“Did I say I was mad? Quite the opposite. I just need to make sure I modify my fallopian tubes because I swear if I don’t you might fertilize all my eggs at once. Hold on, I need to make sure if you did fill them beyond just packing a year’s worth of semen in my uterus. Need to make sure you didn’t break me.” She quickly washed her semen covered fingers with her mouth and swallowed to savor him, then washed her hands and covered up in a bathrobe from her bracelet to leave.
Oliver quickly finished grooming and found Renee laying down for a full scan. “Well? What is the verdict?”
“It’s strange, the fallopian tubes that would deliver an egg into my uterus is closed by a muscle I never knew about. And I am backed up in the womb area, but I’m metabolizing it faster than a normal woman by a good fifteen percent.”
“Is that good?” He asked.
“It’s interesting. I never thought about how I would absorb you into myself in comparison to other women, but if I do restart my cycle and you pump this much inside then I’ll definitely get pregnant each and every time.” She told herself the next part. “I’ll need to remember that in the future. If I’m not careful I’ll get pregnant while already being pregnant. Oh, that’s interesting…”
When she didn’t speak her thoughts he prompted for more. “What is?”
“Oh, sorry… it’s just that everyone knows semen for women is like an antidepressant… a natural mood and hormone stabilizer in laymen’s terms. It’s doing the same for me, but also the collectors that gather the solutions my body makes, is storing the chemicals in my bones and at a much faster rate. I think your semen, when I convert into hormones, can be further manipulated into extra solutions. Your semen is being further broken down and rearranged to add to what I’ve already stored in my bones. It’s taking what hormones I don’t need from you and is putting the excess to better use… but also I cannot determine the solution’s already stored to degrade in potency so long as it’s within my body. Nothing will expire… Stars!” she yelped and sat up suddenly to look at him. “Oliver, I just checked my bone density and musculature and found my bones are as dense as yours now and that the efficiency of my heart and limbs is closer to yours. Yesterday I could maybe live on a seven gee world, but now I can do nine plus. How?”
Oliver snapped his fingers. “You’re bracelet. Whatever our multi-tools do allows us to be fundamentally changed to survive the harshest terrain. You told me it was hollowing out your bones and hardening them. It makes sense that it would also strengthen your heart to be able to pump and circulate blood in those instances.”
“Then explain how I’ve not gained more than a kilo above the amount I eat and expel? Explain how I’m not a centimeter taller? Yesterday I was a hundred sixty seven point six centimeters tall and am the same. Today I am eighty five point seven kilos heavy. How is that possible?”
He touched the black vambrace. “If it can condense Beasts to the size of a bean and it not weigh more than said bean then it is possible it can do the same within our bodies.”
“That… makes sense.” She admitted after a minute. “But why are my tendons and ligaments the same?”
“Jake said he spliced you as a baby. Perhaps whatever done isn’t part of the abilities in our multi-tools. Do you want it… the tendons I mean?”
“To be able to chase your ass down?” Renee tapped he chin. “You better believe it. If I’m a Solarian I need to be able to be who I was meant to be in every way. Besides, you must follow my commands and let me lead.”
“You’re not going to let that go are you?”
“What do you think?” one strawberry eyebrow arched. “You keep saying I own you, I’m just going to make sure I get the most use out of my lover and put him through the ringer to see just what I can get out of being eternally bound to your idiotic ass.”
“You are one stubborn woman.”
“Yet you love me anyway. Now I need some time away from you. Go do something. I need time with Sparky.” Said Drake arrived right then and came through. “I don’t care what you do, but remember Papa wants us at eleven on deck. Afterward I’m going to be busy with my mice.”
“You should know Jessica is waiting outside, pacing the halls.” Sparky informed.
“Uh oh, she only does that when she’s really upset. Papa must have told her and she trying to figure out how to talk about it.” Renee jumped down and changed from a robe to something comfortable for six in the morning. She stuck her head out the door and said “Auntie, just come on in. I’m not as freaked out as I was last night.”
