Heading into Week 10, I have a few more updates to add and some more of my main Sims are now adults!

1. Surprisingly to me, Cornelia Crumplebottom died right at the end of the anniversary party that Gunther threw for her. It was still a roof raiser of a party. I guess that abduction took some years off her life.
2. Elise Lothario managed to snag Eric Goth, and they got married. Eric didn't even fall in love with her until they were standing at the altar. He seems to think that the Goth Villa is his now that Gibson has left town, and he may be right since moving Sims is a pain.
3. Kenneth Burb had graduated and moved back home, but I still hate him. I think he may court Kana Goth. He has a want to marry a rich Sim, and she certainly qualifies.
4. Skip and Brandi both grew up without going to college. Skip happened to be over at Brandi's house on her birthday, and they immediately got busy and Brandi got pregnant. In my head, they are technically teen parents.
5. Darleen Matlapin also grew up without going to college. Darren Dreamer did go. Right now, they have been dallying with other people. Darren is highly attracted to dormmate Kana Goth (that figures), and Darleen has three bolts with Gibson of all people, so I need to take away his booty-call privileges. Regardless, I'm planning on Darleen also getting oopsie pregnant with Darren while he in school.

Looking back, Simis felt ashamed of the fact, but it had been several days before anyone even noticed Michael was missing.

Since he’d become an adult, Michael was always taking off for some place or another. They had learned not to worry if they found his bed unslept in. Sooner or later, Jocasta would get a phone call from him. “Don’t worry, Mom, I’m in Twikkii Island, exploring some ruins. Be home soon. Call work and tell them I’m sick or something, OK?” He had become even more annoying after that Far East jaunt when he had learned how to teleport. He was always vanishing from one place and appearing in another. But Michael had an adventurous streak that could not be satiated, an urge to learn everything there was to know about everything, go everywhere there was to go, see everything there was to see. He’d even gone searching for Bigfoot once, although Simis didn’t know if he’d actually found anything.

But this time was different. Michael usually let them know where he was, sooner or later. He wouldn’t want his mother to worry. This time, there had been no word at all.

At first, Simis was annoyed. “He’d better not have gotten some other girl pregnant or, watcher forbid, eloped,” he muttered to himself. But as the days went by, annoyance turned to concern, and then to fear.

Simis decided to call a family meeting. Just his sisters, though–Jocasta was too delicate for such matters, and the kids were better off left in the dark. Lily had actually just moved in following her very nasty divorce. Simis could have predicted Lily’s marriage to Carmelo Lothario would end this way. He knew a dog when he saw one; after all, he saw one in the mirror every day. Lily was the kind of stubborn that always had to learn the hard lessons for herself, though. His baby sister, Emmy, had recently returned from an extended vacation as well. That’s what Simis wanted to discuss.

“I have to know,” he said to his sisters as they gathered outside around the bar, well out of earshot of Jocasta, “Dad’s business. I’ve always kept to the side, as you two know. I’m a gambler myself, don’t care for the heavy stuff. But you were both in it pretty deep. Are you two truly retired now? Is the family business shut down, or has one of your children taken over?”

Emmy rolled her eyes. “Jeez, Simis, I’ve only just been released from jail after seven years, and now the police scrutinize my every move, so what do you think? I should have gotten out of the business long before I was caught, but you know how much I loved the thrill of it. Now that I’ve been forced into retirement, I’d never bring my kids into the life. Frankly, Adrian doesn’t have the brains for it, and Jack is far too sweet. Besides, the Crumplebottom family has enough money. I mean, you can never have enough, but we don’t need the headache.”

“Emmy, we’re all so very glad that you’re home safe and sound, but I’m willing to bet you ruled that prison like your own little queendom. What about you, Lily?”

Lily’s specialty had been bank robbery, and everyone there knew that she had been the breadwinner in her household. She was by far the cleverest of the Bachelor siblings and had easily eluded any police inquiries into her activities. Of course, Emmy wouldn’t have snitched on family while she was in prison. But Lily was still smart enough to know when to bow out, and she had quietly retired after Emmy’s sentencing. Being at home all the time had thus given her the opportunity to catch Carmelo in the hot tub with a much younger woman and watch him take half her ill-gotten gains in the divorce. Which is what she bitterly told her siblings now as she downed her drink. “Talin is too young to have started working with me,” she finished. “And since Elise married a Goth, she’s set for life. I know this might cause Dad’s ghost to rise up and haunt us in anger, but our family business is well and truly shut down.”

“Why do you want to know, Simis?” Emmy asked. “As you said yourself, you never took an interest before. You were such a disappointment to Dad,” she added, laughing and poking him.

Simis chuckled, too. He didn’t mind being a disappointment. That just meant he was living the life he wanted. “I wondered if you might have made any enemies along the way. Anyone who might be motivated to seek revenge against the family.”

Emmy snorted laughter, and Lily arched an eyebrow at him. “No one would dare,” Emmy said. “We may be out of it now, but we were the most powerful crime family throughout this area. There never was any competition–we made sure of it. Why?”

“Because Michael is missing, and I don’t know what has happened to him.”

Both his sisters turned on him. “What? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Simis explained that Michael had just been gone when they all got up one morning, which wasn’t so unusual for him, but they hadn’t heard from him since. “The last I saw of him, he was outside on that blasted telescope of his. I didn’t think much of it when he didn’t come home for a few days, but he should have contacted us by now. Jocasta has been wanting to go to the police and file a missing persons report. I’ve talked her out of it so far. I won’t be able to for much longer, though.”

“No, you have to report him missing,” Lily declared. “It will raise questions if you don’t. And reporting it can’t backfire on the family now that Emmy and I have both completely cut our ties to the underground.”

“I’m sure he’ll turn up,” Emmy reassured him. “Michael’s just a wanderer. He’ll come back to us.”

But he didn’t. As the season turned, Simis and Jocasta filed the missing persons report. The police started an investigation, sent out all their bulletins and whatnot. Simis even hired a private investigator when the police’s efforts turned up nothing. But the PI also couldn’t find any leads.

Michael, it seemed, had vanished without a trace. It was like he had left the planet altogether.
–
Which is exactly what he had done. When Michael had been stargazing with his very expensive telescope and suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground by a powerful beam that drew him up into the sky, he hadn’t been afraid. He’d been exhilarated. Finally, finally, something was happening to him.

His excitement only increased when the being who had taken him–Michael didn’t know what to call him–explained what he wanted to do. Michael had agreed, but only if he could be taken to the planet that the ship had come from. The alien seemed surprised, but Michael insisted. He was bluffing, of course. He was so excited to be on an honest-to-watcher spaceship that he would have agreed to anything. But he was a Bachelor born and bred, and he knew how to play his cards close to his chest and go for the big win.

The spaceship was capable of tremendous speed, although there was time for the alien to conduct his experiment on Michael while they traveled. There wasn’t much to it–a little tingle, and it was over. Then, Michael was deposited in front of a steel and glass house built into the side of a grassy hill. A healthy garden covered the top of the hill, and beyond that was an orchard, the tree limbs heavy with brightly colored fruit. Two people came out of the house and walked toward him–two very green people.

“Welcome,” the woman said. “Welcome, Michael, to our home. I am Gertrude.”

Michael took a better look at her. Was that leaves growing out of her head? As he stared at her, a sense of deja vu overtook him. He realized what–or rather, who–he was looking at.

“My watcher,” he said, “you look just like Cornelia Goth. Without the glasses, though.”

“Yes,” Gertrude agreed. “I am her daughter. Do you know her?”

“Her daughter?” That was too much for Michael to process right now, and he shook his head as if to clear it. “Yes, I should say so. My sister is married to her son. But I am sorry to have to tell you that she died recently.”

Gertrude looked at the other green person with sadness. “We thought that might be the case. We felt her go.” She took the other one’s hand. “We also lost someone recently. Perhaps now that they have discorporated, they can be together again, as a beautiful swirl of pure energy.”

Michael chose to ignore the mumbo-jumbo and turned to the other one. “So are you Gertrude's father then?” he asked.

Gertrude laughed, a sound like gently tinkling windchimes. “No, that is my son.” To be fair, Michael thought, it was not easy to tell these creatures’ ages. Their faces were unlined and smooth, their bodies trim. They seemed like perfect beings to him, even with the green skin. Gertrude’s son kept quiet and glared at Michael. He didn’t seem nearly as hospitable as Gertrude.

“You are welcome to stay here for your pregnancy,” Gertrude continued. “We have everything you need to be comfortable. We will show you our home and answer any questions you might have.”

At that moment, Michael made an impulsive decision. Well, it felt like an impulse at the time, but later he realized it was a decision he had been coming to for his entire life. “I don’t want to stay just for the pregnancy. I want to stay forever. Or for as long as you’ll have me.”

Finally, the man spoke. He seemed truly puzzled by Michael’s words. “Why would you want to leave your home and everything you know? Our planet must seem very strange to you.”

Michael looked around at the odd, twisted trees, the garden with its jewel-like fruits, the gigantic golden butterflies flitting through the grasses. In the distance beyond the cliff’s edge, he glimpsed the ocean, stretching out to the horizon like smooth, cerulean glass. “It’s both strange and incredibly beautiful,” he said. “And just think, I could be the one to explore it all. I could be the first Sim to live here, to get to know your culture. The first Sim who ever got to move to another planet!”

“Well, surely not quite the first,” Gertrude said softly, smiling.

“What do you mean?” Michael asked.

“There will be time for you to meet the other members of our little community. For now, we should make you comfortable. You must be very hungry. Pregnancy is not easy for males. You will need to rest frequently and make certain you are well nourished.” She led the way inside, her son following on her heels.

“Is this such a good idea?” he said to her in a low voice, although Michael, following behind, clearly heard every word. “We’ve never invited an abductee to stay before, only the hybrid and his mate.”

“Your father is no longer here to make that decision,” Gertrude replied. “And he seems to have made his choice. Who are we to go against him? I think it may make our community stronger to have him here.”

The green man glanced back at Michael quickly and with some suspicion, but he said nothing more. Michael realized that he hadn’t learned the man’s name.

Gertrude led the way into a cozy kitchen with dirt walls and began squeezing some juice. A sun lamp hung from the rough ceiling. “Sit down,” she told Michael, gesturing at a wooden table and chairs. “I will prepare food. And while you eat, you can tell us about Cornelia. I long to hear all about her life and her family. We loved her, you know. We wanted her to stay, too, but she missed her family too much.”

Michael took a seat at the table. The other one had disappeared upstairs. “Yes, of course. As I said, my sister was her daughter-in-law, and I think they became close. My sister will be thrilled to hear about this place. She’s always imagined, since we were kids, that there were other worlds.”

