by AZ Kelvin
“Popped corn. Here, try some of these on it.” CJ slid a small tray of flavored salts and powdered cheeses over for Pene to try. Nelson took a seat in his chair and hung his canes on the armrest, as Katy came in and joined the group.
“Good morning everyone,” she said, which was returned by all. She slid into a seat as she swept up a bowl, filled it with popped corn, sprinkled it with salt, poured a glass of ice water, opened a small packet, and dropped a coin-sized tablet into her water, which fizzed up and colored the water greenish amber. “Ok I’m ready,” she announced and scarfed a few pieces of popped corn.
CJ laughed at Katy’s smooth operation. “What have you found now?”
“Poptab. This one is green tea and ginger ale.” Katy sipped the bubbly beverage. “Ahhh. Try it? Pass it around.” Katy slid the glass over to Pene.
Pene took a sip and immediately wiggled her nose and blinked her eyes, “Oh, that tickles my nose.”
“Here, try this one. This is cola.” Katy dropped a different colored tablet into a different glass turning the water deep amber with streams of bubbles that seemed to come off the glass itself.
“Mmmm.” Pene smiled. “Captain, the steward of the galley respectfully requests that a supply of these—” She couldn’t finish her sentence before everyone around the table erupted with laughter.
“Your request is noted,” CJ assured her.
Katy winked at CJ, as she threw out several different packages with different flavors for people to try. She always managed to dig up the best stuff. The group picked flavors of their own or something else from what was offered.
“So, so, my friends, much has changed since we last sat together,” Nelson said. “Tad, you have told them of the cryscomm, yes?”
“Yes, but only briefly.”
“Excuse me, Nelson, but shouldn’t we wait for GABI?” CJ asked.
“No, she is on a—special assignment and will be out of contact for the next few days,” Nelson told him.
“Excuse me? The next few days? Nelson, she’s my operations officer. It doesn’t set well with me when part of my crew just disappears.” CJ felt both concerned and irritated.
“No need to worry, Captain. GABI is fine, and she wanted me to offer her apologies to you all for leaving so abruptly,” Nelson explained. “It is part of what we will talk about here, today.”
CJ looked at Boss, who shrugged and shook his head. Nelson poked some icons on the control pad, which locked the door to the corridor and activated a frequency jammer to ensure privacy.
“Ah, so”—Nelson looked at everyone—“there have been discoveries, incredible discoveries, as we worked with the Keect’na and their crystalline technologies. Not just in communications, mind you, but in just about everything. Anything affected by the transmission of energy or the storage of energy or the focus and dispersal of energy can be adapted to Keect’nian technology and power sources.”
Nelson poked some icons and a holographic display of a Keect’na data crystal appeared over the table. A structure inside the image began to pulse with a soft light, from a smaller dim version to a brightly lit expanded version.
“This is a data crystal,” Nelson explained. “The structure inside is called a Str’kkae. This is where the data is stored. The Str’kkae can project up to ten layers of holographic data throughout the crystal, which holds a vast amount of information. Far more storage capacity than our most advanced data chips. The Keect’na have their own name for the storage process, but we call it Crystographic Data Storage, or CDS, for short.”
Nelson fiddled with more icons and the image shrank to a size invisible except for a tiny point of light.
“This is its actual size.” Nelson fiddled with yet more icons. The image grew in size again to illustrate the next phase, as the crystal was joined at every facet with another crystal, repeatedly, until it was a sphere that was roughly fifty centimeters across. “This is the Keect’na version of a super computer. Remarkable, yes?”
Nelson continued after everyone had a chance to look over the device. “The Keect’na are masters at manipulating energy of all kinds, especially photonic, which their biology and culture has evolved around and is what their control systems are based on as well—the manipulation of energy. The Keect’na can generate their own light from within, or they can channel the light that is around them.”
“Are the data crystals grown or created?” CJ asked.
“Both, actually, Captain. There is a growth process deep in the planet that secretes drops of a crystalline jelly, for lack of a better word, which hardens over time and grows new crystals. The Keect’na harvest the jelly for processing and then form it into just about everything they need to build whatever they desire: from tiny devices and micro thin circuitry to the massive frames and bulkheads necessary for starship construction. The Keect’na technicians lay in the desired circuitry, fill the design with the jelly, and form it in a hot press, the like of which, no Human has ever seen, until now, that is.” He finished with a sly wink to everyone.
“If they’re based on light, then what happens to them in the night time?” Pene asked.
“An excellent question, my dear, an excellent question,” Nelson said. “They manage just fine, even though there really isn’t a night on Keect that you and I would recognize. The Keect’na have an internal energy processing structure. We’ve coined the term ‘Crystiological’ for crystalline biology, by the way, but this structure is much like that of the data crystal. Instead of information, though, it stores the energy essential to the membrane holding the Keect’na together. Much like our Human tissues holds us together. As long as their bio-crystal energy levels don’t drain completely, which can take as long as six months in some cases, the Keect’na live quite long lives. There is a supplement called ‘Tgnnaall,’ a crystalline wafer they ingest that is used not only to replenish their internal energies, but is also used in festivals and ceremonies to overcharge themselves, so to speak.”
