ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR
BLAZERS---IT NEVER RAINS IN
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA…
A
Postscript to THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Story is being completed
with the Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
Also, thanks to “Yuki
Wildstar” for helping to provide some of the artwork used in this chapter.
PART
SEVEN: SPACE TRIALS CONTINUE AND A PULP NOIR TALE ENDS
I. REPORT
Space Battleship Argo
The Vicinity of Pluto
Sunday, April 3, 2208
0600 Hours Local Time
“Captain…a
call is coming in from the Commander,” said Homer.
“Put
him on the video panel,” said Wildstar. He rose and saluted along with the rest
of the bridge crew as Commanding General Singleton appeared on the screen.
“Good morning,
Commodore,” said General Singleton. “I’ve just heard of the loss of the ore
carrier ship Monongahela, Wildstar. I
wish we were speaking under better circumstances. Were you able to get a clue
where the enemy ship was headed when it warped away?”
“I’m
afraid not, sir,” said Derek as he bowed his head. “If we had an idea of where
it was headed, we would already be in hot pursuit of that…thing. So we discover a new enemy, sir. I had no idea a planet
known as “Spectra” even existed.”
“The
same goes for our allies,” said the Commander. “I’ve already conferred with the
embassy staffs at the Gamilon, Iscandarian, Pellian, and Rikashan Embassies.
None of them have ever heard of Spectra, either, and all of those Ambassadors
are calling their homeworlds for more information. I
was already informed by the Gamilons that Desslok himself wants to confer with
you about this enemy later on. I gave him a rough idea of your course so he can
contact you later on. He’s on patrol in his flagship right now near the edge of
the Great Magellenic Cloud.”
Commodore
Wildstar nodded and said, “And what about our tests?”
“Continue
with them,” said Singleton. “Be careful when you warp out to the Mikanus System,
though. Special Services tells us that they are picking up chatter that someone
knows about this test, or suspects we are out there to do something. If you see
any unidentified ships, be on your guard.”
“Yessir,”
said Wildstar. “Any other orders?”
The
Commander then said, “Two Special Services officers will be waiting to meet you
on Pluto later on after the test to discuss the results. A two-star
Intelligence General named Riker O’Malley and his assistant, a Roving
Intelligence Officer known as Major Gary Maples.” For some reason, a cold
shiver ran down Sasha’s back at Anaylsis as soon as
she heard that name, and her bare legs felt very, very cold. Sasha glanced at Nova, who was at the Cosmo-Radar, and a
look of unease ran across Nova’s fine features. Sasha picked up Nova thinking, I’m sorry, but there is something I do not
like about that guy! Sasha looked in her aunt’s eyes, nodded back, and she
wondered why, inside her, her baby daughter was kicking very hard, as if she
was suddenly upset.
Singleton
continued with, “Be sure to let them know everything, Wildstar. And keep an eye
out for that enemy vessel. I know you said you damaged it when it attacked,
but…do you have any questions?”
“I
do,” said Derek. “Are we formally on deployment now?”
The
Commander said, “I raised that possibility with the Earth Defense Council, and
they don’t think it’s warranted…yet. However, if any more of those vessels show
up…it may happen…I may have to order you to full duty myself on my own
authority with a full crew. If you’ll be home in a few days, I see no need to
evacuate any dependents on your command or to reassign their caregivers to planetside commands with them,” said Singleton. “If
anything changes, though, we may have to make some changes,” said Singleton as
he glanced at Nova and Sasha. “If that happens, the officers in question would
be reassigned to a planetside command together, with
either a unit on Ganymede or one in San Diego. However, I expect to see all of
you back home in a few days, and each of you will be heavily debriefed at that
time.”
“Anything
else, sir?” said Derek.
“Nothing,”
said Singleton. “Good luck and Godspeed, Commodore.”
“You
too, sir,” said Wildstar as he saluted, hand to his heart. The Commander
flipped a hand up to his brow in salute to return it as the screen went dark.
“So,
your take on this?” asked Derek as he turned to Sandor.
“We’d
better be ready for action at any time, Wildstar,” Sandor replied. “We’re
warping at 0700?”
“Yes,
Sandor, right on schedule,” said Derek.
Nova
glanced at something on her radar and suddenly stood up and saluted. “Captain,
request permission to leave my post for…about fifteen minutes. I need to talk
with Sandor about something…in private. I just remembered that there is
something I have to clear up…with him…”
Sandor’s
eyes went wide at that, thinking, I think
I must have really ticked Nova off before when I popped in on them before.
Sometimes I let tech matters ovewhelm me so much that
I forget…as I said years ago, a ship is people….not just machines. Nova’s
always been one of my dearest friends. I hope I didn’t make her too angry
before…
“Permission
granted,” said Wildstar. “You two get this cleared up in fifteen minutes and get
back to your posts. I have to talk with him later about something…”
Nova
said, “Thank you, sir. Sasha, take my post.”
Sandor
looked at IQ-9, who was standing nearby, awaiting some figures. “You take my
post, Tinwit..”
“Yessir,”
said IQ-9.
Steve
and Nova walked together in a tense silence as Nova led them to the
near-darkened aft observation deck.
Nova
leaned against the rail and faced Sandor in silence as she cleared her throat.
Sandor coughed slightly and said, “Nova…I owe you and Derek a big apology for
intruding on you before…I..”
“No
big deal, Steve,” Nova sighed. “If I had been thinking more clearly, I’d have
remembered that you saw pretty much everything on me already when you saw me with the kids that time in the hospital in
just my robe…and helped take a video of me with them in the tub a few weeks
ago. Sorry about that. But I really owe you an apology for something else I said, dear Steve,” Nova said as she suddenly wiped a tear away
from the corner of her right eye. “I….I said something horribly, horribly insensitive to you before, Steve.
And I’ve felt like yesterday’s garbage ever since.”
“It
was?” said Sandor as he suddenly remembered. “Oh…that comment you made about
when Diane and I…”
“I
forgot you can’t father children, Steve,” Nova said in a choked-up voice. “I
know all of your medical records and help Doctor Sane with the adjustments of
all your bionics..I, of all people should have remembered what you can’t do! And I’m so
sorry!”
Nova
stood there with glistening, sad eyes filled with self-reproach. “Nova, it’s
all right,” said Sandor as he took her hands and patted them. “Don’t blame
yourself. You weren’t anywhere near that amusement park on the moon, and you…”
“I
just feel so bad, Steve! I can be so insensitive
at times!” she said as she fell against Sandor, crying her eyes out. “I’’m so sorry, Steve…catch me half asleep around the kids
and I turn into a real bitch!”
Sandor
stroked Nova’s hair, not expecting that this talk would go here. “Nova, with
you, you are the one woman I know who is so kind that your name and the word
‘bitch’ don’t even belong in the same star system together.”
“But I
make mistakes, Steve!” Nova
protested.
“Hey,
kid, that makes two of us,” said Sandor as he chuckled with his slightly
cracked laugh.
Nova patted
his cheek and said, “You crack me up whenever you do that!”
“Hey,
you’re always the one encouraging me when
I make cracks about my arms and legs being high-tech explosive Popsicle
sticks!” Sandor then said, “I guess Diane and I could always adopt…”
“Did
you two set a date yet?” Nova asked.
“No,”
Steve finally admitted.
“Is
this one of the reasons why?” Nova said softly.
Sandor
nodded. “I think so…and my self-consicousness about
letting her see these,” he said as he
tapped his opposite arm.
“So,
if I can ask a personal question…which base on the proverbial diamond have you
gotten to with her?” Nova said quietly. “I’ll keep my mouth shut. I won’t even
tell Derek.”
“Thank
you,” Sandor said. “First base only…and that was sort of a walk,” Sandor said,
blushing deeply. “We’ve talked a lot but haven’t gotten even back on the field
since. It almost feels like Tricia and I all over again,” he said, mentioning
the woman he had been married to for a year in 2196. Irony upon ironies, the
only three women Steve had ever dated were his ex-wife Tricia Pilgrim, Nova
herself (one date only, a very awkward one well before she knew Derek; they got
on much better as close friends) and, of course, Diane. Otherwise, Steve’s work
had been his lover…a very lonely and cold lover.
“I
know you went to home base with your previous wife,” said Nova.
“Yeah…if
you could call it that,” Sandor chuckled grimly. “Towards the end, she didn’t
even like going past second with me. Nonetheless, I know where you and Derek
have been…”
“Yeah,
grand slam,” Nova blurted as she blushed deeply. “I….wait a minute.”
“Nova?”
said Sandor.
“We
might be able to do something for you,” Nova said. “Something with stem cell
recombinant programming…the coding is getting more complex, and…”
“Nova?”
said Steve.
“I
don’t know if I can promise anything,” Nova said. “I’ll have to research the
journals…but I think we can do something for you, sir…” she said.
“What?”
said Steve.
“Make it
so you and Diane can set a wedding date soon? And maybe won’t have to adopt?
We’ll talk about it later in Sickbay after I research the journals and maybe
have you and Diane play with the kids for a bit? That is, if we’re not all
packed off the ship to safety soon. Let’s get back to the bridge.”
II. TEST THE POWER OF THE REFITTED WAVE
MOTION GUN!
Space Battleship Argo
The Mikanus System
Sunday, April 3, 2208
0700 Hours Local Time
There
was silence and emptiness in deep space near the lonely, rocky little planet
known as Mikanus VIII. The lifeless little ball of rock orbited its star, just
as it had since the day of Creation long ago.
Suddenly,
that peace and silence was disturbed as subspace ripped open, and a huge space
battleship blasted in from warp in a massive flare of light.
A
moment later, the Argo sat in a very
far orbit of Mikanus VIII, at many thousands’ of megameters range from the
planet.
“Damn,
that warp was a corker for some reason,” muttered Commodore Derek Wildstar as
he took off his cap and rubbed his face over his head in an effort to clear it.
“Did we just come through the hyperspace Long Island Expressway or something?”
“Yeah…I
feel weird,” said Kitano at his post.
“I
nearly threw up,” muttered Domon as he pulled his head up off his panel. “Nova,
ma’am,” he said as he looked aft. “How’d you take that?”
There
was no answer. “Hey, is Nova all right?” said Domon. “Sandor?”
Sandor
raised his head and moaned. “Captain, is there any way you can check Nova?
She’s hanging halfway out of her warp harness.”
Derek
ran down and both her and Sandor found Nova not only hanging out of her harness
but very unconscious. Derek pulled back her chair from the radar as Sasha came
over. Derek and Sandor then freed Nova from her harness and watched as she
sagged halfway out of her chair like a limp rag doll.
“Faint-out,” muttered Sandor.
“Does
this happen often?” Sasha said. “Did she prepare well enough for the warp?”
“It
sometimes happens to the most seasoned space travelers,” said Derek. “Among all
of the other side effects we know of,” he said as he thought of one time about
two years ago when Nova had come out of warp…but her uniform hadn’t. The same
thing had also once happened to Eager. Derek gave his wife a few hard pats on
the cheek and said, “C’mon, Lieutenant Commander, gimme a sign!”
“Uhhhhnnn,” Nova said as she opened her eyes. “Are we there
yet?” she mumbled as she sat up. “What are all of you looking at?”
“Faint-out;
you know they happen sometimes after space warps,” said Sandor. “Today it was
you, Nova.”