Gertrude brought him some kind of stew in a bowl. It looked like it was vegetarian. Michael hadn’t considered that the people here would eat only plants. Ah well, that wasn’t so different from his stay in Takemizu Village. That had been his favorite trip, at least before this. He tried the stew and found that it was the most delicious food he’d ever eaten.

“It is a shame you will not be able to tell your sister about it,” Gertrude said as she sat opposite him. She wasn’t eating anything.

“Why not?” Michael was starting to feel very hungry, and he bolted down spoonfuls of the stew.

“We have no way of communicating directly with your people. And traveling there is not easy. The Pollination Technicians have their spaceships, but those are intended for a specific purpose. Otherwise, we have to use the Sphere. It is very stressful on the body, the dematerialization process. It can be dangerous, and we try to limit the trips. If you stayed here, you would be unable to contact your family, and you would not be able to go back unless it was an emergency. Or you wanted to return permanently.” She gazed at him steadily. “Does that change your mind about staying?”

Michael gazed back. She really was very beautiful. Her skin–if that’s what it was; it looked so leafy–was not just one shade of green, but many, with tiny vines twining through it. “Absolutely not,” he said.

It was a winter wedding. Nothing too much exciting happened during it, though, except Daniel may already be regretting his life choices. His aspiration went way down, and I had to send him to work out just to get it back up. I think he let his true feelings show with the cake feeding.

John Burb went to college. Jennifer goes next round.

I added Gordon King as a nonplayable character so Skip Broke has someone to do crimes with.

Ruby stomped up the stairs, her arms full of dirty laundry she’d collected from around the house and toys she needed to put away. She couldn’t believe Skip! He’d only just turned eighteen and had already moved his little girlfriend in, without even asking her first. They didn’t need another mouth to feed around here, that’s for sure.

Ruby tried not to resent Skip, but it was hard. She didn’t have time to find a job, much less a boyfriend. She spent every waking moment taking care of their two little brothers and this huge, drafty, old house, where something was always breaking down. What did Skip do? Sure, he’d gotten some kind of job, and that helped some, but when it came to doing chores or looking after the kids, he was nowhere to be found. And now his girlfriend was living here, too. Ruby was willing to bet that Brandi didn’t even have a job.

It’s not that Ruby didn’t like Brandi. She actually thought Skip’s girlfriend was very nice, if quiet and shy. And she was willing to help out with the dishes or change a diaper if need be. Besides, she was just as parentless as they were. Her dad was a deadbeat who had skipped town. Ruby didn’t know if Brandi was aware that Skip’s little cousin, Shelby, was actually Brandi’s half-sister. Ruby was willing to bet that Brandi was totally ignorant of that fact, but she’d find out sooner or later. And then Brandi’s mother had moved in with her rich boyfriend as soon as Brandi came of age and didn’t bother to take her. Ruby would almost rather have a dead mother and a crazy father than parents who clearly didn’t give a shit about her.

But that didn’t mean that she had to take Brandi in on top of everything. She had enough people to take care of already.

As Ruby passed the closed bathroom door, she heard unmistakable retching noises coming from inside. Ruby immediately knew what that signified–her mother had been pregnant enough times–and she passed a hand over her eyes. That Skip! She was going to kill him.

She found Skip out back, attempting to wash their perpetually stinky hound dog. At least Skip did one thing around here, which was to take care of that blasted dog. “Skip, I need to talk to you!”

“Oh man, I’m soaking wet and not in the mood for a lecture right now.” Skip jumped back from the rusty old tub as the dog leaped out and shook water everywhere.

“Too bad. You should have asked me if Brandi could move in, Skip. You don’t just get to do anything you want anytime you want to.”

“Hey, this is my house, too! And Brandi had nowhere else to go. Her mom told her she was an adult now and on her own. I think she just didn’t want to have to bring Brandi to live with her new, uptight family. That Brad Burb thinks he’s such hot shit just because he plays for the Llamas. I hope he gets a knee injury and is out for the season!”

“I hate to say it, but that is Brandi’s problem, not ours. And this is not your house, not so long as Dad is alive. Who knows what happens if he dies?” Ruby hadn’t told Skip about the mountain of debt their parents had acquired. They had been such fools, trying to turn this place into a working farm. They’d had no idea what they were doing. And when first Uncle Buck had disappeared, then Mom died and Dad was committed– The Brokes had had nothing but bad luck, all their lives, and Ruby didn’t see that changing anytime soon.

“If you’re not careful, Skip, you’re going to head right down the same road as Mom and Dad. In fact, you probably already are. I heard Brandi throwing up in the bathroom.”

Skip’s face turned white. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that it’s a sure bet you’re about to become a daddy yourself.”

Skip rushed into the house to find Brandi. She was sitting on the bed, looking very sick and pale. “Brandi, are you all right?” He sat beside her and pulled her up against his chest.

“Oh, Skip, I think I might be pregnant. What are we going to do?” Brandi broke down into sobs.

Skip stroked her hair, but his eyes had widened in panic. They had only ever done it that one time–he truly didn’t think it was possible to get pregnant your first time. Clearly, he was wrong. For a second, he thought about running, as far and as fast as he could. But then he’d be no better than the guy who ran out on his aunt Mary Lu and his cousin Shelby. He couldn’t do that to Brandi. Even though he’d just become a man, he believed he was a better man than that. He knew Dad would expect him to be.

With an effort, Skip calmed himself and held Brandi tighter. “Don’t worry,” he said. “This guy I’ve been working with, Gordon, has said he can get me a better job now that I’m out of school. He says I can make some good money. We can move out on our own.”

“But where would we go?” Brandi sniffled.

“We could probably find someplace cheap to rent in the trailer park.”

“I grew up in that trailer park, Skip. It’s not great. There’s no room, no privacy, and the trailers are old and broken down.”

“So what? It’s just to get started. I’m going places, you’ll see. And besides, this place isn’t much better. Talk about having no privacy! I don’t need Ruby bossing me around all the time like she’s my mother.”

Brandi pulled away so she could look at him and wiped the tears from her eyes. She started to smile a little. “We could make it nice. Maybe plant some flowers.”

“Sure, we could. We could even have a little pool out back. I’ve always wanted a pool.”

Brandi’s face turned serious. “But Skip, we have to get married. I can’t let this baby grow up without his father’s name.”

To Skip, Brandi’s words were like a tractor trailer truck bearing down on him, and him with no way to jump to safety. But he sat up straight and managed a smile. Skip may not have been an adult for long, but he’d been without parents for a while now. He knew that life was all about gritting your teeth and doing what you had to do.

Skip knelt in front of Brandi. “Brandi Newbie,” he said, seriously, “would you go down to the courthouse with me right now and get hitched before you pop out our kid?”

Brandi burst into giggles. “Of course I will, Skip Broke.” She stood up, and as he pulled her into a long kiss, he started thinking that this was going to turn out all right after all. As long as he and Brandi were together, he thought they could get through anything.

To go with the last two updates... (We are getting the last generation of babies in the oven now.)

Darren Dreamer went to college, but his girlfriend, Darleen Matlapin, did not. She did invite Darren over for a visit and got pregnant through risky woohoo, with no intervention from me. When that baby bump arrived, Darleen panicked and called Darren over. Darren, being the nerd that he is, brought his dad with him. Fortunately, Davis Dreamer is a very decent guy. After he met Darleen and reassured her, he invited her to move in with the Dreamer family while she's waiting for the baby to be born and Darren is finishing up college. Darleen was happy and relieved to agree. Darren then proposed to Darleen to make everything official, but it will be a couple of rounds before they can marry. No shotgun wedding like Brandi's and Skip's, though--understanding, supportive families make all the difference.

Speaking of the Brokes, over at Mary Lu's house, Suzie grew up badly--and being a Broke as well as having been parentified to take care of her half-sister throughout her teen years, she was not given the option of college. She had a minor nervous breakdown and then the very next thing she did was get in a huge fight with her mom. Mary Lu deserved it, honestly. Suzie then moved out. Since Skip and Brandi have an extra bedroom (for now), she is staying with them until she gets on her feet.

Skip Broke, feeling very anxious about how life has been boxing him in lately, had an affair with Debbie Dreamer on a community lot while I was playing someone else. She loves those married Romance Sims (her previous affair partner was Daniel Pleasant). Then, Debbie's father died and her mother moved into the nursing home, so I had Debbie move back in with Deedee where there is now an extra bedroom because she is becoming a favorite character of mine, and I think she is going to wreak some havoc. Her twin, Derek Dreamer, against all odds decided to get engaged to Kana Goth, who is still in college, so I guess Kenneth Burb's dream of marrying a rich Sim is not going to come true. Suck it, Kenneth. Also, Brandi's mom married Kenneth's older brother and became a Burb. Kenneth is going to have to get his own place now because John is inheriting the Burb house. So sorry, Kenneth, maybe you shouldn't mess around with grills and kill an actual favorite character of mine.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Parker and Kaylynn Langerak have been born. Their aunt Zelda Mae moved out to make more room for the kids, and then got a baby bump herself. The father is Dustin Langerak, her brother-in-law, the dog. And Mary-Sue Pleasant is now pregnant with twins.

I have all but decided that I have to add Strangetown as a subhood after Bella gets abducted, or my story is not going to work. I'm really hoping it won't make the hood unplayable, but I will make backups, and besides, that's still quite a ways off. Have to get Lucy and Alex born first.

I have a few more new adults and born-in-game Sims who have aged to elder to share.

1. Kana Goth
2. Dagmar Dreamer (skipped college)
3. Talin Lothario
4. Herb Oldie
5. Coral Oldie
6. Jeff Pleasant
7. Diane Pleasant

News around the neighborhood:

Mortimer caught Bella kissing Gunther. Well, Bella has so much love to give! Mortimer was pretty mad, but one dream date later, he was back to adoring her. To make it up to him, she got pregnant with who he hopes will be his heir (it will). Alexander will be a bit older than he is in the game, but I always think of him as closer to the Pleasant girls' age anyway. Cassandra became a teen and still hasn't outgrown her unfortunate horse face.

Michael gave birth to a baby alien boy named Berjes and is now falling in love with Gertrude. Back home, the Bachelors are putting the pressure on Benjy to find a wife, but he is grossly incompetent at dating and is mostly attracted to married women, anyway.

Dustin Broke and Angela and Lilith Pleasant have all been born. Still waiting on Dirk.

[This incident took me entirely by surprise, and while it was happening, I had to decide whether to exit without saving. So no pics, although I did end up saving in the end.]

She never learned what exactly had happened that night. Was it just some terrible accident? Or had the fire been set deliberately? Nighat never found out. The only thing she was absolutely sure of was that in just a few minutes, she had lost almost everything.

