Curse of the Altered Moon: Altered Moon Series: Book Two (The Altered Moon Series 2)

by AZ Kelvin

  “I’d like to learn more about those discoveries,” CJ said.

  “Of course, you all have complete access to the database,” Tad told them.

  “Can we go to Keect?” Boss asked.

  “Not in the Altered Moon. You can go as far as Outlook Station, and then you would have to take a Keect’na ship in from there.”

  “Outlook Station?” Gina asked.

  “Yes. Have our heads stuck in the sands, do we?” Tad smiled to take the sting out of the words. “Ah, well, there is a lot to cover, but I will say that the cessation of military actions between the Marlacuers and the Arzians has opened more than negotiations. Interest was turned to exploration and research. The Arzians and the Keect’na formed a partnership allowing a space station from each side to be built in the other’s territory to share research and foster interspecies relations. Outlook is the Arzian station in Keect’na space, and Tk’sha is the Keect’na station in Arzian space.”

  “I haven’t heard of either station.” CJ looked over at Boss, who shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

  “Not surprising, really,” Tad said. “The exchange of information between the Marlacuers and the Arzians hasn’t exactly been flowing full speed yet.”

  “I’m not surprised at that, either,” Boss said.

  “Tad, we have some ore in our cargo bay that can be unloaded and used for the repairs,” CJ said, “and the rest we’d like to leave here if we can.”

  “Certainly, I shall inform the dockmaster.”

  “Thank you, and may we use the observation room over dry dock three?”

  “Yes, I’ll mark it as reserved for as long as you’re here. Here we are. This is the common room. Your quarters are over here, and there’s a galley just down the hall. The main kitchen and cafeteria are always open, should you desire it. Ring the steward if you need anything at any time.”

  “The whole section is ours?” Boss asked. “I didn’t know we were such VIPs.”

  “It is our honor to have you all back. Perhaps you don’t realize the impact your last visit here had for us. Since Nelson came out of hiding and helped broker the peace treaty, many things have changed. Cantankerous Base has become somewhat of a legend with the Arzian people and is now open to legal trade and commerce. Stories of you all, and the Altered Moon have spread through the Alliance, as well.”

  “Stories? What stories?” Cal asked with a gleam in both eyes.

  “Stories about a single ship and her small crew who were brave enough to stand up and piss in the face of the Kang war machine. Stories about how you ‘recovered’ the Union of Allied Worlds council statues from Arzia Octonus—for the sake of the Arzian people, of course.”

  “Oh, yes, of course.” CJ feigned innocence.

  “Yes, I can’t imagine that there was anything else of value in a council chamber from before the time of the Empire.” Tad played along with CJ’s drift. “A lot of people credit you with easing the relations with the Blood Stars, too. They haven’t raided this section of space since then.”

  Something began to gel in CJ’s mind with Tad’s last statement. It was just a ghost in his subconscious at this point but was knocking to come in. The ghostly thoughts whispered only partial answers: Blood Stars raiding patterns changing, McCarthy with Blood Star weaponry, Blood Star operations at Skriti Station. What are they doing? CJ thought to himself.

  “Captain?” Tad’s voice broke into his thoughts.

  “Yes, sorry, I was thinking about the Blood Stars.” CJ returned to the here and now. “Thank you, Tad, that’s very kind, not wholly accurate, but kind even so.”

  “With your permission, Captain, we’d like to hold a small gathering for you and the crew this evening, and the Keect’na who live here have requested to perform in your honor.”

  “Tad, please call me CJ. And the rest’s not nece—oww.”

  Katy smiled and moved in to take CJ’s arm and also step on his foot. “It would be a grand pleasure, Tad, and we’d be honored to attend. What time, and is there a garment shop on the station?” CJ looked over at her with a little scoff. “What? I may be an engineer, but I’m not going to a party in a pair of coveralls, now am I?”

  “Well said!” Gina bumped fists with Katy.

  “I’m in!” Cat said with a smile.

  “Very good. Yes, there’s Cassie’s Class and Casual on the promenade deck,” Tad informed them. “Dinner will be at the second hour of the evening, that’s nineteen hundred hours, ship time. I will send a steward shortly before then to escort you. Until tonight, then.” Tad and Snow went on their way and left the crew to sort out quarters and go about their business.