“You mentioned that Keect doesn’t have a night we’d recognize,” Cat said. “What did you mean by that?”
“Yes, yes, a marvelous thing.” Nelson nodded his head as he prodded the control panel for a second.
The image of a planet appeared over the table orbiting extremely close to its parent star. The majority of the planetary surface was dark and blackened, burned and seared by its close proximity to the star. Random sparkles of light reflected from where geologic activity had fractured the scorched surface and exposed the crystalline inner core. Light from the star passed through great fissures and massive sinkholes in the thick crust, deep into the crystalline lithosphere substrata below. The crystalline mantle reflected and bounced the sunlight around the planet many times over. Keect looked like a giant geode in a way; the planet was crusty and blackened on the outside, yet crystalline and beautiful on the inside.
“This is where all life on Keect exists, by the way, inside the lithosphere of massive crystalline structures which extends more than fifty kilometers down into the planet.” Nelson continued the video.
The light from the nearby star poured down into the fissures and sinkholes while the image rotated through day and night. The sunlight streamed through the crystalline lithosphere, where it weaved and bounced its way around an entire planet of mirrors and prisms. White light was split and mixed with all the colors of the spectrum. The daytime side was hot and bright, mixed with shadows from where the crust of the planet passed over. The nighttime side of the planet was cooler in respect and beautifully lit by the shifting myriad of colors from the sunlight being refracted and reflected from around the other side of the globe.
“Both day and night are spectacular to see, although daytime on Keect is not for Human eyes to behold unaided,” Nelson said. “There are eight annual events as the planet rotates and spins through the Keect’nian year, when the sun‘s light passes through the planet and shines back out into the cosmos in magnificent auroras on the far side of Keect. It is truly magnificent.
”
Nelson manipulated the image so the series of auroral events was displayed. The sunlight, at certain times throughout the Keect year, would shine down into the lithosphere and weave its way through the planet to shine back out of a break in the crust on the other side of the planet. The beams of relayed sunlight would dim and brighten sporadically, like tree shadows on a windy day, as they shot out into space like planet-sized searchlights.
“The Keect’na hold great festivals during these events,” Nelson continued, “where they gather to stand in the light as it makes its way through the planet to shine back into space on the far side of Keect. They believe that a part of their energy is picked up by the light and carried along with it during its journey across the universe.”
The image above the table began to enlarge, and then the view moved in through one of the many fissures in the planet’s crust. The cities and communities of the Keect’na were spectacular to say the least. Spires of underground temples spread light to the tops of other buildings, which in turn passed it to the next one and the next one and so on until the light was everywhere. The buildings were constructed of diffuse, opaque, and clear crystals of every color the imagination could conceive and more. The computer-generated image gave the tender and fragile Humans a chance to see what it would be like to stand among the Keect’na in the middle of one of their cities. The intense heat would burn an unprotected Human body to ash instantly.
“What about them, how did they evolve?” Cat asked.
“Oh, basically the same way life did on Earth eons ago,” Nelson said. “The right elements combined with the right energy at the right time. The star that Keect calls home emits a unique energy wave, and the planet is bombarded with heavy radiation being so close to the star. The energy pulse causes a vibration in the ‘crystalline goo’ of the polyoxometalate matrix on which all life on Keect is based. The vibrating mass of elemental goo interacts with the waves of irradiated particles emanating from the star, and the process of life begins.”
Nelson paused for a drink from his water glass and then continued. “The Keect’na can exist outside of their star system, but they can only procreate on Keect, within special chambers deep in the planet’s mantle. The difference between the two genders is based on the range of vibration each Keect’na can internally generate. There are two distinct resonation patterns, male and female if you will, which are necessary to harmonize with the vibration of the matrix and bring life to the dozen or so pockets of preformed Keect’na embedded in the matrix surrounding the chamber.”
Nelson stopped and a smile crept over his face. “When you talk about the building blocks of Keect’na life, you can do so literally.” He laughed for a second. “The newly ‘born’ Keect’na emerge full-size. They have genetic memories and a blend of the colors of both the parents. The Keect’na can either choose their mates through preference and attraction for each other or to continue a specific family lineage; if neither of those is applicable, they can choose to participate in a community procreation program.”
“Sorry, Nelson, but you lost me at polyoxy-whatever.” CJ shook his head and laughed. The rest of the group joined him, except for Cat who had been listening closely.
“Well, I found it fascinating, Nelson,” Cat told him.
“It is all in the station database and available at your leisure, Doctor,” Tad assured her.
“Thank you, Tad. Nelson, may I ask about your procedure?”
“Yes, yes, of course. What was done, how did they do it, and such, yes?”
“Yes, please,” Cat answered.
“Ah, what was done,” he said with an untypically shadowed face, “was a transplant of most of my central nervous system and its many connections, along with a crystalline spinal column and synthetic nerve conduits that run from the medulla oblongata to receptors at every mixed nerve junction where the dorsal root ganglion joins the ventral nerve root.”
Nelson, with Tad’s help, turned sideways in his chair and undid the top of the shirt. Tad gently pulled the back of his shirt down to reveal a fresh pink herringbone-shaped scar, about a finger’s length wide running along his spine, which started at the back of his skull and then disappeared down under his shirt. The looks on the faces around the group were pretty much the same: ‘holy shit!’