Nina, Dina, Katrina. Flamenco, her love, her life. They were all gone. All that was left of them were ashes. Nighat clutched River to her chest as she stood among the ruins. This had been such a strange and beautiful place, so peaceful, so idyllic. Had it all been false? There had been times when it had seemed almost too good to be true. Maybe she should have paid more attention to those feelings, trusted them–because now everything was gone.

Suddenly, Colony Drone was there beside her–not the older one, but the younger one. They looked exactly alike, but they were not the same. The older one, the one who had brought her and Flamenco there to begin with, had just disappeared one day. Nighat didn’t know whether he had died or what. None of the others talked about him any longer, except in vague, abstract terms. But his son had matured and now was the leader, and Nighat didn’t trust him for reasons she could not precisely name.

“I am sorry for your loss,” he was saying to her now, looking at the heaps of ashes that surrounded them, what remained of their house.

The baby started to cry, but Nighat only clutched him tighter. “I don’t know what happened. I was asleep. Do you know?”

Colony Drone shook his head. His lips tightened. “We have enemies,” he said, finally. “Our colony is in jeopardy. Now perhaps you understand why we have been taking such extreme measures. We must survive.”

Nighat felt the tears she had been fighting back threaten to overtake her. “Flamenco!” she gasped. “I don’t know how I’m going to go on–”

“You must, though,” Colony Drone said, matter-of-factly. “And you will. We will send you back. It is for the best. You cannot stay here without him–without them.”

Nighat shook her head, her arms tight around River. “I won’t leave my son. He’s all I have left of them!”

Colony Drone regarded her and the child, and Nighat also turned her gaze upon her baby boy. Her only boy. Other than that he was blond, River did not resemble Flamenco at all. He had no alien features. “Of course you must take your son with you,” Colony Drone said. “I would never have suggested otherwise.”

Relief overtook her. They weren’t going to take her baby away from her. She nodded. It would be good to return home, where she could talk to her family again–her father, her brother, Flamenco’s siblings. That was where she and River belonged. She knew that now.

“Zeeshan must stay here with us, though,” Colony Drone was saying, cutting through her thoughts.

“Zeeshan?” Nighat looked around wildly. “He’s here? He escaped the fire?” Zeeshan was the child that Flamenco had insisted on having himself, the product of his pollination. Nighat still didn’t understand how it all worked, but she knew that Zeeshan was purely Flamenco’s child. He was a strange boy. She tried to love him and to raise him like her own, but she never felt as close to him as she did to her own children. Yet she sensed that Flamenco had felt closest to him out of all of them. It had made her a little jealous, if she were being honest.

“Yes, he came straight to us when he realized the danger,” Colony Drone said. “He is there now. Gertrude is taking care of him.”

“Thank the watcher.” Nighat realized that she was glad Zeeshan was staying. “Yes, you are right. He must remain here, with his people.”

“As you must go,” Colony Drone finished.

“Yes.” Nighat nodded. “As we must go. Back to Pleasantview. Home.”
–
Colony Drone accompanied Nighat and River to the Sphere and saw that they had safely dematerialized, en route back to their planet. That part was done, then. Now for the next task–the much more difficult one. He returned home and found Zeeshan waiting for him. The boy was crying, silently. Such emotion he showed! That was the Sim part of him–but it was just the smallest part. They were lucky to have him as part of their community, and Colony Drone quietly sent gratitude to Flamenco’s spirit for creating him for them.

“Zeeshan,” he said, “you must be brave now. We have work to do.” Colony Drone led the boy to a dark corner of their property. A strange device sat there. It glowed with an otherworldly fire. Colony Drone picked up a receiver and held it to his ear. There was a humming, and he went rigid. Zeeshan felt it, too, and his eyes widened. He stopped crying and looked around him as electricity sparked through the air. An eerie green glow flowed around them like smoke as a low, throbbing noise vibrated up through their bones. They both felt suddenly drained of energy as the noise pitched higher. Suddenly, two figures stood before them: Nina and Dina, alive and looking just as they had when they had aged up earlier that day, as if nothing had happened to them.

The girls whooped and hugged each other before snatching up Zeeshan in their embrace. The siblings turned to Colony Drone, who was looking a paler shade of green but otherwise seemed outwardly unaffected by what he had just done. "Now bring back Daddy,” Zeeshan insisted. “And Katrina, too.”

Colony Drone regarded the three with a blank expression. “I cannot,” he said, simply. He knew the resurrections had all but depleted him, but that was not the true reason he refused the request. “I am too weak now. Soon, their discorporated selves will mingle with the energy of the universe, and it will be impossible to bring them back.” It wasn't precisely true, what he said, but there was truth in it. He was weak, although Zeeshan was younger and still had energy to give. But Colony Drone didn't want to bring back the other dead. That would be inconvenient.

Zeeshan’s face crumpled. “No,” he protested. He started to sob as Nina held him tighter. Dina–the one who looked the most right, who conveyed to Colony Drone the strongest sense of truly being one of their people–stepped forward.

“Were mother and River lost, too?” she asked.

Colony Drone hesitated. This was new territory for him. He had never told an outright lie before. But he finally nodded, quickly, and looked away. “Yes, all were lost, except you three.”

Dina glanced back at her twin sister and her younger half-brother. There was a fierce protectiveness in her expression. She turned to Colony Drone. “Thank you for bringing us back,” she said.

“It was my duty and my privilege.” Colony Drone surveyed them all, and there was a moment when he wondered if everything he had done, all the actions he had taken that night, had been correct. But he dismissed that doubt. “You must come back now. You will stay with us until you mature. Gertrude can take care of you. You will be safe there.”

Dina nodded and gestured for her sister to follow them. Together, they walked into the night, back to their new home.

--
It was the arsonist burglar, of course. But the burglar is in disguise, and there is no way to know who it really is setting the fire. I didn't plan this event, but it solved a few problems for me and enabled me to set up some things--mainly that the aliens, particularly this Colony Drone, are not entirely benign. It also put a stop to the expansion of the Caliente family, and I am really happy that Nighat will be returning to Pleasantview. That makes sense to me. Finally, it gives me a chance to introduce resurrection as an alien technology and provides a way for Dina and Michael to become friends while living in close quarters.

I will miss Flamenco, though. I thought long and hard about whether to resurrect him, too, but I decided against it because it would not be in Colony Drone's interests. Flamenco would not be controllable. And Nighat would never separate from him or leave the colony unless she really believed he was dead. I think she would sense it if he had been brought back to life. So goodbye to Flamenco Caliente--he was one of my absolute favorites.

The alien lore is now getting so complicated that I have had to write out a timeline to keep it all straight. I am now seeing a way forward to Bella's abduction and even to introducing Strangetown. We have to wait, though, for Nina and Dina to grow up before any of that can happen.

Lawrence Goth graduated from college. He is the youngest son of Gibson and Sheri, and I think he has gotten the best of the Goth and Pleasant genes. He is just a good-looking Sim. He moved back home and immediately got a job in Show Business, of course. He has been seeing Lauren Sims, the adopted daughter of Amin and Berlin. Lawrence and Lauren--couldn't have planned it better myself. They are now engaged and planning to get married next round. Eric and Elise had to move in the old Lothario place because Lawrence is the rightful heir of Goth Villa.

Although he is a hair's breadth away from dying, Gunther Goth continues to be problematic. He and Bella woohooed right after Bella gave birth to Alexander. Fortunately, Mortimer was at work at the time and knows nothing about it, and Bella has no intention of telling him. I will miss Gunther, but it will be kind of good when he's gone and is no longer stirring up trouble.

Speaking of problematic fathers-in-law, Robert Crumplebottom was finally caught doing something unacceptable with his daughter-in-law, Allemande. Both Emmy and Adrian saw it. Emmy's resolution was easy. She has been having a side affair with Cooper Sims for a while now, so she just moved in with him. I'm not sure what Adrian will do, but he's pretty upset, and rightfully so. This all happened during their youngest daughter's birthday party.

Elsewhere, Darren Dreamer graduated from college and moved home. He had a home-style wedding with Darleen. Dirk had already been born while Darren was at college. The kids moved out to the family Dreamer home, which is currently occupied only by Darren's aunt Debbie, and Darleen went ahead and got pregnant again. Darren is trying to become a painter. Deedee, who previously lived in the family home, has found love with her coworker Safiya (a Downtownie), and she and Nerissa have moved out with her.

For anyone counting, there are now four Goth households and three Dreamer households in Pleasantview. Both are very prolific families.

On the alien colony, Gertrude Goth discorporated before aging to elder. Michael was heartbroken but he has been growing close to Dina. Colony Drone has taken Berjes's toddler training in hand. Meanwhile, Nighat Caliente moved back in to the old Caliente house in Pleasantview, and her elderly father, Tariq, moved in with her and River. She told everyone she had been living far away in a small, unknown desert town but had to move back for financial reasons. Dustin Langerak was on the welcome committee, and he conveniently didn't mention to Nighat that he was married. She thinks he's very attractive, and he also would like to get to know her better. Apparently, he does not yet have enough kids (four).

First things first: Jennifer Pleasant graduated and married John Burb. They got pregnant right away. John is very lucky to have Jennifer--let's hope Lucy gets her looks! Also, Gunther Goth finally died--I will miss that old bastard.

I did some shuffling around of households. I decided that I wanted Pleasantview to remain a small town with a focus on my main families, and for Downtown to be Sim City, where people go who are more career focused or want to be in a high-profile career. The upshot is that a lot of the younger people moved Downtown. I will still play them, but maybe not as intensely as my main families. Also, a bunch of retirees (like the Oldies) moved into the condo district, which is going to be an elder district for now.

For the main families, I added a few businesses in Pleasantview. The Crumplebottoms are going to own the local restaurant: Matchmaker Bar & Grill, where you can come to find your one true match, or just get a burger and a beer, if that's all you want. Mortimer Goth will start Goth Science Labs, and Darren Dreamer will get a low-level job there to supplement his painting income. Darren's parents and sister will open the Corner Coffeeshop. Daniel Pleasant is going to open his own Fine Arts Studio, since he has money to burn and preferred being an artist to an athlete in this Pleasantview. Mary-Sue got a job at the Courthouse. Jennifer Burb is going to own the Mini-Mart where Brandi Broke works as a store clerk. And Iliana Langerak inherited a little money from Gunther to make a down payment on the beauty shop she's been wanting.

I moved Gordon King into the trailer park so he and Skip could become closer. I'm still not sure how big a role Gordon is going to play. I'm also not sure whether to follow canon, now that all the pieces are in place, and eventually kill off Michael, Darleen, and Skip in accidents (or not-accidents). Thinking about it, although since Skip is messing around with Gordon's girlfriend, Zelda Mae, there is at least a motive there.

