turn just before getting to the elevators. A few moments later, the E6's gurney was again parked in a hallway.

Robert tried to remember what happened to her, but the severe headache she had made it rough going. 'So, I stepped out in the road and got hit by that car. Now I'm in the hospital. How badly hurt am I?'

But other things were slowly starting to fill Robert's head. 'Where is Sharon now? Who was that guy that picked me up and tried to kiss me? Was it the real Myung's husband?'

Then Robert's thoughts were interrupted. An orderly came and wheeled her down the hallway and then turned right into a small room.

Inside, the orderly and a female technician helped who they thought was Myung up off the gurney. Right after giving the technician the patient's chart, the orderly left the room.

So as to do the ultrasound, the E6's gown was pulled up and the panty she was wearing was taken off. Both accomplished only with the technician's help, Robert was still too sore from the accident. Once done and after wrapping her lower half in a sheet given to her, the
transformed soldier slowly climbed onto the examining table.

While the E6 lay flat on her back, the technician readied to perform the test ordered by Dr. Hong. As she was getting ready, Robert moaned from the concussion she had suffered. "My head hurts. Can I get anything for it?"

"I will have a nurse check for you after I finish this test," the technician reassured her patient. "How many weeks are you?"

The technician was speaking to Robert in Korean, so the E6 decided to reply back in the same. "Weeks?"

"Yes, how many weeks pregnant?"

Robert was about to scream the word pregnant when the technician pressed the transducer against Mrs. Powers' vaginal opening.

'That was the only part that wasn't hurting,' Robert thought to herself as she winced from the pain. Then she went back to what the technician said. 'Pregnant...can I be pregnant?' She silently cursed her wife, Sharon, and her idiotic plan.

"Again, how many weeks are you?" the technician asked. She was already taking images of inside her patient, but had yet to discover a sac. 'Maybe the doctor was mistaken,' the technician thought.

"I don't know," Robert replied, barely hiding her disgust at her current situation.

"When was the date of your last period?" asked the technician, still finding no sign of an infant. She continued to snap images that would be given to a radiologist to check. The technician didn't have a medical degree like a doctor, but she was experienced enough to discover if a woman was pregnant or not. Even at five-six weeks a small sac would be found.

"I don't know," Robert said, still flinching from the examination and all the events from the day. Her head was throbbing even worse under the weight of all this.

A few minutes later the exam was over. The technician was certain the woman wasn't pregnant, nor was there any sign of a miscarriage. She then helped Mrs. Powers back onto the gurney and was about to wheel the woman back out into a hallway. An orderly would then take the woman back to Trauma. She halted the gurney when the woman turned her head to look back up to her. "Am I pregnant?" Robert asked.

"No," the technician answered. "Why, did you think you were?"

"I don't know," Robert replied. For the E6, she had just received her best news of the day. 'Now I've just got to get back to that fucking machine and get my body back,' Robert thought. Finally, the headache proved too much for the E6, and she decided to close her eyes.

Dr. Hong was reading some chest X-rays when one of the nurses handed him a report.

"Blood work results on Mrs. Powers," said Grace Cho as she dropped off the report and went right back to the other work she was doing.

Dr. Hong read the report carefully. Mrs. Powers blood work results were perfectly normal, straight down the line, including her blood alcohol level. The one thing the doctor immediately noted was the pregnancy test results. They were negative.

'So why did the husband think his wife was pregnant?' If Mrs. Powers had suffered a miscarriage because of the accident, she would have still tested positive at this time.

While finding the whole thing odd, Dr. Hong would still double-check with radiology. In the meantime he had another patient who needed his attention.

A nurse summoned Steve Powers back to the trauma area a little past 1930. Following the nurse, he soon saw Dr. Hong.

"How is she?"

"She has suffered lacerations, a concussion and a broken collarbone," Dr. Hong began to explain, reassuring the husband that his wife would be well. The doctor planned on admitting Mrs. Powers for a few days observation. He then hesitated before adding one more thing. "We did an ultrasound and some blood work. Your wife is not pregnant."

"You mean she suffered a miscarriage?" Steve's heart sank for a moment, but he was so happy just to have his wife back. There was still plenty of time for them to start a family.

Steve could see Myung laying in a nearby bed. She appeared to be resting. 'Thank you, God, for giving me back my wife.'

"No, I believe she wasn't pregnant before today. There were no signs of a human fetus during the ultrasound."

Steve didn't know much about medicine, but he trusted the doctor. Maybe the pregnancy test done in Tongduchon had been wrong. 'Wasn't that possible?' he asked himself.

No matter; Myung was alive and well. Her injuries weren't permanent, and more importantly, Steve had her back. "Can I see her now?"

The doctor didn't need to answer. An orderly was already bringing Myung out of the exam room. She was asleep at present.

"Mrs. Powers is being transferred to a room upstairs. You can follow the orderly and go upstairs with her," Dr. Hong explained.

After thanking the doctor one last time, Steve followed the orderly who was wheeling Myung to the nearest service elevator. Once they were onboard, the Major began to gently hold and caress his wife's hand.

A frightened and exhausted Sharon Pike had finally made her way to Tongduchon. Once off the bus she made the mile walk to the McGee's apartment. She then knocked on the door.

"Sharon," Linda McGee said on opening the door. She was glad to see her friend, but surprised to not see Myung.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." Linda held the door open for Sharon as she walked into the apartment. Immediately afterwards the door closed behind her.

With Steve Powers holding his wife's hand the entire way, Myung was taken to room 361 at SUNH. Once inside the room, the orderly plus the Army Major helped the still disoriented woman into her bed.

Robert was still only semiconscious at the time. Her head was still pounding from the concussion she had suffered. Plus, there was the pain from the broken clavicle and bruises suffered in the accident.

'Oh God, it's him again,' Robert thought as he was gently lowered into the bed of his private room. 'He thinks I'm his wife.'

A nurse soon entered the room. Robert was still moaning from her injuries, but managed to answer a few questions. All the while this was going on, Steve Powers was sitting beside her, holding her hand.

Robert tried a few times to keep the Major from holding her hand, but he proved too persistent for the injured woman.

After taking Robert's temperature and blood pressure and then instructing the woman on how to get pain medications through the I.V. attached to her, the nurse left the room.

What happened next absolutely disgusted Robert. Steve Powers bent down and kissed her gently on the lips.

"I love you, Myung," Steve said with tears in his eyes. "Just rest. I am so glad you are back."

Still suffering from her injuries, Robert soon fell back to sleep.

By 2100 Detective Yim was back at his office. The street work involved with the Powers accident was already done for him and his investigators.

As he originally thought, the Powers accident was totally routine. The woman had absentmindedly stepped off the curb into the path of the Hyundai according to at least six witnesses. The detective also thought Myung Powers was fortunate to be alive.

Bokyuk also didn't cite the driver of the Hyundai. The detective's professional opinion was Jong Lu Kim was not at fault in the accident.

There were still a few details to be gone over. Detective Yim would interview the woman and her husband at the hospital the very next day. It was just a matter of routine. After that the detective should be able to write a final report.

But there was one final routine thing for the detective to do that night. He submitted a request through channels to get any records on Myung Kim Powers, also known as Myung Ri Kim. The ROK wasn't very advanced in what many westerners called civil liberties. Every Korean citizen beginning at the moment of birth had a record or file with the government. It was due to the country's uneasy status. A cease-fire had ended the Korean War. Officially, the Korean War had never ended. Therefore the ROK had much bigger issues than to worry about the privacy of its citizens.

A similar request would be made to the US Army for records on Major Steven Powers. Detective Yim wasn't sure if the Americans would prove helpful. They were usually protective of their soldiers and their privacy. But Bokyuk made the request anyway.

At 2215 Bokyuk Yim turned off the light in his office and left for home.

Steve Powers was still with Myung in room 361. He had already made the decision to stay the night.

On the other hand, Robert wanted to get the hell out of the room and body she was in. Feigning she was still hurt, the Army E6 did not talk to Steve Powers. This, in spite of the Major's attempts to start a conversation. Instead, Robert acted like she was still only
semiconscious.

Robert hoped the guy would just go away.

The attempts at ignoring the Army major were not very successful. Steve almost never let go of her hand, and kept trying to start conversations with a person he thought to be his wife.

What drove Robert even crazier were the Major's repeated statements of, "I love you." The less said about the kisses she had to endure the better.

The Army E6 was already thinking of how she would get out of the hospital.

A sore and stiff Steve Powers awoke on the morning of September 20th. He had been sleeping in a chair by his wife's bedside.

Getting up out of the chair, the major began to do some stretching exercises to relieve his sore back. Taking a look at his watch, Steve discovered the time was 0542.

The sight of his wife Myung in bed still brought tears to Steve's eyes. His wife was back, and nothing else mattered.

Steve started to think of what he would do that day. Of course he would stay with Myung. He wasn't going anywhere till she was discharged from the hospital.

Then there were the Kims. He had to tell them today that their daughter was still alive. Steve decided he would call them around 0700. The major would get something to eat at about the same time.

In the meantime, Steve decided to do some early morning calisthenics, starting with fifty sit-ups. The major had a very special reason to stay fit now.

Sharon Pike had slept only very fitfully that evening. After first seeing her friend Linda, Mrs. Pike had returned to the Casey Lodge cottage at Casey. At that time she had nowhere else to go.

The previous day's experiences had frightened Sharon like nothing before in her life. First the accident to her husband in Seoul. Then yesterday evening when after returning to Tongduchon she found out the box she had used on her husband wasn't working anymore.

Sharon was now sick with worry. What happened to her husband? What would they do even if he was all right?

Visiting Linda the night before provided Sharon with no answers. Her friend was also clueless as what to do. In addition, Mrs. McGee had her own problems with which to deal. Mrs. Pike would have to solve her own problems without counting on anyone else for assistance.

But what was the solution? Go back to Seoul and face the music? Desert her husband and catch the next flight stateside?

Right now it was time to cry, and Sharon began doing exactly that.

Robert Pike was slowly beginning to wake up in her hospital bed. At first the E6 didn't recognize her surroundings, but it came to her after a few minutes thought.

Still hurting from the accident the day before, Robert tried not to move too much. Instead, she looked around the semi-dark room.

