by S. E. Smith
Her parents were sad to see their youngest and last child make the decision but were totally supportive. So monthly phone calls became Tink’s connection to a family that lived all over the country. Life was great then, and it still was four years later. At twenty-two, Tink couldn’t think how life could get any better. She had a great job at the local garage that did customized work, worked part-time for the college on all their miscellaneous equipment, helped Cosmos with the equipment he used for his experiments, and played with a small group of musicians a couple times a month at the brewery. Yep, life was great.
Turning right down Main Street and heading east two blocks, the river came into view. Over the small two-lane bridge and I’ll be home, she thought with a contented sigh.
The warehouse was dark except for a couple of soft lights shining out over the dark water from the first and third floors. Walking over the bridge, Tink stopped to listen to the soft sounds of the water flowing under it. She loved the sounds and smells of the town.
Sighing, she turned and headed over the bridge, thinking about the generator Cosmos wanted her to work on. Even if she didn’t know what half the stuff Cosmos talked about was or what he was working on, she did know the equipment and how it worked, and loved doing it.
She already had an idea of how to get more amps out of the generator and wanted to see if it would work. She didn’t know why Cosmos needed so much power. She would hate to have to pay the electric bill each month.
Cosmos insisted her electric was included as part of her monthly rent, when he let her pay it. She protested, but Cosmos stated it was too much hassle to try to determine the little she used from the large amount that he did. So, in exchange for her help with the equipment and the little she occasionally was able to slip to him, she had a huge living space at almost no cost.
Stepping up to the softly lit entrance, Tink punched the code into the electronic locking system on the heavy metal door. Tink installed it after Cosmos kept losing the keys to the door and locking himself out. The locking mechanism made a clicking noise, and the lock slid quietly open.
Pushing the door open, Tink closed the door and reset the lock. While Calais might be one of the safest cities in the country, Tink wasn’t a fool and didn’t take unnecessary risks.
“Better safe than sorry” was one of her parents’ favorite sayings. “Think of all possibilities before making a decision” was another saying, but Tink didn’t always follow that one, and it sometimes got her into trouble. Like the date she went on last week with the “Professor” from the engineering department at the college.
All he wanted was a quick tip in bed and a chance to see what Cosmos was up to. She figured that out about thirty minutes into the date when he kept trying to get her out of the restaurant and his hands down her pants. Forty-five minutes after the date had started, Tink was nursing bruised knuckles on her right hand where she punched the jerk after he didn’t listen to the word “stop” for the third time when he grabbed her ass. Enough was enough, and she didn’t appreciate getting groped in public by some pompous ass.
The lights came on automatically as she moved through the hallway leading to the lab, shaking Tink out of her musings of that disastrous date. Placing her hand on the palm-print scanner, Tink waited for the scan to finish and for the outer door to the lab to open. Moving to the second security scanner she sang the first verse of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”
The voice-recognition program called out a greeting in a soft husky voice that sounded a lot like Tink’s mom, Tilly. “Welcome, Tinker Bell. I hope you had a nice night. Cosmos wanted me to give you a message. He had to fly out to Chicago to see his parents and will be gone for a couple of weeks. He hopes this doesn’t cause you any problems. He left his charge card if you need to get any parts or need anything. He can be reached at the following number.” Tink sighed again. She missed the big guy when he was gone. Oh, well. It would be her and RITA for a lonely couple of weeks.
“Thanks, RITA.”
RITA—Tink’s mom’s latest software program that Tink had modified—was an acronym for Really Intelligent Technical Assistant. Tink used her mom’s voice simply because it made her feel like she had family with her whenever she was at home.
RITA used an artificial intelligence program that Tink’s mom, Tilly, developed a couple of years ago to help with some engineering project for the government. Tink copied the basic program last year when she was visiting and was developing it during her spare time. RITA was now a very advanced and sophisticated program that learned and developed every day. She had become a substitute mother to Tink, often giving her advice, like “Do you really think you should go out with that professor?” or “You really should eat better.”
“How was your gig tonight, dear?” RITA asked. Her voice came through the audio system that was wired throughout the warehouse, which the software could access at will.
“It was awesome! Oh, RITA, I wish you could have heard it. Doug played better than he ever had on the drums, and Mike was smoking on the piano. Gloria didn’t show, so I didn’t have to risk her being pissed that I was playing the bass tonight.”
Tink spun around in a circle, her rainbow-colored high-top sneakers squeaking as she turned on the waxed concrete flooring. Her baby blue below-the-knee skirt swirled out around her like one of the dancing tulips from a movie, showing off her long legs encased in a pair of calf-length dark blue spandex tights. Her white peasant top slipped a little farther down one shoulder as she danced across the floor singing one of the sultry pop songs that were currently all the rage.
She slid the guitar strap from her shoulder and held held the instrument in front of her like she was dancing with a man, her tool belt making soft, metallic clicks and clacks as she moved. As she danced around the room, her soft, short curls of golden-brown hair bobbed up and down with the motion. Tink’s hair and eyes were just two of her wonderful features that often gave her the appearance of a pixie or fairy.
