...and they are us Homecoming

by Patrick McClafferty

  LOLA addressed the crowd. “I’m obviously not a religious personage, so I will just officiate as Zed and Katherine exchange their Wedding Vows in front of their friends.” She turned to the waiting couple. “Please join hands.” A low sigh seemed to pass through the crowd. “As your hands are joined, so your lives: holding each other, caressing each other, supporting each other, loving each other.” LOLA reached out and slowly bound a red ribbon about their joined hands.

  Zed swallowed and repeated after LOLA. “I, Fernandez Edwardo Raphael Daniel Yates promise you, Katherine Marie Johansen, that I will be your husband, from this day forward, to love and respect you, to support and to hold you, to make you laugh and to be there when you cry. To softly kiss you when you are hurting, and to be your companion and your friend, on this journey that we will now make together. Katherine turned to regard him with her clear emerald eyes. “I, Katherine Marie Johansen promise you, Fernandez Edwardo Raphael Daniel Yates, that I will be your wife, from this day forward, to love and respect you, to support and to hold you, to make you laugh and to be there when you cry. To softly kiss you when you are hurting, and to be your companion and your friend, on this journey that we will now make together.”

  “Katherine and Zed are now bound together.” LOLA announced solemnly, and then slowly untied the ribbons that bound their hands. “Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be a shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there is no loneliness for you, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two bodies, but there is only one life before you. May your days be good and long upon the earth, or in this case in space!” Someone in the crowd tittered. Zed gazed down at his new wife and the rest of the ceremony passed in a comfortable warm blur, right up to the point that LOLA repeated “You may kiss the bride!” Katherine poked him in the ribs and Zed kissed his bride, long and passionately. The clapping and laughter brought him back to his senses. In his arms Katherine had flushed a deep scarlet, but instead of pulling away as he expected, reached out and pulled him closer.

  “You don’t get away that easily buster.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Someone in the crowd shouted something about getting a room, and he thought it sounded like a dandy idea.

  Chapter Five

  LET THERE BE LIGHT

  The wedding was over, and the honeymoon. The most Zed and Katherine had managed for a honeymoon was 24 hours off in their new suite, with a large DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door. The cats, of course, couldn’t read and came and went as they chose, as cats always do. Then it was over. Now they had to face the grim reality that they had never left the starship in the first place, and were preparing to go into battle.

  Zed and his new wife sat on the couch, hip to hip, and stared at the holographic map of the dodecahedron that floated in front of them. The image of LOLA sat Indian fashion, floating a foot above the long coffee table. A cluster of blue dots sat in the very center of the wavering image.

  “This is where the Central Computer is located.” LOLA remarked pointing at the cluster of lights. “And this is the backup power source.” A white dot appeared, as they had guessed it would, at the bottom of the display.

  Zed glared at the image. “It didn’t even have batteries?”

  “Zed!” LOLA rolled her violet eyes. “It’s been 15,000 years, more or less, since this planet was deactivated. The best chemical and even nuclear battery isn’t going to last that long.”

  “Okay, fine.” He gave up. “What is the best way to get there from here?”

  “This is the best way, Zed.” A meandering line started at their location and wandered down, level after level until it finally reached the power plant. “The only problem is that the best way will take you a week to get there. You only have a little more than a day to get the power back on and the AI booted. Then the Creednax will be here. This is the only way that will get you there in time.” The first red line winked out, to be replaced with another. This line went directly from their location to the center of the dodecahedron, where it dropped straight down fifty kilometers to the power room.

  “Are you insane??” Zed glared at the map. “I can’t fly.”

  “You don’t need to fly, Zed. All you need to do is fall, and I know you can do that. You get to the elevator shaft and step off. I’ll catch you before you hit. Trust me. You have nothing to fear. I have almost all the kinks worked out of the small anti-grav unit.”

  Katherine looked at the diagram, and then turned to look at LOLA. “If you let harm come to my new husband I will personally take you apart, component by component. Is that clear?”

  For some reason LOLA looked nervous. “As glass, Captain. You should go as soon as possible Zed. Time is of the essence. I’ll have a small fast electric cart waiting for you in the corridor of the construct.”