'Oh God, he's still here,' Robert thought, seeing Steve Powers doing a series of sit-ups. 'What am I going to do about him?'

Robert knew she had to get out of the hospital and back to Tongduchon. But how? The night before, she had to summon a nurse just to get from the bed to the bathroom. This morning she didn't feel that much better.

Then there was the dead woman's husband. This major thought she was his dead wife. Robert wondered if she would ever get away from him.

All of these thoughts were giving Robert a worse headache. Pushing a control on her bed, the E6 administered herself more of the pain meds she was getting by I.V.

But Robert also had other things she needed. So she pushed the nurse call button.

"Yes?"

Steve Powers immediately stopped doing his sit-ups. His wife was awake.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Robert told the nurse.

"Be right there," the voice of a nurse said.

"So, you're awake." Steve had gotten up by now and rejoined who he thought was his wife. Once again he took Robert's hand.

"Barely." Then it happened again. The Major kissed Robert. Thankfully for the E6, the nurse came to the rescue.

As Robert was helped back and forth to the bathroom, the E6 thought of her predicament and how she would get out of it. She was still too weak to do anything on her own.

'But where the fuck is Sharon? She just abandoned me like this. If she was here at least I might make it into a taxi cab and escape this place.'

As Robert's anger with Sharon mounted, so did the fear that she could be stuck like this for a long time...or even permanently.

Once back in bed, Robert just laid quietly as she mulled over her present situation. As before, Steve Powers stationed himself at what he thought was his wife's side. It didn't take long, but the E6 began to cry.

'I'm even crying like a woman.'

"Sweetheart, are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"Sore."

"Should I call the nurse again?" Robert just shook her head.

Steve then shifted positions. Going to the end of Robert's bed, he took the E6's feet and slowly began giving them a massage. First the toes, then the soles of the feet. Myung had always said he gave great foot massages.

Surprisingly, Robert would have agreed with that assessment. The massage felt very good, and the E6 enjoyed it.

Robert was rapidly concluding she would have to do two things till an opportunity availed itself to escape. Play dumb like faking amnesia, while also acting like a woman. Robert could try telling people who she really was, but she was sure that neither the major or any of the medical staff would believe her.

Since Steve was doing such a good job on the feet, Robert asked if he could do her back also.

"Sure." Steve smiled at the request. The E6 slowly rolled to one side, and the major began on her back.

"Lower," Robert said. The back massage was helping, too.

Another half hour passed, most of which Robert spent ignoring the major's attempts at small talk. Steve had tried asking what had happened to her, etc, but the E6 said she didn't remember.

"Will you be all right if I leave for a little while?" Steve asked. "I should be back in an hour or less."

Robert wanted to tell him not to ever come back, but she knew the guy wouldn't listen. "Sure," she replied, thinking of any last requests.

Then two came to her mind. Firstly, she was growing increasingly hungry. Second, she recalled Sharon should have her cell phone. The E6 would try calling her with the major out of the room.

"Could you move that table over here closer?" Robert asked, and Steve instantly complied. "I'm hungry, can you ask when breakfast will be brought?"

Steve was only too happy to oblige his wife. Before leaving, he walked out to the nurse's station. There he found out breakfast should be arriving in the next thirty minutes. Then he went back to the room to tell her. Taking a moment to say good-bye, the major then kissed his wife and left.

Robert waited for two minutes after Steve had left the room to use the telephone. Then, taking the telephone she dialed her cell phone number. The phone didn't ring; instead, she got her voice mail. "Sharon, I am in...Seoul University National Hospital...I think it's room 361. I don't care what you are doing now, but get your ass down here and get me out of this place!" Robert then hung up the phone.

Falling back onto her pillow and still without anything to eat, Robert just lay quietly in bed. With little else to do, the E6 turned on the television. Just like in the United States, Saturday morning television in South Korea was mostly dedicated to children's cartoons. Except that in the ROK they were in Korean, of course. Even Bugs Bunny knew the language.

Turning the television set off, Robert Pike decided to close her eyes and rest till breakfast arrived.

Up at Camp Casey, E6 Erin Morgan was working on her third cup of coffee as she processed incoming communications that Saturday morning. Since it was the weekend, the personnel office was only lightly manned. Erin, another E6 and a First Lieutenant were the only people on duty. Most of that day's communications were routine. Much but not all of the traffic was new orders for soldiers stationed at Camp Casey.

"That's interesting," Erin said, reading the incoming request from Detective Yim for information on Major Steve Powers. Getting up from her desk, the E6 brought the communication to the Lieutenant in charge that day. The Lieutenant read the request with interest. US military personnel were usually well behaved and law abiding, but there were
always exceptions. Sometimes soldiers just were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It wasn't up to the Lieutenant to decide whether to give the ROK police the info they were requesting on Steve Powers. Instead, the O2 marked the communication urgent, and stuck it in a bin for the 04 named David Hillery who was his superior officer.

Another copy of the ROK request was made and sent to Lt. Colonel Sean Tucker. This was routine, Tucker was Major Powers commanding officer. The LTC was currently in the field and wouldn't be back till the next day. The communiqué would be on his desk waiting for him.

There was another communication that arrived that day. It was for E6 Robert Pike. The Army was notifying the E6 that the second year of his Korean tour would be command sponsored. Or rather, the government would sponsor his family moving to South Korea till the tour was up. The Pike family could begin the move as soon as October 1st to their new home at the Yongsan Garrison just outside Seoul.

If only Sharon Pike had been a little more patient, a great deal of pain and trouble would have never have happened.

"Yes, Father. Room 361. I will be there. Come soon, Myung is dying to see you," Steve said, closing his cell phone.

He had just called Myung's parents. The Kims, Changho and Inki, listened in shock and happiness as their son-in-law told them their daughter was really alive. The couple knew Steve too well to think he could be lying to them. Who would make up such a story?

Steve had spent over a half hour talking with his in-laws. The Kims said they would come to the hospital later that morning. Now it was time for the Major to get something to eat.

The hospital had a small cafeteria. Not wanting to leave Myung alone for too long, he had a quick Korean breakfast. In less than ten minutes he was heading to the hospital elevators.

But a thought crossed Steve's mind. Having seen the hospital gift shop open, he decided to go there before returning to Myung. The Major, being always thoughtful and considerate in regard to his wife, decided to get her a few things before heading back upstairs. Steve knew Myung would be delighted seeing what he planned to buy.

Robert was busy upstairs enjoying her breakfast. It was no surprise that she ate everything on her plate. The E6 was famished.

She was about to push the breakfast tray away when she got a visitor. "Good morning, Mrs. Powers," said a woman in her mid-thirties walking with the assistance of a cane. "My name is Dr. Park, I am here to examine you."

Dr. Gloria Park was one of SUNH's many staff physicians. Trained in Internal Medicine, her other specialty was gynecology. She was the doctor on duty for the ward in which Myung Powers was now hospitalized.

Gloria picked up the chart for Myung Powers and began to read it. She was a graduate of Seoul University and a native to Seoul. While the doctor was thirty-five years old, she could pass for a woman in her late twenties.

Propping herself up with her cane, Gloria started making mental notes about her new patient. The cane was a necessary part of the doctor's life. As a young girl Gloria had contracted polio. The youngster did recover about ninety percent from the bout with that now eradicated disease, but she had been left with some permanent muscle weakness, most of it being in her right leg.

"So, how are you feeling?" Gloria asked in Korean, putting down the chart and beginning her physical examination of the E6, known to her as Myung Powers.

"Sore," was all the transformed E6 could say.

"I bet," Gloria went on. "You were most fortunate yesterday. Are you still having headaches?"

"Yes."

"Dizziness?"

"Just a little. I felt a little better this morning."

"That's good," Gloria said as she began to shine a light in her patient's eyes. "Have you tried getting out of bed yet?"

"Not really. I needed the help of the nurse to go use the bathroom."

"I want you up and around starting today," Dr. Park started to say, when Major Powers reentered the hospital room.

Steve was carrying a pink teddy bear in one arm and a bag in the other. Stepping around Dr. Park, the Major gave his wife a kiss. "Are you Myung's doctor?" Steve asked.

"Yes, I am Dr. Gloria Park," she said, reverting to English for the American's sake. Then, turning to Myung and staying in English, "This must be your husband?"

It took a great deal of effort, but Robert said, "Yes."

"As I was beginning to say," Dr. Park said to them both, "I want your wife up and around right away. I'm going to have the I.V. discontinued and have her take pain medication by mouth. That will let you be more mobile. Before you go home from the hospital you need to be able to walk from the room to the nursing station."

Making a few last notes on Mrs. Powers chart, the doctor said with a smile, "Your very handsome husband can't always be around to help you."

Dr. Park was readying to leave the room when Steve asked to speak to her. Stepping outside, they spoke in the hallway. "How is she?"

"Mrs. Powers is well. The pain she is suffering is to be expected, but there appears to be no permanent damage."

"When do you think she can come home?" Steve asked. He was already guessing Myung would need help when she was discharged. That could prove difficult with the major's work. It might be easier for his wife if she stayed with her parents in Seoul.

"I'm unsure yet, but she should be discharged by Wednesday. Perhaps sooner." Steve thanked the doctor for caring for Myung and then returned to the room.

Robert was resting when Steve came back into the room.

"Look what I brought you," Steve said, handing his wife the pink teddy bear. Myung had quite a collection of stuffed animals. "I also got you the magazines you like reading."

"Thanks," Robert said, taking the teddy bear. Just what he always wanted. 'Not!'

The magazines weren't much better. Korean women's magazines, similar to Brides or Ladies Home Journal. Keeping the bear in bed beside her, the E6 put the magazines on the nearby tray table, then closed her eyes and tried to rest.

"I called your parents," Steve said. "Father and Mama are so happy to hear you are alive. They will be here before lunchtime."

'You did what???' Now Robert knew the trouble he was in was only to get worse. He didn't just have a husband to deal with, but now a set of parents. All of who thought she was Myung Powers returned from the dead. Almost immediately the E6's headache started getting worse. 'How am I going to get out of this mess?'

Ten minutes later a nurse returned to the room. First she took her patient's vitals, temperature and blood pressure. Second she removed the I.V. from Mrs. Powers' left arm. Before leaving the room the nurse asked one last time how Myung was doing. The patient just said she was tired and wanted to rest.

