by G. E. Stills
“See you there,” Kyra said to her retreating figure.
****
As she strolled down the hall, Kat was deep in thought.
“That was both enlightening and informative. Though I understand San’ar’s thinking and his reason for it, what he did condemned Kyra to a very lonely life.” Jar’san thought at her.
“I agree. I feel sorry for Kyra. Having very little contact with living beings for most of her life.”
“San’ar didn’t want us to have any knowledge of her. She was the backup plan should we and the other women fail in the mission. You will be relieved to know, she and Kim’san will not challenge you as the leader.”
“Good to know.”
“I agree with Kim’san, we should bring the men into our communication loop and provide our knowledge to them. They should get implants that would allow them to receive, store and process information downloads from you. Their implants can be easily installed by one of the robots on Teelan.”
“Tell me more.”
“What they would have installed would not be an AI such as myself or Kim’san. Instead I propose a tiny computer. Although I feel the men should be made aware of and provided most of the information, I think the sharing of knowledge should be controlled by you and possibly Kyra as your backup.”
“In other words, they don’t need to know everything. Only what I or Kyra think they should know?” Kat chuckled.
Ignoring her amused laugh, Jar’san continued. “Exactly. Just as you have the ability to limit how much of what you know is revealed to the other women. I feel the same should apply to the men. They would have to come in physical contact with you and you would have to will that sharing. Additionally, everyone should have implants, women included. They could be easily modified to allow communication between all of us and eliminate the need of the handhelds. Communication between us would have been a big help during the recent events on the Polav.”
“I’ll have to discuss what you propose with Nolan. I value his input. If he agrees, then we will make it so. He is my mate. I intend to share everything with him.”
“Though it is not necessary for me to agree, Kat, I do.”
“Good.”
While continuing her mental conversation with Jar’san, she went in search of Nolan. She found him at the desk in their stateroom, ensconced in front of their laptop deep in study.
“You do a lot of that hon,” she said, breaking his concentration.
Gazing up at her, he answered. “How else can I even attempt to carry on an intelligent conversation with my beautiful Princess? I like what I’m doing.”
“That’s good, because if you agree to what I’m about to suggest, your knowledge is about to vastly increase.”
“Oh yeah?” he sat back, laced his fingers and placed his hands behind his head. “So tell me. What is going on in that pretty little head of yours?”
She described the idea of the implant. Depending on his decision, she intended to tell him the rest either verbally, or via download.
“I think that is a fantastic idea. There is only one thing I would like to request.”
“And that would be?” she asked and cocked an eyebrow.
“That I be the first one to receive an implant.”
“Done.” She leaned down and kissed him on his cheek. “When?”
“The sooner the better, to my way of thinking.”
Grabbing the transceiver hanging on her waist, she put the speaker near her lips. As she did, a thought streaked though her mind. Soon this method of communication will be obsolete.
“Captain Parker, I’ll be on Teelan for the next several hours. Ships command is yours.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
They intercepted Kyra just as she was leaving her cabin and asked her to take them to Teelan. When they arrived she thought to Jar’san.
“Make arrangements.”
“Right away, Kat. I’ll let you know when they’re ready.”
****
Nolan sat up on the operating table. A robot stood by the bed silently. It had deftly preformed the delicate operation, connecting neural receptors to the pea sized insert now snuggled beneath the skin, just below his left ear.
From her chair nearby, Kat approached. Pinching his chin between her fingers, she turned his head and examined the area where the operation had taken place. “Only a small incision that is quickly fading.”
She gazed at him in silence.
“I hear you loud and clear, Kat,” he answered her mental statement.
“Let’s go somewhere else more comfortable, so I can start the download.” She offered her hand, and assisted him to his feet.
“I can hardly wait. I’m really curious to not only share your knowledge, but I may even learn some juicy details of what you really think about me.” He winked.
“Good thing I can control just what information I share. How I feel about you will remain my secret. Wouldn’t want you to get a swelled head.” Smiling, she brushed her lips to his and led him from the room.
They located Kyra and the three of them returned to the Seeker. “Kyra, inform the Captain we’re back. Nolan and I will be in our stateroom. Please let everyone know, that unless it’s an emergency, we’re not to be disturbed.”
“Will do.” Kyra strode away.
Upon entering their room, she and Nolan got comfortable on the couch facing each other. “Are you ready, hon?” she asked, putting her hands out.
Nolan placed his hands in hers. “Let’s do it, love.”
She watched his eyes widen as the information flooded into him at lightning speed. An hour later, the transfer was complete.
“Godamighty, it feels like my head is going to burst.”
“That feeling will go away.”
“I have a great idea how to make it go away faster,” he smirked.
“How?”
“By making love to the wonderful woman I’m sitting with. The one who owns my heart,” he told her mentally.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Kat stood back in the pilothouse while she watched the Captain and Victor guide the Seeker into the dock. She smiled in satisfaction. Mentally, she checked off the items that had been accomplished. Things were going according to plan. Everyone, including herself, now had a communication implant. Once moored, she intended to complete long term arrangements for the rental of this private pier.
