“Chemical spray creates a temporary state of unconsciousness. We can put them in the brig.” The cyborg spoke in a monotone voice but the tone was of a woman.
*No. No brig. I am your new commander. Commander Gema. Can I get an antidote to this chemical spray and wake them up?*
“They will wake naturally in eight to twelve hours.”
Crap! *I see. Please return here in eight hours time. I wish to take a tour.*
“Yes, Commander Gema.” The cyborgs turned and walked down the hallway.
What if there were other cyborgs? *Wait!* she mind screamed. They halted and turned around.
*How many cyborgs are on duty right now?*
“Four of us. At seventeen hundred hours we go to maintenance and the other quad goes on duty.”
Gema wondered if she could just speak aloud to them. “And how long until the change?”
“Five hours, Commander.”
“Please let the new crew on duty know I am here and in command. I am Commander Gema. My orders supersede all previous orders.”
“Yes, Commander.”
*And do not communicate beyond this station that I am here. This is a -um-an undercover visit.* Again they agreed in dull monotone voices. Gema dismissed them. When they were gone she banged on the hull door and yelled for Lorl. The door opened and Lorl stood, mouth agape, face white.
“They’re going to be fine. Cyborgs sprayed them with something. Must not have affected me because of my ancestry. They’ll wake up in eight to twelve hours. I told the cyborgs to come back and give us a tour. Oh. And I’m their new commander.”
Lorl blinked but helped her drag the men into the transport. Lorl, being physically stronger, got both men into reclining seats with Gema’s help. After the men were settled Gema noticed the hold door was open, and one sleep tube now had bright green lights. “Oh, Lorl. You’re waking them up?”
“Just mine.”
“You don’t think things are a little unsettled for a small child?”
Lorl looked at the floor for a moment, “I knew it would be better if we were together.” Gema didn’t know what to say. She looked at the sleeping men. She wanted to snuggle up on the bench seat next to Kellac.
After a moment Gema said, “Maybe I should go alone on a tour. Just in case the other cyborgs didn’t get the message that I’m the commander.”
“I don’t know about that. It doesn’t seem safe enough. I think we should stay together. We should stay here and go out tomorrow. Shouldn’t we avoid being alone? When we were at camp we followed a buddy system.”
Gema was surprised Lorl didn’t readily agree to stay behind with the sleepers. “Good point. Maybe we should wait this out until the men wake.”
Lorl nodded eagerly. “This place is kind of spooky don’t you think? I thought it would be small. The techs never mentioned how huge it is.”
“Yes. The more I think about it the more I think we should stay here in the transport until they wake up.”
They shared the remaining ready meals and then settled down to take turns on watch and sleep.
The cyborgs returned right on time, eight hours later. The men were still sound asleep.
“I have had a change of plans,” Gema spoke aloud but gave a mental command. *Attend my words.* “My companions and I will take the tour in four hours. But we require food. Do you have readypacs?”
“Yes, commander. We also have a kitchen and can prepare a wide variety of foodstuffs.”
“You, the cyborgs can cook?” Lorl spoke up. She looked at Gema and shrugged. “Menu,” she said.
One of the cyborgs duly held out its arm com so they could read the offering of popular foods from Toph. They both picked a meal and extra food for the men. One would return with food in thirty minutes. Gema requested one cyborg remain with them. The smallest one stayed.
While they waited for the food, questioned the cyborg.
“Do you have a name?” Gema asked.
“I am designated 2ln77,” said the small cyborg who looked female, though the body armor over the torso made it impossible to tell for sure.
Gema only remembered the beginning of the id number, “I’ll call you 2ln. Are any other docking bays in use right now?”
“No, commander.”
“Will you conduct the tour?” For some reason Gema didn’t want to work with new strange cyborgs. This tiny pallid-skinned creature seemed somehow not so imposing.
“Yes, I will conduct the tour.”
“Are any other visitors expected here at the station?”
“Regular supply ship will come in forty seven cycles.”
“Where does it come from?”
The cyborg was silent for a moment. “Cyborg processing.”
“Where is the location? What planet?”
Another pause. “Data unknown.”
The other cyborgs returned with trays of covered food. “2ln, can you beam me your contact information? I will call you when we are ready to tour.”
The small cyborg sent Gema her contact data and left with the others on a small flatbed float, saying. “I will pick up the recyclable containers when we meet for the tour.”
Lorl opened the metal case lid and a savory aroma of finely prepared food wafted through the transport. Gema’s mouth watered as they removed the plates and bowls and served the food. Gema had a small roasted fowl, sautéed vegetables in a spicy hot sauce and creamy cheese filled pastries no larger than her thumb in a savory sauce. Lorl had a similar meal only her protein entre was a rack of ribs.
“Star goddess above,” Lorl moaned after her first bite. “I know it was frozen but who ever cooked this is one fine cook.”