Detective Yim was back at his desk at 0900. First helping himself to a cup of coffee, he quickly settled in behind his desk. In addition to the Powers' accident, Bokyuk had two other still open accident investigations, one being a hit and run that put a young mother in
critical condition. The police were still looking for the driver.

Bokyuk had already decided he would go to the hospital that morning to interview the Powers. After that he was certain he could write a final report on the accident and close one accident investigation file. In the meantime, Bokyuk had work to do.

At 1100 he left for Seoul University National Hospital. Fifteen minutes later, the government file on Myung Powers arrived.

Robert dozed on and off most of the morning. At the moment she didn't know what hurt or troubled her more, the injuries or her present predicament.

A nurse came in again to check on her vitals.

"I've got to use the bathroom again," Robert spoke up.

"The doctor said you had to start walking," Steve replied, and told the nurse he would handle it. The nurse then left the room.

'I'm never going to get rid of him. Where the hell is Sharon?' Robert thought, swinging herself to the edge of the bed. Steve placed a set of slippers nearby for his wife to wear.

Brushing off Steve's offer to help, the E6 slowly got to her feet. For a moment she looked ready to lose her balance, but the Major took a hold of her. After slipping her feet into the hospital slippers, Robert made slow but steady progress to the bathroom, all while under the watchful eye of Steve.

After her mission was accomplished, Robert with the help of a handrail got herself back up and made the trip back to the bed. All without the Major's assistance.

"You did great," Steve said with a smile, trying to encourage his wife. "Maybe we can walk out in the hallway tonight."

'If I get out in the hallway I'm going to keep going all the way to Camp Casey,' Robert thought, getting back in bed. She was willing to turn herself to the MP's and be court-martialed if she could just have her male body back and be away from this man.

Robert didn't feel like falling asleep. With little else to do, she picked up the magazines Steve had brought up. They were all women's magazines, making her instantly frustrated. The E6 pushed them aside and was about to turn on the television when she had other visitors
arrive.

"Myung, it's really you," said Inki Kim, mother of Myung Kim Powers. Alongside her was Myung's father, Changho Kim.

'I'm in really deep shit now,' Robert thought as Inki Kim came to her bedside with tears in her eyes.

Sharon Pike didn't discover her husband's phone message till just past 1100. At once she was relieved to hear that she was alive. The army wife tried to call her husband back immediately.

With the help of an operator, Sharon got the phone number for Seoul University National Hospital. After dialing the number, and going through a hospital operator the phone on the other end began to ring. It rang three times before it was picked up.

"Hello," said an American sounding male voice. Once again Mrs. Pike panicked and hung up the phone.

'Who was the man who answered the phone? The man on the street yesterday? Was the same man the dead woman's husband?' Sharon thought as she began to cry again. It appeared the only recourse she had was to go to Seoul. But then, what would she do after getting there?

Detective Yim left SUNH at a little past 1230. For the previous half hour to forty-five minutes Bokyuk had interviewed both Mr. and Mrs. Powers, with her parents observing. With nothing out of the ordinary, the detective was certain he would be closing the case file in the next two or three days.

Stopping for lunch first, Bokyuk didn't get back to his office till past 1330. The detective saw almost immediately that the records on Myung Powers had arrived. Sipping a cup of coffee, the detective started reading the file. It didn't take thirty seconds for something
to gain his attention.

"Date of death, August 6, 1997?" Bokyuk said out loud. "The KAL crash. Then how is this woman alive now?"

The detective began to think. What he thought was an ordinary traffic accident was now something much more. How much more, Bokyuk didn't know yet. One thing was for certain, the Powers' accident report wasn't being closed anytime soon. Picking up the phone on his desk, the detective dialed the three-digit extension.

"Miyoun, I need to talk to someone in the coroner's office on Guam."

If Robert Pike thought having one absolute stranger falling all over her was bad, three was a nightmare. From the moment Myung's parents arrived they began lavishing love and attention on the E6 all in belief that they had found their deceased daughter alive again.

Then the questions started. What happened? Where had she gone? Why did she never call anyone? Who was it on the airplane? Having no answers for these questions, Robert either feigned a bad headache or said she didn't know.

The interview with Detective Yim was actually a reprieve for Robert. At least the detective wasn't after her whereabouts for the last six weeks.

Then lunch came. Robert Pike had never really developed a taste for Korean food. Actually, the smell of Kimchee had always made him sick to his stomach. She even wondered if the food could be dog meat. Some Koreans found dog meat a delicacy. Fighting back these thoughts and having little other choice, the E6 dug into her lunch. It was then that she discovered the body she now wore savored the Kimchee, and truly enjoyed it. Things were getting weirder and weirder.

Robert remembered the phone ringing and having Steve pick it up. Whoever it was hung up. The E6 was beginning to wonder if it was Sharon.

At that moment Robert wanted to get some privacy, partly to be left alone, partly to find a way out of the place. Soon after lunch Steve helped the E6 again out of her bed to the bathroom. After that business was over, Robert decided she preferred a chair to the bed.

The subject soon turned to Steve. He wanted to get into a fresh set of clothes and freshened up. Yet the Major didn't want to leave his wife alone.

"I'll be fine," said Robert, trying to act a little like the real Myung and wondering if it was working. "Take my parents and go. I will get some rest."

"I will stay," spoke up Inki Kim. She was amazed that her child was still alive. It was truly a miracle.

The men settled on it then. Steve, along with his father-in-law, would return to the Kim home but be back later. Unfortunately, they mentioned Myung's brothers may be coming later in the day.

'Oh, Joy!' Robert thought at that prospect. She watched the Major then leave with Changho Kim.

"So, Momo, where have you been?" asked Inki Kim, reverting to Korean. She was using a pet name her daughter was fond of when young.

"I don't know," was Robert's response. Her headache was beginning to return and the E6 soon closed her eyes.

Back at Detective Yim's office, Bokyuk was already getting a series of faxes from Guam on Myung Powers.

What he thought was a simple auto accident was taking a totally unexpected turn. Myung Powers was alive, but according to the recently faxed coroner report from Guam she was not.

More interesting was the fact that Major Steve Powers had signed out his wife's remains and taken them back to South Korea for burial. There was no question about this fact. So, who were the two people at the hospital?

Were they the real Powers? Then who was the woman on KAL 801? The whole thing just didn't make sense.

Detective Yim wanted to talk to the person who did Mrs. Powers' autopsy, but this would have to wait. Guam was not staffed to handle a major disaster like the Guam crash, so forensic specialists were brought in from elsewhere. A doctor out of Japan, Hideki Yamomoto, had done the autopsy. But at the moment Dr. Yamamoto was unavailable till Monday.

Now, dental records could be misleading. The science was advanced but not perfect, the chance was very small but possible. There was still one foolproof way to ascertain if the woman at SUNH was the real Mrs. Powers. Bokyuk had just dispatched a crime tech to go to the hospital to get the woman's fingerprints. Fingerprints don't lie.

So right now Bokyuk Yim had a big mystery. Looking out the window at the cloud filled sky, he wondered what the answer would be. Considering the next day was a Sunday, the Detective reasoned he would not be able to get to the truth before next week.

By 1600 the MAU had repacked itself into its original size. No matter what Linda McGee tried, the box wouldn't expand. Nor would it ever expand again.

Linda was beginning to feel guilty for the Pikes. She had spoken to Sharon and was relieved to hear that Robert, while still Myung, was safe and would be okay.

Not knowing what else to do, Linda started in on another box of chocolates. The consumption of the delicious sweets may not solve any of the current problems, but at least they tasted good.

Robert Pike would get little rest or privacy for much of the rest of Saturday.

First, Inki Kim was still in the room. The mother kept trying to make attempts at small talk or asking where her daughter had been for the previous six weeks. The E6 knew she couldn't keep the charade or act up forever. Sooner or later she would be found out.

The thought of how the Major and the Kims would react to finding out she wasn't their wife and daughter didn't bother Robert. She just wanted to get back to being a man and get the hell out of the hospital. Nothing else mattered; after all, it wasn't her fault what had happened.

Then there was a visitor from the Police. Robert was fingerprinted. She began to wonder what that was for.

Around 1645 Steve and his father-in-law returned to the hospital. The only good news was none of Myung's brothers showed up also. The brothers were both expected to visit the next day. Again the E6 had to endure some kisses and lots of hand holding from the Major. The only benefit arising from the officer's presence was he gave Robert some pain relieving foot, leg, and back massages.

Just before dinner arrived, Steve got Robert up and took her for a short walk in the hallway. They didn't get very far, but the E6 was slowly regaining some strength. The headaches and broken clavicle were still there, but otherwise Robert was regaining her strength little by little.

'If I keep it up like this, I might be able to get my butt out of here in two or three days,' Robert thought as she returned to bed.

By early evening Robert was trying to persuade Steve to go home with the Kims. Trying to act the part of a wife, she reassured the Major she would be fine, she was beginning to feel better, and that Steve needed his rest. Robert would just watch television and read the magazines she had been given.

It was almost 2000 when the Kims and Steve kissed who they thought to be Myung good night, and then left for the ride home.

'Privacy at last,' Robert thought. Now it was time to get a hold of Sharon. Maybe if Sharon could rent a car and get her a wheelchair the E6 could make her escape.

The fingerprints confirmed it. The woman at the hospital was really Myung Powers. Now Detective Yim was almost certain that the man had to be the woman's husband, Steven Powers. Bokyuk was as much perplexed as he was annoyed. So who was the woman on the flight, then? Why was she identified as Myung Powers? Could there even be fraud involved? The detective knew the airline was paying cash settlements to the survivors. Was this all a deliberate act?

The detective's source of frustration was due to the non-response from the US Army. Not that it particularly surprised him. The United States sometimes treated the ROK little better than the Japanese did when they occupied the peninsula.

So Bokyuk had a great deal of work ahead of him. But there was a tropical disturbance headed Korea's way. It may take most of the week to get the answers the detective wanted.

With some privacy at last, Robert Pike tried dialing her wife Sharon again. After two rings the phone was picked up.

"Robert?"

"Where are you now?" said a disgusted Robert Pike.

"Back at the cottage."

"Why didn't you get your ass down here and get me out of this joint?"

