by Guerin Zand
“That’s how you’re ship managed to disappear from the spaceport, isn’t it? You’ve figured out how to envelop your ships in their own pocket universe?” I simply grinned. “That’s ingenious, but I’m still not sure how that resulted in the ripple in time that we observed.”
“If we travel into the void within this pocket universe, we do that via the transit portals, we would simply be displaced to the exit portal instantly, more or less. The portal drives, by definition, always create a portal with an entrance and exit point. The quantum entanglement between those two sides of the portal creates a unique path between the two points in spacetime that physical objects take. If we want to stay in the void for say three days, that is what I did, we have to move the exit side of the portal in time as well as space.”
“You’re telling me that you humans not only figured out how to create these pocket universes, but you were also able to redesign the portal drives to make time a variable between the two sides of the portal?”
“We’re not as dumb as we look, Roland.”
“Obviously not. So, you were successful in this experiment?”
“Yes and no. Physically it went exactly as we expected. Before I attempted to pilot my ship through this maneuver, we had performed the same experiment without any human passengers. The systems we used to monitor events recorded the normal passage of time while the ship was inside the pocket universe, while the ship was in the void. The data looked good, so we decided we would try it with a human passenger, me. That’s when the data and reality seemed to diverge a bit.”
“How so?”
“We’re not really sure. To everyone else it seemed to go as expected, but not from my perspective. To me, it appeared that no time had elapsed while in the void, even though the instruments all said I had spent three days outside of our universe. When I disengaged the drive that forms the pocket universe, everything went, I don’t know, strange I guess. It was like there were two versions of my consciousness. One seemed to not be affected. That me interacted with everyone and my surroundings normally. At the same time there was another version of me that was jumping around in time from moment to moment in what appeared to be a random order. It was like I was observing time from outside of time, if that makes any sense. The period of time that seemed to pass while I was somehow split into two was exactly the same amount of time I was supposed to have been in the void. It was like my consciousness was out of sync and trying to sync back to this universe, or reality.”
“If I had to guess, I’d say that reality was the key, or the factor you didn’t account for. Although you have shown yourselves to be capable of rather complex thinking in coming up with some of these unique ideas, it appears that your understanding of reality is somewhat limited.”
“As is yours, I assume. We came to a similar conclusion after talking about this with Lori, that’s Bob’s wife. She is the reality expert. Perhaps, that’s not right. She’s the Bree’s foremost researcher into this thing we call reality. It was actually my discussions with her that led to the idea for this experiment.”
“The Bree were behind these experiments?”
“No. The experiments were our idea. The Bree simply observed, and we shared the data we gathered with them. They were more or less watching over our shoulders and we discussed what we had found with them. Not to say that the Bree couldn’t have purposefully manipulated us in the direction of that research. I don’t trust most of them any farther than I can throw them, and Lori has used me in the past to do some of her dirty work.”
“If the purpose of these experiments was not time travel, then what was the purpose? I still don’t understand why you would attempt such an experiment. It serves no useful purpose in itself. There has to be something that made you pursue this path.”
“We…I mean, I was contacted by what we believe are a consciousness from outside of our universe, our reality. That is how I first got involved with Lori. I am convinced that this is the case based on some other experiences I’ve had, and so is Lori. The problem is, none of us understand how it’s possible. Our thought was through these experiments we might gain some insight as to how such an interaction is possible.”
“You humans have barely made it past your own star system and you are experimenting with traveling beyond this physical universe? The Bree should never have involved you in this research, not at the current state of human knowledge. Do you not see why we would be concerned that the humans represent a danger to us all?”
“First off, it’s not humans that are involved in this research, or at least not all humans. It is just a few of us that have joined the Collective. We live and work among them while leaving the rest of humanity to progress at their own rate. While the Collective did help humanity with some earlier technology, they are no longer doing that. This small group of humans, that I am a part of, realized that we don’t really belong among humans anymore. I think the Collective came to the same conclusion and that’s why they’ve accepted us among them. Of course, they expect us to deal with any issues that may arise regarding humanity. That’s why I think Julie tricked me into this meeting with you. She wanted me to handle you and your people as far as your interaction with humanity.”
“It sounds like what my daughter has done is not much different than how we deal with the intelligent species we meet. For whatever reason, they believe they’ll find what they're looking for in this galaxy, and perhaps they have. They have integrated you into their society and you have introduced them to new ways of approaching problems they have yet to solve. So why do you find joining our society so objectionable?”
“Because, I know better now. When your daughter abducted me, I had no idea how that would affect my life. I had no idea that it meant leaving the life I had for a new one. Now I have daughters and two wives, and for the most part, I like my life as it is. I’m not going to abandon my family and friends again.”
“You still cling to your limited sense of time, Guerin. What are a few centuries, or even a few millennia in terms of your current life expectancy?”
“Roland, I have a young daughter who I want to be there for as she grows up. I’m not going to miss out on that, so I won’t be staying here that long. My crew will let the others know what happened. It won’t be long before they come looking for me.”