  “Sure wasn’t expecting a hero’s welcome,” CJ said to no one in particular.

  “Better than an arrest warrant,” Cal added a little inside joke with CJ.

  “That was a complete misunderstanding,” CJ said in his own defense about an incident some time ago.

  “Are there really crystal people here?” Pene asked.

  “Yes, there are, Pene, and you”—Boss pointed his finger at her with a wink—“will get to meet them.”

  “Stellar!” Pene said in an excited exhale.

  “Okay, you boys are on your own.” Katy pecked CJ on the cheek. “We’re going shopping.” She added in CJ’s ear, “We have enough to get some stuff for Pene, don’t we?”

  “Oh yeah, hell yeah, good idea,” he nodded. “Cal said that he may even be able to move those stones here. So, yeah, go ahead and get her some garms.”

  “Thanks, hon, you’re the greatest.” Katy kissed him good-bye. “I’ll pick you up something too.” CJ raised an eyebrow at her. “Trust me, you will look maaavelous, darling.”

  “Just make sure it goes with my action jacket!” he teased.

  Katy scowled over her shoulder. “You’re not wearing that to the party. Come on, Pene, you’re coming shopping with us.”

  “I am?” she asked with a huge grin. “What are we shopping for?”

  “For several hours, Pene honey, for several hours!” Gina said with her own huge grin.

  “Oh, I wonder if they have a salon?” Cat thought aloud. “I have been dreaming of a foot massage.”

  “What’s a foot massage?” Pene asked as they started out.

  “Pene, you are going to have a great day today, girl,” Gina told her. “GABI, aren’t you coming?”

  “Thank you, Gina, but there is a different salon I would like to visit while I am here,” she answered with an odd smile. “On second thought, I will go with you as far as the promenade deck.”

  The common room had the standard setup with tables and chairs, along with a data and comms station. CJ did a bug sweep and found no surveillance devices in the room. As I expected. Better secure than sorry, though. He took a seat at one of the tables and motioned for the other two men to do the same. Cal moved one of the chairs out of the way for Boss, seeing as though he always brought his own.

  “Cal says he can move the stones here.” CJ told Boss, and then asked Cal, “Think you can find a home for anything else?”

  “The stones, the booze, and the swords, yes, for sure. The adventure gear and the games we’re not gonna get much for around here. It would be better off to sell that stuff to collectors if you want top dollar. The guns will be hard to move anywhere; it’s a heavy sentence for old models. Again, split ’em up and sell ’em to collectors is still the best bet.”

  “Okay, sell the stones and the swords, but only half the Corvina.” CJ looked out the top of his eyes at Cal to emphasize the last part. “Go make it happen.”

  “Roger that.” Cal went off with a wink and a grin.

  “I wanted to tell you about something that Cal and I noticed on Skriti Station,” CJ told Boss. “One of the guys carried a handgun that Cal said was Blood Star tech.” He continued to tell Boss about the incident at The Cold Shoulder, about how they met McCarthy and how they ended up with Pene.

  “Damn, poor kid,” Boss said, after CJ’s recounting
of the events. “Want me to set up a ship with Rylek Williams on Trydden for Leland? I can send the request from here.”

  “Yes, would you? Thanks. How do you think we did with this game?”

  “If we hadn’t found that ore—we wouldn’t have even recouped the cost of the repairs. That ore really saved our assets.”

  “Ha, that would be funny if it wasn’t true. I should never have taken us out there, Boss. I just was so tired of the routine.”

  “That’s just hindsight bullshit, Seedge. We all thought it would be a good change of pace. Nobody said anything against it.” CJ just raised his eyebrows at Boss. “Well, okay, maybe Gina, but anyway, look what became of it; what would have happened to Pene if we didn’t do exactly what we did, and Leland Stile. He never would have known what happened to his father. We may not have come out of it shiny and bright, but we’re okay and we helped other people out, too. I call this one a win. Not to mention that we found some damn fine Corvina!”

  “Mmmm, boy that stuff had a punch didn’t it?”

  “It knocked me for a loop, and I came to on the bridge. I understand you two found your way to the engine room?”