"I don't know," Sharon replied. "I panicked."

"Yeah, you sure did. So, when will you get down here so I can stop being this dead broad? You know her husband and parents have been here all day. They think a miracle has happened."

"I know, I called earlier. I hung up. But I think we have a problem now."

"What kind of problem?" Robert asked. What could possibly be a bigger problem than her being stuck as a woman in this hospital?

"The machine," Sharon said without a hint of emotion. "It's not working anymore."

"What?!" Robert screamed, just as a nurse entered the room to take her vitals. "Let me call you back, the nurse is here."

The nurse promptly stuck a thermometer in the E6's mouth and began to take her pulse. Once these tasks were completed, the nurse took Robert's blood pressure. Not surprisingly, it was higher than it had been all day.

"Any complaints?" the nurse asked.

'Oh, sure. My wife used this machine to turn me into a woman and now I can't change back. Can you do anything for me?' Robert thought as she shook her head.

"How are your headaches?"

"Comes and goes, but I've got a big one now." That was certainly an understatement, Robert thought.

"Other pain?"

"Not too bad right now," Robert replied. "Can I get something for the headache?"

"Yes, you may. I will go get it and return," the nurse replied, then left the room.

It was time for another bathroom trip for Robert. Without Steve or the Kims in the room, it took a great deal of effort for the E6 to get up, but she made it. On the way in the sergeant was careful not to gaze at her new and perhaps permanent female reflection.

"What am I going to do now?" Robert asked the empty room as she relieved herself. Tears began to flow down her cheeks. "I'm even crying like a woman."

The nurse returned a few minutes after the E6 got herself back into bed. She had brought Robert her pain medication. After the nurse left, the sergeant dialed her wife again.

"So, what the fuck are we going to do now?" was the first thing Robert said upon hearing her wife's voice.

It was early in the morning of Sunday, September 21st, and Steve Powers was busy readying himself to a return trip to the hospital. He had spent the night before at the Kim home.

A typhoon was already beginning to thrash the ROK. The storm that was approaching the Sea of Japan at the moment was expected to make landfall somewhere along the Korean peninsula's southern tip, perhaps Pusan. The residents of Seoul were already battening down for what looked like two days of heavy wind and rain.

"Steve," spoke up Inki Kim, the mother of Myung. "Didn't Myung seem odd to you yesterday?"

"Yes, but I think it may just be a side effect of the accident," he replied. "I will make a note to mention it to the doctor."

Inki Kim was certain the woman at the hospital was her daughter, in spite of the girl's confusion. A mother knew her daughter instinctively, it came from raising the child. In addition, there was a scar on Myung's right hand. The mother had noticed it the day before. It was the result of a childhood accident when the girl was nine years old.

The mother did wonder where her daughter had gone to for six weeks, but that was unimportant. Myung was alive and that was all that mattered.

"I am going to leave for the hospital now," Steve said, giving his mother-in-law a farewell kiss. After some initial wavering from the Kims, Myung's parents accepted Steve and had established a good relationship with their son-in-law. It was obvious that the Major loved
their daughter very much and vice versa. "Are you going to come later?"

"If the weather isn't too bad," said Changho Kim, looking up from the daily newspaper. "The typhoon is expected to hit later on today."

After saying his good-byes, Steve Powers left for Seoul University Medical Hospital. On the way out to the nearest bus stop, Steve recalled again that his leave ended on Monday morning. Knowing that LTC Tucker was probably at morning church services, the Major decided to call his superior officer around noon time.

Robert Pike had a very restless night at SUMH, and was now just completing her breakfast when Dr. Park came back to check on her patient.

"Good morning, Mrs. Powers," said the doctor as she began to read her patient's chart. "How did you sleep last night?"

"Not too good," the discouraged E6 replied.

"Still having much pain?"

"Not too bad," Robert replied. "My shoulder hurts the worst right now."

"That's normal. You had a nasty fall," the doctor said while starting to examine her. "You won't need surgery, but you will need to keep your shoulder immobilized and wear a sling for six to eight weeks. Where is your husband now?"

Was Robert Pike destined to be the wife of Steve Powers? To be a mother to half-breed children? Not if the E6 could help it.

"He went to my parents. Should be here soon."

"Where is he stationed?"

"Camp Casey."

"I had a primary school classmate that married a soldier from Casey," the doctor said without noting that her friend eventually divorced her husband but not before having two children and having to endure years of abuse from her soldier husband.

"So, are you emigrating to the US soon?"

"Next month."

"I think you will be well enough to make the trip," the doctor said with a smile. Steve Powers had just arrived in the room. He was carrying a vase with a dozen red roses. "You are very lucky to have a kind husband."

"How is she, doctor?" asked the major.

"Getting better. I think your wife may be able to come home in two days."

"Thank you, doctor." The doctor then left the room.

"Look what I brought you," Steve said, placing the vase on a nearby table. Then, to Robert's continued discomfort, the Major gave her a kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay," Robert said, as the Major sat at the end of the bed and began to give the E6 another foot massage.

'I hope Sharon gets here soon.'

Sharon wouldn't be coming, or at least not that Sunday. The typhoon was making the already crowded Korean roads more treacherous. The potential for mudslides was even possible because of the heavy rains produced by the typhoon.

So Sharon instead went to visit her friend Linda. Once in the apartment, the housewife showed Mrs. Pike the box. The two women tried for an hour to make it expand, but nothing worked. After that the two women returned to the kitchen area.

"How is Robert?" Linda asked. Her children were watching television.

"Okay, but pissed," Sharon replied. "She spent most of the time cursing to me on the phone."

"I wouldn't tolerate it if I were you. After all, it wasn't your fault what happened to the machine."

"You might be right," Sharon said, being in denial.

'She should just look on the bright side. She's alive,' Sharon thought without a bit of feeling sorry for Robert Pike. She actually chuckled at the idea of the guy maybe having to be someone's wife. Except she was sure it wouldn't happen. "So, what is your plan?"

"Go back to Seoul as soon as the rain stops. Maybe go to the embassy."

"Good idea," Linda said, referring to the plan of going to the embassy. But would it do her friend any good?

Lt. Colonel Sean Tucker had just gotten to his desk at Camp Casey when he saw the request from the Seoul police for information on his XO, Major Powers. He wondered what the request could be about? 'God, I hope something didn't happen,' he thought as he pressed a buzzer on his desk. A sharp looking female E5 walked into the room a moment later.

"Marie," Lt. Colonel Tucker said, speaking to E5 Marie Vallero. He also passed the communiqué he just saw to the soldier. "Can you find the whereabouts of Major Powers for me? He's in Seoul at the moment. Try contacting the Seoul police, there is a detective listed at the bottom of the message."

"I'll get right on it, Sir." Then the E5 left the office. Sitting back in his chair, a deeply troubled Sean Tucker began to think.

"You did great, sweetheart," said Steve Powers, trying to encourage his wife, or rather Robert Pike, as they got back to the hospital room from a short walk.

Robert was slowly regaining her strength and was making progress walking. She just didn't have much stamina yet. The walk down the hallway had been quite exhausting.

Back in the room, Robert slowly shifted herself into bed. Looking out the hospital window she could see that Seoul was slowly beginning to feel the onslaught of the approaching typhoon. Once in the bed the hand holding began anew.

'I wonder where the fuck Sharon is,' Robert thought to herself. 'Should I try telling this guy I am not really his wife? Sooner or later he has to discover it.'

"The doctor said you're going to be just fine," Steve said. "You could be home by Tuesday, even."

'Just lovely. What I always wanted, to be a Korean housewife,' Robert thought with disgust.

"What if I told you...I wasn't really your wife?" The statement instantly took the major aback.

"Myung, what do you mean? I'm your husband, Steve. We married last January. Don't you remember?"

"No, I don't. I'm really not your wife."

"Do you mean you don't remember me?" Steve knew the woman in front of him was Myung. The same birthmarks, the same scar. There was no question it was his wife.

As to why she was acting like this, Steve was guessing some kind of amnesia or PTSD due to the accident. Still, there was the nagging question - where had she gone for six weeks?

Steve was concerned about the former, but wasn't worried about the latter. He would see that Myung got the care she needed. He decided he would find the doctor and have a talk with her later on.

"No, I don't remember," said Robert. Being tired from the exertion from making the walk, the E6 closed her eyes and tried to rest.

A half hour later lunch arrived. Continuing to sit with his wife, Steve watched as she ate her lunch. He was happy to see she still had her appetite.

"Sweetheart," Steve said, taking away the lunch tray, "I'm going to go downstairs and get lunch and make some phone calls. I'm supposed to be back to Casey tomorrow morning."

"You go, I will be fine," Robert replied. 'Keep going to Casey and never come back, while you're at it.'

Steve then kissed who he thought was his wife and left the room.

Once the major was safely out of the room, Robert reached for the phone and dialed the number for Sharon.

Steve Powers was about to go to the nurses station and ask if he could see Dr. Park when he saw her just coming out a patient's room.

"Dr. Park," Steve began to speak. "I want to talk to you about Myung. She has been acting very oddly."

The doctor asked for Steve to explain, and he did.

"It may be related to the accident," Dr. Park said. "I will order some more tests first to make sure it isn't injury related. If need be I will have your wife get a psychiatric consult."

Steve thanked the doctor and headed to the hospital elevators. Seeing none would be coming soon, he decided to do the three flights of stairs on foot.

Dr. Park sighed as she watched Steve Majors walk toward the elevators. The man definitely had a nice butt, the physician thought.

She was also reassessing what she first thought about the man. The major had been very wonderful to his wife, seeing to most any need Mrs. Powers had. Remembering her own two pregnancies and a subsequent hysterectomy, Dr. Park was lucky to see her husband for more than fifteen minutes at a time while she was in the hospital.

'So not all US soldiers are bad,' the doctor thought, her school friend may have just been unlucky. It appeared Mrs. Powers had struck gold. A kind, loving man, plus the Army major was in good shape and had nice blue eyes. Gloria liked blue eyes.

Her husband, on the other hand, was a typical Korean male. Short, works too hard, smokes too much, drinks more than he should and rarely exercises. The doctor's husband could lose twenty to twenty-five pounds easy.