Her wavy hair was light and flirty, matching her personality. It was the color of fall leaves with natural highlights of gold and amber. Her almond-shaped eyes were the color of melted dark chocolate, so dark, it felt like a person could drown in the depths.
Her figure showed her love of dancing and hard work. She moved with a natural grace she’d inherited from her mother, with long legs, long waist, and high firm breasts that were on the slightly plump side, making them seem a little large for her small frame. This used to be a problem until Tink learned to take advantage of her larger assets. Another wonderful lesson from her parents—“If you’ve got it, flaunt it, then knock the shit out of the problem.”
Yep, her parents were wise and wonderful people. She did just that when Mister Professor grabbed her that last time. He hadn’t known what hit him until it was too late because he had been looking at her breasts instead of her fists.
“That’s wonderful, dear. You know, I could short-circuit Gloria’s car the next time she takes it in for repair or hack into her computer and put a nice little virus in it,” RITA said with a hint of amusement.
“Thanks, RITA, but I don’t think that’s necessary…at least, not yet. If she keeps giving me a hard time I’ll let you have a go at her,” Tink replied with a slight laugh and a mischievous lift to her lips.
“Did you get a chance to run the configuration I sent to you this morning on the changes I wanted to make to the generator to get more amps out of it?” Tink asked as she walked over to the steps leading down to the lower section of the lab.
The lab took up most of the lower section of the warehouse and housed a split-level with the upper half for computers and the lower for the generators and power sources. The top level was filled with computer equipment and some type of console that controlled Cosmos’ latest experiment.
Tink ignored the console as she walked by, more interested in the lower level. The lower half was where the generator and electrical cabinets were located. Those were her babies. It also contained a st
range metal framing that looked almost like a huge doorway. There were cables from the electrical panels and generator attached to metal cabinets that contained the necessary circuit breakers in case of a problem.
“Of course, dear. I sent some additional changes I made to your iPad. You should be able to pull it up. The changes you made were brilliant, and you should be able to pull an additional 11.52368 amps from the generator.”
“Cool!” Tink said as she skipped down the metal steps.
Leaning her guitar and oversize purse against the bottom step, Tink ran her hand through her hair and adjusted her tool belt. Moving over to the large generator located under the upper platform, Tink pulled out the tools she was going to need to open that bad boy up, and started to work. Luckily, tomorrow was Sunday, so it didn’t matter that it was going to be a long night. She could sleep in, and she was off Monday for the holiday weekend. Humming softly, she slowly slid under the generator to pull open the panel she needed to get into first.
She spent the next three hours working on the different modifications she had drawn out on the schematic. Finishing up the last modifications, she slid the panel back into place and tightened the screws down. Making sure she had all of her tools put back into her tool belt, she rose stiffly off the floor.
“Ugh, I think I’m getting too old for this!” Tink muttered under her breath as she slowly stretched out her tired muscles. “RITA, can you fire up Cosmos’ new program, and let’s test the generator out to see if I got everything?”
“Sure thing, dear. You sound beat. Do you want to wait until later?” RITA commented, even as she started the programming that would fire up the console.
RITA knew Tink enough to know she wouldn’t stop until she confirmed that the changes she’d made worked. If they didn’t test it now, Tink would go upstairs and worry that she should have changed this or done that.
Laughing, Tink let out a tired breath. “You know me better than that. Let me know when you get a power reading.”
Tink walked over to the metal stairs slowly, twisting this way and that to relieve her aching muscles from all the sitting, bending, and awkward leaning over she had done for over three hours. Glancing at her watch, she noticed it was almost five thirty in the morning.
Well, no coffee for me this morning if I plan on sleeping the day away, she thought tiredly.
As she moved past one of the panels on the wall next to the stairs Tink noticed some strange lanyards hanging next to it. Moving closer, she picked one up, turning it over and over in her palm. She glanced up again. There were four of them with small cylinder devices hanging from them. They were absolutely beautiful! The cylinders had carvings on them that matched the carving Cosmos put on the metal frame of the “doorway” thing. Tink could tell they were some type of electronic device. Tink placed the lanyard in the pocket of her skirt. She wanted to take a closer look at it when she wasn’t so tired. She would have plenty of time to replace it before Cosmos came back.
Bending over, Tink picked up her guitar and her oversize purse. Sliding the purse over one shoulder so it draped across her and sliding the guitar case strap over the other, Tink moved to climb the stairs leading to the upper floor and her long-awaited bed.
Chapter 2
Tink was just putting her foot on the first step when out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a strange light emitted from the metal “doorway.” The entire thing seemed to shimmer, and then it cleared up, opening to another room. The room was a soft gray with low lights emanating from the floor and ceiling. Tink blinked a couple of times, thinking she was hallucinating from being overtired.
What the…? she thought as she shook her head again to try to clear her eyesight.
No matter how much she shook her head or rubbed her eyes, the room was still there. Hesitating, she slowly put her foot back down onto the concrete floor of the lab. Turning, she walked toward the metal “doorway.” Glancing up, she looked at the metal surrounding the door, noticing there were a series of lights running faster and faster around it.