“Great,” she mumbled. She looked down at
herself, and noticed that fact that everything under her uniform was more
prominent than usual. For simple ease of access (or undress) in case she needed
to give her babies a sudden feed or bath, she had decided to go simply go naked
under her uniform for at least part of the day. Nova then muttered what was on
her mind as she said, “Who had to make these uniforms spandex? Sometimes I swear, they show off far too much….and, Derek,
I was thinking of the kids when we warped…I…”
Both
Wildstar and Sandor helped Nova sit up, and Derek said, “Got your space legs
back now?”
“Aye,
aye,” Nova said. She sat up and pushed herself back to her post, and her eyes
went wide as a blip appeared on her screen…and then faded.
“Now,
what’s that?” she said. “Is this thing picking up a ghost image?”
“What’s
the range?” asked Domon.
Nova
took some scans. “Fifty-two thousand megameters out…if it even exists. I hope
it’s not hitting that radar blind spot I keep on griping about in our reports.
Sandor, did they ever fix that, yet?”
“They said
they made progress on it, but in our trials, I’ve seen it’s still there, albeit
somewhat smaller,” he said.
“Yeah,”
sighed Eager. “I wish they could fix that thing someday..”
“Do
you think we need to call the crew together to brief them on the Hyper-Aspect
of the wave gun before the test?” said Sandor.
“No…I
think it would be covered by a brief lecture from the bridge over the PA,” said
Derek. “Then, we’ll test it and see what happens.”
“What’s
this change I’ve been hearing about in the wave gun?” said Homer.
“You’ll
find out in a moment,” said Commodore Wildstar as he went to his post. He took
off his cap, took up his mike and said, “Attention, all hands! This is your
Captain speaking! We are in the Mikanus System now, orbiting Mikanus VIII. For reasons
that will soon become obvious to you, we have chosen this location for the
first operational test at full power of our refitted wave motion gun. As all of
you know, the wave motion gun works on the principle of taking the same tachyon
particles that power the ship in the wave motion engine, enabling us to cruise
at high speed in normal space, and to make jumps into Warp Space, also known as
the Fourth Dimension or Hyperspace.”
Derek
cleared his throat as he said, “The following information is to be considered
highly classified, and it is to be discussed only with fellow members of this
Star Force Unit, the Second Star Force, the crew of the new Earth Cobined Fleet flagship Aquarius,
and with the Command Staff of the Earth Defense Forces. Only our vessel, the Arizona, and the Aquarius have been outfitted with this uprated
version of the wave motion gun. Development began when we noticed that
Desslok’s new flagship, the Excelsior,
was outfitted with a very powerful version of the Gamilon Surge Cannon known as
the Hyper-Desslok Gun. We took some scans of Desslok’s flagship, and
discovered, since the Gamilons were understandably secretive about their new
weapon, that the power rating of Desslok’s flagship was well off our known
scales. It was felt that we had to approach that power rating in our own ships.
After much research and reverse engineering, based upon those scans, we believe
we discovered, at least partially, how the Gamilons accomplished this power
rating increase. Commander Sandor, Lieutenant Commander Wildstar, and
Lieutenant Commander Henson helped our staff come up with the new equations
necessary to allow us to tap tachyon energy at a hyper-mode and to harness that
energy in the wave motion gun and build an improved protective magnetic field.
With that said….the wave motion gun, as now fitted in our ship, the Arizona, and the Aquarius, has two modes of operation now. The first mode is the regular mode, which
gives us a power increase of twenty-five percent, and an increased range to
fifty megameters. This will be the range we ordinarily will use in most combat,
and the latency period, or time that the wave engine goes down until it can be
recharged, is now one and a half minutes.”
Commodore
Wildstar said, “The second mode, or hyper-mode, is the most powerful, but the
most dangerous. Under that mode, our power rating is increased by three hundred
percent…or that is our estimate. The range will increase to one hundred
megameters, and the time we lose power under this mode is just under three minutes.
Under this mode, the wave motion gun is only to be fired by the Captain of the
vessel that it is outfitted with. Also, under this mode, we are under orders
not to fire if we are facing a planet that has life on it, especially
intelligent life. The reason why is…” Derek paused as some very unwelcome
memories came to mind. “Some of you who were here aboard this ship on our first
mission remember what happened when we were forced to fire the original version
of the wave motion gun at the volcanic system that then existed on Gamilon. The
resulting explosion, even though we did not intend it, caused an eruption that
decimated the entire planet of Gamilon and wiped out most of its civilization.
It is our guess that with this power upgrade to the wave motion gun, we now may
have the power not to simply destroy a floating continent, a base, or an
asteroid, but may now have in our hands the power to devastate or even destroy
an entire small planet in one shot. This sort of power has been placed in our
hands only if we again have to fight a mighty or implacable enemy that cannot
be defeated by other means…an enemy such as Ekogaru in a New Fortress or a
Cometine Base ship with the power of the Eritz
Gatlantis. This is not a power to be used lightly. With this power, we may
now, as in the words of the ancient Gitas, have literally become “Death…the Destroyer of Worlds”
Derek
paused again in silence as he let his words sink in and then he said, “We are
about to test the wave motion gun today in Hyper-Mode. The target will be
Planet Mikanus VIII. Fortunately, it is an uninhabited and totally lifeless world. We shall see…what remains of it after we
fire the gun.”
Commodore
Wildstar put down his mike, and then he said, “Mister Kitano, turn us towards
the planet. Any point on its surface will do.”
“Yessir,” he said as the Argo made a
turn and faced the planet. “Facing dead-on towards the planet’s equator.”
“Mrs.
Wakefield, please leave the Bridge and head to Sickbay for a few minutes.
Mister Domon will take over at Analysis.”
“Yessir,”
said Sasha as she stood, saluted, and walked off the bridge after she whispered
to Nova she’d help Dawn check on the babies. She was grateful she had been
dismissed. She didn’t agree with the fact that the Argo now had this much power, and she had made that known to her
Uncle, who had then, given her condition, granted her the option not to witness
the test. Domon took over at Analysis while Derek shrugged off his peacoat and
walked over to Combat. There, he worked a control, and the deadly, gleaming
firing pistol came up.
“Miss
Henson…” Derek ordered.
“Yessir?”
“Prepare
for the transfer of energy to the wave motion gun.”
“Yessir,”
she said in a subdued fashion. “All engines, stop!”
The Argo’s engines went silent.
Then, Derek
prepared to activate a new control on the Combat desk. “Preparing for
Hyper-Mode. Mechnical Group Leader, Combat is Cleared
for activation.”
Sandor
put his hand on an identical control lever at his post. “Preparing for
Hyper-Mode. Mechanical is Cleared for activation,” he said in a new part of the
checklist.
Nova,
then, as Second Officer, spoke up. “Combat, Mechanical, do you concur one with
the other?”
“Aye,”
said Sandor.
“Aye,”
said Derek. “Activate and lock!”
The
two safety dials were turned at once, and several lights near the wave motion
gun firing grip went green.
“Begin
transfer of energy to the wave motion gun!” snapped Derek. “Open the circuit!”
“Energy
transfer beginning,” said Henson as the ominous hum of the charging sequence
began, with that hum being a bit heavier than usual.”Energy
level at sixty-five percent!”
“Open
safety lock!” snapped Wildstar as he worked the familiar controls.
A
voice from below in the bow firing room, that of IQ-9, said, “Acknowledged!
Safety lock opened!” as the huge barrel opened and slammed into place.
Nova
took a scan and said, “Equator of Planet Mikanus VIII confirmed! Range, one
hundred megameters to surface! Confirming range as one hundred thousand
kilometers!”
“Right on target,” said Wildstar.
“Target scope, open! Electric Crossgauge set at two point zero zero!
All hands, don anti-shock and anti-flash defenses!”
As
Derek pulled down his goggles, he remembered what had happened when they had first
fired the Wave Motion Gun at the Floating Continent near Jupiter nearly eight
and a half years ago. Now, he
thought, I’m a father, and I’m older,
maybe wiser, and wondering if this is the right thing to do. Captain Avatar, I
wonder if you approve of what we’re about to do? he thought. Because I’m not sure I approve….and it could
be very dangerous…I hope and pray we don’t damage the ship with this.
“Energy
Level, now at eighty percent!” said Henson.
“Sixty
seconds to firing…all hands brace for recoil shock!” said Wildstar as the
familiar power-up sequence continued and the firing gate of the Argo began to glow with suppressed
energy as the protective magnetic field reached full strength.
Some
time passed, and Henson said, “Energy now at ninety percent!”
“Thirty
seconds to firing,” said Wildstar. “Nova, record and note the time!”
“Oh-seven-oh-nine
hours, mark!” Nova said. What are we about to do? Nova thought as
her flesh began to turn cold. She looked out at the planet on her scope, and
through her goggles, and thought, What
are we going to leave remaining? A devastated world? Maybe an asteroid belt?
Maybe nothing? My God, is humanity even meant to have this kind of
power?
“Energy
level at one hundred and twenty percent!” said Henson. “Pressure Chamber has
reached the saturation point!”
“Ten
seconds to firing,” said Derek. “Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four….three.
two…one…FIRE!”
Commodore
Wildstar pushed the firing trigger, and the familiar bang of the firing gate’s
opening rang through the ship, followed by the roar of the wave gun going off.
The
roar was louder and more strident than usual as a waterfall of roaring,
coruscating energy blasted out of the wave motion gun. The energy surge
flickered with lightning bolts as it blasted through the vacuum into the vestigal atmosphere of Mikanus VIII.
The
beam of energy slammed into the planet’s cratered surface like a jackhammer
biting into asphalt. Rather than just impacting into planet’s crust and
creating a deep crater, though, the beam roared down through the crust like a
hot knife, blasting into the mantle, and causing ugly red cracks to appear on
the planet’s surface as the molten magma began to bleed out into space. As the
planet was further compromised, the crust began to convulse and crack hundreds
and then thousands of kilometers away from the impact point.
Down
below, as she was holding Ariel, Sasha began to cry as she felt something
weirdly metaphysical that felt like the planet screaming in pain, if such a
thing could happen. “No…” she said as she handed Ariel to Dawn and fell crying
to the deck. “God, no…no…no..no..NO!”
On the
Argo’s bridge, the crew removed their
goggles, staring at the weird spectacle before them as the planet began to glow
dark red all over.
“What’s
happenin’?” said Eager.
“Simple,
the magma is being liberated…and the wave energy is still boring down into the
core,” said Sandor as he watched his instruments in morbid fascination. “The
power level was far more than even what I guessed.”
“The
planet’s crust is breaking up!” Nova
said as she read the radar screen. “Recommend evacuation from the area,
Captain!”
“Kitano,
turn about one hundred and eighty degrees!” said Wildstar.
Just
as power came up, Kitano turned the Argo
about. “One hundred and eighty degree turn completed, Captain. Orders!”
“Full
speed! Get us out of here!” Derek snapped. The Argo’s main and auxilary engines came up,
blasting the ship away just as the dull red of the dying planet turned a
brighter red. Asteroids began to fly past the ship as more of the crust came
apart.
The Argo
accelerated faster, getting up to a speed over thirty space knots just as the
energy reached the planet’s core at last. The red light began to go white, bit
by bit.
“The
whole planet’s coming apart!” Nova cried. “Thirty seconds to a full explosion,
Derek!”
“SHORT
WARP!” Wildstar barked.
The Argo slammed into a short warp just as
Mikanus VIII finally blew apart.