Jessica stopped pacing in her nightgown and said “Lucky you. Jake told me everything when he showed up at my quarters a couple hours ago. Oh, before I go strangle him from keeping this secret from me for thirty years, I did all I could, but the nanites Daven had were untraceable. All I did know was someone gradually laced his coffee over a course of three years with them. I found traces of the coffee in the nanites. Whoever did it knew he liked the stuff and had access over such a long period to plan this. I also ruled out him doing it himself. He may be a fucking genius, but he doesn’t know shit about nanite programming. He tried, but I could be on hallucinogens and still trace his programmed creation.” Jessica said her peace before running and hugging Renee tightly. “Oh, Sweetheart, if I knew… I…”
Oliver took Renee’s look over her aunt’s shoulder to get out and let them have a private time.
Where to go? Better go practice for awhile. He decided and made way for the belly of the ship and spent a good hour doing the sword dancing sequences all alone which suited him perfectly.
At seven there came a ship-wide message. “Attention, Lads, this is yer captain and king. I’d like to thank everyone for getting their arses back well before o’ nine hundred. Since we are all aboard we don’t need to stay with these lubbers. We’re leaving port in a few minutes. Also, everyone is ordered to the deck at eleven hundred with no exceptions, not even if ye lose a limb. There is an important matter to discuss.
“Furthermore I need Oliver up on the bridge. That is all.” The alert clicked.
Heeding the captain’s order Oliver quickly used the shower to wash the rigorous sweat from his body, clothed and made way for the elevator.
Compared to before, the bridge was much more active as he came out onto the brain of the Dorgenox. Jake Dorgen sat in the gilded throne centered into the room. From there he oversaw ship operations as all twelve stations in the lower level were manned by someone. Abdul stood at the helm with hands behind his back saying “Sub-light engines?”
Someone down below said “Operational and within optimal parameters.”
“Solar sail integrity?” Abdul fired off next in the preflight checklist.
“Sails are at one hundred percent.”
“Gyroscopic stabilizers?”
“Functional.” Came a woman’s voice.
“Motion dampeners?”
“Level six, hallway nine B through D need to be repaired. For some reason the automatic repair is not functioning either. Everything else is prepped and ready.”
Jake said “Have Jacob Wrench take a look at it once we stop accelerating.”
“Aye aye.”
Oliver came up to the captain’s seat and Jake turned his head. “Ah, ye made it, Lad.”
“You are my captain.” Oliver said.
Jake chuckled. “That I am, Lad. We’re about to set sail. I wanted ye to see it from up here. We’ll talk after we get underway.”
Several more commands were asked and replied when Abdul spun around, hands still behind his back. “Captain, we are ready.”
“Get us the hell out of here.”
Abdul nodded and placed his hand on the wheel as well as the ship controls. He hit a button to say “Verard port authority, requesting permission to depart.”
In a few seconds there came a feminine voice. “Permission granted, Dorgenox. Take pathway four point three two degrees north, seventy six point three two east southeast as a departure route.�
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“Four point three two degrees north, seventy six point three two east southeast. Confirm.” Said Abdul inputting the direction supplied.
“Confirmed. Have a safe trip out there.”
“We will.” He said.
Massive clamps disengaged from the great sailboat and folded in. Abdul initiated the four massive thrusters and though he didn’t feel momentum, the ship moved away from the underside dock and stayed beneath the floor above. Since in space there is no up or down, it made it the only way to viably explain. The Dorgenox flew straight ahead till leaving the dock and then Abdul pushed forward and turned the wheel. Oliver watched as the nose of the ship dropped and turned to port for a few minutes of seeing Verard one last time before the great silvery sails unfurled and grew fat as Verard’s star greatly aided acceleration out of the planet’s gravity well.