So Dr. Park sighed again. It was nice to fantasize, it was an escape from reality. Now it was time to face reality, or rather, finish making notes on her patient's charts.

Sharon Pike was having lunch with the McGees when her cell phone began to ring. She knew who was calling.

"Hello, Robert."

"Don't 'Hello, Robert,' me. I'm still here in Seoul and you aren't!" Robert said, losing patience. If there was a way for her to get back to her old body, she needed her wife. "Where are you?"

"Tongduchon." Sharon tried to explain. "The storm is too bad and the roads would be unsafe."

"I don't care if you have to walk to Seoul. Get your butt down here so you can get me out of this hospital. If you don't, this guy will be taking me home in a few days as his wife!"

The phone conversation, or rather Robert's ranting, went on for another minute or so till Sharon finally had had enough and hung up. She turned off the cell phone.

Linda McGee didn't bother to ask how Robert Pike was. She already knew.

Lt. Colonel Sean Tucker had just finished having lunch at his desk when the interoffice phone line rang.

"Yeah."

"Colonel, sir," said the voice of Marie Vallero. She was reading from notes she had taken from her conversation with the Seoul police. "I have located Major Powers...he is at Seoul University National Hospital. His wife Myung was struck by an automobile Friday afternoon."

"What?" LT Colonel Tucker said, almost falling out of his chair. How could Myung Powers be alive? Her body had been identified despite being burned beyond recognition. "Are you sure? This can't be some kind of mistake?"

"Positive, sir." The E5 had been almost as shocked as her boss. She even asked the contact with the Seoul police to repeat it back to her three times. "Mrs. Powers was struck by a car and is in stable condition. Major Powers is unhurt."

"Do you know how we can reach him?"

Marie Vallero was about to answer when another line rang. Putting her boss on hold for a moment, she answered it. Then, after discovering who was calling, the E5 got back on line with her superior. "Sir, it's Major Powers on line two."

The LTC immediately punched the button for line two. "Steve, what is going on?" Lt. Sean Tucker then listened for almost five minutes as Major Powers retold the events of the last two days. He asked a few questions, mainly if his XO was sure the woman was really his wife.

"Sir, I am positive," said Steve Powers, speaking from a pay phone. The typhoon was making cell phone use difficult at best. He began stating the reasons he was positive about his wife's identification. "It's Myung."

"Okay, Steve, I believe you." Sean Tucker was still in shock over the news, but he was happy for his XO and friend. "I am very happy for you. Any word when she will be discharged?"

"Tuesday, maybe. The doctor wants to run some more tests." The major then brought up the main reason he was calling. "Sir, I know I am supposed to be back tomorrow."

"Don't worry about that," LTC Tucker said. He could hear the change in the major already. "We can take care of this end. Take care of your little lady. I will need you back here on Friday. But if need be, we can work something out longer."

"Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it."

"Keep me posted. You are on leave till 1000 Friday." Then Sean Tucker hung up the phone. Taking a moment to think, he buzzed Marie again.

"Yes, sir," the E5 said promptly, picking up the phone.

"Major Powers is on leave till Friday at 1000."

"Noted, sir."

"What was the South Korean police request about?"

"Supposedly, it was just routine," the E5 stated. "I just think they wanted to verify his status."

"Just give them the vitals, nothing more." LTC Tucker then hung up the phone. The E5 knew what he meant. There was no reason not to cooperate with the South Korean police.

As the storm worsened in Seoul, so did Robert's mood. Trapped in a body not her own, facing an unknown future and having the unwanted attention of a dead woman's husband made her gloomier than the Seoul skyline.

Most of the rest of Sunday was spent watching television and parrying the major's attempts at conversation. The only benefit came from the man giving Robert foot and back massages.

Sharon didn't call again, but the Kims did. They were not coming back to the hospital that day due to the inclement weather. Robert was thankful for that small miracle.

On the other hand, Robert had to endure the sight of Steve Powers naked body for a brief time. The major had come prepared that day, bringing a change of clothing. So, using his wife's bathroom, he shaved and showered before making himself comfortable in the room's reclining chair.

With her strength slowly returning, Robert began seeking any desperate plan for an escape. Even if it meant going back to the Army and his or her spending time in jail. It would be worth it to stop the living hell she was now enduring.

Not very far away from Seoul University National Hospital, Judi and Patrick Scott were having dinner in their room at Seoul's Grand Hyatt. Deciding to have some privacy, the couple had ordered room service.

The Scotts were supposed to leave for their home near San Francisco that day, but United Airlines had canceled the flight due to the approaching typhoon. It was still unclear when the couple would be able to return home.

No matter, Patrick and Judi were enjoying a delightful romantic evening together in their room. It wouldn't be till much later and after some very vigorous lovemaking sessions that the couple finally fell asleep. Little did the Scotts know but that night was the first step in their conceiving their very first child. A month later, Judith Scott would learn she was pregnant with an estimated due date of June 13, 1998.

While Robert Pike was going for a MRI on Monday morning, a rested detective Yim was back at his desk working on the Powers case. The investigation of the supposedly routine traffic accident was growing much like its file. It was getting bigger by the moment.

All the autopsy records had come in on Myung Powers from Guam. Also arriving were the records KAL had on the plane crash, particularly those involving the dead woman who now was supposed to be alive but hospitalized in Seoul.

Already Bokyuk was taking his first steps in broadening his investigation. Through the autopsy report, he discovered where Myung Powers' dentist was in Seoul. Sending out one of his Assistant Detectives, he was going to ask the doctor for a copy of the dental
records in question.

While this was being done, detective Yim placed the first in a series of phone calls. KAL's plane crash had overwhelmed the small island's medical services. To help out in the identifying and autopsying of the crash's victims, doctors and specialists had come to Guam from all over Asia, and in addition, the United States.

The body that was supposed to be Myung Powers had been autopsied by Hideki Yamomoto, a forensic pathologist based out of Osaka, Japan. He was the first person that Detective Yim contacted. It took almost an hour, but Dr. Yamomoto was on the phone with his notes on Myung Powers.

"I have the file in front of me," said Dr. Yamomoto. "What do you need to know?"

"Your report says Mrs. Powers died of smoke inhalation. Are you certain?" asked the detective.

"Yes, I am." The doctor had done a thorough autopsy of the dead woman in spite of the woman's charred remains. The job was unpleasant but the forensic pathologist had examined many bodies with similar burns in his nearly thirty years at his job. "The body and blood chemistry were consistent with death by smoke inhalation. There were no apparent fatal trauma injuries."

"You are positive about the identification of the body?"

"I didn't actually do the identification," the doctor said, reading from his notes. "Using dental records, the body was identified by Dr. Ryuku Takagi."

"There couldn't be any chance of a mistake?"

"Hardly." Dr. Yamomoto and Dr. Takagi were very well acquainted with one another. They had attended university together thirty years earlier. Hideki, in addition to having a lifetime crush on his colleague, was also in awe of her skills at dental forensics. "Dr. Takagi is one of the four or five leading experts world-wide in her field. She has written many textbooks and articles on the field. She is very thorough and incapable of making the type of mistake you are looking for."

"Thank you for your time, doctor." Detective Yim hung up the phone and considered whether he would call Dr. Takagi. Probably not.

By then the detective inspector had returned with the dental records that Bokyuk was requiring. Deciding to send the charts to Seoul Police's own experts, the detective went to lunch. He would be back on the case in the early afternoon.

Dr. Park and Steve Powers were busy discussing the state of the Major's wife.

"So the tests were negative?" the Major asked.

"Yes, there is no physiological reason for your wife's memory loss. It is my professional opinion she is suffering from temporary memory loss. Maybe PTSD due to her accident."

"So what is the next step?" Steve asked. He was thankful that there was no permanent harm to his wife.

"We have psychologists on staff that can work with your wife," Dr. Park explained. "They are very good, and your wife can be helped by them."

"How long would that take?"

"It varies from patient to patient. I can't really estimate," Dr. Park said, and then shared the good news. "I feel your wife may be strong enough to go home tomorrow. I will examine her in the morning and if she continues to progress as she has I see no reason she can't come home. She can be seen out patient for her memory loss."

Back in her room, Robert Pike wanted to yell her brand new female head off. She had just gotten off the phone with her wife Sharon, only to find out she was still in Tongduchon.

Looking out the room window, Robert could see that Seoul was still being thrashed by the typhoon. She didn't care, she needed Sharon back immediately. Mrs. Pike was still insisting that it was too unsafe to travel till the next day.

The E6 was just settling down in bed when Steve Powers returned to the room. As was customary and still disgusting to Robert, the Army major kissed the person he believed to be his wife.

"We got great news," Steve said, sitting by Robert's bedside. "The doctor says you just have a temporary mental loss, and it's not medically related. You should be able to leave here tomorrow."

'Oh, shit,' Robert thought. 'When will this nightmare end?'

"I called my parents, too," Steve went on to say. "Mama may come from Ohio to stay with you."

Robert Pike's predicament was only getting worse.

Robert Pike only knew the half of it. In another part of Seoul, Detective Yim was back at his desk shortly after 1300. He was thinking over the Powers' case when his assistant came in and gave him a report.

"Just in from the lab downstairs," said Asst. Detective David Pak. "The dentist's dental charts and the one given to the Guam authorities are one and the same."

"What about the dentist?" Detective Yim asked.

"Mrs. Powers," said the assistant detective reading from his notes, "formerly Myung Ri Kim, had been a patient of his for fifteen years. He swears the records are correct."

"Thanks," Bokyuk told his assistant, who then left the room. Sitting back in his chair, the detective started going over the facts as he had them at the moment. He had a woman who was both dead and alive at the same time. Now it appeared the woman on the plane wasn't who she was supposed to be.

And this brought the detective right back to something he read in the information shared by KAL. A pay out by Korean Air was made to Major Steve Powers approximately a week earlier. Now the man was openly and freely admitting his wife was alive.

The Powers case was becoming a lot more than a simple traffic accident. There could be bigger issues, like fraud. Before making that assumption, the detective would have to do some further interviews. Thinking of something else that would need doing, Bokyuk picked up his phone and dialed a three-digit extension.

Sharon Pike was waiting out the weather at the Casey Lodge cottage. It would probably be still too unsafe to make the journey to Seoul that evening. It was probably unsafe even to travel to Tongduchon to have dinner with the McGees.

