Cynthia- Empress of the Stars

by James Patrick Warner

  “Honey, I had freckles at your age.”

  “But you don’t any more, mom. So how did you get rid of them?”

  I stared at her, thoughtfully for a few moments. Meph looked at me with some amusement, waiting to see how I would handle this little domestic problem.

  “Well, Colleen, it’s like this. I’ve died twice already, almost three times now.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  I guess no one took the time to go into our daughters’ history in depth and the histories of their mothers. Well, she was certainly precocious and intelligent and knew about the birds and bees somewhat. I decided to tell her the whole story.

  “Caryn, can I tell my story to both our daughters, here and now, before I leave?”

  Caryn was quiet for a few moments, then, “Yeah, sis. Sure. Go ahead. It’s time they knew everything.”

  “We agree, daughters. Your children should have all the information about their mothers, as we have given you all the information about us.”

  Another country heard from.

  “All right, Colleen, I’m going to tell you all about your Aunt Caryn, your cousin Catherine, me and you. Where we came from, where you came from and why you have freckles and I don’t. Go get your cousins and bring them here and anyone else who wants to hear the story. I promise I will not hold anything back. You both deserve to know everything.

  Chapter 25.

  Genealogy

  So I waited until the girls came back. But they brought everyone in the ship with them. All the children sat in front at my recommendation. Caryn joined me, sitting next to me for comfort. This was not going to be easy.

  “You’ll correct any mistakes I make, right?”

  “Hell no, sis. This is your story, your freckles and besides you know it better than I do.”

  I took a deep breath as the crowd took their seats. The dining room was full. It occurred to me that WitchCraft might not know the entire story either. She was apparently listening. It was going to be an epic if I wasn’t careful.

  “I want to start with a few apparently simple assumptions. First, there are only three of us here who are not strictly human: Meph, Caryn and me, not counting our ships, of course.”

  Catherine looked shocked, then the light dawned and she remembered something she had been told a while ago by Caryn.

  “That’s right. You, Kyla are a naturally conceived and born human from Fred’s sperm and Caryn’s ova, carried by Natasha as birth mother and wet nurse. This was because both Caryn and I had already been killed once and were placed in these humanoid bodies, which are incapable of giving birth or nursing a baby.”

  Catherine’s hand flew up and waved hysterically.

  “I can imagine what your questions are and will be, Catherine. I think this story will answer them all, if you can sit on your hand for a while.”

  She pulled her hand down and sat on it, grimacing.

  “I don’t want to explain how this happened exactly, or specifically, let’s just say the Parents had some prototype bodies in cold storage that were very similar to our human ones. They mapped our genomes and DNA/RNA patterns and so forth and modified one to match my genetic information from the brain and spinal cord they salvaged from the Silver Hornet, who used to be a brainship. You all remember what a brainship is?”

  Most of them nodded. I didn’t want to go too far over their heads. Just stay within reach of their intellect.

  “Okay, I had died in an automobile accident when I was 13 and I was turned into a brainship. Before that accident I had freckles. But brainships don’t have freckles. (A few chuckles in the audience.) Then a very bad man wanted to steal me for the Pirates and the Parents wanted to save me the pain of dismemberment so they transferred me to a different body, this body you see here now. It is a construction that matches my old human body exactly except for the reproduction part and the freckles. Though this body will live for around a thousand years, I can never have children. The same with Caryn when she was killed in an ambush. Her spirit was transferred to the body she now has. Same thing. So Colleen, that’s how I lost my freckles. First I became a brain ship and they don’t have freckles.” Everyone laughed.

  “Then I was transferred to this body and it doesn’t have freckles either. So that explains why I don’t have freckles. Now, let’s talk about you and Catherine.”

  They both sat up straighter and looked intently at Caryn and me, back and forth like a cat studying a mouse. It was a little eerie - they were synchronized.

  “When we found out my brain and spinal column had been salvaged from the Hornet and sent to a cloning center on Earth, I was ecstatic. I knew I could have a baby, an exact duplicate of my human body. Then we found out that Caryn’s destroyed body had also been salvaged and sent to Earth. The Parents had decided to clone us both and Natasha had agreed to again carry our children, this time fraternal twins, sort of.”

  “So are we twins, mom?” Colleen asked and Catherine nodded.

  “Not really. Since you are technically my daughter and Catherine is technically Caryn’s daughter, you are cousins, carried by the same birthmother and wet nurse, because we couldn’t do it. Once you two were born, Natasha nursed you both and you were treated as our children and that’s how you were raised, with Aunt Natasha thankfully very close to you.”

  “But Aunt Cynthia, you weren’t here. What happened?” Catherine asked.

  “First I was sent on a dangerous mission by the Admiralty to infiltrate the Pirate society. I became Shawna, Empress of the Stars and ruler of their star systems - for a while, anyway. I was eventually found out, caught, nearly killed and spent a long time as a vegetable while my marvelous body managed to heal itself. That story doesn’t relate to this.”