The other big news is that birth control has been invented for Pleasantview! Which just means I'm not letting Sims try for baby anytime they want via ACR. I'm going to base it on wants--theirs and mine. At this point, I don't want the Pleasant twins or Dirk to get a sibling.

Playing Monday is going to be a long day, since I have to get a bunch of new households and businesses set up, but I am happy with the direction I'm taking.

Taking care of some elders, so I thought I'd share their pictures:

1. Gibson Goth
2. Sheri Pleasant Goth
3. Bob Newbie, Jr.
4. Betty Newbie Burb
5. Ian Simovitch
6. Coral Oldie gets permanent platinum aspiration by having her golden anniversary -- Herb never cheated!

I have a story planned for the Caliente sisters as they transition out of teenagehood that I've been working on, and that will mean some big changes for my 'hood, including...

It's almost time for Bella's abduction!

And I'm finally going to add Strangetown (which, as you see from his picture, is where Gibson is supposed to be now) as well as La Fiesta Tech!

As a reminder, Berjes is Michael's son by alien abduction, and Zeehsan is Nina and Dina's half-brother, also by alien abduction.

On the day that the girls were to attain maturity, Colony Drone called the entire household into the side garden to make an announcement. They sat around the fountain in the center of the grassy space, looking at him expectantly. He felt Gertrude’s absence keenly at such times, although her discorporation had been expected, and he knew her energy was now mingling with his father’s and she was likely at peace. His mother had been a calming influence on him, but regardless, he suspected she would not have approved of what he was about to do.

“As you know,” Colony Drone began, “our people have a culture that highly values consent and choice. Tradition and fealty are extremely important to us, of course, but so is the tenet that every member of the colony can choose their own destiny. We are not assigned our roles–we choose to accept them. After all, a sacrifice does not have much meaning if it is not something one chooses for oneself.” He added, more quietly, “Although a Colony Drone without his Birth Queen does not have much of a purpose, I must say.” He looked meaningfully at Dina as he said this last, but she was distracted by Michael whispering to her and wasn’t paying attention. Colony Drone cleared his throat, and the two sprang apart.

“It is with that in mind that I come to you today to present a choice,” Colony Drone continued, including both Dina and Nina in his gaze now. “You may not be aware of this, but one of our people decided some years ago to retire from being a Pollination Technician and make a home on your planet. He lives there even now, with a family of his own.”

Little gasps of surprise went up around the circle. “How is that possible?” Michael asked. “No one back home knew anything about aliens actually living among us.”

“He resides in a very small and isolated town, in the desert far away from any city, and he goes by an innocuous name,” Colony Drone replied. “The military protects him and keeps his existence a secret, so long as he maintains a low profile and shares with them some of our technologies. Not all,” he added, quickly. “This Pollination Technician retained some of the communications equipment from his spaceship and occasionally contacts me with news.”

Michael was on his feet now. “You mean you can take phone calls from home? You never let me know that was possible!”

“Michael, you were given all the information and allowed to freely make your choice when you decided to stay here. I cannot communicate with anyone other than our kinsman, and certainly not with your family. I am sorry if you think you were somehow missing out, but I assure you that you were not.”

Dina placed a hand on Michael’s arm, and he immediately calmed and sat back down. “Go on,” he said. “Get to your point.”

“My point is that I have recently been informed that our kinsman has successfully negotiated with the local university to allow one of our hybrids to attend.” He held up a long, skinny finger. “Only one. I believe this presents a good opportunity to send one of you girls back. While you are there, you can form relationships with other Sims, relationships we will need if this colony is to grow.”

“Only one?” Nina exclaimed. “But Dina and I can’t be separated.” She turned to her sister. “We can’t, right?”

“They agreed to allow only one. So I am offering you girls the choice of which one of you it shall be.”

Nina was still sputtering, but Dina hushed her. “We have to confab,” she said, leading Nina to a corner of the garden by the elbow.

The girls huddled together, whispering, but Colony Drone’s sharp ears still picked up their conversation. “If we have to separate, it should be you who goes, Dina,” Nina said. “You’re the one with all the big dreams. This may be your only chance.”

Dina cut her off. “Look around you, Nina. There aren’t a whole lot of options here. You are going to blend in better there–that’s just a fact. Maybe you’ll meet someone you care about, figure out a way to stay and have a real life, with lots of other people around you. Maybe even locate members of our family somehow.”

Colony Drone smiled to himself. Their conversation was going just as he expected, but still he was letting them choose–or so they would believe.

“Are you sure? It would be so hard to leave you and Zeeshan! And what about your ambitions?”

“You know me. I’ll figure it out. But trust me–this is the best way for now.”

“I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t even talk to you, though.”

“You can find this retired Pollination Technician guy. If the town is as small as he says, it shouldn't be hard to locate him. He’d probably let you use his equipment to get in touch with me every so often.”

“Okay,” Nina said, “if you really think this is the best thing to do.”

“Absolutely I do.” Dina held her by the arms and looked straight into her eyes. “I know that you are going to find the best-looking guy at that university and have the first kiss you’ve always dreamed of. I want that for you.”

The girls hugged and rejoined the others. “Okay,” Dina said, “we’ve made our choice. Nina will go.”

“Very good,” Colony Drone replied. “You had better prepare for the journey, Nina. Quickly!”

“Wait, I have to go right now?”

“Yes, the university will not take you after you mature, so you have to leave right away.”

“Okay.” Nina went inside and packed the few things she really cared about. When she was ready, she came out, and everyone walked her to the Sphere. She hugged Berjes and Zeeshan first, then Michael. Berjes was getting so big! He had become like another brother to her. She gave Colony Drone a perfunctory hug as well, which he barely returned. Then, she turned to Dina.

Dina pulled her in tightly. “Go get ‘em, sis,” she hissed into Nina’s ear. “We won’t be apart forever. Trust me.”

“I do,” Nina whispered back. She stepped away. Her eyes filled with tears that she held back for Dina’s sake. She looked around one more time at them all and then stepped into the Sphere, and she was gone.

–
Later, when it came time for Dina to mature, she did it alone, in the room she had shared with Nina. When she came downstairs, it made Colony Drone’s heart race to see her. She looked tall and regal and beautiful, with her shining blond hair and luminous green skin. She looked like a queen. His Queen. He stepped toward her, but then he saw her turn. Michael was coming down the stairs behind her. He must have been with her when she matured, after all. Now, he was smiling and taking her hand, and she was smiling back at him, looking at him in a way that made Colony Drone’s blood run cold. Michael was bending down and–what? Kissing her! He was actually kissing her!

“What is this?” Colony Drone demanded.

Michael turned to him, and his arm went around Dina’s shoulders. It was as if he owned her, as if she were his. But that couldn’t be possible! Could it?

“We wanted to wait–”

“You wanted to wait,” Dina interrupted, elbowing him.

“Yes, I wanted to wait. I wanted to be sure that Dina was old enough to choose freely and to understand what her choice meant. And she has.” He looked at her. “You have, haven’t you?”

“I have,” Dina said with that self-assurance that Colony Drone had come to associate with her, and to appreciate about her. He thought the quality would make her an excellent leader, with him by her side. But he had never suspected this…betrayal.

Michael kissed her again, briefly, but most definitely in a possessive manner. “We’re going to be moving to one of those smaller houses near the shore,” he continued. “With Berjes, of course. We just think it would be better to have our own place now.”

“I should have known!” Colony Drone interrupted. They both looked at him in surprise. Colony Drone never raised his voice, or even showed much emotion of any kind. Clearly, he was capable of it. “I did know! I told Gertrude when you arrived here that we should not have let you stay. You are not even one of us! And you loved Gertrude–what about that?”

“Gertrude and I cared for each other,” Michael responded. “She was lonely, you know, and she was a caring and giving person. But I love Dina.”

“You traitor!” Colony Drone started toward him, and Michael took a startled step backward. Suddenly, Zeeshan was between them. Colony Drone looked at the boy’s face, silently pleading with him not to fight, and calmed himself with an effort. He had lost Dina, and he had to accept that. Nothing could be plainer. Now he knew why she had agreed so readily to Nina’s leaving–because she already had plans for herself, to be with Michael. The thought of it made him feel queasy.

“All right, go, then.” He waved his hand at them, dismissively. “Clearly, you have made your choice. I have no right to stop you.”

Michael went to find Berjes and get him packed up. Once he had gone, Dina approached him. “This really is my choice,” she said, quietly but in a tone that brooked no disagreement from him. “I don’t know what you were thinking was going to happen now, but it’s not. It never was. This is what I want, all right?”

Colony Drone nodded stiffly. It didn’t take long for the three of them to gather their things together, and they left. It wasn’t a true parting, Colony Drone knew. They weren’t going far, and he would surely see one or all of them tomorrow–Berjes, at least, when he came for his lessons.

Still, the anger burned inside him like a cold fire. All of his careful plans had been for nothing! He would never have let Nina go if he had realized that Dina would not be his. The anger he felt was quite a new emotion to him, but he actually liked it. It fueled him, somehow. It was sparking an idea, something he could do both to get what he wanted and to have his revenge.

“Come,” he said to Zeeshan, doing his best to appear his normal, placid self, “let’s make dinner. We’ll see your sister and Michael tomorrow, probably.”

Zeeshan followed him into the kitchen. “Dina’s so lucky. Nina, too. I wish there was someone on this waterlogged rock for me.”

“Just bide your time, boy. Perhaps we can find someone for both of us.”

Pictures are of the whole household's conversation about Nina leaving, then Michael and Dina after Dina grows up, and finally Michael and Dina in their new home.

And I have added Strangetown! Here is the first scene from there.

Dusk was settling in when a knock came at the door of the large, suburban-style house. Strange that it was the only one in this tiny desert town with a green yard and copious amounts of flowers and bushes. The door was eased open by a woman with a blond ponytail.

Two teen girls stood on her porch. Under the yellow porchlight, the woman could see that their skin was tinged green, their eyes wide and black, without pupils. One had red hair, the other black. The second one said, a bit hesitantly, “Um, our aunt told us to come to this house–”

The door was flung wide, and the girls were swept into an unexpected hug. “Oh my God, Chloe! Lola! You’ve come home.”

After what felt like far too long, the girls extricated themselves from the strange woman’s embrace. “I’m sorry,” Lola said, “but we don’t know who you are. Like I said, my Aunt Glabe told us this was where we should come.”

“I’m your sister, Jenny! Well, half-sister, really. Glabe was my aunt, too.” The woman ushered the two girls inside the living room, and they looked around curiously. This house was straight out of a time bubble, decorated like the set of an old television show. “It’s been so long! How is she?”