Sharon knew she had put off the time of reckoning long enough. Tomorrow she would go to the hospital and probably the US embassy in Seoul. It had to be done for herself, her husband and for their children.

A troubled Sean Tucker hung up his phone. He had just spoken with Detective Yim. He still didn't know what do make of the tale that the detective had told him. That Myung Powers was both dead and alive at the same time.

Now one of his officers, his very own XO, was under suspicion. At the moment the Korean police were still making preliminary inquiries, but Major Steve Powers would have a great deal to explain. Maybe even face fraud charges in claiming his wife was dead.

It is usually a myth that the US military protects its own. If a soldier has gone bad, the Army would take the proper steps. But they preferred to do it themselves if possible. An out of control or law breaking soldier did not set a proper example to his comrades. The Army
job was to keep order and defend a nation from its enemies. This demanded discipline, and a soldier breaking the law was not the person to do this important job.

Lt. Colonel Tucker did not want to jump to conclusions, but the accusations against his XO were serious. It was definitely a matter for people higher up than him and for someone outside the battalion. If only to avoid a conflict of interests. So Sean picked up his phone and placed the first of a series of calls. He had a lot to do.

Detective Yim was readying to leave the office for home. The typhoon, while subsiding, would still make the trip home hazardous.

In addition to contacting Colonel Tucker, Bokyuk had contacted Korean Air. Because of the typhoon, the Vice President directly responsible for liaison on the 801 crash was not in his office. The detective decided he could wait till the next day.

Bokyuk also planned to visit the Powers the next day for another, more extensive, interview. Joining him would be Inspector Michael Cheung from Larceny/Fraud. The Powers investigation was already branching out, and Detective Yim didn't know where it would end. The detective's sixth sense told him there was much more here than a case of mistaken
identity. Fraud, maybe? Something even bigger? Bokyuk didn't know at the moment, but he planned to get to the bottom of it.

A little after 1700 Bokyuk turned off his office light and went home for the day.

The day Robert Pike had been dreading had finally come. It was the day she would be discharged from the hospital. Discharged as Myung Powers, wife of US Army Major Steve Powers.

The day before had allowed Robert no opportunity to effect an escape. Still too weak from her injuries and having the Major around left the E6 trapped in more ways than one.

'Where the fuck is Sharon?' Robert thought, seeing Inki Kim enter his room just after 0900. Myung's mother was there to help with her daughter's homecoming. Immediately upon arrival, Mrs. Kim tried to engage the E6 in conversation. The sergeant knew his charade would have to end very soon.

Little did the E6 know, but soon her room would be overflowing with people. First Dr. Park came to give him one last examination before discharge.

Then Inspector Cheung and Detective Yim arrived. They began asking both Robert and Steve uncomfortable questions. Like how a woman could both be dead and alive at the same time.

While this was going on, another set of visitors entered the room. An Army Lieutenant and 2 MPs. They were there to collect Major Powers.

"I can't go. There has to be some kind of understanding," Steve said to the lieutenant.

"Sir, I have orders signed by General Kearney, commanding officer, 2nd Division, and your superior, Lt. Colonel Tucker. You are not under arrest, but you are to come with us."

"I can't."

"Sir, you can come with us of your own choice or not. But I have orders."

"This is my wife-" Major Powers began to say, when one final visitor joined the room.

"No, she's not," spoke Sharon Pike, finally having arrived from Tongduchon. "She is my husband."

"Husband?" more than one person in the room said.

'That's the woman from the accident scene,' thought Detective Yim, recognizing Sharon Pike from witness descriptions.

"Hi, Sharon," Robert said, finally speaking up. She could barely avoid laughing at the spectacle that was happening in her room.

"You know her?" asked Steve, reeling from the ongoing scene in the room.

"I am Staff Sergeant Robert Pike..." The E6 went on to give her Army I.D. and background. "That is my wife, Sharon," Robert further introduced Sharon, to all the people who were in the room.

"No one is going anywhere," Detective Yim said, trying to regain control, "till I have some answers."

"I don't know what the rest of you are going to do, but I am contacting the US embassy," said Sharon Pike, pressing a series of numbers on the cell phone she was carrying. "I am a US citizen, and the woman in the bed is my husband."

*****

As she promised, Sharon Pike contacted the US embassy. A Foreign Service Officer listened to what he thought to be a preposterous story, and told the Army wife he would be right back.

The Lt. and MPs did escort Steve Powers back to Camp Casey. On arrival he told the entire story to first Lt. Col. Tucker, then both an investigator from the Army's CID and a JAG that worked on the major's behalf. Till the situation was cleared up, the Major was confined to base.

As confusing as the day was, Steve still thought he had found his dead wife. What had happened in the room was just some kind of terrible mix-up.

As to Robert Pike or Myung Powers or whoever he or she was, the patient was discharged from SUNH the next day. But not into the care of Sharon Pike or Inki Kim or Steve Powers. Instead, the South Korean police took the E6 into protective custody. She wasn't placed in jail, but instead was kept in a safe house and under the protective eye of three minders.
The police didn't want whoever the woman was to go anywhere till it was discovered who she really was.

As to Sharon, she filed her story with the US embassy. An official listened patiently as the woman before him told what he considered an outlandish story. After the meeting was over, a report was filed and sent to Washington, DC.

*****

It wasn't till September 30th that C and D arrived at Seoul's Kimpo Airport. After passing passport control, collecting their luggage and passing customs, a US embassy official named Paul Dragonetti immediately met them.

After taking C and D to a parked Honda Accord, Paul Dragonetti began the drive into Seoul. He also tried quizzing the two mysterious agents. "What agency do you guys work for?"

"Can't say," replied C. Both he and D were sitting erect in the back seat. Their flight had arrived at 1800 Seoul time, and in spite of the long journey, the two agents weren't showing signs yet of jet lag.

"But you're here to talk to the Powers woman and Sharon Pike?" After Sharon Pike came to the embassy, an official report was issued back to the State Department in Washington, DC. The report was then forwarded to C and D's superior, P. That was why the two agents were now in Seoul.

C and D weren't certain, but Sharon Pike's story sounded like another "alien box" episode. To date, the agency the two agents worked for had investigated some sixty plus episodes of people using the machines.

"Yes," C said, answering Paul's question.

Mr. Dragonetti tried a few more times to pry information out of the agents, but soon gave up. C and D were remaining pretty tight lipped about their work and why they had come so far to investigate what the embassy official thought was a totally preposterous story.

After a refreshing and restful night at a downtown Seoul hotel, C and D were again picked up by Paul Dragonetti early the next morning and taken to a safe house used by the South Korean police. On the way there, Sharon Pike joined the agents.

There they found Detectives Yim and Inspector Cheung already waiting for them, plus a US Army Captain named Ronald Sanders from CID. A very bored and unhappy Robert Pike/Myung Powers was glad to see both her wife and C and D. The E6 thought they'd be able to help him. After all parties were gathered around a conference table, the debriefing began.

"Has either of you ladies ever seen one of these?" C said, pushing a photograph across the table for the Pikes to look at.

"Yes," Sharon said, passing the photo to her husband. The photo was of an exact duplicate of the box in the McGee apartment. Except that the box was now in its stowed position. "That's it."

"No, I haven't seen this before," Robert said, pushing the photo back. She had never seen the box when it was stowed.

It didn't matter. C and D now knew they hadn't made the long trip for nothing.

"We would like you ladies to start from the beginning," C stated while D started a tape recorder placed in the center of the table.

By day's end, C and D had finished the debriefing of the Pikes. Since the women were under ROK jurisdiction in addition to Robert being a US Army soldier, the case was more complex than most cases the agents had handled. It would be some time before all parties involved settled on a solution.

*****

While the US Army and the South Korean government decided what to do with the Pikes, C and D had a trip to make. Camp Casey was only forty miles from Seoul, but to get there by car takes almost two hours from Central Seoul. Traffic in South Korea was that horrendous.

C and D weren't going to Camp Casey first. They were going to Tongduchon, where Linda McGee and her two children lived. After studying a good road map, the agents found the apartment house without much difficulty.

Parking around the corner, C and D made the short walk to the apartment house where the McGees were supposed to live. The building was small and rather plain. There was a small yard in front of the house. There six children, some Korean, some apparently American, played under the watchful eye of a very attractive twenty-ish Korean woman.

Finding the correct apartment, C knocked on the door. It was only seconds till Linda McGee opened the door.

"Yes?" Linda McGee asked. The two visitors had taken her by surprise.

"Ma'am, we'd like to ask a few questions," C said, showing Linda his government I.D. The housewife and mother closely examined it and then returned it to the agent. "May we come inside?"

Once inside, Linda McGee showed the agents upstairs. The housewife turned the volume down on her favorite Korean soap opera without turning off the television set. With the agents already sitting at the small coffee table, she offered both agents something to drink. Both C and D asked for a glass of water.

"You are here about the box?" Linda said, sitting down finally and
deciding not to waste time. Why, she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Yes, Ma'am," D said, speaking up for the first time. "Do you still have it?"

"It's in the bedroom, you will see it as soon as you walk inside," Linda said, then watched as C got up and went to the bedroom. Only moments later he was back with the box and placed it on the floor next to him.

"Now, Ma'am, we would like you to tell us how you found the box and how you came about to use it," C stated. As Linda was getting ready to reply, they were interrupted.

Adam McGee had come running in from outside.

"Sweetie, why did you come in?" his mother asked. "I thought you were playing with your sister and friends."

"I got to go pee!" the three-year-old boy said with a sense of urgency.

"Okay, sweetie, but when you're done go right back outside and don't come back inside till I or Kim say it is okay." The boy gave his mother a kiss, then hurried to the bathroom. The mother and agents just sat in silence till the boy was done and back out of the apartment.

"Can I ask one question before we begin?" Linda asked, and C nodded. "What will happen with Robert and Sharon? I mean, can you help her?"

"We don't know, Ma'am," C replied. "Our job is just to investigate."

Linda listened, but wasn't convinced by C's reply. Why would two government agents come this far over one little box and the people who used it?