The
ship emerged from warp a moment later, over five hundred thousand megameters
away. Kitano then turned the ship about to watch just as a star appeared where
Mikanus VIII had been. At a safe distance, they observed asteroids scattering
everywhere, and then saw the site of the planet going dark as the last of the
molten iron core bled off into space and cooled.
“What’s
left?” said Derek as he leaned over Nova’s scope.
“A few
asteroids…some gas…bits of iron…other than that, nothing,” she said grimly.
“Derek, we just destroyed a whole planet.”
“The
test was an…unexpected success,” said Sandor.
“Was it?” Derek snapped as he punched his
fist. He went to his usual station and said, “Domon, resume your normal post at
Combat! Sandor, you have the conn. I have to get out of here for a minute,” he
said after he put his peacoat and hat back on. Without looking at anyone,
Commodore Wildstar sat in his chair and went up on the lift into his cabin.
“Should
we follow him?” said Rosstowski.
“No…he’ll
come out of it,” Nova sighed. “Eventually. I’ll check on him later.”
“That
test was sure a success,” said Eager.
“Like
the Captain said, was it?” said Sandor. “Congratulations, universe. Earth can
now destroy planets just like the Gamilons and the Cometines can. I don’t know
if that’s such a great thing to brag about.”
“We
might need to use this power someday,” said Homer.
“I
hope not,” Sandor said.
IN THE MEANTIME
At the Edge of the Mikanus System…
“General,
sir, I recommend that we attack them right now,” said Admiral Tendor of House Gatlantis aboard the Cometine Dreadnaught Purification. The black ship had been at
the edge of the system for sometime, cunningly
remaining in the Argo’s radar blind
spot for the entire time except for the time Nova had almost spotted them.
“Why
do you recommend we attack them?”
asked General Radnar as he sipped at a wine glass.
“You
see what they can do! They are too great a threat to the Comet Empire to be
allowed to live a single moment! Damn
the armistice!” yelled Tendor. “We have to crush them
first, then we have to get the other two ships that they are outfitting with
this morbid weapon!”
“Zordar
and Invidia once said that this was a marvelous planet and we could do great
things with it,” said Radnar. “Imagine if we had that much power ourselves! And in a small fleet vessel
like that! I am most impressed by this power,” he mused. “Let us wait for now,
report to Emperor Zordar back home, and bide our time. Maybe, just maybe, with
the armistice in place…this will happen,” said Radnar. “Earth had some wise
men. Once, I read the words of a wise Terran Leader known as Nikita Kruschev. He was the Premier of a Great Power that came
close to conquering their whole world, and was the leader under a system known
as Communism. He was in a death struggle with another Great Power who defeated
his people through treaties, a cunning military buildup, and an economic
competition that the other Great Power, under a free-enterprise system known as
Capitalism, eventually won. Earth today is a sort of synthesis between these
two principles. This is germane to what I was thinking because Kruschev once said, “Someday,
we will hang all of the Capitalists. But, first, they shall sell us the rope!””
“So?”
said Tendor.
“It is
simple. Someday, we will use their own weapon to intimidate or destroy them.
But, until then, who knows….maybe they’ll sell it to us! Wouldn’t that be
amusing? HA HA HA HA HA! ha ha!!”
Tendor shook his head and said, “So, that
means we leave them alone for now…just watch?”
“Yes,”
said Radnar. “Just let them be. And we watch. And we wait.”
The comm
system buzzed. An officer came up to Radnar and saluted. “Sir, it’s Gamilon
calling. Desslok tells us he has a squadron in the area that got some basic
intelligence, but he states the information they sent him was incomplete. He
requests a download of what we have. Shall we send it to him?”
“How
did he find out we were here?” demanded Radnar.
“He
said Astrena told him.”
“Damn
her and her powers,” he muttered. “All right, send Desslok the report; but ask
him not to let the Earthlings know we have been investigating their actions.
Are we clear on that?”
“Aye,
sir,” said the officer.
In the
meantime, on the Argo, Sasha, who was
still quite upset, stood on the aft observation deck alone (after yet another
argument with Dawn; the two pregnant and hormone-filled women were really
clashing seriously with each other now). She was looking out into deep space
with tears filling her eyes as she thought, Why
can we do this? I thought that we were going to use our power to defend the
peace. I trust Uncle, I trust Mark…but I don’t know if I trust the Earth
Generals with this. There is something about some of them that just gives me
the creeps. Stone…some of the others, and that one guy, Marlowe…Maples…what is
his name? Sasha thought as she touched her stomach.
Sasha
then un-selfconsciously opened her uniform blouse and
let her bare breasts and pregnant stomach tumble out. Just as with Nova during
the latter part of her recent pregnancy, her breasts had also grown larger and
more sensitive as her body prepared to give birth to her child. Sasha stroked
her stomach as a slight glow came from her hands. She sent to her baby, who, as
she could tell, smiled and weakly sent back to her from her womb, kicking a
little and making her bare stomach jiggle as Sasha laughed. Don’t worry, little girl…I think your name
will be Star, she thought soothingly as she contacted her baby in her womb
and smiled as she stroked her stomach. Your
father, my dear husband Dekee, and I love you so much. Mommy is worried about
you, but Mommy cares. I didn’t tell Dekee, but Mommy could will for you to come
at any time. I have the power to start my labor myself. I’ve already decided
when I’d like you to be born, little one…April the twenty-eighth. That was a
bad day for your father….he broke up with Dawn then, years ago, and he lost his
father and sister on that day. I want to make it a good day for him; so, that
is why that will be both our first anniversary…and your birthday, sweet
one.
Sasha,
half naked, stood there flexing her toes upwards in her sandals as she began to
cry again. She looked down at herself and said, “Deke, I want you so bad right now. I know we can’t
now…but…later on…after I finish my work with the Tigers and with those
kids…maybe we can be alone together?”
Sasha
smiled as she wiped away her tears. Then, she broke contact with little Star
and zipped her uniform blouse shut. She tucked it in as she left the aft
observation deck and her thoughts.
III. A GRIM VISIT
Space Battleship Argo
The Vicinity of
Asteroid Minerva Beta Number 506
Sunday, April 3, 2208
0842 Hours
At the
moment, the Argo was cruising in the
Minerva Asteroid Belt after having just come out of warp over its ecleptic and cruising into its plane.
The
mighty ship was heading for a large asteroid known as Minerva Beta 506. It had
once been a good-sized hunk of the Tenth Planet, but now, it was just a massive
planetoid that was about eighty kilometers long and maybe twenty kilometers
high. It housed a small space dock for supply ships that came in and out
transporting prisoners and supplies; it also had room for ore carriers who took
out the ores and precious metals that the prisoners mined out of the object
under hard labor as part of their punishment.
At the
moment, Private Bryan Hartcliffe, former Black Tiger (who had not received much
in the way of treatment for his injuries; they hadn’t even given him ice) had
been roughly stripped of his orange Star Force prison jumpsuit and everything
else and then he had been roughly searched by a party of Space Marines and four
guards who had boarded the Argo from
the prison. After he was searched and beaten some more, Hartcliffe’s head was
shaved with a set of portable clippers and he was placed in a black and white
striped jumpsuit that bore the Convict Number 5932. For the next ten
years or so of his life, Hartcliffe would mostly be referred to by his number.
Then,
dressed in just his jumpsuit and a pair of cheap plastic flip-flops, he had his
wrists and ankles manacled and he was dragged off the ship in chains, with two
particularly strong guards pulling his chains as he was forced to walk down the
foredeck.
“Let
me the hell GO!” he yelled. “I promise I’ll be good! I mean it! Take me back to
friggin’ Earth!” he yelled.
“Shut
up,” yelled one of the guards who was hustling him along.
Up in
the bridge tower, Commodore Wildstar, Hardy, Nova and Dawn had taken a few
minutes to watch after hearing his yells. They stood on an open platform near a
gun emplacement as Hartcliffe’s cursing could be heard all throughout the
docking bay. “I’ve been robbed! I didn’ do that much to me wife! I mean it! Look, I’m
getting’ religion now…TAKE ME HOME, DAMNIT!”
He was
pulled down hard on his chain and a guard kicked him when he hit the deck. “Get
UP, you piece of crap! You’re off this ship, and they DON’T want you back!”
“Amen
to that,” said Jefferson Hardy as he turned to his young wife, Dawn, who looked
semi-happy for once as she rubbed her pregnant stomach. “Dawn, what’cha
thinking of?”
“Thank
heavens we’re almost at our first anniversary, Jeff,” she said happily. “I
never want us to end up like that…no
matter how much we fight…”
“I’ve
heard his former wife Angie is engaged to his cousin Clive, who’s a good man,”
Nova said.
Down below,
Hartcliffe howled as he grabbed onto the rail at the gangplank. “Let me stay on
this ship! I’ll do anythin’! ANYTHIN’!”
“Read
the notice over there on the bulkhead, shit-for-brains!” yelled a guard in his
ear.
It
read in large letters: ATTENTION: PRISONERS.
YOU ARE NOW AN INMATE OF THE MINERVA BETA 506 DEEP SPACE PENITENTARY. ABANDON
ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE! THE MISSION OF THIS PLACE IS NOT REHABILITATION:
IT IS PUNISHMENT! OBEY ALL REGULATIONS!
“Finish
it yet?” yelled the guard.
Hartcliffe
shook his head.
Then,
they slapped his face and a guard brought a baton down…hard…on his fingers. As
he howled, he was half-dragged, half-carried down the Argo’s gangway just as the ship’s departure sirens began to go off.
The Marines nodded at and saluted the prison guards as they left the gangplank
and dragged Hartcliffe down the metal deck and rampways.
“Okay,
that’s enough…good riddance to bad rubbish,” said Commodore Wildstar. “Let’s
get going; next stop…Pluto!”
The Argo had been in the asteroid for about
fifteen minutes. Hartcliffe was dragged through several sets of airlock doors,
and down a corridor past a sign that read CREMATORIUM. “What’s that?” he
yelled.
“Where
the hell you’re ending up if you don’t frackin’
behave!” yelled a guard as Bryan’s face was smashed against a bulkhead. “Do you
think any damn soul cares that you’re alive any more?
Your soon-to-be former wife signed an order refusing any letters from you in
the future. You will know nothing more of your son, either. The only time your
ex-wife will hear anything from us again is if you die before your divorce goes
through! Work your ass off, and maybe we’ll let you live and leave this place
someday to be transported to a farm on Barnard’s Star where you’ll get forty
acres and a tractor. Maybe. If not,
you’ll end up dead. The prisoners will probably do it, too. They don’t like
assholes like you who beat up on pregnant
women!”
Hartcliffe
looked through a techtite window as the Argo’s engines and thrusters went off
down below in the dock. The Argo rose
above the dock, and then, she slowly and majestically blasted off through the
huge doors into open space. As soon as she cleared the outer doors, they began
to hiss shut, closing in the last view of open space and freedom that Bryan
Hartcliffe would ever see again as a living man for the rest of his life, as it
turned out. They slammed shut with a deep slam that was felt rather than heard.
The
guards let him look for a moment, and then they kicked him to the deck again
and dragged him off to be processed into prison society as he screamed and
cursed.
About
an hour later, Hartcliffe was shoved into a vast space that looked like a rough
cave illuminated by high lights up in the overhead. Some sort of rock or ore
was being mined from the surface of the cave by a large group of men in prison
uniforms like his…all of them being closely guarded by guards with huge AK-01
blaster rifles. They also carried nightsticks and Tasers.