  “What did you look like? Did you have freckles?” Kyla asked. I smiled.

  “No Kyla. I have a picture Merlin salvaged before the Pirate system was destroyed and you can see it some time. I dyed my hair dark with purple streaks. I think I looked pretty good.”

  “But where were you when we were growing up?” asked Colleen.

  “Oh honey, that was terrible. I feel so bad missing all your birthdays! But Meph and I were marooned in the empty space between two galaxies and we were all seriously hurt, even Sassy. And all three of us nearly died. I was in the stasis tank with Meph and it was really crowded! But I didn’t know. There had been a terrible electromagnetic explosion that had changed my body and mind and Meph’s too. And poor Sassy was so badly damaged she had to be put to sleep. But her mind was saved by the Parents, thank goodness.”

  Colleen started to cry. “But I really missed you mom! And so did Mike. We thought you were dead!”

  I held my arms out to her and she got up and ran to me. I rocked her and patted and kissed her and stroked her head until she stopped crying. The family just sat there quietly, witnessing this final release of the grief of my precious daughter. I kissed away her tears and smiled at her and she smiled back.

  “I’m so happy you’re back, mom!” she said and gave me a big hug. Then Catherine and Kyla came up to me and also gave me a big hug. I almost broke out crying again!

  Everyone was in some form of shock, I think. There were no more questions. Meph bounced out of his seat with a cup of some liquid in one of his tentacles.

  “A toast. To the McDowell family!”

  “To the McDowells!” everyone toasted. The impromptu meeting broke up and Bill came over to me.

  “I had no idea. So honey, now what? We’re married, you know. What about our honeymoon?”

  “You going to come with us to Earth?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for all the Repair Stations in the galaxy!”

  Oh, how little he knew.

  Chapter 26.

  Red Baroness

  Colleen was a popular girl from the beginning of our stay on Earth. And she grew up to be a popular young woman. She was circumspect about her sexuality and gave me no reason to berate her for aberrant behavior. She stayed away fr
om drugs and as she grew older, she learned when to leave a party. These were all things I had missed, having become a starship at her age.

  Bill stayed with us for a year, enjoying his wedding leave, but in time he had to go back to his Scoutship and a new mission. Colleen did well in school, learned science and took flying lessons. She was quite well liked and at the end of high school almost won the Homecoming Queen title. Sadly, she would have had to compromise her standards and morals to do so and so she let it go to a cheerleader who was the life of the football team’s parties. I had no idea she became the lover of the football team quarterback.

  Meanwhile, I bid my time, taking a teaching job at the Academy with Meph. I was on “active reserve”, meaning I could reactivate my command status any time I wanted. I taught hyperdrive theory and submolecular physics. Subjects I was very intimately familiar with. I authored a new textbook every school year and used that in my classes. I was one of the most popular and dreaded teachers in the Academy.

  Since the Caryn holo show had ended production, I was able to maintain a certain amount of obscurity. The few people in the Admiralty who had not died from old age and who still knew my story, stayed politely silent. The time flashed by and before I knew it, Colleen was applying for entrance to the Academy. I had taken her on sailing outings and vacations, to see if I could convince her to not become a starship captain, but to no avail. She was a good sailor, but never faltered from her dream of following in her mother’s and father’s footsteps.

  Her grades were top notch and her flying ability was superb. She earned the nickname Red Baroness from her fellow pilots because of her combat skills, even in an old jet trainer and of course her red hair. And technically she might actually be a Caryna Baroness. She could have joined the air forces with no trouble. But she signed up with the Admiralty and they were very happy to have her.

  I appreciated that Bill was biding his time, letting Einstein take care of our separations, so that he didn’t age as quickly as other men around us did. I only saw him every few years, depending on where he went. When Colleen was accepted, I agreed to give the commencement address and he magically showed up in one of our personal pods. I didn’t know he had one. He sat near the front of the crowd, right behind the student body and was beaming from ear to ear in his dress whites. He never looked so good to me.

  I gave my speech, this time with no assassin to interrupt it. I told the students how they had a bright new future ahead of them as the Parents’ technology was unwrapped and humans became more technologically advanced. I reminded them that there were still a great many star systems completely unexplored in the galaxy and that there were other galaxies to explore if we ever got tired of this one. It was a good speech. Again my loving sister was incapable of attending the ceremony because of family matters on Caryna.

  “Good speech, sis. And no rude interruptions this time.”

  “Right. Give my love to the families.”

  “Always. Love you sis.”

  “Love you sis.”

  I hugged Colleen and Bill did the same. We were very proud of her. I hoped she wouldn’t get into too much trouble. I knew it was a foolish hope. She was just like me now and I was in man trouble most of the time at the Academy. Even her voice had dropped and she had the same sultry laugh I had. Oh god I felt sorry for the men in her class.

