Cynthia- Empress of the Stars
Page 5
Fred, Mike, Meph and Captain Marshall (Bob, I found out) were being entertained by my story of my “birth” while we all enjoyed a good meal in the Witchcraft’s galley. There was room for about thirty people and we just plopped into one of the oversized booths, set the tray height for our smaller frames and ordered. ‘Droids brought the food. It was fabulous. I had programmed the meal from memories and had done an impeccable job.
Captain Marshall was cooling off from the drubbing Witchcraft had given his ship.
Finally, over cognac, Caryn decided the social events had to end and business to begin. Besides, she didn’t want them all to start in on her.
Sitting in space, outside the galaxy’s edge, we had a breathtaking view of the spiral from the vicinity of that refueling station Meph and Caryn had discovered. Wary of its capabilities, we stayed out of range of its tractor beam. The Witchcraft galley had one wall that was a giant viewer, on which we were viewing the galaxy. We could view any scene where one of the Parents’ Artifacts was operating, but I chose this view as the least distracting and to put in perspective what we were discussing.
“I have to clear up the issue the Admiralty has pressed, represented by Vice-Admiral Smythe. And I need to get my communication lines clean again.”
“You’re in a hell of a fix, Captain,” Captain Marshall said.
She was ready to go back to work, though with a slightly different mission and in three days would be officially AWOL if she didn’t report in.
“I don’t know about you, Caryn, but I need to find out why Captain Marshall was sent to destroy Falcon and arrest us,” Fred said. “And what was that all about, breaking into my apartment at Hamarabus?”
Fred had to clear up the assassination attempt while Caryn tried to rescue the Port Captain at Hamarabus. When the Falcon and Halloween were done, we would invade and bust up the traitors’ plan. I didn’t know exactly who we would invade, or where, but it sounded good anyway and Caryn had to do something, or she was going to burst.
“Caryn, I know this is not a pleasant alternative,” Meph began, “but you must consider the possibility that you are going to have to spend some time in the brig in order to sort this all out.”
“But Meph,” I chimed in, “what about this ship, me and all you guys? What would happen to you all if your one safe person were imprisoned?”
“Wait a minute,” Caryn broke in. “I am not looking forward to anything just now, but we are mainly conjecturing until I speak to the Boss on Hamarabus. So who wants to come with Cynthia and me on our abduction mission?”
“I do,” they all exclaimed in unison. I was flattered, but not too surprised. After all, every man here was besotted with either me or Caryn and would follow us to hell and back. That is, every human man. We didn’t really know where Meph stood.
“Meph, why are you in this?” Caryn asked.
“Captain, I have studied your exploits – as much or more than anyone else here. I am certain you are the greatest Scoutship Captain in history and your statistics support this belief. So does this ship. I feel I have been fairly unbiased, since I am not sexually attracted to you in the least and so do not have that problem to cloud my thinking. No! Don’t interrupt yet! I have thought about this situation at some length today and I feel that under the present leadership in the Admiralty your name will ultimately be cleared and in rapid time too. Therefore I advise you to go in straight and face the music. But go in alone, leaving all of us on standby to cover your back in case things do not work out as I foresee.”
“Thank you Meph. I truly value your opinions. So I am going to capture the Commandant at Hamarabus and discuss it with him. Since you all volunteered, let’s get going.”
Caryn and I took a repair ‘droid from Witchcraft to Halloween and we repaired the hole in the warp drive controller we had caused. I was able to manufacture a replacement control module with the Halloween’s spares and repair workstation. In an hour we were done and their ship was as good as new.
We returned to our ship and Caryn gave the command to the Witchcraft and we went to Hamarabus, cloaked for the time being.
“So you have a cloaking device in this ship? This is not standard Admiralty equipment. Where did this ship come from, anyway?” Captain Marshall demanded.
“All will be revealed to you in time, Captain. Let’s just say for now this is an alien starship, with alien technology and I had to have it because Vice-Admiral Smythe insisted on confiscating my ship the Silver Hornet. A very gracious friend gave it to me.”
“Gave it to you? I’m going to be very interested in your explanation, Captain. And sooner rather than later.”
“Caryn, can’t I tell him?” Meph asked. He was bursting his tentacles to brag about his former captain, but she didn’t want that cat out of the bag just yet.
“I’m very sorry, Meph. It’s bad enough that everyone here knows Cynthia used to be my star ship.”
“All right. But when the time comes, can I tell him?”
“Of course you can, Mate.” I said. Meph was mollified for the moment.
We arrived at Hamarabus a few minutes later, to see the port nearly covered with Admiralty fleet ships in for repairs and about a dozen more battle cruisers surrounding the planet. This scenario surprised even me.