Using Suki’s transmutation ability, each female member now had flawless ID. Next, she intended to find a large house to serve as a land based operation center.
After that, the real work will begin. Finding people willing to relocate to Teelan.
“I’ll be down in the galley if you need me, Captain.”
“Very well, ma’am,” Tom replied.
She left the bridge and headed down the steps. “Nolan, care for a cup of coffee?” she called over her implant.
“I’m up on the bow with Aden, but I’ll be right there,” he answered immediately.
“I’ll get a cup for both of us.”
Kat reached down to pull the chair out. She jolted and her hand jerked, scraping the chair legs across the floor, when Kyra abruptly blipped into existence beside her.
Thank goodness I already set the coffee down.
“Sorry Kat. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Kyra reached out and rubbed her on the shoulder.
“Damn-it Kyra! I need to talk to Ing.” She grinned. “I’ll see if she can invent some type of chime to make you wear. One that will announce you’re coming just before you arrive. At least until I get used to having you suddenly materialize.” She teased and chuckled.
“Sorry Kat,” Kyra repeated.
She placed her hand over Kyra’s and patted it affectionately. “So give me a report on what is happening on Teelan.”
They took seats and Kyra began her report. “The transformation taking place is amazing. The robots on Teelan are busy constructing homes on the surrounding hills for the expected influx of people. They’re also making buildings that are destined to become research facilities. The once vacant valley below my home is quickly being changed into one filed with buildings of all shapes and sizes.”
“It sounds like under your guidance the robots have things on Teelan well in hand. Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of right now.” Kyra looked down at the extra cup of coffee. “Are you expecting someone else? I know you weren’t aware I would be coming.”
“Nolan will be here shortly.”
“Good. If you’ll excuse me I’ll get myself a cup.”
Kyra slid her chair out and walked toward the coffee dispenser. Kat watched her stride gracefully across the floor and thought. Kyra’s come a long way from the emotionless woman she was when we first met. The thought spurred others. From my download Kyra became aware of sex. Victor was the only unattached male on board. She seduced him, although with her looks I’m certain it wasn’t hard for her to do that. The two of them aren’t a couple like the rest of us though. Victor was her first but I don’t think he will be the only man Kyra has sex with. Especially not now that we are ashore and there will be other men available.
Nolan walked in, crossed the room and took a seat across from her. She slid one of the cups across the table to him. Kyra rejoined them a steaming cup in her hands. Kat held up her hand before Kyra could continue her report.
“Kat I think I’ve found a possible location for our new headquarters,” Jar’san said. A picture of the large estate outside of Houston formed in her mind. “They’re asking thirty million to purchase it.”
“It looks fine, Jar’san.” Kat triggered her implant. “Suki, Jar’san has located a possible for our new headquarters. Come to the galley and I’ll provide you with instructions on how to get there. If it meets our needs, buy it.”
“Yes Kat, I’m on my way to the galley.”
She smiled across the table at Nolan and then turned to face Kyra. “Sorry.”
“Jar’san?” Nolan inquired.
“Yes. I think he’s located a place for our new home and headquarters. Now where were we Kyra?”
****
Kat stood outside the door of her new home on Teelan. Major changes were taking place in the valley below. New buildings were springing up each day. Out of sight, but just over the hills to the south, a giant factory was almost finished. When completed, it would begin producing parts to erect a manufacturing plant and space station to orbit above Teelan.
This was the first opportunity she had to visit Teelan. Installing equipment then finding, orientating and training people to run the headquarters in Houston had taken several weeks. A smile came to her lips. It is operational now though.
She sighed in sadness, missing her husband. Nolan was on Earth. Her thoughts drifted away when she focused on Kyra, approaching up the hill.
“Hi, Kyra. How are you today?”
“Fine and you?”
“Fine.”
“Victor?” She swallowed her grin. Kyra had sowed her wild oats. Kat knew about several of Kyra’s sexual encounters. She was certain it had to do with Kyra not having anyone around for years. Kyra had wanted to experience a variety of things sexual and non-sexual before she settled on one person.
Kyra rolled her eyes. “Off in an aircar with three other men exploring Teelan. What else?”
Though Kyra and Victor did not live together, they were often seen together these days. “You two have any plans to get married in the near future?”
Kyra snorted. “I’m not real sure I want to, but maybe someday. Probably when all the damn aircars break down, and it forces him to stay here at the settlement for a few days.” Kyra laughed and then winked at her. “Right now, we’re just having good sex when he’s around.”
She joined Kyra in laughter.
“I came across this hidden in a compartment in one of the robots. It’s addressed to you, Kat.” Kyra handed her a recording disc.
“Hum. I wonder what it could be.”
“Don’t know. I’m headed down to Kiesar.”