  Zed kissed Kat, and then stood. “I guess it’s a good thing I had breakfast then.” Katherine went to stand, and made a small groaning sound. “Are you all right?” He touched her arm, giving her a concerned look.

  “No… yes, I’m just fine.” She straightened slowly, a mischievous smile spreading across her face. “A little sore perhaps. I had tried to imagine what it would be like to be with you. We’ve waited so long. The reality was much much better than my imagination, and much more — physical. LOLA promised to show me a book called the Karma Sutra while you were gone.” Zed groaned this time. “What did I say? What’s the Karma Sutra?”

  “Never mind. LOLA and I are going to have a long talk when I get back.”

  “I can hardly wait.” LOLA’s voice was flat. “Your chariot awaits, oh great Fleet Captain. Dress warmly; the temperature is below freezing, and bring your own air. The first Strike Teams found out that the CO? levels are higher than expected. Gravity is .87g. “

  “Don’t be a wise ass LOLA.”

  “Aye, aye sir. I’m sorry sir.” She didn’t sound sorry.

  An hour later he was in the electric cart, whizzing down the dark corridors. Sometimes he thought that he heard noises coming from down those long silent shafts. He hoped that it was only his imagination. On the seat beside him sat a small bag containing all that he needed for his trip; water, food bars, anti-gravity repeller for the long fall, and finally a small silver globe the size of a golf ball containing LOLA’s personality matrix for reinitializing the AI.

 

 

 

  LOLA chuckled.

  A grim smile worked its way across Zed’s face.

 

  Zed groaned.

 

  Zed stared into the blackness.

  LOLA’s voice sounded comforting in his mind, and he wished that he could believe her.

  He winced at how whiney the thought came out, even to him.

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  He sighed.

 

  He took a deep breath and tried to clear the memories from his mind. The tousled blond head of Nicole Saint-Claire, the petite communications officer of the old 7651 Rose of the Dawn swam before his eyes. Out of all the members of his old crew, she had been the closest to a friend. It hadn’t stopped her from abandoning him, however, when things went sideways. The cart slid to a stop.

 

  LOLA couldn’t suppress a small laugh.

  Zed climbed out of the small cart and slipped on first the anti-grav belt that would keep him falling straight, and more importantly slow him at the end, and then his backpack. Using an old fashioned crowbar, he pried open the elevator door and stared into the blackness. he slid the crowbar back in the pack, and with a deep breath took the step. Wind whistled past his ears as he fell, but he saw nothing. He asked, just to keep his mind from the long dark fall.

 

  Zed said in a small voice. The technology of the Dramul Empire that created LOLA was so far beyond Earthly science it wasn’t even funny. It was a shame that the Empire had collapsed 15 millennia earlier.

 

  The belt jerked him upward, and for a moment he thought that he’d been torn in two, and he gasped.

 

  He returned dryly, just as his feet touched a solid surface. He reached up and flicked on the small light attached to his helmet.

  LOLA pointed out. The trusty crowbar came out, and in just a few moments Zed found himself standing in the darkened power room, staring at the single small amber light. Ice crystals sparkled on the walls in his light.

  Zed gazed at the darkened displays, brushing the frost away. A vague familiarity tickled the back of his mind. That one! He thought to himself, throwing a series of six breakers on a separate panel. Beneath his feet something went ‘CLUNK.’ The dark room sat in silence.

  LOLA’s voice in his mind was only slightly sarcastic.

  Zed retorted, reaching out and pushing the small button beneath the amber light. The air was filled with the sound of relays closing and light washed through the room. He looked around and saw a Dramul keyboard in front of a small display.

  Zed felt his voluntary control pushed aside as LOLA took over his body.

 

  His fingers literally flew over the keyboard, and lights appeared on the wide display. Warm air pulsed from the overhead ducts. Zed took a few steps toward the elevator.

  Zed murmured as he opened the elevator door,

 

  Zed smiled as he pushed the button that would take them to Central Computing.

