Volume II

by Ronnie Coleinger

  Frederica pressed a button and panned a camera around in the cargo bay, hoping to see the totes. Jill saw the screen Frederica had selected and said, “Computer, would you turn on the lights inside the cargo bay so we humans can observe the totes that have arrived from the Open Market, please.” Frederica giggled at Jill’s use of the word please to a computer, but said nothing to Jill, not wanting to offend the computer. Then she giggled again as she considered her thought about not offending the computer.

  As Frederica read the list of items that Jill had purchased from the Open Market, her curiosity forced her to ask why Jill had purchased some of the items. She said, “Jill, I have to ask why you purchased food items like coffee beans, hot chocolate mix, and colored marshmallows. Are these items something the food replicator cannot create?” Jill giggled and said, “Have you ever tasted the hot chocolate the replicator makes, or the rubbery marshmallows it drops like small stones into your cup of hot chocolate; and have you tried the replicators coffee lately.” Frederica said, “Sorry I asked.” Then both girls began to laugh.

  As Frederica and Jill sat and talked, the IFTT director sent Jill a message and requested that she contact him for an urgent message. Jill asked the computer to call the number on the message and put the director through to her. As they waited, Jill wondered what the IFTT could possibly want from her. When the computer completed the connection to the IFTT Director of Operations, he introduced himself and asked if the IFTT could hire The Empress to make an emergency voyage to Universe Number One and visit the Bahs. He explained that the Bahs had developed a vaccine that should stop a runaway epidemic sweeping the entities known as the Dendrals in Universe Number Seven, named Htrae. The director continued to explain that the vaccine to cure the epidemic was unavailable until one of Bah immunologists had discovered the virus hiding inside a single strand of DNA. The director said that the vaccines needed rapid delivery to the Dendrals to prevent more deaths from this epidemic. The director then said, “The Empress is the only vessel capable of saving the Dendrals from extinction from this virus. Time is of the essence, and The Empress is the fastest travel membrane in the cosmos.”

  Jill thought to herself how her father had allowed the Bahs to upgrade The Empress shortly before his death to triple its speed in open space by vectorially adding dimensions five, six and seven instead of simply adding in the other dimensions individually. Jill also realized that the Bahs themselves had upgraded The Empress so they must have the technology to travel faster than The Empress. Jill posed the question to the director and he said, “There is one more bit of information that I have not given you that you should know. The Bahs have their own epidemic plaguing their planet as we speak. They refuse to send one of their travel membranes to the Dendrals in fear they may introduce another epidemic into the population.”

  Jill then asked if she could also come down with one of these epidemics if she transported the vaccine between the two planets. The director explained that the Bahs had sterilized the containers and packaging to prevent any transfer of virus’s, but they could not sterilize the string energy that created their travel membranes well enough to positively insure there would be no cross contamination. Jill quickly agreed and then asked when The Empress should begin travel. The director said, “Immediately if possible.” Jill explained about the newborn child and two female family members aboard that needed teleportation down to their home on Quantum. The director said, “Please teleport the mother and newborn child to Quantum until you have returned and waited out the quarantine period of twenty-one days.” Jill looked at Frederica, and Frederica said, “Jill, you can teleport Trish, James and Monica to the surface, but I wish to remain on The Empress and assist you in this mission.” Jill said, “Are you certain my friend?” Frederica said, “You are wasting precious time Jill.” Jill asked the director to give her three minutes and then she would give him the names of her crew that required teleportation to Quantum.

  Chapter 7 - An Epidemic Sweeping Universe Number Seven

  Jill stepped into the kitchen where Trish and Monica were talking and told them what was going. Then she asked Trish if she would mind spending a month at Monica’s house while Frederica and she made the emergency mission to the Dendrals. Trish said she was not happy with this change in events, but certainly understood that the Dendrals needed help right now. She said, “Monica is this okay with you?” Monica quickly said it very all right, and Trish said, “Give Monica and I ten minutes to pack and then you can teleport us to the surface.” Jill looked at her watch and walked back to the control console. Jill spoke to the computer and within seconds, the connection with the director at the IFTT was reestablished. Jill gave the director the names of the people that needed teleportation and then gave him all the details about James including his full name, date of birth, and the name of the doctor that had delivered him. The director said there would be no problem identifying James but he needed a travel watch. Jill explained that her father Ronnie had built extra travel watches and she would like to use one from The Empress if it was okay. The director agreed, so Jill located the spare travel watches in the drawer beside the radio and headed to find Trish and Monica. When Jill stepped into Trish’s room, Trish saw the watch, quickly picked up James and held out his arm to allow Jill to fit the watch. As Jill placed the ends of the watchband together, she talked to the director at the IFTT and the process began. When the watchband was perfectly aligned and ready, Jill pressed two buttons on her watch and waited. The director told Jill that the initialization was complete and she could press the two buttons on James watch again. Once Jill pressed the buttons, the ends of the band began to cold fuse, then shrink down, and within moments had created a perfectly fitting watchband around James tiny arm.

