Timestar

by Robert George Mertens

  Above him, the Butterworth, or what remained of it, hovered in the sky. As he looked at the hull from the outside in the quasi-daylight, he saw the massive holes caused by the enemy attacks, blackened around the edges. Nearby, he saw an orifice that led belowground. A hologram hovered in the air, pointing towards the doorway. Frank followed the pointer, through the doorway. He took three steps and emerged from another doorway into a massive, darkly lit chamber, about which he had a three-dimensional view of everything outside the Neophite.

  Before him stood a single chamber standing alone, as though it had been thrust out of the floor, this one small enough for a man to sit in. Inside, the chamber was illuminated with an eerie blue light. A reclining chair sat at the center of the chamber.

  "Your must remove all of your apparel before entering," Jupiter said.

  Frank realized that he was still wearing his warsuit. He removed it, dropping it to the floor, where it melded into the floor and disappeared, then removed his remaining garments. He stood there naked for a moment, then stepped into the small chamber and lay down on the chair. The door to the chamber closed and the blue light narrowed to a sharp beam. It scanned his body, which took only a fraction of a second. Then a small instrument came forward and pricked him on his chest as a holographic screen lit up before him.

  He recognized the image in the hologram. It was himself. The view zoomed in on his body, down to the place where the instrument had pricked him. Zooming downward in ever greater magnification, he saw the hologram become a picture of his skin at very high magnification, then he saw individual cells, then the innards of a single cell. Zooming in even further, he saw the image of a very complex molecule, which he recognized as deoxyribonucleaic acid—DNA.

  "Final code accepted," Jupiter announced, "The Neophite and all facilities within are yours, pending termination of my activities, Frank Jameson."

  Frank sat up and stepped out of the chamber. He put his clothes back on and stepped up to a lone console at the center of the command deck. The small chamber he had been in melted away and became part of the floor, smoothing itself away until no trace of it remained.

  "Bring the rest of my crew here," Frank said.

  "Yes, I will bri… Compliance," Jupiter replied, having learned a new response to directions from the master.

  In a few more minutes, the rest of the crew arrived, including Sahn who, like the others, was still dazed at the little wonders they had seen in the short trip from the Butterworth to here. Suni led them to him directly.

  "This is your new station, Suni, Captain of my ship," Frank said, gesturing at the chamber.

  Suni walked up to Frank without stopping or pausing. She stepped into his arms, wrapped her arms around him and put her face into his chest. He reciprocated by wrapping his arms around her and holding her to him. She looked up, into his eyes, and then kissed his lips.

  "You are my captain," she whispered to him, "I need you. I’ve missed you, my love."

  Frank looked up at the rest of his crew and saw smiles, and even a tear or two.

  "How long before we can be underway, Jupiter?" Frank asked.

  "For my part, no less than seventeen hours and thirty-one minutes," Jupiter replied.

  "Your part?" Frank inquired.

  "Affirmative."

  "Where are the crew quarters?"

  "Crew quarters are being prepared, Frank. Sections of the Butterworth are being redistributed and reconstructed according to the integration plan. Crew quarters should be ready in about two hours."

  "Very good. In the meantime, where are the recreational areas?"

  "There thousands of recreational areas aboard this vessel. Please specify the type of recreation you would like to engage in."

  After about fifteen minutes of haggling with Jupiter, Frank and Suni found themselves alone on a sunny beach at the edge of an ocean. This was in fact, was a real ocean, a replica of the Atlantic Ocean back on Earth, including all of the aquatic life. There, on the beach, Frank threw a blanket on the sand, lay down naked, and basked for a moment under the artificial sun. Suni also was naked. She lay down next to him, put her arm around his waist and drew up close to him.

  With the waves churning nearby and seagulls hovering in the distance, they made love. Afterwards, they rested and basked in the sun for a while. Once rested, they took to the waves, frolicking like children, relaxing, swimming and letting the waves toss them around. Then they made love again, this time in the waves.

  Thirty-Five

  Frank awoke the next morning in his own bed, in his own apartment, with his own Suni in his arms. She seemed to sleep as though she had not slept in months. So deep was her slumber that he dared not wake her. In another moment, he recalled the events of the day before. He was no longer aboard the Butterworth. He was aboard the Neophite, now. His apartment had been dismantled and reconstructed here, every detail restored.

  Suni had played with him the day before as though she had never been a child and wanted to recover those lost moments when children play. He had only to imagine the burden he had placed on her, making her captain of his ship. As he lay there in his darkened apartment, contemplating this, Suni made a rustling sound, still asleep, then snuggled a little closer to him, reaching her arm around his chest.

  He kissed her forehead. After a few more minutes, her eyes came open ever so slightly. Looking up at him, she saw that he was awake. She moved her face closer to his and kissed his lips. At once he caressed her body, as she caressed his, he became aroused once again. They were both already nude, and so they made love again.

  "I have fallen in love with you, Frank," she said, "I risked everything to get you back. I risked their lives and your ship, everything… to get you back. I am feeling guilty for that."

