by F. E. Arliss
Clyde was her home now. The crew was her family. Quirke had turned out to be a better father to her than she’d ever hoped for in her own. She’d do it. It would be a good future. Dangerous, but good.
Slapping open the door mech on her quarters, Arc strode towards the bridge. The chiming of the entrance code to the bridge brought her face to face with Commander Quirke as the door slid open. The bridge was empty except for the Commander. Looking him straight in the eye, Arc stated calmly, “First Mate Arc Quirke reporting for duty, Sir.”
She saw the Captain’s strained face relax, then a ghost of a grin slipped over his wrinkled features. “First Mate Arc Quirke, you have the helm,” he returned. Then winked at her and left the bridge, a little jaunt in his step.
Chapter Twelve
Renegar Reunion
The return trip to Renegar with the food and plants from Geboren was almost as fun as the trip out had been with the hippolytes.
The entire crew loved walking the narrow aisles in the cargo hold created by the stacked containers of plants. Small slats in the sides of the crates allowed the orchids, fruits, veg, and flowers to peep out and put on wonderful displays that coincided with the cycles of full-spectrum lighting that Coates and Cole had rigged up to nurture them.
The cargo bay smelled wonderful and the water misters that sprayed delicate plumes of water droplets through the air to maintain the fragile plants simply added to the atmosphere and turned the whole bay into a giant terrarium.
Not even Dag had batted an eyelash when Commander Quirke announced that he would be adopting Arc as his daughter, now to be called Arc Quirke, once they arrived on Renegar. Admittedly, Arc was more shocked than any of the rest of the crew. Birdie seemed most enchanted with the idea and Arc saw Quirke watch the little girl’s face light up with enthusiasm at the announcement.
Glancing towards Arc, Quirke grinned at her and she smiled back. Arc doubted it would be long until she had a little sister, too. They would discuss it to make sure Birdie was old enough to understand the commitment she’d be making. Due to her mistreatment at the hands of her own species, Arc doubted that big commitments would scare the tiny girl.
When they arrived on Renegar, it felt so very sad to think of unloading the cargo. They’d miss the green, as the Captain put it. Arc thought that the fresh air had been nice too. Maybe they could turn one side of the tiny galley into a plant wall like they’d seen on Aasha, the Geboren living habitat.
Arc floated the idea to Dag and a few days later he, Coates and Cole had come up with an idea for how to make it happen. They would simply copy the idea of the organic shipping crates from Geboren and would install a full wall of ‘kangaroo’ pockets with organic matter and water misters running along the wall on a timing mechanism. Once a month they’d have to be fed, but that duty wouldn’t be a chore for any of them as refreshing and peaceful as the wall would make the galley area. Plus, they could have fresh herbs.
Talking to Quirke about the idea, Arc was pleased with his enthusiasm. The Clyde was becoming more and more a home for them all. That pleased him. He hadn’t even realized that he’d been lonely until now.
Once again, the crew was surprised on Renegar. Captain Kelty came to meet them and, after directing them where to unload the cargo, asked them to take on another mission. The Clyde would be sent on to Idolum General Monsav’s home planet. There they would pick up a load of Soclaued ore that had just arrived from a series of asteroids on the fringes of that galaxy. The crew would then transport it back to UZ627.
Having a few hours to wait and get refueled and restocked, Sasha Kelty asked them if they’d like to have lunch and a tour of the area around the main base. Everyone agreed enthusiastically. Arc took the time to flirt with Caja as he accompanied them on the walk.
The planet was so interesting. From space it looked like nothing so much as an empty orange ball of flaming desert. What wasn’t visible from space or even from the surface was that Renegar had deep ravines that plunged thousands of feet. Inside those ravines ran small streams. Sasha and her crew had made this flaming ball of desert come to life. Rows of narrow terraced garden beds lined the thin walls of the plunging cliffs. Some of the slender walkways that ran along the ravines were natural, others had been built of vines and narrow rods of cane that looked suspiciously similar to bamboo on Earth.
