StarFlight: The Prism Baronies (Beyond the Outer Rim Book 2)

by Reiter

  “Like is not the word I would assign to it, my sweet Satithe. I have expressed my pride on more than one occasion, but I have been errant in speaking of my love for you, your kommis, and Alpha.”

  “I am blessed to have them as siblings,” Satithe remarked.

  “We make quite the family,” Dungias smiled, looking at her constructed frame. Slender at the shoulders, she possessed a well-toned musculature and impeccable skin. “And I happen to like the color very much. It is softer than the juniper of the Purdian skin tone… the perfect celadon green.”

  “Thank you, Master.”

  Taking a seat beside her, Dungias could feel Alpha’s presence as well as CK’s, but they were not coming any closer without invitation or cause. He did not put any more thought to their perspectives, as his concerns were with Satithe. “It is difficult to begin, my friend.”

  “Then let me ease your burden, Master,” Satithe said, leaning against his body. “I am not angry with you. At least, not any longer. Even when I was enraged with you, it was not genuine.”

  “Oh?”

  “No, Master. I was angry with myself,” she admitted. “Annsura. I was with her in her final moments… and I... I felt things. Things I couldn’t anticipate, and I did not understand the thoughts I experienced.”

  “That is the nature of loss,” Dungias said softly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “How did you cope?”

  “Did you not review the logs of the simulation?” she asked.

  “I would rather hear your answer,” he quickly stated.

  “I understand,” she replied, folding herself even more under her creator’s arm. “For me, it’s been almost twenty-nine months. I realized I had been loaded into a simulation three months and six days into the program.” Dungias’ brow lifted.

  “Then I am most anxious to hear what you did with the time,” Dungias said. “First things first, however. Tell me about Satithe.”

  “I found myself lost in guilt for making the decision to send Persephone instead of Jocasta. CK and Alpha have given me their support, but they were defending the action.”

  “Whereas your focus was upon how you came to the decision,” Dungias added.

  “I struggled with trying to fathom how you could ever forgive me for being so selfish… so self-minded!”

  “And what did you come to?”

  “Several conclusions,” she replied, slowly sitting up straight. “The very first one was in regards to my fear of being another Kiaplyx. It was wasted time and energy. Because I am Kiaplyx!”

  “Satithe,” Dungias consoled.

  “I am, Master!” Satithe argued, shaking her head. “But I have been able to see further into that definition. When you first met Kiaplyx, it was a system that befriended and aided you. It was the actions and reactions of Taas that made the system think and feel in a matter it was not prepared to process.

  “And I do not blame Taas for what that system concluded and enacted,” Satithe added, “but I do believe that it was the sensation of loss that caused it to take such actions against you, Master. I was kept from those considerations. I had lost Annsura, there was no chance of getting her back, no chance to keep her from leaving me, and even less chance to act against the agents that caused her departure. I cannot say that I would be here in this fashion if I had been placed in the same position Kiaplyx found itself. I now truly understand how you do not color that system as a villain, despite what its actions brought about for you and your people. For in the same stroke it tried to destroy you and your people, it discovered and took advantage of the bonds between the BroSohnti, the Malgovi, and the Vinthur.”

  “Which means Kiaplyx had a very strong hand in the liberation of the BroSohnti, and the truth of my people came to be realized,” Dungias added.

  “Indeed!” Satithe agreed. “It was through this understanding that I was able to focus on the reaction I was experiencing. I came to understand it, and through that understanding, I was able to logically fathom the emotional response. Odd matter: emotions. They cannot be rationally mapped. They can only be experienced and labeled. For a time I considered asking you to remove my capacity to experience them… but that would make me less than Satithe, and I will not diminish the Star Chaser.”

  “What?” Dungias asked, befuddled by the proclamation.

  “A perspective Alpha introduced that CK and I agree with,” Satithe explained. “You are not the Star Chaser… the culmination of the four of us create that station. I hope this does not upset you, Master.”