Shaking her head from the dizziness of watching the lights going around, she gently stretched her hand out to touch what should have been solid concrete where the wall of the lab should have been. She felt a slight tingling as her hand passed through the doorway but nothing that felt dangerous or disturbing. Tink pulled her hand back and glanced up toward where the console was with a frown.
“RITA, what do you make of this?” Tink asked in a slightly husky voice.
“I’m not sure, dear, but I don’t think it would hurt you. Why don’t you take a look and see what it is!” RITA replied, sounding almost eager.
Take a look? Was RITA nuts? Could a computer be nuts? Was Tink going nuts? Hooray, now all she was doing was thinking about nuts!
“What do the readings say?” Tink asked curiously.
“You were able to pull over 12.8695 amps out of the generator! What a wonderful increase, dear. It seems to be just what Cosmos needed to get his project running,” RITA said, sounding excited.
“Well, maybe you should power it down now that we know it worked. I’m not sure what Cosmos is doing, but if he can create a room that wasn’t there before, maybe I don’t want to mess with it,” Tink said, starting to turn around.
Tink hadn’t taken more than a step when she heard something coming from the other side of the “doorway.”
“What was that? RITA, did you pick up anything?” Turning back toward the doorway, Tink looked closer.
A tall, dark-haired man was fighting with… Tink shook her head again. A… What the hell is that? Tink moved closer as the man raised his sword. Holy crap, the guy had a huge sword! The man looked like he was fighting a big iguana! The other creature was hissing, its tongue moving in and out as it swung what looked like a double-edged sword toward the tall, dark-haired man. The dark-haired man moved backward trying to stay out of the iguana dude’s reach. He was holding his right arm close to his body like he was hurt, and he was dragging his left leg.
Tink glanced down at it as he moved by and saw blood flowing from a deep gash that had to hurt like hell. As he moved by, Tink saw the dark-haired man’s face for the first time. The man’s features caused Tink to gasp. He looked more like a kid! Not more than sixteen or seventeen! The iguana dude raised his double-edged sword over his head and struck a particularly brutal blow on the sword arm of the dark-haired boy. The power of the blow caused the boy to fall backward where he lay sprawled on the floor of the hallway. The iguana dude roared with triumph and raised his sword over his head in order to deal a death blow.
Derik knew his time had come. He knew death would come quickly now. When their ship was attacked, he gripped his battle-sword, ready to defend his shipmates and his brothers. A feeling of regret surged through him as he thought of his parents’ and brothers’ reaction to his death.
He was only seventeen planet cycles old and had begged and pestered his father and older brothers to let him join them on this trade mission to a nearby star system. Everything was fine until they’d received a distress call from a starship two clicks ago. They were the closest ship and offered to help. The signals coming from the ship identified it as a class-five passenger starship on on course to Caldara Four to drop off its passengers. The distress signal also identified multiple system failures, including environmental.
Responding to the distress signal, they encountered the Juangans instead. The Juangans had obviously hijacked the starship. They used it as a decoy in an effort to get unsuspecting ships to come to its rescue. They were a fierce species that preyed on anything that moved and were known for their brutal treatment not only of each other, but of any species they encountered. They were not picky about who or what they ate. They were known to even sacrifice members of their own crew to fulfill their grisly appetites.
Derik was a member of the Prime, a proud warrior people who lived in a galaxy that had several habitable planets. There were three planets in the Prime system that supplied a wide var
iety of materials the Prime used for trading with other nearby galaxies, though only one was fully inhabited. Baade was the home world of the Prime.
Two smaller planets, Lacertae and Carafe, had only small, isolated cargo ports, mining facilities, and military sites. Their most important resource was the crystals that helped to power their world and their ships. Mined on the smallest of the three planets, Carafe, the crystals were heavily protected. Their ship on this trip had not contained a cargo of the crystal, but of fruits and other natural products the nearby galaxy of Grus used for their space stations and planetary needs.
While this ship was a military warship, they used it sometimes to transport products to nearby galaxies as a cover to gather and observe data on the neighboring inhabitants. They had already dropped the shipment off and were returning with a variety of materials that could not be found on their home planet.
One of the things they would have liked to have found were females from the other galaxy that were a match for their men. Women on their home planet were held in very high regard. Unfortunately, there were not very many women available. Most of the women on Prime were already spoken for through the mating rites which were performed as soon as the female came of age. The problem was the birth rate of females remained low, making it difficult for the unmated males to find mates.
Prime males were matched to their mates though a mating rite ceremony, and if no match was made, life for the unattached males meant a solitary existence. The mating rites were a chemical reaction that occurred when a Prime male had a physical and emotional chemical reaction bonding them to a female. The males become overwhelmed with feelings of possessiveness, protectiveness, and sexual desire. A mating mark, a series of intricate circles denoting the unbreakable bond between mates, appeared on the palm of the male and the matching female when they come into contact with each other. Each mark was as individualized as the bonded pair. It would not appear until the male and female reached the age of mating.