Hartcliffe
said, as he was shoved towards a group of men, “Don’t I get nothin’ to eat?
It’s Easter, man! Don’t we get the day off?”
“They
told us you don’t celebrate any holidays,” sneered a guard. “Guess what; no one
here ever does, so you’re in good company, 5932! Kneel down there! NOW!”
Bryan
did so, kneeling at the edge of a cleft in the rock filled with dust. “What do
I do?”
“This
is the leftover crap from the laser drill crew!” barked a large
African-American prisoner with the number 4219, who was one of the trustees
assisting the guards. “You ain’t trained for nothin’ yet, Bubba, so you is
goin’ on your hands and knees and you are pickin’ up
that dust and putting it in that box! Don’t spill much! That’s Iridiumite, and it’s valuable. Do this for the next few hours
straight! That is your JOB Got it?”
Bryan
looked around at the ring of guards and hardened veteran convict laborers
surrounding him. With tears in his eyes, and his rebellious spirit finally
starting to break, he got down on his hands and knees and began digging in the
dust. He picked some up and he put it in the box. “That good enough?” he
yelled.
A
guard kicked him in the kidneys. “Hell no! Pick it ALL up! All of it!”
“How?”
said Hartcliffe.
“WITH
YOUR HANDS!” yelled another guard as he smashed Bryan in the throat with his
baton as the others laughed together. “And by the way, Happy
Easter!”
In the
meantime, the Argo warped onwards,
emerging from warp at 0900 near Pluto.
In
that area, Commodore Wildstar was trying to relax in his cabin with a glass of
chocolate milk when a tap came at the door.
“Enter!” he said.
Nova
came in, carrying Mimi in her arms. The nine-year old tiger cat mewed and tried
to paw Derek. “Awww…hi, Mimi!” said
Derek as he played with her nose and watched her pawing at his finger to try
and catch it. “Where’s the little ones, Nova?”
“Sleeping,”
she replied. “So I brought Mimi up here to distract you slightly. I know we
haven’t had a good few days, but it’s Easter. We’re having Mass down below on
the starboard observation deck in half an hour with the Padre and a party later
today. Like to hold Mimi while I change? The Padre asked if I could play the
new keyboards today; they don’t have anyone else who plays the keyboard.”
“Okay,”
said Derek. Nova was talking a mile a minute as was sometimes her wont when she
got somewhat excited.
Nova took
a garment bag out of her side of the locker. “I packed two dresses for today
because I didn’t know what our itinerary was after Mass. Are we going right to
Pluto Base afterwards or staying on the ship for the buffet that I’m having
McClendon and Lexington assist me with? If we stay on the ship, I can put on
the spring dress and the red heels that go with them; if…”
“We’re
going to Pluto. I have to get these test results to these officers when we get
done with services, Nova,” said Derek.
“Okay,
I’ll put on the winter outfit I packed. You’ll still like it,” said Nova as she
took off her gunbelt and boots. Then, she slid out of her uniform and opened
the garment bag. Derek looked up from playing with Mimi to look up at Nova in
nothing but her skin. Nova said, “What are you looking at?”
“Now I
see why parts of your body….were so….uh…prominent earlier…”
“Won’t
be for long,” said Nova as she pulled on a set of dark underall-style pantyhose
that contained underwear and then slid into a bra. Then, she pulled on a pale
pink cable-knit sweater her mother had made her and then put on a plaid
miniskirt, finishing up with dark brown boots. “How do you like this?” she said
as she twirled on her toes so that her skirt and hair flew around for a minute.
“Nice,
you actually look female,” Derek said with a smirk as Nova gave him a slight
playful slap. Then, he yelped as Mimi bit his finger while playing with her.
“That’s
right, Mimi, get him for that crack!”
giggled Nova as she picked up the little cat. “Still sprightly for your age,
huh?” she said as she let Mimi nuzzle her chin. “And you’re purring.”
“She
always liked you better anyway,” said Derek.
“Too
bad Fluffy’s at my parents more than she’s at our place,” Nova said.
“Oh, I
miss Fluffy’s claws digging into my back when we try to make love,” said Derek.
“Fluffy’s
still growing out of babyhood, at least mentally,” said Nova. “Even though
she’s now…five…going on six…”
“Let’s
get going before they start services without us,” said Derek.
“Good
idea,” Nova replied.
On the
Argo, the starboard side observation
deck was where church was set up. The arrangement was austere and simple but
tasteful. A large number of folding chairs were set out near a small dais, on
which was set a table draped with a beatiful white
cloth with the Chi Ro emblem that
served as the altar. Electric candles were set up on the altar. To the altar’s
left sat a small portable Catholic-style tabernacle that held the Host, while
to the altar’s right sat a lectern, draped with a cloth with a cross on it,
from where the Chaplain and his assistants would read the Scriptural readings
and give the homily. Some flowers were set up behind the altar in ornamental
vases on stands.
Not
far away sat a portable keyboard. Nova sat behind that with the hymn music
prepared by the priest. On this voyage, the Chaplain was a member of the Living
Group and young priest known as Lieutenant Thomas Connally.
A
goodly portion of the Star Force was gathered here. Many of the crew members
were either Catholic or belonged to the various denominations now in amicable
communion with the ancient faith in the 23rd Century; namely, some
members of the crew were also Anglican, Lutheran, Community Church, or
Neo-Baptist; all Protestant denominations now in friendly concord with Rome, as
was the Greek Orthodox Church. Members of other Christian denominations and
other faiths such as Judaism, Islam, Shinto, and Buddhism also came here today
to either quietly join in prayer or meditation or just to enjoy the
service.
Near
the hatchway, a Space Marine nodded once. Nova then began to play Bach’s Little Fugue in G on the organ setting
of her keyboard as the processional music as the doors whizzed open, the crew
stood, and a young enlisted man from Living Group came in carrying a cross,
followed by a young woman who would be the altar girl. Both of them had on
white vestments over their uniforms, and they were followed by Father Connally, who wore a white robe and white stole over his
uniform; the traditional colors of Easter.
As the
altar servers blessed the altar with incense and set up the Missal for the
Chaplain for Mass, the Chaplain knelt, kissed the altar and stood. Then, he
began by reciting, “The LORD be with you.”
“And
also with you,” responded
the congregation as the service and prayers began. The first reading was from
Acts, Chapter 10:34-37. Paul Rosstowski got up to give that reading, speaking
slowly and calmly as he read the ancient words referring to the Resurrection of
the Christ beginning with: Then Peter, opening his mouth, said: You know the word
which hath been published through all Judea: for it began from Galilee, after
the baptism which John preached, Jesus, of Nazareth: how God anointed him with
the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good...
Commodore Wildstar put his head back as he
sat down, smiling slightly as he let the reading take him back in time to
ancient Judea, thinking, Even though they
were under the oppression of the Roman Empire, right now, given what I have to
worry about, a trip to the Holy Land sounds better than what I have to deal
with on this command at the moment. Nova’s been talking about wanting to go to
Jerusalem sometime…maybe I’ll see if we can get a week off and go there….
A Responsorial Psalm (part of Psalm
117) followed, and then Nova left the organ to get up and read the second
reading, from Colossians 3:1-4, reading calmly in her clear voice as she began
with: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above:
where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God: Mind the things that are
above, not the things that are on the Earth….”
From there, the Chaplain went on with a
reading from the Gospel of Luke, recounting the story of how two of the
disciples had met the Risen Saviour on the Road to
Emmaus, but they didn’t recognize that it was He until He prayed and broke
bread with them and vanished.
Then, the sermon began; Father Connally spoke about how their mission was important to the
people of Earth, and not to lose heart, for, as he said, “We, the People of
God, no matter what we call Him, have been through many trials and tribulations
together over the centuries, and especially in the past few decades, as we have
all experienced losses and joys, victories and defeats, that I need not recount
here. In our wars, in our pain, in our suffering, it is possible that there is
a redemptive purpose being served. Consider these events. Mankind was in
danger, and we met our enemies, but instead of completely destroying them, we
eventually began to befriend our former enemies and to even draw those
scattered brethern of ours towards light, hope, and
peace. The Risen One commanded us before He left us to ascend to the Right Hand
of the Father, where He waits until He brings this play called Mortal History
to an end, that we were to spread His Teachings beyond our own Jerusalem, to
Judea, Samaria, and even the farthest ends of the Earth. Is it not possible
that, in His Wisdom, He hopes that we will, by our words, by our actions, by
our deeds, by our example, spread the good news of love, peace, co-existence,
tolerance, and redemption beyond the Earth to the farthest ends of the Cosmos?
Perhaps there is a design here that we cannot yet clearly see. I feel that the
Great Architect of the Universe leaves nothing
to chance, and that we should not forget that even in this, our time of
darkness, He is still with us. It is a miracle in the Resurrection that we see
the Redemption promised to the believing good thief on the Cross and
accomplished by Him on the dark day of Good Friday, and that in the darkest of
times, life goes on and springs forth anew,” He looked at Dawn, who sat near
Hardy, and he said, “And we can see that even out of the suffering and death of
the latest war, new life has resulted, and new life is about to emerge. Bearing
and caring for that new life is a blessed and sacred duty, to be undertaken
with joy and sacrifical love, and a mission that we,
men and women, fathers and mothers alike, should undertake with reverence and
calm. For that life we bear to the next generation did not simply begin with
us…”
The sermon continued as Dawn thought, Maybe I should take this more seriously. But
does this sky pilot know what it’s like to be pregnant?
Later,
after the Mass ended and Nova and Derek took Communion, they returned to the
Captain’s quarters to look over the latest messages before heading to Pluto.
Derek sighed as he read one of the messages while Nova looked for her coat.
“They’re everywhere, Nova. I can’t believe
this!”
“Who’s
everywhere?”
“Danged
reporters! Look at this. We have the new star, the new artificial sun, warming
Pluto, vaporizing some of the ice, creating a thicker atmosphere, a breathable
atmosphere, and warmer temperatures, if you call around Zero Degrees
Centigrade, or the freezing point of water, warmer.”
“It’s
balmy down there, Derek, compared to the minus four hundred degrees that it
used to be. What’s the matter?”
“We
get a message from that General O’Malley from Special Services, right? He tells
me there’s reporters who have gotten to Pluto who are wandering around the new
Pluto Hotel looking for any words they can get about us. He wants me to come
down there, not in my Star Force uniform, but in standard duty blues and a Mark
Five winter overcoat. Isn’t that stupid? That’s so we won’t be recognized in
our Star Force uniforms. What do you think of that, Nova?”
“Did
he make it an order?” Nova said as she slipped into a vinyl civilian jacket
that sort of matched her boots.
“Yeah…”
Nova
then rooted in the locker and handed Derek some clothes. “Get changed, sir. We
have thirty-five minutes to make our appointment.”
Derek
rolled up his eyes and did as he was told.
After
Wildstar changed and picked up a briefcase that had the data he had to report
to O’Malley and Maples, he and Nova flew down to the surface of Pluto in a regular
landing boat, with an uneventful arrival on some dark green tarmac that seemed
to have been reclaimed from the old Gamilon Base that had once been here.
They
were still somewhat floored at the idea of simply opening the hatch and
stepping out onto the surface without spacesuits. Their first few breaths were
a little tentative, but they soon found the thicker atmosphere to be quite
breathable, if briskly cold.