  “No. It does not upset me, though it is cause for concern,” Dungias replied. “I get the feeling I am holding the rest of you back. Also, I am almost sure that Alpha kept this belief from me, saving it for a time when the revelation would have a greater impact on me.”

  “And?” Satithe asked as a slight smile formed on her face.

  “It would have been a very strong argument,” Dungias admitted, nodding in reflection. “But this is about you. What have you been doing with your time?”

  “I have been doing my part,” Satithe replied. “I have been seeing to those you placed in the simulators and their processes, taking them into a deeper state of meditation so that the amount of information relayed to them could be increased.”

  “Satithe, the reason why I did not do that myself–”

  “Was because you did not want their minds to be filled with images of feats that their bodies could not replicate,” Satithe interrupted. “I took that into account, Master.”

  “And?” Dungias asked, very curious as to what her solution was.

  “I made use of the database you and Smitty created during the re-sequencing of the Seven,” Satithe reported. “Fortunately, Smitty also had files on the QuiQami.”

  “Ah, my shape-changing stowaway,” Dungias stated.

  “Exactly,” Satithe replied. “It was a simple matter using information in the databases to modify his body along with the others. There was no need for recomposing DNA strands.”

  “I should hope not,” Dungias returned.

  “No, Master. All I did was use the fluids in the simulation pods to sever, augment, and reattach tendons while increasing muscle mass whenever and wherever necessary.”

  “Really?!” Dungias said, putting his hand to his chin.

  “At least, that is what I did to their bodies. I further anticipated what you wanted to do with their minds, though I will admit Alpha was especially helpful with the process used to come to that conclusion.”

  “For my edification…”

  “For Teela, Rahneece, and Ephaliun, you wanted each of them to become aware of the Energies but to focus especially on one each; respectively speaking, MannA, EnerJa, and Chi. It is interesting that you managed to find a subject that possesses an innate connection with OmnahtI. I applied your methodology to him and advanced him knowledge as far as I could. I have to say I agree with your decisions.”

  “How fortunate,” Dungias said, not yet settled on how he felt about this level of initiative. He could feel impulses of being envious toward Satithe, but she had not yet been wrong in what the Traveler had wanted to do. The revelation of Alpha’s perspective was still with him as well, and it was looking more and more that it was a very accurate depiction of what the four of them had come together to create.

  “Perhaps I have been too long among the Humans of the Rims and I am beginning to adopt their shortsightedness,” Dungias thought. “The teachings of my Vi-Prin, my Kwinsoah, and my travels are of a much different perspective. One cannot truly create without being changed by the creation! The greater the creation, the greater the change.” Resentment fell from his mind and he was eager to see the product of Satithe’s labors.

  “Of course, the temporal shifting was something I could not anticipate,” Satithe continued, drawing Dungias to different thoughts.

  “It could not be anticipated,” he concluded with images of Nes coming back to his mind. “… nor could it be denied.”

  “Your thre
e-month training program was drastically altered, Master, and only Jovasor is unaware that he is in a simulation.”

  “And what Energy was he–”

  “Jovasor wasn’t trained like the others. Neither I nor CK believe he will remain with the crew. His time was therefore dedicated to increasing his knowledge and skill as a medical technician and researcher.”

  “I see,” Dungias said, feeling the need to return to the physical realm. He extended his senses only slightly and he could feel the treks the four had taken. “And, as expected, there is a degree of animosity. I predict that Jovasor will add to that number the moment he is made aware of the truth.”

  “Before you go, please receive this,” Satithe said, sending the files through Alpha to her master. The image of the Traveler shuddered for a moment, taking in the data, and his eyes flared with light before they settled on Satithe and returned to their normal color. “I hope you approve.”

  “More than approve,” Dungias smiled, nodding at Satithe, the program, his opadiah and Vi-Khan. She was no longer a simple intelligence, she had become an entity. “We shall have to–”

  “In time, Master,” she interrupted before diving into the pool, and it was not long thereafter that she was out of sight. Images of programs and diagrams appeared on all sides of the Traveler.