“She died,” Lola said, apologetically. “That’s why we came. We really had nowhere else to go. We didn’t know we even had family.”

Chloe chimed in, “Glabe didn’t tell us a lot, growing up, about where we came from. We have questions.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about Glabe. We have missed her so much. And I’m sure you do have questions. You’re just in time for dinner, too. My husband is grilling hamburgers out back, and I know he’ll want to meet you.”

She led the girls out the back door into a huge, grassy yard dominated by a crystal-clear swimming pool. A girl with blond pigtails was swimming laps. A man stood at the grill, wearing an apron, shorts, and sandals with socks. He turned around as they came down the back porch stairs, and both girls gasped.

“You look like us!” Chloe exclaimed. “No, you look weirder than us. A lot weirder.”

“Oh my God,” Lola said. “Are you our–”

“Pol,” Jenny cut in breathlessly, “the girls are here. They’ve come home.”
—
Jenny served hamburgers at the picnic table while Chloe and Lola sat across from her husband, sizing him up. The blond girl came up to the table, dripping wet, and helped herself to a plate. “This is our daughter, Jill,” Jenny explained.

“She looks just like you,” Lola said, politely.

“You mean, she’s your daughter?” Chloe pointed at Jenny and her green husband, who up until now had kept silent. If he were capable of facial expressions, Chloe might have thought he was in shock. “With him? But she looks normal.”

“We had some difficulty conceiving her,” Jenny said. “My brothers are scientists, and they took on the challenge. They helped us bring Jill into our lives.”

Jill just chewed her burger, casting shy glances at the two teens. “You’re a lucky one,” Chloe said to her, matter-of-factly, and Jill ducked her head. She asked to be excused and quickly disappeared into the house.

Lola was still staring at Jenny’s husband. She hadn’t touched her food, although Chloe was wolfing hers down. “You need to explain to my sister and me what’s going on here. Are you our father, too?”

“His name is Pollination Technician #9,” Jenny said, quickly. “But we just call him Pol–”

Pol cut her off by laying a hand on her arm. “I am not your father,” he said, gently. “At least, not in the way you mean. I pollinated your father. He was Jenny’s father, too. His name was Glarn Curious.”

“Ew? You mean, you and our dad?” Chloe made a face. “And then, you and our sister? What are you, some kind of perv?”

Pol seemed unfazed by her words. “Pollination is not sexual. It is more like a scientific experiment. Your father consented. He was a scientist, too. He wanted you to be born.” As the girls listened, Pol explained about their dwindling species, their home planet, and his former job as a Pollination Technician. “You were my only successful pollination. But when you were born, your aunt believed you were in danger. The military, other scientists here–she thought they would take you and run tests on you, keep you locked up for life. So she left with you in the middle of the night. No one ever heard from her again or knew where you had gone. Your father looked, as did I. Unfortunately, your father passed away before he could see you again.” Pol folded his hand affectionately over Jenny’s. “I decided to retire here. Through Glarn, I had met Jenny, and we fell in love. I wanted a normal life–normal for this planet, I mean.”

“You’ve been living here all this time, without anyone trying to attack you or kill you?” Lola asked in amazement. “Aunt Glabe always told us how much danger we’d be in if we were seen. We had to travel at night just to get here. We were terrified the whole time.”

“She was not wrong about the danger,” Pol mused. “In most other parts of this world, there is a lot of superstition and prejudice around our kind. It would be dangerous for you to be seen. But Strangetown is well away from anywhere at all. It is a military base and a scientific installation. The scientists are mostly open-minded, and the military know how to keep their mouths shut. It is true that it has not always been easy living here. There has been violence against me. Over the years, though, I have come to an arrangement with the people here and the military.”

Just then, the back door slammed open, and a teenage boy clattered down the stairs. A green boy, with a shock of blond hair falling into his nonalien eyes. “Hey, mom and dad, I’m going to skip dinner tonight. ‘Phelia, Ripp, and I are going to hang out at the pool, if that’s okay.”

“Just don’t stay out too late,” Jenny said. “And say hello to our guests, Johnny. This is Lola and Chloe. They’re your long-lost aunts.”

“Cool,” Johnny said. “See ya!” And he dashed around the side of the house.

“Wait, you’re just letting him go out, in public?” Chloe exclaimed. “Looking like that?”

“You have to understand,” Lola interjected. “Our aunt raised us in Three Lakes, in a cabin out in the woods. We weren’t allowed to go anywhere, not to school or even to get groceries.”

“No boys, no friends, and certainly no pool,” Chloe huffed.

“Chloe practically wrote a manifesto, she was so bored.”

“As I said, things are different here in Strangetown. And if there is trouble, Johnny can take care of himself,” Pol said, proudly. “You girls showing up now is fortuitous. I have been in touch with our people. There have been developments. You have options now.”

“You mean, we can move to the city or something? Live normal lives? Meet people? Date?” Chloe asked.

Pol held up a warning hand. “Not exactly. But you do have more choices than hiding out in the woods. You could stay here in Strangetown, for one. You would be able to go out in public here. People are used to seeing us now, and they would accept you, too.”

“Don’t oversell it, Pol,” Jenny cut in. “We still have some enemies. Those Beakers, for instance. I think they’d love to get hold of some aliens for their experiments.”

“Thanks to your brother’s efforts, Jenny, the Beakers are going to find themselves in a lot of hot water very soon for keeping that poor test subject of theirs a secret all this time.”

“And the military aren’t all friendly, either, as you well know.”

“General Buzz has angered more people than me in this town with his bullying,” Pol replied. “If he is not careful, he may find that there are far more dangerous people around here than aliens.” He returned his attention to Lola and Chloe. “Still, it is a circumscribed life. You cannot travel, and as you can see, this is a very small town.”

“But it’s home,” Jenny said. “And you’d have family here.”

“Family is very important,” Pol agreed.

“Maybe to you,” Chloe replied. “Some of us have different priorities.”

“Tell us about the other options,” Lola prompted.

“You could return to our home–our planet of origin. You would be completely free there. There are beaches and gardens. It is a verdant, beautiful place. I have tried my best to make our home here resemble it, but that is difficult in this climate.”

“Beaches!” Chloe said with excitement. “I could get on board with that. Are there guys, too?”

“What do people do there?” Lola cut in, quickly. “For work?”

“You would have your choice of role. Our people are mainly scientists. They experiment with plants and animals, and they develop new technologies. There would be work, if you wanted it.” He turned to Chloe. “Or you could be a Birth Queen and mate with many men, all of your choosing. Our people desperately need females to fill that role.”

“Oooh, that does sound tempting, Lol,” Chloe said, clapping her hands. She had chosen to ignore the word “birth” and just focus on the “queen” part.

“If you went there, you would not be able to come back,” Pol warned. “It would be a one-way trip for you. The community there is small, too, smaller than here in Strangetown. At least, right now it is.”

“Anything else?” Lola asked.

“I have recently been told that our people have come to an arrangement with the local university, La Fiesta Tech,” Pol said. “That is where one of Jenny’s brothers teaches botany. They are going to let our young people attend university there, both from our planet and from here.”

“Pol is being modest,” Jenny said. “He was instrumental in making this happen. Now our son has a choice when he grows up, too.”

“Perhaps if more of us become educated at a Sim university, meeting and mingling with other Sims, they will start to accept us,” Pol mused. “One day, our hybrids–like you and Johnny–could possibly live like other Sims, out in the open.”

“I like the sound of that,” Lola said.

“And there will probably be a lot of boys at university,” Chloe agreed. “They might even have a fraternity. I’d love to go to a frat party.”

“You don’t have to decide tonight,” Jenny declared. “We have a spare room where you can sleep. You can stay for a while, get to know the kids, meet our brothers.” She stood and hugged both girls again. They tolerated it, albeit uncomfortably. “We’re just so glad to have you home, at last.”

So, yes, Chloe and Lola will be starting university with Nina and a certain Don Lothario, who chose La Fiesta Tech because of his geeky interests.

I have decided to put this challenge/hood on a bit of a hiatus and do something else for a while. It's been some intense play! Technically, I have accomplished the challenge of getting to Pleasantview as it is when you start a vanilla game, although not everyone is at the right age yet:

- Cassandra Goth, Don Lothario, and Nina Caliente are now young adults in university.
- Dina Caliente is an adult in a relationship with Michael Bachelor.
- Alexander Goth, Dirk Dreamer, Dustin Broke, and Angela and Lilith Pleasant are all children.
- Lucy Burb has been born.
- Brandi Broke is pregnant with Beau.

I'm at the point where Bella Goth is to be abducted, and although I have some ideas for how that will go, I am not sure what will come next or how I will get her to Strangetown. So I'm going to let this hood marinate for a while, and hopefully, I will return to it at some point in the future with some fresh ideas. In the meantime, I leave you with pictures of three other young adults who just started university:

- Juan Lothario, Don's twin
- Nerissa Dreamer, the beautiful daughter of Deedee Dreamer and Michael Bachelor (from when Deedee got accidentally pregnant in college)
- Allison Goth, the daughter of Jonathan Goth and his husband, Kevin (with Kevin's sister, Tiffany Burb, acting as surrogate)

I've already gone off hiatus so I could get Strangetown and La Fiesta Tech set up. Lola and Chloe started university along with Nina Caliente, Don Lothario, and Erin Beaker. Chloe has kissed both Nina and Don already. I am seriously considering changing Don's aspiration to Knowledge while he's in college and having his twin Juan be the new "Don Lothario" of this Pleasantview. Don strikes me as being someone who is taking a long while to figure himself out and much more of a Knowledge type.

At Sim State University, Juan is indeed romancing Cassandra Goth, so that fits.

I didn't really play any households in Strangetown. I just played the Beakers' first day because my plan was always to have them arrested for keeping Nervous captive--with Pascal being the one who informs the police--and then they are to be committed to the insane asylum. This is because I don't want to play the Beakers or their house this time. So I made all that happen, and if I need them for anything evil later on, they can always engineer an escape. Nervous has been moved to the Specter household for now.

The other thing I did is moved Gibson Goth to Strangetown, along with his daughter Jeanine and son-in-law Carl. They are all in the military now, and with Gibson's age and experience, he was promoted immediately to Senior Officer. I'm planning for something unfortunate to happen to General Buzz Grunt (I'm sure Olive can come up with something), and Gibson is then going to take over leadership of the Strangetown military operation. How is this all going to link up to Bella Goth and the Caliente sisters? I have no idea.

I also played a bit on the alien planet as I'm thinking about how Bella's abduction will go. Michael and Dina decided to get married, according to canon. Zeeshan grew up and immediately fell in love with Colony Drone 2. (Well, they are unrelated bisexual Romance Sims living together. Let's just call it an alien thing.)