An enlisted man in an open 2205 model
Jeep in Naval Grey greeted them with a salute and drove them to the main square
of the small city of Persephone that was forming around the Base Headquarters.
When
they arrived on the new simulated brick square near the new Headquarters
Building, Nova stopped and looked up in wonder as snow began to fall in the
breeze.
“Look, Derek!” she said in awe as she
caught some snow on her bare hands. “It’s regular water-ice based snow! Isn’t
it beautiful?”
Derek
looked up from under the brim of his Captain’s cap and said, “It’s reminiscent
of what we saw that time on Mars when we landed there on our first mission.
You’re sure it’s water-based?”
“Catch
some on your tongue, silly,” said Nova as she stuck out her tongue to catch
some snowflakes.
Commodore
Wildstar caught some of the snow and looked at it. “Yeah, it’s snow….” he said.
He looked over at an icy ornamental pond and said, “Nova, next thing I know,
you’ll be telling me you wish you had ice skates to go skating on that pond?”
Derek smiled to himself as he recalled that Nova had a nice pair of white ice
skates at home, which she liked to wear with a white outfit when she practiced
her figure skating.
“Sort
of,” Nova said with a rueful smile that went sad as she said, “It reminds me a
bit of the old skating pond at Rockefeller Center in New York; before the
Gamilons and then later the Cometines got to it. My Dad took me there once on a
trip of his when I was young. It was around Christmas, and he surprised me with
ice skates.”
“Did
you know how to skate?” Derek asked.
“Sort
of,” laughed Nova. “I was five going on six then and I kept on falling on my
butt and crying until Dad gave me a few pointers. We’d better get going before
we get that General mad at us. I know that your rank hath privileges, sir, but
that O’Malley’s a two-star General who outranks you, and, besides, both of
those guys are too close to General Stone and his bunch for my comfort. I
assisted O’Malley at Headquarters once briefly when you were on your one-year
patrol back in 2201, and I didn’t like him much then when he had just one star as a Brigadier. You know they
could hold up your getting a Rear Admiral’s star someday if you tick them off,
or they could mess my career up out of sheer sexist spite.”
Derek
nodded and said, “Yeah…let’s go…”
He and
Nova regretfully left the wondrous new snow of Pluto alone as they walked
across the square to the Headquarters Building and entered, glancing up at the
“sun” and still not believing that the very bright orb above them in the sky
near the smaller and dimmer but still shining light of the distant star called
their Sun used to be the Eritz Gatlantis.
“Here,
have a cigar, Commodore” said Lieutenant General O’Malley, sporting his two
stars to Derek’s one star, in his Intelligence Office as he laughed hard and
shook Derek Wildstar’s hand after they saluted before they sat down. He
returned Nova’s salute, but barely acknowledged her presence otherwise as he
opened the humidor on his desk. “It’s a real Goddamn honest-to-God Cuban. Thank
Heavens the Castro family is long dead so we can get these.”
“Thank
you, sir, but I don’t smoke,” said Derek with a rueful grin. If Nova wouldn’t
have been there, he might have been tempted, but he knew all too well what her
attitude was on tobacco. The few Cubans he had smoked (not that he did so very
often; he wasn’t a habitual smoker) were smokes he had partaken of on the sly
in the Officers’ Club with brandy on nights when Nova hadn’t been around.
“Want
some brandy, then?” said O’Malley with a grin as Maples looked at Nova in a way
that made her very uncomfortable.
“I’ll take
a little,” said Derek as O’Malley poured some brandy from a cruse into four
snifters. When he offered a snifter to Nova, she nodded politely and said,
“Thank you, sir, but I’ll take no more than a single sip.”
“Why
not?” he said as Nova took one sip and set down the glass.
“I’m
nursing two children,” Nova said politely. “Because this was a short mission,
they’re with us on the ship.”
Derek
opened his briefcase and handed both of the Intelligence men copies of a report
he had made up about the Argo’s
performance in the refit, including her performance in battle against the
Spectran ship, and what had happened when the uprated wave motion gun had been
fired at Mikanus VIII. O’Malley nodded with a grunt and read his report over.
“Good equations here, Mrs. Wildstar.”
“Thank
you, sir,” Nova said.
O’Malley
read more, looked at Maples, and nodded. “We’re going to study everything you
gave given us about this new enemy, and will contact you if we need any further
clarification. Please send us the rest of the report promptly, Commodore.”
Derek
nodded as O’Malley poured Nova a glass of sparkling water. When he handed her
the ice-filled glass (which she accepted gratefully) he then said, “Mrs.
Wildstar, on to, if I may, some more informal matters before I dismiss both of
you. Your children…how old are they?” he asked as Maples continued to grin at
her in a way she did not like.
“Seven
months old,” said Nova.
“With
all respect, Lieutenant Commander,” said O’Malley as he scratched his black
beard, “shouldn’t you be home in your living room playing with them on the
floor on a blanket as your husband goes out and earns the bacon? I mean, you do
great work…there is no doubt in my mind you are a capable officer, but Earth
needs children and you are a mother. Aren’t there some proprieties to be
followed here?”
“With
all respect, sir, I have a career as well as three lovely children; two of them
being the issue of my body and one being adopted. Sir, I’m very experienced in
Survey, Analysis, and sensor functions and I wanted to be aboard to test some
of the new software I wrote for the uprated Cosmo-Radar equipment on the Argo as well as to test the new medical
equipment we installed in Sickbay, which I also helped to design. I think I’m
fully qualified, sir. Especially since I will be starting Medical School in
September. Our ship’s surgeon has been talking about either retiring or cutting
back his schedule in the next few years, so we all thought it would be logical
for me to step into his shoes as the Argo’s
ship’s surgeon in a few years after I complete school and my internship and
residencies,” Nova said. “For me, motherhood and my career go together, and the
Commodore has been wonderful as a father and helper in their care. He adores
our children as much as I do,” Nova said, smiling at her husband with love and
pride.
“You
know a medical internship is supposed to be hell,” said O’Malley. “You’ll
barely be home then, barely get any sleep…”
“I’m
familiar with that,” Nova said calmly. “After all, I was on the first mission
to Iscandar. I’ve pulled a few all-nighters with injured already.” Probably far more than you ever have doing
anything, Nova thought disdainfully. Nova added, “When that time comes, the
Commodore is more than ready to help as the children’s other caregiver. After
all, it takes two to be parents in a
normal marriage, and Derek’s been a very good father.”
O’Malley
nodded. “Let’s get back to the test results, Commodore.”
“Gladly,”
said Derek.
Maples
read his report, and he said, “You destroyed it, sir?”
“We
didn’t intend to do so, but it appears we did,” said Derek.
Maples
nodded his head, and Nova’s heart went cold when she heard him whispering,
“Congratulations. Now you can destroy entire worlds with this power; and wipe
out whole civilizations in an instant. It may serve Earth someday if you have
this power to deal with your rivals…with the absolute iron fist that some of
these aliens deserve. Such as this Spectra band.”
Derek looked
at Maples and then an O’Malley, and said, “Gentlemen, what happened at Gamilon
notwithstanding, our mission is not to slaughter people; it is to protect the
peace against those who would slaughter us.”
Nova
added, “Besides, those aliens are
intelligent beings with souls and eternal destinies just like ours.”
“How
do we know that?” whispered Maples, as within him, the Dark Lord Ekogaru smiled
at the man’s coldness and lack of compassion. You are so hateful, Maples, the Dark One thought in his head. That is such a boon to Me and my Cause.
“Enough, Major!” barked O’Malley.
“Commodore, we thank you for bringing this information to us. Lieutenant
Commander, I even thank you for
clarifying matters in terms of how you intend to use the new power you have been
given. I’m sure both of you are morally straight, upright, reverent, and
clean,” he said. “I’m sorry…I have things to do. Both of you are dismissed.”
Derek
and Nova stood, saluted, and waited as the other two officers returned their
salutes. Then, they left.
On
their way back to the Argo (after
dodging a bunch of reporters on Pluto) Derek commented, “Nova, those men were
horrible. I think that Major Maples was leering at your legs. And General
O’Malley was just…”
“Unfortunately,
there are men like them all over the place,” Nova sighed. “I met O’Malley’s
wife Lola at a party once, too, when you were away on a patrol. It was one of
those parties I had to go to as a
member of the Star Force….under orders back in 2200. It was the one after you
left, where Mark escorted me. She is not a nice woman. She’s condescending,
just like him.”
“I
hope they don’t expect us to just threaten people with our power for no good
reason,” Derek said after a long silence. “Nova, I hope we’re not becoming like
the Gamilons, the R’Khells, or any of our other former enemies.”
“I
could never abide that,” Nova said. “I’d resign first. Derek, is that a
ridiculous idea?”
Derek
stroked her hand and said, “No, Nova. Thank God, you have a keen conscience and
a good, good heart.” He looked at her and said, “I don’t know what I’d ever do
without you. Captain Avatar gave me his courage, Mark Venture and my brother
Alex gave me and still give me a will to fight on and never give up, and Sandor
gives me an analytical, keen mind. You and Doctor Sane give me a heart and
plain old common sense.”
“Thank
you,” said Nova softly. They smiled at each other and then flew back to their
vessel in silence.
IV. A SWEET INTERLUDE
Space Battleship Argo
The Pluto Region
Sunday, April 3, 2208
1530 Hours Local Time
“I’m
not sure what to make of this, Diane,” said Sandor, who looked nervous as he
walked towards Sickbay holding her hand. “I mean, I was pretty dumb last night
when I barged in on Nova and Derek.”
“What
did you two talk about when you say you made up a few hours later?” said Diane.
“Well,
she told me she was sorry that she tactlessly said something about ‘when we
have kids’, which didn’t even hit me until later because of that battle we had.
Then, she said she might be able to do something about it, and that everything
I’ve been through should not keep us from having children and a normal life.
What she is getting about, I don’t know. She knows perfectly well that
everything I have that physically makes me a man…looks normal, but is, shall we
say, only good for firing practice rounds?” Sandor chuckled grimly at that.
“But she said that she wanted to take care of that, beginning today…”
“I
know….,” Diane said. “She talked to me about it, too, and then asked if I’d
like to see her give the babies a bath…maybe help out…and I said sure!”
“Diane?”
said Sandor.
“I had
siblings during the Gamilon War and now and then helped my Mom with them. Guess
helping Nova’s not that much different.”
Finally,
they entered Sickbay and went off to one of the side rooms off the main
examining/operating theatre. That huge round room, where critical operations
were done and enemy prisoners were examined, usually drew a crowd of a few…or
more than a few morbid (or curious) members of the crew who looked through the
observation windows when major procedures were going on in there. Nova had been
grateful that her delivery had taken place in a shuttle rather than in that big
room, because she knew the crew would
have been curious about the birth and given how hot she had been, they would
have all seen her giving birth to
Alex and Ariel in the nude in a public shipboard spectacle that would have been
a Big Event. Nova had no idea why they had never put privacy curtains on those
operating theatre windows: if Sane wasn’t going to do it, then it was something
she was going to order done when she became Ship’s Doctor. Thus, she had
chosen this quieter examining room, usually unused, except in case of
emergency, as her care area for Alex and Ariel, both because it was quiet and
afforded some needed privacy.