Light particles strike the highly reflective sails in replacement of wind and pushed the Dorgenox’s bulk forward through space. Before long Verard was smaller than a mote of dust behind them. They gained speed to just below the speed of light as where the name Sub-light comes from. Nothing can go faster than light without an FTL shortcut that opens a window in subspace to bypass that one fundamental dimensional law.
They picked up so much speed that planets merely flashed by.
“Ye have the bridge, First Mate Krabble.” The captain said as he rose from the throne and hefted his axe and claymore. “Come with me.”
As the ultimate authority on the ship, Oliver followed Jake back into his quarters. They went to just inside the entrance lounge and sat down rather than physically open the door leading to the treasures. The captain still wore the traditional kilt of his ancestors. “Let us forget about pleasantries. How is me daughter mind state?”
“Better now that she finally got answers to why she was different. She also wants you to disable the backdoor to her chip.”
“Figured as much, go on.”
“She cried for hours before opening up to me. Mostly I think she knew she was Solarian, but couldn’t bring herself to believe it when everyone else was human. She’s known about her DNA for years and forced herself to be like everyone else. After we talked about it I think she can at last embrace the truth of her origins. I think she found peace with her mother’s death at childbirth, since that never happens anymore with advanced medical technology.
“The one I would worry about is Jessica. She was pacing still in her nightgown.”
Jake harrumphed. “Don’t downplay it. Me little sister wants to kill me and she’s a person who doesn’t like conflict. Jessica and mine father passed eighty years ago in a freak accident. Isabella was like a mother and a sister to Jessica after her mother left her when Da passed. They were inseparable. To hear Isabella made Renee into a Solarian and not know all this time is a betrayal to me young sister. Jessica certainly would have made sure Renee was raised to know exactly what was happening. That is why I kept it a secret. I can placate me sister, but she needs to be mad at me right now. She needs to understand just how important secrecy is right now.” The hefty man stroked his thick beard. “And what about ye? How did me revelation affect ye?”
“It is not much of problem for me. You forget I’m not even two months old though if the Geo Record right I’m physically far older than you. All I care about is Renee. Her happiness is my own. I don’t care what I look like or know I’m not human so long as she is happy. You could tell me I’m Creelin in disguise and I wouldn’t care.”
“Glad to hear it. Me daughter deserves that much dedication. The other reason I called ye up is to help me translate, if ye are up to it.”
“We have three and a half hours to spare. I don’t see why not. If you have anything that can solve who I am, or was, and find out what happened to the Solarians and why I was left behind then we both get something out of it.”
“Then we have no need to linger.” Jake’s eye unfocused. “There, that should do it.”
“Do what?”
“I just gave ye access to my quarters anytime you need me. Only ye, Renee, Abdul, Jessica and Stephanie have that freedom. Now come into me study.”
They stood and passed through the treasure hoard and took the first door. The study was rather large and had data tablet crystals sitting all over a shelf that covered the square room. Most were caked in centuries of dust. It was a rather empty room covered all over every surface in octagonal patterns. Jake said “Run program Solarian six.” The walls disappeared and created a hologram showing thousands of symbols floating in the air. “These are the Solarian symbols we’ve discovered thus far. You can move the runes around as if they were real. I need ye to look around and tell me first if there are any here that has a direct translation that does not change.”
Amber eyes lost focus and he shook his head. “It’s a jumbled mess. Why don’t you set up comparison screens I can read. Maybe then we can find out.”