  “Well, a couple of drunken-ass engineers, what’d ya expect?” CJ couldn’t help but smile up a shit-eatin’ grin. The two men broke out in a laughter that could only be shared by people who had drunk themselves stupid at some point in their lives.

  “Ohh,” Boss wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. “So, what’s on your mind?”

  “Something just doesn’t sit right. Why did Fulson build that base so far out on the rim? What’s the connection between Fulson and Skriti Station? What’s the connection between Skriti Station and the Blood Stars? Was Fulson a covert agent for them, or was he an Imperial agent, or what? And who is McCarthy? Do the Blood Stars have anything to do with this Find of the Century? The coordinates are out past Arzian space on the border of Kang and Keect’na territories. That’s not too far from where the Blood Stars first became known as raiders and thieves. Do you think they’ve already found the loot? Maybe that’s what funded the development of that red plasma of theirs.”

  “Obviously, Fulson knew about whatever the loot is. If the Blood Stars took the stuff from him, they never would have left any evidence behind. Besides, Stile’s Hideaway was secured and undisturbed when we found it.”

  “Right, right, with all his resources, Fulson still couldn’t get there because of the stranglehold the Empire had on jump travel back then.”

  “And still do. The Altered Moon is still one of the few private vessels to have a jump engine.”

  “Yes, a capability we have that Fulson didn’t. You want to go. I know you do, Seedge.”

  “What if, whatever it is, is still there, Boss? What if we were lucky enough to come across something so old it’s been forgotten?”

  “We should start with going over everything we downloaded from Fulson’s data files. They may give us some answers. What are you thinking about Pene?”

  “I wasn’t thinking about what to do with her, really. I just couldn’t leave her there. I told her she could be the cook.”

  “Leaving her here at CB might be better for her than taking her along. Don’t know what we could run into out that far.”

  CJ thought about leaving the girl behind, but to Pene, he imagined, it would just be someone else shoving her off again. He wasn’t going to be that someone. “No—well, maybe, I don’t know, but I’m not leaving her here unless it’s her choice. She’s part of the crew now.”

  “Good, that’s what I needed to hear.” Boss knew CJ’s moral compass, wouldn’t allow him to leave a crewmate behind. “She should go through some training: basic ship operations, emergency procedures, at her age she would be learning navigation and basic flight control in the training academy. They have a simulator here on the station.”

  “Yes, good thinking. Let’s stick with the ‘relic traders’ story, for now. No need to spell out everything we do—yet.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Have Gina start her on basic flight. Ship operations can wait until after the repairs are done. Anything from Fulson’s little black book?”

  “On people, no, it’s been too long. But there are some black-market organizations listed that are still around today.”

  CJ sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. His thoughts floated around like a 3-D puzzle. You had to be in the right position to see the answer, but CJ just couldn’t find the right spot to make everything line up—not yet. “We should figure out those riddles, if that’s what they are, before we make any solid decisions, anyways.” CJ sat forward and rubbed his face. “Should we go see if we can scare up some coffee?”

  “Aye.” Boss nodded in full agreement. “I wonder what the Keect’na will do in their performance tonight?”

  “I don’t know, Boss.” CJ smiled slyly. “But whatever it is, I’m sure they’ll rock.”

  “Ugh, that was really bad.” Boss just shook his head at his friend’s terrible joke.

  The two of them went in search of coffee and something to kill some time before they had to get ready for the festivities later that night.

  *~*~*

  Chapter Fifteen

  “How—ng do we—ave t—sit—ere?” Pene’s question was muffled by the warm moist towel wrapped around her face. This was not Pene’s idea of shopping, but she had to admit that taking a long hot bath in a tub she could practically swim in was a dream come true. Cat said the warm towel would help with the swelling around the bottom of her eyes and the stuffiness in her nose, too. She had two small bruises under her eyes next to the bridge of her nose and a small bruise on the end of her nose as well. Gina told her not to worry; she could hide those with makeup for the party.

  Pene was bored at first and then a little annoyed at having to sit still for so long. Her mind filled with thoughts of everything that had happened as she eventually relaxed in the salon chair. She thought about Leland and Skriti station and her parents when Snow ran in and jumped right into her lap. She sat up in surprise as the towel was removed and realized it must have been a dream, because Snow was nowhere to be seen.

