by Guerin Zand
“You are in no position to make demands. Your little ship will be staying right where it is for now. We noticed some unusual systems on board your vehicle. Once we’ve had time to study them, we’ll recycle that vessel. It’s really not good for much more than that.”
“You’re truly as crazy as you look if you think I’ll let you touch my ship. I’ll…”
Just then the main door to the room opened. Another monk looking dude escorted in a familiar face.
I stood up and Roland did the same. “Fucking Julie! I knew you were behind all of this. What the fuck are you up to now?”
“You really should teach your pet monkey better manners, Julie.”
Julie walked over to Roland and the two embraced.
“It’s been a while Roland.”
“It has indeed.”
I hated to break up the touching reunion, NOT! “Hey, asswipe! This monkey is nobody’s fucking pet. “
“Guerin, please. You are only making matters worse.”
“Worse, Julie? How much worse could things be then my being abducted by this old piece of space-trash?”
“Silence you’re pet, Julie, or I will.”
“That’s twice ass—”
The old coot was trying that Bree mind fuck trick on me. It had been tried before, and I knew how to deal with it. You just had to talk without thinking. It’s not as hard as it sounds.
“Listen asshole, that little trick may work on some of the less intelligent beings out there, but not me.”
“I’d be surprised if there any beings in the universe that could possibly be less intelligent, but you are full of surprises. I may have misjudged you, Guerin. You may be even dumber than you look.”
“Go ahead and underestimate just how dumb I am, Grandpa. You’re playing right into my hand.”
Julie rolled her eyes and asked, “Roland, what are you doing here?”
“Does a father need a reason to visit his daughter?”
“Oh, great fucking GOD! This old geezer is your father? I should have guessed. You have similar social skills. Just when I thought the universe couldn’t get any more fucked up.”
“Give it a break, Guerin.”
“Not a chance, Julie. This is just the sort of moment I live for. Please, I’ll sit down and be quiet. All I ask is you entertain me with the story behind this dysfunctional family of yours.” I took my seat and another swig of the local swill. “I’m all ears.”
“If you insist, Guerin. I’m surprised that you have not heard of us before now.” Roland and Julie took a seat. One of the young ladies brought Julie a drink. “A very long time ago, before your ancestors even existed, the Bree home system’s star was dying. We were prepared for that event, but as with any society, there was a difference of opinion as to what exactly we should do after we moved on. Our society split into factions. Some wanted to settle on another planet. We had time to explore and find a suitable world for our relocation, but others among us knew that was only a temporary solution. Eventually, that new world would face the same fate as our home world.”
“Wait, so you think a few billion years is a temporary fix? Just how old are you guys?”
“I thought you said you’d be quiet?”
“Sorry.”
“One faction, the one you know as the Bree, wanted to build on the stations we had already constructed, and move out into your galaxy. While the life of a star was finite, their idea was that the stations could be relocated, thus their homes preserved when that happened. At the time, your galaxy was in its infancy, and they wanted to observe and nurture the emerging life in the young galaxy. They believed that by doing so, they could find answers to questions that our science had still not been able to explain.”
“And we were right.”
“Perhaps, Julie, but I see no proof of that.” Julie crossed her arms like a child who had just been chastised by their parent. It actually reminded me of the way Maria acted. I almost, but not quite, felt sorry for Julie. “You see, Guerin, the faction I belong to believes that we will find that knowledge by traveling the universe. We built several large ships such as this one for exactly that purpose. We are constantly traveling while observing the various worlds and societies. When we find a species that interests us, we invite some members of those worlds to join our society. This assimilation process allows us to absorb the best from these other races and adds to the advancement of our collective.”
“Invite? You mean abduct, don’t you? Just like you abducted me. You’re nothing more than a bunch of gypsy Borgs.”
“I’m sorry, but my translation matrix must be a bit out of date. Who are these Borg you speak of?”
“I thought you knew it all, Mr. Smarty Pants? I guess I was wrong. Anyways, they’re a bunch of arrogant assholes who go around abducting beings from all around the universe., They absorb their knowledge into their collective hive mind and turn them into worker drones for their great society. In other words, their a bunch of assholes like you, and I don’t plan on being one of your fucking drones. Besides, I don’t look good in fuchsia.”
“Is that why you’re here, Roland? To recruit humans to your cause?” Julie asked. They both seemed to ignore what I had just said.
“Not exactly. We noticed some disturbances in local spacetime. We tracked it down to the vehicle Mr. Zand was traveling in. We had no idea that your Earth monkeys had progressed so far as to be experimenting with time travel. You know such experiments are strictly forbidden, Julie.”
I didn’t even bother responding to the little monkey comment that time. What would be the point? Instead, I just gave him a dirty look.
“The humans are not that advanced. Guerin and some others do have access to our technology. They used that along with some human technology to perform a few experiments.”
“But it was human technology that made these experiments possible, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but Guerin also had access to our portal knowledge which the other humans don’t. It would be ages before the humans could reproduce the tests Guerin ran.”