Colony Drone bided his time. He let Michael and Dina play house, think all was well. In the meantime, he had instructed the most loyal of his Pollination Technicians to keep a watch for powerful telescopes in the vicinity of Pleasantview. It wasn’t hard to locate the house. Other than the lab of those scientists in the desert town who were so obsessed with them, the house had the most powerful telescope anywhere in the area.

On the designated night, he waited outside, eagerly, with Zeeshan by his side. The spaceship dropped the woman off, just as expected. She looked around herself in astonishment.

Colony Drone approached her, trying to appear cool and smooth. First impressions were the most important. “You must be Bella. Welcome to our home.”

Bella gazed in wonderment at the exotic plants surrounding her, the strange stars in the sky. “I’m here? Actually here?” She passed a hand over her forehead. “I don’t feel so good.” She did look pale.

“Here, Zeeshan, help her to a chair.” The boy was staring at Bella with his mouth open. Colony Drone snapped at him. “Zeeshan!”

Zeeshan sprang to the side of the woman in the red dress and took her elbow to guide her to one of the garden seats. “This is Bella?” he asked Colony Drone. “Michael’s sister Bella?”

“Michael?” Bella collapsed in the chair and looked up anxiously at the two strange, green, skinny-tall men looming over her. “He’s here? I knew it! I knew he hadn’t just vanished, not Michael. He found you, didn’t he? I’ve been searching every night since his disappearance, but with no luck. Not until Mortimer developed a new, much more powerful telescope.”

“That is how we found you,” Colony Drone said. “We know you have been looking. We brought you here to see him. He will come soon. You should rest now.”

Bella leaned back in the lounge chair. “I feel really tired. Is this normal after space travel?”

Colony Drone and Zeeshan exchanged worried looks. “What’s wrong with her?” Zeeshan whispered. “I think we should call Michael and Dina.”

“It’s just the residual effects of the journey.” But Colony Drone did not seem sure of that. Bella’s eyes had dropped closed. “We should let her rest.”

They stayed by her side until morning.

As the sun rose, Michael strolled up to the house, bringing Berjes for his daily lessons with Colony Drone. He stepped into the garden and took in the scene, the two aliens huddled around a figure dressed in red, stretched out in a lounge chair.

“What’s going on?” he asked, stepping forward. He froze when he got a good look at the woman in the chair. “Oh my watcher! Bella!”

Bella’s eyelids fluttered open, and her gaze fixed on Michael’s face. “Michael,” she said, but her voice was breathy, weak. “I’ve found you.” She tried to push herself out of the chair but faltered. Michael quickly grasped her elbow to help her.

“What’s wrong with her?’ he demanded. “What is she doing here?” Bella slumped against him, and he put his arm around her shoulder. He looked at Colony Drone. “You brought her here? Is this some sick way of getting back at me for Dina?”

“No, you do not understand,” Colony Drone replied, quickly. “She wanted to come. I am not sure what is wrong with her, though. I believe the journey here can have this effect on some few abductees, although I have never seen this myself.”

“She’s fainting!” Zeeshan exclaimed.

Bella was tipping forward, but not in a faint. She clutched her throat, and her eyes bulged. She looked like she was struggling to find breath. She gasped once and then collapsed to the ground.

Michael knelt by her side and gently lifted her cold wrist. He turned a look of pure fury on Colony Drone. “She’s–” He swallowed with an effort. “She’s dead. You did this, just to get back at me, you psycho!” He sprang at Colony Drone and knocked him to the ground.

Zeeshan tried to get between them. “Stop!” he yelled. “Stop fighting!”

But it was no use. Michael’s hands had closed around Colony Drone’s throat. He didn’t hear Zeeshan’s cries, so lost was he in his grief. Gradually, Colony Drone’s awareness shrank to a pinprick, then went out altogether.

“Stop, stop!” Zeeshan was pulling at Michael’s arm, and he finally pushed himself up, away from Colony Drone’s still body. “Quickly, Michael, you have to bring her. Follow me!”

Michael didn’t stop to think. He scooped Bella’s body up into his arms and followed Zeeshan into the dark recesses of the garden, to the farthest back corner. Zeeshan gestured to him to set Bella down beside a strange, glowing device that Michael had never noticed before.

“I saw Colony Drone do this once. But you have to help me!”

Zeeshan picked up a receiver from the device and held it to his ear, then stiffened. Michael felt a dark presence flow into existence before him, and then energy poured out of him, into the lifeless form of his sister on the ground. Slowly, she rose in a swirl of green light. And then, she was no longer lifeless. She was standing before them, younger and more beautiful than he had ever seen her. She ran her hands down her body in ecstasy, then turned to Zeeshan and swept him into a hug.

“You saved my life!” she said into his ear as she pulled him close. “Thank you, thank you!”

As her embrace loosened, Zeeshan stared down at her, his eyes dreamy, his mouth gaping open. “I think I love you,” he said.

Michael rather roughly pushed Zeeshan aside. “Bella! Are you all right?”

But Bella was recoiling from him, fear shadowing her face. “Who are you? I don’t know you.” She stepped backward, then stared around at the strange garden. “I don’t know this place.” She looked down at her hands and fingers as if they were foreign to her. “I don’t remember– I don’t remember anything.” Suddenly, she collapsed again, but this time, it was just in a faint.

Michael bent over her. “She’s in shock. What did she mean, she couldn’t remember me?”

Zeeshan shook his head. “I don’t know. Last time, Colony Drone was the one who used the receiver. I thought I knew just what to do, but maybe I messed something up?”

Michael waved his hand. “It doesn’t matter. We have to keep her warm. Let’s get her into the house. Then, I’ll go get Dina. She’ll know how to take care of her.”

Between the two of them, they half-carried, half-dragged Bella into the house and put her on the bed. Zeeshan covered her in blankets, pausing for a moment just to look down on her in awe. She was the first real, live woman he had ever seen who wasn’t related to him, and he didn’t think anyone could be more beautiful.

“I’m going to get Dina,” Michael said. “You stay here with her, Zeeshan!” He dashed out.

Zeeshan stayed a few moments longer, tucking the blankets in around her and staring at her face, her closed eyes. She seemed at peace now, lying there. Maybe she would be happy here, with him?

Then, realizing Michael had left the grounds, Zeeshan rushed back out front. He gathered Colony Drone up under the arms and dragged his dead weight back into the garden. But when he got to the farthest corner, he saw that the device was no longer there.

Zeeshan hurried back up front just as Michael and Dina arrived. Michael ushered Dina into the house, but Zeeshan stopped him before he could follow. “Where is it?” he hissed.

Michael looked at him, immediately understanding what Zeeshan was referring to. “I took it, and hid it. That thing was far too powerful for you, or for anyone, to have. No one should have that kind of power.”

“It saved your sister’s life!” Zeeshan exclaimed. “It saved Dina and Nina, too.”

“I can’t let you bring him back, Zeeshan,” Michael said. “Can’t you see what he was? It’s obvious now that he was the one who caused your parents’ deaths. He tried to manipulate us all so he could have Dina for himself. And when that didn’t work, he brought my sister here, and that almost killed her. It did kill her!”

Zeeshan stepped back, his face paling. “You’re wrong. It’s not possible for him to have done those things, to have lied and deceived us like that. He couldn’t have. It wasn’t in his nature!”

“Something was wrong with him,” Michael said, gently. “I don’t know whether it was because of the way he was born, or because he was truly the last of his kind and it drove him crazy somehow. But it’s better now that he’s gone.” He stepped forward and took the younger man’s shoulders in his hands. “You have to help me now. Help me take care of Bella. She’ll probably trust you more than she does me, since you’re the one who resurrected her, and she doesn’t even remember me. One thing is certain, though. I don’t think we can stay here, in paradise, any longer.”

“But where will we go?” Zeeshan asked.

“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out later.” Michael sighed and let his hands drop. “Come on. First, I’ll help you bury him, near his mother and father. It’s going to be okay, Zeeshan. He’s at peace now.”

Notes: I finally played this out and used a lot of mods/cheats to have it turn out the way it did. I considered a lot of options, but I really think it was time for Colony Drone 2 to leave the story. Without him, though, I don't see how the alien colony will function. It was already having problems without Gertrude and Colony Drone 1 there. My plan is an emergency evacuation of everyone still on the alien planet to Strangetown.

Nerissa Dreamer caught Trigger as he was hurrying back from class, on his way to the cafeteria. “Trigger, can you wait a minute? There’s something we have to talk about.”

“Nerissa, what’s up? I always have time for you.” Trigger ducked into the deserted study room with Nerissa and quickly gave her a kiss. He couldn’t resist. She had always been the most beautiful girl in Pleasantview, and he had been baffled when she had chosen him, out of all the boys, to go out with. Even the Lothario twins had been chasing after her, but she never gave them a second glance. And now here they both were, at college and still together.

Unless she wanted to break up? Maybe that’s what she wanted to talk about. Trigger sat down hard on the sofa and tried not to let his sudden panic show.

Nerissa sat beside him. “Trigger–”

“Yes?” Trigger squeezed his eyes shut, readying himself for being let down easy.

“I think I might be pregnant.”

“What?” Trigger’s eyes flew open. That, he had not been expecting. He searched Nerissa’s face, but she was clearly not joking. She met his eyes steadily. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure, Trigger. I wouldn’t have said anything if I weren’t.” Nerissa took a deep breath and seemed to steel herself. “This doesn’t have to mean anything for you. My mother dropped out of college to have me. She raised me by herself, and she did fine. Great, even. I mean, she’s, like, a lesbian now and everything.”

“Well, I don’t want that,” Trigger said, slowly.

“I’m not going to become a lesbian.” Nerissa let out an exasperated huff. “What I’m trying to say is that I don’t need your help. My mom did this on her own, and so can I. We’ll be fine.”

“Wait, what are you saying?” Maybe she was breaking up with him after all.

“I’m saying that this doesn’t have to change anything for you. It doesn’t have to ruin your life.”

Nerissa looked away, biting her lip. Trigger didn’t know how to respond. He thought about his sister, Ruby, who had raised him and his brothers all on her own, and had given up her own dreams for her life to do so. His brother Skip, who had married Brandi right out of high school, had one kid who was almost a teen and another brand-new baby and endless bills to pay. Then there was Griff. Who knew what had happened to Griff after he disappeared into the foster-care system? Trigger’s life was supposed to be different. He was going to be the first Broke to graduate college. He was going to move back to Pleasantview and start his own business and show everyone that the Brokes weren’t always losers at life.

But this was Nerissa here in front of him, doing her best to look calm and like she had it all under control, just like she always did. He could see, though, that she didn’t have things completely under control. Her lip was trembling a little. She was just trying to hold it all in.

