Inter-Galactic Transfer Point 27
Part 3 – Escape Plans!
After Epsi and 3 came back, more refreshed but bearing munchies to help them stay awake, 7 and I went off for our one-sixth break. After this we would be moving to one-third breaks so that everyone would get a proper rest.
In my sleeping tube I set an alarm and tried to get some sleep but my mind was racing around in circles with all the information that had come my way. Eventually, the efforts of a half-day shift caught up with me but it felt that I had only got a few minutes before the alarm woke me. I met up with 7 at the CrewChef for some munchies and we took some more with us to the control room. While we had been away the other two had been busy sending equipment up to the liner and Epsi told me to see if I could look at the new device when I had a chance. He had left a list of pages I should look at.
There were more containers being lined up as we started the shift so we dealt with those first. When we had a bit of spare time 7 wanted to show me more pleasuring but I said that it could wait as we needed information more than that. When I looked at the device I saw that Epsi had been looking at the history of the personnel on the planet. There were some pictures and I gasped when I saw one of Delta 17. I looked a lot like it, or should I say ‘her’ now. All this he/she/him/her stuff was making my brain hurt.
The last page it had noted was a list of the current crew on the base. There were just four Betas left, eight Deltas and fifteen Epsilons; plus us three Gammas. Epsi had made a note that the last shipment of ‘pleasure droids’ were enough for all the Betas and Deltas. We kept the vid-links on and tried to look as if everything was normal. Which was lucky as our Beta officer came on screen and told us that the jump-cruiser was scheduled for two shifts in the future; and that it had a lot of containers to ‘Scottie’ down. It was up to us to get the liner loaded and away from the jump point.
I contacted the control room on the liner and gave them the deadline and the officer there said that there was not much more he needed. It sent a check-list and I sent that down to stores to get them to hurry it up. During our shift the stores put together everything needed and we sent it up to the liner. They then prepared to move position in the planetary orbit for us. The rest of our shift was quiet and 7 started telling me of what went on between the Betas and the two Gammas. I must say I was shocked at the things it described but it told me that the worst Beta was the one who was our officer and that it was very mixed up Beta indeed!
When Epsi and 3 relieved us I told them that the jump-cruiser could be getting to us towards the end of their shift and that we had been told that there were a lot of containers coming down. I told Epsi that if it arrived towards the end of the shift to give us a call to get us back early as I expected that there would be too much work for one if Epsi was going to monitor the cargo manifests.
It did happen just as we thought and 7 and I met at the CrewChef and loaded up with munchies for all of us. Between us we down-shipped fifty containers and Epsi was madly trying to keep up with the manifest as none were empty. The other two then left for a shorter break as they were almost asleep, while 7 and I sent the fifty containers of minerals up to the cruiser. Looking at the destinations of the cargo that came down, even I could see that something big was going on.
When Epsi and 3 came to relieve us it did the device thing and gave us full privacy. Only then it told us that the loads that came down included twenty ‘pleasure droids’ which would be enough for the rest of us on planet, as well as a brand new ‘Scottie’ with a capacity three times more than our current one. There were also a full team of ‘construction droids’ and extra equipment which it thought would turn the new ‘Scottie’ into one that could be automated or controlled by the visiting cruiser. We were about to be made redundant.
We were able to get back into a better work level once the cruiser had jumped away. The liner was still at the repair point but we were able to talk to their control room and became quite friendly with a couple of the officers. The ‘woman’ officer did come back and apologised for its outburst and said that it had been brought up to speed with our situation and was very sorry for us. It asked us why we all wore a ‘dress and it was explained that this was standard uniform that the base computer issued every day, grey for the Deltas and any Epsilon or Gamma on the base and yellow for all those who did the mining. 7 told her that the Betas in charge wore red or gold ones which was something I did not know, having never seen one in the flesh.
We told ‘her’ that we were all about to be made redundant and were destined to live our lives out on the planet with absolutely nothing to do as we had just taken delivery of enough droids to do all the work, as well as a brand new automated ‘Scottie’. Both 3 and 7 wished that they could get transferred to the liner as they were prepared to take the chance of death rather than endless boredom and ‘she’ said “Leave it with me, I will see what I can do.”
The liner stayed where it was for several rotations while we got another cruiser visit, this one being more normal with just everyday supplies and empties coming down and minerals going up. Finally the high level officer came on our screens and asked us which ones were prepared to chance our ‘Scottie’ and we were all wanting to go, having agreed on that some shifts ago. It told us that they would be able to move to the jump point soon and that, when they were there, they would put in a request for a number of items that may take a couple of shifts to make.
They would send us a device that we could splice into our controls which would give them control of our end and that it would be up to us to be inside the ‘Scottie’ when they uplifted the container remotely. This sounded doable to us and we made our plans to leave the planet with that shipment. When they were back at the jump point the request included four sleeping tubes to ‘replace faulty ones’.
From talking to the odd Delta we came across at the CrewChef we discovered that the new ‘Scottie’ was coming along apace and we realised that this uplift may be the very last one we would have a chance to be part of. The device that they sent was duly spliced into our system and we tested it with a small container of medical supplies. The four of us then locked the control room and made our way, very carefully, to the last container and secreted ourselves in the four replacement sleeping tubes. I lay there waiting to be changed or, maybe, to die. 3 and 7 were hyper and I could hear them fidgeting in their tubes. Epsi was quiet as it had the most to lose.
In fact Epsi had been very quiet for a number of shifts, ever since we proved that the override worked. I knew that it was not sure about becoming a ‘woman’ but the concept of spending the rest of its life looking out the window while droids did all the work was not something it could consider. One day it had suddenly said to me as we were changing over the shifts “Do you wonder that there may be droids we have taken on-planet that may be programmed to vent the base once the new system is working. No-one will ever know, or care.”
We felt the movement as the container was placed in the ‘Scottie’ and I waited to die. What happened next was almost too quick to take in. It was if I had blacked out for a few seconds and then I was fully conscious again, only now I felt very different. When the container was shifted away from the ships ‘Scottie’ it was opened up and I heard voices saying, “There they are, get the medics.”
As I was helped out of the sleeping tube I could feel bits of me that had not been there before, as well as an odd feeling where my pee-pipe had been. Another thing that was different was that I now had masses of hair. As I stood I saw that I was still wearing my issue uniform but that it fitted a lot better than it used to. I got a real shock when my companions stood in front of me as they were all identical. I said, in a very different voice, you all look the same and one of them looked at the others and me and said “Yes, and you are identical as well.”
When I looked closer I saw that a lot of features were the same that I used to have and then I staggered and said “We go through all of that and we end up looking like Delta 17!” One of the ships officers asked “Who is Delta 17?” I told him that ‘she’ was my ‘mother’ and it was her body we all had been re-materialised in. “That’s the reason for the glitch” I said “The ‘Scottie’ must have saved ‘her’ profile for all subsequent humans that went through the machine. No-one has ever explained how the ‘women’ died and it could be that they just stopped working. I don’t feel ill or infirm.”
We were taken in hand by the ‘woman’ officer who told us to call her Gloria. ‘She’ took us to a medical centre where we were tested and measured and given an old-fashioned bath in scented water. This was a new experience for all of us as there was never enough water on Tranny 27 to wash in, let alone immerse oneself in. We were then given a very sleek uniform that Gloria called a ‘nightie’ and told to get into our beds and sleep as long as we wanted.
Marianne G 2021