If one was afraid of heights, Renegar was not the place to be. While its wide-open plateaus suggested nothing but empty, barren wilderness, the hidden crevasses and treacherously steep, slot canyons teemed with life.
Fish were being farmed in shallow pools along the bottoms of the canyons, where small amounts of water were siphoned off from the running streams and diverted into habitats for a particular type of bottom feeding fish which the inhabitants of Gateka, a highly technological water planet, had been kind enough to help them find.
Each slender garden terrace had been paired with the type of fruit or vegetable that would flourish in its soil. Caja, the tall Vanguardian warrior, explained that constant soil testing and monitoring kept all the species flourishing. If the soil changed it could be enriched with the hippolyte fertilizer which the Clyde had returned with from Geboren. If, for some reason, it wasn’t possible to enrich the soil to the right levels, then a different crop was matched to the bed. It seemed a lot of effort for such small areas, but Caja explained that the narrow beds fed the entire planet’s population.
Arc and the crew marveled over what could be accomplished in such a small place. Dag had already whispered to her that they could get a large pot and perhaps grow miniature fruit trees in each corner of the galley. The crew had overheard his suggestion and vigorously agreed.
There was even a natural hot spring in the bottom of one incredibly deep, stab-wound of a canyon. Small slots had been worked into the sides just large enough for a body to slide down into and partake of the waters. It was a natural outdoor spa.
Caja kindly gave them an hour there, and with the ease of familiarity of long months spent in space in a confined area, each member of the crew shucked their clothes with abandon and slid into their allotted space.
Birdie being smaller than anyone else, shared with Arc. It was pure bliss. Silence reigned. Some type of insect whirred in the brush along the canyon wall, and a small bird sang a throaty trill occasionally from a nearby bush. They all relished the relaxation and if Arc’s emotions were anything to go by, they all felt homesick for the natural beauty of Earth. Birdie, having never seen it, simply fell asleep against Arc’s shoulder.
After their long soak and a very steep, long upward climb, they were grateful to see a solar-powered rope lift, wedged into a shallow crack in the ragged canyon wall. Grabbing hold of the vine, as Caja instructed, then putting one foot in a loop, activated the lift. It whirred upward smoothly and deposited a shaken Arc at the edge of the plateau. Each crew member stepped quickly away from the flimsy contraption as it unloaded each to the top. As glad as they had been of the short-cut, Arc wasn’t sure they’d want to use the lift again. Its slender rope and next-to-nothing support, was certainly not for the faint of heart.
As the far side of the plateau come into view along one side of the large landing area, a wall of rock suddenly dissolved. All six of them stopped as though hit by a bus. Caja turned, grinned to them, bowed from the waist, and said with a flourish of one arm, “Your feast awaits my friends. Join us in our habitat for a meal made from ingredients raised solely on Renegar.”
The next hour was almost as much of a revelation as the feast on Geboren had been. It was truly amazing what Captain Kelty and her crew had achieved. Commander Quirke was the most tickled with the cloaking device that hid the immense cavern that housed a variety of spacecraft and several tiers of housing carved into the stone walls of the cavern.
Water had been piped up from deep in the caverns and worked on an ingenious siphoning method that required very little energy. Energy on Renegar was not a problem, however, as almost everything ran on solar, of which
there was a vast supply during its bright, blazing days.
After the large lunch, everyone was feeling very mellow and relaxed when Captain Kelty and a blue android came to the table and stood to make an announcement.
“This is Blue,” Captain Kelty explained, her own blue eyes sparkling as she introduced the android. “He is indeed a ‘self-learning’ android and surprises me each day with his wit and humanity.”
At that statement, the android bowed his head, then surprised them all when he leaned over and kissed Sasha’s cheek. ‘Thank you, my Queen,” he said shyly.