“But, eventually they would be capable of such technology, and we cannot allow that. Perhaps it is fortunate that your pet stumbled on this now.”
“Ok, look, Buckwheat. I’ve had just about enough of your little insults. I don’t where you get off hijacking my starship or holding me here, but I’ve had my fill of your bullshit.”
“I am assuming these terms you are using to address me are meant as some sort of insult, Mr. Zand?”
“I would never insult a superior being.” Hopefully he got that insult as well. “But if you don’t mind, let’s get back to my leaving. This little family reunion has been a big hoot, but I’d appreciate you releasing my ship, so I can get on my way. You and Julie can stay here and catch up on old times, but from now on, stay away from me, and stay away from Earth. We don’t need your type in our neighborhood.”
“And if I refuse to do as you ask?”
“Then I will disable the containment field on my ship’s core. Then we’ll all see how much damage the singularity powering my ‘little’ ship can do. You might want to leave before I do that, Julie, unless you’re as curious as I am to see the results first hand.”
“Guerin, you wouldn’t?”
“Why not, Julie? I don’t plan on being another one of Big Daddy’s specimens in this zoo of his.”
“You’re bluffing. You have no control over your ship’s power systems, we are in control of your ship.”
“I don’t need to be in control, that’s sort of the first step to a containment failure. I just have to sever you’re control over those systems, and I figured out how to do that before we docked on this ship.”
During our conversation, the ladies onboard the Deviant had contacted me over our private comm network. They had informed me they were ready to update the ship’s systems with the new control protocols. They were waiting for my command. If anyone attempted entry, they were instructed to simply execute the plan and no
t wait. I was bluffing about disabling the containment field.
“Without access to your ship, I very much doubt you could carry out your threat.”
“You’re obviously not familiar with the concept of a dead man’s switch. I die, BOOM! You try to gain entry to my ship, BOOM! A certain amount of time expires before I return to my ship, BOOM!”
“In case of such an event, you would die as well. You can’t be that dumb.”
“Trust me, Roland. You don’t want to underestimate how truly dumb Guerin can be.”
“Thanks, Julie… I think?”
“You would kill the millions of beings on this ship, yourself, and Julie, rather than be held here against your will?”
“Well, killing Julie would just be the cherry on top of that cake, but yea!”
Then something I hadn’t expected happened. I’m not quite sure what it was, but I could no longer move. I was enveloped by some sort of stasis field I was not familiar with. It was not like the temporal stasis fields they used in the medical labs. I was fully aware of my surroundings, but I couldn’t move so much as to bat an eyelash or crack a smile. I wish I could have. I mean, cracked a smile, because at that instant I signaled the girls to make their break for it. The big ship rumbled. No doubt enabling the star drive inside the spaceport was not a smart thing to do under normal circumstances, but I think in this case it had the effect I was looking for.
“What has he done, Julie? The crews are reporting his ship has simply vanished. Whatever it was, it has caused major damage to the area of the spaceport where his ship had been docked. Several of my crew are seriously injured. Does he have no concern for the lives of others?”
I really wished I could have at least cracked a grin in response. Mia contacted me and informed me they escaped without any damage to themselves or the ship. They would remain under star drive until they had placed a reasonable distance between themselves and Roland’s ship, then they would engage the portal drive and head back to Athenia. None of us were sure that putting distance between us would prevent Roland from hijacking their portal again. Maybe if they kept the star drive enabled as they made the transition through the portal, he wouldn’t be able to detect them until it was too late.
“He warned you, Roland. I warned you as well not to underestimate him. He has done what he has done so many times in the past. He used your own arrogance against you.”
“I refuse to be outsmarted by a dumb Earth monkey.” With that said, Roland released me from the stasis field.
I smiled and said, “You’ll get used to it, Roland, after a while. Just ask Julie.”
“So, now what is your plan, Mr. Zand. You are still my captive.”
“Well, I figured I could get a lift from Julie.”
“Think again, Guerin. This is your problem. I came here to try and help you, but you just couldn’t resist playing your stupid little games. The two of you deserve each other as far as I’m concerned.”
“That’s bullshit, Julie. You set this whole thing up, once again, so don’t act like this is not your fault.”
“I sent you here to protect Earth, so the two of you could talk things over. I didn’t send you here so you and my father could get into a pissing contest. No, you’re on your own, Guerin. Maybe we’ll see each other again in a few thousand years, when my father comes for his next visit. Maybe not.”
“I don’t plan on being here that long. When my ship gets back to base, my team will come for me. I’ve already figured out how he took control of my ship and that won’t work again. Diane and the others will figure out how he hijacked our portal, so he won’t catch us cold next time.”
“Your ship was destroyed in the containment breach. There won’t be anyone coming to help you.”
“Wrong again, Roland. My ship wasn’t destroyed, and that wasn’t a containment breach. Face it. You’ve been outsmarted by a dumb Earth monkey. Get used to it.” I smiled and turned to Julie. “If you don’t get me back to my team, Julie, they have been instructed to use whatever means they need to rescue me. That means I’ve authorized their access to all of the information available.”