When
there, they both smiled as Nova sat on an examining table on a huge towel while
Derek was putting warm water into a basin with the sleeves of his EDF blues
rolled up. Nova was getting little Ariel out of her one-piece baby jumpsuit as she
shrugged off her own overcoat.
“Hi!”
Nova said. “We were expecting you two,” she said as she pulled Alex onto her
lap and began to undress him as she undid something on her plaid miniskirt.
Ariel grabbed at her sweater-clad upper body, and Nova giggled and said, “I
know what you want, little Princess!”
“So,
you’re…?” said Sandor.
Diane
rolled up her own sleeves and said, “Steve, it looks like she’s going to feed
them and give them their bath in her lap at the same time like at a family hot
spring! How cute!” Diane then turned
to her former boyfriend Derek and said, “Is that water ready?”
“Uh-huh…”
“Let
me bring it to her…”
Diane
did so as Nova began to struggle out of her sweater. Sandor and Diane then left
as Derek came over and gallantly helped to pull the sweater off over Nova’s
head and then helped her with her bra as she prepared to undress and feed her
little ones….
Derek
called them back in about twenty minutes later, when he said, “Okay, the kids
are taking a nap and Nova’s decent again….” Then, he heard a whimper and said,
“OK...Alexander just woke up. Let me check on him…”
They
came in to find Nova sitting in a chair, clad in her nurse’s tunic and a pair
of white sandals. Derek was nearby combing his hair and smiling at his sleeping
daughter while dangling a toy plane above Alex’s face, and watching as he
grabbed at it. She was fussing with a medical instrument and what looked like a
paper Operating Room shoe cover until she noticed the hatch whizzing open.
“It’s
too bad I can never have kids,” said Stephen.
Nova
sighed and said, “There is a way we can fix that.” Then, she explained a method
she and Doctor Sane had come up with where they could culture some cells from
his arm and remake the DNA into stem cells that they could then grow into new
organs to replace what Stephen had missing from his accident so that he would
be fertile.
Then,
she put everything down and said, “I’d like to begin the process on Sandor by
beginning to culture some skin cells. The best site, Steve, would be on your
upper arm above the cybernetics. Diane, would you mind helping him out of his
shirt?”
“So what
will you be doing?” said Sandor.
Nova
steepled her hands together as she said, “I’m going to begin with a very minor
operation. I’m going to inject a local anesthetic in your upper arm, and then
I’m going to take a small core of cells from your arm, about down to the lower
epidermal layers. Then, I’ll close the site with a bandage and take the cells
and begin to grow them in a culture for a few days. Doctor Sane and I will
begin manipulating the DNA matrix of some of the cells when we get back home on
Earth and we will then begin a second and third culture that should form the
differentiated organ structure within a few weeks or months. When we have
everything grown to a sufficient degree,” Nova said as she swung her long legs
around a little nervously and then pulled down her short minidress a bit more
as she realized that the darn thing was hiking up and showing her underwear,
“we’ll call you back in for a consult and schedule an operation for you, and
hope that the auto transplants take successfully. This is experimental, but I
predict we may have results by the late summer or early fall. Any questions?”
“Will
the transplant be painful for him?” said Diane.
“Not
much worse than a transplant of say, another small cybernetic part like an eye
or some such,” Nova said.
“Pain
doesn’t bother me much,” Steve said. “Nova, you know that, based on the
adjustments that you’ve had to do with my cybernetics…”
“I
know,” Nova said as Derek looked at her. “We have to be terrible with you at times
when we adjust the nerve receptor terminals so we have better contact with the
cybernetics…”
“That
sounds awful!” said Derek. “Sandor,
I’ve known about the arms and legs for years,” he said, remembering the time in
the Gamilon Magnetron Fortress when he had to take his bionic arms and legs off
of him. “But…I never knew it was that painful for you at times.”
“Yeah?”
laughed Sandor. “Remember when they shot that leg off me when we invaded the
first Comet Empire base ship with Knox? That
hurt! But Nova and Doctor Sane know I’m a very tough cookie when it comes to
these things.”
Diane
then said, “Excuse me for asking, but, Nova…how…and where exactly do his
implants…?”
“Steve,
may I let her know?” Nova asked.
“Sure.
You’re going to have a good view of the arms in about a minute anyway,” he
said.
Nova
nodded and rolled up a sleeve of her tunic, thinking, I wish this would have come up when I still had all my clothes off
before! Nova pointed at a point along her slender bicep and said, “The seam
for the arms is about here, at this spot.” Nova rolled down her sleeve and
stretched out one of her bare legs as she said, “On his legs, it’s about here
on his upper thigh. If I was wearing a pair of old-fashioned stockings, this is
about where the garter would go. I use this as a good reference point in my
head for when we work on him.”
“Yeah,
you imagine me in stockings when you work on me; that’s how you get your
reference point…by imagining me done up like Doctor Scott,” Steve teased back.
“I do not!” Nova said with a laugh. “I imagine
myself in old-style stockings.”
“I
don’t have to imagine you in
old-fashioned stockings…” teased Derek as he tickled Alex…his little bare foot
had come up from his cover. “Like that kind you have in the upper dresser
drawer at home…”
“Would
the peanut gallery please keep quiet?” Nova snapped as she tapped Derek
on the nose. “Commodore, sir, just keep on playing with Alex or something if
you’re so full of energy! This is serious!
Steve, please sit on that stool and get ready. This should only take a few
minutes.”
Sandor
opened his Star Force top as Diane wondered exactly what his bionic replacements looked like, as she had never before
seen him with bare arms before. He felt nervous,
overhearing Derek in the background making zooming and rat-a-tat-tat-ta noises as he “attacked” his baby son with the toy
Superstar fighter he was dangling above his head; a nice replica of the real
thing that was assigned to him down in one of the flight bays. Then, he sat on
a stool after sliding out of his shirt while Nova pulled on her paper cloth
booties over her sandals, watching her as she went to a sink to wash her hands.
Diane
looked at Sandor’s strong upper body; he looked quite muscular. She felt the
skin of his arm above his wrist, surprised to find that the syth-skin
felt and looked natural and was even warm to the touch. “Hey, this looks good,”
she said. “And it feels good.”
“They’ve
improved them quite a bit over the years,” Sandor said.
“Where
does the natural arm end and the bionic one begin?” Diane asked while Nova
dried her hands and put on a pair of surgical gloves.
“About
here,” said Nova as she came over and began to swab Sandor’s upper arm with
some cotton. “Now, there will be a pinch,” she said quietly as she injected him
with a nasty-looking needle as Doctor Sane came in. “That takes care of that,” she said. “The site should be
numb in maybe three minutes. Then, we can do the biopsy.”
“What are you using for it, Nova?” said Doctor Sane.
“A
Hampden Number 25 tip,” said Nova. “We only need a small core for the job. Okay
with you if I run the stitch?”
“I was
expecting you would; you’re good with this sort of thing,” said Doctor Sane.
“Now, Miss Henson, I’m a former veterinarian. Nova, on the other hand, is an
artist with this sort of thing…I think you’re going to make a better doctor
than I am….”
“Stop
it, please,” Nova said as she blushed, and then laughed as Derek “attacked” her
head with his toy plane. “My God, did
you have too much sugar in your coffee before, Derek?” she teased.
“We’re
not on the bridge, so I’m trying to make you laugh a little,” he said.
“How
are the kids?” asked Sane as he looked at the babies.
“Fine…they
were awful thirsty, though. I didn’t expect that after all of the solids we
gave them this morning,” Nova said as Derek stepped back and turned serious
again. She stepped back and felt Sandor’s arm; Diane was surprised that she
couldn’t find the seam for the synth-skin. “Excuse me…uh…where’s the seam?”
“Right
here, where Nova is probing my arm,” said Sandor.
“There?”
said Diane. “I don’t see anything,” she said.
“You’re
not supposed to,” said Sandor. “The synth-skin becomes thinner there, and the
seam is hidden with some long-term makeup that can be worked in between the
seam and the remaining arm. Nova showed me how to do it some years ago. If you
know yourself well, you can spot the seam, but it’s hard to do otherwise. I can
shower, bathe, swim and even surf with the cybernetics on. No one who doesn’t
know me ever really notices,” he said as he pulled his shirt part of the way
back on. “Not that I go in for the beach that much. I
have to put on a heavy sunscreen when I go so the tanning is not too
noticeable, even though the synth-skin “tans” a little bit.”
Nova
looked at Sandor and asked, “Is it numb yet?”
He
nodded.
“Okay,
here we go,” Nova said as she picked up a large, nasty-looking silver
instrument that looked like a large syringe with some hoses and dials on it.
She injected Sandor with the larger-bore needle, fiddled with some settings on
it, and then hit a lever. There was a soft click and some indicator lights went
green. Nova withdrew the instrument, wiping the needle off with some gauze that
Diane noticed was bloody when she was done. Nova then opened up a suture kit
and expertly ran a single stitch to make sure the wound closed. Finally, she
applied a stick-on bandage to the spot and said, “We’re done. Doctor, did you
and Mister Hendricks want him for a bit?” Nova asked.
“Yes,”
said Sane as he pointed to himself and an orderly, as he motioned everyone out
into the main operating/examining theatre of Sickbay. Sane then noticed another
male medical tech coming up, and he said, “Mister Hayakawa, set up the scanning
equipment.”
“Yessir,”
said the Ensign.
“Nova,
we need him now for his routine heart scans,” said Doctor Sane as Hendricks
prepared some equipment as IQ-9 came up. ”You’re done with him for the moment
except for getting the culture ready. Check on the patient in 5-C when you get
a chance, and take Mrs. Hardy in there with you,” said Doctor Sane. “Then
please do your rounds with the other patients; I need some vitals.”
“Okay,
I’ll begin work on setting up the culture,” Nova said as she motioned Derek and
Diane Henson back into the side room as she took off her gloves and shoe
covers, smiling at her children before sitting back down to work on the culture
on the lab counter in the little side room.
“You
think he’ll be okay?” asked Diane.
“Well,
you can either stand by him or check on him after Doctor Sane, Hendricks and
Hayakawa check him out,” Nova said.
“I
think I’ll check on him later,” said Diane as Nova gave her a look of some
concern. “No…nothing bad…I just have some Engineering reports to complete.”
“I’ve
got some stuff to do on the Bridge,” said Commodore Wildstar. “Nova, dinner at eighteen hundred?”
“Sure,”
Nova said as she nodded at Derek while standing up and stretching her legs.
Then, she said, “Derek, Diane, I’ll see you both later.”
Commodore
Wildstar gave Nova a pat on the shoulder as she went back to work after he
kissed his sleeping children in their little beds. “Good luck, Peppermint.”
“Thanks,”
said Nova with a blush as her husband and the young woman left her to her lab
work.
A
moment later, Wildstar and Henson went out into the main examining room, where
they said their goodbyes to Sandor while Hendricks stood there recording some
data on his clipboard.
“I’ll
be done later, Wildstar,” he said.
“You
look all hooked up,” said Derek. “You’re gonna be all right?”
“Yeah,
I’m fine,” said Sandor. “Diane, see you later. I take it you’re not sticking
around?”
“Can’t,
unfortunately.
I have some work to do in the engine room,” she said. “We’ll all meet up at eighteen
hundred for dinner?” she asked Sandor, who looked a little embarrassed as Sane
and the orderly had all sorts of things hooked up to his chest.
“Okay,”
said Sandor. Diane couldn’t resist a final glance at him with his shirt open as
she thought, What was I ever missing? He’s dishier than I thought! Wow!