  “I have learned, Master,” Satithe’s voice echoed all around him. “Using the records I have made of CK’s actions, as well as those of the man who called himself NBA, I was able to gain access to Smitty’s database. I have studied his files and I have come to understand so many things. Like you, Master, genetics was his weakest field of study. With all that I have learned, I am prepared to elevate the NHB Project. Your creative hand is needed elsewhere. My body can wait.”

  “So it would seem,” Dungias whispered before leaving the garden.

  He opened his eyes, immediately noticing the glow coming from his Osamu. He looked forward to the next connection he would share with Alpha, but there were wounds to mend – fires to put out – and Dungias opted to begin with Rahneece.

  Inserting Alpha into the control panel of her simulator pod, the Traveler read her. The fluid inside the device was just as good as having physical contact. A frown formed on his face as he brought her simulation to an end but kept from opening her pod. He then decided to read the others, ending their sessions and also keeping them in their pods. Jovasor was the only one whose program ended with an immediate opening of his machine.

  “Hello, Doctor,” Dungias said, helping the young man from the pod.

  “How… how long…”

  “I can say that I am grateful to our Captain,” Dungias started, “… for it has been while in her service that I have learned how to answer questions from a perspective that is not my own. The simulation started on the fourteenth. There are only a few more hours to the sixteenth… and this is still the month of Lentmonzat.”

  “Forty-two oh three, sixteen?” Jovasor asked and Dungias nodded to the affirmative.

  “Forces outside my realm of control folded time inside this chamber,” Dungias explained. “The simulation was intended to deliver only a thirty-day experience. Fortunately, the program is interactive and only limited to Satithe’s accumulated knowledge. Instead of a one-month study of genetics, you have endured a five and one-quarter month experience. I noticed that during the same time where you pursued academia, you also requested to study the basis for self-defense.”

  “I thought I was asking you,” Jovasor said softly.

  “In many ways, Doctor, you were,” Dungias replied. “The algorithms were designed to interact with you and it took into account my thought processes. Thus, your long-distance running and swimming has increased not only your muscle mass but your endurance as well. And you successfully went through Basic Training twice. Well done, Doctor. Now if you will excuse me, I anticipate a much more violent reaction from the others. You may have to put into practice what you have learned.”

  “I will make sure the infirmary is ready,” Jovasor said as he turned quickly on his heels.

  Dungias waited for the young physician to leave before he opened the last four pods at the same time. Unlike Jovasor, their time in the simulator had not been primarily dedicated to the absorption of texts as well as medical and scientific concepts.

  “Good evening,” Dungias said, folding his arms. “Given the similarity of your dispositions, I decided to give this explanation only once.”

  Teela turned to see an unfamiliar face as he smiled, moving navy blue hair out of his gray and green-skinned face. The look of wonder in his yellow eyes kept Teela from voicing her anger; it made her question. Meeting eyes, the strange creature smiled as he changed form, looking like Dungias, but his skin color remained unchanged. He waved at Teela who could not keep from smiling at his antics.

  “You son-of-a-bitch!” Ephaliun yelled, charging at Dungias. Rahneece slapped her hip, drawing her concealed energy pistol. It was only good for three shots; she had every intention of making them count.

  Dungias lunged under Ephaliun’s attack, leaving only a noose of his cable and piton launcher. It tightened around the young man’s neck and his own momentum served to choke the crewman. The same sensation was shared by Rahneece as she lifted her hands to aim her weapon. Dungias’ large blue hand closed around hers and she bent at the knees, wincing in pain as every erg was immediately drained out of her gun and deposited in the cable, but held from entering Ephaliun’s body.

  “Knew it,” Teela whispered, closing her eyes to what she had witnessed.

  “I’m not angry at Z, am I?” she thought. “I am surprised… confused… I’ve been caught off guard … standing in the middle of ‘I don’t know’… but am I angry at him for what happened?