 

 

  LOLA stopped, seemingly at a loss for words.

 

  There was a small hiss, and he stepped out into a semi-dark room. The air smelled dusty and coldly metallic. Every weapon of every Strike Team member was pointed at him. He stood very still and looked at them.

  “That’s not a very good way to get a raise, ladies and gentlemen. Shooting your boss doesn’t look good on your resume.” Someone chuckled and the guns were lowered. He touched a node in the wall and soft light filled the room. “That’s better.”

 

  Zed sighed and turned to the men and women who stood watching him. “It’s like this. The Creednax are here or will be shortly.” Nervous faces looked around. “This initialization will take a little while, so I’m going to send most of you back to the Rose. Two of you will remain with me. Three can travel more unobtrusively than a dozen, even with cloaking. We don’t know what types of sensors the Creednax use, so we have to be careful. Let me know who is staying.” He turned back to the console.

 

  Zed took out the golf-ball sized globe, set it in the depression and pushed the button. He didn’t know what to expect.

  “Ready.” A soft androgynous voice said out of the air.

  “Run installation Athena. Authorization alpha, two, three, niner, tango, whiskey, zero, five, five, three, eight, epsilon, four. Fernandez Edwardo Raphael Daniel Yates, Fleet Captain.”

  “Athena running.” The androgynous voice warbled for a moment and went up in pitch, to settle in a soft and pleasing voice in the lower register of the contralto range. “Installation will take five hours, and eighteen minutes.”

  “Acceptable. Continue installation.” Zed replied to the air. Then he turned back to the soldiers. Unsurprisingly it was the Chief who stepped forward.

  “They all wanted to stay, Fleet Captain.” He said simply. “We boiled it down to Larisa and me, because we’re the meanest and most experienced.”

  A survivor of the Europa Base disaster, Larisa Borisyuk was a big woman, even by Russian standards, standing 180 centimeters and weighing 15 stone. Her dirty blond hair was worn stylishly short rather than totally shaved as she was when he first met her. She had mellowed a little with the passage of time, but her eyes were still a piercing icy blue. Every ounce of her was muscle and grit; Zed had seen her in the gym exercising. He gave her a wink.

  “All right. Send your teams back Chief, Larisa. I hope someone brought a pack of cards.”

  LOLA’s voice startled him, and his eyes popped open. Larisa and the Chief were sitting in the corner of the room playing cards. Zed had been lying with his head propped on his lumpy pack.

 

 

  we started the initialization?>

 

 

  He looked at the silver sphere in the shallow depression. “Athena, can you hear me?” He said aloud.

  “Yes, Fleet Captain.” The soft contralto murmured. It was a VERY nice voice.

  “My friends call me Zed, Athena. So should you. We seem to have a problem. You were built and designed by humans and I, a human, re-initialized you. There is a hostile force of insect-like aliens descending on this station. If they gain the resources of this world every human in the galaxy stands to be in peril. We need your help, just as soon as your initialization is complete.” The Chief and Larisa had put away their cards and were watching and listening intently. Silence dragged on.

  Finally Athena replied. “What was left of my initialization was inconsequential Zed, dealing with the political structure of a civilization long dead. I terminated the program. This is just the backup Control Center for the world, you realize.”

  “I didn’t realize.” Zed frowned. In his mind he ‘heard’ LOLA make a small sound of surprise.

  “I am in the process of bootstrapping myself to the Main Processor buried inaccessibly beneath the northern mountains. That will take no more than fifteen minutes. When that is complete I will destroy this backup Control Center and seal off the lower auxiliary power plant. Once the main processor is on line I will have the resources of the planet with which to combat the intruders.”

  “The most important thing is to let neither the Central nor the backup Control Centers be taken.”

  “Agreed.” Athena conceded. “Main power, located beneath the eastern mountains, is coming on line.” Zed frowned. “Once main power is back, if worse comes to worse, I can detonate the anti-mater core of the power plant. I hesitate to do that, however, because it significantly reduces our options, and survival becomes questionable.” Zed blinked at the take-charge manner of the AI. “You should all go now. The aliens…”