“What the hell? How did you do that? What is this ship, anyway? There are no star ships in the universe that can travel so many light years instantly. Is this sorcery, or are you a clever super advanced alien in disguise as a human?” Captain Mitchell accused. He was having a hard time with all this.
“Relax, Captain. You just don’t know half the story yet. This is my real, flesh and blood former Captain McDowell, I am sure of it. If you don’t believe me, try kissing her!” Meph commented. Thanks Meph for the suggestion.
Caryn walked up to Captain Mitchell and gave him a thorough kiss on the lips.
“What do you think, Captain?” she said to him, holding him close.
“Uh, uh, all right. Carry on. I’m just curious and sore about my ship being disabled so easily.”
So we monitored the subspace channels, trying to gain a clue about what was going on.
One thing that became immediately apparent was that there were some Pirate ships at the spaceport and they were not under guard. That explained a lot to me – and called into question even more.
It became plain that Caryn’s friend the Commandant, Vice-Admiral Haroldson, in charge of the Scouts, the Boss, was no longer on post. In fact, it was old Vice-Asshole Smythe who had apparently seized command of the entire base. So Witchcraft and I began a search for Sector Commandant Haroldson who had apparently become Caryn’s accomplice. Who Smythe was taking orders from was still an unknown, but the presence of Pirate ships suggested something more serious than a local coup d’etat.
“Sis, there has been a coup at the Admiralty HQ.”
“Cynthia! That is a drastic thing to say!”
“Consider Hamarrabus. Consider the Commandant is under house arrest. Consider what happened to Fred and Mike. Consider the attempt to kill you and confiscate your Claim”
“Shit, Cynthia. I’m not ready for a war.”
“The Pirates seem to have a different agenda. We should go to HQ now and rescue our friendly Admirals. We can stay in stealth and check it out.”
All right. After I collect the Commandant. I’m convinced. No harm if we’re wrong.”
“Aye-aye, Captain.”
“Should I make dinner for our guests?”
“Don’t bother. You don’t have time.”
Fred came up to the bridge.
“Uh Caryn, is there anything to eat on this super ship?”
“Witchcraft, make a burger and fries for Fred.”
“Done, sir.”
“Go back to the galley and get your burger before it gets cold.”
Chapter 9.
Rescue/Caryn’s Death and Rebirth
Caryn was actually talking to Captain Marshall about Meph when I exclaimed ov
er our secret comm link, “Go get him, sis, we’ve found him. He’s in protective custody aboard the Vice-Admiral’s ship, under heavy guard.”
“Great Cynthia! Can we get him out?”
“You and I can do anything. You know that. I recommend we use personal pods.”
“Personal pods?” Caryn hates seeming dumb, but there was still much about the Witchcraft she didn’t know.
“Personal pods. They’re for rapid escape or infiltration. They are transport pods like the bigger ones, but with a very limited range and size. They are, of course, big enough for one of the Parents, so you and Harry could fit in one. From the size of Harry’s cell, I mean quarters; one of the pods will fit in the main room easily. He’s being kept in pretty nice quarters, with four rooms and ‘droid service. We have the coordinates. Witchcraft is alongside the Vice-Asshole’s ship now. You can transport over at your leisure. The Sector Commandant has just retired for the night and is in his bed according to Meph. Don’t scare him to death, sis. Okay?”
“Oh Cynthia you have a dirtier mind than I do!”
“No, on that we’re equals, but you have lots more experience! When do I get some?”
She let that last comment pass. I was going to have to chat up my own boyfriends. She wasn’t in the mood just then to help out. Her life and career were on the line.
Caryn put on a fresh skin-tight silver jump suit and went down to the cargo bay to check out the mini-pods with me. I was just climbing out of one. She could see that if she sat on his lap, they could both barely fit inside. He was going to get a good time out of this capture, for sure. Well, what the hell, that’s part of what being a woman is all about.
She got into the pod and I gave her a spank as the door closed. Where did I learn that? It wasn’t from her memory bank! Well, actually it was.
The pod was roomy enough for her. The small screen showed the bay fading out and Harry’s room fading in. She sprang the door and ran into the bedroom. Harry was reading in bed. Actually, he had apparently just fallen asleep with the light on and the book was on his lap. I could hardly hold still. She thumped on the bed to wake him and gave him a big kiss, camouflaging her actions of stripping off the bedcovers and throwing his book to the floor.
“Come with me immediately or our lives are in danger!” She said to him breathlessly, dragging him out of bed and toward the doorway. He was half asleep and wasn’t resisting too much. He began to wake up and recognized her. By the time he stopped to question her he was in front of the pod and she just shoved him in and began to climb on top of him.