“Nerissa,” he said, taking her hand. She looked at him then, and as always, her beauty nearly stopped his heart. She had been his first kiss, his first girlfriend, his first woohoo. His first everything. Trigger took a deep breath.

“Nerissa, both of us had to grow up without a father. And yes, we did fine. But I don’t want that for our child. I want him or her to know his father. I want to be a good father to them. I want to be there, with you, through all of this.”

Nerissa was shaking her head, and now the tears really were spilling over. “Trigger, no. You can’t give up on your dreams.”

Trigger quickly leaned in and kissed her to stop her protests. It worked. “No, you’re wrong,” he said. “This, right here–” He squeezed her hands tighter. “You, me, this baby–this is my dream. Wherever you go, I’m coming with you. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“Oh, Trigger, I wasn’t going to ask.”

“You don’t have to. I’m the one who’s asking you.”

“Yes, yes!” She threw her arms around him, and once again, Trigger thought how lucky he was to have her. He was the luckiest Broke after all.

Notes: As you can see from the pictures, Trigger is the closest looking I've gotten so far to a Dustin-esque Broke. From certain angles, you can see he still has the trademark "Broken" or squashed nose that all of the Brokes have had thus far, but it's not as prominent on him. Maybe having a baby with Nerissa will finally weed it out of this line of the family. It's been fairly common that the third child in the family has been inheriting the best looks.

Nerissa is the daughter of Deedee Dreamer and Michael Bachelor, and I think she is gorgeous. Deedee also got oopsie-pregnant in college and had to drop out, but Michael did not step up like Trigger did. Deedee and Nerissa did do fine, though, and she has no relationship with Michael. Deedee is now married to a Downtownie woman named Safiya and was working in journalism until the newspaper got bought out by a megacorp and everyone got downsized. She and Safiya wanted to adopt, but I think a grandbaby will be the next best thing.

As for Trigger's family: Ruby is still working herself to death and still single. She lives with her aunt Mary Lu and her cousins Shelby and Suzie. Looks like Shelby may be the first Broke to graduate college. Skip and Brandi just had Beau, and both of them were afraid of having a baby. Beau also has the squashed nose and black hair. Griff was adopted out of the system by Jack Crumplebottom and his husband and may end up inheriting the Crumplebottom fortune.

Notes I am about ready to wind down this neighborhood, but I have two more scenes to post to wrap up the alien storyliine. This is a really long scene to transition into Strangetown play–but it has Vidcund and Lazlo!

Pascal Curious stood over the crib in the corner of his bedroom, staring down at the tiny infant who was gurgling and waving her hands around at nothing–at least, nothing that he could see. He didn’t even look around as his brother Lazlo came into the room. “Just look at her, Lazlo. Isn’t she perfect?”

Lazlo approached the crib. “Well, she is green,” he observed. “And bald. Definitely bald.” He picked up the baby, who giggled. “I wonder what would happen if I threw her up as high as I could?”

“Don’t, Lazlo!” Pascal said, panic on his face.

“Don’t worry, bro, I’m just going to zerbert her.” Lazlo buzzed his lips against the baby’s belly, and she laughed harder. “You love your uncle Lazlo, don’t you, nugget?” He laid her back in the crib.

“I don’t think I want to give her up,” Pascal said quietly as he tucked the baby in.

Vidcund, Pascal’s other brother, was passing by from the bathroom–judging by the sounds, he’d been first vomiting and then scrubbing the toilet vigorously–but he stopped short in the doorway. “You can’t be serious!”

“I am serious, Vid. I want to raise her.”

“You can’t, Pascal. You have a contract!”

“I didn’t sign anything.”

“A verbal contract!”

“Look, Paz,” Lazlo said, “I’ve never once been on Vidcund’s side, but I gotta agree with him here. I love living in Dad’s old lab. It’s the bomb. But it’s not an ideal environment for children to grow up in. There aren’t even any extra bedrooms–or double beds, for that matter!”

Pascal didn’t respond to either of his brothers. He just continued to gaze serenely at his daughter, who had fallen asleep.
–
The next day, Jenny called and asked the three of them to come down the hill for lunch and a family meeting. Lola and Chloe couldn’t be there since it was too far to come from La Fiesta Tech. Pascal still had trouble thinking of them as his sisters, anyway. He barely knew them. But the brothers were glad to sit down to a home-cooked meal instead of takeout pizza. Pascal could hear his nephew and niece having a raucous game in the backyard. It all seemed very idyllic, which he knew was just how Pol liked it.

Jenny cooed happily at Pascal’s baby in her arms as she fed her a bottle. “Oh, Pol, doesn’t it make you want to have another one?”

“Absolutely not,” Vidcund said as he put down his fork and fastidiously wiped his mouth. “Engineering Jill from your DNA was enough work. Personally, I don’t think she was worth the trouble. She barely pays any attention when I try to show her my African violets.”

“She has gotten interested in mechanics lately,” Pol said. “Maybe robotics is more her field.”

“Well, that’s all right, then,” Vidcund muttered.

“The reason why I asked you all to come today,” Pol said, “is I have had a communication from the alien colony. It was more of a distress call, really.”

“What’s happened?” Jenny gasped.

“I am not entirely clear on the whole story, but I know that the last Colony Drone has been killed. It seems he may have lost his sanity toward the end. It sounded like the situation got–” He hesitated, wondering how much to say. “It may have gotten violent. The Colony Drone abducted a woman without her consent, and she was injured during the process. She lost all her memories. The young hybrid who called me asked if she could stay with us, at least until she regains some of her faculties.”

“Of course, Pol. There’s no question about it. She must stay with us, for as long as it takes.” There was nothing that gave Jenny more joy than taking care of people, especially ones who were completely helpless and had to follow her every instruction.

“There are others, too. Hybrids and one other abductee. They cannot stay there now. They do not know how to use the technology that keeps the colony alive. They will not survive.”

“Are you suggesting that they come here?” Vidcund asked. “Where would they live? How would we hide them all?”

“I think the time for hiding is over. There are too many of us now. It is time for us to come out into the open and campaign to be accepted into regular society.”

Pascal interjected, “You know that all of us Curiouses believe in your people’s project, Pol. We want to do our part. It’s what Dad would have wanted.”

“True, true,” Vidcund said and patted his own expanding stomach.

“The idea was for your people to establish a new colony, replenish yourselves in a new world, free from prejudice and animosity. Hostility toward anyone who is different from regular Sims is so rampant. Chloe and Lola had to isolate themselves for years. I worry about the safety of these hybrids, and for my daughter and Vidcund’s child.”

“Johnny and Jill, too,” Jenny said. Her worry for them had been a constant since they had been born.

“We have no choice. The colony is lost to us. But these people will help us, I think. Perhaps the two abductees know people or have family who can join our cause. Regardless, it is what we must do now. And we will have another ally. One of the remaining Pollination Technicians has decided, like me, to retire. She wants to move here, attend the university, and learn everything she can about Sim culture to help us come out into the open and integrate.”

“It’s like a whole-ass movement,” Lazlo exclaimed. “I’m in. I make really funny protest signs, too.”

“Wait just a minute.” Vidcund held up a hand between himself and Lazlo. “We’re not just talking about carrying flowers and singing songs in the street–”

“And smoking weed,” Lazlo cut in. “There should be a lot of weed smoking in a movement. Do you guys have weed, Pol?”

“My people have cultivated many substances that are capable of expanding the consciousness, at least for brief periods of time,” Pol replied.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Lazlo said.

Jenny slapped him playfully on the arm. “Stop being silly, Lazlo.” She turned to her husband. “Vidcund is right, Pol. I don’t think peaceful protest marches are going to have much sway over the likes of General Grunt.”

“With Loki Beaker locked up, that eliminates one threat,” Vidcund said. Pascal noticed he didn’t mention Circe being committed, too, but he kept his thoughts on that to himself. “But the military very likely won’t stand for a bunch of new aliens just moving into town. And the reaction when they find out that the Pollination Technicians can actually get us pregnant– It may lead to hysteria.”

“Yeah, that part is kind of bonkers,” Lazlo said.

Pol gave a little shrug. Everything about his posture and expression said, it is what it is. He seemed to be done talking. Pascal didn’t think he’d heard Pol say so many words at once since he made his wedding vows.

Jenny handed the baby back to Pascal and began clearing the table. “Well, we have to get started. There’s a lot of work to do. We have to prepare the spare room, and find some housing for the new arrivals. We really should call Chloe and Lola, too, and let them know what’s going on.”

“Celeste and I also need to find a place to live,” Pascal said. “The lab just isn’t suitable. I think you’ll feel the same way, Vidcund, once your time comes.”

“I doubt it,” Vidcund snapped. “I’m only doing this for the science.” But everyone at the table knew better than to believe him.

“Ooh, if you both move out, I’m going to have some killer parties!” Lazlo pumped his fist, and Vidcund glared at him.

“I’m not moving anywhere. I need access to the equipment. We still need to monitor the remaining Pollination Technicians and keep track of their activities. We don’t know what they will do in reaction to all these events.”

“Where can you go, Pascal?” Jenny asked. “There aren’t that many empty houses in Strangetown.”

“I think there’s someone I could stay with who has a couple of extra rooms.”

Jenny squealed in excitement. “Oooh, who is she? I know! It’s that new lab assistant. She’s so cute. What’s her name–Crystal?”

“Hey!” Lazlo said. “That’s my potential possible casual girlfriend you’re talking about.”

“No, I mean Olive’s son. He can’t live with her any longer. He says her house is haunted. I doubt that’s true, but I don’t really blame him for wanting to get out of there. Olive can be a bit much.” He shuddered. Pascal preferred not to think too hard about what Olive Specter did in her spare time, and she had a lot of spare time since she retired. “She gave him some money so he could move into that abandoned barracks near the Grunts’.”

“You’re not talking about that test subject you rescued from the Beakers’ place, are you?” Vidcund said. “He’s certifiable, that one.”

“Come on, Vidcund, be nice,” Jenny admonished him.

“Yeah, Vidcund,” Lazlo chimed in. “But, really, Jenny, he’s totally nutty. And who could blame him? He must have been trapped in the Beakers’ basement for years. That would knock anyone into aspiration failure.”

“Nervous may seem a little strange and grouchy, and he may be obsessed with stealing everyone’s newspapers, but really, he’s just damaged,” Pascal said. “He needs time and help to heal. And he’s so good with Celeste. He’s a natural with kids. He’ll be a great nanny while I’m at work.”