“Not a problem. Run programs nine, sixteen, eight hundred eight and nine thousand six fifteen.” Four three dimensional objects replaced the floating letters. “These are the only discovered and verified Solarian languages. Ye already know the Geo Record cube. This is of a wall that was pieced back together after the stone was broken. This is a spaceship fighter unearthed on Verard and I’ve got a copy of what I believe is a ship’s log or a personal journal. This last one was in a temple…”
“No, it was a place where Solarian woman gave birth and raised children. It was a protected nursery.” Oliver said as he looked closer at the open pyramid of stone many millennia old. “This dais right here says ‘Welcome to the nursery Sisters. Here our children can grow in safety. We have plenty of Beasts here to let them hunt in safety to hone their skills. Please enjoy and be courteous to fellow mothers and show respect for all. The second level is a lounge for mothers to enjoy company away from their child. Level three is for recovering mothers, birthing and bonding of their new offspring. Fathers, please go to the lodge and do not enter. Now is time for your partner to be free. If you disturb the sanctity of this place you will be punished. If any women die from Yours you will be fully responsible.’ It’s more like a guide or rules.”
“This is interesting. Any direct connections?”
“Uh, these look the same.” Oliver pointed to the ones on the guide and on the Geo Record. “It can be read as both ‘partner’ or ‘female’… these are offspring spoken neutral of specific sex. And these here are specific to ‘male’ written as masculine.”
“Keep going. The program is learning as ye talk. Me chip is backing up everything and learning too.”
Oliver moved to the reconstructed pillar visual. “This one tells of a law. ‘Article law one five two. All warriors sworn to the sword must die in the name of the people, then the Galactic King and then to the women who guide our race. Any deviation of this oath is treason to what is sworn. Warriors do not kill indiscriminately. They protect the weak and defend against those who do harm. To slay sentient life of ones own will for no reason is punished by death. The warrior oath is to be the shield for the needy and the blade for the absolute defense. Once the oath is sworn the warrior is eternally bound by honor. To stain that honor is to die in life as well as the in minds of those sworn to protect.’ These mean ‘Warrior’ gender neutral. Males and females in this context means they often fought in pairs.”
“So I was correct.” Jake was glad to be validated.
“This is ‘Oath’ and ‘Honor’, put these three symbols together is ‘Sworn’. Those three translations are the absolutes. These over here have different inflections, but grouped like this means a contract to the warriors oath… Wait… what is that in the corner?” Oliver got closer till Jake told him to just touch the display and stretch to zoom.
“A smudge I think.” Jake admitted.
“I don’t think so. The way it’s written points to it like an arrow for me… I think it’s a planet where warriors go to swear.”
“Planet? I don’t see a planet.”
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“I get the sense it is one. Is there a way to factor in weathering?”
“Ye’re looking at it, Laddie. But if ye think that smudge is a planet I’ll certainly keep an open mind and have Jessica figure it out with that in mind. Let’s keep going.”
The discovered Solarian ship was next and Jake listened to the translation and it was indeed a ship’s log that told it was shot down seventy three thousand years ago after getting hit by a Gamma ray burst from a neutron star that had gone nova. It wasn’t a direct hit, but the glancing blow had enough impact to kill the crew instantly from the massive dose of radiation which not even Solarian physiology could withstand.
Only there was so much information that it would take quite awhile to sort through.
Jake was as excited as when he was sixteen and found out how to unlock the Geo Record all over again. In no time at all compared to nearly a millennia of dedication he got translations of a lost people who likely started the life on Earth.
Chapter 13
“Papa! Where are you?”
“In here.” His voice carried and the door opened.
“What are you two doing? It’s almost eleven.”
“Can’t be? We’ve only been at the translation maybe two hours at most?”
“Papa, you know how you get when you think you are onto something. I’m telling you both to hurry up. You need to be punctual today or the crew will be pissed. I’ve lost count of how many times it’s happened.”
“Right, right. Lad, ye’ve been invaluable helping me. Thanks to ye I’ve translated eighty three percent on how yer people wrote. Much better than my minor six constant words. I’m glad that even with memory loss ye can understand it. How ye do it I bet lays with how your brain is wired.”
“Speaking of brains. Papa, I want to undo what you did to me. What solution must I make to disable the splicing?”
The men stepped out and Jake didn’t hold back anything more from his only child. “If ye create the M241Y disabling protein it’ll strip both the block on yer brain as well as yer tendons.”
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