“As you can see, there is far more to Blue than meets the eye. What you can’t see is that Blue is able to file all types of legal documents and access all of the known databases,” she continued with a glint in her eye. “Because of his wondrous capabilities, we have been able to formalize Commander Quirke’s adoption of Arc Copperfield, and we are happy to present to you, fait accompli, the registration and legalization of Commander Ewan Quirke’s new family. He now has two daughters: Arc Quirke and Birdie Quirke.”
At that announcement, tiny Birdie leaped up, hurled herself into Ewan Quirke’s arms, and burst into tears. “Thank you. Thank you so much,” she whispered, hiccupping in between gasps for air. She then turned and hugged Arc just as hard. “A real sister. One who likes me just the way I am,” she sobbed.
“I am so happy. You were right, Arc, my sister. Things were terrible for me, but my indenturement gave me a better life in the end. I’ve got a family. A real family.” With that last statement she went around and hugged Dag, Cole and Coates, who each shyly accepted their first close contact with the tiny Vanguardian.
Commander Quirke stood suddenly and addressed the group. “Many thanks to Captain Kelty and Blue for arranging this and making our family legal. Dag, Cole and Coates, you all know you are part of this family as well. But bein’ as you already have kin that love you, you’ll have to make do with just bein’ crew family.” This brought a round of guffaws from the three men, and a gracious nod of accepted thanks from Sasha and Blue.
“As you all know, we’re venturing into unknown territory with our new alliance with Captain Kelty and Queen Altum Juls,” Ewan Quirke continued, a look of grim determination on his face. “We’ll have to pull together forever now that we’re in this. There’s no going back. If any of you want to change your minds about things, now is the time to say so.” His flinty gaze met each of their eyes in turn. No one flinched or backed out. Each, in their own turn, said, “I’m in.”
Birdie, bless her soul, fairly shouted it, “I’m in, I’m in!” Quirke grinned at her and ruffled her hair. “Well, we are now going to hear what we’ve gotten ourselves into,” he said grimly.
Chapter Thirteen
Idolum Empire Explained
The next two hours were spent in a fast-paced barrage of information delivered by the android Blue and enlarged upon by Sasha Kelty and Caja. It was a lot to take in, even though Commander Quirke had already told them part of the story on the way to their original mission to Geboren.
Blue began, “The Idolum are a species feared and reviled by most. Their ability to sustain themselves by feeding on mammalian energy causes widespread panic in most species. Even though they rarely harm their prey on a permanent basis, preferring to take energy and let the giver recover to feed on again, the knowledge that they could kill is enough to terrify the masses.”
“The fact that their ships are organic and grown around mammalian brains of various species only adds to the hysteria. Nor are the Idolum, as a whole, very friendly. Especially in the past. They are vastly superior in technology and are physically far advanced in comparison to most mammalian species. They have a superhuman strength and an agility that makes them seem to fly or disappear as they move. These facts led many of them to become arrogant and to develop a flagrant disregard for the lives of others. That is changing now, at least in some nests,” Blue added.
“One branch of the Idolum species, a very large and powerful clan, had been run for millennia by an ancient and much revered Queen named Queen Altum Vis,” Sasha took over the briefing from Blue.
“She was murdered by her first in command, General Shale. Though he managed to keep that a secret for centuries, the truth came out when he escaped from the Intergalactic Guard’s high security prison asteroid and took his energy healer with him. She was an energy worker named Jullian Arban,” Captain Kelty continued.
“When he decided to betray the healer by selling her off to the highest bidder, she escaped from him with the aid of General Monsav. Monsav, awed by the natural power she wielded with her energy work, saw her as a human queen. His nest’s original queen died with no successor and, willing to take a chance on this new hope for a nurturing queen, he supported her as his nest’s new queen.”
“Wanting to earn her place in the nest, Jullian Arban and General Monsav agreed that she should enter the Knotted Abyss in a madcap mission to locate the lost ship of Queen Altum Vis.” Seeing the rapt attention of her listeners, Sasha continued.