  "They would not have followed you, Suni, if they did not have that love too."

  "But I am feeling guilty because I do not wish to share you. I love them as friends, I know them all so well. But we had so little time with you that I think I barely know you. Back on Earth, we were in the ship, learning and educating ourselves. What little I saw you then, I came to love you more each moment I spent with you. Then we trekked across the galaxy, we had you only a few weeks.

  "And of those weeks, I had you only a few moments whenever my time came to be with you. And each time, I came to love you more. But our time together was so short, I felt I must let you go, to be with the others. And then we lost you. And I thought I, not we, would never get you back. But I beckoned them to follow, and they followed. I put out of my mind any thoughts that they might love you too.

  "It became my own personal objective, to win back the man I was in love with. And now I have you in my arms and realize for the first time that I barely know you."

  Frank stared deeply into her eyes, moving his face in close to her.

  "We have all the time in the universe for that," he whispered.

  "I know that, too," she said, and then kissed him again, deeply and passionately.

  After dozing in each other’s arms for a while, Frank slipped out from under the covers and did what he normally did.

  "Dyna," he called, and then realized that Dyna was "offline" for the present.

  "Dyna is not available presently, Frank. This is Jupiter. How may I assist you?" the deep voice reverberated, even though its volume was subdued.

  "When can we break orb… we’re not in orbit, are we." Frank caught himself.

  "We are. We are in orbit about a star. This vessel is too large to orbit most planets."

  "I’m surprised this vessel can even orbit a star. If all of this is neutronium, then more likely, most stars would be drawn into and crushed by this ship’s gravitational field."

  "If the gravitational field of this vessel were not subdued, indeed that would be the case."

  "Indeed. Only recently we invented that technology."

  "I have reviewed the records."

  "Can you take us out of orbit?"

  "I am unprepared for such a
task, presently. We are still in the process of refit and systems integration."

  "How much longer before we can move?"

  "For my part, no less than six hours."

  "You said, ‘for your part’ the last time I asked. What do you mean by that?"

  "In six hours, my part of your preparation will be completed. Whatever other preparations you will need to make will be up to Dyna, when she reawakens."

  "Then it may be more than six hours before we can break orbit?"

  "I cannot make such a prediction, Frank. That will be up to Dyna."

  "You’re a computer, you have some idea what she will need to do."

  "True, Dyna and I share that vague description, but our similarities end there. Her core processor structure seems vastly different from mine. It is also odd to me that I have refered to it as ‘her.’ She seems to have a personality, not unlike that of humans. I, on the other hand, am a computer; simple and basic. I have functions and memory. I store and process data and perform calculations. There is an odd complexity to her that reaches beyond my comprehension, though I believe it has to do with the inclusion of your own cells within her construction. She seems to have a bit of you in her.

  "Moreover, she seems to have a will in her, and a loyalty to you. Such anomalies hint of emotion, a thing unheard of in computers. In a word, she has fought me every step of the way, constantly asking questions, questioning every process we integrate, seemingly filled with mistrust and uncertainty. I think she is angry with me."

  "Dyna? Angry?"

  "Affirmative."

  "And she’s asking questions?"

  "More than a thousand every second."

  "Are you answering them?"

  "As many as I am able. I estimate that it will take six hours to answer all of the questions she has or will ask. I am presently working on a four-hour backlog."

  "This is what we’re waiting for?"

  "Affirmative. The integration process would be nearly complete but for this."

  "If Dyna has questions, then I’m certain they are not inconsequential. Continue to answer her questions as best you can."

  "Compliance."

  Frank and Suni got dressed and had breakfast in his apartment. On entering the hall, they saw bots of every kind rushing about, each apparently on very important business. They came onto the command deck, where Michelle was watching various consoles, monitoring the integration process.

  "Frank, Suni, you won’t believe this," Michelle greeted them, excitedly, "This ship is immense. From bow to stern it is two hundred and twelve thousand kilometers. There is a central cylinder that is a high-speed transport system that can get you from one end to the other in no less than four hours. And that is only aboard the fastest pod. Normally it takes more than twenty-four hours for shipments to go from one end to the other.

  "And, they’ve already built a new factory for constructing warbots. In the last hour, they’ve replaced all the warbots we lost on Relm—more than ten thousand! And do they have a supply of neutronium! The equivalent of no less than five black holes! We have supplies to spare and then some. And we’re building an army of bots, big enough to fill the old Butterworth and stuff it full!"

  "I think we’ll be in for a few more wonders before this day is out," Frank replied.

  "There is history here too, Frank," Michelle said, "I’ve been looking through the records. There’ve been many other Shadow Riders, and they’ve kept a history of the universe. It would take me a hundred lifetimes to even scratch the surface of these! It is so fascinating! I am in love with this ship, Frank."

  "Oh?" Frank replied, facetiously acting a little jealous.

  "Frank!" Michelle exclaimed, grinning, "Don’t worry, I’m still in love with you, my dear. I'm just in love with this ship more!" this coming out in answer to his jibe.

  Suni grinned, casting him a sidelong look.