“Perhaps, but it may take them a while to find you. We will be leaving this galaxy shortly and your stay here can be as pleasant or as difficult as you make it. I am hoping you choose the former.”
“Until someone comes to get me, I guess I’m stuck here. As soon as that happens, I’m gone. At that point, things may become unpleasant.”
“If you give me your word that you won’t pull any more stunts until that time, then, if your people come for you, I will let you go without any resistance. Do we have a deal?”
“I try not to make deals with the Bree. It’s a little like making a deal with the devil in my experience. Let’s just take it one day at a time and see how that works out.”
“Fair enough.” The two young ladies who had served us refreshments earlier entered the room. “These ladies will escort you to your quarters and will take care of any of your needs. Feel free to ask them for whatever you might desire.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about, Roland. You barely had time to take a breath before you hatched a little scheme to get me in trouble.”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“Please, I’m not that stupid. You set me up with a couple of hotties who I’m sure are quite capable, and you know very well how much trouble that will get me in with my wives. You know if they find me shacked up with some space babes, sipping hooch, and having a grand old time, they’ll turn right around and leave me. All part of your little plan, I’m sure.”
“I’m not my daughter, Guerin. You should try and not be so paranoid.”
“You may not be Julie, but I’m pretty sure your daughter and you have a lot more in common then the two of you would like
to admit.”
“I was not scheming against you, Guerin. I just thought that the famous Guerin Zand would appreciate what the young ladies on this ship had to offer. After all, the Guerin Zand in the Rebellion game would.”
“Oh, dear GOD! Don’t tell me you people are following that space tragedy.”
“We all find it quite entertaining. It’s how you were first brought to my attention.”
“Fine, but that person who plays the Guerin character in the game is not me.”
“I know.”
“You son of a bitch! It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one that’s playing my character.”
“I couldn’t resist. The chance to play against Julie was just too tempting.” Roland grinned at me and took a sip of his drink. “The Red Empress. I’m sure she doesn’t appreciate being called that, but I find it quite amusing.”
“Whatever.” I shook my head at my host. “But eight thousand plus women in twenty years or so, Roland.” I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”
Roland simply grinned and said, “Life within our society can be quite rewarding, Guerin. You shouldn’t be so quick to deprive yourself of the pleasures our society has to offer while you’re here. What is it you humans say? You don’t want to cut off your nose to spite your face.”
I looked over at the two hotties who both had these funny little smiles on their faces. That made me take a hard gulp. Then I looked at Roland who had this totally shit-eating grin on his face. I shook my head again and slammed down the rest of my drink. Julie had done it once more. I was truly fucked!
I couldn’t help but be a little bit jealous of Roland though. He seemed to be living that spaceman’s life I had always dreamed about. Somehow that life style seemed to elude me. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my wives and daughters, but it just seemed to limit my options a bit. I guess that the grass always seemed greener in someone else’s backyard. Still, perhaps I might pick up a few pointers from the old geezer while I was being detained.
“Well, can these ladies at least make a decent sandwich?”
Epilogue
The Ladies of Space Force
This part of the story I can’t vouch for personally. I only have the memory recordings and reports I was able to obtain later on. For the most part, I’ve referred to the memories of Phoebe and Mia since they had no issues with my accessing those memories, unlike the humans among our teams.
Phoebe and Maria spent a month traveling using only the star drive on the Deviant in order to avoid detection by the Cousins. They wanted to put a reasonable distance between them and the ship they had just escaped from before using a portal. Their thinking was, although Roland had somehow identified the unique signature of the Deviant’s portal drive, if they didn’t know where they were when they activated a portal, they wouldn’t be able to intercept and hijack them as they had done earlier. Still, they entered the portal with the star drive engaged as an added precaution. They arrived back in the Vaj system without incident. I’m not sure if those precautions worked or were even necessary. I think Roland was satisfied with having me as his “guest” and hadn’t bothered with trying to find the Deviant and her crew.
Maria and Scirla had returned from Taes with the Ryvius. It turned out that the there wasn’t actually a problem there. The three races, the Taesrin, Bayru, and Maricindi had come to an agreement and had wanted us to approve the deal. When we had left Taes after our first visit there, we had warned the Bayru and Maricindi that they were not to set foot on Taes again. To do so would be considered a provocation and my teams would respond in force.
Shortly after we left, the Bayru and Maricindi started to talk about their mutual interests. The fact that there were beings in the galaxy such as us, ones much more powerful than them, made them reconsider their place in the universe. Even though their system was protected by the Collective, they were not happy that an outside power could have that much influence in the Taes system. They found that far more threatening than each other, so they formed a mutual defense pact. For this pact to work, they needed access to Taes, since they still were not at a stage where they could travel between their two worlds directly. They needed Taes as at least a resupply point and wanted to build a permanent spaceport on the surface. They needed us to negotiate with the Taesrin and approve of their plan.