Gema agreed, her fowl was perfectly cooked, juicy and tender. “I wonder if cyborgs retain the skills they had as humans, or if everything is wiped clean?” She asked.
Lorl put down her fork. “You know, it makes sense they would retain valuable skills. Some skills, fine cooking, take years to learn.”
“You know about fine cooking?” Gema was surprised because Lorelei had shown no interest in meal prep at camp.
Lorl’s cheeks turned pink. “My grandfather owned several restaurants in Toph City. I often visited and even worked there now and then as a girl.”
It seemed all it took to turn Lorl into a human being was a well cooked meal. A sweet Toph wine accompanied the meal but Gema decided not to indulge. Gema slid down on the floor next to Kellac’s reclined chair. He slept peacefully, his lashes dark crescents in the dim light of the com. The men finally started to stir. When they were awake Gema filled them in. Kellac grinned. “Commander Gema. It suits you.”
“Since there are cyborgs here I think we can assume our presence here will be known to the Gorvas. I think we need to get our communication figured out right away. We don’t want to be here when they come to see what we are doing,” Kellac said.
“I’ll bet there is fuel we can use somewhere. So when we get back to the planet we will still be able to maneuver. I want to look for it,” Dooley said.
“Good idea. We can stock up on whatever they have for the human crew who visit here, too. Readypacs, medical supplies.” Kellac said.
“Bedding and clothes,” Gema added.
The cyborgs returned right on time driving a rectangular open float. Lorl did not want to leave her child but there were hours until the case opened and the child could be removed to sleep normally.
“We need you, Lorl. You have more knowledge about the communication method used on Toph than any of us. They might use a Toph system you are familiar with,” Kellac said. “And it is several hours before the stasis tube even opens.” The men hadn’t been thrilled to find out Lorl had started the waking process on her child, but there was nothing any of them could do now.
Lorl agreed and they all sat down on the small flatbed float 2ln flew, their legs dangling over the side. The float carried them down a long hallway of docking bays similar to their own, a few a little larger. “This place is huge. It must ha
ve been a military outpost at one time,” Kellac said.
“The PureGen planets cut military spending when the war seemed to be staying around the center worlds. No one expected the Gorvas to come to Toph and Adelphia.” Dooley said.
“Left themselves vulnerable, looks to me.” Kellac said.
“Yes,” Dooley said. “The Gorvas must have found a jumpstream. Otherwise the PureGen planets would be too remote.”
They told the cyborg to take them to the main communication station. They floated to a circular lobby area, with stair and ramps to upper and lower levels. 2ln took an up ramp and zoomed them down a narrower corridor until she came to a large double door which slid open for them. The room was huge with wall coms and one huge screen, plus a number of tabletop coms with chairs. They got off the float.
“Remain here with us, 2ln.”
Nothing in the room made any sense to Gema, but Lorl went right to a large keyboard near the wall screen.
“This is what we want,” Lorl said. “All the location coordinates we broadcast to are accessed here. But you will have to search to find the coordinates you want to send to. I’m not sure how to do it.”
Dooley and Kellac studied the coms while Lorl manipulated data. After a while, Lorl found what she wanted.
“Look. There’s a tutorial we can take.”
“Do you mind staying, Lorl? When is your child due to exit the tube?”
Lorl looked at her com. “Not for eight hours or so. I can stay and help get this set up.”
Since it would take several hours to do the tutorial and find the coordinates they wanted, Gema and Dooley decided to take care of other business. They agreed to check in via their personal coms every quarter hour and set timers. 2ln took them back to the foyer area and summoned another larger cyborg to assist Gema with supplies. Dooley left with 2ln to tour the rest of the station and find fuel for the transport.
“Where are the nearest human quarters?” She was curious what they would find in supplies to take back to camp. To Gema’s surprise, the human rooms were just down the hallway from the bridge where Kellac and Lorl were working. It was a large room with bunks along one wall, a utilitarian kitchen and eating area, and a communal hygiene unit with water showers. The cyborg directed her to the storage rooms, which were well stocked. Gema spent some time looking through the supplies to see what might be of use at camp. The cyborg helped her load the float. Gema took almost all the readypacs onto the float. She estimated it would keep the four adults and one child for about six months. The load would get them through the winter and spring. Summer they could feed themselves from the land. There were first aid supplies, blankets, towels and clothing. She also found kitchen tools. Knives and dishes would come in handy.
Gema didn’t want to think about what they would do if they were stranded on Dusault 9 indefinitely. They had no seeds for crops and few tools. Long-term survival would be difficult if a rescue ship didn’t come soon. Even if a rescue ship did come it would be a mixed blessing for her. She knew they couldn’t stay on Desault 9 forever, but rescue meant her time with Kellac was over. He’d return to his duties in the military, back with his family. His wealthy, powerful family of PureGens. She’d be a refugee, or if lucky she’d be an immigrant somewhere.