  The IFTT carefully checked the operation of the travel watch to insure that it operated correctly. Once they were satisfied, they set the watch to monitor mode. The watch would now monitor James and provide vital signs and his location for the rest of his life. Jill leaned down and kissed James on the forehead, hugged Trish, hugged Monica and headed to the control console. Frederica stepped into the kitchen and said her goodbyes to her family. When Frederica returned to the control room, the computer asked Trish and Monica if they were ready to teleport to Quantum. The girls stepped into the ready room, held James tightly, put their bags between their legs and Monica said, “We are ready, goodbye for now my family.” Trish pressed the green button on her travel watch and the teleportation began.

  Within moments, the computer announced to Jill and Frederica that Trish, Monica and James were safely inside Monica’s home. As the computer set the course preprogrammed by the IFTT, Jill sat in her pilots chair and suddenly began to cry. Frederica asked Jill if she needed to talk about the tears and Jill turned to her and said, “Trish has gone thru so much recently and now I have literally kicked her off The Empress. I feel as if I just deserted my best friend.” As Jill talked, the tears flooded her eyes and she put her hands over her face to try to settle herself.

  Frederica reached up to the console and pressed a button for a direct link to Trish’s travel watch. Suddenly, the sound of Trish’s voice was reverberating within the control console area. Jill looked up and Frederica spoke to Trish, “Hello Trish, this is Frederica. You have a very best friend setting beside me who is hysterically crying. She seems to think she has abandoned you today and feels very badly for teleporting you to the surface as she did just now. Jill seems to think she just threw her very best friend off The Empress. Trish, do you think you could comfort Jill for a few minutes?” Jill heard Trish begin talking to her, telling her that what she was doing to help the Dendrals was wonderful.

  Frederica stood up and left the control console area, allowing Jill and Trish to talk for a few minutes. A few minutes later the computer spoke to Frederica telling her that Jill had broken the connection and she could return to the control room if she wished. Frederica walked up behind Jill and said, “Sorry to go behind you back and call Trish, b
ut I believe you two needed to work out the reason for those tears one on one, and today. You have been strong for Trish in her time of need, but you also need a hug sometimes.” Jill stood up and said, “Thanks for making the call to Trish; I desperately needed to hear her voice.”

  The two walked into the kitchen and made more hot chocolate, just enough to spoil their supper. As they drank the chocolate, Jill began to explain what she had put Trish through when she had discovered her mother Angela’s attacker in the secure room, and how Trish had stood and fought her, trying to prevent her from killing the man. Jill told Frederica, “I am not certain to this day if Trish has forgiven me for killing that human. I believe she has accepted it, but I feel she will never forgive me. I am certain she believes I will answer to my God for the sin, as I pass from the living into the darkness of my death. I guess I also believe it is not Trish’s place to forgive me, only my God can do that.” Jill suddenly stood up and said, “Enough with the tears, I have no more tears to cry this day; within a couple hours we will be jumping into the universe of the Bahs were the vaccine will be teleported into our cargo bay.” Jill headed towards the control console area, then turned and held out her hand for Frederica. Frederica said, “Jill, give me a few minutes or I will certainly stink you out of control room.” Jill laughed at the words her friend spoke, and then headed towards the ready room.

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  Trish had just fed and placed James into the back of the reclining chair for his nap. Trish and Monica had found that if they placed James into the recliner, they could hear him and still get on with their work and activities around the house without worrying they might not hear his cries. James did not seem to mind the lights being on, but would smile if they allowed the warm sunshine to fall upon him while he napped. Trish said that response was from his mother lying on the warm sunny beach, naked, with the sun shining on her tummy. Monica said, “You did not do that, tell me true, you really did not lie naked on a public beach.” Trish laughed and said, “It was not a public beach, it was a nude beach.” Monica threw her arms into the air and said, “Sorry, I did not understand there was a difference.” Monica looked at Trish, then smiled, and said, “totally naked, no clothes at all?” Trish smiled and said, “Well I did have my towel across my pubic area when I was on my back. When I rolled over, however, I had nothing on except the suntan lotion that Jill rubbed on my backside.” Monica said, “Now you are telling me Jill joined you on the nude beach!” Trish giggled and said, “Yes, but she wore her very best birthday suit and she brought her large bottle of suntan lotion.” Monica said, “Well thank God for that,” then she walked into the kitchen to start supper.

  Trish asked if she could help with supper and Monica said, “Girl, you have been on your feet all day long, and I think you need to sit down here in this recliner and talk to me while I cook the supper tonight.” Trish sat down and reclined the rocker a little to get comfortable. Monica began telling Trish about the new neighbor that had just moved in. She was explaining how he looked like a teenage boy with all his tight stomach muscles. She asked Trish if she would like to meet him tomorrow, but got no response from the living room. Monica stepped around the corner and found Trish sound asleep. She giggled over the sight of Trish sleeping in one recliner and James sleeping beside her in the other.

