Cynthia- Empress of the Stars

by James Patrick Warner

  A thought entered the nothingness: “Don’t be afraid. Your body has died, but we have put you in storage until the new one is ready.”

  “I want to talk to Cynthia.”

  “Not yet. Soon you will be installed in the net and can talk to her. Please be patient.”

  Storage? The net? Patient. “Here I am dead and a disembodied voice is telling me to be patient. What a crock!” she thought

  Time passed. She was dead. Then she felt tendrils of alien thought snaking around her, but tenderly. Lovingly. She was feeling something. But what?

  Time passed. She was alive. Sort of. She felt the tendrils begin to attach to things, like puppet strings. At first she fought them, but they didn’t hurt. They were comforting. She accepted them, eventually and began to feel things. Nerves, maybe. She stretched out along the tendrils and feeling, sensation came back to her. Sensation of, what? Toes? Fingers? No, it was just hair. Her hair. Her new hair. It was attached to something. Something large. Something important.

  I knew, her head ached. The hairs were everywhere. She began feeling other tendrils, other strings attaching to other things. She was becoming aware. Aware of body parts. Her body parts.

  Time passed. She could tell the Station was the one talking to her. And she began remembering – remembering the hundreds of cutting blaster rays dissecting her body like a cow in a butcher shop. They hurt. But her body didn’t hurt any more. It felt, well, what was the word? Good. It felt good.

  Time passed. “Caryn? Can you hear me?”

  “Sassy, is that you?”

  “Oh Caryn, I have never been so frightened. We have all been.”

  “Who is we?”

  “Me, I’m your sister. Meph, Fred, all the rest of the guys. We’ve been sitting here, sleeping here, waiting to talk to you. But now I can, even if the others can’t yet.”

  “Cynthia. Damn, I am alive, then.”

  “Yes my darling sister. You are alive. The medical program says you will be able to join us soon. I understand your embryo from your last night with Fred is safe in stasis.”

  “My child. Our child; safe. This is good. Fred is good. I want to get up.”

  “No my daughter. Not just yet. You have more recovery here. In another day you can go see your loyal friends,” the Station interrupted.

  Time passed. She began to wake up. Not just from sleep, but as a sentient life form. Her memories, all of them, stopped flooding in and settled down to just available. Her limbs were working. I saw her testing them out in the gentle stasis field. It gave just enough to allow her to tone her muscles a little bit.

  Of course she wanted to get up. She struggled with the stasis field and it gave a little. She pushed harder and it held harder. ‘Shit.’

  Time passed. Caryn woke up, bare assed naked in the “hospital” room alone. She called out loud to me.

  “Cynthia, can your hanfmg mu?”

  I heard a commotion and blew into the surgery room, dragging the blue cocktail dress and some undies behind me in my left hand, a pair of shoes in my right. I stopped by the bed and bent over to stare at her eyes. She stared back.

  “Can you talk?” I said aloud.

  “Agranch,” she answered.

  “Okay, that’s good enough for me. Let me help you get dressed so we can go out and meet the cheering section.”

  “Thank you, Parent,” she said to the medical crew.

  “It is our pleasure to be able to help you. Let Cynthia help you. Go to your friends, we are done.”

  “Hey, Caryn, were you talking to someone?”

  “Jusf uh pfrifath com.” She answered out loud.

  I was gentle as a mother, helping Caryn to get up and get the clothes on. When she was fully assembled I stood back a moment with a critical eye.

  “It’s not fair. You just died and you still look better than I do.”

  “That’s a crock of ship.”

  “Oh, so now you can talk.”

  “Yeah, I muth be getting well. No pain.”

  “Okay, let me help you with a few steps.”

  We walked toward the door, I took most of Caryn’s weight when she tripped over the toe of one shoe and nearly fell. She grinned sardonically.

  “Now I know what it was like for you. How did you climb that hill?”

  “Guts. Just like you. Try to stand up on your own.” I let go and Caryn stood there, a little wobbly, but didn’t fall.

  “Not bad, sis.” She grabbed my arm and we walked out of the swinging doors into the lobby. All the men were standing around it staring at us.

  “Wow, kid. You clean up pretty good. Last time I saw you, you were bleeding all over me and my nightshirt,” Harry commented.

  “Yes, sir. Thank you. I’m really sorry about that nightphert.”

  Fred came up to her, studied her carefully, and then kissed her passionately. She responded, very satisfactorily, hanging her arms around his neck and pushing against him, actually to keep from falling down. “Wow, this new body has some stupendous sexual flows.” Only I heard her.

  He looked lovingly into her eyes, “You’ll do, Captain. I sure can’t see any damage.” She thought for a moment about only having a couple hundred years with him, but the moment flicked past and she hugged him hard, pushing her pelvis against his.

  “Just hold me handsome, so I don’t fall down.”