“Yes yes, from head to hip they split me open. How did they do it, you asked—slowly, is my answer.” Nelson closed up his shirt again. “The process takes three days and you must remain awake and stimulated for the duration.”
“Why so long?” Cat appeared stunned. “And how did you survive?”
“The Keect’na make a map of the vertebrae to produce replacements while your vital systems are maintained around the clock by a full medical staff and a hundred machines. It is a painstaking process. This is relatively painless, though, because your nerves have been cut.” An involuntary shudder passed through Nelson’s body. “But you are aware of them working on you, tugging here and pushing there, for three days, very disquieting, and quite exhausting, I assure you. And then, just when you start to rest after you are glued back together, the pain begins. Every connection in your spine screams and your head feels like it’s going to split apart just from the pain, as your body fights to reject or accept the new implants. There is no escape from it, either, because if you dull the nerve’s reaction, you would hinder the regeneration of the new nerve tissue.” Nelson looked tired momentarily. “And that took twenty-three days.”
“Twenty—three—days?” Boss asked in surprise.
“Yes, before I could even begin the physical therapy program.” Nelson nodded his head emphatically. “That was five weeks ago now and I am barely on my feet, but, I am on my feet. They are not happy with me coming here this soon, and I must return in a day or so.”
“How much longer for a full recovery?” Gina asked.
“Another three to six months. Because I was in a chair for so long, I have to recondition the atrophied muscles. But, for someone in Bernard’s condition, the recovery could be half that.”
Boss and Gina looked at each other; Gina took his hand, as she smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “Four months, five, maybe, you could be back on your feet.”
“The facility is still set up and the medical staff is still on hand,” Nelson told them.
“Nelson…” Tad warned him ominously.
“Yes, yes,” Nelson hushed him.
“What?” CJ picked up on Tad’s warning.
“There’s only a twenty-five percent chance of surviving the procedure,” Tad spoke up, “which was why none of us here were thrilled when Nelson wanted to go through with it.”
“How many people have had this done?” Cat asked.
“Eight people before Nelson have had procedures similar to this one, and only two have survived.”
“Yes, yes, but the two who survived were the two just before me, and they had stellar results,” Nelson interjected. “And, look at me. If you only count the last three procedures, the survival rate would be a hundred percent.”
“I’m torn on what to think here, but to walk again…” Boss didn’t have to finish the sentence for the others to understand.
A lull in the conversation followed as the group took in what was being discussed.
“If I go with the procedure, it’d be too long to expect you guys to wait,” Boss said after he debated the issue with himself.
“No, it isn’t, Boss,” CJ told him in response.
“Yes, it is,” Boss countered.
“No, it isn’t,” CJ insisted.
Boss smushed his lips together in a frown. “It would be for me—to wait around for months while an adventure burns a hole in your mind? I’d go crazy, and so will you. Seedge, you can barely wait for the ship to get done, as it is.”
“This is different,” CJ continued.
“Captain”—Boss looked at CJ seriously and then grinned—“I’d leave you behind in a second.”
“Ah, ha, ha, ha!” Cal led the way
in a round of laughter.
“So go, and see what’s out there,” Boss told CJ, “or you can all sit around for months and months and wait for me to recover if you really want to.”
CJ sat back in his chair with a sigh and pulled at his bottom lip while he shifted his gaze to Gina, who’d said nothing since she heard the procedure’s survival rate. She sat cross-armed and looked pissed, which was normal for her, but quiet, quiet was not normal.
“So, what is this—caper? Out where?” Nelson asked.
CJ looked at Nelson and raised his eyebrows. “Hmm, where to begin?”
*~*~*
Chapter Nineteen
CJ began to tell Nelson about how they heard of the strange wall at the edge of Marlacuer space and their decision to investigate. The rest of the group helped to fill in some of their parts in the tale. Nelson was both intrigued and surprised by the physical makeup of the wall and the ingenuity behind the trap. He appeared dismayed when he heard of the amount of damage to the ship. CJ continued with how they found a way into Stile’s Hideaway and what they found there. Both Tad and Nelson looked at each other when the name of Fulson Stile was mentioned and were very interested in the coordinates that were described. Both men’s demeanors became grim when they heard of the events at Skriti Station: the altercation with Borne and his goons, the name of Leland Stile, the rescue of Pene, and the crew’s dealings with McCarthy.
“Agh, my dear child, I am so sorry for what you have been through,” Nelson told Pene after he heard the events of Skriti Station. He was likely smart enough to figure out what else she may have suffered. “And, to come out of it with such brightness of spirit is quite commendable.”
“Thank you,” Pene said quietly. It could not have been a particularly comfortable conversation for her.
“Hmmm, hmmm,” Nelson sat back and tapped his chin with his index finger.
“What?” Boss knew the look on Nelson’s face showed more concern than he liked to see.
“Ah, Skriti Station can be the proverbial hornet’s nest, I’m afraid.” Nelson heaved a sigh. “Full now of angry Blood Star hornets.”