Nor did Linda honestly really care what happened to the transformed Robert Pike. While Linda considered Sharon her friend, she disliked the Staff Sergeant intensely. In her opinion, Robert Pike was just another insufferable macho jerk. Macho men had always turned off the housewife; still, she couldn't stop from worrying for Sharon and her children. What were they going to do now?

For over an hour Linda McGee recounted the tale of how the machine was found by her two children. Then how they accidentally used it and discovered the machine's powers. Then how she used it herself. Then how she showed the machine to Sharon Pike and how they hatched the plan to use the machine.

This wasn't easy for Linda. She knew by now the legal repercussions her actions could have. She stated multiple times how sorry she was for using the machine. C and D just listened to Linda's story, only stopping to ask the occasional question.

"I think that is all we need to know," C finally said, as he and D got up from their seats. D took the alien box under his arm. "May we ask where your husband is currently?"

"At Camp Casey, of course," Linda replied to C. D was staring at the television set. Another soap opera was on. The housewife then showed the two agents the door.

Once outside, C and D walked up the apartment walkway. Doing so they passed the children who were still playing in the yard under the supervision of the Korean woman Linda McGee had referred to as Kim. Kim watched the agents walk by, then looked back to Linda.

C and D were just about to turn the corner for their car when they heard the voice of Linda McGee. "Gentleman, could you please come back. There is something else I need to tell you."

A badly shaken Major Steve Powers emerged from a conference room at Camp Casey. Being nearly 5 p.m., he decided to go back to his living quarters. He was in no mood to eat.

The entire day had been upsetting. Like he had experienced the death of Myung for a second time. He also felt violated by a broken trust from a person he and his late wife considered a friend.

'How could anyone do that to me, after all I been through?' The usually strong Army officer was fighting desperately to avoid crying as he left the building and began the half-mile trek to his quarters.

A little over a week ago he thought he had encountered a miracle. His dead wife Myung brought back to life. Today he learned the real truth. It was all an E6's elaborate scheme to get out of his duty assignment.

The whole story told to Steve by C and D was as incredible as it was heartbreaking. That this woman, or man or whatever it was, along with her wife and Linda McGee had used an alien machine to become his dead wife. Just so this person could go AWOL from the Army. The major was not normally a vindictive person, but he hoped the Pikes would get properly punished. Since C and D didn't volunteer any information on the E6 and his wife, Steve didn't know that Sergeant Pike was now stuck in his current form. The major may have found that to be poetic justice, if it didn't happen to be the body of his late wife.

What may have hurt the most was the broken trust. Not just Steve, but his beloved lost Myung had considered Linda McGee a trusted friend. That such a trusted friend could discard this trust and friendship, in such a dishonest and upsetting way, only increased the pain the Major had suffered from Myung's loss.

Plus, now Steve couldn't even talk to anyone about the entire episode. The Army CID had dropped the insurance fraud investigation. But before the meeting was over, the major had to sign a release. He could never repeat what had been told to him in that room to anyone. If he did so, he could be court-martialed.

Steve finally arrived at his barracks. Once inside he climbed the stairs to the second floor and then turned left down the hallway. His small apartment was the third door on the left.

The major's apartment was basically a US efficiency and was badly cramped. Making the apartment even more cramped were Myung's possessions. Her paintings, her books, her music. Most of all the many albums of photos Steve's beloved wife had taken in the last fifteen months of her life.

Not knowing what else to do, Steve sunk into the chair at his desk. He picked up the nearby picture of Myung and gave it a kiss.

"I love you," Steve Powers said, and instantly broke down crying.

On October 17th, Sharon and the newly named Roberta Pike boarded Northwest Airline's Flight 8. The two hour and fifteen minute flight would take them to Tokyo-Narita airport. There the Pikes would connect to another flight to Detroit, Michigan, where they would pass customs before catching a third and final flight to Washington, DC's National Airport. The plane Northwest used for their Seoul to Tokyo service was a 747-200, not much unlike the Korean Air 747-300 that had crashed on Guam barely ten weeks earlier.

The two women walked glumly down the aisle to their assigned seats, 53A and 53B. This was hardly the way they had envisioned making their return to the United States. It was definitely affecting both their present moods.

While Sharon was wearing a blouse and pants, Roberta had on an oversized man's shirt as to accommodate her arm that was still in a sling. The shirt had a top breast pocket that held a pack of cigarettes and lighter. In addition were jeans and sneakers, and she had a cap on her head. It was the former E6's attempt to go tomboy or butch. In addition to this, Robbie wore no makeup or jewelry, just having a men's style wristwatch on her left arm. Not using a purse, Roberta instead carried a wallet in her back jeans pocket. Just as she did as Robert.

Nor did Roberta want to have to deal with a woman's hair. She had gotten an Army regulation trim a week earlier. This hair for the moment was concealed under the ball cap she was wearing. All in all, Roberta hated looking like a woman, in addition to actually being one now.

The attempt to pass as a man was so far having mixed results for Roberta. Some people called her sir, but others weren't fooled. Her face had classic Asian female features like high cheekbones that couldn't be hidden, no matter what.

There also was the matter of Roberta's voice. If she even managed to fool people with her appearance, her voice couldn't. As soon as she spoke, her voice gave her away as a woman. Concealing the voice of a natural soprano was beyond the former E6's reach, no matter how much she tried to talk like a man.

Once at their seats, Sharon stashed their carry-on bag and took the window seat for herself.

"Why do you get the window?" Roberta asked, not hiding her annoyance as she took the center seat while placing her book in the empty aisle seat. She had been feeling crappy all day for no known reason. While the center seat was more comfortable and had more leg room with her new 5'3" Korean female frame, it was little consolation to the formerly 6'3" male Army Staff Sergeant.

"Because I wanted it!" Sharon shot back. "So sit down and stop bitching! It's your fault you didn't ask them for first or business class seats."

Not really, but both women were in a state of denial over the scheme they had planned and had seen unravel. They were lucky to be leaving South Korea without facing jail time.

So Sharon and Roberta just sat there in silence as the plane continued to fill up. One time Roberta tried to hold her wife's hand, only to have even this minor embrace rejected. Would they ever learn to live with one another as two women? What about their children?

Roberta wasn't thinking of her children at the present. Rather, she was wondering if the aisle seat would be taken. She really didn't like personal contact with people she didn't know. The former soldier hoped the seat would go unfilled.

The plane continued to fill up and as it did, Roberta thought of her present situation. She silently cursed both Sharon and Linda McGee for her present predicament. This, without ever admitting her own complicity in the scheme that had all backfired that September afternoon.

But worse was the living hell that Roberta was experiencing. Or Robert was. She refused to think of herself as anyone but Robert, no matter how female her body was. And there was definitely no question the body of Roberta Pike was totally female, and the former sergeant hated every inch of it. The breasts that hung on her chest, the female equipment that resided between her thighs instead of a man's dick and balls. Could she ever live with it?

Then Roberta remembered C and D. Maybe it wasn't permanent, after all. Would those two government agents ever find a cure for her? The agents had been evasive on whether they could help. Instead, they were bringing the Pikes to DC for what they termed consultations'. If anyone could help, it had to be the U.S. Government.

All these thoughts were passing through Roberta's head when she heard a voice. "Excuse me, that's my seat," said a tall, obese man who had to weigh somewhere in the vicinity of 350-400 lbs. Robbie had placed a book in the seat, so she had to pick it move it for her soon to be seat mate. After a minute of making room for his carry-on bag, the gentleman took his 53C seat.

Sure enough, Roberta soon found herself intensely uncomfortable. Beside her, the 400lb male behemoth filled not just his seat but spilled over into hers.

"Just shoot me now," Roberta muttered in Korean, only to get a scowl from Sharon. Her wife hated it when she used the language. Part the fact that Mrs. Pike didn't understand it, part that it reminded her too much of their failed plan.

The entire trip to the United States would not be a pleasant experience for Roberta Pike. First she felt squeezed like she was in a sardine can for the entire two hour and fifteen minute flight to Tokyo, Japan's Narita airport.

Matters only got worse on the Tokyo to Detroit flight. At first Roberta thought the flight wouldn't be half bad; the aisle seat was not taken the entire flight. But her attitude changed about four hours into Northwest Airlines Flight 12. It happened when she felt the need to visit the plane's restroom.

For a self-proclaimed macho man, unwillingly and perhaps permanently turned into a relatively tiny and demure female, there was the indignity of now having to use the toilet sitting down. Something the former sergeant was only grudgingly getting used to. In her first few days out of the hospital, the E6 had tried to go standing up, with predictable results.

If that wasn't bad enough, Roberta Pike was to be introduced to two further indignities that day. First, Robbie discovered why she had been feeling crappy all day. Even the most macho of married men knew what blood in their wife's panty meant. It was a repeating phenomenon common to all born females, or in Robbie's case, created females. Roberta had started her very first period. Any passenger within twenty feet could hear almost immediately loud cursing from the restroom.

The second and possibly worse indignity came next. After consulting with Sharon first, Roberta returned to the rest room. There she spent a good twenty minutes examining and, after a few failed attempts, inserting her first female tampon. You see, Sharon Pike had no further use for feminine hygiene pads. After giving birth to her last child, she had a hysterectomy performed on her. So Robbie had no other choice than to use a tampon till they arrived in the U.S.

"This is a living hell," Roberta muttered in her newly acquired Korean language skills. At least Sharon didn't understand the language, Robbie thought. No matter, Mrs. Pike had fallen fast asleep in the plane's 31A window seat. Taking 31C for herself, Robbie lowered her seat back, ignored the cramps she was having, and tried to get some sleep.

Upon arrival in the United States of America, Sharon and Roberta Pike were further debriefed by C and D in Washington, DC.

At the debriefing, Roberta was given several options, including continuing her career in the Army. The military would see to her reeducation or retraining first.

Despite being retrained by the Army, Robbie's return to the Army was a complete failure. She was trained to be a personal clerk, and then along with her family, PCSd to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Fort Lost in the Woods was barely an hour from Sharon's parents home, and would feel more like home to the new woman. It didn't matter; frustrated with her new life, treated much like a second class citizen by fellow soldiers who would never believe what had happened to her, and hating what she deemed to be women's work, Robbie asked for a discharge in August, 1998. It was granted.

