AREA 51: IMORTUM

by Stone,Kord

  Jason asked Eneria, “Would you happen to know why we can’t send a probe down to where TDS 4 is located?”

  Eneria frowned, “No, several thousand years ago, Enyali picked up Anubisis and dropped him off there. I think he had something to do with TDS 4’s disappearance, but for some reason I cannot remember anything from back then. It is almost as if my memory banks containing those events were erased.”

  “Could Enyali have erased the data?” Alise asked.

  “No, Enyali did not have that much control of the ship, something else must have happened to the data blocks, the allocation table shows where the data should be, but the data is just missing, and there is no sign of anyone accessing those files. I remember sending probes down, but I cannot remember anything else aside from having to destroy the probes.

  “Anyway, the location we transported Anubisis to on Earth is just like what happened here on Anukan. At first we could probe here, but a little over a thousand years ago we encountered an issue. I lost control of my probes and I had to destroy them. Something was trying to access this ship through the signal, and the same thing happens on Earth… One moment,” Eneria held her hand up and the others looked at her questioningly.

  A minute later Eneria groaned, “I was afraid of this… I can send a probe down there now. The battleship that left here must have been responsible for the issues with the probes. It makes sense, the issues first occurred after Gebb powered up some of the inner computers on the old Imortum battleship. There might be another Imortum battleship down where TDS 4 is located, and it may be that which is blocking the probes.”

  “Alright,” Jason said as he looked around, “all in favor of tracking Osiris and Isis first then?”

  Everyone but Eneria raised their hands and she looked confusedly around, “What?” Eneria asked.

  Jerren said, “I didn’t tell her yet,” Jerren turned to face Eneria, “We all get a vote. That includes you as well.”

  Eneria felt stunned that they would allow her a say in the planning, and she said, “I…I agree as well then.”

  Jerren cracked a smile, closed his eyes a second and a gavel materialized in his hand, “unless we have anything else to discuss?” Jerren looked around and nobody answered, so he smacked the gavel on the table, “Meeting adjourned then I guess.” He closed his eyes again and set their ship for Abydos, and then a moment later food appeared on the table, “Tuck-in,” Jerren said with a grin.

  Jerren prepared a few nice pastas like meals with steaming bread and heard Jason laugh.

  “What no Ambrose?” then Jason chuckled and the others followed suit.

  Jerren smiled and said, “Not this time, maybe next time,” He looked at Eneria who appeared to be puzzled by all of the food and he explained, “We decided that anytime we are all together for meetings like this we should enjoy a meal together.”

  Eneria smiled and nodded, “this will be nice, I have not enjoyed a meal in over a hundred and nineteen thousand nonlinear years.”

  Alise asked, “Why not?”

  Eneria gave what appeared to be an involuntary shiver and said, “Enyali forbade it. She said there was no need wasting food on an artificial intelligence. I informed her that the food was recycled after I ate it, but that ended badly…

  “I made the mistake of entering her mind while she ate once, and it took about two seconds of seeing what was in her thoughts before I lost my appetite, and I never did that again.”

  Jerren saw that everyone had looked at Eneria in shock and Jerren took her hand in his and told her, “You can eat anything you like so long as I’m alive.”

  Eneria smiled, and to Jerren’s surprise she raised their joined hands and she kissed the top of his knuckles and said, “thank you.”

  Justin let out a noise indicating he was hungry, “well, we shouldn’t let this food get cold, Jerren did slave away on it all day you know.” Everyone busted out laughing and they ate their meal.

  The six of them spent the next two hours eating, talking and laughing. Jason told them that it was time to put their mission into motion, and Jerren and Eneria walked with Jason, Alise, Justin and Calia to the engine room. Alise and Jason said their goodbyes before exiting, Calia nodded to Justin then hugged Eneria and Jerren then Calia exited as well.

  Justin hugged Eneria saying, “It was a pleasure to meet you,” Justin then looked at Jerren saying, “Jerren, I need to show you something in the master control room real fast, do you have a moment?”

  Jerren turned to Eneria and said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Eneria nodded and Jerren followed Justin off of the ship.

  Chapter Ten

  Jerren appeared in the master control room a moment after Justin, and Jerren asked, “What do you need to show me?”

  Justin chuckled, “Nothing really, I wanted to tell you something. I spoke with Jason about my experience when I ate the Ambrose, and I just wanted to pass it on to you. There’s a major difference if you eat it alone. If you decide to make it for Eneria, you should eat two bites as well.”

  Jerren was about to interrupt, but Justin hurried on.

  “Just make sure you’re holding hands when you eat the Ambrose, it’s a shared experience. After I told Jason about my experience, he tried it and was astounded by the difference. That’s all I’m going to say about it for now.” Justin said with a grin

  Justin had begun to turn away, then faced Jerren again and said, “I’m not sure if Inola picked her for you or you for her, but I can see she needs you as much as you need her.”

  Jerren smiled, “Thanks little brother, I’ll keep it in mind,” Jerren patted Justin on the shoulder then after searching for and finding a few ships commands in the master control rooms database, Jerren smirked and reentered his ship.