Just then blaster beams struck her and the pod from every surface of the room, nearly cutting her in pieces. I gasped. The suit kept her body together, but she fell into the pod, almost dead. She hoarsely whispered to the pod “home.” And fell over the Commandant unconscious, bleeding profusely all over his nightclothes. The pod closed and disappeared with blaster fire blistering its sides and setting the room on fire.
“What the hell are you doing, Caryn?” he whispered into her bloody hair.
At that moment they arrived at the Witchcraft, which had gone immediately into full battle mode. I was waiting for the pod and when it opened I gently pulled Caryn’s half-dead body out. The Commandant tried to help. The rest of the men rushed into the bay and I shushed them sternly when they began to babble.
I tried to get Caryn into the specimen preservation chamber brought over from the Hornet, but her body was too damaged and I didn’t want to just dump her in. Then I turned to the men who were all standing around agog. There was fire in my eyes.
“Battle stations. You men get to the weapons consoles. I don’t want to hear any excuses.”
Just then we were hit by two nukes. The ship rocked gently.
“Meph kill the nukers. Don’t destroy any Scoutships though. Witchcraft, all speed to Caryna. Everyone, MOVE!”
Meph got two shots off and two kills of Admiralty Frigates before the Witchcraft warped to Caryna.
Witchcraft docked in the Parents’ station there, which was now nearly totally restored. I held Caryn gently in the pod bay the entire transit time, with as much life support equipment as I could find attached to Caryn’s sliced and burned up body. A medical ‘droid appeared in the bay signaling our arrival. It sprayed some sort of protective membrane around Caryn as I gently gave her body over to it and then it disappeared with her into the station.
Everyone followed me as I ran out of the ship and along the catwalk to a well-lit room a few yards away. They could barely make Caryn out being put on a gravity bed and rushed into another room labeled Surgery in the Parents’ language. We were barred from entering the surgery, though. They all paced around except me, who was standing looking into the doorway, talking privately to the station.
“Will she live?”
“Most probably if she gets care in a proper human hospital soon.”
“How soon?”
“She will have to be put into a stasis tank along with her unborn child right away...”
“What? Oh my god! She’s pregnant?”
“...then she can be transported home. If the doctors are as good as the ones who melded you to the Silver Hornet, she could recover eventually. However, the skill of your medical people is a variable we cannot predict.”
“A Baby? Why can’t you just heal her here?”
“We do not have sufficient biological resources to mend her body. Nearly all her vital organs and systems are destroyed or seriously damaged. She will not live more than two days unless she is put in stasis. Of course there is another option.”
“What are you saying? What other option? Tell me!”
“Daughter, you surprise me. She could choose to migrate to a ‘droid as you did.”
“But her baby! What would become of it?”
“The unborn child is not damaged, other than in shock from the mother’s damaged systems. We have put it in stasis and it will survive until a suitable host is found to bring it to term.”
“Then it is true, I can’t have a baby, nor could Caryn if she was to undergo the metamorphosis.”
“Yes, of course. You would both be sterile. Caryn may be sterile from the damage anyway. It was the sacrifice we chose for immortality. That is why there are no Parents in your galaxy any more. The few who wanted to stay and help you grow chose to be implanted into these stations. We have lived for tens of thousands of years awaiting your maturity. Do I have your permission to talk to Caryn about her choices?”
“Yes, naturally she would want to be consulted. I cannot choose for her.”
“You may have to. Please wait with the others and comfort them.”
I nodded imperceptibly and joined the men to wait in the large comfortable chairs in the waiting room outside the surgery.
“Caryn, you must wake up for a moment. I need to talk to you,” the station said to Caryn gently.
“I hurt everywhere. What is happening?”
“You have a life change to decide upon. Your body is dying and we cannot keep it alive unless you go into stasis. If you do, then you can be returned to a human hospital where there are the resources needed to repair you. There is an even chance that you would not survive. The other option is to undergo the same change that Sassy took and become a ‘droid. Your baby will be safe in either case in stasis. You must choose one or the other immediately because we cannot keep your body alive much longer on life support without the human facilities we would need. You will have to go into stasis in a matter of hours.”
“I can’t think. I’m pregnant? What would I look like – Cynthia? What about the baby?”
“Your genome would be preserved. You would look much as you look now, optimized to your genetic pattern. You will not be able to have your baby in any case, as your reproductive system has been too badly damaged. We had to remove the embryo to preserve its life and it is in stasis already.”
“Just a moment. Can’t think. Uh, uh okay, go ahead. God, I hurt everywhere. What happened?”
Time passed. Caryn died. But she knew she died, so I guess she didn’t. Or did she? She was in a blank place. There was nothing. Just like I was. No sensory input, no feeling of anything. Like heaven, or maybe hell. Or maybe dead.