Kat noticed that again, Kyra rolled her eyes, this time at the name of the village below. She chuckled, when she thought of how Kyra had protested the town’s name, saying it was too close to her own. And how the majority had overruled her protest.
“I’m going to Earth later to see if there’s anyone ready to come back. I’ll sure be glad when that transmitter is up and running, so I won’t have to hold hands with people to move back and forth between worlds.”
“Soon. It’ll be operational soon.”
“Yeah I know. Anyway, care to go with me?” Kyra asked.
“No, I think I’ll stay here and see what this recording has to say.”
“Okay. I’ll be down in the village for a while if you need me.” Turning, Kyra paced away.
Going inside, Kat inserted the disc into their robot servant and took a seat beside it. A gasp rolled from her, when a holographic image materialized in front of her. San’ar, her father, looked at her with unseeing eyes. The image began to speak.
“If you’re seeing this, Kat’sar, then I know that you and Ky’sar have gotten together. That’s good. I have no idea how much time has passed, or what the Earth is like now. When we learned of the Men-gar approach, we seeded the oceans of the world with fifty Mil’orts, in addition to Ky’sar’s, which the others do not know about.”
“Fifty!” Reaching out, she paused the recording. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Fifty, dad. Only five of us survived.”
“I tried to tell you the attrition rate was high,” Jar’san consoled.
She reactivated the recording.
“If the Men-gar destroyed all life, then the task of you and the survivors is simple. Stay on Teelan and live out your lives. I would be honored if you, Kat’sar, would continue my work. If there are no surviving hairy ones to experiment on, then I have sealed a small sample of their seed in the robot you obtained this recording from. I’m afraid you will have to use yourself and the others to incubate the first batch. When female hairy ones mature, then you can use them.”
She spoke to the un-listening hologram “That’s not going to happen Dad. I won’t impregnate myself or the others with the seed of apes. I am getting an idea though.” She reversed the recording slightly, and then played it forward once more, to listen to what she had missed during her outburst.
The hologram went on. “If intelligent life has survived, then your task is to nudge its evolution forward, from whatever level of technology it’s in, to one of a space faring race. This will enable them to repel the Men-gar when they attack. It may be several hundred thousand years before the Men-gar return but they will return. It’s just a matter of time.”
She paused the recording. “I wonder if they’ve been back since they destroyed Tran’ort. Probably. But according to history, man didn’t start down the path of civilization, until about ten to fifteen thousand years ago. It’s a safe bet they haven’t been back during that time, or they would have spotted his advance.”
“I agree with your conclusion Kat. The Men-gar have not returned but they will,” Jar-san said.
She started the recording again.
“Should you decide to carry on my work, I have included instructions of how to build the lab. I have also included all the data from my research. Kat’sar, you have awakened something in me, I thought was long dead. Love. I love you.”
The recording then lapsed into technical jargon. She stopped it, and sat back in her chair. “Kyra,” she called over her implant.
“Yes, Kat.”
“Good, I caught you before you left. I’d like to have the robot you got this recording from.”
; “Sure, Kat. It’s number six. If you need it right away, then you’re welcome to go get it. Otherwise, I’ll send it over when I get back. May I ask why?”
“It has data in it that I want to access.”
“Does it have to do with the recording I delivered?”
“Yes, the recording was from Dad.”
“San’ar. I still refuse to call him my father. Anything I would be interested to know about?”
“Probably, but it’s nothing urgent. I’ll tell you all about it when you get back.”
“Okay, Kat. See you in a couple days.”
The silence told her that Kyra had gone to Earth. Strolling over to Kyra’s house, she obtained number six and they walked to the village below. She inserted the disc and watched six and two other robots as they went to work on one of the vacant buildings. She knew that in a day or less, her new lab would be ready.
****
Sitting at the farthest table back in the coffee shop, Em waited and recalled her conversation two days earlier with Janice. She had divulged just enough information to entice Janice and cause her to agree to this meeting.
A tall, somewhat portly woman, with short blond hair, entered the shop and looked around.
“Over here,” Em called out, waved and scrambled to her feet.
Janice strolled across the floor and stood beside the table. “Nice to meet you in person, Janice.”
They shook hands. The microscopic mechanical bug on Em’s finger crawled unnoticed onto Janice. The woman did not feel it, as it climbed up her arm, across her shoulder and up to her face. She did not feel it when it crawled in her ear canal. It embedded itself and sent out tiny, atom sized, feelers, which tapped into the hearing and sight nerve receptors of Janice’s brain. Janice’s only reaction was one quick blink of her eyes.
“Monitor insertion complete and operational,” the emotionless computer voice whispered in Em’s mind. The computer was located halfway across the country in their new home. Em suppressed a grin. From now, until it was deactivated, they would hear and see everything Janice did. In addition to allowing them to keep tabs on Janice the monitor would allow them to observe other potential Teelan immigrants at her work place.