Since there was no method for the Bayru or Maricindi to communicate with the Taesrin without violating the agreement we had made, they had been sending out signals that we would hopefully intercept. When Maria and Scirla arrived in the system, they went down to Taes to see what the issue was. The Taesrin were clueless, so Maria opened up communication with the Bayru and Maricindi. Once Maria had figured out what was up, she worked with Scirla to arrange a meeting of representatives of all three worlds onboard the Ryvius.
In exchange for allowing them to build a spaceport on Taes, and limited access to some of Taes’ natural resources, the two other races would provide some technology to the Taesrin, but most importantly, they would provide the training to increase the Taesrins’ technological knowledge.
Maria’s first reaction was to deny this arrangement. She wasn’t comfortable with allowing the two to influence Taesrin advancement. It was Scirla and the Taesrin, who with the encouragement of the Guides, convinced Maria that they believed this arrangement was indeed in the best interests of the people of Taes. The final decision came down to Maria. She agreed and warned them all that we would be monitoring the agreement. If either the Bayru or Maricindi tried to take advantage of the Taesrin, she would return and take whatever action she found appropriate.
It was a good agreement for everyone. We had been discussing how we would help the Taesrin and this agreement made that moot. This, of course, made Maria feel very proud of herself. The fact that Julie endorsed her actions made her head grow even that much bigger. I have to say that it just proves my point that Julie had it in for me. I went to Taes and did something good, and for that I got hauled up in front of an inquisition. Maria goes to Taes and takes it upon herself to make this decision, and she gets an attagirl. The universe just isn’t fair if you ask me, and Maria was getting just a little too comfortable being the captain of my starship.
Back on Athenia, Phoebe and Mia explained to the rest of the team what had happened to the Deviant. After that had gotten out to the rest of the Collective, Milly and Julie got into another big argument. As I had guessed, Milly sent Cindy to help.
Cindy was going to join our group and was in the process of shuttling out a couple of the latest Deviant class ships to Athenia. Along with the ships, she was bringing out volunteers from the Collective who had chosen to join the fledgling human space force. Meanwhile, the Collective engineers were hard at work at the construction effort on Athenia. There was a lot happening when news of my kidnapping reached the teams and resources were scarce.
Steve was still dealing with Desterio on top of all of his other duties, and with me gone, they were running short on captains and crews. Thanks to Cindy, we did have two new ships available. Still, Roger had to get crews for those ships, otherwise they were just taking up space in the spaceport, which just caused more issues for the construction crews. Roger was planning on letting his son Tim take the helm of one of the new starships. He had even considered letting Katie take on her own command temporarily.
On the heels of her first big success, Maria volunteered to captain the Ryvius and start the search for her father. Since they weren’t sure where I was, it was decided that they would not assign any more resources to the task. At least not until I was located, and they worked out a plan to bring me back. Diane was assigned the task of working with the Athenians on trying to figure out exactly how the Cousins had hijacked the Deviant. They were tasked with coming up with countermeasures to that technology.
Scirla had decided to join Maria on the Ryvius for the search. The two of them discussed all of this with Prima and Gamma. It was decided that Prima would stay with Gamma on Milly�
��s station for the time being. Gamma, of course, wanted to go with her big sister. Prima convinced her that I was probably fine and I’d want her to concentrate on her studies. As I look back on it all now, what really gets me about all of this is how everyone, my family especially, looked at this as more of an adventure than a matter of any urgency.
For Maria, my rescue was more about her own little power trip than it was about rescuing me. Sure, she was a bit concerned about me, but not really all that much. During one of the meetings, she had made a comment about how I was probably enjoying my vacation just like I had enjoyed my time alone on Athenia. She told the team that she wouldn’t be surprised if I came out of it with a couple of new wives, and given enough time, even a few more children. That was my daughter alright.
For her crew, Maria kept on all of the women from the Ryvius, including Kelly, who had turned down being the captain of her own ship to join the party. Cindy was going along in case they did find me, so she could try and deal with grandpa. Phoebe and Mia joined up as well since they insisted that my protection was their responsibility. In the end, there were twelve females on the crew, if you included Phoebe and Mia in that count, and only four men. You’re probably starting to get the picture. Of course, they were all required to wear the uniforms that Maria had designed. Some said that she sort of reminded them of me, but I don’t see it. Whatever Maria’s motivations were, it was a good thing I wasn’t in any real physical danger. On the morning the Ryvius was to depart on the so-called rescue mission, Roger and Katie went down to the spaceport to see the crew off.
“Do you have everything you need, Maria?”
“I think so, Roger. If not, we can always stop along the way for anything we don’t already have. We’re heading out to Milly’s station first. We’ll see if they’ve had any luck tracking this Cousins’ ship. Also, we need to get the updates installed for the Ryvius control links. I want to spend some time with Prima and Gamma as well, before we head out into the unknown.” Seriously, the fucking unknown? What a drama queen.