  *****

  Eneria was waiting in the engine room when Jerren appeared, then rushed over and hugged him tightly.

  “That was the best time I can ever remember having.” Eneria said smiling brightly.

  Jerren chuckled, kissed her on the top of her head and said, “I’m going to endeavor to make all of your days enjoyable.”

  Jerren made sure their ship was still on a course for Abydos then looking into Eneria’s eyes he said, “I need to discuss a few things with you, let’s go to the observation level.”

  Eneria nodded and was about to turn to the gravity lift when Jerren closed his eyes and transported them directly there.

  “How did you do that?” Eneria exclaimed in obvious shock.

  Jerren smiled at Eneria and explained the procedure, and how he just found the information in the master control room’s database.

  Eneria sighed, “I cannot see into the database… that is too bad. It seems as if there are a lot of things we were never informed of about these ships. Do you know if there is any way for me to access the data?”

  Jerren smiled and said, “That’s one of the reasons I needed to talk to you.” Jerren summoned a double wide lounge chair and they both lay down facing each other.

  Jerren took Eneria’s hands in his and looked her right in the eyes, “If you were to eat the Ambrose, it should convert your body to a real and permanent one like Alise and Calia’s.

  “The reason I didn’t make the Ambrose for our meal is I wanted to give you the choice. You do not have to eat it if you don’t want to. But if you do, we will have to make a secondary binding disk and you can bond with the ship the same as Alise and Calia did.”

  Eneria furrowed her brows, “Something is preventing us from making a secondary binding disk on this ship. I know Hyais did it for Enyali when she was aboard TDS 3, but I was unable to create a disk on this ship. Enyali ordered me to make new primary binding disks for her on several occasions, but none of the new binding disks would work for her either, so she wanted to try another secondary disk, but I couldn’t make one.”

  Eneria seemed to hesitate a moment, then added, “I tried to convince Enyali that the old disk needed to be removed before a new disk could be applied, but
she refused to have it removed, for fear I would have just transported her off of the ship and get a new commander… Which is exactly what I would have done. Although I would have transported her using the Lantin’s execution protocol first.”

  Jerren forced himself not to smile, knowing full well that he would have done the exact same thing. “Yes, well Jason couldn’t make a secondary binding disk on TDS 1 either. We had to go to the master control room to make them for Alise and Calia,”

  Jerren smirked and said, “You missed that bit of excitement. After eating the Ambrose Alise and Calia lost their connection to their ships and didn’t know what happened to them. Once we figured out what had happened, Calia told us about her making a disk for Enyali and how her consciousness was transferred into the disk, and paralyzed Enyali.

  “Jason attempted to create a secondary binding disk on TDS 1 for Alise, but as I said, he couldn’t make one, so we all went to the master control room where both Alise and Calia got theirs. I just wanted you to know what to expect if you decided to go through with it.”

  Eneria looked up at Jerren and smiled. She was unable to read Jerren’s mind, but she could feel strong emotions emanating from him nonetheless. She knew if this had happened when Enyali was commander she would have refused outright, knowing full well that Enyali would have taken great pleasure in killing her for real. But somehow she knew in the deepest depths of her being that Jerren would die to protect her, and she did not have another moment’s hesitation, “I will do it.” she said with a smile.

  Jerren smiled and summoned a plate of Ambrose that appeared between them, and he sliced a piece off and fed it to her. Eneria closed her eyes and marveled at the flavors and textures crossing her tongue, there was something markedly different about the Ambrose since the last time she had eaten it. Alise and Calia had been right, the Ambrose played wither senses in a way she had never experienced from the prior times she had eaten it.

  Eneria was lost in the sensations a while, they were very pleasurable, and opening her eyes she sighed and said, “Alise and Calia were right, the Ambrose definitely tastes better.”

  Eneria could feel the warmth and emotions flow from Jerren when he took her hand in his, then he gave her another bite of Ambrose. She was back in the same pleasurable state as before, but this time it was more of an intense euphoric haze. The flavors and textures seemed to be rolling and melding with one another, and were reacting and countering each new flavor. She did not know why but her emotions began to react as if they were the same as her taste buds, and the sensations coursed throughout her body like a pulsar.

  One moment the sensations were all about the foods taste and energy, the next it was exclusively about her new found emotions and how Eneria felt about Jerren. Eneria suddenly noticed Jerren was there in her thoughts. She had never had a dream before, but this is what she thought it would be like. Jerren reached over and began caressing her cheek. Every time Jerren would touch her, Eneria would get a very pleasant sensation. And even in this dream state she could feel it.

  Eneria had wanted to run her hands along Jerren’s face while she was sitting with him, but she didn’t know if she should. But in this dream state she didn’t let anything hold her back.

  Eneria was caressing Jerren in her mind, and before long she wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. She had been overly fascinated by Jerren in a way she had never been with other prior commanders. Realizing this was a dream state, and she would not be rebuffed at the thought of an AI having feelings for a human Eneria leaned in and once the kissing began it did not take long for Eneria’s mind to take control and embroil her in a passion that even in her enthralled state she realized she would love to have for real.