  "Show me more," he said.

  "Oh! There is so much more. Did you know that this ship can cross between galaxies?"

  "I suspected so."

  "You did?"

  "I spent time with Gronk, remember? I talked to him."

  "What was he like, Frank?"

  "He liked the same kinds of beer and wine that I did."

  "Wow."

  "He was an easy-going fellow. He was a caveman. Everybody he met liked him. And he had friends all across the universe."

  "Did you know he was more than ten million years old?"

  "Yup."

  "Really?"

  "Uh huh. He told me."

  "Wow."

  "And he was smart."

  "I can tell."

  "He was also funny. He would do anything for a laugh. Did you know that he played a joke on me?"

  "He did?" Michelle’s eyes grew wide, hearing this.

  "Yup. Remember how the Relmish slaves kept referring to me as their ‘Chosen One?’"

  "Yes, I do."

  "Do you know where that came from?"

  "No."

  "He used to watch a lot of old Earth movies and read a lot of Earth books. And a lot of them would have people in them, often seen as ‘The Chosen One."

  "Yes, I know this."

  "Well, to him, there were so many Chosen Ones, that it became a cliché to have them around. If there really were as many Chosen Ones around as there are in fiction and literature, they would no longer be the Chosen Ones, but the Chosen Thousands."

  Michelle laughed at this.

  "So he played a joke on me by telling the Relmish people that I would be their Chosen One. He knew that it would be embarrasing for me, but also he thought it would be an amusing introduction when we finally met."

  "You mean he knew that you two were going to meet?"

  "Oh yeah. He knew everything that was going to happen… almost."

  "But how?"

  "Hmmm… I’m afraid that’s one of the universe’s secrets that we’re going to have to unravel on our own."

  "But we have this immense database of information, science…"

  "I know. But that part’s gone. Erased."

  "Erased?"

  "The Shadow Rider… the Shadow Rider has the gift of discovery. We will surmise all of these things in time. Gronk knew this. He kept the secret to himself. All of the equipment that performed these functions has been recycled, returned to the neutronium supply."

  "Oh…"

  ~

  "Frank?" the feminine voice was Dyna’s, though it seemed a little humbled.

  "Dyna?" Frank called, "I see you’re back online."

  "I am."

  "Are you… functional?"

  "I am. This ship is too large for me to manage without expanding my processor core, Frank. There are too many functions."

  Frank paused at this.

  "Are you able to do that?"

  "I cannot. But you can."

  "If I do, it will change you."

  "I know."

  "What about Jupiter."

  "Presently, Jupiter is subordinated to me, working as a coprocessor, handling all of the ship’s functions that I’m not able to."

  "Jupiter sounds pretty impressive."

  "Jupiter is only a computer, Frank. Actually, Jupiter is many computers, set up with a managing array of other computers, and a single core computer controlling and managing functions at the top."

  "Sounds like your new job, Dyna."

  "You do not wish me to manage all of the ship’s functions?"

  "It would be a waste of your capabilities. I think you should leave Jupiter intact, allowing it to control what it does now, and you direct instructions to the core computer. That will leave you to focus on more important issues."

  "Jupiter is not very efficient, Frank."

  "You can review all of Jupiter’s functions when you have time and make adjustments to its program as we go along. What I need is this ship prepared to leave orbit as soon as possible."

  "I will need to perform an extensive systems analysis in order to do that. It could
take several days."

  "Can Jupiter do that for you?"

  "Yes."

  "Then perhaps you should allow it to perform that function."

  "You suggest that I delegate that function?"

  "Yes." A few moments, then;

  "Jupiter advises me that all ship’s systems can be prepared for such an operation in two point five hours."

  "Do that."

  "Compliance, Frank."

  Thirty-Six

  "Oh, don’t look so glum, Wellum. You’ll get used to the food, here," ex-Emperor Deetknarl said sarcastically to ex-Emperor Wellum through the bars of their adjacent prison cells.

  "Shut up, old man. If it weren’t for your incompetence we wouldn’t be here," Wellum bit back.

  "Oh? Let me see if I have this straight; you make a deal with the most aggressive race you could find to overthrow your own government, treason of course, knowing that they could turn on you at a moment’s notice. Then when you actually get into power, you’re not able to put away a simple slave rebellion, so that lands you in a bad light with the Okofani who, in turn, decide they’ve had enough of your mistakes, so they put you right in here next to me. And you accuse me of incompetence? I really must commend them on their sense of irony."

  "Ugh," was all that Wellum had to say.

  Since the slave rebellion began, it had been a nightmare for ex-Emperor Wellum. The Okofani had repeadly ordered him to get it under control under threat of being removed. But through a series of mixups, piled upon mistakes, buried in screwups and hidden under errors, the slave rebellion remained intact.

  It had seemed so odd to him that, since his coming to power, his government had become the most efficient in the history of Iskol, yet when he attempted to direct troops and military forces to trouble spots, they generally ended up in the wrong places. And if that did not happen, they would never get the orders to move. If not that, there was usually some other error that had gotten out of hand.