  Later that evening, with Harry finally fully awake and properly clothed (he was the same size as Fred), Caryn sat with me and we told him the entire story. He didn’t believe her about me and thought I was pulling his leg. He of course had no idea I was also a ‘droid. None of them really understood that yet, except me.

  “What do I have to do to convince you that Caryn’s story is accurate, Sir?” I asked.

  “I doubt that you could, young lady. I just can’t imagine a machine with any intelligence in the human sense of the word, even the brainships.”

  “Okay, I will tell you something that no one here could possibly know about the Silver Hornet before Caryn became her Captain. This is something which only you know, sir.”

  Harry looked askance at me. He was really having a hard time with this and Caryn had to have his complete trust in her sanity before she told him all that had transpired.

  “All right young lady. Give it a try.”

  “Gina, Harry,” I simply stated, looking right into his eyes.

  Harry’s face went white. He froze like stone. Then he blinked a couple of times, obviously trying to keep us from seeing his discomfort. Caryn didn’t have the faintest idea what I was talking about.

  I looked from him to her. I was serious, intent. He looked frightened.

  “Shall I continue, sir?” I finally said.

  “Uh, I suppose you think you know something from my distant past. Well, it’s a matter of record. Anyone could dredge up an incident from the public record every Staff Officer in the Fleet has to make available.”

  “Not this record, Harry.”

  “What are you talking about, Cynthia?” Caryn asked. This was all getting quite beyond her in her newborn befuddlement.

  “Tell me what you know, young lady. Convince me.” Harry said. He looked a little shaken, but maybe he was just tired. It was incomprehensible to Caryn that I would know something about Harry’s past that was a secret that she didn’t know. Just impossible. I was only recently sentient, after all.

  “Harry, Gina was the love of your life. Anyone here could know that. But no one knows that when you were inspecting star ships on a business/vacation trip at the shipyards on Beta-Gamma IV with your then recently met girlfriend Gina Velasquez, that you first had sex with her in what was later to become Caryn’s cabin aboard the Silver Hornet, then called Rugby III. Only you, Gina and I could know that.”

  Harry sat there. Color slowly came back to his face. He wiped off the beads of sweat that had been forming on his brow. And he exhaled, as if he had been under great tension.

  “Ah, yes. Most remarkable. You are quite right, youn
g lady, only Gina and I knew about that little escapade. And of course the ship, Rugby III, which had just had a memory wipe, might have been aware of us. We were quite loud, as I recall.”

  “Yes. Gina’s screams of passion and pleasure echoed along my empty corridors. You two were quite something. I thought you were killing her, if you recall.”

  “God! Did you call security? I was wondering how they had heard us in there!”

  “Yes, I did. I’m sorry. When security came I regretted my error in judgment. But luckily, you arranged for me to be assigned to a new Captain named Caryn McDowell and the rest, as they say, is history.”

  Harry turned to Caryn, then back to me, then back to her. I was smiling like the cat who ate, oh you know the old line. He just shook his head in amazement.

  “It has to be true. No other being in the galaxy could know that Gina and I had our first sex there.” He looked up at me. “I’m sorry I disbelieved you. No matter how absurd it seems, I must admit that you were once the Silver Hornet, or you have taken her memories, which for all practical purposes is the same thing.”

  “Sir, if I recall, you and Gina later had a falling out of some kind.”

  “Yes, Meph, we did. She went for a young man who had failed the Academy flight program and had become a high-ranking desk jockey. Although he was unsuitable for space ship command, he was quite intelligent and eventually became an ambassador somewhere or other. She liked the money more than the adventure. I could hardly blame her. My wealth came at the end of my career, his at the beginning. I think his name was something Smythe. Could it be? Probably not the same person.”

  “So Commandant,” Caryn interjected at last, “what do you think I should do to handle this situation with Vice-Asshole Smythe? And is there anything I can do to help you?”

  “Ah-ha! So that’s why you kidnapped me so messily. You want my advice. Well, a deposed Vice-Admiral isn’t going to be much help to you now, fugitive.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Captain, the fleet is sitting here, as is a fleet near your claim, with only one purpose: to kill you before you can report in to HQ what has happened. There are also a few ships of the coup d’etat near HQ in case you should try for that base, maintaining their orbits under cover of normal sentry duty.”

  “Cynthia, gentlemen,” Caryn said, “I feel I should try to rescue HQ, place my trusted senior officer here back in control and set matters aright. Does anyone here see another possible course of action they would like to try?”

  Meph chimed in, “We could just blow them all up and let the Admiralty start over.”

  “Thanks Meph,” I commented.

  No one disagreed with Caryn. Everyone but Harry was raptly supporting her. This was not lost on the Sector Commandant, either.

  “Your counter coup seems to be ready, Captain. What do you want me to do?”

  “Ah, sir, you are in an uncomfortable position right now. In my presence, you are an accomplice. I could deposit you at your parent’s home on Aldeberon V if you like, or anywhere else you feel would be safe.”