Privately, Pol agreed with Pascal. He had gotten to know the boy Nervous a little during his occasional visits with Olive, and he thought there was something special about him–perhaps even something otherworldly. He didn’t speak his thoughts, though. Even after all these years, he was still learning Sim emotions, but he intuited that Jenny would not be happy to learn about his friendship with Olive. Pol himself didn’t judge; it took all kinds of people to make a world–although he had to admit that living in Strangetown, among people like the Beakers and General Buzz Grunt, tried even his equanimity.

The kids came clattering inside to play video games with Lazlo and fill up the living room with their happy noise. Pascal had put Celeste down in her playpen and was helping Jenny with the dishes. Pol thought he must be her favorite among her brothers; they were a lot alike in many ways, always trying to save everyone, putting everyone else ahead of themselves. Vidcund still sat at the table, staring out the back window and ignoring the chaos behind him. He scowled, but that was his usual expression.

“Change is coming,” Pol said to Vidcund.

“I’m not a fan of change,” Vidcund replied.

Pol understood. He had striven for years to build this quiet, boring life for himself and his family in Strangetown. Now it was possible that all of that would be upended and he may lose it all. If he did, there was no longer an alien colony where they could escape--a backup plan he had always privately held onto. But if he were being honest, change had been coming, anyway. It was almost time for Johnny to mature, and Pol knew he had big ambitions for himself. He wanted the exact opposite of a boring, quiet life. Jill would not be long behind him, and hadn’t he seen her casting shy glances at those younger Grunt boys? Then there were his other daughters whom he barely knew, Lola and Chloe. They were also family, and he was responsible for them as well.

With all of that happening, what did it matter that they were bringing all these new people to Strangetown, and even into their house? He had not told the others, but he knew the abductee’s name: Bella. It meant “beautiful.” Surely, that was some kind of sign–if he believed in signs.

Vidcund’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Wouldn’t it be quite the coincidence if Bella Goth were one of those abductees?”

“Bella Goth?” Pascal was wiping his hands and coming back to the table. “I met the Goths once. Mortimer Goth invited me to consult with him on a new invention he was working on. They’re really nice people.”

“Then surely you know of his wife’s recent, sudden disappearance?” Vidcund said. “It was all over the news.”

Pascal shrugged. “The news doesn’t interest me much.”

Lazlo had ceded his video-game controller to Jill and rejoined them. “You know, I met Bella Goth, too. At a fundraiser I got dragged to. Fascinating woman. I could talk to her in a hot tub for hours.”

“Her brother vanished mysteriously as well, many years ago. I read the police reports,” Vidcund said.

“Wow, Pol, it would not be a good look for your people if one of them abducted Bella,” Lazlo exclaimed. “She was beloved. I mean, she was adored. People would riot in the streets. That would not be good for your movement. Not at all.”

“It’s only one of Vidcund’s conspiracy theories,” Pascal scoffed.

“People choose what they want to believe,” Vidcund said, impassively, but he shot a meaningful look at Pol when he said it.

Jenny Smith lifted the gurgling infant out of the sink and wrapped her in a towel. She put her in her onesie, cuddled her briefly, then laid her in the crib for her nap. As she came out of the small room they had designated the nursery, she said, “Oh, Pol, remind me never again to wish for anything.”

Pol was still reading the newspaper at the breakfast table. Still nothing in the headlines about the crash. If the military was good at anything, it was keeping things under wraps. “What do you mean, my dear?” he asked, absent-mindedly.

“It’s just that I’ve wished so long to have another child, but I never would have if I had known that Jane would have come to us under such tragic circumstances.”

Pol put the paper down. “My dear, that is not your fault for wishing. It is very fortunate for Jane that we are here and can give her a home and keep her safe.”

“Yes, you’re right. And I already love her so much.” Jenny set to work on the breakfast dishes. “Are you going to see her today?” she asked.

“I thought I might stop in.” Pol stopped in to see Dina most days. They didn’t talk much, but he thought his company was something of a comfort to her.

“I wish I could go with you, but I think seeing Jane is too painful for her. It just reminds her of everyone she’s lost.” Jenny clapped her hands. “I know! I’ll make her a casserole for you to bring.”

Later, Pol stepped onto his front porch with the foil-wrapped dish, still hot, in his hands. He paused and looked up the hill, to where the Beakers’ castle–it really could be called nothing else–loomed over the town. Three generations of Beaker scientists had lived there and conducted their clandestine experiments, but now it was empty, and Pol was glad. He could see several green trucks parked along the edge of the crater behind the house, and men in uniforms hustled along the rim. They were still investigating the crashed spaceship, then. They would find lots of new toys to play with, but nothing too advanced for them. Pol had seen to that.

He turned away from that part of town and headed down the walk, toward the small house they had found for Dina to live in with the children. The military had hastily thrown up a few bungalows down that way to house the new recruits and scientists they were bringing in. The project here had been languishing, but the crash had brought renewed energy and purpose. Pol had heard that a senior officer had even been transferred in to serve as General Grunt’s aide, but he hadn’t met the man yet.

Only Pol knew what had actually happened up there–well, only he and Dina. Dina had filled in the gaps for him. They had notified him that they were attempting to return, and he had been the first to arrive at the landing site. They had decided it was too risky to send Bella, still frail, and the children through the Sphere. Instead, they had located some old spaceships, once used by Pollination Technicians who had since discorporated. Michael had been sure he could fly one. He only had to set the homing beacon and fix it on the powerful equipment at the Curious lab, then let the autopilot take over. That part had been easy enough. But landing was a different proposition. The ship had crashed in the crater behind the Beakers’ house. The passengers had all been strapped in tightly and were fine, but Michael was thrown against the controls by the impact and died instantly.

Pol had already been there, waiting, and had seen the crash. He hurried down into the crater and found them all huddled around Michael’s body. He immediately located and approached the striking woman wearing a red dress, holding an infant in her arms. Her name suited her, and he knew instantly who she was. “Bella,” he said. “You must leave here immediately. They will be here soon, and if they find you, it will put all of us in danger.”

Bella shared a look with the hybrid man standing by her side. Pol saw that they were bonded: a Colony Drone and his Birth Queen. “I can take care of her,” he said.

Pol handed him a pack containing food, water, maps, and a cell phone. “You will have to be very careful. Travel only at night. I suggest you make your way to Three Lakes. There are isolated cabins there where you can hide, and it may be that no one there has heard of her or her disappearance. There is a phone in the pack you can use to contact me if you need to. Call only me, and only if you are in danger.”

The young man took the pack and nodded. Then Bella gently placed the baby in Pol’s arms. “Will you take care of her?” she asked.

Pol looked down at the infant. Wide, black eyes stared back at him, but otherwise, the baby had Bella’s coloring and features. He nodded. “Yes, I can do that for you. Now, go!”

The hybrid took Bella’s elbow, and they headed off into the desert without a backward glance.

The other woman stood–another hybrid, tall and striking, with blond hair and dry eyes. She reminded him of his own son, with that determined, self-assured look on her face. She also held an infant.

“Can you help me?” he said. “We need to hide his body. We can retrieve it later, but it must not be found.”

The woman nodded, and they handed both babies to the boy, who held them awkwardly. Together, Pol and Dina carried Michael’s body into the abandoned castle. Pol knew where to hide it. Nervous had told him about the hidden door. After the job was done, the woman sagged against him a little. She was strong–he could see that–but her strength was almost gone. “Come,” he said to her, gently, “we will take the children to my home. It is not far. My wife has made a meal for you, and there, you can rest.”

That had been only a few days ago. It was hard to believe that so much had happened in so little time.

At Dina’s house, he found Berjes playing with toys on the living room floor while Dina prepared coffee. “I thought you’d stop in,” she said, handing him a cup. They sat at the table, and Dina gestured at Berjes. “Can he start school, do you think? He needs something to do.”

“I think so,” Pol said.

Dina set her cup down with a sigh. “I need something to do, too.”

“Be patient a while longer, my dear. Your sister will be here soon, and then I think we can find jobs for the two of you. We shall start putting out the story that you are refugees here, as I was. Your family were all lost, and you fled here. That is all you know.”

Dina nodded. “That sounds good.” She looked at him. “Do you think they found his body?”

“No, I would have heard. He is safe where we put him. Only the Beakers knew of that secret basement. We will retrieve him soon and lay him to rest properly.”

“You are so kind,” Dina said. “You remind me of the first Colony Drone. And my father, a little.”

“I wish I could have known them, my dear. But I know you, now, and that is a good thing.”

She smiled at him. “I was thinking. Michael’s family was wealthy, he said. And Bella also had married into a rich family. Perhaps we could contact them. They may actually be sympathetic to our story. They probably have a lot of connections in high places.”

“Even here in Strangetown we have heard of the Goths,” Pol replied. “I think you should wait a little. It is difficult to say how they would react after losing two of their own. I have a lot of friends and family here, people who are sympathetic to our situation. It is possible that we can find ways to learn more about their families and better gauge their reactions.” Staying silent was not the same as telling a lie, he thought. Although it came close.

“You’re right, as usual. Waiting is hard. Especially when there’s nothing to do.” She laughed. “This really is a tiny little town, isn’t it?”

Pol spread his hands. “But it is home now.”

Here, I present the final pics of all the original Pleasantview Sims as they turned out in my beginning of Pleasantview hood. I am currently at Monday of Week 12, so 85 days/years have passed since the founding families moved in.

Of the three Sims who originally died, only Michael Bachelor died in my game. When I last played:

- Michael Bachelor had died in the spaceship crash returning from the alien colony to Strangetown.
- Brandi Broke was pregnant with her third child but not showing yet.
- John and Jennifer Burb were pregnant with their second child.
- Dina and Nina Caliente were living in Strangetown in hiding but planning how to return to Pleasantview one day.
- Darren and Darleen Dreamer just had their second child, Demi.
- Herb and Coral Oldie had celebrated their Golden Anniversary.
- Cassandra Goth had returned home from college in aspiration failure over her mother's disappearance.
- Don Lothario moved to Pleasantview on his own to find a job.
- Daniel Pleasant was restless in married life and seeking out women who were not his wife, but Mary-Sue was unaware of his infidelity.

I will let this neighborhood rest for a while. I'm not sure if I will keep playing with it. It is huge and messy, and it has borked on me once since Bella's abduction. I think I need a smaller project next.

I went into Pleasantview long enough to get all the new adults settled and take pictures of them. Then, my neighborhood wouldn't load again after playing some houses in Strangetown. I'm not sure if it's something I'm doing or if this neighborhood is just breathing its last. It may be telling me that it's time to stop, although it's hard to let go of some of these characters, particularly Dina, Nina, and Zeeshan.

I'm attaching pictures of the last batch of new adults with their demographics, and I'll think about whether I want to try to restore this hood from backup again or put it to rest for good.