Robbie's personal life was no more satisfactory. Sharon tried to stay together with her former husband, but the change in her husband proved to be too much for her. Sharon was willing to continue on, but she refused to go "lesbian" just to remain with her husband. They were sleeping in separate beds from the moment they returned to the United States.

The breaking point, or the end, happened in late July, 1998. Frustrated at work and home, and unhappy with Sharon's brush off of her advances, Robbie decided to initiate something herself. A simple kiss led to a violent argument and fight in front of their three children. Neighbors, hearing the noise, called the MPs. While no one was arrested, Sharon packed her and the children's possessions and moved back into her parent's home. Life wasn't much better there, Sharon was now a single parent with one child with severe developmental problems whose care filled most of her waking hours every day. By spring, 1999, she was legally divorced from her former husband.

After leaving the Army, Robbie wandered from job to job and town to town. She tried her hand at two relationships with other women, but these failed also. Trapped in a body she hated and unhappy with the rest of her life, the ex-soldier soon turned to alcohol.

By February, 2001, Roberta Pike was living in Madison Wisconsin, scraping by on a pension from the Army, of which she only received a small portion. The rest was being paid in alimony and child support. The rest of her pay came from her job tending bar in town. There she also proved to be one of the bar's best customers. Till April 30, 2001, when on the way home from the bar, a drunk Robbie Pike lost control of her car and hit a telephone pole. She would die the next day.

A month after Roberta Pike's death, a $250,000 life insurance settlement was paid out to Sharon Pike and her three children. It was a benefit of Roberta Pike's 'settlement' after her experience using the MAU. The former Mrs. Robert Pike, who was distraught at her ex-husband's death, didn't want the money, but there was her son Ethan Pike who needed special schooling. The insurance payout would at least help Robert's son, she thought, and Sharon decided to accept it.

In November, 1997, the former Captain Jack McGee, her wife Linda and their children Adam and Brittney left South Korea for the United States.  Why the former Captain McGee, and 'her'? Because the same day and at almost the same time that Major Powers had his encounter with the Pikes, the McGees had used the MAU machine also.

Linda McGee was a very confused housewife, searching for an identity and unsure of her sexual orientation. That was why she disliked macho men like Robert Pike, and was infatuated with South Korean soap operas. Particularly ones with strong female characters.

The MAU, and her husband being home for a rare visit, gave Linda an opportunity. After some fancy discussion, Linda persuaded her husband Jack to let her turn him into her favorite soap star, Song Lee Oh. This gave Linda the chance to explore our sexuality, and Jack found herself enjoying the experience. That was till she found out the machine had stopped working.

The woman that Linda referred to as Kim to C and D was really her husband, Jack McGee. The former Captain was now a double of the stunning soap star. Possessing full-blooded Korean features that his wife found most attractive, the former man also had a lithe 5'5" frame, a figure to match, and a face that made most Korean men rise in excitement. Also the same voice, inflection and Korean language skills as the real Ms. Oh, the twenty-four-year-old soap star.

Once back inside the apartment with C and D, the two women told their story. Immediately afterwards, Kim had a complete nervous breakdown. She spent two weeks in a Seoul hospital before being allowed to return with her family to the United States.

Rika Matsuda, the young girl who survived Korean Air 801's crash, was sent by her father to study in the United States beginning in 2000. The crash survivor wore long sleeve clothes almost all the time to cover up the scars that still remained on her arms and legs.

For Major Steve Powers, life would get worse before it got better. His sanity was badly shaken by the entire episode that began that day not far from the US embassy in Seoul. Still, he regained his composure and made his departure from South Korea in November, 1997. He honestly felt he had left a good chunk of his soul behind in South Korea.

Then, in October, 1999, Steve almost lost his life. A helicopter in which he was traveling crashed at Ft. Lewis. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where surgeons worked desperately to save the Major's life. The doctor's were successful, and after he was stable enough, Steve was transferred cross-country to Walter Reed Hospital. There he would face a year of convalescence and rehabilitation. With much time on his hands while at Walter Reed, Steve subbed to a mailing list for young widows.

If Myung's death, his encounter with the Pikes and his hospitalization weren't bad enough, Steve soon found himself in a fight for his career. He had to fight or plead desperately with several Army medical boards to avoid being given a medical discharge. He won the battles and wasn't discharged. Instead, he was assigned to a meaningless busy work intelligence job at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

Yet, as bleak as life looked for Steve, it would get better. However, it took two further tragedies. The first happened in the home of Judi and Patrick Scott. They were the two tourists who had asked Robert Pike for directions near the Seoul US embassy in September, 1997.

On April 21, 2001 Patrick Scott died of malignant melanoma after a two-year battle with the cancer. He was only thirty-five, and had been married to Judi six years. Patrick had also left behind a thirty-four-month-old daughter named Kathleen who had been born in June of 1998.

Much like Myung's death was to Steve, Patrick's death was equally devastating to Judi. Patrick had been the only man ever in her life, and now he was gone. She felt crushed and despondent. If not for Kathleen, she may even have taken her life.

Judi was a Stanford University college professor. She had taken the spring term off from Stanford to see to Patrick's care. Now she had nothing but time on her hands. Judi didn't have any real family to console her, either; Patrick had been an only child. She herself had
been a Holt adoptee from South Korea. Her parents, David and Margaret Mays, had died in 1992 and 1995 respectively. This only compounded the widow's loneliness.

Then, one day Judi was doing an Internet web search. She wondered if there were any support groups for young widows. She soon found and then subbed to young-widows, a Yahoo group. The same group Steve belonged to. Not long after subbing to the list, Judi posted her introduction. She was soon welcomed by fifteen to twenty fellow widows who shared much the same feelings as her. One of those welcoming her was Steven Powers.

Then the second event happened. September 11th, 2001 would become an infamous day in US history. Steve Powers was working at the Pentagon at the time of the plane crashing into the building. He soon volunteered to help look for survivors in the wreckage.

Five days later, Dr. Condoleezza Rice contacted Judi Scott. Dr. Rice was National Security Advisor to President Bush. While being a member of Stanford's faculty, Judi met Dr. Rice and they got to know one another. She had impressed the then Stanford provost enough to be offered a job at the National Security Council by Condoleezza in December, 2000. With Patrick too ill with his cancer, she declined. Now it was entirely different, and with her country at war, Judi Scott accepted. Within a month she began working in a small White House office.

By this time a Homeland Security Department was being formed and staffed. Frustrated with his job at the Pentagon, Steve Powers was only too happy when he was given new orders. He was being assigned to the personal staff of Homeland's Director, Tom Ridge.

One fateful day in November, Judi and Steve met for the first time in person. It happened at work when Judi was asked to do some liaison work between NSC and Homeland. They had known each other from young widows, but this was their first time to meet in person.

It went slowly at first. For both Steve and Judi it was the initial try at a relationship after a grieving first, and both had to fight the feeling that they were betraying the memories of their lost loves.

But love can be a remarkably strong healing potion, and love is also infinite in its quantity. One can love as many people past and present as they can in their lives. From the first moment Judi and Steve met they had chemistry together, they would just have to make peace with their pasts first.

Their relationship began slowly as they reconciled their new feelings with their lost loves. Plus they both couldn't shake the feeling they had been brought together by destiny. Or perhaps by their very special angels in heaven.

For Judi, it also helped that Steve sincerely cared for Kathleen. Rather than date, they sometimes took Kathleen and did family outings. For Kathleen, who barely remembered her Daddy, Steve filled an important void in her life. But it was also mutual; Steve needed help to heal the wounds he had suffered from Myung's death, and loving Judi and Kathleen was the perfect medicine. Judi was also discovering the same for herself and Kathleen in this wonderful man she had met.

It also helped Judi and Steve both, that they freely talked about their memories of Patrick and Myung. If one was sad, the other would listen. Together they would get stronger.

By early spring, 2002, Steve and Judi were already getting very serious. At the Easter holiday they along with Kathleen traveled to Orlando, Florida. There they visited the many amusement parks, but more importantly, Judi was introduced to Steve's parents, Daniel and Mary Powers. They were respectively a retired town sheriff and school teacher that had moved to Florida from Ohio after their retirement. The Powers instantly took Judi into their hearts.

On May 9th, a week after what would have been Myung's thirty-first birthday, Steve proposed marriage to Judi. She instantly accepted. On August 10th, 2002, they were married in St. Christopher's Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia, with Kathleen as their ring bearer and both their bosses present. The newlyweds considered themselves blessed to have found two wonderful loves in life. Steve and Judi were both certain they felt Myung and Patrick's presence at their wedding, and that they had blessed their marriage.

After coming home from their honeymoon, Steve and Judi returned to their respective jobs. By this time Steve had risen to the rank of Lt. Colonel, but more importantly, he finally felt his life had meaning for the first time in five years. His work was now important to not just his country but to his home and family life. Particularly to the safety of a four-year-old girl named Kathleen that called the Lt. Colonel 'Daddy.'

Only a few months later, Judi discovered she was pregnant. A prenatal visit confirmed she had a due date of October 8, 2003. While not knowing the sex of the child yet, the newlyweds almost instantly settled on a girl's name for the child.

Myung Patricia.

Two weeks after Judi Powers' discovery, two oil pipeline workers also made a discovery on Guam. They had just finished packing up their truck after spending a day doing maintenance work on the oil pipeline running on Nimitz Hill. Their day was over and it was time to go back to town.

The truck, driven by John West with Dennis Lawton in the passenger seat, went down the newly paved road back to town. The road had been built since the fateful 747 crash five years earlier. If anything good could be said to come out of that crash, this road was it. It made access to the pipeline much easier for the people who maintained it.

"John, could you pull over, I've got to take a leak," Dennis Lawton said, and immediately John West complied by slowing down and parking the service truck by the side of the road. Getting out of the truck, Dennis walked into the nearby field for some privacy while he did his business.

While Dennis was taking care of business, John fumed. 'Why didn't he take a leak before we got going?' The fuming only got worse as John waited. 'Why the fuck is he taking so long to take a leak?'

Only moments later, Dennis Lawton emerged from the sawgrass. John was immediately surprised to see his co-worker carrying a small black box. Walking around to the back of the truck, Dennis stored the box in the flatbed, and then climbed in the passenger side seat.

"What was that you put in back?"

"Oh, just something I found," Dennis replied as John restarted the truck and began the journey back to town.