  She left with her arms around two of them, in a group of students who were laughing and jabbering down the walkway to their quarters. Bill pulled me around and kissed me long and deeply. The kids around us applauded vociferously. I smiled up at him, in a playful mood.

  “Want to be my First Mate?” I asked.

  “You want to be my First Mate?” he responded.

  “No. I’m your only mate and don’t you forget it.” I retorted. He grew serious for a moment.

  “Cynthia, I am ready to go with you anywhere in the universe. I don’t care which of us is First Mate.”

  Oh boy was he going to get that wish fulfilled. We walked together to the parking lot. His pod was right next to my car. I was about to get in when I saw, of all people, Kyla running toward us, with an older man trying to keep up. I hadn’t seen her in years and presumed she was still on Caryna.

  “Wait up, Bill. That’s Kyla!”

  I grabbed Bill’s hand and we waited for her to arrive. I noticed how beautiful she was, even hot and sweaty and exhausted by her long run across the parking lot from the administration building.

  She grabbed me with both hands and stood there panting hard. After a few moments she collected herself and turned to the man who had joined us. He was wearing a black suit, nicely polished shoes, his hair was a very dark brown and he wore a pair of aviator’s sunglasses. He looked like a mobster, or a spy, or something governmental at least.

  “Aunt Cynthia, this man just arrived with me from New York. He says he has an urgent message and you are the only person on earth who can decipher it.”

  I took Kyla in my arms and comforted her. I kissed her forehead and rubbed her neck and back. She calmed down and I let her go and turned to the man.

  “Who are you?” I asked the man.

  “Cynthia McDowell?” he asked, formally.

  “Obviously. This is my husband Bill. Who are you?”

  He pulled a small box out of his coat pocket and handed it to me. I noticed he had a shoulder holster in there too. The white box was about the size of a watch or bracelet box. I looked at it with curiosity. It was innocuous enough looking.

  “What is this?”

  “We don’t know. No one has been able to open it. It keeps saying ‘take me to Cynthia McDowell’ in various languages, inside our heads. Please, take it from me.”

  I looked the man over. He suit and shoes were expensive. He looked a little frantic at the moment. I had a hunch.

  “Is it talking to you now?”

  “Oh god, yes. It’s saying ‘take me to Cynthia McDowell’. It doesn’t stop.”

  I turned to Kyla. “What do you know about this?”

  “I’m sorry Aunt Cynthia. I work in New York at the Galactic Congress as a translator. A man in the clothing of a trader came into the reception area and asked for you. The security guards eventually found out I know you and gave the man to me. He put this box on my desk then ran out of the building. In a few moments I could hear it asking for you. I called security and this man arrived at my desk. He took the box and I didn’t see him for several days. Then he came back to me with the box and told me we had to take a flight to the Academy that moment. So we left and here we are. I’m sorry I missed Colleen’s ceremony.”

  “And you live in New York now?”

  “Yeah. I’m staying with a friend from college. He’s also an interpreter at the GC. Caryn sends you her love.”

  “Is that right? Caryn, how are you?”

  “I’m fine. But something very strange is going on. The Parents are all chattering and I can’t make out what it is they’re talking about. See if you can tune in and make any sense of it.”

  “Love you sis.”

  “Love you, sis.”

  “Okay, Kyla. I have the box now. Whatever is going to happen to me will happen. I’m going to go with Bill to WitchCraft and we’ll see what we can find out about this thing.”

  We kissed goodbye, well not the government man, though he was cute. But Bill is a little jealous and it’s worth it to me to not stir him up. I locked my little sports car and Kyla and the G-man left. Bill and I got into the pod and went to the WitchCraft to try and unravel this mystery. Guess I was going into sleuth mode again.

  When we arrived at WitchCraft she wouldn’t let us in.

  “I’m sorry Captain, but you’ll have to leave it outside somewhere. I can’t let it in.”

  “Why the hell not?” I was thinking she was being very sassy suddenly.

  “Because that box contains circuitry which appears to be some kind of hyperspatial amplifier. It could unleash enough energy to destroy my circuits, like what happened to the
Hornet.”

  “How do I leave it outside?”

  “Put it in the storage box in the pod. It has an outside access. Go EV and remove the device from the storage box. I can hold onto it out there with a tractor beam so it doesn’t get lost. Then you can come in. ”

  Well, okay. I was not ready for another huge EM blast that might fry my brain, not to mention Bill’s. I didn’t know if human science could put him together as well as Meph’s people repaired Meph’s damaged nervous system and I wasn’t in the mood to chance losing another husband before his time. So that’s what I did. We moved the pod away from the box and toward the ship. The box followed us. WitchCraft put a tractor beam on it and we tried again. The box broke free of the tractor beam. This would be funny if it wasn’t so scary.