  “You okay?” Gina asked her after she saw the confused look on Pene’s face.

  “Yeah,” Pene said with a nod.

  “Uh-huh, you fell asleep under there, didn’t you?” Katy teased her. Pene blushed and smiled shyly. “It’s okay, so did I.” Katy put her arm around her and gave her a squeeze. “You ready for some new garms?”

  “Am I ever! I don’t really want to put these back on, now.”

  “Then don’t.” Katy thought for a quick second. “Hang on a sec.” Katy spoke with the beautician for a moment, who nodded appreciatively, said something briefly back to Katy, and left the room. Katy gathered her salon robe around her neck importantly while she sashayed back over and said, “Our shopping attire is on the way, ladies.”

  The beautician came back in, along with another stylist, both of whom were carrying short stacks of fluffy white clothing. Another woman came in after them with two large bags. Cat and Gina looked at Katy with raised eyebrows and ‘hmm?’ faces; Katy just smiled. The women put down their bundles and handed each of them a soft hooded pullover and a pair of tie-waist pants with new undergarments. The third woman brought out fluffy white slippers for them to try on for size. The fabric of the clothes was so soft, fluffy, and warm, it felt like a hug from an old friend.

  Pene pulled up her hood then snugged it around her face and smiled.

  “Look,” Gina said with a laugh, “doesn’t she look like Snow?”

  Pene turned to the mirror and squatted down with her head tilted sideways and her tongue hanging out. All the women in the salon parlor laughed at Pene’s performance. She laughed so hard she couldn’t breathe. This is one of the best days ever! And it wasn’t even over yet.

  While the girls laughed it up in the beauty salon, GABI was in an entirely different kind of salon, across the promenade.

  The shopkeeper g
reeted her at the door. “How may I help you?” he asked.

  GABI turned off her hologram image and hovered into the room. “I would like to have the sensors and projection emitters upgraded on my hover drone,” she paused for a moment, “and a charge emitter installed and concealed. I can count on your complete discretion, yes?”

  “Of course, Madam,” the shopkeeper bowed. “And may I say it is an honor to have a crewmember of the Altered Moon in my shop, especially yourself. How may I address you?”

  “GABI will suffice, thank you. Do you have graphics libraries that are capable of full resolution projection?”

  “Oh yes, GABI, many millions.”

  “Any with the animals of ancient Earth?”

  “A great variety. Would you like to view the selection while you wait?”

  “Yes, please, and a wardrobe library as well.”

  The shopkeeper focused on his work over the next three hours; he installed a fifty-thousand-volt charge emitter and upgraded both the scanning sensors and the projection emitters on GABI’s hover drone. He loaded the graphics libraries she had chosen and finished up his work.

  “There we are. Now you can project images farther, wider, and with much greater resolution.”

  GABI flash scanned the shopkeeper and projected his image right next to the real him. The static 3-D image looked exactly like the shopkeeper in every detail. She switched over to streaming projection and the image came to life and mimicked every move the real shopkeeper made with no delay.

  “Ha-ha-ha!” He was delighted with acting in the display of his own handiwork. “Ah, that’s wonderful.”

  “Thank you, sir, the work is well done. You may deduct the fee from this account.” GABI authorized the man’s payment and left with a strange satisfaction over how things went. She accessed the ancient Earth library to try out the new projection emitters. A red bird with yellow and blue wings shimmered into view and took flight around the promenade. The new emitters had ten times the power of the last ones. The parrot flew dozens of meters away before the hologram began to flicker.

  Nelson Moon, the man responsible for her existence, built the hover drone for her the last time she’d been there over two years ago. Up to that time she, literally, was hardwired to the Altered Moon. Nelson had intended that to be only the first stage in her creation, but things didn’t go as planned. He designed GABI to calculate the incredibly difficult equations required for hyper galactic quantum jump travel. The speed at which GABI processed information was tested beyond one yottaFLOPS, only because the testing unit maxed out at ten to the twenty-fourth power Floating-Point Operations Per Second. The effort it took to create and manage a few holographic projections was nothing more than a minor program running in the background of her consciousness.