She knew Kellac would help her get settled. He wouldn’t abandon her on the streets. And she could help them out with information about the Zh Cle’ herding talent. But he would move on with his life and she be left alone again. Surely his family would expect him to marry someone in their circle, not an outsider. Not a woman with Zh Cle’ blood. A marriage between them was impossible. They were PureGens, and even if their homeworld had an open constitution, she would never be acceptable to those who believed human blood should be the purest of the pure.
After loading the float she called Dooley. “Hi Dooley. I have a big load of readypacs and other supplies to load into the transport. Want to meet me there?”
Dooley agreed. Soon the cyborgs, Dooley and Gema had the goods secured in the hold.
“Excellent,” Dooley said. “It’s a relief we have enough supplies for the winter. What now? I need to move the transport to fuel it since the fuel is kept in a large storage compartment, not in cells.”
They went back to the com bridge. Kellac and Lorl were nearly done with the tutorial. Gema had the cyborgs prepare a good meal, perhaps the last they would have for a very long time.
“I have a scan going on for New Prague,” Kellac said as they sat to eat. Gema reported on the number of readypacs and the other items they had loaded. Lorl would return to the transport with Dooley to get her son out of the tube, and Dooley would fuel the transport.
“Weapons. Gema, could you have the cyborgs send Dooley and I weapon specs? We could take a few back with us.”
After the meal Dooley and Lorl left and Kellac was busy on the com. The others were still busy so Gema explored the crew quarters. She found a cupboard full of items to amuse the crew during down time. Books for the arm coms, theater productions, musical recordings, games. Also craft projects—jewelry making, textiles, along with tutorials. It seemed crafting costumes for shipboard theater productions were popular on long space assignments. Gema took a load of those to the transport also; they might make the long winter more comfortable. There was very little for her to do and she felt restless. Back at camp she was busy all day long, cooking, foraging, cleaning, working on small projects, carving wooden bowls or smoothing wood with a sandstone for plates. And in the heat of the day she and Kellac often took a break at the river to splash and cool off. Or make love in the deep grass by the river.
Several hours later Lorl and Kellac were done with their search. Lorl’s child would be ready to take out of the tube soon, so Gema accompanied her back to the transport, since Lorl was uncomfortable with moving through the nearly empty station alone. Gema stayed with Lorl while she got her child out, a small boy with blond curls, hardly more than a baby. “How old is he?”
“He’s just turned two. His name is Ulric.” Lorl smoothed the little boy’s curls away from his face. “He won’t wake for a while yet. I think I’ll make up a bed from some of those blankest and get some sleep.”
Gema helped her by making a bed while Lorl dressed her child in clothing kept in a compartment of the tube. She wanted to ask Lorl about the child’s father but then remembered the people of Toph might be dead. Or cyborgs.
Gema’s arm com buzzed. “I’m almost set up to send,” Kellac said. He sounded excited about working on the transmission.
“I’ll join you.” Gema took the small float back to the bridge.
“I keyed out a message earlier. I want to send it text and vocal. They will be able to check my vocals and confirm it’s actually me talking.” Kellac grinned. “Here we go.” His fingers slid over the com.
“Hailing the family. Come in, brothers. This is Kellac, calling via our family code.” Then he switched to a language she didn’t know. He continued to talk, giving coordinates of the station and of the camp. They had talked ahead of time about Kellac sending the message in his family’s obscure Old Terran language. If the transmission was picked up by others it wouldn’t be easy to translate.
“Now we have to wait a few hours. The com will tell us when the message reaches the recipient.” He grinned. “I used a family transmission line, but they will know it is serious. I also told them of your Zh Cle’ ability with cyborgs, at least with the cyborgs we have met up with. They will be interested in the information.”
Dooley called to check in. “I think this calls for a celebration.”
“There is wine and ale in the crew quarters. And showers.” Gema informed them.
“We have a little time before we can expect a message back. A shower sounds great,” Kellac stretched. Gema knew he wasn’t used to sitting for such a long period of time.
“I’ll run some food to Lorl and make sure she’s comfortable,” Dooley said. “Then I’ll shower before I join you. I’ll show you the weapo
ns I picked up. I have no problem sleeping on the bridge to wait for a signal.”
“I want to stay here, too,” Gema said.
“I’ll be back in an hour or so,” Dooley said and took off.
Kellac grabbed Gema’s hand and twirled her around until finally he hauled her back against him, grinding his hips against hers. He kissed her and she reveled in his taste, his strength.
“We have time for a shower. An hour.” He hoisted her up, and she circled her legs around his waist while her hands clutched his shoulders.
“You are addictive. I need you twice a day to be happy.”
Alien Blood (Diaspora Worlds) Page 11