  Justin had been right. Jerren could vividly remember the effects of the Ambrose from his only other time of eating it, not to mention the twelve hours afterward that left him frustrated and chafed. Jerren remembered the state as being intense, but this time however, he was overcome with passion, pleasure, and a great desire to make Eneria his despite the fact that she was an AI.

  He saw Eneria in his mind’s eye and began caressing her cheek, and before long she leaned in and the events morphed into heavy kissing and rubbing. Then Jerren allowed his emotions to pour out and it felt as if his and hers blended to become one.

  Jerren and Eneria were all over each other and he could feel the raw emotion from deep within her. It threatened to engulf him, and he wanted more, but in this dreamlike state this was all he could have, and in his frustration Jerren opened his eyes as he was thrust out of the euphoria.

  Jerren’s body had metabolized the Ambrose the same as the first time he had eaten it, and to his displeasure, he popped out of the state much sooner than Eneria had.

  Jerren just lay there caressing Eneria’s cheek, as the most seductive and enticing expressions crossed her face, and he waited patiently for the effects on her to wear off. Three more hours had passed and Jerren could still feel the emotional rollercoaster Eneria was riding.

  Jerren felt her frustration and disappointment when he was ejected from the shared state, but it diminished over time and with a start, Jerren saw that Eneria had opened her eyes.

  “Wow, that was intense for a while,” Eneria whispered.

  Jerren smiled and replied in a voice laced with the passion he knew he had missed out on, “Yes it was.”

  Eneria looked at Jerren questioningly, “You could feel what I did?”

  Jerren nodded, “Yes, that’s what Justin wanted to talk to me about in the master control room. Apparently we can share our emotional state during the euphoria if we’re in physical contact, but I metabolized the Ambrose too fast, and I was ejected from the shared state far too soon for my liking.”

  Eneria looked shocked, “Is that how you feel about me? The emotions I felt coming from you?”

  Jerren nodded and said, “Justin said something else when we were in the master control room. At first I thought it was just him teasing me, but now I think he was right.”

  “What did he say?” Eneria asked him.

  “Justin said, and this is an exact quote. ‘I’m not sure if Inola picked her for you or you for her, but I can see she needs you as much as you need her.’ Justin was right; I feel it with every fiber of my being. Maybe not about Inola, but definitely that I need you. From the moment I first saw you, something in me just seemed to click, as if I had been waiting for you my entire life,” Jerren raised their joined hands and kissed Eneria’s.

  A tear ran down Eneria’s cheek and she snuggled tightly into Jerren’s chest in silence.

  A while later Eneria said, “It is really serene, having only my thoughts in my head.”

  Eneria’s head bobbled when Jerren’s chest pulsed as he chuckled, “I would imagine, since I’ve had the disk implanted, my mind has been abuzz with information.

  “From what I was told the bonding process used to allow full access between the commander, the AI, and the ship. I’ve not asked the others why it’s not so now. But I like it this way.” Jerren ended with a sigh.

  Apparently it was Eneria’s turn to be amused, because she chuckled and said, “I know why, I realized it soon after I bonded with you, and you swooned—”

  Jerren gasped in mock outrage then said, “I never swoon…” and he laughed.

  Eneria smiled mischievously up at Jerren, “Well whatever you did or did not do, I put you in the medical unit to make sure you were not injured from your fall. That is when I saw your synaptic activity level, and I knew it would be near impossible to probe your thoughts. It is a natural defense mechanism.

  “I had a commander about two hundred thousand nonlinear years ago with a powerful mind… Not quite as strong as yours,” Eneria quickly stated in an apparent attempt to make Jerren feel less inferior.

  “He had about three quarters the neural activity as you do right now and it was very difficult to delve into his mind.

  “It would appear that if your mind becomes able to openly see the th
oughts of others, it puts up a barrier to prevent others from doing it to you as well. He never discussed his life much, he had been a monk before being placed as the commander of this ship, and I tried to scan his memories on several occasions, but I was unsuccessful. I was able to see what he allowed me to see pretty easily, but it was impossible to see anything else.”

  Another question popped into Jerren’s head, “Why didn’t you upload your consciousness to the ship more recently?”

  Eneria frowned, and Jason hurried to tell her she didn’t have to answer if she didn’t want to, when she said, “No, it is okay. The bonding between Enyali and I was different—”

  Jerren nodded, “I saw what they did…” Jerren ran his thumb down the side of Eneria’s cheek as he said that.

  Eneria closed her eyes as if in shame and Jerren spoke again, “There is nothing to be ashamed of. That family… I don’t have the words to describe what they deserve.”

  Eneria nodded and continued, “Enyali’s family was partially successful with integrating Baelentus’s neural processor. I was still bound to the old disk and it allowed Enyali some control, but not enough to actually run the ship. I was afraid that if I had uploaded my consciousness, she may have been able to find a way to gain full control of the ship.

  “As it was Enyali came close a few times. If she had realized that all she needed to do was reset the AI program to the earlier version, then she could have informed the unaware AI that the binding disk was damaged, and could have had it removed and a new primary disk could have been made, thus enabling her full control.”

  Jerren felt Eneria shiver and said, “But if you had uploaded to the ship wouldn’t that have been the version she reset to?” Jerren asked in confusion.