“Good
luck,” said Wildstar. “With everything.”
“Thanks.”
V. THE BEGINNNING OF THE END…
Solitary Confinement Wing
Asteroid Minerva Beta Number 506
Sunday, April 3, 2208
1612 Hours
“I
didn’t do NUTHIN!” yelled Hartcliffe as some guards dragged him down a corridor
of the prison. “NOTHIN!!!”
“Shut
up, we saw you fighting in the shower with Trustee Brown!” yelled one of them.
“Trying to use a shank on a trustee is bad news here, 5932!”
“You
know what the hell ‘e just did to me? And what he
woulda done again if I hadn’t ripped tha’ piece o’ metal off the soap dish?”
Bryan was still naked from the shower, and if one looked at his backside, it
was easy to see the shame that Brown had wrought upon him. “Why didn’t ya’ let
me cut ‘is throat?”
“Congratulations,
you abuser of women,” said another guard. “Now you know what it’s like to be on
the other end of what you dish out!”
“I’m
not…I’m…where are you taking me?” he yelled as he saw a guard opening a trap
door at the end of the corridor, away from the normal solitary confinement
cells.
“Cell
666,” said a guard with an evil grin. “The Hole of the Hole.
Congratulations, scumbag. You get to see this place before twenty-four hours
have run out.”
Hartcliffe
had barely any time to figure out what was happening before he was thrown down
the manhole that the trap door covered. Wherever it was, it was dark down there. Very dark.
Hartcliffe
fell a short distance, with some ribs breaking as he
painfully hit the dirt-covered rock floor of the cavern he had been thrown
into. The guards were really being tough on him. Normally, prisoners were
lowered down here on a rope. Then, the trap door slammed shut, and he heard
locks clicking to.
“LET
ME OUT!” he yelled. “Damnit, let me OUT!”
There
was no answer in the darkness. None at all. Wherever
it was, it stank in here.
As
Hartcliffe’s eyes adjusted to his dank surroundings, he noticed that a few of
the rocks in this place had some natural luminescence, which provided the only
light.
“All
that’s in ‘ere is…a single tap….produces water,” he said as he turned the
faucet and drank some of the dank-tasting water, “…and a hole…Yeccch! Cold in ‘ere…” he said. “I’m so ‘ungry, too…they didn’t give me nothin’ to eat…”
Then,
he recoiled as something ran across his hand. He noticed that it was a roach.
There were quite a few of them.
Shrugging
as he thought Any food in a storm, mate…he grabbed some
roaches in his scratched, bleeding hands, and he ate them. He found that they were crunchy. Nice and crunchy. One
was still wiggling a little as he swallowed it.
Then,
a glow appeared from nowhere as something
appeared in the dank little room beside him.
Hartcliffe
noticed that it was a humanoid shape. The light cleared, and Bryan Hartcliffe
found himself sitting next to Major Gary Maples of Intelligence.
Only,
when he felt the infernal cold coming from Maples, he knew that it hadn’t been
the Major’s idea to come and meet him here in the closest thing to Hell that he
could think of. He looked into Maples’ eyes and saw a weird green light in
them, and saw a sickening rictus of a smile as a deep, mocking voice came from
Maples and said, “Hello there, mate. Are we slumming?
Three guesses as to who I am, meathead!”
“Ekogaru,”
whispered Hartcliffe. “How’d you get down here past the guards?”
“You
seem to forget I can be anywhere I
want and almost any when I want,”
said the Dark Lord. “Now, I see you don’t like it much down here, do you?”
“Hello
no, man. I got nothin’ to eat but roaches…and…”
“This
ham sandwich?” said Ekogaru as he made a ham on rye sandwich appear in his
hand. “It’s yummy. It’s good. You’ll like it…”
Bryan
reached for it, but Ekogaru snatched it away. “Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh..” said the Dark One as he took a bite
of the sandwich and savored it. “You have to do something for me first before
you get this delectable sandwich, Bryan. You’d sell your soul to me for a
sandwich, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah,
yeah, yeah,” said Bryan. “Please, man…I ain’t even been here a day yet, and I’m
goin’ friggin’ mad! They’re all against me. What do I have to do? Sell my soul
to ya, man? I’ll do it…”
“Nice
to know we are in agreement on that,” said Ekogaru. The Dark One took a small
vial of something out of his jacket pocket and thought, This man’s usefulness to me is at an end, but let me give him a share
of release…before I throw him to my Master forever, as it has been decreed
today is to be his last day alive… “You were useful to me, albeit in a
small way. So I have a small gift for you before we part and I let you eat your
sandwich. And you have to try this out for me. Since I know you have not only
no money but do not even a rag to cover your cuyones with, this thirty thousand credit vial of uncut Rikashan Sixer
is yours for no charge.”
“Sixer?”
said Hartcliffe, as he gasped as he realized the Dark One had just given him a
hit of the rarest drug in the Galactic System. It was a mixture of pure heroin
and Rikashan Spice made in a special retort in a lab. It was a potent, halluciogenic mixture that was also called “Dancing with
the Devil.” Its trade was very illict and very hidden. Because of its effects and the danger of the
drug, mere possession of the stuff merited a life sentence, no quarter given,
if one was caught in the Earth Federation with the stuff. Dealing it led to the
death penalty, also no quarter given by the Court. There had been a notorious
story on Earth in the past few months of an EDF officer named Lieutenant
Hiroshi Shinabi from the space battleship Malaysia who had been caught dealing the
stuff, which had been strictly banned ever since 2204. As soon as his
court-martial had ended, he had been allowed to say goodbye to his wife and
child, and then was driven to an EDF prison on Earth, where he met the firing
squad before sunset. By ten PM that night, his corpse had been reduced to ashes
and thrown into the sea.
“Sixer,”
said Ekogaru. “No need to trouble yourself where I got it from. Will you test
this bunch for me?”
“Hell,
yes!” said Hartcliffe as he grabbed it from the Dark Lord. With trembling,
frenzied hands, he tore open the vial and snorted up the whole dark, shiny
powder in five breaths. Then, as he sat there with his world spinning in a not
unpleasant manner, he said, “What a high, man! WHAT A HIGH!”
“Want
your sandwich?” said Ekogaru.
Hartcliffe
grabbed it and ate it as, with no further pain, he began to fly, fly, and fly within his addled brain. He didn’t
notice the intense chest pain that his battered body was trying to telegraph to
him, nor did he feel his breathing slowing down to painful gasps.
“I
thought you’d like that!” yelled Ekogaru. “EAT HEARTY, MY FRIEND!” Then, the
Dark Lord laughed as he vanished, knowing that, in about a minute or two,
Private Bryan Hartcliffe’s last high would soon abruptly come to a crashing,
sickening, final end….
As
Bryan hungrily ate his sandwich and saw naked women dancing before him as they
came out of the walls of the cave;, he laughed like mad as he ate his sandwich
and waited for them to service him, damn the pain in his damaged crotch right
now, damn…they looked like his former acquaintances…that lawyer from the Court,
Sasha, that Dawn Hardy girl, Nova, the Commander’s relative who was married to
Homer….Starsha…
Then,
the druggy visions of many of his female acquaintances naked faded away as
color and light began to swirl around him like a pinwheel. He whooped and
laughed, thinking he was experiencing the best space warp of his life. The
colors were so cool. “So cool, man…so
cool….” he said.
His
last mortal sight was a weird vision of Angie appearing to him from the wall of
the cave, naked except for her glasses and very high-heeled clear plastic
sandals. She was carrying a bottle of Vodka and saying, “Drink with me, Bryan,
luv. All is forgiven, and we will get drunk together at last and do the dirty,
dirty, dirty deed…and you can do to
me whatever you want!” And she was dancing a lewd dance in her nakedness as she
danced on her haunches and showing off her assets in a strippers’ manner that Bryan
loved. It never occurred to him that Angie had never danced for him like that,
nor would any decent woman ever dance
for him like that…especially the women in his twisted fantasy before.
“Yeah…babbbbbe,” he muttered. “Do me, Angie…” he murmured, as the
vision finally faded, and he found himself back in the Hole, in pain, in agony,
barely able to breathe as something that felt like an elephant with spikes
crushed his chest.
He fell
down on the rock floor with a half-chewed bite of sandwich in his mouth, unable
to move, unable to speak..unable
to do anything except emit a weak cough and a death rattle as he realized what
was happening to him at last. “no…” he muttered. “god…no…I…”
Then,
he couldn’t talk anymore as the cell spun around and the wierdest
buzzing noise he had ever heard in his life resounded everywhere as something
pulled him upwards like metal going to an electromagnet.
The
cell spun, and Bryan felt surprise and terror as he was pulled up at high
speed, and he saw his body lying there on the cell floor, with his mouth open
and his crazed eyes already glazing slightly as Bryan realized that…
This must be what it’s like to die! Bryan thought as a frightening
lucidity came to him just as his soul’s connection with his drug-addled brain
was severed like a circuit breaker going off. But where am I goin’?
The
stars roared up to meet Hartcliffe as he passed up through the cell door and
through the asteroid at a frighteningly high rate of speed.
Then,
he blasted along as he roared through space and found the Argo looming up to meet him.
VI. A PULP NOIR STORY ENDS..…
Space Battleship Argo
Lower Flight Bay
Sunday, April 3, 2208
1656 Hours
Bryan
Hartcliffe’s spirit, or what passed for one, suddenly fell into the Argo through the deck and he found
himself standing inside the ship, yelling, HEY! I’M HERE DON’T YOU SEE ME?
He
seemed to be in the Lower Flight Bay. He stamped his foot and cursed, but he
noticed no one responded. Jefferson Hardy had the Black Tigers gathered around
him, sitting on the quiet flight deck in an informal meeting as he asked, “How
are the squadrons doing?”
Deke
Wakefield stood, saluted, and said, “Second Squadron is at full strength, sir.
Lexington got his plane damaged in that battle along with Ono’s, but they’re
fine and we just got their planes fixed. They’re back on duty and were cleared
by Doc Sane and Nova for further flying ops.”
Sasha smiled
at Deke as she sat near him with some of the other RSO’s and Flight Maintenance
Officers as Hardy said, “Marrable, how’s Third doing?”
Brew
stood up saluted, and said, “Well, we lost two planes, sir. The other pilots
are fine, and we just came in from patrol. We can go out again if we have to…”
“That’s
good,” said Hardy as Hartcliffe walked over to him and punched him in the chest
as hard as he could, and was disconcerted to find his fist going right through
him. I’m here, but I’m not here, he
thought. “HELLO!” he yelled as he found his former comrades laughing at a joke
of Brew’s…and totally ignoring him.
“Would
you cut out the butt jokes, Brew?” said Lieutenant Gabrielle “Bangs” Capistrano
as she said, “As Fourth Squadron Leader, I’m ready to report.”
“So am
I!” yelled Hartcliffe. “I think I’m dead, man! Or this is one ‘ell of a trip!” He tried to look at Sasha, but the glow
coming from her and through her on the Other Side was so bright that it hurt
his astral “eyes” to look for long.
No one
heard him or felt anything, except Sasha, who shivered a little as she cuddled
against her husband while Bangs went on with her report.
“What’s
wrong, Sasha?” asked Deke.
“There’s
a ghost in here. I think.”
“A
ghost?” said Wakefield in a whisper. “Okay, who?”