“The hope was that she would locate the ship, Talio, and be able to learn from it all the histories and knowledge a dying queen usually passed on to her successor via the ‘queen pool’ -- a type of energy bath where their consciousnesses were combined,” she added with a grimace.
“It worked. Jullian Arban found the Talio. The ship was derelict and floating randomly in the abyss. Upon docking, she and her two Idolum mite companions, Dent and Axel, found the ship alive, but severely depleted. A year later, they had repaired all systems and nurtured the ship’s energies back to full power. In the process, they’d learned that Queen Altum Vis’ consciousness was still active in the ‘queen pool’ in her quarters.”
Blue once again took up the story, as Sasha paused for a drink of water. “Jullian Arban immersed herself in the pool and over the period of three days and three nights, absorbed the consciousness of Queen Altum Vis, thus becoming Queen Altum Juls.”
“Upon her emergence from the abyss, her nest awaited her. They joined her and retired to a hidden location, the moon Geboren.” At the gasps of recognition that Jullian Arban was the Queen Altum Juls that they had already met, Blue grinned and continued.
“Upon landing on Geboren, she and General Monsav and his nest, tried to revive the last of Queen Altum Vis’ eggs. Laid centuries ago, before her betrayal by General Shale, many of the warrior eggs did not survive. About twenty warrior eggs lived. General Freux, the patriarch of that batch of eggs, came to her side during the birthings.” Blue halted for dramatic effect.
“Three of the eggs were ‘royal’ and are now her three children, Apollo, Athena and Adonis. Athena is Queen to a General, Savauge is his name, and his nest. General Apollo, a master of strategy, has his own small ship called the Lance. Adonis is at the side of General Freux, aboard their ship Labrys. Queen Altum Juls rules from aboard her ship Talio, and General Monsav, whom you did not meet on Geboren, aids her from his nest ship Centurion,” Sasha added with a grin. “Can you imagine, a husband, father, and a bunch of kids all at once!”
“When Geboren was bombarded by the Intergalactic Guard, most of the original habitat was destroyed. Queen Altum Juls remained until the end and was almost killed as her small ship jumped from the atmosphere,” Blue continued, pinning Sasha with a glare meant to quiet her outbursts of humor.
“She was knocked off-course and was missing for three years. During that time, she was stranded on a planet that had been destroyed by its people through ongoing war and their inability to make peace with each other. In the end, a small group of spiritual survivors sought shelter in the underground caves of the planet.”
“There, they evolved. Slowly coming to a crossroads where their survival depended upon evolving into superior beings capable of existing on the planet, or of dematerializing and becoming part of the ethers of space,” Blue said quietly.
Sasha leapt in again, clearly excited by the next part of the story. “None made the decisio
n to remain corporeal. If they had, they would have become Osmir. Which is what Queen Altum Juls did. Did you see her? She’s huge and super smart! Anyway, she died to be reborn again as Osmir! She had to impale herself on this huge granite slab on a bunch of nail-like granite stalagmites! Isn’t that amazing? That is why she is larger and has a vastly superior ability with energy than any other known entity,” Sasha exclaimed eagerly.
Blue resumed in his matter-of-fact tone, “When she was able to repair her ship and leave the system, her nest was waiting for her. To her, it had seemed as though only a few weeks had passed. In this dimension, it had been three years!”
“The Queen’s nest had divided and a team of watchers had hidden on General Monsav’s home planet. Others had put themselves in stasis and given their ships over to the Knotted Abyss in the belief that she would come for them. They never doubted her, and she rewarded that faith,” Sasha said soberly.
Blue added, “When the news that Queen Altum Juls lived with the consciousness of Queen Altum Vis within her, great dissent broke out. The news that General Shale had murdered Queen Altum Vis became widely known and a great divide occurred among the nests of the Idolum.”