Hopefully Julie realized exactly what I meant by that. Mia and Phoebe were authorized to give Diane access to the full archives to work this problem. I would never have authorized that access if we weren’t up against Bree technology. The only place Diane would find the information she needed to counteract the technology that had been used against the Deviant was in those archives. She might need access to the portions I had locked them out of for that.
As usual, this was all Julie’s fault. She could have come out here to deal with her father, but instead she had to send me. She had the nerve to accuse me of playing games. The fact was, it was her that was playing around. Maybe if nothing else, Milly would get word of this, and she’d come and deal with grandpa before things got out of hand.
“Maybe your team will realize they’re better off without you, Guerin. Did that thought ever cross your mind?”
“No.”
Julie stood up. Roland and I did the same. She walked over and gave Roland a hug. I opened my arms and batted my eyelashes, but she ignored the gesture. I frowned and dropped my head like a sad little puppy dog. Still, I got no response from Julie. “I’ll leave you two to get better acquainted now.” Julie headed towards the exit. Roland and I just looked at each other with dumb expressions on both of our faces.
“You can’t be serious, Julie. If you leave me here, the next time we meet I won’t be in such a pleasant mood.”
“Well, if I’m lucky, that won’t be for a long time, Guerin.”
“When Milly finds out what you did, she’s going to be pissed.”
“If she finds out, she’ll get over it in a few centuries. A small price to pay to have you out of my hair.”
“I’ll be back before then, Julie. My girls won’t rest until I’ve been rescued.”
“Not if they’re busy with other matters.”
That’s when it dawned on me. Julie must have been planning this all along. Back when she was being so nice to me, it was all just a ruse to set me up for this. Just when I was starting to think I could possibly tolerate that woman. She probably started planning all of this after I pulled that little stunt on Taes. I should have known she’d try to get back at me for that. I was just too plain stupid to think she wouldn’t hold a grudge. Still, she couldn’t have planned on how the fembots might react, and I was sure they’d let everyone know what really happened out here. If she had some plan to keep the others busy though, they might have to decide to put off my rescue for a bit. What a bitch! I decided that no matter how long it would take for me to get back, now was the time to start planning my revenge.
As Julie left the room, I sat back down and finished off the rest of my drink. Then I reached over and grabbed what was left of Julie’s drink, and polished that off as well.
“Would you like some more to drink, Guerin?”
“You might as well have them bring the bottle.”
One of the young ladies came walking in, with a bottle in hand, and placed it on the table. Roland poured us both another drink and took a seat as well.
“So, how long have you known my daughter, Guerin?”
“Too long, Roland, too long. I swear that woman has nothing better to do than make my life miserable.”
“Join the club. She’s always been a handful. You have daughters of your own, do you not?”
“Yes, but they’re nothing like your Julie. I mean, Maria, my oldest daughter, does see Julie as some sort of a mentor, but she’s not that bad, yet.”
Roland chuckled. “Perhaps we have more in common than I first thought.” I rolled my eyes and took another drink. “You mentioned Milly earlier. You know my granddaughter?”
“Yes. We had a bit of a thing going. Well, that was until Julie ruined it.”
“I’ve never met her. What’s she like?”
“Nothing like her mother, that’s for sure. She’s drop dead gorge
ous and as sweet as can be. If she finds out what Julie’s done, I wouldn’t be surprised if she comes to get me personally. But then again, the last time she sent her cousin Cindy to fetch me. See, Julie arranged for Milly to become a Council member. Then she shipped her off to one of their stations to keep her busy and away from me.”
“Sounds like my daughter. You know my other granddaughter, Cindy, as well?”
“Sure. We’ve been friends for a while. I guess your Bob’s father as well?”
“Yes. It has been a while since I last saw him, and I’ve never met his children. Perhaps while you are our guest, you can tell me more about them. As you saw, my daughter is not one for pleasantries.” I simply shrugged my shoulders and took a drink in response. “What I would like to talk to you about right now is your experiment with time travel. The fact that you attempted such an experiment concerns us, and perhaps you are not aware of the possible dangers of such technology.”
“I’m more than aware of the dangers, I’ve experienced them. It wasn’t meant to be an experiment in time travel, at least that wasn’t the point of the experiment.”
“Then what were you trying to accomplish?”
“Normally, when we use a trans-dimensional portal to travel, our consciousness only exists in the void for an infinitesimal amount of time. The physical objects, including our bodies, do not. Through quantum entanglement the physical is simply, probably not a good word to describe the process but anyways, the physical elements are simply displaced to the exit point.”
“Yes, yes. I do understand the principals of trans-dimensional portals. What has that to do with time travel?”
“Well, we wanted to see if we could physically enter the void and stay there for a time.”
“That’s impossible. The reason your consciousness enters the void is because the link to this physical universe is severed for that infinitesimal period while the physical you is in transit.”
“Sure, but don’t we exist in the void? Is not our universe surrounded by the void?” I could see the virtual light bulb go off in Roland’s head.