“It’s
very indistinct…it has nothing on, and the face is all blurred and beaten. I
don’t recognize him; but it sure isn’t the Dark One, nor is it Captain Avatar
or any of the others I sometimes see on this ship, like Orion, Sergeant Knox,
or Sean Conroy. They have on their uniforms and their essences are intact….I
even talked with Knox one night when you were asleep once. This thing’s essence
is fading, and it stinks like a hole in the ground. It…”
Then,
Sasha heard an indistinct scream as the soul of Hartcliffe was pulled away as
some Voice said to him, “Speak to them
again? NEVERMORE. Behold, you are dead.”
“Sasha,
why did you jump?” whispered Deke.
“Dekee..if that thing is a ghost…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t
want to know where it’s going…that was a scream of the damned.”
In
their cabin, Nova Wildstar had changed back into her normal crew uniform and
boots as she played with Ariel on her lap. She had finished giving her some
baby food, and she wasn’t interested in nursing (Nova had just closed up her
uniform) but she took some water that Nova gave her in a bottle. She drank
until she pushed away the bottle and began to cry.
“What’s
wrong, sweetheart?” Nova cooed as Hartcliffe’s ghost was pulled into their
cabin from through the deck.
“Shivery,
Mama…” said Ariel.
“Oh, I
know it gets cold up here sometimes, honey,” said Nova as she covered her
daughter’s bare legs with a pink baby blanket as she lay in her mother’s lap in
a yellow and black Onesie that looked like a tiny version of her uniform. “What
are you looking at?” Nova said as Ariel reached towards something.
“Hey, kid!” yelled Hartcliffe as he realized
the baby was looking right at him. “Squeeze yer mum’s boobie or somethin! Let
her know I’m here! HEY!” he yelled.
“Yukkyman?” said Ariel.
“What’s
a yukkyman?” asked Nova.
“Mama,
yukkyman!”
said Ariel as she pointed at Bryan’s ghost. Like most babies, Ariel maintained
a heightened spiritual awareness of things and impressions that most adults
could not see. Hartcliffe had become a weaker-than-usual human ghost with only
a vague attachment to the Argo since
he had turned away from the Star Force’s high ideals…if he had ever believed in
them in the first place, that is.
Nova
tried to figure out what Ariel was talking about, and she almost saw something like a blur standing there, and she felt a
weird, sickening feeling of loss coming from the area around it.
Nova
reached for the phone to call Derek, but, before she could pick up the phone,
in the Other World, Hartcliffe yelled, “NOVA,
I’M SORRY, YA DUMB BIRD! HELP ME! Pray for me! I need it!”
He
tried to grab Nova, seeing the soft light coming from her spirit on the Other
Side that she was, of course, unaware of. There was a hint of something about
her he could not figure out…something like a soft Fire burning at the depth of
her being that looked utterly frightening to him, and for some reason, Nova,
who seemed for a moment to be clad in white with a silver crown on her head,
seemed scarier to him than what he could see in Sasha. He reached for her, and
the Voice again spoke to him and said, “NEVERMORE!
She has a life in her that you cannot have, and, behold, she is sealed for My
Purposes as is her Niece. You had an
opportunity to become Like her but you refused it.
Therefore…”
Nova
looked up, but the feeling and the weird blur were gone a moment later as she
saw Ariel smiling and playing with her wedding band. “Shiny, isn’t it? We’ll
see Daddy soon! Let’s hope Daddy is good!” Nova said with a sweet smile.
The
stars and Earth swirled around Hartcliffe’s withered soul as he was dragged
towards the Earth by a force that was horrid in its intensity.
Before
he knew it, he fell through the roof of what had been the apartment he and
Angie had shared in the Tokyo Megalopolis. Through the windows, he could see
that the sun was setting, and that Angie was sitting in bed in a thin,
near-transparent nightdress, reading a book as she cuddled in someone’s arms.
He
looked up, and was shocked to see that that Someone
was his cousin Clive! Bryan watched in horrid fascination as Clive kissed her
and turned down the covers, suddenly sitting up as he heard something. “Luv, it’s Richie. Put down the book?”
Angie
smiled at Clive through her glasses and kissed him as she set down her book.
“Help me out of this?” she said as she took off her glasses. “It’s hot in
here…”
Clive
kissed her and gently stripped Angie of her transparent nightdress, leaving her
both naked…and very lovely. She now
bore no signs of the ravages of her pregnancy, and, in fact, to Bryan, she
looked foxier than she had before she was pregnant! “Angie!” yelled Bryan’s ghost as she ignored
him, unaware that anything or anyone was even there. “YOU DUMB BITCH! What are
you doin’ with him? He’s just supposed to be helpin’
ya! I’m yer husband! Don’t ya dare divorce me!”
A
moment later, Clive came in, carrying little Richie in his arms. He wore only a
diaper as he was laid in his mother’s arms. Angie kissed him and gave a breast.
She had been taking a medication and her milk had recently come in at last, and
she smiled at the sensation as her son basked in her warm nakedness, enjoying
her love. Clive crawled back into bed with them and asked, “So you said the
lawyer filed the last of the papers?”
Angie
nodded. “In a few days, there should be an automatic decree, and Bryan will no
longer be in my life. I asked them to block him from calling me, writing to me,
or anything else, and I asked to be notified of his death, if that happens,
would we be so lucky...only up until the time we get married, Clive. Because he’s dead to me already, Clive.”
“You
don’t mind I threw out ‘is crap?” said Clive.
Angie
shook her head. “Not at all. And the Court just
awarded me all of the last of his back pay as
restitution for what he did, so I’m not hurting for anything anymore now.”
“HEY!”
yelled Bryan’s ghost. “I’M YER HUSBAND! I’M…!”
Then, he
looked down as Angie, lovely in her nakedness, cuddled their beautiful son.
Clive kissed the baby and smiled at him, and the young couple was shocked as
baby Richie gurgled his first word as he looked right
at Clive.
That
word was, “Dada?”
“That’s
right, mate! I’m your daddy! I’m your daddy!” said Clive as he kissed his
little son. The heart of Bryan’s ghost broke as he bowed his head in the first
bit of shame he had, thinking, I wanted
him to call me Daddy. He’s my kid! That cousin of mine ain’t yer daddy, Richie!
He ain’t…
Richie
looked up and began to cry as he looked right at his father’s ghost for what
would be the very last time Bryan would ever see his son. The baby saw an
indistinct, frightening blur of a half-man as Bryan was pulled out the window….and
dragged into the darkness of the night.
Then,
that implacable Power grabbed Bryan’s ghost by the feet….and pulled him, deep,
deep, deep through the dirt of the flower bed.
Near-darkness
surrounded Bryan as something kicked him around, and he realized he was being
pulled through some kind of weird tunnel into the very depths of the Earth
itself…or something that seemed like it to him. Then, there was nothing but
darkness….darkness filled with a dim, flickering blue light edged with gold.
“What’s
that?” said Bryan as he roared down towards that light as if he was in a Tiger
on a death dive.
“Your
future…your ETERNITY,” said the Voice one last time as Bryan flew towards the
light and began to hear a dim roar.
Too
late, he realized that this Light was not there to welcome him as the roar grew
louder.
It was
there to judge him, as he realized that what he was falling towards…was a lake.
A
lake of blue flames.
And it was all true!
“NOOOOO!”
screamed Bryan as the flames consumed his withered, naked soul….and an eternity
of memories, heartbreak, and pain would begin for him. Others were waiting for
him there, and they would share in his horrible torment and pain as the first
second of a long, eternal minute adding up to no passing hour began for him.
And it
would never, ever end.
A few
hours later, in Beta Minerva 506, the guards and trustees pulled Bryan’s body
up out of cell 666 by a rope. The naked corpse was already stiffening, and
flies were already lighting upon it.
“What
is he?” said Trustee Anson Brown, Number 4219.
“Dead,
what do ya think?” said a guard. “You’ve killed people, 4219. You know what
dead people look like.”
“Glad
he’s dead,” said Brown as he kicked the corpse. “I wanted to initiate him into the
Joint the usual way that scumbags like him get, and he tries fightin’ me,
Killer Brown, with a friggin’ shank! Wonder how he died?”
“There’s
a vial in his hand,” said another guard. “He got a ham sandwich in him down
there. I don’t know how. And I don’t wanna know how,” he said as he kicked the
remains of Hartcliffe’s last sandwich out of his hand. “Lookit
his mouth. Looks like he was eatin’ dirt and roaches! You know, that dirt we threw down there to soak up their messes
when they miss the hole?”
“Simple,
he was a roach, and he went out like a roach,” said the guard. “Okay, let’s get
this stiff into the doctor’s office so the doc can do an autopsy on him. Then,
he’ll go into the crematorium drawer, and he’ll be ashes shot inta space by morning. No great loss.”
The
guards and trustees laughed as Bryan Hartcliffe’s body was thrown onto a
gurney, covered with a sheet, and hauled away like
yesterday’s garbage, unmourned, unremembered.
Earth
The Tokyo Megalopolis
The Hartcliffes’ Apartment
April 5, 2208
0125 Hours
Angie
Hartcliffe was awakened from a pleasant dream in Clive’s arms by the sound of
the phone going off. They were both naked now, as they had made love before
going to sleep.
Making
sure that the phone was set to voice-only, Angie answered it with, “Uh…hello?
Who is callin’ me at one in the morning?”
The
voice was scratchy, as if it was coming from a long distance, but it was recognizable.
“Angie?” said the female alto voice. “This is Nova. I’m Officer of the Deck on
watch tonight. I’m sorry to trouble you, but we just got some news from Beta
Minerva 506 that they asked us to relay to you for legal reasons.”
“Yes?”
said Angie as she suspected what had happened. “Him. He must be dead, right?”
“Right,”
said Nova. “We know the circumstances, and we know how sordid the story was,
but you don’t have to worry about the divorce anymore. You are now officially a
widow, and I’m so sorry.”
“I’ve been
like a widow the past few months, Nova….no big loss. He began dying for me last
year, and he died for me, I now realize, when he beat me on that shuttle when I
was pregnant. So how did he go out? Did Bryan finally go out like he always
threatened to by killing himself?”
“No,”
said Nova. “Drug overdose. He somehow found some
Rikashan Sixer in solitary confinement and took enough to kill a bull elephant,
they tell me. He was dead in a few minutes, and turning stiff and drawing flies
when they found him. The body’s already been cremated. They’ve e-mailed you the
electronic Death Certificate with electronic seal. You can look at it at home
but have to go to a Registry Office to get it.” Nova went quiet and said, “Tell
Clive I’m sorry to hear about this, but glad it’s over and happy for you two.
Do you have anything planned for you two?” Nova said delicately.
“We
had plans,” said Clive as he took the phone. “They’ll be somewhat accelerated
now.” Then, he looked at Angie. “I know that this may be a bad time…and we
talked about it…I again ask…will you marry…?”
“Yes,”
said Angie with a big smile before Clive could even finish.
Nova
overheard and smiled a little. “Well…good luck, then. We’ll talk when we get
home. Take care, you two…”
“Thank
you,” said Angie. “Clive, just wanted to say it…your cousin Bryan’s dead. And
that is the last time I’ll ever need to say his name again.”
“Guessed
that…” he said as he kissed Angie. “Where do ya want to get married, love?”
“Let
me sleep on that,” said Angie with a smile as she cuddled against Clive. Then,
he turned off the light…and went to sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED…..