A/N: Stay tuned after the epilogue for a special announcement.

Ten years later

A gentle thump was the only sign that Cat had landed. The fusion engine she had designed was running so smoothly that the journey had been no more unpleasant than a Sunday drive in the car – and almost as short, too.

She took a deep breath. Even though she had prepared for this day for months without cease, running simulations and planning for every possible scenario, still her nerves tingled with fearful anticipation.

There was nothing to do now but wait for the call, for there was no force in the universe that could make her begin her mission before the call came. Even though she knew that it would come any minute – it was only a matter of aligning the wormhole properly to allow instantaneous signal transmission across the vast distance – still every passing second felt like an eternity.

At long, long last, Robbie's face flickered into view on the monitor. Cat saw, with a thrill of joy, that he was holding a certain someone in his arms.

"Hi, baby!" she said, waving.

"MOMMY! YAY!"

"How are you doing? Is Daddy treating you right?"

"Me love Daddy…" Susannah wrapped her arms around a grinning Robbie's neck.

"Yeah, me too," said Cat with a wink.

"When Mommy come home?"

"It'll be a little while, sweetheart."

Susannah's face fell. "But me want have ice cream with Mommy."

"Oh, we will. Any flavor you want."

"Yay! Nee-polu-tan!"

"Neapolitan it is."

"You be careful out there, okay?" said Robbie softly.

"Oh, Robbie. Somehow I don't think I'm going to be attacked by little green men."

"Well, you never know…"

"You're never going to stop being a worrywart, are you?"

"Not where you're concerned, no."

Cat shook her head and chuckled. "All right. I promise I'll keep on high alien alert."

Robbie breathed a mock sigh of relief. "Do you have your co-pilot with you?"

"Always."

"In that case – go get 'em, angel."

"Roger that. Bye-bye, Susannah."

"Byeeee!"

The screen went dark. Cat turned to her co-pilot, who wore a specially tailored helmet and reflective suit for the occasion.

"Well, Mr. Longneck, here we go."

On went her own helmet. Then, with her childhood friend safely tucked under one arm, she unscrewed the hatch and stepped out onto the dusty red soil of Mars.

Walking was slightly awkward in the low gravity, and it took her a few moments to adjust; but at last she got her bearings and was able to stand, looking across the gulf of space at the small, steadily shining light that was the planet Earth. Memories flooded into her mind of the days when she was completely scatterbrained, when she could do nothing for herself and was dependent on her friends' indulgence to make it through daily life. Those memories felt as if they rightly belonged to someone else, a completely different person in another, unfathomably distant lifetime. And in a way, she realized, that feeling was justified. For the fact was that, the moment that a freak power surge transformed her mind, Cat Valentine had been reborn. And even now, a decade later, every moment of this new life felt like a glorious gift.

She smiled, tilted her head back to view the full panorama of the starry Martian sky, and spoke words no other human being could hear:

"That's one small step for a girl – and a giraffe – one giant leap for mankind."

END

Okay, now that special announcement:

As I did once before, I'm opening up to a vote which story idea I'll tackle next. Feel free to let me know in your reviews which you prefer.

Night and the City

Los Angeles, 1952. Movie star Ryder Daniels is murdered, just hours after a very public fight with his ex, nightclub singer Tori Vega. The police are certain that Tori's current boyfriend, pianist André Harris, is the killer. Now Andre's facing the electric chair, and to save him Tori must turn to the last person she ever wanted to see again: her estranged sister Trina, LA's first female private eye.

Lady With a Star

Arizona Territory, 1866. The town of Devil's Spur is a haven for the flotsam and jetsam of the Earth: alcoholic drifters, embittered ex-Confederate soldiers, desperate fugitives from justice, and, worst of all, the notorious bandit gang known as the Golden-Haired Boys. In the last year five sheriffs have had their careers ended prematurely, some ridden out of town on a rail, some carried out in a pine box. In a desperate bid to curb the chaos, the Governor sends in his right-hand woman, Trina Vega. At first the citizens of Devil's Spur only laugh at their new female sheriff and her bookish deputy, Robbie Shapiro, but they soon learn Trina isn't to be underestimated, as she launches a whirlwind campaign to stamp out crime and corruption. Yet even she may have met her match in the leader of the Golden-Haired Boys – a ruthless criminal mastermind by the name of Jade West.