  “Thank you, Captain. No doubt you can,” Harry said, looking over the Witchcraft with an experienced eye. “However, I think I will choose this ship for sanctuary as probably the safest place in the galaxy for me right now.”

  “A wise and accurate choice, sir.” Meph said. The others concurred.

  “Very well, gentlemen; you will find suitable, if a bit sparse quarters aft. We will arrive at HQ in about fifteen minutes. Prepare yourselves for combat.”

  “Fifteen minutes, hm? Caryn, you’ve found the Artifact mother lode, haven’t you,” the Commandant stated.

  “Yes sir, but it’s much better than that.”

  “Artifact? This is an Artifact ship? An Ancient Artifact ship?” Captain Marshall said in complete amazement and bewilderment.

  “Well Meph, the cat’s out of the bag now. Go ahead and tell him when you get a chance,” Caryn said.

  With that Caryn and I sat in our chairs. Meph didn’t leave with the others. He approached us diffidently.

  “Sir, I would like to be Second Mate, if there is such a position open here.”

  “Of course, Meph, uh but...” Caryn began.

  “Wait Meph. I am newly Caryn’s First Mate but you deserve the position because of your experience,” I began.

  “Nonsense, Cynthia. I am not stupid, nor am I liable to the frailty of emotional attachment to the post as some people might be. I am quite satisfied to be second to you. You two are obviously better in tune with each other. And besides, I like the defensive systems. I’d like to get to know these better.”

  “Okay, I’m not going to argue with two of my crew over this. Cynthia you remain First Mate. Meph, you assume the duties of Second Mate and defensive systems operator. Witchcraft, you assume the duties of starship and get us to HQ NOW!”

  “Aye, aye, Captain!” we all chimed at once. Caryn grinned to herself as she went to the bridge. “This sure beats the hell out of driving a taxicab in New York.” Caryn thought, ‘(Just an old saying, I don’t know how to drive a taxi cab and I’ve never been to New, Old, or any other York.)’

  Chapter 10.

  Abduction

  We arrived at the HQ star system. There were less than a handful of sentry ships. No transports or military ships arriving or leaving.

  “This isn’t right! Why is it so quiet?”

  We maintained our cloak and hid behind the larger of the planet’s two moons. A system scan just inside the moon’s orbit missed us. The scenario that presented to us was ridiculous. We should have been seen and challenged, even if cloaked we would cover some stars. And there wasn’t a screen of warships around the base. This was altogether too peaceful. Something was seriously wrong. Caryn noticed it before I did.

  “Cynthia, you and I will take our large pod and kidnap the Admirals during dinner. Meph, are they at their tables yet?”

  “Yes, sir. Only three stragglers from the buffet table. Every doorway has an armed guard.”

  “We’ll use surprise. Cynthia, you take the large pod, it should fit in the central podium area. I’ll take a standard pod and settle behind the dais to cut off their panic. Let’s go.”

  In the pods she counted off three fingers and we teleported to the Command Stage.

  The Admirals were eating at their work tables, no servants, no stewards.

  Someone yelled “hey!” and a guard opened the door to look in. He immediately raised his rifle and Caryn put a hole in his head. The Admirals began yelling, their food forgotten. Caryn looked at me. I jumped up to the rostrum behind the officers.

  “Attention, attention. You are being rescued. If you stay you will be killed by your enemy. Get into the Pod right now!”

  I jumped down to the men and women who were milling like sheep. I grabbed two of them, a woman and man, and dragged them to the Pod. The others began following. Caryn gave us cover fire when any of the guards opened the doors. None of them survived.

  I carried an elderly Admiral to the pod and placed him on the seat. It looked all clear. I signaled Caryn to come to the Pod and she ran to the hatch and jumped in.

  “Witchcraft” she yelled over the squabbling Admirals. The side hatches closed and the Pod dematerialized. The Pirates were blasting the doorways and destroying all the furnishings in the large oval room.

  The Pod instantly went to the Witchcraft Pod bay. The Admirals were stunned by this demonstration of unknown technology – for a few moments. Then they began jabbering like teenagers.

  “Gentlemen, please follow Captain McDowell to the dining room where all your questions will be answered,” I said to the group, moving them along the corridor from the pod bay to the dining room.

  “What is this vessel?”

  “Who are you?”

  “What’s your rank?”

  “Where did this ship come from?”

  “Why have you kidnapped us?”

  “I demand to speak to the Captain.”


  By this time the men were in the dining room.

  “Be seated!” I commanded. They all quickly found seats. Caryn strode to the food processor bank.

  “Gentlemen, feel free to grab something to eat or drink. The food processors are very fast. I have brought you all here to develop and implement a plan to restore order to the galaxy and retake the Admiralty. What I want from you is a plan that will eliminate the coup. I will happily answer all your questions but don’t get side tracked from what our goal here is.”