  When Monica put the cinnamon apples into the oven, the aroma soon woke Trish, and she stepped up to the counter between the kitchen and the living room. When she attempted to sit down on the bar stool at the counter, she quickly put her feet back on the floor with a sound that Monica knew meant pain, great pain. Trish had a horrible look on her face and said, “I think I will refrain from sitting on that bar stool until I heal a little bit more.” She gently moved herself back to the recliner and sat down. When Monica stepped into the room to make sure Trish was okay, Trish smiled and said, “It only hurt for just a couple of seconds, but the pain was very intense.” Monica said, “I know the feeling well, and when I saw the look on your face I knew how badly it hurt you.” When the supper was cooked, Trish was going to set at the table to eat her supper, but Monica said, “How about if you and I put tray tables up to our chairs, watch the evening news on the entertainer, and eat our supper sitting in soft chairs.” Trish smiled and said, “I could be very happy in a soft chair for another day or two.”

  James gave Trish just enough time to finish her supper before he woke and began insisting on Trish’s full attention. This seemed to be a ritual with James in the evenings. Trish used the evenings for his bath and playtime. She would walk with him in the gardens around Monica’s house, and constantly talk to him. Monica was fascinated over the Mother/Son bonding she saw. James would listen to Trish’s voice, smile and act as if he completely understood every word his mother spoke. James seldom cried, unless he had swallowed too much air while nursing or was in real need of his mother’s attention. It seemed that if Trish spent the time with James like this in the evenings, James would let Trish sleep most of the night except for one feeding and a diaper change around two in the morning.

  Trish was very pleased that James allowed her to sleep most of the night, but wondered how long that would last as she began to wean James over to a bottle and formula. Trish had planned to nurse James for only a couple weeks. Once he was on a bottle, Jill could help with his daily care when a customer needed to work with Trish for a few hours or even a few days. Monica had already volunteered to take James anytime the girls needed to travel to some remote galaxy where they should not take James until he was a little older. Trish giggled once when Monica said, “You can leave James with me anytime, I promise to give him back when you return.” Trish was not so certain Monica wanted to give the tiny boy back to his mother; she seemed to enjoy having the child around to mother and fuss over.

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  After the jump-in procedure into Universe Number One, the travel computer aboard The Empress guided the vessel into a stable orbit around the planet of Reja, home of the entities known as the Bahs. Within minutes, the Bahs Director of Operations contacted Jill and sent the telemetry data to the computer on The Empress. The transfer of the huge container with vaccine inside only took a few minutes. Once the girls had tied down the medicine container in the cargo bay of The Empress, the director of Operations contacted Jill and worked with her to insure the IFTT had properly input the coordinates for the Dendrals located in Universe Number Seven. The Director then told Jill, “Thank you Jill Marie Yutaka, you may be the only chance the Dendrals are going to get to fight this plague that is devastating their people. Please, stay in constant communications with me when you are not at hyper-dimensional light speeds. Send Trish and her new child our best wishes when you next talk to her. Travel safe my friends.”

  With the Directors words ringing in Jill and Frederica’s ears, The Empress departed the vast darkness surrounding the universe of the Bahs. Travel to Universe Number Seven, named Htrae, would take The Empress more than two days time. Even with the incredible speed available to The Empress after the Bahs modified the travel computer with the latest updates, this trip was always tiresome for Jill. Jill was not one to sit around and wait, but there was little maintenance required to The Empress, currently. Jill had serviced the food replicator two days ago, the last inventory from the Open Market was stored in its proper locations in the inventory locker room, and the computers inventory was already updated and complete. Trish had done some very incredible updates to the original inventory programs, and the system was working perfectly. There was little to do but read, talk with Frederica and listen to music.

  Frederica had gotten bored and asked the computer if it could locate any of the old television programs from the 1960’s that played on Earth’s North American continent, called, Leave it to Beaver. The computer quickly located the entire series and had begun playing them from the earliest to the last ever recorded. Jill was not as excited as Frederica, but the programs were rather funny. Jill had wanted to work on rebuilding one of the
oxygen generators that needed upgrades installed, and Frederica wanted to exercise and run in the cargo bay, but the computer refused to allow them to work inside the cargo bay while in hyper-flight. The computer had explained that there was always the possibility of a tiny tear occurring in the eleventh-dimension travel membrane that might cause a momentary depressurization of the cargo bay. Jill understood the concerns of the computer and agreed that she and Frederica would stay within the confines of the living quarters and the ready room. Jill considered calling Trish once again to see how she was feeling and how her tiny bundle of joy was doing. Then she remembered that communications at this speed was not possible.

  Jill walked to the sealed door that separated the cargo bay and the living quarters to look through the window. When she snapped on the lights in the cargo bay, she was very surprised at what she saw. The cargo bay had literally shrunk in size. The ceiling had compressed down on top of everything in the bay. It looked as if someone had let the air out of a child’s party balloon with the child toys inside. Jill spoke to the computer and asked what had happened to the cargo bay; “Is there a pressurization leak,” she asked. The computer told Jill that the appearance of the cargo bay was normal at these speeds. Jill thought to herself and realized that she had never looked into the cargo bay area while in hyper-flight until now.