  “This… this can’t end well,” she spoke softly, stepping forward to look at Ephaliun and Rahneece. “All we know is what he taught us!” Unable to free themselves, the two crewmen looked at Teela. “What we know… what we’ve been doing… or thought we were doing… I dunno, I’m still fuzzy on that… but guys, nothing of it is new to him. It’s new to us! And he’s the one who taught us!”

  Dungias looked at the young woman, recalling his cable and releasing Rahneece’s hand. “Perhaps we can begin again. Take note, this is not a request for your permission, nor is it an apology. You are here for a reason… you have been trained for a reason… and, should you opt to remain part of this crew, I will continue to use you as I see fit! The choice to remain is yours!”

  “What’s the endgame?” Rahneece asked, flexing her aching hand. “You always have a plan.”

  “Already it has been changed,” Dungias commented. “Twice. And neither alteration was my option.”

  “So, say things go mostly along what you want to happen, what will we be?”

  Dungias looked down at his brace-com and keyed in a command. The projectors along the ceiling created four images, two females and two males. None of the four had known Dungias had an appreciation of art, but his renderings had an incredible impact on them. “Gods help us!” Rahneece whispered. “You have to watch out asking this man a question!”

  “No doubt!” Ephaliun whispered as he looked at all three images. “Damn, Teela, I didn’t know you had it in you!”

  “That makes two of us,” Rahneece whispered, looking at the image of the young woman.

  “Three,” Ulios added as he resumed his natural form.

  “Can someone please tell me who the latest addition is?” Ephaliun barked.

  “His name is Ulios,” Dungias advised. “We met while I was on my Away Mission. Ulios is QuiQami, a race of shape-shifters. Like most of us, his people are not sure of their origins. But the QuiQami are born with a link to OmnahtI.”

  “Om-what?” Ephaliun asked as Teela sighed in wonder.

  “One of the Energies,” Rahneece explained. “Not one of those in the mainstream, as things go, but Witches and WarloKs use it, and with it, they can achieve just about any expression of other Energie
s.”

  “Impressive,” Dungias commented.

  “You get to learn a few things floating in a pod for half a year,” Rahneece smirked.

  “Well, welcome aboard,” Ephaliun said offering his hand. Ulios smile taking grasp of Ephaliun’s forearm. “If you’re here it’s only because Z wants you here. That’s enough for me.”

  “Over your tirade?” Rahneece inquired.

  “Don’t go high-n-mighty on me,” Ephaliun returned. “You tried to blast him.”

  “I was backing your play,” she quickly offered and Ephaliun groaned. They both started to laugh but were distracted by what Ulios had drawn Ulios’ attention.

  Teela marveled at the musculature of the body in the drawing, wanting to touch it. Her eyes flared wide, gazing at the face of the woman… her height and development. Her eyes blinked rapidly, a sign she was withdrawing once more, and she stepped back, frowning in disapproval. “You made me look ugly, Z!”

  “Then perhaps you should refrain from gazing at a reflective surface, Miss Mansfield.”

  “And you might also want to revisit that perspective, sweetheart,” Rahneece said, walking over to Teela, looking the young woman up and down. She was not yet the Amazonian figure in the sketch, but she was not the same woman who had climbed into the sim-pod. She was slightly taller, her shoulders were square, and definition of toned muscles could be seen down her arms and legs.

  “You uhm… need any help drying off there, T?” Ephaliun inquired, licking his lips. Teela looked at the two, confused and irritated. She lifted her brace-com and input a command. An instant later she was standing in front of the projection of her body.

  “I have reviewed each of your event logs,” Dungias stated. “At no time did anyone not enjoy what they were learning, what they were becoming. But here and now, it is no longer fantasy. The reality of choice can no longer be denied. So gaze upon the image a little longer, Miss Mansfield.”

  “Why do you keep calling me that?!” Teela snapped.

  “In making not too subtle a point,” Rahneece started, rubbing her palm, “… I think Z wants to know which Teela he’s talking to, the one who was all kinds of gangbusters to get here and do something… or the one who’s trying to be what someone of elevated life-rank wants her to be.